and bequeaths nothing to pious and charitable vses God and the poore are no part of his heyre We doe not houer ouer your expiring soules on your death-beds as Rauens ouer a carcasse we doe not begge for a Couent nor fright you with Purgatory nor chaffer with you for that invisible treasure of the Church whereof there is but one Key-keeper at Rome but we tell you that the making of freinds with this Mammon of vnrighteousnes is the way to eternall habitations They say of Cyrus that he wont to say he laid vp treasures for himselfe whiles he made his freinds rich but we say to you that you lay vp treasures for your selues in heauen whiles you make the poore your freinds vpon earth We tell you there must be a Date ere there can be a Dabitur that hee which giues to the poore lends vpon vse to the Lord which payes large increase for all he borrowes and how shall he giue you the interest of glory where he hath not receiued the principall of beneficence How can that man euer looke to be Gods heyre in the kingdome of heauen that giues all away to his earthly heyres and lends nothing to the God of heauen As that witty Graecian said of extreme tall men that they were Cypresse-trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. faire and tall but fruitlesse so may I say of a strait-handed rich man And these Cypresses are not for the garden of paradise none shall euer be planted there but the fruitfull And if the first paradise had any trees in it only for pleasure I am sure the second which is in the midst of the new Ierusalem shall haue no tree that beares not twelue fruits yea whose very leaues are not beneficiall Doe good therefore ô yee rich and shew your wealth to be not in hauing but in doing good And if GOD haue put this holy resolution into any of your hearts take this with you also from him Doe not talke and purpose and proiect but execute Do not so do good that we may thanke your death-bed for it and not you Late beneficence is better then none but so much as early beneficence is better then late Hee that giues not till hee dyes showes that he would not giue if he could keepe it and God loues a cheerefull giuer That which you giue thus you giue it by your Testament I can scarce say you giue it by your will The good mans praise is Dispersit dedit he disperses his goods not he left them behinde him and his distribution is seconded with the retribution of God His righteousnesse endureth for euer Psal 112. 9. Our Sauiour tells vs that our good works are our light Let your light so shine that men may see your good works which of you lets his light goe behind him and hath it not rather carried before him that he may see which way it goes and which way himself goes by it Do good therefore in your life that you may haue coÌ„fort in your death and a crowne of life after death Now all this haue I spoken not for that I haue ought as S. Paul saies whereof to accuse my Nation Blessed be God as good works haue abounded in this age so this place hath super-abounded in good works Be it spoken to the glory of that God whose all our good works are to the honor of the Gospell to the conviction of that lewd slander of Solifidianisme LONDON shall vye good works with any Citie vpon earth This day and your eares are abundant witnesses As those therefore that by an handfull guesse at the whole sacke it may please you by this yeares breife to iudge of the rest Wherein I do not feare least Enuie it selfe shall accuse vs of a vaine-glorious ostentation Those obstreperous benefactors that like to hens which cannot lay an egge but they must cackle straight giue no almes but with trumpets loose their thankes with God Almes should bee like oyle which though it swim aloft when it is fallne yet makes no noyse in the falling not like water that still sounds where it lights But howsoeuer priuate beneficence should not bee acquainted with both the hands of the giuer but silently expect the reward of him that seeth in secret yet God should be a great looser if the publique fruits of charitie should be smothered in a modest secrecy To the praise therefore of that good GOD which giues vs to giue and rewards vs for giuing to the example of posteritie to the honor of our profession to the incouragement of the well-deseruing and to the shame of our malicious aduersaries heare what this yeare hath brought forth Here followed a breife memoriall of the charitable acts of the City this yeare last past c. And if the season had not hindered your eyes should haue seconded your eares in the comfortable testimonie of this beneficence Euge c. Well done good and faithfull seruants Thus should your profession be graced thus should the incense of your almes ascend in pillers of holy smoke into the nosthrils of God thus should your talents be turned into Cities This colour is no other then celestiall and so shall your reward be Thus should the foundation be laid of that building whose walls reach vp vnto heauen whose roofe is finished and laid on in the heauen of heauens in that immortalitie of glory which the God of all glory peace and comfort hath prouided for all that loue him Vnto the participation whereof the same God of ours mercifully bring vs through the sonne of his loue Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite and incomprehensible God be giuen all praise honor and glory now and foreuer Amen Charge Maldonaâ— could incline to that in locum Es 3. 9. Somewhat aboue eight hundred The Rich Rom. 4. 13. TituluÌ„ Charitatis Dom. à Soto de Iustitia Iure Menander Pro. 21. 6 7. Iâ— this world Austen a world b euer-being c Now. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they bee not â—ye-minâ—ed Theodericus refer Cassiodore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arist Seneâ— Gen. 14. And that they trust not Keyes Altars Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Micha 6. Collegium Granatense Praef. ad lectorem conâ—â—â— vitam R. P. Tho. Sanchez praeâ—â—â— Operi Morali in praecepta Decal C. Sol. Apollin Sidon Epist de Theoder In vncertaine riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil in Ps 61. But trust in God Joh. 16. vlt. Prou. 22. The liuing Gen. 35. â— Who giues vs richly all things to enioy Aboue 30000 in one yeare That they doe good and bee rich in good works Reuel 22. 2.
THE RIGHTEOVS MAMMON An Hospitall-Sermon Preach't in the solemne Assembly of the CITY on Munday in EASTER-weeke 1618. By IOS HALL D. of D. LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniell Butter 1618. TO MY MVCH HONOR'D FREND Sr HENRY BAKER Knight Baronet SIR AMongst many to whom my poore labonrs owe much for their acceptation I know none that can challenge so deepe a debt as your selfe If others haue tasted of my well-meant papers you haue fed heartily on them and so made them your owne that your memorie may compare with others eyes and your practise with the speculation of others Neither haue your hand or tongue bin niggardly dissemblers of your spirituall gaine Vnto you therefore to whose name I had long since in my desires deuoted my next do I send this meane present A Sermon importunately desired of many That which the present Auditors found vsefull the Presse shall communicate to posteritie The gaine of either or both is no lesse mine I doubt not but you haue already so acted that part of this discourse which concerneth you that the direction I giue to others is but an historie of what you haue done And go on happily worthy Sir in those your holy courses which shall lead you to immortalitie and so vse your riches that they may be made vp into a crowne for your head in a better world My hearty well-wishes shall not be wanting to you and your vertuous Lady as whom you haue obliged to be iustly Worcester Aprill 14. Yours Jos. HALL 1 TIM 6. 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God who giueth vs richly all things to enioy c. THOSE things which are excellent and beneficiall in their vse are dangerous in their miscariage It were lost labour for me to perswade you how good riches are your paines and your cares are sufficient proofes of your estimation And how deadly the abuse of them is many a soule feeles that cannot returne to complaine There is nothing more necessarie therefore for a Christian heart than to be rectified in the menaging of a prosperous estate and to learne so to be happy here that it may be more happy hereafter A taske which this Text of ours vndertakes and if yee be not wanting to it and your selues will be sure to performe What should I neede to intreat your attention Right Honorable right Worshipfull and beloued to a busines so neerely concerning you The errand is Gods the vse of it yours I neuer held it safe to pull Scripture in peeces These words fall alone into their parts Timothy is set vpon the spirituall Bench and must giue the charge A charge to whom Of what To whom To the rich Of what what they must auoide what they must indeuour What must they auoide Hy-mindednesse Trust in wealth What are the duties they must labour vnto Confidence in God Beneficence to men And euery one of these is backed with a reason to inforce it Why should they not be hy-minded Their wealth is but in this world Why should they not trust in Riches They are vncertaine Why should they trust in God He is a liuing God and a liberall God Why should they extend their beneficence to men By this they lay vp to themselues a sure foundation Here is worke enough you see for my discourse and your practise The God of heauen blesse it in both our hands Charge hath Ianus-like a double aspect one that lookes vp to S. Paul the other that lookes downe to Timothy and from him to the rich In the first there is Apostolicall superiority for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charge thou referres to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 13. I Charge thee so Paul charges Timothy to charge the rich He that giues the Charge if he be not the cheife of the Bench yet hee is greater than the Iurie The first foundation of the Church is laid in an inequalitie and hath euer since so continued There can be no harmonie where all the strings or voices are of one tenour In the latter as it looks on Timothy it carries in it Episcopall power Euangelicall sufficiencie Episcopall power for this Charge is by the vulgar turn'd and the Translation of the Syriac Praecipe command and so doe we translate it in the first of this Epistle and the third verse Timothy was left at Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to command The rich are commonly great Nobilitie in the account of God is ioyned with wealth Curse not the King in thy thought nor the Rich in thy Bed-chamber saith Salomon so Diues at whose gates Lazarus lay is by some no meane ones guessed to be Herod or some other King and so are Iobs freinds termd by the seuenty Yea the rich is not onely a litle King amongst his neighbours but Diues quasi Diuus as a petty God to his vnderlings and yet euen the rich man that as Salomon notes speakes with command vnto others he must be spoken to with command Command the rich That foolish shaueling soared too hye a pitch when in his imperious Bull he mands the Angels Francis of Assise and hee were both of a Diet But we may safely say that all powers below the Angels are liable to our spirituall Charge and this Command implies obedience Els to what purpose doe we command and go without Christ gaue vs the keyes for that which the Romanists would plead out of Origen of Claues coeli The keyes of heauen to the rest and Claues coelorum The keyes of the heauens to Peter is a distinction without a difference What becomes of them That I may not say on some of our hands they are suffered to rust for want of vse on others as the Pontificians the wards are altered so as they can neither open nor shut Sure I am that if they be not lost on our behalfe whether in dis-vse or abuse the power of them is lost in the hearts of many They haue secret pick-locks of their owne making Presumption and securitie wherby they can open heauen gates though double locked by our censures and shut the gates of hell at pleasure which their owne sinnes haue opened wide to receiue them What vse is there of vs but in our chayre and there but to be heard and seene Euen in this sense spectaculo facti sumus we are to gaze on not to imploy Now yee are full now yee are rich yee raigne as Kings without vs we are weake yee are strong yee are honorable but wee are despised It was well noted by one that the good father of the prodigall though he might himselfe haue brought forth the prime robe or haue led his sonne into his wardrobe to take it yet he commands his seruants to bring it forth Proferte stolam because he would bring meanes into credit because he would haue his sonnes beholden to his seruants for their glory It is a
to receiue giue all they haue away at once for but a licence to begge for euer Did these men euer heare that the Blessing of God maketh rich That the wings of riches carry them vp to heauen That the crowne of the wise is their wealth Doe they not know that if Lazarus were poore yet Abraham was rich and Pium pauperem suscepit sinus diuitis It was the happines of poore Lazarus that he was lodged in the bosome of rich Abraham I am no whit afraid ô yee rich Citizens least this paradoxe of our holy Mendicants shall make you out of loue with your wealth I feare some of you would be rich though ye might not Now wee tell you from him whose title is Rich in mercy that yee may be at once Rich and holy In diuitijs cupiditatem reprehendit non facultatem saith Austen It is a true word of the sonne of Sirach which I would haue you carry home with you and write it as a fit Motto in your Counting-house Bona est substantia si non sit peccatum in conscientia Substance doth well in the hand if there be not euill in the heart Ecclesiasticus 13. 25. Charge the Rich Who are they There is nothing wherein is greater mesprison One man in a Laodicean conceitednes thinks himselfe rich when he hath nothing Another in a couetous humor thinks he hath nothing when he is rich and how easie is it for another man to mistake vs if we may thus easily mistake our selues I feare some of you are like the Pageants of your great solemnities wherein there is the show of a solid body whether of a Lyon or Elephant or Vnicorne but if they be curiously look't into there is nothing but cloth and sticks and ayre Others of you contrarily are like a dissembling Couent that professes pouerty purchases Lordships The very same did Salomon obserue in his time in the great Burgomasters of Ierusalem Pro. 13. 7. For the auoyding of both extremes let vs inquire who is rich And tho greatnes and riches be in the ranke of those things which are held to haue no absolute determination but consist rather in respect comparison for a rich Farmer is yet poore to a rich Merchant and a rich Merchant is but poore to a Prince and he to some great Emperor That great Mammonist would say he is rich that can maintaine an Armie a poore man would say according to that Italian inscription He is rich that wants not bread Yet certainly there are certaine generall stakes and bounds which diuide betwixt pouerty and competence betwixt competency and wealth As there were variety of shekels among the Iewes yet there was one shekell of the Sanctuarie that varied not Who then is rich I must giue you a double answer One will not serue The one according to true moralitie the other according to vulgar vse In the first he is rich that hath enough whether the world thinke so or not Euen Esau tho he were poore in grace yet in estate he was rich I haue enough my brother And he that said Soule thou hast goods enow for many yeares was almost so It was not his fault that he thought he had enough but that he meant to lye downe and wallow in it A mans wealth or pouertie is most-what in himselfe And though nature haue professed to read vnto heathen men this lesson of wise moderation yet it hath beene seldome seene that any thing but true piety hath taught them to take it out Godlinesse is great gaine with contentment Victus vestitus diuitiae Christianorum saith Hierom Food and rayment are the Christians wealth Those men therefore which are still in the horse leeches note sucking and crauing which like Pharaohs leane kine are euer feeding and neuer the fatter are as farre from true wealth as they would be from pouertie and further I am sure they cannot be and not further from wealth then godlinesse Hauing is the measure of outward wealth but it is thinking that must measure the inward thoughts I say of contentment cheerefullnes and thankfulnes which if yee want it is not either or both the Indyes that can make you rich In the latter he is rich that hath more then enough whether he thinke so or no He that hath the possession whether ciuill or naturall of more then necessarie Now if necessarie and superfluous seeme as hard to define as rich know there are iust limits for both theâ—â—â— Superfluous is defined by necessarie for what is 〈◊〉 necessarie is superfluous There is then a double necessarie One of nature the other of estate That is necessarie to nature without which we cannot liue that to estate without which we cannot liue well That is necessarie to estate which were superfluous to nature and that which were superfluous to nature is not so much as necessary to estate Nature goes single and beares litle breadth Estate goes euer with a traine The necessitie of nature admits litle difference especially for quantities the necessitie of estate requires as many diuersities as there are seuerall degrees of humane conditions and seuerall circumstances in those degrees Iustly therefore doe the Scholemen and Casuists teach that this necessarie to the decencie of estate doth not confist in puncto indiuiduo but hath much latitude That is necessarie to scarlet which to russet were superfluous that is but necessarie to a Nobleman which to an Esquire were superfluous That were â—â—peâ—fluous to a Pere which to a Prince is but necessary That is necessary to the father of a familie which to a single man were superfluous Neither doth this necessitie looke onely to the present but to the future not to what may be which were an endlesse prospect but to what must be the mariage of a daughter the education of a sonne the honest prouision for posteritie He that in a iust estimate can goe beyond the bounds of this necessary enters into the superfluous estate and may well passe with the world for rich Such a one is rich let him looke how he became so That God which can allow you to be rich will not allow you alwaies to your wealth He hath set vp a golden goale to which hee allowes you all to runne but yee must keepe the beaten rode of honestie iustice charity and truth if yee will leaue this path and will be crossing ouer a shorter cut through by-wayes of your owne yee may be rich with a vengeance The heathen Poet one of them whom S. Paul cited could obserue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Salomon translates to vs Prou. 28. 20. He that makes hast to be rich shall not be innocent If you haue filled your bags with fraud vsury extortion this gaine may be hony in your mouth but it will be grauell in your throat and poyson in your soule There are some meanes of wealth in an ill name as those two trusty seruants of Mammon vse and brocage there are others as bad as