upon the Epi{He of J A M B 'S. Wor:ds corrupt good matters.Fir.fi we thin~,thenJPeak,~nd then do • .Men will fay 'cis but talk : be not decetved ; a pe£hlent tongue wJll infeCt other members. 6. From that [the ~ourfe, o~ wbeel? of our nl'ftivity,J Mttnj obforv. 6• . life is lik!" \\'heel: 'T1s always m motion ; we are always turning and rolling .co our graves: Pfal. 90. 3• Thou turneft man. t11 1 deflruClion, R.nd{ay'eft, Return Je children ofmen: The meanmg i~, they .are turned into theworld, and returned to the grave: It- .noteth alfo the uncertainty of any worldly ,.fiate; the fpokes arc now up, and now down; fometimes m the d!rt, and fometimes 1 out. The B:lliops ofMent~ give aWhtd for their Arms; •cis but the emhlemofour lives, and the inconfiancy of every condition " of life : When you fee the wheel, improve the occafion to fome good meditation. There is a fiory o~ B"j'a~rt, as alfo of another J taken by an ancient King of France, when they {a\Y the wheel of the Conquerors Chariot, they fmiled, faying; The ttpperjpokp'Will c~me d.Dwn ~tgain. Here we are always moving, fomecimes up, ~ometimes down, but fiill tC?wards the grave. 7· The evits of the to,.;gue arc of a1-trt.t andunivcrf~l inflH- Obfcrv. 7 • encc; Diffiufe chemfdves into all conditions and fl:aces of life: There is no faculty which the tongue- doth not poyfon, from the undedlanding to the locomotive, it violently fiirreth up the will , . and affeCtions, maker~ the hands and the feet hfwift to jhed blood. 11 Rorn. 3 , 4 • 1 r There is no •Cli~n which it doth not reach ; not only thofe of or- • J dinary cenverfation, by lying, fwearing, cenfuring, &c. but holy duties, as -prayer, and thoLe direCt and higher addreffes to God, by foolifh babbling,and carnal requefis : We would have God revenge 1-- oar private quarrel. Pulpits are made Stages and Cockpits, on which men play their prizes and mafieries, and fet on private palli. ons. There<is no ttgc exempted; 'tis not only found in yGung men that areof eager and fervorops fpirits, but in thofe whom age and · e~perience, hath more matured and ripened : Other fins decay with age, this many times encreafeth.; and we grow more froward and pettiih,as natural firength decayeth,and the d4JJ come on inwhich il no plea[t1re: I fay,when other finslofe their vigour,as being tamed and fubdued ·by the infirmities ofold age, we fee the fpirit groweth more tart, nature being drawn down t-o the dregs, and the exprdfi- ~s.more paffionate: No CaNing is exe~pted; the Tradef-man mh1s iliop abufeth his tongue for gain; Pro11. 21. 6. The getting Bbb . ij ' /
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