THOSE things which are excellent, and beneficiall in their vse, are dangerous in their miscariage: It were lost labour for me to perswade you how good riches are: your paines and your cares [Page 2] are sufficient proofes of your estimation; And how deadly the abuse of them is, many a soule feeles that cannot returne to complaine; There is nothing more necessarie therefore, for a Christian heart, than to be recti­fied in the menaging of a pro­sperous estate; and to learne so to be happy here, that it may be more happy hereafter; A taske which this Text of ours vnder­takes, and (if yee be not wanting to it and your selues) will be sure to performe: What should I neede to intreat your attention (Right Honorable, right Wor­shipfull, and beloued) to a busi­nes so neerely concerning you? The errand is Gods; the vse of it yours.

[Page 3] I neuer held it safe to pull Scripture in peeces: These words fall alone into their parts. Timothy is set vpon the spirituall Bench, and must giue the charge. A charge, to whom? Of what? To whom? To the rich: Of what? what they must auoide, what they must indeuour: What must they auoide? Hy-minded­nesse, & Trust in wealth: What are the duties they must labour vnto? Confidence in God; Be­neficence to men: And euery one of these is backed with a reason to inforce it: Why should they not be hy-minded? Their wealth is but in this world; Why should they not trust in Riches? They are vncertaine. [Page 4] Why should they trust in God? He is a liuing God, and a liberall God: Why should they extend their beneficence to men? By this they lay vp to themselues a sure foundation: Here is worke enough you see for my dis­course, and your practise: The God of heauen blesse it in both our hands.

Charge hath (Ianus-like) a dou­ble aspect; Charge one that lookes vp to S. Paul, the other that lookes downe to Timothy, and from him, to the rich: In the first there is Apostolicall superiority; for ( [...]) Charge thou, referres to [...] verse 13. I Charge thee; so Paul charges Timothy to charge the rich; He that giues [Page 5] the Charge, if he be not the cheife of the Bench, yet hee is greater than the Iurie; The first foundation of the Church is laid in an inequalitie; and hath euer since so continued; There can be no harmonie where all the strings or voices are of one tenour; In the latter, as it looks on Timothy, it carries in it Episco­pall power, Euangelicall suffi­ciencie: Episcopall power; for this Charge is by the vulgar turn'd, and the Translation of the Syriac, Praecipe, command; and so doe we translate it in the first of this Epistle, and the third verse; Timothy was left at Ephesus ( [...]) to command.

The rich are commonly great; [Page 6] Nobilitie in the account of God is ioyned with wealth; Curse not the King in thy thought, nor the Rich in thy Bed-chamber, saith Salomon; so Diues at whose gates Lazarus lay is by some no meane ones guessed to be Herod, Maldona [...] could incline to that. in locum. or some other King; and so are Iobs freinds termd by the seuenty▪ Yea the rich is not onely a litle King amongst his neighbours, but Diues, quasi Diuus; as a petty God to his vnderlings, and yet euen the rich man that (as Salo­mon notes) speakes with com­mand vnto others, he must be spoken to with command. Com­mand the rich. That foolish shaueling soared too hye a pitch, when in his imperious Bull he [Page 7] mands the Angels: Francis of Assise and hee, were both of a Diet; But we may safely say that all powers below the Angels, are liable to our spirituall Charge; and this Command implies obe­dience; Els, to what purpose doe we command and go with­out? Christ gaue vs the keyes; (for that which the Romanists would plead out of Origen, of Cla­ues coeli, The keyes of heauen to the rest, and Claues coelorum, The keyes of the heauens to Peter is a distin­ction without a difference); What becomes of them? That I may not say on some of our hands they are suffered to rust for want of vse; on others, (as the Pontificians) the wards are [Page 8] altered, so as they can neither open nor shut; Sure I am that (if they be not lost on our be­halfe whether in dis-vse, or abuse) the power of them is lost in the hearts of many: They haue secret pick-locks of their owne making, Presumption and securitie, wherby they can open heauen gates though double locked by our censures, and shut the gates of hell at pleasure, which their owne sinnes haue opened wide to receiue them; What vse is there of vs, but in our chayre? and there, but to be heard, and seene? Euen in this sense spectaculo facti sumus; we are to gaze on, not to imploy: Now yee are full, now yee are [Page 9] rich, yee raigne as Kings with­out vs; we are weake, yee are strong; yee are honorable, but wee are despised; It was well noted by one, that the good fa­ther of the prodigall, though he might himselfe haue brought forth the prime robe; or haue led his sonne into his wardrobe to take it, yet he commands his seruants to bring it forth (Pro­ferte stolam) because he would bring meanes into credit; be­cause he would haue his sonnes beholden to his seruants for their glory. It is a bold word, but a true one, Yee shall neuer weare the long white robe, vn­lesse his seruants your ministers bring it, and put it on. He that [Page 10] can saue you without vs, will not saue you but by vs: He hath not tyed himselfe to meanes, man he hath; He could create you immediatly to himselfe, but hee will haue you begotten by the immortall seed of your spiri­tuall fathers: Woe be to you therefore, if our word haue lost the power of it in you: you haue lost your right in heauen: Let vs neuer come there if you can come thither ordinarily without vs. The words of the wife (saith Salomon) are like goades, like nayles; But if these goades light vpon the skin of a Leuiathan, who esteemes yron as straw, and brasse as rotten wood; If these nayles meete [Page 11] with yron, or marble in their driuing, that they turne againe; What shall we say but our Gospell is hid to them that perish; and woe vnto your soules, Es. 3. 9. for yee haue rewar­ded euill to your selues.

Hitherto the power implyed in this charge; the sufficiencie followeth: This Euangelicus must be parangelicus; Like as the fore-runner of Christ had a charge for all sorts, so must his followers; So hath Timothy in this Epistle, A charge for wiues, for Bishops, for Deacons, for widdowes, for seruants, and here for the rich; He must charge; and how shall he charge, if hee haue neither shot nor powder? It is no brag to say that no Na­tion [Page 12] vnder heauen since the Gospell lookt forth into the world, euer had so many, so learned teachers as this ILAND hath at this day. Hierom said of old to his Paulinus, De Hierosôly­mis & de Britannia aequaliter patet aula coelestis; Heauen is as open in Britayne as in Hierusalem; It holds well if you take it for a prophe­ticall comparison betwixt Ierusa­lem as it had beene, and Britayne as it should be: Ierusalem the type of Gods Church vpon earth, in the glory of all her legall mag­nificence was neuer more blessed, then this Church of ours: For the Northerne part of it beyond the Twede, we saw not, we heard not of a Congregation [Page 13] (whereof indeed there is not so great frequence) without a preaching Minister; Somewhat aboue eight hundred. and though their maintenance hath beene generally but small, yet their paines haue been great, and their successe sutable: And now late­ly, his sacred Maiestie in his last yeares iourney (as if the sunne did out of compassion goe be­yond his Tropick line, to giue heate vnto the Northerne cli­mate) hath so ordered it, that their meanes shall be answerable to their labours; so as both Pa­stors and people professe them­selues mutually blessed in ech other; and blesse GOD and their KING for this blessednes: As for the learning and suffici­encie [Page 14] of those Teachers (whe­ther Prelates or Presbyters) our eares were for some of them sufficient witnesses, and wee are not worthy of our eares, if our tongues do not thankfully pro­claime it to the world. As for this Southerne part, when I cōsi­der the face of our Church in an vniuersalitie, mee thinks I see the firmament in a cleare night, be­spangled with goodly starres of all magnitudes, that yeeld a plea­sing diuersitie of light vnto the earth; But withall, through the incōparable multitude of Cures, and the incompetent prouision of some, we cannot but see some of our people (especially in the vtmost skirts) like to those [Page 15] that liue vnder the Southerne pole, where the stars are thinner set; & some stars there are in our Hemisphere, like those litle spar­kles in the Galaxy, or Milky cir­cle, wherein yee can scarse dis­cerne any light; The desire of our hearts must be that euery Con­gregatiō, euery soule might haue a Timothie to deliuer the charge of God powerfully vnto it; euen with S. Pauls change of note; That euery one which hath a charge were ( [...]) able to giue the charge; and euery hearer ( [...]) ready to take it: Wherein I cannot but thankful­ly congratulate the happines of this famous Citie, which if in other riches it equalize the best, [Page 16] I am sure in this it exceeds all. There is not a Citie vnder the cope of heauen so wealthy in the spirituall prouision; yea there are whole countreyes in Chri­stendome, that haue not so ma­ny learned Preachers, as are within these walls and liberties; Heare this, yee Citizens, and be not proud, but thankful; Others may exceede you in the glory of outward structure, in the large­nesse of extent, in the vniforme proportion of streets, or orna­ments of Temples, but your pul­pits do surpasse theirs; & if prea­ching can lift vp Cities vnto heauen, yee are not vpon earth; Happy is it for you if yee be as well fed as taught, and woe be [Page 17] to you if you do not thinke your selues happy.

Charge then, The Rich▪ but whom? The rich: Man that came naked out of the wombe of the earth, was euen then so rich, that all things were his; Heauen was his roofe or Canopy, earth his floore, the sea his pond, the Sun and Moone his torches, all crea­tures his vassals: And if he lost the fulnes of this lordship by be­ing a slaue to sinne, yet we haue still Dominium gratificum, as Gerson termes it; Euery sonne of Abra­ham is heire of the world: Rom. 4. 13. But to make vp the true reputation of wealth (for thus, we may be as hauing all things, and posses­sing nothing) another right is [Page 18] required besides spirituall, which is a ciuill and humane right; wherein I doubt not but our learned Wiclef, and the fa­mous Archbishop of Armach, and the more famous Chancelor of Paris (three renowmed Di­uines of England, France, and Ire­land haue had much wrong, whiles they are accused to teach, that men in these earthly things haue no tenure but grace, no ti­tle but Charitie: Titulū Cha­ritatis Dom. à Soto de Iustitia & Iure. which questi­onlesse they intended in foro inte­riori, in the Consistory of God, not in the Common-pleas of men; in the Courts, not of Law, but of Conscience; in which onely it may fall out, that the Ciuill owner may be a spirituall [Page 19] vsurper, and the spirituall owner may be a ciuill begger. God frames his language to ours, and speaking according to that Ius Gentium, whereon the diuision of these earthly possessions are grounded, hee calls some Rich, others, poore: Those hereticks which called themselues Apo­stolique (as some body doth now at Rome) before the time of Epiphanius & Augustine, which taught the vnlawfulnes of all earthly proprieties; seconded in Austens time, by our country-man Pelagius, and in our times by some of the illuminate Elders of Munster; are not worth con­futation; or, if they were, our Apostle hath done it to our [Page 20] hands, in this one word, Rich; for there can be neither Rich nor poore in a communitie; Neither doth he say, Charge men that they be not rich, but Charge the rich that they be not hye-minded.

With these, let vs couple our ig­norant Votaries, that place holi­nesse in want; with whom, their very crosses cannot deliuer their coyne from sinne; which, to make good the old rule, that it is better to giue then to receiue, giue all they haue away at once, for but a licence to begge for euer. Did these men euer heare that the Blessing of God maketh rich? That the wings of riches carry them vp to heauen? That the crowne of the wise is their [Page 21] wealth? Doe they not know that if Lazarus were poore, yet Abraham was rich, and Pium pau­perem suscepit sinus diuitis; It was the happines of poore Lazarus that he was lodged in the bo­some of rich Abraham. I am no whit afraid, (ô yee rich Citi­zens) least this paradoxe of our holy Mendicants shall make you out of loue with your wealth; I feare some of you would be rich, though ye might not; Now wee tell you from him, whose title is Rich in mercy, that yee may be at once Rich and holy; In diuitijs cupiditatem reprehendit, non facultatem saith Au­sten: It is a true word of the sonne of Sirach, which I would [Page 22] haue you carry home with you, and write it as a fit Motto, in your Counting-house; Bona est substantia, si non sit peccatum in con­scientia; Substance doth well in the hand, if there be not euill in the heart. Ecclesiasticus 13. 25.

Charge the Rich; Who are they? There is nothing wherein is greater mesprison. One man in a Laodicean conceitednes thinks himselfe rich, when he hath nothing; Another, in a couetous humor thinks he hath nothing, when he is rich; and how easie is it for another man to mistake vs, if we may thus easily mistake our selues? I feare some of you are like the Page­ants of your great solemnities, [Page 23] wherein there is the show of a solid body, whether of a Lyon, or Elephant, or Vnicorne, but if they be curiously look't into, there is nothing but cloth, and sticks, and ayre; Others of you contrarily are like a dissembling Couent, that professes pouerty, & purchases Lordships; The very same did Salomon obserue in his time, in the great Burgomasters of Ierusalem Pro. 13. 7. For the auoyding of both extremes, let vs inquire who is rich. And tho greatnes and riches be in the ranke of those things, which are held to haue no absolute deter­mination, but consist rather in respect & comparison (for a rich Farmer is yet poore to a rich [Page 24] Merchant, and a rich Merchant is but poore to a Prince, and he to some great Emperor; That great Mammonist would say he is rich that can maintaine an Armie, a poore man would say according to that Italian inscri­ption, He is rich that wants not bread); Yet certainly there are certaine generall stakes and bounds, which diuide betwixt pouerty and competence, be­twixt competency and wealth; As there were variety of shekels among the Iewes, yet there was one shekell of the Sanctuarie that varied not; Who then is rich? I must giue you a double answer; One will not serue; The one according to true moralitie, [Page 25] the other according to vulgar vse: In the first he is rich that hath enough, whether the world thinke so or not; Euen Esau tho he were poore in grace, yet in estate he was rich, I haue enough my brother; And he that said, Soule thou hast goods enow for many yeares, was almost so; It was not his fault that he thought he had enough, but that he meant to lye downe, and wallow in it. A mans wealth or pouertie is most-what in himselfe; And though nature haue professed to read vnto heathen men this lesson of wise moderation, yet it hath beene seldome seene that any thing but true piety, hath taught them to take it out; God­linesse [Page 26] is great gaine with contentment: Victus & vestitus diuitiae Christiano­rum, saith Hierom: Food and rayment are the Christians wealth; Those men therefore, which are still in the horse leeches note, sucking and cra­uing; which like Pharaohs leane kine are euer feeding, and neuer the fatter, are as farre from true wealth, as they would be from pouertie, and further I am sure they cannot be, and not further from wealth then godlinesse; Hauing is the measure of out­ward wealth, but it is thinking that must measure the inward; thoughts, I say, of contentment, cheerefullnes, and thankfulnes, which if yee want, it is not either [Page 27] or both the Indyes that can make you rich.

In the latter, he is rich that hath more then enough, whe­ther he thinke so or no▪ He that hath the possession (whe­ther ciuill, or naturall) of more then necessarie: Now if neces­sarie and superfluous seeme as hard to define as rich; know there are iust limits for both the [...] Superfluous is defined by necessarie; for what is [...] necessarie, is superfluous: There is then a double necessarie; One of nature, the other of estate: That is necessarie to nature without which we cannot liue, that to estate, without which we cannot liue well: That is ne­cessarie [Page 28] to estate, which were su­perfluous to nature; and that which were superfluous to na­ture, is not so much as necessary to estate; Nature goes single, and beares litle breadth; Estate goes euer with a traine; The necessitie of nature admits litle difference, especially for quanti­ties; the necessitie of estate re­quires as many diuersities, as there are seuerall degrees of hu­mane conditions, and seuerall circumstances in those degrees. Iustly therefore doe the Schole­men and Casuists teach, that this necessarie to the decencie of estate doth not confist in puncto indiuiduo, but hath much latitude; That is necessarie to scarlet, [Page 29] which to russet were superflu­ous; that is but necessarie to a Nobleman, which to an Esquire were superfluous; That were [...]pe [...]fluous to a Pere, which to a Prince is but necessary: That is necessary to the father of a fami­lie, which to a single man were superfluous: Neither doth this necessitie looke onely to the pre­sent, but to the future; not to what may be (which were an endlesse prospect) but to what must be, the mariage of a daugh­ter, the education of a sonne, the honest prouision for poste­ritie: He that in a iust estimate can goe beyond the bounds of this necessary, enters into the superfluous estate, and may [Page 30] well passe with the world for rich.

Such a one is rich; let him looke how he became so: That God which can allow you to be rich, will not allow you alwaies to your wealth: He hath set vp a golden goale, to which hee allowes you all to runne, but yee must keepe the beaten rode of honestie, iustice, charity, and truth; if yee will leaue this path, and will be crossing ouer a shorter cut through by-wayes of your owne, yee may be rich with a vengeance. The heathen Poet (one of them whom S. Paul cited) could obserue ( [...]) which Salomon tran­slates to vs Prou. 28. 20. Menander. He that [Page 31] makes hast to be rich shall not be inno­cent. If you haue filled your bags with fraud, vsury, extor­tion, this gaine may be hony in your mouth, but it will be gra­uell in your throat, and poyson in your soule: There are some meanes of wealth in an ill name, as those two trusty seruants of Mammon, vse and brocage; there are others as bad as they, litle said to: Since I speake to Citizens, let mee be bold to say, there is not so errand vsury in letting of money, as in sale of wares. This oppression is both more, & more vniuersall. There are two maximes that doe vsu­ally mis-lead men of Trafique, all the world ouer; The one i, [Page 32] Res valet quanti vendi potest, A thing is worth what it may be sold for; The other, Caueat em­ptor, At the buyers perill: The one is in regard of the price, the other in regard of the qualitie of the wares. In the first, whereas our Casuists haue set three prices, low, meane, rigorous, they super adde a fourth, exces­siue; and thinke they may law­fully get what they can: Where­as they shall once finde, that as the rigorous price is a straine of charity, so the excessiue is a vio­lation of iustice; neither doth this gaine differ ought from theft, but that it is honested by a faire cozenage. In the second; It matters not how defectiue the [Page 33] measure be, how vicious the substance, how false the kinde, let this be the buyers care; No man is bound to buy, no man can do wrong to himselfe; Such wares must be put off, (perhaps not to customers) with conceal­ment of faults, if not with pro­testations of faultlesnes. In Sa­lomons time, It is naught, it is naught said the buyer, & when he was gone apart, he boasted; But now, It is good, it is good, saith the seller, and when the buyer is gone, he boa­steth of his deceit. Let mee ap­peale to your bosomes, if these two, Excesse of price, and Defi­ciency of worth haue not beene the most seruiceable factors to bring in some of your wealth; [Page 34] And let me tell you, if these be guilty of your gaines, you may mis-name your trades, Myste­ries, but sure these tricks are my­steries of iniquitie. It were en­uious and infinite to arraigne the seuerall sciences of their a­dulteration and fraud; let mee rather shut them all vp together in that fearefull sentence of wise Salomon, Pro. 21. 6, Vhe gathering of treasures by a deceitfull tongue, is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seeke death: and (if yee please) read on in the next verse, 7. The robbery of the wic­ked shall destroy them. Search your chests, search your hearts (ô all yee that heare me this day) and if any of you finde any of this adulterine gold amongst [Page 35] your heapes, away with it, as ye loue your selues, away with it; Else know that (as Chrysostome wittily) yee haue lockt vp a theefe in your counting-house, which will carry away all, and if yee looke not to it the sooner, your soules with it.

Rich, In this world, I [...] this world. not Of it. As S. Iohn distinguisheth of being in the Church, and being of it, so doth S. Paul of the world; Those are the rich of the world which are worldlings in heart, as well as in estate; Those are rich in the world, whose estate is below, whose hearts are aboue: The rich of the world are in it, but the rich in the world are not of it: Maruell not there should [Page 36] be so much difference in litle particles; The time was when this very difference of [...], and [...], set the the whole world toge­ther by the eares in the contro­uersie of Eutyches, and Dioscorus; and here, you see there is no lesse distance betweene them, then betwixt heauen and earth: If Timothy, or S. Paul either, should haue charged the rich of the world hee had charmed a deafe adder; Yea perhaps euen with this charge (like a rustie or ill-wrought peece) they had re­coyled in his face with those Athenians, What will this babler say? The Prophet is a foole, the spirituall man is mad, as they say in the Pro­phet: There is no good to be [Page 37] done on a worldly heart; it is both hard and cold; Let the Smith strike a barre new-come out of the fire (though it be yron) it bowes, let him strike on his anvile neuer so long, there is no impression, but rather a rebound of the stroke: The maker of all hearts tells vs, that the vnregenerate man hath Cor lapideum, an heart of stone, and to what purpose do we with our venerable Countryman preach to an heape of stones? Will yee haue the reason why we preach our selues hoarse and dead, and preuaile not? The world is in mens eares, the world is in their hearts; and they are not in the world, but of it; and there can [Page 38] be nothing in them that are of the world, but that which is en­mitie to God; and that which God repayes with enmity, so as there is no way for them but pe­rishing with the world: It is for those onely whose hearts are not in their bags, to receiue the charge from God for their wealth, and to returne glory to him by it: To these (whereof I hope here are many before mee) must Timothies charge, and my speech be directed: Let these heare their condition first, and then their dutie: Their condi­tion, They are rich, but In this world; For distinction, for limitation; one implyes the estate of their riches, the other the time.

[Page 39] Their estate, as learned Beza, that they are but worldly riches. The very word imports that there are other riches, not of the world; as Austen distinguishes of Pauper in animo, and in sacculo; poore in minde, and in purse; so may we of the rich: There is a spirituall wealth, as well as a se­cular; and so true and precious is the spirituall, that the secular wealth is but starke beggery to it; This outward wealth is in acres of earth, in the bowels of the earth, the fruits of the earth, beasts of the earth; and all of it is valued by peeces of earth, and one mouth-full of earth makes an end of all; Who knowes not that Earth is the basest peece of [Page 40] the world, and yet earth is at the end of all these riches, and all of them end in the earth: See what it is that the world dotes and dreames of (for these earth­ly hopes, as the diuine Philoso­pher said, are but dreames of the waking) euen Nebuchadnezzars image, a composition of met­tals, and the foote of all is clay. Earthly men tread vpon their felicitie, and yet haue not the wit to contemne it and to seeke a better, which is the spirituall wealth; the cabinet whereof is the soule, and the treasure in it, God himselfe. Oh happy reso­lution of that blessed Father, Austen. Omnis mihi copia, quae Deus meus non est, egestas est, All wealth besides [Page 41] my God, is penury. Ambiant ter­rena, saith another, Let the Gen­tiles seeke after earthly things which haue no right to heauen­ly, let them desire the present, which beleeue not the future; The Christians wealth is his Sa­uiour, and how can he com­plaine of measure that hath the author of all? What should I need to say more of the Chri­stian heart, He is rich in God; and therefore well may he sing that contented ditty of the Psalmist, Funes ceciderunt mihi in praeclaris, My lot is falne in a good ground, and I haue a goodly heritage: Oh that it could be our ambition that Na­zianzen reports of his Philagrius, lutum contemnere, to scorne this [Page 42] base and (pardon an homely word) dirty God of the world, and to aspire vnto the true riches; and when Satan shall offer to greaze vs in the fist to remit but a litle of the rigor of a good conscience, we could cast it in his face with S. Peters indi­gnation, Thy gold and thy siluer pe­rish with thee.

The estate of wealth is not more described by this world, then the time; For ( world. [...]) when it is absolutely spoken, be, as the Philosopher ( euer-being [...]) yet when it is restrained with a ( Now. [...]) it is scarce a time; and at the most, is turned iustly seculum à sequendo, as Isidore. [...] Like as the same word in the Hebrew that signifies [Page 43] eternitie, at other times signifies but fifty yeares, the compasse of a Iubilee; So as ( [...]) is but the space of humane life, which how short soeuer, is the vtmost extent of the vse of worldly riches. Wealth is like vnto words, by imposition, not na­turall; for commodities are as they are commonly valued; we know bracelets of glasse, and copper chaines, and litle bells, and such like trifles are good merchandise somwhere, though contemptible with vs; and those things which the Indians regard not, Europe holds preci­ous: What are coynes where their vse and valuation ceases? The Patars, and Souses, and De­niers, [Page 44] and Quart-d'escus that are currant beyond the water, serue but for counters to vs: Thus it is with all our wealth: Consi­der I beseech you that all our Crownes, and Soueraynes, and Peeces, and halfe-peeces, and Duckets, and double Duckets are currant but to the brim of the graue, there they cease; and we iustly laugh at the folly of those Easterne pagans, which put coyne into the dead mans hand for his prouision in an­other world: What should we doe therefore, if we will be pro­uident trauelers, but make ouer our money here, to receiue it by exchange in the world to come; It is our Sauiours counsell, Make [Page 45] you friends of the vnrighteous Mam­mon, that they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations: And as a Father sayes sweetly, If yee will be wise merchants, thrifty and happy vsurers, part with that which yee can­not keepe, that you may gaine that which yee cannot loose; Which that yee may do, both in preparation of minde, and (when neede is) in a charitable abdication, har­ken to the Duties which GOD layes vpon you. The remouall of euill must make roome for good; First therefore our Apo­stle would haue our hearts clea­red of euill dispositions, then setled in good: The euill dispo­sitions that doe commonly at­tend wealth, are Pride and Mis­confidence: [Page 46] Against these our Apostle bendeth his charge; That they be not hye-minded; That they trust not in vncertaine riches.

For the first; That they bee not [...]ye-min­ [...]ed. It is strange to see how this earthly drosse, which is of it selfe heauy, and therfore naturally sinks downe­ward, should raise vp the heart of man; and yet it commonly carries a man vp, euen to a dou­ble pitch of Pride, one aboue others, the other aboue himselfe, Aboue others in contempt, a­boue himselfe in ouer-weening; The poore and proud is the Wise-mans monster, but the proud and rich are no newes: It is against all reason that met­tals should make difference of [Page 47] reasonable men, of Christians; for as that wise Law-giuer said, Theodericus refer. Cassi­odore. A free man can be valued at no price; Yet Salomon noted in his time, The rich rules the poore; not the wise; and Siracides in his, The rich speaks proudly, and what fellow is this? and S. Iames in his, The man with the gold ring lookes to sit hyest. And not to cast backe our eyes, Doe yee not see it thus in our times? If a man be but worth a foot-cloth, how big hee lookes on the inferior passengers? and if he haue pur­chased a litle more land, or title then his neighbours, you shall see it in his garbe; If he com­mand, it is imperiously, with sirrah, and fellow; If he salute, [Page 48] it is ouerly, with a surly and si­lent nod; if he speake, it is ora­cles; if hee walke, it is with a grace; if he controll, it is in the killing accent; if he intertaine, it is with insolence, and whatso­euer he doth, he is not as he was, nor, as the Pharisee sayes, like other men. He looks vpon vul­gar men, as if they were made to serue him, and should thinke themselues happy to be com­manded; and if he be crossed a litle, he swells like the sea in a storme; Let it be by his equall, he cares more for an affront, then for death, or hell; Let it by his inferiour, (although in a iust cause) that man shall be sure to be crusht to death for his pre­sumption: [Page 49] And alas when all is done, after these hye termes, all this is but a man, and (God knowes) a foolish one too, whom a litle earthly trash can affect so deeply.

Neither doth this pride raise a man more aboue others, then aboue himself; And what won­der is it if he will not know his poore neighbours, which hath forgotten himselfe? As Saul was changed to another man presently vpon his anointing, so are men vpon their aduance­ment; and according to our ordinary prouerbe, Their good and their bloud rises toge­ther; Now it may not be taken as it hath beene; Other cariage, [Page 50] other fashions are fit for them; Their attire, fare, retinue, houses, furniture displease them, new must be had; together with coa­ches, and lacquaies, and all the equipage of greatnes: These things (that no man mistake me) I mislike not; they are fit for those that are fit for them. Charity is not strait-laced, but yeelds much latitude to the law­full vse of indifferent things; (although it is one of Salomons vanities that seruants should ride on horse-backe, and he tells vs it becomes not a swine to be ringd with gold) but it is the heart that makes all these euill; when that is puft vp with these windy vanities, and hath learned [Page 51] to borrow that part of the De­uils speech, All these things are mine; and can say with him that was turnd into a beast, Is not this great Babel that I haue built, or with that other patterne of pride, I sit as a Queene, I am, and there is none beside me, now all these turne in­to sinne.

The bush that hangs out, showes what we may looke for within; Whither doth the conceit of a litle inheritance tran­sport the Gallants of our time? O God, what a world of vanity hast thou reserv'd vs to? I am asham'd to thinke that the Go­spell of Christ should be disgra­ced with such disguised clyents. Are they Christians, or Antickes [Page 52] in some Carnevale, or childrens puppets that are thus dressed? Pardon, I beseech you, men, bre­thren, and fathers, this my iust and holy impatience, that could neuer expresse it selfe in a more solemne assembly (although I perceiue those whom it most concernes, are not so deuout as to be present). Who can with­out indignation looke vpon the prodigyes, which this mis-ima­gination produces in that other sexe, to the shame of their hus­bands, the scorne of religion, the damnation of their own soules. Imagine one of our fore-fathers were aliue againe, and should see one of these his gay daugh­ters walke in Cheapside before [Page 53] him; what doe you thinke hee would thinke it were? Here is nothing to be seene but a ver­dingale, a yellow ruffe, and a periwig, with perhaps some fe­ther wauing in the top; three things for which he could not tell how to finde a name: Sure, he could not but stand amazed to thinke what new creature the times had yeelded since he was a man: And if then he should runne before her, to see if by the fore-side he might guesse what it were, when his eyes should meet with a poudred firzle, a painted hide shadowed with a fan not more painted, brests displayd, and a loose lock erring wantonly ouer her shoulders, [Page 54] betwixt a painted cloth, and skin, how would he yet more blesse himselfe to thinke, what mixture in nature could be guil­ty of such a monster. Is this (thinks he) the flesh and blood, is this the hayre, is this the shape of a woman? or hath nature repented of her worke since my daies, and begun a new frame? It is no maruell if their fore­fathers could not know them; God himselfe that made them, will neuer acknowledge that face he neuer made, the hayre that he neuer made theirs, the body that is asham'd of the ma­ker, the soule that thus disguises the body; Let me therefore say to these Dames, as Benet said [Page 55] to Totilaes seruant, Depone filia quod portas, quia non est tuum; Lay downe that yee weare, it is none of your owne: Let me perswade them (for that can worke most) that they do all this in their own wrong: All the world knowes that no man will rough cast a marble wall, but mud, or vnpo­lisht ragge: That beauty is like truth, neuer so glorious, as when it goes plainest; that false art in stead of mending nature, marres it: But if none of our perswa­sions can preuaile; Heare this yee garish popingayes of our time, if you will not be ashamed to cloth your selues in this shamelesse fashion, God shall cloth you with shame and con­fusion: [Page 56] Heare this, yee plaister­faced Iezebels, if you will not leaue your dawbing and your hye washes, God shall one day wash them off with fire and brimstone.

I grant, it is not wealth alone that is accessary to this pride; there are some that (with the Cynick, or that worse dog, the patch't Cistertian) are proud of raggs; there are others, that are rich of nothing but clothes, somewhat like to Nazianzens country of Ozizala, that aboun­ded in flowers, but was barren of corne; Their clothes are more worth then all the rest; as we vse to say of the Elder, that the flower of it, is more worth [Page 57] then all the tree besides; but if there be any other causes of our hye-mindednesse, wealth is one, which doth ordinarily lift vp our heads, aboue our selues, aboue others; and if there be here any of these empty blad­ders, that are pufft vp with the winde of conceit, giue me leaue to pricke them a litle; and first, let me tell them they may haue much, and be neuer the better; The chimnye ouer-lookes all the rest of the house, is it not (for all that) the very basest peece of the building? The very hea­then man could obserue ( [...] &c.) [...] &c. Arist. That God giues many a man wealth for their greater mischeife; As the Israelites were [Page 58] rich in Quailes, but their sawce was such, that famine had been better; litle cause had they to be proud that they were fed with meat of Princes, with the bread of Angels, whiles that which they put into their mouthes, God fetcht out of their nosthrils. Haman was proud that he alone was called to the honor of Esters feast, this advancement raysd him fifty cubits hyer, to a stately gibbet; If your wealth be to any of you an occasion of fal­ling, if your gold be turned into fetters, it had beene better for you to haue liued beggers. Let me tell them next, of the folly of this Pride; They are proud of that which is none of theirs. [Page 59] That which law, and case-diui­nitie speakes of life, that man is not dominus vitae suae sed custos, Sene [...]. is as true of wealth: Nature can tell him in the Philosopher, that hee is not Dominus but Colonus, not the Lord but the farmer: It is a iust obseruation of Philo, that God onely by a propriety is stiled the possessor of heauen and earth, by Melchisedech, in his speech to Abraham; Gen. 14. We are one­ly the Tenants, and that at the will of the Lord; At the most (if we will as Diuines) we haue ius ad rem, not dominium in rem, right to these earthly things, not lordship ouer them; but right of fauour from their proprie­tarie, and Lord in heauen, and [Page 60] that liable to an account: Doe wee not laugh at the groome that is proud of his Masters horse, or some vaine whiffler, that is proud of a borrowed chaine? So ridiculous are we to be pufft vp with that, whereof we must needs say, with the poore man, of the hatchet, Alas master it is but borrowed; and whereof our account shall be so much more great, and difficult, as our receit is more; Hath God therefore laded you with these earthly riches, be yee like vnto the full eare of corne, hange downe your heads in true hu­militie towards that earth from which you came: And if your stalke be so stiffe, that it beares [Page 61] vp aboue the rest of your ridge, looke vp to heauen, not in the thoughts of pride, but in the humble vowes of thankfulnes, and bee not hye-minded, but feare.

Hitherto of the hye-minded­nesse that followes wealth; And that they trust not Now where our pride is, there will be our confidence; As the wealthy therefore may not be proud of their riches, so they may not trust in them; What is this trust, but the setting of our hearts vpon them, the placing of our ioy and contentment in them; in a word, the making of them our best freind, our patron, our idoll, our God? This the true and ielous God cannot [Page 62] abide, and yet nothing is more ordinarie; The rich mans wealth is his strong Citie, saith Salomon, and where should a man thinke himselfe safe but in his fort? He sees Mammon can doe so much, and heares him talke of doing so much more, it is no maruell if he yeeld to trust him, Mammon is so proud a boaster, that his clients which beleeue in him, cannot choose but be con­fident of him; For what doth he not brag to do? Siluer answers to all, saith Salomon; That wee grant; although we would be loath it could answer to Truth, to iustice, to iudgment: But yet more, he vaunts to procure all, to pacifie all, to conquer all; He [Page 63] sayes he can procure all, secular offices, titles, dignities; yea (I would I might not say in some sacrilegious and periur'd wret­ches) the sacred promotions of the Church; and yee know that old song of the Pope, and his Roman trafique, Keyes, Altars, Christ. Claues, Altaria, Christum: Yea foolish Magus makes full account the Holy Ghost himselfe may be had for money: He sayes he can pacifie all; A gift in the bosome appeaseth wrath; yea he saies (looke to it yee that sit in the seates of iudi­cature) he can sometimes bribe off sins, and peruert iudgment: He saies he can ouercome all, ac­cording to the old Greeke verse, [...]. &c. Fight with siluer launces, and you can­not [Page 64] faile of victory; yea he would make vs beleeue he thought this a baite to catch the sonne of God himselfe withall (All these will I giue thee), breifly hee saies according to the French pro­uerbe, Siluer does all; And let me tell you indeed, what Mam­mon can doe; He can barre the gates of heauen, hee can open the gates of hell to the vnconsci­onable soule, and helpe his fol­lowers to damnation: This he can doe; but for other things, howsoeuer with vs men, the foolish Siluer-smiths may shout out, Great is Mammon of the worldlings, yet if we weigh his power aright, we shall conclude of Mammon (as Paracelsus doth [Page 65] of the Deuill) that he is a base and beggerly spirit: For what I beseech you, can he doe? Can he make a man honest? can he make him wise? can hee make him healthfull? Can he giue a man to liue more merrily, to feed more heartily, to sleep more quietly? Can hee buy off the gout, cares, death, much lesse the paines of another world? nay, doth he not bring all these? Goe to then, thou rich man; God is offended with thee, and meanes to plague thee with disease and death; Now try what thy bags can do; Begin first with God, & see whether thou canst bribe him with thy gifts, and buy off his displeasure; Wherewith shalt [Page 66] thou come before the Lord and bow thy selfe before the hye God? Micha 6. will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand riuers of oyle? The siluer is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts, Hag­gai 2. If that speed not, go to the sergeant of God, death; see if thou canst fee him, not to ar­rest thee; He lookes thee sterne­ly in the face, and tells thee with Ehud hee hath a message to thee from God; and bids thee with the Prophet set thine house in order, for thou must dye; Yet, if he heare thee not, goe to the vnder-bay­liffe of Death, disease, see if hee can bee wrought to forbeare thee; he answers thee with La­ban, This thing is proceeded of the [Page 67] Lord I cannot therefore say to thee euill or good. In summe, Disease will summon thee vnto death; Death will arrest thee to the iudgment seat of God, God will passe his doome vpon thee, and in all these Riches auaile not in the day of wrath: And who would be so mad as to trust a freind that he knowes will be sure neuer to faile him, but when hee hath most neede? Take heede there­fore, as yee loue your soules, how yee bestow your Trust vpon riches; Yee may vse them, and serue your selues of them; yea yee may enioy them in a Chri­stian moderation; God will al­low it you: That praise which the Iesuites Colledge at Granado [Page 68] giues of their Sanchez, Collegium Granatense Praef. ad le­ctorem con­ [...]. vitam R. P. Tho. Sanchez. prae [...]. Operi Morali in praecepta Decal. that (though hee liued where they had a very sweet garden) yet he was neuer seene to touch a flower, and that he would ra­ther dye then eat salt, or pepper, or ought that might giue rellish to his meat; like as that of some other Monks, that they would not see the sunne, nor shift their clothes, nor cleanse their teeth, carries in it more superstition and austeritie and slouenry, then wit or grace: Wherefore hath God made his creatures but for vse? This niggardlines is iniu­rious to the bounty of their ma­ker; we may vse them, we may not trust to them; we may serue our selues of them, we may not [Page 69] serue them; we may inioy them, we may not ouer-ioy in them; So must wee be affected to our goods, C. Sol. Apol­lin. Sidon. Epist. de Theoder. as Theoderic the good King of Aquitayne, was with his play, In bonis iactibus tacet, in malis ridet, in neutris irascitur, in vtrisque philosophatur; In good casts hee was silent, in ill, merry; in nei­ther angry, a philosopher in both. But if we will be making our wealth a riuall vnto God, now the ielousie of God shall burne like fire; this is the way to bring a curse vpon our riches, and vs; If we leane vpon this reed, it shall breake, and runne into our hand; and he that tru­steth in riches shall fall. Prou. 11. 28.

[Page 70] Now as the disdainfull riuall will be sure to cast reproches vp­on his base competitor; In vncer­taine ri­ches. so doth God, that we may see how vn­worthy riches are of our trust, he tells vs they are vncertaine, [...]. yea vncertainty it selfe. Were our wealth tyed to our life, it were vncertaine enough; what is that but a flower, a vapor, a tale, a dreame, a shadow, a dreame of a shadow, a thought, as nothing? What are great men but like hail­stones, that leape vp on the Tiles, & straight fall downe againe, & lye still, & melt away? But now, as we are certaine that our riches determine with our vncertaine life (for goods and life are both in a bottom, both are cast away [Page 71] at once;) so we cannot be cer­taine they will hold so long; Our life flies hastily away, but many times our riches haue lon­ger wings, and out-flie it; It was a witty obseruation of Basil that wealth roles along by a man, [...]. &c. Basil. in Ps. 61. like as an heddy streame glides by the banks; Time will molder away the very banke it washeth, but the current stayes not for that, but speeds forward from one elbow of earth vnto another; so doth our wealth euen while wee stay, it is gone' In our penall lawes, there are more waies to forfait our goods, then our liues; On our hye waies, how many fauorable theeues take the purse, and saue [Page 72] the life? And generally, our life is the tree, our wealth is the leaues, or fruit; the tree stands still when the leaues are fallne, the fruit beaten downe; Yea many a one is like the Pine-tree, which (they say) if his barke be pulld off lasts long, else it rots; so doth many a man liue the longer for his losses; If there­fore life and wealth striue whe­ther is more vncertaine, wealth will sure carry it away. Iob was yesterday the richest man in the East; to day he is so needy that he is gone into a prouerb, As poore as Iob: Belisarius the great and famous Commander, to whom Rome owed her life twise at least, came to Date obolū Belisario; [Page 73] one halfe-penny to Belisarius. What do I instance? This is a point wherein many of you Ci­tizens, that are my auditors this day, might rather read a lecture vnto mee; You could tell mee how many you haue knowne, reputed in your phrase, good­men, which all on the sudden haue shut vp the shop win­dowes, & broken for thousands; You could reckon vp to mee a catalogue of them, whom either casualty of fire, or inundation of waters, or robbery of theeues, or negligence of seruants, or suretyship for frends, or ouer­sight of reckonings, or trusting of customers, or vnfaithfulnes of Factors, or inexpected falls [Page 74] of markets, or pyracie by sea, or vnskilfulnes of a pilot, or vio­lence of tempests haue brought to an hasty pouertie; and could tell mee that it is in the power of one gale of winde to make ma­ny of you either rich Merchants, or beggers: Oh miserable vn­certaintie of this earthly pelfe, that stands vpon so many ha­zards, yea that falls vnder them! who would trust it? who can dote vpon it? what mad­nesse is it in those men, which (as Menot sayes) like vnto hunters, that kill an horse of price, in the pursuit of an hare worth no­thing, indanger yea cast away their soules vpon this worthlesse and fickle trash. Glasses are plea­sing [Page 75] vessels, yet because of their brittlenesse, who esteemes them precious? All Salomons state was not comparable to one Tulip, his royall crowne was not like the Crowne Imperiall of our Gardens; and yet because these are but flowers, whose destinie is fading and burning, we regard them thereafter; No wise man bestowes much cost in painting mud-walls. What meane wee (my beloued) to spend our liues and hearts vpon these perishing treasures? It was a wise medita­tion of Nazianzen to his Asterius; that good is to no purpose if it continue not; yea there is no pleasant thing in the world, saith he, that hath so much ioy in the [Page 76] welcome, as it hath sorrow in the farewell: Looke therefore vpon these heapes, ô yee wise-hearted Citizens, with carelesse eyes, as those things whose par­ting is certaine, whose stay is vn­certaine; and say with that wor­thy father, By all my wealth, and glory, and greatnes this alone haue I gained, that I had some­thing to which I might preferre my Sauiour. And know that as Abraham whiles hee was in his owne country (it is Cyrills note) had neuer God appearing to him, saue onely to bid him goe forth, but after, when hee was gone forth, had frequent visions of his maker; So whiles in our affections wee remaine here be­low [Page 77] in our cofers, we cannot haue the comfortable assurances of the presence of God; but if we can abandon the loue and trust of these earthly things, in the conscience of our obedience, now God shall appeare to vs, and speake peace to our soules; and neuer shall we finde cause to repent vs of the change. Let me therefore conclude this point with that diuine charge of our Sauiour, Lay not vp for your selues treasures on earth, where mothe and rust doe corrupt, and theeues breake thorough and steale, but lay vp for your selues treasure in heauen.

Thus much of the negatiue part of our charge; Wherein we haue dwelt so long, that we may [Page 78] scarce soiourne in the other. Trust not, But (trust) in God. but Trust; The heart of man is so conscious of his owne weaknes, that it will not goe without a prop; and better a weake stay then none at all; Like as in matter of policie, the very state of Tyrannie is prefer­red to the want of a King; The same breath therefore that with­drawes one refuge from vs, sub­stitutes a better; and in steed of Riches, which is the false God of the world, commends to vs the True and liuing God of heauen and earth; Euen as some good Carpenter raises vp the studds, and in steed of a rotten ground­sell layes a sound; The same trust then must we giue to God, [Page 79] which which we may not giue to Riches; The obiect onely is changed, the act is not changed. Him must we esteeme aboue all things, to him must we looke vp in all, on him must we depend for all both protection, and pro­uision; from his goodnesse and mercy must wee acknowledge all, and in him must we delight with contempt of all; and this is to Trust in God. It was a sweet ditty of the Psalmist, which wee must all learne to sing, Bonum est considere in Domino, It is good to trust in the Lord: Good, in respect of him, and good for vs. For him, It is one of the best peeces of his glory, to be Trusted to: as, with vs, Io­seph [Page 80] holds Potiphar cannot doe him a greater honor, then in Trusting him with all; And his glory is so precious, that he can­not part with that to any crea­ture; All other things hee im­parts willingly, and reserues no­thing to himselfe but this: Be­ing, life, knowledge, happinesse are such blessings, as are emi­nently, originally, essentially in God, and yet, Being, he giues to all things, Life to many, Know­ledge to some kindes of crea­tures, happinesse to some of those kindes, as for Riches, he so giues them to his creature, [...]hat he keeps them not at all to himselfe; But as for his glory (whereof our trust is a part) hee [Page 81] will not indure it communica­ted to Angell, or man; not to the best guest in heauen, much lesse to the drosse of the earth; Whence is that curse not with­out an indignation, Cursed be the man trusts in man; that maketh flesh his arme, yea or spirit either, be­sides the God of spirits; Whom haue I in heauen but thee? Herein therefore we doe iustice to God, when wee giue him his owne, that is, his glory, our confi­dence.

But the greatest good is our owne; and God showes much more mercy to vs in allowing and inabling vs to trust him, then we can doe iustice in tru­sting him; For alas he could in [Page 82] his iust iudgment glorifie him­selfe in our not Trusting him, in taking vengeance of vs for not glorifying him: Our goodnes reaches not to him; but his goodnes reaches downe to vs in that our hearts are raised vp to confidence in him. For, what safety, what vnspeakable com­fort is there in Trusting to God? When our Sauiour in the last words of his diuine-Farewell-Sermon to his Disciples would perswade them to confidence, he sayes ( [...]): Joh. 16. vlt. and so doth the Angell to Paul in prison; a word that signifies Boldnes; implying that our confidence in God cau­seth Boldnes and courage; And what is there in all the world [Page 83] that can worke the heart to so comfortable and vnconquera­ble resolution as our reposall vpon God? The Lord is my trust, whom then can I feare? In the Lord put I my trust, how say yee then to my soule, flee hence as a bird to the hills? Yea how oft doth Dauid inferre vpon this Trust, a non confundar, I shall not be ashamed; And this case is generall, That they that put their trust in the Lord are as mount Sion that cannot be moued; Faith can remoue mountaines, but the mountaines that are raisd on faith, are vnremoueable. Here is a stay for you (ô yee wealthy and great) worthy of your trust; If yee were Monarchs on earth, or Angels in heauen, ye could be [Page 84] no way safe but in this trust; How easie is it for him to in­rich, or impouerish you, to hoyse you vp to the seats of ho­nor, or to spurne you downe? What mines, what Princes can raise you vp to wealth, against him, without him? He can bid the windes and seas fauour your vessels, he can bid them sinke in a calme. Prou. 22. The rich and the poore meet together, God is the maker of both; Yee may trade, and toyle, and carke, and spare, and put vp, and cast about, and at last sit you downe with a sigh of late repen­tance and say, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vaine that build it; It is in vaine to rise early, and lye downe late, and eat the bread of [Page 85] sorrow. Vnto how many of you may I say with the prophet Haggai, Yee haue sowen much, and bring in litle; Yee eat and haue not enough, yee drinke, but yee are not fil­led, yee cloth you, but yee be not warme; and he that earneth much, puts his gaines into a broken bagg. And whence is all this? Yee looked for much, and loe it came to litle; when yee brought it home I did blow vpon it, saith the Lord of hosts. Behold how easie a thing it is for the God of heauen to blast all your substance; yea not onely to di­minish, but to curse it vnto you, and to make you weary of it, and of your selues. Oh cast your selues therefore into those All­mighty hands, seeke him in [Page 86] whom onely you shall finde true rest and happines; Honor him with your substance, that hath honored you with it; Trust not in riches, but trust in GOD.

It is motiue enough to your Trust, that he is a God; all ar­guments are infolded in that one; yet this text giues you cer­taine explicit inforcements of this confidence; Euery one of these reasons (implying a secret kinde of disdainfull comparison betwixt the true God and the false) perswade you to trust in God; Riches are but for this world, the true God is Lord of the other, and begins his glory where the glory of the world [Page 87] ends: therefore Trust in him. Riches are vncertaine, the true GOD is Amen, the first and the last; euer like himselfe, therefore trust in him. Riches are but a liuelesse and senselesse mettall, the true God is a liuing God, therefore trust in him. Riches are but passiues in gift, they can­not bestow so much as them­selues, much lesse ought besides themselues, the true God giues you all things to enioy, therefore Trust in him; the two latter, because they are more directly stood vpon, and now fall into our way, require a further dis­course.

(El-chai) The liuing God, The li­uing. is an ancient and vsuall title to the [Page 88] Almighty; especially when he would disgrace an vnworthy riuall. As S. Paul in his speech to the Lystrians, opposes to their vaine Idols, the liuing GOD. Viuo ego, As I liue, is the oath of God for this purpose, as Hierom noteth, neither doe I remember any thing besides his holinesse, and his life that he sweares by: When Moses askt Gods name, he describ'd himselfe by, I AM; He is, he liues; and nothing is, nothing liues absolutely, but he; all other things by participation from him. In all other things, their life and they are two; but God is his owne life, and the life of God is no other then the li­uing God: And because he is [Page 89] his owne life, he is eternall; for (as Thomas argues truely against the Gentiles) Nothing ceases to be but by a separation of life, and nothing can be separated from it selfe; for euery separation is a diuision of one thing from an­other; Most iustly therefore is he which is absolute, simple, e­ternall in his being, called the liuing God: Although, not one­ly the life that he hath in him­selfe, but the life that he giues to his creatures challengeth a part in this title; A glimpse whereof perhaps the Heathen saw, when they call'd their Iupiter, ( [...]) from ( [...]) which signifies to liue: In him we liue (saith S. Paul to his Athenians). As light is [Page 90] from the Sunne, so is life from God, (which is the true soule of the world, and more; for with­out him it could not be so much as a carcasse; and spreads it selfe into all the animate creatures. Life (we say) is sweet; and so it is indeed; the most excellent and precious thing that is deriued from the common influence of God. There is nothing before life, but Being; and Being makes no distinction of things; for that can be nothing, that hath no Being; Life makes the first and greatest diuision; Those crea­tures therefore, which haue life, we esteeme farre beyond those, that haue it not, how noble soe­uer otherwise; Those things [Page 91] therefore which haue the perfi­test life must needs be the best; Needs then must it follow that he which is life it selfe, who is absolute, simple, eternall, the fountaine of all that life which is in the world, is most worthy of all the adoration, ioy, loue, and confidence of our hearts, and of the best improuement of that life which he hath giuen vs. Trust therefore in the liuing GOD. Couetousnes (the spirit of God tells vs) is Idolatry, or (as our old Translation turnes it) worshipping of Images. Euery stampe or impression in his coyne is to the couetous man a very Idoll; And what madnes is there in this Idolatry, to dote [Page 92] vpon a base creature, and to be­stow that life which wee haue from God, vpon a creature that hath no life in it selfe, and no price but from men: Let mee then perswade euery soule that heares me this day, as Iacob did his houshold, Put away the strange Gods that are among you, Gen. 35. [...]. & be cleane; and as S. Paul did his Lystrians; Oh turne away from these vanities vnto the liuing God.

The last attractiue of our Trust to God is his mercy, Who giues vs richly all things to enioy. and liberalitie; Who giues vs richly all things to enioy: A theme, wherein yee will grant it easie to leese our selues. First God not only hath all in himselfe, but he giues to vs, Hee giues, not somewhat [Page 93] (though a crust is more then we are worthy of) but all things. And not a litle of all, but richly; and all this, not to looke on, but to enioy; Euery word would require not a seuerall houre, but a life to meditate of it; and the tongue not of men, but Angels to expresse it. It is here with vs, as in a throng; wee can get nei­ther in nor out; But as we vse to say of Cares, so it shall be with our discourse, that the greatnes of it shall procure silence; and the more wee may say of this head, the lesse we will say: It shal content vs only to top these sheaues, since we cannot stand to thresh them out.

Whither can yee turne your [Page 94] eyes to looke beside the bounty of God? If yee looke vpward; His mercy reacheth to the hea­uens. If downeward; The earth is full of his goodnes, and so is the broad sea. If yee looke a­bout you; What is it that hee hath not giuen vs? Ayre to breath in, fire to warme vs, wa­ter to coole vs, clothes to couer vs, food to nourish vs, fruits to refresh vs, yea delicates to please vs; beasts to serue vs, Angels to attend vs, heauen to receiue vs, and which is aboue all, his owne Sonne to redeeme vs. Lastly, if yee looke into your selues; Hath he not giuen vs a soule to informe vs, senses to in­forme our soule, faculties to fur­nish [Page 95] that soule. Vnderstanding, the great survayer of the secrets of nature, and grace; Fantasie and Invention the master of the workes; Memory the great keeper or Master of the rolles of the soule, a power that can make amends for the speede of Time, in causing him to leaue behinde him those things, which else he would so carry away, as if they had not beene: Will, which is the Lord Paramount in the state of the soule, the com­mander of our actions; the ele­ctor of our resolutions. Iudge­ment, which is the great Coun­sellor of the will: Affections, which are the seruants of them both. A bodie fit to execute the [Page 96] charge of the soule, so wondrou­sly disposed, as that euery part hath best oportunitie to his own functions; so qualified with health arising frō proportion of humors that like a watch kept in good tune it goes right, and is fit to serue the soule, & maintaine it selfe. An estate that yeelds all due conueniences for both soule, and bodie; seasonable times, raine, & sun-shine; Peace in our borders; competency, if not plenty of all commodities, good lawes, religi­ous, wise, iust gouernors, happy and flourishing daies, and aboue all the liberty of the Gospel. Cast vp your bookes, ô ye Citizens, & sum vp your receits, I am decei'd if he that hath least shall not con­fesse [Page 97] his obligations infinite. There are three things especially wherein yee are beyond others, and must acknowledge your selues deeper in the bookes of God, then the rest of the world; Let the first be the cleare deliue­rance from that wofull iudge­ment of the Pestilence. Oh re­member those sorrowfull times, Aboue 30000 in one yeare. when euery moneth swept away thousands from among you; When a man could not set forth his foote but into the iawes of death; when piles of carcasses were carried to their pits as dung to the fields; when it was cru­elty in the sicke to admit visita­tion, and loue was litle better then murderous; And by how [Page 98] much more sad and horrible the face of those euill times looked, so much greater proclaime you the mercy of God, in this happy freedom which you now inioy; that you now throng together into Gods house without feare, and breath in one anothers face without danger: The second is the wonderfull plenty of all prouisions both spirituall and bodily; You are the Sea, all the riuers of the land run into you; Of the land? yea of the whole world, Sea and land conspire to inrich you. The third is the priuiledge of carefull gouern­ment; Your charters as they are large and strong, wherein the fa­uour of Princes hath made ex­ceptions [Page 99] from the generall rules of their municipall lawes, so your forme of administration is excellent, and the execution of Iustice exemplary, and such as might become the mother Citie of the whole earth. For all these you haue reason to aske, Quid retribuam with Dauid; What shall I render to the Lord for all his be­nefits? and to excite one another vnto thankfulnesse with that sweet singer of Israel, Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse: and (as beneficence is a binder) these fauors of God call for your confidence: What should you do but euer trust that God, whom you haue found so gracious? Let him be your God, [Page 100] be yee his people for euer; and let him make this free and open challenge to you all; If there be any power in heauen, or in earth that can doe more for you then he hath done let him haue your hearts and yourselues.

And thus from that dutie we owe to God in our confidence, and his beneficence to vs, we de­scend to that beneficence which we owe to men; expressed in the variety of foure Epithets, Doing good, That they doe good, and bee rich in good works. being rich in good workes, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; all to one sense; all is but benefi­cence: The scriptures of God least any Atheist should quarrell at this waste, haue not one word superfluous; Here is a redoubling [Page 101] of the same words without fault of Tautologie; a redou­bling of the same sense in diuers words, without idlenes. There is feruor in these repetitions, not loosenes; as it was wont for this cause to bee obserued both in Councels, and acclamations to Princes, how oft the same word was reiterated, that by the fre­quence they might iudge of the vehemence of affection. It were easie to instance in many of this kinde, as especially Exod. 25. 35. Psal. 89. 30. Ioh. 1. 20. and so ma­ny more, as that their mention could not be voide of that super­fluitie which we disclaime. This heape of words therfore showes the vehement intention of his [Page 102] desire of good workes, and the important necessitie of their per­formance; and the manner of this expression inforces no lesse, Charge the rich, that they do good, and be rich in doing good. Harken then yee rich men of the world; it is not left arbitrary to you, that you may doe good if you will, but it is laid vpon you as your charge and dutie; You must do good works, and woe be to you if you doe not. This is not a counsell, but a precept; Although I might say of God, as we vse to say of Princes, his will is his command; The same necessitie that there is of Trusting in God, the same is in Doing good to men. Let me sling this stone into the [Page 103] brazen forheads of our aduersa­ries, which in their shamelesse challenges of our religion dare tell the world, wee are all for faith, nothing for works; and that we hold works to saluation as a parenthesis to a clause, that it may be perfit without them: Heauen and earth shall witnesse the iniustice of this calumnia­tion; and your consciences shall be our compurgators this day, which shall testifie to you, both now, and on your death­beds, that we haue taught you there is no lesse necessitie of good works, then if you should be sau'd by them; and that though you cannot be saued by them, as the meritorious causes [Page 104] of your glory, yet that you can­not be saued without them, as the necessarie effects of that grace which brings glory.

It is an hard sentence of some Casuists (concerning their fel­lowes) that but a few rich mens Confessors shall be saued; I ima­gine, for that they dawbe vp their consciences with vntem­pered morter, and sooth them vp in their sins; Let this be the care of them whom it concerneth; For vs, we desire to be faithfull to God, and you; and tell you roundly what you must trust to; Do good therefore yee rich, if euer yee looke to receiue good; if euer yee looke to be rich in heauen, be rich in good works [Page 105] vpon earth: It is a shame to heare of a rich man that dyes, and makes his will of thou­sands, and bequeaths nothing to pious and charitable vses: God and the poore are no part of his heyre; We doe not houer ouer your expiring soules on your death-beds, as Rauens ouer a carcasse; we doe not begge for a Couent, nor fright you with Purgatory, nor chaffer with you, for that invisible treasure of the Church whereof there is but one Key-keeper at Rome; but we tell you that the making of freinds with this Mammon of vnrighteousnes is the way to e­ternall habitations: They say of Cyrus that he wont to say he [Page 106] laid vp treasures for himselfe, whiles he made his freinds rich; but we say to you, that you lay vp treasures for your selues in heauen, whiles you make the poore your freinds vpon earth: We tell you there must be a Date, ere there can be a Dabitur; that hee which giues to the poore, lends vpon vse to the Lord; which payes large increase for all he borrowes; and how shall he giue you the interest of glory, where he hath not receiued the principall of beneficence? How can that man euer looke to be Gods heyre in the kingdome of heauen, that giues all away to his earthly heyres, and lends no­thing to the God of heauen? [Page 107] As that witty Graecian said of extreme tall men, that they were Cypresse-trees [...] &c. faire and tall, but fruitlesse, so may I say of a strait-handed rich man; And these Cypresses are not for the garden of paradise; none shall euer be planted there but the fruitfull: And if the first paradise had any trees in it only for pleasure, I am sure the se­cond, Reuel. 22. 2. which is in the midst of the new Ierusalem, shall haue no tree that beares not twelue fruits, yea whose very leaues are not beneficiall; Doe good there­fore ô yee rich, and shew your wealth to be, not in hauing, but in doing good. And if GOD haue put this holy resolution [Page 108] into any of your hearts, take this with you also, from him; Doe not talke, and purpose, and pro­iect, but execute; Do not so do good that we may thanke your death-bed for it, and not you: Late beneficence is better then none, but so much as early bene­ficence is better then late; Hee that giues not till hee dyes, showes that he would not giue, if he could keepe it, and God loues a cheerefull giuer; That which you giue thus, you giue it by your Testament, I can scarce say you giue it by your will: The good mans praise is, Disper­sit, dedit, he disperses his goods, not, he left them behinde him; and his distribution is seconded [Page 109] with the retribution of God, His righteousnesse endureth for euer, Psal. 112. 9. Our Sauiour tells vs that our good works are our light, Let your light so shine, that men may see your good works; which of you lets his light goe behind him, and hath it not rather car­ried before him, that he may see which way it goes, and which way himself goes by it? Do good therefore in your life, that you may haue cōfort in your death, and a crowne of life after death.

Now all this haue I spoken, not for that I haue ought (as S. Paul saies) whereof to accuse my Nation; Blessed be God, as good works haue abounded in this age, so this place hath super-abounded [Page 110] in good works. Be it spoken to the glory of that God, whose all our good works are, to the honor of the Gospell, to the conviction of that lewd slander of Solifidianisme. LON­DON shall vye good works with any Citie vpon earth; This day and your eares are abundant witnesses; As those therefore that by an handfull guesse at the whole sacke, it may please you by this yeares breife to iudge of the rest; Wherein I do not feare least Enuie it selfe shall accuse vs of a vaine-glorious ostentation; Those obstreperous benefactors that (like to hens which cannot lay an egge but they must cackle straight) giue no almes but with [Page 111] trumpets, loose their thankes with God; Almes should bee like oyle, which though it swim aloft when it is fallne, yet makes no noyse in the falling; not like water, that still sounds where it lights: But howsoeuer priuate beneficence should not bee ac­quainted with both the hands of the giuer, but silently expect the reward of him that seeth in secret, yet God should be a great looser, if the publique fruits of charitie should be smothered in a modest secrecy: To the praise therefore of that good GOD, which giues vs to giue, and re­wards vs for giuing, to the ex­ample of posteritie, to the honor of our profession, to the incou­ragement [Page 112] of the well-deseruing, and to the shame of our malici­ous aduersaries, heare what this yeare hath brought forth.

Here followed a breife memoriall of the charitable acts of the City this yeare last past. &c.

And if the season had not hinde­red, your eyes should haue se­conded your eares in the com­fortable testimonie of this bene­ficence, Euge &c. Well done good and faithfull seruants; Thus should your profession be graced, thus should the incense of your almes ascend in pillers of holy smoke into the nosthrils of God; thus should your ta­lents be turned into Cities: This colour is no other then celestiall, [Page 113] and so shall your reward be; Thus should the foundation be laid of that building, whose walls reach vp vnto heauen, whose roofe is finished and laid on, in the heauen of heauens, in that immortalitie of glory, which the God of all glory, peace, and comfort hath proui­ded for all that loue him; Vnto the participation whereof the same God of ours mercifully bring vs, through the sonne of his loue, Iesus Christ the righteous, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, one infinite and incomprehensible God be giuen all praise, honor, and glory now and foreuer.

Amen.