Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	become_v	body_n	soul_n	4,508	5	5.2924	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93889	Catholique divinity: or, The most solid and sententious expressions of the primitive doctors of the Church. With other ecclesiastical, and civil authors: dilated upon, and fitted to the explication of the most doctrinal texts of Scripture, in a choice way both for the matter, and the language; and very useful for the pulpit, and these times. / By Dr. Stuart, dean of St. Pauls, afterwards dean of Westminster, and clerk of the closet to the late K. Charles.	Steward, Richard, 1593?-1651.; H. M.	1657 (1657)	Wing S5518; Thomason E1637_1; ESTC R203568	97,102	288

SInce wee are sure that there is a spiritual death of the soul let us make sure a spiritual resurrection too Aud●cter dicam saith St. Jerome I say confidently however God can do all things hee cannot restore a Virgin that is ●a●n from it to Virginity again hee cannot do this in the body but God is a Spirit and hath reserved more power upon the spirit and soul than upon the body And therefore I may say with the same assurance that St. Jerome doth no soul hath so prostituted her self so multiplied her fornications but that God can make her a Virgin again and give her even the chastity of Christ himself Fulfill therefore what Christ saith Joh. 5. 25. The hour is coming and now is c. bee this that hour bee-thy first resurrection bless Gods present goodness for this now and attend Gods leisure for the other resurrection hereafter and then doubt not but what glory soever thou hast had in this world glory inherited from noble Ancestors glory acquired by merit and service glory purchased by money and observation what glory of beauty and proportion what glory of health and strength soever thou bast had in this house of clay the glory of the latte● house as it is Hag. ● 9. shall bee greater than of the former Qui peacat quatenus peccat sit seip so detetion Clem. Alex. IN every sin a man falls from that degree which himself had before In every s● hee is dishonoured hee is not so good a man as hee was impoverished hee hath not so great a portion of grace as hee had infatuated hee hath not so much of the true wisdome of the fear of God as hee had dis●armed hee hath not that interest and confidence in the love of God that hee had and deformed hee hath not so lively a representation of the image of God as before In every sin wee become prodigals but in the habit of sin wee become bankrupts afraid to come to an account A fall is a fearful thing that needs a raising a help but sin is a death and that needs a resurrection and a re●●rection is as great a work as the very Creation its self It is death in semine in the root it produces it brings forth death it is death in arbore in the body in its self death is a divorce and so is sin and it is death in fructu in the fruit thereof sin plants spiritual death and this death produces more sin obduration impenitence and the like Transeant injuriae plerasque non accipit qui nescit Seneca HEe that knows not of an injury or takes no knowledge of it for the most part hath no injury But alas how many break their sleep in the night about things that disquiet them in the day too and trouble themselves in the day about things that disquiet them all night too Wee disquiet our selves too much in being over tender over sensible of imaginary injuries They that are too inquisitive what other men say of them they disquiet themselves for that which others would but whisper they publish and therefore that which hee adds there for moral and civil matters holds in a good proportion in things of a more divine nature in such parts of the Religious worship and service of God as are not fundamental non exp●dit om●●● vide●e non omnia audire wee must not too jealoussy suspect nor too bitterly condemn nor too peremptorily conclude that whatsoever is not done as wee would have it done or as wee have seen it done in former times is not well done Antequam unlneramur monemur Origen BEfore our enemies hit us God gives us warning that they mean to do so When God himself is so ●ar incensed against us that hee is turned to bee our enemy and to fight against us it was come to that Isa 63. 10. when hee hath bent his bow against us as an enemy it was come to that in the Prophet Jeremy Law 2. 4. yet still hee gives us warning before-hand and still there comes a lightning before his thunder God comes seldome to that dispatch a word and a blow but to a blow without a word to an execution without a warning never Cain took offence at his brother Abel the quarrel was Gods because hee had accepted Abels sacrifice therefore God joyns himself to Abels party and so the party being too strong for Cain to subsist God would not surprize Cain but hee tells him his danger Why is thy countenance cast down Gen. 4. 10. You may proceed if you will but if you will needs you will lose by it at last Saul persecutes Christ in the Christians Christ meets him upon the way speaks to him strikes him to the ground tells him vocally and tells him actually that hee hath undertaken too hard a work in opposing him This which God did to Saul reduces him that which God did to Cain wrought not upon him but still God went his own way in both to speak before he strikes to lighten before hee thunders to warn before hee wounds In Dathan and Abi●ams case God may seem to proceed apace towards execution but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of judgement and their reprieves before execution yet when Moses had information and evidence of their factious proceeding hee falls not upon them but hee falls upon his face before God and laments and deprecates in their behalf hee calls them to a fair trial and examination the next day Tomorrow the Lord will shew Numb 16. 5 and they said Wee will not come vers 14. Then God upon their contumacy when they would stand mute and not plead takes a resolution to consume them in a moment and then Moses and Aaron return to petition for them vers 25. And Moses went up to them again and the Elders of Israel followed and all prevailed not and then Moses comes to pronounce judgement These men shall not dye a common death and after and yet not presently after that hee gave judgement execution followed vers 31. God opened his mouth and Moses his and Aaron his and the Elders theirs before the earth opened hers In all which wee see that God alwayes leaves a latitude between his sentence and execution which interim is sphaera activitatis the sphere in which our repentance and his mercy move and direct themselves in a benign aspect towards one another Vili vendimus coelum glauci more Christiani sumus Tertul. HOw poor a clod of earth is a Mannor How poor an inch a Shire How poor a span a Kingdome How poor a pace the whole world and yet how prodigally wee sell Paradise Heaven Souls Consciences Immortality Eternity for a few grains of this dust What had Eve for heaven so little as that the Holy Ghost will not let us know what shee had nor what kinde of fruit yet something Eve had What had Adam for heaven but a satisfaction that hee had pleased an ill wife as St. Jerome states

the defect of fewel it vexeth them that their sins forsake them that through the impotency of their limbs and faculties they cannot run into the like excess as in former times Their few dayes before death are like Shrove-tide before Lent they take their fill of flesh and fleshly desires because they suppose that for ever after they must fast from them Thus they spur on their jadish flesh now unable to run her former stages saying Let us crown our selves with Rose-buds for they will presently wither let us eat and drink for to morrow wee shall dye Respice sepulchra vide quis servus quis dominus quis dives quis pauper discerue si potes vinctum a rege fortem a debili pulchrum a deformi Aug. l. de nat grat THe hand of a dead man stroaking the part cures the Tympany and certainly the consideration of death is a present means to cure the swelling of pride in any form in this life many things make odds between men and women as birth education wealth alliance and honour but death makes all even Respice sepulchra saith St. Austin Survey mens graves and tell mee then who is beautiful and who is deformed All there have hollow eyes flat noses and gastly looks Nereus and Thirsites cannot bee there distinguished Tell mee who is rich and who is poor all there wear the same weed their winding sheet Tell mee who is noble and who base and ignoble the worms claim kindred of all Tell mee who is well housed and who is ill all there are bestowed in dark and dankish rooms under ground If this will not satisfie you take a sieve and fift the dust and ashes of all men and shew mee which is which I grant there is some difference in dust there is powder of Diamonds there is gold dust and brass-pin dust and saw-dust and common dust the powder of Diamonds resembles the remains of Princes gold dust the remains of Noble-men pin-dust the remains of the Tradesmen saw-dust the remains of the day-labourer and common dust the remains of the vulgar which have no quality or profession to distinguish them yet all is but dust At a game of Chesse wee see Kings and Queens and Bishops and Knights upon the board and they have their severall walks and contest one with the other in points of state and honour but when the game is done all together with the Pawns are shuffled in one bag In like manner in this life men appear in indifferent garbs and take divers courses some are Kings some are Officers some Bishops some Knights some of other ranks and orders But when this life like a game is done which is sometimes sooner sometimes later all are shufled together with the many or vulgar sort of people and lye in darkness and obscurity till the last man is born upon the earth but after that Erunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris The grave which hath swallowed up all the sons of Adam shall bee swallowed up it self into victory Theodoro parum interest huminc an in sublime putrescat Erasmus ALthough the heathen Philosophers made little account of Burial as appeared by the speech of Theodorus to the Tyrant who threatned to hang him I little pass by it whether my carcass putrifie above the earth or on it And the Poet seems to be of his mind whose strong line it was Coelo teg●tur qui non habet urnam which was Pompeys case and had like to have been Alexanders and William the Conquerors yet all Christians who conceive more divinely on the soul deal more humanely with the body which they acknowledge to bee membrum Christi and templum Dei a member of Christ and temple of God If charity commands thee to cover the naked saith St. Ambrose how much more to bury the dead When a friend is taking a long journey it is civility for his friends to bring him on part of his way when our friends are departed and now going to their grave they are taking their last journey from which they shall never return till time shall bee no more and can wee do less then by accompanying the corpse to the grave bring them as it were part on their way and shed some few tears for them whom wee shall see no more with mortal eyes The Prophet calleth the grave Miscabin a sleeping chamber or resting place and when wee read Scriptures to them that are departing and give them godly instructions to dye wee light them as it were to their bed and when wee send a deserved testimony after them wee perfume the room Indeed if our bodies which like garments wee cast off at our death were never to be worn again wee need little care where they were thrown or what became of them but seeing they must serve us again their fashion being only altered it is fit we carefully lay them up in Deaths Wardrobe the grave though a man after hee hath lost a Jewel doth less set by the casket yet hee who loves much and highly esteemeth of the soul of his friend as Alexander did of Homer cannot but make some reckoning of the Desk and Cabinet in which it alwayes lay Wee have a care of placing the picture of our friend and should wee not much more of bestowing his body If burial were nothing to the dead God would never have threatned Coniah that hee should have the burial of an Ass nor the Psalmist so quavered upon this doleful note Dederunt cadaver servorum tuorum coeli volucribus O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they defiled and made Jerusalem an heap of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to the fowls of heaven Mors non est exitus sed transitus temporali itinere decurs● ad aeterna transgressus Cyp. de mortal VVHich is verified from Rev. 14. 13. And I heard a voice from heaven c. From whence wee may learn first That if all that dye in the Lord are blessed from the very moment of their death and this blessedness is confirmed by a voyce from heaven Let us give more heed to such a voyce than to any whisper of the flesh or devil Whatsoever Philosophy argueth or reason objecteth or sense excepteth against it Let us give more heed to God than man to the Spirit than to the flesh to faith than to reason to heaven than to earth although they who suffer for the testimony of the Gospel seem to bee most miserable their skins being flayed off their joynts racked their whole body torn in peeces or burned to ashes their good confiscate their arms defaced and all manner of disgraces put upon them Yet they are most happy in heaven by the testimony of heavven it self the malice of their enemies cannot reach so high as heaven it cannot touch them much there much less awake them out of their sweet sleep in Jesus Secondly If the dead are blessed in comparison of the living

to consider Gods miraculous deliverances of other men in other cases or whether wee understand it according to the general voyce of Interpreters i. e. bee content that there remain in thy flesh matter and subject for mee to produce glory from thy weakness and matter and subject for thee to exercise thy faith and allegiance to mee still these words will carry an argument against the expedience of absolute praying against all temptations For still this gratia mea sufficit will import this amount to this I have as many Antidotes as the Devil hath poysons I have as much mercy as the Devil hath malice There must bee Scorpions in the world but the Scorpion shall cure the Scorpion there must bee temptations but temptations shall adde to mine and to thy glory And therefore is it conduceable to Gods purposes in us which is the rule of all our prayers to pray utterly against all tentations as vehemeutly as against sins God should lose by it and wee should lose by it if wee had no tentations For God is glorified in those victories which wee by his grace gain over the Devil Salvus factus ●s 〈◊〉 nihilo non de nihilo tamen Bernard THou bringest nothing for thy salvation yet something to thy salvation nothing worth it but yet something with it Thy self hath a part in those means which God useth to that purpose thy self art the instrument though not the cause of thine own salvation Thy new creation by which thou art a new creature i. e. thy regeneration is wrought as the first creation was wrought God made heaven and earth of nothing but hee produced the other creatures out of that matter which hee had made Thou hadst nothing to do in the first work of thy Regeneration thou couldst not so much as wish it but in all the rest thou art a fellow-worker with God because before that there are seeds of former grace shed in thee Nullâ ●o Deus perinde atque corporis aerumna conciliatur Nazian A Mo●●ning spirit and an afflicted body are great instruments of reconciling God to a sinner and they alwayes dwell at the gates of Atonement restitution and Bonaventure in the life of Christ reports that the holy Virgin mother said to Elizabeth that grace doth not descend into the soul of a man but by prayer and affliction Besides a delicate and prosperous life is hugely contrary to the hopes of a blessed eternity And certainly hee that sadly considers the portion of Dives and remembers that the account which Abraham gave him for the unavoidableness of his torment was because hee had his good things in this life must in all reason with trembling run from a course of banquets and faring deliciously every day as being a dangerous estate and a consignation to an evil greater than all danger the pains and torment of unhappy souls So then hee that desires to dye well and happily above all things must bee carefull that hee do not live a soft delicate and voluptuous life but a life severe holy and under the Discipline of the Gross No man wants cause of tears and daily sorrow Let every man consider what hee feels and acknowledge his misery let him confess his sin and chastise it let him long and sigh for the joyes of heaven let him tremble and fear because hee hath deserved the pains of hell let him commute his eternal fear with a temporal suffering preventing Gods judgement by passing one of his own let him groan for the labours of his pilgrimage and the dangers of his warfare and by that time hee hath summed up all these labours and duties and contingencies all the proper causes instruments and acts of sorrow hee will finde that for a secular joy and wantonness of spirit there are not left many void spaces of his life Nemo mala morte unquam moriebatur qui libenter opera charitatis exercuit St. Hieron THis the Father with all his reading and experience verifies I do not remember to have read that any charitable person ever dyed an evill death and although a long experience hath observed Gods mercies to descend upon charitable people like the dew upon Gideons fleece when all the world was dry yet for this also wee have a promise which is not onely an argument of a certain number of years but a security for eternal ages Luke 16. 9. Make yee friends of c. When faith fails and chastity is useless and temperance shall bee no more then charity shall bear you upon wings of Cherubims to the eternal Mountain of the Lord. I have been a lover of mankinde and a friend and merciful and now I expect to communicate in that great kindness which hee shews that is the great God and Father of men and mercies said Cyrus the Persian on his death-bed Now I do not mean this should onely bee a death-bed charity any more than a death-bed repentance but it ought to bee the charity of our life and healthfull years a parting of a portion of our goods then when wee can keep them when wee cannot then kindle our lights when wee are to descend into our houses of darkness or bring a glaring torch suddenly to a dark room that will amaze the eye and not delight it or instruct the body but if our rapers have in their constant course descended into their grave crowned all the way with light then l●t the death-bed charity be doubled and the light burn brightest when it is to deck our Herse Prima quae vitam dedit h●ra carpsit Seneca VVHen Adam fell then hee began to dye the same day so said God and that must needs hee true and so it must mean that upon that very day hee fell into an evill and dangerous condition a state of change and affliction then death began i. e. the man began to dye by a natural diminution and ap●ness to disease and misery his first state was and should have been so long as it lasted a happy duration his second was a daily and miserable change and this was the dying properly This appears in the great instance of damnation which in the stile of Scripture is called eternal death not because it kills of ends the duration it hath not so much good in it but because it is a perpetual infelicity change or separation of soul and body is but accidental to death Death may bee with or without either but the formality the curse and sting of death i. e. misery sorrow anguish dishonour and whatsoever is miserable and afflictive in nature that is death Death is not an action but a whole state and condition and this was first brought in upon us by the offence of one man But now though this death entred first upon us by Adams fault yet it came nearer unto us and increased upon us by the sins of more of our forefathers For Adams sin left us in strength enough to contend with humane calamities for almost a thousand years

dried up like a Potsherd with immoderate heats and rowling upon his uneasie bed without sleep which cannot bee invited with Musick nothing but the servants of cold death poppy and weariness can tempt ' the eyes to let their curtains down and then they fleep only to taste of death and yet wee weep not here The solemn opportunity for tears wee choose when our friend is faln asleep when hee hath laid his neck upon the lap of his mother and let his head down to bee raised up to Heaven This grief is ill placed and undecent Ne●● me lacbrym is 〈◊〉 nec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faxit Cur V●lit● vi●●● per ora vi●●●● Ennius SOlemn and appointed mournings are good expressions of our dearness to the departed soul of our friend and of his worth and our value of him and it hath its praise in Nature and in Manners and publick Custome but the praise of it is not in the Gospel that is It hath no proper and direct uses in Religion For if the dead did dye in the Lord then there is joy in him and it is an ill expression of our affection and our charity to weep uncomfortably at the change that hath carried my friend to the state of an huge felicity But if the man did perish in his folly and his sinnes there is indeed cause to mourn but no hopes of being comforted for hee shall never return to light or to hopes of restitution Therefore beware lest thou also come into the same place of torment and let thy grief sit down and rest upon thine own turf and weep till a showre spring from thine eyes to heal the wounds of thy spirit Turn thy sorrow into caution thy grief for him that is dead to thy care for thy self who art alive lest thou dye and fall like one of the fools whose life is worse than death and their death is the consummation of all infelicities The Church in her funerals of the dead used to sing Psalms and to give thanks for the redemption and delivery of the soul from the evill and dangers of mortality And therefore wee have no reason to bee angry when God hears our prayers who call upon him to hasten his coming and to fill up his numbers and to do that which wee pretend to give him thanks for Ne excedat medicina modum Galenus CUt not too deep nor lance too far Nam non medicina ista sed clades est said Germanicus in Tacitus when hee saw a great number of Souldiers put to death for Mutiny Beriere nocentes Sed cum jam soli poterunt super●sse nocentes Spoken by Lucan of Scylla hee let out the corrupt blood but when there was in a manner no other blood left in the whole body of the Commonwealth and this was not to cure but to cut off a Common-wealth And therefore in all punishments let this bee your rule and let the severity of your justice bee regulated by this prudential and merciful Aphorisme Poena ad paucos met us ad omnes perveniat let the clap fright all the Thunderbolt strike but a few For principi non minùs turpia multa supplicia quàm medico funera it is as great a shame for a Magistrate as for a Physitian to have many dye under his hand To save whole multitudes is a work of Gods mercy and that Prince deserves the name of Gods Vicegerent that imitates him in this particular For which reason it was that Scipio when hee put thirty of his Souldiers to death ante suas lachrymas quam ipsorum sanguinem effudit shed his own tears before their blood Si molliora frustra cesserint medicus ferit venam Senec. Et efflatur omne priusquam concutitur idem NOthing is struck with the Thunderbolt which is not blasted before with lightning first to use gentle means before wee take a more severe course For great spirits are for the most part like the Colossus at Tarentum which you may move with your finger but cannot wag if you put your whole strength to it it a ratio est libramenti Plin. Much resembling in this the Pyrrhite stone which may bee gently ground or cut with a sharp tool but if you press it hard or handle it rudely it burneth your fingers So great men may be wrought upon in a civil courteous way but if you think to bring them to goodness by authority and power you will then put them in minde of their own strength raise enemies and opposition where you did expect a compliance and friends and so instead of saving others you will destroy your self Suâ sponte cadentem maturius extinguere vulnere inhumanum est Cice. TO break the bruised reed to trouble the grieved spirit to strike the breath out of a mans body who is giving up the ghost is cruelty upon cruelty And therefore it was the complaint of Cyprian against the persecutors of Christians in his time in servis Dei non torquebantur membra sed vulnera they laid stripes upon stripes and inflicted wounds upon sores and tortured not so much the members of Gods servants as their bleeding wounds Tota funeris pompa contemnenda est in nobis non tamen negligenda in nostris Cice. THough the pomp of Funerals concerns not the dead in real and effective purposes nor is it with care to bee provided for within themselves yet it is the duty of the living to see their friends fairly interred For to the dead it is all one whether they bee carried forth upon a Chariot or a wodden Beer whether they rot in the air or in the earth whether they bee devoured by fishes or by worms When Cryton asked Socrates how hee would bee buried hee told him I think I shall escape from you and that you cannot catch mee but so much of mee as you can apprehend use it as you see cause for and bury it but however do it according to the Laws There is nothing in this but opinion and the decency of some to bee served Let thy friend therefore bee interred after the manner of the Country and the Laws of the place and the dignity of the person For so Jacob was buried with great solemnity and Josophs bones were carried into Canaan after they had been embalmed and kept four hundred years and devout men carried St. Stephen to his burial making great lamentation over him And Aelian tells that those who were the most excellent persons were buried in purple and men of an ordinary courage and fortune had their graves only trimmed with branches of Olive and mourning flowers It was noted for piety in the men of Jabesh Gilead that they shewed kindness to their Lord Sanl and buried him and they did it honourably And our blessed Saviour who was temperate in his expence and grave in all the parts of his life and death as age and sobriety it self yet was pleased to admit the cost of Maries oyntment upon his head and feet because shee did it against

purest vessel and loath their Mannah if not out of the Tabernacles golden Pot. Utilis est scientia Gentilium dummodo in usum Christianum convertatur Hadrianus Sextus LOe a Vision appeared to mee saith Ezekiel a whirlewind and a fire to shew the Prophets of the Lord must have light with them as well as noyse understanding as Tongue Gods Ministers are Angels and these called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their manifold knowledge I speak this meerly for that there is a generation that square out the Divines study by the Scripture-canon onely all other rules being crooked and of no use Would you know the reason the less learning the less stipend And indeed good Letters have not a little pined away since Divinity began to officiate at the Tables end for the Trencher Now it is true Scripture was ever the Levites predominant element but if you will make him a perfect mixt body the Arts are neceslary ingredients And therefore though Hadrian the Sixth in his Tract de verâ Philosophiâ cryes down humane learning with a noise of Fathers yet hee concludes utilem esse scientiam Gentilium dummodo in usum Christianum convertatur that to shave and pare the captive woman and then espouse her was ever held lawful Matrimony Look back upon the two famous patterns of Jewish and Christian Divines Moses learned in all the Wisdome of the Egyptians and St. Paul wise in all the Learning of the Grecians a great Artist and a good Linguist and no less may wee expect from the rest of the Apostles to whom it was not said Follow mee and streight way bee Fishers but follow and I will make you Fishers They were to learn ere they were to teach to bee Disciples before Apostles No man is born an Artificer his soul coming as naked into the world as his body not having so much freedome as to set up in the meanest Trade without serving an Apprentiship And for that Dabitur in illâ horâ to speak without coming was a promise made to the twelve Apostles when they should bee called to the Bar not the Pulpit The which place however some of late years in my poor distracted Country have made it scandalous requires both learning and industry And thus much St. Paul intimated when hee sent for his books finding as great want of them as his cloak in Winter Ut hilarem ita celerem datorem diligit Deus Bernardus IT is said of the unjust steward Luke 16. that what hee did was with dispatch hee called his Masters debtors and bid them sit down quickly God delights in expedition as well as cheerfulness Give Alms with a cheerful heart and countenance not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor. 9. and therefore give quickly when the power is in thine hand and the need is in thy neighbour and thy neighbour at the door Hee gives twice that relieves speedily The more speed the more comfort Neither the times are in our own disposing nor our selves If God had set us a day and made our wealth inseparable there were no danger in delay but now our uncertainty if it quickens not deceives us How many have meant well and done nothing losing their Crown with lingring to whom that they would have done good is not so great praise as it is dishonour that they might have done it their death oftentimes preventing their desires and making their good intentions the wards of their Executors who many times prove the Executioners of their wills and estates This therefore should bee as a word of advice and caution to all rich men Let their wracks bee our warnings who are equally mortal equally fickle It is a woful and remediless complaint that the end of our dayes should out-run the beginning of our good works which are commonly so done as the poor may thank our death-beds for them and not us our disease rather than our charity For hee that gives not till hee dyes shews that hee would not give then if hee could keep it And they that give thus give by their Testaments it is true but I can scarce say they give by their wills the good mans praise Psal 112. was that himself dispersed his goods and not left them behinde him and his distribution is seconded by this retribution of Gods That his righteousness indured for ever The Saints of God are like Dorcas in the Acts rich in the good works which shee did her self and not intrusted others to do them being her own Executrix Let us therefore do good in our life time Our Saviour tells us Matth. 5. That our good works are our lights Let your lights so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Now what man will have his candle brought behinde him and not rather carried before that hee may see which way it goes and which way himself goes by it Let us therefore do good in our life time Early beneficence hath no danger many joyes Isa 58. 8. For first the conscience of good done Secondly The prayers and blessings of the relieved Thirdly The gratulations of the Saints are as so many perpetual Comforters which will make our lives pleasant and our deaths happy when every one of us may say to his soul with that rich man in the Gospel but upon better grounds S●ul take thine ease for thou hast treasure laid up not for many years but for ever Dives verè Christianus non amat divitias sed mavult Augustinus CHristians may entertain the unrighteous Mammon in the Gospel not onely as a servant but a friend but by no means as a Lord. There is great vertue in the true use of riches if there bee a qualification in our desires And therefore St. August 10. Serm. de tempore 5. Serm. de verbis Apostoli cap. 10. de Civit. Dei disputing of that impossible Analogy between heaven and a rich man a Camel and the eye of a needle would have a rich man understood there to be Cupidum rerum temporalium de talibus superbientem such an one as joyns avarice to riches and pride to avarice not prohibiting a moderate and timely care of necessary temporals but their inordinate appetite not their propriety and possession but the difficulty and eagerness of that pursuit A wise man as hee will not make riches the object of his pursuit so neither of his refusal Non amat divitias sed mavult was St. Augustines hee weighes them so evenly betwixt desire and scorn that hee doth neither undervalue nor over-prize them Hee makes not his minde his chest but his house in the which hee doth not lock but lodge them hee loves them not properly but by way of comparison not as they are riches but as they are not poverty yes too as they are riches they may not onely bee temperately loved but desired but prayed for prayed for as our daily bread not absolutely for our