1. Luxury, what it is, and the mischief of it to mankind.
An enemy to the cross of Christ.--2. Of luxury in diet, how
unlike Christ, and contrary to Scripture.--3. The mischief it
does to the bodies, as well as the minds of people.--4. Of
luxury in the excess of apparel, and of recreations; that sin
brought the first coat: people not to be proud of the badge
of their misery.--5. The recreations of the times, enemies
to virtue: they rise from degeneracy.--6. The end of clothes
allowable; the abuse reprehended.--7. The chief recreation of
good men of old was to serve God, and do good to mankind, and
follow honest vocations, not vain sports and pastimes.--8. The
Heathen knew and did better things. The sobriety of infidels
above Christians.--9. Luxury condemned in the case of the rich
man.--10. The doctrine of the Scripture positively against a
voluptuous life.
I. I am now come to the other extreme, and that is luxury, which is
an excessive indulgence of self, in ease and pleasure. This is the
last great impiety struck at in this discourse of the holy cross of
Christ, which indeed is much the subject of its mortifying virtue
and power. A disease as epidemical, as killing: it creeps into all
stations and ranks of men: the poorest often exceeding their ability
to indulge their appetite; and the rich frequently wallowing in
those things that please the lusts of their eye and flesh, and the
pride of life: as regardless of the severe discipline of JESUS,
whom they call Saviour, as if luxury, and not the cross, were the
ordained way to heaven. What shall we eat, what shall we drink,
and what shall we put on? once the care of luxurious heathens, is
now the practice of, and which is worse, the study of pretended
Christians. But let such be ashamed, and repent; remembering that
Jesus did not reproach the Gentiles for those things, to indulge
his followers in them. They that will have Christ to be theirs,
must be sure to be his; to be like-minded, to live in temperance
and moderation, as knowing the Lord is at hand. Sumptuous apparel,
rich unguents, delicate washes, stately furniture, costly cookery,
and such diversions as balls, masques, music-meetings, plays,
romances, &c., which are the delight and entertainment of the times,
belong not to the holy path that Jesus and his true disciples and
followers trod to glory. No, "Through many tribulations," says none
of the least of them, "must we enter the kingdom of God." (Acts,
xiv. 22.) I do earnestly beseech the gay and luxurious, into whose
hands this discourse shall be directed, to consider well the reasons
and examples here advanced against their way of living; if happily
they may come to see how remote it is from true Christianity, and
how dangerous to their eternal peace. God Almighty, by his grace,
soften their hearts to instruction, and shed abroad his tender love
in their souls, that they may be overcome to repentance, and to the
love of the holy way of the cross of Jesus, the blessed Redeemer
of men. For they cannot think that He can benefit them, while they
refuse to lay down their sins for the love of Him that laid down
his life for the love of them. Or that He will give them a place in
heaven, that refuse Him any in their hearts on earth. But let us
examine luxury in all its parts.
II. Luxury has many parts; the first that is forbidden by the
self-denying Jesus, is gluttony, "Take no thought, saying, What
shall we eat, or what shall we drink?--for after these things do the
Gentiles seek:" (Mat. vi. 31, 32:) as if He had said, The Heathen,
such as live without the true God, whose care is to please their
appetite, more than to seek God and his kingdom: you must not do
so, but "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mat. vi. 33.) That
which is convenient for you will follow: let everything have its
time and order.
This carries a serious reprehension to the luxurious eater and
drinker, who is taken up with an excessive care of his palate, what
shall he eat, and what shall he drink: who being often at a loss
what to have next, therefore has an officer to invent, and a cook to
dress, disguise, and drown the species, that it may cheat the eye,
look new and strange; and all to excite an appetite, or raise an
admiration. To be sure there is great variety, and that curious and
costly; the sauce, it may be, dearer than the meat; and so full is
he fed, that without it he can scarce find out a stomach; which is
to force a hunger, rather than to satisfy it.--And as he eats, so
he drinks: rarely for thirst, but pleasure: to please his palate.
For that purpose he will have divers sorts, and he must taste them
all: one, however good, is dull and tiresome; variety is more
delightful than the best; and therefore the whole world is little
enough to fill his cellar. But were he temperate in his proportions,
his variety might be imputed rather to curiosity than luxury.
But what the temperate man uses as a cordial, he drinks by full
draughts, till inflamed by excess, he is fitted to be an instrument
of mischief, if not to other persons, yet always to himself, whom
perhaps at last he knows not: for such brutality are some come to,
they will sip themselves out of their own knowledge. This is the
lust of the flesh, that is not of the Father, but of the world; for
upon this comes in the music and dance, and mirth, and the laughter,
which is madness; (Eccl. ii. 2;) that the noise of one pleasure may
drown the iniquity of another, lest his own heart should deal too
plainly with him. Thus the luxurious live: they forget God, they
regard not the afflicted. O that the sons and daughters of men
would consider their wantonness and their iniquity in these things!
How ill do they requite the goodness of God in the use and abuse of
the plenty He yields them! How cruel are they to his creatures, how
lavish of their lives and virtue, how thankless for them: forgetting
the Giver, and abusing his gifts, and despising counsel, and casting
instruction behind them! They lose tenderness and forget duty, being
swallowed up of voluptuousness, adding one excess to another. God
rebuked this sin in the Jews, by the prophet Amos: "Ye that put far
away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that
lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches,
and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the stall;
that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves
instruments of music, like David; that drink wine in bowls, and
anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved
for the affliction of Joseph." (Amos, vi. 3-6.) These, it seems,
were the vices of the degenerate Jews, under all their pretence to
religion; and are they not of Christians at this day? Yea they are,
and these are the great parts of luxury struck at in this discourse.
Remember the rich man, with all his sumptuous fare, went to hell:
and the apostle pronounces heavy woes upon those "whose god is their
belly: for such glory in their shame." (Phil. iii. 19.)
Christ places these things to the courts of worldly kings, not his
kingdom: making them unseemly in his followers: his feast therefore,
to the multitude, which was his miracle, was plain and simple;
enough, but without curiosity or art of cookery: and it went down
well, for they were hungry; the best and fittest time to eat. And
the apostle, in his directions to his much-beloved Timothy, debases
the lovers of worldly fulness; advising him to godliness and content
as the chiefest gain: adding, "and having food and raiment, let us
therewith be content." (1 Tim. vi. 6, 8.) Behold the abstemious,
and most contented life of those pilgrims, the sons of heaven,
and immortal offspring of the great power of God; they were in
fasts and perils often, and ate what was set before them; and in
all conditions learned to be contented. O blessed men! O blessed
spirits! Let my soul dwell with yours for ever.
III. But the diseases which luxury begets and nourishes, make it an
enemy to mankind: for besides the mischief it brings to the souls
of people, it undermines health, and shortens the life of man, in
that it gives but ill nourishment and so leaves and feeds corrupt
humours, whereby the body becomes rank and foul, lazy and scorbutic;
unfit for exercise, and more for honest labour. The spirits being
thus loaded with ill flesh, and the mind effeminated, a man is made
inactive, and so useless in civil society; for idleness follows
luxury, as well as diseases. These are the burdens of the world,
devourers of good things, self-lovers, and so forgetters of God: but
which is sad, and yet just, the end of those that forget God, is to
be turned into hell. (Psalm ix. 19.)
IV. But there is another part of luxury that has great place with
vain man and woman, and that is the gorgeousness of apparel, one
of the most foolish, because most costly, empty, and unprofitable
excesses people can well be guilty of.
V. Nor is it otherwise with recreations, as they call them; for
these are nearly related. Man was made a noble, rational, grave
creature; his pleasure stood in his duty, and his duty in obeying
God: which is to love, fear, adore, and serve Him; and in using the
creation with true temperance and godly moderation; as knowing well
that the Lord, his judge, was at hand, the inspector and rewarder of
his works. In short, his happiness was in his communion with God;
his error was to leave that conversation, and let his eyes wander
abroad to gaze on transitory things. If the recreations of the age
were as pleasant and necessary as they are said and made to be,
unhappy then would Adam and Eve have been, that never knew them. But
had they never fallen, and the world been tainted by their folly and
ill example, perhaps man had never known the necessity or use of
many of these things. Sin gave them birth, as it did the other; they
were afraid of the presence of the Lord, which was the joy of their
innocency, when they had sinned; and then their minds wandered,
sought other pleasures, and began to forget God; as He complained
afterwards by the prophet Amos, "They put far away the evil day:
they eat the fat of the flock: they drink wine in bowls: they anoint
themselves with the chief perfumes: they stretch themselves upon
beds of ivory: they chant to the sound of the viol, and invent upon
themselves instruments of music, like David," (Amos, vi. 3-6,)
not heeding or remembering the afflictions and captivity of poor
Joseph: him they wickedly sold, innocency was quite banished, and
shame soon began to grow a custom, till they were grown shameless
in the imitation. And truly, it is now no less a shame to approach
primitive innocence by modest plainness, than it was matter of
shame to Adam that he lost it, and became forced to tack fig-leaves
for a covering. Wherefore in vain do men and women deck themselves
with specious pretences to religion, and flatter their miserable
souls with the fair titles of Christian, innocent, good, virtuous,
and the like, whilst such vanities and follies reign. Wherefore to
you all, from the eternal God, I am bound to declare, you mock Him
that will not be mocked, and deceive yourselves; (Gal. vi. 7;) such
intemperance must be denied, and you must know yourselves changed,
and more nearly approached to primitive purity, before you can be
entitled to what you do now but usurp; for none but those who are
led by the Spirit of God are the children of God, (Rom. viii. 14;
Gal. v. 23,) which guides into all temperance and meekness.
VI. But the Christian world, as it would be called, is justly
reprovable, because the very end of the first institution of apparel
is grossly perverted. The utmost service that clothes originally
were designed for, when sin had stripped them of their native
innocence, was, as hath been said, to cover them; therefore plain
and modest: next, to fence out cold; therefore substantial: lastly,
to declare sexes; therefore distinguishing. So that then necessity
provoked to clothing, now, pride and vain curiosity; in former times
some benefit obliged, but now, wantonness and pleasure: then they
minded them for covering, but now, that is the least part; their
greedy eyes must be provided with gaudy superfluities: as if they
made their clothes for trimming, to be seen rather than worn; only
for the sake of other curiosities that must be tacked upon them,
although they neither fence from cold, nor distinguish sexes; but
signally display their wanton, fantastic, full-fed minds, that have
them.
VII. Then the recreations were to serve God, be just, follow their
vocations, mind their flocks, do good, exercise their bodies in such
a manner as was suitable to gravity, temperance, and virtue; but
now that word is extended to almost every folly; so much are men
degenerated from Adam in his disobedience; so much more confident
and artificial are they grown in all impieties: yea, their minds,
through custom, are become so very insensible of the inconveniency
that attends the like follies, that what was once mere necessity,
is now the delight, pleasure, and recreation of age. How ignoble
is it, how ignominious and unworthy of a reasonable creature! Man,
who is endued with understanding, fit to contemplate immortality,
and made a companion (if not superior) to angels, that he should
mind a little dust, a few shameful rags; inventions of mere pride
and luxury; toys so apish and fantastic, entertainments so dull and
earthly, that a rattle, a baby, a hobby-horse, a top, are by no
means so foolish in a simple child, not unworthy of his thoughts, as
are such inventions of the care and pleasure of men! It is a mark of
great stupidity that such vanities should exercise the noble mind of
man, and image of the great Creator of heaven and earth.
VIII. Of this many among the very Heathens of old had so clear a
prospect that they detested all such vanity, looking upon curiosity
in apparel, and that variety of recreations, now in vogue and esteem
with false Christians, to be destructive of good manners, in that
it more easily stole away the minds of people from sobriety to
wantonness, idleness, effeminacy, and made them only companions
for the beast that perishes: witness those famous men, Anaxagoras,
Socrates, Plato, Aristides, Cato, Seneca, Epictetus, &c., who
placed true honour and satisfaction in nothing below virtue and
immortality. Nay, such are the remains of innocence among some Moors
and Indians in our times, that if a Christian (though he must be
an odd one) fling out a filthy word, it is customary with them, by
way of moral, to bring him water to purge his mouth. How much do
the like virtues and reasonable instances accuse people, professing
Christianity, of gross folly and intemperance! O that men and
women had the fear of God before their eyes; and that they were so
charitable to themselves, as to remember whence they came, what they
are doing, and to what they must return: that so more noble, more
virtuous, more rational and heavenly things might be the matters of
their pleasure and entertainment; that they would be once persuaded
to believe how inconsistent the folly, vanity, and conversation
they are mostly exercised in, really are with the true nobility of
a reasonable soul; and let that just principle, which taught the
Heathens, teach them; lest it be found more tolerable for Heathens
than such Christians, in the day of account. For if their shorter
notions, and more imperfect sense of things could yet discover so
much vanity; if their degree of light condemned it, and they, in
obedience thereunto, disused it, doth it not behove Christians much
more?
IX. Again these things, which have been hitherto condemned, have
never been the conversation or practice of the holy men and women of
old times, whom the Scriptures recommend for holy examples, worthy
of imitation. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were plain men, and princes,
as graziers are, over their families and flocks. They were not
solicitous for the vanities so much lived in by the people of this
generation, for they pleased God by faith. The first forsook his
father's house, kindred, and country; a true type or figure of that
self-denial all must know, that would have Abraham to their father.
They must not think to live in those pleasures, fashions, and
customs they are called to leave; no, but part with all hopes of the
great recompense of reward, and that better country which is eternal
in the heavens. (Heb. xi. 26, 15; Rom. v. 1.) The prophets were
generally poor; one a shepherd, another a herdsman, &c. They often
cried out unto the full-fed wanton Israelites to repent, to fear and
dread the living God, to forsake the sins and vanities they lived
in; but they never imitated them. John the Baptist, the messenger
of the Lord, preached his embassy to the world in a coat of
camel's-hair, a rough and homely garment. (Matt. iii. 4.) Nor can it
be conceived that Jesus Christ himself was much better apparelled,
who, according to the flesh, was of poor descent, and in life, of
great plainness; insomuch that it was usual in a way of derision to
say, "Is not this Jesus, the carpenter, the son of Mary?" (Matt.
xiii. 55; Mark, vi. 3.) And this Jesus tells his followers, "That
as for soft raiment, gorgeous apparel and delicacies, they were for
king's courts:" (Luke, vii. 25:) implying, that He and his followers
were not to seek after those things; but seems thereby to express
the great difference that was betwixt the lovers of the fashions and
customs of the world, and those whom He had chosen out of it. And He
did not only come in that mean and despicable manner himself, that
He might stain the pride of all flesh, but therein became exemplary
to his followers, what a self-denying life they must lead, if they
would be his true disciples. Nay, He further leaves it with them in
a parable, to the end that it might make the deeper impression, and
that they might see how inconsistent a pompous, worldly-pleasing
life is with the kingdom He came to establish and call men to the
possession of: and that is the remarkable story of Dives, who is
represented first, as a rich man; (Luke, xvi. 19. &c.;) next as a
voluptuous man, in his rich apparel, his many dishes, and his pack
of dogs; and lastly, as an uncharitable man, or one who was more
concerned to please the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and
the pride of life, and fare sumptuously every day, than to take
compassion of poor Lazarus at his gate: no, his dogs were more
pitiful and kind than he. But what was the doom of this jolly man,
this great rich man? We read it was everlasting torment; but that of
Lazarus, eternal joy with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
of God. In short, Lazarus was a good man, the other a great man: the
one poor and temperate, the other rich and luxurious: there are too
many of them alive; and it were well, if his doom might awaken them
to repentance.
X. Nor were the twelve apostles, the immediate messengers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, other than poor men, one a fisherman, another
a tent-maker; and he that was of the greatest, though perhaps
not the best employment, was a custom-gatherer. (Matt. iv. 18;
ix. 9; Acts, xviii. 3.) So that it is very unlikely that any of
them were followers of the fashions of the world: nay, they were
so far from it, that, as became the followers of Christ, (1 Cor.
iv. 9-14,) they lived poor, afflicted, self-denying lives; bidding
the churches to walk as they had them for examples. (Phil. iii. 1,
7; 1 Pet. ii. 21.) And to shut up this particular, they gave this
pathetic account of the holy women in former times, as an example of
godly temperance, (1 Pet. iii. 3, 4,) namely, that first they did
expressly abstain from gold, silver, plaited hair, fine apparel,
or such like; and next, that their adornment was a meek and quiet
spirit, and the hidden man of the heart, which are of great price
with the Lord; affirming that such as live in pleasure, are dead
whilst they live: (1 Tim. v. 6; Luke, viii. 14:) for that the
cares and pleasures of this life choke and destroy the seed of the
kingdom, and quite hinder all progress in the hidden and divine
life. Wherefore we find that the holy men and women of former times
were not accustomed to these pleasures and vain recreations; but
having their minds set on things above, sought another kingdom,
which consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit:
who having obtained a good report, and entered into their eternal
rest; therefore their works follow, and praise them in the gates.
(Rom. xiv. 17; Heb. xi. 2; iv. 9; Rev. xiv. 13.)