y cares. 3. Away with thy falsehood,
thy pride, vanity, &c. Away with thy corn, wine and oil, and come to
Christ, and He shall lift up His countenance upon thee. The Lord give
thee a blink of that, and then thou wilt come hopping with all thy
speed, like unto old Jacob, when he saw the angels ascending and
descending, then he ran fast, albeit he was tired, and had got a hard
bed, and a far harder bolster the night before, yet he got a glorious
sight, and his legs were soupled with consolation, which made him run.
Lord blink upon thy lazy soul with His amiable countenance, and then
thou shalt rise and run, and thy fainting heart will receive strength,
when the Lord puts in His hand by the key-hole of the door, and leaves
drops of myrrh behind Him, then a sleepy bride will rise and seek her
Beloved. But to our point.

Marriage is lawful, merchandise is lawful, husbandry is lawful, but
never one of these is lawful when they hinder thee from the Lord.
Neither credit, pleasure, preferment, houses nor lands are lawful, when
they hinder thee from the Lord's sweet presence. Jerome said well,
"Though my old father were hanging about my neck, and my sweet mother
had me in her arms, and all my dear children were sticking about me, yet
when my Lord Jesus called upon me, I would cast off my old father, and
throw my sweet mother under foot, and throw away all my dear children,
and run away to my Lord Jesus." Lord grant, my beloved, that what ye
have heard of Christ may sink in your souls: and when ye have seen poor
things running here and there, to get a prayer here, and a prayer there,
and ye wonder what they are seeking, they are seeking their Beloved; and
if ye ask, "What is their Beloved more than another?" They will answer,
my Beloved is the fairest and trimmest, and the highest and honourablest
in the world; He has the sweetest eyes, the sweetest cheeks, the
sweetest lips, and trimmest legs and arms, "yea He is altogether
lovely;" and then they will be made to cry out, "O thou fairest among
women, tell us whither is thy Beloved gone, that we may seek Him with
thee?" O if we knew Him! Lord work upon you the knowledge of Him. O what
a business would you make to be at Him! Lord grant that our ministry may
leave a stamp upon your hearts. Then had we gotten a rich purchase.
Would to God ye were like that marquis in Italy, who fled from thence to
Geneva, being persecuted by the Jesuits; and when they followed him, and
offered him sum