Directions for a Comfortable Walking with God, Religious treatise (5 of 9)

Directions for a Comfortable Walking with God · Religious treatise (5 of 9)

p. 1774. Of vnconquerablenesse against all created … and assaults of earthly discomforts. An o…ce of sorrow … a whole sea of worldly mirth. The boisterousnesse and brauery of all carnall ioy vanisheth quite away, and expires euen as a flowre when the heate riseth that is sent vponupon it, vponupon the very first approach or presence of any either outward trouble, or inward terror. A prick of a needle, much more a pang of the Stone, or fit of the Gout, is able to depriue a man of the pleasure of the worlds Monarchy. One serious thought of death, or the sight of one finne armed with Gods anger, will put the proudest Ni…rod, the greediest engrosser of all earthly delights, into Belshazzars shiuering. But now let the Christian, whose heart is sweetly reposed vponupon the Rocke of eternity, be vtterly stript of all outward comforts; let heauy accidents fall vponupon him as thicke, as one waue in the necke of another; which befell blessed Iob: yet he is still where hee was; he hath made God his portion, his onelyonly Iewell and Ioy which he hath in Heauen, or on Earth; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord; and therefore when all earthly stayes and staues of reede, shrinke in the wetting, and are shattered to nothing, he cleaues with an vnshaken and triumphant tranquillitie of minde to his Sunne and shield, Psal. 84. 11. To his light and life▪ Ioh. 8. 12. To his strong Tower of defence, and exceeding great reward, Gen. 15. 1. heare his sweete and noble resolution in this case, Hab. 3. 17, 18. Although the figtree shall not blossome, neither shall fruit be in the Vines: the labour of the Oliue shall faile, and the fields shall yeeld no meate, the flocke shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall bee no herd in the stalles: yet I will reioyce in the Lord: I will ioy in the God of my saluation. While Iehoua is in Heauen, his heart is in the Hauen, though neuer so many stormes or tempests of the troublesome sea of this World beate vponupon his house of clay. Rob him of all earthly refreshments and lightsomnesse of this life, and let but the light of Gods countenance shine vponupon him, which no darknesse▪ nor dungeon, nor Deuill in Hell can intercept; and he is incomparably more merry, then the Worlds choisest Minion, Pleasures dearest fauourite, or the brauest p. 178Belshazzar vponupon earth, in the very top and ruffe of his most iouiall reuellings, and swaggering sensuality. But it is not so with the earthly-minded man: For howsoeuer he may digest with reasonable patience, and carry well enough away, all crosses and contradictions to his other worldly comforts, while he doth yet wallow without interruption and disquiet in the sinfull pleasures of that selected way of death, vponupon which the more headstrong current of his corrupt nature hath cast him; and the naturall bent of his carnall affections hath singled ou…, and made speciall choise of, to follow and feede vponupon with greatest delight; which the Fathers call peccatum in delicij…, a mans bosome sinne; yet cut him once short of the free and full enioyment of this his sensuall idoll, and earthly god, and you kill his heart quite, and plunge him presently into desperate distractions. For instance: The couetous man, while his heart may nessle securely vponupon his golden heape, will passe by without any great wound or passion, the curses of the poore, the grumblings of his conscience, the comminations of the Ministry, the cry of the whole Country against his oppressions, vsury, sacrilege, and sinfull wayes of hoarding. When hee comes home, and finds his bags and bonds safe; he blesseth himselfe in his heart against—Populus me …ib▪ lat, at mihi plaudo, Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in arcâ. all threatned iudgements, horrors, curses, confusions. Thogh Iesus Christ himselfe should preach and presse them vponupon him, Luke 16. 14. with his golden wedge hee easily cuts asunder all scruples, doubts, exceptions, reasons, arguments, obiections, which any wayes oppose his couetous and cruell courses. Hee pleases and applaudes himselfe against all censures, and contradictions whatsoeuer to the contrary. But let Gods angry hand in his iust iùdgement, by fire, robbery, or some secret consumption, snatch away his wealth; and he is likely enough to goe out of his wits, and in great hazard of hanging himselfe. While the ambitious man is proudly mounted, fits fast vponupon the Seate of honour, and is Idolized, as it were, and adored aboue others; hee can easily enough ouerlooke with an imperious disdaine, the indignation of good men, emulation of great Ones, the reproaches of the p. 179multitude, and all other petty and priuate crosses: but throw him downe from his high place; turne him out of his offices and honours; and how weary is he of the World? how ir…esome to himselfe? how prodigall of his life? how impatient of the company of men? While the wanton wallowes in the brutish pleasures of his abominable filth; hee beares well enough away the weakening of his bodie, the wasting of his goods, the shame of his sinne, losse of friends, staine of reputation: but beate him backe, and b…rie him from the house of the strange woman, and you breake his heart; banish him from his Minion, and hee is ready to make away himselfe. Woe, sorrow, contentions, wounds without cause, rednesse of eyes, vndoing of wife and children, houting at in the streets, will well enough downe with the d…unkard; while hee may domineere vponupon the Ale-bench: but cut off the new wine and strong drinke from his mouth; crosse him in his swaggering course; confine him from his good-fellow meetings, and you take away the very life of his life. Thus eueryevery vnregenerate man secures himselfe in some one sensuall Hold or other, wherein the crowne of his carnall ioy consists; of which bereaue him, and you shall leaue him ioylesse, heartlesse, hopelesse, and helpelesse. But take from the true Christian, if it were possible, both Heauen and Earth, and all the creatures and comforts of both; yet you cannot take away his ioy. God is the strength of his heart, and his portion for euer▪ Surely he shall neuer bee mooued: his heart is fixed and beleeueth in the Lord.

Which sith it is so, that spirituall ioy is such an vnualuable Iewell, and carnall so cursed a vanity; let eueryevery Christian bee exceedingly carefull, not to suffer the froth and filth of this, to staine or lessen the glory and sweetnesse of the other. But if he once perceiue any company or kind of recreation begin to steale away his heart from communion and comfort in his God; let him abandon it as a canker and cut-throate of his spirituall happinesse; and euer prize and preferre the ioy of the soule, delights of Grace▪ refreshings of the holy Ghost, infinitely before all worldly pleasures, carnall p. 180contentments, ease, or any earthly thing.

Thus much of recreations.

II. Let me adde a word or two of visitations. For complementall visitations of vnsanctified great Ones, without iust occasion and a warrantable Calling; besides, sinfull expence of precious time, are many times vnhappy occasions to embarke, especially yeelding natures, in some base and scand…lous businesses; and to entangle them in those wicked seruices, or some vncomfortable inconuenience; which afterward in cold blood wofully wound their consciences, and perhaps much weaken their Christian reputations.

Iehosaph…t may serue as a remarkeable instance for this purpose. VponUpon a time, hee came downe to see Ahab King of Israel, by way of Courtly visitation. And though hee was equall vntounto him in the crowned Maiestie of a King, and a good man; yet traines and insinuations by Royall entertainments, and a Princely feast premised, as it appeares in the storie, hee was cunningly c…tcht and cast into the confederation and societie of an vnhappy warre: whereby with a dishonourable precipitation, he plunged himselfe both into spirituall miseries, and temporall mischiefe, both hurt his conscience, and hazarded his life. For the first, 1. Hee suddainely and rashly promised aide vntounto Ahab, whom the Lord hated, before hee knew Gods will in the point from the mouth of the Prophet. 2. When faithfull Michaiah had deliuered the truth, and acquainted them with the minde of God; he notwithstanding went on with the businesse. 3. He did not appeare on the Prophets side, and in his defence, against the imperious insolency of that false flattering Zedechiah; or the mercilesse tyrannie of Ahab; who sent him to prison for telling him the truth. Foule aspersions vponupon so famous a King! For the second, by the cruell cunning of hollow-hearted Ahab, hee exposed himselfe both to the en-eagred and concurrent fury of the whole Syrian Armie; (onelyonly vponupon a penitent eiaculation, his life was rescued miraculously from that extremest danger) and also to the wrath of God, for helping the vngodly, and louing them that hared p. 181the Lord as the Prophet told him, 2. Chron. 19. 2.

Mistake me not: I purpose not in this passage to censure or disgrace any warrantable ceremonie & solemnities of State; mutuall entercourse of noble deportment amongst Compeeres; ciuill exchange of faire & amiable behauiour one towards another; any charitable offices of humanity, or Christian passages of courtesie and louelove: but the idle, formall, flattering vanities, Hypocrisies, disguisements of those many needlesse, fruitlesse and endlesse salutations, complements, visitations, entertainments, affected and acted by such vaine people, who are extremely troubled how to be rid of time. A commoditie of high account with all those, who are sensible and mindfull of their last account: EueryEvery moment whereof ought in the meane time to bee crowned with fruitfull improuement, by all those that truely feare God. I could wish that a gracious concurrence of goodnesse and greatnesse, true Noblenesse indeede, where God himselfe is top of the kinne, and Religion the roote; (aaNobilitas Heroica est eminentis quaedam notabili… homini proueniens—ex supernaturali gratiâ, per quam homo fit per adoptionem filius Dei: fit Sponsa Christi: fit templum Spiritus Sancti. Sine qu… nob litates caeterae nihil sunt, nihil proficiunt. …bsunt … aliquando. Quia quod altum est hominibus; …bominatio est apud Deum. Gerson. Tom. 4. De no…ilitate. in respect whereof those other: by birth, by riches, by meere morall vertue, by valour, by learning, by fauour of Princes, are but shadowes and shapes of noblenesse) were honoured with all due attributions, highest respect, and best obseruance. In such a case it is not vncomely for Paul, to trauaile from Arabia to Ierusalem to visit Peter, Galat. 1 18. Or the Queene of the South, from the vttermost parts of the earth, to see Salomon, 1. Kings 10. 1. But I would not hauehave glistering folly, guilded rottennesse, sacrificed vntounto with so much flatterie and counterfeit crouching. For why should silken dung bee so adored, and golden damnation deified? Now the reasons why such visitations, as well as recreations may many times prooue snares to entangle vsus in sinne, damps to dull our forwardnesse; or one way or other breede and bring vponupon vsus some spirituall miseries, are such as these:

1. Great men without grace, ordinarily make vse of all others for their owne aduantage. With an imperious policie and a kinde of Machiauelian Alchymy, they secretly and inuisibly conuert, dispose and manage the agency, abilities, and p. 182seruiceablenesse of their followers, visitants, adherents and dependants, to serue their owne turnes, to feede their humours, further their priuate ends of profit, pleasure, rising, reputation, or some other choise carnall contentment and predominant worldly delight. They hauehave their portion in this life, and their heauen here; therefore they labour to make their earthly Paradise as full of pleasures, as possibly they can. Their owne sensuall couetous and ambitious hearts are the centers, wherein the lines and leuell of all their plots, policies, and proiects doe concurre, and meete; and to which they conduct and direct the officiousnesse, pliablenesse, and seuerall seruices of all those with whom they hold any kinde of correspondence or entercourse.

2. Such exercises of Courtly vanities, sleeuelesse errands, idle businesse, are Satans chiefest and choysest seasons for the suggestion of temptations, and too successefull discharge of his fiery darts. Hee hath ordinarily more power ouer men, and is much likelier to preuaile, when he findes them idle or ill occupied; then when they are busied with humblenesse and sinceritie in religious duties, or the necessarie workes of a lawfull Calling. In our best and holyest imploiments hee is indeed most eager against vsus; but at times of idlenesse and exercises of vanity, hee is commonly most successefull. In Gods businesses, the honest executions of our Calling, and seasonable Christian recreations, we may expect vponupon good ground, and with hopefull comfort, Gods protection, the ordinarie assistance of his blessed Spirit; harmlesnesse from the creatures; Satans restraint; some good measure of mortifying helpe against the rebellious stirrings of our owne corruptions, and such other blessings promised in such cases. But if men will needs be idle or imployed in vanity, they iustly bereaue themselues of all these comfortable protections and priuiledges. For it is iust with God, at such times that Hee should withdraw from them His owne protecting hand, restraine the gracious influences of that holy Spirit, and let loose against them with indignation, Satan, the creatures, and their owne corruptions, which is a p. 183very grieuous cut to a tender and waking conscience.

3. The presence and protestations, the intimations and motions of men in high place, mingled with an affected familiar communication of themselues, and plausible neglect of all formall solemnities & austerities of state, vponupon purpose to insinuate sooner, and more suttlely; are many times very potent to preuaile with, and perswade especially inferiours. For they are apt when they are so assaulted: 1. To conceiue themselues highly honoured, when those condescend and vouchsafe to intreate and be beholding, who might in other cases command, nay, and perhaps vponupon a point of aduantage, and pang of displeasure, quite crush and cashier them. 2. To hold it a conuenient policy in these dayes of the raigne of iniquity and selfe-louelove, when Iudgement is turned backward, and Iustice stands a farre off; when truth is falne in the street, and equitie cannot goe, as the Prophet speakes, to gratifie and demerit such mighty Ones, as may shelter and protect them from all stormes of violence, oppressions and wrong; nay and perhaps, by their countenance procure them a great deale of credit and esteeme; if not obseruance and awfulnesse from those amongst whom they liue. 3. To call to mind out of too many wofull experiences, that in the frownes and angry foreheads of great men, are infolded many times many secret complots of cunning cruelty, and plausible malice: which when time serues, fall full heauy vponupon the hearts and heads of inferiours, which are not in all poinis pliable to their humours. And out of such carnall considerations as these, by a rash vnaduised yeeldingnesse, they too often plunge themselues hand ouer head into vnworthy engagements, and become instruments of ill offices; the basenesse and iniquitie whereof doth afterward in cold blood strike full cold vntounto their hearts; and leaues a gash and grieuous wound in their consciences, comforts and Christian reputations.

4. At such entertainments and tables of Great men, not friends to the truth; thou wilt be ready to vomit thy morsels, Prou. 23. 8.Prov 23:8and shalt loose thy sweet words. Thy dainty fare may bee sawced perhaps with many bitter girds, much rotten talke, p. 184aaSurrepunt etiam fabulae freq…entèr de seculo ac voluptatibus: claudere aures non potes: prohibere putatur superbiae: surrepunt etiam praeter voluntatem pocula. Ambros. Offic. lib. 1. cap. 20.enforced healths, if not empoisoned with blasphemies, obscenities and horrible oathes. Thy musicke wilbe merry lies, fained iests, scofs & scurrilities, against Gods best seruants, and the Kings best subiects; commonly calumniated as pestilent fellowes. For so the Church complaines, Lam. 3. 63. I am their musicke. Few feasts, where the founder is not Gods friend; but after his good-fellow guests bee well heated with variety of dishes, and strong drinke; as their faces bbIn their faces be sometimes seene the expresse tokens of this intemper ancy. Hom. against gluttoni… and drunkennesse.are inflamed with fiery reflections one from another, so their hearts will be enragedforeign. Acts 24. 5.Acts 24:5 with mutuall infection of furious malice, to belch out most prodigious dunghill villanous lies hammered by the very foulest Fiend in the darkest nooke of hell, against those that are true of heart: Lord, thou knowest! The complementall formes and flourishes of thy welcome, may prooue as a pitfall to plunge thee into some dishonourable imployment, or one way or other to betray thee to an vncomfortable entanglement of thy conscience. So that if thy generous spirit will nobly rise against such froth and folly, ribaldry and railing, the vnworthy degenerations of these worst times; if it bee sensible of Gods dishonour, the disgrace of the Saints, and thine owne danger; thou canst not choose but be wearie of such good cheere. Nay, besides the resolution of thy iudgement, that in such a case thou wouldest farre rather hauehave stayed at home with a dinner of greene hearbs, then to hauehave thine eares so grated, and heart grieued all the while at a great table; euen in nature thou shalt fare worse. For thy iust indignation, discontentment and sadnesse vponupon such ground, will naturally contract thine heart, thicken thy blood, chill thy spirits; that naturall heare will faint and faile in the ordinary current and course of concoction. No maruaile then though thou be readier to vomit thy morsels, then to reioyce in those high entertainments or variety of messes, which are dissweetened with such distastfull and bitter mixtures. And thou shalt loose thy sweet words: both of humanity, and Christianity. For the first; out of the ingenuous simplicitie and honesty of thy heart, thou wilt returne reall, sincere, affectionate demonstrations of thankfulnesse, for meere p. 185dissembled formall ceremonies of entertainment and welcome. For the other; thou shalt be so farre from finding a free and comfortable vent and entertainment to any good talke; that if thou meddle that way, thou marrest all the mirth. Mention of heauenly things, our last account, the life to come, iudgements against sinne, priuiledges of the Saints, happinesse of the holy Ones, &c. which might sweetly season, and as it were, sanctifie their meeting, and those good creatures of God they so plentifully enioy; would presently cast all the company into dumps of melancholy. The Word of God, writ vponupon the wall in the very height and ruffe of their greatest iollitie and reuelling, did make the heart, ioynts and knees of that mighty King Belshazzer to tremble, as the leaues of the forrest when they are shaken with the winde. How often may we obserue many goodly and gracious discourses buried in the bosomes of men of vnderstanding and worth, placed below, by reason of the domineering talkatiuenesse, and imperious ignorance of some silken Idoll sitting at the head of the table? Horses, and Hounds & Hawks, deuoure full often and eate vp not onelyonly spirituall and holy, but euen all morall and manly talke.

For the more conuenient declining and preuention of any ensnarement and inconuenience in this kinde; let mee commend to the Christian such cautions and considerations as these:

1. Euer before thou enter out of thy doores, vponupon any occasion, businesse, iourney, visitation; weigh well with due deliberation, in the ballance of an holy wisedome, all circumstances, concurrents, company, probabilitie of all euents, and consequents on both sides; of staying at home, or going abroad; visiting this or that friend; vndertaking that or the other businesse; and euer constantly encline and resolue that way; which in all likelyhood will bring most glory vntounto God, good vntounto others, and comfort vntounto thine owne conscience. Let it onelyonly bee the sinfull libertie of hopelesse worldlings, to waste their time and labour; (for the needlesse expence of eueryevery moment of the p. 186one, and motion of the other, they must very shortly be full dearely accountable at Gods strict Tribunall) in those impertinent vagaries and idle visitations, which hauehave no other motiue, but a desire to be rid of time, and to feede a gadding and restlesse humor; no other end, but vanity or vaine-glorie; no issue, but temptation, and greater disabilitie to good duties. But let eueryevery wisely resolute and truly iudicious Christian disdaine, howsoeuer worldly wisdome deride it, to step ouer his threshold without a warrantable Calling, aime at some honest end, probable foresight of some good to come thereon, honour to God, furtherance of some good cause, good vntounto our brethren, discharge of some dutie of our Calling, performance of Christian offices, of charitie, humanitie, naturall affection, mutuall comforting, confirming, refreshing, and building vp one another in our most holy faith, and the like. Otherwise hee shall bee in great danger to returne home farre worse, then when he went out; laden both with more personall guiltinesse, and accessarinesse to others sinne; bleeding with some fresh bruise of conscience, by falling scandalously, or failing in some Christian dutie; growne into a further disacquaintance and estrangement from God; deepelier sunke, perhaps, into some sinfull societie, and sensuall conformities with men of this World.

Some actions, I confesse, and vndertakings in their owne nature, and in respect of the obiect, aaActus moralis consideratur …ter. 1. Secundùm rationem, quam sortitur ex solo obiecto abs que circumstantijs. Vel: 2. Secundùm rationem, quam sortitur ex obiecto cum omnibus circumstantijs, finis, loci, temporis, & huiusmodi. Primo modo contingit dari actum indifferentem, qui nec est bonus, nec malus, &c. See Durand. 2. Dist. 40. q. 1. It may not well be denied, that all actions of men indued with the vse of reason, are generally either good or euill. Hooker lib. 2. Sect. 8. of Ecclesiast. Politie.as the Schoole▪ men speake, are indifferent: but cloathed with circumstances, and indiuiduated by the actuall working of a particular Agent, are not so, but necessarily become morally good or euill, to the doer. And therefore the assertion of bbHist. of Counc. of Trent. pag. 196.Catarinus in the Councell of Trent, to this purpose, was consonant to the opinion of the greater part of theccThom 1. secundae q. 18. Art. 9. Nullus indiuidualis actus est indifferens. Alber. 2. dist. 40. ar. 4. Aegid. 2. Dist. 40. q. 2. Richar. 2. Dist. 40. ar. 2. q. 3. Dur. 2. Dist. 40. q. 1. See also Eustachius. Tract. de act. H… ma. q. 5. Actiones humanae, saith he, considerantur: 1. Vel secundùm speciem, & in actu signato. Sic admittuntur quidam actus humani secundùm se, & ex naturâ suâ indifferentes. 2. Vel Secundùm indiuidu…m, & velut in actu exercito. Et sic nullae humanae actiones sun… indifferentes. Schoolemen: EueryEvery particular p. 187action, said he, is good or euill, neither is there to bee found any one indifferent: he meanes in the singular and actuall existence; in the generall there may. Recreation is of it selfe, and in its owne nature indifferent; but drawne into existence and exercise, put in practise, and putting on circumstances, it will euer become vntounto thee either sinfull, or sanctified. If rectified by such rules as I hauehave formerly deliuered for that purpose; it may proue comfortable, but staind with prophane company, a sensuall end, immoderate delight, no necessitie in respect of weariednesse of bodie, or tirednesse of minde, vaine expence of precious time due to holy duties, or discharge of our Calling, it may proue cursed. It is so also in the present point of visitations.

2. Although the Apostle, 1. Cor. 10. 27. in these words; And ye be disposed to goe] seemes to intimate, that it is not vtterly and absolutely vnlawfull vponupon any occasion for a Christian, especially if inuited, to visit an irreligious man; yet let none who desires to preserue peace at home in his owne bosome, presume hereupon to plunge himselfe hand ouer-head into any vnwarrantable engagements and correspondencies with worldly men; or build hence a licentious conceit of any allowance to communicate himselfe promiscuously with familiarity or content, either by way of inuitation or visitation to all commers, all company. It is a foule signe of a false heart, and a fellow, that at length will certainely fall away; to expect, entertaine, and enioy with equall patience and delight the Worlds Fauourites, and Gods Friends: to bee as openhearted, open-handed, and open-housed to a good-fellow, as to a gracious man. EueryEvery true-hearted Nathaneel rightly informed, and well aduised, cannot chuse but apprehend, acknowledge and feele a vast and vnualuable difference, betweene the sweete heauenly communion, and confident communication of heart-secrets with faithfull fruitfull Christians; and the irkesome intrusions, vexing vaine-glorious tediousnesse, and frothy conferences of carnall men. If any of Gods children therefore, at any time be disposed to take any allowance and encouragement from this place, to inuite, or p. 188visit knowne enemies to the puritie of Religion, or power of godlinesse; let him cast his eye also vponupon those cases and cautions, which may make it comfortable. They are such as these: 1. Their saluation. 2. Thine owne safety.

1. For the first, bee sure to propose vntounto thy selfe their spirituall good, as thine onelyonly aime, or at least, principall end; and in the sinceritie and singlenesse of thine heart, to seeke indeed the saluation of their soules. Wee hauehave Christ Iesus himselfe a precedent in this case, Matth. 9. 10, 11, 12. Hee suffered with patience, Publicans and sinners to presse into his company, and did eate and drinke with them, vponupon purpose, to heale their soules, and helpe them out of Hell. But his pure and sacred soule was endowed with an infinite impossibilitie of receiuing any touch, or tainture from those wicked Ones, with whom hee conuersed; whereas, wormes and wretches that we are! if we watch not extraordinarily, and stand stoutly vponupon our guard, wee are farre likelier to be peruerted by them, then they conuerted by vsus: And therefore at such times it concernes vsus much, to recollect and quicken vp all the powers of our soules, and spirituall forces, with speciall addresse and resolution to preserue and vindicate, all we can, the honour, truth, and seruants of God from all staine, disparagement and vnworthy censure. Let vsus labour and looke to bring as much wisdome and courage, to confront and countermine; as the Deuils Proctors, cunning and malice, to vndermine & affront the Kingdome of Christ Iesus, and glory of Christianitie. It is lawfull and laudable for the Phisicions of the bodie, to visit sometimes such patients, as are infected with contagious diseases, to cure and recouer them: so that according to the Rules of their Art, they arme themselues with preseruatiues and counterpoysons, to preuent & repell the noysomnes of the aire, and noxious vapors: so it may not prooue vnseasonable for spiritual Physicions, to be drawn sometimes out of a desire of doing good, into the company of those, who are wofully ouerrun with the leprosie of sinne, and hauehave, as it were, the plague-sore of scandalous life running vponupon them; so that they bee fore-armed p. 189with prayer, premeditation, watchfulnesse, &c. to purifie and preserue their owne soules from spirituall infection.

2. Secondly, in case of thine owne safetie; but so, that in so doing, thy sincere heart be not conscious vntounto it selfe, of slauish distrust, false feares, preiudice of Gods prouidence, reliance vponupon the arme of flesh, &c. but that it apprehend and approoue vponupon good ground, and out of an holy wisdome, the present occasion, whether of inuitation or visitation, as a comfortable meanes offered by Gods good hand to mitigate the malice, and mollifie the hearts of those which might doe thee a mischiefe. It was the saying of a wise man, that he would rather hauehave a Dogge to fawne vponupon him, then barke at him; and barke at him onelyonly, then bite him. Whereby hee intimated thus much, as I conceiued; that Gods children should not out of an austere, sowre, vnwarrantable retirednesse, exasperate and enrage vnnecessarily the too much already alienated affections of the contrary-minded; but so farre as they may, without wound of conscience, staine of their innocencie, or imputation of spirituall cowardlinesse, obserue them with such common offices of humanitie, which may dis-infierce and keepe them, if not hearty friends, yet at least (which in these corruptest and angry times we hold a degree of happinesse) moderate and ingenuous enemies. Isaac may be an instance in this second case, who for a more confident securing of himselfe, and comfortable settling of his peace, inuited Abimelech and his followers to a Feast, Gen. 26. 30. To the same purpose, Iacob sent a present to Esau, Genes. 32. 20. and promised to visit him at Seir, Genes. 33. 14. But now at such times, and in such company, thou hadst need put on a great deale of courage and patience, wisedome and watchfulnesse; and warily decline two obuious errours, & dangerous extremes; furious zeale, and saint-hearted silence; of which see before, pag. 119.

3. Doe not so distaine thy worth and worthy hopes; discouer not such extreme weakenesse and true basenesse of minde: resemble not so neere the fearefull folly of obnoxious p. 190and vaine-glorious worldlings; as to suffer the eye and excellencie of thine heauenly Spirit, to be any whit dazeled or dulled with formall affected glistering of outward glory; as to hunt with fawning terrour, after the transitory fauour of worldly greatnesse, to adore worthlesse Magnificoes, and the worlds Minions with vndeserued flattering attributions; and with ambitious affectation, to contend for their countenance and vncomfortable correspondence with them. The greatest man without vertue and grace, though neuer so gloriously enriched with humane felicities, is but as a dead carkasse hung ouer with iewels; a very spectacle of commiseration, to eueryevery spirituall eye; euen as that body is, which adorned with a goodly feature, and many other admirable beauties, yet wanteth eye-sight, the comfort of life; whereby it walkes in perpetuall darkenesse and desperate danger. Goodnesse, though attended with contempt and disgrace, is incomparably more amiable in the eye of an honest Cato; much more of an holy Christian, then all the vaine-glorious boisterous representations of any greatnesse or pompe. Memorable and remarkable to this purpose, was the magnanimitie and resolution of that holy Prophet, 2. Kings 3. 14. As the Lord of hosts liueth, before whom I stand, Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Iehoshaphat the King of Iudah, I would not looke toward thee, nor see thee. Miserable then is the vanity and vaine-glorious slauery of such as with great eagernesse and impotency hunt so ambitiously after high dependances, and hold it a strange happinesse to insinuate into the bosome of the worlds Fauourites; though it be by basenesse, bribery, an vniuersall obsequiousnesse, and vile accommodations. They, many times with vaunting intimation also to others, proudly applaud and please themselues for their accesse, countenance, and entertainement with Great men; as though it argued in them some rare extraordinary sufficiencie and worth: when as perhaps it is their owne flattering insinuations and intrusion; their instrumentall agencie and imployment in some ill offices, lewd seruices, which brings them into such request and acceptation. But let such know, p. 191it is a thousand times more comfort and true credit to be receiued with Christian louelove and armes of grace, into the heart and affections of a good man; then to be entertained with greatest brauery and worldly applause, into grace and fauour with the greatest gracelesse One vponupon earth. For alas, when a man hath done all he can to please the humours of vngodly great Ones, by an vnconscionable satisfaction of their carnall desires; and to gratifie them, hath vnhappily grieued his owne conscience; hee can at last, when Gods dreadfull visitation and flaming vengeance shall seize vponupon him for that sinne, looke for no better reward and reply, than that cold comfort and cutting answere, which Iudas in the extremity of his anguish and horrour receiued from the High Priests and Elders, Matth. 27. 4. That cursed man came vntounto them, ready, out of the rage of his vexed conscience, to teare his traiterous heart out of his body with his own bloody hands, and threw the thirty pieces of siluer amongst them, and cryed out, I hauehave sinned, in that I hauehave betrayed the innocent blood. But what recompence doe they returne for his imployment in villany, to serue their turne? Their reply is, What is that to vsus? See thou to that. And such a man shall certainely in the day of distresse, bee enforced to take vp some rufull complaint, proportionable to Wolseyes heauy groane; Had I beene as carefull to serue the God of heauen, as my great Master on earth, He had neuer left me in my gray haires. And wee see in the meane time, fauour is deceitfull and transitory euen in priuate men; much more in great personages: The volubility of whose nature is soone glutted; and very variable for kinds of satisfaction. A thousand experiences in all Stories and times teach vsus; how irregular, and many times retrograde the reuolutions of highest fauours runne. They hauehave their paroxysmes and declinations, and euer at length their most certaine expiration and euerlasting period.

But on the other side, consciousnesse of hauing held an vnfained fruitfull correspondence and communion with Gods people; the onelyonly excellent Ones, by all neerest and dearest engagements and Obligations of a profitable and comfortable p. 192fellowship in the Gospell, and mutuall entercourse of godly conference, heauenly counsell, spirituall encouragements, consideration one of another, confirmation in grace, and well-grounded testification of meeting together in heauen, will incomparably more refresh the trembling heart of a dying man, than if he had been crowned all his life long, with the Imperiall glory of all earthly kingdomes. And in the meane time there is nothing in this world to be admired, but the illustrious splendour of heauenly graces, shed and shining from Gods mercifull Throne, by his sanctifying Spirit, into the soules of the Saints. Neither any thing so to bee desired, no such prerogatiue and Paradise in this vale of teares; as a mutuall communicating of their diuine brightnesse, and the sweete ioy issuing thence, a very glimpse and earnest of euerlasting glory, to the humble hearts one of another.

4. When thou visitest others, or thy selfe inuitest them; take notice euer before-hand, with as punctuall and special suruey, as thou canst possibly; of their humours, dispositions, carriages, opinions, and behauiours; and thereupon premeditate and prepare conuenient and seasonable matter; whereby thou maist more successefully addresse and apply thy selfe with all meekenesse of wisedome and patient discretion, to insinuate, interpose, argue, answere, reprooue, reply, and so demeane thy selfe in thy whole discourse, that through thy default, neither the glory of God, the honour of his Truth, the reputation of Christianitie, or thine owne conscience, receiue any indignitie, disgrace, diminution or wound. Would Christians take this counsell, hold this course; they would at such times, not so often depart with spirituall discontent, and so smitten with consciousnesse afterward, of their silence, omissions, cowardlinesse, and vnprofitablenesse in company. For want of care and conscience in this point, countrey people meet many times in their Conuenticles of goodfellowship, at Ale-houses, Bake-houses, Gossippings, as they call them, &c. as at a common Mart of Tale-telling, back-byting, disgracing their neighbours, p. 193raging against Professors, sawcily and vnseasonably medling with, and miscensuring other mens matters; yea, and would you thinke it, sometimes euen highest Mysteries of State; reuiling the Ministerie, especially if managed with manifestation of the Spirit, and an holy impatiency, to see the deuill domineere and reuell it in the blood, of the peoples soules without contradiction. When they come together at such times, eueryevery one opens his packe of tales; for I hauehave told you heretofore, that a Tale-bearer is compared to a aaforeign Thou shalt not goe vp and downe as a Tale-bearer. Liu. 19. 16. Of foreign Mercari. Se… Pag…in.Pedlar, as the word in the Originall cleerely intimates, who hauing furnished himselfe, and filled his packe with variety of peddling and petty stuffes, trots vp and downe for vent from house to house, where he finds best custome and speall entertainement: I say, at such meetings, it is their manner to open eueryevery one his packe of false and slanderous tales; which they hauehave raked and scraped together by their owne malicious surmises, listnings, whisperings, pragmaticall inquisitiuenesse into other mens businesses, or some odde idle Intilligencers, whom they entertaine for that purpose; and there, out of an itching humor of talkatiuenesse and tattling, they lay abroad such rotten wares, to the empoysoning of the eares of those that heare them, the defaming of their brethren farre better then themselues, and certaine remonstration to their owne consciences, that they are as yet the children of the deuill the father of lies and slanders, and hauehave of him already learned the very language of hell. Were such meetings mingled and seasoned with gracious talke, (and all our talke ought alwayes to be with grace, Coloss. 4. 6.) with holy conferences, and helping one another towards heauen; with planting and preseruing Christian louelove, and kinde affections one towards another, it were an happy thing: but while there is nothing but ribald and rotten communication, sowing many times much seed of bitternesse and heartburning against their brethren, in the earas of one another, and a cursed sacrifice, as it were, of spitefull and slanderous tongues, offered vp vntounto Satan; such miserable meetings are fitter for Pagans, then Professors of Religion; for the consistory p. 194of hell, then for the communion of Saints. Neither are higher places and great Feasts free from such froth and transcendent villanies of the tongue: Because there the most hold it a point of precisenesse, to make conscience of their conference, say to themselues, Our lips are our owne, who is Lord ouer vsus? Psal. 12. 4. labour more to furnish themselues before▪hand with complementall phrases, formes of flattery, flourishes of wit, variety of iests, and other vaine glorious ostentations of courtly ornaments, then with any one word of the Word of God, world to come, or the way to heauen. They, I say, therefore, too often vnworthily dishonour such meetings with much vnnoble deportment in their discourse. Besides other deformities and indignities, how seldome shall we finde great Tables and solemne Feasts, without that cursed Musicke, mentioned, Lament. 3. 63? But oh, how infinitely vnworthy is it a man of honour and worth, to suffer with patience, any roguish Fiddler, scurrill Iester, or stigmaticall sonne of Belial, to fall foule vponupon those men, the truest Nobles vponupon earth, Psal. 16. 3! Of whom, and the time is at hand, euen the proudest of them all, repenting and groning for anguish of spirit, will say, nay with hideous yellings roare out: These were they whom we had sometimes in derision, and a Prouerbe of reproch. We fooles accounted their life madnesse, and their end to bee without honour: but how are they now numbred amongst the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints? Therefore hauehave we erred from the way of Truth, &c. Where is now the brauery and pompe of our high places? the earthly Paradise of our dearest pleasures? the Rose buds, with which we crowned ourselues in the spring of our youth? They are all withered, vanished, and come to nothing; they are passed away like a shadow, as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day; nay, as a Poast that hasted by.

Thus much also of Visitations. Now,

III. Concerning naturall actions, as meate, drinke, sleepe, &c. I shall not say much. For were it not, that through the course of nature, we wofully besot euen common sence, and infatuate our reason with sensuality and wilfull blindnesse; p. 195eueryevery man might be a rule vntounto himselfe, for temperance, and moderation this way. Hence that prouerbe hath its porbability, EueryEvery man is either a foole or a Physicion. Either he hath learnt by manifold experience, and obseruation of the state, exigency and ability of his owne body; what seasons and proportions of such naturall helpes may bee fittest for his temperament and constitution; or else hee is most vnworthy of that noble thing, an vnderstanding soule, which he beares in his bosome.

For the first, Gluttony, fulnesse of bread, one of SodomsEzech. 16. 49.Ezek 16:49 sins; which as the Scholemen say out of aaSciendum p…aeterea est; quia quinque nos modis gulae vitium tentat: Aliquando namque indigentiae tempora praeuenit: aliquando verò tempus non praeuenit: sed cibos lautiores quaerit: aliquando, quae sumenda sunt praeparari accuratiùs expetit: aliquando autem▪ & qualitati ciborum, & tempori congruit; sed in ipsa quantitate sumendi mensuram moderatae refectionis excedit: Nonnunquam verò, & abiectius est quod desiderat; & tamen ipso aestuimmensi desiderij deter…us peccat. Praeproperè, lautè, nimis ardentèr, studiosè.Gregory, consists in these fiue points: 1. In an ouer-burning of nature with new matter, and more meate, before the perfection & period of concoction hauehave raised a kindly appetite. 2. In a curious hunting after costlinesse, variety and daintinesse of fare. 3. In a luxurious affectation of too much Art, and exactnesse in dressing and preparing it. 4. In excesse and immoderation in respect of the quantity. 5. In a sensuall fury of the appetite after good cheere. I say, this vnmanly monster and Tyrant of the belly, as Chrysostome calls it, doth at this day raigne as generally, and cry as loud, as any sinne I can vponupon the suddaine remember so little contradicted. (And yet there are many foule and scarlet abominations, contempt of godlinesse, vnworthy comming to the Sacrament, vsury, idlenesse, many hatefull baites and entisements to lust; as nakednesse of brests and wrists, abhorred filth! painted bbQuid facit in facie Christianae …, & ce…ussa? Quorum alterum ruborem genarum, labiorúmque mentitur; alte…nm candorem oris, & colli, ignis iuuenum, fomenta libidinum, impudicae mentis indicia. Quomodo flere potest pro peccatis suis, quae lacrymis cutem nudat, & s…lcos ducit in facie? Quâ fiduciá erigit ad coelum vultus, quos Conditor non agnoscit▪ Hieron. ad Furiam de statu viduali. Epist. 24. q. 3. Tract. 7. Fol. 59.faces, false ccAudaci conatu & sacrilego contemptu crines tuos inficis, malo presagio futurorum, capillos iam tibi flammeo auspicaris—Non metuis oro quae talis es, ne cùm resurrectionis dies venerit, Artifex tuus te non recognoscat, & ad sua praemia & promissa venientem, remoueat & excludat▪ increpans vigore censoris & Iudicis dica…: Opus hoc meum non est, nec imago haec nostra est; cutem falso medicamine poluisti, crinem adultero colore mutâsti, expugnata est mendacio facies, figura corrupta est, vultus alienus est, Deum videre non poteris, quando oculi tibi non sunt, quos Deus fecit, sed quos Diabolus infecit. Cyprian. D… Discip. & Habitus Virginum.haire, monstrous fashions, &c. which are not taken to heart in any proportion to their execrablenesse; against which, p. 196Pulpits are too silent, and the times digest without any great remorse and reclamation.)

We lift vp our voices lowd against drunkennesse, and it is high time; for it growes towards an high tide, and threatens, without timely & resolute opposition, a lamentable inundation to the whole Kingdome. Whereas his fellow foule fiend, gluttonous reuelling, eates vp Gods creatures with abominable excesse, farre more vnobseruedly and vncensured; and yet it is a worke of darkenesse, and damnes as well as drunkennesse. Rom. 13. 13. Gal. 5. 21. nay, and that more dangerously, because more insensibly. To preserue thee faire and free, not onelyonly from wallowing in this beastly sinne, which is proper to Belials, but euen from any touch and all appearance of it, take notice; Nay, to fire the most rauenous sensualist out of this swinish filth, let him also consider;

1. First, That euen that sinfull superfluity, by which hee slayeth his owne body (For by surfeting, saith the Wise man, hauehave many perished) might very comfortably reuiue the hungry faintings, and sustaine the languishing life of ddVnus gulosus expendit in piscibus, vnde vigenti pauperes sati… haberent de pane. In quo fratres suos de portione suâ defraudat. Noli putare gratuitum quod impendis; velis, nolis, Debitor es. Bern.many made of the same mould, and farre better then himselfe. So that, vponupon the matter, there is, as it were, a double murder. How then are such good creatures of God sanctified by Word and prayer, 1. Tim. 4. 5. to such luxurious Fratricides, vnmercifully mindlesse of Iosephs afflictions? or how doe they eate to the glory of God? 1. Cor. 10. 31.

2. Whereas thou mightest enioy an actiue, able, healthfull, and lightsome eeSocrates is said, by sobr…ety to hauehave had alwayes a strong body; and to hauehave liued euer in health. Nay, it is further reported of him, that by good order of diet, he escaped the plague at Athens, neuer auoyding the City, not the company of the infected: whereas the greatest part of the Cit… was consumed. Hauen of health chap. 243. Galen reporteth of himselfe lib. 5. cap. 1. De sa…it tuend. That after 28. yeeres of age, (and he liued, as Sipontinus writeth, 140. yeeres, and died onelyonly through feeblenesse of nature) he was neuer grieued with any sicknes…e, except the g…udge of a Feuer of one day Now his rules were chiefly 1. Neuer to eate and drinke his fill: 2. Neuer to eate any raw thing: 3. To hauehave alwaies some sweete sauour about him. The preseruation of health is, to rise from the Table with an appetite. Hypocra. Epid. Sect. 4. Aph. 20. Tenuis mensa sanitatis mater Chrysost. Hom. 55. ad pop. Antioch.body; which is an happinesse to bee prized aboue gold, riches, infinite wealth; By thine intemperancy this way, thou fillest it with crudities, rheumes, obstructions, distillations, and many wofull ffPedum dolores, & capitis grauedines, & vertigines, & manuum cruciatus, & tremores, & remissiones, & arquatus, & longae febres, & aestuosae, & alia his multò plura non ex indigentiâ, par…óque victu, sed ex crapulâ, & saturitate nasci solent, Chrysost. ibid.distempers. The p. 197paines of watching, and choller, and pangs of the belly, are with an insatiable man, saith the Wise man. Many a one complaines of his head, for sending downe so much rheume, the mother of all maladies. But the head might well answere as one saies wittily, Desine fundere & ego desinam fluere: Bee thou sober in powring downe, and I will bee sparing in dropping downe. Doe not thou distemper with excesse, and I will distill lesse. The stomacke surcharged aboue the sphere of its actiuitie, as they say, and power of naturall heate, by immoderate cramming or heaping vponupon it more meate, before the former bee concocted; like a fire beginning to burne, loaden with greene wood, engenders many smoaky clouds, as it were, of raw superfluous fumes; which ascending into the braine, and resolued by the coldnesse thereof, as vapours in the middle region of the aire, raine downe into the body abundance of rheume, the source of all sicknesses, distempers and diseases; gowts, dropsies, aches, consumptions, palfies, and other innumerable maladies. As therefore thou wouldest not with a dram of swinish gg… quidem ad gutter vsque perueni…, & linguam: remorâ nam que mensâ, vel vorato cibo, …imi lis est illi, qui non gustauit, imò longè peior, onera inde ferens, & c… pitis grauididem, & somnum morti similem: frequentèr autem & in somniam ex crapulâ, & spiritus praeclusione, & eructatione. Ibid.pleasures purchase a pound of exquisite paine, rise still from the table with an appetite.

3. Continuance of life, is a deare indulgence from God▪ and to be highly prized; both of the vnregenerate, that hee may yet repent and make his peace with God, before the pit of destruction hath shut her mouth irrecouerably vponupon him; and also of the Christian, that hee may doe more nobly yet, make his election yet sure, with fuller conquest trampl… vponupon his bosome lust, and body of death; grow into a neerer fellowship and communion with his God; and looke backe vponupon as much time as he can possibly get, spent sincerely in his seruice, before he looke his Captaine Christ Iesus in the face; who hath so dearely bought him, and will so gloriously crowne him. Now this foule excesse and fulnesse of feeding robs vsus of this Iewell before our time, & shorteneth yet more our already short spanne of liuing in the world. He that dieteth himselfe, prolongeth his life, saith the Wise man. Therefore it followes by a consequence of contrariety; he that is greedy p. 198vponupon meates, puts a knife vntounto his throate. Whereupon, saith one, many by ouermuch eating, and continuall feasts, stifle Nature, and choake vp themselues; which had they fed coursely, or like Gally slaues beene tied to an oare, might hauehave happily prolonged many faire yeeres. And a noble learned Knight inquiring the cause of our short-l…uednesse in these last times, in respect of former, renders such reasons as these:

1. The tender bringing vp of children, first fed and nourished with the milke of a strange Dug; an vnnaturall curiositie hauing taught all women (but the Begger) to find out Nurses, which necessitie onelyonly ought to commend vntounto them.

2. The hasty mariages in tender yeeres, wherein Nature being but yet greene and growing, we rent from her and replant her branches, while her selfe hath not yet any roote sufficient to maintaine her owne top: and such halfe ripe seedes (for the most part) in their growing vp, wither in the bud, and waxe old euen in their infancy.

3. But aboue all things, the exceeding luxuriousnesse of this gluttonous age, wherein wee presse Nature with ouer waighty burdens, and finding her strength defectiue, we take the worke out of her hands, and commit it to the artificiall helpe of Sacke, Tobacco, strong Waters, hot Spices, prouoking Sawces, &c. As thou wouldest then, not abridge thy dayes, and be guiltie of thine owne vntimely death, doe not gormandize.

4. Neuer any man giuen to his belly, did nobly in any kind, or euer performed any great worke; but ordinarily prooues a swinish idle vnprofitable burden of the earth; and hath his soule onelyonly, as they say, for salt to keepe his body from putrefaction. The excellency and actiuitie of the soule is quiet dampt; and vtterly disabled from all deepe and diuiner contemplations, from all noble atchieuements and imploiments of waight, by the burthensome fulnesse and aaNihilo fiunt afinis melioris animi, ta…ium mensarum de…cias sectantes. Chrysost. Hom 55. …d pop. Antioch▪dulnesse of a gluttonous body. Wee can neuer looke for great matters from that man, which better relisheth sweet sawces, p. 199then the sweetnesse of doing vertuously; and hath a better palate then braine. All the greatest personages of the world, and those that hauehave excelled any way, either in managing affaires of Kingdomes, warl…ke exploites, heauenly, naturall, morall, or manuall skill, &c. hauehave been sober. Euen amongst the very Heathens, as Cyrus, Cesar, the Romane Curij and Fabritij, more ennobled and renowned for their frugality, then famous victories. But now on the contrary, the most execrable monsters for villany, cruelty, luxury vnnaturall impuritie, that euer liued, hauehave been gluttons, as the bbEzech. 16. 49.Ezek 16:49Sodomites, ccLuxus f…it portentosi; vt qui etiam p…nes deauratos habueri…. ….Caligula, &c. As therefore thou wouldest not drowne, and dull the powers of thy soule in the sottishnesse of such dung-hill excesse: but hauehave them at command for the ready exercise and improuement of their best abilities, at time of need, and for a comfortable discharge of both thy Callings; eate moderately. Sound sleepe commeth of moderate eating, saith the Wiseman, he riseth earely, and his wits are with him; to wit, able, actiue and strong for any vndertaking. For as the soule ought not with carking thoughtfulnesse, false feares, vnnecessarie deiection, to afflict and waste the body: so neither ought the body by any sensuall indulgence and intemperancy, to weaken and emasculate the soule: but both body and soule should serue one another in sobriety and moderation; that the whole man may be more sufficiently and chearefully seruiceable to him that created both body and soule for that purpose.

5. The very Heathens by the light of reason, did abominate with much morall indignation, the superfluous vanitie and curiosities of this swinish sinne. A Bull, saith ddTaurus pa…cissimorum iugerum pascuis impletur: vna sylua Elephantis pluribus suffici; homo & terra pascitur & mari. Quaesi… mae dapes non gustu, sed difficultatibus …stimantur, miracula auium, longinqui … pisces, alieni temporis poma▪ aestiuae …iues, Hibernae rosae. Homines itaque ventri obedientes, animalium loco numeremus, non hominum: quas… … animalium quidem, sed mortuorum.Seneca, will be fild with a pasture of a few Acres: one Forrest will suffice many Elephants. But scarce the Aire with all her Fowle, the Sea with all her Fish, the Earth with all her rootes and rich…s, will satisfie the insatiable Gut of a gluttonous Epicure. And therefore, saith he, we may well ranke and reckon p. 200men giuen to the belly, amongst bruit beasts, not reasonable creatures▪ nay, some of them not so much as amongst liuing creatures, but rather loathsome dead carrions.

Now in a second place, concerning excesse in drinke: It is not possible, that any who hath giuen his name to the purity and power of godlinesse, would plunge himself into the hatefull and abhorred dungeon of drunkennesse, which Austin Ebrietas enim quafi inferni puteus. De temp. Serm. 231.compares to the pit of Hell. In steed therefore of pursuing this foule Fiend, the proper familiar of the sonnes of Belial, I will spend a word or two about Healthing; to which, perhaps, at sometimes, in some company, thou art tempted with much scornefull importunitie; but after troubled in cold blood for hauing so conformed to the fashion of the World.foreign. Rom. 12. 2.Rom 12:2 And lest opposition to this exorbitant humour of the times, should be charged with too much precisenesse and noueltie; I will onelyonly at this time in this point, acquaint you with the iudgement, zeale and noble indignation of the ancient Doctors, both of the East and West Churches against it.

Many foule sinnes are there in these last and worst dayes, which elder times were exceedingly angry with, & all sacred learning abominates, and yet I know not how, are so transformed, and incorporated into the affections and approbation of the present times, that they rather go in the esteeme of the most, for honest recreations, Gentlemen-like sports, tolerable trades, trifles not to be taken notice of; Prodigious impudencie! then for workes of darkenesse, and Satans seruices, as they are indeed. Such as Stage-playes, mixt dancing, dicing, officious lyes, painting of faces, false haire, vsury, healthing, &c. these and the like, are at this day so painted ouer with sensuall dawbing, and streines of wit; so preualent in mens affections, so impatient of contradiction, so raging against any talke of reformation, and sheltered vnderunder the wings of good fellowship; that the Minister which meddles with them, shall twenty to one, be ipsofacto a ranke Puritane. Against the rest I hauehave vponupon other occasions discharged the Ordnance of Antiquity: Heare at this time what the Fathers say against Healthing.

p. 201Ambrose powers out himselfe in a mighty torrent of sacred eloquence, with much power and holy indignation against the Healthers of his time; as you may see in diuers Chapters of his booke de Helia, & iniuni…: his 13. Chapter is intituled, De Potu ad equales calices; Of drinking Healths. In the 18▪ Chapter he brings them in thus, in their swaggering humour: Let vsus drinke, say they, to the health of the Emperour, Bibamus, inquiunt, pro salute Imperatorum, & qui non biberit, …it reus in deuotione. Videtur enim non amare Imperatorem; qui pro eius salute non biberit.and whosoeuer pledgeth not his health, let him be obnoxious and guiltie in point of deuotion. Highest prophanenesse! Hatefull impietie! Shall an honest sober man, and faithfull subiect, who loues the King dearelier then his owne hearts blood, and would willingly both out of courage and conscience, powre it out if need required, for the preseruation of his person; besides Prayer for him in the House of God, and in his family makes conscience also of solliciting the Throne of Grace ordinarily twice or thrise a day in priuate, with heartinesse and feruency for chiefest and choisest blessings vponupon his soule, body, gouernement, posteritie, &c. and if any conuenient and discontented thought offer it selfe, repells it as a diabolicall temptation? I say; Shall such an one, onelyonly because he dares not giuegive his name by reuelling, to that cursed catalogue of carnall condemned workes, Gal. 5. 21. 1. Pet. 4. 3. nor conforme to the exorbitant riotous humours of the time, lest he wound his conscience, and weaken his power to pray for him, bee questioned about his good intentions, and wellwishing to the King? And shall a swaggering Gallant empty many times of all reall worth, and truly noble parts; onelyonly audacious enough to expose the crowned Maiesty of our earthly gods to cheapenesse and contempt, by an vnhallowed tossing the venerable name of Soueraignty amongst his Cups; and in stead of praying, to which he is of a meere stranger, and holds it Puritanicall, prouokes daily and hourely, and pulls downe, all hee can, Gods fierce wrath both vponupon King and Kingdome, by his swearing, drinking, lying, whoring, &c. Hos. 4. 1▪ 2. I say; shall hee bee the Emperours onelyonly friend? Whereupon the good Father immediately after, ironica…ly abominates such Bedlam folly; Opiae deuotionis obsequium! p. 202saith he; A sweete peece of pious deuotion sure! Paul teacheth vsus another lesson, 1. Tim. 2. 12. That wee should pray for the health and saluation of Kings. And therefore it was a wise speech of a great man; By your leaue, I will pray for the Kings health, and drinke for mine owne.

Great aaHono. 14 in Ebriet. & luxum.Basil also paints them out, and the fashion of his times, in his Sermon of Drunkennesse to this sence: bbProcedente autem potatione, prodit in medium Adolescens nondum …brius, Phialam vini refrigerati humeris ferens. Is submoto illorum pincerua, in medio astans, per obliquas …istulas aequam conuiuis distribuit ebrietatem. Nouum genus hoc mensurae, vbi nullus est mensurae modus, vt per poculorum aequalita…em, inter eos nulla sit inuidia, nec alius alium bibendo circumueniat, aut defraudet.Then growing to the heate, and height of their bouzing and banqueting, there comes me out a young man, not yet drunke, and brings vponupon his shoulders a vessell of cooled Wine; and he, the drawer withdrawne, standing in the midst, doth deriue and conuey through seuerall crooked pipes, to all the good fellow guests, equall measure of drinke, and matter of drunkennesse. This is a new kinde of measure, saith he, where there is no measure of their measure; that by equalitie of their cups, there be no grumbling amongst them, nor one deceiue or circumuent another in drinking.

Learned **foreign, &c. De tempore, serm 231. and 232.Austin in his Sermons of auoiding drunkennes, pursues this luxurious vanitie and swaggering excesse in many zealous passages: amongst the rest, mee thinks these should moue.

It is now come to this, ccVt in conuinijs suis irrideant eos, qui minus bibere possunt; & per …nimicam amicitiam adiurare homines non erubescunt, vt potum ampliùs accipiant, quàm oportet.That at their feasts and banquetings, they laugh at those which can drinke lesse; and blush not to adiure men by vnfriendly friendship, that they would take more drinke then is meete.

ddFrequentèr etiam vsque ad vomitum ingurgitare se non erubescunt; & ad mensuras sine mensurâ b…bere. Maiore pocula prouidentur. Cirtâ bibendi lege contenditur. Qui poterit vincere, laudem meretur ex crimine.They blush not to swill oftentimes euen vntill they vomit, and to drinke by measure without measure. Greater cups are prouided. They contend by a certaine law of drinking; and hee that can ouercome, gets praise by his horrible sinne.

eeAd extremum, tu …um noli adiurare, noli cog… re; sed in potestate illius dimitte, vt quantum sibi placuerit, bib…t; & …i se inebriare voluerit, vel solus pereat, & non ambo pereatis.Doe not adiure, do not vrge thy friend to drinke, but leaue him to himselfe to drinke as much as he please; and if he will needes bee drunke, let him alone perish, and be not both damned.

ffErgo fratres charissimi, dam haec suggero, me absoluo apud Deum. Quicunque me audire contempserit, & ad bibendum pronus fuerit; & pro se, & pro illis in die Iudicij reus eri▪ Et quia quod peius est, aliqui etiam Clerici…qui hoc deberent prohibere, ipsi cogunt bibere aliquo…, plus quàm expedit. Amodò incipiant, & scipsos corrigere, & alios castigare, &c.Beloued brethren, while I tell you these things, I free mine p. 203owne soule before God. Whosoeuer disdaines to heare mee, and continues still in his h…mour of drinking; or to adiure and vrge others at their feasts, shall be full dearely answerable both for himselfe and them at the day of Iudgement. And because, which is worse, euen some men of the Church also, which ought to forbidit, euen they vrge others to drinke more then is expedient; let them henceforward begin to amend themselues and reprooue others, &c.

ggEt illud ante omnia rogo, & per tremendam diem Iudicij vos adiuro, vt quotiescu… que vobis inuicem conui…ia exhibetis, illam credam consuetudinem per quam grandi mensurae sine mensurâ, &c.Aboue all, let mee intreate this at your hands, nay, I adiure you by the dreadfull Day of Iudgement, that as often as you mutually inuite one another, you would abominate and abandon from your banquets, as the very poyson of the deuill, that filthy custome by which men are woont either willingly or enforcedly to drinke by great measure without measure, &c.

But those passages which are more punctuall to my purpose, are to bee found in the second Sermon: wherein hee meetes with those ordinarie excuses, which they who are conquered, and conforme to the company and times, are woont to pretend.

But they are woont to say, saith hee, hhPersona poten… me coegit, vt ampliùs bibam; & in conuiuio Regi… non potui aliud facere.Some great personage prest mee vntounto it, and vrged mee to drinke more, and it was at the Kings banquet, I could doe no other.

Austin answers, Well, saith he, iiEtiamfi ad hoc veniretur; vt ibi diceretur, Aut bibas; aut morieris; melius erat, vt caro tua sob…ia occideretur, quàm per ebrietarem anima moreretur.If it come to this, that there it be said vntounto thee; Either drinke, or die; it were better thy sober body were slaine, then thy soule be damned for drunkennesse.

Secondly, saith hee; kkSed excusatio ista falsò obijcitur. Ip…i enim Reges▪ & quicunque sunt alij potentes, quia Deo propitio, & Christian… sunt, & prudentes, & sobrij, & toto corde. Deū timentes; si te viderint definisse, vt eis, non acquiescas pro timore Dei incbriari; si tibi sub h…ra videant… iras…i; postea verò te in grandi admiratione suscipiu…, dicentes, Quantum cum illo egi…us? Quantis cum minis, & terroribus fatiga…imus▪ Et tamen nunquam cum à sobrietate separare potuimus. Nam & Deus, qui … videt▪ per …ius amorem incbriari non velle, ipse … gratiam etiam illorum dabit, qui …, vt amplius biberis videbantur hortari & cogere.This is but a friuolous and false pretence for Kings and great men, because by the mercies of God, they are Christians, and wise, and sober, and feare God with all their heart; if they see, that out of conscience thou stands out resolutely against that drunken custome; although they seeme to be angry with thee for an houre, or so; yet after, they will hauehave thee in great admiration, saying: What adoe wee had with him? And with what threats and terrours, did we fright him, and yet p. 204could not possibly separate him from sobriety. For that God which sees, that for thy louelove to him, thou wouldest not conforme to their drunken fashion, will giuegive thee fauour euen in their eyes, who seemed to perswade and presse thee to drinke more.

Take notice by the way, lest any causelesly please himselfe in any of the fore-cited passages; because hee vseth not to Health, vntill he be starke drunke: that not only those are to be esteemed drunkards, say Diuines, who depriue themselues of reason and become brutish; but also they who addict themselues to drinking, & powre in excessiuely, though their braine will beare it without any great alteration. And a dreadfull woe dogs them at the heeles, aswell as the grosse drunkard. Isa. 5. 22. See also 1. Pet. 4. 3.

Austin forbids both: llNullus se inebriet, nullus in conuiuio cogat alium plus bibere, quàm oportet. De rect. Catho. conuersa. Tom. 9. p. 1450.Let no man be drunke, saith he, let no man at any feast presse another to drinke more then is fit.

Ierome also iumps with the former Fathers against this noble vanitie. mmAccusationis occasio est adiurarū per Regem frequentiùs non bibisse. Hieron. in Comm. in cap. 1. ad Tit….It is an occasion, saith he, of accusation; as if he should say, a meanes to insnare a man in a suspition of disloyalty, Not to drink againe and againe when the King is named.

But not onelyonly the Fathers by diuiner illumination; but the very Heathens also by naturall light condemned this custome. In that most magnificent Feast of that mighty Prince Ahasuerus, there was a Royall charge and command from the King himselfe, that none should be enforced to drinke, but eueryevery one left to his owne liberty. And the drinking was, saith the Text, according to the Law, none did compell: for the King had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to euerie mans pleasure. Ester 1. 8.

Nay, the very Popish Doctors, who in other cases allow some foule sinnes, which honest Heathens did abominate, euen they despute against this sinne.

Lessius de iustitia & iure, in his Question, Vtrum sit peccatum prouocare ad aequales calices, & an fas sit respondere? Whether it bee a sinne to begin an health, and whether it be lawfull to pledge it? Besides other proofes and authorities; nnAduersatur rarioni. Nam regula bibendi statutur, non ratio, non necessitas naturae, non bono valetudo, non animi vigor, aut sensuum alacritas; sed tota ventr…s, viscerum & venarum capacitasIt is p. 205against reason, saith he: for neither reason, nor necessitie of nature, nor good health, nor the vigor of the minde, nor the alacritie Vtres, vellagenas, vt eos vocat Basilins) rectiùs hos dixeris, aut certè tubos, vel potiùs cloacas, quàm homines; solùm ad hoc idoneos, vt plurimum vinī, tanquam lagenae capiant; vel per corpus, tanquam per tubum, aut cloacam transfundant & perdant. Et mirum, non simili modo, institui certamina comedendi, dormiendi, &c.of the senses, is made the rule of drinking; but another mans belly, nay, the whole capacity of his belly, bowels, veines. Thou maist fitlier terme these, as great Basil calls them, botteles, barrels, very pipes, or rather sinckes, then men; fellowes fit onelyonly for the office of Hog-heads, to receiue a great deale of wine, or rather to conuey it thorow their bodie, as thorow a sinke; and so wickedly waste it. And it is a wonder, saith he, they do not in like manner make matches, and trie masteries also in eating, sleeping, &c.

Lastly, It is aaIustitiae distributiue contraria sunt, superbia, foreign tyrannis'inuidia, iniuriae, & quaeuis proportio Arithmetica, quae personis adhibetur: vt cùm in conuiuijs illiberalioribus ad aequales haustus imbecilles perinde ac robusti vrgentur, &c. Wesenbecius in Pandectas Iuris ciuilis Lib. 1. Tit. 1. Num. 12.Titus 1Num 12contrary to distributiue Iustice, saith the Ciuilian: Euen the bbVna salus sanis nullam potare solutem: Non est in potâ vera salute salus.Poet gybes at it: ccIn a Booke, intituled, The Life, Confession, and hearty repentance of ▪ Francis Cartwright, Gentleman.Cartwright, in the perusall of his conscience, and publication of his repentance to the whole world, cries out: It wounds me to thinke of my blasphemous oathes, vttered in passion and destemper: my disobedience to my Parents, my excesse, my drinking of Healths, &c.

Now in a third place, concerning sleepe, I hauehave little to say: no constant rules of and certaine measure can possibly be prescribed: Because it is much diuersified, and necessarily receiues great variation by health and sicknesse; by age; by time of the yeere; by emptinesse, or fulnesse of the body; by variety of naturall constitutions: onelyonly let mee counsell Christians, who onelyonly make conscience of expence of time, and are sensible of its preciousnesse expressed before, to take notice, that they may surfet and sinne in sleeping; as well as in eating and drinking. That it ought only, as other of Gods good creatures, to serue the strengthening and refreshing of our bodies; not to satisfie ease, sloth, and a sluggish humour: and therefore to beware, and diligently to watch, lest that great deuourer and waster of time, rob and bereaue them of the very marrow and fat of time; the flower, and first fruits, as it were, of the day, I meane, many precious and golden houres in the morning; freshest, and fittest to p. 206conuerse most fruitfully with God, to examine our spirituall state, to offer vp an acceptable sacrifice of Prayers and Praises, to buckle fast vntounto vsus the Christian Armour, and to prepare with resolution and life, to hold a sweet and blessed communion with his holy Maiestie all the day after. And let them often remember when they see the Sunne vp before them, that saying of Austin: It is an vncomely thing for a Christian Indece…s est Christiano, si radius Solis cum inueniat in lecto: posset enim dicere Sol, si potestatem loquendi haberet… Amplius laboraui heri, quā tu: & tamen cùm iam surrexerim, tu adhuc dormis.to hauehave the Sun-beame finde him in bed: and if the Sunne could speake, saith hee, it might say, I hauehave laboured more then thou, yesterday; and yet I am risen, and thou art still at rest.

For conclusion, let me aduise and forewarne with as great earnestnesse and heartinesse as I can possibly, all Gods Children, that as they tender and preferre infinitely a pure heart, an heauenly minde, that vnualuable Iewell of a peaceable conscience, and that sweetest life, walking with their God, before a world of gold; they would watch ouer themselues very extraordinarily, and with singular care and heedfulnesse, in the vse and enioyment of things lawfull in their owne nature; yet by our corruption, capable of inordinatenesse and excesse, such as are meate, drinke, sleepe, apparell, marriage, visitations, recreations, &c. For moe, saith a worthy Diuine, perish with preposterous following of lawfull things, then by vnlawfull courses. Soft sands swallow moe ships, then hard rockes split asunder. How soeuer, sure I am, Christians are in more danger of being spiritually vndone by a slie infinuation and ensnarement of licentiousnesse and immoderation in such lawfull things; then by the grosse assault of foule sinnes, and temptations to doe notoriously. For,

1. A sanctified heart will generously rise, and resist with resolution against the inuasion and grieflinesse of any worke of darkenesse; which by its enormity wastes the conscience; as adultery, murther, swearing, prophaning of the Lords Day, vsury, bribery, speculatiue wantonnesse, idlenesse, &c. which it may too often be insensibly seized vponupon, and surprized by an excessiue sinfull delight, in things vnsinfull in themselues; yet empoysoned vntounto vsus, by the venome of our p. 207owne ouer-eager vnmortified affections. and that without any great remorse or reclamation.

2. Wee finde too often by wofull experience, that some who hauing giuen their names to Religion at first, with great forwardnesse and heate; yet afterward not so much foild by grosse relapse into notorious sinnes; as surfetting with licentious excesse, in the abuse of lawfull things, and drinking too deepe of worldly pleasures, vnderunder a colour of Christian liberty and conuenient recreations, fall fearefully into a dead sleepe of carnall security, and cursed forgetting of God, at least, for a time, vntill they be reuiued and quickned by the inquisitiue hand of some piercing Ministry, the smart of some outward heauy crosse, or wrath of God vponupon their consciences; if they fall not quite away.

3. Things not sinfull in their right vse, and offering themselues with vnsuspected representation of harmelesnesse and allowance, without extraordinary watchfulnesse and heed, doe more easily lime our earthly rauenous affections; farre sooner ensnare and deceiue; insensibly draw and drowne vsus in many scandalous excesses and estrangements from God, before we be aware.

Thus much also of naturall actions.

IIII. Now concerning ciuill affaires, and dealings in the world: That thou mayest settle and keepe thine heart and hands in an holy temper, and vntainted; without wound, wrong-doing, or any vncomfortable entanglement:

1. Euer in all their bargaines, contracts, couenants, dealings, negotiations, mutuall entercourse of any kinde of commerce with others, represent seriously and solemnely to the eye of thy best iudgement aud deepest confideration, that royall Principle, Doe as thou wouldest be done by. In a fellow-feeling reall conceit, put thy selfe into the place, and impartially put on the person of the party with whom thou art to deale. Weigh well all the circumstances, conditions, couenants, inconueniences, consequents, and passages of the whole businesse; and then returning to thy selfe, deale out, and proportion vntounto him, that measure in eueryevery particular, p. 208which thou wouldest bee willing, vponupon good ground and sound reason, to receiue at the hands of another, if thou wert in his case. This is the summe of the Law and the Prophets, for seruing our brethren in louelove, prest vponupon vsus by the Lord Iesus himselfe. Mat. 7. 12. All things whatsoeuer yee would that men should doe to you, doe yee euen so to them. Which, if it were as effectually: and feelingly taken to heart, and practised, as it is ordinarily talked of and pretended; it would not onelyonly cut off, and preuent all cruelties, oppressions, grinding the faces of the poore, all coozening, vndermining, ouer-reaching, defrauding, defaming, &c. but also stirre vp and quicken our affections, with a compassionate liuely touch, to a mutable exercise and exchange of all offices of humanity, kindnesse, and louelove in all kinds.

But that you may vnderstand this rule a right; conceiue, that when wee counsell men to doe vntounto others, as they would bee dealt with themselues; It is not to bee vnderstood, of any irregular, passionate, exorbitant will: but that which is grounded vponupon right reason, guided by a rectified conscience, ordered and illightened by grace and Gods Truth.

And I the rather refresh your memories with the true apprehension of this point, that you may cleerely see the rottennesse and vanity of the Vsurers cunning cauill, but of cruell consequence.

Ob. I deale, saith the Vsurer, as I would be dealt with, and doe as I would bee done by: and therefore all that while I hope I doe no wrong: I would willingly pay tenne in the hundreth, if I had neede, and then why may I not take so?

To which, I answere:

1. That Royall Rule, Doe as thou wouldest be done by, must be vnderstood and expounded, as I intimated before, according to the grounds of a good conscience, dictates of right reason, and directions of a iust and rectified will; not out of the mists and miseries of a depraued and exorbitant iudgement. Otherwise, Abimelech, Saul, and other of that p. 209desperate ranke and resolution, might conclude, that it were lawfull for them to kill other men, because they were willing to be killed themselues. See Iudges 9. 54. 1. Sam. 31. 4. for they might say, they did but as they would bee done by. It would also follow very absurdly; the Magistrate being in the malefactors case, would gladly be pardoned, therefore he must pardon the malefactor: Some sonne of Belial would be content villanously to prostitute his wife whom he cares not for himselfe, to others; therefore he may abuse another mans wife whom he loues better. These, and the like abominable and absurd consequents, demonstrate the vanitie of the Vsurers inference, and that Christs rule is not so generall, but restrainable to that will, which is orderly and honestly guided by the light of Nature and Gods Law.

2. Wee must then hauehave recourse to this generall Fountaine of the second Table, and fetch light and direction thence; when wee hauehave no expresse and speciall word in Gods Booke; but the Scriptures hauehave cleerely and directly determined and resolued the point of Vsury.

3. If the Vsurer were in the borrowers case, hee would not willingly, as hee pretends, giuegive tenne in the hundred. I meane, with an absolute and free will, but of force and constraint, because without paying after that rate, he could not hauehave it. If a man would borrow vponupon Vsury, to buy land, ingrosse, forestall, or compasse some vnlawfull matter; that were a corrupt will, and no rule: But if his desire so to borrow were iust and lawfull, as in some cases it may bee, then it is no entire will, but mixed and forced by some necessitie, for the auoyding of a greater euill; and therefore denied in the eye both of law and reason, to bee any will at all. He that would borrow, should hauehave need to borrow, for a needlesse desire is vnlawfull; and an ingenuous man who hath need to borrow, would not willingly borrow but for need, much lesse would hee pay Vsurie. Therefore the will of the borrower, in this case, is either corrupt, or no will at all, and so consequently without the compasse of Christs rule.

The will of the borrower in this case, is like the will of an p. 210honest Trauailer, in giuing his purse to an arrant thiefe; for feare hee should loose both purse and life. Is such a man willing, thinke you, to loose his mony? Or like the will of a man, whose house beeing on fire, plucks downe part thereof to saue the rest; willingly indeede as the case stands with him, yet not simply, but vponupon necessity. So the borrowers will is not free, but forced; and so a will against will.

2. With an infinite disdaine, and resolute contempt abhorre to get so much as one farthing all the daies of thy life, by any wicked meanes or wrong doing. Doe not plague thy present outward state, bee it little or much; neither empoison it to thy posterity, by any addition vntounto it; by vsury, bribery, symony, sacriledge, stealing, grinding the faces of the poore, oppression, lying, falsehoods, forswearings, ouer-reaching trickes of wit, coozening, cunning conueiances, &c.

1. Thereby thou shalt desperately fall into the reuenging hands of an angry God: diuine vengeance will dog thee hard, and continually at the heeles for thy destruction. Which is incōparably a greater plague then extremest beggery, and the bitterest confluence of all the most vexing outward miseries in the world.

Let no man, faith Paul, goe beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the auenger of all such. 1. Thes. 46.

2. Secondly, A little ill got, naturally accompanied with Gods curse, may so empoyson thy whole inheritance and all the rest of thy goods, that it may prooue like a dead Fly in a boxe of precious ointment; a sparke of fire in the thatch; a strong incentiue to diuine iustice, not onelyonly to eate vp all honest comfort in outward things, but also to consume and waste all thy wealth: Nay, and sith immoderate desire of enriching and raising his aaS…d dicturus est, Habeo frios, quibus laborem, habeo quibus prospiciam; habeo quibus curam maximam geram.—Quam curam geris filiorum, vt eos obruas lachrymis miserorum? Non est hoc filios amare, sed potiùs neeare. August. Tom. 10. pag. 702.posterity, is the keenest spurre to his vnconscionable hoarding; euen to cut off also many times the cruell worldling himselfe, and cast him out of the p. 211world without stocke or seede. And therefore though the couetous caytife out of the hardnesse of his heart, and searednesse of conscience, bee fearelesse and senselesse of the wrath of God, the wrong of his neighbour, and the wretchednesse of his owne soule; yet if he desire, as hee doth, with a raging vnsatiablenesse, like the graue, or hell, to thriue in his outward state, and prosper in the world; let him not meddle so much as with a sticke, or a straw, a pin, or a point of another mans; neither at any time put his hand to any wicked way of getting, lest, beside the losse of his soule at last, and a world of miseries in the meane time, hee misse the very marke so eagerly aimed at; of making him and his great in the world. For hope of which hee is cursedly content to part with all true contentment in this life, and a Crowne of blisse in the Kingdome of heauen.

For this purpose, and to perswade, and presse this point vnanswerably, let vsus take a view in Gods Booke of the diuers waies, how he is wont in wrath to deale with wrongdoers and vnconscionable dealers.

It comes to passe, sometimes that the wicked worldling, insatiable earth-worme, God cursing his couetousnesse and cruelty, may see an end of his wealth euen in this world, according to that, Ier. 17. 11. As the Partridge sitteth on egges, and hatcheth them not: so hee that gettethriches, and not by right, shall leaue them in the middest of his dayes, and at his end shall be a foole. Iob 20. 15, 28. Hee hath swallowed downe riches, and he shall vomit them vp againe: God shall cast them out of his belly. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

Or it is no strange thing to see him prosper by vnconseionablenesse and craft, vsurious and other iniurious practises, all his life long; but then hauing scraped together his hoard of iniquity, with a great deale of carking, thoughtfulnesse, and selfe vexation; kept it with extreme feare, slauish distrust, and heart-gnawing iealousies; parted bbTemporalium amor quantùm afficit, quum haeret possessio; tantùm, quum subtrahitur, vri…. Gr…g.from it with much anguish, horrour, and almost with as painfull diuorce p. 212as that of the soule from the body: at last after the losse of it soule and all▪

1. He either leaues it to them who will liberally let flie abroad, and enlarge those golden heapes which greedinesse had formerly confinde, and strongly guarded with bolts and barres: According to that, Prou. 28. 8. He that by vsurie and vniust gaine increaseth his substance, hee shall gather it for him that will pitie the poore. See also Prou. 13. 22. Iob 27. vers. 16, 17.

2. Or it may be wholly scattered amongst meere strangers, according to that, Eccles. 6. 2. But a strange man shall eate it vp: See also Psalm. 39. 6. Eccles. 4. 8. and 2. 18, 19.

3. Or being bequeathed to his owne children, and blasted by Gods secret curse, it may melt away in their hands, as snow before the Sunne, according to that, Eccles. 5. 13, 14. There is a sore euill which I hauehave seene vnderunder the Sunne, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But these riches perish by euill trauell; and he begetteth a sonne, and there is nothing in his hand.

But howsoeuer, whether ill gotten goods perish or prosper in the owners hands, or his posteritie: sure I am, the ineuitable plague and iust vengeance of God cleaues inseparably vntounto his soule; and hunts that man to destruction, whosoeuer he be, that enricheth himselfe by wicked and wrongfull meanes, without timely repentance and true restitution, if he be able.

He that hath oppressed the poore and needy, or hath spoyled by violence,—or hath giuen vponupon vsury, or hath taken increase; the same reason is also of all indirect and vnlawfull getting, shall he liue? He shall not liue: he hath done all these abominations, hee shall surely die, his blood shall bee vponupon him, Ezek. 18. vers. 12, 13.

And maruaile not, neither be mis-led, though thou obserue sometimes wicked worldlings themselues, their heires, and heires heires, to wallow also in that wealth which the Grandfathers got wrongfully. For they are for all this, but as so many sensuall earth rooting hogs, fatted for the **Psal. 92. 5.Ps 92:5knife; p. 213and hauehave this wofull brand set vponupon them by the Spirit of God, Psal. 17. 14. They are men of the world, and hauehave their portion in this life. But euer hold this as a terrible and true principle. It is one of the greatest ccNihil est infoelicius foelicitate peccantium; quâ poenalis nutritur impunitas, & mala voluntas velut hostis interior roboratur. August. Epist. 5.curses vnderunder the Sunne; to prosper in our wayes, and be out of the way to Heauen.

3. Thirdly, it is a ruled case and concurrent resolution amongst Diuines: That if thou doest not restore, being able, whatsoeuer thou hast any waies got wrongfully, and wickedly; thou canst hauehave neither well grounded assurance of vnfained **Without restitution, God accepts not your confession, nor yet your repentance. Hom. of the resurrection.repentance, nor true comfort of the pardon of that sinne. A cutting conclusion against all cut-throat Vsurers, Simonists, Sacrilegians, Bribe-takers, Grinders of poore mens faces, Hoarders by fraud, Oppressors of all vnderunder themWhosoeuer maketh not restitution, being able to restore, He neither hath vnfained repentance for his sinne, nor any sound assurance of the forgiuenesse thereof. Downam vponupon Psalm. 115.Ps 115 of the same trade, by some Machiuillian tricke, and the rest of that cruell crue.

How can he be said to repent soundly, that lies still soaking in his sinne, wittingly, and willingly? Now, whosoeuer keepes still in his hands any thing wickedly got, continues a wrong doer still; and therefore doth it not faithfully, but only faineth repentance. Whereupon saith Austin, If a manSi res aliena propter quam pec atum est, cùm reddi possit, nō redditur, non agitur poenitentia, sed fingitun. Epist. 54 pag. 280. Non remittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum. Ibidem. restore not ill gotten goods being able, his repentance is not comfortable, but counterfeite.

Dreadfull also is the doome of the said Father vponupon all wrong-doers, The sinne is not remitted, except that which hath been vniustly taken be restored: Either in act, if thou be able; or at least in vnfained affection, if thy state be wasted.

What a bedlam folly is it then, and cursed cruelty to thineEffectu, or affectu. owne soule; to heape vp those riches of iniquity, by basenesse and wrong, which thou must afterward restore in the sense I hauehave said, or else neuer enioy any comfortable assurance of a true conuersion or pardon of sinne? Were he not a foolish thiefe, that would keep his stollen goods both in the face of his accuser and Iudge? Though in the meane time thou conceale thy cunning conueiances from the discouery and doome of humane iustice; yet assure thy selfe, besides the secret grumbling of thy selfe-accusing conscience; the p. 214angry eye of God also sees cleerely, and will shortly most certainely reuenge.

4. Almesdeeds, charitable erections of Colledges, Hospitalls, Free-Schooles, and other inferiour bountifull contributions; when God inables by good meanes; the necessities of his Poore cry for reliefe, and the sanctified heart with affectionate sincerity, aimes at Gods glory; are sweetesmelling sacrifices with which God is well pleased, Philip. 4. 18. Heb. 13. 16. But if his slauish gifts, and good deedes, largesses, and liberalities in this kinde, be impoysoned with former fraud, oppression, and wrong; though it bee well that the Church of God sometimes, the backes and bellies of the poore bee better thereby; yet to the impenitent and not restoring vsurer himselfe, or any other wicked dealer, in respect of acceptation with God, and true comfort to his owne heart, they are no better then the cutting off of a Dogges necke, or the sacrifice of a foole. Ill gotten goods are for restitution, not for distribution. Lest any couetous cauiller thinke the point too harsh & precise, heare what the ancient Fathers say to this purpose: ddNon recipit Eleemosynas de manu raptoris, aut foeneratoris, In Cant. Serm. 71.Bernard: God receiueth not any almes at the hands of an oppressor or vsurer. eeSignificantèr dicitur, suum; ne rapinis & vsuris, & alieno malo quaesitum panem vertamus in misericordiam. In ca. 18. Ezech. pag. 536.Hierome: Significantly saith the Prophet; His owne bread, lest men should turne bread gotten by oppression and Vsury, into a worke of Mercy. ffCùm iudicare coeperit Deus; dicturi sunt hi, qui de fraudibus viuunt, & de spolijs miserorum eleemosynam faciunt; Domine praecepta tua seruauimus, & in nomine tuo misericordias fecimus, pauperes pauimus, nudos operüimus Quibus dicturus est Deus, Quod dedistis, dicitis; quos pauistis, memoramini, quare non recordamini quos necâstis? Quos operüistis, gaudent, quos expoliastis, plangunt, &c. Tom. 10. Hom. 47. De remedijs peccatorum, pag. 699. Vnus repletur panibus, quem de rapinis satiâsti: & benedicet Dominus non te, sed eum, quem necâsti, Ibid.Austin: When God shall begin to iudge, those that liue now by fraud, and giuegive almes of the spoyles of the oppressed, will say; Lord, we hauehave kept thy Commandements, and in thy name wee hauehave done workes of mercy; we hauehave fed the Hungry, we hauehave clothed the Naked, and entertained Strangers. To whom God will reply, You tell me what you hauehave giuen; but you tell me not what you hauehave taken away. You recount whom you hauehave fed; but why remember you not whom you hauehave vndone? They reioyce whom you hauehave clothed; but they lament whom you hauehave spoyled, &c. A man is filled with bread, whom thou feedest with p. 215spoyle: but the Lord will blesse, not thee, but him whom thou hast vndone, &c. Chrysostome; aaSed quaenam est multorum excusatio? Foeneratus sum, aiunt; sed pauperi obtuli. Bona verba quaeso: talia Deus sacrificia non accepit. Quod enim iustis laboribus collectum argentum est, propter hos iniquos foetus plerumque contaminas, &c. Hom. 57. in Mat.But what is the excuse of many? I hauehave indeed been an Vsurer, say they, but I hauehave also been good to the poore. A sweete piece of matter, sure! But God accepts not such sacrifices. It were farre better to giuegive nothing to the poore at all, then giuegive in that manner. That wealth which is wonne by thy iust labours, is many times quite mard with such wicked mixtures, &c.

The very bbPaupetes non vt ferarum catuli, sanguine & caedibus nutriendi: quódque gratissimum est accipientibus, scirent dari sibi, quod ne mini est ereptum Plin. Panegyr. ad Traianum.Heathen man tells vsus, That the poore are not to be fed like the Whelpes of wilde beasts, with blood and murther, rapine and spoile: but that which is most acceptable to the receiuers; they should know, that that which is giuen vntounto them, is not taken from any body else.

Nay, one of the bloodiest men that euer breathed, Selymus, a Turkish Emperour, yet vponupon his bed of death replyed thus to his Bassa, moouing him with the wealth taken from the Persian Merchants, to build an Hospitall for reliefe of the poore: ccHist. of the Turkes in the life of Selymus the first. pag. 561.Wouldest thou, Pyrrhus, that I should bestow other mens goods wrongfully taken from them, vponupon workes of charitie and deuotion, for mine owne vaine glory and praise? Assuredly I will neuer doe it: nay rather, see they bee againe restored vntounto the right owners. Which was done forthwith accordingly, to the great shame, saith the Author, of many Christians; who minding nothing lesse then restitution, but making ex rapina holocaustum, doe out of a world of euill gotten goods, cull out some small fragments to build some poore Hospitall, or mend some blinde way. A poore testimony of their hot charitie. Wretchedly then doe they delude the World, and deceiue their owne soules, who vainely thinke, that some workes of mercy at last, when they must needs leaue all, will expiate and recompence the cruelties and vnconscionable dealings of their whole life before. Zacheus penitent Proclamation consisted of two branches, Luk. 14. 8. As well for restitution, as distribution. He that would find the same mercy, must follow the same methode.

3. Let thy desire and delight neuer fall, or be fastened immoderately vponupon any earthly thing, though neuer so excellent, p. 216delicious, or amiable. For exorbitancy and errour this way brings many times, 1. A losse of the thing so doted vponupon. 2. Sometime a crosse. 3. Euer a curse.

1. For the first; our righteous and holy God, when hee …ees the current of his creatures affections to bee carried inordinately and preposterously from the Fountaine of liuing waters, vponupon boken Cisternes that can hold none; from the bottomlesse treasury of all sweetest beauties, dearest excellencies, amiable delights, vponupon painted shadowes; from the Rocke of eternitie, vponupon a staffe of Reede; I meane, from the Creator, vponupon the creature; He wisely and seasonably in the equitie of his Iustice, and out of the iealousie of his owne Glorie takes away that earthly Idoll, that the occasion of such irregular affection remoued, he may draw the heart, in which he principally takes pleasure, to his owne glorious Selfe, the onelyonly Load-Starre of all sanctified louelove, and boundlesse Ocean of happinesse and blisse. Nay, it may be said in the sweetenesse of his mercy also, when he sees vsus distracted, and as it were, desperately mad with making too much of any transitorie thing, so that our mind doth still runne and rest vponupon it, as our onelyonly heauen vponupon earth; He snatches the edge toole out of our hands, lest we make away our selues spiritually; and withdrawes the beloued vanitie from before our eyes, lest we grow starke blind in the mysteries of Faith, and matters of Heauen, by too much gazing vponupon the fading beauty of any baser earthly obiect.

Thus the immoderate partiall affection of Parents, may become many times occasionall and accessary to the vntimely taking away of a sweete, faire and towardly child. Whereby our gracious God iustly intimates vntounto them their intolerable vnthankefulnesse of his mercy, and extreme indignitie to his Maiesty, in wickedly preferring in their louelove, a creature before their Creator, and mercifully teaches them, that the flowre and seruour of their best and dearest affection is onelyonly due, and should bee wholly deuoted to the greatest Good, God himselfe, and those truest, vnutterable, euer-during delights prepared for the Blessed, in his Word here, and p. 217in the World to come hereafter, 1. Cor. 2. 9.

Conceiue proportionably of other things immeasurably desired, and delighted in. If thou dotest vponupon a good wit, thou mayest be stricken with distraction: if vponupon abundance of learning, or much worldly wisedome, thou mayest be infatuated, at least at some speciall times, when thou wouldest gladly doe the best; or in some important businesse, which most concernes thee: if vponupon some highplace, thou mayst with Haman, Shebna, and thousands moe, be throwne down into the gulph of calamitie and woe, contempt and scorne: if vponupon a faire house, it may be leuelled with the ground, by the flames of Gods wrath: if vponupon a beautifull face, it may bee disfigured with the Poxe, or other deformities: if vponupon a hoard of gold, it may be disperst by fire, robbery, desolations of warre: nay, if euen vponupon thy graces with an ouerweening conceit of selfe-excellency, selfe-opinion, selfe-sufficiency; if they be onelyonly generall graces, thou mayst bee quite stript of them; if sauing, thou mayst bee cast into a dampe and desertion for a time, in respect of all comfort, sense, vse and exercise, &c.

2. For the second, though God may permit thee to possesse still that outward worldly comfort, vponupon which the fury of thine affection is so fastened, and thine heart graspes with such greedinesse and excesse; yet in this case thou mayest iustly expect a crosse; either, 1. In the thing doted vponupon. With what a deale of cutting discomfort, and gashes of bitter griefe did Absalom dandled in Dauids affection with too much indulgence, rent his Fathers royall heart by imbruing his hands in his brothers blood, and with vnnaturall trayterous violence and villany snatching at the Imperiall Crowne vponupon Dauids head? Another famous instance to this purpose we find in the story of the Greeke Emperours. The old Emperour Andronicus doted with such extreme impotency of partiall affection vponupon his Nephew, young Andronicus, that in comparison of him, he did not onelyonly disregard the rest of his Nephewes, but also his owne children: and as the… Stori… ▪ pag. 158. Storie tels vsus, was not willing to spare him out of sight either p. 218day or night. But what were the consequents of this cockering? When he was stept further into yeeres, besides a world of miseries and molestations created to his Grandfather in the meane time, at length pressing without resistance vponupon his Palace, with purpose to surprize his person, though the old Emperour intreated him with much affectionate Royall eloquence, which might hauehave pierced an heart of steele or Adamant, That he would reuerence those hands, which had oftentimes most louingly embraced him, yet crying in his swathing clothes: that he would reuerence those lips, which had oftentimes most louingly kissed him, and called him his other Soule: that he would spare to spill that blood, from which himselfe had taken the fountaine of life, &c. For all this, after some kind words, and courteous embracement, at first indeed premised, and in hot blood; in conclusion, being polled and shauen, was made a Monke, and the Anuile of much dunghill scorne and vilest indignities, vntill the workemanship of death had finished the sorrowfull businesse of a wretched life. A third, and very remarkeable to fright all Parents from foolish doting, heare out of Austin. aaNon mi…emini, statres charissimi, si hodiè ter sermonē, Deo auxiliante, perfecero. Accidit hodiè terribilis casus, vt omnes audîstis; propter quem non solùm ad Ecclesiam Hypponensem omnes antiquiores habere volui, sed etiam omnes soeminas, & infantes in vnum congregari praecepi, &c.By reason of a terrible & dreadfull accident, he called his people together, as it seemes, to a Sermon the third time, the same day; thinking, no doubt, out of his watchful spiritual wisdom, to work more succesfully, and to leaue more strong and lasting impressions in their hearts, while the bloody vnnaturall villany was yet fresh in their eyes and eares. And when they were met together, he relates the dolefull storie: bbFilium, vt scitis, habebat: & eum vnicum possidebat: & quia vnicus erat, eum superfluè diligebat, & supra Deum. Ideò superfluo amore in ebriatus, filium corrigere negligebat, dans etiam potestatem faciendi omnia, quae placita essent illi. O dolosa libertas! O grandis filiorum perditio! O paternus amor mortiferus! Ecce, filios se dicunt diligere, quos iugulari procurant. Dicunt eos amare, quibus iam suspendia parant, &c. Sed ecce, hodiè ebrietatem perpessus, matrempregnantem nequitèr oppressit, sororem violare voluit, patrem occidit, & duas sorores vulnerauit admortem. O magna Diaboli dominatio! &c. August, adfratres in eremo. Serm. 33.Our noble Citizen (saith he) here of Hippo, Cyrillus, a man mightie amongst vsus, both in worke and word, and much beloued, had, as you know, one onelyonly sonne, and because he had but onelyonly one, he loued him immeasurably, and aboue God. And so being drunke with immoderate doting, hee neglected to correct him, and gaue him liberty to doe whatsoeuer p. 219he list. Now this very day, this same fellow, thus long suffered in his dissolute and riotous courses, hath in his drunken humour wickedly offered violence to his mother great with child, would hauehave violated his sister, hath killed his father, and wounded two of his sisters to death. O mightie domination of the Deuill! &c. But I need not prosecute this point by further illustration out of strange Stories. Daily experience presents vntounto our eyes and eares, the many wofull discomforts, vnkind requitales, and vnnaturall vsages, which Parents receiue at the hands of those children, which in their younger yeeres they made wanton with their louelove, and vndiscreetly doted vponupon. 2. Or in some other kind; for example: If thine heart be set vponupon riches, God may iustly, and mercifully too, exercise, and afflict thee with his heauy hand; vponupon thy body, with sicknesse; vponupon thy conscience, with terror; vponupon thy reputation, with disgrace, or the like, thereby to vnglue thy noble spirit from the dust, and rent it from grouelingnesse vponupon the earth. If thou be ambitiously enamoured vponupon honours and high roomes; after wasting thy wealth, wounding thy conscience, wearying thy selfe with bribery, basenesse, and irkesome waiting, thou mayest bee taken away vntimely in the very pursuite, or presently after the attainement of them, &c. Thus it is not strange or extraordinary with God, to preuent, or take off our hearts from taking selfe-conceited pleasure or pride in any thing we enioy, by crossing and correcting vsus in other kindes. Euen Paul, that blessed Saint and seruant of the Lord, lest his heart should be too much pleased, and puft vp with abundance of reuelations; he was vext and crost with his owne concupiscence, there was giuen to him a thorne in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, 2. Cor. 12. 7. that is, as I conceiue, hee felt his originall corruption sharpened, and eneagered against him, and let loose in some sort vponupon him: which is a terrible cut to a tender conscience.