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…

The best way to be greatly good, is to own a little, little good, though in the midst of much evil. But,

The second Proposition is this. It is your wisdom, and §2should be your work, to look upon all your graces and gracious evidences as favours given you from above, as gifts dropped out of heaven into your hearts, as flowers of Paradise stuck in your bosoms by a divine hand. A man should never look upon his graces or his gracious evidences,¹ but should be ready to say, these are the jewels of glory with which God has bespangled my soul, 1 Cor. 4.7. What hast thou that thou hast not received? What gift? what grace? what experience? what evidence hast thou that thou hast not received? All the light, and all the life, and all the love, and all the joy, and all the fear, and all the faith, and all the hope, and all the patience, and all the humility, &c. that thou hast, with all the evidences that arise from discovery of those graces, are ⟨p. 334⟩all grace gifts, they are all from above. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, ²and cometh down from the father of lights. Look, as all light flows from the Sun, and all water from the Sea, so all temporal, spiritual and eternal good flows from heaven. All your graces, and the greatest excellencies that are in you, do as much depend upon God and Christ, as the light doth upon the Sun, or as the Rivers do upon the Sea,³ or as the branches do upon the root. All my springs are in thee; all the springs of comfort that I have communicated to my soul, and all the springs of grace that I have to quicken me, and to evidence the goodness and happiness of my spiritual estate and condition to me, they are all in thee. When a Christian looks upon his wisdom and knowledge, it concerns him to say, Here is wisdom and knowledge, I but 'tis from above; here is some weak love working towards Christ, but 'tis from above; here's joy, and comfort, and peace, &c. but these are all such flowers of Paradise as never grew in natures garden. Now when a Christian looks thus upon all those costly Diamonds of grace, of glory, with which his soul is bedecked, he keeps low, though his graces and gracious evidences are high. Where this Rule is neglected, the soul will be endangered of being swelled and puffed.