THE Mammon of Unrighteousness Detected and Purified IN A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church OF WORCESTER: On Sunday the Nineteenth of August, 1688.  
By the right Reverend Father in God, William Lord Bishop of Worcester.  
Aude Hospes contemnere opes, & te quoque dignum Finge Deo.—  
LONDON: Printed for Samson Evans Bookseller in WORCESTER.   

Imprimatur.  
Decemb. 18. 1688. Hen. Wharton. RR. in Christo Patri ac Domino D. Wilhelmo Archiepisc. Cant. à sacris domesticis.   

To the Reader.  
I Had no Design to expose this Sermon to Public View and Censure in this Critical Age, and Climate; but being Preached in a Languishing Infirmity of Body, rendering my Voice not audible to the greatest part of a Venerable, ample Congregation; I have been solicited to transmit it to the Press for Expiating the Defailance of Elocution in the Pulpit, that those Religious Advertisements which vanished in the Air, perished in their Birth in the Temple, may be retained, revived, in the Closet, that they may, by the Divine compassionate Grace, conduce to promote a Heavenly Conversation on Earth.  
It hath been required of me as an Equitable Reparation to the Eye, (the more exact diffusive Test) for the disappointment to the Ear.  
The God of Mercies and Purities grant that it may take deep Impression in the Hearts of those who shall vouchsafe to Read it; to excite them effectually to resist the Impulse of Covetous Affections, to dread to decline the too little resented, yet too much practised plausible Impiety, darling Idolatry of Mammon.   
Luke 16. 9 I say unto you, make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into Everlasting Habitations. 
MY Text is Verbum Diei, it is part of the Gospel for this Day, it is the Close and the Lustre of a Parable, (the Style of the primitive Eastern Rhetoric for Instruction.) The Structure of the Parable holds resemblance with that of the Temple of Jerusalem; for the Porch, the outward and the inward Court.  
The Introduction is not the Porch of Solomon, but of Christ, he said to his Disciples in Ver. 1. This Gate of the Temple may truly venerably be called Beautiful.  
The three Parables, recorded in the immediate precedent Chapter, of the lost Sheep, the lost Groat, and the prodigal Son, were moulded for the Scribes and Pharisees, to launce their Bosom Imposthume of Spiritual Pride and Arrogance, who, in being imaginary Saints, became real Miscreants. The Parable of the unjust Steward recited in this Chapter is calculated for another Meridian, not for the Judaical Synagogue, but the Church of Christ.  
An Advertisement for his select Train, his signal Disciples, who like Eagles soaring aloft did cast a glance on the Prey below; whilst their Professions were raised to heavenly Enjoyments, their Affections were somewhat depressed by Earthly: Though pure Bullion from the Ore, yet not yet entirely refined from the Furnace, not without an Alloy of Dross, a Mixture of Rubbish. To cure this spreading Malady, Christ enwraps his Doses in a Parable.  
To unveil the Narration of the Parable; Commentators understand the certain Rich man in the first Verse to be Christ, (verus a true, though not merus Homo a mere man, in St. Austin's Expression) the sole Proprietary, the Lord paramount of all the Treasures of the Earth, and of Heaven, also that illustrious City resplendent with Streets of Gold and Gates of Pearls. Theophylact and Euthymius expound the Steward in the first Verse to be a wealthy personage, improved in Fortune, yet not enfranchised, not discharged from his dependence, not so properly endowed as entrusted, impeached he is for his Talon misemployed; it is a Bill of Waste, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Ver. 1. scattering, imbezeling his Master's Goods. The Accusation is recited, but the Accusers concealed: Satan who is a smooth Tempter to suggest, to solicit Gild, becomes a sharp Orator to charge, to aggravate it.  
Every humane Offence calls for, in some cases, importunes, clamours for the divine Judgement. The Offenders perhaps last, yet not his least Accuser is his own Conscience, this secret Whisper is more terrifying than a Clap of Thunder.  
The Accusations are varied, yet Christ arraigns, examines, before he dooms: not like Augustus, precipitate Sentence without the Traverse, without the Method of Indictment, against the Inhabitants of Perusium; Moriendum, they must die. It suits not with the Track, the Custom of the Israelitish, not of the Roman Pagan Justice, to condemn any 
Joh. 7. 51. Acts 25. 16.  one unheard. Christ affords the Person charged in this Parable Liberty to assay to vindicate himself in Ver. 2. Give an account of thy Stewardship, of thy Fortune, of thy Office, thy Knowledge, thy Talon whatsoever; as some run varieties of Descants on this Note.  
Every Stroke of Affliction, every lash of Conscience is a kind of Reckoning betwixt God and Man for each of these: God righteously deprives men of those Talents, those Enjoyments, which they unrighteously manage. It is a disconsolate Sentence pronounced in Ver. 2. Thou canst be no longer Steward. Some determine this to be executed at the Hour of Death.  
Before the fatal time of Dissolution, God may reduce the wealthiest Personages to Penury, the greatest Potentates to Impotency, the most subtle politic Statists, the most accurate Artists, to Folly, to Infatuation Albertus the great was bereft of his great Stock of Knowledge three years before he died. The Steward sentenced in the Parable was at first dampt and chilled, staggered in Perplexity of Mind; he was too nice and delicate to be a Labourer, (dig he could not) he was too haughty and arrogant to be a Petitioner, (to beg he was ashamed) however he is not long destitute of an unholy Clue to wind him out of this Labyrinth. He lays an Obligation on his Master's Debtors by his own Transgression, ingratiates and depraves himself, contrives his Iniquity to be his Support; and yet the Lord commended the unjust Steward. It sounds a Riddle, that he whose Injustice was his Design, his Artifice, that he who was injuriously bountiful, dishonestly liberal, should be extolled by that Master whom he had defrauded.  
To dispel this Cloud; The Lord commended the Subtlety, not the Integrity of this false Steward, his Wit not his Grace. For the Children of this World, are in their Generation, wiser than the Children of Light. Ver. 8.  
It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more wise, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more wily, more crafty, serpentine, (the Serpent devoured the Dove.) Wisdom, not only in the Judgement of S. Austin, but of Aristotle also, is the Knowledge of divine Perfections; Philosophers decipher it to be speculative, the Father's state it to be active. It is Sapientia, quasi sapida scientia, saith Gerson, Wisdom is a Savory Science, not contemplative but affective, not seated in the Brain, but in the Heart, which is best discerned by the Pulse of the Hand.  
Prudence is of a lower Size, Cunning is of a courser Metal, less refined and sublimated. They who are addicted, devoted to secular Interests, may challenge a Pre-eminence in this Faculty, they are wiser in their kind, in genere suo, as Beza renders it, more exact Intelligencers in their Orb: But it is an eccentric Orb; more expert in their Way, but it is a dark a crooked Way; better Sophisters, smother Parasites to set off corrupt Actions, like tainted Ware with fair Colours, with false Varnishes. They are wiser for an Age, not for Eternity; it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in their Generation as we render it, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for their Generation, succession, also to entail, to secure their Revenues to their Families, Posterities, to derive, to fix the Issues of their Sins to the Issues of their Loins.  
The Minions of the Earth, the Sages of the World, are more circumspect, diligent to preserve, to enhance their Estates, than the Candidates for Heaven, than the Disciples of the Sanctuary are to improve their Virtues, to save their Souls. Lest we split on this Rock, Christ himself becomes our Pilot to steer our Course in a right Channel to a Port of Bliss. Make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting Habitations.  
My Text brancheth itself into a Precept, and a Reward: The Precept describes, regulates our Duty: Make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness. The Reward animates, crowns our performance: That they may receive you into everlasting Habitations. The former Part is an Introduction to the latter, for the Disciples of Jerusalem, as the Temple of Virtue was a Passage to that of Honour, for the Votaries of Rome. In the first General I shall by divine Assistance offer at a distinct view of the Engine to be employed. The Mammon of Unrighteousness; and of the Employment itself.  
To make yourselves Friends of it; this transforms a Poison to a Medicine, it extracts an Antidote out of a Viper, a Viper that stings an unsanctified Soul, envenoms it to Death. My first Task is the consideration of the Engine itself, set out in a black Hue, in a branded Character: The Mammon of Unrighteousness.  
Divines Ancient and Modern have varieties of Conjectures touching the name and nature, the Phrase and Importance of Mammon. I shall not spend time nicely and critically to discuss whether Mammon be of an Hebrew, Chaldaic or Syriack Extraction; most probably it is of a Syriack Stock, being not extant in the Hebrew Original, or in the Chaldee Paraphrase of the old Testament. Tertullian interprets Mammon Money, St. Austin Gain, Hesychius Treasures, the marginal English Illustration renders it Riches. It is Lombard's Observation that Mammon denotes Wealth and the Devil, both clad in the same Dress, shadowed out in the same name. It is Satan's magnificent Title of Grandeur, The Prince of this World: when he presented 
Joh. 12. 31.  to Christ the Kingdoms of this World, whether it were in a distinct discovery to the Eye or the Fantasy; whether it were in the Prospect of a Map or Globe, or in the Flourish of Language, however it was his ample Overture. Luke 4. 6. All this Power will I give unto thee, and the Glory of them, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. I shall not disprove the apparent Invalidity of his Title, his Interest: I shall only observe the Sophistry of his Tender. He produces the Dignities, the Pomp's, the Gaieties, the Resplendencies of the World; but conceals the Troubles, the Iniquities of it. It is the doom of Adam, Gen. 3. 17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Liable it is to a Curse of Emptiness, Unsatisfiedness, wherein an abundance, a surplusage comes short of a Sufficiency; liable it is to a Curse of Profaneness, it depraves many that possess it; the name of the first Reprobate Caitiff recited in the Scripture, Cain, denotes Possession: the Treasures of the Earth are the Borders of Hell, the Mines of Gold and Silver are at a great Distance from Heaven; the choicest, those of Havila, are the remotest from the Church.  
The Moon is the Emblem, the Representative of the Church, which is Eclipsed byothe Interposition of the Earth: Religio peperit divitias, & filia devoravit 
August in.  matrem, Religion brought forth Wealth, and the Daughter devoured the Mother. The Jewels of the Egyptians proved Snares to the Israelites, they afforded materials for their Idolatry: Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked, Deut. 32. 15. Plenty became a fertile womb of Intemperance and Arrogance; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Euripides; it is engrafted in those that are rich, to be leavened, to be swelled, and to be embittered also. It is the Apostles Interrogatory; Do not rich men oppress you? Jam. 2. 6. It was Salvian's pathetical complaint of his Gallican Contemporaries, decernunt Potentes, quod solvunt Pauperes, the heaviest Pressures of Taxes are laid on the weakest Shoulders.  
These meditations wrought effectually on Agur, an Oracle of Israel, singularly qualified for Prudence and Integrity, who much conversed with Solomon, even Solomon himself in disguise, of that name, in the Judgement of some Jewish Doctors. This consideration swayed, transported him so far, that he dreaded, deprecated Wealth, which is courted, homaged by most; Give me not riches, lest I be full and deny thee, and say who is the Lord? Prov. 30. 8. 9 I was at ease, saith Job 16. 12. it is Opulentus fui; in the vulgar Latin Translation, I was rich. Ilay a Stumbling-block before him. Ezek. 3. 20. Vatablus glosseth it, I make him to prosper. The Fullness of the Sodomites did despumare in libidinem, (in Tertullian's Expression) foam unto Lasciviousness, did melt into impure Dalliance; their Riots and Lusts were the bitter Fruits of a delicious Soil.  
Josephus asserts that the Sadduces who disclaimed the Resurrection of the Body, and the Immortality of the Soul, gained most Disciples among the wealthiest sort of Jews, who being furnished with the Revenues, corrupted with the Sensualities of this life, discredited, disregarded the Felicities, the Glories of the next.  
When Philip King of Macedon transmitted a grand sumptuous Present to Photion, Photion demanded why he, rather than any other Athenian, was selected to be obliged by so ample a Boon? The Messenger replied, because he was reputed most upright: I will then (saith Photion) persist in my Penury, that I may not forfeit my Integrity. The most renowned heathen moral Worthies; Socrates, Aristides, Epaminondas, Fabricius were destitute of Riches. Among others the learned pious Father Lactantius was scanted for necessaries. St. Peter, the prime Apostle (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 10. 2.) for priority of Order for distinction, though not for superiority of Power for jurisdiction (in the Romish strain) professed, Silver and Gold have I none, Act. 3. 6. Neither Sun nor Moon of Alchemist shined on him. Christ himself, as Son of Man, appeared in a state of Distress, of Indigence, who was at the charge of a great Miracle to defray a small Tribute, a Fish being his Treasurer. It was a severe doom pronounced by him, Luke 6. 24. Woe to you that are rich, (to wit, in Treasures, not in Graces) for you have received your Consolation. It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, you have your Reward, for whatever claim you can pretend to Innocence; that you have your Consolation, that it is present, transitory in this Life, not future, not stable, perpetual in the next, is the sting of this Woe.  
It is St. Chrysostom's critical descant on that passage of Abraham to the damned rich Caitiff: Thou hast received thy good things, Luke 16. 25. Thy good things, to wit, in thy estimate; it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, thou hast received them as Recompenses for all thy good Actions.  
Gregory the Great, that first and best of that name, of the See of Rome, being enriched, dignified, was chilled with Fear, damped with Anguish, lest God had thereby requited his Fasts, his Prayers, his Sermons, his Vigils and Alms, and all other Virtues. Euthymius expounds that forementioned Woe, recited by St. Luke, to be the pensive Expression of Christ, (a Mirror of Candour) condoling, commiserating, rather than condemning the Rich. Tertullian determines it to be woven with a mingled Thread of Advice and Menace. Not to hover too long in Generalities. It is the Mammon of Unrighteousness, because too frequently, injuriously, unconscionably achieved, ungraciously, uncharitably detained, or else riotously, profusely squandered, as if Men were at variance with their Wealth, and would not dispose, but discard it. Thus, without the Divine restraining Grace, we are too prone to bane, to curse ourselves, with what God doth otherwise bless and prosper us. It is the Psalmist's dismal Imprecation; Let that which should have been for their Wealth, be to them an occasion of falling. This lapse is a Precipice, an occasion of Perdition. Not unlike to Heliogabalus, who did contrive Cords of Gold and Silver to be strangled with, who laid up Poison in Boxes of precious Stones to be destroyed with.  
The indirect Toils, and Mazes of Designs of the Sages of this World, are but elaborate solemn Sacrifices to Mammon, the Idol Paramount, like Bel among the Assyrians, whereto all the rest vail and do homage.  
It is related, when a timorous Patient suspected a Medicine of Paracelsus, as if it had a Grain of Magic for an Ingredient, Paracelsus resented it with Indignation, What mattereth thee if thou be recovered, whether it be by God or the Devil? Some are as indifferently disposed to be enriched, whether it be by the Influence of Heaven or Hell. Yet not to brand Riches with unjust Imputations; the Charge is justly to be laid on our corrupt Minds, which, like foul Stomaches, taint and transform the most wholesome Provision to Crudities, Diseases. The Unrighteousness consists not in enlarged Treasures and Incomes, but in unsatisfied Desires, in unsanctified Pursuits and Enjoyments. Wealth, in its own Nature and Constitution, is not virtuous or vicious, not morally good or evil, which is, bona bonis, mala malis, (saith St. Austin) Good to good Men, bad to evil: Like Rufus' Shield, that had God on one side, Satan on the other, with this Motto of Inscription, Prepare for both. It is like the Red Sea, destructive to the Egyptians, preservative to the Israelites.  
Riches, as Viands, turn to that Humour which is most predominant; to one they nourish Piety, Godliness; to another, Prodigality, Profaneness; to some, the supports of Riots, and Debauches; too others, of Alms and Graces. They are the Wings of Salvation, and the Plummets of Perdition; they are the Rounds of the Ladder, whereby some ascend to Heaven, others descend to Hell; they are the Oil to kindle the burning flame of Satan's Furnace, and the Oil also to preserve the shining Lamp of the Sanctuary. Wealth, like a Scorpion, affords a Cure for its own Sting; it is by making you Friends of it: which conducts me to the Management of the Mammon of Unrighteousness.  
The two Expedients of this Sacred Friendship in my Text, the Flames not of the Hearth, but the Altar, to refine the dross, to purify the pollution of Mammon, are Equity and Charity: Equity, like Janus, hath a double Aspect, it looks forward for Possession, and backward for Restitution; the one is a Branch of Innocence, the other of Repentance; the one prevents the Unrighteousness of Mammon, the other redresses it. It is with Equity, as with Physic; the Medicine which secures from a Malady, is more precious than that which heals it. That Justice which declines an Injury, challengeth a Pre-eminence of regard.  
The Equity of Possession is derived from just, lawful Owners, by justifiable, lawful means; by Donation, by Gift, by Succession, Inheritance, by Acquisition, by Contract, which spreads itself to many Branches; these are the ordinary, equitable, warrantable Conveyances.  
To omit the Extraordinary; by right of Occupation, (the Tenure of a first Seizure) the Booty of a War rightly empowered, and uprightly managed, as also a judicial Forfeiture. The Israelites special Coin had the Impression of a Lamb. What our English Translation renders a hundred pieces of Money, Gen. 33. 19 the Septuagint express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lambs, because they were stamped with the Image of a Lamb, a Lecture of Innocence; not with the Figure of a Serpent, to be compassed with a fraudulent Contract, to be like Dan; An Adder in the Path, Gen. 49. 17. It is not like Benjamin's Portion, Gen. 49. 27. to raven as a Wolf in the Morning, to devour the Prey, and at Night to divide the Spoil. When Violence hews its way for a Subsistence, Cruelty becomes a Patrimony, Oppression an Inheritance, Mischief a Salary, a Revenue. When Houses are buttressed with Injustice, cemented with Blood; when Fields are watered with Tears of Widows and Orphans. The Giants in the Sixth Chapter of Gen. are by some expounded to be Grandees, not for Stature, but Power, exerted by Rapine, by vast dimension of Extortion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, says St. Basil the Great. When the Oppressed are smaller Morsels in the wider Jaws of the Oppressor, Eating up the People like Bread, in the Psalmist's Phrase, Psal. 14. 4. It is St. Austin's Observation, that to eat like Bread, denotes a Constancy of Repast; other Provision we vary, but to eat like Bread imports not to be rarely feasted, but continually fed; not banqueted, but dieted with Iniquities. Manducant in terris, saith St. Bernard, They eat, they devour in Earth what they digest in Hell. Are not the Contracts of many Tenants and Debtors more pinching, galling than the Manacles of Prisoners? whose state of Vassalage is a Task and a Toil, a Penance and a Torture, a Living Death and a Dying Life; as Calphurnius was treated by Tiberius; not so much ingratiated as to have their Misery expédited. It is a Work of Darkness, written with the Sunbeams, yet hath gained the repute of Prudence, of Masterpiece of Wit, (tho' sullied, blackened with Vice.)  
Let me here inoffensively express it to this Venerable Assembly, being like a weight of Lead upon my Conscience till I disburden it.  
It becomes us to treat Tenants and Debtors, especially such as are Industrious and Frugal, with such Equity and Candour, as would be acceptable to ourselves, were we reduced to the same Exigencies: We know not how suddenly, how strangely the Scenes of Fortune may be shifted. Riches, whilst they appear fixed by irreversible Conveyances and Entails, yet frequently prove really winged to fly away in the height of imaginary Plenty and Security. It is according to the Syriack Translation of my Text, The Mammon of Deceitfulness. It will quit, desert us, or we must quit, desert it. Men may enhance their Estates and their Crimes, they may rack their Revenues and their Consciences, making the Necessities of others to minister fuel to their Superfluities, to maintain their Pomp's, their Gaieties, the Excesses of their Riots, Debauches, the Impurities of their Dalliances, not only by the Sweats of their Brows, but the Groans of the Souls of others, to frolic it by their Anxiety, to surfeit it by their Famine, ut sentiant se mori, in Caligula's Doom, That they languish before they perish.  
If in these, or any other Instances, the Equity of Possession be neglected, violated, it ought to be repaired, expiated with that of Restitution. There are two Sisters, like Rachel and Leah: The one, like Rachel, hath the more amiable Feature, the first Love of every true Israelite: The other, like Leah, is blear-eyed, blemished, by wrong presupposed; it hath unhappily the Fate of Leah, to be too little affected or regarded; yet every Son of Jacob, who is bereft of Rachel, the Equity of Possession, he ought to espouse Leah, to embrace the Equity of Restitution. It is the Dictate, not only of Christian Theological, but of Heathen Political Righteousness; the Civil as well as Canon Law enjoins it. The Constitutions of all Nations not tainted with the Lees of Barbarism exact it. To deny the Necessity of it is not Heresy, but Frenzy, saith Soto. Before the Law, it was the Injunction of Jacob, though he had a specious Plea to evade it, Gen. 43. 12. Carry back the money that was brought in the mouth of the sack. Under the Mosaical Law, the Equity of Restitution was professed by Samuel, as the Vindication of his Justice, 1 Sam. 12. 13, 14. Prescribed by Nehemiah with a solemn Admonition, a sharp Execration, Chap. 5. v. 11, 12. Ezekiel clusters it with the choicest Fruits of a spiritual, effectual, remorse of Conscience, Chap. 33. v. 15. Without this signal Certificate, Repentance, Non agitur sed fingitur, saith St. Austin, is not acted, but counterfeited. Under the Gospel, they who will not directly, uprightly, restore what they indirectly, injuriously attain, do not only deviate, swerve from the commendable Practice of Zacheus, (Luke 19 8. I restore fourfold) but come short of Judas' Religion, who came short of Salvation, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Chrysostom's Phrase, a Merchant of his Salvation and of his Saviour also, who brought back the thirty pieces of Silver, his vile Rate of the most precious Inestimable Jewel.  
It is an infallible Maxim in the Canon Law, borrowed from St. Austin, Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum, The Trespass is not remitted unless the Damage be restored. Wherein the Proportion, the sure, is not the least difficulty in the Sentiments of Casuists; for the determining whereof, I shall distinguish the Penitential and Penal part of Restitution: The Penitential part is fixed, limited, adequate to the Offence, to the Detriment sustained: The Penal part is to be varied, enlarged, according to the Circumstances, Consequences; to wit, in due consideration of Cessation of Gain, and Emergencies of Loss; wherein every Man's Conscience is a Judge to determine where the Law doth not, where it is defective, or diminutive.  
Among the Israelites there were several gradual Alterations; a twofold, a fourfold, a sevenfold Restitution. The Obligation of this Duty of Restitution extends further than the Actors themselves; even to the Inheritors, the Executors, that reap the Fruits. St. Chrysostom is too candid, indulgent, to acquit, to discharge the Heirs of Oppressors. The most Conscientious Casuists exempt, disengage them from transient, vanishing Acts of Injustice, which escape their Discoveries; but not from such as are knowingly, lineally perpetual, that pass from Generation to Generation in the Incomes, Commodities.  
There is a Tincture of Injustice, as in compassing, purloining fewer Interest, so in enjoying, withholding of it. It is the same crime, though not the same degree of Gild. In the nice Discussion of the Schoolmen, the one formally consists in the Punctilio, the Mode, the manner of Acquisition; the other materially consists in reference to the advantage, whether acquired, or continued. Two grand impediments are started by Satan's Sophistry, set out in a multiplying Glass, panic terrors to divert, to scare us from the requisite Practice of Restitution; to wit, the double train of Penury, and Infamy, the Loss and Shame that accrue from it: As for the damage alleged, it is the Tempter's Subterfuge in disguise, it is less incommodious to impair thy Fortune, than to wound thy Conscience, and to forfeit thy Soul; it is our Saviour's staggering, unanswerable Interrogatory; what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul? Mark 8. 36.  
It is an unprofitable, and, in the end, an execrable State, that bottoms in sin; it is a depraved, accursed Possession in Earth, that lays its Foundation in Hell. But thou hopest, (presumest rather) that thy exercise of Repentance, thy Sorrow for sin will commute, will countervail for the defect of Restitution; so it may, by divine Goodness, in case of necessity, disability for discharging of it. In that only the Contrition of thy heart may be accepted, for Satisfaction of thy Hand; but where there are Sinews for real performances, the most formal Expresses of grief are mere hypocritical Varnishes of repentance. The Profession thereof, is but a Collusion, a Mockery, a Nullity of Duty.  — Stat magni nominis umbra. 
As for the second Scruple of Shame, to deter us from the Justice of Restitution, it is a Shame for to recite it; there is no deformity, no blemish in the exercise of any virtue. Zacheus his Restitution was not his Brand, but his Renown, not his Stain but his Ornament; it was the robe of a sacred Convert, the perfume of a penitent Publican, the Fragrancy of exemplary Equity for all succeeding ages. When a lascivious Youngster slinking out of an unreputable House started back, being espied by Diogenes, the Philosopher advertised him, that his recess, his withdrawing thence, need not put him to the Blush or Damp; but his entrance thither.  
Restitution doth not breed an Ulcer, but cure it. If it be objected, that it doth light a Torch to manifest the festered Sore, which before was obscured, concealed: I answer this Discovery is the Lustre of Repentance, the Honour, the Trophy of it; at the worst it is but the Scar of a healed wound, after the Victory of a Battle; however if it be interpreted an Infamy, it is in the Gloss, the Censure of depraved men, suggested by damned Spirits, it is a Dignity in the estimate of the blessed Saints and Angels. Photion apprehended the Elegy, the Praise of a vile Person, a lewd Caitiff, to be a Reproach, a Scandal.  
To dismiss this vain Cavil; a little Ingenuity, the least tincture of Prudence will divert, will realy conduce to steer aloof from the grand imaginary rock of Disgrace. The equity of Restitution may be so covertly discharged, that neither the Injury be revealed, nor the Party who acted it.  
Hitherto I have viewed but one Wing of the sacred Friendship in my Text, a Wing, not of the Eagle, a creature of Prey, but of the Dove, to wit Equity; there is requisite another Wing, to wit Charity, to aspire to the heavenly Mansion, to flee away, and be at Rest. It was esteemed ominous at Athens, not to be a Votary in the Temple of Mercy; it suits less with the Discipline of Jerusalem. It ill becomes us to degenerate to Serpents, to twine, to circled within ourselves.  
The Philosopher deciphers man to be a sociable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communicative Creature, who ought not to make himself or his Family the Centre, and the entire circumference of the management of his Wealth. The Apostle professes not to be an Instructor but a Monitor, a Remembrancer only in so necessary a Duty; Forget not to communicate. Heb. 13. 16. this Oblivion were a double degradation, not only to be unchristian, but inhuman; it corresponds not with the dictate, the Impulse of Nature, much less with that of Grace.  
Charity is entitled Grace, 2. Cor. 8. 7. it is the Symptom, the Evidence, the Certificate of Grace, without which, Grace is a mask, a varnish: Charity is described to be the service of God, in Ver. 4. of the same Chapter. It is signally emphatical in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the communication of the Ministry, even of the Liturgy, as if the charitable man were the Minister, the Priest; the Poor, the Altar; the Dole, the Oblation: With such Sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. 13. 16. The vulgar Latin renders it promeretur, is promerited, in the Rhemish Translation, as if hereby we merited at God's Hands.  
Salmeron hence takes the Cue to raise his Crest in defiance of reformed Divines. Obmutesce Haeretice, (saith he) be dumb O Heretic, as if the question of Merit was hereby put out of all question; whereas he insults before he vanquishes, triumphs before he conquers; the vulgar Latin Translation whereon he bottoms, is a loose, tottering Foundation, it is as great a Solecism in Divinity as Grammar.  
The Original exhibits not the least accent of Merit, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is well pleased. However Alms are to be acknowledged Pious, if rightly performed; though not in themselves meritorious. Earthly Mercies exhibited, are to be accounted the Conducts to Heavenly Glories. They are the Road of Bliss, though not the Purchase: They are not causa regnandi, yet via ad regnum, in St. Bernard's Expression. They are the Passage, the Chariot, to convey us to the true Supreme Paradise; though they cannot deserve, or challenge the Delicacy, the Felicity of that Mansion. The smallest Charity is not destitute of an ample Recompense; but it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Dignity of the Work performed, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (in St. Chrysostom's Phrase) the Dignation, the Candour of Christ, who accepts Mites, rewards them with Talents. It is to be ascribed to the Virtue, the Bounty of his Promises, not to the Value, the Lustre of our Accomplishments.  
But I forbear to dilate this Meditation, lest I seem to forget myself, and not to consider the Uncharitable Age wherein we live. Our Judgements herein need not so much to be informed in the state of the Controversy, as our Affections to be warmed, to be inflamed for the discharge of the Duty. There is no Duty of Religion more indispensably enjoined, none more abundantly encouraged; and yet none more familiarly disregarded, more unexcusably spurned at. Most Men are herein not only practical but speculative Infidels, accounting Charity the Flux of Prodigality, the Product not of Religion but Indiscretion. They who are not Sceptics to dispute, to boggle at this Duty, who are not a sort of Atheists to reject the Precept, to deride the Performance; yet become Critics to censure the Iniquities of others, when they should be Almoners to relieve their Pressure. Let us not be more Inquisitive than Compassionate, to sharpen our Invectives against men's Offences, which have procured their Miseries, rather than to enlarge our Bowels towards their Miseries which invite our Supplies.  
It is God's part to Doom, ours to Succour. Indeed some are to be selected, preferred in their Calamities, such as are more sanctified, nearest related, most necessitated; yet none to be absolutely waved, but such as are Vagrants, Loiterers, whose Debility, Exigency in their Estates, may be repaired by the Vigour, Strength of their Limbs; to endear, to engage these to be our Friends by our Alms, were to be their Adversaries and our own. The Vinegar of Justice to such, is a better Restorative than the Oil of Mercy; whereby they may be rescued from their Necessities, and reclaimed from their Vices: That our Streets be not defamed by such Pests, that an Eminent City be not dishonoured by such Obloquys, Scandals; I shall recommend, not only the Ancient pattern of Jerusalem to your Imitation, but also the Modern of Paris, wherein for many years, not only the scandalous Beggary of particular Persons hath been prevented, but the Public Revenues have been promoted. The Apostle obstructs, blocks up the Effluxes of our Charity only to such, whose Indigence proceeds from a voluntary omission of Diligence. He that will not Labour, let him not Eat, 2 Thes. 3. 10. As for others, if we debar our Charity, we forfeit our Christianity.  
How rationally (as we presume) do we Object? May I not dispose of my own Inheritance, or my own Purchase, as my own genius shall prompt me? Must I expose myself contracted, and multiplied; the Consort of my Bosom, the Issue of my Loins to future Encumbrances, and Exigences, to supply the present of others? Shall I invite, attract Distress in the Lees of my declining Age, by an Imprudence of Bounty in the Flower, the Vigour of my Days? These specious Pretences are but fallacious Arguments, like our first Parents Fig-Leaves, to cover our Spiritual Nakedness, false Varnishes to beautify carnal Wickedness. Let us not mistake our Tenure, it is not Primitive, but Derivative in our Fortunes. Our Interest is a Deputation, a Stewardship in the genuine scope of this Parable. We are not Proprietaries, but Usufructuaries of Riches. These Talents are to be managed according to the Rule, the Dictate of God's Sacred Word, not according to the bent, the swinge of our own corrupt Hearts. God might have allotted an equal Proportion of Enjoyments of this World to all sorts of Men, to be all leveled; but then (in the Observation of St. Basil the Great) there had been wanting a Test, for the Munificence, the Bounty of the Rich, and for the Patience, the Humility of the Poor. Christ hath ordained some to be Wealthy, to exercise their Fidelity, to discharge the part of Almoners, to be Treasurers for the Poor, nay, for himself, who sues for Succours in his distressed Members; and interprets Neglects of these, as Indignities against himself. In that you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me, Mat. 25. 45. Quis ad tonitru hoc non expavescit? (saith St. Austin) Who is not scared with this Thunder? They who shrink not, dread not to prevent, to decline this Doom, shall droop, shall sink to sustain it. The Rich Man in the Gospel, (Luke 16.) was not condemned because he was unjust, but because he was unmerciful, not because he oppressed Lazarus, but because he relieved him not. A numerous Issue is no plea at God's Bar to vindicate a covetous Heart, or a tenacious Hand. A plentiful Progeny, is a powerful Topick, (at least it ought to be a persuasive Argument) to excite us to obtain, I had almost said (with due Reverence) to oblige Christ to be the Guardian of our Children, unless we would surrender them to the Tuition of the Tempter, rather than the Redeemer. He, who is uncharitable upon the account of his Family, his Posterity, offends doubly in the Judgement of St. Cyprian. First, In that he doth not provide for his Children the Protection of the Heavenly Father, preparatory for the time when they are to be bereft of the Earthly. Secondly, In that he does not discipline them in Exemplary Piety, to prefer God before Mammon. Willing or unwilling thou must surrender thy Treasures, thy Incomes, to the Divine overruling Providence. Lastly, Charity is inconsiderately objected to be the rise of Penury.  
I shall not press St. Cyprian's florid Argument in changing the Scene; Pauperior seculo opulentior Deo; Whilst more empoverisht to the World, thou wilt be more enriched to God. Not to recede out of the same Orb, not to swerve from the same Station: There is no Virtue more animated with assurance of Temporal Prosperity. The Italian Vulgar Phrase of Begging is Charm of Rhetoric; Faite a voi bene, Do well to yourselves. Thy Alms in the Bowels of the Poor, are like Grains of Corn in the Bowels of the Earth; they seem to putrify, to perish, but they come up with a specious Advantage. There is who scattereth, and yet increaseth, Prov. 11. 24. who Thrives by Diminution, Multiplies by Substraction; a Contradiction in Arithmetic, but a Perfection in Grace.  
Such was the Primitive St. John, called, Eleemosunary. The Estate of a Charitable Person is like the Widows Cruise of Oil, communicated, and not diminished, imparted, and not impaired; nay, improved. No Duty doth more vindicate us from Hypocrisy. It was the disconsolate Remark of St. Basil the Great, that he observed many zealous Professors his Contemporaries, Eminent for Devotion, for Mortification, for Sobriety, Chastity, and other Moral Endowments; and yet Tenacious, Uncharitable; which, like a venomous blast, tainted all the Religious Performances. I wish it were a Scandal to revive, to apply this mournful Resentment to the Age wherein we live. By our melting Bowels, our stretched out Hands in Charitable Supplies, to make us Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness, is not an Evangelical Counsel, but Precept; not Arbitrary to be embraced, caressed; or waved, rejected, as a Serene, Candid, or Morose sour Humour shall bear sway. To render the Violation of this Charge the more inexcusable in a black Criminal Hue.  
There is an Obligation of Equity riveted in Charity itself. Not to relieve the Distressed, is in effect injuriously to Rob him, at least covertly to purloin from him. Let not this startle you as a Paradox, it is Solomon's Orthodox Divinity, Prov. 3. 27. Withdraw not good from them to whom it is due. From the Owners thereof in the Marginal Interpretation, which best corresponds with the Original. The Context vindicates it as pertinent, apposite to this Subject. It is the Phrase, the Eloquence, the Charm of a Jewish Petitioner in his Exigency; give me the Precept. As there is a Grain of Justice or Equity, so there is a Tincture of Piety in merciful Performances. This renders Mammon itself a Proselyte of Religion, devotes and Consecrates it as an Utenfil of the Temple.  
The Jewish Doctors assert, that the Royal Prophet David gave Alms every day; it was his constant Quotidian Practice, but more especially as preparatory to his public Solemn Devotion, when he resorted to the Synagogue, darting out this Ejaculation; I will behold thy Face in Righteousness, Psal. 17. 15. It is the Psalmists Authentic Record to rescue this Doctrine from Disputes and Cavils. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the Poor, his Righteousness endureth for ever, Psal. 112. 9 Christ himself sets out the diffusive, operative Transcendency of this Virtue: Give alms of what things you have, and all things shall be clean. Luke. 11. 41. this is no Elegancy of an Irony, no smart Sarcasm, no taunting Scoff, as some expound it; but a sacred Lecture, taking off the Pharisees from a superstitious vain their Platters, to a truly religious Charity, to purify their Hearts and their Hands also. It is all things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure, their dross refined, themselves rendered undefiled, unfullied.  
Our compassionate Succours, as they have a sanctifying Cleansing; so also a dignifying exalting Influence. A charitable Person hath the Honour to be reputed a Benefactor to his Creator, a Creditor to his Redeemer: He who giveth to the Poor, dareth to the Lord, Prov. 19 17. it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Translation of the Septuagint, he dareth upon Usury.  
On this account a Duke of Guise was not branded, but renowned, in being styled the greatest Usurer of France; in this Notion, (if sincere) the noblest, and the holiest. As there is an outward Esteem and Honour, so there is an inward Solace and Delight accrueing from charitable Performances, that transcends all sensual Pleasures. God repays beyond humane Interest; in this World a hundred Fold, in the next everlasting Life. Mark 10. 30. A Recompense which no humane intellectual Faculty can apprehend, no Eloquence, but angelical, can express. Were there not an Impression of infidelity in the hearts of men to boggle at the truth of the divine Promise and Providence, how would our desires be kindled, our affections inflamed in pursuit of so inestimable a Merchandise; we would resolve to practise as Apelles did profess to paint, to Eternity: which transmits' me from the Precept in my Text, (make you Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness) to the Compensation; that they may receive you into everlasting habitations.  
Bellarmine in a strain of Confidence alleges this Guerdon, this Reward as a valid Proof of Purgatory. Whereas in a general Consideration, parabolical Scripture is not argumentative; in a special Consideration, this Gloss corrupts the Text, not only eclipses the Lustre and unsinews the Force of it; but renders it a contradiction of Collusion, transforms an amiable Lure to invite, to attract to a dreadful Topick a dissuasive Argument, to avert, to deter; whereby a Reward degenerates into Punishment. Neither the Phrase nor the Importance of the Text admits any degree of consistence with the Notion of Purgatory. The Text denotes the Period of a Temporal Life, to be the punctual Rise of an Eternal, to be the immediate Transport to Heaven for a charitable Soul.  
Not to insist on the controversial disquisition, I shall prosecute the practical; wherein who the Friends are to bestead us is an apposite inquiry. S. Ambrose unveils them to be the holy Angels being the Guardians of merciful Souls for their Tuition on Earth, and Chariots for their Translation to Heaven, being ministering Spirits in both capacities. Some Divines expound these Friends to be the sacred blessed Trinity. A charitable Man is ingratiated, endeared to God himself: Abraham, whose Charity was as conspicuous as his Faith, was honoured to be entitled the Friend of God: Isaiah 41. 8. not only advanced, dignified in his Court, but embraced and embosomed in his Closet. It is a Ray of divine Perfection to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Benefactor.  
Theopyhlact, Euthymius, and others understand the Friends in my Text, to be distressed Persons, succoured by our Supports; though the Obloquys, the Reproaches of the World, though the Dirt, the Scum of the Earth; yet being sanctified the Privadoes of God, the Favourites of Heaven, the Procurers of our admission thither: Christ who accepts of Benefits extended to them, as exhibited to himself, upon their Account will enfranchise, enthrone us in that Jerusalem that is above; whereby we shall be translated from a Desert to a Gity, from being Sojourners, Pilgrims, to be Denizens, Princes. How precious in our Estimate, in our Regard ought such to be, however despicable in Dress in appearance; who can raise us to such illustrious Preferments? As the substance of the Reward is remarkable, so is the Circumstance; when you fail: According to the Syriack Translation, when it fails; to wit, our Mammon, our Wealth; which in the greatest Plenty and Security may vanish like a Shadow, whilst we imagine to grasp, to fix it; exposed it is at Sea, to Tempests, to Piracies, to Wrecks, and on the firmest Shore, to the Rapines, the Violences of men, more fierce and savage than the Waves, the Surges of the Sea.  
Treasures and Fabrics have their Decays and Periods, in revolution of Times and Emergences, they are reduced to Dust and Ashes as ourselves. All these things shall be dissolved; saith the Apostle. 2. Pet. 3. 11. reflecting on the Earth and the Works thereof; to wit, the Endowments, Accomplishments thereof recited in the Close of the immediate precedent Verse. They are Lusitilia in Suetonius' Phrase, obnoxious, liable to Dissolution. The Original sets it out more pregnantly, significantly; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all these things being dissolved: It is no less ascertained than if already effected, being in their Nature, and by God's Decree, corruptible.  
Though our Lands our Houses are not, in the legal distinct construction, Movables; yet our Titles, our Interest, ourselves are. It is in our English Translatition, when you fail: It is yet more critically diminutive in the Original, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when you utterly fail; afflicted with infirmities of Body, complicated with embittered Anxieties of mind, assaulted with the Terrors of Satan, who makes his strongest Assaults when we are weakest, whose last reserve of hostile Malice is to bruise the Heel. Gen. 3. 15. S. Bernard expounds it at the Close of Life: When you shall be unsinewed, unspirited, like wasted dim Tapers in an unsavoury Snuff; when the most amiable Features shall become Spectacles of Dread and Horror, when the Eyes, those Casements of Vanities, shall be shut up, when those Panders of Impurity, those Luminaries shall be extinguished, when an Apoplexy shall seize those Brains which have been Anvils for indirect Wits, Mazes of ungracious Contrivances. When we shall be neglected, deserted by Comrades and Consorts, by all Associates and Friends, except those in my Text. We readily entertain Balaam's Option; (to die the death of the righteous) and 
Num. 23. 10.  that our last end may be like his.  — Sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras. 
We all yearn to recede, to withdraw from the Stage of this World, in a State of Innocency, like Demetrius, after a continual Vassalage of life to the brink of death, yet was fond importunate to expire, to vent his last Gasp in a State of Liberty. But if our Lives have corrupted our Minds, with the Influences of Mammon, the Hour of death will not release but exchange our Fetters to be more firmly manacled, to be fierccly tortured in a dungeon of utter darkness.  
To sum up what I have enlarged, to close with every Soul in this venerable Assembly with an applicatory Meditation. I have dissected my Text to a Precept and a Reward, resembling the Incense Altar and the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle: In the Precept, I have viewed the Engine to be employed, and the Employment itself; the Engine being the Mammon of Unrighteousness, not to brand ample Treasures or Incomes, but ungracious practices in achieving or managing them: Mammon being like the Chemics Mercury, as it is differently tempered, either medicinal to heal, to help, or fatal to corrupt, to bane; fatal it is when criminal, darting its Taint not only to Merchandise, but to Judicature, to Religion. Neither the Tribunal nor the Temple is a Sanctuary for secure Exemption from this Pest; it wrought, vitiated Balaam to be a false Prophet, Judas to be a false Apostle, and Felix to be a corrupt Judge.  
I have discussed the managing the Engine, the Mammon of Unrighteousness, by two effectual expedients of the purest Friendship; by Equity and Charity, being the Supporters of Riches, as Aaron and Hur were of the Hands of Moses. I have distinguished, sorted out a double Equity, of Possession and Restitution, the one being preservative of Right, the other compensative of Wrong. Both are to be abetted, even bedecked, embellished by Charity of Compassion, distribution: thereby to endear blessed Angels, whilst we oblige distressed men, thereby to be ranked as Compeers in being befriended by those glorious Spirits; Amicitia pares vel accipit vel facit, Friendship either finds or makes Equals. To cajole, even to conjure so amicable a Duty, I have conducted your attention from the Precept to the Reward; wherein I have observed the Substance and the Circumstance of it; the Substance of it importing a Translation from the transitory accommodation of an Inn, to the first Station of a Dwelling, of everlasting Habitations, to exchange a Tabernacle for a Temple; a Temple for Stability and Sanctity founded and consecrated by God himself. Those indigent Persons that are relieved by us, become our Factors to negotiate for us, to fix our Bank in Heaven; to take up our Treasure by a Bill of Exchange in another World; they are our Harbingers that we may be furnished with Heavenly Mansions, when we are to be bereft of Earthly.  
I have pointed out the remarkable Circumstance of this incomparable Bliss; when it fails, to wit, Mammon, being like a Strumpet that shifts her Minions, her Favourites: When our Souls are upon the Wing of flight from our Bodies, in extremities of Agonies, resigning them to be Inmates with Worms, to be putrified together, when there will remain nothing to him who unrighteously manages the Talon of Mammon; but a dismal account to inflame his reckoning with a corrosive Remorse of conscience, not like the Serpent that twined about the Head of Cleomenes when he died, but this Snake will wind itself about the Soul, to pierce it with anguish and horror; No Friendship then either will or can bestead us, but this in my Text. Prosperity is a Loadstone to attract Friendship; but Misery is a Rock to split it. It was Socrates' experimental complaint in Adversity; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no Friend, none indeed extant in the lowest Ebb, none indeed of Athens, but of Jerusalem only.  
My Text sets the Life the Lustre of Friendship, in the Umbrage of Death, by the poor extended to the rich. Damascene vails this truth in an Apologue of a wealthy Person who owned three Friends; two whereof endeared as his Soul, nay more tenderly treated in their distinct concerns, more solicitously regarded; the third least estimated, yet not quite rejected: Whereas being summoned to appearance before a dreadful Judge, he made his Addresses to his several Friends: His first Friend affords him the Formality of some Accoutrements at his departure; to wit, insignificant for Solace or Advantage; his second Friend ceremoniously accompanies him to the first Stage; his third inseparably adheres to him to the end of his Journey, vigorously assists him before the dreadful Tribunal.  
To withdraw the Curtain of the Apologue to a wealthy Person, as Nathan did to David, thou art the man thus befriended, (vetus Fabula per novam Histrionem; in the Comedians Phrase.) Thy first Friend is the World, this affords, at thy recess from it, a Winding-Sheet, a Coffin, a Hearse-Cloth; Ornaments specious as to the sight of others, not in any degree commodious to thyself. Thy second Friend is the Consort of thy Bed, the Mate of thy Bosom, or thy Issue which attends thy Hearse to the first Stage of thy Corpse, the Grave; (if the Punctilio of State, or retired disguise of Mourning will vouchsafe it) however this Friend takes there a final adieu, the Funeral Solemnity being celebrated, accomplished. Thy third Friend is the despicable, miserable Person, whom thou relievest, whose Interest cleaves to thee, (fidus Achates) even to the Period of thy Journey, becomes an Advocate to plead for thee at the Bar of Justice, effectually prevails for Mercy.  
Were there not an Enchantment in Avarice, who would not with ready Alacrity distribute temporal Comforts to others, to ascertain eternal to himself? Unmerciful Persons forfeit and bereave themselves of those Treasures they seem to retain, whereas the merciful retain those Treasures they seem to be bereft of; their works, especially their Alms follow them, their riches are preserved, nay augmented to them; tho' not formally in kind, yet virtually in value, transcendently in a superlative Compensation.  
To rescue us from the Fascination, the Witchcraft of covetous desires, the grand Impediments, the utter Defiances of charitable Acts; there is requisite, a divine auxiliary Grace, earnestly to be implored for, wherein let us not disdain to be disciplined by a modern Pattern, the Honour of our Nation, (Mr. Sutton) not illustrious for Titles but Graces, dignified by unparalleled Alms, by the renowned Monument of a munificent Hospital; Preparatory whereto, he frequently, vehemently supplicated; O Lord thou hast given me a plentiful Estate, give me a merciful Heart to dispose it to thy Glory. This pious Ejaculation, reiterated in his own Garden, was overheard in another adjacent to it, as it is attested by a modern Ecclesiastical Historian.  
To encourage this Duty of Charity, to fortify the Stress of it against all the Attacks, and Stratagems of Satan; I have mustered up the holy Auxiliary Forces, the puissant motives of the strictest indispensible rule of Justice, of the most undefiled, unfeigned exercise of Piety, of the brightest Lustre of a serene pure Reputation, of the most commodious innocent Traffic, of the most delicious bosom Satisfaction: I have signalised these confluences of the choicest present Attractives, and Allurements of this World; by the future Reserve, the Staple Requital of the Beatitudes, the Glories of the next. To conclude, God hath not endowed any of us with wealth, to be tainted with Vice, but to exercise, to promote Virtue, not to defray the profuse Expenses of Varieties, of gay, modish, sumptuous Habits (the Banners of Pride and Vanity;) not for Sacrifices to our Palates, to administer Fuel to Flames of Luxury and Debauchery: nay not to raise our Families, not for Grandeur but Grace; not for to render our Posterities great, but ourselves good, and them also, in the Track of our Examples, in consecrating, in perpetuating our Riches, by pious charitable Uses; to repair, to adorn Fabrics, dedicated, set apart for sacred Ordinances, that God may be worshipped with the Beauty of Holiness.  
Let it not be a Reproach to the best reformed Religion, that in some places, where Personages furnished with ample Revenues, bedecked with Gallantry of Clothes, inhabit; God's Houses should be less decent, less august and splendid than their own: that many rural parochial Churches hold Resemblances, both for the Structure and the Furniture, with Barns rather than Temples; Windows unglazed or shattered, the Floors unpaved, deformed with Pits, the Roofs ungarnished even unceiled, in a Rudeness of Profaneness; the Walls defaced with Gashes, hung with Cobwebs instead of Tapestry, I wish from my Soul it were a Calumny to assert it. This is not solemnly, awfully to reverence, to adore, but contemptibly, contumeliously to dishonour, to affront the most High. It hath an Aspect of an Indignity obtruded towards the supreme divine Sovereign: (Churches being anciently dignified to be entitled, to be reputed Basilica, Palaces for Kings, even for the King of Kings:) Whatever is in any degree related, appropriated to God, is degraded, desecrated, being in a mean Dress, exposed to Disesteem and Scorn.  
A cheap sordid Performance of religious Duties, is not to be interpreted the Service of God, but of Mammon; the refinement of which dross, the purifying of the Pollutions and unrighteousness thereof, cannot be effected, but by acts of Piety and Charity; in the one in reference to inanimate Piles, the other in reference to animate, the living Temples of the everliving God; being enriched, deputed, enjoined, obliged we are by a special Obligation, to relieve the distresses of our indigent Brethren, appointed we are as trusties for Supplies in their Exigences; if this Trust be uprightly discharged, our Fidelity herein will qualify us to be interested in the Solace the Sentence of Absolution of the last day. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me: Math. 25. 34, 35, 36. Of this superlative, inestimable Recompense of Piety and Charity; (to be admitted to everlasting Habitations in the Phrase of my Text) which cannot enter into us to understand, till we enter into it to possess it, the Lord of his infinite Mercy make us Partakers, for the merits of his blessed Son, by the Influences of his holy Spirit; to which sacred Trinity, be ascribed Glory, Honour, Might, Majesty and Dominion, this day, and for ever.  
FINIS.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
THere is lately published: The Mirror of Martyrs: the first and second Part: lively expressing, in a short view; the Force of their Faith, the Fervency of their Love, the Wisdom of their Sayings, the Patience of their Sufferings, with their Prayers and Preparations for their last Farewell.