dishonorable to God as an unclean Person therefore eat not with him The Consequent being put for the Antecedent It is cast him forth for that doth injoyn men not to eat with Persons excommunicated unless it be in cases of necessity As the Wife with the Husband But not to in vite them Therefore the Apostle cals it a Judging of them CHAP. IX Waies for discovery of Covetousness In Generall More Particularly 1. He that hath a quick and acute understanding in the matters of this life but is really dull as to spirituall things is a Covetous man The Reasons of this An Objection Answered 2. The triall of our affections to these things is when God cals us to part with all 3. He is Covetous who takes all opportunitits of getting and who is having and craving in his Spirit An Objection Answered Quest HOW shall we know that we are Covetous Answ Take General and Particular waies Consider by the way that Covetousness is not only a particular sin but it is the universal distemper of all mens hearts that are unregenerate When the Ground is free from Weeds it is fit for the Seed of God First In General When that time is counted long which is not spent in a mans calling and waies of getting Amos. 8.5 When wil the Sabbath be gone that we may buy and sell Again When a man doth Duties of Religion to get places of gain or Loaves or blessings from God Ezek. 33.31 They come before me and seem to be as my people but their hearts run after their Covetousness There is difference between a wordly thought in a mans mind in Duty and making the world his end He that makes the world his end is Covetous Though he makes it not his last end yet if he sets it in an higher place than those that are subordinate to God himself God wil allow a man to look to himself but after God But the last thing that a man is to take care for is for the things of this life Again Covetousness is not mortified when other Lusts are not All Lusts do live and die together In Colos 3.5 where he bids them to mortifie Covetousness he bids them to mortifie inordinate affections and evil concupiscence c. Inordinate affections belong unto the Irascible passions or faculties by which we oppose evil And evil Concupiscence belongs to the other faculties which belongs to the things of a mans good Now these take up a mans whole Soul But if these two be not in order Covetousness is not mortified The Lust of the eye is the Steward which provides for the lust of the Flesh and the pride of life If you wil pluck up Covetousness you must dig up the whole heart mortifie all Corruptions If any be left this will grow with it But in Particular When a man hath a quick and a large understanding apprehension and Judgment in the matters of this life but to the discerning of spiritual things is dul When a man is acute and sharp in understanding the things of this life but is really dul unto spiritual things A man is then Covetous And the reason is this Because the ground why a mans knowledg is more excellent in one thing than in another and why he is more attentive to know one thing more than another is because his affections are to one thing more than another Therefore if a man be quick in the things of this life and dul in the things of God he is covetous The worldly man is described by the Cares of this life which choak the word When a man is truly dul I say not when he is so in his own Judgment As the wisest men think they err in wisdom As a Sea-man thinks no horses goe fast because they go not so fast as a Ship So a wise man in spiritual things thinks himself a Fool. In Prov. 30.2 He saith He had not the understanding of a man He spake of things beyond a mans understanding and yet he saith of himself A man may be dul in his own apprehension and yet not so really Again The time must be considered and the means which we have had to make them understand the matters of Godliness If a man have lived under a rational and scripture teaching Ministry and have had a long time of it and yet is dul in the things of God and is grown wise in the things of the world It is a great sign that a mans care is for the things of this life and not for the things of God Object A man may have larger parts than Grace therefore a man may be wiser in the things of this world than in the things of God Answ That is without controversie Yet Grace sets a mans mind so upon spiritual things that a mans parts are set upon the things of God and they die unto the things of the world Diligence will make up and repair a mans parts And Grace makes a man diligent I speak of real dulness When a man is not dul in one paint of Religion but in al not only dul under one Ministry but under all I not when a man is heard to come to knowledg For men that come hardliest by knowledg when they have it do keep it longest And do you Judg of this Particular If your strength lies in the things of this world that you are exquisite there that you can go through all the turnings of this life and do any thing in the business of this life but in the things of God you speak notionally and not spiritually as one that heard the story and not as one that knows the things then you are Covetous Again See how it is with you when God cals you to part with all Men are such as they are when they are tryed Nothing tries mens affections to a thing so much as parting with it When things do come in competition and a man cannot have both he wil then take that which he loves Therefore Solomon commands the Child to be cut in pieces because motherly affections would appear Somtimes God threatens to take al And somtimes God takes all And somtimes a man is in his spirit as if he should lose all What are your hearts then In 2 Tim. 10 11. it is said when Paul was ready to be offered up that Demas did forsake him and did cleave unto this present world His heart was in the world because he did for the saving of his estate forsake and leave Paul To open that place Object It may be said that Demas did suffer Persecution for he was with Paul in his imprisonment and Paul recommended him unto Philemon and unto the Church of Colosse Every one of the grounds by which the severall sorts of hearers are to be understood do go beyond one another The High way ground doth give the word the hearing but repeats it not meditates not of it remembers it not but the stony ground went further and they did so but
works beneath you about that which is not most excellent and profitable Do not think you have gotten enough when by your Faith you have gotten into Christ and Grace from him by Faith for you are alwaies to be receiving Many a man is apt to think it were well if he could keep what he hath gotten if he can but hold his hold and keep his union and continue it under temptations if he can but maintain his practice and hope not backslide But I beseech you beloved consider that al this is not enough for you are to be receiving not withstanding that which you have received And let me tel you this too that if you are not receiving you are never able to hold that which you have As the waters in the stream would fail if there were not a continuall flowing from the Wel-head and Fountain So there must be a continual efflux and flowing and influence from Jesus Christ that so the Grace you have may hold In a Trade he cannot keep open a Shop long that hath no comings in And so it is certainly in the matters of Religion If you pay use for so you must do for all the opportunities and grace you have they must be imployed and you have no gain it will undo you although you began with the greatest stock of resolutions and purposes and desires and what you wil else And therefore as you enquire into your selves whether you have faith or not to prove whether you are a Beleever So examine especially thy Book and see what thou canst get by beleeving Imploy thy faith therefore to this end That you seek out what is promised what God hath said he will give for he will give Grace and Glory and with-hold no good thing from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 And send out Faith to get in all these Promises and challenge God upon his word continually and say Lord thou hast said this and that and a third thing I have it under thy hand it is written Thou hast spoken it and hast made me to beleeve in thee and shall thy Word be as flesh that shall fail and come to nothing Imbolden thy heart and strengthen the hand of thy Faith to receive enlarge thy hand and open thy mouth to take in much and if thy Faith brings in any thing less than Jesus Christ it brings in nothing For as it is in my Text As many as received Him Joh. 1.16 were the Sons of God and of His fulness we received Grace for Grace If thou hast any thing but Christ thou hast nothing And if thou hast any thing but from his heap and fountain and fulness thou wilt not be enriched by it thou hast received but straws and leaves for Gold and Jewels I beseech you my beloved know That as God hath given the eye to see and the ear for hearing so he hath given Faith to receive on purpose to this end That you may be continually taking in from his fulness Faith is of a having and a craving nature and unsatisfied til a man hath obtained the fulness he is ordained to in Christ when it 's filled it is hungry the more it hath the more it would have Faith doth not only serve to keep you in a state of Grace for by Faith you stand but to receive all Christs fulness which is laid up in him for you Oh that we could beloved beleeve this and live such a kind of life Such a kind of life of Faith is indeed Heaven upon Earth when as a man is alwaies telling over treasures for his own use and purpose How joyful is the Merchant when the Ship comes home and he is unlading the rich commodities which it is come fraighted with How joyfull is the Husbandman when the harvest comes and renders an hundred fold for every corn Such is the joy of God in the heart and would be so if we did continually receive CHAP. III. Use 2. Put forth this act of Faith 1. Neglect not this for any other act of Faith whatsoever 2. Put it upon receiving much Jhon 1.16 opened 3. Let nothing hinder this act of Faith I. Not your sins II. Let nothing discourage you Neither 1. Gods delaies Nor 2. The smalness of your receits Nor 3. The greatness of your wants Nor 4. The greatness of your receits III. Epecially take heed of refusing what is offered USE II. IN the second place If Faith be a receiving then put out this Act. Excercise your Faith thus As our Lord saith John 16.24 Ask and receive That is not only desire and pray but take what you desire and pray for from God So I say Believe and Receive Beleeve not only that Faith is a receiving but actually receive and be ever getting Every Grace is to have its perfect work as the Apostle James speaks concerning patience Let patience have its perfect work James 1.4 A Grace doth its perfect work when it serves all the turns for which it is given when as it doth all the acts to which it hath power Faith as you heard in the explication hath many other acts besides receiving Receiving is an act and work which Faith is as good at and as good for as any other the perfect and compleat work of Faith is to receive Christ Set it therefore about it Set it to reap al the Fruit of Jesus Christ and of the promises Set it as your Atturney as I may so speak to cal in the debts you have and the good you hope for Make Faith to be not only the evidence of what is promised as Moses did the Mountain that he stood upon to behold Canaan but make it the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 That is possesse your selves of the things beleeved and hoped for Therefore as out of the Ark the Dove was sent and when she returned she was sent out again untill she brought an Olive branch in her mouth So send out your Faith again and again and never rest till it hath received and gotten more from Christ than it had before yea received according to the large gifts that are made through the promises Plainly thus As a man is to enquire of his Faith whether it be opeative or not whatit doth What work and fruit his Faith hath So he is to enquire what his Faith receives what receipts it makes It 's not a good Faith which works not and it 's not a true Faith which receives not Ask what the Lord hath done for thy Soul What promises are come in What they have yeilded unto thee What word is made good What thou hast gotten every day more than other What thou hast gotten by prayer or any other duty And if thou dost find that there is no coming in blame thy Faith and send it out to its work send it out to receive from Jesus Christ That I may a little set you on upon this or that you may understand what you are to do 1. Neglect not
the more sinfulness there is in any sin the more there is of the heart in it Therefore Originall Corruption is greater than actuall sins Now Covetousness doth take up the heart As I shall shew you more by and by REASON II. Secondly The greatness of this sin appears in this that it is a sin that doth over-spread the whol man It rests not in any one part or faculty of the Soul but it doth over-spread the whole and that not only by infusion but by formall in-dwelling That is Not only doth it work upon the Soul but the whol Soul is the seat of it And therefore you shall sometimes find that it is described by the mind that it over-spreads the understanding And therefore in Phillip 3.19 they are said to mind Earthly things And sometimes by the Wil that it overspreads the wil in 1 Joh. 2.15 Men are said so to love the World as that they cannot love God himself If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him As Appetite and desire is in every part of a man There is no part of a man but hath an appetite and desire in it to its own Object So in no part of the Soul but also may be discontent which is Covetousness So that its a sin which infects from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot and there is no part free Of al the Graces that God hath bestowed upon men there are but two that are principally observed to be diffused through the the whole Soul And they are Faith and Prudence And therefore they are the most excellent Graces because they have the greatest command Of all sins there is none that have more of the old Man than Covetousness hath because it hath not only the affective part the Wil but the Consultative part the Understanding REASON III. Thirdly Covetousness appears to be a very great sin and very sinful in this that it 's directly opposite unto the common nature of Godliness and Religion Some Vices are opposite to one particular Vertue But Covetousness is opposite unto all in it 's common nature And therefore hath the greatest contrariety in it for this is the common nature of all Religion to be Heavenly and Holy And this is the Aspect or consideration of Covetousness to make a man Earthly Therefore it 's said by God himself in 1 John 2.15 That if a man loves the World the love of the Father is not in him It might have been truly said that if a man love any sin he loves not God but God will rather put that note upon the love of the World rather than upon any thing The Character is put upon Covetousness because its the most diametrically opposite unto Grace of any sin To open this a little Those things differ most which differ in kind As there is therefore an infinite and unconceivable difference and one that cannot be made up between God and us because he is of himself and we are Creatures It 's impossible that ever we should come to be Gods or God to become what we are because God and we are not of the same kind He is of himself and we are of him More plainly There is a greater difference you know between Gold and the Heavens than there is between Gold and the Earth because Gold is but a refined part of the Earth but the Heavens are of another kind of Being and Creation Things which differ in their kind differ most But now the very kind of Religion and Covetousness differs For what is Religion but a Heavenly and supernaturall thing And what is Grace but a spiritual blessing that comes down from above but Covetousness fastens a mans Soul to earthly and base things And upon this ground it is called Idolatry in Col. 3.5 Covetousness which is Idolatry It 's called so upon this ground because as the fear and love and honor of God is the Ground of all obedience so the taking of the things of this life into our choice esteem and care is the putting out and the extinguishing and eradicating of all service unto God That a man doth take for his God which he chooseth before all other things When therefore a mans heart is so set that he must have riches and the things of this life he sets up that for his God and denies obedience in whol to the true God I say Covetousness is opposite to all Religion REASON IV. Fourthly The sinfulness of it appears in this That it is the Womb and Seed of all sin Therefore in 1 John 2.16 you have it as one of the Generals or Commanders of all the sins in the world All sins are summed up either into The Lusts of the Flesh that is Luxury and pleasure The Lusts of the Eye that is Worldliness or Riches Or the Pride of life that is Honor. In 1 Tim. 6.10 The love of Money is the root of al Evill The root partly because the Devil doth ingraft every sin upon that as the stock of it and partly because it doth vertually contain al sin in it From thence Cain murders Judas betraies Christ Achan steals the Babilonish Garment Demas Apostatizeth from Religion Demas saith the Apostle hath forsaken us and cleaves unto this present World in 2 Tim. 4.10 Therefore you shal find what the Companions of Covetousness are in Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murder c. And that you may not think it was the singular case of the corrupt Heathens you shall observe that wherever the Apostle speaks of Covetousnes he speaks of it as being accompanied with those sins In 1 Cor. 5.11 If any man be called a Brother who is a Fornicator a Drunkard Covetous an Idolator c. In 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Among Fornicators Idolaters effeminate persons and Theeves there are Covetous persons and Drunkards reckoned up In Colos 3.5 Fornication uncleanness inordinate affections evill Concupiscence Covetousness which is Idolatry And that the Apostle may not seem to be in a heat or passion when he doth thus describe the Companions of Covetousness you shall find that in Mark 7.22 our Lord himself saith as much From the hearts of men arise Theft Adultery and Covetousness c. And it 's worth observation That when the Evangelist Matthew doth repeat those words he leaves out Covetousness But when Mark came to add unto that which Matthew wrote which was the manner of the Evangelists to add unto others he puts in Covetousness Because whoever is Covetous hath the root of all these in him and not because whoever is Covetous doth all these things You shall find therefore in the Scripture that the way which Satan takes to destroy men is expresly set out by this of Covetousness In 2 Cor. 2.11 The Apostle speaks of the Devices of Satan And he sets forth the cunning of Satan in the beginning of the verse that he makes advantage of us
they thought the word of God dot worthy enduring the troules that it brought but the thorny ground the Covetous groud that came under Persecution Now how can it be a sign of Covetousness if they endure Persecution This is the Objection Answ First the meaning is not that they will endure any kind of Persecution but such Persecution as is against the plain and cleer points of Religion For that which the High-way ground regards not the Principles of Godliness that the other grounds suffered for and stood to But those were the Principles of Religion converting points for the Text in Matth. 13. speaks of converting points of Religion Such points which distinguish regeneracy and unregeneracy One sort of people minded not these things The other rather suffered for them than that they would part with them Rather than Demas would say the Gospel was a lie and that Jesus Christ was not God he would die presently That was so rooted in his Conscience that he would have thought himself unhappy to have given any check to it They did not come down right upon him but by cunning waies the Devil â—â—kes men by crast and not by fair strength However Demas did not love his life in this Case yet he loved his riches better than his life He cries better live not and be not than be in want When he was with Paul there was no great hazard run for it is said that Onesiphorus enquired him out and was not ashamed to walk with Paul when he had chains about him Now if men might go to men in Prison and walk up down with them in the streets there was not much hazard and danger That Demas could bear But when he must part with all the Text saith He cleaves to this present world That is such a kind of cleaving as is in the heart of God unto Christ and his people for by that word the heart of God is set out in the Scripture It signifies content and rest and ful delight and satisfaction in a thing Demas his heart was thus swallowed up in the things of this life And therefore though he could have lost his life at the first rather than to have denied the Principles of Religion yet he would rather have lost his life than endured want If when God cals for all you would spare some you are Covetous And say not that great degrees of Grace is required unto this for when the wil of God is shewed and determinately known a Saint sits down under it and quels al motions against it When a Godly man sees God wil have al he saith Thy wil be done Especially is a Godly man ready in the things of this life because at Conversion there is a mean esteem in him of the things of this life he looks not for things that are temporal but for what is eternal It is in the nature of a Beast to look after grass and the fields to live in the Air So for a Christian to have a mean esteem of this world either for his end or means He slights it for means and despiseth it 〈◊〉 his ends Look what you are when God takes away the things of this world Are your hearts in a quietness and composedness Again A man is then Covetous when he takes al opportunities of getting Again When a man is having and craving in his spirit when his praiers savors of the world like a vapor out of a Dungeon when his affections are strong in the matters of this life A mans Covetousness is not cured when his desires are hot Object Is it not lawfull for a man to desire more than he hath or so much as may Act all his parts and abilities in him Whether a mans observing what abilities he hath for publique service may not desire such a portion of this life as may Act him therein Answ Oftentimes it is not so much the love of a mans work as the love of a mans waies A man thinks he desires to love God when he loves the world The world is not worth the having You are in the world for Heaven When your thoughts are bowed down be afraid of that Trade not with those thoughts Remember Christs words Take heed and beware of Covetousness Arise ye dead and come to Judgment There is a Snare in your Calling you may be Covetous in desiring nothing but your due As this young man in my Text. FINIS Scriptures Opened in the Book of John 1.12 And Luke 12.15 Chap. Vers Page Genesis 4 14 229 42 1,2 48 Joshua 3 21 109 7 21 98 Judges 17 13 236 1 Samuel 15 23 263 1 Kings 1 17 152 2 Chronicles 30 8 125 Bzra 7 23 236 Job 27 5 46 34 36 164 Psalms 1 2 156 4 7,8 244 8 2 171 9 10 37,41 10 3 236 15 1 140 16 4 222  7 48,53   71 19 1 110 36 18 33 37 1 75,215  4 257  25 246 44 3 140 49 7 255 51 3 52 50 6,7 162 73 15 147  24 152 84 11 14 109 4 89 110 3 148 119 55 52 127 2 247 145 19 91 Proverbs 3 5 117   132 13 12 165 14 15 41 21 15 151 28 20,21 260 30 2 277 Ecclesiastes 12 1 52 Solomons Song 1 3 157 Isaiah 8 21 215 50 10 75   118 53 1 44  11 37   108 55 1 5  3 45,50 57 17 214   229   237 Jeremiah 32 40 167 Ezekiel 33 31 276 36 31 22 Hosea 6 6 250 Amos 8 5 276 Matthew 4 9 244 5 42 103 6 30 127  32 232  33 101   242 2 26 127 9 29 19,93 10 8 33  14 144  41 144 11 27 188 12 20 121 13 4 52  7 234  11 68  20 150   207  22 229   236   238  44 to 46    149   163  58 93 14 31 93   116 15 19 224  23 to 28    24 16 16 55  17 201 19 12 35 21 22 25  30,31 83 22 4 82  8 49  22 205  29 206  32 198 23 25 17 27 43 131 Mark 4 10 273 7 22 228 14 15 208 16 16 20,93   205 Luke 2 21 245 3 14 228 8 14 229 12 13 211  14 212  20 213  21 212  29 238  48 26 14 18 176 16 22,28    182 17 5 7,110   133 18 27 239 19 5,6 145 20 9 to 17    144   176 21 34 234   239   251 John 1 11 6,82   111   131  14 174  16 5,14   20,26 2 25 193 3 12 66  19 170  21 76   109  33 44 5 19 198  40 111  44 132 6 26 236  27 247  37 122   183 Â