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 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 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 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 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 scarce soiourne in the other Trust not 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 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 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 â—hat he keeps them not at all to himselfe But as for his glory whereof our trust is a part hee 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 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 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 no way safe but in this trust How easie is it for him to inrich or impouerish you to hoyse you
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 death-beds 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 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 vpon earth It is a shame to heare of a rich man that dyes and makes his will of thousands
THE RIGHTEOVS MAMMON An Hospitall-Sermon Preach't in the solemne Assembly of the CITY on Munday in EASTER-weeke 1618. By IOS HALL D. of D. LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniell Butter 1618. TO MY MVCH HONOR'D FREND Sr HENRY BAKER Knight Baronet SIR AMongst many to whom my poore labonrs owe much for their acceptation I know none that can challenge so deepe a debt as your selfe If others haue tasted of my well-meant papers you haue fed heartily on them and so made them your owne that your memorie may compare with others eyes and your practise with the speculation of others Neither haue your hand or tongue bin niggardly dissemblers of your spirituall gaine Vnto you therefore to whose name I had long since in my desires deuoted my next do I send this meane present A Sermon importunately desired of many That which the present Auditors found vsefull the Presse shall communicate to posteritie The gaine of either or both is no lesse mine I doubt not but you haue already so acted that part of this discourse which concerneth you that the direction I giue to others is but an historie of what you haue done And go on happily worthy Sir in those your holy courses which shall lead you to immortalitie and so vse your riches that they may be made vp into a crowne for your head in a better world My hearty well-wishes shall not be wanting to you and your vertuous Lady as whom you haue obliged to be iustly Worcester Aprill 14. Yours Jos. HALL 1 TIM 6. 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God who giueth vs richly all things to enioy c. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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 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 Fight with siluer launces and you cannot 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 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 thou come before the Lord and bow thy selfe before the hye God 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 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 giues of their Sanchez 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 serue them we may inioy them we may not ouer-ioy in them So must wee be affected to our goods 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. Now as the disdainfull riuall will be sure to cast reproches vpon his base competitor 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 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 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 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 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