call to Heaven for Vengeance, and fuffer not thy for cry mercy to be heard. They have not only been abufed by thee, into an occafion of many Sins in thy felf, which without them thou hadft never committed; and therefore now call they for more Stripes to be laid on, than otherwife thou fhould have been beaten with, but because By them thou haft tempted and helped others alfo, to fhare with thee in thy Sins, they now call for the additional Load of all thofe Sins of others which thou occafionedft, to be laid upon thee too, to encreafethy Torment. Having thus abufed thy good Things, there is no Remedy, but thou muft bear the evil Things thou now fuffereft, and that in a conftant expectation of worse things ftill.

Thou receivedft THY good Things. Thine indeed they were, and yet not fo thine, as if they had been of thine own making, or had been proeured by thine own power and wisdom, or yet had been deferved and merited by any Service or Goodnefs of thine. Alafs! Thou never hadft the power to make one fingle Hair of thy Head white or black, thou couldst not with all thy Wifdom or Art, Care, or Contrivance, Labour and Industry, add one Cubit to thy Stature, or one moment to thy Life. For if thou couldst have done this, wouldst thou have died fo foon? Thou haft deferved at God's Hand nothing at all, but a sudden deftruction for thy many, wilful, and long continued Sins, and all the evil Things thou art now tormented with. All thy good Things then, what, and how many foever they were, were thine, on no other account but this, that thou RECEIVEDST them. And now remember, from whom thou receivedft them. Hadft thou them by Inheritance from thy Father? Or by Gift from fome good Friend? Or came they

they by Trading or good Husbandry, and hard Labour? It may be fo, immediately thou receivedft them fome one or other of thefe ways, but by what means foever they were conveyed unto thee, thou receivedft them of God. Riches and Honour come of Him. 1. Chr. 29. 12. Of Him therefore, by what means, or by whatfoever Inftrument they came, thou hadst all thy good Things, yea, tho' thou gott them, it may be by wicked Arts, yet doft thou owe them all to God. The Tabernacles

of Robbers profper, and they that provoke God are fecure, into whofe Hand God bringeth abundantly. Job. 12. 6. And art thou not molt justly punished for thy abominable Ingratitude to thy bountiful Benefactor? Doft thou not well deferve all the Torments thou now endureft, for abufing fo free, so undeferved, fo extraordinary Bounty to thee, more than to many Thousands, who never had the one half of thy good Things? Was it only to this end, that He beftowed fo many good Things upon thee, which others wanted; to enable thee to do him more difhonour than others, and to encourage thee in a wicked Rebellion against him? If the flothful Servant, that improveth not his Talent fhall for his Idleness be bound Hand and Foot, and caft out into utter darkness; whither deferveft thou to be caft, who haft made the many good Things, thou receivedft the Weapons of Iniquity and Rebellion.

La

THINE indeed thofe good Things were, fo far forth, as that thy Title to them, and Propriety in them, ftood good against all the World. Zarus well understood this, and therefore durft not attempt by Robbery, or Stealth, or Pretence of borrowing for a time, or by any crafty and fraudu lent Trick, or fhift, to deprive thee of one fingle Farthing,

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Farthing, or Crumb. He lay patiently at thy Gate, waiting for thy Charity. He own'd thy Right to what thou hadst received, by his begging of thee an Alms and Free-Gift, for which he would have been very thankful. So much the greater ftill appeareth both thy Obligation, and thy Ingratitude to God thy Benefactor. He had not only greatly enriched thee above many of thy Brethren; but had also fet a Fence and Guard about all thy Wealth; he had enacted Laws to maintain thy Right, and by his Providence kept thee in poffeffion. He had ordered all Things fo for thy Security, that no Man might wrong thee of any of thy good Things (how bad a Man foever thou waft) but upon pain of eternal Death. And thou, after all this, dealt'ft with God, juft as churlish Nabal did with David; who, tho' David and his Men had been a Guard to his Cattle and his Servants, denied him a little feafonable Relief for his young Men out of that great Wealth which he had help'd to preferve for him. Thou, an ill natured and unthankful Wretch, wouldft not relieve the Needy Soul whom God fent to thy Gate, but chosest rather with thy Companions, as Nabal did with his, to exercife thy Luxury than thy Charity, to eat and drink unto Gluttony and Drunkenness, whilst the poor Servants and Children of that gracious God, who gave thee all, lay famishing at thy Gates. How canft thou call for mercy from God, or any of his Saints, who hadft neither a thankful Heart to him, nor any Bowels of Mercy for any that belonged unto him?

Thy good Things thou haft received, but remem ber, they were never fo thine, as that thou waft abfolute Lord and Mafter, or Arbitrary Difpofer of them, or of any part of them; but fo, as to

be

be ftill accountable for them all unto Him that gave. them. Thou received them indeed of God, but Remember, that tho' God giveth many things to Men, he never giveth any thing from Himself. He gave thee a Right to them against all Pretenders, and all the Claims of other Men; but he never did, or could alienate his own Right to all Things unto any one whatfoever. Thy good Things then were all of them, when most thine, as much God's own, and at his Difpofal as ever they were. God only made thee Steward of fome Portion of his Goods, this was a very great Trust and Honour, and fo was it a great benefit and advantage, every way a great Obligation to Fidelity and Gratitude, and eminent Services. He gave thee free leave to use all for thine own Good. As much as was needful for thy felf and Family; and all that depended on thy Care and Provifion: He gave thee very plain Laws and Directions how to order and difpofe of every Thing as there fhould be occafion. Thou hadft a charge given of all, to fee that nothing was wafted or misbestowed, but all laid out according to thy Lord's Will. Neither was God hard upon thee in any thing of this, but exceeding kind and indulgent; for (as was faid) he allowed thee in the first place, and of the best, that is, of the fittest for thee, to ferve thy felf, and all the reft was to be ufed not to His, but thine own Profit. God chofe thee to be his Hand, and trufted very much to thy Discretion and Prudence, in managing all according to fome general Rules, which he had given; and after all, the overplus, if any, was to remain to thee and thine. They that were to praise him, were also to thank thee; and God himself for thy right Husbanding of what was his own, had of his free Bounty

provided for thee in Heaven a glorious Reward that is, for the faithful difcharging of thy Truft and Duty. O what an Encouragement is there, here to all Rich Men to be very good? But remember, how all this Goodness was abus'd by thee. As if all had been abfolutely thine own, and thou hadft had no Lord over thee to be accountable to, how didst thou waste all on thy felt with riotous Living? All thy care was for thy felf, and for a few fuch Wretches as thy felf, Men who had, it may be, first wafted all their own Stock of Goods on their Lufts, and then came to help thee away with thine. Thou rather chofeft to feed thy Dogs, and Companions worse than they, with thy Mafter's Goods, than fuch as pious Lazarus. And was it not then high time for God to vindicate his own Right, and to call fuch a faithlefs Wretch to a fevere account? Is it fit to give thee a drop of • Water to refresh thee, who haft wafted fo much Wine, and fed a company of Swine, like thy felf, with the choice Dainties which God had beftow'd upon thee? O, wicked Steward, who never thought of thy Accounts on Earth, fee now how thou canst make them up in Hell. What thou shouldst have paid in duty, now pay in torments.

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Remember, that thefe were THY good things. These were the things which thou esteemedst and lovedft, above all others; and which thou chofeft for thy felf, flighting all things in comparifon of them. Thefe God beftowed upon thee in an ample manner, and in them thou haft had thy portion according to thine own wish. Thou haft had all that thou couldst love and delight, or take any pleasure in, that is, that was good to thee. And what reafon canft thou have now to complain, feeing thou hadst thine own choice?

Hadit