Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A20717
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The true friend, or A bill of exchange expressed in a sermon preached at White-hall: vpon Sonday the XIII. of December, anno Domini, 1629. By Iohn Dovvle, Doctor of Divinitie, and his Maiesties chaplaine.
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Dowle, John.
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1630
(1630)
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STC 7101; ESTC S118447
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17,369
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80
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with labour keepe them with feare and lose them with griefe so that to speake truly saith he all riches are the riches of iniquitie unlesse they be those unestimable riches of grace here and of glorie hereafter And doubtlesse it was as the Disciples called it an hard saying of our Saviours in the Gospell that it was as easie for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle as for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome Heaven and yet so it is because In eis constituunt spem atque coptam suae beatitudinis When men are growne rich they thinke of no other happinesse at all but say in their hearts Tush wee shall never doe amisse Will you see how this conceit transports a good man a Saint a man after Gods owne heart King David himselfe is carried away with this consideration Ego dixi I said Non movebor in aeternum I shall never be moved but marke when it was that he said so In abundantiâ meâ I said in my prosperity I shall never be mooved Psal 30. 7. Most excellentlie Psal 30. 7. therefore doth our Leiturgie teach us to pray In all time of our wealth in the houre of death and in the day of Judgement good Lord deliver us In our wealth a man would think there were not so much neede of prayer but Call upon mee in the time of trouble O yes in our wealth speciallie are wee to pray to God that we be not puffed up In all time of our wealth good Lord deliver us When men are underpropt as it were with wealth they thinke heaven and earth shall sooner perish than they want anie thing And if good men bee manie times so carried away it is no marvell to heare the Foole in the 12. of this Gospell thus cheering up himselfe with Eate drinke be merrie and live Luke 12. 20. at ease Why so Thou hast enough laid up in store for many yeares Riches unrighteous riches are deceivable and draw away the mindes of the best since man is apt to say to his golde Thou art my hope and to his wedge In thee is my confidence But what is this saith holie Job than by setting up a god below to denie that God Iob 31. 28. who is above Admirable therefore is the counsell of King David Psal 62. 10. Trust not in oppression and if Riches increase set not your hearts upon them And verie agreeable is it with this advice of our Saviours here Make ye friends of your unrighteous Mammon Well the counsell is good that you give but how must I doe it In briefe Thou must first competentlie provide for thine owne Hee that provideth not for his owne and namelie for them of his familie is saith Saint Paul worse than an Infidel and he hath denied the faith Then give almes to thy poore Brethren not onelie of thy superfluitie but even borrowing somewhat of thy necessitie visite the fatherles and the widdowes in their adversitie cloathe the naked give meate to the hungrie drinke to the thirstie comfort the sicke harbour the harbourlesse do good to all speciallie to those that are of the houshold of faith There are some saith Haymo who fouly mistaking the meaning of this Text thinke they are here by our Saviour Christ advised onely to give almes of that part of their substance which they know they have unjustlie gotten and this thinke they must needes bee the readie way to make them friends of their unrighteous Mammon as if God would ever endure the taking away from others to give unto him who hath so strictly commanded us to give to others nothing but what is our owne Indeede an almes of another mans goods is even as acceptable to God as the price of an harlot or a dead dogge If therfore thou hast wronged anie man if thou bee able make him restitution Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum 〈◊〉 Otherwise your corrupt riches your moth-eaten garments your cankered golde and silver nay the verie rust of them shall one day witnesse against you Jam. 5. Iam. 5. 2 3. 2 3. If I have done any man wrong saith the good Convert I will restore him fourefold but that is not all See saith Saint Augustine how he runnes how he speedes to make him friends of his unrighteous Mammon Festinans descendit he comes downe quickly Verse 5. dimidia substantiarum mearum and one halfe of my goods I give to the poore it was good Zaccheus the Arch-Publican in the 19. of this Gospell verse Verse 8. 8. But what Would you have mee give away my riches to make me friends will the man of this world say Surelie that is an ill exchange and I like it not I know well enough that so long as I have riches I shall have friends or if I have not the matter is not great for so long as I keepe my riches by mee they who would be mine enemies shall bee able to doe me no hurt Wise Salomon saith That Riches gather many friends when the poore is separated from Prov. 19. 4. his neighbour Prov. 19. 4. And againe Riches are a strong itty to the owners of them Prov. 18. 11. What neede I then goe 18. 11. about to make mee better friends of my riches who methinkes are my good friends alreadie May not a man safelie thinke you say unto this wise worldling as once Joab did unto David Thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends 2 Sam 19. 2 Sam. 19 6. 6. Thy riches thinke as thou wilt they are thine enemies I have seene saith the Preacher Eccles 5. 12 Riches reserved to Eccles 5. 1◠the owner thereof for his hurt So reserved that they perish by evill travaile for hee getteth a sonne and in his hand is nothing As if hee should have said I have observed a worldlie man to wearie himselfe and his thoughts to rise earlie and goe to bed late and eate the bread of care all his dayes to scrape Riches together and when all is done leave them to a sonne that through excesse and riot dies a beggar and there 's an end Had it not beene farre better for this man to have made him friends of his riches and with part of his riches have purchased for him and his the prayers of the poore which would have followed him to everlasting habitations For one word of instruction If the Mammon of this world be so unrighteous if Riches be so full of iniquitie I beseech you Brethren doe you your selves judge whither these men are transported who adventure their honours their reputations their honesties their lives nay their verie soules too that they may be rich Si possunt rectè si non quocunque modo rem If they may be rich fairelie well and good if not they will doe or suffer anie thing swallow a bribe cozen a widdow defraud orphanes drinke the verie blood of the labourers for their wine and the teares of
to have a reason for what God requireth at their hands and here in my Text so they shall Take his counsell and bee of courage and doe it and the third and last part of my Text will tell you Why. Because a time shall come when you your selves shall faile and want and these friends of yours shall receive you into everlasting habitations And there is the Cui bono the end and purpose for which all this is to be done Vt quum defecerîtis That when you shall faile They may receive you into everlasting habitations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When you shall faile that is saith Caietan è presenti vitâ out of this present life Vt cùm defecerîtis When you shal want that is when you shall want breath in plaine English when wee shall dye As if our Saviour by this verie forme of speech would teach us That our studie and overmuch care for the increase of those earthlie treasures here is an evill disease under the Sun indeede a verie consumption of our selves for even whilest we labour and vexe our selves and our soules to gather them we our selves consume want faile and die Cùm defecerîtis When you shall faile when is that Brieflie when the Sunne the Moone and the Starres shall be darkened when the keepers of the house shall tremble the strong men bow themselves the grinders cease and they shall bee darkened that looke out of the windowes as it is Eccles 12. 3 4. That is Eccles 12. 3 4. when all the powers and faculties of our soules and bodies shall faile and cease then loe then the remembrance of one deede of charitie which thou hast done shall doe thee more good than the possession if thou hadst it of both the Indies Then and in that houre it shall more glad thy soule that thou canst say with meeke Moses Whose Asse haue I taken Num. 16. 15. Num 16. 15 or with righteous Samuel Whose Oxe have I taken 1 Sam. 12. 3. 1 Sam. 12. 3 than if thou couldest say All the sheepe and oxen upon a thousand mountaines were thine owne by oppression and wrong Then then when thine eyes shall waxe dimme thy feete as the Text is faile under thee when thine owne children are presentlie to be fatherlesse and the wife of thy bosome a widdow oh what an unspeakable comfort shall it be to thee that thine owne conscience shall then cheare up thy drooping soule with the sweete remembrance of what thou hast beene unto others I have beene eyes to the blinde and feete was I to the lame I was a father to the poore and I ever caused the widdowes heart to reioyce Job 29. Iob 29. 15 15. Pericles an Heathen as Plutarch hath it in his life although hee knew not what should become of his soule when his bodie failed yet hee could rejoyce on his death bed for that he had never given any of the men of Athens for there he lived any cause to goe from him sorrowfull Could such a consideration as this comfort a dying Heathen and shall it not much more rejoyce a Christian that he can in his dying bed say truelie to his soule I have done no man wrong I have taken away no mans oxe I have oppressed no man I have laboured with my hands I have eaten mine owne bread I have now finished my course I am readie to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto mee and not to me onely but unto them also who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4 5 6. Cupio dissolve I desire 2 Tim. 4. 5 6. therefore to be dissolved and to be with Christ Come Lord Jesus come quickly Beautie shall wither knowledge decay strength faile and therefore dum bodié whil'st it is yet called to day before you faile too Remember thy last end non peccabis in aeternum and thou shalt not doe amisse for ever Thou maist doe amisse againe and againe but not for ever the end of such a man is peace at the last A time there shall be when Riches Beautie Knowledge Strength yea your selves shall faile and in that day and that houre shall the rich man say of his golde his silver his store as Iob did of his friends Miserable Comforters are ye all then shal the wiseman say of his knowledge his Arts his skill as Iob did of his friends Miserable Comforters are ye all Then shall the Minion say of her Beautie her cropping her curling and her painting as Iob did of his friends Miserable Comforters are ye all Iob 16 2. Then shall the consideration Iob 16. 2. of one houre spent in devotion be more worth than all the golde of Ophir So let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like unto his The worldling who had his hope here below shall sing Loath to depart Then shall the Saint be comforted then shall he despise this thicke clay and treade the Moone under his feete then cries he in his heart Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesek and to inhabite in the Tents of Kedar Cupio dissolvi I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ for that is best of all and therefore Come Lord Iesus come quickly Cùm defecerîtis When you shall faile If you faile thus your failing is no faile for although your legges faile under you your tongues faile in your mouthes your eye-sight faile your strength faile your friends faile your selves faile all faile you at once yet all this is no faile but a retreate that by such going backward you may gather strength to gaine eternitie in heaven where there shall be no more decaying no more failing no more disease no more death To conclude this point when we die we faile al earthly things which have depended on us And on the other side all those things faile us in which we have trusted we then part with all our goods our wives our children nay with our very faith and hope too onely our charitie she followes us still in death wee take our leave of all our friends but onely our good works and they will follow us so saith the voice from heaven Rev. 14. 15 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest Rev. 14. 15 from their labours and their works follow them Or as our Text is they are like so manie Harbingers they goe before to receive us into everlasting habitations and that is the last word of the last part of my Text. And of that together for that I cannot now take it asunder They there is the parties Shall receive there is the action Into everlasting habitations there is the place They shal receive you In aeterna tabernacula Into everlasting habitations They shall receive you They Which