A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…

what Writer hath more golden Sentences than Seneca, against the contempt of Gold, yet (if Tacitus, and others of his contemporaries may be credited) ⟨p. 126⟩none more rich, none more covetous than he, as if out of design he had persuaded others to cast away their money, that he himself might come and gather it up again, &c. And thus you see that there are very great reasons why every Christian should avoid the very show, suspicion, or appearance of evil, &c. But,

what Writer hath more golden Sentences than Seneca, against the contempt of Gold, yet (if Tacitus, and others of his contemporaries may be credited) ⟨p. 126⟩none more rich, none more covetous than he, as if out of design he had perswaded others to cast away their money, that he himself might come and gather it up again, &c. And thus you see that there are very great reasons why every Christian should avoid the very shew, suspition, or appearance of evil, &c. But,

Eleventhly and lastly, He that sets himself resolutely, mostly, habitually, against his bosom sins, his constitution sins,¹ his most prevalent sins, &c. he has certainly a saving work, a powerful work of God upon his Soul. True Grace will make a man stand stoutly and steadfastly on Gods side, and work the heart to take part with him, against the most darling sins, though they be as right hands or as right eyes. True Grace will lay hands upon a mans most beloved lusts, and cry out to Heaven, Lord Crucify them, Crucify them, down with them, down with them even to the ground. Lord do Justice, do signal Justice, do speedy Justice, do exemplary Justice upon this Head-lust, this Master-sin. Lord hew down root and branch, let the very stumps of this Dagon be broken all in pieces. Lord curse this wild Fig-Tree, that never more Fruit may grow thereon. Certainly God and Christ is set up highest in that mans heart, who bends most of his thoughts, strength, and endeavours against his constitution sins, against the sins of his Place, Calling, condition and complexion. 'Tis very observable, that the Jews, after they had been in the Babylonish Furnace for Idolatry, they ever hated and feared that sin as much as the burnt child dreads the Fire; yea, they would dye any death rather than admit an Idol. Josephus tells us how stoutly they opposed Pilate and Petronius, that would have set up Caesars Statue in their Temples, offering their throats to the Swords of the Soldiers, rather than they would endure that Idol in Gods house. O when once the heart of a Christian comes thus to be set against all his Golden and Silver Idols, then we may safely say, Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no guile. He that finds his lusts, his bosom, his darling lusts, begin to fall before him,