I.

SERM the palsy from your hands, nay not so much as the ache from your teeth; not able to add one hair to your head, nor one hair's breadth to your stature, nor one hour to your days, nor one minute to the hours of your life. This moth-caten god, as our Saviour Christ calleth it, this canker-eaten god, this god that must be kept under lock and key from a thief, trust not in it for shame. O let it be never said the living trust in the dead. Trust in "the living God" That liveth IIimself, nay That is life Himself; in His Son That was able to quicken Himself and is able to quicken you, of Whose gift and inspiration you have already this life, by Whose daily Spirit and visitation your soul is preserved in this life, in this mortal and corruptible life, and of Whose grace and mercy we look for our other immortal and eternal life.

115. 16.

Who not only liveth but also "giveth you," &c. A living and a giving God, that is, That liveth and That giveth; of Whose gift you have not only your life and term of years, but even also your riches themselves, the very horns that you lift so high, and wherewith unnaturally many times you push Ps. 24. 1. against Him That gave them. He giveth, for "the earth was the Lord's, and all that therein is," till "the earth He gave Haggai 2.8. unto the children of men ;" and "silver and gold" were the Lord's, till not by a casual scattering but by His appointed giving, not by chance but by gift, He made them thine. He gave them; thou broughtest none of them with thee into the world, thou camest naked. He gave them, and when He gave them He might have given them to thy brother of low estate, and made thee stand and ask at his door as He hath made him now stand and ask at thine. He giveth you riches, you get them not, it is not your own wisdom or travail that getteth them, but His grace and goodness that giveth them. For you see many men of as great understanding and foreEccl. 9.11. sight as yourselves, want not only "riches" but even "bread." It is not your travail; except the Lord had given them, all the early uprising and late down-lying had been in vain. It is God That giveth: make your recognizance it is so, for fear lest Job 1. 21. if you deny Dominus dedit, you come to affirm Dominus abstulit. God teacheth it was He That gave them, by taking

them away.

This is St. Paul's reason: let us see how it serves his con

clusion to the overthrow of our vain pride and foolish trust in them. If it be gift, si accepisti quid gloriaris? be not 1 Cor. 4.7. proud of it. And if it be gift, IIe That sent it can call for it again; trust not in it.

['i. e. a

"Who giveth us all things," &c. All things, spiritual or corporal, temporal or eternal, little or great; from the least, and so upward; from the greatest, and so downward; from panem quotidianum, a morsel of bread,' to Regnum cœlorum, [Mat. 6. 'the kingdom of heaven.' He giveth us all, even unto Himself; 11, 13.] уса Ile giveth us Himself and all, and more we cannot desire. Why then, if He give all, all are donatives, all that we tenure by hold we hold in frank-almoigne '; and no other tenure is divine service.] there at God's hands, or in our law. For quid habes quod 1 Cor. 4. 7. non accepisti? "what is there?" that is to say, name one thing thou hast that thou hast not received; and if there be any one thing, boast of that and spare not. But if that be nothing, then let Cyprian's sentence take place, so much commended and so often cited by St. Augustine, De nullo gloriandum est, [S. Cyp. Test. 1. 3. quia nullum est nostrum; and add unto it, De nullo fidendum c. 4.1 est, quia nullum est nostrum, 'We must glory of nothing, for that we have nothing of our own; neither must we trust any thing, for that we have nothing of our own.'

3.

"That giveth us all things to enjoy." Not only to have, but "to enjoy." For so to have them, that we have no joy of them; so to get all things, that we can take no part of them when we have gotten them; so to possess the labours of our hands, that we cannot eat the labours of our hands, as good be without them. This is a great "vanity" and vexation, and Eccl. 6. 2. indeed, as Solomon saith, "an untimely birth were better" than so to be. But blessed be God That besides these blessings to be enjoyed giveth us healthful bodies to enjoy them with, the favour of our Prince to enjoy them under, the days of peace to enjoy them in, whereby our souls may be satisfied with good things, and every one may eat his portion with joy of heart.

"That giveth all things to enjoy;" that is, dealeth not with you as He hath dealt with the poor, hath given you things. not only of use and necessity, but things also of fruition and pleasure; hath given you not only manna for your need, but also quails for your "lust;" hath given you out of Ophir, not Ps. 78. 30.

1.

[1 Kings io. 22.]

SERM. only linen cloth, and horses, for your service, but also "apes, ivory, and peacocks," for your delight. Unto them IIe giveth indumenta, covering for their nakedness;' but unto you ornamenta, 'clothing for your comeliness.' Unto them He giveth alimenta, nourishment for their emptiness;' unto you delectamenta, delicious fare for daintiness.' Therefore you above all men are to rejoice in Him, (there is great cause) that He may rejoice over you, unto whom He hath given so many ways so great cause of rejoicing.

66

"That giveth us things to enjoy plenteously." "Plentcously" indeed, may Israel now say, said the Prophet; may England now say, say I, and I am sure upon as great cause. He Ps. 147. 20. hath not dealt so with every nation, nay "He hath not dealt so with any nation." And "plenteously" may England now say, for it could not always; nay, it could not ever have said the like. Plenteously" indeed, for He hath not sprinkled, but Ps. 144.15. poured His benefits upon us. Not only, "blessed be the people whose God is the Lord," that blessing which is highly to be esteemed if we had none besides it, but "blessed be the people that are in such a case." That blessing IIe hath given us, “all things to enjoy plenteously;" we cannot, nay our enemies cannot but confess it. O that our thankfulness to Him, and our bounty to His, might be as plenteous as His gifts and goodness have been plentcous to us!

Ibid.

To move us from the two evils before, the Apostle used their uncertainty, which is a reason from law and the course thereof. So he might now have told us, if we trusted not in God we should have the table turned, and His giving changed to taking away; our all things into want of many things, and having nothing near all; our plenty into penury; and our enjoying more than we need into no more than needs, nor so much neither. Thus he might have dealt, but he is now in a point of Gospel and therefore taketh his persuasion from thence. For this indeed is the evangelical argument of God's goodness, and there is no goodness to that which the consideration of God's goodness worketh in us.

The argument is forcible, and so forcible, as that choose. whether this will move us or no. Sure if this will not prevail with us, we shall not need Moses nor Christ, to sit and give sentence upon us, the devil himself will do it. For as wicked

as he is, and as wretched a spirit, yet thus he reasoneth upon Job: "Doth Job fear Thee for no ght?" As if he should Job 1. 9.

say, Seeing Thou hast dealt so plenteously, yea so bounteously with him, if he should not serve Thee, if he should so far forget himself, it were a fault past all excuse, a fault well worthy to be condemned. A bad fault it must be, that the devil doth abhor; yet so bad a fault it is, you see, that the devil doth abhor it. When men receive blessing plenteously from God, and return not their homage back again, unthankful rich men shall need no other judge but the devil, and then, as you see, they are sure to be condemned. For if God will not do it, the devil will.

Let me then recommend this third part of the charge to your careful remembrance and regard. It concerneth your homage, which is your trust in Him, that you trust in Him with your service of body and soul, Who hath trusted you with His plenty and store, and hath made you in that estate that you are trusted with matters of high importance both at home and abroad. For it is the argument of all arguments to the true Christian: because God hath given him, saith St. James, "without exprobration;" and given "all things,” with- Jas. 1. 5. out exception of any; and that "to enjoy," which is more than competency; and that "plenteously," which is more than sufficiency; therefore, even therefore, to trust in Him only. If there be in us the hearts of true Christians, this will shew it, for it will move us; and so let it, I beseech you. Let us not as men under the law be tired with the uncertainty of the creatures, but as men under grace have our hearts broken with the goodness of our God. In that God to place our trust, Who beyond all our deserts giveth: if we respect the quantity, "all things;" if the manner, very "plenteously;" if the end," to joy" in them; yet so, that our joy and repose end in Him—a very blessed and heavenly condition.

part:

1.

"Trust in the Lord and be doing good," said David. The fourth St. Paul saith the same: "Charge the rich of this world that they that they do good." The last was a very plausible point, do good." which we have dwelt in with great delight. What? the Ps. 37. 3. plenty of all things, that we enjoy-and long may enjoy, I beseech God; who is not moved with joy to hear it reported?

But little know they what a consequent St. Paul will infer

I.

SERM. upon this antecedent. For thus doth Paul argue: God hath done good to you by giving you, you also are bound to do good to others by giving them. If He hath given you "all things," you ought to part with something—and the more you part with, the liker ye become to Him That giveth "all things.” If IIe have given you "to enjoy," you ought to receive others into the fellowship of the same joy; and not to think that to do others good is to do yourselves hurt. If "plenteously" IIe have given you, you ought to be plenteous in giving; and not when the Lord hath IIis ephah great, wherein He hath meted to you, to make your hin small, whereby you measure to the poor, turning the plenty of Heaven into the scarcity of earth.

Thus doth the Apostle fetch the matter about, and thus doth he infer your doing good to these little lambs and such like, out of God's doing good unto you.

And that which he inferreth he doth exceedingly fitly, and sheweth great art and learning in it. For, speaking of enjoying, his very last word, he is carried in a very good zeal and affection to "the rich of this world," to desire of God, and Heb.11.25. to entreat of them that they may not have only πрóσκаiρov

áróλavow of them, that is, "enjoy them for a season," but that they may enjoy them for ever; not only for a few years, or weeks, or days, we cannot tell well which, but from everlasting to everlasting. And that is, by doing "good." So "enjoy," that we may do "good," too.

To say truth, St. Paul could not better devise than here to place it. For our too much enjoying eateth up our welldoing, clean. Our too much lashing on in doing ourselves good, maketh that we can do good to none but ourselves. Our present enjoying destroyeth our well-doing utterly, and consequently the eternal enjoying we should have of our Gen. 41. 4, riches. As Pharaoh's lean kine devoured the fat, and it was not seen on them, so doth, saith St. Basil, our ép' â μǹ deî, our riotous mis-spending, where we should not, eat up our ép' à deî, our Christian bestowing, where we should; and a man cannot tell what is become of it. Very well and wisely said that Father, Ακόνη γὰρ τῆς ἀσωτίας ἡ φιλοτιμία, 4 Pride is prodigality's whetstone,' and it sets such an edge upon it in our enjoying, that it cuts so deep into our wealth, and

21.