the increase of his wealth went to hear the Philosopher Crates who made publique Lectures upon the tranquillity of the minde and having learned that riches were the greatest disturbers of the same gave away all his riches to his poor kinsmen that he might with moore freedom apply himself to the Studies of Philosophy Even so if the rich men of these days would divide their riches into three parts and give the first part to the poor and the second to their poor kinsmen and keep the third part for themselves they would be more free to frequent the hearing of the Word of God and more careful to make their calling and election sure for the cares of their great riches do so disquiet their minds that they have no time to indeavor to become q An Allusion upon the 17. ver of the 3. Chap. of the Revelation rich in God and so in the midst of their riches remain wretched miserable poor blinde and naked in the sight of God For the third Riches are lost divers ways for there is nothing more subject to accidents then riches some loose their riches by theeves as it hath been shewed other loose them insensibly others consume them by riots gaming and whoring others by prodigalities others by gluttony and drunkenness others by building stately houses others by casualties of fire others by imbrasing more then they can gripe I mean by undertaking of things beyond their abilities others by their inconstancy by changing their dwelling and their profession for this Proverb is not more common then true That a rowling stone never getteth Moss others by sloath and idleness For he becometh poor saith Salomon r Pro. 10.43 that dealeth with a slack hand But rich men do commonly lose their riches by these four means first by ventring over their abilities at sea by shipwrack and Pirats secondly by invasion of a forraign enemy thirdly by siding in a civil war with an unfortunate party fourthly by tyranny and oppession and for confirmation of it I will give some instances The Philosopher Zeno had been in his former time a rich Merchant but having lost his wealth by a Shipwrack gave himself to the Study of Philosophy and I could here produce the names of divers English French and Italian Merchants that have lost all their means by Pirats shipwracks if I did not regard their fame secondly by forraign Invasions Cresus lost his incredible treasures by the invasion of Cyrus and Darius the last King of Persia his unparallel'd riches by the invasion of Å¿ See Plutarch in his Life Alexander the great thirdly all those of Marius faction that bore arms against Sylla lost their means and estates and between t See the History of Guicchardine the two factions of the Guelfs and Gibelins the richest Families of Italy lost their means sometimes the Guelfs being plundred of all and presently after the Gibelins and how many rich families have also been undone in this Kingdom by this unnatural war of both parties Fourthly by tyranny and oppression rich men commonly lose their riches for Tyrants are always jealous of rich men because moneys are the sinews of war so where Tyranny raigns the rich men go to rack Piso u See Tacitus in their Lives under the Emperor Otho lost his life for his riches and so did Seneca x See the Turkish History under the Emperor Nero and the Visier Nassuff under the Emperor Achmat and the Visier Ibrahim under the Emperor Morat and a hundred more which I omit for brevity sake In a word it is dangerous to be rich a moderate estate is safer and there is no confidence to be reposed in riches for as Salomon saith y Pro. 11.28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall but the righteous shall flourish as a branch nor profit nothing at the hour of death for as Salomon saith z Pro. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death besides men presume upon their riches for as Salomon saith in another place The rich man is wise in his own conceit but the a Pro. 28.11 poor that hath understanding searcheth him out and at last the Prophet David saith b Psal 49.10 11 12 13 14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling For the fourth of the dispensation of riches in this consists the bliss or woe of rich men for it is certain that they are but the Stewards of their riches and that the Lord will call them to an account how they have dispensed of them for Stewards saith St. Paul c 1 Cor. 4.2 are to be faithful now if the rich man spoken of in the Gospel might call his Steward to an account and say thus unto him d Luke 16.2 How is this that I hear this of you give an account of your Stewardship for you may not be any longer steward how much more may the Lord of Lords call rich men to an account for the wealth that he hath been pleased to intrust them withall for by him onely they live and move and all they have are the free gifts of his liberality And in the twefth Chapter of the same Gospel the Character of a good and bad Steward is elegantly set forth and the reward of the good and the punishment of the bad Steward is exactly set down in these words e Luke 12.42 43 44 45 46 and 47. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom the Lord shall make ruler over his houshold to give their portion of meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde so doing Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath But if that servant say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens and to eat and drink and be drunken the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers And that servant which knew his Lords will and prepareth not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many stripes By this it appears that upon the good or evil dispensation of riches depends the bliss and woe of rich men and yet there is not one of a hundred that dispense of them as they should or may truly be called wise and faithful stewards for the greater part consumes them in carnal pleasures in chambering and wantonness in braveries and prodigality in drunkenness and gluttony in dicing and whoring in hawking and hunting and in sensualities and vanities and other like miserable wretches continually heap them up
are to flee from as from a contagious Air or from the sight of a Serpent for ill company are Satans Panders and the corrupters of youth and as men cannot handle Pitch without soiling their hands so young folk cannot haunt ill company without they blemish their reputation and defile their maners nor remain in their innocency for they are the Schools of Sin and sin draws the wrath of God upon men from whose wrath it is impossible to flee as the Prophet David saith Whether shall I go from thy Spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whether shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there If I make my bed in bell behold thou 〈◊〉 there If I take the wings of the morning and dwel in the utmost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Now sith it is so that sin draws upon men the wrath of God that cannot be eschewed nor avoided because it is a consuming fire For a fire saith Moses is kindled in his anger Deut. 32.22 and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall consume the earth and set on fire the foundations of the mountains how careful should they then be to eschew and fly from sin Sixthly The use that men should make of this passion of Flight should be to flee from all appearance of evil as well as from sin and not transfer their own sins upon others as Adam did upon Eve The woman saith he to the Lord Gen. 3.12 whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat Much less to charge and accuse men of sins of which they are most guilty themselves for this kinde of sin is altogether in fashion in these days neither must men make conscience of one sin and make none of another some will make scruple to swear but they will make no account to lye a hundred times in a day so they may with these lyes delude their brethren and attain to their own ends Others will forbear to eat Fish upon a Friday but will make no account of drabbing and whoring others will flee from one sin and will run eagerly after another In a word there never was an age more addicted to painting then this for the most notorious sins are so varnished and painted over that men take Vices for Vertues And that is the reason why I said in the beginning of this Chapter that men should be cautious how they make use of this passion for fear they flee from the good in lieu to eschew the evil or get an habit of aversion against the good in stead to have it against the evil but if this passion of Flight be applied against its right object it will prove to be of great efficacy to the propagation of a godly life for it is impossible to love and affect the good unfainedly before men have obtained a strong aversion against the evil and therefore to attain to that blessed condition that the Prophet David speaks of in the first Psalm they must flee from all maner of conversation with the wicked Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 2. nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Pro. 4.18 And Salomon secondeth him thus Enter not in the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men avoid it and pass not by it turn from it and pass away This triple gradation of Salomon sheweth with a great Emphasie how necessary it is for men to flee from the conversation of wicked men and from all appearance of sin and yet there are too many that add sin to sin and so fall under this censure of the Prophet Isaiah Isai 31.3 Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin To conclude It is apparent that the passion of Flight except it be to flee from sin is but vanity for Gods wrath can over-take and finde out as it hath been shewed impenitent sinners wheresoever they flee CHAP. X. Of the vanity of the passion of worldly joy AS Laughter is an expression of Joy so Weeping is an evidence of Sorrow but these two proprieties are onely peculiar to mankinde because the Ape that seemeth to laugh doth but grin and the Crocodile that seemeth to weep doth but mone for Joy and Sorrow are affections of the minde and therefore the unreasonable creatures are incapable of them Notwithstanding some Moralists conceive that the passion of Joy and the passion of Delight which the French call Delectation is but one and the same passion which cannot certainly be because Delight is common to men and beast so is not Joy for Delight proceeds from the pleasures of the Senses and Joy from the contentedness of the minde and our blessed Saviour while he was upon earth shewed that these affections did reside in him as it may appear by these words Joh. 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be ful this confirms his affection of Joy and these will verifie his affection of Sorrow Ioh. 11.33 34. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled and said Where have ye laid him They say unto him Lord come and see Iesus wept Now Christ being the purity it self it is impossible he should have had any affections proceeding from the Senses And therefore it is certain that Joy and Delight are two distinct passions This sweet and comfortable passion of Joy was given to the reasonable creatures by their gracious and merciful Creator for to sweeten and temper the bitterness of their Sorrows that come upon them as thick as a storm of Hail under the burden of which they would undoubtedly have fainted if God had not been pleased to afford them this cordial of Joy for although Joy be pleasant to Nature yet it is a meer stranger to it but Sorrow which she abhors is her constant guest and for one dram of joy that men have in their life time they have a pound of Sorrow yet because Joy is the comforter of mens lives for without it they could not subsist observe for your better information of the qualities of it these particulars 1. The definition of Joy 2. The causes of it 3. The proprieties of it 4. Its effects 5. The bad and good use of it 6. The excellency of spiritual Joy First There are two different sorts of Joy the one is Worldly and the other Spiritual the last is a rapture or ravishment of the Soul by an intimate familiarity that true
Grief and Sorrow some say it is a passion of the soul proceeding from some sensible loss or displeasure received others say it is a perturbation of the minde and an anguish of the body others that it is a passion afflicting the soul by the apprehension of present and future evils but this last opinion seemeth to be the best The definition of Dolour according to the Bishop of Marseillis pag 302. Dolour is a passion of the soul proceeding from the dislike that men receive from the objects represented to their imagination by their Senses which are averse to their inclinations and irksome to their bodies Moreover It is the last passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the root of divers other passions and the great Antagonist of worldly Joy because all carnal Joy doth end in Sorrow there being none so pure but it leaves in the soul a sting of remorse and repentance but Spiritual Sorrow is one of the greatest motives that men have to induce them to beate with fervency the ways of righteousness For godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 saith St. Paul worketh Repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Secondly There are divers sorts and degrees of Dolour for the very word of Dolour doth signify Anguish Grief and Sorrow and every one of these have their degrees Anguish doth properly signifie the Dolours Pains and Torments of the Body whether they be natural or accidental and Grief doth signify the Dolour of the Minde and Sorrow is an invetered grief of the Minde which is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow The first of these which is Anguish hath a secret reflection to the Sensitive appetite of the soul by means of the communion there is between it and the senses yet the seat of Anguish is in the body or in some of the members of it but the seat of Grief and Sorrow is in the Minde The three different sorts of Dolour and this kinde of Dolour is invisible to the eyes of men because it is intellectual and hath but little reflection to the body except it become excessive in degree but when the grief of the minde is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow then it hath a great influence upon the body for by flow paces and degrees it consumes the body the radical humor and the very marrow in the bones and therefore the inveterate Sorrow is accounted the worst Dolour of the three because it is in a maner incurable for it doth ordinarily reject all remedies that might ease and cure the same as for Anguish and Grief they are easily cured by removing of the cause of them the symtomes of the first being always visible and apparent by the paleness or the high colour of the face by the inflammation of the parts by the distemper of the pulse or by the pains that are felt in any of the members of the body to which remedies may be applied by learned Physitians and as for the grief of the minde which is recent and not yet inveterate the cause being known by such as frequent or are familiar with the grieved and afflicted party such arguments and seasonable consolations may be used that they may stifle this Cockatrice in the shell Thirdly The causes of these three different sorts of Dolour may be reduced to these Heads first To Publick secondly To Private thirdly To Natural fourthly To Accidental 1. The Publick causes of Sorrow should be more sensible to men then any other yet in these days they are not regarded although there never was greater cause first It was a cause of publick sorrow to the People of Israel when they were informed of the cruel and bloody decree that Pharoah King of Egypt had made to cast all their male children into the River Fxodws 1.22 that the Hebrew Nation might by degrees be utterly destroyed secondly It was a great cause of publick sorrow of weeping and lamentation for the whole Nation of the Jews Publick causes of of sorrow when they were advertised that their good and religious King Iosiah had been mortally wounded in the battel 's fought in the Valley of Megiddo against Necho King of Egypt 2 Chron. 35.23 and all their Army routed and defeated thirdly It was a great cause of publick lamentation and sorrow for the people of Israel when they saw before their eyes the Temple of the Lord to be burned the City of Ierusalem to be sacked 2 Chron 36.19 20. and the rest of the people to be carried captives into Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar for which great desolation the Prophet Ieremiah did wish that his head were waters Jer. 9.1 and his eyes a fountain of tears that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of his people fourthly It was a great cause of publick sorrow for the people of the Iews that were scattered through the hundred and twenty seven Provinces of the great King Ahasuerus dominions Esther 3.12 13 14 15. when they were informed of the cruel decree that Haman their mortal enemy had obtained to put them their wives and children to the sword for which there was great mourning and lamentations in the said Provinces but specially in the City of Shushan 2. It was a private cause of sorrow to the old Patriarch Iacob when he was informed that his dear and beloved son Ioseph had been slain and devoured by wilde beasts Gen. 37.33 although he was living but had been sold by his brethren out of envy as a slave to the Ishmaelites Merchants that were travelling down into Egypt secondly Private causes of Sorraw It was a cause of private sorrow for King David to hear of the Rape of his daughter Tamar who was ravished by his own son Amnon and again of the murder of the said Amnon committed by his darling son Absolon 2 Sam. 13 14 and 29. in vindication of the Rape of his sister Tamar thirdly It was a cause of private sorrow for King Ieroboam and his Queen to see the best of all their children Abijah their elder son to be taken away by death in the flower of his age and the more because it was by a judgment of God 1 King 14.12 for the Idolatry of Ieroboam fourthly It was a cause of private sorrow for the great Emperor Augustus Cesar that his daughter Iulia by her impudicity was banished and that none of his grand children were thought worthy to succeed him in the Empire because of their vitious miscarriages but was inforced to adopt See Tacitus and Suetonius in his life or elect Tiberius Nero his wives son the worst of men for his Successor in the Empire 3. The causes of dolour of the Minde The causes of Dolour or Sorrow of the Minde may be these first The privation of the injoyment of mens desires may be the cause of their sorrow
make golden bridges for their enemies to retreat then by despair to enforce them to fight To conclude Despair is a dangerous passion and Self-murdering Despair is to be abhorred of Christians for it doth not onely destroy the body but it doth also cast mens souls into the pit of eternal wo. There is also another sort of Despair which I have not as yet spoken of which proceeds from natural infirmities as from burning Feavers Frenzies and Madness but the evil effects which proceed from these are rather to be imputed to keepers of the Patients then to themselves or to the fury of the disease and therefore cannot come within the compass of Self murder The Remedies against which horrid sin are contained in the insuing Discourse Fifthly Six remedies against Despair The Remedies to prevent the evil and most pernicious effects of this dangerous passion of Despair which is one of the strongest temptations of Satan may be these and such other passages of Scripture a Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray for constant and fervent prayers are able to cast back this temptation like filth in Satans face and to obtain of the Lord these supernatural graces whereby Christians will be inabled to defie and overcome Despair first Faith as a shield wherewith men shall be able saith St. Paul to quench all the fiery b Ephes 6.16 darts of the wicked And to say with Iob in the greatest tribulations that can befall them in this life Though he slay me yet will I c Job 13.15 trust in him secondly Repentance for it is a pretious Antitode against the venom of Despair What had become of St. Peter for denying his Lord and Master three times before the Cock d Matth. 26.75 crowed once if by the bitter tears of Repentance he had not obtained mercy Nay the very temporal and fained Repentance of Ahab King of Israel moved God to transfer or remove the execution of his wrath e 1 Kings 21.27 28 29. from him to his children And it is conceived by the best Divines that if Iudas who betraied our blessed Saviour had repented of his horrid sin he had not faln into f Matt. 27.5 despair for the compassions of the Lord are incomprehensible and his mercies are infinite as it appears by his towards Manasseh g 2 Chron. 33.12 13. King of Iudah who had committed all the wickedness that could be imagined by the hearts of men for he caused the Prophet Isaiah to suffer a most cruel death by sawing his body in the midst with a Saw and he turned aside from the Lord to commit Idolatry and caused his son to pass through the fire and dealt with Familiar Spirits and made the streets of Ierusalem to overflow with the innocent blood he caused to be spilt and yet when he humbled himself by an unfained Repentance before the Lord God was so gracious as to shew him mercy and from a miserable Captive he restored him to his royall dignity thirdly Patience is a special remedy against Despair for it preserved Job in the midst of his greatest temptation nay when his wife that should have been his greatest comforter said unto him Dost thou still retain thy integrity Curse h Job 2.9 10. God and die He answered with an admirable meekness of Spirit Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What Shal we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil And this onely consideration That all things work for good to them that i Rom. 8.28 love God should keep men from Despair when they are in a maner overwhelmed with the greatest afflictions that can befall them in this life fourthly Confidence in God is an excellent remedy against Despair for such as trust in the Lord may say with the Prophet David I will not k Tsal 3.6 be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me fifthly Hope is a powerful remedy against Despair for if men say with the Prophet David The Lord is my Rock l Psal 18.2 and my Fortress and my Deliverer for my m Psal 39.7 hope is in thee sixthly Fortitude is an excellent remedy against Despair for it is able to dash and overcome all the evil apprehensions that beget Despair and check mens pusillanimity with these words of the Prophet David Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou n Psal 42.11 disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God By these and the like passages of Scripture men may prevent the dangerous effect of Despair Nay draw unspeakable comforts out of the very Causes that beget Despair which passion is full of vanity and vexation of spirit c. CHAP. XIV Of the vanity of the passion of Vndantedness IF Diamonds were as common as Pipples and Vertues as natural to men as Vices they would not be so precious nor valued at so high a rate as they are in these days for it is the rarity of things more then their goodness that makes them to be esteemed among men for Instance Bread is the only staff of mans life and the best food that Nature hath appointed for his subsistence and yet because it is common it is little regarded for Beggers will hardly give men thanks if they give them nothing but dry bread But this passion I am to speak of is not onely rare sith one man among one hundred is not indowed with it but also good and excellent and therefore the more to be esteemed and valued of men as a rare and precious Jewel By it mens hopes are attained all fears expelled and despair suppressed and were it not a Passion I should call it a Vertue because of the resemblance it hath with Fortitude For Undantedness is the Spring of all true Valour and manly courage and by it all the generous actions that have been acted since the Creation till this day have had their beeing and successful end And therefore most judiciously and properly placed by the Moralists after Despair and before Fear to mitigate by the excellent proprieties of it the evil qualities of the two others for were it not for this passion men would be diverted from undertaking any noble design by Fear and Despair who have a natural propriety to withdraw the vitall spirits into the Center of the body which hinders the natural faculties to do and execute their functions and makes men timerous and remiss to undertake any noble action but Undantedness causeth the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it to dilate themselves to the utmost parts of the members of the Body and so gives them life and vigor and makes men apt and fit to undertake and execute all noble enterprizes Now for the better description of this noble Passion I will
Eccles 8.5 Give not thy soul unto harlots that thou loose not thine Inheritance Prov. 8.6 Look not round about thee in the streets of the City neither wander in the solitary places thereof Eccles 8.7 Turn away thine eye from a beautifull woman and look not upon anothers beauty for many have been deceived by the beauty of a woman For herewith Love is kindled as a fire Sit not at all with another mans wife nor sit down with her in thy arms and spend not thy mony with her at the wine lest thine heart incline unto her and so through thy desire thou fall into destruction Eccles 8.10 A man that breaketh wedlock saying thus in his heart Who seeth me I am compassed about with darkness the walls cover me and no body seeth me What need I to fear The most High will not remember my sins Such a man only feareth the eyes of men and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter then the sun beholding all the ways of the sons of men This man shall be punished in the streets of the City and where he suspecteth not he shall be taken Eccl. 23.18 19 21. By these and many other places contained in the Word of God it is apparent that the lascivious Passion of Volupty is more destructive to men then any other Passion whatsoever Therefore it behoveth all sorts of men whether they be yong or old to be cautious of their ways that they may not by their own corruptions set on fire by the temptations of Satan be ensnared in this horrid sin of uncleanness And specially that it turn not by a continued custom into an habit For if it doth it will cost them rivers of bitter tears before this spirit can be expelled Because the best Divines hold that an old Voluptuous sinner is harder to be converted then any because the sin of Volupty is so sutable with the natural inclinations of men Yet if yong men would always have this Saying of Solomon in their mind Eccle. 11.9 Rejoyce O Yong man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement And Old Voluptuous men this Saying of the Prophet Isaiah Isal 55.6.7 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon There is no doubt but God out of his infinite mercy would have compassion of them and hinder that Satan should not tempt so many Voluptuous Old men to Despair as he doth by suggesting falsly that their sins are unpardonable And so inticeth them to put violent hands upon themselves which is to commit a sin that is Cousin-german to the sin against the Holy-Ghost Therefore when Old men who have from their Youth been addicted to Actual Fornications and Adulteries and by an habit in these sins do impenitently continue in their decrepit Age by the instigations of Satan in the intellectual Fornications and Adulteries of the heart let them cast I say these false Suggestions of Satan like dung into his face For to despair of the Mercy of God is to yield him up their Spiritual weapons and to commit an unpardonable sin For were their sins greater then the sins of Manasseh King of Judah and equal with that of Judas who betrayd his Lord and Saviour yet if they despair not of Gods Mercy they will undoubtedly find Mercy God being pleased sometimes to magnify his unparalleld Mercy by calling some impious sinners into his Vineyard at the last hour of the day and to give them out of his free grace the same wages as he had agreed to give to those who had born the burden and heat of the day Math. 20.12 CHAP. XVIII Of the vanity of the passion of Avarice DIogenes the Cynick being demanded why Gold was of so pale a yellow Answered ingenuously that it was out of fear because all men did run after it to make it their captive or rather their god For it is daily seen that avaritious men are the slaves of their riches and that Gold is their only Deity But the Poet Simonides being moved by a friend of his to resolve him which of these two viz. of Wisdom or Gold was to be most desired and pursued Answered Wisdom saith he for she is the Mistress and Gold is her Hand-maide Notwithstanding said he I see daily the wisest men court wait and attend upon the Gold-mongers and rich men of these days so little is Vertue regarded and Vice so highly esteemed Whereas in the judgement of King Solomon riches are nothing but vanity and vexation of Spirit And to this purpose he gives this caveat to avaritious men Labor not to be rich Prov. 23.4 5. wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they flie away as an Eagle towards heaven Prov. 8.11 But Wisdome saith he is better then Rubies and all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it But these sayings of Solomon seem to be paradoxes to avaritious men for the glistering lustre of their Gold hath dazled the eyes of their judgement to conceive erroneously that Gold is a soveraign remedy for all diseases For it can say they deliver them from all danger raise them to honours and give them the fruition of all the delights of this life so they become more eager after the purchase of these momentary riches then sincere and zealous Christians are fervent active and diligent after the acquisition of the spiritual Treasures Now because this vitious passion of Avarice is extraordinarily predominant in this Age and enticeth many to undertake strange projects and practice undirect means to hoard up Gold and Silver to the undoing of the Common-wealth and the destruction of their own souls Give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars to shew you the virulency of this sordid passion 1. What is properly called Avarice 2. How it is composed 3. Of what nature it is being thus mixt 4. What kinde of men are most addicted to it 5. The causes moving men to affect the same 6. The pernitious proprieties of it 7. The destructive effects of the same 8. The considerations inducing men to allay the fire of it First What men properly call Avarice The definition of Avarice is only an exorbitant and insatiable desire to hoard up Gold and Silver Secondly This desire is never free from fear and self-love so that Avarice is a composed passion of fear love and desire Thirdly Being thus mixt Of what passions Avarice is composed it is of a violent nature by the means of love that is
shrubs in a Forrest are safer from being rooted up with the boysterous winds then the high Cedars in Libanon And the Antient and Modern Histories do verifie that rich men under Tyrants are always the mark at which promooting knaves false informers do aym See Tacitus in their lives as it is apparently seen in the lives of Caligula Nero Vitellius Domitianus and Commodus and such other Monsters in nature Likewise in all civil broils and publike commotions the richer men go ever to the pot as it is apparent in Livies Decades See Livie in his first Decade the Plebeian ever repining and envying the richest Patricians So that riches do rather expose men to dangers then rescue them Sixthly The evil proprieties of this sordid passion are many but I will speak only of some of them 1. It inticeth men to Idolatry for Avaricious men make their addresses morning and evening to their god Mammon in lieu to make their prayers to God I mean in bending as soon as they rise all their thoughts and cogitations upon the means how they may encrease their wealth whereby it appears that the love of money doth extinguish in them the love of God and that it is almost as impossible for a rich avaritious man to obtain the Kingdom of God Allusion upon Math 19.24 as it is for a Camel to go thorow the eye of a needle and that is the reason why few noble and rich are called and why rich men are compared in the Gospel of S. Luke to the thorny ground 1 Cor. 1.26 Luk. 8.14 because the care they take to encrease their riches smothers in them the seed of the Word and hinders them to grow in spiritual graces there being as great an antipathy between the carking care of this life and godliness as there is between light and darkness Math. 6.21 for where mens treasure is there is their heart And that is the reason why Saint James doth pronounce this heavie sentence against the rich who are possessed with Avarice Jam 5.1 2 3 4 5 6. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your riches are corrupt and your garments are moth-eaten Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye heave heaped treasures together for the last dayes Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud crieth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabaoth Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Ye have condemned and killed the just and he hath not resisted you The second propriety of it is That it deprives those who are possessed with it of all true joy because their joy and content doth only consist in the encrease of their riches which can afford no solid joy the creatures having nothing in them but emptiness whereas the object of true joy is God himself that ever will be an infinite unchangeable and eternal God Besides how can avaritious men have any joy or content that are hourly perplexed with fears of being deprived of all they have by a thousand accidents which riches are subject unto See Plutarch in his Morals And this moved Crates to cast all his wealth into the Sea saying he would rather drown his riches then they should drown the tranquillity of his mind in fears and continual anxieties He that loveth silver saith Solomon shall not be satisfyed with silver Eccles 5.10 And except mens desires be satisfied they can have no joy nor content The Third Propriety of it is That it deprives men of understanding For Avaritious men cannot make use of their Riches but will pinch their bellyes goe ragged and deprive themselves from the comfort of all good things Nay their harmless Cattle shall feel the smart of their biting Avarice An Italian Bishop was so base as he did steal in the night time the Provender that was allowed to his Coach-horses But his Coach-man gave hiw a hundred bastinadoes as a just reward for his Avarice For seeing his horses dayly decline and become poor and faint he watched all night and found his Master stealing of their Provender out of their manger and taking no notice who he was did swadle him soundly verifying this Saying of Solomon That he who loveth riches shall be without the fruit thereof And this he calleth An evill sickness or sore disease And in truth it is a sign of Phrensy or of a Privation of understanding when men make no use of the Blessings of God And may be compared to a dog that sits upon a truss of hay that will not suffer it to be taken away although he cannot eat of it himself The Fourth Propriety of it is That it banisheth all Christian Charity out of the hearts of men For none are so close-fisted towards the Poor as Rich Avaritious men And when with much importunity Collectors draw from them some smal Contribution towards their releif they repine for it and think they draw like horsleeches their hearts blood Nay they will bury their Gold and Silver in the ground rather then they will lend their poor Neighbor some part of it gratis See Plutarch in his Morals And this moved Aesop to say to an Avaritious man who lamented for the loss of a Treasure he had hid in the ground Lament and vex not thy self sayd he but carry a stone of the like weight and bury it in the same place where thy gold was and imagine it is the same Gold which was taken from thee For this stone will be as usefull to thee as thy Gold was sith thou couldst not make a better use of it And certainly such Nabals as hoard up their Wealth and deny to relieve the distressed Davids of these Times in their extream need may be compared to that Sicilian Merchant who being possessed with a strong Phrensy did believe that all the rich ships that came into the Haven of Syracuse were his own Even so these miserable Cormorants are not Really but Imaginarily rich sith God deprives them of the use of their Riches The Fifth Propriety of it is That it begets Pride and makes men insolent disdainfull and arrogant For it is a Saying as True as Common That Honors and Riches corrupt good manners And dayly Experience doth show that such as become rich suddenly which were before of a mean and low degree are prouder and more insolent in their carriage and comportments then the greatest Noble-men in the Land And more disdainful towards their neighbors then those whose shoos they were formerly unworthy to untye See Plutarch in his Life Crassus from a mean condition being by his Avarice and his vile and base courses to get mony grown