divers ambassages, to Rome, to solicit a clear declaration in that point, but could never, nor can yet attain it, that is, the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin without original sin. So also, for the obligation that the laws of secular magistrates lay upon the conscience, so also for the concurrence of grace, and freewill, and divers others; in which they will not be drawn to this, surely to determine and declare of either side; for, indeed that is the language of the Holy Ghost. It hath been observed amongst philosophers, that Plato speaks probably, and Aristotle positively; Plato's way is, It may be thus, and Aristotle's, It must be thus. The like hath been noted amongst divines, between Calvin, and Melanchthon; Calvin will say, Videtur, It seems to be thus, Melanchthon, It can be no otherwise but thus. But the best men are but problematical, only the Holy Ghost is dogmatical; only he subscribes this surely, and only he seals with infallibility. Our dealings are appointed to be in yea, yea, and nay, nay, and no farther; but all the promises of God are yea, and amen*7, that is, surely, verily; for that is his name; these things saith The Amen, he that is Amen. And it is not (I hope) an impertinent note, that that evangelist St. John, who considers the divinity of Christ, more than the other evangelists do, does evermore, constantly, without any change, double that which was Christ's ordinary asseveration, Amen. As oft as the other evangelists mention it in Christ's mouth, still they express it with 'one Amen, verily I say; St. John always, Amen, amen, verily, verily, it is thus and thus. The nearer we come to the consideration of God, the farther we are removed from all contingencies, and all inclination to error, and the more is this Amen, verily, surely, multiplied and established unto us. It is in doctrines and opinions, as it is in designs and purposes; Go to, (says the prophet, by way of reprehension) go to, you that say, We will go to such a city, and trade thus and thus there, &c. So, go to, you that pronounce upon every invention, and tradition of your own, a Quicunque vult saleus esse, Whosoever will be saved, must believe this, and clog every problematical proposition with an anathema, cursed be he, excommunicated be he that 28 Rev. iii. 14. VOL. III. 27 2 Cor. i. 20. L thinks the contrary to this; go to, you, that make matters of faith of the passions of men. So also, go to, you that proceed and continue in your sins, and say, Surely I shall have time enough to repent hereafter. Go to, you that in a spiritual and irreligious melancholy and diffidence in God's mercy, say, Surely the Lord hath locked up his mercy from me, surely I shall never see that sun more, never receive, never feel beam of his mercy more, but pass through this darkness into a worse. This word surely, in such cases, in such senses, is not your mother's tongue, not the language of the Christian church. She teaches you, to condition all in Christ; in him you are enabled to do all things, and without him nothing. But absolutely, unconditionally, this surely is appropriated to the propositions, to the assertions of God himself; and some of those follow in this text. Now that which the Holy Ghost presents here upon this assuredness, is, That men of low degree are vanity, and that men of high degree are a lie; these are both sure, and alike sure. It is true that it constitutes a problem, that it admits a discourse, it will abide a debatement, whether men of high degree, or of low degree be worst; whether riches or poverty, (both considered in a great measure, very rich, and very poor) prosperity or adversity occasion most sins. Though God call upon us in every leaf of the Scripture, to pity the poor, and relieve the poor, and ground his last judgment upon our works of mercy, (Because you have fed and clothed the poor, inherit the kingdom") yet, as the rich and the poor stand before us now, (as it were in judgment) as we inquire and hear evidence, which state is most obnoxious, and open to most sins, we embrace, and apply to ourselves that law, Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause3°; and (as it is repeated) Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor in judgment31. There is then a poverty, which, without all question, is the direct way to heaven; but that is spiritual; Blessed are the poor in spirit. This poverty is humility, it is not beggary. A rich man may have it, and a beggar may be without it. The wise man found not this poverty, (not humility) in every poor man. 29 Matt. xxv. 34. 31 Levit. xix. 15. 30 Exod. xxiii. 3. 32 Matt. v. 3. He found three sorts of men, whom his soul hated; and one of the three, was a poor man that is proud33. And when the prophet said of Jerusalem in her afflictions, Paupercula es et ebria, Thou art poor, and miserable, and yet drunk, though (as he adds there) it were not with wine3, (which is now in our days an ordinary refuge of men of all sorts, in all sadnesses and crosses to relieve themselves upon wine and strong drink, which are indeed strong illusions) yet, though Jerusalem's drunkenness were not with wine, it was worse; it was a staggering, a vertiginousness, an ignorance, a blindness, a not discerning the ways to God; which is the worst drunkenness, and falls often upon the poor and afflicted, that their poverty and affliction staggers them, and damps them in their recourse to God, so far, as that they know not, That they are miserable, and wretched, and poor, and blind, and naked. The Holy Ghost always makes the danger of the poor great, as well as of the rich. The rich man's wealth is his strong city. There is his fault, his confidence in that; but pavor pauperum, the destruction of the poor is his poverty; there is his fault, desperation under it. Solomon presents them, as equally dangerous, Give me neither poverty, nor riches". So does Boaz to Ruth, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor, or rich. That which Boaz intended there, incontinency, and all vice that arise immediately out of the corruption of nature, and are not induced by other circumstances, have as much inclination from poverty, as from riches. May we not say, more? I doubt we may. He must be a very sanctified man, whom extreme poverty, and other afflictions, do not decline towards a jealousy, and a suspicion, and a distrusting of God; and then, the sins that bend towards desperation, are so much more dangerous, than those that bend towards presumption, that he that presumes, hath still mercy in his contemplation, he does not think that he needs no mercy, but that mercy is easily had; he believes there is mercy, he doubts not of that; but the despairing man imagines a cruelty, an unmercifulness in God, and destroys the very nature of God himself. Riches is the metaphor, in which the Holy Ghost hath delighted 33 Ecclus. xxv. 2. 34 Isaiah Li. 21. 37 Prov. xxx. 8. 35 Rev. iii. 17. 38 Ruth iii. 10. to express God and heaven to us; Despise not the riches of his goodness, says the apostle; and again, O the depth of the riches of his wisdom"; and so, after, The unsearchable riches of Christ"; and for the consummation of all, The riches of his glory“, God's godness towards us in general, our religion in the way, his grace here, his glory hereafter, are all represented to us in riches. With poverty God ordinarily accompanies his comminations; he threatens feebleness, and war, and captivity, and poverty everywhere, but he never threatens men with riches. Ordinary poverty, (that is, a difficulty with all their labours and industry to sustain their family, and the necessary duties of their place) is a shrewd, and a slippery temptation. But for that street-beggary, which is become a calling, (for parents bring up their children to it, nay they do almost take apprentices to it, some expert beggars teach others what they shall say, how they shall look, how they shall lie, how they shall cry) for these, whom our laws call incorrigible, I must say of them (in a just accommodation of our Saviour's words, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs). It is not meet, that this vermin should devour any of that, which belongs to them who are truly poor. Neither is there any measure, any proportion of riches, that exposes man naturally to so much sin, as this kind of beggary doth. Rich men forget, or neglect the duties of their baptism; but of these, how many are there, that were never baptized? Rich men sleep out sermons, but these never come to church: rich men are negligent in the practice, but these are ignorant in all knowledge. It would require a longer disquisition, than I can afford to it now, whether riches, or poverty (considered in lesser proportions, ordinary riches, ordinary poverty) open us to more, and worse sins; but consider them in the highest and in the lowest, abundant riches, beggarly poverty, and it will scarce admit doubt, but that the incorrigible vagabond is farther from all ways of goodness, than the corruptest rich man is. And therefore labour we all earnestly in the ways of some lawful calling, that we may have our portion of this world by good means. For first, the 39 Rom. ii. 4. 40 Rom. xi. 33. 41 Eph. iii. 8. 42 Matt. xv. 26. advantages of doing good to others in a real relief of their wants, is in the rich only, whereas the best way of a good poor man, to do good to others, is but an exemplary patience, to catechise others by his suffering; and then, all degrees of poverty are dangerous and slippery, even to a murmuring against God, or an invading of the possessions, and goods of other men, but especially the lowest, the desperate degree of beggary, and then especially, when we cannot say it is inflicted by the hand of God, but contracted by our own laziness, or our own wastefulness. This is a problematical, a disputable case, whether riches or poverty occasion most sins. And because on both sides there arise good doctrines of edification, I have thus far willingly stopped upon that disputable consideration. But now, that which we receive here, upon David's, upon the Holy Ghost's security, surely it is thus, it is surely so, is this, That we shall be deceived, if we put our trust in men; for, what sort of men would we trust? Surely men of low degree are canity. And this, if it be taken of particular men, needs no proving, no illustrating, no remembering. Every man sees and acknowledges, that to rely upon a man of no power, of no place, no blood, no fortune, no friends, no favour, is a vanity, Surely men of low degree are canity. The first younger brother that was born in the world, because he was less than another, is called by the very name of ranity; the eldest brother Cain signifies possession, but Abel is canity. But take it of a whole body of such men, men of low degree, and it is so too; the applause of the people is vanity, popularity is vanity. At how dear a rate doth that man buy the people's affections, that pays his own head for their hats! How cheaply doth he sell his prince's favour, that hath nothing for it, but the people's breath! And what age doth not see some examples of so ill merchants of their own honours and lives too? How many men, upon confidence of that flattering gale of wind, the breath and applause of the people, have taken in their anchors, (that is, departed from their true, and safe hold, the right of the law, and the favour of the prince) and as soon as they hoisted their sails, (that is, entered into any by-action) have found the wind in their teeth, that is, those people whom they trusted in, armed against |
