yea, we choose to buy such kind of matter to work upon, as will, if
wrought up to what we intend, cast that lustre that we desire.

Candles that burn not bright, we like not: wood that is green will
rather smother, and sputter, and smoke, and crack, and flounce, than
cast a brave light and a pleasant heat: wherefore great folks care
not much, not so much for such kind of things, as for them that will
better answer their ends.

Hence Christ desires the biggest sinner; in him there is matter to
work by, to wit, a great deal of sin; for as by the tallow of the
candle, the fire takes occasion to burn the brighter; so by the sin
of the soul, grace takes occasion to shine the clearer. Little
candles shine but little, for there wanteth matter for the fire to
work upon; but in the great sinner, here is more matter for grace to
work by. Faith shines, when it worketh towards Christ, through the
sides of many and great transgressors, and so does love, for that
much is forgiven. And what matter can be found in the soul for
humility to work by so well, as by a sight that I have been and am an
abominable sinner? And the same is to be said of patience, meekness,
gentleness, self-denial, or of any other grace. Grace takes occasion
by the vileness of the man to shine the more; even as by the
ruggedness of a very strong distemper or disease, the virtue of the
medicine is best made manifest. Where sin abounds, grace much more
abounds; Rom. v. 20. A black string makes the neck look whiter;
great sins make grace burn clear. Some say, when grace and a good
nature meet together, they do make shining Christians: but I say,
when grace and a great sinner meet, and when grace shall subdue that
great sinner to itself, and shall operate after its kind in the soul
of that great sinner, then we have a shining Christian; witness all