eaten quickly and consequently not eaten by himself alone But his Neighbour was to be partaker with him Charity and Hospitality was thus provided for 'T was not the Offering that God accepted alone but the gratefull Mind and the thankfull Recognition of the Offerer And He was to express that by his kindness to his Brother Hath God given you Wealth and abundance Make your Acknowledgments to Him who alone hath made the difference Let it appear that you have a due Sense of his Bounty How many ways may you express the great Sense you have on your Mind of the peculiar Mercy of God to you There are some that want bread and cloathing some are diseased others in prison some hopefull Youths will want instruction and a way of livelihood without your charity and care You may if you please comfort many a mournfull Widow support many fatherless Children help many disconsolate Strangers keep many from Idleness and more from Starving God hath done much for you is it not fit you should cast about what to doe for Him For Him who hath given you all things richly to enjoy For Him who is your greatest Friend and Benefactor For Him who hath the greatest right to you and yours Shall we spend upon our Lusts or in the Service of the Devil what God hath so bountifully bestowed upon us This would be the greatest impiety and ingratitude at once I remember Cyprian upon this occasion brings in the Devil accompanied with his numerous train vaunting over our Saviour De Opere Eleemosyn Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli c. For these followers of mine says he I have received no blows endured no stripes nor born a Cross nor shed my bloud a price of their redemption I promise no heavenly Kingdom no immortality in Paradise And yet says he they present me with great and precious and costly gifts c. Tuos tales munerarios Christe demonstra c. Shew me O Christ such followers of thee among the rich and the wealthy who are encouraged by the promise of Eternal life We shall be without excuse if we doe not that out of gratitude to God and our Saviour which others doe in the service of the Devil and prosecution of their lusts 4. To doe good c. is the way to secure to our selves Eternal life 'T is at least a necessary condition on our part and the way to it without it we must never expect that Blessed state And thus much is intimated to us in the words of my Text which come next to be considered Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal life 'T is considered as a foundation which though it doe not raise yet it must precede the following superstructure Our hope of Eternal life falls to the ground without this course And if we would build to any height or purpose we must lay a good foundation first But the Greek word we render foundation is thought to signifie somewhat else here and that as agreeably to my present purpose And this a writing that is obligatory or a writing that gives the Creditor caution and a right to recover his debt And this 't is supposed to signifie in correspondence to a certain Hebrew word that answers to it And thus this Greek word is supposed to signifie in the following Epistle The foundation standeth sure 2 Tim. ij 19. That is God's Covenant or Promise For it follows Having this Seal c. A Seal belongs properly enough to a writing or instrument of Contract but not to a foundation vvhich lies under-ground And in this sense they that doe good may be said to have good security that they shall not lose their revvard and 't is the best and surest vvhatsoever Quas dederas tantùm semper habebis opes He that gives to the poor lendeth to the Lord Prov. xix 17. and He hath engaged to re-pay him The Revvard is due novv by Covenant and Promise Henceforth says St. Paul there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day 2 Tim. ij 8. We disclaim the Merit but must believe the Necessity of Good Works in order to obtaining Eternal life And this vve must doe if vve believe the Holy Scriptures They put us upon them as the vvay to Glory and Immortality Thus our Saviour Sell that ye have and give Alms Provide your selves bags which Wax not old a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not Luke xij 33. Again Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you i. e. ye may be received into everlasting habitations xvj 9. Give diligence says St. Peter to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. i. 10,1◠This is indeed according to our ordinary Copies but 't is othervvise in some other Copy of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. Give diligence that by Good Works ye make your Calling and Election sure It follovvs For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ All this agrees exactly vvith the vvords of my Text Laying in store c. and affords a mighty Motive to doe good He that does good advances tovvard Heaven does that vvhich tends to the lessening his account and making sure his future Happiness He that shevvs Mercy for God's sake shall not fail to receive it vvhen he needs it most and vve shall need it at that Great Day These things vve firmly believe or vve doe not If vve doe not vvhy doe vve profess the belief of them If vve doe vve need no other Motive to doe good For vve take the vvisest course vvhen vve exchange Perishing for Eternal Riches vvhen by Works of Mercy here vve store up a reversion of Mercy at that great and terrible Day vvhen God shall treat every Man according to his Works And vvhen all good Men vvill receive a revvard incomparably beyond vvhat our Eye hath seen our Ear hath heard or hath entred into the Heart of Man to conceive IV. IV. I proceed now to make some Use and Application of what hath been said 1. We may learn from what hath been said the great danger of a plentifull and prosperous Condition St. Paul thought so when he put Timothy upon the Charge here in my Text Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded c. I wish we were duly sensible of this truth If we were we should now and then tremble for fear we should receive all our good things in this life Here 's enough to humble the most prosperous if it be duly laid to heart Here 's nothing in this World generally more unhappy than that Man is who meets with no Affliction or with very little We pity the poor and destitute and we ought to doe it But alas there are young persons to be seen in Coaches and with Trains after them that are acquainted with nothing but the glozing Side of the World that spend their Time in Plays and Pleasures that in the Judgment of a Wife man are greater Objects of Pity and Compassion 'T is a peradventure but these young persons lose their hopes of a future happiness They will be in great danger of forgetting God and themselves We treasure up Wealth for our Children we design to make them great Fortunes as we call it But alas vain Men that we are we know not what we doe We rake together what perhaps will be but the nourishment of their Pride the fuel of their Lusts and a snare to their immortal Souls God give us a due sense of this danger of prosperity This would mightily dispose us to doe good And for that reason sure St. Paul makes it the first part of the Charge That they who are rich in this World should not be high-minded c. 2. We may also learn from what hath been said the true use of Riches They are not things desirable upon their own account So far from it that the Wise man deprecates them as well as Poverty And indeed Poverty seems the less Evil of the Two to him that considers things with due Application But I will not enter into that Enquiry now 'T is certain that the Good of Riches lies in this That they give us an opportunity of doing good in the World 3. Give me leave then to press upon you the Duty that lies before you in the words of my Text To doe good to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate If you would have it in other words you may take it in our Saviour's Be mercifull as your Father which is in heaven is mercifull Imitate God and your Blessed Saviour shew whose Creatures and whose Disciples you are And if the Mercies of God and the Example of Jesus be not powerfull enough yet your own Interest methinks should not fail to move you Be kind to your selves and to your Posterity Lessen your accounts and lay up a store of Mercy against you need it Do not leave an unseasoned and unblessed Estate to your Children Correct it and make it wholsome that it prove not their Bane Let it have none of the Cries of the Poor mingled with it Adorn your Holy Religion and let all Men see the mighty Sense you have of the Mercies of God and of the Love of Jesus Doe good while you can Your opportunities will not always remain The time may come that you may not be able to doe it Serve your Generation with your Power and Wealth encourage Piety and Diligence promote with all your Might the good of Souls and the benefit of the Publick This will gain you a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters 'T will bring you Peace upon your dying Beds and if you continue and abound you will at last enter into Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Which that we may all doe God of his infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ's sake FINIS
hath made you so your accounts will be the greater and much will be required of all them that have received much Your wealth does not advance you toward the Kingdom of Heaven Our Lord hath said it A rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. xix 23. And St. James that he is made low Jam. i. 10. and St. Paul that God hath chosen the weak things of the world 1 Cor. i. 27. Again our Blessed Saviour Woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation Luke vj. 24,20 And on the other hand Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Riches are so far from helping forward our Salvation that they often obstruct it and always render it more difficult and hazardous We must give a strict account how we got our Wealth and how we spend it Here 's enough to humble us no ground for Pride or Arrogance Well might the Apostle require Timothy to charge them that are rich that they be not high-minded But he would have them charged too that they trust not in uncertain Riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That they do not confide in the uncertainty of Riches There is great reason for this charge if we consider how commonly Rich men miscarry in this matter or how great a folly and evil it is so to doe First Rich men do too often trust in their Riches We reade of them that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches Psal xlix 6. lij 7. Too many there are to whom the Psalmist's words may be applied Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches We desire them passionately and promise our selves great ease and satisfaction from them We too commonly make them our refuge and stay and when riches encrease we set our hearts upon them Psal xlij 10. Hence we expect ease and relief we please our selves when we think of them and promise our selves mountains of felicity from them There is hardly any man of Wealth but is in danger and therefore had need be charged Secondly This is great folly and a great evil 'T is great folly to trust in uncertainty to fix our stay and our hope upon that which may fail us to bear and rest upon any thing that may fail us and give way is so great a piece of folly that we are not guilty of it in other cases Nothing is more uncertain than Riches This earthly treasure moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal Matt. vj. 20. It makes it self wings and flies away It lies at the mercy of wind and weather of fire and water of robbers and false people of a multitude of accidents and contingencies Besides to trust in uncertain Riches is a great evil 'T is to make Riches our God 'T is Idolatry in the truest sense 'T is no matter though we build no Altars though we offer no Bloud nor Incense if we trust in them and give them our hearts we make them our God and shut our selves out of the Kingdom of Heaven How hardly says our Saviour shall they that have Riches enter into the Kingdom of God! Mark x. 23,24,25 They are an hindrance to them that have them but for them that Trust in them as our Saviour adds afterward It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for such men to enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. vj. 9. This Idolatry will exclude us from the inheritance of God's Kingdom This puts us out of God's favour and the state of grace this friend of the World is the enemy of God And such a friendship of this world is that Idolatry which is wont to be expressed by Adultery or Spiritual Fornication And this seems to be the importance of what St. James says Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Jam. iv 4. Our Saviour assures us that we cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Mat◠vj. 24. II. II. I consider the Duty of Rich men or what they ought to be earnestly put upon viz. To trust in the living God to doe good to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate First To trust in the living God Not that this is the peculiar duty of the Rich for 't is the Duty of all But the Rich are considered here as prone to trust in uncertain Riches and in opposition to that are to be warned and charged to trust in the living God And that very agreeably in this place For whereas Riches are perishing things flitting and uncertain unsatisfactory and disproportionate unable to make us happy and at ease and are so far from it that they often perplex us and pierce us with many sorrows 't is very fit they should be directed where to place their trust and their hope and so wisely to place it that they may not be disappointed and nothing could have in this case been advised more agreeably than this that they should Trust in the living God In the living God and not in fading and perishing Riches In God who lives and lives for ever who is the first and the last and always the same who lives from himself and can never dye or fail to be and be what He is with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning 'T is worth our while to make him our trust who cannot fail us to place our hope in Him who onely hath immortality What can our Riches avail what comfort can they afford in the day of tryall what proportion do they bear to our needs or to our capacities what stupendious folly is it to trust in such uncertainty To direct our thirsty and parched Souls to these empty and broken vessels and to neglect the fountain of living waters On the side of Riches there 's nothing but vexation or vanity but varnish and uncertainty a splendid nothing that hath baffled and abused the Sons of men from one generation to another On the other hand if we trust in God in the living God we shall never be deluded with false hopes never frustrated in any just expectation We shall be provided for by an infinite Wisedom protected by an Almighty power and be sure to lack nothing Here 's a motive to this in my Text Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy We ought to trust in the giver not in the gift to hope in Him that gives us all things and not only our being our life and breath not onely the necessaries of our being but the comforts and satisfactions of it also not onely what is needfull but what is for delight and for ornament for entertainment and caress He hath advanced the Rich above their Fellow-creatures and dealt out his favours with a bountifull and liberal hand And therefore are the
Rich particularly obliged to trust in so great and kind a Benefactour This motive also is of great force to set home the remaining Duties of the Rich which follow in the next words and which Timothy is required to charge them with viz. Secondly That they doe good i. e. that they bestow benefits that they be rich in good works that is that they abound in these things Ready to distribute i. e. liberal and prompt and always prone to doe them Willing to communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that they be of a publick spirit not of a narrow and private one but doing that which is for the good of the Community of which they are but members I shall wave the critical and nice enquiry into the original words as they lie in the Greek Text But yet I shall not forbear to consider the words particularly in order to my laying before you the several branches of that duty which is incumbent upon Rich men First That they doe good This is very comprehensive and extendeth very far To all sorts of Good works to works of Piety to God-ward of Justice and Mercy to our Brother Sobriety and Temperance with regard to our selves But more particularly and specially it takes in all benefactions towards our neighbour and as his needs are many and various so are the parts of this Duty likewise Under this Head are contained the cloathing the naked the feeding the hungry ministring to the sick comforting the afflicted vindicating the injured encouraging the diligent and advising and instructing the weak and ignorant Such acts of kindness are not to be limited either to persons or times We must doe good to all to our enemies to strangers and to men who differ from us To the present Generation and to Posterity Secondly That they be rich in good works They must do them plentifully give portions to six and also to seven not confine themselves to one sort of charity or to some small measures but as God hath given them great plenty so must they give largely too 'T is not enough for them who abound in wealth to give away a little broken meat at a Gate or a few Gowns at the return of an annual solemnity or to throw away now and then a few loose grains among the poor This is not to be rich in good works 'T would well become these men to think of some endowments or considerable additions to Churches or Hospitals or of erecting Work-houses and redeeming a number of men from Prisons and great miseries Thirdly that they be ready to distribute i. e. that they be prompt and prone and always disposed to doe good works There are those who will not refuse to comply when they are put upon a good work they will not stand out and be singular when others contribute but yet they are not forward to promote nor much pleased to be moved this way But St. Paul would have Rich men of a temper and inclination this way Fourthly Willing to communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is of a publick spirit designing the good of the Community and preferring it not onely to private interest and advantage but to private and particular charity also There are some things of that nature that they are for the good of a Kingdom of Cities and Societies of men for the good of the present and of succeeding Generations And the farther any good work reacheth the better it is and the greater imitation of God's goodness who is good unto all and whose mercy is above all his works The substance then of the charge laid here upon Rich men amounts to this viz. That they exercise themselves in all sort of Benefactions and that they doe it largely according to the proportion of their Wealth and Store that they be always prone and inclined this way and that they be more especially addicted to those good works which promote the good of the Community I proceed to consider III. III The true Interest of Rich men or the motives that may be used to persuade them to this discharge of their Duty where I shall consider the importance of what Saint Paul lays before us in the words of my Text Laying up a good foundation for the time to come and that they may lay hold of eternal life And that you may take in the following particulars 1. This is the true end and use of Riches The end for which they were bestowed and the best improvement that can be made of them They were never designed to be hoarded up and laid by but to be employed for the honour of God and the benefit of each other 'T is the use of them that gives them their price and value and stamps them with the fairest character Not to be usefull differs very little from not to be at all He that hides his Talent is as if he had never received it He that keeps his wealth as a Gaoler keeps his Prisoner voids the end for which 't was given Such a man detains good from those to whom it is due and is false to his great Lord that entrusts him and his wealth becomes Mammon of unrighteousness For so Riches are not onely when they are ill gotten but when they are detained from the uses for which they were bestowed We are but Stewards and Trustees and not to dispense is to fail of our trust which is Injustice in the sight of God and Men. 2. 'T is the best way to make them a blessing and a durable one A blessing to our selves and to our Posterity also A Blessing I say for Riches alone and separately considered are not a Blessing The Wise man deprecates them as an Evil or a Snare And Solomon says There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt But those Riches perish by evil travail And he begetteth a Son and there is nothing in his hand Eccl. v. 13,14 How many have been ruined by Wealth and have perished by Plenty Poverty as great an evil as we think it hath less of danger and hath done less harm than Riches If Poverty be reckoned as 't is in the Law of Moses among the Curses yet Philo the Jew observes it is placed among them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as the lightest evil Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore Riches are not to be placed among the greatest Blessings They are as they are used and they must be used with great care and caution they are like a rich Soil that will indeed produce excellent Fruits but then it must be cultivated and well planted weeded and kept clean or else it may produce what is noxious and mischievous The Soil will not of it self afford the best Productions Riches will corrupt and run to putrefaction as well as other things They must be seasoned and stirred or else they 'll corrupt and stink and that not without the greatest danger