A29686:610
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 sincere Christians, they are men of another spirit, of another temper, of another mettle, of another mind, their hearts lye low, when their gifts, and graces, and spiritual enjoyments are high. Abraham is but dust and ashes in his own eyes.1 The higher any man is in his communion with ⟨p. 310⟩God, the more low that man will be in his own eyes: Dust and ashes are poor, base, vile, worthless things, and such a thing as these was Abraham in his own eyes. So Jacob was a plain man,2 an upright man; and lo, what a low esteem had he of himself, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which thou hast showed unto thy servant, &c. In the Hebrew it is, I am little before thy mercies; for the Hebrews have no comparative,3 and therefore they are wont to express this by a positive and a preposition. When Jacob had to do with Laban, he pleads his merits, but when he has to do with God, he pleads nothing but grace, setting a very low esteem upon himself; he looks upon himself as less than the least of mercies, and as worse than the worst of creatures; the least of my mercies are greater than I deserve, and the greatest of my troubles are less than I deserve, saith Jacob. The language of a plain hearted Jacob is this; O Lord, I might with Job have been stripped of all my comforts and enjoyments at a clap, and set upon a dunghill, I might with Lazarus have been begging my bread from door to door,4 or I might have been getting my bread with the peril of my life, because of the sword of the wilderness, or I might have been with Dives in hell, a crying out for a drop of water to cool my tongue. A sincere Christian cannot tell how to speak good enough of God,5 nor ill enough of himself. Agur was one of the wisest and holiest men on earth, and see how greatly he debases himself;6 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. Agur had seen Ithiel (God with me) and Ucal (God almighty) and this made him so vile and base in his own eyes; this made him vilify, yea nullify himself to the utmost.