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Show 34-4 NoCROSS.;N&CROWN. VoL. J. 1668. Poverty, or that be can bejlow'bi$ Jl:loney upon tbofe that Jefer.ve it bencr; who rarely opens his Purte till S!._uarur-Dny, for fear of lofing H. . ~ §. XVI. But be it more mifcrablr: tbon the B1orejl; f or _he tn)O)'l not wl)llt be yu fears to lofe ~ they fe:u not ~h:tC they don't enjoy. Thu~ is he Poor by overvaluing his Weah~, but he IS wrercbe~, th:Jt hunge1s wuh Money in a,Caok's-Sbop: Yet ~avmg m3de 3 G_od of lm Gu!d, who knows, but be tbinkt it unnatural ro Hat tkbat be Worjh1ps! §. XVJi. Bur, which aggrav:nes; 1his Sin, I ha~~e my fdf once known fame, thatto get Money, ha\'C weaned Lhemfelves mto the Grave; and to be true tc their Principle, when Sick, OJOu!d not Jpare a)"ee-- to a Do[/ or, to help tbe poor Slave to live; nnd fo dyed to jave Charges: A Confiancy that Canonizes them Manyrsfor Money. . . . . §. XVIII. But now let us fee what ~nfianccs the Scnpture w11l .gn·e us 10 Reproof of the fordid Hoarders and H1ders of Money. A .good.\ ike. Young Man came to Chrift, and enquired the Way to Eternal Llie: Chrtlt told him He knew the Commandments: He replied, He bad kept tb~tll /rom bit Yo111b : (it feems he was no loofe Perfon, and indeed fuch are ufually not fo, to fave Charges) And ytt !aek.efltbou one Thing, ~aith Chrifi, SrO all, diflribute it tp t1Je Poor, and thou jhalt have Treafure tn Heaven, and eome and follow me. It feems Chrifi pincb'd him in t}'te fore Pl:lce; .he hit 'he Mark and il:ruck him to the Heart, who knew hJs Heart: By this heuyed bow ~eU he had kept the Commandmrnu, To Love God above aU. 'Tis faid, The Young Man f.t.las very Sorrow{11l, a11d uewt his TV(ty ; and the Reafon which is .given, is, Tbat he was very Rich. The Tides met, Monty and Eternal Life: Comrary Defires : But which prevailed ? Alas I J!is RICbet. But what faid Chrift to this? How hardly jha/1 they tbtzr have Rtcbes enter into the Kingdom of God? He adds, It is eajier for a Camel to go tbrougba Ncedle't Eye, tbatt [or a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heavtn: That is, fuch a Rich Man, to wit a Covetous Rich Man, to whom it is hard to do Good with what he has: 'Tis more than an ordin:::.ry Miracle: 0 who then ~vould be Rich and Covetous! 'Twas upon thefe Rich Men that Cbrift pronounced his Wo, fayiog, Wo unto ) 'OU tbar are RiclJ, for )'e have rectived your Con{olittion b:re: What I None in the Heavens) No, unlefs you become willing to be Poor J11nt, can refign all, live loofe to the World, J1ave it at Arm's-End, yea, under Foot, a Se1vant, and not a Mafter. §. XIX. The other lnfiance is a very difrnal one too: 'Tis that of 4»4· nias and Sapphira. In the Beginning of Apoftolick Times, it was cufiomuy for thofe who received the. Word of Life, to briog what Subitancc they h:1d, and lay it at rhe .Apoflle's Feet: Of thefe, ]ofes, Sirnamed Barnabas, was Exemplary. Among the reft, .dnanitu and his Wife Sapphira, confet:. fing to the Truth, Sold their Potreffion, hut Coverouily re1erved fome of tbe Purchafe·Money from the Common Purfe, to thcmfelvcs, and brought a Part for the Whole, and laid it at the Apofile's Feet. But Perer, a pl:lin and a bold Man, in the Majeity of the Spirit faid, .dnanitU, rviJy bath S4· tan fiUed tlJine Heart to l}'e to tbe Holy Gbofl; and to kttp btJck Part of t~t Priu of the Land ? Wbilfl ir r&IRluned, wtt1 it not rhine own? .And nfur 11 wa1'Sold, toas it not in tbine or.rtt Power? Why bajlrbou ctmuivtd tbit Thing in thine Heart? Thou bajl not litd unto Me,, bm unto God. But what followed this Covctoufnefsand Hypocrify of .Ananias? Why, .Antmias hearing rhefe Words, Hr ft/1 down and gnvt up tbeGhofl. The like bcfel his Wife, being Privy to the Deceit their Avarice had led them to. And it is faid, Th_at great Ftar tatllt uptm alltbc Chu1·cb, and tbofc tbtlt beard of rbrft Tbmgs: And alfo fhould on thofe that now read them. For if this Judgment was fhewn and recorded, that we fhould beware of the like 'E\'ils, w~at will become of thofe, that under the Profeffion of Cbrifl/(/niry, a Rc· ligton that teaches Men to live loofe from the 'Vorld, and to yield up all to the Will and Service of Chrift and his Kingdom, nor only retain a J~rrt, but .All; and cannot part with rhe lelfr Thing for Chriil's S:.tke. J befeech God ro incline the Hearts of my Readers to weigh thefe Things. This ll:Jd not hef:allen li.nanitu and Sappl1ira, if they had aet~d as in God'& Prcfe~~eJ VoL. I. No CROSS, M CROWN. and with that Entire Love, Truth anO Simerity, that became them. 0 that People would ufe the Light. that Chrifi: has given them, to feltch and fee how far theX are under the' Powtr of thit Iniquity! For would they bu; watch againft the Love of the World-, and be lefs in Bondage to the Things that are feen, which are Temporal, tluy wo11!d begin to fer tbtir lltaru OJI Things .Above, that are of an Eternal Nature. Their Life would De bid tritb Cbri{l1n God, 0111 of the Reath of aU rhe Unt(rtaintitt Q/T me. and Tro11blu anJ. Chflngcs of MortalilJ. Nay, if People would but confider bow hardly Riches are got, how uncertainly they are kept, the Envy they bring; that they can neither make a Man Wife, nor Cure Difeafes, nor add to Life, much lefs give Peace in Death: No, nor hardly yield any folid Benefit above Food and Raiment (which may be had without them) aild that if there be any Good Ufefor them, 'Tis torelitve others in Diftreft; being but Stewards of the Plentiflll Providences of G 0 D, and confequeotly accountable for our Srewardjhip: If, I fay, thefe Confidera.tions had any Room iiJ our Minds, we fhould not thus poft to get, nor care to hide, and keep fuch a mean and impotent Thing. 0 that the Crafs of C H R 1ST, (which is the Spirit and Power of God in Man) lllight have more Place ia the Soul, that it might crucifie us more and more to the WorU, and the World to us; that, like the Days of Paradife, the Earth might again be the f'ootftOQ} \ and the Treafure of the Earth, a Servant, and not a God ta, Man ! -Many have writ againft this Vice, three I will mention. ·,668: ~ Chap.Xll.! §. XX. William Tindtd, that worthy Apoitle of the Englijh Reformation; has an entire Difcourfe, to which I refer the Reader, Entjtuled, The Parab/1 of tb~ Wicked Mammon. The next is-- ' §. XXI. Peter Charron (a famous French Man. and in particuhr fot the ilook he wrote of Wifdom) hath a Chapter agaillft Covttoufnefs, Part of wbich take as followeth : To love and affiO Riches H Covetoufnefs : Not only the Love and A£reaion, bur a/(o everl over·curious Ct~re and InduflrJ about Riches. The Defire of Goolr, and the PltQjure u;t take in po.ffej}ing of tbem, -is gro11nded only upon Opinion : The immoderate Defire to get P,icbes if a Ga~reen {in our Soul, which with n Venomous Heat Ctmjumet!J our ]\Tat ural .djjtOiom, ro tbe End it might fill tiJ with virulent H11mour;, So foon ar it H lodged in our Htarts, aU Honejl and ]\larural AffeEl:ion, whicb r»e owe either to oNr Parents or Friends, or our Selves, vanijhetb away: 11/J the rejl, in refpeil of our Profit, Jumetb. nothing; yea, we forger in the End, and condemn 011r Selves, our Bodies, olir Mindt, /or thH Trnnfitory Tr,ifh; and a1 our Proverb is, We Sell our_ Houfe to get us Hay. cr;o..,._ toufntfSS h the vile and bafe Paj}ion of Vulgar Fools, who account Riches tb~ principal Good of a Man, and fear Poverty, air be greatef1 Evil; onJ nQt contenting themfelves wirb necejfary Means, mlJicb are for~idden no Man, a:eigb that is Good in a Goldfmith's Ballance, when Nature bath taught m, to meaJure ir by the Ell of Nutffity. For, what greattr Folly can there be, than to 11dorc that which Nature it Jet/ hath put under our Feet, dd hidden iq the Bowels of the Earth, as unworthy to be fecn ; yea, rarbet to be contemned, and trampled under Foot? This its th•t-uhhb the Sin of Man barb only torn. out of the Entrails of the Earth, and brought unto Light to kill himf!lf. We ilig out the Bowels of tbt Earth, and bring to Light thofe Things, for whitb we would fight : lfe are not n]bamtd to ejleem thofe Things 7N>jl highly, whic~ art inrbe lotveft PariS' of the Earth. J.lature feemetb even rn tbt F1rjl IJtrlb if Gold, and the Womb /rom whenee it proceederh, afur a Sort, to btrVe prefaged the Mifery of thofe that art in Love with it; for it bath fo or~ere~ the Marter, that in tbofe Countries where it growetb, there QOtDeth txmb.tt ntithtr Graft, nor Plant, nor other Thing that is wort1J any Thing: .ds grv_ing 11s to underjland thereby, that in tboft Mindt whtrt the De[tre of th1s A1ern/ growcth, there cannot remain fo 11111ch tU a Spark of True Honour and Virtue. For what T/Jing tau he more bafe, than for a 1l1aR to dtgra~e, and to make bimJelf a Servan; apd a Slave to tbat which jho~tld be fub;eO 1mrc him? Riches Serve Wife Men but Command a Fool; f or a Covetous Manferveth bH Ric:hes, and nor th~y bim: Jind he if Jaid to bave Goods, Yy II' |