(2.) That you be humble under all that dignity and honour, which God hath put upon you ; be ye clothed with humility. It was the glory of the primitive Christians, that they § did not speak but live great things : humility will be the lustre of your other ex- cellencies : estates and honours are but appendants and fine trap- pings, which add not any real worth, yet || how are some vain
* O s/Mg sou; gjaugwra/ k, xx. i$iv sv s/xoi to tup ro <ptXov\ov, aXX vdw a>Xoix,ivovy &c. uwi/AYiv ruv S^o/wy, vjcl ra lyte Xgizx flr/ru^gtt. lgnatii Epist.
f 0 cor meum quomodo non te evellis post tantum decorem ? Nioremberg. Vivera rejiuo, ut Cliristo vioavu
\ Primus Hcereticorum error est, posse fideles earn notitiam habere de sua gratia, ut certajide statuant sibi remissa esse peccata. The principal heresy of Protestants is. that saints may attain to a certain assurance of their gracious and pardoned estate before God. liellarm. de Just. lib. 5. cap. o.
§ Non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus. Tertul. Apolog.
|| They report that Bucephalus, without his furniture, would suffer a groom on his back, but when dressed with royal trappings and studded bridles, would suffer none to mount him but the king himself; so it is truly the case with these upstart nobles among us, &c.
8 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
minds puffed up with these things! But ye have not so learned Christ.
(3.) That you steadily persevere in those good ways of God, in which you have walked, and beware of heart, or life-apostasy. You expect happiness whilst God is in heaven, and God expects holiness from you whilst you are on earth. It was an excellent truth which Tossanus * recommended to his posterity in his last will and testament, from his own experience : " I beseech you, " (saith he) my dear children and kindred, that you never be u ashamed of the truths of the gospel, either by reason of scan- " dais in the church, or persecutions upon it : truth may labour *f for a time, but cannot be conquered ; and I have often found " God to be wonderfully present with them that walk before him " in truth, though for a time they may be oppressed with troubles " and calumnies."
(4.) Lastly, that you keep a strict and constant watch over your own hearts, lest they be ensnared by the tempting, charming, and dangerous snares attending a full and easy condition in the world. There are temptations suited to all conditions. Those that are poor and low in estate and reputation, are tempted to cozen, cheat, lie, and flattter, and all to get up to the mount of riches and ho- nours ; but those that were born upon that mount, though they be more free from those temptations, yet lie exposed to others no less dangerous, and therefore we find, " Not many mighty, not many " noble are called," 1 Cor. i. 26. Many great and stately ships, which spread much sail, and draw much water, perish in the storms, when small barks creep along the shore under the wind, and get safe into their port. Never aim at an higher station in this world than that you are in •(* : Some have wished in their dying hour, they had been lower, but no wise man ever wished himself at the top of honour, at the brink of eternity.
I will conclude all with this hearty wish for you, that as God hath set you in a capacity of much service for him in your generation, so vour hearts may be enlarged for God accordingly, and that you may be very instrumental for his glory on earth, and may go safe, but late to heaven. That the blessings of heaven may be multiplied
* Obtestor etiam vos liberos, et generos carrisimos ne illius veritatis evangelicee unauam vos pudeat : potest enim laborare, sed non vinci Veritas : et non semel expertus sum Domi- num Deum viirabiliter adrsse its qui coram ipso ambulayit, et in sua vocatione sedulo et intpgre vcrsantur ; licet ad tempus, odiis, aut simultatibus, aut calumniis agilentur. Melch. Adam us, in vita Tossani.
| Hermanus, when dying, bewailed that he had bestowed more time and pains on his palace than on the temple of God, and encouraged the luxury and wickedness of the court, which he ought to have restrained : Thus, with much grief for sin, his hope of mercy from God greatly wavering, by-standers being filled with great horror, and himself doubtful of his state, his soul entered into eternity. Hist. Ba- henu lib. 11.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 9
upon you both, and your hopeful springing branches : and that you may live to see your children's children, and peace upon Israel. In a word, that God will follow these truths in your hands with the blessing of his Spirit; and that the manifold infirmities of him that ministers them, may be no prejudice or bar to their success with you, or any into whose hands they shall come ; which is the hearty desire of
YOUR MOST FAITHFUL FRIEND,
AND SERVANT IN CHRIST,
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.
JbiVERY creature, by the instinct of nature, or by the light of reason, strives to avoid danger, and get out of harm's way. The cattle in the fields presaging a storm at hand, fly to the hedges and thickets for shelter. The fowls of heaven, by the same na- tural instinct, perceiving the approach of winter, take their timely flight to a warmer climate. This naturalists * have observed of them, and their observation is confirmed by scripture testimony. Of the cattle it is said_, Job xxxvii. 6, 7, 8. " He saith to the snow, " Be thou on the earth, likewise the small rain, and the great rain " of his strength ; then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their " places." And of the fowls of the air it is said, Jer. viii. 7. " The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the " turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their " corning."
But man being a prudent and prospecting creature hath the advantage of all other creatures in his foreseeing faculty : " For " God hath taught him more than the beasts of the earth, and 6i made him wiser than the fowls of heaven," Job xxxv. 11. u And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment," Eccl. viii. 5. For as there are natural signs of the change of the weather, Matt. xvi. 3. so there are moral signs of the changes of times and providences ; yet such is the supineness and inexcusable regardlessness of most men, that they will not fear till they feel, nor think any danger very considerable, till it become inevitable.