on the Excellency of the Soul. the Kingdome by flatteries. - -- A vile perfon, and yet have the honour of the Kingdom,: how can this fund ? yes , it is by interpreters thought to bee Antiochur Epiphanes, hee was advanc'd to that mighty height, that I remember jofephus faith, that the Samaritans in their letter to him give him the Anriq. Title of the might¡ God; hee had that title given to him by thofe that were under him, and Antiochus Epiphanes, which fignifies illustrious; Illufrious Epiphanes, the Mighty God, and yet the Holy Ghofl gives him this title, a vile perfon; what good do a few herbs that are f1rewn upon a Carrion do ? do they make the Carrion to bee lefs corrupt and pu- trifled than it was? truly all the bravery that wicked men have, it is at the belt but a few herbs and flowers ílrewn upon a filthy carrion, which makes them not to bee the bet ter : The things of this world therefore in Scripture are cal- led the things of another mans, in Ltik, i 6, i 2. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another mans, who fhall give you that which is your own ? You may know the mean- ing of it by the verfe before : If therefore yee have Not bees faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trufl the true riches ? The riches of this world are called unrighteous Mammon; now thefe are oppofite to the true riches, as if thefe were not True riches, and then in verf. i 2. If you have not been faithful in that which is another mans, that is, in thefe riches of the world, who (hall give you that which is your own? fo that nothing is a mans own, to make him better, but grace; the good things of the foul, they are a mans own, but the other things they are the worlds things, they are not a mans own; therefore what doth it profit a man that hee bath gained the world? for hee is never a whit the better man. Thirdly, All thefe things , they are things beneath the foul, things of an inferiour nature; what good is it for a man that bath gotten never fo much food, that hee bath laid up for his horfes and doggs, but hee hash nothing for his chil- dren or for himfelf ? So if a man hath gotten the world, hee bath gotten fomewhat for his body, his inferiour part ; I but X x z hee 347
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