Riches of mercy to men in misery, or, Certain excellent treatises concerning the dignity…

That is, thou wast that ¹which thou art not now, thou wast excellent, but now thou hast lost it.

1. 1Gen. 42.

So I say unto you, if you lose the strength of the inward man you will lose your excellency. Now no man would willingly lose his excellency; if you would not lose, you must keep strength in the inward man: In the 1. Psal. the Psalmist sets forth the excellency of that man that is strong in the Inward man. He shall be like a tree that is ¹planted by the rivers of water. First he sets forth the property of the spiritual man, he shall be green, secondly he shall be as a tree planted, that is that shall not easily be plucked up. Thirdly his perpetuity: his branches shall shall never wither, That is he shall never grow unseemly. Fourthly his fruitfulness; he shall bring forth fruit in season that is he shall be fruitful in grace. But on the contrary, when a man grows weak in the inward man it will be far otherwise with him, he will be like a tree that hath lost both ⟨p. 67⟩sap and root, leaf and fruit, set in an barren soil with withered branches and fruitless, fit for nothing but the fire: but if a man can keep the strength in the Inward man, neither reproach, disdain nor shame or the Devil shall be able to make a man miserable, Therefore keep the vigour of the inward man safe, whatsoever becomes of the outward man. And there is good reason why you should keep the inward man safe, because it keeps the soul and directs it to that right end. In the 1. Eccles. The ²wise man saith all things are vanity and vexation of spirit, That is when a man loseth his happiness in the Inward man, Though he keep the outward man secure, yet it is but vanity and vexation of spirit. That is he goes besides the rule he should go by: For there is a rule unto every creature that he is to go by, And the nearer the creature comes unto the rule, the more excellent is the creature, but if it go besides the rule it looseth its excellency. As for example the fire and water they are excellent creatures if they keep to their rule, But if they exceed their rule, they become hurtful; so the rule of the soul is the law put into the Inward man, And the closer you keep to this, the more excellent you are. Therefore that you may keep your excellency, which you cannot do except you strengthen the Inward man, let this move you to a diligent attendance to it.