ration h reveales it, byway of merit he hath purchafed it, by way of communication he minifters it, by way of prefer - vation he maintains and perfe &s it. The nearer man comes to Chrift, the more he enjoyes of (thrift, the Tweeter and ftroriger is his peace : the more man is eftranged from Christ the further he is from true peace ; i o. A d'iícontend man, a man vnfatisfied: all fulneffe is in Chrift,the world cannot fill t o. the foule that is`not filled with Chrift ; the foule that feeds not on Christ, but on the world, like Pharaohs d leane Kine d Gen.4i. hdt fed upon the fat, eat them all up, and yet were íäll leane and ilfavoured : fo this, after long feeding upon an the far of the world,yet as hungry and greedy as ever the more he eats, the more he hungers, he is ever difcontented, no- thing long pleafeth him, nothing fully anfwers him : the eye that Both not fee Chrift, is never e jatisfred with Teeing ; the a Sect. i .s. care that loth not heare Chrift, is never fatirfted with hearing; the palate which doth not relifh Christ, is never fatisfied with tatting ; nothing is fweet and full without Chrift, as Auguftlne fometime having read Cicero's works, commended them for their eloquence,but pafled this fentence upon them, iflulces non funs, quip. noun Jefus non eft in illis,, they are not fweet, becaufe the name of Jefus is not in them. Without Chrift the bed is abed of thornes,the bread is full of gravell, the cup is full of gall ; nothing filleth, nothing fatisfieth, but every vexeth, difpleafeth, leaveth a Ring behind it, and the heart, like the Horfe- leeches yaughter, ever cryes, f Give FProv.3o.is give, and never can have enough. And here is the tnifery of man without Christ, the folly of man that will not corm to Chrift, without whom he mutt f arve, g as the Prodigall g Luk,i S. without his Fathers houle ; without whom he mutt abide rob'd of all his fpirituals,and rrcu'rded, and balfe dead in his na- h Luk. ro. tnrals, like him that lay robd and halfe dead betweenJericbo and Jerufalem, before the Samaritane came and cured him ; without whom he mull continue befieged, affaulted, vexed with temptations , feares, troubles, diftra&ions, as i Gi. i Jof.io.e. been with the Amoritífh Princes before Jofbua came and re- moved them ; without whom they mutt needs- perifh, as the told world that came not to the Arke. It is mans gfea- F 3 tea Mans-iniEery without. Gbrit . 37
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