Courtiers bestow most of your time about but if ever this advice of our Saviours were more seasonable thē other questionles it is now whē charitie is growne so colde that it is even as hard to finde true friends as true faith on earth because we are they on whom the end of the world is come 2 Tim. 3. 2. in which saith Saint Paul Men shall be lovers of their owne selves therefore Facite vobis amicos Make you friends Now if ever Davids Salvum Psal 12. 1. me fac Helpe Lord helpe may be sung most seasonablie For there is scarce one godlie man left the faithfull are all minished from among the children of men they talke of vanitie everie one with his neighbour Verse 2. they flatter with their lippes and dissemble with their double heart saith the Translation but that is very short Leu veleu is the originall they dissemble with a heart and a heart as if now men had two hearts one in their bodies to treasure up their meanings for themselves and another in their tongues to deceive others therefore I say unto you Make you friends I am sure you have Enemies enough you should make you friends The Divell first hee is your grand Enemie and you are oftentimes quasi in faucibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even in the jawes of that roaring Lion which goeth about seeking stil whom he may devoure then Make you friends He is the Prince of this world able enough to doe you mischiefe yea and Legion too manie waies he hath to undermine to overthrow you therefore I say Make you friends Then your flesh which you beare about you and so pamper everie day as if shee were one of your best friends is your close Enemie too take heede of her nay there 's a traitour at home your owne heart like a snake in thy bosome is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it 〈…〉 17. 9. Jer. 17. 9. And therefore Make you friends Againe If ye love me saith 〈…〉 15. 19 our Saviour and if yee love one another the world will hate you too Then make you friends Nay there are whole armies of pettie Enemies which serve under these grand ones but I cannot stand to muster them up now you know them your selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look about you Heb. 3. 12 beware of them Make you friends When a mans waies please the Lord he maketh even his Enemies to become his friends Prov. 16. 7. Prov. 16. 7 And certainlie as it is a great argument of Gods favour so it is an high point of Christian policie for a man to make his enemies to become his friends Surelie your riches if they be the riches of unrighteousnesse as for the most part they are they are your foes For it is verie hard saith our Saviour for a man that is laden with them to enter into the Kingdome of God Oh therefore my deare brethren I say unto you now be wise even when you may Make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon that your enemies even they which of themselves would presse you downe into that bottomlesse pit may be by you so well imployed now that they may hereafter receive you into everlasting habitations Facite vobis amicos Make you friends You say verie well it is very good counsel that you give we are willing to follow it but who are those friends you so commend unto us These friends of ours saith one are the comfortable thoughts Theophylact in loc which shall be in our mindes at the houre of death for the right bestowing of the riches which God had lent us here Vt quando pusillo animo simus When wee should with the terror of death be amazed or as the word is in the Text Quum defecerimus when our bodies are even now falling to the earth frō whence they came these good and happie thoughts of ours as our best friends may waite upon our soules into their everlasting habitations To this end Saint Chrysostome in one of his Homilies excellentlie compares well-doing Hom. 7. de paenitens here to Noahs Dove in Gen. 8. 11. Shee goes forth from Gen. 8. 11. Noah whilest the waters are on the face of the whole earth but in the Evening she returnes and loe an Olive leafe in her mouth Even so saith hee while a man lives here he is tumbled and tossed in the Sea of this world veluti dolorum diluvio circundatum even ready to be swallowed up but yet in the end of his dayes at his death his well-doing his innocency instar columbae like an harmlesse dove commeth home to him with an Olive branch in her mouth bringing the peace of God and the peace of a good conscience cheering up his drooping soule with some such friendly and comfortable thought as this Thou hast kept thine Innocency and taken heed to the thing that was right and I have brought thee peace at the Psa 37. 38 last Saint Ambrose makes the Lib. 7. in Luc. cap. ult tom 5. friends that are here commended unto us to be the holy Angels of God in Heaven for those we make our friends too saith he when out of the bowells of compassion we bestow any thing to relieve the necessitie of our poore brethren here belowe Saint Augustine will have De Verb. Dom. Ser. 14. these friends of ours to be Sancti Dei the Saints of God who are made our friends likewise by works of mercie towards our brethren The Saints here and the Saints above the Saints here wee make our friends when they seeing our good workes doe glorifie Mat. 5. 16. our Father which is in heaven when they are led on by our good example to doe good to others and the Saints above likewise who by the good they did here have already eased themselves of that heavie burthen which might have pressed them downwards and velut pennati with the silver wings of faith and devotion are gone up to heaven where they expect and desire us the members of the Church militant to dwell with them in everlasting habitations Lastlie Amici the friends spoken of here in the Text are saith Haymo Pauperes the poore on earth quos Deus permisit egere ad illorum purgationem et nostram probationem Whom almighty God hath suffered to be in want here for the trial of their patience and the exercise of our charitie And this way indeed runnes the streame of the moderne Interpreters But me thinks without wrong to anie wee may be bolde to joyne all these together and shold we leave out any of these wee might peradventure misse our best friends when wee have most neede of them and certainlie by workes of mercie by deedes of charitie to the poore we indeare them all unto us wee make them all our friends our owne Thoughts become friendlie unto us the holie Angels in heaven the blessed Saints of God the
the oppressed for their drinke deteine the hirelings wages and as the Prophets phrase is Sell the poore for shooes and the needy for a peece of bread Is not this thinke you farre from Facite vobis amicos Make you friends of your unrighteous Mammon Iudge againe I pray you your selves how they follow Christs sweete counsell here in my text who Ahab-like are ever sicke of the next field and have never elbow roome enough so long as anie poore Naboth dwelleth neere them nothing they possesse is worth the having if they have not all But above all thinke what shal become of those men who insteede of releeving the poore robbe the Spittle taking from them what others have alreadie given them Of this sort are those Executours and Overseers who being put in trust with the estates and portions of poore widdowes and fatherlesse children doe by some tricke in law or craftie distinction of their owne cozen and deceive them Such againe are they who take away from the poore what the law hath given in pios usus and mingle it with their owne Doe not these and such as they purchase to themselves the fearefull curses of the afflicted poore insteede of making them friends of the Mammon of iniquity I beseech you men of the world you that leane so stronglie on your God Mammon What is he in whom you trust Is he anie other than as Paracelsus saith of the Divell a beggarly spirit What can hee doe for you Can he make you honest wise healthie Can he make you live more merrilie feede more heartilie sleepe more quietlie Can he prevent care sicknesse sorrow death and thâ— paines of hell after death Or rather doth he not bring and cause all these If hee could be friend you so I should not blame you much to fall downe and worship him but if as the truth is hee rather bring all then otherwise then mee thinkes admirable is our Saviours counsell in my Text here Facite vobis amicos Make ye other friends make ye friends of your riches of iniquitie Bestow the superfluitie of your goods on the poore Honour the Lord with your substance Prov. 3. 9 And great shall Prov. 3. 9. be your reward in heaven Matth. Mat. 6. 6. 6. 6. That good Martyr Saint Laurenie being asked by Decius Caesar saith Lyra what hee had Lyra. done with the great treasure of the Church which was left by Sixtus his Predecessour made him this answere That it was safe enough for hee had sent it to heaven above by the hands of the poore on earth And our owne Warrham once Arch-bishop of Canterbury being on his death-bed sent his steward to see what store of coyne was remaining in his coffers he returning brought him word that there was either verie little or none at all for indeede the good man being a most charitable Prelate had given all away before the Bishop tolde his servant Nimirum sic oportuit When could I die better than when I am so even with the world Oh couldest thou doe so Lay up thy golde thy treasures thy garments there neither could theeves steale them from thee nor rust nor vermine consume them And thus thou maist doe if thou bestow them on the poore they will carrie them to heaven for thee and there thou shalt be sure one day to finde them againe Had that foolish rich man in the 12 of this Gospell found out this Luke 12. 18. way hee would have had roome enough to bestow his corne had his croppe beene farre greater than it was for of everie emptie bellie of his poore neighbour hee might have made a new little Barne wherein hee might have laid up part of his store In one word If thou wantest earthly riches saith Saint Jerome seeke not to get them by evill meanes if God hath already blessed thee with them send them before thee to heaven by thy good deedes The Saints of God are like Dorcas Acts 9. 36. Rich in good workes and almes which they doe not which they talke of not which they intend to doe not which they leave to be done by others but which they doe themselves they be their owne Executors Hee that gives nothing in his life time because hee meanes to leave all to good uses at his death is much like to him in the Poet that threw his apples to the hogges because he could not eate them himselfe I would not be mistaken I doe not I dare not speciallie in such an age as this speake against charitable deedes be they done in what kinde soever but I presse this point the rather to call to your remembrance how manie well intended great gifts thus given have miscarried and come to nothing See our owne Annales and you shall finde them onely recorded and passed over with this colde Close It was an ample and a large gift had it beene performed accordingly But I goe on Saint Gregorie in an Homilie of his as if he would directlie crosse that of holie Job Nothing brought wee into this world neither shall wee carrie anie thing out of it falleth upon this meditation That although wee brought nothing into the world yet it is possible for us to carrie something out of it How so Thus saith he If we hearken to the voice of the poore whilest we live and faile not to relieve them when they aske we carrie so much of our wealth with us hence as we gave away here Largiendo servamus quae servando amittimus What we give away so we keepe for our selves and what with a close hand wee keepe that wee lose for ever And another of the Ancients tells us but I tremble to repeate it that the purple glutton in this Gospell is in hell Non quia abstulerat aliena sed quia non donarat sua Not for taking anie thing from the poore but because hee relieved not their wants He would not heare the crie of the poore beggar on earth how should he look to be heard himself being below How could he that was mercilesse to others expect to receive mercie or thinke that Abraham or the Saints could be his friends in another world who had never taken anie the least care whilest he was in this to make him friends of his Mammon of iniquitie To conclude this point Oh let not those that drinke wine in bowles and stretch themselves on beds of yvorie forget the afflictions of poore Joseph Amos 6. 6. It is Amos 6. 6. yours that are rich and for my part I come not hither to denie it you to eate the fat and drinke the sweete but then you must remember also to send part to them for whom nothing is prepared Nehem. 8. 10. And this is Nehem. 8. 10. the verie next way I know for you in the midst of your mirth to make you friends of your unrighteous Mammon But the sonnes of men although they be manie times most unreasonable themselves yet they will alwayes expect
they Your friends which you had before gotten by your charitie you heard before who they were the blessed Saints the holie Angels they shall receive you carrie you into Abrahams bosome The Poore they shall receive you poore friends God wot yet such as shall another day doe you rich favours for they shall receive you They The Poore Either Pauperes spiritu saith Bona venture The poore in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of Mat. 5. 3. God Mat. 5. 3. Or Pauperes in August sacculo The poore who live in want here their praiers shall receive thee Orabit pauper prote The poore shall pray for thee Ecclesiast 29. But is that all Ecclesiast 29. That is but colde comfort for alas how shall he who whilest hee lived here could not helpe himselfe and which is worse it may be went to hell himselfe after his death be able to receive mee into everlasting habitations Why he shall send up his praiers to heaven for thee and although perhaps hee doe it not or not as he ought it matters not Thine almes are ever had in remembrance in the sight of God Acts 10. 31. It is the sweete meditation of the blessed Psalmist on this point Psal Psal 16. 2. 16. 2 Tobathi bal gnaléka Likedoshim asher baaretz My goods and my goodnes O Lord are nothing unto thee thou art in heaven and they cannot reach up to thee therefore they shall be extended to the poore Saints which are on the earth and why to them It may be thou wilt take it as done to thy selfe so thou shalt receive us thy selfe but according to all the kindnesse wee have shewed unto them Christus recipiet Christ Jesus saith Haymo shall receive us for that good which wee have done unto others Such if you marke it well is the proportion of the last doome when the Saints are received into glorie Matth. 25 Come ye blessed Mat. 25. of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you Come I say I know you all Thou gavest me once in such a place a cheerefull pennie else had I gone supperlesse to bed Come receive a Crowne for it now thou shalt sup with the Lambe At another time thou gavest mee a garment else had I starved for colde Come receive thou a wedding garment Thou gavest me meate when I was hungrie drinke when I was thirstie Come thou shalt have the bread of life and the water of life of which whosoeever eateth and drinketh shall hunger and thirst no more Lord when saw we thee hungrie naked or in want I say unto you In as much as you did it to one of these little ones you did it unto me Come ye blessed inherite the Kingdome prepared for Mat. 25. you Object But if almes-giving and our other deedes of charitie be able to reconcile us to God at first and shall afterwards receive us into everlasting habitations then by our good workes may we obtaine heaven and merit eternall life and if that be so in vaine doe wee beleeve that Christs death and passion was all-sufficient for us or as Saint Paul saith That he died for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification Answ But in one word to wipe away this doubt and to cleare the doctrine of our Mother the Church of England in which we live which in the Homilie of almes deedes teacheth us expreslie thus That Our good works are not the originall cause of our acceptation before God but consequents fruits and signes of our Justification Neither doe those Fathers of Trent anie more for anie thing I could ever see after al their traversing this point in their sixth Session but propose the Exercise of good workes to the just to those who are justified before which if our Church did not likewise in vaine have I beene preaching unto you all this while who at this present meant to doe nothing else For although wee like not the Rhemists doctrine who teach That the kingdome of heaven is to bee had for monie the very words of their note upon my Text nor their Mother the Church of Rome who putteth the same in practise as it appeareth by that Catalogue not long since printed at Bolonia in Italian wherein everie Ecclesiasticall preferment and office is valued at so much to be purchased Oh new way to heaven yet we teach that after our first justification which is by faith Vivit iustus ex fide that good workes are prepared for us to walke in they are as the Ancients taught Via regni not causa regnanâ—i we shew the fruits of that in our sanctificatioÌ„ growing from strength to strength from one degree of grace unto another untill we appeare perfect before our God in Zion Psal 84. 7. And so at last God Psal 84. 7. looking upon these fruites of our righteousnesse being Tincta sanguine Christi dyed in Christs blood as Bellarmines phrase is at last is pleased to grant them a recompence and to crowne them with a reward of victorie And thus in my Text are they said to receive those that doe them into everlasting habitations into the joyes of heaven above and when they are there no doubt all of them are fulfilled with glorie yet as one starre differing from another The twelve Apostles sitting upon twelve seates Elias and Iohn Baptist shining as greater lights For in my Fathers Kingdome saith our Saviour are many dwelling places Ioh. 14. 2. There shall bee paritas gaudii disparitas gloriae parity of ioy disparity of glory yet everie vessell shall bee full according to the measure of its owne capacitie Lastly as they shall be habitations not one but manie so saith the text they shall be everlasting also For we know saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 1. that if 2 Cor. 5. 1 our earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be destroyed we have a building given of God an house not made with hands but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 everlasting in the heavens Vnwise men that we be let us give over labouring for those things which perish and wea rying our selves our thoughts to gaine those flitting riches which on a sudden take the wings of the morning and forsake us and at last learne to build for eternitie Let us no longer vexe our selves to compasse transitorie pleasures and momentanie delights which for the most part are gone froÌ„ us before wee can truely say they are come and now at the last by our good deedes of charitie lay up for our selves true treasures in heaveÌ„ above which can never be taken away from us nor wee from them seeing they be everlasting habitations Let us lose all that we may gaine these let us sell all that we may buy these Let us never thinke our selves at home but ever Pilgrimes and strangers untill we possesse these these everlasting habitations In one word let us make us friends of our unrighteous MaÌ„mon that when we our selves shall faile they may receive us into everlasting habitations in which we shall dwell forever and for ever sing Halleluiah Glory honour and praise be unto God the Father to the Lambe that sitteth upon the Throne and to the holy Ghost world without end Amen FINIS