Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	lord_n	part_n	tenant_n	1,512	5	9.6400	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14996	A caveat for the couetous. Or, A sermon preached at Paules Crosse, vpon the fourth of December, out of Luke. 12. 15. By William Whatelie, preacher of the word of God, in Banbury; Caveat for the covetous.	Whately, William, 1583-1639.	1609 (1609)	STC 25300.5; ESTC S105709	57,700	142

A CAVEAT FOR THE COVETOVS OR A SERMON PREACHED at Paules Crosse vpon the fourth of December out of Luke 12.15 By WILLIAM WHATELIE Preacher of the word of God in Banbury The loue of the world is enmitie against God You cannot serue God and Mammon LONDON Printed by T. S. for Thomas Man and Mathew Lawe 1609. TO THE COVRTEOVS Reader CHristian READER Nothing is more lamentable than the worldlinesse of vs Christians Our life is little else but a breach of our most solemne vow to the Lord of life Wee renounced the world at our first entrance into the Church of God deuoting our selues to the seruice of Christ These were good words if there were any thing besides words in the most of vs. But being growne wee renounce Christ and returne to the seruice of the world in all our actions Our deeds proue that wee doe but onely talke of God and Christ and heauen for what hath God but our breath and with what doe wee seeke heauen but with the tongue the world hath heart and hands and if not all yet most of all our strength Being therefore against my will and earnest entreatie to the contrary commaunded to speak vnto this great congregation I thought I could not discharge mine owne dutie profit the present auditorie better than if I did labour to beate downe this vice which hath gotten more ground against the power of godlinesse I thinke then the diuels whole hoast of lusts besides If I haue offended in any thing it is in being too plaine which whether it be a fault yea or no in a preacher I cannot determine with my selfe but I know well it is lesse faulty then that other extreame which in our times is more in price and vse Yet me thinkes the Apostle Paul hath giuen vs a very good direction saying it hath pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue the beleeuers 1. Cor. 1.21 Doth the Apostle disgrace Gods ordinance by giuing it such a name or doth hee not rather deride mens censures that so miscall it For not the wise not the learned not the wittie not the eloquent kinde of preaching doth helpe mens soules to heauen but that kinde which the greatest part out of their fleshlinesse esteeme base and foolish because it wants the excellencie of words the enticing speeches of mans wisedome as elsewhere the same Apostle saith If I should aime at any other end in preaching then the saluation of men were I not accursed for doing Gods work negligently or peruersely If ayming at this I should vse any but his owne meanes were I not foolish that would prefer mine own thoughts to his If this kind of preaching please God why not speaker why not hearer why not all If it saue men why should it not content those that come the one to offer the other to seeke saluation To say the truth I doe not vnwillingly confesse that my learning is but small For much learning requireth much reading much reading many yeares which all that know me know to be wanting vnto me Wherefore to make shew of much by the helpe of an index or such like when I haue it not were but a cousoning tricke and a pranke beseeming a bragger or a bankerout of whom Salomon saith There is that maketh himselfe rich and hath nothing But say I had had the greatest abundance of learning yet it behoued me to remember that a pulpit is not a place to shew schollership in but faithfulnes nor to declare how well read we are in other authours but how ill practised the hearers are in the will and word of God the best author Preaching was not appointed to tickle the eare with a gay speech and learned oration but to peirce the heart with a sharpe reproofe and earnest exhortation not to winne credit and applause to the speaker but to work knowledge and obedience in the hearer not to make the auditorie commend vs and say sure hee is a good Scholler a man of good wit and great reading c. But to condemne themselues and say wee haue beene bad men men of polluted hearts and liues In a word not to draw men to admire the gifts of him that speaketh and offer him preferment but to repent of their owne sinnes and offer submission vnto Christ that sent him to speake This if the Minister aime at hee is happy and the people also if he attaine it but whosoeuer aimes at credit or profit in preaching may goe from the Pulpit to hell and take his wages with the hypocrite to whom it is saide that he hath receiued his reward Loth would I be to buy praise or profit at such a price neyther did I dare to hazard my selfe vnto God for misintending his ordinance and handling his word in a wrong manner With this determination did I come to speake with this determination should euery Christian come to heare And if any twit me with the name of an English Preacher a name taken vp to disgrace the foolishnes of preaching which God commends I haue to answere that I speake to Englishmen and the most no Schollers otherwise it had not beene hard to haue heaped vp and learned by heart and spoken readily many a Greeke and Latin sentence fit for the purpose but who would loose labor and time make two speakings where one would serue the turne And in this plaine manner Reader haue I encountred by the sword of the spirit this capital euill of the world which is worldlinesse I was willing to publish being spoken what I was not willing to speake hoping to helpe some man against the sinne which I speake against besides mine hearers if but one Christian grow lesse earthly by benefit of this labour my recompence is sufficient if not one yet I haue this fruite that I intended to doe good and endeauoured it Now Reader if thou meete with any fault censure it with fauour for I am but a man and in reading apply nothing to any but to thy selfe I haue my desire Thus I commend thee and thy grouth in vertue to the helpe and assistance of our gracious Father Banbury Ianuary Thine in all Christian affection William Whately M. VVHATELIES SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLES CROSSE Luke 12.15 Take heede and beware of couetousnesse for though a man haue aboundance his life consists not in his riches THese are the wordes of our Sauiour Christ vttered vpon occasion of a certaine accident related immediatly before Two brethren were at variance about their fathers lands It seemes that one would haue had all to himselfe and left very little or nothing to his brother Hereupon the party that thought himselfe wronged entreats our Sauiour by good counsell to compose the controuersie betwixt them and to bring his brother to some more equall course of diuision Our Lord that alwaies regarded the the soule more than the state perceiuing couetousnesse to be the cause of this contention refuseth to intermeddle with the parting of

their lands and fals to cure that disease of their soules which procured all this distemper This he begins to doe in the verse present and prosecutes more at large in the sequel of the Chapter These words diuide themselues into two parts The first Christs exhortation Take heed and beware of couetousnesse The second the reason wherewith he backs his exhortation taken from the ineffectualnesse of wealth the obiect of couetousnesse for though a man haue aboundance c. that is if any man should heape vp all superfluities hee shall finde no more safety quiet or contentment of life from this his copheaped plenty of outward things The point of doctrine which our Sauiour Christ aimes at Doctrine in the discussing of which I purpose to spend the time alotted is so manifest that no man can chuse but see it whosoeuer will be ruled by Christ must beware of Couetousnesse All true Christians that doe hang at Christs mouth for direction and shew their hope of saluation by practise of obedience must shun and auoide with al diligence this hatefull sinne of worldlinesse one word of Christ should be sufficient to a Christian soule but he was not so scant of words as once onely to warne vs of such a capitall euill The same spirit spake in his Apostles that in himselfe and by their mouthes he hath giuen vs many like aduertisements whereof some one or two it shall suffice to haue mentioned Colos 3.5 The Apostle speaks to Christians in this manner Mortifie therefore your earthly members fornication vncleannesse inordinate affection euill concupiscence and couetousnesse which to prouoke our greater hatred he cals by that hatefull name of idolatry And well might he so call it for it causeth a man to repose his hope of safetie vpon riches which should be wholy and onely fixed vpon the Lord of hoasts seeing it is impossible that any thing should secure a man from danger vnlesse it doe surpasse all other thinges in power and in greatnesse this sinne is you see a capitall enimie of our saluation which in our Christian warfare we should fight against and striue to slaughter in our selues The Apostle also Heb. 13.5 hath saide to the same purpose Let your conuersation be without couetousnes The word is in the originall without the loue of mony But all comes to one reckoning And it is obseruable that he saith your conuersation to meete with the deceitfull hollownesse of those that content themselues in some few actions to appeare not couetous whilst in other actions at other times they be wholly polluted with this sin Their counterfeit and maymed diligence answeres not the large extent of this commandement A good mans life if Gods counsell might be heard should not in one or two alone but in all the parts thereof bee free from the staines of this wickednesse More places might be produced for the proofe of the same truth if it were as needfull as easie so to doe But the chiefe difficultie in this thing will bee not so much to winne consent of iudgement to the point as conformitie of practise to the iudgement Wherfore to the intent that Christs speeches may bee more profitably regarded and this fault more carefully shunned by you all that heare me this day I will in few words set out some of the most harmful effects that ensue vpon this vicious disposition of minde that Christ cals couetousnesse First Reason 1 it vtterly hinders the sauing operation of the word of God and causeth the most powerfull instrument of regeneration and saluation to be altogether ineffectuall for the producing of these effects in that party in whom it beareth sway That our Sauiour plainely witnesseth when he compareth the word to seed the Preacher to the seedsman the heart to the ground this couetousnes to the thornes that choake the seede The Husbandman may cast away graine vpon a parcell of land ouer-runne with brambles but the seede so bestowed will neuer come in at haruest So the Minister may preach the word to worldly minded men but he shall spend his strength in vaine Let vs study neuer so painefully teach neuer so constantly proue neuer so strongly exhort neuer so powerfully this time and labour is but lost among our earthly affected hearers Eyther they come not to heare or attend not in hearing or meditate not after hearing And this you must marke brethren that euen attentiue hearing without meditation will not ingraffe the word into your hearts it will not profit the soule more than much getting when a man keeps nothing can benefit his estate Well may it increase swimming but not sauing knowledge it may furnish ones head with wordes and matter for honest discourse but not ones heart with vprightnesse and sinceritie for godly conuersation Thus then stands the case The Lord offers thee his word to enlighten thy mind to sanctifie thine heart to conuert thy soule and make thee a true Christian Couetousnes opposeth it selfe will not suffer the word to dwell in thine heart nor thine heart to ponder vpon the word and so causeth thee to be but an hypocrite at the best shouldest thou not auoide it Secondly Reason 2 another euill as bad as this comes vp together with this This sinne steales away the heart from heauen and those desirable graces of Gods spirit that fit a man for heauen Colos 3.2 The Apostle Paul wisheth vs to set our affections vpon the things that are aboue and not vpon the things that are below intimating an vtter impossibilitie to doe both as if hee had told vs that there be 2. sorts of obiects after which mens affections are carried some are of the earth earthly momentanie transitorie and vnable to giue any sound and lasting contentment Such are houses lands goods money in a word worldly things Others are from heauen heauenly substantiall constant immortall truely profitable to the whole man such are faith repentance the spirit of prayer the fauour of God in a word Christ and his benefites And wee must vnderstand this that the body may ascend and descend at the same time as well as the soule or affections goe earthward and heauen-ward both at once Where the treasure is there will be the heart bee it in heauen or in earth no man hath two hearts two treasures the one is but counterfait if any at all Nowe this couetousnesse as an arrow shot from hell doth nayle the heart to the very ground that it cannot bee lifted vpwards and as a lime-twig set by the Diuell so intangles the wings of the soule that it cannot possibly fly vpward toward its proper home The worldly man is so taken vp in courting and wooing his harlotry mistresse the world which hath taken him with her eyelids of gaine and inueigled him with her naked breasts of commoditie that the suite for heauen and things thereof is altogether neglected and forsaken Therefore the scripture cals the worldling an adulterer because as the whoremaister leaues a beautifull

but that the sweetnes of gain makes him ready to giue welcome to the blackest fiend of hel that shal come with a ful purse and a lauish hand to mispend the same Now these or all or any of these if any trades-man present vse be it known to him without doubting that they shall all stand vp to his cōdemnation in the presence of God and cry out vpon him saying Thou dost entertain this couetousnes that Christ forbids thou art the couetous man so much condemned in the word of God whose soule cannot be saued if it so continue And now must I go on to speak of those euilsin land-lords 4. Land-lords as that hauing much themselues set or let grounds or liuings or houses which doe proclaime the soueraignetie dominion of couetousnesse in them The first is to racke Rents 1. To rack rents and exact immoderate and excessiue fines I meane not the requiring of more rents than haue beene accustomed in former times to bee paid for it is doubtlesse lawful to improue land but I meane lifting them to such an high vnreasonable rate that the tenant shall not liue any thing comfortably therby but in extremitie of toyle and want being forced eyther to vse vnlawfull shifts base niggardice or else to dash himselfe vpon the rocke of penury and need This is to grinde the faces of the poore and it is that sin of oppression so much spoken against in men of this place by Gods word Now if any man ask what rule may be set downe out of Scripture as a sure direction for the prices in such cases I answere let him set himselfe in the Tenants place what he would then giue voluntarily not vpon constraint and extremity all things laide together according to the quantitie of the thing that and no more than that must he take not suffer himself to be transported by the sweet tongue of euery flattering seruant and vnsatiable desire of getting money to fling away vpon his pleasures or else augmenting the reuenues for the next heyre He that will not make himselfe a patern of his dealing to others is condemned by his conscience to deale not righteously The second fault of Land-lords is to burden and lade their tenants with carriages like seruices more then was agreed vpon in the couenant betwixt them 2. To burden the tenant with carriages c. more then condition without paying him for it as an other man will do As for example to carry stone and timber for his building to plow land to inne hay and corne to fetch fewel or fire-wood to remoue houshold stuffe and all this gratis The Land-lord may not challenge this priuiledge ouer the Tenant to make him work for nothing where he is not tyed by the condition of his lease nay nor then neither if it be vnreasonable and tend to his vndoing For this the Prophet Ieremie durst condemne in a King and therefore I need not feare to condemne it in a landlord of what place soeuer For so saith he of the King of Iudah Iehoachim sonne of Ioshuah Ier. 22.13 Woe to him that builds his house by vnrighteousnesse and his chambers without equitie and wherein stood this lacke of equitie he vseth his neighbour or makes him setue without wages and giues him not for his worke You see this sharply reprehended by the Prophet long agoe as voide of equitie that no man may diride it as a toy of our owne head A third vniustice among Land-lords is by fraud or might to depriue the tenants of any part of their duties as of some greene or common or wood or such like that appertaineth vnto them this is that which the Prophet condemnes by the name of coueting a field and taking it by force Now these courses specified or any of the like kind if any Land-lord present accustome himselfe vnto be it plainely spoken vnto him also that these his actions shall make appearance and giue in euidence against him before the great Iudge ringing this grieuous out-cry in his eares and saying Thine heart hath lodged the forbidden sinne of couetousnesse thou also art that couetous man that so continuing cannot be saued Now we come in the last place to set forth the lewd practises that are common to all men without respect of their seuerall places and these are foure First 1. Promise breaking to make deceitfull promises or to breake promises and couenants When a man lookes to his profit more than to his truth or honestie and therefore will make his bargaine or promise in such slippery or doubtfull words or manner that still he will find some euasion to pull out his owne necke when hee hath made another to serue his turne as by pleading that hee meant not so or so or that such and such a thing should be vnderstood or that he hath forgot it or such like albeit he had wit enough to expresse his meaning fully and plainely if he had would and needed not to haue reserued something for after-claps Yea and hath sufficient memorie if hee had sufficient honestie to beare it in minde too but chiefly when he will come to a plaine refusall being destitute of all shifts and excuses this is monstrous vniustice which the blind light of nature can see well enough and challenge For an honest man much more a Christian should stand to his lawfull word though to his owne hinderance that according to the true meaning and intent expressed in his promise and vnderstood by the party to whom it was made 2. Vsurie A second notorious vniustice is vsury When a man makes a gaine of lending and binds the party borrowing without consideration of his gaines or losses to repay the principall with aduantage For whereas there be three sorts of men that vse to borrow either poore men whom necessitie driues to it or vnthrifts whome prodigalitie driues to it or sufficient men that hope to make a commoditie of it It is apparant by the confession euen of those that would seeme to say somewhat for this vsurie as if it were not a sinne simply that it is wicked to lend on vse to the poore needy borrower Deut. 15.7.8.9 for God hath flatly commaunded to lend vnto him freely and for the vnthrift it is also certaine that hee should not be lent to at all for that is to feede his issue with ill humours and to put a sword into his hand wherewith to destroy himselfe and thus the vsurers most accustomed and greatest gaines are cut off Now for the third kind of men of them to exact gaine vnconditionably not respecting their loosing or getting is altogether against the law of charitie and equitie both For the light of nature will not suffer any to deny this principall of equitie that he which will haue part in weale must also haue part in woes and hee that will diuide the sweet must also diuide the sower hee that will take of the good