or winter and more before ten then after threescore There are graves of all fizes and likewise sculls in Golgotha as sayes the Hebrew proverb One dies in the bud another in the bloom some in the fruit few like the sheaf that comes to the barn in a full age Men may put far from them the evil day but they may finde it neerer then they are aware of Revel. 22. 12. The pitcher goes oft to the water but at length it comes broken home The cord breaks at last with the weakest pull as the Spanish proverb well noteth The tree falleth upon the last stroke yet all the former strokes help forwards A whirl-winde with one furious blast overturneth the greatest and tallest trees which for many years have been growing to their perfect strength and greatness so oftentimes the thrid of life breaketh when men think least of death as it fared with Saint Lukes fool who promised himself many years to live in ease mirth and jollity when he had not one night more to live Luke 12. 19 20. For when like a Jay he was pruning himself in the boughs he came tumbling down with the Arrow in his side John the 22th prophesied by the course of the Stars that he should live long but whilest he was vainly vaunting thereof the Chamber wherein he was fell down and bruised him to pieces His glasse was run when he thought it but new turned And the Axe was lifted to strike him to the ground when he never dreamed of the slaughter-house And whether thy soul shall be taken from thee this night as it fared with him formerly spoken of thou hast no assurance the very first night which the rich man intended for his rest proved his last night Nor was there any more between Nabals festival and his funeral then ten or a dozen dayes 1 Sam. 25. 38. And could any thing have hired death to have spared our forefathers they would have kept our possessions from us Neither is this all for if thou beest wicked and unmerciful thou hast no reason to expect other then a violent death for which see Job 24. 24. Psal. 37. 10 11. Job 36. 11 12. Psal. 37. 37 38 39. 55. 23. Prov. 12. 27. Great trees are long in growing but are rooted up in an instannt The Axe is laid to the root Matth. 3. 10. down it goes into the fire it must if it will not serve for fruit it must for fuel And what knowest thou but God may deal with thee as Mahomet did by John Justinian of Geneva who having taken Constantinople by his treason first made him King according to promise and within three dayes after cut off his head God may have fatted thee with abundance on purpose to send thee to the slaughter-house Nay why hath God spared thee so long as he hath probably not in love to thee but for some other end As perhaps God hath some progeny to come from thee As for good Hezekiah to be born his wicked Father Abaz is forborn Why did Ammon draw out two years breath in Idolatry but that good Iosia was to be fitted for a King Many sacrilegious extortioners Idollaters c. Are delivered or preserved because God hath some good fruit to come from their cursed loynes However thou canst not look to live many years The Raven the Phenix the Elephant the Lyon and the Hart fulfill their hundred yeares But man seldome lives to four score and thou art drawing towards it Besides the last moneth of the great yeare of the World is come upon us we are deep in December And that day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night for when thou shalt say peace and safety then shall come upon thee sudden destruction as the travel upon a woman with childe and thou shalt not escape as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess. 5. 2 3. That nothing is more certain then death nothing more uncertain then the houre thereof That this only is sure that there is nothing sure here below and that if we were owners of more land then ever the Devil proffered to Christ yet when death shall knock at our door no more can be called ours then the ground we are put into needs no more proof then experience See Psal. 37. 35 36. But Ninthly and lastly a godly mans desires are fixed upon the riches of the minde which being once had can never be lost The which Saint Augustine only counted true riches The wise and godly are of Pythagoras his minde who being asked why he cared no more for riches answered I despise those riches which by expending are wasted and lost and with sparing will rust and rot They are of Stilpons judgment who used to say All that is truly mine I carry with me They desire not so much to lay up treasure for themselvs upon earth but to lay up for themselvs in Heaven as their Lord and Master hath commanded them Matth. 6. 19 20. What saith the Apostle Let not covetousness be once named among Saints Ephes. 5. 3. As if that world which many prefer before Heaven were not worth talking of All worldly things are but lent us our houses of stone wherein our bodies dwell our houses of clay wherein our souls dwell are but lent us honours pleasures treasures money maintenance wives children friends c. but lent us we may say of them all as he said of the Ax-head when it fell into the water 2 Kings 6. 5. Alass they are but borrowed Only spiritual graces are given of those things there is only a true donation whereof there is a true possession worldly things are but as a Tabernacle a moveable heaven is a mansion Now put all these together and they will sufficiently shew that he is a fool or a mad man that prefers not spiritual riches which are subject to none of these casualties before temporal and transitory And so at lenght I have shewn you what it is not and what it is to be rich And I hope convinced the worldling that the richest are not alwayes the happiest Yea that they are the most miserable who swim in wealth wanting grace and Gods blessing upon what they do possesse while that man is incomparably happy to whom God in his love and favour giveth only a competency of earthly things and the blessing of contentation withall so as to be thankful for the same and desire no more I will now in discharge of my promise acquaint you how of poor melancholy and miserable you may become rich happy and cheerful CHAP. XXVIII THe which I shal do from the Word of God Nor need it seem strāge that for the improving of mens outward estates I prescribe them rules and directions from thence For would we be instructed in any necessary truth whether it be Theological concerning God Ecclesiastical The Church Political The Common-wealth Moral Our neighbours and friends Oeconomical Our private families Monastical Our selves Or be it touching Our Temporal estate
the river of his blood could not be bancked within his veins and shift his attire he must like the Islanders of Foolianna the ficle or that King of Mexico who was wont to change his cloths four times a day and never wear them again imploying his leavings and cast suits for his continual liberalities and rewards and who would also have neither pot nor dish nor any implement in his Citchen or on his table be brought twice before him Indeed he cannot shift himself out of the Mercers books untill he hath sold the other Lordship perhaps a dinner or supper at some Tavern may cost him ten pounds or more for he must pay the whole reckoning that he may be counted the best man Yea when the shot comes to be paid for any man to draw in his company is a just quarrel and use hath made it unpleasant to him not to spend and yet a bare head in the streets does him more good then a meals meat He hath the Wolfe of vaine glory and that he feeds untill himself becomes the food Nor can it be long first for an excessive and successive impairing alwayes importeth a final dissolution Nor hath he ever the wit to think upon sparing till he comes to the bottom of the purse resembling Plautus that famous comical Poet born in Umbria who having spent all he had on plaiers apparel was forced for his living to serve a Baker in turning a handmill Like an hour-glass turned up he never leaves running till all be out He never looks to the bottom of his patrimony till it be quite unravelled and then too late complains that the stock of his wealth ran coarse at the fag end His father had too good an opinion of the world and he too much disdaines it onely herein he speeds as he thinks a little the better for that those who barked at his father like curs faune upon him and lick his hand like spaniels He bestows upon his inferiors liberal gifts thinking it good gain to receive for it good words and your Worship Thus by the frequent use of substracting pounds out of hundreds shillings out of pounds and pence out of shillings the end of his account proves all Cifers Ideness is the Coach that brings a man to Needam prodigality the pasthorse His father was no mans friend but his own and he sayes the proverb is no mans foe else be he never so old he never attaines to the yeers of discretion And in case providence do not take him ward his heirs shall never be sought after His Vessel hath three leaks a lascivoious eye a gaming hand a deified belly and to content these he can neither rule his heart his tongue nor his purse He never proves his own man till he hath no other and then perhaps when want or good counsel or time hath made him see as much as his father did at last he sues for a Room in an Almeshouse that his father built else when he feels want for till then he never sees it he complains of greatness for ingratitude that he was not thought of when promotions were a dealing Yet seeing there is no remedy but patience when his last Acre lies in his purse he projects strange things and builds houses in the aire having sold those on the ground Not that he is a man of parts for he is onely witty to wrong and undoe himself Ease saith Solomon slayeth the foolish and the prosperity of fools destroyeth them Prov. 1. 32. CHAP. XVIII MAny an one hath his father unfeathered to warm him but pride drunkenness gamming c. plucks them away again so fast that he soon becomes naked and bare He is like a barren plot of ground for let him receive never so much seed and manuring Sun and showers he remaines ever dry and fruitless and no marvail when not onely his leud and vicious courses bring Gods curse upon all he hath or takes in hand but when he and what he hath is also cursed for his fathers sake For whereas the Holy Ghost saith of the just man His seed shall be mighty upon earth his generation shall be blessed c. Psal. 112. 2. and many the like Psal. 103. where God hath promised to bless and reward the children yea the childrens children for their fathers goodness vers. 17. Isa. 58 10 11. 12. Psal. 37. 25 26 112. 2. to 6. Of which I might give you examples not a few The children of Noah were preserved from drowning for their fathers sake Gen 7. â— Mephibosheth fares the better for his fathers goodness the Kenites for Jetbroes 1 Sam. 15. 6. and that some hundreds of yeers after their Ancester was dead Phineas his seed for his sake Numb. 25. 11 12 13. Solomon for his father Davids sake 2 Sam. 1. 2. Ishmael for Abrahams sake Gen. â—7 20. And all Israel fared the better for Abraham Isaac and Jacobs sake Deut. 4 37. 1 Kings 11. 12. The loving-kindness of the Lord sayes the Psalmist indureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him and his righteousness upon childrens children Psal. 103. 17. Exod. 20. 6. And as God usually blesseth and rewardeth the children for their fathers goodness so on the contrary Exod. 20 5. Eternal payments God uses to require of the persons only temporary oftentimes of succession as we sue the Heirs and Executors of our Debtors God hath peremtorily told us that he will visit the iniquity of ungodly parents upon their children unto the third and fourth generation Exod. 20. 5. As for the sin of Haman his ten sons were hanged Hester 9. 13 14. And so for Sauls sin his seven sons were likewise hanged 2 Sam. 21. 6. and thus for Achans sin all his sons and daughters were stoned to death and burned with fire by the Commandment of Moses who was in Gods stead Iosh. 7. Yea God hath peremtorily threatned Psal. 109. that the children of a cruel and unmercifully man shall be Vagabonds and beg their bread and that none shall extend mercy or favor unto them ver. 7. to 17. God will make those children beggars for whose sakes the fathers have made so many beggars this is a truth which the father will not beleeve but as sure as God is just the Sonne shall feele As what common and daily experience have we thereof had men but the wit to observe it for hence it is that riches ill got shift masters so often As rare it is if the wealth of an Oppressor doth last to the fourth generation seldom to the second for commonly in this case as the father was the first that raised his house by his extream getting and saving so the son proves the last in overthrowing his house by excessive spending and lavishing as Tullius Cicero answered a Prodigal that told him he came of beggerly parents for no man when his means is gone will ever after trust him with a stock to begin the world again the case standing with him as it did
doe is brought in if it want ballast and lading there is great danger of overturning but a light Pinace indifferently freight comes along swiftly and is brought to the harbour with much ease Nor do the godly wise desire more then they can wield in which they resemble Aristippus who when a servant in journeying with him was tyred red with the weight of the money which he carried bid him cast out that which was too heavy and carry the rest whereas the covetous man is like Arthipertus King of the Lombards who flying from Asprandus his enemy and being to swim over the River Tesino to save his life took so much gold with him that he both drowned it and himself with it Secondly the poor and mean have a deeper sense of Gods fatherly care and providence in replenishing them at all times of need even beyond imagination or expression then others have that know not what it is sometimes to want whiles wicked mindes have their full scope they never look up above themselves but when once God crosseth them in their projects their want of success teaches them to give God his own We should forget at whose cost we live if we wanted nothing And doubtless one bit from the month of the Raven was more pleasing to Elijah then a whole Table full of Ahabs dainties Nothing is more comfortable to Gods children then to see the sensible demonstrations of the divine care and providence as is promised Prov. 3. 6. In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy wayes The godly man wearies not himself with cares fears have he but from hand to mouth never so little for he knows he lives not at his own cost He considers what Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 5. Cast your care upon the Lord for he careth for you verse 7. He remembers what our Saviour saith Matth. 6. observes the same and never doubts of the performance so he takes no thought for to morrow what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewith he shall be clothed but applauds his own happiness knowing that he who feedeth the fowls of the Air and arrayeth the Lillies of the field will be sure to feed and clothe them that are his sons and houshold servants Matth. 6. 25 to the end Luke 12. 22 to 33. Levit. 26. 3 to 14. Phil. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 7. Psal. 55. 22. Besides as there are intercourses of sleeping and waking of night and day of fair weather and foul of war and peace of labour and recreation that each may set off the other so God findes it meet by a sense of want to humble us and by supplying our wants to fill us with joy and thankfulness Ptolomie King of Egypt going a hunting lost his way and could get no better fare then a course brown loaf in a Shepherds house but this he said seemed sweeter and better to him then all the delights that ever he ate or met with before Content in want is plenty with an over-plus The giver of all things knows how to dispence his favours so as that every one may have cause both of thankfulness and humiliation whiles there is none that hath all nor any one but hath some Thirdly God in mercy not seldome keeps his children from riches and abundance lest they should choak and wound them for they are snares and thorns Matth. 13. 22. Indeed riches are a blessing if we can so possess them that they possess not us There can be no danger much benefit in abundance all the good or ill of wealth or poverty is in the minde in the use But this is the misery Plenty of goods commonly occasions plenty of evils How many had been good had they not been great Divers have changed their mindes with their means neither hath God worse servants in the world then are rich men of the world if adversity hath slain her thousands prosperity hath slain her ten thousand Commonly where is no want is much wantonness and as we grow rich in temporals we grow poor in spirituals Usually so much the more proud secure wanton scornful impenitent c. by how much the more we are enriched advanced and blessed They spend their days in wealth therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes and what is the Almighty that we should fear him Job 11. 13 14 15. CHAP. XXVI FOurthly men in a middle condition are mostly more merry and contented then others that surfeit with abundance Who so melancholy as the rich worldling and who more merry then they that are poorest I have read of a rich Land-lord that envied his poor tenant because he heard him sing every day at his labour yet had scarce bread for his family while himself wanting nothing was full of discontent One advised him to convey cunningly into his Cottage a bag of money he did so the tenant finding this mass so great in his imagination left off his singing and fell to carking and caring how to increase it Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam The Land-lord fetcheth back his money the Tenant is as merry as ever he was Which shews that there is no riches comparable to a contented minde as Plutarch is of opinion That there are poor Kings and rich Coblers as wise Solon seemed to insinuate to the King when he was vaunting of his greatness For it was Iris a poor beggar that he told Croesus was the happiest man in his Dominions And when King Agis requested the Oracle of Apollo to tell him who was the happiest man in the world expecting to hear himself nominated the answer was Aglaion who was a poor Gardiner in Arcadia that at sixty years of age had never gone from home but kept himself and his family with their labour in a fruitful plot or garden as Livius relates Pyrrhus opened himself to his friend Cineas that he first intended a war upon Italy and what then said Cineas then we will attempt Cicile and what then then we may conquer Carthage and Affrica and what then said Cineas Why then quoth Pyrrhus we may rest and feast and sacrifice and make merry with our friends to which Cineas replied as every servant of God would do in the like case and may we not enjoy all this sweetness now and that without all this ado But natural men are mad men Yea were great men though good men but asked the question their consciences could not but acquaint us if they would speak out that true contentment seldom dwels high whiles meaner men of humble spirits enjoy both earth and heaven However not a few of them have freely acknowledged it as I have largely related in my second Part of Philarguromastix Wherefore be pleased ô God to give me a contented minde and then if I have but little in estate I shall have much in possession Fiftly mean ones with their poverty misery ignominy are often saved whiles others with their honour