A Christian Library, Chapter 53
CHAP. LIII.
THirdly, If with what measure we mete to the poor, it shall be measured to us again, as it fared with Dives touching Lazarus, Luke 16.20, 25. If the sentence of Absolution or Condemnation at the day of judgment, shal be pronounced either for, or against us, according as we have performed or omitted these works of mercy; to those and onelyonly those who have fed the hungry, cloathed the naked, visited the sick, &c. Come yee blessed, &c. And contrarily, to those that have not done these duties in relieving Christs members, according to their abilities, and the others necessities; Depart ye cursed, into everlasting Fire, &c. In what a case are all miserly and unmerciful muckworms? Yea what wil become of most rich men in these dayes, who being worth thousands, wil let the poor starve rather then relieve them with any considerable supply? I profess it is wonderful to me, that ever such sordid, self-lovers, can looke for, or expect to find the least mercy from God at the great Day of Retribution. Certainly they must needs think there wil be no such Day of Iudgement as Christ speaks of, or that he is a notorious Lyar, and means not to be as good as his word; For if they do in the least believe either of these; yea if they did but come so near believing, as to grant such a thing may be, or it is possible, they could not be such careless, witless, and wicked fools, as to venture and hazard the salvation or damnation of their souls, upon the doubtful event of such a weighty business.
O my Brethren! bethink your selves (before your Glasses be run out) be perswaded, be perswaded to love your money less, and your selves and souls more. And do not lose your souls to save your silver; or if you do, you wil one day dearly rue it, I mean when you come in Hell: As let me ask your Consciences but this question, What would you give in those scorching flames to be delivered out of them, into Abrahams bosom, or the Kingdom of Heaven? Yea, what would you not give, if you then had it? Let Nabal be but ransomed out of Hell, he wil no longer be a Churl: Let Dives return from that fiery Lake, to his former riches, the sensible World shall admire his Charity. Let Iudas be ransomed out of Hell, he wil no more betray his Master for money. Let Esau find the same favour, he will never again sell his Birth-right. Nabal then would no longer oppress. Achitophel then wil be no longer a false-Counsellor, nor Ahab a bloody Tyrant. Finally, if all damned souls could but be admitted to come out of Hell, and get a promise of Heaven upon condition of extraordinary obedience for a thousand years, how precisely would they live? And how would they bestir themselves, that they might please God, having once tasted of those torments which now many are in doubt of, because no man ever saw Hell, that returned back to make the relation? yea, if the offer were but made to these Churls on their death-beds, when Conscience begins to accuse, God appears to be angry, and Satan is ready to seize upon their souls, they would then give all they have, had they ten thousand worlds, for a short reprieve, to the end they might have the like possibility; As certainly, when Pharoah saw the Sea ready to swallow him; he was heartily sorry that ever he had wronged poor innocents, and oppressed God's own portion: How much more, when he felt the flames of Hell-fire about his ears? And the like of Ahab, touching Naboth, and all such covetous and cruel men. What gained Laban, and Nabal, or Dives, or that rich man in the Gospel, by heaping up Riches, and ingrossing all to themselves, when shortly after by their covetousness and cruelty, they both lost their Estates, and themselves? The foolish Virgins to save, or spare a a shilling, brought no Oyle; but when their Lamps were out, and the Bridegroom was come, what would they have given? Yea, what would they not have given for a little Oyle, and for entrance with the wise, into the Wedding? Such will one day be the case of all covetous men: Indeed at present none are wise but they; for they account poor honesty but a kind of simplicity; but then they wil acknowledge themselves to have been of all fools, the greatest; nor deserve they any pity: Who pities that man's death, that having the Medicine by him which can help him, dyes and will not take it? If ever you see a drowning man refuse help, conclude him a wilful Murtherer.
O my Brethren! look not for Dives nor Iudas to come out of Hell to warn you, since all this that I have said, and much more, is written for your learning and warning; lest it fare with you, as it did with the Greeks of Constantinople, who had store of Wealth; but because they would spare none to the reparation of the Walls, and maintenance of the Souldiers, they lost all to the Turks, which afterwards no money could recover. Or as it fared with Hedelburough, which was lost through the Citizens Covetousness; for being full of Gold and Silver, they would not pay the Souldiers that should have defended them; Though neither their folly nor loss was comparable to this of yours; For what is the Loss of Life or Countrey, to the loss of a man's Soul, and the Kingdom of Heaven. The covetous Iews, spoken of by Josephus, loved their money dearly; when being besieged, they did in gorge their Gold for all the night, and seek it in their close Stooles the next morning: But nothing so wel as these Cormorants I am speaking of, who by covetousness and overmuch sparing, resolve to lose Life, Substance, Soul, Heaven, Salvation and all. O wretched, wicked and foolish generation!