for their Children for being kind Husbands they have provided for their Wives for being bountiful Masters they have preferr'd their Servants But yet all this is but to do Good or Charity Oeconomically or within our own Doors not Oecumenically or Universally all this is still but the Love of a Man's Self for he is hardly yet gone out of Himself that is not gone beyond his Family and Relations This measure of Love as our Lord observes is found among Infidels They love those that love them but we are to be like our Father which is in Heaven who sends his Rain upon the Vnjust as well as the Just we are to love Aliens and Enemies as well as Friends The Love that is express'd to Relations may be the Pin or Hook on which some Single Precept hangs but not which supports the Stress of the Whole Law and the Prophets that Honour or Dignity belongs only to these two The Love of God Above our selves And the Love of all men As our selves Which brings me to my Second General Part The Dignity of these two Commandments by reason of the Dependence of the whole Law and Prophets on them The Twenty First Sermon MATTH xxii 46 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets THESE two Commandments The Love of God And the Love of our Neighbour sustain the Entire Structure or Frame of the Book of God as the two Pillars Boaz and Jachin bore up the stupendous Fabrick of Solomon's Temple Or rather to keep to our Lord's Comparison they are as two mighty Hooks Hinges or Pins on which all the Law and the Prophets hang. For the better Explanation of which I shall do these three things I. Shew how it is to be understood That all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two Commandments The Love of God And the Love of our Neighbour II. I shall shew the Excellence of Love by way of Essay so far as to make it appear worthy of the Honour ascribed to it of sustaining all the Law and the Prophets III. I shall add as a Corollary how we may attain this Excellent and important Grace Love on which all the Law and the Prophets hang. I. How it is to be understood That all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two Commandments The Love of God And of our Neighbour The Law and the Prophets i. e. the Text and the Gloss or Comment whatsoever the Law has concisely commanded or implyed only and the Prophets more largely expounded and dilated on were but to plant this one Duty this One Master Principle in the hearts of men Love In every Law there are two Parts the Matter enjoin'd and the Rewards and Punishments annex'd by way of Sanction for the better Observation of it For a bare Injunction not animated and fortified with the Promise of Good things to the Keepers of it and Threats of Evil to the Infringers will find but cold Observation among men Who as the Psalmist speaks are little better than horse and mule that must be held with bitt and bridle of Penalties lest they fall upon you The Office of the Prophets was to be Custodes Legis the Guardians and Conservators of the Law they were not to add to the Law though they were inspired by God as Moses was but to interpret press and inculcate the Duties of it to revive in mens thoughts the Promises and Threats and thus they were a kind of Mound or Fence to the Law to keep off Transgressions The Jews had a Sort of Criticks who with great preciseness observed the Number of the Letters in each Book of Moses how they were written together with the Various Readings and these were call'd the Masorites because they were as the Word imports a Hedge to the Law But with much better right the Greater and Lesser Prophets may deserve this Name And upon this account it is that these two the Law and the Prophets or Moses and the Prophets are still quoted by our Lord together who says not The Law and the Interpretation of the Scribes or the Law and the Determination of the Priests though in lesser Matters the People were also to harken to them but the Law and the Prophets which were both of equal Divine Production and carried on the Same Design the one by commanding and the other by preaching and inculcating the Will of God and Duty of Men. Now whatsoever the one of these enjoins and the other enforces our Lord says Hang all upon these two Pins The Love of God and the Love of our Neighbour And though the Word Love is not often found in the Law and the Books of the Prophets though they are not as I may say so much Canticles as the Sermons of Christ and the Writings of his Apostles in some of which there is scarce a Verse but it is even verbally repeated and ingeminated yet the Duties which the Prophets urge and press are all Acts of Love to God and Charity to our Neighbour and whatsoever else they seem most to intend and employ their Pens about the propagation of Piety and Charity may be seen latent in the Scheme and Contexture of their Discourse and he that reads the one shall be unawares engaged and intangled in the other But then it may be ask'd here Seeing all the Law and the Prophets hang on this One Law of Love what need was there of so many Specifications of the Several Duties contain'd in both Tables as Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not Steal c. For this Single Word Love comprehending them all in effect so many Tautologies might have been spared To this we may say Men are so crafty and subtil to evade the Duties imposed on them or pretend Ignorance for their Disobedience that 't was not sufficient to set down in Generals the Obligations that lay on them but it was necessary by Express Prohibitions and Particular Instances to convince them when they offended against the Divine Precepts And for this reason the Law is fain often to descend to many trivial Specifications to work a lively and sensible Impression of the Justice or Injustice of every Fact in their minds As for Example Thou shalt not reap the Corners of thy Field nor glean thy Vineyard Thou shalt not suffer the Hire of the Labourer to remain with thee till the morning Thou shalt not take his Garment to Pledge his Bed nor his Working-tools nor his upper Milstone and the like Sure'y to an Ingenious Heart disposed to Humanity this particularizing would have been needless I say to a Good and Friendly Nature these things are of easie Deduction from the bare Word Love that all the rest might have been spar'd we say Verbum Sapienti a Word to the Wise is sufficient but 't is much truer Verbum Amanti a single Word to a true Lover is abundantly sufficient to make him recollect the rest of his Beloveds mind But I say Men
severe Discipline Danger and Persecutions will make them stagger and recoil The Seed that fell upon Stony Ground sprung up faster for a season than that which fell on the Good Ground but when the Sun arose and smote it it presently withered wanting root The Children of Israel went cheerfully and lustily with Moses out of Egypt but when their Food grew scarce and they saw the Host of Pharaoh pursue them they boggled in their Enterprize and in their hearts returned again into Egypt preferring Bondage with Safety and Plenty before Freedom with Hardship and Danger But their Posterity voluntarily follow'd Christ three days without Sustenance and never lookt back to their houses or yet to their beloved City If I forget thee O Jerusalem says the Psalmist let my right Hand forget its Cunning. But these Israelites when they heard Tidings of the Heavenly Jerusalem the Jerusalem above they cast behind them all thoughts of Jerusalem below it appeared to them no better than a second Babylon or house of Bondage As our Lord therefore made others of the People his Scholars he made these of his Family as he taught them he fed these revealed not only the Word but the Power and Glory of God to them To conclude I shall raise from all that I have said but this One acceptable and comfortable Doctrine Whosoever follows Christ faithfully affectionately and constantly in these days will find him as Compassionate in their Wants and Distresses as the Multitude here did For he has the same Bowels and Tenderness now at the Right Hand of God which he had when he conversed with men on Earth he is ascended Intire into the Heavens he did not carry up his Body thither and leave his Affections in the Grave If we therefore seek the Kingdom of Heaven in the first place and its Righteousness we may rest assured of our Lord's Promise That all the Necessaries of this Life shall be added to us that if we perform the Principal he will take care to make good the Accessory What is said of the Productions of Nature That she brings forth nothing but what she provides for is much more true of the Productions or Children of Grace For when the Earth with-holds its Fatness and the Clouds their Dew when the Creatures that should nourish Men starve themselves for want of Nourishment when the Breasts of Nature seem wholly dryed up venit Coelum in partes Heaven it self will come in to succour and take Part with the Faithful and if Sterility abounds Grace on this occasion also will much more abound if the Soil afford no Corn Bread shall be rained from the Sky if the Springs fail the Stony Rock shall send forth Water and Rivers shall run in dry places the Ravens shall feed the Righteous or their little Stock shall encrease as fast as 't is spent the Courses of Nature shall be inverted rather than Christ's Truth fail Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one Tittle of his Word shall fall to the ground And if any say How comes it then to pass that the Servants of God do suffer Want Nay that commonly they are more destitute and persecuted than other Men I answer to this as our Lord did to his Disciples urging him on a time to eat I have Meat to eat says he which you know not of So the Faithful have Meat to eat which the World knows not of they have Peace Plenty and Prosperity though not seen by every Eye They have the Grace of God which is as a hidden Manna in their Hearts and as a Well of Living Water which suffers them neither to hunger nor thirst And is it not much more Eligible and Glorious to fast with Moses and Elias forty days than to feast even at the Table of Princes To be in the State of Angels who need neither Food nor Raiment than to be clothed and served with all the Sumptuousness and Magnificence of Solomon The Righteous have Content in Poverty which is more than Riches Joy in Bonds which is better than Freedom Satiety in a little which is not always found in Abundance And what is this but to receive Bread from Heaven when the Earth affords none Water from the Rock when the Springs are dryed up To be fed even by a more Wonderful Way than by the Ministry of Ravens Neither is the Favour of God this Way shew'd to the Followers of Christ less than that which he shew'd to his Own Servants of old but much greater for it speaks yet a higher Grace to be content to perish under Hunger Poverty and Bonds than to be snatch'd out of these Evils after a Miraculous Manner Saint Peter rejoiced more when he was scourged for bearing Testimony to Christ than when he was delivered by an Angel from the Death design'd him by Herod And Saint Paul gloried more in his Persecutions and Sufferings than he did even in his Charismata his Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost And thus our Gracious Lord relieves the Necessities of his Servants from the Store-houses of the World or from the Riches of his Grace rescues them out of their Afflictions or makes them delight in them supplies their Wants or sets them above the Wants of other Men takes away their Wants or takes them up to that Place where no Wants are and where all Tears shall be wip'd from their Eyes To which blessed Place God of his infinite Mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ bring us all And To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Fourteenth Sermon LUKE xvi 9 Make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations THESE Words may be call'd a Lecture of holy Usury they teaching us the highest Advantages that are to be made of Riches beyond what is to be learned from the Books of Eastern Merchants or the Trade to both the Indies from the Mysterious Rules of the antient Publicans or our modern Bankers 1. They teach men by a Divine Alchymy how to convert Earthly Treasure into Heavenly to make Money the ordinary Salary and hire of Sin to be the Price of Salvation and the Purchace of the Holy Ghost without the Danger of Simony 2. Men are instructed by them how to cure the Vanity and Instability of Riches call'd for their inconstant and short Abode mendacium phantasmata praestigiae scenica persona c. a Lye a Dream a Delusion the quick shifting of a Scene or Vizor in the Theatre and notwithstanding that 't is said We can carry nothing out of this World with us we are shew'd which way to confer them to Heaven and to erect Banks in those Eternal Mansions 3. Whereas Folly is ordinarily imputed to Rich men insanus dives stultus dives the Mad man and the Rich the Fool and the Rich being seldom in Scripture out of conjunction
consider not how Accursedly themselves in the mean time Live and Dye Again on the other side other Rich men as sottishly waste in Voluptuousness and Sensuality what the former gripingly spared to gratifie a Lust to purchase a Delicious Sin they will pour out their Wealth without Measure and think no Profusion too great but to all Works of Piety and Charity they are Deaf and a Publick Contribution in their conceit would undo them And thus all the Advantages God has given them to procure their Salvation serve only to encrease their Accounts at Dooms-Day and to aseertain to themselves a greater Damnation of all the Vast Riches they possess'd there remains not one Monument of Liberality but only fouler Sinks and bigger Dunghills an Ill Reputation and a Corrupted Age. When Alphonso the Good King of Arragon who gave so much in Charity was ask'd What he intended in such vast Donations to reserve for himself answer'd Ea ipsa quae dono the very things that I give Which Saying though it may be despised by those that are of a contrary Temper as the rapacious Pharisees laugh'd at our Lord and pity'd him when he preach'd against Covetousness yet at that Day when Mens Words and Works shall be rewarded according to their Merit the Words of King Alphonso will be found to have no less Wisdom in them than Bounty and then men will also understand That all that they have Ill-Saved or Spent profits them nothing but only what they have Piously or Charitably bestowed that this is the only Wealth that benefits them and never forsakes them the Good Works which as S t John says follow them into the Other World But the Rich and Potent are not only concerned in the Policy taught in my Text but those also of an Inferior Condition have their Names in God's Census or Book of Cesments for the Poor and must not look upon themselves as exempted from the Duties of Charity Acts 3.6 says S t Peter Gold and Silver have I none but such as I have give I thee In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk He that cannot clothe nor feed his Brother possibly may heal him who can Give him nothing can Forgive him and pray for him But we may keep here to the Letter of Giving Charity for 't is rarely seen that any are so destitute but they may give to the Destitute Christ had not where to lay his Head yet he had a Small Bag out of which he could say to his Disciples Give something to the Poor And if those that count themselves the most Indigent did compute what pass'd through their Hands in a Year as Seneca says of Mens Time Non exiguum temporis habemus sed multum perdimus We have not little Time but spend much Idly they might say of their undervalued Stock Non exiguum Mammonae habemus sed multum perdimus our Money would not be little if we spent it not Idlely The Summs which slip away inconsiderately through the Fingers even of the Meaner Sort would set Beggars on work and knock the Shackles off from hundreds of Prisoners and Captives But let us all consider of what Condition soever we are High or Low that we have no long time either to abuse our Wealth or to deceive our Selves with false Measures taken of our Actions Some perhaps who hear me this Day may not have so much Leisure allowed them as the Steward had to change an Item in their Accounts to say to a Poor Debtor that owes them a hundred Measures Take thy Bill sit down and write fifty or Take thy Bill and write fourscore If any of us have a Lease or Patent ready to expire we neglect no time to renew it but we are not at all sollicitous whether we lapse the Time of Grace or forfeit our Heavenly Inheritance How much wiser Tenants are we than Christians Patentees than Heirs of Glory We are all assured that the Day of Death the Dissolution of these Earthly Tabernacles will come the Day in which Wealth Beauty Greatness Glory and all other Worldly Advantages will profit us nothing the Day in which the Rich and Potent as well as the Poor and Mean however Numerous their Friends and Attendants now are must stand alone and answer for what they have done in this Life in solatium ruinae in Consolation of the Dreadful Circumstances of that Day let us provide some Support some Refuge some Good Works as Friends to stand by us lest our Spirits break through intolerable Horrour and Despair We will not remove from one House to another without sending before Furniture Provisions and Servants to receive us and is it possible we should not care what the Habitations are in which we must abide to all Eternity Whether they be Places of Refreshment or Torment Mansions of Bliss or Prisons of Darkness and Horrour If we value not what it becomes us to do in this Life as Good Men yet let us consider at least what it becomes us to do as Wise Men But alas Wisdom and Goodness are not two things Had the Rich Man in the Parable had leave to return out of Hell to have acted his Life a second time over upon Earth he would not have deserved to have been call'd Fool again for despising the Poor and trusting in Full Barns and Enlarged Store-houses he would sooner have clothed the Beggar in Purple and have set him at his Table and have taken himself his place among the Dogs but the Season was past and Leave and Opportunity to shew such Wisdom was not allow'd him This this Life is the Time of doing our Duty of giving Largess and Charity to the Poor and of performing every Good Work beside if our Lord could say of himself I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day the Night cometh when no man can work Joh. 9.4 then certainly it more highly concerns us to lay hold of the Season allow'd us to do God's Will and this weighty Admonition is our Lord's and not mine Make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of Vnrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into Everlasting Habitations The Fifteenth Sermon PSALM xi 3 If the Foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do THE preceding Verses run thus In the Lord put I my trust how say ye to my Soul Fly as a Bird to the Mountain For lo the wicked bend their Bow and make ready their Arrow upon the String that they may privily shoot at the Vpright in heart If the Foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do That the Lord careth for the Righteous defendeth them against the Machinations of the Wicked as with a Shield or as it follows at the 7 th Verse That the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his Countenance doth behold the Vpright is prima Veritas the first Truth and Fundamental Article that both comforts and confirms the Godly in their Godliness that while they continue to be