THE DANGER OF RICHES, DISCOVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED At St. Paul's, Septemb. the 28 th'. 1662. before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor. By THOMAS CARTWRIGHT D. D. and Chaplain to His Majesty. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hierocl. in Carm. Pythag. LONDON, Printed by R. Davenport for John Baker at the Sign of the Peacock in S. Paul's Church Yard. 1662. To the Right Honourable, Sr. JOHN ROBINSON, Knight and Baronet, Lieutenant of His Majesty's Tower, and Lord Mayor Elect of the City of London. SIR, NExt to his Innocence there ought nothing to be dearer to a Minister than his Reputation, who as long as he lies under an ill character, will rather teach the People to find fault with him than mend any in themselves; and therefore he is concerned in duty to God, the Church, and himself, to clear his words from all misprisions, and his actions from all aspersions which are at any time cast upon them; in which respect it is, that I am now concerned to submit to the public censure this following discourse, which I lately delivered in a Sermon at St. Paul's; in which, as I did not desire to displease any, so neither did I hope to please all, whilst in the prosecution and discharge of my duty, I was to concern myself in the faults of the present, to counter-argue a profitable vice, and so could expect no less than their displeasure, to whom the overruling sentence of a guilty conscience should apply that hard saying of my Text. The Treasure which I coveted was not their favour, but amendment, and therefore if I lanced them to the quick, it was no more than I intended, and I am glad to be assured of it, though by their displeasure; which whilst I have gained from some of more note in the City than to be affronted by a careless contempt of their censures, (by whom I have been traduced for libelling Citizens, for such vices of which they were never suspected but by me) I must either by a passive silence bear false witness against myself, and wilfully betray my own innocence, which were a sin against my duty; or else to right myself, and benefit them, appeal to others of more impartial judgements, who may best discern whether the guilt and weakness which hath been betrayed were theirs or mine. If I had no relation to the City but by the Honour which I have had to relate to yourself, I ought for your sake to have a better opinion of it, than to lie under the least temptation of defaming it; which that I have not done at any time, much less at this, will appear to them, who after the perusal of this Sermon shall consider, whether there be not men in the City who came as ill by their estates, and make as bad use of their riches; as any I here describe? and whether they ought in charity to conceive, I mean any other than those when I censure them? and being such as they are, whether they can deserve less? and if they who undertake to judge me, be none of them themselves, why they should partake of others sins, by disallowing of their deserved reproof? whether I had better strive to please or profit? to gain men's affections by doing my duty, or by omitting it? and whether I could have evidenced a greater respect to their persons than by reprehending their vices, which wheresoever I find I am bound to hate, but most in my best friends, to whom I chief own that degree of charity? I am apt to flatter myself into a belief, that such considerations as these may save me the trouble of an Apology, and prevail with such sincere lovers of plain dealing as your Honour, to judge charitably of what I now humbly recommend to your Patronage of which as I have formerly found the benefit, so I have still reason to be the more ambitious, because there is a power in your judgement to oblige others to have a better opinion of Your most obliged servant Tho: Cartwright. Barking Octob. the 7 th'. 1662. The Danger of Riches. St. Matthew the 19th v. 24 th'. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. I Am very much afraid that the first sound of these words, may have possessed you with a timorous expectation, of a loud invective against your great Diana of Worldly gain; and that consequently your prejudice may like a Sullen Porter have barred up your ears and hearts against both the Preacher and the Sermon: But yet, that I may be faithful to God and you, I must venture the loss of your good opinion, to be instrumental to the saving of your souls. I wish it were uncharitable to suppose, that there were any in this Congregation, of the same temper with the young man in this Chapter, who could be content to keep the Commandments as long as they might keep their moneys, with whom as much Religion would go down as will advance their Trade, and who could patiently hear of glorifying God, till we come to tell them that they must do it with their substance; But when Godliness gins to encroach on their gain, they care not how little they have to do with it; they then conclude it high time with Demas to forsake St. Paul, to embrace this present world, and to give the Devil his demands, fall down and worship him, rather than go without the Omnia haec, all these things. If this be your unhappy temper, I am fallen indeed on a thankless argument, and such as I am afraid you'll explode for an Heretical Doctrine, but yet I must not retract it, having no less than the authority of Heaven to confirm it. Nor do I think it the less seasonable to insist on the danger of Riches, because you so generally complain of the want of them, but rather the more, that so I may turn your complaint into a comfort, and teach you to applaud (upon second thoughts) what you now perhaps unadvisedly bewail, I am come to congratulate them who have such rubs as these removed out of their way to happiness, and to rejoice with them that the bunch of the Camel is taken off, to facilitate their passage through the eye of the needle; and to let them know that this will not answer the providence of God by grumbling at the ease which he hath given them, but by expressing their thankfulness for that he hath plucked these thorns out of their sides. So that whether your conditions give you occasion to use more moderation or patience, I may very pardonably entertain you with a discourse of the danger of Riches; the inordinate love whereof is the a Prima peregrinos obscaena pecunia mores intulit, & turpi fregerunt secula luxu Divitiae molles. original of most of your miscarriages. We find (verse 16.) a young man starting a very important Quaere to our Saviour, What good thing he should do to make him capable of eternal happiness: whereupon our Saviour refers him to the keeping of the Commandments (verse 17) He instantly replied that he had gone as far as that already, having all his time been a constant observer of the Law. (verse 20.) Our Saviour approving these gracious beginnings in him, speaks kindly to him and endeavours to win him to that degree of contempt of worldly Riches which might give him the advantages of relieving and supporting others, and thereby qualify him for a capacity of being a true Christian in the Church militant, and a Saint in the triumphant: He tells him that he must, upon contemplation of the reward laid up in heaven, be content to part with all the wealth of the world, whensoever it shall be required of him, either directly, or by consequence, when he cannot obey any particular precept without danger of being undone by it, which when the young man heard he went away sorrowful, having a great estate, and not being willing to pay so dear for perfection, as to part with that to purchase it. (verse 22.) Our Saviour observing his carriage, doth thereby convince his Disciples how very hard a thing it is for a worldly minded man to become a Christian, (verse 23.) and that others might not cheat their souls, as he for some time had done, with false pretensions to Heaven, and upon such slight grounds arrive at so great a confidence, what he had before proved by that example, he now explains by a similitude, where a rich man is compared to a Camel, and the Kingdom of God to the Eye of a needle, and our Saviour positively declares, that he must part with as much of his humour before he can be capable of being a Christian, as that beast must of its bulk to be qualifyed to pass through so strait a passage as is the eye of a needle: In which words we have 1. The deposition or truth to be believed, viz. that 'tis easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. 2. The Affidavit or authority which is ready to vouch it. And again I say unto you. 1. As to the Deposition, we must remember that 'twas an ordinary Proverb among the Jews, Hebrews and Arabs, An Elephant can not pass through the eye of a needle, to signify the most impossible thing: This proverb Christ was willing to change, from the Elephant (a beast which few of his Auditors had seen) to a Camel, which was very ordinary in Syria, whose bunch on his back would hinder his passage through any narrow entrance. Theophylact and Phavorinus will have it rendered a Cable with which Mariners use to cast their Anchors, and that which they fancy to be more agreeable to the eye of a needle: but Erasmus confesseth Suidas to be the first approved Author in whom he found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used for a Cable (and after him Camers;) and observing that Julius Pollux makes no mention of it amongst the tackle of a Ship, he rejects it as a Grammarian conjecture, and an interpretation of more boldness than authority. And such, as I conceive, or little better, is that other assertion which the Postillers make frequent use of, that there was a Gate in Jerusalem called the Needle, through which it was not impossible but difficult for a Camel to pass. The very possession of riches makes the passage difficult, and gives us cause to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, how hard it is? but the inordinate love of them renders it impossible; so that if by a rich man we understand one who trusts in his riches, (as the generality of them do) than it will come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, How impossible it is? and so the simile of a Camel and a needle's eye will fit it. Nor dare I tread so near upon the borders of blasphemy, as to venture to say, that Our Saviour ever spoke any thing by an Hyperbole, such rash expressions arguing gross mistakes, being by no means chargeable on the infinite knowledge of our Redeemer. Nor yet have I any temptation to deny, but that some great and rich men, who have been sometimes on earth, are now great Saints in Heaven, and that there is still room for many more; for God can untwist those cords of vanity and cart-ropes of iniquity, with which the worldlings are bound to their riches, and make them, as he did Matthew the Publican, pass through the eye of a needle; and as Zacheus notwithstanding his Camels back, his prodigious wealth, to pass through that strait gate which gives entrance into eternal life. But let me withal request you to remember that such miracles as these were the rarities and reserves of heaven, and such as are not often seen; it is very seldom that men are imparadised in this life and enthroned in the next, and therefore considering the incomparable danger which they are in, Rich men had need have many a charge given them above others, to take care of their souls, lest valuing their coin above their conscience, 1 Joh. 2.15. by their love to the world, and the things that are in the world; it appears that the love of the Father is not in them, Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (says Saint James,) Jam. 4.4. and therefore hath little reason to expect a Kingdom from him: And that they might not flatter themselves into a better opinion of their condition than it deserves, Our Saviour tells them in my Text, that it will be easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. Which truth though it have a sufficient Affidavit to back it, even him in whose disposal alone the Kingdom is, to confirm it; yet because I am speaking to Citizens, who will hardly think any security sufficient when we are about to persuade them out of their profit, whose faith is not easily tempted to assent to any thing against their interest, I shall add to the testimony which you have had from heaven, the reasons upon which the difficulty is grounded, that so the truth of the doctrine may not hereafter be disputed, nor you need a second lecture of faith in this particular: now these are to be drawn either from the streitness of the way itself, or from his incapacity more than other men to pass it. It is not every man who is presently capable of the Kingdom of God, much less a Rich man, which incapacity proceeds, not from the nature of riches in themselves, but from his proneness to abuse them, so far as to make them instrumental to his own damnation, which they will be if he either come wrongfully by them, or if justly and be not thankful for them, not content with them, not careful to employ them to the ends for which they were given him; too confident in them, too regardless of the temptations which the devil lies under them to seduce and ensnare him, not willing to part with them as luggage when they hinder him, or throw them overboard as too much lading when they are ready to sink him, but suffering them, contrary to the intention of the Donor, to steal away his heart, and engross his affections wholly to themselves, so as that he seldom thinks of the Kingdom of God, always undervalues it, never really desires it: for each of which, when I shall have produced a particular evidence, I will not be so uncharitable to you, whatsoever you mean to be to yourselves, as to doubt but that this doctrine will go down for a truth with you, and be easily digested into such a practical undervaluing of these perishing riches as may be fit for me to recommend to you, in order to the salvation of your immortal souls: to each of which, with your patience and pardon I shall crave to speak something, orderly, briefly and plainly. Now first the passage into the Kingdom of God, may well be compared, as it is, to the eye of a needle, and termed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a broad way, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a way full of thorns, and beset with diffculties, which the lose livers of the world do practically confess, whilst with a loitering formality they strive to avoid it. 'Tis no such easy matter for a man to have his conversation in Heaven whilst he walks on earth, to enjoy God in the Creation and to pass out of the sensible world into the intellectual, to live above the world and himself, and not to debase his soul in pursuit of low and particular ends and interests; to live in it, and not be delighted with it, as having all things, and yet possessing nothing; to carry himself above all that the world can do for or against him, to bid defiance to all the powers of darkness so as not to shrink at any danger, not be disheartened at any opposition of the enemy, to balk all the flattering temptations with which he would inveigle us, to row against the stream of the world and our own natural inclinations, to master our headstrong affections with so strait a rain, and to break them with so severe a Discipline that they run not away with us; to have our reason captivated to our Faith, our Will to our reason, and our affections to both: not to remember our darling sins without grief and disdain, nay not without hatred of ourselves for having ever committed and embraced them; by mortification and self-denial to pluck out our right eye lest it offend us for the future, and never give over contending, till we have destroyed the whole body of Sin; to love all good according to the degrees of its eminency, God above all, and others more or less as they partake of his goodness, not to be overswayed by any prevailing lust, but to bring our inward Man into Obedience to the law; duly to observe and attend upon Divine Providence, and to bring ourselves and all our actions into a compliance with Gods will, Quis ad haec idoneus? Lord who is sufficient for these things? and yet this and no wider is the way to Heaven, into which if many strive to enter and shall not be able, what will become of them who never make it their business to regard it? if the Righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the Sinner and the unjust appear? it is beyond my Commission to give them any more comfort than St. James hath done; S. James 1. Verse 5.1 Go to now, ye Rich Men, weep and howl for your miseries which shall come upon you, ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton, ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter; and the entrance into the Kingdom of God being so strait, you, of all Men are least likely to pass it, as will appear, ●. A natura & ingenio divitis. The simile of a Camel and the eye of a needle are exactly proportioned to the Salvation of a Rich Man who is incapable of it; without a more miraculous extension of the mercy of his Maker than is by himself known to suffice such as have not been condemned to so much Worldly plenty. His trusts, joys, and confidences are so contrary to a Christian, and so perfectly irreconcilable with them, that there must be an extraordinary hand of God in the way of converting Grace to make him who so excels in the gifts of Fortune, to deny all and become nothing for Christ. The Rich are apt to be more in love with the World than other Men, and so many are the noisome weeds which grow out of such fat soils, that 'tis very disputable whether they who are always penuriously brooding over their Fortunes are ever guilty of doing any thing commendable but but when they die, a Avarus nisi cum moritur nil recte fecit. Seneca. who whilst they live, are good to none, but worst to themselves; b Avarus nemini bonus, sibi pessimus, Sen. the more rich they are, commonly the less Righteous, Goods and Goodness being no intimate acquaintance. c Raro simul hominibus bona fortuna bonaque mens datur. Liv. A large Fortune and a narrow Soul are such great Comrades, that Plato would not allow it possible for them to be parted. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and therefore of all vices that of Covetousness, as it comes nearest to the Sin against the Holy Ghost. So it was never charged upon any of God's Children in Holy Scripture, of all who came to Christ, only Judas the Son of perdition is branded with it, who was therefore thought fit to have the keeping of the bag. Nor would I be thought to concluded that this incapacity of theirs proceeds from the nature of riches in themselves, which that they might not be disposed as evils are sometimes given to good men, & that they might not be esteemed as the best things are more frequently bestowed on the worst. d Ne putentur malae dantur & bonis, & ne putentur summa bona dantur & malis. Aug. Ep. 7. ad Bonif. But I think I preach to them who will sooner turn any thing than Stoics, and therefore I shall not trouble you nor myself to bring Riches in more credit with you, 1 Tim. 6.17. for fear you have already a better opinion of them than they deserve. They may be good Servants but they must be bad Masters; they are neither absolutely good in themselves, nor infallible Testimonies of God's favour: 'tis for the most part a labour to get them and a load to keep them, and that the heavier, because we may neither be the better with them, nor the worse without them, since the best advantages of which they can boast are but those of an instrument, which has but an inferior, subordinate and serviceable, even the lowest degree of goodness that can be, and yet are many times unserviceable, and useless for that too, whilst they seem to be what they are not, boast of what they have not, and promise what they cannot perform, and so not only perish themselves, but make their Possessers perish with them, which they will infallibly do, 1. If they come wrongfully by them. God hath locked up Gold and Silver in the secret Mines and Caverns of the Earth, and yet though they are placed under foot, Men will not overlook them, but rend open the Bowels of the Earth in a resolution by any means to obtain them, though in the search after them they lose both God and themselves; and well might they therefore be called Thorns, as things for which they do commonly smart who lay their hands on them. a Qui divitiis simul vitiis incubat. Sin is so commonly the Rich Man's Factor, who rarely scruples any wicked action, if it bring in a considerable advantage, that the Proverb takes notice of it, Dives aut iniquus est aut iniqui haeres, and we have one in plain English which intimates no less saying, Happy is thnt Child whose Father goes to the Devil, and so in earnest it is much to be feared they do, who mortgage their Souls to the Devil for a little present profit, and will not regard till they cannot recover them. They who get or increase their Estates by defrauding in matter of trust or traffic, dissembling, lying, foreswaring, bribing, oppressing, exacting, usery, theft, withholding their deuce, Sacrilege, or by the fashionable way of breaking when they have feathered their Nests with other men's Estates, and can cheat them into a slender Composition, or by taking advantage of the buyers ignorance, indiscretion or necessity, (and I must still put an, etc. to the end of it, whilst I am speaking of a mystery in which some of this Auditory may possibly be so well versed, as secretly to accuse me for want of a sufficient enumeration) in all which ways they do more overreach themselves than those with whom they deal, whilst by these very acts they sell their souls to the Devil and take that unjust gain for the payment: I say they who have practised any of these unlawful ways of getting or increasing their estates, must first make satisfaction to the parties wronged, before they can hope to be saved. Now then, you are best able to consider how hard it will be for them who have gone on in such courses, to call to mind how many, how much, and how often they have deceived; and how much harder it will be to find out them or their heirs to whom to make restitution, without which their Repentance will never avail them. Examine your consciences and let them resolve you of this difficulty, for your sakes I tremble to think on it. If all of you come justly by your riches, (which all your acquaintance are not bound to believe) yet a Camel' may easier pass through the eye of a needle, than you into the Kingdom of God, if you are not thankful for them to him who has blest you with them, according to the measure of your enjoyments; this being a debt wherein you stand bound to him for the free use of his creatures. 1 Tim. 4.4. Now rich men own more in this sense to God, than other men, and if it shall appear that they pay less, their very enjoyments will rise up in judgement against them. Woe be unto us if the more God in mercy remembers us, the sooner we forget both him and ourselves. Israel were no sooner possessed of the promised land but they grew disobedient; fullness bred security, security brought forth negligence, and that the contempt of their Benefactors, and I wish this be not a catching disease amongst us likewise. 3. They who are not content with their riches can never be saved with them, when therefore they debauch men's minds, and work them to a kind of insatiableness, so that their souls are always in travel under the pangs, and throws of a solicitous pursuit of more gain, they give them an earnest of eternal torments in this life, a Avaro se nihil desiderare posse perniciosius quam ut longum vivat Sen. and an infallible assurance of the arrears in the next. How usual is it for rich men to covet more than they have with such intemperance, as to forget their possession, and be sick for what they have not? b Quod habet numerat tantum, quod non non habet, optat. Manil. Esa. 5.3. Hab. 2.5. How frequently doth the desire of wealth, after it once exceeds its lawful bounds, become as insatiable as Hell, and admit no stint or period of growth? c Cresit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit. Juv. And how much discontent do they generally betray, either by the fear of losing what they have, or the feverish desire of grasping more, insomuch as that they tug at the world as at a narrow tablecloth, where none thinks he hath enough unless he get all? 4. That which renders rich men's passage into the Kingdom of God the more difficult is because they seldom use or bestow their riches, to that end for which they are given them. Qui bonis abundat bonum esse oportet. Great Accounts must have great Audits, and the more plentiful the entertainment hath been, the larger will be the reckoning. d Ingentia benificia, ingentia vitia, ingentia supplicia. Great benefits answered with great sins, will be attended with fearful judgements. Now God gives men wealth not as to Treasurers, but Stewards, not for their own uses, but his service, and he gives the poor many bills of Assignment on their plenty, whereupon this must either burden their consciences, or lighten their purses, and expect to be summoned to a Red rationem, to give an account of their Stewardship: If therefore your love of riches hath strangled your love of God and your neighbour, e Non diligit proximum qui diligit durum Chrys. so that you regard neither in the distribution of them, but defeat the main end of your receipts, how dreadful will your guilt be, and how desperate your condition? 5. If in times of difficulty and distress you place more confidence in your money than your Maker, it will infallibly destroy you. If you set your hearts upon your riches, place your contentment in them, and reckon them as your best friends in time of need, you make them your Idols, and God himself but a puny to the work of his own hands. Now how doth the Omnipotency of money make all people prostrate themselves to it, and worship it? Psal. 49.6. Psal. 52.2. and how apt are they who have riches to place their confidence in them as their greatest happiness? to trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, and how easily they'll forget themselves and their friends, and grow proud f Vbi uber ibi tuber. Apul. of their plenty, as if it would privilege them in any villainy g Potentia divitis quasi jus, quoddam ad delinquendum est, privilegium potestatis est, non tantum inpunè sed etiam justè delinquere. Celad. will be no news to tell you. There is such an enchantment in wealth that it persuades men to sing a Requiem to their souls, and to rock them asleep in the cradle of security, as if it were able both to give them true happiness and to continue it; and therefore Saint Paul bids us 1 Tim. 6.17. charge them who are rich in this world that they be not highminded, nor trust in their uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy; & indeed they have too much need of such caution, for they are apt to turn professed Independants, in a conceit of their own selfsufficiency, to show themselves insensible of their dependence on God, like the Prodigal when he had got his portion out of his Father's hands, to take their leave of him and set up for themselves, Job. 31.24. to make gold their hope, and say unto the fine gold, thou art my confidence, whereas indeed they own their superficial happiness merely to the delusion of their fancy, nor have they any better pretence to it than that they have not sense enough to know their misery. For though the Devil like a cunning juggler as he is, have put the World like a piece of money into their hands, and bids them hold fast, yet he by his Leger-demain will quickly get it out again, and before they can open their hands and their eyes they many times find nothing but that they are cheated, viz. that their Riches have taken Wings and are fled away from them. A Prodigal Son, an unfaithful Servant, an ill Debtor, a suit at Law, a fire by Land, or a storm at Sea, may quickly impoverish you: But whilst I preach to Citizens who of late years have as oft miscarried as their Wives, and to Merchants who sink as fast as their Vessels, I must be so modest as to remember that you are better able to instruct me than I you in the uncertain and tricklish tenure of Riches; and therefore I shall only beg that you would improve that part of your knowledge to abate part of your Confidence, with which you can no more enter into Heaven than can a Camel pass through the eye of a Needle. 6. If you are too regardless of the temptations, a Magna illecebra delinquendi est rerum affluentia. Ambr. which the Devil hides under your Riches to seduce and ensnare you, (as Rich Men generally are) you can never enter into the Kingdom of God. If you would deal impartially with yourselves and not turn Traitors to your own Souls, I should not need to tell you how many Vices are apt to be engendered, and how many mischiefs do proceed from the care of getting, the desire of keeping, the fear of losing, and the grief for the loss of Worldly Riches, in which respect they are termed by St. August. Pericula possidentium pretiosissima, speciosa supplicia, beneficia viscata: ensnaring courtesies; for the Devil is no such frank Chapman as to sell his wares for nothing. Munera magna quidem praebet, sed praebet in hamo. Nor would the World like a cheating Gamester suffer you to win at first, but with a design to tempt you to lose all, and yourselves at last, and therefore Agur was so shy of the World as to suspect some charge in its kindness, Prov. 30.8,9. Give me not Riches, feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, where is the Lord? and we are no sooner taught by our Saviour to pray for our daily bread, but as soon as those words are out of our mouth to pray for the forgiveness of our sins; so apt are we to make the blessings of God instruments of Rebellion against him, to enslave our faith to our present enjoyments, and not suffer it to perfect its work in us, to turn Infidels, and resolve to stop our ears and hearts against any Doctrine which makes against our profit; let the Gospel say what it will, to allow it no more Faith than it will pay for, which was the reason why so few Rich Men were converted by our Saviour, and why his Ministers cannot hope to prevail with many, because what we proffer towards their conviction is like Lot's Sermon to his Sons in Law concerning the destruction of Sodom, they take us to be but in jest whem we declare against such a thrifty vice, and will shut their hearts and their purses, charm we never so wisely; and therefore St. Paul tells us with Tears, that they are flat Atheists, 3. Philip. 8. Enemies to the Cross of Christ, and our Saviour passes an heavy doom upon them; 6 Math. 24. Woe be to them who are Rich, for ye have received your Consolation, you have made a God of your Riches here (Jupiter est quodcunque cupis.) and you must look for no Salvation but what they are able to purchase for you hereafter, and that especially, 7. If you are not willing to part with them as luggage to quit your interest and claim in them at the first call from God, and to dispose of yourselves and your Worldly enjoyments according to his pleasure, without any reluctancy, they will render your entrance into the Kingdom of God impossible. No Man can serve two Masters, God and Mammon, nor at once be the favourite of the Prince of light, and the Prince of this World; they therefore who divide themselves between both are Servants of neither, and therefore this Young man was enjoined to forsake all before he undertook to follow Christ. We have all a race to run, and Rich Men are like Tortoises, clogged with such a weighty shell, that they cannot draw it after them in any expectation of obtaining it: the Soul cannot mount to Heaven when it has such a load as the World hanging on its wing: Too much lading is many times the cause why the Ship does sink; and in a short journey the more provision Travellers have, the greater reason do they find to complain of their Burden. A golden Apple does make Men stoop in their way towards Heaven, and like the foolish Virgins to tarry so long behind for it till they are shut out; and such is the Genius of Rich Men, that they would be thought very greedy of Salvation, and yet like this young Man, when they are put to the proof they will part with nothing for it, and if they cannot have Christ upon their own terms, they will not take him upon his; and you may guests how passionately they are enamoured with the world by their grief at the parting with it. Sine dolore amittitur, quod sine amore possidetur. Nor is it enough to part with Riches out of your hands unless it be out of your hearts too, for 'tis less mastery to forsake Worldly Riches than to forsake the love of them. If we disquiet our hearts with a desire of any Earthly thing which we have not, or are troubled at the loss of what we would have again but cannot, as much sorrow and unwillingness as we have in the losing of them, so much affection we had for the keeping of them. As therefore you ever hope for the Kingdom of God, you must part with all in affection, though not always in possession, and unrivet your hearts from the World, and not hoard up and withhold the things thereof from a charitable Communication, but always in willingness and preparation of mind to be ready to surrender them, and that actually too, when the Church stands in need of them, and therefore the Hebr. 10.33. Saints took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they have in Heaven a better and enduring Substance. 8. If you suffer them to steal away your hearts, and engross your affections wholly to themselves, a Camel may as easily go through the eye of a needle as you shall enter into the Kingdom of God. He who ever hopes to be saved, must reckon his best affections and designs, as too choice and precious a treasure to be prodigally squandered away upon such sorry trifles as riches are. He must not make his heart the world's Warehouse, when he hath once consecrated it as a Temple of the Holy-Ghost. A true Christian will never admit of such an incurvation of his immortal soul, to things so much below him, as to love the world against God, or more than him, or equal to him, or distinctly from him, but only in a subordination to him, as being truly sensible that what affection soever the world wins of him is lost to God. And, Lord, how few rich men are of this persuasion, who think so highly of their Riches, and act so vigorously for them as if their souls and they were of equal a Eodem scrinio servatur nummus & animus. concernment? How incomparably do they degrade their souls in forcing them to take up their happiness amongst such perishing enjoyments, and in bounding all their projects and designs within the compass of this earth which they bread upon? Can those men ever hope to be heirs of Heaven, who are always aiming at ends more ignoble than themselves, and shaping their minds as much as may be into a conformity with that which they aim at, till they become as unstable, inconstant, perplexed and tumultuous things, as the World itself is? So much as their delight is in these transitory enjoyments, so much is abated of their delight in God, and whilst they are so furiously driving on their thriving projects and designs of rising in this world, they are turning their backs upon Christ, and posting towards destruction. They who are mancipatipecuniis, such drudges to their estates, as to suffer them to overrule them, to such hard conditions may be said to have riches as a man has a fever, which may be more properly said to have him under its tyranny; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Bion Lib. 4. in Laertius, he doth not possess his estate, but is possessed by it, which if it be not the same is as bad as being possessed by the Devil. The love of God and the world, are like fire and water which cannot consist in intense degrees, but destroy each other, the more the heart gives place to the care of that, the less room doth it leave for the thoughts and remembrance of God. Riches have a pilphering quality whereby they steal away the love of the heart, engrossing it to themselves, warping the conscience, corrupting the judgement, bribing it with a retaining fee, bespeaking it for themselves, and diverting our desires from that end for which we ought to have desired them, and therefore they who are thus cumbered and loaded with them, are in very small likelihood of being Saints, First, 1. Because they seldom think of the Kingdom of God. Their minds are perpetually rambling another way, and they so deeply engaged, and immersed in the world, that they are unacquainted with the affairs of their own souls. All their rooms are thronged with a Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam. cares and turbulent passions, that unless God will be crowded up with the world in so strait a lodging he must not look for entertainment there. When they wax fat with the enjoyment of ease and plenty, they never think of another world, because, they perceive the remembrance of it to allay their joy, and so they have neither leisure, patience, nor discretion to mind it. They will not suffer such troublesome guests as are the thoughts of Heaven, to lodge long in their memories, but contrive how to put their doom out of their thoughts till they put themselves into an incapacity of avoiding it; so that 2. They always undervalue the Kingdom of God, whilst they make Godliness truckle under gain, and prefer riches above faith and a good conscience, as the Gergesens did their swine, before our Saviour, and as the cock in the fable did the grain of corn before the pearl of inestimable price a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hesiod. That which men value most they take greatest care of, Majori bono debetur major amor, & therefore they who spend more time and care to secure their estates than their souls, do sufficiently declare upon which they place the greater estimate. To part with good things to get better you will allow, I am sure, for a good piece of merchandise b Magna amittere ut majora lucreris non est damnum sed negotiatio. Bern. and therefore if you had so good an opinion of Heaven as it deserves, you would lay up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you might lay hold on eternal life. 1 Tim. 6.19. But alas! how seldom do rich men worship God sincerely, unless he descend like Jupiter in a shower of gold; or esteem of any as worth their acquaintauce, c Quantum habes tantum vales. unless they be such as they may probably get by; and then they are such Jews that if a Calf be of Gold they will worship it, nay they would hardly desire to live long themselves, but that they may have their breath gratis without paying interest for it; if time should turn Usurer and charge his weekly revenues with an excise, they would hardly be at the expense of a longer life, whilst death were to be had for little or nothing. If Religion be so dear, as that it cannot be kept without the distribution of their estates, as and when their brethren shall need them, 'tis no pennyworth for them; If God shall put forth his hand and touch their estates, the Devil (who knows their minds) will answer for them, that they shall curse him to his face; Job. 1.9. who finding what perpetual service this temptation of riches did him, questioned not but that it would have overcome Job, and doubted whither our Saviour himself could withstand it. 3. Rich men do never really desire the Kingdom of God. They spread their Sails to no wind that brings not in some present profit: and if they entertain Religion, 'tis often as a journeyman to bring in their gain, they'll keep it at an allowance to serve their turn, and at best they will but admit it as a Guest to take such as it finds, and if once it take the freedom to find fault with their incomes, it must be packing. If it prove an enemy to and intercept them from the prosecution of their temporal ends, they will have nothing more to do with it. Their desires which are both the truest measure of their present state, and the surest prognostics of their future, are never really set upon Heaven, a Qui aliquid desiderat, desiderat etiam id quod scit necessario inde subsecuturum. Medina. 1. 2. Qu. 5. Art. 8. for if they did desire the end, they must likewise desire the way which alone can bring them to it, without which 'tis a roving velleity shot at random, and levelled at an impossibility; now this that they do not desire hath been abundantly proved already, again, if they did desire it, they would be sick of the want of it, and restless till they had secured it. a Quod ardentius desideras, cares aegrius Bern. 51. Serm in Cant. Put all these together and let your own hearts be Judges, and declare whether a Camel may not as easily go through the eye of a needle, as a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God: And that you may not think me either Magisterial or uncharitable, I shall request you in the Spirit of meekness not to take my word for it, for I do not say it of myself, but 'tis the decree of Heaven, as you shall see by 2. The Affidavit, or Authority, which is brought in the first words of my Text to vouch and confirm it. A Doctrine which runs so cross to the grain of the World, that we had need have Christ's Authority for it, and his express command to publish it, which we have in these words: And again I say unto you. 'Tis a hard saying, indeed and so much the harder, because 'tis his who is a complete Judge of it; one who can neither be deceived himself, nor tempted to deceive us; the God of truth asserts it, and, Quantus Author, tanta fides. Who would have believed it, unless he had affirmed it? and who dares distrust it now we have his word for it? If you studied our Saviour's answer to Dives, you would think that he assigned Heaven merely for an inheritance of such as wanted here, and Hell for those who abounded; and as he denounced a Woe against them, Luke 6.24. so he forewarned his Disciples of the difficulty of their Salvation, and when he perceived them to be offended at what he had said before, he repeats it higher in my Text, and gives them the measure of the difficulty by a similitude; and certainly 'tis as difficult now as when he first affirmed it. Now the Children of God in all ages have believed no less; hence was that strange complaint of the Spouse in the Canticles, 1 Can. 6. my mother's children were angry with me, they made me the keeper of their Vineyards: she reckons her preferment as the proper effect of their Anger, and complains that they had wronged her with a mistaken courtesy, as if she could not have been spited more than in being preferred to a dignity in Church or State. And Jacob was of the same mind too, for though he loved Joseph above all his Sons, yet he bestowed the Kingdom on Judah, lest the enjoyment of his blessing in this World should have tempted him to insolency, and so to the Forfeiture of God's blessing in the next. Alas the World never embraces any but 'tis like a Serpent in cruelty, and therefore Jobs friends came to him not to congratulate, Job 42.10,11. but to condole with him the restitution of his Fortunes, quasi foelix consolandus sit de infortunio foelicitatis. Such a desperate thing is it for Men to be bewitched with this Circean World that they are never in greater danger than when hedged about with the blessings of it; and the Birth of men's Estates does so often prove the death of their Souls, that the Heathen reckoned that Man the most unhappy in the World who is always happy, or rather never so, because always prosperous. Seneca. Nihil est infoelicius eo cui nihil accidit adversi, and he condoled his Friend for that very reason for which others applauded him. Te judico miserum, quia non fuisti miser; nor is it only in his, but in Abraham's judgement, that Rich Men have very great reason to be jealous, lest the good things which they enjoy in this World, like misemployed Talents, purchase for them evil ones eternally in the next. Since therefore they are such hindrances of your eternal happiness (which I hope you are come hither to mend) methinks I might easily persuade you not to be so overfond of them as to make a Ita lucrum temporale spectas ut non amittas aeternum. forfeiture of Heaven in the pesuit of them. When the Devil greases you in the fist, and proffers to bribe you out of a good conscience, return it with St. Peter's zeal, Thy Gold and thy Silver perish with thee; and let not this be a principle or maxim of trade, That your stock of money must be increased by any means, Facius rem, recte si possis, si non, quocunquo modo rem, (I am afraid some of you understand it better, than an easier piece of latin.) They whose Consciences without the help of the Philosopher's Stone can turn any thing into Gold and Silver may easily have them in abundance; if any Man can persuade himself to cheat, defraud, dissemble, lie demurely, foreswear strongly, bribe some, oppress others, wrong all, serve the times that they may do as much for him, make use of all Men for his turn, and swallow the greatest wickedness for the least advantage, 'tis a great deal of pity that he should not be Rich, and I shall not wonder at his heap of Gold if he can be content to treasure up so much guilt with it. But I hope you do not so fond overvalue Riches, and so ambitiously aspire to them, as to pawn your Souls to the Devil to take them up, a Ne sit lucrum in arca & damnum in conscientia. for that is to outbid his market, and enhance the price of damnation, whereas you may be sure to go to Hell a great deal cheaper than so. If you did believe what our Saviour tells you, you would be afraid and shy of them upon any terms, but especially upon such, and neither think yourselves frowned upon when you wanted them, nor see any cause to be transported when you had them. I grudge you not what may be sufficient, not only for the necessity of your persons, but likewise for the decency of your Estates, the neglect whereof may be sordid and deservedly taxible; but I would not have you so much in love with the flesh pots of Egypt, as not to forsake them for your eternal Canaan, you should use the World as a Traveller does his Inn, not as if you were to dwell, but to bait in it. If you do not a Brevissima ad divitias per divitiarum contemtum via est. Si ad naturam vives, nunquam eris pauper, si ad opinionem, nunquam dives. Epicur. over-value Riches, you will never want them, for 'tis Opinion and nothing else which makes Men miserable. Learn to be content with any thing, and by this very means you will enjoy all things, b Omnia nimirum habet qui nihil concupiscit, eo quidem certius quam qui cuncta possidet. Sen. and he who fills the hungry with good things, and sends the Rich empty away, will bless you with all Spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus; he will give you those Riches which shall be truly amiable, and the object of your eternal love; and therefore fall not in love with the World, but him that made it, in whose power alone it is to make you rich indeed, and contemn whilst you are alive, what you cannot enjoy when you are dead: For no Man is truly wealthy, who cannot carry away what he has with him, for what he leaves behind him is not his, but another's. Never was there more need of a sursum corda than now, when the Church's invitation to lift up your hearts, can hardly prevail with you to raise them one jot above the World; and therefore since I have no great assurance to prevail with you to forsake Covetousness, I pray let me press you to make the best of it, to covet earnestly the best gifts, to be zealous of spiritual gifts; Get wisdom, get understanding, and see that ye abound in grace, (cujus unius honesta est avaritia. Sen.) Strive to be rich in good works, and to get an interest in Christ, who of God is made unto us Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, and then you can want nothing but what to wish for. 1 Cor. 10.31. 1 Cor. 14.12. Prov. 4.5. 2 Cor. 8.7. De brev. vitae cap. 3. 1 Tim. 6.18. 1 Cor. 1.30. Look a little into your Estates, and examine all the ways by which you have got or increased them, whither they have been just or no? Consider seriously that if he who gave nothing to Lazarus was condemned to fry in eternal flames, what will become of them who took any thing from him? If they who found Christ naked, and would not clothe him, must be damned, what will become of them who found him clothed, and stripped him? He whom we hear of in Hell, is said to have riches and yet his own too, not the Churches or his Neighbour's Patrimony; he is noted for faring deliciously but of his own bread, not for drinking Widows tears instead of Wine, or eating up God's People as they eat bread; we do not read of his thriving by other men's losses, making advantage of their falls, or enriching himself by the mystery of breaking; he he is not accused for keeping other men's goods, but for not distributing his own, and therefore Hell must needs be haet seven times hotter than ordinary, for oppressing, cheating, sacrilegious rich men. And as for that part of your estates which your consciences dare maintain you came honestly by, receive it thankfully, enjoy it soberly and contentedly, and communicate it charitably, that so by your present disposure of it, you may make it subservient to an end above its native efficacy, and purchase for yourselves a revenue of credit in this world, and glory in that to come. And this I may the more pardonably invite you to, both because I speak in an age when men are out of charity with Charity itself, & few such perfect Saints as to have their Religion at their finger's ends; and because Charity is Ars Quaestuosissima, Chrys. and riches yield more profit by their profusion than possession, so that by parting with those which you cannot keep, you may gain those which you cannot lose. Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes. Mart. You see 'tis a hard thing to use riches well, but 'tis so much the more commendable and worthy of your ambition, and therefore I do not press you to throw them away, but to lay them out with such prudence, as to make you friends of that unrighteous Mammon, and to take daniel's counsel to Nebuchadnezar, Dan. 4.27. to break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, that it may be a lengthening of your tranquillity, Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of your increase; so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses burst out with new wine. Prov. 3.9,10. Remember what your charitable Predecessors have done in this City before you; but keep not a register in your memories, of what you have done in this sort yourselves; for the Welsh have a Proverb that they who have good memories give but few alms; because they keep always in mind what, and to whom they have given before. Remember you are as much bound to be charitable as just, and to feed the poor as not to oppress and murder him a Qui succurrere perituro cum potest, cum non succurrit, occidit. and then you'll be easily persuaded to use your riches as you do your water with which when you are served yourselves, you let it flow freely down to the use of others. Nor have I any particular design to drive on, or the least intention to confine your charity; but in all sincerity to exhort you to do what, when, how, where, to whom, and as much as God and your own consciences shall direct you: and if you have faith enough to believe, and patience to wait for the reward which Christ proposes, it will go well with you and with your children after you, let but charity guide your hands and glory will crown your heads eternally. Nor are you my Brethren of the Clergy so secure, but that you may receive as much prejudice by your riches as any other, take heed therefore that your preferments, and revenues do not make you the worse for them. It was Erasmus his wish after his refused offers of great preferment, to make all even at his death, to be out of every man's debt, and only to have enough left to bring him honestly to his grave. Let not that which hath hitherto been reputed the Vice of the City, be now justly chargeable on us of the Clergy; We of all men are most strictly engaged to a perfect hostility against the vanities of the world, and if we are not notoriously treacherous to our own aims and interests, our actions will declare our sense of it. I have no desire to judge you, who are so much my betters, but if it were possible to direct you to prejudge & examine yourselves, and so either to anticipate or prevent any further censures. I hope that for which some persons do condemn you, is too poor and inferior gain for you to stoop to. We have friends enough in the World to secure us from that curse of our Saviour's, Luke 6.26. We be unto you when all Men speak well of you, and I would it were only our innocence which was reviled. The mouth of Hell is now wider open, and the Kingdom in greater animosity against us than ever, and therefore let not us by our luxury and drunkenness, by our covetousness and griping, on any such sordid means, as racking up our Tenants to the very summum jus give the credulous People cause to believe that the defamations and libels which the railing Sectaries have cast out against us, are true. After a long famine, you are (blessed be God) removed to a plentiful table; but take heed of a surfeit, and that your plenty does not make you forget him whose person you represent. Let us remember our late afflictions and vows which we made in case of a restitution, and let the hungry bellies of the poor and needy who have suffered with, or like us, experience the benefit of our preferments, that the envious eye of the worst of the Laity may not repine, nor the foul mouths of the scum of the people rail at our large incomes. And finally, Let us all suffer our hearts to preach over to ourselves in private, the dangers which have been hinted of Worldly Riches, and the greater hazard of Salvation that they than other men, are in, who enjoy them, and then we shall affectionately join with the Church in her collect for the last festival, and pray unto Almighty God that he would grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of Riches, and to follow his said Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with him and the Holy Ghost now and ever. Amen. FINIS.