of your unrighteous Mammon and shall be fed with Manna in the Courts of Sionr Gainefull is the use of that money which is put out to the workes of charity which be it more or lesse cannot but be exceeding great being given with devotion and the worke attended by singlenesse of heart and sincerity of affection for where a sincere will is not joyned with the worke the worke cannot be effectuall to the doer howsoever it may seem fruitfull to the beholder At which sort of men who erect sumptuous workes rather for popularity and affectation then piety 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 me Sirs these workes of theirs shew them vaine-glorious men Which workes howsoever usefull unto others were better undone then done in respect of themselves for to glory in our workes doth not only derogate from our workes but denounce upon us a 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 then 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 hee had bought a peece of ground and hee must needs goe see it the second had bought five yoke of oxen and hee must goe prove them and another had married a wife and therefore hee 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 resort 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-hereticke for the love of a woman for-sooke his faith Saint Augustine relateth divers who denied the torments of hell to have eternity thereby to flatter their affection with a pretended assurance of impunity 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 hee 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 Anacharsis who though they had scarce the least glimpse of an eternity yet they dis-valued the substance of earth as the subject of vanity 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 find I may no lesse glory in your aversion from earth then 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 tendred 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 hee hath subjected all things to your soveraignty Have yee disposed of them soberly and solely to his glory Have yee beene oppressors and with good Zacheus made foure-fold 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 necessity Have yee made you friends of your unrighteous Mammon and so made your selves way to the heavenly Sion Have yee done these workes of compassion with singlenesse of heart and without affectation Have yee beene by no 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 hee will fill your barnes with plenty or having acknowledged all good things to bee derived from his mercy hee 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 hee will exhibit his good gifts unto you more fully or beene oppressours 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 necessity hee 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 workes 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 then 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 necessity of the Saints be liberall and open handed to the poore having opportunity doe good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith bee exercised in the workes of the spirit and not of the flesh so shal ye build upon a sure foundation and in the inheritance of Gods Saints receive a mansion Turne not I say your eare from the cry of any poore man lest his cry be heard and procure vengeance to be poured on your head
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 conceived at the beginning of his Conversion what teares hee shed and how hee was inwardly moved with the harmony and melody which was used in Churches yet thought that holy Father as hee rightly thought that he offended when he 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 Taske 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 me seeme altogether unwelcome Saint 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 he 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 hee that hath wrought righteousnesse heretofore but hee 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 Figtree 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 we 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 moneth 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 employments of this life ministring to the necessity of his family labouring with his owne hands to get him a competent living Neither are these to be divided one from the other partaking indeed so neerly one of another For as we are not altogether to imitate Hermite or Anchorite in being wholly retyred from the world so like the Libertine or loose worldling are wee not too much to bee cumbred or intangled with the world For the First as it implyes a kind of hate to humane society so the Latter infers our too much care to the things of the Body Now to observe that golden meane which may free us from being taxed by the one or tainted with the other I doe thinke it fitting that Gentlemen should be sociably affected ever with a reservancie with whom they keepe company likewise from worldly affections weaned that being on earth they may have their minds seated above being I meane so free in the inward man as rather than they will slave the noblest motions of the soule to the unworthy bondage of the body they will endure want contempt or whatsoever the blinde world can lay upon them The Vocation of a Gentleman without more curiositie of division is either publike or private Publike when imployed in affaires of State either at home or abroad at home either in advising or acting abroad as by way of embassage or personall exploits in the field Private when in domesticke businesse hee is detained as in ordering his household or if not as yet attained to the name of Housholder in labouring to know such things as may ripen his understanding when he comes unto it Touching the First to wit Publike affaires of State as all are not fit for such a charge or burden so there is a necessitie injoyned such who are able to undertake so great and weightie a Taske to submit themselves willingly to the command of their Soveraigne whensoever his pleasure shall bee to make triall of their sufficiencie in affaires of State In the carriage whereof divers necessarie cautions have beene formerly observed by Statesmen As first to avoid all occasions of distrust never to shew too much inwardnesse with forraine States for this may beget a suspect in your Prince that your aymes are neither faire nor loyall It was this which broke Byrons necke being accused to have had conference with one Picote borne at Orleans and fled into Flanders to have intelligence with the Arch-duke to which Picote hee had given an hundred and fifty crowns for two voyages to that effect Likewise it was objected
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 hee hath prepared for them that love him in that heavenly Countrey where we shall see him face to face If hee doe such things for us in this prison what will hee 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 bee which hee hath laid up onely for the good If so divers and innumerable be the gifts which hee bestoweth both upon friends and foes how sweet and delectable shall those be which hee will onely bestow upon his friends If such comforts in this day of teares and anguish what will hee 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 wisedome nor measure of thy mercy neither is there end nor number nor measure of thy bounty 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 hee is dead to earth long before hee returne to earth drawing daily neerer heaven having his desire onely there long before hee come there Now to instance some whose profession was meerely contemplative having retired or sequestred themselves from the society of this world wee might illustrate this subject with many excellent Patternes in this kind as those especially who strictly professed a monasticke life becomming severe Enemies to their owne flesh and estranging themselves from conversing with man Which kind of discipline as it was in respect of humanity too unsociable so in respect of themselves doubtlesse sweet and delightfull being so intranced with divine contemplation as they forgot earth and all earthly affections Of this sort you shall reade sundry examples whereof one more memorable then the rest might bee instanced in him who reading that sentence of holy Scripture Goe and sell all that thou hast presently imagining it to bee meant by him did so The like contempt towards the world might bee instanced in holy Ierome Paulinus that good Bishop of Nola and many others upon which I would bee loath to insist for brevity sake Neither certainely can they whose thoughts are erected above the center 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 bee content with that hee 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 then 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 Pennance 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 Cloyster may bee no lesse shelter unto errour then 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 which so long as it is darkened with these bleere-eyed Leahs these objects of vanity cannot enjoy it selfe but peece-meale as it were divided from it selfe seemes wholly deprived of life for a Heart divided cannot live And what are these objects of vanity whereon the eye of your Contemplation is usually fixed but those soule-soiling sores of this Land Pride and Voluptuousnesse With what greedinessâ— will a young Gallants eye gaze upon some new or phantasticke fashion wishing O vaine wish that hee had but the braines to have invented such a fashion whereby hee might have given occasion to others of imitation and admiration With what insatiablenesse will hee fix his eye upon some light affected Curtezan whose raiment is her onely ornament and whose chiefeâ—t glory is to set at sale her adulterate beauty No street no corner but gives him objects which drawes his eye from that choicest object whereon his whole delight should bee seated No place so obscure wherein his contemplative part is not on the view of forbidden objects greedily fixed How requisite then were it for you young Gentlemen whose aymes are more noble then to subject them to these unworthy ends to take a view sometimes of such absolute Patterns of Contemplative Perfection as have excelled in this kind But because a three-fold cord is hardly broken I will recommend unto your consideration a three-fold Meditation the daily use and exercise whereof may bring you to a more serious view of your owne particular estate First is the worthinesse of the soule secondly the unworthinesse of earth thirdly thankefulnesse unto GOD who made man the worthiest creature upon the earth For the first What is shee and in glory how surpassing is she to use the selfe-same words which an holy Father useth being so strong so weake so small so great searching the secrets of God and contemplating those things which are of GOD and with her piercing wit is knowne to have attained the skill of many Arts for humane profit and advantage What is shee I say who knoweth so much in other things and to what end they were made yet is
such in this life as it rather consisteth in the remission of sinnes than Perfection of vertues Yea wee sinne daily so as properly we can attribute nothing to our owne strength but weaknesse to our owne ability but infirmnesse to our resolves but uncertainnesse to our wils but untowardnesse to our affections but depravednesse nor to the whole progresie of our lives but actuall disobedience But rather I say wee meane of that Christian Perfection which every one in this Tabernacle of clay is to labour for that wee may become perfect through him who became weake that wee might bee strengthned hungry that we might be nourished thirsty that wee might bee refreshed disgraced that wee might be honoured yea who became all unto all that by all meanes hee might gaine some But wherein may this actuall perfection bee properly said to consist In Mortification which like the swift gliding torrent of Hydaspes divides or dilates it selfe to two channels Action and Affection Action in expressing it Affection in desiring to expresse it Action in suffering Affection in desire of suffering The one actuating no lesse in will than the other in worke Where the Action being more exemplar and in that more fruitfull gives precedency to Affection which concurres with the act to make the worke more graciously powerfull For where a worke of Mortification is performed and a hearty desire or affection to that worke is not adjoyned that Action may bee properly said to bee enforced rather than out of a free or willing disposition accepted Now this twofold Mortification extends it selfe properly to these three Subjects Life Name Goods Life which even Humanity tendreth Name which a good man before the sweetest odours preferreth Goods on which the worldling as on the supreme good lieth For the first many excellent and memorable examples of sundry devout and constant servants of Christ Iesus are in every place frequent and obvious who for the confirmation of their faith and the testimony of a good conscience joyfully and cheerefully laid down their lives esteeming it an especiall glory to bee thought worthy to suffer for him who with all constancy suffered to become an example of patience to them which were easie to illustrate by the sufferings of many eminent and glorious Martyrs Prudentius writeth that when Asclâ—piades commanded the tormentors to strike Râ—manus on the mouth the meeke Martyr answered I thanke thee O Captaine that thou hast opened unto mee many mouthes whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Tot ecce laudant ora quot sunt vulnera Looke how many wounds I have so many mouthes I have to praise and laud the Lord. Ignatius words were these to witnesse his constancie at the time of his suffering Frumentum sum Christi per dentes bestiarum molor ut mundus panis Dei inveniar I am Christs corne and must bee ground by the teeth of wilde beasts that I may become pure manchet for the Lord. It is reported that blessed Laurence being laid upon the Gridiron used these words to his Tormentors Turne and eate it is enough Saint Andrew when he went to bee crucified was so rapt with joy as hee rejoyced unmeasurably in that blessed resemblance of his Masters death Blessed Bartholomew willingly lost his skin for his sake who had his skinne scourged that hee might bee solaced Iohn dranke a cup of poison to pledge his Master in a cup of affliction Thus Laurence's Gridiron Andrewes Crosse Bartholomew's Skinne Iohns Cup expressed their Mortification by a willing surrender of their life for his sake who was the Lord of life Yea should wee survey those strange invented torments during the bloudy issue of the tenne Persecutions which were contrived by those inhumane Assasinates whose hands were deepâ— died in the bloud of the Saints wee should no lesse admire the constancy of the persecuted suffering than the cruelty of the Persecutors infesting What rackes hookes harrowes tongs forkes stakes were purposely provided to torment the constant and resolute Professours of the truth wearying the tormentors rather with tormenting than abating any part of their constancie in the height and heat of their tormenting Yea they were solaced in the time when they suffered esteeming death to bee such a passage as might give them convoy to a more glorious heritage Neither did these blessed Professors of the faith receive comfort by the eye of their meditation firmely fixed on heaven but by the compassion and princely commiseration of divers eminent ad victorious Emperours bearing soveraignty then on earth Constantine the Great used to kisse the eye of Paphnutius which was bored out in Maximinas time The like noble and princely compassion wee reade to have beene shewed by Titus Trajan Theodosius and many other Princes graciously affected towards the poore afflicted and persecuted Christians Yea God moved the hearts of those who naturally are most remorselesse or obdurate in commiserating the estate of his afflicted Which may appeare by the Gaolor in the Acts who washed Saint Pauls stripes and wounds O how comfortable were these passions or passages of affliction these tortures or torments the trophies of their persecution the blessed memoriall whereof shall extend the date of time receiving a crowne of him who is the length of dayes So as King Alexanders Stagges were knowne and hundred yeares together by those golden collars which by the Kings commandement were put about their neckes or as King Arthurs bodie being taken up some what more than six hundred yeares after his death was knowne to bee his by nothing so much as by the prints of ten severall wounds which appeared in his skull so these glorious stampes of their passion shall appeare as trophies to them in the day of exaltation because as they lost their lives for the testimony of the Gospel they shall finde them recorded in the booke of life receiving the crowne of consolation for the deep draught which they tooke of the cup of affliction And reason there is we should dis-value our lives for the profession of our faith since forlorne and miserable is his life that is without faith For if the Heathen whose future hopes were fixed on posterity and not so much as the least knowledge of eternity dis-esteemed their lives to gaine them renown or propagate their countries glory much more cause have wee to subject our lives to the censure of death having hope after death to live in glory It is reported that the body of Cadwallo an antient King of the Britains being embalmed and dressed with sweet confections was put into a brazen image and set upon a brazen horse over Ludgate for a terror to the Saxons and Zisca the valiant Captaine of the Bohemians commanded that after his decease his skin would bee flayed from his bodie to make a drum which they should use in their battels affirming that as soone as the Hungarians or any other Enemies should heare the sound of
shall in superabundant measure bee recompenced else-where But it may be objected that some aspersions are not to be borne with for those scandals which are laid upon our persons where our faith is not taxed or touched may bee more easily endured but where these are struck at they are not to be suffered To confirme which wee 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 hee offered them money saying Give mee also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands bee may receive the Holy Ghost But Peter incensed herewith saith 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 ministery The like we 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 bee thou ware of for hee hath greatly withstood our words The like spirit of zeale might Iames and Iohn bee said to be of who when they saw that the Saritanes 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 hee 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 then 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 hee in his owne person more blamed in his doctrine more reproved in his miracles more injured then all others for one while hee is accused to have a Divell anon that hee casteth out Divels through the Prince of the Divels anon that hee is a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners yet what answer vouchsafed hee unto all these save onely this Wisedome is justified of her children Now I know there are differences of Scandals or aspersions where some leave deeper impression then others doe for as the name is more precious then 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 accomplish'd Saint Basil could shew himselfe calme enough in his conference with the Emperour till a Cooke came in and saucily told him hee 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 indifferency might be dispensed But what answered this reverend Father Yea Sir Cooke quoth hee 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 gravity 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 then suffer one jot of holy Scripture much lesse an article of faith already received to be altered or corrupted Another holy man though most innocent could indure to be counted a whore-master an uncleane person and the like but when one called him an Heretike hee could beare no longer so neere be we touched when our faith is questioned But as wee have a noble and glorious Patterne who shewed himselfe a Conquerour in his suffering let us wrastle with flesh and blood 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 humiliate 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 bee 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 speciall heads the better to retaine in memory this meanes of mortification 1. to consider from whom wee 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 hils 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 Hee who never had it how can hee give it but hee who hath all guids all governes all and is all in all is sole sufficient for all Hee it is then that maketh rich and maketh poore exalteth and humbleth sending forth his waters out of their treasuries and all things are drowned shutteth them in their treasuries and all things are dried He it is that maketh the fruitfull barren and the barren fruitfull Instead of the thorne shall come up the firre tree and instead of the briter 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 Mow as hee 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 necessity of the Saints so shall you make to your selves friends