1. As to the Deposition, we must remember that 'twas an ordinary Proverb among the Jews, Hebrews and Arabs, An Elephant can not pass through the eye of a needle, to signify the most impossible thing: This proverb Christ was wil­ling to change, from the Elephant (a beast which few of his Auditors had seen) to a Camel, which was very ordinary in Syria, whose bunch on his back would hinder his passage through any nar­row entrance.

Theophylact and Phavorinus will have it ren­dred a Cable with which Mariners use to cast their Anchors, and that which they phansy to be more agreeable to the eye of a needle: but [Page 5] Erasmus confesseth Suidas to be the first appro­ved Author in whom he found [...] used for a Cable (and after him Camers;) and observing that Julius Pollux makes no mention of it a­mongst the tacklings of a Ship, he rejects it as a Grammarian conjecture, and an interpretation of more boldness than authority.

And such, as I conceive, or little better, is that other assertion which the Postillers make fre­quent use of, that there was a Gate in Jerusalem call'd the Needle, through which it was not im­possible but difficult for a Camel to pass.

The very possession of riches makes the pas­sage difficult, and gives us cause to cry out [...], how hard it is? but the inordinate love of them renders it impossible; so that if by a rich man we understand one who trusts in his riches, (as the generality of them do) then it will come to the [...], How impossible it is? and so the simile of a Camel and a needles eye will fit it.

Nor dare I tread so near upon the borders of blasphemy, as to venture to say, that Our Saviour ever spake any thing by an Hyperbole, such rash expressions arguing gross mistakes, being by no means chargeable on the infinite knowledge of our Redeemer.

Nor yet have I any temptation to deny, but that some great and rich men, who have been sometimes on earth, are now great Saints in Hea­ven, and that there is still room for many more; for God can untwist those cords of vanity and cart-ropes of iniquity, with which the worldlings [Page 6] are bound to their riches, and make them, as he did Matthew the Publican, pass through the eye of a needle; and as Zacheus notwithstanding his Camels back, his prodigious wealth, to pass through that streit gate which gives entrance in­to eternal life.

But let me withal request you to remember that such miracles as these were the rarities and reserves of heaven, and such as are not often seen; it is very seldom that men are imparadis'd in this life and enthron'd in the next, and there­fore considering the incomparable danger which they are in, Rich men had need have many a charge given them above others, to take care of their souls, lest valuing their coyn above their conscience, 1 Joh. 2.15. by their love to the world, and the things that are in the world; it appears that the love of the Father is not in them, Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (says Saint James,) Jam. 4.4. and therefore hath little reason to expect a Kingdom from him: And that they might not flatter themselves into a better opini­on of their condition than it deserves, Our Sa­viour tels them in my Text, that it will be ea­sier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Which truth though it have a sufficient Affi­davit to back it, even him in whose disposal a­lone the Kingdom is, to confirm it; yet because I am speaking to Citizens, who will hardly think any security sufficient when we are about to perswade them out of their profit, whose faith [Page 7] is not easily tempted to assent to any thing a­gainst their interest, I shall add to the testimo­ny which you have had from heaven, the rea­sons upon which the difficulty is grounded, that so the truth of the doctrine may not hereafter be disputed, nor you need a second lecture of faith in this particular: now these are to be drawn either from the streitness of the way it self, or from his incapacity more than other men to pass it.

It is not every man who is presently capable of the Kingdom of God, much less a Rich man, which incapacity proceeds, not from the na­ture of riches in themselves, but from his prone­ness to abuse them, so far as to make them in­strumental to his own damnation, which they will be if he either come wrongfully by them, or if justly and be not thankful for them, not con­tent with them, not careful to employ them to the ends for which they were given him; too confident in them, too regardless of the tempta­tions which the devil lies under them to seduce and insnare him, not willing to part with them as luggage when they hinder him, or throw them overboard as too much lading when they are ready to sink him, but suffering them, con­trary to the intention of the Donor, to steal a­way his heart, and ingross his affections wholly to themselves, so as that he seldom thinks of the Kingdom of God, alwaies undervalues it, ne­ver really desires it: for each of which, when I shall have produc'd a particular evidence, I will not be so uncharitable to you, whatsoever you [Page 8] mean to be to your selves, as to doubt but that this doctrine will go down for a truth with you, and be easily digested into such a practical un­dervaluing of these perishing riches as may be fit for me to recommend to you, in order to the salvation of your immortal souls: to each of which, with your patience and pardon I shall crave to speak somthing, orderly, briefly and plainly.

Now first the passage into the Kingdom of God, may well be compared, as it is, to the eye of a needle, and term'd not [...] a broad way, but [...], a way ful of thorns, and beset with diffculties, which the loose livers of the world do practically confess, whilst with a loy­tering formality they strive to avoid it.

'Tis no such easie matter for a man to have his conversation in Heaven whilst he walks on earth, to enjoy God in the Creation and to pass out of the sensible world into the intellectual, to live above the world and himself, and not to debase his soul in pursuit of low and particular ends and interests; to live in it, and not be de­lighted with it, as having all things, and yet possessing nothing; to carry himself above all that the world can do for or against him, to bid defiance to all the powers of darkness so as not to shrink at any danger, not be dishartned at any opposition of the enemy, to balk all the flatter­ing temptations with which he would inveagle us, to row against the stream of the world and our own natural inclinations, to master our head­strong affections with so streit a rein, and to [Page 9] break them with so severe a Discipline that they run not away with us; to have our reason capti­vated to our Faith, our Will to our reason, and our affections to both: not to remember our darling sins without grief and disdain, nay not without hatred of our selves for having ever committed and embrac'd them; by mortificati­on and self-denyal to pluck out our right eye lest it offend us for the future, and never give over contending, till we have destroy'd the whole bo­dy of Sin; to love all good according to the de­grees of its eminency, God above all, and others more or less as they partake of his goodness, not to be oversway'd by any prevailing lust, but to bring our inward Man into Obedience to the law; duly to observe and attend upon Divine Providence, and to bring our selves and all our actions into a complyance with Gods will, Quis ad haec idoneus? Lord who is sufficient for these things? and yet this and no wider is the way to Heaven, into which if many strive to enter and shall not be able, what will become of them who never make it their business to regard it? if the Righteous scarcely be sav'd, where shall the Sin­ner and the unjust appear? it is beyond my Com­mission to give them any more comfort than St. James hath done; S. James 1. Verse 5.1 Go to now, ye Rich Men, weep and howle for your miseries which shall come upon you, ye have liv'd in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton, ye have nourish'd your hearts as in a day of slaughter; and the entrance into the Kingdom of God being so streit, you, of all Men are least likely to pass it, as will appear, [Page 10] ‘ [...]. A natura & ingenio divitis.’

The simile of a Camel and the eye of a needle are exactly proportion'd to the Salvation of a Rich Man who is incapable of it; without a more miraculous extension of the mercy of his Maker than is by himself known to suffice such as have not been condemned to so much Worldly plen­ty. His trusts, joyes, and confidences are so con­trary to a Christian, and so perfectly irreconcile­able with them, that there must be an extraor­dinary hand of God in the way of converting Grace to make him who so excells in the gifts of Fortune, to deny all and become nothing for Christ.

The Rich are apt to be more in love with the World than other Men, and so many are the noysom weeds which grow out of such fat soyls, that 'tis very disputable whether they who are alwaies penuriously brooding over their For­tunes are ever guilty of doing any thing com­mendable but but when they dye, Avarus ni­si cum moritur nil recte fecit. Seneca. who whilst they live, are good to none, but worst to them­selves; Avarus nemini bonus, sibi pessimus, Sen. the more rich they are, commonly the less Righteous, Goods and Goodness being no intimate acquaintance. Raro si­mul hominibus bona fortuna bonaque mens datur. Liv.

A large Fortune and a narrow Soul are such great Comrades, that Plato would not allow it possible for them to be parted. [...], and therefore of all vices that of Covetousness, as it comes near­est to the Sin against the Holy Ghost. So it was never charg'd upon any of Gods Children in Ho­ly Scripture, of all who came to Christ, only [Page 11] Judas the Son of perdition is branded with it, who was therefore thought fit to have the keep­ing of the bag.

Nor would I be thought to concluded that this incapacity of theirs proceeds from the nature of riches in themselves, which that they might not be dispos'd as evils are sometimes given to good men, & that they might not be esteem'd as the best things are more frequently bestow'd on the worst. Ne puten­tur malae dan­tur & bonis, & ne putentur summa bona dantur & ma­lis. Aug. Ep. 7. ad Bonif.

But I think I preach to them who will sooner turn any thing than Stoicks, and therefore I shall not trouble you nor my self to bring Riches in more credit with you, 1 Tim. 6.17. for fear you have already a better opinion of them than they deserve. They may be good Servants but they must be bad Masters; they are neither absolutely good in themselves, nor infallible Testimonies of Gods favour: 'tis for the most part a labour to get them and a load to keep them, and that the hea­vier, because we may neither be the better with them, nor the worse without them, since the best advantages of which they can boast are but those of an instrument, which has but an inferior, subordinate and serviceable, even the lowest degree of goodness that can be, and yet are ma­ny times unserviceable, and useless for that too, whilst they seem to be what they are not, boast of what they have not, and promise what they cannot perform, and so not only perish them­selves, but make their Possessers perish with them, which they will infallibly do,

1. If they come wrongfully by them. God hath lockt up Gold and Silver in the secret Mines [Page 12] and Caverns of the Earth, and yet though they are plac'd under foot, Men will not overlook them, but rend open the Bowels of the Earth in a reso­lution by any means to obtain them, though in the search after them they lose both God and themselves; and well might they therefore be call'd Thorns, as things for which they do com­monly smart who lay their hands on them.

Qui divi­tiis simul viti­is incubat. Sin is so commonly the Rich Mans Factor, who rarely scruples any wicked action, if it bring in a considerable advantage, that the Proverb takes notice of it, Dives aut iniquus est aut ini­qui haeres, and we have one in plain English which intimates no less saying, Happy is thnt Child whose Father goes to the Divel, and so in earnest it is much to be fear'd they do, who mor­gage their Souls to the Divel for a little present profit, and will not regard till they cannot re­cover them.

They who get or increase their Estates by de­frauding in matter of trust or traffick, dissem­bling, lying, foreswaring, bribing, oppressing, exacting, usery, theft, witholding their dues, Sacriledge, or by the fashionable way of break­ing when they have feather'd their Neasts with other Mens Estates, and can cheat them into a slender Composition, or by taking advantage of the buyers ignorance, indiscretion or necessity, (and I must still put an, &c. to the end of it, whilst I am speaking of a mystery in which some of this Auditory may possibly be so well vers'd, as secretly to accuse me for want of a sufficient enumeration) in all which wayes they do more [Page 13] over-reach themselves than those with whom they deal, whilst by these very acts they sell their souls to the Devil and take that unjust gain for the payment: I say they who have practic'd any of these unlawful waies of getting or in­creasing their estates, must first make satisfacti­on to the parties wronged, before they can hope to be saved.

Now then, you are best able to consider how hard it will be for them who have gone on in such courses, to call to mind how many, how much, and how often they have deceived; and how much harder it will be to find out them or their heirs to whom to make restitution, with­out which their Repentance will never avail them. Examine your consciences and let them resolve you of this difficulty, for your sakes I tremble to think on it.

If all of you come justly by your riches, (which all your acquaintance are not bound to believe) yet a Camel' may easier pass through the eye of a needle, than you into the Kingdom of God, if you are not thankfull for them to him who has blest you with them, according to the measure of your enjoyments; this being a debt wherein you stand bound to him for the free use of his creatures. 1 Tim. 4.4. Now rich men owe more in this sence to God, than other men, and if it shall appear that they pay less, their very enjoyments will rise up in judg­ment against them. Wo be unto us if the more God in mercy remembers us, the sooner we forget both him and our selves. Israel were no sooner possest of the promised land but they [Page 14] grew disobedient; fulness bred security, security brought forth negligence, and that the contempt of their Benefactors, and I wish this be not a catching disease amongst us likewise.

3. They who are not content with their rich­es can never be sav'd with them, when there­fore they debauch mens minds, and work them to a kind of insatiableness, so that their souls are alwaies in travel under the pangs, and throws of a solicitous pursuit of more gain, they give them an earnest of eternal torments in this life, Avaro se ni­hil desiderare posse pernicio­sius quam ut longum vivat Sen. and an infallible assurance of the arrears in the next. How usual is it for rich men to covet more than they have with such intemperance, as to forget their possession, and be sick for what they have not? Quod habet numerat tan­tum, quod non non habet, op­tat. Manil. Esa. 5.3. Hab. 2.5. How frequently doth the desire of wealth, after it once exceeds its lawful bounds, become as insatiable as Hell, and ad­mit no stint or period of growth? Cresit amor nummi, quan­tum ipsa pecu­nia crescit. Juv. And how much discontent do they generally betray, ei­ther by the fear of losing what they have, or the feaverish desire of grasping more, insomuch as that they tug at the world as at a narrow ta­ble-cloath, where none thinks he hath enough un­less he get all?

4. That which renders rich mens passage into the Kingdom of God the more difficult is be­cause they seldom use or bestow their riches, to that end for which they are given them. Qui bo­nis abundat bonum esse oportet. Great Accounts must have great Audits, and the more plentiful the entertainment hath been, the larger will be the reckoning. Ingentia be­nificia, ingen­tia vitia, in­gentia sup­plicia. Great benefits answered with [Page 15] great sins, will be attended with fearful judg­ments. Now God gives men wealth not as to Treasurers, but Stewards, not for their own uses, but his service, and he gives the poor many bils of Assignment on their plenty, whereupon this must either burden their consciences, or lighten their purses, and expect to be summon'd to a Redde rationem, to give an account of their Stewardship: If therefore your love of riches hath strangled your love of God and your neighbour, Non diligit proximum qui diligit durum Chrys. so that you regard neither in the distribu­tion of them, but defeat the main end of your receipts, how dreadful will your guilt be, and how desperate your condition?

5. If in times of difficulty and distress you place more confidence in your money than your Maker, it will infallibly destroy you. If you set your hearts upon your riches, place your contentment in them, and reckon them as your best friends in time of need, you make them your Idols, and God himself but a puny to the work of his own hands. Now how doth the Omnipotency of money make all people prostrate themselves to it, and worship it? Psal. 49.6. Psal. 52.2. and how apt are they who have riches to place their confidence in them as their greatest happiness? to trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, and how easily they'l forget themselves and their friends, and grow proud Ʋbi uber ibi tuber. Apul. of their plenty, as if it would privi­ledge them in any villany Potentia di­vitis quasi jus, quoddam ad delinquendum est, privilegi­um potestatis est, non tantum inpunè sed e­tiam justè de­linquere. Ce­lad. will be no news to tell you.

There is such an inchantment in wealth that it perswades men to sing a Requiem to their souls, and to rock them asleep in the cradle of security, as if it were able both to give them true happi­ness and to continue it; and therefore Saint Paul bids us 1 Tim. 6.17. charge them who are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in their uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy; & indeed they have too much need of such caution, for they are apt to turn profest Independants, in a conceit of their own self-sufficiency, to shew them­selves insensible of their dependance on God, like the Prodigal when he had got his portion out of his Fathers hands, to take their leave of him and set up for themselves, Job. 31.24. to make gold their hope, and say unto the fine gold, thou art my con­fidence,whereas indeed they owe their superfi­cial happiness meerly to the delusion of their phancy, nor have they any better pretence to it than that they have not sense enough to know their misery.

For though the Divel like a cunning jugler as he is, have put the World like a piece of mony into their hands, and bids them hold fast, yet he by his Leger-demain will quickly get it out a­gain, and before they can open their hands and their eyes they many times find nothing but that they are cheated, viz. that their Riches have ta­ken Wings and are fled away from them. A Pro­digal Son, an unfaithful Servant, an ill Debtor, a suit at Law, a fire by Land, or a storm at Sea, may quickly impoverish you: But whilst I preach [Page 17] to Citizens who of late years have as oft mis­carried as their Wives, and to Merchants who sink as fast as their Vessels, I must be so modest as to remember that you are better able to in­struct me than I you in the uncertain and tricklish tenure of Riches; and therefore I shall only beg that you would improve that part of your know­ledge to abate part of your Confidence, with which you can no more enter into Heaven than can a Camel pass through the eye of a Needle.

6. If you are too regardless of the temptations, Magna il­lecebra delin­quendi est re­rum affluentia. Ambr. which the Divel hides under your Riches to seduce and insnare you, (as Rich Men generally are) you can never enter into the Kingdom of God. If you would deal impartially with your selves and not turn Traytors to your own Souls, I should not need to tell you how many Vices are apt to be ingendred, and how many mischiefs do pro­ceed from the care of getting, the desire of keep­ing, the fear of losing, and the grief for the loss of Worldly Riches, in which respect they are term'd by St. August. Pericula possidentium pretiosissima, speciosa supplicia, beneficia vis­cata: insnaring courtesies; for the Divel is no such frank Chapman as to sell his wares for nothing.

Nor would the World like a cheating Gamster suffer you to win at first, but with a design to tempt you to lose all, and your selves at last, and therefore Agur was so shy of the World as to suspect some charge in its kindness, Prov. 30.8,9. Give me not Riches, feed me with food convenient for me, [Page 18] lest I be full and deny thee, and say, where is the Lord? and we are no sooner taught by our Sa­viour to pray for our daily bread, but as soon as those words are out of our mouth to pray for the forgiveness of our sins; so apt are we to make the blessings of God instruments of Rebellion a­gainst him, to inslave our faith to our present enjoyments, and not suffer it to perfect its work in us, to turn Infidels, and resolve to stop our ears and hearts against any Doctrine which makes against our profit; let the Gospel say what it will, to allow it no more Faith than it will pay for, which was the reason why so few Rich Men were converted by our Saviour, and why his Ministers cannot hope to prevail with many, because what we proffer towards their conviction is like Lots Sermon to his Sons in Law concerning the destruction of Sodom, they take us to be but in jest whem we declare against such a thrifty vice, and will shut their hearts and their purses, charm we never so wisely; and therefore St. Paul tells us with Tears, that they are flat Atheists, 3. Philip. 8. Enemies to the Cross of Christ, and our Saviour passes an heavy doom upon them; 6 Math. 24. Wo be to them who are Rich, for ye have received your Consolation, you have made a God of your Riches here ‘(Jupiter est quodcunque cupis.)’ and you must look for no Salvation but what they are able to purchase for you hereafter, and that especially,

7. If you are not willing to part with them as luggage to quit your interest and claim in them at [Page 19] the first call from God, and to dispose of your selves and your Worldly enjoyments according to his pleasure, without any reluctancy, they will render your entrance into the Kingdom of God impossible. No Man can serve two Masters, God and Mammon, nor at once be the favorite of the Prince of light, and the Prince of this World; they therefore who divide themselves between both are Servants of neither, and therefore this Young man was injoyn'd to forsake all before he undertook to follow Christ.

We have all a race to run, and Rich Men are like Tortoises, clog'd with such a weighty shell, that they cannot draw it after them in any ex­pectation of obtaining it: the Soul cannot mount to Heaven when it has such a load as the World hanging on its wing: Too much lading is many times the cause why the Ship does sink; and in a short journey the more provision Travellers have, the greater reason do they find to complain of their Burden. A golden Apple does make Men stoop in their way towards Heaven, and like the foolish Virgins to tarry so long behind for it till they are shut out; and such is the Genius of Rich Men, that they would be thought very greedy of Salvation, and yet like this young Man, when they are put to the proof they will part with nothing for it, and if they cannot have Christ upon their own terms, they will not take him upon his; and you may guess how passionately they are inamor'd with the world by their grief at the parting with it. Sine dolore amittitur, quod sine amore possidetur.

Nor is it enough to part with Riches out of [Page 20] your hands unless it be out of your hearts too, for 'tis less mastery to forsake Worldly Riches than to forsake the love of them. If we disquiet our hearts with a desire of any Earthly thing which we have not, or are troubled at the loss of what we would have again but cannot, as much sorrow and unwillingness as we have in the losing of them, so much affection we had for the keeping of them. As therefore you ever hope for the Kingdom of God, you must part with all in af­fection, though not alwaies in possession, and un­rivet your hearts from the World, and not hoard up and with-hold the things thereof from a cha­ritable Communication, but alwaies in willing­ness and preparation of mind to be ready to sur­render them, and that actually too, when the Church stands in need of them, and therefore the Hebr. 10.33. Saints took joyfully the spoyling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they have in Heaven a better and induring Substance.

8. If you suffer them to steal away your hearts, and ingross your affections wholly to themselves, a Camel may as easily go through the eye of a nee­dle as you shall enter into the Kingdom of God. He who ever hopes to be sav'd, must reckon his best affections and designs, as too choice and pre­tious a treasure to be prodigally squandred a­way upon such sorry trifles as riches are. He must not make his heart the worlds Warehouse, when he hath once consecrated it as a Temple of the Holy-Ghost. A true Christian will never ad­mit of such an incurvation of his immortal soul, [Page 21] to things so much below him, as to love the world against God, or more than him, or equal to him, or distinctly from him, but only in a subordination to him, as being truly sensible that what affection soever the world wins of him is lost to God.

And, Lord, how few rich men are of this per­swasion, who think so highly of their Riches, and act so vigorously for them as if their souls and they were of equal Eodem scri­nio servatur nummus & animus. concernment? How in­comparably do they degrade their souls in force­ing them to take up their happiness amongst such perishing enjoyments, and in bounding all their projects and designs within the compass of this earth which they bread upon?

Can those men ever hope to be heirs of Heaven, who are alwaies aiming at ends more ignoble than themselves, and shaping their mindes as much as may be into a conformity with that which they aim at, till they become as unstable, inconstant, perplext and tumultuous things, as the World it self is? So much as their delight is in these transi­tory enjoyments, so much is abated of their delight in God, and whilst they are so furiously driving on their thriving projects and designs of rising in this world, they are turning their backs upon Christ, and posting towards destruction.

They who are mancipatipecuniis, such drudges to their estates, as to suffer them to over-rule them, to such hard conditions may be said to have riches as a man has a fever, which may be more properly said to have him under its tyran­ny; [...], as Bion Lib. 4. [Page 22] in Laertius, he doth not possess his estate, but is possest by it, which if it be not the same is as bad as being possest by the Devil.

The love of God and the world, are like fire and water which cannot consist in intense de­grees, but destroy each other, the more the heart gives place to the care of that, the less room doth it leave for the thoughts and remembrance of God. Riches have a pilphering quality whereby they steal away the love of the heart, ingrossing it to themselves, warping the conscience, cor­rupting the judgment, bribing it with a retain­ing fee, bespeaking it for themselves, and di­verting our desires from that end for which we ought to have desired them, and therefore they who are thus cumbred and loaded with them, are in very small likelihood of being Saints, First,

1. Because they seldom think of the Kingdom of God. Their minds are perpetually rambling a­nother way, and they so deeply ingaged, and immerst in the world, that they are unacquaint­ed with the affairs of their own souls. All their rooms are throng'd with Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam. cares and turbulent passions, that unless God will be crowded up with the world in so streit a lodging he must not look for entertainment there. When they wax fat with the enjoyment of ease and plenty, they never think of another world, because, they perceive the remembrance of it to allay their joy, and so they have neither leasure, patience, nor discretion to mind it. They will not suffer such troublesome guests as are the thoughts of Heaven, to lodge long in their memories, but contrive [Page 23] how to put their doom out of their thoughts till they put themselves into an incapacity of avoid­ing it; so that

2. They alwaies undervalue the Kingdom of God, whilst they make Godliness truckle under gain, and prefer riches above faith and a good consci­ence, as the Gergesens did their swine, before our Saviour, and as the cock in the fable did the grain of corn before the pearl of inestimable price [...]. He­siod. That which men value most they take greatest care of, Majori bono debetur major amor, & there­fore they who spend more time and care to secure their estates than their souls, do sufficiently de­clare upon which they place the greater estimate.

To part with good things to get better you will allow, I am sure, for a good piece of merchan­dize Magna amit­tere ut majora lucreris non est damnum sed negotiatio. Bern. and therefore if you had so good an o­pinion of Heaven as it deserves, you would lay up in store for your selves a good foundation a­gainst the time to come, that you might lay hold on eternal life. 1 Tim. 6.19.

But alas! how seldom do rich men worship God sincerely, unless he descend like Jupiter in a showre of gold; or esteem of any as worth their acquaintauce, Quantum habes tantum vales. unless they be such as they may probably get by; and then they are such Jews that if a Calf be of Gold they will worship it, nay they would hardly desire to live long themselves, but that they may have their breath gratis with­out paying interest for it; if time should turn Ʋsu­rer and charge his weekly revenues with an excise, they would hardly be at the expence of a longer life, whilst death were to be had for little or no­thing. [Page 24] If Religion be so dear, as that it can­not be kept without the distribution of their e­states, as and when their brethren shall need them, 'tis no penny-worth for them; If God shall put forth his hand and touch their estates, the Devil (who knows their minds) will answer for them, that they shall curse him to his face; Job. 1.9. who find­ing what perpetual service this temptation of riches did him, questioned not but that it would have overcome Job, and doubted whither our Sa­viour himself could withstand it.

3. Rich men do never really desire the King­dom of God. They spread their Sails to no wind that brings not in some present profit: and if they entertain Religion, 'tis often as a journey­man to bring in their gain, they'l keep it at an allowance to serve their turn, and at best they will but admit it as a Guest to take such as it finds, and if once it take the freedom to find fault with their incomes, it must be packing. If it prove an enemy to and intercept them from the prosecution of their temporal ends, they will have nothing more to do with it.

Their desires which are both the truest mea­sure of their present state, and the surest progno­sticks of their future, are never really set upon Heaven, Qui aliquid desiderat, de­siderat etiam id quod scit necessario inde subsecuturum. Medina. 1. 2. Qu. 5. Art. 8. for if they did desire the end, they must likewise desire the way which alone can bring them to it, without which 'tis a roaving velleity shot at randome, and level'd at an im­possibility; now this that they do not desire hath been abundantly prov'd already, again, if they did desire it, they would be sick of the want of it, and restless till they had secur'd it. Quod arden­tius desideras, cares aegrius Bern. 51. Serm in Cant.

Put all these together and let your own hearts be Judges, and declare whether a Camel may not as easily go through the eye of a needle, as a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God: And that you may not think me either Magisterial or un­charitable, I shall request you in the Spirit of meekness not to take my word for it, for I do not say it of my self, but 'tis the decree of Heaven, as you shall see by

2. The Affidavit, or Authority, which is brought in the first words of my Text to vouch and con­firm it. A Doctrine which runs so cross to the grain of the World, that we had need have Christs Authority for it, and his express com­mand to publish it, which we have in these words: And again I say unto you. 'Tis a hard saying, indeed and so much the harder, because 'tis his who is a compleat Judge of it; one who can neither be deceiv'd himself, nor tempted to de­ceive us; the God of truth asserts it, and, Quan­tus Author, tanta fides. Who would have believ'd it, unless he had affirm'd it? and who dares di­strust it now we have his word for it? If you studyed our Saviours answer to Dives, you would think that he assign'd Heaven meerly for an inheritance of such as wanted here, and Hell for those who abounded; and as he denounc'd a Wo against them, Luke 6.24. so he forewarn'd his Disciples of the difficulty of their Salvation, and when he perceiv'd them to be offended at what he had said before, he repeats it higher in my Text, and gives them the measure of the difficulty by a similitude; and certainly 'tis as [Page 26] difficult now as when he first affirm'd it.

Now the Children of God in all ages have be­liev'd no less; hence was that strange complaint of the Spouse in the Canticles, 1 Can. 6. my mothers chil­dren were angry with me, they made me the keeper of their Vineyards: she reckons her preferment as the proper effect of their Anger, and com­plains that they had wronged her with a mistaken courtesie, as if she could not have been spited more than in being prefer'd to a dignity in Church or State. And Jacob was of the same mind too, for though he lov'd Joseph above all his Sons, yet he bestow'd the Kingdom on Judah, lest the enjoyment of his blessing in this World should have tempted him to insolency, and so to the Forfeiture of Gods blessing in the next.

Alas the World never embraces any but 'tis like a Serpent in cruelty, and therefore Jobs friends came to him not to congratulate, Job 42.10,11. but to condole with him the restitution of his Fortunes, quasi foe­lix consolandus sit de infortunio foelicitatis. Such a desperate thing is it for Men to be bewitch't with this Circean World that they are never in greater danger than when hedg'd about with the blessings of it; and the Birth of Mens Estates does so often prove the death of their Souls, that the Heathen reckoned that Man the most unhap­py in the World who is alwaies happy, or rather never so, because alwayes prosperous. Seneca. Nihil est infoelicius eo cui nihil accidit adversi, and he con­dol'd his Friend for that very reason for which others applauded him. Te judico miserum, quia non fuisti miser; nor is it only in his, but in A­brahams [Page 27] judgment, that Rich Men have very great reason to be jealous, lest the good things which they enjoy in this World, like mis-imploy'd Ta­lents, purchase for them evil ones eternally in the next.

Since therefore they are such hindrances of your eternal happiness (which I hope you are come hither to mend) methinks I might easily perswade you not to be so over-fond of them as to make Ita lucrum temporale spe­ctas ut non a­mittas aeter­num. forfeiture of Heaven in the pesuit of them.

When the Divel greases you in the fist, and proffers to bribe you out of a good conscience, return it with St. Peters zeal, Thy Gold and thy Silver perish with thee; and let not this be a prin­ciple or maxime of trade, That your stock of mony must be increast by any means, Facius rem, recte si possis, si non, quocunquo modo rem, (I am afraid some of you understand it better, than an easier piece of latine.) They whose Conscien­ces without the help of the Philosophers Stone can turn any thing into Gold and Silver may ea­sily have them in abundance; if any Man can per­swade himself to cheat, defraud, dissemble, lye demurely, foreswear strongly, bribe some, oppress others, wrong all, serve the times that they may do as much for him, make use of all Men for his turn, and swallow the greatest wickedness for the least advantage, 'tis a great deal of pitty that he should not be Rich, and I shall not wonder at his heap of Gold if he can be content to treasure up so much guilt with it.

But I hope you do not so fondly overvalue [Page 28] Riches, and so ambitiously aspire to them, as to pawn your Souls to the Divel to take them up, Ne sit lu­crum in arca & damnum in conscientia. for that is to out-bid his market, and inhaunce the price of damnation, whereas you may be sure to go to Hell a great deal cheaper than so. If you did believe what our Saviour tells you, you would be afraid and shy of them upon any terms, but es­pecially upon such, and neither think your selves frown'd upon when you wanted them, nor see any cause to be transported when you had them.

I grudge you not what may be sufficient, not only for the necessity of your persons, but likewise for the decency of your Estates, the neglect where­of may be sordid and deservedly taxible; but I would not have you so much in love with the flesh pots of Aegypt, as not to forsake them for your eternal Canaan, you should use the World as a Traveller does his Inn, not as if you were to dwel, but to bait in it. If you do not Brevissi­ma ad divitias per divitiarum contemtum via est. Si ad na­turam vives, nunquam eris pauper, si ad opinionem, nunquam di­ves. Epicur. over­value Riches, you will never want them, for 'tis Opinion and nothing else which makes Men mise­rable. Learn to be content with any thing, and by this very means you will enjoy all things, Omnia ni­mirum habet qui nihil con­cupiscit, eo quidem certi­us quam qui cuncta possi­det. Sen. and he who fils the hungry with good things, and sends the Rich empty away, will bless you with all Spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus; he will give you those Riches which shall be truly amiable, and the object of your eternal love; and therefore fall not in love with the World, but him that made it, in whose power a­lone it is to make you rich indeed, and contemn whilst you are alive, what you cannot enjoy when you are dead: For no Man is truly wealthy, who [Page 29] cannot carry away what he has with him, for what he leaves behind him is not his, but anothers.

Never was there more need of a sursum corda than now, when the Churches invitation to lift up your hearts, can hardly prevail with you to raise them one jot above the World; and therefore since I have no great assurance to prevail with you to forsake Covetousness, I pray let me press you to make the best of it, to covet earnestly the best gifts, to be zealous of spiritual gifts; Get wisdom, get understanding, and see that ye abound in grace, ( cujus unius honesta est avaritia. Sen.) Strive to be rich in good works, and to get an interest in Christ, who of God is made unto us Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, and then you can want nothing but what to wish for. 1 Cor. 10.31. 1 Cor. 14.12. Prov. 4.5. 2 Cor. 8.7. De brev. vitae cap. 3. 1 Tim. 6.18. 1 Cor. 1.30.

Look a little into your Estates, and examine all the wayes by which you have got or encreas'd them, whither they have been just or no? Consider seriously that if he who gave nothing to Lazarus was condemn'd to fry in eternal flames, what will become of them who took any thing from him? If they who found Christ naked, and would not cloth him, must be damn'd, what will become of them who found him cloth'd, and stript him? He whom we hear of in Hell, is said to have riches and yet his own too, not the Churches or his Neighbours Patrimony; he is noted for faring deliciously but of his own bread, not for drinking Widows tears instead of Wine, or eating up Gods People as they eat bread; we do not read of his thriving by other Mens losses, making advantage of their falls, or inriching himself by the mystery of breaking; he [Page 30] he is not accus'd for keeping other mens goods, but for not distributing his own, and therefore Hell must needs be het seven times hotter than ordi­nary, for oppressing, cheating, sacrilegious rich men.

And as for that part of your estates which your consciences dare maintain you came honestly by, receive it thankfully, enjoy it soberly and conten­tedly, and communicate it charitably, that so by your present disposure of it, you may make it subservient to an end above its native efficacy, and purchase for your selves a revenue of credit in this world, and glory in that to come.

And this I may the more pardonably invite you to, both because I speak in an age when men are out of charity with Charity it self, & few such per­fect Saints as to have their Religion at their fin­gers ends; and because Charity is Ars Quaestu­osissima, Chrys. and riches yield more profit by their profusion than possession, so that by parting with those which you cannot keep, you may gain those which you cannot lose.

You see 'tis a hard thing to use riches well, but 'tis so much the more commendable and worthy of your ambition, and therefore I do not press you to throw them away, but to lay them out with such prudence, as to make you friends of that unrighteous Mammon, and to take Daniels counsel to Nebuchadnezar, Dan. 4.27. to break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor, that it may be a lengthening of your tranquility, Honour the Lord with your [Page 31] substance and with the first fruits of your increase; so shall your barns be fil'd with plenty, and your presses burst out with new wine. Prov. 3.9,10.

Remember what your charitable Predecessors have done in this City before you; but keep not a register in your memories, of what you have done in this sort your selves; for the Welsh have a Proverb that they who have good memories give but few alms; because they keep alwaies in mind what, and to whom they have given before.

Remember you are as much bound to be cha­ritable as just, and to feed the poor as not to op­press and murder him Qui succur­rere perituro cum potest, cum non succurrit, occidit. and then you'l be easily perswaded to use your riches as you do your water with which when you are served yourselves, you let it flow freely down to the use of others.

Nor have I any particular design to drive on, or the least intention to confine your charity; but in all sincerity to exhort you to do what, when, how, where, to whom, and as much as God and your own consciences shall direct you: and if you have faith enough to believe, and patience to wait for the reward which Christ proposes, it will go well with you and with your children after you, let but charity guide your hands and glory will crown your heads eternally.

Nor are you my Brethren of the Clergy so secure, but that you may receive as much prejudice by your riches as any other, take heed therefore that your preferments, and revenues do not make you the worse for them.

It was Erasmus his wish after his refused offers of great preferment, to make all even at his death, to be out of e­very mans debt, and only to have enough left to bring him honestly to his grave. Let not that which hath hitherto [Page 30] been reputed the Vice of the City, be now justly chargeable on us of the Clergy; We of all men are most strictly ingaged to a perfect hostility against the vanities of the world, and if we are not notoriously treacherous to our own aims and interests, our actions will declare our sense of it.

I have no desire to judge you, who are so much my bet­ters, but if it were possible to direct you to prejudge & ex­amine your selves, and so either to anticipate or prevent any further censures. I hope that for which some persons do con­demn you, is too poor and inferiour gain for you to stoop to. We have friends enough in the World to secure us from that curse of our Saviours, Luke 6.26. We be unto you when all Men speak well of you, and I would it were only our innocence which was revil'd. The mouth of Hell is now wider open, and the Kingdom in greater animosity against us than ever, and therefore let not us by our luxury and drunkenness, by our covetousness and griping, on any such sordid means, as rack­ing up our Tenants to the very summum jus give the cre­dulous People cause to believe that the defamations and li­bels which the railing Sectaries have cast out against us, are true. After a long famine, you are (blessed be God) re­mov'd to a plentifull table; but take heed of a surfeit, and that your plenty does not make you forget him whose per­son you represent. Let us remember our late afflictions and vows which we made in case of a restitution, and let the hungry bellies of the poor and needy who have suffer'd with, or like us, experience the benefit of our preferments, that the envious eye of the worst of the Laity may not re­pine, nor the foul mouths of the scum of the people rail at our large incomes. And finally,

Let us all suffer our hearts to preach over to our selves in private, the dangers which have been hinted of Worldly Riches, and the greater hazard of Salvation that they than other men, are in, who enjoy them, and then we shall affectionately joyn with the Church in her collect for the last festival, and pray unto Almighty God that he would grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of Riches, and to follow his said Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with him and the Holy Ghost now and ever.

Amen.