soule to God peace of conscience ioy in the holy Ghost comfort in affliction strength in temptation life in death and neuer-fading delights and riuers of pleasures the ioy and solace of a Sonne of God of a spouse of Christ of an inhabitant of heauen and of an enioyer of God in fulnesse of ioy and vnchangeable glory Oh consider I beseech you beloued in the Lord consider and weigh these things a little The matter is worthy your deepest meditation 2. A speciall comparison of the gaine of the worlding and godlieman Consider I say and you shall assuredly finde that the greatest gaine of the worldling is very smal the smallest of the godly is very great This of worth that worthlesse The greatest gaine the worldling can enioy is but outward and superficiall 1. The worldlings gaine is but outward and superficiall seruing onely for the vse of humane and corporall life which consistes in coniunction of soule and body vnited alone by the bond of nature but the gaine of the godly is inward and substantiall The godly mans inward and substantiall of vse to a life diuine and spirituall which consistes in coniunction of the whole person both soule and body with God and that by a bond of the spirit of God That frees but from some outward euill as pouertie the least of euils which one rich and ready friend may easily remedy From disgrace which may sometimes prooue glorious as for such cause or with such persons as where disgrace is honour From outward paine which may worke vs pleasure and prepare for greater ioy and solace But this freeth from the greatest euils from spirituall beggery ignominy misery and makes rich within glorious and well appayed And what were it to haue a purple coate a polluted conscience a gay gowne and a sick heart a bed of gold and a diseased minde a full chest and an emptie soule afaire face and foule affections to glister in iewels and to bee filthy in manners to bee in grace with men and disgrace with God One dramme of that true inwarde gaine is farre more worth then a thousand worlds 2. The worldlings gaine is mutable and vncertaine The worldlings gaine is mutable and vncertaine and soone God knowes is changed for a losse it is constant in nothing but in mutabilitie 1. Ioh. 2.17 the inseparable property of all earthly vanities Now a man is rich presently poore now in honour anon in disgrace now in pleasure euen now in paine Prou. 23.5 Riches take their wings and flie away honour with euery crosse blast is blowen away and pleasures melt in the taste as dew before the morning sun How soone are our feastes turned into fastes and our sweetest songs into mournefull lamentations Lament 3.5 They that did feede delicately are desolate in the streetes and they that were brought vp in scarlet embrace the dunghill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poet. Instin histor lib. 2. How soone fayre-shining Fortunes fall and faile Renowmed Xerxes the fame of antiquity passed ouer into Greece in passing state and pride but returned home in great basenesse and feare As he went he couered the seas with his gallant shippes but as hee came was scarce prouided of a meane fishers boate Hee went guarded with an army so huge and mighty that it emptied deepe riuers did eate vp large countries and was a burden to the very earth but he returned not attended of a wayting boy And he who of late was the terrour of the world a broade was presently in contempt with the meanest of his house at home Would you see an admirable spectacle of humane mutability Munster Chronol de Tureis lib. 4. c. 64. cast your eyes vpon Baiazet that terrible Turke and cruell scourge of Greece How soone was he subdued by Tamerlane the Tartar led about on a scaffold as a beast in a chayne of gold and carried with him abroad in all his expeditions as a footestoole to tread on when hee mounted on horse-backe and as a dogge to picke crummes from vnder his table And what became of the estate of this cruell conquerour who in deuilish pride disdayning the name of man would bee stiled the wrath of God the vastity and calamity of the world Hee left his kingdome stuffed with wealth and treasures to be dissipated and extinguished by his disagreeing sonnes Read the historie of Adoni-bezek Iudg. 1.6 7. Who hauing in his pride and cruelty caused 70. Kings hauing their thumbes and great toes cut off to bee g'ad like whelpes to gather crummes from vnder his table hee was requited of God and brought to like misery and experienced the mutability of all earthly states What should I mention the known History of Croesus Herodet Clio. sine lib. 1. who in the top of his prosperity would needes haue Solon to pronounce him happy but anon ouer-topt by Cyrus and set on a pile of wood to bee burnt finding his sudden change from supposed happinesse to certaine calamity cryed out in griefe and sorrow of heart Oh Solon Solon Solon The cause of this out-cry when Cyrus vnderstood he gaue him his life and intreated him kindly fearing the like misery to befall himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hered ib. as knowing the instability of humane affaires and calamity whereto all men are subject as the Historian doth well obserue Of all the daies of this mortall life the latter findes him not as the former left him No maruell though Tiberius the Emperour refused the stile of Pater patriae father of his country on this ground of vncertainty of all these earthly thing saying All mortall mens estates are vncertaine Cuncta mortalium incerta quantoque plus adeptus foret tanto se magis in lubrico dictitaus Tacit. annal lib. 1. De Ciuit. Dei l. 1. c. 1 Esa 28.4 man hath gotten the more slippery is his condition Let me in one word with Saint Augustine speake thus of them all Sunt omnia terrena cacumina temporali mobilitaie nutantia All terrene heights doe reele with temporall mutabilitie Heare the Lord himselfe The glorious beautie of all earthly excellency which is on the head of the fatte valley shall bee as a fading flower and as the hastie fruit before the Summer which when hee that looketh vpon it seeth it while it is yet in his hand he eateth it vp The best settled states grow soone vnsetled and these adamantine kingdomes haue foundations of sand The godly mans chief gaine is immutable and certaine But the choise gaine of godlinesse is immutable and certaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Kingdome vnshaken The heauenly calling and special guifts thereof are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 12.28 Rom. 11.29 Beza in Locum Nec prodi nec perdi possunt Aug de ciuit deil l. 1. cap. 10. Such as whereof God can neuer repent himselfe that hee gaue them or repenting take them backe againe These good things can neither bee
suppose that gaine is godlinesse But it is most true which the true Apostle did most fitly and religiously oppose that godlinesse with contentment is great gaine 1. Tim. 6.5 And therefore those are foolish and deceitfull Merchants of sicke braines corrupt mindes profane hearts that suppose gaine to be godlinesse while they publish professe the religion of Christ for priuate respect of the pelfe of the world But those are wise and faithfull dealers of wel-staied heads prudent mindes vpright hearts who esteeme godlinesse to be the true gaine and as therewith right well enriched rest well contented with a lesser portion in their outward condition And further those are certaine loosers that account gaine godlinesse for such crafty Merchants as are so cunning to deceiue others become so wilie that they beguile themselues and shall find themselues but bankrupts when they make vp their accounts and are cast into prison till they haue paied their debts Mat. 18.3 4. In stead of an estate of plentie which they vainely expected they shall meete with an estate of misery which they little feared But those are sure sauers who make godlinesse their gaine Who purchase to themselues not so much this worldly wealth as those heauenly treasures who fill not their houses but their hearts not their coffers but their consciences who are rich not so much in earth as in heauen not in themselues but in God euen in Christ Iesus in whom are all treasures of godlinesse euen the fulnesse of the God-head Who became poore to make vs rich Mat. 8.20 and by his extreame outward penury purchased our exceeding inward plentie Who was poore for a time that wee might bee rich for euer Who will cast vnto vs here after our godlinesse begunne a wel-sufficing competency and will replenish vs hereafter when our godlinesse is perfected with al-sufficient felicitie So then godlinesse with contentment is great gaine Hetherto we haue beene taking a generall suruay of the coherence and scope and summe of this sentence Now let vs enter into a more speciall view thereof as it is in it selfe an heauenly position and a diuine conclusion short but pithy in very few wordes very greatly commending the worth and excellency of godlines as the only pearle of price worthy the purchase of the wisest and richest Merchant In this golden sentence or heauenly aphorisme wee may consider a simple or naked assertion godlinesse is gaine The parts of this assertion 1. The subiect or antecedent godlinesse 2. The attribute or consequent gaine are either amplifyed and illustrated by their seueral attendant 1. The attendant of godlinesse is contentment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true pietie is attended with an autarkie or wel-contenting sufficiency True contentmēt being as I conceiue it a fruit and effect and as I may so speake a daughter of godlinesse borne of her bred vp by her an inseparable attendant of her and therefore they are by this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 linked together as with a golden chaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 godlinesse attended with contentment 2. The attribute of godlinesse that is gaine is amplified and enlarged by an attendant quantity great Godlinesse with contentment is great gaine And this attendant quantity or greatnesse imports a commendation of this gaine which the greater it is the more cōmendable Godlinesse is such a gaine as is great 1. Great in it selfe simply considered as a rich treasure of great sufficiency 2. And great comparatiuely in respect of other gaine Godlinesse attended with contentment is of all the greatest gaine The true gaine the great gaine the greatest gaine of all is Godlinesse attended with contentment Euen true pietie which bringeth with it good contentment or a wel-contenting sufficiency The particular branches of my future discourse as by that which is spoken you may discerne for order and number may well be these The first concerning godlinesse the subiect of this gaine The second concerning contentment the attendant of godlinesse The third concerning gaine the attribute of godlinesse And herein that 1. True godlinesse is true gaine 2. True godlinesse is great gaine 3. True godlinesse is the greatest gaine of all And of these in order as God shall inable and your patience and time permit The matter or subiect of this true this great this greatest gain is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 godlinesse or pietie The name imports as much as true worship or religious adoration Which Nazianzene distinguishing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sometimes signifies worship of false gods describes to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Definit 152. The religious adoration of the blessed Trinity The thing it selfe which wee vnderstand by the name of Godlinesse is of verie great and large extent It consisteth of the concurrence of all those precious gifts and louely graces of the sanctifying spirit of God and conteyneth the whole body of those diuine vertues of Christian religion expressed sometime by the feare of God as where it is sayd of Cornelius that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deuout or godly man Act. 10.2 and one who feared God Where the feare of God which ere-while notes out one special grace or gracious disposition may well comprize all religious deuotion due respect of God both in heart and life and may plainly and briefly be thus described What ' godlinesse is Godlines is that religious reuerence awefull respect of God which ariseth frō the true knowledge of God and sense of his loue and causeth a studious endeauour to walke with God in all holie duties both inward and outward and that in sincerity This true godlinesse the character and cognizance of true-beleeuing Christians which distinguisheth the new and right-born sonnes of God from the bastard-brood of Satan and corrupt generation of Adam is for nature and propertie a religious reuerence and awefull respect of God possessing the heart of man with all due regard of the holy presence of God The wel-spring or roote thereof is the feeling and effectuall knowledge of God which is the ground of happinesse the seed of all vertue that groweth in the heart and the first gift which God imparteth to a people selected to serue him and to bee admitted into league and couenant with him Ier. 24.7 First God giues an heart to know him that he is the Lord and then and not before he will be their God and they shall be his people Without this sacred and sauing knowledge man is not godly but godlesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.12 Eph. 4.18 not in Couenant with God but a stranger from the life of God Men cannot liue well that doe not beleeue well nor beleeue well that doe not know well Whence godlinesse springeth But from what knowledge of God doth godlinesse spring surely from knowledge and acknowledgement I. Of the glorious maiesty and sublimity of Gods diuine nature and of his pure holinesse infinitely surpassing the modell of the most
thou O man of God O godly man haue thou nothing to doe with that vnrighteous Mammon But partake with other godly in the happy interest of these substantiall and eternall treasures And what if the godlesse man goe away with the gaine of the world Looke not thou on his wealth with an enuious eye nor on his prosperity with an vnquiet spirit It is weakenesse of spirit to bee disquieted with variety of desire after the worlds gaine for thy selfe or to enuy at the fruition thereof in others Thou art a Christian indeed a greater gainer then the world can make thee and a surer keeper then that the world can hurt thee As for him he is miserable to be pittied not happy to be enuied thou art happy to bee enuied and withall so happy as not to bee hurt by enuy Let not the conceit of his prosperity molest thee but the assurance of thine owne felicity content thee As thou shouldest not reioyce at his soules losse so shouldst thou not be grieued at his worlds gaine He is a broken-stated bankrupt that takes vp for day and receiues a penny to returne a pound thou art a rich heir who liuest on thy small pension the time of thy minority thine inheritance is reserued for thee entire till thou come to age And what if for this spirituall gaine thou bee faine to sit downe with some temporall losse better it is to begge thy bread then to loose thy faith Better to cast ouer-boord some parcell of thy goods then to make ship-wracke of thy good conscience Neither shall this proue any losse at all but an happy exchange for thy better aduantage of wealth of delights and honour on earth for riches and pleasures and glory in heauen And thus did those godly ones of old solace themselues in their light losses with hopeful expectation of greater gaine Sic magnis sunt lucris leuta dâ—mâ—a solati Aug. de Ciuit. Dei lib. 1. c. 10. a better and more enduring substance They esteemed with Moses the rebukes of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Hebr 10.34 Hebr. â—1 26 and could not be with-drawen Nulâ—o praemio huius mundi ab aeternae illiuâ— patriae societatâ— seducti Aug. de Ciuit. Dei lib. 5 cap. 11. by any wordly reward from the society of that heauenly country They had respect to the recompense of reward which was the rich returne of this gaine of godlinesse Heb. 11.26 a sure increase of a ful hundreth-fold Mat 19.29 with a promised inheritance of euerlasting life Come therefore now whosoeuer thou art that bearest the name and shew of a Christian dote no longer vpon these worldly vanities Rest not bewitched with the pleasing shew or smell or sound of worldly gaine And if thou hast heretofore either immoderately desired or vnlawfully obtained that copper-mettall guilt ouer to beguile thee leaue off betimes that hurtfull trade Turne thy selfe forth-with vnto a better course Take heed and beware in the name of God of godlesse couetousnesse of wicked worldlinesse of gracelesse voluptuousnesse and profane lewdnesse with all those open practises of cruelty and iniustice and secret mysteries of so many iniquities Those sworne enemies of religion those cut-throates of goodnesse those deuilish hauock-makers of the gaine of godlinesse and desperate ouer-turners of thy eternall good estate Desire new profits seeke for better gaines First seeke the Kingdome of God Mat. 6.33 and his righteousnesse First in time before all first in degree aboue all other gaine Yea first and last and without interruption euen in the middest of thy earthly imployments And giue all diligence hereunto For howsoeuer the world flowes in on many of it owne accord yet this gaine comes not in without good indeauour God indeed is free and ready to giue it but none that are carelesse are fit to receiue it Prou. 2.4 but must digge and delue and blow and sweate if they will enrich themselues with these hidden treasures Mat. 13.44 Well then doest thou from thy very heart desire thine owne true weale and wel-fare which if thou doe not oh foolish man thou and most miserable but doest thou indeed from thy soule desire it then vse I beseech thee all thy will and skill all thy industrie and circumspection in timely prosecution of such holy endeauours as God himselfe hath made the happy meanes of this most blessed gaine Be instant in reading hearing meditating and conferring of the holy Word of God be frequent in earnest inuocation of the holy name of God Exercise thy selfe incessantly in the duties of repentance and new obedience Labour for faith for hope for loue and feare of God and all other sanctifying and sauing graces as for life it selfe euen the life of thy soule Let slippe no time no occasion no helpes of daily increase growth in this heauenly wealth let the word of God dwell in thee richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.16 through sacred and sauing knowledge Let those blessed rich graces of Gods sanctifying spirit bee treasured vp aboundantly in the store-house of thy soule Replenish both heart and minde memorie and conscience euery roome and corner of thy soule And when thou hast gotten aboundantly keepe it safely that so thou mayest both liue and die rich wealthy Prou. 4.23 in this gaine of godlinesse and being rich in grace mayest bee rich in glory And if thou shalt in this holy maner demeane thy selfe and through faithfull employment of thy spirituall talents shalt giue account to thy Lord of a good increase Then shalt thou hear with thy eare to the ioy of thy heart Mat. 25.21.23 Well done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord Thou hast beene faithfull as a seruant I will make thee a Ruler Thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things Thou hast beene faithfull in the imployment of thy masters talents enter now into the ioy of thy Lord. And what is this ioy surely the blessed fruition of thy Lord and Sauiour in communion and fellowship of thy Father and Holy spirit Where thou shalt enioy euen ioy without sorrow welth without waÌ„t honour without disgrace pleasure without paine peace without disquietnesse light without darknesse health without sickenes life with out death This wel-contenting gaine of pietie and godlinesse that eternall fruition of felicity and blessednesse Now blessed Lord God thou God of all grace rich in grace in mercy and bounty to all that feare and call vpon thee Vouchsafe we most humbly beseech thee to make all grace to abound vnto vs all that wee alwayes hauing al-sufficiency in all good things may abound to euery good worke Enrich our hearts with the treasures of godlinesse settle our affections with godly contentment and grant vnto vs a dayly increase in this truest and richest gaine that we may comfortably enioy all needefull blessings in this life and full fruition of glory and felicity in the life to come And that through the al-sufficient merits of thine onely Sonne and our alone Sauiour Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with thee O father and thy blessed spirit one only wise and al-sufficient God bee ascribed of vs of thy whole Church all honour glory praise power dominion and thanksgiuing from this time forth for euermore Amen All glorie be to God