Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

690 That worldly thingsbring contempt ofgrace àndglory. cefliue pridebath not gone before. So that one may boldly af- firme, that if pride onely bee not plagued with this fearefull iudgement offrenzie and tnadneffe, yet it is more often thus punifhed then all other fins befides. The which fierce and fud- den vengeance ofGod,which he taketh on proud perlons, the Prophet A'falachieexprefl'eth, by comparing Gods wrath bur- ning againfi them,to a burning furnace,and proud men to flub- M31.4.1. bit. /he day of the Lord (faith he) commeth,thatfballburneasan ouen ; and allthe proud full be (lubble, and the day that commeth fball burnt them vp, faith the Lord of hogs, and fballlearee them neither root nor branch. And therefore feeing thefe worldly things are the common caufes ofpride,and pride bringeth with it fuch confufion and deflru &ion, let this ferue as an argument to make vs contemn thefe harmeful vanities, not immeafitrably dcfiring them when wewant them; nor exceflìuelyefleetning and immoderately loving them when wee haue them ; and fo if we want thefe thingswhich we ncgle&, our minds will notbe much deie&ed; or if we haue them, they will not bee much ex- alted andlifted vp; neither cana man be proud of the poffeflion of that which he doth not ouerualue in his iudgement, and vn- meafurably loue in his affe &ion. 4.Se8.6. The firth fin againft God, which there worldly things too That worldly much rPteemed,& immoderately loued plunge vs iisto,is either things bring negle& or vtter contempt of God himfclfe, his fpirituall gra- with them çon- ces, and heavenly ioyes; for our affe &ions being finite are limi- temptofGod, ted and retrained to their obit &s, fo that being conuerfant and exercifed about fome, they in the meane time negle& o- thers. And therefore if they cannot with their full vigour and beate affe &many things being diuers;how much leffe can they at once loue Goo and the world, fpirituall graces and earthly vanities, eternall ioyes,and thefe tranfitorie trifles, feeing they are oppofite and contrary the one to the other ? And this Luk.16.13. our Sauiour Chrifi teacheth vs, where as bee faith, that no man can ferue two mafiers; for either he mufi hate the one and lone the other, or elfe he fhallleane to the one,and defpife the other;ye cannot fcrueG.dandriches. So that there is no halting betweene the Lord,and thisworldly Baal, for the feruicc of the one, is the contempt ofthe other, and the louing of the one, is the hating ofthe other.It is trueindeed in reafon that the morewe abound with