Counsel to the Rich, Conclusion
The Concluſion.
SIRS, What hath been delivered to you, hath been received from your Lord, and ours.
It will be no new thing, if the Beaux Eſprits do laugh it to ſcorn. If one and another Naaman do deſpiſe Jordan.
Phreneticks do uſe to throw away the Medicine, and trample on the Plaiſter, which would heal them. Who knows not what Stones were caſt at the Prince of Preach…rs, our very Saviour? Lepers, were never fond of Looking-glaſſes, and Madmen never loved Hellebore.
As for Hypocrites, they were never very forward Converts! An un…ring Judg ſaith it; Publicans and Harlots are leſs obſtinate. Morally, as well as Naturally, we ſee, that Conſumptions do kill more than Calentures. Moſt People do periſh under one or other form of Godlineſs. And, of the two, there be fewer, who do caſt themſelves headlong into Tophet, than do deſcend ſtep by ſtep into it.
Neither is it to be denied, but, that, Spots are hardly got out of Diamonds too. And much Sope and Nitre, are loſt upon many a Holy Creature. Our Saviour's two rebukes of an undoubted Saint, prevented not a third out breach of the ſelf ſame Sin. Get thee behind me Satan, one would have thought, ſhould have been Refining Fire in his Heart. The Cock's crowing, which ſet him bitterly weeping, might have been expected to have ſufficiently warned him againſt haſty ſpeaking. But, no ſuch matter; out again it brake; What ſhall this Man do? In ſhort; the beſt Chriſtians do ſtill remain too Legal, thô they read much the Epiſtle to the Romans, and Galatians. And, too too Licentious, thô they do read the Epiſtles of St. James, St. Peter, and St. Jude!
Nevertheleſs; in Duty unto all, and in Hope of ſome of you; Whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, this Trumpet is blown.
Their Smart it is, and Pain; not Metal and Pride, which maketh diſeaſed and wounded Creatures to curvet and prance. And, it is pure Compaſſion, wherewith I ſhall follow the moſt inſulting Scorners of my Counſel. I have conſulted ſurer Oracles, than thoſe of Dodona, and Delphos. And am perfectly certain of thus much;
That, very many of you Fat upon the Earth, as well as the Poor that go down to the Duſt, Pſal. 22.29. Many of you Grandees muſt one day be Converts. That, the very Wolves of you ſhall come into the Fellowſhip of the Goſpel with our Saviour's Lambs. That, the Leopards ſhall lie down with Kids; Calves, young Lions, and Fatlings together; and a little Child ſhall lead you, Iſa. 11.6, 9. An humble Miniſter, of no more State than a newly weaned Child, ſhall manage you as well as a Spiritual Lord! And, you ſhall no more hurt or deſtroy in all God's Holy Mountain. No, but,
You, Mountains, of the Nobility, ſhall bring Peace to the People; and you the little Hills of the Gentry, alſo, by Righteouſneſs, Pſal. 72.3. Amen.
FINIS.
End of the text · Daniel Burgess, Counsel to the Rich (1697)