The Trial of a Christians Sincere Love Unto Christ, Title page – To the reader
THE TRIALL OF A CHRISTIANS SINCERE LOVE VNTOUNTO CHRIST.
By Mr WILLIAM PINKE, Mr of Arts late Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in OXFORD.
foreign.
Ignat. Ep. ad Rom.
THE THIRD EDITION.
AT OXFORD, Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD, for EDWARD FORREST Anno Dom. 1636.
TO THE HONOVRABLE AND TRVLY Noble Lord, the Lord GEORGE DIGBY, Sonne and Heire of the Right Honourable the Earle of BRISTOLL.
Right Honourable and my very Good Lord,
THAT I hauehave preſumed to preſent to your Lordſhips Patronage, theſe few Sermons of a deceaſed worthy friend, it is not ſo much the acknowledgment of thoſe great favours and noble reſpects wherewith you were pleaſed to grace Him, and ſince his death hauehave vouchſafed to extend to mee your vnworthy ſervant as a due conſideration (if in Dedicatiōs matchableneſſe be to be regarded (how properly and peculiarly they doe belong to your Lordſhip both in reſpect of the Authour and the Argument. The Authour was one, whom, for his ſingular dexterity in the Arts, depth of iudgement, ſharpneſſe of wit, and eſpecially his skill in languages, Hebrew, Greeke, Arabicke, you were pleaſed to make choice of for one of your Readers during your abode at Magdalen Colledge in Oxon, in which time you ſo obliged him by the abundant teſtimonies of your good affection to him, that He oft profeſſed to mee how great & iuſt an intereſt your merits claimed in all his ſtudies and labours. This which you here ſee is but an Eſſay to ſome maſter-peece which you might hauehave expected, if he had liued to finiſh what he attempted in the Greek Antiquities, & obſeruations on the Hebrew Text. For the matter, it being a Theame of the weightieſt buſineſſe in Chriſtianity, the groundworke of all; which if it bee not firſt rooted in the heart, all other our concluſions and ſpeculations in Diuinity will bee but like the building a Caſtle in the ayre, and may giuegive the ſoule content perhaps, of a rare ſpeculation, but cannot of a powerfull, experimentall, ſoule-quickning, and ſoule ſauing Religion: The Argument, I ſay, being ſuch, as I could not harden my ſelfe againſt the requeſts of ſome who deſired the publiſhing thereof for the good many ſoules might reape by it, ſo neither could I thinke any, fitter to Patronage a Theam of piety, than one who ſhewed himſelfe amongſt vsus, both a Patron & an example of it. I would be as farre from flattery as you are from the want of it, and I would not, you ſhould looke your ſelfe in a falſe Glaſſe: ouerweening in any man is a thing that expoſeth to ſecret contempt, whenſoeuer the weakneſſe ſhall be eſpied, but Great men ſo much the more, by how much they are the more obſerued, and hauehave occaſion oftner to come vponupon the ſtage. You remēber what manner of man he was, ſerious in his ſtudies, deuout & ſtrict in an holy conuerſation, the things you loued in him, and imitated: A ſingular O men, when Noble mē begin betimes to be countenancers of goodnes and good men: ſo perſeuere to doe like a good Obadiah *1 King. 18.the Church ſhall bleſſe you and God ſhall honour you, *1 Sam. 2. 30.For thoſe that honour him, he will honour, and them that deſpiſe him hee will couer with ſhame, either by bringing on them ſome notable judgement, or by giuing them vp to ſuch headlong courſes and filthy vices, whereby their honour ſhall be ſtained, their eſtates waſted, themſelues and their poſterity ruined (it being not vnuſuall with God to puniſh men by their owne deuices and ſinnes wherein they delight.) And ſo doth your Lordſhip perſeuere to doe, I will not load your modeſty with a ſlender report of your owne worth: What perhaps I ought to ſay, your Lordſhip may gueſſe by what the people doe ſay of you, and what I ſhould commend vntounto you (if I were able or worthy) by what the world expects from you: I know there is nothing more vaine then to liue by opinion, by what men ſay or expect; opinion is but an ill rule and gouerneſſe of our liues and actions (another mans meaſure being too long, or too ſhort for me) yet this vſe we may make of it; when men begin to applaud and take notice of that which our ſelues hauehave the greateſt reaſon to ſtudy & affect, it may ſerue to raiſe our vertues to an higher pitch, than our own priuity could lightly bring them, the louelove & practiſe of any good increaſing with the acceptance it findes abroad: But I forget what I hauehave in hand, I cloſe all with apprecatiō of all happineſſe to your Lordſhip: the God of Ioſeph double vponupon you the bleſſings of Ioſeph, *Deut. 33. 13. 6.Bleſſed let him make you for the precious things of Heauen, and of the deep that coucheth beneath, for the precious things of the Earth, & the fulneſse thereof, but eſpecially, for the good will of him, that dwelt in the Buſh: Doe worthily in Ephratah; *Ruth. 4. 11.and bee you famous in our Iſreal: The ſeeds of Vertue and pious education wherewith your tender yeeres hauehave beene ſeaſoned, let them budde and yeeld their pleaſant & wholſome fruit in their ſeaſons. I ſtill treſpaſſe. Moneo, quod facis
Spondes digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis.Virg. Aen. 9▪
Shirburn. Iul. 7. 1630. Your Lordſhips humble and deuoted ſeruant, WILLIAM LYFORD.
To the Reader.
COurteous Reader: I here preſent thee with ſome peeces & fragments of an intire and iust diſcourſe intended by the Author, concerning that vſefull & worthy Argument, the ſincerity and triall of a Chriſtians louelove to Chriſt: It was the glory of the laſt age, that among other miracles, God bleſsed it with the reſurrection of Leraning, it being being a time wherein liued and flouriſhed men famous for learning and piety, who ſent abroad into the world many large volumes for the vindicating of Gods true Religion and worſhip from Barbariſme, Errour, and Superſtition: And 'tis a part of the happineſſe of this our Age, that (beſide the ſame truth ſtill maintained) it hath ſent forth many famous Treatiſes concerning the nature of faith, the power and practiſe of Religion. Amongſt which, this would not hauehave beene of the leaſt note, if the Author himſelfe had liued to finiſh it: A continuation and perfecting whereof I cannot hope for from others, much leſſe dare I preſume to attempt it my ſelfe, as euer loathing that ſoloeciſme,
Hor. Art. Poet.
—vt turpitèr atrum
Deſinat in piſcem mulier formoſa ſupernè.
Take therfore theſe Sermons as they were deliuered and left by him: What is done in them I had rather ſhould appeare to thy iudgement in the ſerious reading, then from my opinion of them: onelyonly let mee intreate thee to read them with the ſame ſpirit they were written (for that's the way to profit by other mens works) and content not thy ſelfe to trifle away ſome odde houre in thē, but reſerue them to ſome of thy moſt retired thoughts and ſeuereſt meditations, ſo maiſt thou by Gods bleſsing finde ſomething to ſtrengthen the aſſurances of thy hopes by Christ, and to encreaſe thy future care and louelove to ſincerity. In which reſpests, if they profit any into whoſe hands they come, I ſhall leſse blame the importunity of ſome who for that cauſe earneſtly deſired them, and the leſse regard the cenſure of others, who may haply miſlike the publiſhing of them. As his conuerſation was ſweet, ſo is his memory pretious, to mee as to any other: Neither can I thinke it any way ſtained by the ſeruice of louelove, wherein I choſe rather to giuegive life to ſome things of His, than that all ſhould die with him. All the good bee thine, and all the Glory, Gods. Farewell.
Thine in the trueſt Bond. W. LYFORD.