a sin as is confessed of al hands to be hainous I say the name of a thing that is confessed of al hands to be hainous is given unto those things which the Holy Ghost would set forth to the ful As for example In 1 Sam. 15.23 The sin of Saul is called witchcraft Rebellion is as witchcraft Saul's sin was not wichcraft But only witchcraft was a confessed known sin To set out Saul's sin Samuel calls it so So that the greatness of the sin of Covetousness may appeare the text calls it Idolatry As if it should have been said The worship of another God provokes not God more to Jealousy then the love of the world doth And mark what he saith afterwards in vers 16. For these cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience The word is il translated disobedience for the wrath of God comes not upon al that disobey him but the word signifies upon all that are intractable upon all that wil not be perswaded and drawn from their sinning against God Why doth not the Apostle say the wrath of God will come upon the unclean Person but upon the Children that are not to be perswaded that are stubborn hearted The Reason is this because Covetousness is one of those sins which makes a man to be incapacious stout-hearted obstinate irrational and not to be subdued by any of the ordinary means 〈◊〉 which God brings mens thoughts into subjection 〈◊〉 â—â—â—self As the wise man saith concerning the 〈◊〉 that she is a deep pit and there is no perswading men from her though she lead a man like an Ox unto the shambles So the Holy Ghost saith there is no making a Covetous 〈◊〉 leave his course til the wrath of God meets with him And it s not only in that place called Idolatry but you have as ill names given it elsewhere James 4.4 You Adulterers and Adulteresses know you not that the love of the world is enmity unto God It is called Adultery And as Adultery doth break the bonds between the Husband and the Wife And as Adultery is a sin that is committed when there is no need because the party hath a remedy which God in the state of marriage hath given So the love of the world strikes at the knot at the uniting Graces Faith and Love It puts a man into a Condition wherein if in any he is capable of a divorce from God If I would say there was a possibility of a mans falling from Grace I would say so of Covetousness and Idolatry because both these are called Adultery which doth dissolve the bond What need you take care when God doth What reason have you when God makes it his work to provide for you as he doth for the Lallies of the Fields than which you are much better What reason is there then that you should set your selves to that business Is it not enough that you have God And that God wil be sure to find you all the stock that he wil have you to work withal for him It is Adultery And mark what follows The friendship of the world is enmity against God That is A Covetous man doth as it were send an Herald of Armes and bids defiance against God himself In 1 John 2.15 If a man loves the world the love of the Father is not in him Mark it As it is an unnnatural thing for the Child not to love the father that begat him so it 's an unnatural thing for a man not to love God And yet Covetousness will make a man to be so unnatural Sometimes you shal find in the spirits of good people a carelesness of God The indearedness that they had to him at another time is not to be found upon them They are not tender of his displeasure They are not desirous to live in his favor What is the Reason What is it that makes a Soul so unnatural It is because his Soul is So taken up with the things of this world And that you may yet see further the evill of this sin know that it keeps Gods love from a man For if the love of God be not in a man that loves the world then the love of God is not shed abroad in the heart of that man that loves the world For whom God loves they shall certainly love him again But above all that which is the great Motive and with which I would perswade you Is this You ought to be conformable to the wil of God Either his will or yours must rule Either he or you must be acknowledged to be the wise and right Disposer of things If there be wisdom with him and that all things are under him and his power Why are you not then contented with that which is his allowance to you It is fit the Physitian should prescribe the Dyet and not the sick person It 's sit the Master should set down how he wil keep and not the Servant how he wil be kept by the Master Conformity to the wil of God doth extend not only to spiritual things so that a man may not sin against any moral precept but unto lawful things so that a man should think it best with him according to Gods way of dispensing to him And there is no reason in the world why a man should think that he is dealt hardly with if his portion be but smal for was not the state of Jesus Christ very low He became poor he had not whereon to lay his head Were not those Princes as I may cal them that sate upon the Throne Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel I mean the Apostles and the primitive Saints Were not they in hunger and nakedness and in want of all things cloathed in Goats and Sheep Skins of whom the world was not worthy Will it not content you that you are kept in the same manner that God kept his Son while he was in the world Object You will say Therefore Jesus Christ was poor because by the want of all things he was to satisfie Answ But for whom was it that he was to satisfie was it not for you If it was for you Is there not reason that you should be contented to be poor if he please Shal the Creditor be willing that the Surety should pay his debt and shal not the Principal or he that is the Debtor be willing himself to part with that which he hath Jesus Christ It is true did merit by the want of these things But what did he merit He merits this among other things that you should be an Example that he had taken the sting and misery out of poverty and the want of all things As we are therefore tempted that God may shew that Jesus Christ conquered Satan so we are therefore poor that though our sins have robbed us yet there is no curse in our poor Estate Let me therefore for a conclusion of al at this time stir you up that you would not desire after much
to be set upon the world Because the Corrupted Gentiles did not like to retayne God in their knowledg Therefore he gave them up to Covetousness in Rom. 1.21 To shew you that its a lower step and degree of misery and sinfulness for a man to be Covetous Then it s for a man to be borne without the Image of God by nature It being made a spiritual Judgment It is therefore a worse condition then that men are in by sin naturally Now al this sinfulness of sin may be aggravated these two waies 1. That here naturally we are in a state wherein we have no reason to look after the world and the things of it We are Children of wrath And what should a reprieved condemned man do with purchasing or looking after estates and possessions For a man when he is dying to be gripple and having and saving For a man when he hath his Soul to look after and but a little time for that to be looking after things which he shal never have any use of argues a great profaneness of spirit Now that is our Condition 2. And as it is aggravated from that so from this That it is needless too Math. 6.32 After al these things your heavenly Father takes Care Christ saith the care of these outward things do lye upon God Not only as he is a Father but as a Creator Though we be sinners yet we are Creatures Therefore he that cares for the Lillyes in the fields and the fowles of the Ayre wil care for man In Mark 7.20.21 From the heart comes Covetousness It is not because a man wants nor because a man may want It is not for any thing in the world but because a man loves not God and spiritual things that a man is Covetous CHAP. III. The second reason is the dangerâ—â—â—â—â—ss of this sin it being First Hardly to be avoidâ—â— Secondly Difficulty Cured Some things in Scripturesaid to be easy to God Some things hard Some things that are but possible unto God IN the second Place As the sin is great so it is dangerous It is easily 1. Fallen into 2. And hardly Cured We are wont to take heed and to be afraid of such diseases as are hard to be avoyded as are easily gotten and when gotten not easily but hardly cured Now Covetousness hath both these evils in it First It is hardly to be avoyded We count that infection to be dangerous and very strong which kills lusty men and that in a night a day or in a moment Covetousness hath undone the most strong of men that are unregenerate And it hath spoyled the strongest of the regenerate You shal find it to be in al sorts of men more or less in al Ages In the heathen In Rom. 1.29 In the professors of Religion the Jewes in Jer. 8.20 In all sorts of Professors David was a mighty man against sin A man able to overthrow whol troops as I may say and yet this sin incounters him and and spoyls him Our Lord Jesus Christ was as much afraid of his Disciples because of Covetousness as he was of any sin because Godly men wil be over run with this sin if they look not to it Take beed saith Christ In Luke 21.34 unto his disciples That ye be not overcharged with the cares of this world As often as I have read that place it hath been a wonder to me why Christ should speake so unto them They were Godly people and through grace their hear 〈◊〉 made as soy I that would not easily bring forth much bitter fruit They were taken into Christs service upon these termes that they should look for nothing for their service but persecution The time that Christ bids them take heed of the cares of this life was a persecuting time when there was not only warre and rumors of warre but they were begirt by their enemies Who would think that in winter time any weeds should appeare If this weed should shew it self one would think that this cold blast would have been able to have nipt it But the disciples that were Saints The disciples that were brought up alwayes in persecution yet in persecution were very apt and nothing would keep that down When he would prepare them against the Judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem and when he would prepare them to stand out against the times that they should meet withal from the Apostate Jewes He bids them beware of Covetousness In Math. 13.7 There you shal find that the third ground went further then either the first or the second did That Ground signifys a sort of hearers that were not remiss and careless of what they heard as the first sort were nor fearful of Persecution as the second sort were They receiveied the word of God and suddenly upon a present apprehension as the second sort did but they did deliberate and judg that it was better to walk holily then to be at liberty that a man had better be in chaines for a good cause then to be at liberty for the denyal of it If you observe The Holy Ghost chargeth them with no sin almost But with lawful things And among them with the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches which did choak them and by which they did become unfruitful Demas was one of that sort for he stood with Paul when he was at Rome in his first tryal when al else forsook him The Epistle to the Colossians was written when Paul was in bonds so was the Epistle to Philemon for it was sent by the servant of Phylemon who waited upon Paul in the prison And in both those Epistles Paul recommends Demas Demas saith he salutes you and he is my fellow labourer No man stood by mee that is no man but Demas and no man but Luke When I came to answer it before the Emperour al my acquaintance were shy of me and al the professors at Rome would not know me but Luke and Demas stood it out And the doctrine that I proposed they defended and the reasons that I gave they stuck to and argued This he meanes by being a fellow labourer Yet this Demas that stood out one brunt Yet when Paul comes to a second he forsakes him And what is the reason He cleaves unto this present world in 2. Tim. 4.10 So that the best of regenerate and unregenerate men find it hard work to escape the power of this sin One is foyled and the other spoyled by it This sin doth prevail in formal professors of Religion in 2. Tim. 3.5 They have a forme of Godliness Why A mong other sins he saith they are covetous Men shal be lovers of themselves and Covetous Do but consider how this sin doth take men and you wil see it is very hard to be avoided You shal find what the Apostle saith of the whol body of sin In Eph. 4.22 That it doth corrupt men by deceit Put off the old man that is corrupt according to
in thy own eyes Seest thou less worth nay no worth in thy self Doth the manifestation or communication of Grace from Christ make thee to abhor and loath thy self But I shall speak a little more to this particular by shewing you That where ever indeed there is true Faith there is humbleness of Spirit manifested in these four Particulars There are four Particulars I say wherein humbleness of Spirit doth alwaies shew it self in a Beleever First In modesty or sobriety Not assuming unto its self the doing of any thing or being the motive unto God or the Reason why God should do any thing to him Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise is the voyce of Faith according to that of the Psalmist Psal 115.1 I live saith Paul yet not I but Christ that liveth in me Gal. 2 20. I have done more than they all yet not I but the Grace of God in me 1 Cor. 15.10 And as the Psalmist saith in another case We got not the Victory by our own strength and sword but it was thy hand and power that gave us the Victory Psal 44.3 So the Soul saith That it is not its praying or hearing or any thing whereby it doth attain unto any favor with God or any degree of Grace but only because the Lord so pleaseth As there can be no reason given why the Rain should fall upon one ground and not upon another but only because the Lord Reigns and Rules in Heaven So there can be no reason given saith the Soul why I that am a barren desert should have any life rained on me but only because it seems good unto him That is the first thing Secondly The humbleness of Faith shews it self in a sense and apprehension of that condition which a man was in before he did receive Grace As a man unto whom a prosperous estate is sanctified he remembers his poor estate and low condition So doth a man now that hath received by Faith from Christ remember what state he was in when Christ first came and gave him somwhat and bestowed himself upon him Here the Apostle Paul speaking of it in 1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Blasphemer and injurious and a Persecutor and the chief of all sinners And Eph. 2.3 We were by Nature that is we that are now quickned and who are now raised up together with Jesus Christ Children of Wrath as well as others and under the Prince of the Air even the Devil who Ruleth in the hearts of such Children of disobedience as we were And therefore upon all occasions you know he is up with his conversion telling what an ill course he was in and what wickedness he was practising when the Lord lighted on him as you may see in divers places in the Acts. It is true indeed that there is a passionate sense of a mans misery which doth cease when a man hath received mercy that is a man cannot so mourn nor a man cannot so weep and lament as he did do yet there is an understanding sense A sense that lies upon the heart as sure though it works not after the same way and as cleer though it hath not the self same passions that were before Though the wound be healed yet there is a scar that puts in mind And though the Lord hath been pleased to take away the danger yet the Soul cannot but stand and wonder at that condition wherein it was when the Lord delivered it That is the Second Thirdly The humbleness which Faith works in the heart of a man is this The acknowledgment and owning of al that is in a man unto God As we are wont to write in the Books that are given us The Gift of such a Friend or such a Friend Or as Jacob said he came over that Brook with a staff in his hand and now he had so many bands But the Lord hath given them to him Behold I and the Children which the Lord hath given me Or as Jacob said at another time when his father asked him how he came by Venison so soon said he The Lord brought it to hand So the Soul acknowledgeth whatever he hath received to be of meer Grace 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us hereunto is God who hath also given unto us the Spirit Mark the word We are wrought hereunto That is as if he should have said if there had not been more done by another than was by our selves if we had been left to do for our selves we had never come to this state of Grace wherein we are We were but like Clay and He fashioned us into this Mould He Who is that Even God He that hath wrought us hereunto is God that is Infinite Power and Wisdom was imployed in those things and no less would have done the thing And so the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.12 It is given to us to know the things that are freely given us of God Ask a Beleever how it came to pass when he and others sate under the same ministry and in the same seat and it may be had the same convictions that one turned his back upon God and the other came in that one held up weapons of rebellion against God and the other laid them down Or thus That the one is more wrought upon and the other is less that the one hath perfect Peace and the other stand disputing being filled with fears and jealousies and suspitions The Soul will answer that it was not for any thing that I did more than any other it was not because I was better than another but because the Lord put forth his Power upon me and hath more effectually called and wrought in me than he hath been pleased to do upon others That is the Third Thing Fourthly The Humbleness which Faith works in the Soul is this that it makes a man to be marvelously wary and faithful in the use of all that which he hath received by beleeving If he hath gotten peace he keeps it warily and charily If he hath gotten Grace he maintains it watchfully and he is faithful not because he doth not look upon himself as a Lord over it but he looks upon it as a Gift meerly given him If a man you know hath any gift given him by a Friend though it be very useful yet he is very chary of the use of it and will not use it but upon great occasions There is you know a great deal of difference between a mans receiving his life by Grace and pardon from the Prince and a mans receiving his life upon tearms of Justice He that hath his life upon Pardon is afraid if he ever comes again within the breach of the Law any more Whereas he that hath his life upon Justice thinks not of any such danger nor of any such evil that he needs to beware of So much carefulness so much Wisdom and Wariness as there is in the Soul to use what it hath received
the world almost There are but few Receivers of Jesus Christ Many to whom he is offered but few that give him entertainment by Faith And those that have given him entertainment have not done according to the Law of that duty in receiving him with that kindness which he should have been entertained with I shal put both these sorts together because they are both under one reproof though not both under the same danger First I say this Point discovers many to be under unbelief and so not to be the Sons of God but the wrath of God to abide upon them And that even many of those who do live under the Gospel have beleeved received Christ but not received him with love As the Apostle saith in another case you have not so learned Christ So may I say they have not so received Christ They have received him but not as a friend and not as a guest and not as one that loves him But even as somtimes a poor Child is taken to keeping because they are compelled thereunto by Law and they cannot rid themselves of that charge So men are compelled by their light and conviction to beleeve that there is no way for salvation but by Jesus Christ Their Understanding is forced to receive in this truth because it shines so cleerly As the light that opens the sleeping mans eyes that lies against it but they do not love him In John 3.19 They loved darkness rather than light because their works were evill Loved darkness more than light Jesus Christ is that light and Faith is that sight whereby we see that light and they love darkness that is they love even the most uncomfortable estate that they could be in the world better then they love the way of Jesus Christ darkness in the Scripture is referred to uncomfortableness Whether you refer it to the darkness of the shadow under the Law Or to the darkness of heaviness and grief of Spirit wherein men are put when they apprehend what they have done to the destruction of their Souls Men love any thing darkness rather than Jesus Christ I shall have occasion to open that again and therefore I pass it over shortly Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained praise that thou maiest still the avenger and the enemy Psal 8.2 And who is the Enemy and the Avenger It is only the naturall man For in the Hebrews you shall find that the eighth Psalme is only a Prophecy of Jesus Christ under whose feet God puts all things Jesus Christ was the praise of God the Father because he was as unfit to have undertaken and perfected the work of our salvation in the eyes of the world as a Child is unfit to do the service of a man Or as the language of a Child is insignificant and is not able to express it self Now why will God take such a course That he may still he Enemy and the Avenger That I would have you note That there is in men an enmity and a rage against Jesus Christ and the way of salvation by him If there were any thing he would destroy and if there were any wall he would pluck down and if there were any truth he would deny namely salvation by Jesus Christ He came to his own and his own received him not His own that is those that were separated from the rest of the world As we call that a mans own wherein a man hath a particular interest title and possession If they were Christs own then they had in some measure owned him as wel as he had owned them They had owned him by profession and yet they received him not because they received him not with love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies properly a receiving kindly and respectively and gladly So they received him not The Jews they thought they had received the Messiah when they refused the Messiah They thought that he that should be the Messiah should be such a one and because Christ came not cloathed like unto him therefore they rejected him So Christians are apt to a great mistake about Jesus Christ preached and born in the Gospell as I may say as the Jews were about him when that he came in the Flesh I shall instance only in one They do not love beleeving nor receive Jesus Christ with love who beleeve him not to be such a one as he is who receive him not according to the greatness and glory with which he is invested and which belonges unto him Suppose a Noble man should come unto a mans house and be regarded but as an ordinary man Let his entertainment be otherwise what it wil be he is not used kindly but you do degrade him and level him to an ordinary mans condition when as he is a person of Honor Kind usage of one lyes in the shewing him that respect and esteem which belongs unto him He is an unkind man to his wife who respects her but as his Father and Mother when as he must leave Father and Mother in his affections in comparison of her So now he useth Christ unkindly and he doth not shew his love by beleeving on him who doth not by faith receive him as he is God and Man One in whose hands al power is may do what he pleaseth viz. Give the spirit from the father And one who is holy and harmless and separate from sinners I say unless you beleeve upon him as such a one and receive him as such a one and love him as such a one then you do not beleeve In 1 Rom. 21. They Glorifyed him not as God and therefore God gave them up to vile affections They Glorified God he confesseth But not as God and therefore they were punished Wherein lay that that they glorified him not as God It lay in this God had put forth his power and wisdom in the things that he had made and they set up things which they made in the memorial of that God but they praised him not as a God of infinite power They looked after no more then was in the creation and therefore not giving infinite power to him they Glorified him not as God So I say here They do not love Jesus Christ as Christ who do not acknowledg him to be what indeed he is and to be such a one as he is revealed I shall speak more plainly thus The Jews did stumble at the meaness of Christs out-side because they looked by him to have a temporall kingdome There are as false as erronious apprehensions of Christ in the minds of men now The dealings of Christ with the Souls of men are as contrary and as unanswerable unto mens expectations and presumptions as the mean coming of Jesus Christ into the world was contrary unto the expectation of the Jews Mark it Christs dealings with the Spirits of men are as unanswerable as his coming in the Flesh was unanswerable to what the Jews expected When
the deceitful lusts Look what Paul saith there concerning al sin that the scripture saith concerning this one sin of Covetousness In Math. 13.22 The deceitfulness of riches Covetousness wil plead Conscience of a mans calling Care of Gods command to provide for a mans family Yea the Glory of God I would have more saith a man that so I may do more service and good Saul did save the Cattel but it s said It was for sacrifice Covetousness wil put a man upon al duties of morality and civility The covetous man whom God abhors saith the Psalmist In Psal 10.10 He doth crouch and humble himself that is he is as sweet and loving and affable and courteous and as seemingly ready to do any office and service for one as any can be Nay it wil put upon any spiritual duties Artaxerxes was a great friend to the reformation of the Church of the Jews But it was out of Covetousness In 2. Kings 6.10 And Ezra 7.23 That so they may pray for the life of the King and of his children and that no wrath may come upon him nor his Realme Hewould give a toleration to those poore banished ones that they might go to their own Country and set up the religion of their Fathers It wil make a man keep a good Minister in his house In Judges 17.13 I have a good Levite saith Micaiah and now I know that God wil bless me saith he It wil make a man not fail to heare the best sermons In John 6.26 Ye follow me not for the Miracles that is not for the discovery of God by me in working of Miracles and that you may see in me more then a bare man as my Miracles do discover me to be but ye follow me for the Loaves That people did go after Christ the best of Preachers a great many miles and did run the reproach of the people of those times What made them to be the first at Church but because they thought God would the better provide for them in 2 Tim. 3.2.5 Those that are covetous at the second verse have a form of Godliness A form of Godliness is nothing but the picture of a thing to the life when a thing is so like another by Art as that it can scarce be known then it is said to be a form Jesus Christ is said to be in the form of God because he was as like God as could be And in the form of a Servant because you would rather have thought him to be born to misery than to be Lord of life Covetousness wil have a form of Godliness He will do the same duties that any Godly man in the world doth Fasting and praier is an extraordinary duty a great affliction of the flesh it 's a duty of the greatest seeming holiness that can be yet in Isaiah 57.17 the Reason why they fasted so often was but for Covetousness that they might put a greater face and a fairer shew upon their persecuting the Brethren who did differ from them When they had a mind to fall upon their Brethren for that which they should have born with them in then they call for a fast like the Crocodiles cry that is only to get a prey So like as a man may be to a Godly man so like will Covetousness make a man be to him If a Godly man praies so will he And if a Godly man forbears outward acts of gross sins so will he If a Godly man suffers so will he When God commends Job that there was not a man like him saith the Devill it is nothing for a man to do as he when he hath so good wages for his work Have you not given him much Riches and Honor and many Children in the world And as it doth thus deceitfully cheat a man and is hardly to be avoided because it seizeth upon all if they look not to it So that you may see Secondly That it is hard to be Cured And therefore in the Scripture you shal find if you observe it as many Arguments nay more Arguments against Covetousness than against any sin except it be Unbelief In Matth. 6. Jesus Christ spends a whol Sermon almost against it He doth so in Matth. 15. He doth so when he comes to speak to his Disciples of the ruine of Jerusalem He doth so when he speaks of the Hearers Look through the Gospel and the Epistles and you shall find that there are more Arguments against Covetousness than any thing but Unbelief And wherefore but because it 's a hard thing to cure it And that you may further see that it 's hard to be cured confider how it deals with a man The Scripture useth divers words to this purpose somtimes it saith it doth divide a man So the word usually is which in the Scripture is translated Care The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Care signifies division of spirit It separates a mans heart from God It makes a man a Beast To have a heart and a heart and not to walk perfectly with him It makes a man take Religion by the very throat in Matth. 13.22 for it did choak the word And in Luke 12.29 saith the Text Be not of a doubtfull mind The word in the Greek is Be not like unto Meteors As Meteors and exhalations that are drawn from the Earth that hangs between the Earth and the stars so wil Covetousness make a man that he shall not be totally profane nor throughly holy neither in the upper region nor in the lower region upon the dust He hath a spirit that is mingled and therefore is on all sides but hearty for nothing that is good or for salvation Nay it goes further in Luke 21.34 Take heed least your heart be overcharged with Gluttony and Drunkenness and the Cares of this life Christ doth joyn Covetousness with Gluttony and Drunkenness because it hath the like effects upon the Soul of a man that they have upon the body of a man When a man hath drunk extraordinarily his understanding is sensless and so is a man made by the Cares of this world Be not overcharged The word signifies Made heavy His spirit is like lead he hath no spirit in any thing that he doth for God further than he is acted by the world Of a meer spirituall duty he hath no more feeling than a stone hath If there be not Rhetorick in praier and Invention in Sermons it 's not food to him Nothing that is spirituall affects him but his heart is like a stone It 's a strange speech in Luke 18.27 to this purpose when Christ said It was as hard for a rich man to be saved as for a Camell to go through the eye of a needle And they said then none of them can be saved saith Christ The things which are impossible with men are possible with God Are possible with God That word I would insist upon a little There are some things that the Scripture saith are easie unto God Do
and did beleeve that then God would bless them How many then would give that precious time strength and Spirit which now runs out to the world unto the service of God USE III. If every one that would attain to eternall life must take heed of Covetousness Then let all your care be for eternall life to be rich in God as Christ saith in verse 21. Be rich in God that is in the things of God and in the things that are for Gods Glory God doth not call you from the world to put you upon a loss but to turn your affections upon the right Object It 's not to undo you but to make you in better things As Parents when they would wean the Child from the Nurse unto themselves they make the nurses breast black and they fear the Child So saith Christ take heed and look to your selves when he hath no other end in it but that he may have your love and you have his at length Many will say saith David in Psal 4.7.8 Who will shew us any good but saith he Thou hast put more gladness into my heart than when Corn and Wine increase As if he should have said when the Devill sees men inquiring after happiness and salvation he does shew them good he presently meets them as Abraham did the Gibeonites wih Corn and Wine the things of this life and takes off their hearts from happiness And it is so prevailing a means Math. 4.9 that he betook himself to that alone when he tempted Christ All this will I give thee When he had shewed him all the Glory of the world that is when he had made the world as glorious as possible it could be to the mind of Christ He did not do unto Christ as unto us deceive our fancies but he put the greatest Glory upon Riches that could be and then he thought that Jesus Christ would bow down to him If the Devil cannot make a man as prophane and as loose as he desires then he will make a man Religious but mingle Covetousness with it He will stir up a man as it is reported by one that writes of the walkings and apparisions of the Devill The Devil came to many a man in Luthers time and provoked them to stand for Justication and lay aside popish Religion but he told them also they should get so much by the bargain And when he mingled this Poyson with that Wine he did bring them to as much formality as they were in before in their ignorance They were as bad as before because of only their Covetousness When he hath once got a man under his power he wil make him to grind at this mil as they did Sampson Therefore the Love of the world is called in 1. Tim. 6.9 The Devils snare and bond And it is the sin of the Jews by which they were and are kept from embracing Christ They did look after an earthly Kingdom Be not hindred of true happiness by those things Barter not away your souls for an abundance of the things of this life Let not your minds run out after what you see or what is to be had besides grace and holiness and communion with God Our Lord Jesus Christ is moved to see one got into good Company here in this Chapter at the 13. verse seeming to have an inheritance here to neglect to get Salvation and Grace Grace and the favor of God are true riches and al other things are not so They are but shadows of riches and therefore called a fancy Agrippa his poâ—… and Glory is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25. Acts 23. Though a man seem to be blessed of God when he hath this world yet it is but seemingly so And therefore the scripture calls it a fashion 1. Cor. 7.31 Rom. 12.2 The fashion of this world But there is no true goodness in riches In Luke 2.21 Saith Christ a man that treasures up for himself is not rich in God That treasures up for himself That is Riches are but a particular good that may serve a mans self but that is all it can do It makes a man leave God who is a universal good That only is true Riches which doth procure to a man all good and that nothing can do but what comes from God which is Grace USE IV. You shal have al the things of this life if you wil look after Grace Al that is needful Godliness hath the promise of this life It gives content 1 Tim. 6.6 That is as much as a man doth either need or desire if his desires be rational and spiritual It gives content The word that the Apostleuseth for content is a word that is used among Common wealths that have al things in themselves and need not other Countries Religion needs not be beholden to any estate and condition or any thing in this world for any thing that belongs to this life Godly men do never want but when they cannot be content to be at Gods dispose He wants not that is content He hath content whose wil is conformable unto God There are at the least twenty several sences of that in Psal 37.25 I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread But that which is most probable from the Context and scope of the Psalme is I never saw A righteous man 〈◊〉 it is a righteous man that doth not fret at thâ—… prosperity of wicked men Not begging bread that is in want Let any be of a liberal spirit willing to part with what God gives him when God doth cal and that man never wants Men that have dogs appetites are never satisfied When meat feeds humors then parents deny their children meat So doth God when he sees what he gives doth not work conformity to his wil. Do you mind your work and God wil care for your maintenance And you shal have spiritual things at a better rate and on easier terms then you have earthly things The paines you take for heaven shal bring you in communion with God which cannot be got by your indeavors God wil not put you to more nor so much in working for him as you put your selves to in getting the world Wicked men have been at death convinced of this Had I saith one been as good a servant to God as to the King I had been happy Yea those that know better what it is to prepare for Heaven than others do complain that they are not so carefull for spirituall things as they are for the things of this life When they go about Riches or the things that concerns Riches they are buried in the business and there their thoughts are intent but at prayer and Hearing their Thoughts are divided and their Hearts are wandering and yet still they grow in Grace Psal 127.2 It 's in vain to go to bed late or rise up early so he gives his Beloved sleep that is without this carking care he gives them sleep that sleep is a Lying in
your selves to eternal life by abundance You cannot purchase it Psal 49.7 That is a Purchase that must be let alone No man is able to give the thousand part of the purchase of it if he had all the world to give No you are not able to purchase it Covetousness breeds listlesness of spirit and a senslesness of the things that are eternal As while a man looks upon the Sun he cannot well see other things So while a man is in the Earth and darkness he cannot well bear the light of the Sun so a man whose spirit is accustomed to the care of this cannot well get his heart into converse with God Therefore set this down with your selves that abundance is rather to be feared than desired Riches are rather Pricks than Thrones rather Rocks whereon you dash your selves than any thing that will do you good to help you to the end whereunto you are designed and born withall for by God That shal suffice for this use CHAP. VI. Use 7. Mortifie your desire after Riches and abundance slay it in the first motion towards it Motives of two sorts First Such as are taken out of the Armory of Reason I. Your happiness does not lie in any thing that does belong to this life These things are for you you are their end and your end is God II. You put a greater Glory and excellency upon them than does belong to them III. Riches are not desirable 1. God hath not made them to that end to make men happy 2. Desires after them is the way to hinder the getting of them 3. The way of Gods Riches is rather casuall than as an answer to Praier 4. They will not satisfie 5. There is no pleasure in them when we have them USE VII MOrtifie therefore your desires after Riches and abundance Diet your selves in these things as your would run the Race and have the Crown In Colos 3.5 Mortifie saith the Apostle your members that are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness Adultery evil concupiscence and Covetousness That which I shall desire you to observe is this That the Apostle doth put a great many sins together as those which are to be slain and among them Covetousness is one He joyns it with Uncleanness Because as you are to be afraid of the first tickling to that sin so you ought to be of the first motion unto the love of the world The first motion of discontent with a mans present state should be mortified as well as the first motion to Adultery As a severe and cruell Conqueror follows his Souldiers and bids them kil and slay and not give quarter unto any but especially he names some persons which he would have them be severe against So doth the Apostle bid them to mortifie all sins but especially he names Covetousness Cease not my Beloved therefore to pursue it til you have slain it And know that you have not slain and killed it until you can delight your selves and rejoyce in your present Condition though you have but a smal portion of the things of this life Then I say Covetousness is mortified when as a man doth delight and rejoyce himself though that he hath but a very smal portion of the things of this life In Psal 37.4 saith David Delight thy self in the Lord his meaning is this Be as cheerfully pleasantly contented if you have but God as if you had together with him al the world In the outward portion that God gives you delight in God for in the verses before he had spoken of wicked men as those that flourished like a Tree in the spring and prospered and increased in al things But saith he unto the Godly delight thy self in the Lord that is though you be not so though you prosper not though you be like a Tree that is withered A mans happiness is not in abundance for a man is not one Inch nearer Heaven for al the Mountains of Gold that he hath I shall therefore now unto the putting you upon this Duty give you some motives And when I have done that some tryals The motives are of two sorts they are either such as are taken out of the Armory of Reason such as the Common light which even the Heathen had from God do afford Or else they are such as are taken out of the Scripture from supernaturall and Gracious respects First Be contented with what you have for your happiness doth not lie in abundance nor in any thing that doth belong to this life Were your happiness in riches then your desires ought to be infinite and boundless to be set upon them for themselves But if so be that you have riches you are not the better and if you want them you are not the worse Al the things of this life are for you You are their end your end is God These do not commend you unto him The Poor receive the Gospel With him it 's all one whether you be bond or free so you be in Jesus Christ and but a new Creature Take al the riches in the world together and they are not able to take away the pains and miseries of your bodies A Crown of Gold upon the head wil not keep it from aching A Scepter in the hand wil not cure the Palsie Herods Riches and Glory could not kil a Worm Much less then are they able to satisfie your Consciences or to get you favor with God Nay my Beloved let me add this that if you wil not be contented with that portion God gives you your are further off from Gods favor by them when the Apostle in Colos 3.5 had named Covetousness in verse 6. he saith For such things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Mark it He doth not put Uncleanness or Fornication last that so he might fasten the danger and the eminency of the wrath of God against it but he names Covetousness last and he saith For that the wrath God c. the word properly signifies a vindictive defire A hanging after ones ruine A being unsatisfied until such time as he hath destroyed As far as such a kind of affection can be attributed unto God justly so far you are to apprehend it in him against those that are Covetous And that not sometimes but alwayes for saith he the wrath of God is come or for such things the wrath of God comes He doth not say It shal come but he saith it is come I say the wrath of God is a desire of revenge and he saith not that it shal come but that it is come The sin of Covetousness is a punishment to it self brings punishments every day one on the neck of the other for saith he for this the wrath of God comes So that a mans happiness is not in riches for the desire of riches keeps a man from happiness Secondly Your desire after Riches puts a glory and excellency upon them which is not native or which belongs not to