A77593:745
The Unsearchable Riches of Christ
Ton anexichniaston plouton [sic] tou Christou. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Or, Meat for strong men. Milk [for] babes. Held for th in twenty-two sermons from Ephesians 3.8. By Thomas Brooks, preacher of the Word at Margarets New-Fishstreet.Ton anexichniaston plouton [sic] tou Christou. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Or, Meat for strong men. Milke [for] babes. Held for th in twenty-two sermons from Ephesians 3.8. By Thomas Brookes, preacher of the Word at Margarets New-Fishstreet.
London: printed by Mary Simmons for John Hancock, 1655
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Sermon › The Reasons why God gives his b•st Gifts to his Dearest ones.
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.
It was horrid wickedness in Ahab, to envy poor Naboth, because of his Vineyard: And is it a virtue in you that are Christians, to envy others, because their outward mercies are greater or sweeter then yours? Should the Prince, upon whose head the Royal Crown is set, and about whose neck the golden Chain is put, envy those whose hands are full of Sugarplums, & whose laps are full of Rosemary? &c. Hath not God, Oh Christians! put a Royal Crown of glory upon your heads, and a golden Chain of grace about your necks; and his Sons glorious Robe upon your backs, and why then should your hearts rise against others mercies? Oh! reason your selves out of this sinful temper. I would have every Christian thus to argue, Hath not the Lord given me himself? is not one dram of that grace that God hath given me, more worth then ten thousand worlds? and why then should I envy at others mercies?
It was horrid wickednesse in Ahab, to envy poor Naboth, because of his Vineyard: And is it a virtue in you that are Christians, to envy others, because their outward mercies are greater or sweeter then yours? Should the Prince, upon whose head the Royall Crowne is set, and about whose neck the golden Chaine is put, envy those whose hands are full of Sugarplums, & whose laps are full of Rosemary? &c. Hath not God, Oh Christians! put a Royall Crowne of glory upon your heads, and a golden Chaine of grace about your necks; and his Sons glorious Robe upon your backs, and why then should your hearts rise against others mercies? Oh! reason your selves out of this sinfull temper. I would have every Christian thus to argue, Hath not the Lord given me himselfe? is not one dram of that grace that God hath given me, more worth then ten thousand worlds? and why then should I envy at others mercies?
There was a Soldier, which for breaking his rank, in reaching ⟨p. 162⟩after a bunch of Grapes, was condemned to dye (by Martial Law) and as he went to execution, he went eating of his Grapes: Upon which, some of his fellow Soldiers were somewhat troubled, saying, He ought then to mind somewhat else: To whom he said, I beseech you Sirs do not envy me my Grapes, they will cost me deer; you would be loath to have them at the rate that I must pay for them. So say I, Oh Saints! do not envy the men of this world, because of their honours, riches, &c. for you would be loath to have them at the rate that they must pay for them. Oh! there is a day of reckoning a coming, a day wherein all the Nobles and brave Gallants in the world, must be brought to the Bar, and give an account how they have improved and employed all the favours that God ha's conferred upon them; therefore envy them not. Is it madness and folly in a great favourite at Court, to envy those that feast themselves with the scraps that come from the Princes Table? O then what madness and folly is it, that the favourites of heaven should envy the men of the world, who at best do but feed upon the scraps that come from Gods Tables? Spirituals are the choice meat; temporals are but the scraps: Temporals are the bones, spirituals are the marrow. Is it below a man to envy the dogs, because of the bones? And is it not much more below a Christian, to envy others for temporals, when himself enjoys spirituals?