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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	apostle_n	sin_n	wage_n	4,685	5	10.8916	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01935	Certaine sermons preached upon severall occasions viz. The vvay to prosper. The vvay to be content. The vvay to vvell-doing. A summer sermon. A vvinter sermon. Vnknowne kindnesse. The poore mans hope. By Iohn Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to prosper.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to be content.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to well-doing.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Summer sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Unknowne kindnesse.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Poore mans hope.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Oracle of God.	1636 (1636)	STC 12071; ESTC S120526	199,234	334

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facit exoriri no doubt there is many a one in the world that is such a Lueifuga a hater of light and lover of darkenesse whose deeds are so evill that the very Sunne in the heavens is even loth to cast his beames and shine upon him and there is many a plot of ground that is purchased and possessed by so wicked an owner that the very clouds of heaven are loth and unwilling to drop their fatnesse upon it but that God as it were makes them doe it Hence we see that God hath the disposing of all these temporall blessings if the Lord undertake to make a man all the world shall not marre him we may see it in Moses Exod. 7. 1. Pharaoh did what hee could to marre Moses and to expose him to ruine and obscuritie in his very infancie but God that undertooke to make him never left him nor gave him over till hee had made him a god to Pharaoh not a god whom Pharoah should worship but whom he should feare and stand in awe of a god to execute judgements and bring plagues upon him and to remove the same againe Hannah saith in her song 1 Sam. 2. 7. The Lord maketh poore and maketh rich it were as easie to God to make all rich as to make any poore againe it were all one with God to make all poore as to make any rich for he hath the making of both but in his providence and wisedome he hath made some of both sorts that the one might helpe themselves to heaven by supplying and relieving the necessities of the other And therefore for our owne parts if we have any making any promotion or prosperitie above our fellowes we must confesse with David That it is God that hath made us and not we our selves it is God that hath made us Men when hee might have made us Beasts it is God that hath made us Christians when he might have made us Infidels it is God that hath made us rich when he might have made us poore in a word it is God that hath made us to prosper when hee might have made us to perish Hee sought the Lord and God made him to prosper But that is not all the maine thing that I observe from hence is the benefit that ariseth to us by seeking of God namely that it turnes to our owne advantage our owne profit God hath onely the glorie but the gaine is wholly ours for it is a meanes to make us prosper as David speaking of the commandements Psal 19. saith that in keeping of them there is great reward no man shall be a loser by keeping of Gods commandements but a gainer and a great gainer too for in keeeping of them there is great reward if we be not rewarded on earth our reward shall be the greater in heaven In coelis reposita est major compensatio saith Calvin the greatest reward is reserved in the heavens Thus saith the Lord that teacheth thee to profit Esa 48. 17. Oh that thou haddest hearkened to my commandements then had thy prosperity beene as a floud and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea thy prosperity should have beene so large and plentifull that as a floud it should have run over the bankes and the reward of thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea that is one reward should follow upon the necke of another as one wave followes upon the necke of another so Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were a heart in this people to love me and feare me as they have said then should it goe well with them and their children after them not that I might be a gainer and you lose but that you and your children might reape the bene fit So that as our Saviour saith of the Sabbath that it was made for man not onely for Gods service but for mans profit so it is true of every Commandement it was made for mans that is for mans good and benefit therefore you have it so often repeated in Deuteronomy These are the Commandements that I have given thee for thy wealth and for thy good It is a pretty observation of Cajetan upon that saying of God to Moses Exo. 34. 1. Hew thee two Tables Dola tibi non mihi ego enim non indigio tua dolatione Hew to thy selfe not for me for I neede none of thy hewing nor yet any of thy tables it is for thy owne and thy peoples good that I bid thee hew them so it is for our good that God bids us seeke him God hath onely the glory of it but the benefit is our own for it is a meanes to make us prosper Therefore if we love our selves and desire to doe our selves good let us seeke the Lord. I know that naturally wee all love our selves too much but spiritually wee all love our selves too little for he that lives in sinne he doth not love himselfe for he goeth the way to undoe himselfe both here and ever 2 Chro. 24. 20. Why transgresse ye the Commandements of the Lord that ye cannot prosper We use to say of one that is of a good nature but an evill husband He is no mans foe but his owne and it is true of every one that lives in any knowne sinne not grieving for it nor striving against it not making conscience to reforme it he is his owne foe indeede for he doth not onely anger God but he hinders himselfe that hee cannot prosper Why transgresse yee the commandements of God that ye cannot prosper The like speech you have in Ezek. 18. Why will you die O house of Israel God doth not say Why will you sin O house of Israel but why will ye die O house of Israel as presupposing they might wel know if they wil needs sin they must needs die for death is the wages of sin and followes it as the shadow followes the bodie The Lord speaks it with indignation Why will ye die as wondring they should love themselves no better but even to seeke their own death by rushing into sinne as a horse rusheth into the battell that 's the expression that God useth Ier. 8. 7. They rush into sin as a horse rusheth into the battell And why as a horse rusheth into the battell and not as a man rusheth into the battell I will tell you what I thinke the reason is The horse when he rusheth into the battell doth not know that those whom he rusheth on be his enemies that they will hurt wound and kill him but he rusheth on them without feare or wit and rusheth upon his owne death so foolish men doe not know at least will not know This they willingly know not as Saint Peter speakes that sinne is such an enemie to them that it doth hurt kill and damne them thereupon they rush upon sinne without feare and so runne upon their owne destruction Therefore it is a good meditation of Saint Austin upon that prayer of David Deliver me O Lord

until that day This kindnes the Officers could afford our Saviour Iohn 18. when he had thus spoken one of the Officers which stood by smote Iesus on the face with the palme of his hand This kindnesse Zedech●ah could afford Michaiah 1 Reg. 22 He went neere and smote him on the checke Doubtlesse if one in anger had smitten Ahabs or the High-priests dogge in that place and in that presence he should have smarted for it but this they thought was kindnesse good enough for them that durst doe no other but take it So that as Absalom said to Hushai when to his thinking he had shewed him a plot how to undermine his father David 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend saith he so if this if smiting and baffling and backbiting be a friendly kindnesse a man shall have kindnesse and friendship enough as this world goes he shall never neede to begge for it he shall have it without asking but if he looke for any other friendship or kindnesse hee may chance to goe without it and fall short of his expectation such friends as Tacitus speakes of quibus deerat inimicus ab amicis sunt oppressi they that had no enemy to oppresse and abuse them were abused and oppressed by their friends such as these the world is full of and such kindnesse as Iul an shewed the poore Christians that would smite them on the one cheeke to see whether they would turne the other shall be offered a man whether hee will or no I say he that will take smiting kindly shall have kindnesse good store But that is not the meaning of my text The Originall is percutiat me in misericordia let him smite me in mercy or in compassion to my soule that would doe ill or worse if it were not smitten and well doth deserve to be accounted a kindnesse in many respects I will but touch them and passe them over 1 It is a kindnesse Reducere errantem if it be but a sheepe that is lost and gone astray he that will reduce it and bring it home to the Shepheard and to the fold it is a kindnesse you will say Now all we like sheepe have gone astray saith the Prophet and we acknowledge it daily to God in our publike confession We have erred and straied from thy wayes like lost sheepe Now the sheepe as the Philosopher saith is pecus erraticum a kinde of cattle that is given more to wandring and straying than any other whatsoever and besides that such is the simplicity and the foolishnesse of a sheepe that being once lost and gone astray it hath not the wit nor understanding of it selfe ever to returne and come home againe as a dogge or a spaniell will doe but wanders further and further unlesse some good body or other doe chance to seeke it up and find it and bring it home even such are we too apt to goe astray from God and to lose our selves in a labyrinth of sinne but have not the wit nor the grace of our selves ever to returne to the Shepheard and Bishop of our soules except some good body or other be a meanes under God to reduce to reclaime and bring us home to Christ Now hee that shall see his friend thus gone astray and shall by wholesome admonitions and friendly reprehensions endeavour to reduce him and bring him backe to God Is not this a kindnesse 2 It is a kindnesse Sanare aegrotum to recover on that is sicke and make one sound that is in a consumption such is a man farre gone in sinne as the Apostle saith of the Cretians Tit. 1. 12. they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evill beasts slow bellies alwayes liers a man would thinke it a vaine thing to meddle with such as were so farre gone in a spirituall consumption so sicke to the death with a surfeit of sinne yet saith the Apostle doe not dispaire of their cure but rebuke them sharply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuttingly that they may be sound in the faith A rotten Cretian by sharpe reproofe may be made a sound Christian Thus when a man is corrupt in his conscience and rotten in his communication as the Apostle calls filthy discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rotten cōmunication Eph. 4. 29. I say when a mans soule is almost consumed and dead and rotten to God-ward he that by wholesome advice and heavenly physicke can recover such a one and make him sound in his heart and in his faith to God Is not this a kindnesse 3 It is a kindnesse Suscitare lethargum when a man is in a lethargy where sleepe may be his death or if a man should sleepe on the top of a mast where every nod may endanger his life hee that shall awake such a one before any harme befall him it is a kindnesse even that And such is the case of all impenitent sinners Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life Beleeve it security is as dangerous a sleepe to the soule as lethargy is to the body now when a man shal lie in wickednes as a carrion lies in rottennesse and shall sleepe away his salvation though his damnation sleepeth not He that shall awake such a one by stirring reprehensions least if he were let alone he might sleepe as Sisera did which God forbid who slept but never waked againe Is not this a kindnesse 4 It is a kindnesse Ligare insanum to bind a mad man to chaine up one that is bereft of his sences and wits who if they were at liberty might endanger himselfe and others now Salomon tels us Eccles 7. that the heart of man is full of evill and madnes is in his heart while he liveth see how Bedlam-like some men are in their fury and passion sweare and curse and even worry their God and Saviour when they are provoked by man they right their spleene upon God Yea if their words were the same indeed that they are said to be in effect if they were but swords and arrowes and rasors indeed that would peirce and wound the body as they wound and peirce the soule nothing should satisfie them but the lives and bloud and death of those that have offended them such mischievous such murthering words doe they spit like venom out of their hellish mouthes now then he that can over awe such a one with grave and sober reprehensions that can over-come and over-power and over-rule him with good language and good perswasions Ne quid loquare durius as God said to Laban Gen. 31. 24. and smite him so as that he dares not smite againe but cry God and his neighbour mercy for what he hath spoken and done amisse Is not this a kindnesse 5 Lastly it is a kindnesse Liberare perditum to save a lost man that is in imminent danger of drowning and death if he have not speedy helpe it was Moses case when he was in the river had it not been for

desire of God as it is in the Collect That his speciall Grace may ever more prevent and follow us first that God would prevent us with his Grace to put into our hearts good motions good thoughts and good desires and secondly that it may follow us too as the water of the Rocke followed the Campe of the Israelites to the Land of Promise 1 Cor. 10. 4. so that Gods Grace may follow accompany and goe along with us in this world and never leave us never forsake us till it hath brought us to the end of our Faith which is the salvation of our soules according to that Psal 109. ult Dominus ad dextram c. the Lord is at the right hand of the poore to save him from all them that would condemne his soule where note that he doth not say the Lord is at their left hand which is as I may terme it the lazy hand to save men in their negligent and idle courses But hee is at their right hand which is the working hand to save all them that worke for their salvation and carefully use the meanes to save themselves which thing if thou make a conscience to doe though thy sinnes and thy enemies should conspire to condemne thee Thy God and his Grace will be sufficient to save thee And so at length I am come aboard the last and long-desired part of my text which containes the application of all in particular which hath beene spoken and delivered in generall drawne out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Grace is sufficient for thee so that as it is said of our Saviour Mat. 21. 45. that his doctrine was so punctuall and clapt so close to the consciences of his Auditors that the Pharises knew he meant them so by that time I have done with my text neither will I bee long in doing it I trust you shall perceive that Gods meaning was to you when hee spake to Saint Paul and told him that His Grace is sufficient for him Briefly than see what Paul was and say what thou art if your case bee the same your comfort is the same for God is no accepter of persons his Grace is as sufficient for the one as for the other 1. Saint Paul was Homo in Christo he was a man in Christ as you may see by the second verse of this chapter I knew a man in Christ that was taken up into the third heaven Art thou such a one I meane art thou regenerate and become a new creature for he that is in Christ is a new creature 2. Cor. 5. 17 dost thou daily renew thy repentance and renew thy obedience and renew thy duty and devotion to God and is it a griefe to thy soule that so much of the old leaven thy old corruption remaines still in thy heart Then take this holy Scripture to thy comfort and assure thy selfe though thy conscience disquiet thee Gods Grace will be sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest an old weather beaten sinner an old rusty drunkard swearer and that standest at a stay and gatherest sinne like an old tree that stands and gathers mosse I must say unto thee as Peter said to Symon Magus Act. 8. thou hast neyther part nor portion in this priviledge thou art not a man in Christ and consequently canst claime no interest in the grace and favour of God 2. Saint Paul was Homo in Cruce a man upon the crosse Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ and elswhere Colos 1. 24. I fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh whereupon saith a father quid deest passioni Christi nisi u● nos simil●a patiamur what is or what can be wanting to the sufferings of Christ but that as he tooke up his crosse so we take up ours and follow him for vae portantibus crucem non sequentibus Christum woe to them that are crucified not with Christ that bare the crosse and follow not Christ but turne from him cleane another way It is well knowne that afflictions go under the name of crosses now a crosse was a peece of wood for a malefectour to die on there was no other use of a crosse but that Affliction therefore is called a crosse because it should have the nature and power of a Crosse that is it should be a meanes to crucifie and mortifie all carnall lusts and affections in us that the more we are afflicted the more we should dye to sin and the lesse life and power should our corruptions have in us Thus it was with Saint Paul is it so with thee dost thou wish and desire the death of thy sinnes dost thou make this use of thy afflictions even to die daily as the Apostle speakes dost thou every day drive one naile into the body of sinne I meane one sigh or grone to God against it dost thou labour to draw blood of thy soule as they drew blood of thy Saviour I meane the teares of true repentance and is it a death to thy heart that thou canst not die unto sinne and live unto God as thou shouldest and oughtest to doe Then looke no further for Harts-ease but to the words of my text and assure thy selfe what ever Crosses be upon thee Gods Grace in Gods good time shall bee sufficient to ease thee Contrariewise if thou beest one that dost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Setphen speaketh Acts. 7. ●1 one that dost fall crosse and contrary to all but to thy sinnes and art indeede a very crosse to God himselfe and to his good Spirit by thy perverse ungodly courses I must say unto thee as the Prophet Esay saith Esay 3. 6. Woe bee unto thy soule for thou hast rewarded evill unto thy selfe thou forsakest thy owne mercy and deprivest thy selfe of the comfort of Gods grace in the time of neede 3. Saint Paul was Homo in negotiis a laborious man a man full of imployments 1. Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more then all my fellow Apostles saith hee yet not I but the grace of God which was with mee there 's an honest acknowledgement by whom he profited and elsewhere hee tells the Corinthians 2. Cor. 11. 9. When I was with you and wanted non obtorpui I was not chargeable nor burthensome to any man The learned observe that word hath his weight from Torpedo which signifieth a Cramp-fish a fish they say that hath such a benumming quality that the cold of it will strike from the hook to the lyne from the line to the goad from the goad to the arme from the arme to the body of the fisher and so benum him take away al use and feeling of his limmes His meaning is that he was none of those idle drones that by their lazinesse and lewdnesse doe even chill and benumme and dead the charity of well-disposed people but as he laboured in preaching so hee wrought in his calling too and put himselfe to any paines

than so is he that is a servant of sinne My brethren saith S. Iames he not many masters Iam. 3. 1. every man naturally hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many masters in himselfe every temptation every sinne every lust is a wicked mans master pride comes and that masters him then comes anger and that masters him then comes covetousnesse or worldlinesse or filthy uncleannesse all these get the mastery of him and keepe them in subjection that he is not himself O quam multos dominos habet qui unum not habet Oh how many masters and Lords hath that man that hath not thee O God for his Lord and master the very devill himselfe is his master yea more than that he is his God therefore he is called the god of this world 2 Cor. 4. 4. And why the god of this world mee thinkes that should be too high too happy too honourable a title for so base a fiend doubtlesse the reason is this because as God at the beginning did but speake the Word and it was done Gen. 1. so if the devill doth but speake the word as it were but give the least hint of any sinne that hee would have committed and done presently they doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeke opportunity to bring it to passe at such a becke are wicked men to the mortall enemy of their soules Can any man say or doth any man thinke that these men are themselves or that they can enjoy true contentment Alas no for their case is just as the Israelites was in Aegypt who when they had wrought hard in the brick-killns all day were well whipt and beaten for their labours at night or as Sampson among the Philistims who after he had laboured and ground like a horse in the mill all day was put into the prison house at night And what content could either of these take in their worke or in their wages Thus will Sathan serve them that serve him after they have wrought hard in the workes of darkenesse the whole day of their lives when the night of death comes without great mercy on Gods part and great repentance on their owne part they shall be sure to be cast into the prison of hell and there whipt and tormented everlastingly for their paines And if there be any content in such worke or in such wages judge ye By this you perceive there is more belongs to selfe-sufficiency than perhaps you are aware of there may be self-love self-will or self-pleasing or self-conceit where there is no true grace nor feare of God but there wil be no self-sufficiencie no solid contentment till a man be delivered from Nabals drunkennesse from Nebuchadnezzars madnesse and from Satans villinage and so be truly converted and come to himselfe for there must be a conversion before there can be any contentation never looke to be contented till first thou be converted and come home to God and to thy selfe for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe before sufficient Hence then I observe foure corollaries or singular circumstances touching the nature and quality of this selfe-sufficiencie that it is 1. Res seria a serious thing as Seneca said of true joy mihi creds res severa est verum gaudium so may I say of true contentment it is not a light and frothy but a grave and weighty thing he that would be truely contented must sit downe and consider seriously with himselfe in what tearmes hee stands with God for such as a mans conscience is to God-ward such is his contentment to himselfe-ward There is no peace to the wicked saith my God Esay 57. 21. a wicked man can have no comfort nor content Why For hee is like the troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt saith the Prophet in the same place and why like the troubleth sea and not like the troubled aire for the same wind troubles both The reason is because when the aire is troubled if the wind doe but cease it is presently calmed so is the heart of a godly man when his troubles are over his heart is presently at rest but a wicked mans heart is like the sea which when the winds are layed and there is no outward thing to trouble it it still workes and foames and troubles it selfe with its owne motion so though a wicked man have nothing outwardly to trouble him yet his owne unquiet heart troubles it selfe and will not suffer him to be at peace Take this for a Maxime that a wicked man can never be a contented man Try thy selfe therefore whether thou be filius pacis a sonne of peace or filius irae a child of wrath looke well into thy selfe to see how the case stands betwixt thy soule and thy God if upon inquiry thou findest that God and thee are friends then goe thy way as Solomon saith Eccles 9. 7. Eate thy bread with joy and drinke thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy workes if otherwise thou be one that livest at variance with God then change thy note and say Droope O my soule hang downe thy head and heart be in bitternesse of spirit Inhaere poenitentiae usque ad finem vitae Amb. repent and mourne to the very death never suffer one chearefull thought in thy heart one cheerefull looke in thy face one chearefull word in thy mouth till thou hast reconciled thy selfe to God and make thy peace with heaven never seeke to give thy selfe content till first thou hast given thy God content for all the sinnes wherewith thou hast grieved and discontented him Let no man therefore be mistaken in the matter of contentment to thinke that it is a wanton and a lascivious thing he that truely learnes it shall find that it is Res seria a weighty and a serious thing 2. It is Res sacra a holy thing therefore the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 6. joynes Godlinesse and contentment together to shew that none can be a contented man but hee that is a godly man A stranger saith Salomon doth not intermeddle with this joy Prov. 14. 10. he that is a stranger to God and a stranger to godlinesse hath nothing to doe with true contentednesse In which respect the Apostle saith that God giveth to the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things richly to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. 17. It is one thing to use a thing another to enjoy it a wicked man may use the creatures and the ordinances and bessings of God but he cannot be said to enjoy them for that imports a sweete and sanctified use of them which is the gift of God only to them that are godly and it is certaine no man in the world takes so much content in his meates and drinkes and lawfull recreations as a godly man doth for he enjoyes God in all these Contrarily The joy of the wicked saith Salomon elsewhere hath a snare in it i a secret guiltinesse of sinne that strangles all

his lading but still desires to take in more As a ship may be over laden with gold and silver even unto sinking and yet have compasse and sides enough to hold ten times more so a covetous man though he hath enough to sinke him he never hath enough to satisfie him As a dog may have his stomack cram'd usque ad vomitum till he cast it up againe and yet his appetite is stil unsatisfied for he presently returnes to his vomite againe so a covetous miser though he cramme his chests with gold his garners with corne his deskes with bils and bonds yet his lust is never satisfied his minde is never wearied which makes the Lord even to wonder at it and aske usque quo How long Ther 's no end of a covetous mans desires he never leaves clogging and lading himselfe till he and his load perish together Take heede therefore of ill gotten riches Quia onerant because they load the soule and hinder it in its passage to heaven and in that sence are an enemie to mans contentment 2 Quia corrumpunt because ill-gotten riches corrupt a mans conscience and make him worse than otherwise he would or could be 1 Tim. 6. 9. They that will be rich fall into many temptations snares and lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction Marke that he doth not say they that are rich for a man may be divinitùs dives divinely rich or rich to God I meane rich and godly too as Moses is said to be divinitus venustus divinely faire or faire to God Act. 7. 20. so the originall hath it Neither is it said They that would be rich if God so pleased to blesse them by just and honest wayes But they saith the Apostle that will be rich that set downe this for their resolution Rich they will be by right or by wrong they are those that corrupt themselves and runne the hazzard of their soules It is the conceit of Tertullian that even Iudas carried himselfe honestly and rightly Vsque ad loculorum officium till he came to carry the Bagge that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Evangelists word is the purse or tongue as it signifieth For Iudas thought as all covetous men doe that the purse is the best tongue a man can use to speak for himselfe upon any occasion when once he came to that to be a master of money he grew into such a devilish humour of covetousnesse that rather than h● would be out of takings he would sell his very Saviour and a faire match he made for as Austin saith Iudas sold his salvation and the Scribes and Pharisees bought their damnation and all for a little money No marvell the Apostle cals the love of money the roote af all evill t is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter of money but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of money that is the Roote of all evill And why the roote I thinke for two causes 1. Because a roote is of a spreading of a growing nature specially if planted in a fruitful soyle Such is the corrupt heart of man if Satan can but once fasten that wicked roote of covetousnesse in a mans heart water it as he will with suggestions t is wonderful how it wil spread and grow and encrease continually more and more Or secondly some say it is called the Roote because it is with a man as with a tree in winter ther 's sap and life in the roote when ther 's little or none to be seene in the branches So in old and frosty age when other vices and lusts decay then covetousnesse holds life in the roote and a man will be covetous when he hath not strength to be other wayes vitious But why is it called the Roote of all evill for t is not the roote of prodigality ryot c. I take it the meaning is of all gainefull evils if so be that ryot and prodigality were as gainefull evils as basenesse and misery a covetous man would be as inclineable to the one as to the other Labour then to pull up this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Roote of bitternesse and desire God to plant the sweete and comfortable grace of true contentednesse in your hearts that you may be so farre from being carried away with the love of money that you may account it as the Apostle speakes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but drosse but dung but offall but filth and garbage in respect of Christ and a good conscience 3. Quia cruciant because they vexe and greeve and paine the soule Our Saviour Christ compares them to thornes thornes you know are painefull things painefull in the piercing but more painefull in the pulling out so are ill-gotten riches painefull in the getting but most painefull in the going out when these thornes come to be pluckt out by the hand of death that a man and his riches must part then is the paine then is the woe for now mens hearts are hardned their consciences seared they have as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kinde of hornyhoofe growne over their soules like the brawny hardnesse that growes upon a labourors hands or a travellers feete that makes them insensible of any paine Oh but when death comes to pare off this crustinesse and leaves nothing to stand betwixt a mans soule and his sins then is the anguish of ill-gotten goods when he is searched to the quicke and his life lies a bleeding then let him say whether ungodly riches be not paineful things Zophar gives them a worse Epithet than thornes and likens them to poysons Iob 20. 12. Sugred poysons goe downe pleasantly Oh but when they are downe they gall and gnaw and gripe the very heart-strings asunder if there be not extraordinary remedy So do ill-gotten goods go downe like sugred poysons and so please the palats of covetous men that they cannot forbeare them nor will they Oh but there will come a time of wringing and ruing for all this They say the Italians will give a man a poyson that shall not kill him till a long time after such poysons are ill-gotten riches would you know the reason why they doe not trouble mens consciences now itis because the poyson doth not yet work when God in judgement sets this Poyson a working which they themselves have taken long agoe then as the Prophet Esay saith Chap. 3. 9. Woe be unto your souls for they have rewarded evill to themselves If a man should have a Diamond curiously cut into sharp angles in his body or in his bladder no man would account him a rich man but a miserable and a dead man even such is the state of him that hath swallowed downe the guilt of ill-gotten gaine it will one day torment him more than ever it enriched him so that the pleasure of the one shall never countervaile the paine of the other Take heede therefore and beware of ill-gotten riches Quia cruciant though