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ver, be not only heals the deadly difeafes of the living but the very dead, thefe, to wit, who are dead in trefpaffes and fins, Epb. 2. I.

Now,O Chriftian, fearch to know what ailes thee, put thy finger upon thy fore; and point to him what is thy ticknefs, and he will furnifh thee with agrees able fanative applications: O Christian, art thou blind and blear-eyed he fays to thee come & buy. of Me eye falve that thou mayeft fee,art thou dumb or deaf? he makes the deaf to hear, and the dumb to fpeak; art thou under a decay of grace it is he who will reftore thy foul, and will renew thy days as of old; art thou under a Feaver of Passions and hoiling lufts he can command this Soul-form into a Calm, and give thee fufficient power over thy corruptions; art thou hard hearted > be can melt and mollife the confirmed-like tone within thee; art thou under wounds and vexatious perplexities of confcience, be bealeth the broken in beart, binds ethuptheir wounds, Pfal, 147. 3.

That I may fum up this point, O Chriftian,go to Chrift, who calls upon thee, truft in him as willing and able to fave to the utmost, and without doubt

will cure thee to thy contentment,and give thee occafion to acknowledge it with thanksgiving, as e Pfalmift 103. 1,2,3,4, Bless the Lord, O my Soul,

all that is within me, blefs His boly Nam, whe forgiveth all thine Iniquities, tobe healeth all thy Dife Ses, who redeemeth shy Life from Defraction &c. And thus much of the feveral forts of Chrifts needs il and excellent Wares expofed to open Sale,

СНА Р.

CHA P. III.

Some Rules and Directions for managing this Spiritu. aletrade aright.

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Chriftian, Merchants having expofed to view and fale feveral forts of Chris Wares,I would gladly bave you to fall upon a cloís coorle of Tras ing, that ye may be daily increafing your fpiritual Rock, that ye may be waxing rich towards God, and laying up treasures in heaven; in order to the managing of which kind of Merchandize to thofe ends and purposes, thefe Rules and DireЯtions fol lowing may be confidered,

SECTION I

1. Dire&. Endeavour to have a true fenfe of your want and need of those things ye mind to buy and trade in, John 3. 19. Buy these things that ye bave need of again the Feaf; I befeech you be earneft in prayer to God for a difcovery of the true ftate of your fouls, how naked, how poor, how wretched ye are? O Sirs, are there not many of your Lamps without oyli.e. that have nothing of the grace of God in you do not many of you want love to God, want faith in Chrift, want peace and patience, and want fubmiffion to God, yea want the fpirit of God, and are rather poffeffed of the fpirit of the world which is fenfual, Jode 19. Senz Sual not having the Spirit, O Sirs, are there not

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Chriftless Christians among you, yea without God, Eph.2, 12. & Ader Ev To notμw, i, e. Atheists in the world, But what fhould I fay, for I want a tongue to tell you of your wants, & ye want hearts fenfible of your wants, fo there is many fad wants among us; O but there be many Laodiceans among us, poor, blind, naked, e, not knowing that they are fo; O inners,how can ye want fo many things, fo needfull things, and not go to the Mercat to buy.

2. Dire&. Endeavour to understand the true worth and value of fuch commodities as ye mind to buy and deal in, that ye be not cheated, and allo that in judgement and difcretion ye may come upto the full rate and juft value of things; I fay, ftudy to know both the intrinfick goodness and worth, as alfo the extrinfick value of things, which many times varies according to the prefent neceffity, ufefulness, rarity or fcarcity, and other fuch accidental circum▪ ttances; and for this effect, frequently improve the Scriptures, that ye may try whether Chrifts Wares be fuch as his Minifters give them out to be, A, 17. 11. that being inftru&ted out of the Law,ye may be able to approve the things that are more excels lent, or as the Original will bear, ye may try the things that differ, καὶ δοκιμάζεις τα διαφέροντα, Rom. 2. 18. It is in the Bible ye have an enumeration & fpecification of all Chrifts Wares, as alloit is by the information thereof, ye muft get your intelligence of the nature, properties, ufe, value, and current rates of the forefaids.

3. Dire&, Ye must be skilfall in Arithmetick and hant-account-book-keeping, this is fo very needfull

full that a man cannot be a compleat Merchant or manage Trade to any good effect without it, and therefore you will find that in all great Towns of Trathique, there are Schools and Masters for this purpose, to teach Italian fe Book-keeping, as it is ordinarly termed, whereby goods, fums of money in Cash or Bank, debts to or from any, yea a mans whole ftock & movables, are diftinctly & orderly potted or claffed in their feveral pages or paragraphs, lo that with the greater eafe, celeritie and convenis ence (having the help of an Alphabetick calendar )

be may take a view and furvey of the fate of his affairs, which is both pleasant & profitable, therefor Merchants have their memorial or Waftsbook,their Journal, their Leger &c. and to this purpose that paffage of the Wifeman feems to found, Prov, 17.23. Be thou diligent to know the fate of thy flocks, look well to thy birds; which could not be performed without numbering and keeping a daily account of them, as sheepherds ufe to do. Hence fays Doctor Jermine in loc, as mens eftates are now reckoned by thousands of pounds, fo they were of old by thoul ands of cattle. And I cannot pass what Mr. Pool bath in his Annotations on the place being fo apz posite to our purpose. Know the fate of thy flooks, that thou mayft preferve & improve what thou halt, and take care thine expences may not exceed thine incomes: and look well to thy herds, truft not whol ly to thy fervants, as many do, that they may give up themselves whollie to eafe & pleafure, but make use of thine own eyes and reason for the condn& thine affairs, leaft thou come to ruine,as man

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done by this very means: Now for the application of this, O fpiritual Merchant, if thou minds to thrive, thou maft keep a Diarie, in which everie day there will be fomething to fet down, and therefore I will point at a few forts of Books and Accounts that thou mayft have occalion to keep,

1, Our fpiritual Merchant hath his Debt book, or Book of Confcience, wherein he fets in order all his fins against God, committed fuch a day, on fuch an oceation, at fuch a place, with fuch companie &c. which exactness will mightily belp you in your pe nitential exercifes, fpeciallie in confeffing of fins & clearing Counts with God; from this record you may be able to extract a full charge of your Debts, and fo with the more humilitie, clearnefs and felfcondemnation, take with the libel that God prefers against you, which is no smal advantage to a serious foul that defires to be throughlie humbled and pes nitent before Ged. I am apt to believe that the moft part of common Profeffors are little concern ed about anie fuch matter, which gives the Lord occafion of complaint, as Hof, 7. 2. They confider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness; which feems to imply as much as if they fondlie dreamed, because they forget their fins, therefore God for gets them too, which will make their approaching miferie the greater, when they are made to feel, that he neither forgets nor forgives, but keeps a full acs count of them. fo as he will fet them all in order bes fore their eyes, Pful, 50.21, 21. but the trulie god

are not fo, but carefull to keep an exact account

their enormities and defects, Pfal. 51,3,4,51£4.

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