THE Best Bargain. A SERMON preached to the Court at Theobalds', on Sunday, Sept. 21, 1623.  
By jos. HALL. D.D.  
LONDON, Printed by J. Haviland for Nath. Butter. 1623.    

TO THE RIGHT Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Pembroke, Lord High Chamberlain; CHANCELLOUR of the University of Oxford; One of his MAJESTY'S most Honourable Privy Counsel.  
RIGHT HONOURABLE,  
LEt it please you to receive from the Press what you vouchsafed to require from my pen: Unworthy I confess either of the public light, or the beams of your Honours judicious eyes; yet such as (besides the motive of common importunity) I easily apprehended might be not a little us full for the times; which, if ever, require quickening: Neither is it to no purpose that the world should see in what style we speak to the Court, not without acceptation. This, and what ever service I may be capable of, are justly devoted to your Lordship, whom all good hearts follow with true Honour, as the great Patron of learning, the sincere friend of Religion, and rich purchaser of Truth. The God of Heaven add to the number of such Peers, and to the measure of your Lo: graces and happiness.  
Your Honours in all humble and faithful observance, Ios: Hall.   

THE BEST Bargain.  PROV. 23.23. Buy the Truth, and sell it not. 
THe subject of my Text is a Bargain, and Sale. A bargain enjoined, a sale forbidden: and the subject of both bargain and sale, is Truth; A bargain able to make us all rich; a sale able to make any of us miserable; Buy the Truth, and sell it not; A sentence of short sound, but large extent; the words are but seven syllables, an easy load for our memories, the matter is a world of work; a long task for our lives. And first, let me call you to this Mart, which holds both now, and ever; If ye love yourselves be ye customers at this shop of heaven; Buy the Truth.  
In every bargain there is merx, and mercatura; the commodity, and the match; The commodity to be bought is the Truth; the match made for this commodity, is Buying, Buy the Truth. An ill judge may put a good Interrogatory; yet it was a question too good for the mouth of a Pilate, What is Truth? The schools have wearied themselves in the solution; To what purpose should I read a Metaphysical Lecture to Courtiers? Truth is as Time, one in all; yet, as Time, though but one, is distinguished into past, present, future, and every thing hath a Time of it own; so is Truth variously distinguished, according to the subjects wherein it is; This is Anselmes', cited by Aquinas; I had rather say, Truth is as light: (Send forth thy Truth, and thy light, saith the Psalmist) which (though but one in all) yet there is one light of the Sun, another of the Moon, another of the Stars, another of this lower air: There is an essential, and causal Truth in the Divine understanding, which the schools call Primo-primam; This will not be sold, cannot be bought; God will not part with it, the world is not worth it; This Truth is as the Light in the body of the Sun. There is an intrinsical or formal truth in things truly existing; For, Being and True are convertible; and Saint Austen rightly defines Verum est illud quod est; All this created Truth in things, is derived exemplarily, and causally, from that increated Truth of God; this the schools call Secundo-primam; and it is as the light of the Sunbeams, cast upon the Moon, and Stars. There is an extrinsecall, or secondary truth of propositions following upon, and conformable to the truth of the things expressed: thus, Verum is no other than Esse declaratiwm, as Hilary; And this Truth, being in the thing itself subjectively, in words expressively, in the mind of man terminatively, presupposeth a double conformity or adequation; Both of the understanding to the matter conceived; and of the words to the understanding; so as Truth is when we speak as we think, and think as it is; And this Truth is as the light diffused from those heavenly bodies, to the Region of this lower air; This is the Truth we are called to Buy: But this derivative and relative Truth, whether in the mind, or in the mouth, hath much multiplicity, according to the matter either conceived, or uttered; There is a Theological Truth, there is a natural, there is a moral, there is a civil; All these must be dear bought; but the best at the highest rate, which is Theological, or divine; whether in the principles, or necessary conclusions; The principles of divine Truth are Scriptura veritatis, Dan. 10. The Law of Truth, Mal. 2. The word of Truth, 2. Cor. 6. The necessary conclusions are they, which upon irrefragable inferences are deduced from those holy grounds: Shortly then, every parcel of Divine Truth, whether laid down in Scripture, or drawn necessarily from Scripture, is this Mercimonium sacrum, which we are bidden to Buy; Buy the Truth.  
This is the commodity; The match is, Buy; that is, Beat the price, and pay it. Buy it; Of whom? For what? Of whom, but of the owner, of the Maker?  
The owner; It is Veritas Domini, God's Truth, Psal. 117. His style is, the Lord God of Truth, Psal. 31. The Maker; The works of his hand are truth, and judgement, Psal. 111. And if any usurping spirit of error shall have made a free-bootie of Truth, and shall withhold it in unrighteousness, we must redeem it out of his hands with the highest ransom.  
What is the price? That is the main thing in buying; For, Buying is no other than pactio pretij: Elsewhere God proclaims; Ho, every one that thirsteth, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price, Esa. 55. This is a Donation, in form of sale: But, here must be a price in the hand; God will give mercy, and not sell it; He will sell Truth, and not give it: For what will he sell it? First, for Labour; The Heathen Poet could say, his gods sold learning for sweat; The original word here used is (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Compara; Get it any way, either labour, or precio; yea labour, ut precio. This great foreman of God's shop tells us we cannot have it, under. Prou. 2.4. We must seek for her as silver, and search for her, as for hid Treasures; The vein of Truth lies low, it must be digged, and delved for to the very centre. If Truth could be bought with ease and pleasure, many a lazy Christian would bid fair for it, who now resolve rather upon want, than toil. The slothful worldling will rather take up a falsehood for Truth, than beat his brain to discern Truth from falsehood; an error of freecost is better than an high-rated Verity; Labour for Truth is turned over for the task of Churchmen; no life savours to these phlegmatic Spirits, but that of the Lilies, Neque laborant, neque nent; They neither labour nor spin; This dull resolution is unworthy of a Christian, yea of a reasonable soul; and if we should take up no other for the body, we should be fed with hunger, and clothed with nakedness, the earth should be our featherbed, and the sky our Canopy, we should abound with want, live savagely, and die miserably. It was the just Canon of the Apostle, He that labours not, let him not eat; Certainly, he can never eat of the heavenly Manna of Truth, that will not step forth to gather it: Hear this ye delicate Courtiers, that would hear a Sermon if ye could rise out of your beds; that would lend God an hour, if ye could spare it from your pleasures; the God of heaven scorns to have his precious Truth so basely undervalued; if ye bid God less than labour for Truth, I can give you no comfort, but that ye may go to hell with ease.  
The markets of Truth as of all other commodities vary: It is the rule of Casuists, justitia pretij non consistit in individuo; The justice of the Price doth not pitch ever upon a point; Sometimes the price of Truth hath risen, it would not be bought but for danger, sometimes, not under loss, not under disgrace, not under imprisonment, not under exile, sometimes yet dearer, not under pain, yea sometimes it hath not gone for less than blood. It did cost Elias danger, Michaiah disgrace, jeremy imprisonment, the Disciples loss, john and Athanasius exile, the holy Confessors pain, the holy Martyr's death; Even the highest of these is pretium legitimum, if God call for it, how ever nature may tax it as rigorous, yea such as the frank hearts of faithful Christians have bidden at the first word for Truth; What do ye weeping, and breaking my heart; For I am ready not to be bound only, but to die for the name of the Lord jesus, saith S. Paul, Act. 21. Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life, saith Satan; but skin, & life, & all must a man give for Truth, & not think it an hard pennyworth; Neither count I my life dear unto me that I may finish my course with joy, saith the chosen vessel, to his Ephesians. Oh the heroical spirits of our blessed forefathers, that stuck not to give their dearest heartblood for but some corollaries of sacred Truth; whose burning zeal to Truth consumed them before those fires of Martyrdom, and sent up their pure and glorious souls, like Manoah's Angel, to heaven, in the flame. Blessed be God; Blessed be his Anointed, under whose gracious Sceptre we have enjoyed days as much more happy than theirs, as their hearts were more fervent than ours: We may now buy Truth at a better hand; stake but our labour, we carry it with thanks; I fear there want not those that would be glad to mar the market; It can be only known to heaven what treacheries the malice of hell may be a brewing. Had but that powder once taken, nothing had been abated of the highest price of our predecessors; We had paid for every dram of Truth, as many ounces of blood, as ever it cost the frankest Martyr; should the Devil have been suffered to do his worst, we might not have grudged at this price of Truth, Non est delicata in Deum, & secura confessio; qui in me credit, debet suum sanguinem fundere, saith Jerome. Christian profession is no secure or delicate matter, he that believes must be no niggard of his blood. But why thus dear? Not without good reason: Monopolies use to enhance the price: Ye can buy Truth at no shop but one, In coelo praeparata est Veritas tua, Psal. 89.2. Thy truth is prepared in heaven. And it is a just Rule of Law, Quisque in rebus suis est moderator, & arbiter: Every man may rate his own: Neither is this only the sole commodity of God, but beside, dear to the owner. Dilexisti veritatem; Thou hast loved Truth, saith the Psalmist. And it is a true rule in the Cases of Commerce, Affectus aestimari potest, Our love may be valued in the price. Yea, O God, thy love to Truth cannot be valued; It is thyself, Thou that art Truth itself hast said so, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; we cannot therefore know how much thou lovest thy Truth, because as thyself is infinite, so is thy love to thyself: What should we hunt for comparisons? If all the earth were gold, what were it? when even very heaven itself is trash to thee in respect of Truth: No marvel if thou set it at an high rate; It is not more precious to thee, than beneficial to us. It frees us, joh. 8.32. It renews us, jam. 1.18. It confirms us, Prov. 12.19. It sanctifies us, joh. 17.17. It defends us, Psal. 91.4. Shortly, it doth all for us that God doth, for God works by his Almighty word, and his word is Truth, joh. 17. Therefore buy the Truth. And if Truth be thus precious, thus beneficial; how comes it to pass that it is neglected, contemned? Some pass by it, and do not so much as cheapen it; Others cheapen it, but bid nothing; Others bid something, but under foot; Others bid well, but stake it not; Others last stake down, but revoke it. The first that pass by and cheapen it not, are careless unbelievers; The next that cheapen it, and bid nothing, are formal Christians; The third that bid something but not enough, are worldly semi-Christians; The fourth that bid well and stake it nor, are glorious hypocrites; The last that stake down and revoke it, are damnable Apostats. Take all these out of the society of men; and how many customers hath God that care to buy the Truth? If Truth were some rich chattel, it would be bought; If Truth were some goodly Lordship, or the reversion of some good Office, it would be bought; If Truth were some Benefice; or spiritual promotion (Oh times!) it would be bought; Yea, how dear are we content to pay for our filthy lusts; we will needs purchase them (too oft) with shame, beggary, disease, damnation; Only the saving Truth of God will not off hand. What is the reason of this? First of all; It is but bare, simple, plain, honest, homely Truth, without welt, without guard; It will abide none but native colours, it scorneth to woo favour with farthing, and licking, and counterfaisance; it hates either bought, or borrowed beauty; and therefore, like some native face among the painted, looks course, and rusty. There are two shops that get away all the custom from Truth, The shop of Vanity, the shop of Error; The one sells knacks and gewgaws, the other false wares, and adulterate; both of their commodities are so gilded, and gaudy, and glittering, that all fools throng thither, and complain to want elbowroom, and strive who shall be first served; whereas the secret work of artless, and unpolished Truth can win no eye to view it, no tongue to ask so much, as, What will it cost me? Oh ye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity, and seek after lies?  
Secondly, though Truth in itself be always excellent, yet the issue of it is not seldom distasteful; Veritas odium: There is one Michaiah whom I hate: Am I become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? And this is the cause that Friar Menot alleges, why Truth in this Time was so unwelcome to the Court. But if Truth be the mother of Hatred, she is the daughter of Time, and Truth hath learned this of Time, to devour her own brood; So that, in Time, Truth shall consume hatred; and at the last, a galling Truth shall have more thanks, than a smoothing supparisitation. In the mean time, Veritas nihil erubescit praeterquam abscondi; Truth blusheth at nothing but secrecy, as Tertullian.  
How ever then fond, or false hearts value the Truth, let us, that should be wise Christians, esteem it as the pearl hid in the field, which the man sold all that ever he had to purchase. Would it not set any heart on fire with an holy anger, to see what the enemies of Truth bid, and give for falsehood, for faction? Their liberty, their country, the life of their Sovereign, the eternal state of their souls hath not seemed too dear to cast away upon an ill bargain of mis-religion; and shall not we bid so much as our zealous well-wishes, our effectual endeavours, our careful observances for the undoubted Truth of our Maker and Redeemer? What shall I say to the miserable and stupid carelessness of these thriftless and godless times; wherein every thing is apprised, every thing is bought, save that which is most precious, most beneficial, Truth. Ye great ones are made for precedents to the inferior world; your example is able to bring either good or evil into fashion; For God's sake, for your soul's sake, what ever transactions ye make for the world, lay your plots for the blessed purchase of Truth; Oh let not your fickle honours, your unsatisfying pleasures, your worthless profits, yea your momentany lives seem dear to you in comparison of heavenly Truth. It is no shame in other parts for great Peers to be Merchants; Mercatores tui erant principes, saith the Angel concerning Babylon, Revel. 18. Thy Merchants were the Princes of the earth; And why should not ye great ones be the Merchants of Truth? Blessed be the God of Truth, ye are so. It is no proud word to say, That no Court under heaven hath so rich a stock of Truth, as this of Great Britain; yet let me tell you, the very Angels knew not so much, but they desired to know more, Ephes. 3.10. And if ye had already that vespertine knowledge of the Saints, which ye shall once have in heaven, yet know that this bargain stands not more in the judgement, than in the affections: What ever our speculations may be, if our hearts be not set upon Truth, we may be Brokers, we are not Merchants; Brokers for others, not Merchants for ourselves. As our Saviour then, when he bids us sell all, forsake all, holds it done, when in preparation of mind we are ready to abdicate all for his name, though we do it not; so doth God hold us to buy Truth, when we bestow our best thoughts, our dearest well-wishes upon it, though we have it already. Oh stir up your languishing zeal, ye noble Courtiers, rouse up your drooping love to divine Truth; Give your hearts to it, ye cannot but give all for it; And if ye do not find the sweet gain of this bargain, in this lower Region of error; and confusion, ye shall once find it in those eternal, and empireall habitations of Truth, where the God of Truth shall make up the Truth of his promises, with the everlasting truth of his glorious performances; where Mercy, and Truth shall so meet, and embrace one another, that both of them shall embrace the faithful soul, for ever and ever.  
This for the Bargain of Truth; The forbidden sale followeth▪: sell it not. Commonly what we buy, we may sell. Alexander, not the Great, but the Good, sold Mitres, Keys, Altars; the verse gives the reason; Emerat ille prius, He bought them. So Saint Austen of Simon Magus, Volebat emere spiritum Sanctum, quia vendere volebat spiritum Sanctum; He would buy the Holy Ghost, because he meant to sell it. Give me a man that buys a Seat of judicature; I dare not trust him for not selling of justice; he that sits in the chair of Simony, will not give Orders; will not stick to sell souls. Some things we may buy to sell, as joseph did the Egyptian corn; some things we must sell, if we buy, as an Israelites Inheritance, Levit. 25. But here we are charged to buy what it is a sin to sell; Buy the Truth, and sell it not; There is many a good thing ill sold; Esau sells his birthright for pottage; Hanun and Shechem sell their Country for love; Dalilah sells her lover for a bribe; The Patriarches sell their Brother for twenty silver rings; Haman sells the jews for nought. The Gentiles sell the jewish girls for wine, joel 3.3. Israel sells the righteous for silver, and the poor for shoes, Amos 2.6. Their judges sell sins or innocence for rewards, Esa. 5.23. Abab sells himself to wickedness; judas sells his master; Demas sells the Truth; All these make an ill market; And in all it is a surerule, the better the commodity is, the more pernicious is the sale. The indefiniteness of the charge implies a generality. Buy it at any price; At no price sell it. It is the savour of God that it may be bought for any rate; It is the justice of God, that upon any rate it should not be sold: As buying and selling are opposites in relation; So that for which we must not sell Truth is opposite to that for which we may buy it. We must buy it with labour, therefore we may not sell it for ease; If need be we must buy it with loss, therefore we may not sell it for gain; we must buy it with disgrace, we may not sell it for honour; we must buy it with exile or imprisonment; we may not sell it for liberty; we must buy it with pain, we may not sell it for pleasure; We must buy it with death, we may not sell it for life; Not for any, not for all of these may we sell Truth; this were damnosa mercatio, as Chrysostome: In every bargain and sale there must be a proportion; now ease, gain, honour, liberty, pleasure, life, yea worlds of all these are no way countervailable to Truth; For what shall it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul? And he cannot sell Truth, but his soul is lost: And if any thing in the world may seem a due price of Truth, it is Peace. Oh sweet and dear name of Peace, the good news of Angels, the joy of good men! who can but affect thee, who can but magnify thee? The God of heaven before whom I stand, from whom I speak, knows how oft, how deeply I have mourned for the divisions of his Church, how earnestly I have set my hand on work upon such poor thoughts of reunion, as my meanness could reach; But when all is done, I still found we may not offer to sell Truth for Peace. It is true that there be some Scholastical and immaterial Truths (the infinite subdivisions whereof have rather troubled than informed Christendom) which for the purchase of peace might be kept in, and returned into such safe generalities as minds not unreasonable might rest in; but sold out they may not be; If some Truths may be contracted into a narrower room, none may be contracted for; Qui divinis innutriti sunt eloquijs, as that Father said; Those that are trained up in divine Truths may not change a syllable for a world. Tene quod habes, Hold that thou hast, is a good rule in all things; which if in temporalties it were well observed, we should not have so many gallants squander away their inheritances to live chameleon-like upon the air of favour; But how ever this be too well observed in these earthly things by frugal hands, which take as if they were quick, hold as if they were dead, yet in spiritual graces it can never be observed enough; We get Truth, we buy it as jacob did his birthright, to keep, to enjoy, not to sell again: If therefore the world, if Satan shall offer to grease us in the fist for Truth, let us answer him as Simon Peter did Simon the Sorcerer, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought the Truth of God may be purchased with money.  
What shall we say then to those peddling petty-chapmen which we meet withal in every market, that will be bartering away the Truth of God for trifles? Surely the form of our spiritual market is contrary to the civil; In our civil markets there are more buyers than sellers; there would be but poor take, if many did not buy of one; but in the spiritual, there are more Sellers of Truth, than Buyers.  
Many a one sells that he never had, that he should have had, the Truth of God; Here one chaps away the Truth for Fear or Ambition; There another lets it go for the old shoes of a Gebeonitish pretence of Antiquity; here one parts with it for a painted, gilded hobby-horse of an outwardly pompous magnificence of the Church; there another for the babbles of childish superstition; One for the fancies of hope, another for the breath of a colloguing Impostor; Amongst them all, Diminutae sunt veritates à filijs hominum, Psal. 12. Truth is failed from the children of men: Yea as Esay complained in his time, Corruit in platea veritas, Esa. 59.14. Truth is fallen in the streets. What a shame it is to see, that in this clear and glorious Sunshine of the Gospel, under the pious government of the True Defender of the Faith, there should not want some souls that should truck for the Truth of God, as if it were some Cheapside, or some Smithfield-Commoditie. Commutaverunt veritatem Dei; They have changed the Truth of God into a lie, Rom. 1.25. And all their care is, that they may be deceived good cheap.  
Whose heart cannot bleed to see so many well-rigged and hopeful Barks of our young Gentry, laden with the most precious Merchandises of Nature and Grace, hall'd in every day to these deceitful Ports of Error, the owners partly cheated, partly robbed of Truth, despoiled of their rich freight, and at last turned overboard into a sea of Desperation. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey, that ye should not hold fast the Truth; Where shall I lay the fault of this miscarriage? Me thinks I could ask the Disciples question, Nunquid ego Domine, Is it we Lord? Are there of us that preach ourselves and not Christ? Are there that preach Christ, and live him not? Woe to the world because of offences. It must needs be that offences should come, but woe to the man by whom the offence cometh: God forbid that we should be so bad that the seven-hils should not justify us; But what ever we be, the Truth is still, and ever itself, neither the better for our innocence, nor worse for our guilt. If men be faulty, what hath Truth offended? Except the sacred word of the everliving God can misguide you, we have set you right. We are but Dust and Ashes, yet, O God, give us thine humble vassals leave in an awful confidence so far to contest with thee, the Lord of heaven and earth, as to say, If we be deceived, thou hast deceived us. It is thou that hast spoken by us to thy people; Let God be True, and every man a Liar; Whither should we go from thee, thou hast the words of eternal life. Dear Christians, our forefathers transmitted to us the entire inheritance of the glorious Gospel of jesus Christ, repurchased by the blood of their martyrdom; Oh let not our ill husbandry impair it; Let not posterity once say, they might have been happy, but for the unthriftiness of us their progenitors; Let it not be said, that the coldness of us the teachers, and professors of Truth hath dealt with Religion as Rehoboam did with his shields, which he found of Gold, but left of Brass. If Truth had no friends, we should plead for it, but now that we have before our eyes so powerful an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christian faith, that with his very pen hath so laid error upon the back, that all the world cannot raise it, what a shame were it to be wanting to him, to Truth, to ourselves?  
But perhaps now, I know some of your thoughts; you would buy Truth (ye think) you would hold it, if ye could be sure to know it; There are many slips amongst the true coin; Either of the mothers pleaded the living child to be hers, with equal protestations, oaths, tears. True; Yet a Salomon's sword can divide Truth from falsehood; and there is a test, and fire that can discern true metals from adulterate; In spite of all counterfeiting there are certain infallible marks, to know Truth from Error; Take but a few of many; whether in the originals, in the natures, in the ends of both. In the first, Truth is divine, Error is humane; what is grounded upon the divine word must needs be irrefragably true; that which upon humane Traditions, either must, or may be erroneous. In the second, Truth is one, conform ever to itself, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as one said; Omne verum omni vero consonat, All truth accords with every Truth, as Gerson; and as it is pure, so peaceable; Error is full of dissonance, of cruelty: No particulars of ours descent from the written verity of God; We teach no man to equivocate; Our practice is not bloody with treasons, and massacres. In the third, Truth, as it came from God, so is referred to him; neither hath any other end, than the glory of the God of Truth; Error hath ever some self-respects; either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, filthy lucre or vainglory; profit, or pride; We do not prank up nature; we aim not, either to fill the coffers, or feed the ambition of men; Let your Wisdoms apply and infer, and now (if ye can) shut your eyes, that you should not see the Truth; and, if ye care not for your souls, when ye see it, sell it: Let no false tongue persuade you there is no danger in this sale: How charitably so ever we think of poor blinded souls, that live in the forced, and invincible darkness of error, certainly Apostasy is deadly; How ever those speed that are robbed of Truth, you cannot sell Truth, and be saved. Have mercy therefore on your own souls, for their sakes, for the sake of him that bought them, with the dear ransom of his precious blood; And as God hath blessed you with the invaluable treasure of Truth; so hoard it up in your hearts, and menage it in your lives; Oh let us be Gens iusta custodiens veritatem, Es. 26. A just nation keeping fast the Truth; So whiles ye keep the Truth, the Truth shall keep you, both in Life, in Death, in judgement; In life unto death, in death and judgement unto the consummation of that endless and incomprehensible glory which the God of Truth hath prepared for them that overcome.  
To the happy possession whereof he that hath ordained, in his good time as mercifully bring us; and that for the sake of the Son of his Love, JESUS CHRIST the Righteous; To whom with thee O Father, & thy blessed Spirit, one infinite God, be given all praise, honour, and glory, now and for ever. Amen.