Corr 5.Ofthe honour due to thòfe that ekcel ingift."c,&c.Chap.g. 585 as it were carryduff in agreat wind. And therefore Saint Bernard faid well Magna De diligesdo fuperbia, it delifiummaximum eft, datif uti tanquam inuatis ; it is agreat arragancy,and DA?. the createlt offence, toufe things given a ifthey had beennatural. Now the belt way to exprefs our humility is, byacknowledging the defect of o- Rom. 7. 24. Cher gifts in us, or at leafs by confefling that we carry about us a body of fin with r Co. S. Paul, that fo the grace or gift which God beftoweth uponus be not in yain, as it is leen in many. For it may be in vain two ways. 1. In refped of theChurch : for it is many times feen, that there iremany great andgood gifts in many menwithout fruit. 2. In regard of bimfelf: A man may have gifts and never do good to him-. felt, neither in this life, nor in the life tocome ; he may be a Preacher to others, and 9.27. yet bea reprobate. Amans own conceit, as the Wife-man fpeaks, may tear his foul ar a Ecdus 6. Bull. And, as Saint Cbryfoftame faith, there areforce, who fidem predicant ; er infidelitatem agunt ; ',seem aliis dent, & fibi non habeas : that preach the faith In Ívlatth. 2 ;r and their aitionr are. without faith; they give peace to others and want it them - felves. g. The fecond Duty that we owe to men of gifts is »referre & preeligere, to "prefer and choofe fuck before others ; yielding molt honour to them that havebelt Rom. t2. 1o: gifts. God doth ta=.etcHr, fparate men by theirgifts, and wherefoever Godhath pia- 1 Cor. 4.7. ced his greateft gifts, at him he pointeth ( as it were ) with his finger, that we rz should give him the greateft honour. It is the Apoftiescounfel to covet the belt gifts earneftly ; and why the belt gifts ? that by them you mayprofit moli : therefore by 7. confequence, they that by their gifts profit moft, even de jure & lege talions, fhould have the belt place, to do molt good therein; and fo for mean gifts, mean places. prov.3. r¢. Learning( faith the Wife-man) it to be preferredbefore filver and gold ; yea, andpre- 8 r, dons flottes. This is hisorder : If there were a choice to be made of gold , filver, precious ftones,and learning ; Learning ( faith the Wife-man) mull be chofen before the other. It is ftrange, that the firft point in Moral Philofophy being that bonum eft eligen- slum, malumfugiendum, good into be chafeu, and evil avoided; and the z. quod men- us eft, magic eligendum, of thingsgood the heft is to be chofn, and é malls minimum, the leaff of evils ; that though thefe be principles in Moral Philofophy, and received grounds, yet now they mull be proved, and when they are proved, yet they arenot followed. In. thecafe ofRebellion, a fort of and they Rebels, metand cryed, The eaten- 2 Satn.17. 14 fel of Hufbai is betterthan Achitophels, therefore We will follow it. In the cafe of I- dolatry, he that will makean Image will take thehell Wood, the heft Timber he can get. Thuscan the wicked do, yet cannot we put thefame in praClife, we fee what is Efay 40. 20. belt, and will not follow it. They that founded Churches and Colledgeshad this rearm. They would not give their Lands to their Kindred, left they fhould have berede, promifcuos, they knew not whether their Heir would begood or bad: butin Colledges they were affured they Ihould have beredes ex optimis, the belt Heirs in the whole Land; this was theiropinion, and the groundof their Inftitution, but now it is other- wife. But the negleét of this Choice ex beredibus optimis, (in Colledges) is a crol fing the firft Inftitution, and a breach of great trufl; for they as they left their Landsand Goods to fo pious an intent, fo they made their Statutes for the moft part imperative, and that they fhould beobferved virtute Sacramenti: This is fem- me mandarefel' virtute Sacramenti : and therefore the Canon Law faith , Cla- rimè exponunt Legiflatores, fe fumme vele, quod mandant virtute Sacramenti; that which is enjoyned by venue of an Oath, is moll fiddly required :.when Founders fay, I charge you by your Oath to deal faithfully with me, according to my will in oblerving thefe Statutes ; and thereloree 'it is a grievous fin to crofs thefe pious intentions, and not preponere meliores , to choofe the heft firft. There is an ill opinion, that the Elelíors are in this cafe like Potters, and, the Scholars like Clay in their hands, they may choofe what they will out of the fame Maffe, without any dit1inytion in the perfon , and make ve lso of C c c onour;
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