justice of price doth not pitch ever upon a point." Sometimes, the price of Truth hath risen; it would not be bought but for Danger: sometimes, not under Loss, not under Disgrace, not under Imprisonment, not under Exile: sometimes yet dearer, not under Pain; yea, sometimes it hath not gone for less than Blood, It did cost Elijah, danger; Micaiah, disgrace; Jeremiah, imprisonment; the Disciples, loss; John and Athanasius, exile; the holy Confessors, pain; the holy Martyrs, death. Even the highest of these is pretium legitimum, if God call for it, however nature may tax it as rigorous; yea, such as the frank hearts of faithful Christians have bidden, at the first word, for Truth: What do ye, weeping, and breaking my heart; for I am ready, not to be bound only, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, saith St. Paul; Acts, xxi. 13. Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life, saith Satan; but skin, and life, and all, must a man give for Truth, and not think it a hard pennyworth. Neither count I my life dear unto me, that I may finish my course with joy; saith the Chosen Vessel, to h's Ephesians. O the heroical spirits of our blessed forefathers, that stuck not to give their dearest heart-blood for but some Corollaries of Sacred Truth; whose burning zeal to Truth consumed them before those fires of Martyrdom, and sent up their pure and glorious souls, like Manoah's angel, to heaven, in the flame! Blessed be God, blessed be his Anointed, under whose gracious sceptre we have enjoyed days as much more happy than theirs, as their hearts were more fervent than ours. We may now buy Truth at a better hand. Stake but our labour, we carry it with thanks, I fear there want not those, that would be glad to mar the market. It can be only known to heaven, what treacheries the malice of hell may be a brewing. Had but that powder once taken, nothing had been abated of the highest price of our predecessors: we had paid for every dram of truth, as many ounces of blood, as ever it cost the frankest Martyr. Should the Devil have been suffered to do his worst, we might not have grudged at this price of truth. Non est delicata in Deum, et secura confessio; qui in me credit, debet suum sanguinem fundere; saith Jerome: "Christian profession is no secure or delicate matter; he, that believes, must be no niggard of his blood."

But why thus dear? Not without good reason. Monopolies use to enhance the price. Ye can buy truth at no shop but one; In calo præparata est veritas tua; Psalm lxxxix. 2: Thy truth is prepared in heaven. And it is a just rule of law, Quisque in rebus suis est moderator et arbiter; "Every man may rate his own." Neither is this only the sole commodity of God; but, besides, dear to the owner: Dilexisti Veritatem, Thou hast loved the Truth, saith the Psalmist. And it is a true rule in the cases of commerce, Affectus estimari potest, "Our love may be valued in the price." Yea, O God, thy love to truth cannot be valued. It is thyself. Thou, that art Truth itself hast said so; I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, We cannot therefore know how much thou lovest thy truth, because, as thyself is infinite, so is thy love to thyself. What should

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we hunt for comparisons? If all the earth were gold, what were it, when even very heaven itself is trash to thee in respect of truth? No marvel if thou set it at a high rate. It is not more precious to thee, than beneficial to us. It frees us; John viii. 32: it renews us; James i. 18: it confirms us; Prov. xii. 19: it sanctifies us; John xvii. 17: it defends us; Psalm xci. 4: shortly, it doth all for us that God doth; for God works by his Almighty Word, and his Word is Truth; John xvii. 17. Therefore, Buy the Truth.

And, if Truth be thus precious, thus beneficial; how comes it to pass, that it is neglected, contemned? Some pass by it; and do not so much as cheapen it: others cheapen it; but bid nothing; others bid something; but under-foot: others bid well; but stake it not: others, lastly, stake down; but revoke it. The first, that pass by and cheapen it not, are careless unbelievers: the next, that cheapen it, and bid nothing, are formal Christians: the third, that bid something but not enough, are worldly semi-Christians: the fourth, that bid well and stake it not, are glorious hypocrites: the last, that stake down and revoke it, are damnable apostates. Take all these out of the society of men; and how many customers hath God, that care to buy the Truth? If truth were some rich chattel; it would be bought: if truth were some goodly lordship, or the reversion of some good office; it would be bought: if truth were some benefice, or spiritual promotion (Oh times!) it would be bought: yea, how dear are we content to pay for our filthy lusts! we will needs purchase them, too oft, with shame, beggary, disease, damnation: only the Saving Truth of God will not off hand, What is the reason of this?

First of all; it is but bare, simple, plain, honest, homely Truth, without welt, without guard. It will abide none but native colours, It scorneth to woo favour with farding, and licking, and counterfeisance. It hates either bought or borrowed beauty; and therefore, like some native face among the painted, looks coarse and rusty. There are two shops, that get away all the custom from Truth; the shop of Vanity, the shop of Error: the one sells knacks and gewgaws; the other, false wares, and adulterate: both of their commodities are so gilded, and gaudy, and glittering, that all fools throng thither, and complain to want elbow-room, and strive who shall be first served; whereas, the secret work of artless and unpolished truth can win no eye to view it, no tongue to ask so much, as, "What will it cost me?" O ye sons of men, how long will love vanity, and seek after lies? ye

Secondly; though Truth in itself be always excellent, yet the issue of it is not seldom distasteful; Veritas odium: There is one Micaiah whom I hate: Am I become your enemy, because I tell the truth? And this is the cause that Friar Menot alleges, why truth you in his time was so unwelcome to the Court. But if Truth be the Mother of Hatred, she is the Daughter of Time; and Truth hath learned this of Time, to devour her own brood; so that, in Time, Truth shall consume Hatred, and, at last, a galling Truth shall have more thanks, than a smoothing supparisitation. In the mean

time, Veritas nihil erubescit præterquam abscondi: "Truth blusheth at nothing but secrecy;" as Tertullian.

However then, fond or false hearts value the Truth, let us, that should be wise Christians, esteem it as the pearl hid in the field, which the man sold all that ever he had to purchase. Would it not set any heart on fire with a holy anger, to see what the enemies of truth bid and give for falsehood, for faction? Their liberty, their country, the life of their sovereign, the eternal state of their souls, hath not seemed too dear to cast away upon an ill bargain of misreligion; and shall not we bid so much as our zealous well-wishes, our effectual endeavours, our careful observances, for the undoubt. ed Truth of our Maker and Redeemer? What shall I say to the miserable and stupid carelessness of these thriftless and godless times; wherein every thing is appraised, every thing is bought, save that which is most precious, most beneficial, Truth?

Ye Great Ones are made for precedents to the inferior world, Your example is able to bring either good or evil into fashion. For God's sake, for your souls' sake, whatever transactions ye make for the world, lay your plots for the blessed purchase of Truth. Oh, let not your fickle honours, your unsatisfying pleasures, your worthless profits, yea your momentary lives, seem dear to you, in comparison of Heavenly Truth. It is no shame, in other parts, for great Peers to be Merchants; Mercatores tui erant Principes, saith the angel concerning Babylon, Rev. xviii. 23. Thy Merchants were the Princes of the earth. And why should not ye Great Ones be the Merchants of Truth? Blessed be the God of Truth, ye are so. It is no proud word to say, that no Court under heaven hath so rich a stock of truth, as this of Great Britain: yet, let me tell you, the very Angels knew not so much, but they desired to know more; Eph. iii. 10. And if ye had already that vespertine knowledge of the Saints, which ye shall once have in heaven; yet know, that this Bargain stands not more in the Judgment, than in the Affec tions. Whatever our speculations may be, if our hearts be not set upon Truth, we may be brokers, we are not merchants; brokers for others, not merchants for ourselves. As our Saviour then, when he bids us sell all, forsake all, holds it done, when, in preparation of mind, we are ready to abdicate all for his Name, though we do it not; so doth God hold us to buy Truth, when we bestow our best thoughts, our dearest well-wishes upon it, though we have it already. Oh, stir up your languishing zeal, ye Noble Courtiers: rouse up your drooping love to Divine Truth: give your hearts to it; ye cannot but give all for it. And, if you do not find the sweet gain of this bargain, in this lower region of error and confusion, ye shall once find it in those eternal and empyreal habitations of truth, where the God of Truth shall make up the truth of his promises, with the everlasting truth of his glorious performances; where Mercy and Truth shall so meet, and embrace one another, that both of them shall embrace the faithful soul, for ever and ever.

II. This for the Bargain of Truth. The forbidden SALE followeth; Sell it not.

Commonly, what we buy, we may sell. Alexander, not the great, but the good, sold Mitres, Keys, Altars: the verse gives the reason; Emerat ille priùs; "He bought them." So St. Austin of Simon Magus; Volebat emere Spiritum Sanctum, quia vendere volebat Spiritum Sanctum; "He would buy the Holy Ghost, because he meant to sell it." Give me a man, that buys a Seat of Judicature; I dare not trust him for not selling of Justice: he, that sits in the chair of Simony, will not give Orders, will not stick to sell souls. Some things we may buy to sell; as Joseph did the Egyptian corn. Some things we must sell, if we buy; as an Israelite's inheritance, Lev. xxv. But here we are charged to buy, what it is a sin to sell; Buy the Truth, and sell it not.

There is many a good thing ill sold. Esau sells his birthright, for pottage: Hanun and Shechem sell their country, for love: Dalilah sells her lover, for a bribe: the Patriarchs sell their brother, for twenty silver rings: Haman sells the Jews, for nought: the Gentiles sell the Jewish girls, for wine; Joel iii. 3: Israel sells the righteous for silver, and the poor for shoes; Amos ii. 6: their Judges sell sins or innocency, for rewards; Isaiah v. 23: Ahab sells himself to wickedness: Judas sells his Master: Demas sells the Truth. All these make an ill market. And, in all, it is a sure rule, the better the commodity is, the more pernicious is the sale.

The indefiniteness of the charge implies a generality. Buy it, at any price: at no price, sell it. It is the favour of God, that it may be bought for any rate: it is the justice of God, that upon any rate it should not be sold.

As buying and selling are opposites in relation; so that, for which we must not sell truth, is opposite to that, for which we may buy it. We must buy it with labour; therefore we may not sell it for ease: if need be, we must buy it with loss; therefore we may not sell it for gain: we must buy it with disgrace; we may not sell it for honour: we must buy it with exile or imprisonment; we may not sell it for liberty: we must buy it with pain; we may not sell it for pleasure: we must buy it with death; we may not sell it for life. Not for any, not for all of these, may we sell Truth. This were damnosa mercatio; as Chrysostom. In every Bargain and Sale there must be a proportion: now ease, gain, honour, liberty, pleasure, life, yea worlds of all these, are no way countervailable to Truth; For, what shall it profit a man, to win the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mat. xvi. 26. And he cannot sell Truth, but his soul is lost.

And if any thing in the world may seem a due price of Truth, it is Peace. Ŏ sweet and dear name of Peace, the good news of angels, the joy of good men! who can but affect thee, who can but magnify thee? The God of Heaven, before whom I stand, from whom I speak, knows how oft, how deeply, I have mourned for the divisions of his Church; how earnestly I have set my hand on work upon such poor thoughts of re-union, as my meanness could

reach: but, when all is done, I still found we may not offer to sell Truth for peace.

It is true, that there be some scholastical and immaterial truths, the infinite subdivisions whereof have rather troubled than informed Christendom, which, for the purchase of peace, might be kept in; and returned into such safe generalities, as minds not unreasonable might rest in but sold out, they may not be. If some truths may be contracted into a narrower room, none may be contracted for. Qui divinis innutriti sunt eloquiis, as that Father said, "Those that are trained up in divine truths," may not change a syllable for a word.

Tene quod habes, "Hold that thou hast," is a good rule in all things; which, if in temporalities it were well observed, we should not have so many gallants squander away their inheritances to live, camelion-like, upon the air of favour. But, however this be too well observed in these earthly things by frugal hands, which take as if they were quick, hold as if they were dead; yet, in spiritual graces, it can never be observed enough. We get Truth, we buy it, as Jacob did his birthright, to keep, to enjoy, not to sell again. If therefore the world, if Satan, shall offer to grease us in the fist for Truth, let us answer him, as Simon Peter did Simon the Sorcerer, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought the Truth of God may be purchased with money.

What shall we say then to those pedling petty-chapmen, which we meet withal in every market, that will be bartering away the Truth of God for trifles? Surely the form of our spiritual market is contrary to the civil: in our civil markets, there are more buyers than sellers; there would be but poor takings, if many did not buy of one: but in the spiritual, there are more sellers of truth than buyers.

Many a one sells that he never had, that he should have had, the Truth of God. Here, one chops away the Truth, for fear or ambition; there, another lets it go, for the old shoes of a Gibeonitish pretence of antiquity: here, one parts with it, for a painted, gilded hobby-horse of an outwardly pompous magnificence of the Church; there, another, for the baubles of childish superstition: one, for the fancy of hope; another, for the breath of a colloguing impostor. Amongst them all, Diminuta sunt veritates à filiis hominum; Psalm xii. 1. Truth is failed from the children of men: yea, as Isaiah complained in his time, Corruit in plateá veritas; Isaiah lix. 14: Truth is fallen in the streets. What a shame it is to see, that, in the clear and glorious sunshine of the Gospel, under the pious government of the true Defender of the Faith, there should not want some souls, that should truck for the Truth of God, as if it were some Cheapside, or some Smithfield commodity! Commutaverunt Veritatem Dei; They have changed the Truth of God into a lie; Rom. i. 25. and all their care is, that they may be deceived good cheap. Whose heart cannot bleed, to see so many well rigged and hopeful barks of our young gentry, laden with the