The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity…

The Italians have a Proverb, He who hath not seen Venice doth not believe; and he who hath not lived there some time, doth not understand what a City it is. This is most true of God; he who hath not with Moses seen him that is invisible, doth not believe; and he who never had fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his son, cannot understand what a vast all-sufficient and infinite portion the eternal God is. O friends, did your eyes with Isaiah, see this Lord of Hosts, or with Israels Magistrate beheld but his back parts; or had you with Paul ever been caught up into the third heavens, ye would quickly trample on all the honours and pleasures, and treasures of this lower World, as toys and trifles, and say with David, whom have we in heaven but thee, and ⟨image 13⟩there is none upon Earth that we desire besides thee.

The Italians have a Proverb, He who hath not seen Venice doth not beleive; and he who hath not lived there some time, doth not understand what a City it is. This is most true of God; he who hath not with Moses seen him that is invisible, doth not beleive; and he who never had fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his son, cannot understand what a vast alsufficient and infinite portion the eternal God is. O friends, did your eyes with Isaiah, see this Lord of Hosts, or with Israels Magistrate beheld but his back parts; or had you with Paul ever been caught up into the third heavens, ye would quickly trample on all the honours and pleasures, and treasures of this lower World, as toys and trifles, and say with David, whom have we in heaven but thee, and ⟨image 13⟩there is none upon Earth that we desire besides thee.

I have undertaken briefly in the ensuing discourse to show also the vast difference between the Christians, and the Worldlings portion, by which you may understand, that if any one among you could enjoy the wealth of Croesus, the wisdom and glory of Solomon, the beauty of Absalom, the strength of Sampson, the pleasures of Sardanapalus, and to all, the long life of Methuselah; yet in the midst of all these, his soul would be as beggarly as the body of Lazarus, and as restless and unsatisfied as the stormy tempestuous Ocean. No Water, say Naturalists, will quench the Dragons thirst. No creature can fill the vast desires of a capacious, immortal soul. As among all the Beasts of the field there was not a meet Companion for man, Adam was solitary and alone, notwithstanding their numerous society; so amongst all the creatures in the World, there is not a meet portion for the soul, its poor and beggarly without God, in the midst of all its possessions; your heads may be solicitous, and your hearts industrious, to heap up creature-comforts, and when ye have got what the World can give, ye would be but as hungry men in a Room full of Stones or Chips. That which is unsuitable to the souls nature, cannot be satisfying to the spirits desires.