to be transported when you had them I grudge you not what may be sufficient not only for the necessity of your persons but likewise for the decency of your Estates the neglect whereof may be sordid and deservedly taxible but I would not have you so much in love with the flesh pots of Aegypt as not to forsake them for your eternal Canaan you should use the World as a Traveller does his Inn not as if you were to dwel but to bait in it If you do not a Brevissima ad divitias per divitiarum contemtum via est Si ad naturam vives nunquam eris pauper si ad opinionem nunquam dives Epicur over-value Riches you will never want them for 't is Opinion and nothing else which makes Men miserable Learn to be content with any thing and by this very means you will enjoy all things b Omnia nimirum habet qui nihil concupiscit eo quidem certius quam qui cuncta possidet Sen. and he who fils the hungry with good things and sends the Rich empty away will bless you with all Spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus he will give you those Riches which shall be truly amiable and the object of your eternal love and therefore fall not in love with the World but him that made it in whose power alone it is to make you rich indeed and contemn whilst you are alive what you cannot enjoy when you are dead For no Man is truly wealthy who cannot carry away what he has with him for what he leaves behind him is not his but anothers Never was there more need of a sursum corda than now when the Churches invitation to lift up your hearts can hardly prevail with you to raise them one jot above the World and therefore since I have no great assurance to prevail with you to forsake Covetousness I pray let me press you to make the best of it to covet earnestly the best gifts to be zealous of spiritual gifts Get wisdom get understanding and see that ye abound in grace cujus unius honesta est avaritia Sen. Strive to be rich in good works and to get an interest in Christ who of God is made unto us Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and then you can want nothing but what to wish for 1 Cor. 10.31 1 Cor. 14.12 Prov. 4.5 2 Cor. 8.7 De brev vitae cap. 3. 1 Tim. 6.18 1 Cor. 1.30 Look a little into your Estates and examine all the wayes by which you have got or encreas'd them whither they have been just or no Consider seriously that if he who gave nothing to Lazarus was condemn'd to fry in eternal flames what will become of them who took any thing from him If they who found Christ naked and would not cloth him must be damn'd what will become of them who found him cloth'd and stript him He whom we hear of in Hell is said to have riches and yet his own too not the Churches or his Neighbours Patrimony he is noted for faring deliciously but of his own bread not for drinking Widows tears instead of Wine or eating up Gods People as they eat bread we do not read of his thriving by other Mens losses making advantage of their falls or inriching himself by the mystery of breaking he he is not accus'd for keeping other mens goods but for not distributing his own and therefore Hell must needs be het seven times hotter than ordinary for oppressing cheating sacrilegious rich men And as for that part of your estates which your consciences dare maintain you came honestly by receive it thankfully enjoy it soberly and contentedly and communicate it charitably that so by your present disposure of it you may make it subservient to an end above its native efficacy and purchase for your selves a revenue of credit in this world and glory in that to come And this I may the more pardonably invite you to both because I speak in an age when men are out of charity with Charity it self few such perfect Saints as to have their Religion at their fingers ends and because Charity is Ars Quaestuosissima Chrys and riches yield more profit by their profusion than possession so that by parting with those which you cannot keep you may gain those which you cannot lose Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes Mart. You see 't is a hard thing to use riches well but 't is so much the more commendable and worthy of your ambition and therefore I do not press you to throw them away but to lay them out with such prudence as to make you friends of that unrighteous Mammon and to take Daniels counsel to Nebuchadnezar Dan. 4.27 to break off your sins by righteousness and your iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor that it may be a lengthening of your tranquility Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of your increase so shall your barns be fil'd with plenty and your presses burst out with new wine Prov. 3.9,10 Remember what your charitable Predecessors have done in this City before you but keep not a register in your memories of what you have done in this sort your selves for the Welsh have a Proverb that they who have good memories give but few alms because they keep alwaies in mind what and to whom they have given before Remember you are as much bound to be charitable as just and to feed the poor as not to oppress and murder him a Qui succurrere perituro cum potest cum non succurrit occidit and then you 'l be easily perswaded to use your riches as you do your water with which when you are served yourselves you let it flow freely down to the use of others Nor have I any particular design to drive on or the least intention to confine your charity but in all sincerity to exhort you to do what when how where to whom and as much as God and your own consciences shall direct you and if you have faith enough to believe and patience to wait for the reward which Christ proposes it will go well with you and with your children after you let but charity guide your hands and glory will crown your heads eternally Nor are you my Brethren of the Clergy so secure but that you may receive as much prejudice by your riches as any other take heed therefore that your preferments and revenues do not make you the worse for them It was Erasmus his wish after his refused offers of great preferment to make all even at his death to be out of every mans debt and only to have enough left to bring him honestly to his grave Let not that which hath hitherto been reputed the Vice of the City be now justly chargeable on us of the Clergy We of all men are most strictly ingaged to a perfect hostility against the vanities of the world and if we are not notoriously treacherous to our own aims and interests our actions will declare our sense of it I have no desire to judge you who are so much my betters but if it were possible to direct you to prejudge examine your selves and so either to anticipate or prevent any further censures I hope that for which some persons do condemn you is too poor and inferiour gain for you to stoop to We have friends enough in the World to secure us from that curse of our Saviours Luke 6.26 We be unto you when all Men speak well of you and I would it were only our innocence which was revil'd The mouth of Hell is now wider open and the Kingdom in greater animosity against us than ever and therefore let not us by our luxury and drunkenness by our covetousness and griping on any such sordid means as racking up our Tenants to the very summum jus give the credulous People cause to believe that the defamations and libels which the railing Sectaries have cast out against us are true After a long famine you are blessed be God remov'd to a plentifull table but take heed of a surfeit and that your plenty does not make you forget him whose person you represent Let us remember our late afflictions and vows which we made in case of a restitution and let the hungry bellies of the poor and needy who have suffer'd with or like us experience the benefit of our preferments that the envious eye of the worst of the Laity may not repine nor the foul mouths of the scum of the people rail at our large incomes And finally Let us all suffer our hearts to preach over to our selves in private the dangers which have been hinted of Worldly Riches and the greater hazard of Salvation that they than other men are in who enjoy them and then we shall affectionately joyn with the Church in her collect for the last festival and pray unto Almighty God that he would grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of Riches and to follow his said Son Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth with him and the Holy Ghost now and ever Amen FINIS