earthly respect detained from comming to that great Lords Supper to which you were invited O then in a happy state are you for having honoured the Lord he will fill your barnes with plenty or having acknowledged all good things to be derived from his mercy he will give you a fuller taste of his bounty or subjected your selves to his obedience hee will cause every Creature to doe you service or disposed of them soberly and solely to his glory he will exhibit his good gifts unto you more fully or beene oppressors and made restitution you shall with Zacheus become vessels of election or not exposed your inheritance to riot and pollution you shall be safe from the doome of confusion or not grinded the face of the poore with extortion the poore shall beare record of your compassion or distributed freely to the Saints necessitie he that seeth in secret shall reward you openly or made you friends of your unrighteous Mammon Manna shall be your food in the heavenly Sion or done these works singly and without vaine-glory you shall be cloathed with the garment of mercy or not detained by the world from going to that great Lords Supper yee shall be graciously admitted and exalted to honour Thus to dispose of the substance of the world is to despise the world preferring one meditation of the pleasures and treasures of heaven before the possession of the whole earth and esteeming it farre better to be one day in the House of the Lord than to be conversant in the Palaces of Princes O then yee whose generous descents and mighty estates promise comfort to the afflicted releefe to the distressed and an hospitable receit to all such as repaire to you for succour or comfort minister to the necessitie of the Saints be liberall and open handed to the poore having opportunitie doe good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith be exercised in the works of the spirit and not of the flesh so shall yee build upon a sure foundation and in the inheritance of Gods Saints receive a mansion Turne not I say you eare from the cry of any poore man lest his cry be heard and procure vengeance to be powred on your head Pitty the moanes of the afflicted wipe off the teares of the distressed comfort those that mourn in Sion The ordinary forme of begging in Italy is Doe good for your owne sakes Doe good for your owne sakes for your owne selves for your owne soules No sacrifice to God more gratefull to your selves more usefull or to your owne soules more fruitfull than to be zealous in all holy duties and compassionate to the needfull for he that in himselfe burnes not in devotion can never inflame another with the zeale of devotion neither can any one shine unlesse before hee burne shine in the works of compassion unlesse he burne before with the zeale of a devout affection So as many though they be Lights in respect of their ministerie or office yet are they Snuffs in respect of their use effect or service Exhibit therefore freely of those good gifts and bounties which God hath bestowed on you and shew your liberalitie now in the opportunate time for as there is a time when none can worke so there is a time when none can give give it then in your life time that you may expresse your charitie with your owne hand and not by way of Legacie for many make good wills which I much feare mee proceed not of good will being rather by the sentence of mortalitie inforced than of their owne charitable disposition affected to leave to the poore afflicted of the world which they so exceedingly loved while they sojourned here in the world And what shall these bountifull Legacies availe them these charitable Wills profit them when they shal make their beds in the darke and enter parlie with their owne Consciences whether this coacted charitie of theirs proceeded from compassion or compulsion leaving what they could no longer enjoy and giving that which was not in their power to give Surely no more benefit shall this inforced charitie conferre on them than if they had sowne the sand for fruitlesse is that worke which deriveth not her ground from a pure intention or sanctified will In the Easterne countries they put coine in the dead mans hand to provide for him after his departure hence The like provision carry these along with them to their graves who deferre giving till they cannot give making their Executors their Almoners who many times defeat the poore or number themselves in Beadroll of the poore whereby they gull the deceased enriching their owne coffers with the poore mans box O Gentlemen you whose corps are followed with many mourners and oft-times inward rejoycers send out those sweet odours of a good and devout life before you dispense and dispose faithfully in whatsoever the Lord above others hath enriched you deferre not your charity to your death lest you be prevented of your charity by death bethinke your selves how you would be provided if that great Master of accounts were this houre to call you before him and make your reckoning with him would you not be glad if your conscience told you how you had beene faithfull disposers or imployers of those Talents which were delivered to you Would not your hearts rejoyce within you to have such a Testimony as the witnesse of an undefiled or spotlesse conscience within you Would it not intraunce you with an exceeding joy to heare that happy and heavenly approbation Well done good and faithfull servants you have beene faithfull over a few things I will make you rulers over many things enter yee into the joy of your Lord If this could not choose but joy you so dispose of your earthly Mammon that you may be partakers of this surpassing joy in the Courts of Sion And so I descend to the last Branch of this last Observation expressing that object of ineffable consolation whereto this Active Perfection aspireth and that spirituall repose of heavenly solace and refection wherein it solely and properly resteth MAN is borne unto trouble as the sparkes fly upward being here a sojourner in the Inne of this world and drawing every day neerer and neerer the end of his Pilgrimage where mans life is the Travellers embleme his forme of living the very mirrour of his sojourning his home returning the type or figure of his dissolving In which progresse or journall of man by how much more the Sun-diall of his life proceedeth by so much neerer the night-shade of death approacheth Yet behold the misery of man His desires are daily to disquiet and disturbe himselfe for shew me that man howsoever affected or in what degree soever placed whose desires are so firmely fixed as his minde is not troubled in the pursuit of that whereto his aymes are directed For to begin with the Highest because his thoughts are
a Necessitie of Vocation injoyned all of what ranke or degree soever wee may prove by many pregnant places of Scripture inveighing against Idlenesse and commending imployment unto us Amongst which that of the Prophet Ezechiel may be properly applied to our purpose Behold saith he speaking of the sinnes of Ierusalem this was the iniquitie of thy sister Sodome pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poore and needie Againe in that of the Proverbs He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread but he that followeth the idle is destitute of understanding Againe He that is slothfull in his worke is even the brother of him that is a great waster Againe that of the Sonne of Sirach If thou set thy servant to labour thou shalt finde rest but if thou let him goe idle he shall secke libertie Againe Send him to Labour that he goe not idle for idlenesse bringeth much evill This likewise the blessed Apostle admonisheth the Thessalonians of saying For even when wee were with you this wee warned you of that if there were any which would rot worke that he should not eat For wee heare that there are some which walke among you inordinately and worke not at all but are busie bodies Therefore them that are such we warne and exhort by our Lord Iesus Christ that they worke with quietnesse and eat their owne bread Againe that serious exhortation of the Apostle to Timothie describing the natures of such factious and busie bodies as intend themselves to no setled imployment but being idle they learne to goe about from house to house yea they are not only idle but also pratlers and busie bodies speaking things which are not comely Againe that expresse charge given by the Apostle touching every ones distinct profession or Vocation Let every man abide in the same vocation wherein he was called See here how much Idlenesse is condemned and Labour commended the former being the mother of all vices the latter a cheerer cherisher and supporter of all vertues For wherein may man better expresse himselfe than in the display and dispatch of such offices to the management and execution whereof he was first created Vertue as it consists in action time in revolution so the maze of mans life in perpetuall motion wherein non progredi est regredi non procedere recedere est It is given to man to labour for life it selfe is a continuate labour See then the Necessitie of a Vocation being a peculiar labour allotted or deputed to any one person in particular Whence sprung up first the diversitie of trades and occupations which now by processe of time have aspired to the name of Companies gaining daily new prerogatives the better to encourage them in their severall Offices It is a saying of Cn. Bentatus That he had rather be dead than live dead meaning that vacancie from affaires and retiring from such actions as tend to the conservation of humane societie was rather to die than to live For Life that is compared to a Lampe or burning Taper so long as it is fed with oyle giveth light being an Embleme of mans life which should not be obscured or darkned but ever sending forth her rayes or beames both to light it selfe and others Whence the Poet Life is a Lampe whose oyle yeelds light enough But spent it ends and leaves a stinking snuffe Gellius compares mans life to Iron Iron saith he if exercised is in time consumed if not exercised is with rust wasted So as this rust which indeed is rest from imployment doth no lesse consume the Light or Lampe of our Life than labour or exercise for our life decayes no lesse when wee are eating drinking or sleeping than toyling or travelling about our worldly affaires So much of our life is shortned as wee are even in these things which preserve and sustaine nature imployed thus death creepes on us when wee least thinke of it surprizing us when wee least expect it Some with Ammon carousing others with Haman persecuting or with Sanherib blaspheming or with Belshazzar sacrilegiously profaning Ahitophel plotting the Children mocking that incredulous Prince of Israel distrusting or that rich man in the Gospell presuming Few or none with Iacob exhorting with Martyr-crowned Steven blessing with the Apostles rejoycing or with all those glorious Martyrs whose garments were deepe died in the bloud of zeale singing and triumphing And a good reason may be here produced why many die so wofully dejected for how should they cloze their dayes cheerefully who have spent all their dayes idly If they that disobey God shall plant the vineyard and others shall eat the fruit how may those expect to be partakers of the fruit of the vineyard who neither obey God nor plant vineyard How long have many whose exquisite endowments were at first addressed for better imployments stood idling in the market-place never making recourse to Gods vineyard either to dung or water it refresh or cherish it labouring rather to breake downe her branches than sustaine it How many be there who will rather imploy whole yeeres in contriving some curious Banquetting-house than one moneth in erecting one poore Almes-house How choice and singular will the most be in their Tabernacles of clay while the inward Temple goes to ruine As Charles the Emperour said of the Duke of Venice his building when hee had seene his princely Palace like a Paradice on earth Haec sunt quae nos inviâ—â—s faciunt mori They draw us backe indeed and hale us from meditation of a more glorious building which needs not from the inhabitant any repairing How necessary is it for us then to addresse our selves to such imployments as may conferre on the state publike a benefit For as wee have insisted on the Necessitie of a Vocation so are wee to observe the conveniencies of a Vocation Which that wee may the better doe wee are to consider three especiall things which as Scales or Greeses may bring us to the right use and exercise of our Vocation The first Consideration is Divine or to God-ward the second Civill or to Man-ward the third Peculiar and to our selves-ward For the first because indeed the rest have dependance on it and could have no subsistence but from it wee are to consider by whom we are deputed to such a place or office 〈◊〉 for what end The person by whom wee are so deputed is God who in his goodnesse as hee hath bestowed an Image more noble and glorious on us than on any other creature so hath he enabled us to execute our place under him with due feare and reverence to his name ever observing the end for which wee were to such places deputed which is to honour him and be helpfull unto others who resemble him which is the second Consideration wee before observed
all meanes to cure his miserie he laboured to finde a way to end his miserie and that was to deprive himselfe of life which the better to effect hee drunke poison but so strongly had his former receits fortified his body against such banefull effects as it would not worke nor as he expected produce that tragicall issue with him The rare cures of Dioscorides the admirable experiments of Hippocrates to them that shall but peruse their Workes will confirme the excellencie of this Art where the One concludeth that Art is long Life short Experience deceiving implying that so rare an Art could not be attained but by much industrie Life being so short and a very Embleme of frailtie was to be used tenderly and Experience being so deceiving was to be put in practice carefully They give us this precept in sicknesse to respect health principally and in health action Health that we might be made for action Action that wee might the better preserve our health Lastly Musicke the first beginning or invention whereof as it merits admiration so the perfection of it at this day deserves applause Finding an open Torteise on the ground From it the Art of Musicke first was found So observeth Du Bartas which indeed may rather be limited to one kind of Instrument whereto the Torteise may seeme to have resemblance that is the Lute Pythagoras chanced once into a company of Drunkards where a Musitian ruled their lascivious Banket hee presently commanded him to change his harmony with a Dorion or an heavier tone and so with this tragicke melodie moved them to cast off their garlands ashamed of whatsoever they had done being brought by the accent of grave and solemne Musick to sobrietie Whence it was that Aristotle forbiddeth in his Common-wealth certaine lascivious Musicke and alloweth the Doricall which is of another kinde The Arcadians by Musicke were transformed from savage and barbarous people to civilitie and transported as it were from the violent current of naturall crueltie to affabilitie and courtesie Shall we descend to some diviner effects of Musicke confirmed by holy Writ Saul being vexed with an evill spirit when David played upon his Harpe he was comforted and the evill spirit departed Musick causeth mirth and moane divine mirth as appeareth in Salomons Songs a holy Turtle-like moane as appeareth in Ieremies lamentable Threnes Davids Penitentiall Psalmes Elizeus prepared his spirit to receive the influence of prophecie by Musicke When Israel had passed the Red-sea Moses with the men and Miriam the Prophetesse sister of Aaron with the women sung Panegyries of praise to God with Hymnes and Musicall Instruments The like did Iudith when shee had vanquished Holofernes So did Deborah when Sisera was discomfited Augustine reports of himselfe what comfort he cōceived at the beginning of his Conversion what teares he shed and how he was inwardly moved with the harmonie and melodie which was used in Churches yet thought that holy Father as he rightly thought that hee offended when hee was delighted more with the note and melody of the song than sense of the Psalme and therefore highly commendeth Saint Athanasius who caused the reader of the Psalme to sound out the words with so small a forcing of his voice as it seemed rather like one that did pronounce it than one that did sing it But I feare me I have strucke too long on this string wherefore lest I should wrong your generous patience too much for whom I addressed my selfe at first to this Task I purpose now to descend from speaking of Vocation in generall to speake of the Vocation of a Gentleman in particular hoping to make amends by refreshing you in this whose patience I have so much tired in the other NOw are wee to addresse our selves in a more restrained and particular discourse to propose a Gentleman his Vocation which perchance by our nicer and more curious Gallants whose sense consists in sent will be distasted and dispalated but to such whose understanding consists not in Perfumes nor tye themselves to the vaine garbe of complement as the onely posture whereon Gentry relyes these ensuing Observations will not I assure mee seeme altogether unwelcome S. Bernard writing to one Haimericus Chancellor of Rome in his very first salutation without further insinuation Wisheth him to forget those things which are behind and to follow the Apostle to those things which are before Which no man can doe that either stands still or is idle Wherefore Hermes saith generally Nothing in the whole world is altogether idle The Wiseman hath allowed a time for every thing else but for idlenesse he hath allowed no time Moses Arke had rings and barres within the rings to signifie that it was not made to stand still but to be removed from place to place Iacobs Ladder had staves upon which hee saw none standing still but all either ascending or else descending by it Ascend you likewise to the top of the Ladder to heaven and there you shall heare one say My Father doth now worke and I worke also Whereupon Basil noteth that King David having first said Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle addes then not he that hath wrought righteousnesse heretofore but he that doth now worke righteousnesse even as Christ saith My Father doth now worke and I worke also Descend you likewise to the foot of the Ladder to the earth and there you shall heare that Fig-tree accursed which did beare leaves and no fruit Whereupon Theophylact noteth that Iohn Baptist having first said The axe is laid to the root of the tree addes then Not every tree that hath not brought forth good fruit heretofore but every tree that doth not now bring forth good fruit shall be cut downe even as that fruitlesse Fig-tree was cut downe and cast into the fire Therefore wee must so walke as God seeing our continuall fruitfulnesse may say of us I see men walking like trees Men walke like Trees when men are never idle but alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord As the Tree of Life every month bringeth forth twelve manner of fruits But that I may the better proceed in that which I have taken in hand you are to know that the life of man is either active or contemplative so as all our imployments have relation to the one or to the other Which two were represented in Mary and Martha The One whereof was very attentive sitting at Iesus feet and heard his preaching but Martha was cumbred about much serving The former sitting at Iesus feet hearing him preaching may signifie likewise the spirituall man whose actions affections motions and intentions are wholly bent to the service of God leaving all things to gaine him who left his life upon the Crosse to save him The Latter being cumbred about many things signifies the Naturall man who betakes himselfe to the imployments of this life ministring to the
the contemplative man whose affections are estranged from earth and seated in heaven makes use of whatsoever he seeth on earth as directions to guide him in his progresse to heaven His eyes are not like the Ambitious mans whose eye-sore is only to see others great and himselfe unadvanced nor like the Covetous mans whose eyes Tarpeia-like betray his soule seeing nothing precious or prosperous which he wisheth not nor like the Voluptuous mans whose sealed eyes are blinde to the objects of vertue but unsealed to the objects of vanitie seeing nothing sensually moving which he affects not nor like the Vain-glorious maâ—s who practiseth seldome what is good or honest for the love of goodnesse but to bee praised and observed Whereas the true Contemplative man loves vertue for vertues sake concluding divinely with the Poet This amongst good men hath beene ever knowne Vertue rewards herselfe herselfe's her crowne And for these light objects of vanity he as much loaths them as the Voluptuous man loves them and for coveting he is so farre from desiring more than he hath as he is indifferent either for injoying or forgoing what he already hath and for aspiring he holds it the best ambition of any creature to promote the glory of his Maker He is ever descanting on this divine ditty O how glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God! for his thoughts are sphered above earth and lodged in the Contemplation of heaven And if so be that he chance to fix his eye upon earth it is as I said before to direct his feet and erect his faith to the Contemplation of heaven For by consideration had to these temporall goods to use the words of a devout Father hee gathereth the greatnesse of the heavenly Councell comprehending by these little ones those great ones by these visible those invisible ones For if the Lord shew or rather showre so great and innumerable benefits from heaven and from the aire from the land and sea light and darknesse heat and shadow dew and raine winds and showres birds and fishes and multiplicity of herbs and plants of the earth and the ministry of all creatures successively in their seasons ministring to us to allay our loathing and beget in us towards our Maker an incessant longing and all this for an ignoble and corruptible body what how great and innumerable shall those good things be which he hath prepared for them that love him in that heavenly Countrey where we shall see him face to face If he doe such things for us in this prison what will â—ee doe for us in that Palace Great and innumerable are thy workes O Lord King of heaven For seeing all these are very good and delectable which hee hath equally bestowed upon both good and evill how great shall those be which he hath laid up only for the good If so divers and innumerable be the gifts which he bestoweth both upon friends and foes how sweet and delectable shall those be which he will only bestow upon his friends If such comforts in this day of teares and anguish what will he conferre on us in that day of Nuptiall solace If a prison containe such delights what I pray you shall our Countrey containe No eye O Lord without thee hath seene those things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee for according to the great multitude of thy magnificence there is also a multitude of thy sweetnesse which thou hast hid for them that feare thee for great thou art O Lord our God and unmeasurable neither is there end of thy greatnesse nor number of thy wisdome nor measure of thy mercy neither is there end nor number nor measure of thy bountie but as thou art great so be thy gifts great because thou thy selfe art the reward and gift of thy faithfull warriours Thus is the spiritually Contemplative man ever employed thus are his affections planted thus his desires seated caring so little for earth as he is dead to earth long before hee returne to earth drawing daily neerer heaven having his desire only there long before he come there Now to instance some whose profession was meerely contemplative having retired or sequestred themselves from the society of this world we might illustrate this subject with many excellent Patternes in this kinde as those especially who strictly professed a monasticke life becomming severe Enemies to their owne flesh and estranging themselves from conversing wittâ—man Which kinde of discipline as it was in respect of humanity too unsociable so in respect of themselves doubtlesse sweet and delightfull being so intraunced with divine contemplation as they forgot earth and all earthly affections Of this sort you shall reade sundry examples whereof one more memorable than the rest might be instanced in him who reading that sentence of holy Scripture Goe and sell all that thou hast presently imagining it to be meant by him did so The like contempt towards the world might be instanced in holy Ierome Paulinus that good Bishop of Nola and many others upon which I would be loth to insist for brevity sake Neither certainly can they whose thoughts are erected above the centre of earth having their Hearts planted where their treasure is placed deigne to fix their eye upon ought in the world because they see nothing worthy affecting in the World for they thinke godlinesse is a great gaine if a man be content with that he hath They doe good being rich in good workes and ready to distribute and communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life Yea they have not only learned in whatsoever state they are therewith to be content but wholly to relinquish both selfe and state to advance the glory of God But it may be now well objected that these men whereof we now treat are fitter for a Cell than a Court and therefore too regular masters to have young Gentlemen for their Schollers for how should these whose education hath beene liberty conversation publike society and who hold good fellowship an appendice to Gentry betake themselves to such strictnesse as to be deprived of common aire live remote from all company passing the remainder of their dayes in a wildernesse as if they had committed some egregious fact that deserved such severe Penance mistake me not my meaning is much otherwise for as I would not have Gentlemen Libertines so I would not have them Hermits for the first as they are too prodigally secular so the latter are too severely regular Neither am I ignorant how a Cloister may be no lesse shelter unto error than a more publike place of delight or pleasure But my discourse touching this Contemplative Perfection was purposely to draw the Curtaine from before the Picture and to shew to their eye that faire Idaea or feature which hath beene so long shadowed I meane the faire and beautifull structure of the inward man
Serpent or some brute beast and this it knew but it would not for thy goodnesse sake This it was which forced from that devout and zealous Father this emphaticall discourse or intercourse rather with God who upon a time walking in his garden and beholding a little worme creeping and crawling upon the ground presently used these words Deare Lord thou might'st have made me like this Worme a crawling despicable creature but thou would'st not and it was thy mercy that thou would'st not O as thou hasâ— ennobled me with the Image of thy selfe make me conformable to thy self that of a worm I may become an angel of a vassall of sin a vessell of Sion of a shell of corruption a Star of glory in thy heavenly mansion And in truth there is nothing which may move us to a more serious consideration of Gods gracious affection towards us than the very image which we carry about us preferring us not only before all the rest of his creatures in soveraignty and dominion but also in an amiable similitude feature and proportion whereby we become not only equall but even superiour unto Angells because Man was God and God Man and no Angell To whom are wee then to make recourse to as the Author of our Creation save God whose hand hath made and fashioned us whose grace hath ever since directed and prevented us and whose continued love for whom he loveth he loveth unto the end hath ever extended it selfe in ample manner towards us How frivolous then and ridiculous were their opinions who ascribed the Creation of all things to the Elements as Anaximenes to the piercing Aire Hippeas to the fleeting Water Zeno to the purifying Fire Zenophanes to the lumpish Earth How miserably were these blinded and how notably evinced by that learned Father who speaking in the persons of all these Elements and of all other his good creatures proceedeth in this sort I tooke my compasse saith he speaking to God in the survey of all things seeking thee and for all things relinquishing my selfe I asked the Earth if it were my god and it said unto me that it was not and all things in it confessed the same I asked the Sea and the depths and the creeping things in them and they answered we are not thy god seeke him above us I asked the breathing Aire and the whole Aire with all the inhabitants thereof made answer Anaximenes is deceived I am not thy God I asked the Heaven Sun Moone and Stars neither are wee thy god answered they And I spake to all these who stand about the gates of my flesh tell me what you know concerning my god tell mee something of him and they cryed out with a great voice He made us Then I asked the whole Frame and fabricke of this World tell me if thou be my god and it answered with a strong voyce I am not said it but by him I am whom thou seekest in mee hee it was that made mee seeke him above me who governeth me who made me The interrogation of the creatures is the profound consideration of them and their answer the witnesse they beare of God because all things cry God hath made us for as the Apostle saith the invisible things of God are visibly to be understood by those things which are made by the creatures of the world Thus wee understand the Author of our Creation of whom seriously to meditate and with due reverence to contemplate is to die to all earthly cogitations which delude the sinne-belulled soule with extravagancies And let this suffice for the first Memoriall or Consideration to wit who it was that made us we are now to descend to the second particular which is for what end he made us He who rested not till he had composed and disposed in an absolute order of this Vniverse proposed us an example that we should imitate So long as we are Pilgrims here on earth so long as we are Sojourners in this world wee may not enjoy our spirituall Sabbath wee may stay a little and breath under the Crosse after the example of our best Master but rest wee may not For what end then did he make us That we might live such lives as may please him and die such deaths as may praise him lives blamelesse and unreproveable lives sanctified throughout pure without blemish fruitfull in example plentifull in all holy duties and exercised in the workes of charitie that he who begetteth in us both the Will and the Worke may present us blamelesse at his comming Now that our lives may become acceptable unto him to whose glory they ought to be directed we are in this Tabernaâ—le of clay to addresse our selves to those studies exercises and labours which may benefit the Church or Common-weale ministring matter unto others of imitation to our soules of consolation and in both to Gods name of glorification Wherein appeareth a maine difference betwixt the Contemplative and Active part for sufficient it is not to know acknowledge and confesse the divine Majesty to dispute or reason upon high points touching the blessed Trinitie to be rapt up to the third heaven as it were by the wings of Contemplation but to addresse our selves to an actuall performance of such offices and peculiar duties as we are expresly injoyned by the divine Law of God Our Lord in the Gospell when the woman said Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the brests that gave thee sucke Answered Yea rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it And when one of the Iewes told him that his mother and brethren stood without desiring to speake with him He answered and said unto him that told him Who is my mother and who are my brethren And stretching forth his hand toward his Disciples he said Behold my mother and my brethren For whosoever shall doe the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my brother and sister and mother It is not knowledge then but practice which presents us blamelesse before God Therefore are we exhorted to worke out our salvation with feare and trembling Not to idle out our time in the market-place as such who make their life a repose or cessation from all labours studies or vertuous intendments Of which sort those are and too many of those there are who advanced to great fortunes by their provident Ancestors imagine it a Taske worthy men of their places to passe their time in pastime and imploy their dayes in an infinite consumption of mis-spent houres for which they must be accomptants in that great Assize where neither greatnesse shall be a subtâ—â—â—â—g to guiltinesse nor their descent plead privilege for those many houres they have mis-spent O how can they answer for so many vaine and fruitlesse pleasures which they have enjoyed and with all greedinesse embraced in this life Many they shall have to witnesse against them none to
who saw you you shall be plenteously rewarded by him whose eyes are ever upon you or fasted without hanging downe your heads to cause men observe you you shall feast with him who will erect your heads and with glory crowne you or performed works of charity for conscience sake and not for vain-glory your workes shall goe before you and be accounted for righteous through him who shall cloath you with glory or not too Pharisaically prided your selves in your owne integrity you shall become justified with the Publican and admitted to honour by humility or ascribed to your selves shame and to God the glory God shall wipe off your shame and bring you to the full fruition of his glory or heartily wished to bee deprived of all hope of glory rather than by your meanes to detract in any wise from Gods glory your desire of advancing Gods glory shall after your passage from this vale of misery estate you in the inheritance of glory Againe have ye heard with patience such as revile you Have ye answered them as he did who being accused by his enemie of one sinne accused him likewise of ignorance saying Thou accusest mee of one when I am guiltie of a thousand Have ye not stood upon termes of reputation but with patience suffered all disgraces Have ye overcome your enemie with mildnesse taken revenge on him by your vertue and goodnesse Fortified your selves against all calumnie with the spirit of patience O then right blessed are you for having heard with patience such as revile you an eternall blessing is pronounced on you or having beene as ready to condemne your selves as others to accuse you your purged conscience shall freely acquit you or not stood on termes of reputation when men disgrac'd you you shall be graced in heaven where no disgrace shall touch you or overcome your enemy with mildnesse the milde Lambe shall crowne you with happinesse or taken revenge on him by your vertue and goodnesse you shall be refreshed with the fountaine of sweetnesse or fortified your selves against all calumnie with the spirit of patience with Palmes in your hands shall yee sing with joyfulnesse Gather O gather hence with ineffable Solace is conferred on the patient whatsoever hee suffer here shall in superabundant measure be recompenced else-where But it may be objected that some aspersions are not to be borne with for those scandals which are laid upō our persons where our faith is not taxed or touched may be more easily endured but where these are struck at they are not to be suffered To confirme which we reade how Peter and Iohn having by prayer and imposition of hands given the holy Ghost and Simon the Sorcerer saw that through laying on of the Apostles hands the holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying Give mee also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the holy Ghost But Peter incensed herewith said unto him Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money Whence it appeareth that out of a holy zeale one may shew passion towards such as detract from the honour of God or asperse a blemish upon his servants in the worke of their ministerie The like wee reade of Paul that glorious vessell of election conceiving much indignation against one who had withstood the word saying Alexander the Copper-smith did mee much evill the Lord reward him according to his workes The reason is inclusively annexed of whom be thou ware also for he hath greatly withstood our words The like spirit of zeale might Iames and Iohn be said to be of who when they saw that the Samaritanes would not receive Christ said Lord wilt thou that wee command fire to come downe from heaven and consume them even as Elias did But how this passion of theirs was approved may appeare by the ensuing verse But he turned and rebuked them and said Yee know not what manner of spirit yee are of Now to cleare this objection there is no Patterne which wee ought sooner to imitate than Christ himselfe who is the master of truth and directeth us in all truth who as hee was most blamelesse of all others for in his mouth was never guile found yet was he in his owne person more blamed in his doctrine more reproved in his miracles more injured than all others for one while he is accused to have a Devill anon that he casteth out Devils through the prince of the Devils anon that he is a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners Yet what answer vouchsafed he unto all these save only this Wisdome is justified of her children Now I know there are differences of Scandals or aspersions where some leave deeper impression than others doe for as the name is more precious than any earthly substance so it receiveth the deepest staine when the estimation of our faith is questioned being the very maine foundation whereon all religion is grounded and the perfection of that building which makes a Christian rightly accomplishd Saint Basil could shew himselfe calme enough in his conference with the Emperour till a Cooke came in and saucily told him he did not well to stand so precisely upon such small matters but rather to yeeld to his master the Emperour in a word or two for what were those divine affaires whereon hee so much insisted but such as with indifferencie might be dispensed But what answered this reverend Father Yea Sir Cooke quoth he it is your part to tend your pottage and not to boile and chop up divine matters which as they little trouble you so in weight and consequence are farre above you And then with great gravitie turning to the Emperour said that those that were conversant in divine matters which were principally to be intended would with conscience rather suffer death than suffer one jot of holy Scripture much lesse an article of faith to be altere◠or corrupted Another holy man though most innocent could endure to be accounted a whoremaster an uncleane person and the like but when one called him an Heretike he could beare no longer so neere be wee touched when our faith is questioned But as we have a noble and glorious Patterne who shewed himselfe a Conquerour in his suffering let us wrastle with flesh and bloud that suffering all things for him and with him wee may after our conquest joy in him and with him And let this be sufficient to have beene spoken of Mortification in respect of our name or esteeme in the world labouring daily to dis-value and huminate our selves while wee are in the world If it be no great thing to leave our substance but our selves let us at least leave our substance that wee may the better enjoy our selves It was the wise exhortation of the wisest of Princes Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all
thy increase annexing a promise to this precept So shall thy barnes be filled with plenty and thy presse shall burst out with new wine But forasmuch as many things are required to the mortification of this earthly Mammon wee will reduce them to two especiall heads the better to retaine in memory this meanes of mortification 1. to consider from whom we have received these worldly blessings 2. how to dispose of them lest they become cursings of blessings For the first wee are positively to set downe that every good gift and every perfect gift commeth from above the beasts that graze on a thousand hills are his the treasures of the earth are his for from whom should wee thinke are they derived to us but from him by whom they were created for us He who never had it how can he give it but he who hath all guides all governes all and is all in all is sole-sufficient for all He it iâ— then that maketh rich and maketh poore exalteth and humbleth sendeth forth his waters out of their treasuries and all things are drowned shutteth them in their treasuries and all things are dried Hee it is that maketh the fruitfull barren and the barren fruitfull In stead of the thorne shall come up the firre tree and in stead of the brier shall come up the mirtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting signe that shall not be cut off He it is that made Heaven and Earth and all things replenished Heaven and Earth with all things giving Man dominion over all things that Man might be subject unto him who made all things Now as he gave them to man so are they to be disposed of by man to his glory who made man And how is that Not in laying land unto land with the oppressour nor in repairing to the house of the strange woman with the adulterer nor consuming your substance in excesse with the rioter nor hoording up vengeance against the day of wrath with the miser nor grinding the face of the poore with the extortioner but rather distributing freely of that which you have and communicating to the necessitie of the Saints so shall you make to your selves friends of your unrighteous Mammon and shall be fed with Manna in the Courts of Sion Gainfull is the use of that money which is put out to the workes of charitie which be it more or lesse cannot but be exceeding great being given with devotion and the worke attended by singlenesse of heart and sinceritie of affection for where a sincere will is not joyned with the worke the worke cannot be effectuall to the doer howsoever it may seeme fruitfull to the beholder Ac which sort of men who erect sumptuous works rather for popularitie and affectation than pietie or sincere affection the Poet pleasantly glanceth THESE Statues reare in publike wayes as trophies of their love Which as they heare in passengers will admiration move And gaine a fame unto their name which may survive in them But trust mee Sirs these works of theirs shew them vaine-glorious men Which works howsoever usefull unto others were better undone than done in respect of themselves for to glory in our works doth not only derogate from our works but denounce upon us greater damnation ascribing to our selves what duly properly and solely ought to be attributed to the glory of God But to draw neerer the point wee have in hand there is nothing that weaneth our minds more from the meditation of God and mortification to the world than our earthly affections which beare such sway over us as they will not suffer those divine motions or meditations to take root in us This is excellently shadowed in that Parable of the great Supper where many guests were invited but all with one consent began to make their excuse the first he had bought a peece of ground and he must needs goe see it the second had bought five yoke of oxen and he must goe prove them and another had maried a wife and therefore he could not come These though the fatlings be provided the choicest dainties prepared wherewith their hunger-starved soules might be refreshed cannot come the world must detaine them their earthly respects inchaine them their sensuall delights restraine them they cannot come though often invited nor reâ—ort to this great Supper though all things be provided These seldome or never take into their more serious consideration the state of the blessed in Heaven or the state of the damned in Hell Neither can the joyes of the one allure them or the paines of the other deterre them These will dispense with the word for the profit of the world and enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season deferring repentance till it be past season Saint Chrysostome relateth how Paulus Samosetanus that arch-heretike for the love of a woman forsooke his faith Saint Augustine relateth divers who denied the torments of Hell to have eternitie thereby to flatter their affections with a pretended assurance of impunitie Saint Gregory imputeth it to avarice and covetousnesse that many forsake their faith These follow not the example of sundry devout men the memory whereof is recommended unto us in holy writ who being possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them downe at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need The like contempt in respect of earthly substance wee reade to have been in many noble and equally affected Pagans as Crates Bisias Zeno Bias Anacreon Anacharses who though they had scarce the least glimpse of an eternitie yet they dis-valued the substance of earth as the subject of vanitie But I must now draw in my sailes and take a view of your dispositions Gentlemen how you stand herein affected that seeking what I expect to finde I may no lesse glory in your aversion from earth than if you were ascending Iacobs ladder to have your names enrolled in the kingdome of heaven Have yee honoured the Lord with your substance and tendered him the first fruits of his bounty Have yee acknowledged every good thing to come from him as from the fountaine of mercy Have yee subjected your selves unto him as he hath subjected all things to your soveraigntie Have yee disposed of them soberly and solely to his glory Have yee beene oppressors and with good Zacheus made fourefold restitution Have yee not exposed your inheritance to riot and pollution Have yee not hoorded up vengeance against the day of affliction Have yee not grinded and grated the face of the poore with extortion Have yee distributed freely and communicated to the Saints necessitie Have yee made you friends of your unrighteous Mammon and so made your selves way to the heavenly Sion Have yee done these works of compassion with singlenesse of heart and without affectation Have yee beene by no