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Show chrift proveel'to be to hk S'pou/e aithe Ap'pletret> c~mfort up·on a death-bed·; joy when you are upon the brink_of eteJnity? Chrift can do all this, how is it th~n that yo~ confpue. again!l your own j!'Ood, and come not 10 Chrtll for all thts? <ronlider Secondly ,1hat ~u tbe trm of the Wood caft no fuch fh~do"" M Chrift doth. The world is an open place and thofe that walk in it, are expofed to Sun,and Wind and Weather : There are fi?rms from the.worl'd, and there are Storn11 from God,. There 1s· an heat of worldly oppofition and enmity, and there is a fcorching heat of divine wrath upon the inward. man, to which thofe that walk in the world are expofed, It £lands all in hand to look for a f'Mdow a (helter for an evil day, and to be providing a 'Lzbtrn11<1• from ;he Sun and from tbe beat. There's none of you fo rich, but you may be p~or; none fo high, hut you may be iow;-.none fo outwardly happy bu;you may be miforable. The world many.lf time quamils with her own, and plucks the feathers which !he hath given. The rkh man is brought to bq;gary, and the honourable man becomes contemptible, oft-times God arms a man!· thoughts again!\ him, his Confcience condemns hirii', his fecret thoughts teuify him. At fuch a time as this can all the trees in the Wood !hadow you?' Chrifr can at fuch a time, a time of poverty and cnntempt,a time of mifery and a/Rid ion; you !hall fit under his fhadow with a great delight, and· be at rell. Let this be ate. cond Argument to commend unto you earnell ind(llvours-after the Lord ]efus Chrifi; as he brings forth the beflfruit, fo he-yields the btft Shadow. Thirdly, Confider you _!hall with as little Lab011r get under tin Applttree as •mder any other Tree of the Wood; if indeed I had all this while been !hewing you an inacceffible good, you might be difcouraged. I have been !hewin~;· you ·a tree that ftandeth io the Poradi{e of God, but·if this tree be (like the Garden of Paradife) gu>rded with a flaming Sword,-that none can come near it, this may yet be a rtmora; hut it is not fo.The Applttret 1-have !hewed you is amongll the trees of the Wood~ Chrifl is amongft you: H~ olf~reth himfelf to-you this day by me his Min iller; wifd6mcrier to yo~ in t~e.jlreetr, you are inyited· to Chrill, you are incouraged by b1s word that thofe who come he will in no-ways caft ·away. I have heard"that it was faid once by a great perfon in this Nati?n about to fulfer death: If! bad ferved my God with b~lf that ·F•d•hiJ tb~tlbavt ferved my princt, I bad not come to thi< rmtimely end.- I thmk I may fay ofThoufands in the World; If they . had purfued }leaven, chrifl pl'oved to be to hii Spoufe tH· th~ Appletree Heaven and an Intereft in Chrift, with half that diligence which they have ufed that they _might ~erich, and great, and honourable, they might have had thm {hares: Now,O when wlil all the fools of the world be wife?. I !hall !hut up this ufe with the words of tne Prophet in that known text. Ho every one that thirfldh,come yout• thewattrs,aHdhe that hath _no moHey,comeyou buyand ·eat, yea come buy wine IIHd miiJt wzth011t money, <Jnd ,.ttboutJrtct. Wherefore do you jpend moHey fir that which i< not bread, an y•ur I(i __ labo"r fer that which fu.fficeth not l heark_en diligent~): to •me and •· SS• "· 1 ' 0 ' tat th•t which if good, and· let your SoHl delzght ztfilf mfat-nefs. . In the fecond place, Is Chrift·as the Appletru amoH[If the trees of:' the Wood to his Saints? let them learn then,_, 1 , 'Is be content r:t~itb bim ~lone. This is an hard I elTon to flefh and blood, to be.fatisfyed ;.v!tl! a ,r~ak.£d Chrt}l; but fhould not thit · fatisfy thatthouba!l that that is Chri!l, wortltall; envy ·tbem nor, that a;e got under the Cedars of the World, into the favour and bofomes ofPrinces they arefet in flippery pidces: Nor them that are got undenhe Oak{ of the World; thole trees d_rop nothing but acorns, mall for Swme, they get wealth and Rtches; but alas, the . Soul cannot live on thefe things. Thou art under the Applrtrtt: . The voice oft be Lord breaktth' the Cedm; the Lord bre•kttb the Cedars in · Leif•Holl · ( faith the Pfalmi!l. ) The wrath of God may break tlre-Gedizrs, and break; the Oal{f, and then -what becomes of them that fit under their Shadows?· But the voice oft he Lord-!hall · never break the Appletree. Remember the words of the Pfalmift, P[a/.'2, 1 1. Ki{s the SoH It~ he be angry,and yort perifh from tbt- wa1: · · when bifwratb.if kjndlrd bHt a lttlle, ble/Jed are aU they th•t puubm · lrhft in him. . 2. Learn of the Spoufe"here. Si~ under Chrif!s Jhadom with great ' delight, aHd let<bif fruit be plea [ant to rur Ufle; but this will f•ll UO• der th& two other dodrines of the text. '" 1 , .The believiQI!, Soul fits under Chrifis fhadow·with great de. light. . ' :z, Chrifis fruit is exceeding pleafant to the.talle oLa bclievins . Soul. . · |