CAUSA DEI: OR COUNSEL TO THE Rich of this World. To the Highest Part of the Dust of the Earth.  
To which is prefixed An Humble Address to the King's Majesty.  I will get me to the Great Men, and speak unto them, Jer. 5.5. I will show what I have to say on God's behalf, Job 6.2. Magnae Virtutis est cum seculari Foelicitate luctari, ne Illiciat ne Corrumpat, atque subvertat ipsa Foelicitas. Magnae Foelicitatis est a Foelicitate non Vinci. August. de Verbo Domini. 
LONDON, Printed for Joseph Fox, Bookseller in Westminster-Hall. 1697.   

TO THE High and Mighty Prince, WILLIAM, BY THE Special Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Rightful and Lawful KING!  
May it please your Majesty!  
OLD Times have said, the King of England, is King Devils.  
But, with much more Reason, it will be said so by Posterity, if in your Reign we do behave ourselves Obstinately.  
For Demoniacs we must be, and Fiends Prodigious, if we break the dear Bonds which God and your Majesty lay on us. Our Ancestors had never such Cloven Feet as we shall show, if we kick now.  
Now that, God hath saved us out of Egypt, by you his Moses. Out of Babylon, by you his Cyrus. And, from the worst of Arrows-shot, by you the Shield. The Shield full often exposing itself to be broke to pieces, to keep us in whole Skins.  
Now that, by the very sound of your Name, the Almighty hath struck down our Domestic Tartars. By your Magnanimity, hath made the Boyn more memorable than Marathron. And put a Hook into the Nose of the most Christian Leviathan. So keeping our Jerusalem, from being turned into an Acheldama.  
Now that, Divine Grace hath made you in very Truth, Defender of the Faith. And, you are in Act, as well as in Office, Utriusque Tabulae Custos. With our other Enemies, delivering us from our most unmerciful Selves. Calling a Fast, far more Holy than Lent; by forbidding your Protestants, to eat up one another's Churches, as they had used to do.  
Now that, after all, the Lord of Life and Strength, holdeth your Soul in Life, and your Bow in Strength. Tho, of your Heavenly MARY, the World was no longer worthy. And, though your Martyrdom, and therein our Ruin, hath been sought without ceasing.  
Sought by the right Roman Rule. By Mariana his Quâcunque Arte, and by Bellarmine his Omni Ratione. And that, both in your Summer-Camps, and in your Winter-Quarters. Insomuch, that, although you never saw Fear, but in your Enemy's Faces; yet, for our Protestant Religion's sake, you have stood in Jeopardy every Hour, if I may not say, you have been killed all the Year long!  
Great Sir!  
It were now to be hoped, that the evil Spirit might be driven out of the Land. That a Sober, Righteous, and Godly Age might commence. And, that English Men might, above all Men, Fear God and Honour their King. But only, that which still Letteth will Let, till it be taken out of the Way.  
Namely, the Irreligion and Vice of Men of high Degree. Men, so wild-grown, that they will neither do your Majesty the favour, to let you swear the next Oath. Nor be so kind to their fellow Subjects, as to keep their Profaneness unto themselves.  
Men, who, like poisoned Fountains, diffuse their Venom's. From London to the Mount, murder our Morals. And, ridiculing all Laws, Human and Divine; and teaching Men so to do; do Debauch the better inclined Nation. Wherefore,  
The Application of your Royal Wisdom to the reclaiming of them, is most humbly entreated. Inasmuch as their Reduction would be your whole Realm's Reformation. And, would hugely lessen the Distance betwixt Heaven and this Earth.  
A more glorious Service, there is not for you to do under the Sun. There being no such Python as Rich men's Sin is, for any Apollo to conquer. For this Service therefore, you have as many Petitioners, as you have Subjects who are of serious Religion. And, which have gotten the Victory over the BEAST, and over his Image, and over his Mark.  
Of these Christian Catholics is he, who doth not dedicate this undeserving Book; but only commend its most meritorious Cause, unto the best King in this World. The King lest needing to be taught, (though he may need to be put in Remembrance) that Kings and Subjects are invulnerable, but by their own, and by each others Sins!  
In which confidence, not for Wrath, but for Conscience-sake, he is,  
Your Majesty's most Faithful, most Humble, and most Obedient Subject, DANIEL BURGESS.   

To the Honourable EDWARD CHEEK Esq; In ITALY.  
SIR!  
IT is only Heaven, that is stored with lovely Creatures, better than Old-England.  
Nevertheless, your Absence is more than a little Grievous. So, as the want of a Diamond useth to be; even when it drops from a Jewel, wherein it leaves very illustrious Constellations.  
Howbeit, in their pensive Thoughts your Friends have very Cordial Drops. They have to consider, that your Travel is not Extravagance. That your Transplantation is for Culture. And, what is more;  
That, through the Grace of God, you do keep the rare Sobriety, which you carried with you. And, do gain the rich Literature which you went for. That you have made Geneva to value herself, upon your Proficience there. And do not lose your Time at Milan.  
Insomuch that your Native Land grows big with Expectation. Expectation to receive her Treasure again, and with a noble Interest. To have you,  it be long, in Parliament Robes. And, to have such service of your Endowments, as may add lustre to the bright Names, both of CHEEK and of RUSSEL.  
Such as may make the STATE and the CHURCH your Debtors. And, not admit it to be said of your choice Parts, as a Commoner of this Nation said of an unhappy Lords; that God gave the Use, but the Devil gave the Application.  
For this, the best of Mothers is instant in Prayers. Her Honour's Closet and Chapel, keep smoking with Sacred Incense for this. The excellent Bathsheba is thus active for her dearest Lemuel. Hoping, that in convenient Season, she shall have the Royal Psalmist's Cause to take up the most desirable part of his words; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath given me such a Son, mine Eyes even seeing it.  
Neither is her Ladyship alone, in this Divine Service. Offerings, and whole Burnt-Offerings, do also ascend from other Altars. Particularly, he is one of your Orators, who is the Author of these following Pages.  
Pages, which, by Dedication he maketh your own; for want of better means to acknowledge his Obligations, and to express his Affections to Mr. CHEEK. And the rather, because he hopeth, that, by the Blessing of the Almighty, their Words of Truth and Uprightness, will be Nails to fasten, and Goads to quicken, your laudable Virtues. Which is the only Ambition, of  
SIR, Your most Obliged, most Affectionate, and most Obedient Servant, Daniel Burgess.   

Counsel to the Rich of this World.  

CHAP. I. Of God's particular Love, and Care of the Souls of the Rich.  
Lords and Gentlemen,  
THE Lord most High hath sent me unto you, and my Message is Gospel. If not, let it be Anathema.  
The Gospel of the great Lover of Souls. Of your Souls, as truly as of any inferior Ranks. Yea, very particularly of Yours.  
Indeed the Poor have his Gospel Preached to them. But they have it not confined unto them. And it is, unto the Preaching of the Gospel; it is not to Salvation by it, that the Holy Apostle saith, Not many Wise after the Flesh, not many Mighty, and not many Noble are called.  
Most certain it is; that, Men of neither Poverty nor Riches, are the greatest number of Heaven's Guests. But we are fully as certain, that Men of all Orders have the selfsame Invitation. For to the Feast thereof, we are commanded by our Saviour, to bid every Creature. And, to proclaim, that whosoever comes unto him, He will in no wise cast out!  
Yea, singularly doth the Lord, rich in Mercy unto All, invite you Rich ones. His primary Design in giving you your Riches, is to win your Hearts. By the good things of this Earth, he Allures and Persuades you to Heaven. By them, as by all his other Goodness, he leads you to Repentance!  
For, what are Gifts, but Messengers, sent to fetch Affections to the Giver? And, is it not a Creature less ingenuous than Brutes, who is not a Friend to him that giveth Gifts? Gifts, so Useful, so Delectable, and so Rare, as your Riches. That Good should be rendered for Evil, is a Truth of some little Obscurity. But, that Good should be rendered for Good; (the Good of Duty, for the Good of Bounty;) is a Truth of most Meridian-light, and incapable of doubt! But,  
Are these Good Gifts, convertible to very ill Uses? Are your Riches, generally, your Snares? Do your fat Soils, usually breed Rank Weeds? Have your Purples and fine Linen, a qualitative Touch, making proud Flesh? And, do your rich Wines less Recreate, than Intoxicate you?  
This, is as True as Sad. But, whose is the Fault? He that reproveth God let him answer it! God, the Maker of your Treasures is Wise; God, the Donor of them, Gracious. Most apt he made them, to enable and engage you to his cheerful Service. And, it is sure, he bestows them on you for the Purpose! Giving you sufficient direction, for the Holy Use of them.  
Who doubts, but, it is by means of its own Poison, that a Spider is made more Venomous by a Flower? When Israelites do turn Egyptian Jewels into Idols; who blameth the Jewels, the Givers, or Any, beside the Idolatrous Abusers?  
They are wilfully blind who see not, that God is kind, Riches are Innocent, and the Possessors of them are Peccant. The Possessors, through whose Lusts, that which is Good, is made Death unto them. Prosperity, apt to be a Loadstone, to draw them unto their Duty; becomes a Stumbling-stone, and occasion of Revolt. Their Estates, which should be as Joshua's, Leaders to Canaan, do become Pharaoh's, that will not let them stir out of Egypt. St. Austin's words are worthy of Cedar; That Riches might not be thought to be the best Good, God gives them often to the worst Men; that they might not be thought to be evil Things, he gives them sometimes unto the best Men. In short; your own Hearts do tell you, what a Price Riches are in a wise Man's Hand; though they are so dangerous a Sword in a Mad Man's.  
It is granted, you do most prone abuse Divine Bounty. Behold ye, therefore, another instance of your Saviour's overflowing Kindness! What should he have done, that he hath not done for Rich Men?  
His admirable Grace doth you the Favour, to give you loud Warning of your Danger! To tell you of the Sin that dwelleth in you; and of the Temptations that do encircle you; of the beguiling Serpents in your Paradises. And, of your Deceivableness by them, into the most deadly Sin. For, that you do incur; when like the unruly raging Sea, you do turn the sweet showers of Heaven into a filthy Brine.  
He proclaims it extremely hard, for you to be Saved. Not of design to put you into a needless Fright; but unto a necessary Watch. He gives you a kind Alarm, in an awful Exclamation; How hardly shall they that have Riches, enter into the Kingdom of God To the Life he paints forth the Difficulty, in a pathetical Simile: that of a Camel going through the Eye of a Needle. Expressing your Salvation to lie but just within the line of Possibility. And with great Prolixity, he Inculcates this. As most unwilling that, like unwary Bees, you should drown yourselves, and perish in your Honey. As resolving, that, if by any Warning, you will be Preserved, you shall not be Lost.  
Nor is this his Beacon, all your Warning. No, he requireth all his Ambassadors, to be your like Monitors. Of any men's Ears, especially, to Thunder in yours. Using no more Gentleness, nor any less Severity, than will do you Good!  
Charge them that be Rich in this World, that they be not highminded; nor Trust in uncertain Riches, but in the Living God, q. d.  
None stand in more Jeopardy, than Men in Prosperity. The Places of none are more slippery. The Charms of no enchanted Men, are harder to be unbound. Samson was less strongly fettered by the Philistines, than they by their Grandeurs. Wherefore,  
Go temper your Ministrations, to the Quality of their Spiritual Diseases; not of their secular Dignities. Dare not flatter, and fawn on them. As you value their Lives, treat them not merely with soft Suasions, and oiled Words. And with Rebukes as cold as Eli's; Not so, not so!  
Take up the two-edged Sword of the Spirit, and call for fiery Tongues, when you deal with a Magnus, or a Dives. Storm them with Volleys of Divine Commands: Commands the aptest to tear Cedars, to break Rocks, to level Mountains. To humble an Ahab, to shake a Felix, to cast down the strong holds of a Herod's Lusts!  
Speak, as Preachers sent from him, who 
* The Text in Jo● 34.17, 18, 19 should be thus read. Wilt thou condemn him that is most Just; to say to a King, thou art Wicked; and to Princes, ye are ? Who accepteth not, etc.  dares say to a King, Thou art Wicked; and to Princes, Ye are ! Who accepts not the Persons of Princes, nor regardeth the Rich more than the Poor; Because they are all the Work of his Hands. Fear not, as need requires, to give Cordials to the Poorest of the Parish, and Vomits to the Lord of the Manor.  
Consider the Rich, as Men under the greatest Trusts; and responsible for the greatest Talents. Men, whose Conversion is of more mighty Influence, than meaner men's; and is therefore of more exceeding Concernment to the Kingdom of God. By these Thoughts of them, be provoked to double your blows upon them.  
Charge them, to know themselves to be but Men. And not to lift up themselves in their Imagination, above their proper Region. To remember, that Mountains of Gold and Silver, do not set a Soul nearer to Heaven, or safer from Hell. To beware, of taking too much State; of looking with Disdain, and of breathing out Scorn, upon their Overseers. Overseers, of the Holy Ghost's making, and armed with Power, to retain their Sins or remit them. Charge them to mortify their common, but cruel Lust; their Lust for the pernicious Privilege, of a way to Hell without any stop in it. For the unmerciful Liberty of Self-damnation, without any Contradiction! Finally,  
Smite with the Hand, stamp with the Foot; lift up your Voice as a Trumpet: and give them no Rest, till they make God their Riches, and cease to make Riches their God. Strain with Holy Violence to set up the Kingdom of God, in the Rich of this World. Whether they will believe it, or no; show that you his Ministers, do believe, that, God is not willing any should perish; but that all should come to Repentance!  
One thing more must be added; the divine Care of your Souls, is illustriously expressed also, in the abundance of your Chastning! For, of these fatherly Instructions, ordinarily, you have your Portions. Of these refining Fires, you have large shares. Of these Medicines, few have more Doses. God dealeth not with you as with Bastards, but as Sons. Your have his Rod and Correction, to give you Wisdom. And, kindly he hedgeth up your way with Thorns; if by any means you may be kept from your fatal Folly.  
Thus hath God loved you, O ye Rich of this World! Thus hath he testified, that he would have you to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the Truth! And, what will you render to the God of all this Grace? Lebanon is not sufficient, nor the Cattle on a thousand Hills!  
There is no blacker Gild than that of Ingratitude. Breaches of Law, be less contumelious, than slights of Love. If you render not Thanks, according to the Divine Benefits; you must expect Wrath to the uttermost, according to Babylon's Judgements; How much they have glorified themselves, and lived deliciously, so much Torment and Sorrow give them. Wherefore fear ye the Lord and his Goodness. Amen.   

CHAP. II. Of the Ways whereby Prosperity slayeth.  
THE Rich hath many Friends, saith the Royal Preacher. Yea, more than be good, saith every Spectator. Many, as the Italians speak, which dwell at Placenza. Which be bold to please you to your Hurt, and as fearful to offend you for your Good. Prompt to court you to Hell, and afraid to chide you to Heaven!  
Sirs, Your State is like that of Men in a Great but very Leaky Ship. Unless you continually Pump, you unavoidably Perish. But, Hard Labour agrees with few of you. Nor can you much better hear of it, than Lewis the 11th could hear of Death; Death, whose Name was half the Thing to him.  
And, as little do most who are about you incline to trouble you with it. One says as Cain; Am I their Keeper? No, let the Chaplain see to his Lord and Lady's Salvation! Another says as Solomon's Sluggard; There is a Lion in the Way, and I shall be bitten! I know that a Bee gets nothing by stinging of a Bear. Another argues like Judas; To what purpose is this Waste? It is as easy to make an old Man Young, as a Rich Man Wise.  
But what Friends of God, or of your Souls, are these worse than Cannibals? To your Souls, what is their Affection, whose Silence gives Consent to your Damnation? Toward God, what can more prove an Infidel, than such contrariety to his Precept and Example? Wherefore,  
By your leave, and whether you will or no, it is to be said as follows:  
With a Corrupt Nature, common to Adam's Race, you have Trains of Temptations, peculiar to your own Rank. All Men have Rubs in their way towards Heaven; but, upon Ossa, you have Pelion. All our Lives, be continued Temptations. But yours be the most multiplied ones. For, what are your Estates but Superfluities? and see you not that things superfluous be generally mischievous? That rank Corn does still Lodg. Overladen Boughs do break. Blossoms of extreme Plenty, seldom come to maturity. And overgrown Bodies be the fullest of Maladies. Besides, Satan knows, that one of you is worth a thousand of us, for his turn; and he accordingly strains to get you. And, there is no Eve but what offers you an hundred Apples, for every one that is presented to your Neighbours! You are encircled with Lures sufficient, if it were possible, to deceive the very Elect!  
In short; your Riches are 
Blinds to your Reason;  
Opiates to your Conscience;  
Fuel to your sensual Appetites;  
Bellows to your Passion;  
Extinguishers of Devotion;  
Bars against the Cross of Christ;  
Nets wherein Satan takes you;  
Bands wherein he holds you;  
Toils by which you do take Men; and  
Chains by which you lead them Captives in Sin.   
Insomuch, that it is of little wonder they should slay Fools, and wound the Wisest of you.  
1. Your Riches are Blinds. The Faculty and Habit of Reason they do not destroy. But the Use and Exercise of it they do sadly suppress. For, their specious Vanities do perpetually court your Senses; perpetually incur your Eyes, your Ears, and your Mouths. And through them make way into your Fancies. By whose quick and mighty Inspiration, they do easily raise your Passions, and allure those blind Powers to their embraces. Which being gained, your Minds are presently bribed and blinded; your Understandings, given to be your Guides; constituted God's Deputies to order your Lives; made the Eyes of your Souls, to direct in all your Duties; to inhibit from Evil, and to instigate you unto Good; to testify your Innocence, or your Gild in every Practice; and to approve or condemn you accordingly: these your Understandings are darkened by your Passions, your blind, but burning Passions; the smoke of whose Furnace puts out their Eyes, making them either to stand Neuters, or turn Parties for your Lusts. Utterly to neglect their Office, or act most contrarily to their Duty.  
Thus, do your Riches murder your very Thoughts, as Herod, the Infants. Especially, as Pharaoh, all your Masculine ones. Thus, they do hold you entertaining your Fancies, and treating your sensual Appetites. Which is the Business and Pleasure of Asses and Apes; not of Angels and Men. Thus they serve you, as the Athenians did the Men of Egina, cut off your Thumbs, and disable you to every thing that is Manly; every thing, save pulling an Oar in their Galley. Miserable servitude! wherein you are all Fancy, no Thought. And are set upon your Cash, as Swine on their Draff; without one look Upwards. Great Men do not know, the Rich do not consider!  
2. Your Riches are Opiates. Your Consciences feel them such. Your Consciences, which are inseparable Faculties of your Souls. Which are Laws in them, and more unalterable than the Medes and Persians. Are Witnesses also; Witnesses, not to be made away with. And are Judges; Judges for Life, and not durante beneplacito. But, these, (thank your Riches) are all asleep in your Breasts. For, as your Inheritances, and your Purchases do give you great Power to Command, they do take from you all Will to Obey. Their Dust, as hath been said, puts out your Eyes. And, as it is said of the Belly, an unthinking Mind hath no Ears. While you see not the Lord over you, you harken not to any of his Messengers. If Conscience then as such, be importune and troublesome; loquacious, and imperious; what Peace? It is next and immediately under God and his Christ, supreme Moderator and Governor. And its words are of Terror, greater than you can bear. Neither is there any Peace to be had, unless it be humbly Obeyed, or utterly Suppressed. Your high Estates make your Minds too high for the first. And furnish you with means to still the roaring Lion that troubles you. To give Sleep to that, which would take it from you.  
A continual Feast of your Senses effectually does it. And your Riches do, all the Year long, hold this continual Feast. For, whatsoever your Eye, or any other Sense desires, you keep it not from them. The Rarities of the Earth, the Air, and the Water, are your common fare. Velvets, and Tissue, your ordinary Raiment. Very Paradises, your plain Gardens. Stately Palaces, your constant Dwelling houses. It's true, these things, though they do never satisfy, do soon cloy. What is most sweet, by frequent use becomes Insipid. But, by Variety, and Vicissitude, you prevent that. The Se●vants of your Pleasure, do take off the weariness of one, by bringing you another. Insomuch, that Conscience can never find you at home, and at leisure to be spoke with. And having nothing to do with any, but with yourselves; or with yourselves, but in the business of your Souls; for want of Company and Business, it falls asleep. And what should be your Seer, becomes Blind. What should be your Crier, is a dumb Dog, that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, and loving to slumber.  
3. Your Riches are Fuel. Fuel to your Lusts, and vicious Desires. Desires, partly Brutish, and partly Devilish. Brutish and sordid, of things that are below Men; Devilish and Proud, of things that are above Angels. These, make the University, in which all Sins are bred and educated. These are the Wombs that bear, and Duggs which give Suck unto all. But, never so much as when high fed; when pricked with Provender. Which they always are, within every Rich Door. The Furniture of your Houses, consisting of little beside Blandishments. Blandishments, that foment Lust's Warmth to Heat; their Heat, to Fire; their Fire, to Flame! Flame, swift as Lightning, and only less extinguishable than that of Hell. From all the Elements you do fetch in alluring Objects. Lavishing Gold out of the Bag, for such whose Smoke doth most darken your Minds, and Fire enliven your Lusts. Comrades, you must have few, more than ingenious Brutes. Ingenious, to spring many games of Folly, and to disguise the Gild of all, and their Ignominy. Whose servile Tongues, and mercenary Hands, be Artists to dress your sensual Pleasures, and raise your languishing Appetites. These, with their much fair Speech, do cause you to yield. With the flattering of their Lips they do force you.  
4. Your Riches are Bellows. Bellows to your angry Fires. And, no less than unto your Lusts; which, have not more Hell in them, than your Wrath. Wrath, which whether close and Buried, or open and Burning; whether the hasty one of a Wasp, or the more Slow, but severer one of a Lion; always is a morbid Passion, always a deadly Gangrene! A Fever in the Heart, that kindles Fire in the Eyes; and if not checked, gives the Face the paleness of Ashes. Makes Reason drunk; and like an hasty Servant, to post away without its Errand. And, as an ill Dog, to break out upon Friends, just as on Thiefs. Yet this Fire do your Riches blow up. Your Plenty promotes this Anger, as much as any Desire. For, have you not felt it? Indignities, and storming Provocations, have place in your highest Regions. Caligula is ever and anon called a Dotard by a Cobbler; a Belizarius is sometimes, fain to beg Farthings. You mortal Gods are not above Contempts and Crosses. Nay, you do meet with most, though your Stomaches can digest them least. Your Names are greater than ours; and capacious of more Slanders. Your secular Purposes are more than ours; and you are liable to more Disappointments. Your Self-esteem also, and carnal Desires, appear more exorbitant than ours. And, consequently, your Calenture must be higher under every Injury. Yea, under any just 'Slight, or Frustration. Because no Serpents do more twine and wreath about each other, than Anger and Revenge do about Pride and Lust. Especially, Pride, as yours is, armed with Power; and Desire, as yours is, edged with Expectation. By this means; your larger Walks have more pricking Briars, and grieving Thorns; as well as more beautiful Lilies, and sweeter Roses, than ours. Your numerous Families, are, oftener than ours, boiling Furnaces. Boiling with Wrath and Bitterness, and running over with Clamour and Evil-speaking. The way of Peace they know not.  
5. Your Riches are Extinguishers. Not kindling or blowing up impure Fires, more than they quench Sacred ones. Opulence, is a more notorious Enemy to Devotion, than want of Bread! Devotion, is highest Estimation of the Almighty; Supreme Love, profoundest Reverence, constant Dependence, most entire Obedience! But, feel you not what a weight thick Clay is of? And how hardly, you, that are laden with it, can turn your Eyes, to any of these? Alas, your Possessions do take the full possession of your Souls! Of your Minds and Memories, of your Thoughts and Cares. Insomuch, that, as at Bethlehem, there is no Room in your Hearts and Houses; but the Lord of the World must out into the Stable, and be laid in the Manger. As little as they do cost, Good words are more than is allowed him there, by all of you. And they are the most that is allowed, by one of an hundred. If any thing be said to him in your Closets, the Door had need be shut for very Shame. The Compliment of your Knees, at Morn and at Night, are unreconcilable to your Speech and Action all Day. Wherein, he is plainly out of your Thoughts; and his Name is seldom, but very contumeliously in your Mouths. So truly saith the renowned old Chancellor of Paris; God hath the least Rents from those who hold his greatest Farms. And, whereto is this owing? Why, the Prince of Tyrus is told, Thy Heart is lifted up, because of thy Riches! And, he who best knows, saith also of others; Because they have no Changes, therefore they fear not God. And, O memorable words! They spend their Days in Wealth, THEREFORE they say unto the Almighty, Depart from us. Yea, when you are disposed to speak, you do say as much yourselves; Jer. 2.31. We are Lords, we will come no more unto thee, O God Were it otherwise, no Saint had ever deprecated Riches. But, without all peradventure, it is only possible to possess, and altogether impossible, to serve, God and Mammon!  
6. Your Riches are Iron Bars. As from all Christianity, so especially from its Cross. From all kinds, and degrees of Suffering for it. Your Salvation, it's true, is wholly bought by your Redeemer's Sufferings; but it is not to be received without your own. And, you perfidiously desert his Cause, if, at his call, you do not promptly take up his Cross. You are no more than Flatterers, if in resolution, you be not his Martyrs. Neither can you reign, if you will not suffer with him!  
But, faring deliciously every Day, weds you to Pleasure and Delicacy; makes you too tender to be blown on, by any adverse Wind. Like a Palsy, it slackens the Nerves, and loosens the Joints of your Souls; makes them Frightful. And, like a startling Beast, causes you in your Fright, to leap down a Precipice to avoid a Shadow! To turn aside and take the by't of a Viper, to avoid the prick of a Pin. To throw yourselves into eternal Flames, to scape the Sufferings that be, comparatively, lighter than Feathers! It seduceth you into Conceits, that the Hill of your Prosperity, is the Mount of Transfiguration; and there's no good Life on any lower Ground. That, Death, is a very Hell; and a poor Life, is a very Death. That plain Food, makes but a durable Famine; that ordinary Clothes be but Grave-Clothes. And not to be worshipped by the World, is to be buried by it. So Timorous are you made by your Riches; and thereby, Treacherous. Fearful, unbelieving, and Abominable!  
7. Your Riches are Nets and Bands. Those, wherein Satan takes and holds you. He, and his Angels, cannot hurt you by immediate Impressions. It is by Objects without, that they work on your Affections within. They are notable Movers in your Sins, but, not without Gold and Silver Engines. By these, they do so move your Wills, as to take you Captive at their own. And, hold you as fast as their Malice can wish. The Devil is styled the God of this World, as reigning in the deluded Men of it. But, delude you he cannot, nor obtain or establish his Throne in you, but by using worldly things to effect it! With these, he did set upon the first; yea, and the second Adam. Imagining, as it seems, that Holiness itself might be made to sin for this World's Glory. This made the Primitive Christians to suspect Riches; insomuch, that, Trypho the Jew, derided them as Fools, and Men afraid of Temporal good Things!  
Richly your Estates furnish Satan with materials for your Ruin. With the abundance of this World, to lay amort your Care of the next. With the Comforts of this Life, to make Snares for your Eternal one. Agrippina gave Claudius his fatal Poison in his most beloved Meat. And, with these things that do most please you, Satan doth most effectually poison you. Yea, he makes you to take his very Office out of his Hands, and turn Tempter's to yourselves. Thus are Riches kept to you owners thereof, to your Hurt! Tho' the Cock must crow loud that awakens you to see it. Yet, the very Turks themselves have a saying, That the World is but a Carcase, and they who feed on it are Dogs. Lastly.  
8. Your Riches are Toils and Chains. Such wherewith you yourselves, do take and hold Multitudes to their Sorrow. As they do make you easy Trophies of the Tempter; so next unto him, they make you the greatest of Tempter's. For, whatever their Wills be; Poor-folk, and Yeomen, are Babies at seducing. You, of the Gentry, and Nobility, are Plenipotentiaries. Your great Dunghills, (for no other are your great Estates) are heaps of Worms and Flies, to angle for any simple Fishes. Your Cellars and Pantries do draw in whole Shoals of them. Making your Words, the very worst of them, a Law of Iniquity to City and Country. No Examples do move so as yours. Tully's Observation is most true, The Manners of a Country do lie at your Mercy. Your Examples, can set up Vices or Virtues. [Corrumpere mores Civitatis vel corrigere possunt, Cic. de Legib.] Your Practices do disguise Vices, and gild them with a very Creditableness. If a Churchman be busy, his Reproof is quashed with your Authority. Or, if an Head be broke by any Reprover, your Smile is a considerable Plaster. No small Matter will make a Tenant afraid, of being as wicked as his Landlord. This you know, O ye Jeroboams, who do sin, and make all Israel to sin.  
But, be it sadly acknowledged, Lords and Gentlemen; Prosperity, hath been all which it has been said to be, unto the very Clergy also. Constantine's Gift, was a Doses of Poison; though given with a good meaning. Shepherds, as well as Sheep, are baned with too high Feed. Like Horses, we grow unruly when pampered. Except but here and there a rare Exemplar of Mortification, the Sons of Levi do become as the Sons of Eli, they turn very Hophni's and Phineasses, when they have Benjamin's Messes. When they do very much more than live by the Altar, their scandalous Lives make Men to abhor their religious Offerings. The Heads are extraordinary, whom high Places do not make Giddy. The best of Men are most afraid of them. We cannot name many a Samson, but the Dalilah of Opulence hath been too hard for him, and shaved his Locks. Queen Elizabeth dared to say, that she spoilt a Preacher when she bestowed a Mitre. All the World sees it; too much Oil, as well as too little, spoileth the Lamps of the Temple. Strabo calls a rich City of Egypt, Neeropolis, a Town of dead Men. Because so very many Dead, were therein kept Embalmed. And, every Rustic hath it in his Mouth; that, where the Benefice is Fat, the Ministry is Lean, if not Amort.  
But, Sirs, to do you Justice, very few of you do this way spoil us. Rarely it is, that you Patrons do kill Incumbents with kindness. Many are starved, for every one that is surfeited. They may be as studious as the great Calvin, and leave their Inventory as slender as his; which amounted but to sixty Pounds, with his very Library thrown in. Tho' many a hopeful Son of the Church be Overlaid, they are very many who take their Deaths in Patmos, not in Arabia Foelix. And whose Service would be valuable, if their Stipends were not contemptible. You very well know, that, though by Office they are Angels, by Nature they are Men. And, their Bodies be not as Cameleons. Nor are their Books, to be bought for so little, or to be sold for much more, than Songs. Albeit, a Minister without those Utensils is but a Workman without his Tools. In a word; till their Families are decently maintained, and their Libraries competently furnished, you may not look to see your Priests clothed with Righteousness, and hear your People shouting for Joy.  
But to return to yourselves. None of your Souls are taken from you by Force. All, which are taken by Satan, are by your own Hands sold to him! And, for what? Poverty and Sorrow are no good Sterling; nor do you ever part with yourselves for them! Wealth and Mirth be the only Coin that's Currant; the only Price, at which you let your Souls go. Nec quisquam Animi causa fit malus, saith Seneca. None are so prodigal of their Service, as to serve the Devil great is. Esau, will have red Pottage for it; Ahab, will have a Vineyard; Gehazi, will have Sheep and Oxen; Achan, will have a Golden Wedg; Judas, will have three Pound eight Shillings and Sixpence, (unto that Sum of ours, came his Thirty Pieces;) Demas, will try the Market; and have as much as he can get. In these things therefore, in these is your Danger. As it was exclaimed by a dying Miser; In rich Grass, laid all my Snakes!  
You shall scarcely read of one in an Age, like unto Job. Who feared God, and eschewed Evil, when he was the Prince of the East, more than when he was Poor to a Proverb! Or, like unto Jehosaphat; who, then, when all Judah brought him Presents, and he had Riches and Honour in abundance; had his Heart lifted up in the ways of Jehova. The Enjoyments which usually fuel men's diabolick Lusts, inflamed his Seraphic Love. Genteel and Noble, most Men are like Hannibal; in Wars victorious, but with Pleasures vanquished. In Affliction, they Pray; in Prosperity they Blaspheme! The very Man after God's own Heart, was less exactly after it, upon his Throne, than in his Exile. Multitudes we have known, like to the Lamps in the old Roman Tombs. Which as long as they were kept low and close, burned and shone with a Light very Glorious: But as soon as taken up, went out with a Stench.  
Rarely are hail Consciences held in the contagious Air of secular Pomp. White Silver draweth black Lines in all Hands. Yellow Dust is choking in all Throats. And, as Mercury, it kills Men that come by it ever so Honestly, if they use it not as carefully. Opinion it is, that gives it its Worth, and Opinion is sufficient also to make it your Death. For Covetousness, the Canine Appetite after it, is not more mortal than Fondness, and immoderate Esteem of it. To covet your Neighbour's Vineyard, is a Sin very heinous; but to overvalue your own, is not at all less. The Causes and Effects of both, are alike malignant. It is said that the Runagate from our Saviour, went away because he had great Possessions; (had them in Possession, and in Admiration) It is not said, nor can it be concluded, that he coveted greater Possessions! Wherefore,  
Awake, Sirs, and look out! A front Lupus, a tergo Praecipitium; Before and Behind, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  your Dangers are great. Plato's Thunder, is without a Bolt; he has falsely said, It's impossible for you to be eminently Good; Rich Abraham, was as Good on Earth, and is as Great in Heaven, as poor Lazarus. Except but Hell, one would have looked for a Saint any where, sooner than in Nero's Court. Yet in that Cage of all Uncleanness, there lived some Birds of Paradise. 
Usque adeó difficillimum est magnarum rerum Contubernio, non corrumpi.  Your Seneca's words are very Sunbeams; To keep Chaste in the bed of Prosperity, is of extreme Difficulty. You may be saved, it is most sure; yet, so as by Fire. No Men take the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Violent; or any way, but by Force. Nor may you, Rich, look to take it but by special Force and Violence. Up then, and be Doing; and God speed you. For your Eyes are Witnesses, the most do sleep the sleep of Death. And if here and there, one of you do stand by Grace; yet, Thousands at his side do fall, (God knows whither) and Ten thousand at his right Hand! Is this an hard Censure? And is it said to your Monitor, as it was said to our Saviour; Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a Devil? I dare, in his Name, to reply in his words; I have not a Devil, but I honour my Father! My Father, of whom ye say that he is your God   

CHAP. III. To the Dissolute and Profane.  
Devil's are not all of them equally Outrageous; nor are all their Children alike Vicious: some are chief of Sinners; and farther from God's Kingdom than others. And the name of this sort among you Rich, is Legion; for they are many. And, unto them I now turn me.  Sirs, both Worshipful, Honourable, and Right Honourable; 
You are they, who have turned yourselves upside-down! Deposed the Man, and Enthroned the Beast in you. Who have fallen out with Reason, Judgement, and Conscience. And have taken Sense, Fancy, and Passions, for King, Lords, and Commons. Supposing the former to be Sicilian Tyrants; and these latter to be least Dread, when most Sovereign. Glorying therefore in your Bodies made Channels for your Lusts, and your Souls made Slaves to both. You are the Men, who value alike the Holy Bible, and the Koran; the Lord's Prayer, and an Ave Maria; the Ten Commandments, and the Laws of China; the Holy Sacraments, and Ropes of Sand. Who mind no more Heaven and Hell, than the Elysian Field, and Stygian Lake. Who deem it to be base, and below the strain of your Spirit, to trembleat the Divine Word. Or to fear its Judgements denounced, before you feel them Executed. Despising all Arguments, but Storms and Whirlwinds, Flames and Thunderbolts!  
Who, to the utmost of your Power, do cast out of your Thoughts, him that hath Power to cast you into Hell Torments. Who do banish your Omnipresent Maker out of your Minds. Racking your weak Brains to serve your ill Humours, and to perfect their Mastery over your Consciences. To possess you of the Heroical Perfection of Scoffing at Religion! And of exposing what you name the squeamish Folly of Devotion. Who do make use of Pasquil's and Bottles to mortify natural Principles, and to exhilarate your Frenzy. That as King John said of his Buck; look how Fat it is, though it never heard Mass; You may boast what a Paradise you have found, without looking into a Church. And what undisturbed Lives you have, though they are like the Sheet in Peter's Vision, full of all unclean Things.  
Whose God, is a Trinity of Colours, Tastes, and Sounds. Whose Business, is, therewith, to entertain your Senses. Whose Schools, are Playhouses. Whose Books are Cards and Romances. Whose Language, is profane Swearing and Swaggering. And whose Life, (if a Life it be) is Rage, Riot, and Sleep.  
Who are Ahabs, that have perfectly sold yourselves. Reserving no more, than the poor Ruins of your reasonable Nature. Ruins, which are not Mutes; but loud Witnesses against you; as you do know to your Sorrow. For as small as Bees are; getting their Stings into the Nose of a Bear, they torment him. As small as Mice are; creeping into the Trunk of an Elephant, they make him very uneasy. And, as small as the Relics of your Reason are, they do make every Felix to tremble, as oft as they can get an Hearing from you. They do together shame your Rebellion against them, and extort your Veneration of them.  
For railly and break Jests, as fast as you break Laws, if you please; but know ye Sirs, Abdicated Reason is Reason still. Neither are you able to let go your Esteem of it, as Tragically as you do use it. Somewhat there is within you, which will still prefer Hands and Feet above Horns and Hoofs. And, if for no other end; you would have an Humane Spirit to cater for your Brute Flesh. Notably you do darken Counsel by words without Knowledge. The words of your Mouth are as a strong Wind. But as Zophar asked a great Prince, you are asked; Should your Lies make Men hold their Peace, and when you mock should no Man make you ashamed? God forbidden. For there is yet some Hope concerning you.  
Insomuch, that, he who made you doth appeal to this relict of Reason in you. And so must all, who attempt to restore you. To call you home from Grass, and persuade you to turn, and be Men again!  
This being my attempt; Rise, I beseech you, and make it yours too. Up, and strain, and try, whether it be as impossible to you to think, as to fly; and to be moved by Thoughts, as to be recovered without them! There is (you rich Men do know) a Civility due to Strangers. As very Strangers as you, and your Reason, and your Consciences are grown; yet, for once, give them a patiented Hearing! Hear, and do not interrupt them while they are speaking. Hear, and answer, every one of you; Bray not and bark not, but answer what is asked; they do ask you Man by Man, in your Cowley's Strain; 
Is this thy Bravery, Man, is this thy Pride?  
Rebel to God, and Slave to all beside?   
Tho' Strangers they be, they are of no inferior Quality. They are Judges; and have their Commission from the Supreme King. They are by the Father of your Being's, made your Guardians; and without their keeping, he will not keep you. Neither are they your Enemies; no, but your inward Friends, and your very selves! If they show you a Sword, it is to stop your Passage in Harms way; as the Angels was to stop Balaam. If they call you out of a pleasant City; it is but to fetch you, as Lot, out of a Burning one. They utter no harder saying to any Man living, than St. Paul's to the Jailor; Do thyself no Harm!  
A Lunatic is said to have clasped about the middle of a Sophi, upon Paul's Steeple; saying, Come let us leap down! Nay, said the Sophi; that every Child can do. But let us go down, and try if we can leap up. Mad are the Men, who are for leaping down; Men of Sense, are for leaping up; even as high as Heaven.  
Yea and know it for your Comfort, Sirs! As high as Heaven is, more than a few have been raised up to it, by this pair of Thoughts; 
Godliness is Profitable unto all things;  
The Meek God will teach his Way.   
Godliness is Profitable to all Things.  
To all desirable things; all, at which Wisdom can aim, as its Ends; and which it will prosecute with studied Means. Seneca brands you for Mad, if these you do not know, and pursue. Mad, and as fit to be kept in the Tower, as other Lions. Or in Bedlam, as other People who are beside themselves. In Amsterdam, there be Houses of Correction for the Debauched of both Sexes. The Raspelhuis for Men; and the Spinhuis for Women. And, Dr. Brown reporteth, the rich Hollanders to be so Wise, as to have their extravagant Children taste the Discipline of them: A pity it is, that rich English men do ●ot the same. If Sober you be, you must necessarily seek, as your Moralist thinks, 

Honour,  
Peace,  
Pleasure,  
Riches,  
Health,  
Courage,  
Victory over the fear of Death!    
1. But, Honour would you have, and Eminency, which is styled a second Patrimony. Not the Rich, but the Wise do inherit Honour. Sensuality, makes your Name as Carrion. Religion makes it as a precious Ointment. Precious, and preferable to Riches, Peace and Life itself. Life, which it far ourlives; and which, without it, is useless and comfortless. Be it then considered; Is there any Foundation for Honour without Religion? Who, besides Idiots, do esteem Ships for their Carving and Painting? Or Swords for their gaudy Hilts and Scabbards? Or Men for their Titles and Estates? Sober Minds do judge of Ships by their Sailing; Swords, by their Cutting; and Men, by their Reasoning and Acting! Say then nextly; What attribution of Honour can be made to a Man that is Wicked? To think him Good, is to mistake him; to call him so, is to call black, white; and crooked, straight!  
Sirs, your Places of Dignity are things ; and can claim no more than outward Respect. The Ceremonies of Cap and Knee, they do make your due; and but little else. For Copper is not Gold, though it be Money; Stamp doth not alter Metal. A Beast of the Town, is as very a Beast, as any of the Field; and worse, though he be Knighted or Lorded. Among Pagans, as well as Christians, it has been ever so judged. What Eulogies gave the Heathens to a poor Socrates, and Epictetus? And how did they brand a Rich Nero, and Heliogabalus? In the Sacred Writings, Antiochus Epiphanes is named the Vile. Antiquity had an Art to embalm dead Bodies, but not wicked Names. These, could never be kept from Putrefaction. The Gospel buried the Rich Sinner's Name! But, honourably mentions the poor Saints; The Beggar named Lazarus, was carried by Angels into Abraham 's Bosom. Rich, or Poor, A wicked Man is Loathsome, and cometh to Shame. But, Righteousness doth exalt a Nation. The Renowned Virgin Agatha, being asked, why she stained the Glory of her illustrious Parents, by her Severities exercised on herself, made answer, that Christianity was Nobility and Glory.  
It is true; Irreligious Men are Moles; blind and incompetent Judges. Infinite Wisdom and Truth, styles them Bears, and Vipers, also; hurtful things and hateful. Not is it to be expected that they should be forward to praise their Opposites. But it is most worthy of your notice; that the Lustre of Religion is such, that Moles themselves cannot but see it. And, Vipers themselves cannot but inwardly venerate it. Otherwise what should make the blindest and basest of Men, to counterfeit Religion? None do go to the cost, or do take the Pains, to counterfeit any thing that is not precious. And, what should be the Reason, that incarnate Devils do not revile Religion; but as they do disguise it, and put it under the name of Hypocrisy, and of Superstition? Yea, and as oft as they come to themselves, they do loath themselves. During the reign of Vice in them, they provoke others to sin, that they may abolish, or lessen, their own Shame, by making it common.  
2. Peace and Quietness who craves not? But all the World sees, they are not the Rich, but the Righteous who are delivered out of all their Troubles. Vanity and Voluptuousness, are open fountains of Plagues and Vexations. Neglected Duties, violated Laws, and injured Neighbours, do drown Manor-houses, yea, and Palaces, in Contentions and Woes. As on the contrary, there is no Ark of safety, like the Practice of Piety. Religion makes a Cottage, a safe and sweet Habitation. Innocence and Repentance, do make a Music Room of a Prison. The discreet Apostle asks not, Who is he that will harm you if you heap up Gold? But, if you follow that which is Good? The Invisible Ruler of the World, makes himself known by his Judgements, upon the Richest that do contemn him. And, Worms themselves will turn; the Poor, whom you tread on as Down- Hedges, do not unfrequently by't your Heels. But, Earth as well as Heaven favours Religion! God loves, and makes the worst of Men to be at Peace with a Good one!  
Indeed, Times there are, wherein the Lord of both, sees Good, to try who is of his Side! And, in these, the better the Man, the greater his Persecution. But, what then? Be it under Affliction by his own Hand, or under Persecution by Men's, all is one. He never fails to supply Good Men with Courage, and to support them with Comfort! Such, as render them rather Objects of Envy than of Pity. And of such, more than of any, it is said; Let me die their Death, let my last End be as theirs! There is such a Spirit of Glory rests upon sincere Christianity in Tribulation, as well as out of it. Such a Virtue internal Holiness hath, to expel Fears, and to rejoice in Hopes. But, be the Kings of the Earth ever so much nursing Fathers, and Queens nursing Mothers; without Practical Religion, there can be nothing but a Hell upon Earth. Without, you will have Fightings; and within, you will have Fears. Feeling the Curse that goeth over the Face of the whole Earth, by which every one that Stealeth is cut off on this side, and every one that Sweareth is cut off on that Side!  
3. If you ask for Pleasure, look no further. Here it is; here it Lives, it Moves, and it has its Being. They who have taken the largest draughts of all Wines, will tell you so, and be Vouchers, that the Sweetest and Richest are from our Saviour's Vineyard. We are agreed, I suppose, what Pleasure is. That, it is founded in the congruity of Objects, unto Faculties. And, consists in the satisfying Use of the things which we possess. Nor will it be denied, but, that the more noble the Objects, and the more capacious the Faculties be, the more satisfying, and transporting the Delights must be. Else the Pleasure of Brutes, and very Infects, might be thought to equal men's and Angels. As readily also it must be granted; that, though vitiated Faculties have peculiar Gusts, to which, very nauseous things are grateful, and pernicous ones are pleasant: Yet in such Cases, Men are beholding to their Distempers for their Delights. And, their Pleasure, as it proceeds from Delusion, it partakes of it. True Satisfaction and Complacence; rising only from proper Objects, and regular Faculties. When the Light is pure, and the Eye is sound; the Food wholesome, and the Stomach good. Wherefore,  
Whether it be Virtue or Vice, whose Ways are Pleasantness, judge ye. Yea, whether Virtue promotes not Pleasure, Naturally, as well as Morally? Whether, as it best deserves it, it doth not most work it? There is no sensible Pleasure from which it doth restrain you; but such as is below and against you. Such, as hath incomparably more Sting, than Honey. And, is together opposite to your Reason, and to your Interest. It multiplieth intellectual, and refineth animal Pleasures. Providing against their natural Emptiness and Vanity; of which they are apt, quickly to satiate you, and worse. It teaches you to use them, so as to enjoy them. To eat so, as not to surfeit; to drink so as not to vomit; to embrace so, as not to rue it. Let the fattest and fairest of your Countenances be looked on, whose Tables groan under Stalled Oxen; and the Countenances of such, whose Feast is a Dinner of Herbs. Presently, it shall be seen, in whose Faces the Oil of Joy doth most shine. Boast not of your Sports and Diversions; what of them is Moderate, Religion allows. And whatever is more, doth not recreate, but waste you. Glory not in your grosser Shames; like, Claudius his Mushrooms, though Pleasant, you do know they are Poisonous. Like the stately Horse of Cn. Seius, they are attended with this mischief; that, whoever has them is sure to suffer by them. Their luscious Honey, breeds a Choler so deadly. Dissoluteness was never without Vultures on its Liver. But, the Sun will want Light, and the Sea Water, when Religion's destitute of Pleasure! For,  
Repentance itself, Self-denial, and Mortification, are a very Canaan. There's Milk and Honey flowing in them, as little as you think it. Because, the Vices that made them disagreeable, being removed; men's Natures being changed, and Faculties rectified; the Disproportion is removed, and an Agreeableness is induced. What? Is it not Pleasure to the sound Man to Walk; though it was Torture to him when Lame? Is it not gladly that Men keep the Cup from their Mouths, when they are thoroughly cured of their Dropsies? In the midst of Laughter, your Hearts are sorrowful: but, in the midst of Sorrows, Penitents Hearts are joyful. Yet, if it were otherwise, a Wise Man would choose to bear the Pain of his Medicine, rather than of his Disease!  
Are many pretenders to Sanctity, very sour? Many, who are thought to be Religious, bitterly morose? What then? So are Multitudes of you, who are Irreligious. And, all who understand their Religion or themselves, will acknowledge; that, it is not Christianity, but the want of it, that gives Men their Melancholy. For, they cannot but know; that Cheerfulness is both a Reward, which Divine Bounty bestows on the Religious; and a Duty, which Divine Wisdom requires from them. In a word, suppose Vice to be as pleasant as ever it was conceited; he that leaves Virtue for it, he leaves the Sun for a Gloworm, and a Canaan for Cabul!  
4. Are Riches of any account with you? Or, hath their Familiarity bred Contempt? If those Hedges, which keep you from being trampled on by your Neighbours, be in much request, please you to consider; Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is. And, in its Left Hand are Riches. i e. The Possession, and use of this World's Goods, and Contentment with them! For, a Man is no more enriched with them, than a Chest is, if he doth but possess, and not use them. And, Use without Content, is as bad as Possession without Use; Poverty itself can be no poorer, than the Man who has not set a limit to his Desire. But, Religion it is, that teaches the true Art of Getting and Keeping; and no less of Using, and Enjoying your Portion under the Sun. Sensuality brings to a Morsel of Bread, and clothes a voluptuous Heir with Rags. Accordingly, for the most part you do see, Families, Cities, Nations, the most Religious, to be the most Prosperous. The most illustriously and durably Prosperous. Farthest from bare Feet, and Wooden Shoes. Richest themselves, their Children, and their children's Children!  
Is Religion openhanded and liberal? Yes, and its Liberality is a laying up Treasure in the safest Bank. A lending it out, upon the best Interest. Making Friends in the Court of Heaven with it; and making the continual Feast of a good Conscience with it. Which, doth as little tend to Poverty, as scattering of rich Seed in the most fertile Soil!  
Doth Vice appear a plain way to Opulence? It doth so; Sordid Living, Fraud, and Oppression, are the beaten Road, and do seem to be the Direct one: But they are the quite contrary. For, commonly, they do make Poor; and, lastingly, they do never make Rich. Penury, starves a Thousand, for every one that it does fatten. Fraud, is a Partridge that sits upon Subventaneous Eggs, and hatcheth not. Or if otherwise, the infamous Brood is but short lived. The Gain of the Oppressor, hastens to the Collectors for the Poor. Oftime's Mens Malice, or Justice, but always Divine Vengeance, crusheth all three. And, let the Mines of one India, and the Spices of the other, be gained by a lose Man, he shall still be a poor One! But,  
It will be asked; And are not the Communion of Saints the Poor of this World, also? The answer is easy. Comparatively, they are Poor; of lower Condition, than you whose abundance is generally your Destruction. But, absolutely they are Rich. For, their little is Good, and better than your great Riches. Their Appetites, are Healthful; yours, are Canine, and Dropical. Their Enough is a Feast; and your Feasts are not Enough. They are as Having nothing, yet, Possessing all Things. And, besides; the Poverty of Good Men, is not always owing to their Goodness. Defect of Diligence, and of Providence, and of various Duties, brings them into their Straits. Nor would they be so needy, if they were more holy. Drowsiness bringeth some to their Rags. And, prevailing Pride, giveth others a Fall. Rarely it is, that Saints do want Necessaries; and that they lay the Blame on any thing, so much as on their Sin, when they do want them!  
5. Health, the Life of Life, must needs be a Pearl, and precious with you. And, will you nor believe your Eyes? Or, can you choose but see, Religion gives Health to the Navel, and Marrow to the Bones? In its Hand, is the length of Days, with the Sweetness of them. Youth, it beautifies, and sweetens; and, it makes the most, and the best, of Old Age! Puts a rare Balsam into all Blood. Mortifies the VICE, that by natural Efficacy works Disease. Prevents wild Passions of Mind, and all intemperance of Body; which give the Humours a Ferment, that sometimes createth present Sickness; and always disposeth for future. A Cheerful Mind it imparts, which doth good like a Medicine. And if any such be, is a Catholicon, both for Cure and Prevention.  
All Experience doth verify this Theory. The best Learned King of Israel makes his Appeal. Who hath Woe? Who hath Sorrow? Who hath redness of Eyes? They that tarry long at the Wine. In the Old Testament, he was the Meekest Man, whose Eye, when Old, was not Dim; and his Natural Force was not abated. In the New Testament, he was the Disciple, whose Thoughts, and Writings ran all upon Divine Love, who enjoyed a more vigorous Old Age than his Brethren. All Ages are witnesses, how generally, vicious Lives are short Ones. How Surfeits and Debaucheries inflame Blood, spend Spirits, and cut Lives in halves. You do know, that much will not be given you, for a Lease of a Lewd Man's Life! Temperance is the best Physic, saith Bishop Sanderson. And the Precepts of Christ well observed, would prevent as many Diseases as his Miracles cured; saith grave Mr. Lukin.  
6. Courage, to look dangers in the Face, is a covetable Excellence. This World is a rough Sea. The vicissitudes of Calm and Storm, are as constant as those of Night and Day! And it is an ill thing to be without this Anchor, when Billows do roar. But, except a Religious one, there is no Spirit of Boldness, and of a sound Mind. It is true, a Wild Man may have the Metal of a Blind Horse. Yet, the most of them do fear the Deity in a Tempest, which they deny in a still Wether. And, it's only the Righteous Man, who is bold as a Lion, i. e. with a Strength and Sagacity sufficient to his safety. Vice, raiseth Tumults in your Minds; and cannot lay them. It is a thing too exorbitant, to be other than impotent. Religion, as it is a Heavenly Wisdom and Strength, to prevent Causes of distracting Fear; so it carries in it a Power to overrule the blind Passions; which otherwise, will distract us without any Cause. Vice doth darken, deform, and debilitate your Spirit. Religion, enlarges your Mind, exalts your Wills, eradicates your base Passions. Maketh your Souls to bear the change of Affairs, as a sound Body doth the change of Weathers; without much Prejudice and Impatience. For, (what an ill Man can never be) a Good Man is, satisfied from himself. His Heart not condemning him, he hath Confidence toward God A Confidence, excelled by nothing but the beatifical Vision. And, such as gives the sublimest Comforts in the lowest Conditions. Whereas, in all such, wicked men's Fears do use to be proportionable unto their Guilts. It is certain, that a Galaxy was never found in their Globe. Furies, in the Pagan-dialect, do haunt and scourge them. Terrors are upon them, as the Sacred Scripture speaks; Darkness is hid in their secret Places; a Fire not blown shall consume them. Indeed,  
Wit and Courage, are the things, whereof vicious Men do singularly make their Boasts. As though their Minds were the Clearest, and their Hearts the Stoutest of any. But, alas, no Geese are so , no Hares of such Pusillanimity. Where is their great Wit, who know nothing of their true Interest? And do pursue no higher Delights, than the inglorious ones of Swine and Goats. Proud of their fat Quails, and not ashamed of their famished Souls. Where is their Valour, who fear and fly from virtue's warfare? Tho they must suffer a present Hell, and a Future, for their running from it. Who dare not say Nay to a Lust, or to a lose Companion; no, though they bid them to run upon the Pikes of their Conscience, and the Mouth of Heaven's Cannon, and upon more Deaths than one! Their Wit and Courage, if they must be said to have either, are just like an Ulcer; the bigger the worse. Being no other than Diseases, and Reproaches.  
7. Finally, is Happiness in the next World desired? you have no Lucid interval in this World, but without doubt it is so. For, tho, while you are dozed, you may dream; and when best awaked, you may wish there were no Future State; you are not able to dispossess yourselves of the Belief, that there is one! Noctu & Sibi, saith Seneca; In the Night, and when you are Alone; when you, and yourselves, do, and must, come together; you cannot think Atheists to be Orthodox, and Religious Men to be fanatics. No more than you can think the Prisoners in Bedlam to be the Sages of the City, and the Merchants upon the Exchange to be the Idiots and Lunatics. Mentiuntur qi dicunt, saith the Pagan Ecclesiast, A Lie will not choke such as say that they think there's no God, and no Life to come!  
Sirs, Is there any where a Man, but there is a Conscience? Does any one act, and not reflect upon his Actions? Is there ever a Party, but what is his own Judge too? And,  
Can there be a Conscience without a Law? How come Men to make Conscience of any thing, if they be under no Law or Obligation? And, why should they, if they be accountable to no Authority? Conscience, without Law, is of no Force. And, can you tell,  
What is a Law without a Sanction? Without a Confirmation by Rewards and Penalties. What is a Law when disarmed of this? What is it more than the Sign of a George on Horseback over a Door, which neither commands any Body in, or keeps any one out? Law, and Punishment are Relatives; and mutually connote each other, in the common Sense of all the World.  Precepts be the Rule of Subject's Duty, Sanctions are the Rules of Prince's Process. And, doubt you but that,  
A Sanction implies a Judge? A Judge, without whom, Precept and Sanction were vain. And might be disregarded, without Loss, or Hazard. But, say also;  
If there be a Judge, must there not be a Judgment-Day? A Day of solemn Trial, and final Judgement. Wherein, he who now rules the World with Patience, will judge it in Righteousness? Who can wink so close, but he must see this?  
But, what, if the Doctrine of this Doomsday, were of any Uncertainty? What, if it did admit of Question, and were no more than a probable Opinion? What, if, (as one speaks) there were an even lay between the Negative and Affirmative? Would not Wisdom, bid us stick to the safest side of the Question; and make that Hypothesis the Rule of your Life? Inasmuch, as, if no such Day do come, Good Men must far as well as Bad ones. But, if it doth come, they must far as much better, as Rivers of Eternal Pleasure, are more sweet than a Lake of unquenchable Fire! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, said Euripides; and it was often repeated by Pyrrhon himself, Who knows but to Die is to Live? To return then;  
Religion, which is the only Salt, to season and sweeten this Life, is the only means to be thought of, for securing the next.  
Frenzy itself cannot imagine, that Contempt of the Supreme King, is the way to Preferment in his Court! Or, that, he who is only Wise, will set Crowns of Glory upon Fools? That he will make them happy for ever, who disdain to seek his Acquaintance and Favour! And do as plainly love Earth, more than Heaven, as they love Heaven more than Hell!  
The Future Blessed State, is a Penny, which the Lord of it thinks too much for any, but Labourers in his Vineyard. Yea, Labourers to the Death therein. It is a Treasure that he gives to none, but such as part with their Sins, and are disposed to part with their Lives, for it. It is that Joy of his, which no one must have, but they who do faithfully improve his concredited Talents. It is that Feast, whereto none are admitted, but such as have on them the Wedding-Garment, i. e. Imputed Righteousness, Inherent, and Practical! It is that Prize, which none obtain, but they who accomplish their Race. It is that Crown, which none must receive, but they who fight and conquer Flesh, World, and Devil. It is that House of the King, wherein no Man gets a Mansion, but he who enters in at the Strait-gate of Christianity. It is that Inheritance, which belongs to none, but to newborn Children, as well as Adopted ones. And to such as not only are Children, but do walk as Children of the Most High! Wherefore, in every respect, Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it!  
Ask you, now, seriously, What you shall do? Or, derisorily, What it is that you can do? And, whether it be presumed in what hath been said, That disordered Clocks can set themselves to rights? Or, dead Men recall their Lives? And, Men, whom Satan hath bound for many Years, can lose, and let themselves go?  
Sirs, You shall not be set about aught, that is either unnecessary, or impossible. It is true; being corrupted in your noblest Parts, you can never restore yourselves. In the Body, no Principles of Constitution can cure a Gangrene. And, in the Soul, when the Understanding and Will are vitiated, nothing of their own can restore their Rectitude. Because, the Mind that should direct, is more than Ignorant; even Erroneous. And, the Will that should Command, is more than Impotent; even Malicious. Yea, and Sin, as deadly as it is, doth not smart, but stupify you; whereby your Vices, even the most cruel and sanguinary ones, be made like Soldiers Arms; not at all uneasy, or any more a Burden to them than their very Limbs. And, more than that, they be even Ornaments in their Sight. Of that Mind was he, who said concerning profane Swearing; That it was a pity that such a good Grace of Speech should be any Offence? In short; if ever you are Saved, you must be new Created. And none but Almighty Power, can produce a New-Creature. Yet, know ye, Sirs,  
God your Redeemer is beforehand with you. He giveth you more Power to recover yourselves, out of the Snare of the Devil, than you make use of. The Schools of Calvin and Arminius, do agree in this, that so much Power is given unto every Man, as serves to justify God's Commanding Man, and to condemn Man's Disobeying God; who as you know, promiseth you, that the Diligent Hand shall make Rich. Yea, and he hath given you this abundant Encouragement, to seek supernatural Grace; he hath said it, The Meek he will teach his Way.  
The Meek are Men humble enough, to desire the Favour to receive his Commands; and the Grace to keep them. To desire it, with congruous Grief and Shame of their Apostasy. And with entire Submission to his Gospel-way of Salvation; which is by Repentance, Faith, and new Obedience. Let it be told, if it be known, who did ever thus seek, and not find Eternal Life? Or, why should it not be hoped, that the Mountains of your Spirits by this time are leveled? And that you are more than almost persuaded to the Holy Ambition aforesaid.  
If so; upon the Writer be the Reproach, if you find it lost Labour.  
To off with the Vipers which have fastened upon your Hands. The vain and vile Companions, whose Tongues are more venomous than Viper's Teeth. And whose chosen Company are under God's extreme Curse; A Companion of Fools shall be destroyed.  
To commence Friendships with Men of shining Faces. Holy Wisdom makes the Face to shine. And, Wise men's Associates, have the reversion of Wisdom unto Salvation! He that walks with Wise Men shall be Wise.  
To take a Guide while you travel in Turkey. This World, is Turkey; a wild and strange Country. And he who has opened you a way through it unto Heaven, he has appointed you Ministerial Guides to lead you therein. Guides, guided themselves by that Heavenly infallible One; whose Conduct you may expect in your due use of them. Guides, of whom your Saviour hath said, He that heareth them, heareth him; and he that despiseth them, despiseth him.  
To be very often upon bended Knees. To pray is to desire, as Malefactors desire their Pardon; and, as Lepers desire their Cure. A short-lived Vapour, cannot be such a Prayer. But, what is sincere and without ceasing, it is never failing. It hath the promise of the King; and therefore is sure to take the Kingdom of Heaven! Ask, and ye shall receive.  
To take the Oath of Allegiance, i. e. Your Baptismal Covenant and Oath. Whereto, your thorough Consent, and suitable Walk, are all real Religion. The Lord have Mercy on the mad Multitudes; of which, some do place their Religion in no better than the very Spots and Blemishes of Religion. And others in no more, than the mere Fashion and Dress of it. Vain is their Religion, by whom this Oath is not taken; though their Sect be ever so strict. Be their Christianity of this or that Form, Christ shall profit them nothing. Their Hearts be not cleansed by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost; but deluded by some Angel of Light, or of Darkness. Baptism doth now save us; not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh, but the answer of a good Conscience towards God, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Finally, it shall not be lost Labour.  
To keep your Hearts at your right Hands. To join Contemplation and Action, in all things of Religion. Not to consider what you do, is most Inhuman; and not to perform the Duty you have considered, is most Profane. It is an Unclean Creature, that either chews not the Cud; or, if it does, divideth not the Hoof. To act without Counsel, is to go upon four Feet. To consult, and not to act, is to send your Brains a Woolgathering. Whatever your Hand finds to do, do it with all your Might!  
Your Holy things, you must do, with Holy Thoughts and Pains. Strain the Nerves of your Mind, and of your whole Man. And, of all things, look you well to your Aims. Never go ye into the Church, as Boys go into the Thames; not to wash and cleanse, but to divert themselves. Hear Sacred things, striving to understand; make Religious Vows, resolving to perform them; desiring no longer to live than you do so!  
Look on Flatterers as so many Murderers; turn you from them; and from your very selves, when you turn Flatterers to yourselves. Be not the Apes of such a Monster as Vitellius, who upon the Approach of his Ruin, raised no other Fortification, but that of a drunken Mirth, which kept out the Noise and Report, but hastened the Stroke of it. Remember, that wilful Sin, if any, must be your Death. Being that, neither God's Decrees, or Satan's Devices, do commit any rapes on your Souls. If you do not all that is here named, as many as are, themselves, any wiser, must pronounce you Wilful, and tremble at your hastening Woe! Every Prisoner in Hell, cries out of his Will. Not complaining that his Judge was an hard Master, but his Heart was an hard Millstone. Not able to say that he perished through mere Deceivableness, or otherwise than through his willingness to be deceived!  
And, may it not now be hoped, that your Minds are enlightened too much to be incensed against this Advice? That your Enmity against your God is abated, and your Fear of him increased? Justly, or otherwise it is hoped so. And for the just and true Conquest of both your Fear and Enmity, you are presented with these Considerations.  
The God to whom you are called is as merciful as can be desired. For, he is Infinitely so.  
Indeed; our Misery, and not our Sin, is the Object of his Mercy. Sin, is most contrary to his Government, yea, to h●● Godhead; and cannot but be the Ob●ect of his vindictive Hatred. Pecca●um est Deicidium, Sch. Our Misery, is the Object of his Mercy. Of the blessed Compassion, of which, he provideth a new and living Way of Salvation; and, being provided, he is most ready to save the very chief of Sinners, turning into that way.  
Insomuch, that let us suppose any single one, to have committed all the Sins of Adam, and of his whole Progeny. The vast Ocean would not so easily and presently quench one spark of Fire, as the Divine Mercy would forgive all those Sins, upon the Sinner's believing on Christ Jesus.  
The Blood of our Saviour is as Satisfactory and Meritory, as can be desired. For it is as the Holy Oracles name it, the Blood of God, i. e. of him, who is God equal with the Father, as well as Man, like unto his Brethren. And, this hath given more honour to God, than hath been taken from him by the Sins of Devils and Men. So that, without the least loss to his Glory, God may save the worst Soul that Reputes, and Believeth on him that shed this Blood. And, in giving the Crown of Heavenly Glory, God giveth no more than his Son hath bought and paid for.  
The Power of the Holy Ghost to convert, and to comfort, is as great as can be desired. For he is God equal with the Father and Son; and cannot but be Omnipotent. If we are Hells of Sin and of Sorrow; he can make us Heavens of Purity and of Joy. Of Satan's Dunghills, he can make us God's Temples. There be no Hearts, but what he can cleanse by his Inspirations.  
The Precedents and Examples of the most bloody Sinners saved, are as great as can be desired. Sirs, as bad as yourselves have been saved by the Mercy of the Father, by the Merits of the Son, and by the Power of the Holy Spirit. For, Manasses, a Monster of Impiety and Villainy, is now a Star in Glory. And, not a few of them who murdered our Redeemer on Earth, are now with him in Heaven. What a Catalogue have we 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11. Fornicators, Idolaters, Adulterers, Effeminate, Abusers of themselves with Mankind, Thiefs, Drunkards, Revilers, Extortioners.  
The Promises made to save other Rebels, are as great as can be desired. For, there is not any one sort of them to be named, but, upon their Repentance and Faith, have Salvation promised to them. Yea, as great Salvation, as any other. And, lest any should imagine themselves to be excluded, most, if not all sorts, are expressly mentioned. Mentioned in the great and precious Offers and Promises of Salvation, upon their Conversion!  
The very Name of God is as sweet and encouraging as can be desired. The Name, expressing his good Affection towards the most heinous Sinners, when relenting and returning. For, it was this that was given his Servant Moses, for the heartening of such. Merciful, and Gracious, Long-suffering, and abundant in Goodness, and in Truth, keeping Mercy for thousands, Forgiving (both) Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin. A Name, one would think, sufficient to drive Despair out of this World. And, confine it to Hell, its proper Seat.  
The Commands of God for the worst of Sinners to hope, and to repent, are as great and as bright as can be desired. None are more absolute, none more express. The words of a late excellent Author are Sunbeams. To prescribe Repentance without a foundation of Forgiveness, were inconsistent with God's Excellencies. Nor is there any Cause why any Man under a call to Repentance, should doubt of Forgiveness. Unless God be ready to forgive the Sins of Penitents, his Patience is merely subservient to Wrath, and a Resolution to destroy. But, this would reflect unspeakable Dishonour on him. If a Man deal thus, it is a token of as evil a Mind as can be in him.  
The Entreaties God sendeth to the most lewd Sinners, to turn to him, are as kind as can be desired. As significative, I mean, of his astonishing Love, and desire of their Salvation upon his gracious Terms. O bottomless Depth, and amazing Height of Divine Love! God beseeches. God prays you to be reconciled and saved. Sovereign Majesty, even courteth Worms. Infinite Mercy wooeth very Vipers.  
The Parable in which God hath given the Picture of his Heart towards Penitents, is as moving as can be desired. Luke 15. Review it; behold, a Brother of yours, an horrid Prodigal, relents and humbles himself. And, what's the next News? His most merciful Father beholds him; compassionates him; runs toward him; falls on his Neck and kisses him; calls for the best Robe for him; for a Ring; for Shoes on his Feet; and for a Feast to be made.  
The Wall of Fire God has made to keep you from your pernicious Follies, is as awful as can be desired. For, this Wall is Hell; and Hell is Torment of Extremity unto all Eternity. Wherewithal would you then be held from your destructive Courses, if the Fear hereof will not curb your Lusts?  
The Kingdom God offers you, to draw you to his Love and Service, is as rich as can be desired. For, it is high as Heaven, durable as Eternity, delightful as Joy in Ecstasy! And, lastly,  
The Admonition given you of all these Particulars, is as plain as can be desired. That, which you have the refusal of in the Sacred Oracles, is a very Light and Lamp. And, what you have in Ecclesiastical Writings, is not given in Clouds and Darkness. Both are set before you in such a Light, that none of you can be blind, save only those who will not see. Neither, can the most violent of you take Hell by any Force, without loving Darkness rather than Light!  
Sirs, your Lives are Vapours, your great Estates are great Snowballs. Those are vanishing, these are melting. Your carnal Comforts, like your drunken serving-Men, will be out of the way, when you do most need them. For your rotten Sticks be not Fire, your Glowworms be not Stars; your shining Dust is not Heaven. And your present excuses of Sin, like other Thiefs, at the approach of Light, will be sure to be gone. Neither are your Breakfasts of it, so full of Honey, as your Supper will be of Gall. Vanities, are very Changelings. Absalom's Hair, now is his Pride; but, anon it is his Halter. Jezabel's Paint, makes her Face a heap of Charms for a while; but, 'tis not long before 'tis washed off with her Blood, and she is trod under Foot. Herod's Robes are now resplendent and Royal; but by and by they are overrun with Vermin, which eat up his miserable Majesty like Carrion; and make a sad Figure of his Sceleton. Sirs; say not that I roll in railing Rhetoric, and tumble in ugly Tropes. You do hate no Boanerges now, as you will hate your Parasites one Day. The Day wherein the Root of your Merriments will be found to be Rotteness, and their Blossom shall rise up as the Dust. Wherefore, haste, haste, Gentlemen! The worst of Men are willing to be Good, as Austin was to be Chaste. And, the most of them do stay till they are in the Jaws of Hell, before they consider what is the worth of a Soul. Wherefore, you are left with the words of the best Master, spoken to the worst Servant; very kindly they are spoken to you; What you do, do quickly!  
Then may it be said to you that live in Prosperity, Peace be unto you, and Peace to your Houses, and Peace unto all that you have; as David's Youths were commanded to greet the Great Man of Maon, whose Possessions were in Carmel.  
Be doing therefore, good Sirs! and say not of your humble Monitor, as Cardinal Mattheo Langi, concerning Luther, viz. That though the Romans needed a Scouring, it was not fit that they should take it from so sorry a Hand. Forgive me the Apostrophe, in which I leave you.  
So that our Worshipful, our Honourable, and our Right Honourable Lepers, may be cleansed, and made wise to Salvation,  
Send O my Lord I pray thee, by the Hand of him whom thou wilt send!  
Make no long tarrying, good Lord; but send some Eliphaz or other, with a more radiant Eloquence to tell them, that, They are destroyed from Morning to Morning! They perish for ever without any regarding it; their Excellency which is in them goeth away. They die even without Wisdom. O send, before it be said to this Gallant, and to that,  
The Fruits that thy Soul lusted after, are departed from thee; and all the things which were Dainty and Goodly, are departed from thee; and thou shalt find them no more at all. In one hour thy great Riches are come to nought! Thy Soul is required of thee; and whose shall the things be which thou hast provided?  
May such as are deaf to a lesser Timothy, be made to hearken to a greater Paul or Peter! And they who have been as wicked, turn to be as wise, as that Son who said to his Father, I will not! but afterward, he repent, and went.   

CHAP. IU. To the Formal and Hypocritical.  
THE highest Elements are the purest; the topmost Boughs of Trees, bear the soundest Fruit; and the Hill-Countries have much the cleanest ways. But, Men of highest Degrees, be not so much of cleanest Morals. Great is their Britain, or painted Nation. He is, generally, but a Pict among them, who is not a very Saxon; not more than a Pretender to Religion, if any less than an open Enemy to it. To every such Pretender God Almighty speed this Chapter!  
Gentlemen,  
It is not Apostolical to by't poor men's Sores, and lick yours. Nor is it possible in your Case, to decline Lance and Caustick. What must profit you, is the Plainness which you name Rudeness; the Liberty, which you deem to be Cruelty; the very Method, wherein the Holy Prophets and Apostles hewed their Hypocrites. Not, alamode Talk; which as Pills lapped up in Pap and Sugar, have no bitter Relish, nor any sweet Effect.  
You have therefore what follows. And, with the selfsame Accent, to your Worships of every Opinion, and Sentiment, Episc. Presb. Independ. etc. It being no extraordinary Matter, with whom you run; whose Cry you follow; and whose Shibboleth you have taken to pronounce. For, without the true Scope and Substance of Religion, all external Formalities are equal Fooleries. And, their most punctual Observance is no wiser than Domitian's business, in catching of Flies. Like the ancient Pharisees, you may glister with your Phylacteries and Tephilims. And reverence yourselves, as highly as any Spanish Alumbrados or domestic Dreamers; but, Serpents be Serpents, though their Skins be ever so richly painted. And, could Men persuade themselves that they were really Gods, their Conceit would make them but so much the worse Men. Wherefore, know ye, Sirs, that,  
You have two Classes; one, of gross, and another of close Hypocrites. The Gross, who are less blind, but more mad. Who do use Art and Fiction, to make their Mock Religion. Knowing, how far they are from the Holy State, and the Walk, which they sergeant. As he, who upon the Stage acts the Part of a King, knows himself to be none. The close Hypocrites, are you sick of the Jaundice; to whom all things do seem golden, and rich. And, who do therefore think, as you speak, when you call yourselves Christians; though you neglect and hate God's Christ. Neglect his Grace, and hate his Government; and are no more his pardoned Favourites, or consenting Subjects, than Turks and Tartars. But, are much blacker Sinners than either; because, you have Means; and you, if you would, might know both your Saviour and yourselves.  
The things, which both of you pretend, is to be Children of God, and Heirs of Heaven. For, the least of true Christians are no less. The Cloaks you do put on, are more and less fine. It contents not some Papists, to be common ones; but they must enter some particular Order. And, it will not serve all of you, to be common Protestants; some of you must be of this or that Sect. And Opinion, Party, and way of Worship, are your most cheap, but least serviceable, Cloak. Wherefore, some of you do go to the cost of a demure Countenance, and a reformed Life, and very many Works of Piety, Justice, and Charity!  
Abundance of Snow is laid on, to make your Dunghills look like Gardens. Very many white Feathers are used to hid your black Skins. More than a few Flowers are procured to strew your Corpse. And to what end is this? To be Cesar's Friends, when Cesar is God's Friend. But, mostly, for fear of a Power superior to any Cesar. To escape the flaming Sword of Conscience; that is not to be averted without some Image of Holiness. And sometimes, to gratify the Concupiscence of Vogue and Praise. Carnal ends, of your false Deal, all of them. And, such as are demonstrative of a Mind, to persist in a carnal sinful State! For, it's sure, he loves a Dunghill, that adorns it; a Blackamoor, that puts him in a fine Dress; and a Corpse, that strews Flowers on it. It is most certain, when you go to charge in whitewashing and painting an old rotten House, you do not mean to pull it down. While you keep a stir to make you seem what you are not, you have no intention to make yourselves what you ought to be! And, what you must become, or it had been better you had never been born. For the Name of Religion which you get without any Merit, you hold without any Profit.  
But, by what Witchcraft are you held from all manner of Thought? Or, notwithstanding this, do you sometimes think hereof? Sc. How you should take it, if your Servants did set upon your Tables no more than the Hair of your Oxen; the Feathers of your Fowls; the Shells of your Fish? Giving the best of all three, to your sworn Enemies. No better do you serve, and no less do you mock your great Master! Putting him off with no more than false shows of Honour, Love, and Worship. Bestowing the Estimation of your Minds, the Affection of your Hearts, and the Obedience of your Lives, upon your Idols! This is your dealing with I AM THAT I AM.  
The Heathen World was not so blind, but it saw this; God being a Spirit, is to be worshipped in Spirit. The Ceremonious Jewish one was taught, that the true Circumcision was that of the Heart. And, shall any of the Christian World doubt it? Thus speaks the Gospel Covenant; I will write my Law in their Heart.  
Deceive not yourselves with Conceits, that all is well, and you have the inward parts, as well as the outward ones of Christianity. You know, that a dead Man hath inward Parts. But, what then? He hath them dead; and so, hath no inward Man. You have likewise many rare Parts in you; but the Misery is, they are dead. In short, it is a dead Body wherein the Soul lives not. And a dead Soul it is, wherein the Holy Ghost lives not. That Holy worker of Grace, with all the Graces which are his Holy Works. Dead you are if you dwell not in God, and God in you!  
Until you love God, and nothing else, but for God's sake; it is but in degree, that you differ from the worst of Men. So as Toads do differ from Asps. But, it is in Nature and Kind that Men truly Good do excel you. So as Wheat excels Chaff, and Children excel Dogs. And plainly it must be said. The Lord hath not yet given you an Heart to perceive, and Eyes to see, and Ears to hear! To hear his Word and do it. The Son of Perdition, was first a close Dissembler, and afterwards a bold Traitor. Not afraid to go straightway from the Holy Sacrament to the Execution of the most accursed Project. There is a just Fear of many of yourselves. Will it please you therefore to observe particularly?  
There is a specious Repentance, in which you may perish. Judas, perished in his. He had a deadly Sorrow for Sin, but no godly one. And so may you. You do grieve for your Sin! And so does every Felon, when he comes to Tyburn. You do turn, and cast away your Transgressions! And, so do Seamen cast their beloved Goods to the Sea's bottom, in a Storm. Yet they venture their Lives, to get them up again, in a Calm. Know it, Sirs; as there is a trembling of Heart which is a true saving Grace; there is also, a trembling of Heart, which Divines, as well as Physicians, do call a dangerous Disease. Pejus poenituit quam peccavit ●●das, saith St. Austin. You repent not unto Life, if you count not, that, to dishonour God is worse than Death. And, if you break not off your Sins, as a Prisoner doth his Irons; with a desire they may never come on any more.  
There is a Sense, in which you may believe and be damned. Devils do believe and tremble. And what are your Thoughts of Simon Magus? You may believe the Gospel as a History; so you do the Gazette. And who questions, but the History of it is believed also by Beelzebub? Your Faith is vain, and you are dead in your Sin, if you do not rely on it, as it is a Promise of Grace; and do not conform to it, as it is a Rule of Life! The Faith is damning, which, like Rachel, though it be beautiful, is barren!  
There is a Worship, of which you may give God much, and not honour him at all. Ephraim and Judah, gave him that, which he named Lies and Deceit. You do verbally confess Sins! But, is it not without lamenting them? You ask for Grace! But, it is possible you may not be in much Pain till you have it. You speak God's Praise! But so you may do, and give him none; for, what the Heart does not, it is all undone. Hecatombs without Hearts, are the Sacrifice of Fools.  
There are rare Gifts, which you ' may have; and use to the Profit of others; and yet perish yourselves. The Son of Perdition, had others Gifts beside the Bag. And, for Idleness he was never taxed, that we read. Spiders, the Naturalists say, have eight Eyes. Have you Eyes that are clear? So hath many a venomous Creature. Do you excite others to do good? So do Drums and Trumpets, which abide senseless themselves. Swenkfield, had no small gift of Prayer; and was a great Alms-giver; yet he was a Monster.  
There are very religious Affections, which you may have, and yet be dead in Sins. John Baptist 's Disciples for a Season rejoiced in his Light. Do your Lamps burn? So did the foolish Virgins for a time. Do you sometimes shed Tears at a Sermon? So have some that lived the while in Fornication. It is no new thing, for men's Hearts to thaw in the Sun, and freeze in the Shade. One day to sigh and groan in the Congregation, and the next to rant and roar in the Tavern!  
There is a Love of the Saints, which you may have and be none yourselves. The Heathens, which shown St. Paul no small kindness, were not Saints. You love them because they love you! But do not even the Publicans so? You love them for some or other Gift of theirs, which charmeth you. But, do not you so love your Hounds and Hawks? You are of the World which hates the Saints, if you love them not, because they love God and are beloved of God. And, if you command not yourselves, even then to love them, when you contradict your doubtful Opinions, and tell you of your unquestionable Sins. There be Legions of strange Spirits, that love not the King, and yet lavish away Money on his Servants. That say of God's Service what a weariness is it. Yet will say to a Servant of his, as Herod to the Damsel, Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give thee.  
There is a lovely Sincerity, which you may have, and yet be damned for Hypocrisy. Saul, had a natural and laudable one, before his Conversion; and while the Wrath of God abode upon him. You have true and honest Hearts, as to many moral Acts! And had not Abimelech as honest an one as you? Julian the Apostate was of a Conversation very strict; and it appears not but, that, of a long time, be thought as bad as he spoke! All Sincerity is not godly. There is a wild Olive of it, as well as a true.  
There is an unbroken Quietness, which you may have, without any true Peace. Dives, had just such; his Prologue speaks Quietness; Soul take thine Ease! But, God's Epilogue speaks a distance from Peace; Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be taken against thy Will (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, est poscere à Notente. Casaub.) You have no Sin, that troubles you! It may be so. You name your Sleep in Sin a sweet Rest! No doubt but it seems so. And, you do think it a good Blessing of God's sending! Most Dreamers do dream so. But verily, Sirs, if God sends such a Rest and Quietness, he sends it as he sends Sword and Pestilence! He sends it in Wrath, and for Vengeance. For never is he so angry with a Man, as when he saith, Let him alone! And when he asks, Wherefore should he be stricken any more? Wherefore,  
Is there not a Cause, think ye, for this Advice? That either you turn Christians, or throw away your Christian Names! Naomi, being sunk into a Condition that was contrary, threw off hers; Call me no more Naomi, but Marah. Why should Goats be called Sheep, though found in their Skins? Skins which very Wolves may put on, and often do so, for a Season. Do not wilfully continue dead, if you obstinately desire a Name to live. Come then quite out of Egypt, if you must needs think yourselves in Canaan. The Devil speaks as kindly as Pharaoh, I will let you go, only you shall not go far, Exod. 8.28. Flesh, World, and Devil, do brook all but thorough Religion. Go therefore, go.  
Pray that you may receive your Sight! You know nothing yet, but the Words and the Gestures of Religion; the Nature, the Truth, and the Goodness of it, your Eyes behold not. Nicodemus knows nothing of Regeneration.  
Learn what is the Sinful, and what is the Holy State; There is no third; every Man is in one of the two. Every Man is a Saint, and hath the Holy Spirit; or he is a Samaritan, and hath a Devil. The Sinful State is that, wherein a Man hates, and is hated of God. The Holy State is that, wherein God and Man are reconciled. A Man loves God, and is loved of him. In the first, God and Man are opposed as Fire and Water; In the second, God and Man are endeared as Father and Son! Make your Judgement then, and your Choice! In order whereto,  
Believe the Fountain of Truth, against the Father of Lie. Conclude, the Scriptures to be true, every word. And be assured of all they say, as of the things which you see with your Eyes. Value them, read, follow, and prefer them, above the Light of the Sun!  
Act the parts of Men, in your endeavours to be Saints. Use your Reason, in your pursuits of Religion. God, enlivens Men by awakening their Reason. Satan, murders them by holding it in Sleep. What is your Sin, indeed, but unreasonableness? Want of Consideration, is most, or all men's Damnation. It can never be well with you, till Reason corrects the errors of Sense; and Faith corrects the errors of Reason. For Reason is but a Rule, by the Word and Spirit ruled. Yet as soon will God give you to see with your Eyes shut, as to judge with your Reason unexercised. Indeed, cracked Heads be Sockets for new Lights; but it's because all such be false ones.  
Resolve that the Concerns of Eternity, shall have the best of your Time. That no Mills of secular Business, or Circles of sensual Pleasure, shall have your best Hours; or your deepest Thoughts. No, but, the Morning, (that is the Grace's Friend as well as the Muses) shall always be taken up in Sacred Business. And, of other Seasons, All the Fat shall be the Lord's; He hath but one Day in seven; let him not have less than one Hour in seven, every Day.  
Take fast hold of faithful Reprovers. Are there none near you? Send for them, as Cornelius for Peter. And, when you have them, let them not go! Keep them, as more needful to your Souls, than Butlers and Cooks for your Bodies. Turn them not away for crying Fire, Fire, when you and yours are nigh unto burning.  
Beware of the Frenzy of the Athenian Beggar. Who could not be persuaded, but all the Ships in the Harbour were his. Tormenting Fears do not half the hurt of presumptuous Hopes. Who will have his Arm taken from his Shoulderblade, unless he believe it to be gangreen'd? Or, who of you will run that he may obtain, if he presumes himself to have run and obtained already? Deceitful Hopes avert from all endeavours, and the very desires that be requisite to Salvation.  
Often compare the Gain of Godliness, and the Profit of Sin. The Natures, the Uses, the Durations, of the one and the other. Draw up a Catalogue, or Inventory of them; Or read them often in Authors, that have drawn them up to your Hand. And, then,  
Night and Day consider the Danger of Delays. Tell yourselves, that, a future Repentance, is not a Preparation for the Judgement to come. And, that, it is no Repentance at all, which is not entire without Reserve, and present without Delay. God's voice, to every Man of you, is this; Arise, lest thou be consumed. Escape for thy Life; look not behind thee! Haste therefore, and,  
Do the Act which is the most momentous one of your Life! The act, before which, the Wrath of God abideth on you! And, after which, there is no Condemnation to you! With Judgement, Sincerity, and Gratitude, give yourselves to God in Christ! Join yourselves in Covenant unto the Father, Son, and Spirit! For, there is no other God in Heaven, but the Triune! And, the Socinian is but a more subtle sort of Mahometan. Learned Dr. Pocock observed, that our Saviour was more honoured in Turkey than in Cracovia! In short; Mr. Howe's Decimo of Self-Resignation, is a Diamond. And, so is Blessed Allein's Manual of Conversion?  
Being made God's Temples, keep Porters at your Doors. You do no sooner join unto the Lord in the Gospel-Covenant, but you become Sacred Temples, of the Holy Ghost. And, becoming such, it concerns you to set a strict Watch. That no unclean thing enter you. That, Things and Persons, and whatever is Unholy, be put out of your Society! For, If any defile the Temple of God, him will God destroy. But,  
Think it not enough to abstain from Sin. You do not think it enough for your Servants, to forbear smiting you, without serving you. And, what, if, from this Hour, you never sinned any more? Stocks, and Stones, do not commit any Sins. So very poor a Praise it is to die unto Sin, if you live not unto God Would you appear the Children of God? You must abound in the Work of the Lord. And, be holy, as well as harmless.  
Look not for the Aids which God hath promised, without the use of all Means which he hath required. He hath said, he will give Wisdom, and Will, and Power, to do good. But, not, unless you ask. He hath not said, you shall find unless you seek. Yea, seek with the whole Heart. And, Watch daily at Wisdom's Gates, and wait at the Posts of its Doors! God had given his Apostle all that sailed with him; Yet, without scruple, he pronounced, that, Except they abode in the Ship, they could not be saved! Acts 27.  
Aim as high as Perfection. No sensual Man, covets less than perfect Health, and Strength, and Beauty. Nor does any spiritual one, crave less than perfect Knowledge, Love, and Obedience. He is not Holy enough to be admitted into Heaven, who desires no more than needs for his Admission. Solomon calls it despising of a Man's Soul, to be content with low Attainments for it. And, to be stingy, and pinching, and sparing of Pains to accomplish it. Sincere Love of God aspires to fulfilling of the Law of God It's the Bond of Perfectness; and that which holds all our Faculties, and Powers in the pursuit of it. In Religion, he that designs but a Mediocrity, is under the reigning power of Hypocrisy. A true Christian thinks not himself a sufficiently good Man, till he is as holy as the best Angel.  
Whatever you are doing, remember you are dying. Lamps are wasting as soon as they burn; and we are dying, as soon as we live. How often, in the Womb, is Life spent before Breath is drawn? It's sure, we are on our way toward another World, before we are born into this, and as long as we breath in it. It is dying that we live. And, there's no Dweller on the Earth, but what is a Passenger. As in a Ship under Sail, whatever Men are doing, they are certainly and swiftly passing. It is Dying, that you eat, drink, and sleep; Dying that you buy, sell, or game; Dying, that you read, hear, or pray. And it is a great need that you have of Death in your Thoughts, to quicken you to care of your Ways. Dr. Bates his Treatise of the four last Things, was eaten, and drank by the best of Queens. Happy England, when our Nobility, and Gentry entertain themselves as wisely!  
But alas! Titius is in danger of the Sea breaking in upon all that he hath. With much cost he builds a Wall to keep it out. Only, he leaves a huge Gap in his Wall. Yet, many see the Wall, who see not the Gap; and therefore do admire the Work, and praise the Man. But Sempronius, a less negligent, and more skilful Observer, spies the Gap. And, is sick to see the absurdity of the Wall, and the Folly of Titius. Predicting his Ruin, unless the Gap be stopped with Expedition!  
Lords and Gentlemen, the Case is your own! There be vast Gaps in the Walls of your most operous and sumptuous Religion. And, these you are called to have effectually stopped! Ask not, any of you, (for you are already told) What is your Trespass, and what is your Sin, that you are so hotly pursued? Elijahs must tell Ahabs, that they and their Father's Houses have troubled Israel; in that they have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalam. And, if a very David shall cloak his Sin, Nathan must say plainly, Thou art the Man. Wherefore, be it your care, that, you be not driven one Day to say; We are very guilty concerning our plain Monitor; in that we saw the anguish of his Soul, when he besought us to stop our Gaps, and we would not hear him. Therefore is distress come upon us! In hope of preventing it, I have followed Jacob's Counsel to his Sons, Gen. 43. I have taken of the Fruit of Canaan, and brought you this Present; A little Balm, a little Honey, Spices, and Myrrh, Nuts and Almonds.   

CHAP. V To the truly Religious.  
GOodness and Greatness are a rare Conjunction. What more Divine, than le Bon & le Grand!  
Holy Wisdom though it be, itself, the greatest, is good with an Inheritance. q. d. As good as it is, it is not always good that it should be alone. Riches are an help meet for it. And,  
When joined together, they do notably serve each other. They eminently assimilate their Professor unto their Creator. They assimlate unto him, in being good, and doing it. In the Royal Attributes of Blessedness and Beneficence.  
Neither doth the King of Kings, wholly deny us such Representatives of his. To some few of you he gives the Honour to be such. Making you as visibly rich in Faith and good Works, as in Money and Lands. Increased with the Goods of both Worlds; the Volatile ones of this Earth, and the more enduring Substance of Heaven. And, as for such of you,  
All Men acknowledge your Order to be most Noble. Preciseness itself styles you Right Honourable. Because being so exalted by God, you exalt not yourselves but him. You are wise and just; and, being instructed, you wax wiser. Being reproved, you love your Reprover! And,  
It is here concluded, your Honours will not think scorn to be catechised. Or, asked, in general, First;  
Are there not with you, even with you, Sins against the Lord your God? Galileo's Glasses do show Spots in the Sun. Spots, some say, as big as Asia and Africa. But, do not unassisted Eyes spy your Faults? And, with your Gnats, very Camels; with Motes, very Beams? Have you no need, think you, of Snuffers to your Lamps? And daily remembrancers of your spiritual Distempers? Are the excellent Oils of wholesome Reproof, the least of your Wants? Sirs,  
With your leave supposed, it is asked also, particularly,  
1. Do you indeed, marry in the Lord! In the Lord, and by his Law, do you match yourselves, and your Sons and Daughters? Is Divine Counsel, or Consent seriously asked? Is Religion, any of the Marriage-Articles you agree upon? Or, if any, is it not the first that is last served? Protenùs ad Censum, de Moribus ultima fiet Qestio. May it not be said of many a one, as of Jehoram; He walked in the way of the Kings of Israel, for the Daughter of Ahab was his Wife?  
2. Do you train up your Children in the way of Salvation? Have you, yourselves, much speech with them about their Souls? And, are you much more curious in the choice of their Tutors, than of your Huntsmen and Falconers? Do you go to the cost of Aristotle's for your Alexanders? As Theodosius, are you content with nothing but an Arsenius? A Man, in whom Learning and Virtue strive for Pre-eminence. Gentlemen, may I say what I have known? More than a few of your Children, are starved at Nurse by dry Breasts. And some are poisoned at Nurse, by the cancered Breasts of vicious Teachers. A marvellous thing! that your Minds and Hearts should endure a Teacher, who either hath not a cloven Tongue, or hath a cloven Foot. One, who is not either a Learned Saint, or a most accomplished Hypocrite. That, such as you should commit your Jewels, into any but rare Hands to polish them. Particularly,  
3. Do you teach your Children early, the danger of Prosperity? Their danger of perishing, upon the golden Sands. Which is not less, than their poor Neighbours perishing in the deeps of Poverty. Do you show them the beautiful Captive with her Head shaved? The bewitching World, with the Vanity of its Glories discovered. Do you tell them, and prove to them by Experiments, what Shadows all its Juno's are? Nay, do you not, ever and anon, let fall Expressions which do poison their Minds? And, add to their innate Idolatry of Wealth, and Honour, and Pleasure? Bethink yourselves, and answer; whether you do not give them occasion to lance you, as a Noble Man of this Kingdom, was once lanced by a young Nephew of his.  
Being Guardian to the said Nephew, he made him sick of waiting upon his Lordship's Vanities; and desirous of crossing the Seas, for a Writ of Ease from that attendance. Yet, at parting, his first charge was, That the young Gentleman should by no means change his Religion. Astonished at this, the Nephew forthwith replies, Fear not that, my Lord; for as you have bred me, no Body will change with me.  
The Jews in Barbary, we are told, do every Morning give their Children Honey or Sugar; saying, as this is sweet to thy Taste, let Learning be sweet to thy Heart. What effects might we see, if Christians would, with like constancy, instil Instructions into their Youth? And, especially as to the Objects of their highest Esteem and Delight. By Error wherein, is their perpetual Destruction. For, be it considered,  
This is a sure Rule. They neither honour or love God as God, who do not love and honour him above all Creatures. No thing is weight, which doth not draw the Scale. That which makes one Scale weigh down the other, makes the Weight. Our Honour and Love of God, are light, and far from Weight, until they do preponderate. Nor are they to be reckoned Love and Honour, when they do not weigh down all other. Because, then, some base Idol carries down the Scale, and is of more account than the Triune God. In short; Homage is to be reckoned by Surplusage: and our Love of the most High, never exists, until it exceeds; never gins, till it transcends. The many who reckon otherwise shall be made to reckon again, at the grand Audit.  
4. Do you choose God's Servants to serve you? Do you not ever take Servants, without ask whether they do or will serve God? And do you not keep them without enquiring, what use they make of their holy Baptism? Is it any thing to you, whether they who wait at your Tables, do ever come to the Lord's Table, or no? Sirs, your Father Abraham's Servants were taught and commanded; and so should his children's Servants be!  
5. Do you esteem highly Christ's Ministry? And, that for their work sake? Do you not frown any of them into Silence and Sadness? Do you not tempt them to give you your Character like Antigonus his Picture, which was half faced, that the deformity might be concealed? Do you glad them by ask their Advice? Saying to one and another, as the sick Child's Father to the Bishop of Souls; If thou canst do any thing, come help us! Do you tell them, as Alexander told a Flatterer of his; If thou seest not my Faults, thou art not a Philosopher: if thou dost see them and not admonish me, thou art a Traitor.  
By the way, it must be asked; do you never take into your Chapel, Salt that is fit for the Dunghill? Do you never make a Judas, your Apostle to a Benefice? Do you never put a stinking Snuff into a golden Candlestick? Do you never send a blind Man, to be the Guide of a Parish? And a Blackmore to whiten all the Souls of it?  
Besides, it may be asked; whether you are not sometimes sick of the best of Heaven's Ambassadors? Reckoning them as so many Bills of Charges on you. Even while you keep at distance sufficient from the Macedonian Fault. That, of giving beyond your Power. Have you not made some of them as poor as Job, for their imitating St. Paul? For their disuse of the enticing words of Man's Wisdom; for their condescending to your Capacities; and not preaching in the Clouds? Do you not oftimes, despise their Prophesying? Staying from a Sermon to play a Game. Being much less swift to hear, than to excuse the Sin of not Hearing. And, sevenfold less attentive to the Pulpit, than your Neighbours are to the Stage. Time runs too fast they think at a Playhouse; as long as Wit can run, they wish the Sun wouldst and still. But, at a Sermon, do not you watch the Glass, with a contrary Lust? In a word; Have you not a practice of robbing the Ministers, which are highest in your Favours? Your Chaplains especially? Calling them to you, and detaining them with you; with an unmerciful Frequency, and a most tedious Imprisonment, wasting your Hours (as oft as your Levity can call forth theirs) in Squibs and Jests. Without a mu or gru of religious Conference; without a word seasoned with Salt. This is Theft, and Sacrilege, for you devour that which is Holy.  
It is possible, that, in such days as ours, you may take a pride in keeping Chaplains. So rare a thing it is grown, that you may rise up to Micah's presumption; Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to be my Priest. But, you are wiser when you are yourselves; if, as it is supposed, you are Israelites indeed.  
6. Do you make the excellent of the Earth all your Delight? Are you nice in the Choice of Friends and Associates? Do you mind how much your Welfare in Time and to Eternity, depends upon your Company? Upon your choice, and your use of Company? Do you shut out Lepers? Do you put to cure Men that are not hopeless? And, into your Bosoms, do you take none, but such as are of serious Religion? The Fowls of the Air, and the Beasts of the Field, keep not Heterogeneous Company. All the Herd, do cast out the Deer that is chased and wounded. And all the Flocks of a Feather, do excommunicate such as are of any other. They are less wise, to whom it is all one, whether their Consorts be Saints or Brutes. And, who do forget what every Body knows, that if a Joseph fall among Courtiers, he will rap out Oaths. If the High Priest's Hall do take a Peter, it turns him into a Judas.  
7. Do you hasten to get reconciled, to any whom you have wronged? To any, though ever so poor a Body. Do you not conceit, that it is a small matter for a Cedar to wrong a Shrub? For, the Fat of the Earth to by't the Lean? Renowned Mr. Boyl, would ask forgiveness of his Servants, if he had let fall any rebuke which exceeded their Fault. [See my Book of Forgiving Enemies.]  
8. Do you do good to them that hate you? Do you consider, that, to revenge yourselves, is but to be even with Enemies? To forgive them, is but to get above them. But, to do good for their Evil, is to rise up to your Saviour's Example. What think you of blessed Cranmer, that still was uneasy, till he had answered an Affront with a Courtesy? And, an ill turn, with some good Gift! Please you, Sirs, to remember very Pericles, when a scurrilous Fellow had railed against him all Day, he commanded his Footman to light him home at Night. And Lycurgus, that forgave with his Heart, the Man that struck out one of his Eyes.  
9 Do you entreat your Tenants to remember their Landlord and yours? What! would not your entreaties make them pray daily with their Families? Make them read God's Word, as constantly as they eat his Bread? Make them as surely get their Children catechised, as clothed? Know you not, that your Words be of Power, to perfume their Cottages, with the Holy Word, and Prayer? And, that it is much from your silence, they are kept stinking with Vice, and rotting in Wickedness? Do not you, as others, mind no more than your own Rent; and show no care of God's Tribute, or of your Tenants future State?  
10. Do you covet to be rich in good Works? Do you bestow your Charity, extensively; as the Sun its Light? Readily, as Fountains do their Waters; proportionably to what you have, as Clouds do their Rain; cheerfully, as you do lay out spare Money on a rich Purchase? Are you of his Heart that professeth; if Almsgiving were as sweet to other Men as to him, they would rather cut the Flesh of their Arms into slices, than give nothing? Do you regard your Saviour's Engagement and Encouragement? Give Alms, and behold all things are clean unto you!  
Sirs, upon you it lies, to vindicate the Credit of Protestants. And to practise what you hear preached; St. Paul's Faith, which works by Love. St. Peter's Faith, that shows itself in brotherly Kindness and Charity. St. James' Faith which hath Works to show. St. Jude's Faith, which is not a Cloud without Rain, or a Tree without Fruit. And St. John's Faith, which is not in Word only, but in Deed and Truth: without which your Faith is a Peacock's Feather, your Hope is a Spider's Web, your Charity is a painted Fire. You have much more Water than will turn your Mills. And, you have a Monitor in your Breasts, that bids you not let any run, as the Waters of Jordan, into the dead Sea. Awake thou that sleepest, preach this, O Conscience! For in restraining their own Mercy, Men do forfeit God's Mercy. Bishop Burnet's Letters say that the Annunciata in Naples, is the greatest Hospital in the World. And, another tells us that, at Venice there are Seventy three rich Hospitals. The Dutch, all Men say, have no Beggar among them. And Sir Thomas Herbert saith as much of the Chinese. But, if English Nobleses and Gentlemen, would but do as Thevenot reports of the Musselmen; would they give a seventh part of their Estates to the relief of the Poor; yea, or but a tenth part; it would be said for Charity, Who is like thee O England?  
11. Do you abhor Prodigality; and the more for the sake of Charity? Are you moderate in your Expenses for Building and Furniture? For Apparel and Entertainments. In the Year 85, the Pope of Rome, spent but a Crown a Day; and Sisto the 8th, exceeded not Eighteen-pences. Do you (who pass for better Christians) take care how you lay out the Money, whereof you are but Stewards? Do you always, consult your King, and Judge, whose it is? Do you despise a Cleopatra, drinking a Pearl of seventy eight thousand Pound? And, a Lollia Paulina, wearing as many about her, as came to three hundred thousand Pound? And, a Publicus Clodius, that must live in a House which cost an hundred and fourteen thousand Pound? Plenty, without great Wisdom, carries to wantonness and extravagance. When Rome swelled with Wealth, it burst into excess of both. More was given for a Fish, than would have bought an Ox. And, upon their Shoes they wore Pearls. Your Tympany may not rise so high. But, under favour, be it asked; do you hate both extremes; of being profuse, as the Sea, and of heaping up Gold as the Sand?  
12. Do you preach to yourselves that Gospel Precept, Be ye courteous? Do you doubt but it binds the greatest that are born of Women? You do not question but it doth, and you cannot but feel, that, high Places do make rugged Tempers. The Rich are answered roughly. Do you therefore well consider; wilful Morosity is extreme Inhumanity. Nor have Saints sufficient Grace, to bear so brutish a Nature. Do not spit upon this homespun Epithet! For, none is more true or apt. The African Forests have nothing more unreasonable in them than those Churls, who do browbeat Men, made in the Image of God; and for no other Cause, than their want of gay Clothes. Who despise such Men, as God hath honoured with the Righteousness of his Son; with the Grace of his Spirit; with the Guard of his Angels; and with the Reversion of his Heavenly Kingdom. And, this because they have not to show the Trophies of Moth and Rust, and Thiefs. Can they tell us, why their Eyes do not rather despise their Ears, because they have not the faculty of Seeing? And, their Ears, despise their Eyes, because they have as little the faculty of Hearing? Do you not see it, Sirs, your poor Friends hasten from you, when they see lowering Faces, though you have open Hands. Affability is as obliging as Money; and Charity itself is odious, when it is morose. As Medicines, though ever so wholesome, when they are bitter they are loathsome. To give large Morsels, and not show sweet Manners, is to give Marrowhones without the Marrow in them. David, though a King, who had been provoked, sugared his words; My People and my Brethren, 1 Chron. 28.2. The greater is your shame if you treat your fellow Subjects with Language unhandsome. And, the rather, because, right well you know, that hard Words and sour Faces, like Spanish Flies, do raise Blisters.  
13. Do you make your Light to shine before Men? Good Works must not be done, to be seen of Men; to fetch in their Praises. But they must be done to be seen of Men; to carry them forth Patterns! Believe you not, that you are commanded so to do them, that Friends and Enemies may be compelled to see them? You know, your Sins are written in Letters big enough for them to read. And, think you, that your Duties to God, and your Neighbour, should be drawn in a less Character? Of old, the Angel was a Destroyer, if the Blood of the Lamb was not seen on the Door. Works and not Words, must convince Men that you are Christians; and that you do value no Birth, like the Second; no Estate, like the Saint's Inheritance in Light; no Place of Honour, like Christ's right Hand; no Place of Power, like that of judging the World; and no State, like the Heavenly one, in which, Desires are exceeded, and Fears excluded! Ought you not to convince Men hereof? Or, think you, that any Language, but the language of Practice can convince them?  
14. Do you greatly fear the least Sin? Do you keep in Mind, what you well know? That, an everlasting Hell, is the Wages of the least Sin! That, St. Paul cried, O wretched Man, for very involuntary Sin! That, the old Law required Sacrifice for Sin in a very Dream, Leu. 15.16. That, it did also require extraordinary Sacrifices, for great men's Sins. (Signifying your Treasons to be the higher for being yours.) That the least spark of Sin quickly becomes a great Flame! He, who was tempted to kill his Father, to defile his Mother, and to make himself drunk; he refused the two first, but promptly complied with the last. And, what came of it? Why, having glibly swallowed his one Gnat; before he came to himself again, he took down the two Camels also. If you will let in ever so little Thiefs, the Pigmies will open your Doors to Anakims. A vain Thought, invites in the Sin against the Holy Ghost. When it is indulged, and favoured, it doth so.  
15. Do you, of all Sins, dread the Thought of turning Grace into Wantonness? Of sinning, because Grace abounds? Of being ready to sin, because God is ready to forgive? Of daring to take down sweet Poison, because a powerful Antidote is prepared by your Soul's Physician? It is unquestionably true; the Forgiving great Sins is God's great Praise. Your Unrighteousness, in his way of pardoning it, sets off God's Righteousness; and eminently praises it. But, what then? Of them that say, Let us do evil, that good may come; the Herald of free Grace saith plainly; Their Damnation is just!  
This is told you by a most mistaken Man, if these following particulars, be not too much forgotten, by Lords and Ladies. There is no Alliance between Christ and Belial. Imputed Righteousness, though it frees from Hell; it doth not, without inherent Righteousness, capacitate for Heaven. Lepers, would be Lepers in the New Jerusalem, itself. 'Tis not the Place that can impart Blessedness. You cannot be like God in Felicity, if you be not like him in Purity. But, there can be no greater Sin, than the abuse of Grace. No greater superfluity of Naughtiness, than misuse of Mercy and Forgiveness. Nothing can render you so unworthy of Mercy, as sinning upon the Presumption of it. Chrysostom says it was this, that aggravated Judas his Sin, and kept him from hope of Pardon!  
16. Do you know thoroughly how to abound? i. e. To perform the Duties, and to avoid the Dangers of your Prosperity. The great Apostle and Martyr of Christ did know this. And the Prince of Pagan Philosophers and Courtiers, boasted of his knowing it. Telling the World, that, he always kept a great distance between himself and his Estate. Insomuch, that, When he came to part with it, it came off easily, as a Glove from his Hand; not, with torture, as his Skin from his Flesh. Sirs, do you keep this distance, and greater? Do you consider that you are but Men? For Iron Fanes are not Gold, but Iron, though they be set upon ever so high Steeples. And Dwarves are but Dwarves, though they do stand upon ever so high Stilts. Consider you, that, being great Men, you have greater Duties incumbent on you? And, the greater are the Sins, which are committed by you. Consider you, that, being also new Men, the Holy Ghost is extremely grieved by your Miscarriages? Unregenerate men's Sins resist, and vex; but yours do also grieve him. In short; they must have an Unction from the Holy one, and know all things, who do truly know how to use this World's good things. Tho every Abcdarian be apt to turn a Pygmalion.  
17. Do you own nothing but what you hasten to pay? No Respect, no good Office, no Money? The Divine old Law, is in force upon the Highest of you; At his Day thou shalt give the poor Hireling his Hire; neither shall the Sun go down on it; lest he cry to the Lord, and it be Sin against thee. The Civilians Maxim is at your Tongues ends, against tardy-paying Tenants; Minùs solvit qui minus tempore solvit. Sum-total is no good Payment, if it be not brought in good Time. And, this holds as to all Debts. Insomuch, that the Cries of Tradesmen are horrible Reproaches to Gentlemen. And, you yourselves do raise the worst Scandala Magnatum, when you suffer Mercers and Tailors to come, and pull you by their own Coats. (Coats, that be theirs, and not yours, till they are paid for.) When you let Butchers, Poulterers, and Fishmongers have it to say, That your Tables are their Snares. Making hundreds to complain, that by arraying yourselves, you reduce them unto Nakedness; and by your Feasting, you do bring them to Famine. That they had not failed, if you had not broken them. When, likewise, your Domestic Servants are made to serve half an Apprenticeship, before they receive a Year's Wages. Sirs; the greatest Men in Jerusalem, were threatened to be made Bondmen, for unkindness to their Servants, Jer. 34th. And, Jehojakim himself is meant, in that word of the Prophet; Woe to him that useth his Neighbour without Wages. Delaying of Payment most times maketh diminution; and, many times utter denial of it.  
Be it asked also, by the way; what your Worships think of this, whereof you do hear less? Less, from your Chaplains, and less from your Consciences. Is it no Sin, or but a Peccadillo, to let a Servant go away from you empty? Shiftless, and destitute of means to live from you. What? Is the Law repealed which saith expressly concerning a departing Servant? Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy Flock, and out of thy Floor, and out of thy Winepress. Of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.  
Away with paltry excuses! Israelites are not themselves when they turn off an old Servant, with less Provision made for him, than what is made for an old Horse or Hound!  
Wherein you have done Iniquity, good Sirs, do no more! But, repent, restore, reform, and let your Zeal provoke many! That, Men of Estates, and Beasts of Prey, may no longer be Synonymous Terms, and the same Things! That it may no more be said, you are fell as Lions, fierce as Leopards, savage as Bears, ravenous as Wolves, and that under a Form of Godliness. No, but that, you are together Gentle and Noblemen. Nursing Fathers to your poor Neighbours; useful Elms to bear up all the weak and needy Vines, which are near you; sweet Springs, to them, that have not Water enough to keep their Mills going.  
It will one day be more honour, to have enabled a poor Man to keep his Cart on the Wheels, than to have kept seven of your own Coaches and Chariots on them. And, alas, what Pillows do you sleep on, in the mean time; you, who cannot challenge the Town, and Country, as Samuel did; Whom have I defrauded, whom have I oppressed? Who cannot appeal, as the Prince, and the Saint of the Land of US; Have I despised the Cause of my Manservant or Maidservant, when they contended with me? Have I withheld the Poor their desire, or caused the Eyes of the Widow to fail? Have I eaten my Morsel alone? and the Fatherless not eaten thereof? Have I seen any to perish for want of Clothing, or any Poor without Covering? Have I lifted up my Hand against the Fatherless, when I saw my help in the Gate? What think you of yourselves, you, who cannot say as Moses; I have not hurt any one! And, as St. Paul; I have coveted no Man's Silver, Gold, or Apparel! Yea, and as our Saviour, our grand Exemplar; I have done many good Works among you!  
The Clerks of your Closets, are not true unto God or your Souls, if they put you not in remembrance of these things. And, preach not Justice and Mercy. They can tell you if they please of the Sultan Selimus; who being pressed by his Pyrrhus to lay out upon Hospitals, what he had wrongfully taken from the Persians, abhorred it. And, required that it should be restored, all of it, to the right Owners. And, with your good leave, they are able to add; that, Except the Righteousness of a Christian Gentleman, exceed the Righteousness of a Turkish Sultan, he is not very likely to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  
18. Do you study the Book of Ecclesiastes? You, more than others, are in danger of being poisoned. And, should you not more than others, acquaint yourselves with the Antidote? Riches, though an adored Idol, are a strong Poison. Whom of you do they do not make to swell, more or less? And, throughout the Royal Dispensatory you find not such another Antidote as in this praised Book. Should you not, therefore, give it good Reading? One of your Rank made his thirteen Children, learn the Proverbs of Solomon by heart. I would that more of you would both learn and teach the Book of Ecclesiastes.  
There you are told, your cain's are but Abel's, i e. Your Possessions be but Vanities. Your Riches do fill but your Mouths, not your Appetites. You have as many unsatisfied Desires, as the People that rake Cinders. Your Titles may overcharge your Memories, but can never fill your Pride. Your sensual Pleasures may waste your Spirits, and stupify your Senses, but can never satisfy, and make them say, it is enough. You are told of all the three; that, as many other Drugs, they are deadly without due Correctives. That, as all Flowers, they do fade quickly; and the longer you possess them, the less they do delight you. However, that, they neither prevent or retard Death. But do frequently hasten Diseases and Death. That they are as disproportionate to the Wants of your Souls, as shadows are to the Wants of your Bodies. That, (as you have it said of your Children) they are certain Cares, and uncertain Comforts. And, that by all your Chemistry, you shall never extract Satisfaction out of them! No, but be far from any true Peace in the use of them, without these Anodynes, viz.  
Religious Content with your Quota. Neither vexing that you have no more, nor envying to see others have Measure pressed down and running over. It was most truly that Seneca told his Lucilius; it is Lust that is sick for House fulls; Nature is as well with a few Spoonfuls.  
Cheerful and Thankful use of your Substance, according to the Quality of your Degree, the Decency of your Condition, and the Rules of Religion. Without luxurious Exceeding, or sordid Living.  
Humble acquiescence under every Providence. Being dumb, whatever God doth, because he doth it. He, whose Will is your Law. And, whose Gifts are more common than Daylight; but his Strokes, more rare than Thundershots.  
Spirit, and Truth in God's Holy Worship. Service paid to his Majesty, with all your Heart, and by the Rule of his Word. For bodily Service profits not. And, what is not prescribed by the Divine Canon, is no better than a Dog's Neck. Regular Service and sincere, is perfect Freedom; and profitable to all things. But God hath no pleasure in Fools.  
Sedateness of Mind under Oppressions by Men. Possession of your Soul in Patience, while your Substance is smitten with the first of Wickedness. And, your Name, with the tyrannous Tongue of it. Imitation of your grand Exemplar; who was oppressed, and opened not his Mouth. Did not lay any Fuel on his Oppressor's Fire. Did not call them Devils, who told him he was a Samaritan, and had a Devil.  
A prepared Breast for all Events. Prepared as Pilgrims should be, for Calms, and Storms. Prepared, to receive sweet things thankfully; and bitter ones patiently. Most certain it is, that, he is Proof for any thing, that is become wise enough to prefer Preservation in Brine, above Corruption in Honey.  
Prudent Deport and Behaviour towards all Men. The Wisdom of the Serpent, with the Innocence of the Dove, is a necessary Ingredient in human Life. A natural force it hath, and an instituted one; to preserve Names from Calumny, and Persons from Injury. It puts to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. And, wins the very spiteful, unto Kindness. For, most of them be found tractable, when they are discreetly taken by the right Handle.  
Charity towards the worst of Men. Charity that believes all things, bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity that not only suffers, but is kind; and is not easily provoked. Charity, which abhors that condemned word, I will do unto the Man, as he hath done unto me!  
Sobriety, or just Government of the Affections toward sensual things. Things, whose Use is necessary; but, the Excess is deadly. And, therefore, Affections toward them must be moderated, not destroyed. Cynical Austerity, is Frenzy more than Piety. But, Intemperance is a more common, and open defiance of Righteousness, and Holiness. The Vassals hereof do rob God of their Hearts and Lives. Rob themselves of their Understandings. Rob Church and State of their Service. Rob their Families of their Maintenance. Thus doth every Soul, that is under the power of Wine and Oil!  
Practic Prudence. Which is more than Science or Knowledge of the Natures of things. A Skill it is, to dispose of them for good. To take the right Way and Season, to convert them to the best Uses. A Skill, without which, Science makes you but like a useless Ship. One, which hath a Sail, but of no use; as wanting a Rudder to direct its Course.  
Pious Loyalty. Obedience to the King's Laws as far as consisteth with the Divine Commandments. Obedience to them as free and as full, as that which your Hands and Feet do yield to your Head.  
Just Diligence. For, by much Slothfulness very lofty Buildings will decay. Through the Idleness of noble Hands Houses of Cedar will drop through. One Hebrew word signifies, both, a rich Man, and a Man at Ease. But, to be idle, is the direct way to get rid of Riches and Ease. He that sees all things by his Servants Eyes, and doth all by their Hands; hath, commonly, both his Eyes to wipe, and his Hands to wring, before he is much older. It is not for Lords or very Kings to eat the Bread of Idleness. Tho they are not to sweep the House, or blow the Field; they are to know the state of their Flocks, and to look well unto their Herds. Idleness exempts the highest of Men from the protection of Angels, Psal. 91.11. Without some Pains no Infant sucks. And, it is against God's Command, that any grown Body ems, unless he works, 2 Thess. 5.8.  
Much Giving and Forgiving. You may come yourselves, to Bread and Water, if you cast not your Bread upon the Waters. i e. If you give not Portions to seven, and also to eight; to Waters, or to multitudes of People; numberless as Water-drops. And, if you will give heed to all that is spoken; if you will not wink at some Faults, and pass by some Miscarriages, you will make your Servants curse you to your Faces. i.e. By being merciless you will make them desperate. If you are so unlike God toward them, you will have them very like Devils towards you.  
Holy Root and Fruit. The Root of inward Reverence, the Fruit of universal Obedience. Fearing God, and keeping his Commandments. To wit, in the Faith of Christ, without whom we can do nothing! And the God with whom we have to do, will accept of nothing. These are the whole of Man, or all of a Man. His Nature, his Duty, and his Interest, saith the great Bishop Wilkins!  
In short; Courts as well Cottages, are summoned to attend these things. Let US hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter. And, you, as well as we, are pressed with a double Argument. From the Comprehensiveness of the Matter, and from the Exactness of God's Judgement. The Judgement into which God will bring every OPEN Work and SECRET, whether it be Good or Evil!   

The Conclusion.  
SIRS, What hath been delivered to you, hath been received from your Lord, and ours.  
It will be no new thing, if the Beaux Esprits do laugh it to scorn. If one and another Naaman do despise Jordan.  
Phreneticks do use to throw away the Medicine, and trample on the Plaster, which would heal them. Who knows not what Stones were cast at the Prince of Preach●rs, our very Saviour? Lepers, were never fond of Looking-glasses, and Madmen never loved Hellebore.  
As for Hypocrites, they were never very forward Converts! An un●●ring Judge saith it; Publicans and Harlots are less obstinate. Morally, as well as Naturally, we see, that Consumptions do kill more than Calentures. Most People do perish under one or other form of Godliness. And, of the two, there be fewer, who do cast themselves headlong into Tophet, than do descend step by step into it.  
Neither is it to be denied, but, that, Spots are hardly got out of Diamonds too. And much Soap and Nitre, are lost upon many a Holy Creature. Our Saviour's two rebukes of an undoubted Saint, prevented not a third out breach of the self same Sin. Get thee behind me Satan, one would have thought, should have been Refining Fire in his Heart. The Cock's crowing, which set him bitterly weeping, might have been expected to have sufficiently warned him against hasty speaking. But, no such matter; out again it broke; What shall this Man do? In short; the best Christians do still remain too Legal, though they read much the Epistle to the Romans, and Galatians. And, too too Licentious, though they do read the Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, and St. Judas!  
Nevertheless; in Duty unto all, and in Hope of some of you; Whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, this Trumpet is blown.  
Their Smart it is, and Pain; not Metal and Pride, which maketh diseased and wounded Creatures to curvet and prance. And, it is pure Compassion, wherewith I shall follow the most insulting Scorners of my Counsel. I have consulted surer Oracles, than those of Dodona, and Delphos. And am perfectly certain of thus much;  
That, very many of you Fat upon the Earth, as well as the Poor that go down to the Dust, Psal. 22.29. Many of you Grandees must one day be Converts. That, the very Wolves of you shall come into the Fellowship of the Gospel with our Saviour's Lambs. That, the Leopards shall lie down with Kids; Calves, young Lions, and Fatlings together; and a little Child shall lead you, Isa. 11.6, 9 An humble Minister, of no more State than a newly weaned Child, shall manage you as well as a Spiritual Lord! And, you shall no more hurt or destroy in all God's Holy Mountain. No, but,  
You, Mountains, of the Nobility, shall bring Peace to the People; and you the little Hills of the Gentry, also, by Righteousness, Psal. 72.3. Amen.  
FINIS.