shop windowes broken for thousands You could reckon vp to mee a catalogue of them whom either casualty of fire or inundation of waters or robbery of theeues or negligence of seruants or suretyship for frends or ouersight of reckonings or trusting of customers or vnfaithfulnes of Factors or inexpected falls of markets or pyracie by sea or vnskilfulnes of a pilot or violence of tempests haue brought to an hasty pouertie and could tell mee that it is in the power of one gale of winde to make many of you either rich Merchants or beggers Oh miserable vncertaintie of this earthly pelfe that stands vpon so many hazards yea that falls vnder them who would trust it who can dote vpon it what madnesse is it in those men which as Menot sayes like vnto hunters that kill an horse of price in the pursuit of an hare worth nothing indanger yea cast away their soules vpon this worthlesse and fickle trash Glasses are pleasing vessels yet because of their brittlenesse who esteemes them precious All Salomons state was not comparable to one Tulip his royall crowne was not like the Crowne Imperiall of our Gardens and yet because these are but flowers whose destinie is fading and burning we regard them thereafter No wise man bestowes much cost in painting mud-walls What meane wee my beloued to spend our liues and hearts vpon these perishing treasures It was a wise meditation of Nazianzen to his Asterius that good is to no purpose if it continue not yea there is no pleasant thing in the world saith he that hath so much ioy in the welcome as it hath sorrow in the farewell Looke therefore vpon these heapes ô yee wise-hearted Citizens with carelesse eyes as those things whose parting is certaine whose stay is vncertaine and say with that worthy father By all my wealth and glory and greatnes this alone haue I gained that I had something to which I might preferre my Sauiour And know that as Abraham whiles hee was in his owne country it is Cyrills note had neuer God appearing to him saue onely to bid him goe forth but after when hee was gone forth had frequent visions of his maker So whiles in our affections wee remaine here below in our cofers we cannot haue the comfortable assurances of the presence of God but if we can abandon the loue and trust of these earthly things in the conscience of our obedience now God shall appeare to vs and speake peace to our soules and neuer shall we finde cause to repent vs of the change Let me therefore conclude this point with that diuine charge of our Sauiour Lay not vp for your selues treasures on earth where mothe and rust doe corrupt and theeues breake thorough and steale but lay vp for your selues treasure in heauen Thus much of the negatiue part of our charge Wherein we haue dwelt so long that we may scarce soiourne in the other Trust not but Trust The heart of man is so conscious of his owne weaknes that it will not goe without a prop and better a weake stay then none at all Like as in matter of policie the very state of Tyrannie is preferred to the want of a King The same breath therefore that withdrawes one refuge from vs substitutes a better and in steed of Riches which is the false God of the world commends to vs the True and liuing God of heauen and earth Euen as some good Carpenter raises vp the studds and in steed of a rotten groundsell layes a sound The same trust then must we giue to God which which we may not giue to Riches The obiect onely is changed the act is not changed Him must we esteeme aboue all things to him must we looke vp in all on him must we depend for all both protection and prouision from his goodnesse and mercy must wee acknowledge all and in him must we delight with contempt of all and this is to Trust in God It was a sweet ditty of the Psalmist which wee must all learne to sing Bonum est considere in Domino It is good to trust in the Lord Good in respect of him and good for vs. For him It is one of the best peeces of his glory to be Trusted to as with vs Ioseph holds Potiphar cannot doe him a greater honor then in Trusting him with all And his glory is so precious that he cannot part with that to any creature All other things hee imparts willingly and reserues nothing to himselfe but this Being life knowledge happinesse are such blessings as are eminently originally essentially in God and yet Being he giues to all things Life to many Knowledge to some kindes of creatures happinesse to some of those kindes as for Riches he so giues them to his creature â—hat he keeps them not at all to himselfe But as for his glory whereof our trust is a part hee will not indure it communicated to Angell or man not to the best guest in heauen much lesse to the drosse of the earth Whence is that curse not without an indignation Cursed be the man trusts in man that maketh flesh his arme yea or spirit either besides the God of spirits Whom haue I in heauen but thee Herein therefore we doe iustice to God when wee giue him his owne that is his glory our confidence But the greatest good is our owne and God showes much more mercy to vs in allowing and inabling vs to trust him then we can doe iustice in trusting him For alas he could in his iust iudgment glorifie himselfe in our not Trusting him in taking vengeance of vs for not glorifying him Our goodnes reaches not to him but his goodnes reaches downe to vs in that our hearts are raised vp to confidence in him For what safety what vnspeakable comfort is there in Trusting to God When our Sauiour in the last words of his diuine-Farewell-Sermon to his Disciples would perswade them to confidence he sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth the Angell to Paul in prison a word that signifies Boldnes implying that our confidence in God causeth Boldnes and courage And what is there in all the world that can worke the heart to so comfortable and vnconquerable resolution as our reposall vpon God The Lord is my trust whom then can I feare In the Lord put I my trust how say yee then to my soule flee hence as a bird to the hills Yea how oft doth Dauid inferre vpon this Trust a non confundar I shall not be ashamed And this case is generall That they that put their trust in the Lord are as mount Sion that cannot be moued Faith can remoue mountaines but the mountaines that are raisd on faith are vnremoueable Here is a stay for you ô yee wealthy and great worthy of your trust If yee were Monarchs on earth or Angels in heauen ye could be no way safe but in this trust How easie is it for him to inrich or impouerish you to hoyse you
THE RIGHTEOVS MAMMON An Hospitall-Sermon Preach't in the solemne Assembly of the CITY on Munday in EASTER-weeke 1618. By IOS HALL D. of D. LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniell Butter 1618. TO MY MVCH HONOR'D FREND Sr HENRY BAKER Knight Baronet SIR AMongst many to whom my poore labonrs owe much for their acceptation I know none that can challenge so deepe a debt as your selfe If others haue tasted of my well-meant papers you haue fed heartily on them and so made them your owne that your memorie may compare with others eyes and your practise with the speculation of others Neither haue your hand or tongue bin niggardly dissemblers of your spirituall gaine Vnto you therefore to whose name I had long since in my desires deuoted my next do I send this meane present A Sermon importunately desired of many That which the present Auditors found vsefull the Presse shall communicate to posteritie The gaine of either or both is no lesse mine I doubt not but you haue already so acted that part of this discourse which concerneth you that the direction I giue to others is but an historie of what you haue done And go on happily worthy Sir in those your holy courses which shall lead you to immortalitie and so vse your riches that they may be made vp into a crowne for your head in a better world My hearty well-wishes shall not be wanting to you and your vertuous Lady as whom you haue obliged to be iustly Worcester Aprill 14. Yours Jos. HALL 1 TIM 6. 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God who giueth vs richly all things to enioy c. THOSE things which are excellent and beneficiall in their vse are dangerous in their miscariage It were lost labour for me to perswade you how good riches are your paines and your cares are sufficient proofes of your estimation And how deadly the abuse of them is many a soule feeles that cannot returne to complaine There is nothing more necessarie therefore for a Christian heart than to be rectified in the menaging of a prosperous estate and to learne so to be happy here that it may be more happy hereafter A taske which this Text of ours vndertakes and if yee be not wanting to it and your selues will be sure to performe What should I neede to intreat your attention Right Honorable right Worshipfull and beloued to a busines so neerely concerning you The errand is Gods the vse of it yours I neuer held it safe to pull Scripture in peeces These words fall alone into their parts Timothy is set vpon the spirituall Bench and must giue the charge A charge to whom Of what To whom To the rich Of what what they must auoide what they must indeuour What must they auoide Hy-mindednesse Trust in wealth What are the duties they must labour vnto Confidence in God Beneficence to men And euery one of these is backed with a reason to inforce it Why should they not be hy-minded Their wealth is but in this world Why should they not trust in Riches They are vncertaine Why should they trust in God He is a liuing God and a liberall God Why should they extend their beneficence to men By this they lay vp to themselues a sure foundation Here is worke enough you see for my discourse and your practise The God of heauen blesse it in both our hands Charge hath Ianus-like a double aspect one that lookes vp to S. Paul the other that lookes downe to Timothy and from him to the rich In the first there is Apostolicall superiority for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charge thou referres to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 13. I Charge thee so Paul charges Timothy to charge the rich He that giues the Charge if he be not the cheife of the Bench yet hee is greater than the Iurie The first foundation of the Church is laid in an inequalitie and hath euer since so continued There can be no harmonie where all the strings or voices are of one tenour In the latter as it looks on Timothy it carries in it Episcopall power Euangelicall sufficiencie Episcopall power for this Charge is by the vulgar turn'd and the Translation of the Syriac Praecipe command and so doe we translate it in the first of this Epistle and the third verse Timothy was left at Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to command The rich are commonly great Nobilitie in the account of God is ioyned with wealth Curse not the King in thy thought nor the Rich in thy Bed-chamber saith Salomon so Diues at whose gates Lazarus lay is by some no meane ones guessed to be Herod or some other King and so are Iobs freinds termd by the seuenty Yea the rich is not onely a litle King amongst his neighbours but Diues quasi Diuus as a petty God to his vnderlings and yet euen the rich man that as Salomon notes speakes with command vnto others he must be spoken to with command Command the rich That foolish shaueling soared too hye a pitch when in his imperious Bull he mands the Angels Francis of Assise and hee were both of a Diet But we may safely say that all powers below the Angels are liable to our spirituall Charge and this Command implies obedience Els to what purpose doe we command and go without Christ gaue vs the keyes for that which the Romanists would plead out of Origen of Claues coeli The keyes of heauen to the rest and Claues coelorum The keyes of the heauens to Peter is a distinction without a difference What becomes of them That I may not say on some of our hands they are suffered to rust for want of vse on others as the Pontificians the wards are altered so as they can neither open nor shut Sure I am that if they be not lost on our behalfe whether in dis-vse or abuse the power of them is lost in the hearts of many They haue secret pick-locks of their owne making Presumption and securitie wherby they can open heauen gates though double locked by our censures and shut the gates of hell at pleasure which their owne sinnes haue opened wide to receiue them What vse is there of vs but in our chayre and there but to be heard and seene Euen in this sense spectaculo facti sumus we are to gaze on not to imploy Now yee are full now yee are rich yee raigne as Kings without vs we are weake yee are strong yee are honorable but wee are despised It was well noted by one that the good father of the prodigall though he might himselfe haue brought forth the prime robe or haue led his sonne into his wardrobe to take it yet he commands his seruants to bring it forth Proferte stolam because he would bring meanes into credit because he would haue his sonnes beholden to his seruants for their glory It is a
and bequeaths nothing to pious and charitable vses God and the poore are no part of his heyre We doe not houer ouer your expiring soules on your death-beds as Rauens ouer a carcasse we doe not begge for a Couent nor fright you with Purgatory nor chaffer with you for that invisible treasure of the Church whereof there is but one Key-keeper at Rome but we tell you that the making of freinds with this Mammon of vnrighteousnes is the way to eternall habitations They say of Cyrus that he wont to say he laid vp treasures for himselfe whiles he made his freinds rich but we say to you that you lay vp treasures for your selues in heauen whiles you make the poore your freinds vpon earth We tell you there must be a Date ere there can be a Dabitur that hee which giues to the poore lends vpon vse to the Lord which payes large increase for all he borrowes and how shall he giue you the interest of glory where he hath not receiued the principall of beneficence How can that man euer looke to be Gods heyre in the kingdome of heauen that giues all away to his earthly heyres and lends nothing to the God of heauen As that witty Graecian said of extreme tall men that they were Cypresse-trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. faire and tall but fruitlesse so may I say of a strait-handed rich man And these Cypresses are not for the garden of paradise none shall euer be planted there but the fruitfull And if the first paradise had any trees in it only for pleasure I am sure the second which is in the midst of the new Ierusalem shall haue no tree that beares not twelue fruits yea whose very leaues are not beneficiall Doe good therefore ô yee rich and shew your wealth to be not in hauing but in doing good And if GOD haue put this holy resolution into any of your hearts take this with you also from him Doe not talke and purpose and proiect but execute Do not so do good that we may thanke your death-bed for it and not you Late beneficence is better then none but so much as early beneficence is better then late Hee that giues not till hee dyes showes that he would not giue if he could keepe it and God loues a cheerefull giuer That which you giue thus you giue it by your Testament I can scarce say you giue it by your will The good mans praise is Dispersit dedit he disperses his goods not he left them behinde him and his distribution is seconded with the retribution of God His righteousnesse endureth for euer Psal 112. 9. Our Sauiour tells vs that our good works are our light Let your light so shine that men may see your good works which of you lets his light goe behind him and hath it not rather carried before him that he may see which way it goes and which way himself goes by it Do good therefore in your life that you may haue coÌ„fort in your death and a crowne of life after death Now all this haue I spoken not for that I haue ought as S. Paul saies whereof to accuse my Nation Blessed be God as good works haue abounded in this age so this place hath super-abounded in good works Be it spoken to the glory of that God whose all our good works are to the honor of the Gospell to the conviction of that lewd slander of Solifidianisme LONDON shall vye good works with any Citie vpon earth This day and your eares are abundant witnesses As those therefore that by an handfull guesse at the whole sacke it may please you by this yeares breife to iudge of the rest Wherein I do not feare least Enuie it selfe shall accuse vs of a vaine-glorious ostentation Those obstreperous benefactors that like to hens which cannot lay an egge but they must cackle straight giue no almes but with trumpets loose their thankes with God Almes should bee like oyle which though it swim aloft when it is fallne yet makes no noyse in the falling not like water that still sounds where it lights But howsoeuer priuate beneficence should not bee acquainted with both the hands of the giuer but silently expect the reward of him that seeth in secret yet God should be a great looser if the publique fruits of charitie should be smothered in a modest secrecy To the praise therefore of that good GOD which giues vs to giue and rewards vs for giuing to the example of posteritie to the honor of our profession to the incouragement of the well-deseruing and to the shame of our malicious aduersaries heare what this yeare hath brought forth Here followed a breife memoriall of the charitable acts of the City this yeare last past c. And if the season had not hindered your eyes should haue seconded your eares in the comfortable testimonie of this beneficence Euge c. Well done good and faithfull seruants Thus should your profession be graced thus should the incense of your almes ascend in pillers of holy smoke into the nosthrils of God thus should your talents be turned into Cities This colour is no other then celestiall and so shall your reward be Thus should the foundation be laid of that building whose walls reach vp vnto heauen whose roofe is finished and laid on in the heauen of heauens in that immortalitie of glory which the God of all glory peace and comfort hath prouided for all that loue him Vnto the participation whereof the same God of ours mercifully bring vs through the sonne of his loue Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite and incomprehensible God be giuen all praise honor and glory now and foreuer Amen Charge Maldonaâ— could incline to that in locum Es 3. 9. Somewhat aboue eight hundred The Rich Rom. 4. 13. TituluÌ„ Charitatis Dom. à Soto de Iustitia Iure Menander Pro. 21. 6 7. Iâ— this world Austen a world b euer-being c Now. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they bee not â—ye-minâ—ed Theodericus refer Cassiodore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arist Seneâ— Gen. 14. And that they trust not Keyes Altars Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Micha 6. Collegium Granatense Praef. ad lectorem conâ—â—â— vitam R. P. Tho. Sanchez praeâ—â—â— Operi Morali in praecepta Decal C. Sol. Apollin Sidon Epist de Theoder In vncertaine riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil in Ps 61. But trust in God Joh. 16. vlt. Prou. 22. The liuing Gen. 35. â— Who giues vs richly all things to enioy Aboue 30000 in one yeare That they doe good and bee rich in good works Reuel 22. 2.