him yet neverthelesse he seemed to want nothing when he could comfort himselfe in the Lord his God Godlinesse is great gaine but how with contentment that is there is such a sufficiency with contentment of heart as if a man had the things he wants So then here is the thing that you may be intire in respect of all gracious habits necessary to the beeing of a Christian that you may have that inward store and supply of comfort that may support your hearts in all outward wants Thus you have the meaning of the words The parts are two An exhortation to duty An argument to enforce that exhortation The duty whereto they are exhorted is that they should bee perfect in Patience let Patience have her perfect worke The Argument whereby they are perswaded to this duty is that they may be intire and wanting nothing that they may have all that is necessary to a Chaistian We will observe two Conclusions hence which we shall follow at this time The first is this That Patience is necessarie to the perfection of a Christian. Or A Christian is not perfect without patience The second is this That every Christian should strive for a perfection of degrees of Patience Or that a Christian must labour to attaine the highest degree and perfection in Patience These two Conclusions we will handle apart in the Explication and proofe and joyne them together in the application and use For the first then that A Christian is not perfect without patience Our Saviour exhorting his Disciples to patience in the fifth of Matth. because they should meet with many enemies and injuries in the world he concludeth bee perfect saith he as your heavenly father is perfect What perfection speakes he of here Such a perfection such a worke of Grace as might inable them to carry themselves as became them in the middest of those many enemies and opposites they should meet withall I will not stand upon this I will endevour to make it appeare to you First it may appeare thus There is a twofold perfection of a Christian There is a perfection of parts and a perfection of degrees A child is a perfect man in respect of parts but not in respect of degrees because it is not come to that measure of strength for that age is not capable of it which a man hath Now there is a necessitie that there should bee a perfection of parts First the perfection of parts in a Christian is but the making up of all those graces which are necessarie to a Christian and without which he cannot obey God nor walke according to the rule All these are necessarie Now Patience is one of those parts one of those habits of grace with which every renewed soule is indowed and without which a man is not truly sanctified without which a man expresseth himselfe not to be regenerate And for this observe what the Apostle Peter saith Adde moreover to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godlinesse to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse to brotherly kindnesse love What is the reason of of it If these things bee in you and abound you shall neither be idle nor unfruitfull in the worke of the Lord. As if hee should say you will bee idle and unfruitfull professors unlesse that these graces bee in you and abound in you Now what are the Graces you shall see the necessitie of every one of them The Apostle exhorteth beleevers there to the giving all diligence to the making their calling and election sure to make it certaine to themselves that they are effectually called But might some say there are many graces necessary to a Christian but there is one principall which we call the radicall and maine grace of all Faith I but saith the Apostle there are many others necessary besides that as you must have faith towards God so you must also carry your selves so as may adorne your profession amongst men therefore adde vertue to faith But they might say vertue that is that that guideth a man in all Morralls in all the course of his life and conversation You shall have many provocations to sinne therefore adde to vertue temperance But we have many discouragements to good therefore adde to temperance Patience But what though you should have both temperance and Patience these are but morall vertues Therefore adde to Patience godlinesse that you may in all things you doe ayme at God and approve your selves to him But when we have carried our selves in a holy manner according to the rule and word of God yet neverthelesse there are many Christians that require offices of love from us and what shall wee doe to these Therefore adde to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse But then againe beside that conversation we have with beleevers theâ—…e are many men in the world that expect certaine duties from us Therefore adde to that Love that extendeth to all men according to their necessities So you see how the Apostle takes all graces as it were into severall parcels and sheweth how they cannot bee without one parcell of grace they cannot goe through the course of Christianitie except they have every thing they cannot carry themselves toward God without faith they cannot adorne their profession without vertue they cannot escape temptations without temperance neither can they be encouraged against discouragements without patience Therefore he bringeth patience in amongst the rest as a necessary part and dutie of a Christian without which hee cannot goe through the worke of Christianitie and religion Againe in the second place as it appeareth by the parts of a Christian and Christianity that a man cannot be perfect without Patience so it appeareth by another argument and that is this A Christian cannot be perfect without that without which hee cannot keepe that grace he hath Looke what ever grace is in the soule a man cannot keepe it without Patience By Patience possesse your soules The soule which is the seate and subject of Grace cannot it selfe be kept without Patience therefore neither can any grace be kept in the soule without Patience because as the riches and treasures in a Castle cannot be kept when the walls are beaten downe so those treasures of grace in the heart of man cannot be kept when once patience which is as the wall of the soule that keepes it from the batterie of tentations from the enemie that would steale them away while men sleepe I say unlesse these walls these supporting graces specially this of Patience be in the soule it cannot stand intire For indeed let impatience once into the soule and you let in all sinne with it impatience is a destroying of all grace a pulling downe of the wall Nay what is sinne indeed but impatience in a sense What is pride but the impatience of humilitie What is uncleannesse but the impatience of chastitie What is drunkennesse but the impatience of
commended in practise of the Saints If any of thy brethren among thee be poore saith God thou shalt not harden thy heart thou shalt not shut up thy hand against thy poore brother The not opening the hands to relieve him God accounts that as proceeding from the hardnesse of the heart Thou shalt not harden thy heart against thy brother c. Cast thy bread upon the Waters for after many dayes thou shalt finde it Is not this the fast that I have chosen for a man to give his bread to the hungry and that a man should release those that are in Captivity and to let the oppressed goe free The Apostle wisheth that as they abounded in knowledge and in vertue and in faith and goodnesse so they might abound also in this Grace of God The Grace of God that he there speaks of is the willing readinesse to the doing of good To doe good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased You see there by doing good he meanes distribution the latter word doth prove the former and both explaine this Text. You have it likewise commended in the practice of the Saints I need not bee large in discoursing to you the carriage of Abraham of Lot of David of Iob the practice of Cornelius yea of Christ himselfe The Scripture is plentifull in this I and that which is more to bee observed that although Christ himselfe were relieved by others yet out of that hee gave a share to the poore It will appeare likewise in reason that this is a necessarie dutie and these may be taken First from the equity of it for it is equall you should thus employ your time and estate and those advantages of life which God hath made you doner of partly to that purpose and a man commits an injurie in neglecting these holy duties and is not only become an unmercifull but an unjust man and so in the plainest phrase a dishonest man hee is not just that doth not thus Therefore with-hold not the good from the owner thereof sayth God when it is in thy power to give The poore is owner of the estate of the rich so farre as his necessitie requires it and it proves but a matter of justice and equitie to bestow his riches where it ought to bee bestowed and a man is unjust in that respect if hee doe it not Riches are called unrighteous Mammon as hath beene expressed before when they are urighteously with-held from them to whom they should bee given as well as when they are unrighteously gotten So that detaining it from those unto whom it is appointed by Gods direction converts that riches perchance honestly procured into the Mammon of unrighteousnesse Secondly as it becomes a matter of justice so it proves likewise a matter of wisedome a man makes wise provision for the present and the future also by this course And therefore it makes way for the felicitie of the servants of God to employ their endeavours in the execution of this dutie and to lay fast hold on the forehead of opportunitie First it proves a consequent of wisedome for themselves in procuring their owne good Blessed is the man that judgeth wisely of the poore why so the Lord will consider him in the day of evill and he will not give him over to the will of his enemies What is the thing that a man is most subject to feare in this World but that which David sayth concerning Saul I shall fall sometime or other by the hands of some enemie of some mischievous person or malicious person or other You see the Lord hath here promis'd a large assurance of safetie and protection from the malice of his adversaries in the day of evill if hee wisely consider the poore Againe it makes much for the good of his posteritie The good man is mercifull c. and his feed inherits the blessing It may bee he perceives not such sensible and apparant fruits or outward successe in his owne life upon this course yet his seed inherits the blessing and the lesse hee enjoyes the more shall they receive of Gods goodnesse towards them as a recompence for his benevolent kindnesse towards the people of God And what greater legacie can man bestow upon his posteritie then to leave them by his particular meanes in the loving favour of the Almightie And as it is so for the present so it becomes a course of wisdome for the future also Charge the rich men of the World that they be ready to doe good c. laying up a good foundation for the time to come And by this meanes a man may provide well for eternitie Make you friends sayth Christ of your unrighteous Mammon that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations The way for a man to provide for eternall good is to use his tallent of wealth and estate for the present to the good of many Thus wee see the Reasons plainly verified To make use of it briefly and hasten to that which remaines Is it so then that it is writ downe to bee the dutie of Gods servants to mannage the opportunities of this life for this end and in this course of doing good that is of distribution and reliefe Then it serves to reprove those that neglect this dutie and account it not a businesse of their life onely they conceive of it as a matter of praise and commendations a thing that they doe well in performing and not very ill in omitting They conceive it to bee of no absolvte necessitie but voluntary charitie as a matter arbitrarie but not as a dutie necessarie and for this cause they appeare but slack and indifferent they conceive this as a dutie to lay up wealth but never remember the necessity of laying out wealth to bee commanded for a greater dutie then the former they take it for their dutie to get all they can but forget the following precept to doe all the good with that they get as they can And here is the reason why there are such lavish expences bestowed upon every vanitie that the portion of the poore and such as ought to bee relieved with our estates in point of equitie and by vertue of Gods Cōmandement is swallowed up by every vanity It is spent in excessiue apparell for the satisfaction of the vaine fashion-monger in superfluity of dyet for the Glutton and the Epicure in Haukes and Hounds and Dogs to please the humour of the voluptuous person it is consumed in raising up vaine and unnecessarie Buildings by earth-wormes that make their habitations below and lay a foundation for themselves on earth neglecting that goodly building given of God to the re-edifying of their soules in the kingdome of Grace And thus is the portion of the poore consumed and themselves for want of the same exposed to all the miserie that this World can inflict Some cry they cannot doe
teste dolet Her portion of sorrow like Benjamins is five times more then any others whose losse of a Husband and such a Husband is invaluable Secondly the qualitie of the Mourners is not slightly to be passed by debetur iis religiosa mora for not only great store of the Gentrie and Commons but some also of the Nobilitie the chiefe Officers of the Crowne and Peeres of the Realme not Religion only and learning but Honour and Justice also hath put on Blackes for him thereby testifying to all men their joynt-respect to him and misse of him And if any prompted by Iudas shall object against this Solemnitie and prolixe ceremonie ut quid perditio ista To what serves this waste might not the money have been better expended in charitable almes to the reliefe of very many poore I answer in the words of our Saviour Haec oportet facere illa non omittere Those workes of charitie they spake of ought to be done and these of decent Rites and ceremonies not to be left undone the rule of the Apostle Let all things be done decently and in order is a warrant as well for the due Exequies of the dead as Obsequies of the living if all things must be done decently and in order in the State and Common-wealth much more in the Church whose embleme is Acies ordinata an Armie marshalled in excellent order with Banners displayed and if all things in the Church must bee so carried then Funeralls as well as Nuptialls Burials as well as Christnings and if so then ought they to bee celebrated not after the preposterous manner of some in the night as workes of darknesse but in the day as works of Pietie in honour of them who have received the inheritance of Saints in light not penuriously and basely but nobly and liberally where the quality of the dead requireth it and the estate will beare it Howbeit I confesse that as Magnificence is alwayes a vertue so prodigalitie is a vice and one of those master-vices which hath gotten a great head in this Kingdome and a Garland upon it Yet to doe the dead right though luxurie bee guiltie of the death of many yet the dead are no way guiltie of this superfluirie they neither order it nor are sensible of it neither is the prodigalitie under the weightie burden whereof the Land groaneth so much seene in blacke clothes as in Silkes and Velvets cloth of Gold and Tissue not in Jeat as in Pearle and precious stones not in building Marble Sepulchres for the dead as Marble houses for the living not in armorie as in luxurie not in pendants as in attendants not in Funeralls as in Nuptials Maskes and Pageants Court entertainments and Citie feasts at which if Vitellius or Apicius were bidden they would condemne themselves for too much frugalitie What Seneca spake of time solius temporis prodigi sumus cujus unius honesta est avaritia wee are lavish of our time of which covetousnesse is onely commendable we may invert and with truth confesse we are frugall for the most part in those things I meane the service of the living God and offices of pietie to the dead wherein not only bounty but magnificence also is most commendable If any bee otherwayes minded and repine and grudge at this last honour to the dead and comfort to the living I shall use no other reproofe of him at this present then a like to that of Constantine recorded in Eusebius Goe to Acesias who art so precise and holdest none worthy to keepe pace with thee fac scalam ascende solus in coelum Make a ladder and climbe up alone upon it to heaven so let these men make them a Bere like the new-found Chariots in the Low-countreyes that runne of themselves without a driver and let them be carried alone in it to their long home Let no Mourners follow them nor eye pittie them or shed teare for them Nec enim lex justior ulla est But let them who have lived in credit die in honour let them who in their life time did many good offices to the dead after they are dead receive the like offices from the living Out of which number envie it selfe cannot exempt our deceased brother Of whose naturall parts perfected by Art and learning and his Morrall much improved by grace I shall say nothing by way of amplification but this that nothing can bee sayd of them by way of amplification All rheâ—…oricall exaggeration will prove a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diminution of them In summe he was a most provident housholder loving Husband indulgent Father kinde Landlord and liberall Patron So kinde a Landlord that when his Tennants were behinde with him hee was so farre from suing them or putting them to trouble to extort his due from them that instead of receiving from them hee lent great summes unto them by the good employment whereof they were enabled to recover themselves and pay him So liberall a Patron hee was that hee not onely freely bestowed all the Benefices that fell in his gift but was also at all the charge of institution induction composition first-fruits and whatsoever burthen fell upon the Incumbent Such patterns of Patrons wee may rather wish then hope for after him what shall I need to adde more concerning him whose birth was illustrious his education liberall his Patromonie great his Matches sutable his life exemplarie and his death coÌ„fortable Single vertues wee meet with in many but such combinations as were in him such affabilitie in such gravitie such humilitie in such eminencie such patience in such tryalls such temperance and moderation in such abundance as we have just cause to blesse God for in him so we have great cause to pray for in others of his Ranke In his tender yeares hee was set as a choyce Plant in the famous Nurserie of good learning and Religion the Universitie of Oxford where living as a Commoner in Corpus Christi Colledge under the care and tuition of Doctor Sebastian Wenfield hee very much thrived and grew above his equalls both in grace and in knowledge gaining to himselfe as much love as learning After hee was removed from thence hee fell into very great troubles as well before as after the death of his Father but the Lord delivered him out of all These crosses and afflictions served but as Files to brighten those gifts and graces in him which shined afterwards most brightly in his moresetled estate and eminent employments being chosen Deputie Lievetenant in Wiltshire Commissioner in three Shires Foure times High-Sheriffe and often knight for the Shire in Parliament in all which places of important negotiations and great trust hee so carried himselfe that all men might see in all his actions hee had a speciall eye to the Motto in his Escouchion Ieay bonne cause for with Mary hee alwayes chose the good part and stood up for the truth which hee confirmed with his last breath You have heard what