A29686:555
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…
A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain discovery of, or, what men are worth for eternity, and how 'tis like to go with them in another world ... / by Thomas Brooks ...A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain discovery of, or, what men are worth for eternity, and how 'tis like to go with them in another world ... / by Thomas Brooks ...
London : Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock ..., 1669
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But now the repentance of hypocrites is not constant but inconstant, 'tis not steadfast but unsteadfast, 'tis not permanent but transient, 'tis quickly on, as quickly off; Come, say they, in that, Hosea 6.1. and let us return unto the Lord. But ver. 4. O Ephraim! what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. The hypocrites repentance is like Jonah's Gourd, which came up in a night, and perished in a night, Jonah 4.10. An hypocrites repentance springs from mutable grounds, causes, considerations and circumstances; and therefore it is compared to a deceitful bow, Hosea 7.16. 'tis as variable as the wind. An hypocrite is only constant in ⟨p. 277⟩inconstancy, Psal. 78.8. whose spirit was not steadfast with God, Ver. 37. Neither were they steadfast in his Covenant, &c. An hypocrite puts off his sins in the day of adversity (as he doth his garments when he goes to bed) with an intent to put them on again in the morning of prosperity, Ver. 34, 35, 36. When he slew them then they sought him, and they returned and enquired early after God; and they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their Redeemer: Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. In the language of the blessed Scripture, he is a dog that returns to his vomit again, and such a dog was Judas; and he is a swine that returns to the wallowing in the mire again, and such a swine was Demas; 1and such dogs and swine are all hypocrites. It is an extraordinary vanity in some men to lay aside their sins for a time, but with a purpose to return to them again; as they fable it of the Serpent that layeth aside his poison when he goeth to drink, and when he hath drank, he returns to it again. It is a sad and sore evil, when men say to their lusts, as Abraham said to his servants, Abide you here, and I will go and worship, and return again unto you, Gen. 22.5