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<DATE>2012-05-29</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>THE Gainefull Co&s;t. As it was delivered in A SERMON PREACHED Before the Right Honourable Hou&s;e of LORDS, In the Abbey Church at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> on Wedne&s;day the 27. of <HI>November,</HI> being the day appointed for &s;olemn and publike Humiliation.</P>
<P>By <HI>Henry Wilkin&s;on,</HI> B. D. Pa&s;tor of <HI>Faiths</HI> under <HI>Pauls.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL>2 CHRON. 31. 10. &amp;c.</BIBL>
<P><HI>Since the people began to bring the offrings into the hou&s;e of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath ble&s;&s;ed his people; and that which is left, is this great &s;tore.</HI></P>
<BIBL>VERS. 21.</BIBL>
<P><HI>In every work that hee began in the &s;ervice of the hou&s;e of God, and in the Law, and in the Commandements, to &s;eek his God, he did it with all his heart, and pro&s;pered.</HI></P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for CHR. MEREDITH and SA. GELLIBRAND, dwelling in <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard, 1644.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>To the Right Honourable Hou&s;e of LORDS a&s;&s;embled in PARLIAMENT.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honourable,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>_PEr&s;ons of highe&s;t rank and eminent qualifica|tions, are</HI> &s;atis amplum alter alteri thea|trum; <HI>but per&s;ons &s;o qualified, when they are employed in matters of greate&s;t and mo&s;t publike concernment (as your Lord&s;hips are) become a</HI> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>&s;pectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men, 1 Cor. 4. 9. Look well how you behave your &s;elves, for you now act either to the greate&s;t prejudice or profit of the Kingdome, and the Church of God. If the great wheel &s;tands &s;till, the wheel within the wheel cannot move; and they had need move very cautiou&s;ly, who if they move irregularly, prove fatall. Cro&s;&s;e motions in the &s;uperiour orbs of a State, doe as much trouble wi&s;e men to reconcile them to the principles of peace and government, as the A&s;tronomers are troubled to &s;ave the Phoenomena, by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ning of Epicycles, and Concen|tricks, and Eccentricks: God forbid that any &s;hould be put to the labour of coyning di&s;tinctions to &s;alve the counter-pa&s;&s;a|ges or planetary motions in tho&s;e &s;pheres in which the brigh|te&s;t flarres of our State doe move.</HI></P>
<P><HI>It was a pious as well as politick in&s;cription in the Court at</HI> Ratisbon, Qui&s;quis Senator curiam officii cau&s;a ingrede|ris, ante hoc o&s;tium privatos affectus omnes abjicito: <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Camer. Cent. 1. c. 33.</HI></NOTE>
<PB REF="3"> iram, vim, odium, amicitiam, adulationem, Reip. per&s;o|nam, &amp; curam &s;ubjicito: nam ut aliis aequus, aut iniquus fueris, ita quoque Dei judicium expectabis aut &s;u&s;tinebis. <HI>It is an in&s;cription not &s;o fit to bee written on a Parliament hou&s;e doore, as on every Parliament mans heart.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Your Lord&s;hips are not ignorant how much there is, not of weak man, but of wicked man in the great tran&s;actions of the Church and State. And I doubt not but you &s;ee and loath that generation (and there be many of them) who betake them&s;elves to a &s;ide meerly for hopes, intere&s;ts, and engagements &s;ake; the&s;e are their</HI> &s;umma credendorum &amp; agendorum, <HI>by the&s;e they act, and beleeve no further then the&s;e doe reach, the&s;e to them are the Law and Prophets. It is well enough known, that the interrogatory that</HI> Saul <HI>made to the Benjamites, is a mo&s;t</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 22. 7.</NOTE> <HI>concluding topick to mercenaries;</HI> Will the &s;on of Je&s;&s;e give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all Captaines of thou&s;ands, and Captaines of hundreds? <HI>The&s;e be they who&s;e</HI> Cyno&s;ura <HI>and pole&s;tar is profit, and the Kingdom their prey, and gold their god. We hope that your Lord&s;hips will take care, that &s;uch as the&s;e are, &s;hall never be great, and that great men &s;hall never be &s;uch.</HI></P>
<P><HI>I &s;hall not trouble your Honours any further, nor will I in the lea&s;t kinde anticipate the book by giving &s;o much as a ta&s;te of the heads before hand; only thus much I could heartily wi&s;h, that as it is a Sermon of co&s;t, &s;o it were a co&s;tly Sermon, every line of which were worthy to be written in letters of gold; the Authour would never think it too good to be thus dedicated &s;ince to be employed for your Lord&s;hips good, is the crown and happine&s;&s;e of</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Honours mo&s;t devoted Servant in Chri&s;t, HENRY WILKINSON.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
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<HEAD>A SERMON PREACHED before the Right Honourable Hou&s;e of LORDS, At the publique Fa&s;t <HI>Novemb.</HI> 27. 1644.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>1 CHRON. 21. 24.</BIBL>
<Q><P><HI>And King</HI> David <HI>&s;aid to</HI> Ornan, <HI>Nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without co&s;t.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN this Chapter you have <HI>David</HI> &s;inning in num|bring the people, v. 1, 2, 8. and begging pardon. Then you have the Lord puni&s;hing, ver&s;. 14, 15. after that, you have <HI>David</HI> and the Elders hum|bling them&s;elves before the Lord, ver&s;. 16. Now upon this great &s;inne of <HI>David,</HI> and Gods great judgement upon that &s;inne and <HI>Davids</HI> great hu|miliation upon that judgement, you have one of the greate&s;t mer|cies and favours vouch&s;afed to <HI>David</HI> that his heart could wi&s;h; for you have a command given to <HI>David,</HI> to goe and &s;et up an Altar in the thre&s;hing Floore of <HI>Ornan</HI> the Iebu&s;ite, v. 18. which place was afterward the place where <HI>Salomons</HI> Temple was built, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 3. 1. whereupon <HI>David</HI> did pre&s;ently &s;et about the work, which was to prepare for the building of that Temple, chap. 22. 1 <HI>Chron.</HI></P>
<P>Thus it plea&s;eth God to order things, that great &s;innes being com|mitted, great judgements are inflicted, and great judgements pro|duce great humiliations, and great humiliations are great preparati|ons for the greate&s;t mercies. Our ca&s;e is &s;omewhat alike: we have &s;inned grievou&s;ly, God hath puni&s;hed us fearefully, we have hum|bled
<PB N="2" REF="4"> our &s;elves, (I could wi&s;h I were able to &s;ay as <HI>David</HI> did) and I doubt not but the i&s;&s;ue will bee, nay wee &s;ee it in &s;ome mea&s;ure, the building the Lords hou&s;e, of which <HI>Salomons</HI> Temple was but a Type.</P>
<P>The words are a loving and noble an&s;wer, to a loving and noble offer; here is a pious contention betwixt two Kings (for <HI>Araunah</HI> was a King) 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 24. 3. who &s;hould be at mo&s;t co&s;t for God. <HI>Araunah</HI> thought that upon &s;uch an occa&s;ion, and at &s;uch a time, he could not doe too much, and therefore he offers his thre&s;hing Floor, and the Oxen for burnt offerings, and the thre&s;hing in&s;truments for wood, and the wheat for a meat offering, ver&s;. 23. but as <HI>Ornan</HI> thought he could not offer too much, &s;o <HI>David</HI> thought he &s;hould have offered too little if he had taken this, and as it were have paid his own debts to God upon another mans charges.</P>
<P>We have two parts in the words: 1. <HI>Davids</HI> an&s;wer to <HI>Ornans</HI> offer: 2. <HI>Davids</HI> rea&s;on of that an&s;wer. In the fir&s;t you have fir&s;t the purcha&s;er, King <HI>David.</HI> Secondly the purcha&s;e he was to make. Thirdly the price in gro&s;&s;e. Fourthly the fulne&s;&s;e of it. <HI>David</HI> doth not beat his bargaine, and bring it as low as he can, but is ready to give as much as the things were worth to the full.</P>
<P>Doct. <HI>It becomes per&s;ons of highe&s;t rank and quality, to offer and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">pend at the highe&s;t rate for God.</HI></P>
<P>In the &s;econd generall which is <HI>Davids</HI> rea&s;on, fir&s;t ob&s;erve his ju&s;tice. It is thine, and I will not doe that injury unto thee, as to take thy goods upon tho&s;e termes: although <HI>Ornan</HI> offered freely upon <HI>Davids</HI> asking; yet <HI>David</HI> knew, that <HI>preces regum imperia &s;unt;</HI> the de&s;ires of Kings carry the force of commands. Secondly, his Piety: The thing he asked was for the Lord, now he thought it not becomming his piety to offer to God without expence.</P>
<P>From his Iu&s;tice we collect this Doctrine: <HI>It is a piece of inju&s;tice to offer another mans goods, though it be to God him&s;elfe.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly from his Piety we draw this Doctrine: <HI>A heart piou&s;ly affected, will be expen&s;ive and co&s;tly in the &s;ervice, and for the honour of God.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall handle only this la&s;t Doctrine, as being that which the Text holds forth mo&s;t clearly. But before I come to the confirma|tion of it, &s;omething mu&s;t be done by way of explication of the terms of the Doctrine: which &s;hall be done by re&s;olving a que&s;tion or two.</P>
<P N="1">1. What doe wee meane by co&s;t? <HI>Resp.</HI> That e&s;pecially which
<PB N="3" REF="4"> concerns Temple work, or the building, and repairing, and advancing the Church of God, the hou&s;e of Chri&s;t, which is &s;o much out of repaire, &s;o much run to ruine and decay. Then for the kindes of co&s;t that we would have men be at; they are, fir&s;t, co&s;t and expence of time, which ought to bee redeemed, Eph. 5. 16. that it may be laid out for this work of God: we &s;hould not mea&s;ure out too narrow a &s;cantling of time, e&s;pecially now in this juncture <HI>dum fervet opus;</HI> and therefore we &s;hould purcha&s;e time from our &s;leep, and recreations, and company, and meales, and ea&s;e, and lay it out upon this work that is now in hand. Secondly there is a co&s;t of labour, and paines, and diligence; we mu&s;t make it our bui&s;ine&s;&s;e, the travell of the heart, of the head, of the hand, they mu&s;t all be laid out, in this work: wee mu&s;t &s;pend thus, and be &s;pent; our &s;trength and parts which are the mo&s;t co&s;tly things we have, they mu&s;t goe all. Thirdly there is a co&s;t of &s;ub&s;tance when need requires; it mu&s;t be good for quality, and large for quantity, if a man hath it. Fourthly there is a co&s;t of &s;elfe, of life, when a man carries that in his hand as being ready to &s;pend it in Gods &s;ervice, then a man is &s;aid to lay out his life, when he adventures it, and puts him&s;elfe into danger of lo&s;ing of it, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1. 10. when a man e&s;capes unexpectedly a great danger, it is looked on as a &s;acrifice even of the life, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. 19. now that which is pur|cha&s;ed with danger and great difficulty, that hath co&s;t, as feares and teares, is fitte&s;t for God, 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 11. 18. the &s;word that <HI>David</HI> got with &s;o much danger from <HI>Goliah,</HI> was fitte&s;t for God, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 21. 9.</P>
<P N="2">2. If it be asked what we meane by the &s;ervice of God? <HI>Re&s;p.</HI> This is taken either largely, for that whereby we &s;erve the Lords provi|dence in our &s;everall places and callings. Or &s;econdly it is taken in a more re&s;trained &s;en&s;e, for that which doth more immediately con|cerne the Lord and his wor&s;hip, and the building of his hou&s;e. If perhaps I &s;peak of offering &s;acrifices to the Lord in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, it is to be taken concerning &s;acrifices in a morall not legall &s;en&s;e. <NOTE PLACE="marg">The fir&s;t Argu|ment to prove the Doctrine, drawn from God. 1. In regard of the dignity of his per&s;on.</NOTE></P>
<P>The&s;e things being premi&s;ed, I now proceed to the demon&s;tra|tion and &s;trengthning the Doctrine. The fir&s;t Argument to prove that a heart piou&s;ly affected, will be expen&s;ive in the &s;ervice and for the honour of God, is drawne from the object of this &s;ervice, God him&s;elfe. And in him we may con&s;ider, fir&s;t, the greatne&s;&s;e, digni|ty, and maje&s;ty of God: He is a great King, and therefore it is fit wee &s;hould bee at co&s;t with him. The Lord doth expo&s;tulate in a chiding way, the matter betwixt him&s;elfe, and his people that pre|tended
<PB N="4" REF="5"> to &s;erve him, <HI>Mal.</HI> 1. 6. 8. He pleads his dignity, as if hee &s;hould &s;ay, You pretend that I am your father and ma&s;ter; where is that re&s;pect and honour that the&s;e relations call for? will any of you dare to offer a ba&s;e contemptible &s;acrifice to your Governour? will he take it at your hands? what doe you make of me? am not I a great King and Governour? It was the &s;aying of one, that as hee knew his owne di&s;tance, &s;o he would have others know it too that <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Non P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tabam mertibi tam &s;a|miliarem,</HI> Aug. Cae&s;.</NOTE> were inferiour to him; who, being invited to a fea&s;t by one of his &s;ubjects, but not finding &s;uch entertainment as his dignity required, &s;aid, hee did not know that he was &s;o familiar with him till then. The Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> having &s;poken of the greatne&s;&s;e and dignity of God, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 40. 15. then he tels ver&s;. 16. that <HI>Lebanon is not &s;uf|ficient to burne, nor the bea&s;ts thereof &s;ufficient for a burnt offering.</HI> Such is the greatne&s;&s;e of our God, that it is a derogation from his Maje&s;ty, to offer any but the be&s;t unto him. Whence it is, that all tho&s;e that wor&s;hip the Lamb, who is worthy, they therefore attribute all that ever they can to him, <HI>Rev.</HI> 5. 11, 12, 13. &s;o the wi&s;e men when they came to offer to Chri&s;t, they offered of the be&s;t the countreys afforded, for he was a King, <HI>Mat.</HI> 2. 2, 11.</P>
<P>Secondly, In regard of Gods commands: he calls for the be&s;t, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. In re&s;pect of his commands.</NOTE> and that which is be&s;t, is mo&s;t co&s;tly. The equity of the Leviticall Lawes is yet in force: now the Lord did command the fir&s;t fruits. <HI>Lev.</HI> 23. 10. and Exod. 34. 10. every fir&s;tling that was male the Lord claimed that; of which we may &s;ay, as <HI>Jacob</HI> did of <HI>Reuben, Gen. 49. 3. Thou art my fir&s;t-born, my might, and the begining of my &s;trength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:</HI> and <HI>Deut.</HI> 15. 19, 21. the males mu&s;t be without blemi&s;h: and <HI>Levit.</HI> 22. 19, 20, 21, 22. the offering mu&s;t be perfect; the pure&s;t oyle, the fine&s;t flowre, the fatte&s;t cattle were required: by all which was repre&s;ented how that God would be &s;erved with the be&s;t: he mu&s;t have as the choice&s;t of our &s;ub&s;tance, which is the mo&s;t co&s;tly; &s;o the choice&s;t of our &s;elves, of our &s;trength, and labours, and time, and what&s;oever wee value be&s;t.</P>
<P>Thirdly, in re&s;pect of Gods intere&s;t: He hath the greate&s;t intere&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Becau&s;e of his Intere&s;ts, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> are ma|ny and great.</NOTE> in all we have, and therefore it is fit he &s;hould have our co&s;t, our be&s;t, and all. Fir&s;t, he hath intere&s;t by right of creation; whence it is that the 24 Elders u&s;e this as a rea&s;on of their doxology, <HI>Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ra&s;t created all things, and for thy plea&s;ure they are and were created.</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="5"> Secondly, by right of purcha&s;e; and therefore the Apo&s;tle drawes his argument from this ground, <HI>That wee are bought by a price, and therefore we ought to glorifie God, &amp;c. 1 Cor.</HI> 6. 20. Thirdly, in regard of more then ordinary paines in our mo&s;t co&s;tly and excellent things: our be&s;t &s;ervices come in a more &s;peciall manner from God: our be&s;t fruits come all from plants of his own &s;etting and watering, and therefore, as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, 1 Cor. 9. 7. <HI>Who planted a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof?</HI> Hence it is that the Lord plea|deth again&s;t his people; upon this very ground he doth expo&s;tulate the matter, that he had been at much co&s;t and paines with them, and therefore it was great rea&s;on that they &s;hould have made a return an&s;werable &s;ome way to what hee had done, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 5. 1, 2, 4. Fourthly, by an intere&s;t of Covenant: wee have bound our &s;elves over to God, to give him the be&s;t, and hee hath bound him&s;elfe to give us the be&s;t; <HI>I will be thy God and you &s;hall be my people,</HI> carries the be&s;t, and all that each other can doe: And therefore God layes it as one of the greate&s;t aggravations on his people, that they had failed in point of Covenant, <HI>Ho&s;. 6. 7. They have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed the Covenant, there have they dealt treacherou&s;ly:</HI> He &s;ayes, <HI>There,</HI> even where they &s;hould have been mo&s;t faithfull, even there have they proved Delinquents. Fifthly, by &s;peciall favours and obligations, this puts God into a further intere&s;t in our be&s;t &s;ervices; It is an argu|ment of his own making, <HI>Deut.</HI> 10. 20, 21. to &s;tirre them up to &s;erve him, for <HI>he is thy pray&s;e, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee the&s;e great and terrible things, &amp;c.</HI> He u&s;eth the like argument, ver&s;. 12. 13, 14. to bring on the greate&s;t duty, ver&s; 19. Sixthly, by intere&s;t of conque&s;t, he hath conquered our enemies, that had our be&s;t and mo&s;t co&s;tly &s;ervices once, and hee hath freed us from them; and therefore it is fit hee &s;hould have them now. It is the very preface to the whole Law, put in as an argument to I&s;rael for obedience and be&s;t performances, in regard he had freed them from the bondage and va&s;&s;alage of Aegypt: they &s;erved the Aegy|tians with co&s;t and paines formerly, but now I have conquered them; therefore, let mee have your co&s;t and paines &s;pent in my &s;ervice.</P>
<P>2. A &s;econd argument, to prove that wee &s;hould be at co&s;t and paines in the &s;ervice of God, is drawn from the nature of the &s;er|vice <NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;econd argument, is taken from the nature of the &s;ervice it &s;elfe.</NOTE> it &s;elfe; Gods &s;ervice carries co&s;t in it: It engageth man in many difficulties and dangers: It will co&s;t a man his relations, his reputation, his intere&s;ts, his &s;ub&s;tance, his life, his paines, and his tra|vell,
<PB N="6" REF="6"> and his deare&s;t &s;elfe. Chri&s;t telling the very nature of his &s;er|vice, &s;ayes that a man cannot be his Di&s;ciple, unle&s;&s;e he denyes him|&s;elfe &amp;c. <HI>Luk.</HI> 14. 26, 27 and therefore ver&s;. 28. Our Lord Chri&s;t advi&s;eth men to con&s;ider what his &s;ervice will co&s;t them, before they enter into it, and <HI>Luk.</HI> 9. 23. He &s;hewes that the co&s;t of his &s;ervice reacheth to &s;elfe: It will co&s;t us labour and perhaps blood to, for it is a combate: it will co&s;t us &s;weat, and mo&s;t earne&s;t con|te&s;tation, for it is a race, you mu&s;t runne, and you mu&s;t fight for it, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9. 24, 25. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4. 7. <HI>Luk.</HI> 13. 24. 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 5. <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Herodolus</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n|ciently, will tell us, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> The greate&s;t &s;ervices require the greate&s;t paines and co&s;t; be&s;ides, I may adde this, that Temple work, and the building the Lords Hou&s;e, carries more then ordinary co&s;t; tho&s;e two books of <HI>Ezra</HI> and <HI>Nehemiah</HI> will &s;ufficiently confirme this <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>Alcaeus</HI> hin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s an allu&s;ion to this purpu&s;e, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE>: danger and difficulty is in laying every &s;tone of this building. The be&s;t things and the mo&s;t excellent, doe carry with them, ever the greate&s;t co&s;t of paines, and travell, and &s;ub&s;tance: The very heathen gods in imitation of Gods &s;ervice, did expect the mo&s;t co&s;tly &s;ervice, and what was <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Hiero. Megi|&s;erus. <HI>Arma Dio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ippi <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">orantia &s;angui|ne, fanum Grad. v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> exor|nent; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">an ma gis illa placent.</HI> Thom. Vena|totius. <HI>Sal Mars orna tur, &s;poliato ex i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ste, cruentis Ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is, &amp; &s;po|l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is, caede ferc|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s equi.</HI> The conclu&s;i|on of two co|p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es of ver&s;es <HI>in dona Templis con&s;ecrat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. Op|&s;on. omn. Hor.</HI></NOTE> offered to them, mu&s;t be purcha&s;ed at a deare rate, <HI>P&s;alm.</HI> 106. 37, 38. The I&s;raelites &s;erved Satan at a dearer rate, then they might have &s;erved God.</P>
<P>You have had the Doctrine confirmed; let us now &s;ee what is required in our offring, that &s;o it may be accepted; for &s;o it may fall out that a man may give a great deale, and yet bee at no co&s;t; and a man may give a very little, and yet be at a great deale of co&s;t: as appeares by tho&s;e that ca&s;t in of their abundance into the Trea|&s;ury, and the Widow that ca&s;t in her mite only, <HI>Mar.</HI> 12. And a man may take a great deale of paines to no purpo&s;e, and a man may be at le&s;&s;e paines &s;ometime to good purpo&s;e: Let us therefore &s;ee what ingredients mu&s;t goe along with our &s;ervices to make them hold waight, and as will make them &s;uch as God will own for co&s;tly &s;ervices; we &s;ee how the mo&s;t co&s;tly and painefull &s;ervices have been <NOTE PLACE="marg">What ingre|dients are re|quired to goe along with out &s;ervices to make them &s;uch as will be accepted. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">. They mu&s;t be without mixture,</NOTE> refu&s;ed, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 1. 10, 11. 12. and a cup of cold water that carries no great expence of co&s;t or paines to give it, &s;hall bee accepted; nay, the Lord expre&s;&s;ely declares him&s;elf again&s;t Sacrifices of the greate&s;t expences, <HI>Mich.</HI> 6. 7. Let us therefore examine what may be re|required of tho&s;e that offer unto God.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It is required, that what wee offer to God, &s;hould bee without mixture: It is a frequent complaint of the Lord again&s;t mixtures, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 1. 22. their wine mixed with water, and &s;ilver be|come bra&s;&s;e, and tynne was mingled with it: and the like com|plaint
<PB N="7" REF="6"> wee have, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 22. 18. <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 4. 18. By which expre&s;&s;ions, was &s;hewed how they were corrupted in their lives, by which cor|ruptions, the &s;ervice of God was &s;owred in regard it mingled it &s;elfe with it: It was al&s;o forbidden under the Law, that they &s;hould plow with an Oxe and an A&s;&s;e together, or weare linnen and wollen garments, <HI>Deut.</HI> 22. 10. <HI>Levit.</HI> 19. 19. Neither mu&s;t they &s;ow their field with mingled &s;eed. The Lord by there ordi|nary actions did in&s;truct them in his &s;ervice, how that hee would not have a mingled &s;ervice but a pure and holy wor&s;hip, without mingling inventions of men, or our wayes and wills with Gods, though they &s;eeme never &s;o faire and plau&s;ible. Swines blood was as good as Sheeps blood, and for colour there is no difference; yet the one was abhorred of God, and the other accepted: Now this pure &s;ervice of God is the mo&s;t co&s;tly; as the fine&s;t flower, and the pure&s;t oyle without mixture of b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">nne, or ba&s;e ingredients; fine linnen without mixture of wollen, pure gold without mix|ture of dro&s;&s;e, bright refined &s;ilver withut mixture of tynne, and &s;imple wine without mixture of water, and the Oxe without the A&s;&s;e; that is, the cleane without the uncleane, by all which the be&s;t &s;er|vices are &s;et forth, being things of the mo&s;t value and greate&s;t price and co&s;t; to offer a &s;ervice to God free from our wills ming|led with Gods, our pollutions mingled with his holy injuncti|ons, to offer him a &s;ervice free from our own hypocri&s;ie; our own principles, our own leaven, to offer him a &s;ervice intirely his, with a totall &s;elf-deniall, as it is a very difficult thing to fle&s;h and blood, nay impo&s;&s;ible, &s;o is it very co&s;tly in regard of the paines and &s;weat, &amp;c. we mu&s;t lay out in it.</P>
<P>Secondly, that which we offer to God mu&s;t be our own: But how <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 What wee give to God mu&s;t bee our owne.</NOTE> can that be? what ever we have is Gods already. I will not trouble you with di&s;tinctions of <HI>proprietas, &amp; jus, &amp; donum;</HI> but in brief, that we have may be &s;aid to be ours and Gods too, 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 29. 3. <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes, he had prepared of his own proper co&s;t, and yet ver. 14. 16. it was &s;aid to be Gods <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 What <HI>Span|h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mius</HI> &s;ayes concerning <HI>o|pera bona,</HI> may be applyed to our purpo&s;e, &s;peaking how they can be &s;aid to be <HI>no&s;tra. Di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">untur</HI> no&s;tra, <HI>quia &agrave; Deo donata nobis, neque quaerentibus, neque prome, entibas:</HI> for which hee qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es <HI>Sal|me<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on, Tract. 30. Tom. 5. No&s;irum enim quod nobis dotur ab alio, ergo &amp; illud quod nobis denatur &agrave; Deo: Sic Chri&s;tus no&s;ter e&s;t. 2. Opera</HI> no&s;tra <HI>dicuntu contradi&s;tinct&egrave; alienis. 3. Scri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tura aliquando u&s;cribit gratiam &amp; gloriam nobis, aliquando Deo: ut</HI> Paulus <HI>vult nos</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>&s;alutem no&s;tram, nos con|vertere, &amp;c. Interdum a&s;cribit Deo utramque, Deum dare velle &amp; perficere,</HI> &amp;c. The &s;ame may be &s;aid of that we offer to God; &s;ometimes it is called <HI>ours,</HI> &s;ometimes it is called <HI>Gods.</HI> Dub. Evangel. <HI>c. An. &amp; quomodo bona opera no&s;tra?</HI></NOTE>: Therefore when I &s;ay ourown, I meane
<PB N="8" REF="7"> not only in re&s;pect of &s;ome propriety and intere&s;t by the Civill lawes of a State, for all the things, and their very title by which the wicked doe po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e them, are impure <HI>Tit.</HI> 1. 15. but their owne in re&s;pect of a higher title, and better intere&s;t as holding all <HI>in captie</HI> in and by Chri&s;t, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3. 22, 23. he that builds a Church by that which he hath gotten by u&s;ury or bribery or by fal&s;e dealing which he hath exerci&s;ed again&s;t the Saints, he rai&s;eth a materiall temple upon the ruines and bones of the &s;pirituall temples. He that gives to the poore that which he gets from others injuriou&s;ly, he &s;erves God upon other mens charges. He that performs any &s;pirituall duty there mu&s;t be the actuall exerci&s;e of a mans own gifts, or el&s;e it is not accepted. For, &s;uppo&s;e one joyne in prayer with another, and heares a &s;ermon, if a mans owne faith &amp;c. be not engaged in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, though they bee excellently performed in regard of him with whom he joynes; yet this is to offer a &s;ervice which is not ones owne: no man mu&s;t &s;pend for God at another mans co&s;t, or be at another mans finding, every one mu&s;t &s;erve him in the &s;weat of his owne brows. He that gives that to God which he takes from others, this is theevery rather then bounty. We may &s;peak of mens offering to God, as <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Te&s;tari ne|qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uut impubes, religiou&s;us Filius in &s;acris, morti damnatus, &amp; ob&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, Crimine damnatus, cum muto &s;urdus, &amp; ille Qui Maj<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tatem l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;it, &s;it caecus &amp; ip&s;e.</HI> Vid. Io. ab Imol. in c. <HI>qua Ingredientibus de te&s;ta. extra.</HI> In every one of tho&s;e there is &s;ome de&s;ect, &s;ome want; either he is not <HI>&s;ui juris,</HI> or he wants his &s;en&s;es, &amp;c. <HI>Vid. H. Swinburne B. of Civill Law, 2 part of briefe Treat. of Te&s;taments and Wills.</HI> 3 What we of|fer, mu&s;t bee free and with a willing mind.</NOTE> Civilians doe concerning tho&s;e that they &s;ay may not bequeath or give away by te&s;tament; if they be not their own men, or at their owne di&s;po&s;ing, or the like, they cannot give.</P>
<P>Thirdly, that which we offer to God, we mu&s;t offer freely without con&s;traint, of a ready minde and willingly; we mu&s;t offer our hearts in the &s;acrifice we give, and &s;ervice we perform to God. The Ci|vilians have a di&s;tinction betwixt <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Munus <HI>pro|pri&egrave; e&s;t, quod ne|ce&s;&s;ari&ograve; obimus lege, more, impe|n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ve ejus, qui jubendi habet pote&s;tatem.</HI> Do|na <HI>autem pro|pri&egrave; &s;unt, quae nulla nece&s;&s;itate juris, of &s;icii, &s;ed &s;ponte prae&s;tantur, quae &s;i non prae&s;tentur, reprehen&s;io e&s;t: &amp; &s;i prae&s;tentur, plerumque law ine&s;t.</HI> Pancirol. de Donis, and he out of <HI>Marcian. l. Manus, de verb. &s;ignif.</HI></NOTE> <HI>donum</HI> and <HI>munus:</HI> that is <HI>munus</HI> which is performed upon duty, that is <HI>donum</HI> which a man may chu&s;e whether he will doe or offer or no, as being free in the thing. What|&s;oever we offer to God, we are bound to doe it, and &s;o in their &s;en&s;e it cannot be <HI>donum</HI> but <HI>munus:</HI> however, if it be with the heart, we may &s;ay in a theologicall &s;en&s;e, that it is a freewill offering; when we offer our hearts, wills, and affections, we offer freely; and then we are &s;aid to give to God. That man that doth not offer his heart,
<PB N="9" REF="7"> though perhaps he may doe much, and give much, as they did, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 10. &amp;c. yet their &s;ervice is not looked on as a co&s;tly &s;ervice, it wants the heart. But he that offers never &s;o little, yet if he gives the heart, he offers co&s;t, he gives him&s;elfe, it is worth a whole world. He gives freely that gives all, though he gives never &s;o little; and he gives as much as any can doe, for he leaves him&s;elfe nothing, that gives him&s;elfe in the gift. This is the co&s;t God looks at more then all the trea&s;ures in the world. And therefore <HI>David</HI> in that great bu|&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;&s;e of preparing for the Temple, exhorts the Princes of I&s;rael to &s;et their hearts and their &s;ouls to &s;eek the Lord 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 22. 19. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> therefore and build,</HI> &amp;c. by which he &s;howes clearly, that un|le&s;&s;e the heart were in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, it would be nothing worth. So when the Tabernacle was to be &s;et up, there was proclamation made, that who&s;oever was of a willing minde &s;hould bring his offering, &amp;c. <HI>Exod.</HI> 25. 2. &s;o al&s;o it is ob&s;erved, <HI>Exod.</HI> 35. 21. how willingly they came and offered their hearts: it is noted likewi&s;e ver. 22. and 29. how freely they gave: and <HI>Exod.</HI> 36. 5, 6. it is ob&s;erved that they were &s;o hearty in the work, that there was a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re&s;traint laid upon them that they &s;hould give no more. In 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 29. 2. it is &s;aid of <HI>Da|vid,</HI> that he prepared with all his might for the hou&s;e of God: and ver. 3. hee &s;et his affection to the work, whence followed his co&s;t, ver. 9. there was great rejoycing, not at the offering, but the wil|ling offering, and that it was with a perfect heart, ver. 9. repeated againe ver. 14. with thanks for a willing heart, and &s;poken of with humble acknowledgment, ver. 17. whence we may learne, that it is the heart that makes the &s;acrifice and &s;ervice a co&s;tly one to the pur|po&s;e, and that which is accepted of the Lord. He &s;erves God at an an ea&s;e and a cheap rate, and indeed he offers &s;leight &s;tuffe to the Lord, which offers a heartle&s;&s;e, negligent, carele&s;&s;e &s;ervice.</P>
<P>4. What we offer to God, it mu&s;t be offered wholly to him: <NOTE PLACE="marg">4. It mu&s;t bee offered to God alone, without &s;haring be|twixt God and any other.</NOTE> as it mu&s;t be <HI>integr&egrave;</HI> in re&s;pect of the heart, &s;o it mu&s;t be <HI>integrum</HI> in re&s;pect of God. We mu&s;t not joyne any other with the Lord in our offering; for, if we come to divide in our &s;ervices, though they be never &s;o co&s;tly, yet God hath no &s;hare at all, if he hath not all. he that puts his own Intere&s;ts, or names his own ends with Gods, offers nothing to God, but all to him&s;elfe. He that thus divides, makes &s;ure of all; for God, having right to all (as the true mother of the childe. 1 <HI>King.</HI> 3. 26.) will not endure a &s;haring and parting of his own peculiar. A divided offering betwixt God and our &s;elves, or
<PB N="10" REF="8"> &s;ins, or the world, or men, is not a co&s;tly one to God, for it is none at all. The Phari&s;ees did give almes, and fa&s;t, and pray &amp;c. to be &s;een of men, though they were &s;ervices pretended to be offered to God, and &s;uch as co&s;t them paines and money; yet they offered that which co&s;t them nought to God. A man builds an Ho&s;pitall, or Temple, or the like, at very great expences; yet if his own name and honour be in&s;cribed on the work; if a mans own honour be twi&s;ted with Gods glory, this is not to offer co&s;t to God, but to a mans own &s;elfe. He that gives to God, with re&s;pect to him&s;elfe, he doth not &s;o much give or offer a gift, as drive a bargaine; he offers to him&s;elfe and not to God.</P>
<P>5 There be &s;ome &s;peciall ingredients which are required in him <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> per&s;on mo&s;t bee <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span">.</NOTE> that offers. 1. He that offers any thing to God, mu&s;t doe it in faith, without which it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e God, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. 6. It is &s;aid al&s;o, <HI>That by faith Abel offered a more excellent &s;acrifice then Cain,</HI> v. 4. It may be <HI>Cain</HI> might offer as good for &s;ub&s;tance as his brother did, but faith put an excellencie into it: or, if this be not the mea|ning, then we may under&s;tand it thus, That by faith <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bel</HI> took more paines then <HI>Cain,</HI> and &s;ought out the be&s;t he had to offer to God, whereas <HI>Cain</HI> took that which came next to hand. Faith re|ceives all from God, and offers all to God againe; it &s;ticks at no|thing. <HI>Abraham</HI> had rather (I doubt not) have offered his whole e&s;tate then his &s;onne; but Faith offers him, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. 17. by Faith the godly offered them&s;elves to the greate&s;t tortures in the world, ver&s;. 35, 36, 37. and he that offers up him&s;elfe to God, to be a holy, and a lively, and an acceptable &s;acrifice, he offers the greate&s;t and mo&s;t co&s;tly &s;acrifice that he can doe.</P>
<P>2. Love is a &s;econd ingredient: this is a co&s;tly grace. It was Gods love that made him &s;o expen&s;ive towards us: <HI>God &s;o loved the world, Iohn 3 16. that he gave his only begotten Son,</HI> &amp;c. according as a man loves, &s;o he &s;pends, He that loves his &s;ports, &s;pends his e&s;tate on them: we are mo&s;t co&s;tly on that vanity that we love. Love will be at labour and co&s;t. <HI>Iacob</HI> &s;erved a hard apprenti&s;hip, but Love &s;weetned it &s;o, that-the time &s;eemed but a few dayes, <HI>Gen.</HI> 29. 18, 19, 20. Love is even prodigall, <HI>Ioh.</HI> 12. 3. <HI>Mary took a pound of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">yntment very co&s;tly,</HI> and &s;pent it on Chri&s;t, though <HI>Iudas</HI> could &s;ay, <HI>Why is all this wa&s;te?</HI> yet &s;he (I doubt not) would be as ready to &s;ay, Oh that I had more! I can never doe too much for Chri&s;t. Love <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">very laborious and &s;edulous as well as expen&s;ive. Men, we &s;ee, take
<PB N="11" REF="8"> any paines for gaine, and that which makes the wheels run merrily is the oyle of love: This the Apo&s;tle takes notice of, 1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 1. 3. the work of faith, and labour of love.</P>
<P>3. Zeale is required in our co&s;t; and that co&s;ts very little that <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Zeale.</NOTE> doth not co&s;t us zeale: this will lay out what a man hath, and what a man is, his &s;ub&s;tance and him&s;elfe. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 69. 9. and <HI>Ioh.</HI> 2. 17. wee may &s;ee how <HI>David</HI> the type, and Chri&s;t the Antitype were eaten up by zeale of Gods hou&s;e; this is it which heightens the affecti|ons, that drawes out all the trea&s;ures of the &s;oule, that tran&s;ports the affections, and &s;ets an edge on them, and is like <HI>Elijahs</HI> fiery Cha|riot, in which the &s;oule rides, and is carried in the &s;ervice of God. The zeale of the affections is the expence of them, they are &s;et on broach by zeale, and they will all run out and be exhau&s;ted for God. Zeale is the flames of the &s;oule, which wa&s;tes and con&s;umes all in the &s;oule for God: it puts a note and &s;tamp of eminencie and &s;ingula|rity on every thing. Love, if zealous, is &s;trong as death; it is a tran&s;portment and ravi&s;hment, that is the high note of it. Thy faith, if edged with zeale, ri&s;eth up with confidence and full a&s;&s;u|rance: Thy &s;elfe-denyall, if zealous, is a kind of &s;elfe-cruelty; thou wilt out with thy lu&s;tfull eyes, and off with thy offending hands: Thy patience, if zealous, is hardne&s;&s;e and long-&s;uffering, and great &s;uffering, and extream &s;uffering, and all &s;uffering. The riches of the heart lye in Zeale, and are laid out by Zeale. It is the &s;trength of the &s;oule. As it was &s;aid of <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> that his &s;trength did lye in <NOTE PLACE="marg">4. Prudence, <HI>Nota<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> dignunt e&s;t, Deum volu|i&s;&s;e om|nia, &amp; oblatio|nes &s;ale condi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i, &amp; mandato ter repetito, Lov. 2. 13, ut de&s;ignare|tur &s;ymbolice omne &s;acrifici|um &amp; &s;apientiae &amp; prudentiae, &amp; &s;ale int<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gritatu, incorruptionis &amp; innocentiae condo <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rid. Sphano. Dub. Evang. o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI></NOTE> his haire, and when that was cut off, he was as an ordinary man: &s;o I may &s;ay of zeale, the &s;trength lyes there; take away that, and a man becomes an ordinary man: There cannot be a co&s;tly &s;acrifice without the fire of Zeale.</P>
<P>4. Prudence is required: It is the &s;acrifice of a foole without prudence. Under the Law there was a &s;peciall command, that every &s;acrifice &s;hould be &s;ea&s;oned with &s;alt, which is the * &s;ymbole of pru|dence; what we offer to God mu&s;t co&s;t us the expence &amp; travell of the brain, as well as the &s;weat of our browes and the be&s;t of our &s;ub|&s;tance. We mu&s;t ca&s;t about and contrive the be&s;t way wee can to lay out our &s;elvs in that we offer to God. Chri&s;t puts us upon that cour&s;e by &s;hewing us how that men if they be to undertake any great bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e, will fir&s;t &s;it down and con&s;ider, and wi&s;ely fore-ca&s;t with them|&s;elves what way and by what meanes they may bring about their de|&s;ignes. <HI>Luc.</HI> 14. 28. 31. He that is not a good husband for the Lord,
<PB N="12" REF="9"> and a wi&s;e Steward in improving things for the be&s;t advantage for God, he may lo&s;e all his co&s;t, and therefore there mu&s;t be a co&s;t of wi&s;dome in what we offer to the Lord.</P>
<P>5. It mu&s;t be offered by the hand of a Mediatour whatever we pre|&s;ent to God. He that offers the be&s;t &s;acrifice in the world to God, <NOTE PLACE="marg">5. What is of|fered mu&s;t be given up by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> hand <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> a Mediator.</NOTE> but doth not offer it by the hands of Chri&s;t, offers a &s;acrifice of no worth: wherefore in the Law anciently it was commanded, that though the &s;acrifice were a male and without blemi&s;h, &s;o that there could be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o exception again&s;t the &s;acrifice; yet it was to be brought to the Prie&s;t and to be offered by his hands. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ev.</HI> 17. 3, 4. &amp;c. The Prie&s;t was to &s;tay it and to offer it; it was death to do otherwi&s;e. In like man|ner now it is: Suppo&s;e a man prays, or heares, &amp;c. and he doth it in the mo&s;t exact manner; yet if he pre&s;ents the&s;e &s;ervices in his own name and not in the name of Chri&s;t, if he doth not bring his &s;a|crifice to the Prie&s;t the Lord Chri&s;t, if he doth not bring his &s;a|crifice to the Prie&s;t the Lord Chri&s;t, and that he offers it in his name, it will be loathed. It is not becau&s;e we perform a duty in the mo&s;t excellent manner that it is accepted, but becau&s;e Chri&s;t our High-Prie&s;t pre&s;ents both us and our &s;ervices to the Lord: So that if a man &s;hould offer as many &s;acrifices as were at the Dedication of <HI>Sa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">omons</HI> Temple and all without blemi&s;h, and that the per&s;ons were clean that offer them, and that all qualifications did meet that are required; yet all the&s;e are accur&s;ed, if they be offered in their owne name: the lea&s;t things that were offered, even an Epha, or a Gomer, or a payre of Turtle Doves, or a mite, were accepted from the hand of the Prie&s;t, when rivers of Oyle &s;hould be refu&s;ed, if pre&s;ented o|therwi&s;e. This is &s;et out in the type, <HI>Levit.</HI> 5. 8. <HI>ad</HI> 11. every &s;a|crifice mu&s;t be &s;prinkled with Chri&s;ts blood, this is the chiefe in|gredient; his incen&s;e mu&s;t go along with the &s;acrifice, and then he will &s;mell a &s;weet &s;melling favour, <HI>Levit.</HI> 10. 11. &amp; 16. 11, 12 13. All our performances mu&s;t be dipped in his blood, and be pre&s;ented by his hands, and then the Lord will accept them; for in him alone he is well plea&s;ed: tho&s;e &s;ervices are co&s;tly indeed that are be&s;prinkled with Chri&s;ts blood, and offered up by Chri&s;ts hands.</P>
<P>Having confirmed the Doctrine, and &s;hewed how we mu&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> to the practice of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> doctrine confirmed. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> He that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> out for God layes up <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">.</NOTE> &s;ay out our co&s;t for God, I proceed in the next place to propo&s;e &s;ome Con&s;iderations to move you to the practice of the dutie.</P>
<P N="1">1. He that layes out his co&s;t for God, e&s;pecially in Temple-work, layes up a trea&s;ure for him&s;elfe; he lends to the Lord, and he will be his pay-ma&s;ter. If any thing in the world can put God in debt to the
<PB N="13" REF="9"> creature; this will; he is plea&s;ed to enter bond (as it were) for pay|ment of all arreares in this kinde. So it plea&s;ed God to order things, that though there was a whole tribe taken out of the num|ber of the children of I&s;rael to &s;erve at the Sanctuary; yet when they came to be reckoned the &s;econd yeare, and the tribe of <HI>Levi</HI> was left out, it is found that the number is ju&s;t the &s;ame to a man as it was before that tribe was taken away, as appeares by <HI>Exod.</HI> 38. 26. &amp; <HI>Num.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">. 46. the &s;umme in both, &s;ix hundred thou&s;and, three thou&s;and five hundred and fifty men; So that there were &s;o many young men of 19. yeares old as now &s;upplyed the want of the Le|vites which were &s;et apart for Gods &s;ervice, that the people of God might &s;ee that they &s;hould be no lo&s;ers, though they gave a whole Tribe to God. There is a ble&s;&s;ing promi&s;ed to them that &s;et a|bout this Temple-work. <HI>Hag.</HI> 2. 18. 19. And how were <HI>David,</HI> and <HI>Salomon,</HI> and <HI>Ezrah,</HI> and <HI>Nehemiah</HI> ble&s;&s;ed in the work? How was <HI>Hezekiah</HI> ble&s;&s;ed, and all the people al&s;o, with abundance, after they brought offerings to the hou&s;e of the Lord? <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Chron.</HI> 31. 10. 21.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Lord takes &s;peciall notice of all tho&s;e that doe engage <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. The Lord takes exact notice of per|&s;ons and their behaviour in this bu&s;in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> that he may accordingly reward them.</NOTE> them&s;elves in this Temple work; he takes notice of all particulars, that he may be &s;ure to reward men accordingly. 1. He ob&s;erves if a man have but a di&s;po&s;ition to a good work; he lookes into pur|po&s;es of a mans &s;oule; they &s;tand not for cyphers before him, but carry great weight with them, 2 <HI>Corinth.</HI> 8. 10. How well did God take the very purpo&s;es of <HI>David</HI> in this bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e? 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 6. 8. 2. He takes notice of the time punctually when men doe &s;et about his work, he puts down the day of the month in the Almanack of Heaven, <HI>Hag.</HI> 2. 18. and this is onely that he might ble&s;&s;e them from that day forward. 3. He takes notice of what men doe give to his work, to a&s;hekel, <HI>Num.</HI> 7. So al&s;o 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 29. 6, 7, 8. is &s;et down what the Princes offered; likewi&s;e <HI>Ezra</HI> 2. 68, 69. there is &s;et down to a dram of gold, and the pounds of &s;ilver which were offered: he hath his book of ac|counts, in which he &s;ets down exactly the gifts to Temple-work, that he might require them to a dram, and to a &s;hekel; nay, that he might pay u&s;e for what they &s;o lend. What an honour is it that the contribution-money, and the names of tho&s;e that gave, &s;hould &s;tand upon record to all po&s;terity? 4. He takes &s;peciall notice of the willingne&s;&s;e of mens hearts in his work, and therefore it is often &s;et down, how willingly every one offered to the Tabernacle, and
<PB N="14" REF="10"> to the Temple, Exod. 25. 2. &amp; 35. 21, 22, 29. 1 Chron. 29. 9. their willingne&s;&s;e twice ob&s;erved there, and v. 14. taken notice of again; v. 17. twice more &s;poke of; the Lord looks on this in re|gard he requites men according to this, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8. 12. If there were any that did offer unwillingly among&s;t them before cited, they are not taken notice of, as being unworthy the very naming. 5. The Lord take notice of mens carriage and behaviour in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, how they doe advance his work or hinder it in any kind, that &s;o he may deal with them accordingly; he ob&s;erves what paines, as well as what co&s;t men are at, <HI>Neh.</HI> 3. how they did carry on the buil|ding of the Temple: what part &s;uch a one built, and what part &s;uch a one; what proportion and mea&s;ure they had, how farre they went: It is noted of &s;ome of the builders, how they repayred, and laid the beames, and &s;et up the doores, and the locks, and the barres, ver. 3, 6, 13, 14, 15. the Lord takes notice even to a barre, a beam and and lock; he ob&s;erves further, how they went thorow with the work, it did not &s;tick on their hands; he ob&s;erves of one, how he and his daughters did ingage them&s;elves, v. 12. the weak endea|vours of this &s;ex &s;hall not be omitted, v. 5. there is a note of igno|miny &s;et upon the nobles of the Tekoites, and others, that either did withdraw from the work, or hinder it from going forward. <HI>Neh.</HI> 3. 5. it is &s;aid the Tekoites repaired, but the Nobles would not put their necks to the work, the Nobles &s;tigmatized; then, chap. 4. 1, 2, 3, 8, 11. you have the reproaches and affronts &s;et down which the enemies did offer to them that were in the work: Vpon that you have &s;et down the valour, courage, and re&s;olution of tho&s;e that did fall to the work maugre all oppo&s;itions what&s;oever, v. 16, 17, &amp;c. then ch. 6. you have a treaty propounded, but not yeelded to, v. 10. &amp;c. they would have drawn him perhaps to pro|po&s;itions; but <HI>Nehemiah,</HI> as he will not &s;end to the adver&s;aries, &s;o neither will have to doe with them when they &s;end to him: Then you have &s;et down what intercour&s;e of Letters there were betwixt the Nobles of <HI>Iudah</HI> and <HI>Tobiah,</HI> and how there was an oath pa&s;&s;ed from them to him, in regard he was a great man, v. 17, 18. It is &s;et down al&s;o how the&s;e treachetous Nobles did extoll <HI>Tobiah</HI> to <HI>Nehemiah,</HI> and told <HI>Tobiah</HI> what ever he &s;aid of him; upon which <HI>Tohiah</HI> &s;ent him Letters to make him afraid. The Nobles of the Tekoites, and the Nobles of <HI>Iudah</HI> have a very ill name in this whole work. Hence we may ob&s;erve, that God takes &s;peciall notice
<PB N="15" REF="10"> of underminers and oppo&s;ers of the work, and &s;ets a black coale upon them, that in due time he may remember them according to their deeds. Wherefore, &s;ince God doth ob&s;erve every mans carriage &s;o exactly as he doth in that work, which doth more immediatly con|cern his own glory, every one had need be the more carefull to ap|prove them&s;elves faithfull and diligent in that work, and to offer them&s;elves mo&s;t willingly in that &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Thirdly, A third argument, to offer to God all our labours, and <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. An argu|ment from the builders of Babel.</NOTE> to be at co&s;t in his &s;ervice, may be drawn from tho&s;e that are at &s;o much paines and co&s;t in the building of Babel, and in oppo&s;ing the building of the Lords hou&s;e; they move every &s;tone, they leave nothing unattempted, whereby they may retard, or put back, or ob&s;truct any way that building. It co&s;ts them not only a great deale of paines and vexation of &s;pirit, and va&s;t expences, but the lo&s;&s;e of their &s;oules to boot. Let us but look on the Antichri&s;tian par|ty in this Kingdome, and &s;ee how indu&s;trious they are, how vigi|lant, how wi&s;e in their generation to make u&s;e of all advantages to promote their de&s;ignes; they doe not offer to the Divell that which co&s;ts them nought: hee is a hard Ma&s;ter, and his &s;ervice is a very trouble&s;ome, dangerous, de&s;perate &s;ervice, and yet how zealous are they in it? How many lifes have been &s;acrificed in it? Let it never bee &s;aid, that Satan &s;hould have more co&s;t be&s;towed on him, more paines, and care, and time laid out in his drudgery, then the noble, and honourable, and glorious work of God, now in your hands, &s;hould have be&s;towed on it.</P>
<P>Fourthly, The excellency of the &s;ervice, together with the diffi|culty, &s;hould be a great incentive to the work, to draw out your <NOTE PLACE="marg">4. From the excellency of the work: this re&s;pects noble &s;pirits in a &s;pe|ciall manner.</NOTE> co&s;t, and lay out your paines in it. This to a noble &s;pirit is one of the greate&s;t per&s;wa&s;ives; which to a low, degenerous, poore &s;pirit, is a di&s;couragement. If it be matter that carries weight and im|portance in it, and that it is
<Q>&mdash;<HI>dignus vindice nodus,</HI></Q> who &s;o fit to undertake it as one of <HI>Davids</HI> Worthies? Now there is &s;omething in noble per&s;ons, truly noble, which as it is an incen|tive, &s;o likewi&s;e it is an engagement on their &s;pirits, that they of all men &s;hould undertake the mo&s;t difficult &s;ervice, and the mo&s;t excel|lent, which is the building the Lords Hou&s;e. It is &s;aid concerning water that comes from Springs and Fountaines, that it will a&s;|cend and ri&s;e in a Conduit or Ci&s;teme &s;o high as the head of the
<PB N="16" REF="11"> Spring lies, but no higher: &s;o it is with the &s;pirits of men, tho&s;e that are of a low ba&s;e de&s;cent will not ri&s;e up to any high employments; but tho&s;e that are of a high de&s;cent ri&s;e up without forcing or con&s;traint to the highe&s;t enterpri&s;es: Hence it was, that the an|cient H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">roes did de&s;ire to be accounted of the off-&s;pring of the gods, and men did de&s;ire to per&s;wade great per&s;ons that they were &s;o de&s;cended, that &s;o their &s;pirits might be rai&s;ed up to their &s;pring|head: <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In <HI>Lucian</HI> we have him thus &s;peaking, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. And <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> &s;ayes thus, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> e&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">, ut &s;e &amp; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> fortes, eitam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> fal&s;am &s;it, ex <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> genito<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> credant, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> to moilo an mus <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> a us, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lut elivina <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> fiducians ge|rens, res magnas aggred<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eda: pra|&s;umat <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> us, agat <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">|tius, &amp; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> earitate &s;aeli|cius.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Alexander</HI> thought it very conducible to him that he was e&s;teemed the Son of <HI>Jupiter,</HI> for he was feared by rea&s;on of this opinion men had of him, by the Heathens. We &s;hall finde the Ancients very ambitious in this kind; &s;o the <HI>Romans</HI> &s;aid they were de&s;cended of <HI>Mars</HI> and <HI>Venus; Hercules</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ens</HI> are reported to &s;pring from <HI>Iupiter; Seleucus</HI> of <HI>Apollo; Augu&s;tus</HI> and <HI>Scipio</HI> of a Dragon: and the maine rea&s;on was, that they might have a greater engagement on their &s;pirits to doe nobly: Whence al&s;o it was, that men of low parts, and &s;uch as would not or could not undertake great matters, were called <HI>terrae filii.</HI> So that it is cleare, that noble &s;pirits have great engagements on them for the undertaking of great de&s;ignes: It lies more upon them then upon other men, they &s;eeme to degenerate, when they begin to feare or draw back.</P>
<P>A truly generous and noble &s;pirit is &s;o far from being di&s;coura|ged by difficulties, that, like the Palm, the more weight it hath laid upon it, it gathers &s;trength the more to encounter the A&s;&s;aylant: Hence it is, that tho&s;e that &s;tood before the Throne had palmes in their hands, the en&s;igne of victory. You have a remarkable in|&s;tance of &s;uch a &s;pirit as wee &s;peak of in <HI>Caleb, Numb.</HI> 13. when the Spies had &s;een the Anakims and Gyants, the walled Cities, and tho&s;e multitudes of enemies, ver&s;. 28. 29. their hearts began to faint; but <HI>Calebs</HI> &s;pirit did ri&s;e at them, and he &s;aid, <HI>Let us goe up at once, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e it, for we able,</HI> ver. 30. but the others hearts failed them. ver. 31. So againe, when the&s;e white-liver'd Spies did di&s;courage others by their feare, <HI>Caleb</HI> &s;hewes his courage, chap. 14. 9. and &s;ayes, <HI>They are bread for us:</HI> It is &s;aid of him, he was a man of another &s;pirit, ver. 24. It was valiantly re&s;olved by <HI>Agis</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Apud Manti|neam, qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">am <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">, ne <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> adver&s;ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, quod <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> plures <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> Apo|theg</NOTE>, when he was di&s;&s;waded from going again&s;t his enemies, becau&s;e they were more in number, he &s;aid, <HI>He that will conquer many mu&s;t encounter many.</HI></P>
<P>That this may further appear to your Lord&s;hips, give me leave to confirm this fourth inducement to the great work of God by &s;ome &s;peciall argument re&s;pecting the condition of your per&s;ons:</P>
<PB N="17" REF="11">
<P>Fir&s;t, it hath plea&s;ed God to place you as &s;tarres of a greater mag|nitude in a &s;uperiour Orbe; now it is certain, that by your light <NOTE PLACE="marg">Arguments re|&s;pecting the c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ndition of Nobles and your Lord&s;hips in a &s;peciall manner.</NOTE> and influences, which you may diffu&s;e farther then others, you may doe much more then others can do in any great bu&s;ine&s;&s;e: for to whom the Lord hath given &s;uch eminent talents, who is &s;o fit to conquer the greate&s;t difficulties as they are? the&s;e are the Chariots and hor&s;emen of a State. if the&s;e do not undertake great things, who &s;hould? God looks for more to whom he hath given more: If tho&s;e that are the vitalls of a body politick do not undertake the weightie&s;t bu&s;ine&s;&s;es; how can it be expected, that tho&s;e that live in a manner upon their influences &s;hould: When the Lord hath any dangerous &s;ervice and difficult, who is &s;o fit to &s;ay, here am I, &s;end me as a <HI>Jeremy, Jer.</HI> 6. 8. doth not the cau&s;e of Chri&s;t &s;ay now, who is on my &s;ide, who? Is it not now &s;aid, who will defend me now, I am bleeding and &s;inking? Who &s;o fit as Nobles, and honourable per&s;ons, they are fitte&s;t to engage for a noble and honourable Cau&s;e? who &s;o fit to deale with difficulties like Goliahs and Anakims, as our <HI>Samp&s;ons, Jo&s;huahs, Davids, Calebs, Nehemiahs, Zerubbabels,</HI> men of excellent and noble &s;pirits. Every qualification is a particular engage|ment, and &s;trongly binds you to the greate&s;t &s;ervices; the greater Wheels and &s;uperiour Orbs mu&s;t move others. Wherefore, as the Elders &s;peaking to <HI>Boaz,</HI> prayed that his wife might be like <HI>Ra|chel,</HI> and like <HI>Leah, which two did build the hou&s;e of I&s;rael;</HI> and to him they &s;aid, <HI>do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethle|hem, Ruth</HI> 4. 11. The &s;ame I wi&s;h of your Lord&s;hips, that you may build the Hou&s;e of God and do famou&s;ly in England, and as tho&s;e Nobles did we read of <HI>Num.</HI> 21. 18. make u&s;e of their &s;taves, which &s;ome think were En&s;igns of honour, to digge a well for the publike good; &s;o I wi&s;h that you would make that u&s;e of your honours for publike &s;ervice, which as they are gli&s;tering, to make you more con&s;picuous then others, &s;o are they binding to make you more &s;er|viceable.</P>
<P>Secondly, As noble per&s;ons have greater advantages in regard of qualifications, &s;o they have greater advantages then others in re|&s;pect of the opportunities pre&s;ented to them, to carry on the mo&s;t difficult &s;ervices: cau&s;es and per&s;ons become humble &s;uiters to men in great place, and expect &s;helter and protection from their wings, opportunities are candidates, and become petitioners to them.</P>
<P>Who hath &s;o great an advantage to di&s;cover dangers at a fur|ther
<PB N="18" REF="12"> di&s;tance, as tho&s;e that like <HI>Saul</HI> are taller by the head and &s;houlders then other men? Or tho&s;e that are placed in the watch|towers of a State: Who hath opportunity to doe more, then tho&s;e that when they move, doe move whole legions at once? you are as the Magazines and Trea&s;ures of the State you have opportu|nity to furni&s;h out thou&s;ands, with amunition and artillery for &s;ervice: by how much the more that others doe depend upon &s;uperiours, by &s;o much the more opportunity they have of doing good: you &s;tand upon the vantage ground in regard of others, and by that meanes you may the more promote and carry on the cau&s;e of God.</P>
<P>Thirdly, The eyes of God and man are upon you, and upon eminent per&s;ons more then on others: It is expected that you &s;hould be the <HI>Primipili,</HI> the <HI>Ante&s;ignani,</HI> the fir&s;t to &s;et upon dif|ficulties: men look at you that they may write after your copies; your actions being written in capitall letters; men u&s;ually make &s;uch as you are, their levell, and <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Seneca</HI> &s;ayes, concerning private men, that their vir|tues have tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> unhappine&s;&s;e that <HI>priu&s;quam apparent diu luctantur,</HI> yet they are re|compenced in this <HI>quod &amp; vitia tendras habent,</HI> but hee &s;ayes more|over, <HI>nullius ma|gis cavend<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> qualem fa|nom <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> quam qui qua|lemcunque ha|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">urint mag|nam Val<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">turi <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">,</HI> de Clem.</NOTE> ayme, and &s;quare, and rule. A godly noble man is, <HI>norma publica,</HI> he is as a publike &s;tandard, men walk by his rule, and mea&s;ure them&s;elves by his line: If a publike per&s;on failes, he murthers the expectations and hopes of thou&s;ands at once <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>Non ad rati|onem &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d ad &s;i|militudmem <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">,</HI> Sen.</NOTE>; ju&s;t as you doe, others will doe the like, you &s;ee when <HI>Abimelech</HI> cut down a bough and laid it on his &s;houlder, all the people did the like, <HI>Iud.</HI> 9. 48, 49. God Almighty expects more from you, and from &s;uch as are of eminent parts; for as he hath drawn &s;ome fairer characters and prints of his own image with his finger in their &s;oules; &s;o he expects they &s;hould hold them forth that others might copy out their excellencies; be&s;ides, God hath been at greater co&s;t and charges with you, he hath maintained you at a high|er rate, he hath laid out much of the trea&s;ures of his goodne&s;&s;e, and hath &s;pent upon you a great deale of the riches of his bounty on you; and therefore hee doth expect, and will require a greater account from you, then from men of an inferiour rank; to whom much is given, much will be required, <HI>Luk.</HI> 12. 48.</P>
<P>Fourthly, Then a fourth argument, may be taken from the &s;ucce&s;&s;e that you are like to find in carrying on this work. Doe but &s;ee what an encouragement <HI>David</HI> had, &s;o farre as hee went in this work, how did the Lord pro&s;per him, and what exceeding great pro|vi&s;ion did he lay in for the work, 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 22. 2, 3. &amp;c. then &s;ee how the Lord encouraged <HI>Solomon,</HI> ver&s;. 13. and how did the work goe
<PB N="19" REF="12"> on and pro&s;per in his hands. Againe, con&s;ider how God did engage him&s;elfe to tho&s;e that did rebuild the Temple, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 44. 28. &amp; 45. 1. 2, 3, 13, 14. <HI>Hag.</HI> 2. 4, 5, 8. The Lord that has the di&s;po&s;ing of power and riches, and all things in his hands, promi&s;eth that they &s;hall be &s;ub&s;ervient to that great work, to which al&s;o, wee adde <HI>Zech.</HI> 4. 5, 6. where the Lord engageth him&s;elfe in a &s;peciall manner, to pro|mote and carry on that work, in a wonderfull and extraordinary way: Whence I argue, that if the Lord was &s;o gracious as to promi&s;e, and to performe his word to them that were engaged in his work antiently, them &s;urely, hee will doe it now; if to them that were employed in building the materiall Temple, much more to them that &s;hall lay out them&s;elves in building the my&s;ticall Hou&s;e of God, by how much the more this doth excell the Type? There might be &s;et down many other encouragements, but I forbeare in re|gard I have done it in another di&s;cour&s;e before the other honoura|ble Hou&s;e.</P>
<P>I come now to make fome u&s;e of this, and to apply to our &s;elves. <NOTE PLACE="marg">V&s;e, fir&s;t of re|proofe to di|vers &s;orts of people.</NOTE> There be divers &s;orts of people to be reproved. Fir&s;t, tho&s;e that are very &s;urly and churli&s;h towards Chri&s;t and his work: if you come to them, and de&s;ire their a&s;&s;i&s;tance and furtherance in the cau&s;e of Chri&s;t; they, like as <HI>Nabal</HI> did to <HI>David,</HI> give a very dogged an|&s;wer, 1 <HI>Sam. 25. David</HI> &s;ent to him in his di&s;tre&s;&s;e for &s;ome reliefe, <HI>and he an&s;wered Davids &s;ervants, and &s;aid, Who is David? and who is the &s;on of Ie&s;&s;e?</HI> and ver. 11. <HI>Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my fle&s;h that I have killed for my &s;hearers, and give it unto whom I know not whence they be?</HI> Ju&s;t &s;uch an an&s;wer you have from many, they will &s;ay, they mu&s;t maintaine their families, they have wifes and children, and they cannot &s;pare what they have provided for them to give to they know not whom: they may well &s;ay, for they know not whom, for Chri&s;t is unknown to them: They are of <HI>Judas</HI> his minde, who when he &s;aw an alaba&s;ter box of precious ointment poured on Chri&s;ts head, he &s;aid, <HI>To what purpo&s;e is this wa&s;te? Mat.</HI> 26. 7, 8. And <HI>why was it not &s;old, and given to the poore?</HI> but the Text takes notice, that he &s;pake this, <HI>not that he cared for the poore, but becau&s;e he was a thiefe, Ioh.</HI> 12. 5, 6. &s;o we have many that &s;ay, to what purpo&s;e is all this wa&s;te? counting all lo&s;t that is laid out for Chri&s;t and his cau&s;e: their friends or e&s;tates that are lent to Chri&s;t, they are all lo&s;t. Is it po&s;&s;ible to be a lo&s;er in that &s;ervice, where the lo&s;&s;e, if it may be &s;o called, or rather the laying out, is a
<PB N="20" REF="13"> laying up, and the expence is the greate&s;t gaine. That man that breaks by his expences in this &s;ervice drives the mo&s;t profitable trade, he breakes into trea&s;ures and abundance: his few graines and drams and mites, are exchanged into pounds and talents. Doth Chri&s;t &s;peak paradoxes or fal&s;hoods, when he &s;peaks of gaining by lo&s;&s;es? <HI>Mark 8. 35. Who&s;oever &s;hall lo&s;e his life for my &s;ake, &s;hall &s;ave it.</HI> Doth not he drive a good trade, and is it not a very faire exchange that gets an hundred fold? and doth not he &s;peak true, that tells us this for a truth. <HI>Matth.</HI> 19. 29. whatever a man lo&s;eth, he &s;hall have an hun|dred fold here in this life, be&s;ides everla&s;ting life hereafter. Thus by a &s;acred u&s;ury men lay forth their poverty for trea&s;ures, their nothing for all things. They are very ignorant that talk of lo&s;&s;es in this &s;er|vice; they may be at co&s;t, they cannot be at a lo&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Secondly, there be a &s;econd &s;ort of people to be reproved, who count that their chiefe&s;t gaine which is filched from God and his people and cau&s;e: among the&s;e I reckon tho&s;e that detaine unju&s;tly the Mini&s;ters dues <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><P>I am forty that we are fallen into tho&s;e times, in which men, under a pretence of Antichri&s;tiani&s;m, do detaine Church dues, though the&s;e were before ever the head or hornes of the bea&s;t did appeare &s;o as to be taken notice of.</P>
<P><HI>Origen</HI> &s;peaks of Church rents, <HI>Hom.</HI> 31. in <HI>Matth.</HI> and <HI>Eu&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bius</HI> of a hou&s;e belonging to the Church, which he complaines was taken away by <HI>Paulus Sa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;atenus, liv. 7. c.</HI> 24, then you have the edicts of <HI>Con|&s;tantine</HI> and <HI>Licinius Imp.</HI> to this purpo&s;e, <HI>E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ob. l.</HI> 10. <HI>c.</HI> 5. It was the care and piety in ancient times to give and &s;o firmly to entail an allowance liberall to the mini&s;try, as that the injury of the times &s;hould no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> change and alter the property &s;o farre as was po&s;&s;ible, <HI>Synod. Rom. &s;ub Symmac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o Anno 503. tota contra inva&s;ores Eccle&s;. Concil. Melden&s;. c. 5. Concil. Gangren&s;. c. 8. Aurelean. Conc. 4. An. 543. c. 19.</HI> the words of the Synod 3. <HI>&s;ub Symmcaho in exemplari con|&s;tituti de Eccle&s;iae con&s;ervandis,</HI> are very full to this purpo&s;e. <HI>Ne unquam praedium &amp;c. quocunq, titulo atq, commento alienentur. Si quis vero aliquid eorum alienare voluerit inef &s;icax atq, irritum judicetur, &s;itque <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">acienti, vel con&s;entienti, acci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ientiq~, anathema.</HI> If the&s;e were times of ignorance, God grant they do not condemne our &s;eeing times, <HI>Vid, Sir Hen. Spelman d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">temerandis Eccle&s;tis.</HI></P></NOTE>. The&s;e be farre from <HI>Davids</HI> temper, who would have thought him&s;elfe the poorer rather, if he had not laid out his riches on the work of God. Many there be, that make it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to keep back whatever they can from Chri&s;t; but let them be afraid of this by the ex|ample of <HI>Ananias</HI> and <HI>Sapphira,</HI> who were both &s;mitten with &s;udden death for their keeping back and lying to|gether, <HI>Acts</HI> 5. 2. 5. 10. How many are there that have builded them|&s;elves upon the ruines of the Church, and rai&s;ed up their families upon that co&s;t that others have be&s;towed on the Mini&s;try and Saints. But all &s;uch gaines will prove like the gold of Tholou&s;e, or the <HI>equus Sejanus,</HI> that never thrived in any hand; or like the coale &s;tollen from the Altar by the Eagle, which when it was brought to her ne&s;t, &s;et it on fire; There goes a privy cur&s;e, and
<PB N="21" REF="13"> there is a &s;ecret hidden worme at the root, that will eat out all &s;uch mens encrea&s;e. It is a de&s;ign that carries much of hell in it, to make a poore, and &s;o by that meanes you &s;hall be &s;ure to have a ba&s;e, illi|terate flattering Clergy. We read in &s;tory, of two great per&s;ecu|tions <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>V<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Eccle&s;. l. 7. c. 3. Niceph. l. 7. c. 3. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">codor. l. 3. c. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Niceph. l. 10. c.</HI> 5.</NOTE> of the Church; the one under <HI>Diocle&s;ian,</HI> the other under <HI>Iulian.</HI> The former intended to root out all Profe&s;&s;ours, <HI>&amp; occidit omnes Pre&s;byteros,</HI> he killed the Preachers; but for all this, Religion (as if it had been manured only) &s;prang up the more and flouri&s;hed. But the other, <HI>occidit Pre&s;byterium,</HI> murthered the Presbytery; for he took away all the meanes that was allotted to maintaine the Preachers of the Go&s;pel; and this was the mo&s;t de&s;perate per&s;ecu|tion of the Church.</P>
<P>Thirdly, they are to be reproved, who are contented to be at &s;ome co&s;t for God, but not at much: &s;ome that have been at co&s;t in &s;ome kinde, in &s;ome part of their &s;ub&s;tance; but the co&s;t of their hearts, the travell of their braines, the de&s;ires of their &s;oules are be|&s;towed on the building of <HI>Babel:</HI> they lend a hand unwillingly to the one, but a heart mo&s;t willingly to the other: they lend a &s;hekel to the one, and give a talent to the other; they thus make friends of unrighteous Mammon, but when they faile, they &s;hall never be received into everla&s;ting habitations: they give full weight, heapt up and pre&s;t down to the one, but a gomer or an Ephah &s;hall &s;erve the turne for the other. Some there be that offer their &s;ervice, but it is as tho&s;e did <HI>Ezra</HI> 4. 1, 2. and they will help to build the Lords hou&s;e, but it is only that they might hinder the work, and de&s;troy the building. I could wi&s;h that as tho&s;e were refu&s;ed by <HI>Zerubbabel</HI> and <HI>Ie&s;huah,</HI> and the chiefe of the Fathers, who told them, they had nothing to do with them to build an hou&s;e unto their God, but they them&s;elves would build an hou&s;e unto the Lord God of I&s;rael, ver&s;. 3. that &s;uch as the&s;e (and we have abundance of them) had never been entertained in the Lords work and &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Fourthly, there be &s;ome that are at co&s;t, but it is rather for the building them&s;elves a name, then the Lord a hou&s;e. They are at co&s;t, but it is as men that lay out their money for a purcha&s;e; they drive a bargaine for them&s;elves: they &s;eeme to be very zealous, and they will tell you &s;o, as <HI>Iehu</HI> did, and &s;ay, <HI>Come &s;ee my zeale for the Lord:</HI> If you did not &s;ee it, the Lord &s;hould have no more from them, then he &s;hould have had from the Phari&s;ees, if a trumpet had not been &s;ounded before them, <HI>that they might have glory of men,</HI>
<PB N="22" REF="14"> <HI>Mat.</HI> 6. 2. they have &s;o interwoven their own intere&s;ts with Gods Cau&s;e, that as they have handled the matter, it looks like a lin&s;ey wool&s;ey &s;tuffe, and they have twi&s;ted them &s;o fa&s;t and &s;o clo&s;e toge|ther, that now it will be a very hard matter to &s;ever between them.</P>
<P>5. There be that offer to God their own, but not that which God will own, even ba&s;tards of their own begetting, and God mu&s;t father them, that which beares their own image and &s;uper&s;cription, and not Chri&s;ts; they &s;tamp in&s;titutions of their own and baptize them in the name of Chri&s;t; they bring models &s;pan out of their own brain for the mo&s;t part, like a Spiders cobweb woven out of its own bowels, and the&s;e (as Spiders <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oe) they will hang upon the Lords hou&s;e, as the riche&s;t ornament they can be&s;tow. Look on the whole frame and modell of the Papacie, and &s;ee if from the Pope with his long, &amp;c. of Church-officers, down to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Apparitor, it be not a humane creation, there be &s;ome of whom <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> &s;ay no more, but onely I think are too bold in this, that they entitle Chri&s;t to coyne <NOTE PLACE="marg">It was truly &s;aid by the great Philo&s;opher, <HI>Multafa &s;amul|t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s veris proba|biltora a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">parent</HI> But as the great Or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">our &s;ayes, &s;o &s;ay I in this ca&s;e, <HI>Vt pule<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er rimum judicem e&s;&s;e ver. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> videre. &s;ic proveris &s;al&s;a probare turpi&s;&s;i|mum e&s;t.</HI></NOTE> fetcht out of their own mint, but Chri&s;t will never own creations and productions of mens brains, nor will he accept of any coyn that is offered to him in the building of his hou&s;e, but that which bears his own image: you know that counterfeit coyne though it beareas a &s;imilitude with the true, yet it carries trea&s;on in the very forehead of it: You have &s;everall &s;ects walking in &s;everall ways, &s;peaking &s;eve|rall languages, all helping to build, they &s;ay, the Lords Hou&s;e; but if a man may judge by the confu&s;ion of tongues, it is a <HI>Babel;</HI> however tho&s;e frames of mens &s;etting up, and tho&s;e models of their creating, may &s;eem to be very like the Lords, yet men &s;hould not be &s;o bold as to mak any like his, as it was &s;aid concerning the anointing oyle, <HI>Exod.</HI> 30. 31, 32. and when they have made it like his, put it off in <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Apud me con&s;tat multos pluri|mum potic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e ad detegendam ve|ritatem, ni&s;i &s;e illam penitus ar|ripui&s;&s;e credidi&s;|&s;ent. Pet. Ga&s;&s;en|dus in prae&s;. in 1 lib. exercit para|dox. adver&s;us Ari&s;toleos. b Petr. Ga&s;&s;endus Exercit. 4. contr. Ari&s;t, a&s;&s;erit maximam e&s;&s;e incerti|tudmem doctrinae Exerc. 5. a&s;&s;erit &amp; probat quod in numera deficiant. 6. qu&ograve;d in numera &s;uperfluant. 7. qu&ograve;d in numera &s;allant. 8. qu&ograve;d in numera a contradicant apud Ari&s;totelem.</HI></NOTE> his name; this is to offer a great indignity to Chri&s;t. a I think that many had come neerer the truth in matters of the Church, if they had not thought &s;o &s;tiffely, and peremptorily affirmed, that they had found it; every one in&s;i&s;ts upon his own <GAP DESC="foreign">, and thinks every one out of the right way that is not in his: I may &s;ay of the&s;e as a very b learned Author doth concerning <HI>Aristotle,</HI> that many things are uncertain, many defective, many &s;uperfluous, and many
<PB N="23" REF="14"> fal&s;e, and many contradictions, and therefore I conclude them not fit to be offered to the Lord. You have in <HI>Lucian</HI> and <HI>Boetius,</HI> and o|thers, <HI>Sophia</HI> brought in mi&s;erably co~plaining of the unworthy u&s;age of the p&s;eudo-Philo&s;ophers, who did u&s;ually put their fal&s;ities under her name, and canonize their errours under the name of truth: Sure I am, Chri&s;t hath as great rea&s;on to complain of &s;ome, who when their errours are pur&s;ued, fly to him as to a City of refuge, and &s;hroud fal&s;hood under the wing of truth. It is come to that pa&s;&s;e <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>Iactabant qui|dam &s;olaeci&s;mos e&s;&s;e laudes &amp; gemmas Philo|&s;ophorum;</HI> if you finde fault with their <HI>Haeccietates, &amp; aliquitates,</HI> and their ab&s;urd incongruities, they an&s;wer you with laughter thus, <HI>Non curamus de verbibus, &s;ed de &s;en&s;is. vide copio&s;e de his Hermol. Barb. Scalig. Exercit. Patricum Ari&s;totelomast. tet. Ga&s;&s;endum, &amp;c.</HI></NOTE> now as it was in Philo&s;ophy, that &s;oleci&s;mes and barbari&s;mes in the bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts Church, are accounted exqui&s;ite and ab&s;olute pat|terns to be commended unto others: I forbeare to quote &s;ome bloody tenets and licentious doctrines, all offered to Chri&s;t as his own in&s;titutions; what they &s;peak and write, is as if it were <HI>&egrave; tri|pode,</HI> you mu&s;t not que&s;tion it, and as if there were an infallible <GAP DESC="foreign"> upon what they deliver for truth, it hath a pa&s;port among many, and travels up and down without que&s;tion or controule: Such al&s;o is the frenzie of many, that as one &s;peakes concerning the <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">It was the &s;aying of a profe&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ur of Philo&s;ophy, <HI>mallet &s;e errare cum A|ri&s;totele, quam bene &s;entire cum aliis.</HI></NOTE> great Philo&s;opher, they had rather erre with their ma|&s;ters and Lords of their faith, then &s;peake truth with o|thers.</P>
<P>2. I come now to a u&s;e of Examination and enquiry into three <NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;econd u&s;e is, of Exami|na<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion and en|quiry after 3. particulars.</NOTE> things: 1. What co&s;t we have been at for &s;inne: 2. What co&s;t we have been at for God and his &s;ervice in generall. And 3. what co&s;t we have been at with the Cau&s;e of Chri&s;t now at this time a|mong&s;t us.</P>
<P N="1">1. Let us call our &s;elves to &s;ome account concerning our accounts <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. The fir&s;t en|quiry is to know what we have &s;pent up|on our &s;innes, what co&s;t we have been at again&s;t God.</NOTE> and expences in and upon &s;infull cour&s;es, that &s;o we may be hum|bled before the Lord this day. I feare that Tekel may be written upon what we have done for God, which was one of the words of the hand-writing that appeared on the wall, <HI>Dan.</HI> 5. 27. I feare that we being weighed &s;hall be found too light; but our &s;ervice for &s;inne hath been in a full mea&s;ure, pre&s;&s;ed down, and heaped up, and running over. Let us con&s;ider of all the yeeres that we have li|ved, what have we laid out for God, what expence of time have we been at for him: Have we given him the tyth: I would we had.
<PB N="24" REF="15"> If our time were weighed in the ballances, we &s;hall finde that wee have been at co&s;t but with minuts for God, and hours for &s;in, at hours for God, and dayes for &s;inne; at dayes for God, and weeks and months for &s;inne; at weeks and months for God and whole yeers for &s;inne; at &s;ome &s;pare time for God, <HI>horae &s;ub&s;icivae</HI> mu&s;t &s;erve him, and at apprenti&s;hips with &s;inne.</P>
<P N="2">2. Look at your co&s;t of &s;trength and paines, on whom have we be&s;towed the fir&s;t fruits of our &s;trength, the creame and flower of our &s;elves and faculties, when we did run fre&s;h and quick like ve&s;&s;els newly &s;et on broach, who did we draw forth our &s;elves to then? the di&s;ea&s;es and aches in your limbs and bones will tell you that you doe po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the &s;innes of your youth. <HI>Job</HI> 13. 26. &s;o that we had need make that prayer with <HI>David, P&s;al. 25. 7. Remember not the &s;innes of my youth;</HI> we may put in, nor of our riper age, in regard the &s;trength, and vigour, and activity both of the one and the o|ther have been given to &s;inne.</P>
<P N="3">3. Look into your bills of accounts, and into your idle expences, and &s;ee who hath had mo&s;t of your e&s;tate, of that kind of co&s;t: <NOTE PLACE="marg">Aurca hamo pi&s;cantur, qui magno &s;um, tu aut periculo, de rebus patvis di|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">icent.</NOTE> Con&s;ider and be a&s;hamed, have you not been at a great deale of charges about things of no value, and even fi&s;h with a golden hook (as <HI>Augu&s;t. C.</HI> &s;aid) for things of no price. Con&s;ider, have none of you maintained more bruites meerly for plea&s;ure, than you have members of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. I feare &s;ome of your &s;innes have been very co&s;tly. In the great book of accounts which the ju&s;t Judge keeps by him, you may perhaps finde pride bringing in her bill with a prodigious <HI>Item</HI> of &s;o many hundreds or thou&s;ands it may be upon her &s;core: Then you may find luxury, and riot, and exce&s;&s;e come in with <HI>items</HI> of &s;o many Lord&s;hips exhau&s;ted for us; &s;o many rents of tho&s;e and tho&s;e farmes and freeholds &s;pent on us. Then come in Hawkes and Dogges, and hor&s;es, with a black crew more embruiti&s;hed then the bea&s;ts they look to, the&s;e bring in &s;o many tenents rack-rents, and &s;o many tenants ruines for us. Then covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e and oppre&s;&s;ion, &amp;c. they bring in their bills and <HI>items</HI> written in blood. <HI>Item,</HI> &s;o many skins &s;tayed off the backs of the poore, to cloath their Landlords. <HI>Item,</HI> &s;o much fle&s;h off their backs to feed them. <HI>Item,</HI> &s;o much blood drawn from them, to furni&s;h their great Lords with drink: Such a complaint in the like language was made again&s;t the heads of <HI>Iacob</HI> and the Princes of <HI>I&s;rael, Micah</HI> 3. 2, 3. Then you have playes, and gaming and heatheni&s;h
<PB N="25" REF="15"> &s;ports come in with va&s;t Items, and great &s;ummes &s;quandred away upon them; be&s;ides the cur&s;ed lyes and oathes which come in as &s;upernumerary to the account. I mu&s;t not forget one that wipes her mouth, and &s;aith I have done no ill. <HI>Prov.</HI> 30. 20. &s;he brings in as co&s;tly Items as any: She hath an Item for &s;o much in &s;attins and ti&s;&s;ues taken up at &s;uch a time for &s;uites of apparell. Item, &s;o much in an entertainment at a banquet, &s;o much in Pearles and Di|amonds, and Jewels to adorn me <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Doe but &s;ee what a cata|logue of vani|ties the&s;e kind of women car|ry with them, and tho&s;e very co&s;tly ones to, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 3. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.</NOTE>. The Phy&s;itians and Apotheca|ries they bring in their bills, with an Item of &s;o much for curing &s;uch a di&s;ea&s;e, procured by a &s;urfeit of drinking, and intemperate dyet and by other wayes which I leave to tho&s;e that heale them to tell of them. Then comes in the flattering trencher Chaplain, that flatters his Lord and Ma&s;ter in all the&s;e &s;infull expences, and dares not open his mouth again&s;t them, he brings in a bill much like the rate of <HI>Micahs</HI> Levite, <HI>Iud.</HI> 17. 10. ten &s;hekels of &s;ilver a yeare, a &s;uit of apparell, and victualls: But you will &s;ay, this is to be reckoned a|mong&s;t expences for God; no, by no meanes, for this is not &s;o much as the hire of a whore, which was not to be given to God, <HI>Deut.</HI> 23. 18. It is a ba&s;e contemptible &s;umme that the Levite brings in, but it is too much for him that could &s;ee his Lord &s;pend &s;o much &s;infully, and not tell him of his abominations.</P>
<Q>Ah pudet haec dici potui&s;&s;e, &amp; non potui&s;&s;e refelli.</Q>
<P>I feare the Lord is now reckoning with our Kingdome, for the&s;e and the like expences and will proceed to take a very &s;trict account for the hundreds, the thou&s;ands, and ten thou&s;ands, and millions that have been &s;pent, and &s;pilt, and ca&s;t away upon our &s;innes. Our &s;ins have been co&s;tly, and now they be bloody &s;innes. We have not &s;er|ved &s;inne with that which co&s;ts us nought. The very &s;uperfluity of <HI>England,</HI> and the expence of the &s;econd and third cour&s;es would have maintained another Kingdome: Nay, perhaps they might have gone neere to have maintained the whole family of Chri&s;t (I &s;peak of the true members) here below; for nature is contented with little, and grace with le&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>I feare we have been at more co&s;t to purcha&s;e vengeance and ca|lamity, hell and confu&s;ion, then we might have been at for peace and the Go&s;pel, heaven and happine&s;&s;e. <HI>Demo&s;thones,</HI> though nor for con&s;cience, yet for co&s;t &s;ake would not lye with that famous
<PB N="26" REF="16"> Strumpet of <HI>Corinth,</HI> he &s;aid he would not purcha&s;e repentance at &s;o deare a rate I could have wi&s;hed we had not been at &s;o much co&s;t to purcha&s;e &s;o much mi&s;ery.</P>
<P>Secondly, Let us take a view of our co&s;t, for God and Chri&s;t: We would all of us be counted the &s;ervants of God, and heaven is in our de&s;ires, if it be not in our earne&s;t endeavours; all of us would have the crown of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, but all will nor goe to the price of it; they are loath to fight for it, and to fini&s;h their cour&s;e, and to keep the faith which mu&s;t goe before the crown, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4. 7. 8. We would all have the penny, but wee care not for working in the Vineyard, and bearing the burthen and heat of the day: Wee would all have the reward at the end, but we care not for running the race; we would all enter into glory, but we doe not like this &s;triving to enter: men therefore, beat their bargain as low as they can, and faine they would bring down the price of heaven, they are not good cu&s;tomers, they undervalue the commondity, they &s;eeme to bid faire many of them, and <HI>Agrippa</HI>-like are almo&s;t per|&s;waded; but &s;ince they will not come off roundly with the Merchant, and &s;ell all that they have for Chri&s;t, but come neare the price, and not come up to it, and almo&s;t reach it, but not alto|gether, they &s;hall altogether goe without it: Such as the&s;e, bee like tho&s;e fordid Jewes, that valued Chri&s;t at the rate of a &s;lave, as it is &s;aid, <HI>Zech. 11. 13. a goodly price, I was prized at of them,</HI> &amp;c. Men will bee contented to be at co&s;t for any thing for vanity, that they may have it in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, rather then for glory, which they look on in rever&s;ion, but are much mi&s;taken in the thing.</P>
<P>Now when all co&s;ts and charges are to be ca&s;t up, and all accounts to be brought in at the la&s;t day, then will Chri&s;t bring in his arreares, and he will then tell how we would not bee at co&s;t for him; they will have a &s;ad reckoning, to whom Chri&s;t will &s;ay at the la&s;t day, as he is brought in &s;peaking, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25. 42. 43. You indeed pro|fe&s;&s;ed to love me, but when <HI>I was an hungred, yee gave me no meat,</HI> you would not be at the co&s;t of a piece of bread with mee; when <HI>I was thir&s;ty, you gave me no drink,</HI> you would not be at the co&s;t of a draught of drink with me; <HI>I was a &s;tranger, and yee took me not in,</HI> you could not afford me a little roome, or lodging in your hou&s;e; <HI>I was naked, and yee clothed me not,</HI> you would not be at &s;o much co&s;t as be&s;tow ca&s;t clothes upon me: <HI>&s;ick, and in pri&s;on, and yee vi&s;ited me not?</HI> When by rea&s;on of ill dyet, and hard and cruell u&s;age inpri&s;on,
<PB N="27" REF="16"> I was ready to be &s;tarved, you would not &s;o much as provide &s;ome comfortable thing for me, that might have refre&s;ht me: How &s;hall I &s;ay that you loved mee, when you &s;uffred mee to beg and &s;tarve, and goe naked, when a little co&s;t, only your &s;uperfluities would have &s;upported and maintained me in good fa&s;hion. Then for the pro|fe&s;&s;ion of the Go&s;pel, he will bring his accounts in for that, he will then &s;hew how that men like the fooli&s;h Virgins did procure lamps, and would be at the paines to trimme them perhaps, and likewi&s;e, to goe forth to meet the Bridegroom, but they would never bee at co&s;t for Oyle, <HI>Matth.</HI> 25. 12. Then for the confe&s;&s;ing of Chri&s;t, hee he will bring in his charge upon that, and &s;hew how men indeed, did take upon them to confe&s;&s;e him in &s;hew, but they never would be at the co&s;t and paines to do it in truth. For they could hear his name bla&s;phemed, and torne in pieces by dogs, and never &s;tand up in the vindication of his honour; they could &s;ee his ordinances tram|pled on, and not &s;o much as afford a word or deed to advance them: So that Chri&s;t will &s;ay, thy confe&s;&s;ion of me was a meere deniall of me, then &s;hall they finde the truth of that, <HI>Mat. 10. 33. Who&s;oever &s;hall deny mee before men, him will I deny before my Fa|ther that is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Then you &s;hall have all holy duties and graces, bring in their ac|counts, and tell how they were performed and embraced: prayer will &s;ay, the&s;e Chri&s;tians did &s;ay a prayer, but never pray a prayer, they never &s;ighed or gronaed in prayer, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8. 26. The word of God will &s;peak and &s;ay, that indeed they did hear it &s;ometime, but heeded it not, like tho&s;e in <HI>Ezech.</HI> 33. 32. they heard, but did not practice; they read &s;ometime, but remembred not: Sabbaths will &s;ay, they never were entertained with delight, they never were &s;anctified with &s;pirituall rejoycing, they never ob&s;erved them with any &s;e|verity, but &s;pake their own words, thought their own thoughts, did their own works expre&s;&s;ely contrary to that, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 58. 13. Then will Fa&s;ts come in and &s;ay, that they never afflicted their &s;oules nor &s;hed a teare in a whole day; nay, they have found their own plea&s;ure upon a fa&s;ting day, which the Lord complaines of <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 58. 3. All duties and graces will come in and &s;ay, that they never had the heart|co&s;t, the &s;oule was never engaged for them; &s;o that all the&s;e that are in &s;uch a condition, will bee looked upon as tho&s;e that offered that to God which co&s;t them nought, even as tho&s;e, <HI>Mat.</HI> 1. 8. that thought any thing good enough for God, even the halt, and the
<PB N="28" REF="17"> blind, and the &s;ick. If heaven might be had with ea&s;e and idlene&s;&s;e, &s;leep and &s;ecurity, carele&s;&s;ene&s;&s;e and negligence, and with <HI>Balaams</HI> wi&s;h, the&s;e will offer as faire as any, and there will be cu&s;tomers enough; indeed who would be out of it, of the vile&s;t of men, and what Saint would ever come there. Let us not flatter and deceive our &s;elves; what ever we give to God mu&s;t be &s;uperlative and excel|lent; the choy&s;e&s;t ingredients are to bee put into every &s;ervice; he will have our righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e an exceeding righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <HI>Matt. 5. 20. Except your righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e exceed the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, yee &s;hall in no ca&s;e enter into the Kingdome of hea|ven.</HI> What a &s;hame will it be that pride and malice, and luxury, &amp;c. &s;hall be able to bring in upon their accounts &s;uch va&s;t &s;ummes; and duties and graces, they bring in cyphers; or which is wor&s;e, in&s;tead of accounts they will bring in complaints, and tell how they were vilified, and &s;corned, and trampled under feet: prayer and hearing the word, and reading, and holy meditation, &amp;c. will tell how they were not heeded, and how indeed <HI>Gallio</HI>-like they cared not for any of the&s;e things: they will tell how &s;ometimes they were put off, as <HI>Felix</HI> did <HI>Paul,</HI> to a more convenient &s;ea&s;on: &s;ometimes, they were almo&s;t per&s;waded like <HI>Agrippa;</HI> &s;ometimes, as <HI>Herod</HI> and his men of warre entertained Chri&s;t, <HI>Luk.</HI> 23. 11. they were &s;et at nought, and mocked: &s;ometime the dancing of an <HI>Herodias,</HI> &s;ome|time the ki&s;&s;e of a <HI>Dalilah,</HI> &s;ometimes mammon, and the cares of the world, &s;ometimes game&s;ters, &s;ometimes good fellowes, &s;ometime one, &s;ometimes another interpo&s;ed, that the&s;e duties and the re&s;t could finde no roome, no time could be &s;pared for them; this will be but a &s;ad reckning: Think not that heaven will &s;toope to &s;uch ba&s;e offers as lazie, and negligent men doe make, for we &s;ee that we mu&s;t eat our daily bread in the &s;weat of our browes; much more the bread of life: We mu&s;t &s;weat for Chri&s;t, we mu&s;t bleed, nay, we mu&s;t die for him.</P>
<P>Thirdly, con&s;ider the Cau&s;e of God among&s;t us, the building of the Lords hou&s;e, the &s;etting up of his ordinances, wor&s;hip &s;ervice, and di&s;cipline among&s;t us; what hath this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e co&s;t us? You will tell me, it hath co&s;t millions already; and yet I feare it hath co&s;t but little Let us ca&s;t up the expences: at fir&s;t it co&s;t you your plate, and &s;uch like &s;uperfluities, &s;uch things as might be well &s;pared: but may it not be &s;aid of this offering, as Chri&s;t &s;aid of theirs whom he &s;aw ca&s;t &s;omething into the Trea&s;ury, that <HI>you gave of your abundance:</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="17"> he looked on all that they ca&s;t in as a thing of no value, not &s;o much as a mite. But you will &s;ay, that there hath been a great deale offered &s;ince: I could wi&s;h we could &s;ay, it has been offered; hath it not been fetched and extorted from many as &s;o many drops of blood? I am &s;orry that &s;uch is the hardne&s;&s;e of mens hearts, that our Parlia|ment mu&s;t be faine to make Ordinances to take that from men, which they will not offer, and that Gods Cau&s;e mu&s;t be beholding to an Exci&s;e. I am &s;orry that we &s;hould be &s;o little affected with the Cau&s;e among&s;t us, that of nece&s;&s;ity, by rea&s;on of the &s;ordid condition of men, Ordinances for loan, and that upon Intere&s;t, mu&s;t be made to maintaine and &s;upport it; whereas every one &s;hould rate him&s;elfe, and &s;trive to goe before another in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e; and put an exci&s;e upon him&s;elfe, not of a part but of all, not of his e&s;tate but his life in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e. Is this to offer that to God, which co&s;ts me &s;ome|thing; or rather is it not a kinde of expo&s;ing to &s;ale, a bargaining, at lea&s;t with hopes of gaine. What a &s;trange thing is it, that the pub|lique faith of the Kingdom &s;hould go further then the publique faith of heaven? and that the Parliaments word &s;hould be taken before Gods word? and that their &s;ecurity &s;hould be thought better then the &s;ecurity of the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity? God hath &s;aid enough to us, if we would beleeve him, that we &s;hall be no lo&s;ers by offering, by giving to his building, to his cau&s;e. Be&s;ides, if we con&s;ider the grud|ging, murmuring, repining, the reluctance that goes along with it, which I cannot &s;ay, is given by men, but rather forced from them, certainly we mu&s;t conclude, that <HI>Davids</HI> minde was wanting in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e very much. The Scripture ob&s;erves the wonderfull willing|ne&s;&s;e and readine&s;&s;e of tho&s;e that did help forward the work of the Sanctuary; there needed no rateing of them according to their e&s;tates, but every man offered &s;o freely, that there was a re&s;traint laid upon them, that they &s;hould bring in no more. It &s;eems al&s;o that at the building of the Temple, there was &s;ome unkinde and un|brotherly carriage of the chiefe among the Jews towards their bre|thren, which did cau&s;e &s;ome griefe and trouble among them, <HI>Neh.</HI> 5. there were great complaints of exactions, ver. 1, 2, 3. &amp;c. which made &s;ome interruptions among them; but ob&s;erve how <HI>Nehemiah</HI> behaved him el&s;e when he knew of it, ver&s;. 6, 7. he pre&s;ently recti|fied the thing; whence I inferre, that it is the de&s;ire of the Lord, that his work &s;hould be carried on with all chearfulne&s;&s;e and wil|lingne&s;&s;e of minde, that whatever &s;ervice was to be offered to him,
<PB N="30" REF="18"> &s;hould be a free will offering. Shall it ever be &s;aid, that Chri&s;t hath a Cau&s;e in <HI>England</HI> to maintain, that cries for help, and offerings, for hearts and hands for &s;ub&s;tance, and lifes, and could not have them, at lea&s;t not willingly? Shall it ever be &s;aid, that any of you have <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom. Lan&s;ius orat. cont. Hi|&s;paniam taurum e&s;t deus Chri&s;tia|norum.</HI></NOTE> a penny left that might advance this building, and you would not offer it. Then will I &s;ay, as the poore Indians (&s;eeing the un&s;atiable de&s;ire of the Spaniards after gold) &s;aid, gold was the God of the Chri&s;tians; money is their god that will not give God their money. Shall it bee &s;aid, that any of us have a hand, or a foot, or a limbe, or a life to lo&s;e in this Cau&s;e, and wee would not &s;pare them? We would not be at &s;o much co&s;t in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, the time is now come, perhaps, that you may be put to it, as the young man in the Go&s;pel was, to &s;ell all, not to purcha&s;e, but to offer to Chri&s;t: It may be the time is come in, which Chri&s;t will call for honours and dignities; and will your Lord&s;hips carry them, and lay them at his feet; and &s;ay, the&s;e I lay down at thy foot-&s;toole, that thou maye&s;t by them be advanced into thy Throne? Can you &s;ay, not my ho|nours, Lord, but my life; honour me &s;o far, as that I may loo&s;e that for thy &s;ake, that ha&s;t honoured me &s;o far as to loo&s;e thine for me: I am &s;orry I have but one to loo&s;e for thee, but if I had as many as there be &s;ands on the &s;ea, thou &s;houlde&s;t have them all. It may be the time is come, that he will call for all your rents, revenewes, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; and can you &s;ay, I am &s;orry there is no more for my deare Saviour?</P>
<P>Cur&s;ed be that honour and dignity, and let ignomy and reproach for ever light upon it, that &s;hall refu&s;e to bee offred to the Lord: Cur&s;ed be that e&s;tate, and let beggery and ba&s;ene&s;&s;e, &s;hame and con|tempt, be in the habitations of tho&s;e that will not part their &s;ub|&s;tance for Chri&s;t: Cur&s;ed be tho&s;e limbs, and let them rot: And cur&s;ed bee tho&s;e lifes, and let them peri&s;h that deny to offer them|&s;elves to Chri&s;t. He that thus loves not the Lord Chri&s;t, let him be <HI>Anathema, Maranatha, 1 Cor.</HI> 16. 22. And he loves him not, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe being interpreter, that will not lay down his life for him. I hope none that heares me are thus cur&s;ed, but tho&s;e that will not now offer their help to the Lord again&s;t the mighty, they are like <HI>Meroz,</HI> cur&s;ed, and cur&s;ed bitterly to.</P>
<P>However we thus &s;peak to you in the name of God, yet remem|ber that God doth not &s;tand in need of any thing you have, but he is plea&s;ed to put you upon the tryall; hee will &s;ee what you will doe for him: He needs not aske your leave, hee may take what hee
<PB N="31" REF="18"> plea&s;eth from you, as having a greater intere&s;t and propriety in what you po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e, then you have your &s;elves; he is plea&s;ed to take what you give freely, and to call it a gift, but if you &s;tand upon it, hee will let you know that it was his, before it was yours, and now it is yours, yet it is more his then yours: Heare what God &s;ayes, <HI>P&s;al. 50. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. All the bea&s;ts of the forre&s;t bee mine, and the cattell upon a thou&s;and hils,</HI> &amp;c. but ver. 14. he tells you what he looks for, <HI>Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vowes unto the mo&s;t High:</HI> he looks for offering, though he &s;tands in need of none. And <HI>David</HI> profe&s;&s;eth, that he was ready to offer &s;acrifice, if God would accept it, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 51. 16. but ver&s;. 17. he tells what &s;acrifice God did delight in. This is a day of Humiliation, and this is the mo&s;t proper offering for the day; which &s;hould be a heart-breaking day; he that offers to God a fa&s;t without afflicting of his &s;oule, without being in bitterne&s;&s;e for his &s;innes, without mourning, without &s;ighs and groanes, without teares, or trouble, that hath dry eyes, without &s;ome pangs and travell of &s;oule, without a con|flict of and agony in his &s;pirit, without &s;ome kind of bleeding in his heart, he offers a &s;acrifice that co&s;ts him nought; the Lord will re|ject &s;uch a fa&s;t as this, as hee did theirs, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 58. 5. but the co&s;tly fa&s;t that God looks at, is ver&s;. 6. 7. That is a co&s;tly fa&s;t indeed, when heaven and Earth are at &s;trife and contention; when you &s;trive to offer to God rivers of teares, then doth God even &s;trive to offer to you rivers of con&s;olations: when you are at co&s;t with God in your hearts, he is at co&s;t with you in his ble&s;&s;ings. The Lord even &s;peakes this language to you to day, tho&s;e &s;innes that have co&s;t you thou&s;ands to maintaine them, let them now co&s;t you &s;ome teares from hearts truly penitent, and deeply affected with the &s;en&s;e of them, and all your &s;innes &s;hall be pardoned, and my debt book &s;hall be cro&s;&s;ed, all your iniquities &s;hall be blotted out, I will remem|ber them no more.</P>
<P>Here we come to offer to God a &s;ervice of his own pre&s;cribing; but if we doe not offer according to his own way, we &s;hall not onely, not be accepted of God, but we &s;hall have that which wee never looked for from God: he will not onely refu&s;e the &s;ervice which we offer, but he will &s;end &s;omething that we would not willingly have, <HI>Ier. 14. 12. When they fa&s;t, I will not heare their cry, and when they offer burnt offrings, and an oblation, I will not accept them:</HI> This one would think were bad enough, to loo&s;e their labour, but that
<PB N="32" REF="19"> &s;hall not &s;atisfie; for it followes, <HI>but I will con&s;ume them,</HI> &amp;c. That man that comes to God in his &s;innes, on a fa&s;ting day, he is refu&s;ed with contempt, with an <HI>who hath required this at your hand,</HI> I&s;a. 1. 12. and with a &s;cornfull objurgation, <HI>What ha&s;t thou to doe to de|clare my Statutes, or take my Covenant into thy mouth? Seeing thou hate&s;t in&s;truction, and ca&s;te&s;t my word behind thee,</HI> P&s;al. 50. 16. 17.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider further, that when ever we appeare before the Lord in our &s;ins, we doe but like tho&s;e that are in debt, when they come into their creditors &s;ight, they put them in minde of that which they owe them, and by that meanes they are moved to clap a &s;erjeant on there backs. Every one of us, is in great arreares with God, much in debt, and have we procured a pardon? Remember that you are in great danger, if you have not, for it is &s;aid, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 8. 13. Then even then, when they are &s;acrificing, <HI>Then will I remember their iniqui|ty, and vi&s;it their &s;innes:</HI> ju&s;t then, when they think to plea&s;e God, then will God remember them in fury.</P>
<P>Our &s;innes have co&s;t us very deare already; let us re&s;olve never to be at more co&s;t with them, unle&s;&s;e as Sates are with malefactours to correct, puni&s;h, condemne, and execute them.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE>Die veneris 29. November. 1644.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P><HI>IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament, That this Hou&s;e doth hereby returne thanks to Mr</HI> Henry Wilkin&s;on, <HI>for his great Paines taken in his Sermon preached by him on Wedne&s;day la&s;t before their Lord&s;hips in the Abby Church</HI> We&s;tmin&s;ter, <HI>it being the day of the Monthly Fa&s;t: And this Hou&s;e doth hereby de&s;ire him to Print and Publi&s;h the &s;ame. And la&s;tly, it is Orderd that none &s;hall print or reprint his &s;aid Sermon without being authorized &s;o to doe under the hand of the &s;aid Mr</HI> Wilkin&s;on.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Jo. Brown, Cler. Parl.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="appointment">
<P>I appoint CHR. MEREDITH, and SA. GELLIBRAND, to Print this Sermon,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Henry Wilkin&s;on.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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