Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

r syg Of the miferies which accompetnie worldly thingt. they haue wholly fet their hearts; when they are depriued ofchem theybewaile their loffe no leffe; yea in truth much more bitterly,and with far greater paffion, then if they had loft all part and intereft in God himftlfe,his Son Iefus Chrift, and all thofe glorious ioyes in his heauenty kingdome. And haui ng repofed in them all their by and comfort, their hope and confidence, when with Laban they are robbed of their idols, they lament their loffc with more true griefe, and fù- ftaine this burthen with much more impatiency, then ifthey were at once fpoiled of their wife, children, and all their friends; becauf_ they are together with them robbed alto of their hearts, which are fall nailed, and infeparablie affixed to them. Neither in this cafe is the worth ofthc thing loft to be conldered, but the affe&ion and eítimation of him that lo- feth it; For thofe things which arc poffeffed withimmode- rate loue,are loft with immoderategriefe,although in them-. (clues they are vaine and worthies : euen as we fee little chil- dren lamenting with no leffe true forrow the taking away of their childifh and contemptible trifles, then if they were de- priued of their inheritance. So in like maner,worldy men o- uerualuing earthlyvanities aboue their worth, are more tor- mented with griefe when they are forced to forgoe them, then for lofing theglorious inheritance of the faints, and the eternal! ioyes ofheauen. Yea their forrow is fo intolerable oftentimes,thatto cafe their griefe,theymurther themlclues; as thinking leffe torment in death, yea in hell it felfe, then in lining to fuffaine fo great a loffe. For the greater they conceited their happineffe in thefruition of their vaine de- fires, the more miferable they thiuke themfelues when they . are depriued ofit; and now they hartilywifh that they had neuer enioyed thefe pleafures, becaufe at the laft they are fpoiledofthem; though in truth with great follie, for they hauing had formerly the fruition of theirdeliires, might, were it not fortheir owne peeuifhneffe, (till delight them- felues with the remembrance of it, and when they are moil deftitute and fbrfaken of the things they loued, they are (letting paffion and opinion afide) in no Wo& cafe. then before they had them : yea fometime menare thus affli- t5ted