Twenty-Six Sermons, Sermon 9
A SERMON Preached at VVHITE-HALL April 2. 1620.Serm. 10. SERMON X.
ECCLES. 5.
There is an evil ſickneſs that I have ſeen under the Sun: Riches reſerved to the owners thereof, for their evill. And theſe riches periſh by evil travail: and he begetteth a ſon, and in his hand is nothing.
Ver. 12. & 13. in Edit. 1. In alia 13. & 14.
THe kingdom of heaven is a feaſt; to get you a Stomach to that, we have preached abſtinence. The kingdom of heaven is a treaſure too, and to make you capable of that, we would bring you to a juſt valuation of this world. He that hath his hands full of dirt, cannot take up Amber; if they be full of Counters, he cannot take up gold. This is the Book,Hierm. which St. Hierome choſe to expound to Bleſilla at Rome, when his purpoſe was to draw her to heaven, by making her to underſtand this world; It was the book fitteſt for that particular way: and it is the Book which St. Ambroſe calls Bonum ad omnia magiſtrum; Ambroſ.A good Maſter to correct us in this world, a good Maſter to direct us to the next. For though Solomon had asked at Gods hand, onelyonly the wiſdom fit for Government, yet ſince he had bent his wiſhes, upon ſo good a thing as wiſdom, and in his wiſhes, even of the beſt thing, had been ſo moderate, God abounded in his grant, and gave him all kinds, Naturall and Civil, and heavenly wiſdom. And therefore when the Fathers and the latter Authours in the Roman Church, exerciſe their conſiderations,Auguſt. whether Solomon were wiſer, then Adam, then Moſes, then the Prophets, then the Apoſtles, they needed not to have been ſo tender, as to except onelyonly the Virgin Mary, for though ſhe had ſuch a fulneſs of heavenly wiſdom, as brought her to reſt in his boſome, in heaven, who had reſted in hers upon earth, yet ſhe was never propoſed for an example of natural, or of civil knowledge. Solomon was of all; and therefore St. Auſtin ſayes of him; Prophetavit in omnibus Libris ſuis, Solomon propheſied in all his books; and though in this book his principal ſcope be moral, and practique wiſdom, yet in this there are alſo myſteries, and prophecies, and many places concerning our eternal happineſs, after this life.
But becauſe there is no third object for mans love. This world, and the next, are all that he can conſider, as he hath but two eyes, ſo he hath but two objects, and then Primus actus voluntatis eſt Amor, Aquinas.Mans love is never idle, it is ever directed upon ſomthing, if our love might be drawn from this world, Solomon thought it a direct way to convay it upon the next: And therefore conſider Solomons method, and wiſdom in purſuing this way: becauſe all the world together, hath amazing greatneſs, and an amazing glory in it, for the order and harmony, and continuance of it (for if a man have many Manors, he thinks himſelf a great Lord, and if a Man have many Lords under him, he is a great King, and if he have Kings under him, he is a great Emperor: and yet what profit were it, to get all the world and looſe thy ſoule; Therefore Solomon ſhakes the world in peeces, he diſſects it, and cuts it up before thee, that ſo thou mayeſt the better ſee, how poor a thing, that particular is, whatſoever it be, that thou ſets thy love upon in this world. He threads a ſtring of the beſt ſtones, of the beſt Jewels in this world, knowledge in the firſt Chapter, delicacies in the ſecond, long life in the third, Ambition, Riches; Fame, ſtrength in the reſt, and then he ſhows you an Ice, a flaw, a cloud in all theſe ſtones? he layes this infamy upon them all, vanity, and vexation of ſpirit.
Vanitas.Which two words, vanity and vexation, becauſe they go through all, to every thing Solomon applies one of them; they are the inſeparable Laeven, that ſowers all, and therefore are intended as well of this Text, as of the other text; we ſhall by the way make a little ſtop upon thoſe two words, firſt how could the wiſedome of Solomon and of the Holy Ghoſt, avile and abaſe this world more, then by this annihilating of it in the name of vanity, for what is that? It is not enough to receive a definition; it is ſo abſolutely nothing, as that we cannot tell you, what it is. Let Saint Bernard do it; vanum eſt, quod nec confert plenitudinem continenti; for who amongſt you hath not room for another bagg, or amongſt us for another benefice; nec fulcimentum innitentï, for who ſtands faſt upon that, which is not faſt it ſelf? and the world paſſeth, and the luſts thereof; Nec fructum laboranti, for you have ſowen much, and bring in little, yee eat, but have not enough, yee drink but are not filled, yee are cloth'd, but wax not warm, Agg. 1.16.and he that earneth wages, puts it into a bagg with holes, midſummer runs out at Michalmas, and at years end he hath nothing.
And ſuch a vanity is this world, leaſt it were not enough, to call it vanity alone, ſimply vanity, though that language in which Solomon, and the Holy Ghoſt ſpoke, have no degrees of compariſon, no ſuperlative, (they cannot ſay vaniſsimum, the greateſt vanity,) yet Solomon hath ſound a way to expreſſe the height of it, another way conformable to that language, when he calls it, vanitatem vanitatum, for ſo doth it; Canticum Canticorum; The Song of Songs, Deus Deorum, the God of gods, Dominus dominantium, The Lord of Lords; Coeli Coelorum, The Heaven of Heavens, alwaies ſignifie the ſuperlative, and higheſt degree of thoſe things; vanity of vanities is the deepeſt vanity, the emptieſt vanity, the verieſt vanity that can be conceived. Saint Auguſtin apprehended ſomewhat more in it, but upon a miſtaking;Aug. Retract. for accuſtoming himſelf to a Latin copy of the Scriptures, and ſo lighting upon copies, that had been miſwritten, he reads that, vanitas vani antum: O the vanity of thoſe men that delight in vanity; he puts this lowneſs, this annihilation not only in the thing, but in the Men themſelves too. And ſo certainly he might ſafely do; (for though, as he ſaies, in his Retractations, his Copies milled him,) yet that which he collected even by that errour, was true, they that truſt in vain things are as vain, as the things themſelves. If Saint Auguſtin had not his warrant to ſay ſo from Solomon here, yet he had it from his Father before, who did not ſtop at that, when he had ſaid Man is like to vanity,Pſal. 144.4.39.5. but proceeeds farther; ſurely that is without all contradiction every Man, that is without all exception; in his beſt ſtate, that is, without any declination, is altogether vanity. Let no man grudge to acknowledge it of himſelf; The ſecond man that ever was begot and born into this world, (and then there was world enough before him to make him great) and the firſt good man, had his name from vanity; Cain, the firſt man, had his name from poſſeſſion; but the ſecond, Habel, had his name from vacuity, from vanity, from vaniſhing; for it is the very word, that Solomon uſes here ſtill for vanity. Becauſe his parents repoſe no confidence in Habel, for they thought that Cain was the Meſſias, they called him vanity. Becauſe God knew that Habel had no long term in this world, he directed them, he ſuffered them to call him vanity. But therefore principally was he and ſo may we, be content with the name of vanity, that ſo acknowledging our ſelves to be but vanity, we may turn, for all our being, and all our well being, for our eſſence, and exiſtence, and ſubſiſtence, upon God in whom onelyonly we live and move and have our being; for take us at our beſt, make every one an Abel, and yet that is but Evaneſcentia in nihilum, a vaniſhing, an evapourating. When the Prophets are ſaid to ſpeak the motions,Jer. 23.16. and notions, the viſions of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord, then becauſe that was indeed nothing, (for a lye is nothing) they are ſaid (in this very word) to ſpeak vanity. And ſtill,1 Cor. 8.4. where the Prophets have that phraſe, in the perſon of God, provocaverunt me vanitatibus, They have provoked God with their vanities, the Chaldee Paraphraſe ever expreſſeth it, Idolis, with their Idols; and Idolum nihil eſt, an Idol,1 Cor. 8.4. that is vanity, is nothing. Man therefore can have no deeper diſcouragement, from enclining to the things of this world, then to be taught that they are nothing, nor higher encouragement, to cleave to God for the next, then to know that himſelf is nothing too. This laſt of our ſelves, is St. Pauls humility,2 Cor. 12.11. Eſa. 40.15. I am nothing; The firſt of other Creatures, is the Prophet Iſaiahs inſtruction, The nations are as a drop of the bucket, as the duſt of the ballance, the Iſles are as a little duſt: This was little enough; but, all nations are before him as nothing; that was much leſs; for the diſproportion between the leaſt thing, and nothing, is more infinite then between the leaſt thing, and the whole world. But there is a diminution of that too, they are all leſs then nothing; and whats that, vanity; in that place, Nihilum, & in ane, and thats as low as Solomon carries them.
Vexatio. Gen. 6.5.But becauſe all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart, are onelyonly evil continually, as Moſes heightens the Corruption of man, and therefore men are not ſo much affrighted with this returning to nothing, for they could be content to vaniſh at laſt and turn to nothing, there appears no harm to them in that, that the world comes to nothing; what care they, when they have no more uſe of it? and there appears an eaſe to them, if their ſouls might come to nothing too; therefore Solomon calls this world not onelyonly nothing, vanity, but affliction, and vexation of ſpirit. Tell a natural voluptuous man, of two ſorts of torments in hell, Poena damni, and Poena ſenſus, one of privation, he ſhall not ſee God, and the other of reall Torments, he ſhall be actually tormented; the loſs of the ſight of God will not ſo much affect him, for he never ſaw him in his life; not in the marking of his grace, not in the glaſs of his creatures, and he thinks it will not much trouble him there to lack his ſight, whom he never ſaw here; But when he comes to think of reall Torments, he ſees ſome examples of them here in this life upon himſelf. And if he have but the toothach, he will think, that if that were to laſt eternally, it were an unſufferable thing. And therefore Solomon affects us with that ſenſible addition, love not this world; why? It is vanity, it will come to nothing: I care not for that; I will love it, as long as it is ſomething; do not ſo, for it is not onelyonly vanity, but affliction, vexation too. It will be nothing at laſt, it ends; but it is vexation too, that ſhall never end. The love of the world, is but a ſmoke, there's the vanity; but ſuch a one, as putts out our eyes, there's the vexation; we do not ſee God here, we ſhall not ſee God hereafter.
Theſe two words then,Diviſio. as to all the other parts in Solomons Anatomy, and cutting up of the world, ſo they do belong to that particular diſpoſition, in this Text; This reſerving of Riches to the owner, for his evill, and that which follows, is vanity, and vexation; But now we have paſſed that generall conſideration, there is thus much more to be conſidered. Firſt an imputation laid upon the reſerving, the gathering of Riches: though Riches be not in themſelves ill, yet we are to be abſtinent from an over-ſtudious heaping of them, becauſe naturally they are mingled with that danger, that they may be for the owners evil: And therefore becauſe it may come to that, It is a ſickneſs to gather Riches; and it is an evil ſickneſs, for all ſickneſs is not ſo: and it was no imaginary, but a true ſickneſs, it was ſeen, it was under the ſun; for that death it ſelf, which is not ſeen, ſpiritual death in the torments of hell, is not ſo much thought of; this is ſeen; but it was the part of a wiſe man to ſee it, Solomon ſaw it, there is an evil ſickneſs, that I have ſeen under the Sun: Riches reſerved to the owners thereof, for their evill. And thoſe riches periſh by evil travail: and he begetteth a ſon; and in his hand is nothing.
There follows a dangerous, and deadly Symptome of this ſickneſs, that the riches periſh. There is an evil ſickneſs that I have ſeen under the Sun: Riches reſerved to the owners thereof for their evil. And thoſe Riches periſh by evil travail: And he begetteth a ſon; and in his hand is nothing.
But that will not fall into this exerciſe.
Imputatio.Firſt then, the imputation that is generally laid upon riches, appears moſt in thoſe difficulties, which in the Goſpels are ſo often ſaid to lye in the rich mans way to heaven: Particularly, where it is ſaid to be, as hard for a rich man to enter into heaven, as for a Camel to paſſe a needels eye; God can do this; but if a rich man ſhall ſtay for his ſalvation, till God do draw a Camel through a needels eye, he may perchance ſtay,Epiſt. 160.7.1. till all be ſerved, and all the places of the Angels filled. St. Hierom made it not a proverb, but he found it one, and ſo he cites it, Dives, aut iniquus eſt, aut iniqui haeres: A rich man is diſhoneſt himſelf, or, at leaſt he ſucceeds a diſhoneſt predeceſſor: Proverbs have their limits, and rules have exceptions; but yet the proverb, and the rule laies a ſhrewd imputation, ut plurimum, for the moſt part it is ſo. It is not alwaies ſo; we have a better proverb,Prov. 22.4. againſt that proverb, The reward of humility, and the fear of God is Riches, and glory, and life; If we were able to digeſt, and concoct theſe temporal things into good nouriſhment; Gods natural way is, and would be, to convay to us the teſtimony of his ſpiritual graces in outward and temporal benefits; as he did to the Iews in abundance of wine, and honey, and milk, and oyl, and the like. He had rather we wer… Rich, becauſe we might advance his glory the more: At leaſt they are equal: and any great meaſure of either, either of Riches, or of Poverty, are equal in their danger too.Bernard. Et quae mulcent, et quae moleſtant, timeo; Poverty, as well as Riches, may put us from our Chriſtian conſtancie;Prov. 30. and therefore they are both praied againſt, Divitias et paupertates ne dederis; How Riches are to be eſteemed when they are compared with Poverty, is another queſtion; but how compared with heaven, is no queſtion: We may ſee that by the place from whence they are ſaid to come.
Chriſt is preſented there in the perſon of wiſdome; and there it is ſaid, length of daies, that is Eternity, in her right hand, and in her left hand Riches, and Glory: Nolite ſitire ſiniſtram; preſſe not too much upon Gods left hand for Riches here,Bernard. leaſt that cuſtome imprint a Bias in you, and turn you on the left hand here, and bring thee to Gods left hand in heaven too. Briefly they have an imputation upon them, they have an ill name, as hindrances to the next life, and they have it alſo as Traitors to their Maſters, That they are reſerved to the hurt of their owners in this life; And then, if that Vae, be well placed, Wo be unto you, that are rich, for you have received your conſolation, Luke 26.24.what a wofull thing is it, to have received no conſolation in them, but to have had harm here by them?
To proceed then, riches may do harm to their owners.Owners. It is no eaſie matter for a rich man, to finde out the true owners of all his riches. Thou art not owner of all, that the right owner cannot recover of thee; that all that is his by law, ſhould be his. Certainly no rich Man hath dealt much in this world, but he hath ſomething, of which himſelf knows not the right owner, when he receives uſury for his money, that intereſt is not his money, but when he receives uſury again for that, there neither the intereſt, nor principal was his own money; he takes uſury for that money of which himſelf was not the owner, becauſe it was ill gotten: If thou do truly know the owner, reſtore it to him; if after a diligent examination of thy ſelf, thou do not know the particular owner, yet thou knoweſt it is none of thine, and therefore give it him, whoſe it was at firſt; both before thou hadſt it, and before he from whom thou gotteſt it corruptly, had it; give it to God, in giving it to his poor, and afflicted members; give it him, and give it willingly, and give it now, for that that thou giveſt at thy death thou doſt but leave by thy laſt will, thou doſt not give; he onelyonly gives that might keep, thou giveſt unwillingly; howſoever they have it, by thy will, yet it is againſt thy will that they have it, thou giveſt then, but art ſorry, that they to whom thou giveſt, that which thou giveſt, came ſo ſoon to it. And then ſaepe infirmitatis ſervi efficimur, we become ſlaves to our laſt ſickneſs often;Bernard. oftentimes Apoplexies ſtupifie us and we are dull, and Fevers enrage us and we are mad; we are in a ſlavery to the diſeaſe, Et ſervï non teſtantur, ſays the law, ſlaves have no power to make a Will; Teſtare Liber, Idem.make thy Will, and make it to be thy Will, give it the effect, and execute thy Will whileſt thou art a free man, in ſtate of health; reſtore that which is not thine; for even that of which thou art true owner may be reſerved to thy harm, much more that,Harm. which is none of thine.
Every man may finde in himſelf, that he hath done ſome ſinnes, which he would not have done, if he had not been ſo rich: for there goes ſome coſt to the moſt ſins; his wantonneſs in wealth makes him do ſome; his wealth hath given him a confidence, that that fault would not be lookt into, or …hat it would be bought out, if it were. Some ſins we have done, becauſe we are rich; but many more becauſe we would be rich; And this is a ſpiritual harm, the riches do their owners. And for temporal harm, if it were hard to finde in our own times, examples of men, which have incurr'd great diſpleaſure, undergone heavy calamities, periſhed in unrecoverable ſhipwrack, all which they had eſcaped, if they had not been eminently, and enormouſly rich; we might in ancient hiſtory both profane and holy, finde ſuch precedents enough, as Naboth was; who if he had had no ſuch vineyard, as lay convenient for ſo much greater a perſon, might have paſſed for an honeſt and religious Man to God, and a good ſubject to the King, without any indictment of blaſphemy againſt either, and never have been ſtoned to death.1 Reg. 21. The rich Merchant at Sea, is afraid that every fiſherman is a Pyrat, and the fiſherman fears not him. And if we ſhould ſurvay the body of our penal Laws, whenſoever the abuſe of them, makes them ſnares and ſpringes to entangle men, we ſhould ſee that they were principally directed upon rich men; neither can rich men comfort themſelves in it, that though they be ſubject to more ſtorms then other men, yet they have better ground tackling, they are better able to ride it out then other men; for it goes more to the heart of that rich Merchant, which we ſpoke of, to caſt his goods over board, then it does to the fiſherman to looſe his boat:Bernard. Idem. and perchance his life. Sudat pauper foris; It is true the poor mans brow ſweats without; Laborat intus dives, the rich mans heart bleeds within; and the poor man can ſooner wipe his face, then the rich man his heart, Gravius faſtidio, quam ille inedia cruciatur; the rich man is worſe troubled to get a ſtomach, then the poor man to ſatisfie his: and his loathing of meat, is more weariſome, then the others deſire of it. Summe up the diſeaſes that voluptuouſneſs by the miniſtery of riches imprints in the body; the battery that malice, by the provocation of riches, layes to the fortune; the ſins that confidence in our riches; heaps upon our ſouls; and we ſhall ſee, that though riches be reſerved to their owners, yet it is to their harm.
Sickneſs.As then the burden of that ſong in the furnace, where all creatures were called upon to bleſſe the Lord, was ſtill, praiſe the Lord, ver. 36.and magnifie him for ever; And as the burden of that Pſalm of thankſgiving, where ſo many of Gods miracles are recorded, is this, for his mercy endureth for ever; ſo the burden of Solomons exclamation againſt worldly things, is ſtill in all theſe Chapters, vanity, and vanity of vanities, and vexation of ſpirit; ſo he addes thus much more to this particular diſtemper of reſerving Riches, naturally diſpoſed to do us harm. That it is a ſickneſs; Mow, Sanitas naturalis; Bernard.Nature abhors ſickneſs, and therefore this is an unnatural deſire. For whether we take this phraſe of Solomon, for a Metaphor and compariſon, that this deſire of Riches, is like a ſickneſs, that it hath the pains, and the diſcomforts, and the dangers of a ſickneſs, or whether we take it literally, that it is a diſordering, a diſcompoſing, a diſtemper of the mind, and ſo truely, and really a ſickneſs, and that this ſickneſs induceth nothing but eternal death, nothing ſhould make us more afraid then this ſickneſs, (for, the root of all evil is the deſire of money.) And then if it be truely a ſickneſs all the way, and Morbus complicatus, (a dropſie, and a conſumption too) we ſeem great, but it is but a ſwelling, for our ſoul is lean; what a ſad condition will there be, when their laſt bodily ſickneſs, and this ſpiritual ſickneſs meet together; a ſick body, & a ſick ſoul, will be but ignorant Phyſitians, and miſerable comforters to one another.
It is a ſickneſs, and an evil ſickneſs;Evil. & there is a weight added in that addition; for though all ſickneſs have rationem mali, ſome degrees of the evil of puniſhment in it, yet ſometimes the good purpoſe of God, in inflicting a ſickneſs, and the good uſe of man, in mending by a ſickneſs, overcome and weigh down that little dram, and waſhes away the pale tincture of evil, which is in it. There is a wholſome ſickneſs, Et eſt ſanitas, quae viaticum ad peccatum, health ſometimes victuals us,Baſil. and fuels us, and armes us for a ſin, and we do thoſe ſins, which,Bernard. if we were ſick, we could not do: And then, Mala ſanitas carnis, quae ducit ad infirmitatem animae. It is an unwholſome health of the body, that occaſions the ſickneſs of the ſoul.
It is true, that in bodily Sickneſs, Tua dimicant contra te arma. Bernard.It is a diſcomfortable war, when thou fighteſt againſt thy ſelf; In ipſo gemis, in quo peccaſti, that that fleſh in which thou haſt ſinned, comes to vex, and anguiſh thee; that thy body is become but a bottle of rheum: Thy Sinews but a bundle of thornes, and thy bones but a furnace of vehement aſhes. But it thou canſt hear God, as St. Auguſtin did. Ego novi unde aegrotes, Ego novi u…de ſaneris, I know thy diſeaſe,Auguſtin. and I know thy cure. Gratia mea ſufficit, my grace ſhall ſerve thy turn. Thou ſhalt come to that diſpoſition of the Apoſtle too; Therefore I take pleaſure in infirmities, becauſe when I am weak, 2. Cor. 12.10.then am I ſtrong: when thou art come to an apprehenſion of thy own weakneſs, thou comeſt alſo to a recourſe to him, in whom onelyonly is thy ſaving healthand recovery. But this Sickneſs of gathering thoſe riches which are reſerved for our evil, comes not to that; it comes to the Sickneſs, but not to the phyſick. In ſmall diſeaſes (ſaith St. Baſil,) we go to the Phyſitians houſe; in greater diſeaſes, we ſend for the Phyſitian to our houſe; but in violent diſeaſes, in the ſtupefaction of an Apoplexy, in the damp of a leturgy, in the furnace of a Pleuriſie; we have no ſence, no deſire of a Phyſitian at all. When this inordinate love of Riches begins in us, we have ſome tenderneſs of Conſcience, and we conſult with Gods Miniſters: After we admit the reprehenſions of Gods Miniſters when they ſpeak to our Conſciences; but at laſt, the habit of our ſin hath ſeared us up, and we never find that it is we, that the Preacher means; we find that he touches others, but not us. Our wit, and our malice is awake, but our conſcience is aſleep; we can make a Sermon a libel againſt others, and cannot find a Sermon in a Sermon, to our ſelves. It is a ſickneſs, and an evil ſickneſs.
Viſibilis.Now this is not ſuch a ſickneſs, as we have onelyonly read of, and no more. It concernes us not onelyonly ſo, as the memory of the ſweat, of which we do rather wounder at the report, then conſider the manner, or the remedies againſt it. Thoſe divers plagues which God inflicted upon Pharoah, for withholding his people. That devouring Peſtilence, which God ſtroke Davids kingdom with for numbring his people. That deſtruction which God kindled in Sennacheribs army for oppreſſing his people. Theſe, becauſe God hath repreſented them, in ſo clear, and ſo true a glaſs as his word, we do in a manner ſee them. Things in other ſtories we do but hear; things in the Scriptures we ſee: The Scriptures are as a room wainſcotted with lookingglaſs, we ſee all at once. But this evil ſickneſs of reſerving riches to our own evil, is plainer to be ſeen; becauſe it is daily round about us, dayly within us, & in our conſciences, & experiences. There are ſins, that are not evident, not eaſily diſcerned; & therefore David annexes a Scedule to his prayer after all, Ab occultis meis mundame, ſaith David. There are ſins, which the difference of religion, makes a ſin, or no ſin; we know it to be a ſin, to abſtain from coming to Church, our adverſaries are made beleeve it is a time to come. There are middle-men, that when our Church appoints coming, and receiving, and anoother Church forbids both, they will do half of both; they will come, and not receive: and ſo be friends with both. There are ſins recorded in the Scriptures, in which it is hard, for any to find the name, & the nature, what the ſin was; how doth the School vex it ſelf, to find out what was the nature of the ſin of the Angels, or what was the name, of the ſin of Adam? There are actions recorded in the Scriptures, in which by Gods ſubſequent puniſhment, there appears ſin to have been committed, and yet to have conſidered the action alone, without the teſtimony of Gods diſpleaſure upon it; a natural man would not eaſily find out a ſin.Numb. 22. Balaam was ſolicited to come, and curſe Gods people; he refuſed, he conſulted with God: God bids him go, but follow ſuch inſtructions as he ſhould give him after; And yet the wrath of God was kindled, becauſe he went.Numb. 20. Moſes ſeems to have purſued Gods commandement exactly, in drawing water out of the Rock, and yet God ſayes, Becauſe you believed me not, you ſhall not bring this congregation into that land of promiſe. There are ſins hard to be ſeen, out of the nature of Man, becauſe Man naturally is not watchful upon his particular actions, for if he were ſo, he would eſcape great ſins; when we ſee ſand, we are not much afraid of a ſtone; when a Man ſees his ſmall ſins, there is not ſo much danger of great. But ſome ſins we ſee not out of a natural blindneſs in our ſelves, ſome we ſee not out of a natural dimneſs in the ſin it ſelf. But this ſickly ſin, this ſinful ſickneſs, of gathering Riches, is ſo obvious, ſo manifeſt to every mans apprehenſion, as that the books of Moral men, and Philoſophers are as full of it as the Bible. But yet the Holy Ghoſt, (as he doth alwaies, even in moral Counſels) exceeds the Philoſophers; for whereas they place this ſickneſs in gathering unneceſſary riches injuriouſly; the Holy Ghoſt in this place extends i… further, to a reſerving of thoſe riches; that when we have ſinn'd in the getting of them, we ſin ſtill in the not reſtoring of them. But to thee, who ſhouldeſt repent the ill getting; Ʋeniet tempus, quo non diſpenſaſſe, poenetebit, there will come a time when thou ſhalt repent the having kept them: Hoc certum eſt, Ego ſum ſponſor, Baſil.of this I dare be the ſurety (ſaith St. Baſil) But we can leave St, Baſil out of the bond; we have a better ſurety and undertaker, the Holy Ghoſt in Solomon; So that this evil ſickneſs may be eaſily ſeen, it is made manifeſt enough to us all, by precedent from God, by example of others, by experience in our ſelves.Solomon.
To ſee this then, is an eaſie, a natural thing; but to ſee it ſo, as to condemn it, and avoid it, this is a wiſemans ſlight; this was Solomons ſlight. The wiſeman ſeeth the plague,Pſal. 50.18. and ſhunneth it; therein conſiſts the wiſedome. But for the fool when he ſees a theif, he runneth with him; when he ſees others thrive by ill getting, and ill keeping, he runs with them, he takes the ſame courſe as they do. Beloved, It is not intended, that true and heavenly wiſedome may not conſiſt with riches: Iob, and the Patriarchs abounded with both; And our pattern in this place, Solomon himſelf, ſaith of himſelf; That he was great,Eccleſ. 2.9. and increaſed above all that were before him in Ieruſalem, and yet his wiſdome remained with him. The poor man and the rich are in heaven together; and to ſhow us how the rich ſhould uſe the poor; Lazarus is in Abrahams boſome; The rich ſhould ſuccour and releive, and defend the poor in their boſomes. But when our Saviour declares, a wiſedome belonging to Riches, (as in the parable of the unjuſt Steward) he places not this wiſedome,Luk. 16. in the getting, nor in the holding of Riches, but onelyonly in the uſing of them; make you friends of your Riches, that they may receive you into everlaſting habitations. There's no Simony in heaven, that a man can buy ſo much as a door-keepers place in the Triumphant Church: There's no bribery there, to ſee Uſhers for acceſſe;Gen. 28. But God holds that ladder there, whoſe foot ſtands upon the earth here, and all thoſe good works, which are put upon the loweſt ſtep of that Ladder here, that is, that are done in contemplation of him, they aſcend to him, and deſcend again to us. Heaven and earth are as a muſical Inſtrument; if you touch a ſtring below, the motion goes to the top: any good done to Chriſts poor members upon earth, affects him in heaven; And as he ſaid, Quid me per ſequeris. Saul Saul why, perſecuteſt thou me? So he will ſay, Ʋeni…e benedicti, paviſtis me, viſitaſtis me. This is the wiſedome of their uſe; but the wiſedome of their getting and keeping, is to ſee, that it is an evil ſickneſs to get too laboriouſly, or to reſerve too gripingly, things which tend naturally to the owners evil: For, therefore in that parable doth Chriſt call all their Riches generaly, univerſally, Mammonas iniquitatis, Riches of iniquity, not that all that they had was ill got (that's not likely in ſo great a company) but that whatſoever, and howſoever they had got it, and were become true owners of it, yet they were Riches of iniquity; becauſe that is one iniquity to poſſeſs much, and not diſtribute to the poor; and it is another iniquity to call thoſe things riches, which are onelyonly temporal, and ſo to defraud heavenly graces, and ſpiritual treaſure of that name, that belongs onelyonly to them; And the greateſt iniquity of all is towards our ſelves. To take thoſe riches to our heart, which Chriſt calls the thornes that choak the good ſeeds;Mat. 13.22. and the Apoſtles calls tentations, and ſnares, and fooliſh, and noyſome luſts, which drown men in perdition, and in deſtruction,1. Tim. 6.9. and which the wiſe man hath ſeen, and hath ſhewed us here, to be reſerved to the owners for their evil. To return to our beginning, & make an end; Heaven is a feaſt, and Heaven is a treaſure: If ye prepare not for his feaſt, by being worthy gueſts at his table, if you embrace not his treaſure, by being ſuch Merchants as give all for his pearl; another feaſt, and another treaſure are expreſſed, and heightned in two ſuch words, as never any tongue of any Author, but the Holy Ghoſt himſelf ſpoke; Inebriabit abſinthio, there's the feaſt, you ſhall be drunk with wormwood, you ſhall taſt nothing but bitter affliction, and that ſhall make you reel, for you ſhall find in your affliction no reſt for your ſouls. And for the treaſure, Theſaurizabis iram dei; you ſhall treaſure up wrath againſt the day of wrath;Rom. 2.5. and this will be an exchequor ever open, and never exhauſted. But uſe the creatures of God, as creatures, and not as God, with a confidence in them, and you ſhall find juge convivium, in a good conſcience, and Theſauros abſconditos, all the hid treaſures of wiſedome and knowledge;Col. 29.3. you ſhall know how to be rich in this world by an honeſt getting of riches, and how to be rich in the next world by a chriſtianly uſe of thoſe riches here.