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A64563 The mammon of unrighteousness detected and purified in a sermon preached in the cathedral church of Worcester on Sunday the nineteenth of August, 1688 / by William Lord Bishop of Worcester. Thomas, William, 1613-1689. 1688 (1688) Wing T979; ESTC R26294 19,694 45

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Harbingers that we may be furnished with Heavenly Mansions when we are to be bereaved of Earthly I have pointed out the remarkable Circumstance of this incomparable Bliss when it fails to wit Mammon being like a Strumpet that shifts her Minions her Favorites When our Souls are upon the Wing of flight from our Bodies in extremities of Agonies resigning them to be Inmates with Worms to be putrified together when there will remain nothing to him who unrighteously manages the Talent of Mammon but a dismal accompt to enflame his reckoning with a corrosive Remorse of conscience not like the Serpent that twined about the Head of Cleomenes when he died but this Snake will wind it self about the Soul to pierce it with anguish and horror No Friendship then either will or can bestead us but this in my Text. Prosperity is a Loadstone to attract Friendship but Misery is a Rock to split it It was Socrates's experimental complaint in Adversity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no Friend none indeed extant in the lowest Ebb none indeed of Athens but of Jerusalem only My Text sets the Life the Lustre of Friendship in the Umbrage of Death by the poor extended to the rich Damascene vails this truth in an Apologue of a wealthy Person who owned three Friends two whereof endeared as his Soul nay more tenderly treated in their distinct concerns more sollicitously regarded the third least estimated yet not quite rejected Whereas being summoned to appearance before a dreadful Judge he made his Addresses to his several Friends His first Friend affords him the Formality of some Accoutrements at his departure to wit insignificant for Solace or Advantage his second Friend ceremoniously accompanies him to the first Stage his third inseparably adheres to him to the end of his Journey vigorously assists him before the dreadful Tribunal To withdraw the Curtain of the Apologue to a wealthy Person as Nathan did to David thou art the man thus befriended vetus Fabula per novam Histrionem in the Comedians Phrase Thy first Friend is the World this affords at thy recess from it a Winding-Sheet a Coffin a Hearse-Cloth Ornaments specious as to the sight of others not in any degree commodious to thy self Thy second Friend is the Consort of thy Bed the Mate of thy Bosom or thy Issue which attends thy Hearse to the first Stage of thy Corps the Grave if the Punctilio of State or retired disguise of Mourning will vouchsafe it however this Friend takes there a final adieu the Funeral Solemnity being celebrated accomplished Thy third Friend is the despicable miserable Person whom thou relievest whose Interest cleaves to thee fidus Achates even to the Period of thy Journey becomes an Advocate to plead for thee at the Bar of Justice effectually prevails for Mercy Were there not an Enchantment in Avarice who would not with ready Alacrity distribute temporal Comforts to others to ascertain eternal to himself Unmerciful Persons forfeit and bereave themselves of those Treasures they seem to retain whereas the merciful retain those Treasures they seem to be bereaved of their works especially their Alms follow them their riches are preserved nay augmented to them tho' not formally in kind yet virtually in value transcendently in a superlative Compensation To rescue us from the Fascination the Witchcraft of covetous desires the grand Impediments the utter Defiances of charitable Acts there is requisite a divine auxiliary Grace earnestly to be implored for wherein let us not disdain to be disciplined by a modern Pattern the Honor of our Nation Mr. Sutton not illustrious for Titles but Graces dignified by unparalell'd Alms by the renowned Monument of a munificent Hospital Preparatory whereto he frequently vehemently supplicated O Lord thou hast given me a plentiful Estate give me a merciful Heart to dispose it to thy Glory This pious Ejaculation reiterated in his own Garden was overheard in another adjacent to it as it is attested by a modern Ecclesiastical Historian To incourage this Duty of Charity to fortifie the Stress of it against all the Attacks and Stratagems of Satan I have mustered up the holy Auxiliary Forces the puissant motives of the strictest indispensible rule of Justice of the most undefiled unfeigned exercise of Piety of the brightest Lustre of a serene pure Reputation of the most commodious innocent Traffick of the most delicious bosom Satisfaction I have signalized these confluences of the choicest present Attractives and Allurements of this World by the future Reserve the Staple Requital of the Beatitudes the Glories of the next To conclude God hath not endowed any of us with wealth to be tainted with Vice but to exercise to promote Virtue not to defray the profuse Expences of Varieties of gay modish sumptuous Habits the Banners of Pride and Vanity not for Sacrifices to our Palats to administer Fuel to Flames of Luxury and Debauchery nay not to raise our Families not for Grandeur but Grace not for to render our Posterities great but our selves good and them also in the Track of our Examples in consecrating in perpetuating our Riches by pious charitable Uses to repair to adorn Fabricks dedicated set apart for sacred Ordinances that God may be worshiped with the Beauty of Holiness Let it not be a Reproach to the best reformed Religion that in some places where Personages furnished with ample Revenues bedecked with Gallantry of Clothes inhabit Gods Houses should be less decent less august and splendid than their own that many rural parochial Churches hold Resemblances both for the Structure and the Furniture with Barns rather than Temples Windows unglazed or shattered the Floors unpaved deformed with Pits the Roofs ungarnished even unceiled in a Rudeness of Prophaneness the Walls defaced with Gashes hung with Cobwebs instead of Tapistry I wish from my Soul it were a Calumny to assert it This is not solemnly awfully to reverence to adore but contemptibly contumeliously to dishonour to affront the most High. It hath an Aspect of an Indignity obtruded towards the supreme divine Sovereign Churches being anciently dignified to be entituled to be reputed Basilica Palaces for Kings even for the King of Kings Whatever is in any degree related appropriated to God is degraded desecrated being in a mean Dress exposed to Disesteem and Scorn A cheap sordid Performance of religious Duties is not to be interpreted the Service of God but of Mammon the refinement of which dross the purifying of the Pollutions and unrighteousness thereof cannot be effected but by acts of Piety and Charity in the one in reference to inanimate Piles the other in reference to animate the living Temples of the everliving God being enriched deputed enjoyned obliged we are by a special Obligation to relieve the distresses of our indigent Brethren appointed we are as Trustees for Supplies in their Exigences if this Trust be uprightly discharged our Fidelity herein will qualifie us to be interested in the Solace the Sentence of Absolution of the last day Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Math. 25. 34 35 36. Of this superlative inestimable Recompence of Piety and Charity to be admitted to everlasting Habitations in the Phrase of my Text which cannot enter into us to understand till we enter into it to possess it the Lord of his infinite Mercy make us Partakers for the merits of his blessed Son by the Influences of his holy Spirit to which sacred Trinity be ascribed Glory Honour Might Majesty and Dominion this day and for ever FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THere is lately published The Mirror of Martyrs the first and second Part lively expressing in a short view the Force of their Faith the Fervency of their Love the Wisdom of their Sayings the Patience of their Sufferings with their Prayers and Preparations for their last Farewel Joh. 7. 51. Acts 25. 16. Joh. 12. 31. August in Num. 23. 10.