NABALS arraignment: OR A CHRISTMASSE-CHVRLE. Delivered in a Sermon in the Cathedrall Church of NORWICH, the 9. of january, 1630. By THO. REEVE, Minister of Gods Word at COLEBY in norfolk. LONDON, Printed by augustine MATHEWES, for John GRISMOND, and are to be sold by EDWARD MARTIN of Norwich. 1632. TO ALL THE ANCIENT NOBILITY, AND GENTRY OF THE kingdom, THE honour of Charity here, and the happiness of Charity hereafter. Right Honourable, Right worshipful, MY motion is for Charity, for that which is the lustre of profession, the ornament of high birth; for this have your Fore-fathers left unto you their arms, and their possessions: this is that which will sand honour into their tombs, and make their herses( as it were) cast forth yet a kind of fragrancy; charity legitimates you in your pedigrees, and causes the world to aclowledge that ye like true heires enjoy their means, not having cut off the entail; by this the hearts of friends approve of you, and the mouths of Adversaries are stopped. Shall Papists have the pre-eminence of us in any virtue, or especially get the fore hand of us in Charity? no, declare that pure obedience can draw as free bounty from you, as the Allective of Merit did from them; our Religion as it hath blown up the dying coals vpon the Altar, so it hath not put out the fire in your kitchens, though the Rood-loft be down, that there need no prayers to Saints, yet Charities box was never plucked up, that ye should neglect the prayers of the poor; wee have not been so mindful of Divinity, that we have thrust by humanity; or been so earnest to restore the primitive piety, that wee have forgotten the ancient pitty; no, we have made faith speak, that before was tongue-tied with ignorance, and commanded her to work, lest the world should think wee have removed an Idiot, and brought in a sluggard; wee look that the bread of life may bee broken in our Temples, and the bread of compassion in our Halls, wee would have a famine of neither; whatsoever was bad in Popery, we have swept it into the sink, whatsoever was good, wee desire to retain it with greater honour in the family; wee wish the old Basket of Hospitality were made wider, and that the Foundations of alms-houses were laid a perch longer, and a year sooner; we loathe, rebuk, condemn covetousness, if wee cannot reform it, yet our disciplining blows are seen vpon the back of it. Oh then ye Honourable, and Noble Personages, poor mens Wonders, and the Lands Beauties, be as inclined to Charity, as ye are enabled to it; it is the Crest of your Religion, it is engraven into your arms; look daily vpon that which your Fathers bestowed vpon pious uses, as vpon their pictures or lineages; be enamoured on their virtues, be ambitious of their praises. Carry yourselves favourably to your Tenants, or else Nicippus Ewe shall seem to have brought forth a lion, and be constant Fosterers of the poor, lest ye blot out the very memories of your famous progenitors. look up to that heaven where they now shine, and behold the staves of that Ladder by which they ascended; Make a solemn search for their old Accounts, and let your proportion of Charity not be inferior to their yearly expenses, that ye find there they bestowed vpon the poor; they purchased your lands for you, built for you those magnificent structures, spent much in those dayes in warres, and yet scanted not their works of mercy; ye then which have all these things provided for you, and are eased of many of these cares and charges, and perhaps have new honours conferred vpon you, why should not ye equal them in bounty? Oh therefore whether ye attend at Court, or reside in the Country with virtuous job, job 31. eat not your morsels alone. And ye the ancient Gentry of our kingdom, whom your Fathers have made generous, degenerate not from them; why carry ye their blood in your veins, or put their honours into your birthrights, if ye will not imitate them? The Country rang, and the kingdom echoed with their Bounty, and why should not ye their successors labour to be magnified with them? It is the Monster of speech and practise to hear, or see, that House-keeping should bee out of fashion; No, this is to have faith and famed out of fashion, and to have nothing put into fashion, but baseness, and penuriousnesse; keep your standing Houses therefore in the country, and be not Dor-mice in Cities; are not those ancient Families straightened? then neither let the old Hospitality be, Your Fore-fathers were not so lavish to erect those large buildings onely for Passengers to gaze on, nor of such abject spirits to raise up such magnificent edifices for Farmers to roost in; No, they were reared up for you to have Receptacles of honour in your Countries, and to bee fitted with Mansions for Charity, if ye would not starve Charity for maintenance. To come therefore to those houses onely to receive Rents, or to feast with your Neighbour Gallants, were to give the shoulder to Charity, and to put the scorn vpon all your progenitors worthy purposes. By all the reverence therfore that ye bear to your ancestors memories, by all the comfort that ye take in their virtuous actions, yea, by the renown that ye desire to profession, and by the rewards that ye hope for in heaven, carry I beseech you an exact resemblance of them in their almsdeeds, lest ye hold along with them in a long line of descent, till the day of judgement, but then come to part at the Throne. Thus wishing that Charity once again may lift up her old bright brow in the Nation, I rest as The faithful, and unfeigned admirer and observer of all true Nobility, and Gentry. THO: REEVE. NABALS arraignment: OR, A CHRISTMASSE-CHVRLE. 1. SAM. 25.10. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I haue killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be. WHo can touch Nabal, but he must look for a sour brow? earthworms cannot endure to hear their own names; to reprehend covetousness then it is dangerous, yet necessary; for when the poor are ready to famish, and that in peace, as in a siege, it is time for the Minister to call for mercy. I grieve over all sinners, but I detest the gripple Worldling, that same devill with the Iron head, Turquet. as the Mores of Filix called the Marques of Velez; who whentreasures had need to be cast into the open streets, keeps them with warders within the compass of his own three should; who when the long Table of our renowned forefathers had need to be set up in every hall, keeps his feasts at the round board with himself and his company; he knows for whom he makes ready his provision, for them whom he knows to haue a relation to him, not for them whom he knows not whence they are; like Nabal here, Shall I then take my Bread, and my Water, and my Flesh, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they are? Amongst Davids sorrows, Nabals vnkindnesse is inserted for one; and it is no small misery in misery to meet with churls, Vermes luto obvoluti. Chry. him. 22. de vanit. et brev. vitae. who are nothing but worms covered over with dirt. Nabal was one of them; and that as wee use to say, Primae impressionis, of the deepest stamp; for how courteously is he here saluted by David? ask him in my name how he doth, verse. 5, what welfare is wished unto him? Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace bee to all that thou hast, verse 6. How is he urged with the Law of gratitude? Thy shepherds were with us, we hurted them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in carmel, verse 7. How is he pressed but with a reasonable demand? give I pray thee any thing that comes to thy hand, to thy seruants, and to thy son david. Yet what doth all this work from Nabal? bountiful relief no doubt, see it, verse 10. Quis est david? quis filius Ishai? Who is this david? Who is this son of Ishai? he turns him off with a Quis; yea, and mark further, There be many seruants now a dayes, that break away every man from his Master. Nabal is a liberal man, but it is of his speech, and that as good as can drop from the lips of Nabal. Well in conclusion, what will he do? give a hundred reasons, rather then two mites; he hath bread, water and flesh, but not to part withall for fine words; they are his shearers that he looks vpon with a broad eye, he knows not david, and such company. Shall J then take my bread, water and flesh, &c. Shall? Nabal will expostulate vpon the business; though not exhibit, yet expostulate; though not part with a crumb, yet speak with the mouth of distrust and disdain. Shall? Next, Shall I. Though other men may be brought to condescend to such things, yet think ye to haue me at command? greatness must be taken notice of, and privileged even for the golden trappings; misery is too bold there to ask any thing, Shall I? again( saith Nabal) that which thou expectest is a great matter, Bread, Water, and Flesh. Nabal, sums up the gift to the height; though but Bread, Water; and a little Flesh, yet it seems a matter of moment to bee spent in charity. Besides( saith Nabal) I have a lawful excuse to detain it, I haue killed it for my shearers. covetousness never wants her subtle pretences. Further( saith Nabal) ye are such persons, as I know not whence ye are. Not know whence they are, and yet had done so many courtesies for him lately in Carmel? Oh see how Nabals ingratitude can dry up an Ocean of favours in a bubble, and cast up the total sum of a million of good turns into a cipher; he hath sponged out the memory of all Dauids kindness, and though not long since he had ventured limb, and life for his welfare, yet vpon urging of requital, he is ready to call him to his face, impudent. expressly thus, david is now in distress, and so may he bee for all Nabal, he knows him not; Persons in misery are ever strangers, necessity hath but small acquaintance in the World; whomsoever Nabal knew exactly, yet these distressed men he knows not whence they are, Shall J then, &c. Let us come to the division of the words, 1. Shall, with a bitterness. 2. I, with an haughtiness. 3. Bread, Water and Flesh, with a poysing. 4. Which I haue killed for my shearers, with an evasion, 5. And give it unto men whom I know not whence they bee, with a cleauly discarding. Shall? First, Shall, with a bitterness. From whence observe that the tart vein belongs to the Worldling, Ephe● 4.32. james 3.17. Gal. 5.24. {αβγδ}. Religion teacheth us no such amarulency; no, Be ye courteous one to another. The wis●dome that descendeth from above is gentle. They which are Christs, haue crucified the flesh with the passions thereof. Passi●ns I know in themselves are not evil, so they bee ordered by reason; Ira, wrath is put amongst the affections, and as lawful as joy, or love, or fear, or hope, or any of the rest. Ira per zelum. There is a zealous wrath, when a man is incensed for things noxious,& apparent, and this is laudable; but when men make indignation an humour, and asperity, is even as common as speech itself, Charles 5. in admon to Phil. 2. this is to be a slain to passions: What more seemly in man, then humanity? let a man deprive himself of that, and what is he then but a wild beast? the froward affections belong to the wicked, as to Nabal here, Shall. This serves to reprove the rough language, or rather the dog eloquence of the times. For many there are, that speak in no other phrase then snarling; propound a question, the answer is rage; they are like the beast that is on all sides prickles. Totus Esch●nus asper. Adag. Prou. 1●. 18. Vt vinum austerum non est aptum pot●ons, sic mores agrestes &c. Prou. 16.24. There is that speaketh words like the pricking of a sword: they fight not at foils, but at sharp. But o●, learn more moderation of spe●ch, for as Socrates was wont to say, As sharp wine is not fit for taste, so harsh manners are not fit for converse. Morosity is one of the greatest enemies to all the horr●i●iticall virtues Faire words are as an honeycomb, sweetness to the soul, health to the bones. Away therefore with all ●owre, peevish, Saturnine dispositions; if thou beest earnest, bee deeply, and justly incensed, not vpon every occasion tetricall; for that were like Nabal here, who is no sooner spo●en to, but he casteth balls of wild-fire. Shall saith Nabal? Shall? Shall? From hence further observe that checks are worldlings alms. They not onely not satisfy the demand but give the denial with a kind of vnkindnesse. Lingua infirmi quae infectae est cholerico& amar● humour non potest percipere a●●quid aul●e, &c. Tho Aq. 1. q. 75. art. 2. Pro. 19.7. The tongue of a sick man being touched with choler, or some other sharp humour can taste nothing sweet, but all things seem bitter; So to a heart touched with covetousness no request seems pleasing, but all offensive; such are vpon terms of defiance vpon every charitable motion; the whispering of an alms is unto them as the challenging of the field. They pursue them with words, yet are they wanting to them. Let not persons in necessity ask any thing there, for if they do, Nabals winter-face is soon discerned, and a nest of scritch-owles seem to come out of the lips. The poor speaketh with prayers, and the rich answereth roughly. Pro. 18.23. They brave vpon men in their misery, they turn the key vpon them with a contumely, and banish them away with a chafe. Shall saith Nabal? This serves to sand home the scorns of worldlings to their own thresholds with ignominy; for can they hold their hands, and not their tongues? must they needs bee putting the varlet vpon men in misery? and bee telling of them a tale of statute-lace? Speeches more bitter, then their misery itself to bee endured; no, away with all reproachful, taunting language. Si nihil habes Colla●hryma. Greg. Naz. Crudelis in re aduersa est obiurgatio Pub. Ecclus 4.2.3.5.8. If thou hast nothing to give a poor man give him thy tears, but if thou canst give much and wilt give nothing yet give him not surly usage. No, reproof in the time of adversity is no other then cruelty. Provoke not a man in his distress, add not more trouble to a heart that is afflicted, turn not away thine eye from the needy, give him no occasion to curse thee, Let it not grieve thee to bow down thine ear to the poor, and give him a friendly answer with meckenesse he is harsh indeed, which in stead of releening the wants of his brethren sends a storm after them; like Nabal here, give I pray thee any thing that comes to thy hand saith david, Shall ●aith Nabal? I? Next, I? with an haughtiness. From hence observe that worldlings by th●ir riches pled nothing but privilege; that whereas being most able, they should be most willing to do good, Mat. 23.4. they turn off this to their inferiors; as if they would be as ill commonwealths-men, as some are Pulpit-men, Pro 18.11. laying heavy burdens vpon other mens shoulders, but not touching them with one of their singers themselves. The rich mans goods are his strong confidence, and as an high wall in in his own imagination, even to fence him from all sort of payments. Worldlings think themselves of too Noble a breeding to bear burdens, no, preserve them for footecloth horses to place the streets in pomp, but lay no chargeable loads on their backs; no, that's but servile work, and they would haue it left to the sumpter-horses of the times. Nabal here perhaps would haue been contented, that other men might have relieved david, yea, had he sent to him for his judgement in the point, he would have held it expedient, but Nabal cannot endure that the man in his own skin should be touched. Shall I, saith Nabal? This serves to exhort rich men to make themselves superiors to others, chiefly in good works; greatness is then most conspicuous, Neh. 5.14.17.18. when it holds the fore-rancke in virtue renowned for ever be Nehemiah, who when he would induce others to Charity, He himself took not of the people the bread of the governor; he himself would not that year lay cut his estate in purchasing, Vena porta. but maintained at his table an hundred and fifty of the Iewes. If the great wheels of the country do not stir in Charity, how shall the lesser move, if the prime vein of the body be stopped, what good blood can there be in the lesser veins? if the chief light of the firmament bee eclepsed in works of mercy, Si stomachus infirmus erit omnia meusbra inuentuntur infirma, Chry. in Mat. hom. 38. Plut. what a dark sky will there bee besides? If the stomach wax feeble all the other members languish. Tenacity in great men is like the herb Sea-holme in the mouth of the Leader of the goats that puts all the flock to a stand. Yet how commonly is it seen that many rich men for charges desire to be let loose like the Scape-goat in the Law, the Commons are brought forth only as the beasts for sacrifice. They are not Rich men for expenses, but only for the right hand or the vpper seat; if ye will they will bee Oracles of wit to persuade others, or scourges of iron to enforce others, ye shall haue their letters or their warrants to constrain or distrain, but if ye prie too far into their estates, how far they must bee ranted ye will bee blasted. Must they? Shall I? Shall I? nile nisi Cecr●pides. Iuv. Neseisme? scio te esse primo geni tum Diaboli. Euseb. eccl. histor. lib. 4. c. 14. From hence further observe that greatness would bee eyed. Pride is oftentimes the Comrade of wealth, if men grow wealthy their eyes start out with fatness. There is nothing then, but intimating of their state, and pedigree. Knowest thou not me? said martion unto Polycarpe; The man would fain bee known to bee some body, though the good old Father told him that he knew him indeed, but it was for nothing but to bee the first begotten of the devill. Manlius loc. come. Tit. de calamit. Many rich men love to pride themselves in their greatness, and to be formidable to the world, to make the very moving of their lips raise earth-quakes in the hearts of poor people. As the Lant-graue Fredericke daunted his enemies with the jingling of his spur, so these endeavour to make their inferiors appalled with the very sound of their names; they speak nothing but manours; in every syllable, gesture of the body, cast of the eye, they convey a secret insinuation of their thousands. Shall I saith Nabal? he need not mention his house at Maon, nor his pastures at carmel, nor his sheep, nor his goats, nor his attendants and retinue; for this I pronounced with a pair of Nabals lips is a sufficient Interpreter of all the rest. This serves to humble pride in her baseness; for can there bee any thing more ignominious then to be proud of dust-heapes? to swell for scutcheons? no, bee thankful to God for your estates, and not disdeignfull to your inferiors. For should ye never bee well but when ye are carrying an Image of your own greatness before you, as that diseased man did in Aristotle? or setting out your magnificence to the world as Apothecaries do their gally-pots? should ye be your own heraldes to blazon your arms? or your own Painters to draw out the pictures of your power? that ye may bee bright sparks, will ye turn all others into dead coals, cinders, ashes? that your impresses may seem curi●us, will ye rase out the characters of all other mens worth? will ye look as if ye were the onely men of merit? and speak as if ye would be held to be the sole worthies of the times? Oh he had need of a clear eye that should see sufficiently the mischief of this practise. {αβγδ}. Superciliousnesse is ever rewarded with the contempt of the world. A proud man is his own idol, and the worlds scorn. Mans nature can better endure any sin in thee, then insolency. Paruipension, too mean an esteem of a mans self hath been held in ethics a defect; but arrogancy hath ever been held a gross excess. He may writ all his true friends in the compass of his nail, that looks vpon others as abjects, and holds the world at a distance. What two faire kingdoms of arragon, and Nauarre did Don Pedro de Atares his unseasonable gravity loose him in scorning to speak with any man but when he pleased pretending that he was busy about matters of state, Turquet. when he had none but his Barber trimming him; they therfore that would hunt for command by pride, go out with a mastiff to chase it away. Oh therefore let all look to bee known of God, and not care too much to bee known of the world; to bee ambitious of this, is but a Worldlings quality. Shall J saith Nabal? I with an haughtiness. Bread, Water and Flesh. Next Bread Water and Flesh with a poysing. Doth Nabal stick so much at Bread, Water, and a little flesh? he made a feast in his house like the Feast of a King; Vers. 36. surely then he had more then bread, Ibid. and flesh; and his heart was merry within him that he was drunk, surely then he had more then water. Is Nabal so free at a Feast, and doth he stick so much at a sew scantlings to bee bestowed vpon men in misery? Then from hence observe, that any thing spent in charity with worldlings is a burden, seems a great cost; though riot may devour pounds, yet almsdeeds must not haue a few pittances; Peraldus Gulosus expendi● in piscibus vnde viginti pauperes satis haberent de pane. Nullum compendium, said dispendium. Chrys. in orat. de mulie.& pulchri. Potius dissipatio quam dispensatio. Luke 16.6. Amos 4.5.6. the very fragments that fall from the table of surfet are held too much. An Epicure spends more in dressing of a fish, then would buy twenty poor men sufficient bread. Much is spent, but there is rather damage, then advantage comes by it; there is rather a lavishing out of Gods blessings, then an orderly disposing of them. Many care not what they spend in excess, but they weigh the very refuse bits they give to the poor; profuse in one kind, penurious in another. dives fares deliciously every day, but grudges at the very crumbs that fall from his table for La●●rus, yea his dogges show more mercy then he, in so much that a man would think the true hous-keepers were without, and the true dog within. Those Libertines in the 6. of Amos, Eat calves out of the stalls, lie in beds of ivory, make them instruments of music like david, drink wine in bowls, anoint themselves with the chief ointments: But no man remembers the afflictions of joseph. Nabal here feasts like a Prince, but relieves the poor like a very Egeno. Bread, water, and flesh, then seem much. This serves to reprove the vanity of these times, in which men are liberal in wast works, parsimonious in charitable. They call them their Goods with which they do no good, Bona appellan● ex quibus nullus nisi ad malas res vsus est. Cyp. ep. 2. ad Donat. but use them to their own evil purposes. There are many that will drink whole Cellars dry over night, that will scarce bestow a cup of small liquour vpon the poor in the morning; many that will cast down handfuls of gold for a Banquet, that notwithstanding repined to give a few small pieces of silver in charity; that will build gorgeously, burnish curiously, furnish sumptuously, that vpon pride and bravery for Spanish heads, and French bodies, for sweet powders, sweet waters, new complexions, care not what they bestow; yea, for suits, and quarrels, to lay a neighbour gasping at their feet, or to tear out the bowels of a Churchman, be it but for a shoo-latchet, or a title of the last Springs planting, care not how they cast away coin; But when they come to a point of charity, then they pause and descant, yea, cease to be great men, a man would think they were decayed, and turned Bankrupts. But oh beloved, if any should be sick of this disease here, I beseech you let your vain expenses touch you, never let God seem to charge you. Let supersluity be abated, never let charity be restrained; for that's but a Nabals part, who feasts like a Prince, but in charity sticks at a little Bread, water, and flesh: shall I then take my Bread, water, and flesh? Which I have killed for my Shearers. Now let us come to Which I have killed for my Shearers, with an evasion. From hence observe, that the strength of the covetous mans excuse lies in his dependents; the state of the house must be upheld, the honour of the Family maintained, servants must be well provided for, and because these, therefore none else. ●i porcinam habuisse● animani, quid aliud dicere potuisies. Basil. Digite facultatum. If thou hadst the soul of a Swine what couldst thou resolve on more? These are kind to all them within the compass of the coat. Servants I know are singers to bring in our wealth, therefore not to sustain these, were to lame ourselves in our estates; but to provide onely for these, is to think never to have need of Gods help, but onely of the help of the Family. I know the main Article of their faith lay in, 8 Tim. 5.8. 1. Timoth. that if any man provide not for his own household, he is worse then an infidel; and therefore to shun to be Infidels in one kind, they care not to be as ill, as atheists in another kind; their charity is made of the just size of their family, they poised out their provision according to the counter-weight of the household, even to arithmetical proportion; with alacrity there comes little else from them. I wonder why Porters in so many places are provided, are they in all places onely for due state? or to keep out thieves? no, I fear in some places they are to keep out the poor, that Nabal and his Shearers might be merry together. This serves to exhort great men not to list their charity to them onely that wear the livery, and rise up and call them Master. For art thou good onely to them of thy own household? I see no charity in this, for God ha'mercy gain, or service, or state, for else even these Shearers might go seek their Bread, water, and flesh, as well as others. So often as I hear men to be of generous mindes to their companies, followers, and I hear no further, I count it rather a matter of mockage, then of praise; for it is not conscience but some sinister respects that draws them to this. Thou mayst be a niggard then for all thy domestical bounty, nature wishes thee to respect these, policy wishes thee to tender these,& livest thou by no higher principles then of Nature, and policy? then thou art no deeper scholar then one of Nabals form, for he can spell charity here to none, but his own Shearers. Shall I then take my bread, water, and flesh, which I have killed for my Shearers? And give it unto men whom I know not whence they be. Lastly, And give it unto men whom I know not whence they be, with a cleanly discarding. From hence observe, that the poor are thrust out of the Worldlings charge; they are strangers, and therefore what haue they to do to take care of them? Pro. 14.7. The friends of the Rich are many, but the poor is hated even of his own neighbour: Many a poor man as well known at Turkey, as at the next town, perhaps at the next threshold. Ye may see what great acquaintance they take of them by that in the second of james, Depart in peace; the first word they speak to them, 2 james 1●. is, Farewell, are they not Strangers think ye, that can get no other greeting? Erasm. are these willing to entertain any friendship with the poor? no, as the Image of Minerva in Chios, looked frowningly on them that came towards it, smilingly on them that went away; so these Rich men have nothing but the frown for them that come to them, the smooth brow they bestow on them that are ready to turn their backs; their estates are their fee-simple, and they wonder such Strangers will come to claim any thing out of them. Possident ad hoc tantum, vt alters possidere non liceat. pecunta●suam dicunt quam velut alienam domi custod●unt. Cyp. cp. 2 Vag● potius habent terras quam habitant Pomp Mela. They possess their riches for no other end, but that others might get no possession out of them. They call it their money, and yet they keep it under lock and key at home; as if they had no power of it themselves, but were onely entrusted with it for others. As it is said of the Blemmyes and Gamphasanes, and other people in the iceland Cyrenaick in the lesser Affrick that They rather had land, then dwelled in it; so these rather have riches, then make any good use of them. I think they are some Brownists, they like not the Lords prayer, Pater noster, Our Father; or howsoever not that petition of it, give us this day our daly bread, no they would appropriate all unto themselves; their riches haue not been distilled through the Limbecke of their own pains and providence, now to bee sprinkled about in Charity; no, this they count the lavishing away of their costly water; call to them for an alms, and ye are forging a title against their demeans; go about to open their hands, and they are ready to cry felony; they stand over their riches, like harpies over their preys, not one to get a morsel out of them but themselves; they are providing for a young stripling perhaps, and him they know, but as for this sordid crew, They know not whence they are. This serves to cast Nabal in his title, to bring in clear evidence, that he is not the sole proprietary of his goods, for God hath reserved( as it were) a standing rent of every mans estate for the poor. Pro. 6.26. Eccles. 11.2. Let thy fountain flow forth,& thy riuers be in the midst of the streets, there must not bee then a private pond. give a portion to seven, and likewise to eight. A man must not make himself the peculiar almesman. job 31.17. Acts 9.39. Luke 16.23. Thom. Aquin. Tho Aquin. 22. ae q. 117. art 5. These are precepts for charity, there are likewise precedents, as of job, that eat not his morsels alone, of Dorcas that provided coats and garments. And what needs more, is not heaven called Abrahams bosom? that is the bosom of Abraham the Almes-giver. liberality is one of the potential parts of justice, as if so bee that those that were able, and were not charitable, were injurious. Rich men are not their own men, no, they are all debters, although not for a legal, yet for a moral de bt. hid not thy face from thy own flesh, saith the Prophet; though not thy own Gentry, yet thy own flesh, Es. 51. taken out of the same slime-heape with thyself; thou maiest eat of delicater fare, wear costlier raiments, have one day a statelyer tomb, prove a daintier morsel for wormes-meate, but set these things aside, they, and thou are cousin-germanes; seeing then there is so little difference betwixt rich flesh, and poor flesh, I pray take better acquaintance one of another, Know whence they are, and the rather, because riches( whereby many men challenge such high pre-eminence) are but transitory. Prou. 23.5. Wilt thou set thy eyes vpon that which is not, riches may take them wings and fly away as the Eagle. How many possess those lands that wealthy men were once owners of? I know not what better assurance ye have of your felicity, then they had; I think ye hold your lands by the same tenor they did; Therefore use your estates, as God hath appointed, for fear one judgement of God or other take up your lands, as forfeitures; respect these strangers, for fear strangers come to pluck down your arms, and to turn the keys of your doors vpon you. Besides, why will ye not Know them whom Christ will assuredly Know? yea, not Know you, if ye take no notice of them; for remember I beseech you in the midst of your greatness, sublimity, splendour vpon earth, the final sentence,& heart cleaving doom of worldlings, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, Matth. 25. For I was an hungered, &c, Oh therefore though something for posterity, yet something for charity; though something for your own sake, yet something for Gods sake, pitty the poor, cherish the poor, tender them as your own limbs, honour them as Christs members; close not the eye, deaf not the ear, dead not the heart, turn not the back vpon them; hold not them as strangers, with whom ye are not acquainted, use them not as persons whom ye know not whence they are, for that were like Nabal here, Shall I then take my Bread, and my Water, and my Flesh that J haue killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom J know not whence they be? Thus have I shown unto you the portraiture of Nabal; what fitter picture to be presented to the eyes of the world? that if people detest his name, they might take heed of the reflex of his manners. But when I see many count their goods seuerals, which take as much acquaintance of strangers as the needy, which bring out a dish of checks to the poor, which give nothing, or nothing but with the misers eye set vpon it, how do I instantly think on Nabal? for thus he looked, ●●sic vultus, sic or●ferebat. thus he spake, these were his purposes, these his practices. Nabal is not so hard a pattern then, but many are contented to limb out their lives by him; which count his resolution the lustre of true wisdom, yea, a beam of plausible Divinity; oh the miseries of the poor? oh the mercilesnesse of the rich ●an inhospitableage, costive times; the hand of bounty is cramped, the breasts of charity are dried up, the complaint of the Prophet may even bee taken up. Hosea. 4.2.— sunt silicis circum praecordia vena Commun●a possidentes propria faciunt occupando Basil. ser 1. in d●vit. auaros. There is no mercy in the Land; there are veins of flint about mens heart strings. Men take possession of those goods that are common, and make them their own by usurpation, much like them that proclaim themselves heirs to the goods of widows and Orphans. Not such a plentiful Nation under heaven, not such a penurious Nation under heaven. Our kingdom was once an alms-house, and now it is turned into a Chuffes hutch as it were; wealth that was once a nurse, now beats those children shee was wont to foster; it hath given over the stewards office, and is turned Treasurer; it hath left the house at the pelican, and is come to dwell at the dog; it is good for nothing but to gorge itself like him in the Gospel. Luke 12. Thou hast much goods laid up for many yeeres. What then, go feast the hungry? go perfume the streets with the works of mercy, no, eat, Lucull●● cum Lucull●. Plut. drink, and be merry: What the rich man onely with himself? will he invite onely his own throat to his dainties? he is much at his cost, a Rich man sits down, and a churl rise up, yet these are the guises, and fashions of the times; Nabal counts all intruders but his own company at his board. Did our fore-fathers thus look for honor? did they thus eternize their names vpon earth? were the poor such eye-sores to them? took they so little acquaintance of them? no they sought them out, they brought them home, they fed them as c●eerefully as their own children, they gave them as kind welcome, as if they had been their solemn guests; they mewed not up themselves in a narrow parlour, as if they had been too neat pieces for a mean mans eye to behold, or a beggars lips to breath vpon, but they came out to them, were familiar with them, filled their bowels with sustenance, their backs with raiment, their hands with rewards, and their hearts with gladness; they provided portions for their children, they built hospitals for them. A Nabal was then as hateful a creature to bee discerned, as a Crocodile, they would haue thought to haue been in hell before Shroue-tide, if they had not feasted the poor at Christmas, and made them honour Christs birth, for the tastes of mercy they then found. Oh that compassion towards the poor might thus be streaming in her full tide, that charity could be so generally seen with her basket by her side: I would then think part of the golden age were returned. But as the Turks use to say in the midst of their solemn griefs, Mustapha is dead, knolls in the life of soliman the Magnificent. Mustapha the flower of chivalry. So we may say our old Benefactors are gone, our old Benefactors, the Fosterfathers of the distressed; good works are now by many turned into good clothes, people care not to have their tables furnished, but their Wardrobes, they think people are blessed enough, if they can see them in crimson; or almsdeeds are turned into purchases, they will loose their evidence in heaven, to become owners of other mens evidence; they will sell all the poor, to buy out another neighbour; one heir makes many shut up their hands to a whole country; Yea, in these gripping times, how many do rather devour the poor then sustain them? merciless wretches which haue the swe●t of their brows, and the strength of their loins even at their own price, which keep away their Commons from them that were ditched in with the devils spade, which pare not their nails, restrain not their sharking officers from tearing of skin and flesh from the backs of their poor Tenants by cruel fines, and amerciments; Thus ye see how charity is turned out at the back door; and pride, and insatiablenesse, and oppression come to domincere in the house. But oh if any here should be thus destitute of charity, or haue none but that wolvish charity in them, if they be not quiter incorporated into Mammon, let bowels of compassion stir in them; let them not love that earth that is appointed to bee trampled on, nor set their hearts on that wealth that is not worth the least joint of their bodies; let them not hate those poor whom Christ owns, nor grieve to give them an alms to whom he gave his blood; let them shun all sins, but especially abhor to be uncharitable; Let them bless God that they themselves are advanced, and in the midst of their opulency and affluency let them remember the friends of their gracious Promoter; oh for miseries groans sake, for Christs Iesus precepts, pattern, blood sake let them not count their estates( though never so justly gotten) pure, but troubled with a kind of infection without being cleansed by almsdeeds, Luke 11.41. for give alms and all things shall be clean unto you; oh let them not put their alms amongst their desperate debts, Eccles 11.1. of which they haue seen in all likelihood their last comfort; no, Cast thy Bread vpon the waters, and after many yeares thou shalt find it again; oh let them not hold theirselues to haue carved well that meal to all their guests wherein the poor haue not received their portions, Nehem. 8.10. for Eat of the fat, and drink of the sweet and sand some part to them, Tho. Aq. for whom none is provided. Let them know that the keeping of money is the rest of it, and the communicating of it is the motion of it; now money is not fetched out of the veins of the earth to lay in a corner, but to be communicated. The Moralists make honours, and riches adminicles unto virtue; let them so bee used, and not as obstacles to hinder them from all goodness; to show that they affect not the world, but haue renounced it, let them scatter abroad the treasures of the same: Oh communicate, oh distribute; consider your ability to do good, consider the heavy necessities of the times; let your charity run in a free current amongst the distressed, and scluse not up all your means within the channel of your own family. For that were like Nabal here, Shall I then, &c. Thus haue I spoken in general for charity, give me leave to speak something vpon the same subject unto you the worthy citizens of this renowned incorporation, to whom I am particularly called. far hence haue I heard your city commended for a place of civil government, make it famous in all places, for a place of charitable government; As ye are an incorporation, a body, so I beseech you count not the poor, dead members. The times are already sharp, but this is but the chilling of an ague, the strong fit is still behind; trading hath been a long time dead, the prices of all grains are excessively deere, alas poor souls, how shall they be able to wrestle long with these miseries? if ye do not speedily help to relieve them, ye may ere long help to bury them. Your vigilancy I trust sleeps not, your charity I hope is in its due fervour; your praise is in the gates for your mercy abroad, we the children of a mother lately distressed bless you that Alma matter Academia, our renowned university, or howsoever the town her hostess draws her breath the more comfortably for your beneficence; it was an offering indeed of a Faire eye, and the more acceptable because free; Well if the hearing of misery with the ear were thē so forcible, let the seeing of it with the ey more prevail, be most sensible of the pains in your own bosoms; know that that government is most praise worthy, by which sighs are removed from the breasts of the poor. In public therefore let your chiefest communications, and consultations be for the poor; store their granaties, appoint solemn collections for them, hear their plaints with patience, visit their distressed corners, cast a Citie-liuery upo● 〈◇〉 backs, use your best wits, and counsels to remedy their griefs, to preserve their lives; your city may prosper the better many yeares for one yeares charity to the poor. And whereas here are amongst you many private merchants, tradesman, and Artificers that from some hundreds, are risen to an estate of ten, twenty, thirty thousand pounds, Educ divitias compedibus v●●ctas. Basil. Diuitem te sentiant paupe●es. Cyp. let not these mighty estates now bee wedged up in a corner; no bring forth those riches that are bound as it were fetters, and triumph over them as slaves; let the poor feel ye to be rich; take up these poor as commodities: yea haue trafficked much beyond Seas, trade amongst these at home; to get advantage ye haue trusted men with much, let me entreat you to trust God with part. And oh ye which haue set your faces( in a more particular manner) towards Sion, which haue a name to live, seem not you to haue renounced the delights of the world, but not the desires; shal your hands be shut& yet are your hearts opened? will ye honour Christ with a psalm, or a Chapter, or a prayer in the parlour,& yet drive him away from the door with a staff, or a frown? ye damn a Drunkard, an Adulterer, a Sabboth-breaker, a Blasphemer, and ye do well, but will ye magnify a Worldling? where do ye ever find S. Nabal? well, bee not ghosts of profession, blisters of Religion; I honour your profession so it bee as full of charity, as piety. But otherwise remember that of the Apostle, 1. joh 3.17. whosoever hath this worlds goods, and seeth his brother in want, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Hos. 6.6. I will haue mercy and not sacrifice. 1. james 27. Pure religion, and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity. Let no man say then I haue Wife and Children to maintain( as if thy cares were onely to bee restrained to these) remember thou hast also a Iesus. Nemo dicat, habeo vx●rem, habeo liber●s; habes jesum. Chrysost. show thyself a mystical member of the Church, as well as a provident Father of a family. Well, one and other now is your trial whereby men may see whether ye belong to God, or Mammon; 1 Tim. 6.19. now the time to Lay up a good Foundation against the time to come. look not onely therefore on your own families, but on the distressed housholds; as ye want not means, so want not minds to do good; sever out something for the hungry and thirsty, design not all your means and m●intenance for your own throats, for that were to bee Nabals professors: Shall I then take my Bread, &c. Next seeing the Sessions are now to begin, let me entreat all you that haue here any interest in them, to take some provident course for the poor, let them taste of your charity as well as your justice; to hang up felons, and not to provide for maintenance, is almost to force theeues to the gallows; the poor are at an exigent, if they hear not of some speedy intendments for their comfort( I tremble to speak it) they are ready to lay their blood to your charge: whom haue they here next under God but yourselves to betake themselves to for refuge in their extremities? Oh therefore whatsoever ye resolve on else, decree something for charity; count it no dishonour to this meeting to haue it styled a Sessions of charity, though they meet with churlishness elsewhere, yet I beseech you, let them not find Nabal vpon the Bench. Further, least( as Themistius said of the slatterers in the Court of Iovian) I should seem to fear the purple Robes, more then the wrath of God, give me leave to speak something unto you the Knights and Gentlemen that in these hard times are resorted into the city; Purpuram magis quam Deum coler●. Niceph. Call. lib. 10. c. 42. as ye haue most means, so show not ye least mercy. That charity therefore that ye are to enjoin your neighbours in the country to show, first make it exemplary in yourselves; if plenty stop her current, how will the shallow brooks afford a few drops? ye left behind you good orders in your country, why did ye not stay to see them executed, and to give life to them by your presidents of mercy; His majesty( whom God for ever bless) out of his pious disposition, sincere compassion, and pectorall affection to the present distresses commanded your presence in the country, why then haue ye oppugned his royal pleasure? will ye vilify his proclamations, and edicts, as if they were but matters of form? would ye count it a dishonour to you now to bee thrust out of his Commission? think then what a dishonour ye offer him, thus to put a brave vpon his Order. give me leave to discharge my conscience towards my God and my King. I will not speak what I could concerning this, yet thus much I must tell you, that if you stay here long, ye will hazard to loose that which is many great men● Paradise, your honour in your country. Should such a man as I flee? Neh. 6. 11● laid Nehemiah; so should such men as you, now haue forsaken your country? There are some Gentlemen I confess( for whom God be praised, and their names ever honoured) that haue kept their houses, and maintained an Odour of charity at their thresholds, but as for you( I must speak truth in this place, and at this time) ye seem to feel too much of a deere year, ye are afraid of your Christmas box; ye haue fled into the fortified places, as if there were an invasion in the land; and seem to haue left off to bee true countrymen, Turqe●t. and to bee turned new-created Citizens; inso much that as Oviedo for the great confluence of Bishops thither in the time of the Mores Conquests in spain, was called the city of Bishops, so this city will hazard to lose the name, and be called the city of Knights and Gentlemen; ye are left out of the Charter, and yet ye seem to bee of the Body politic. here ye take up your mansions, and use your houses in the country, but as palaces of pleasure. But one time in the year to do good, but one year in twenty, and ye are Non residents from your places. If ye do any good here, ye do it but like a Minister that leaveth his own Cure, to go feed other mens flocks; your company here is neither desired, nor needed. If ye have done any good where ye should, it is but as a dram to that pound ye ought to haue expended in such a scarcity. Oh that ye heard the lamentable cries, and bitter exclamations of the poor against you, they say ye prefer your hawks, and horses, and hounds before them; for thirty pounds for an hawk, forty pounds for an horse, an hundred pounds for hounds, and though these die within a month after, ye think it stands not with generous mindes to grieve for the loss of them, but there is no such bounty and freeness to the poor; the hawk is said whilst the poor even famish, the Horse pampered whilst the poor even pine, the hounds haue their set provision, whilst the delicatest fare many poor haue, is but course bread, and the strongest liquour, faire water; a pitiful thing, when birds, and beasts, and dogges, are preferred before Christian souls. I condemn not your lawful pleasures, but I condemn those pleasures that turn Hospitality out of doors. Ponder vpon these things, and if your hearts be not of flint, and all the quick flesh in your bosoms turned into Adamant, I trust they will dissolve into pitty; for consider in yourselves, is this to bee Common-wealthsmen, no Private wealths-men, Christians? no neuter. ●h therefore let these advertisements be as a Habeas Corpus, to remove you to your proper dwellings; and go not thither, I humbly beseech you, onely to show your foreheads, but your mercy to help the helpless, to succour the succourless, to disperse abroad your Bread, Water, and Flesh, and not to serve it in, only to your own tables, for that were to bee Nabals housekeepers. Shall I then( saith Nabal) take my Bread, Water, and Flesh, which I haue killed for my Shearers, and give it unto men, whom 〈◇〉 know not whence they bee? And because Salomons Wife Woman not onely lifted up her hand to the distaff, Prov. 31. but likewise stretched ●ut her hand to the needy, give me leave to exhort, that if the Master should be Nabal, yet that the mistress bee Abigal to tell Nabal of his churlishness, and by her discreetest and powerfullest persuasions, and inducements, to seek to reclaim him; howsoever to prevent Gods heavy curses vpon the family, let her go forth to men in misery with her bottles of milk, her parched corn, her frayles of raysins and figs: the Wife indeed hath not power to dispose of her husbands estate at her pleasure, but for true Charity shee hath, why else are women in Scripture exhorted to be Charitable? And you my reverend brethren of the Clergy, if ever ye would have your words like apple of gold set vpon Pictures of silver, know what is a word in due season; show ye to the World miseries, naked arms, and bring forth hunger, ready to eat her own flesh; cause the cheeks of covetousness to blushy, and the heart of parsimony to chink in the bosom; by your most pregnant motives, and prevalent charms, endeavour to raise up a race of Charity in the World; that so if people should remain inflexible, incorrigible, yet as his majesty said( after his Pious Orders given for the relief of the poor, if they were not put in execution) his Throne should bee Innocent, so the Pulpit may bee innocent. What should wee do now filling the ears of the people with our sublimated conceptions, seraphical subtleties? Alas, they have need of mercy. In these distressefull times therefore, what a sweet Odour is the sent of Charity out of our Pulpits? Turquet in the life of Alphonso the Noble. Roderigo de Ximenes by preaching of Sermons of Charity in such a great scarcity, was reverenced of the people as an Angel of God, and so honoured by Alphonso, that he bestowed vpon him the Arch-Bishopricke of Toledo, worth above two hundred thousand Crownes by the year; so by such kind of Doctrines wee shall get reverence vpon earth, honour in heaven; and though our labours should not take place with men, Es. 49.4. sure we are, Our labour shall be with the Lord. Lastly, to speak unto you the distressed souls of the times, I wish you comfort from heaven, patience upon earth; though grace cannot keep you from being insensible of these miseries, yet let it keep you from being impatient; it is your time of trial, Oh blaspheme not God to his face, but with all meekness, and humble lowly submission, yield yourselves unto Gods chastisement, endure a kind of dry martyrdom. And as I wish you patience towards Gods chastisement, so towards mans churlishness; though men should bee open-mouthed to reproach, and close-fingered to relieve you, yet lift not up an arm of revenge; no, I beseech you by the peace of your country, and by the honour o your profession, that ye fall out into no rash, precipitate, tumultuous rebellious courses. Remember, that david being denied relief at Nabals hand, at first he seemed irritated, incensed; yea he vowed ruin, even to rip up the bowels of the churl, to make his house a shambles, but that which Rage resolves on, Grace repents of; at last how doth he honour God, and bless the instrument that stayed him from that bloody purpose? 1. Sam. 25.32, 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to me. And blessed be thy aduise, blessed bee thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand. magnify not Worldlings therefore as Worthies( no pity it is such painted posts should bee stooped unto) nor bee not your own carvers of satisfaction from them; Let even churls live to their greater ignominy, damnation; Vengeance in God were just, but in you barbarous, and inhuman; Rebellion is the fruit of unregenerate nature; Commend therefore your fainting souls unto God in silence, rather then force relief; the poor mans weapon is his tongue, not his pike; though they may be guilty of hard heartedness, mercilesnesse, yet be not ye guilty of blood. And now Lord, bow thou the hearts of people unto charity, melt them into compassion, let them not bee ashamed of Christ, hungry, and naked, but as they look for Heaven, so let them lay up treasures for their selves in heaven, and that for his sake that purchased heaven with the price of his own blood, even Iesus Christ the righteous. To whom with thee O Father, and the Blessed Spirit, bee ascribed, all Honour, Glory, Praise, Power, might, majesty, and Dominion, from this time forth for evermore, Amen.