A PRECIOUS MITHRIDATE FOR The SOULE Made up of those two POYSONS Covetousness AND Prodigality The one drawn from the Fathers Ill Qualities The other from the Sons For the Curing of both Extremes and advancing Frugality the Mean Being foure Chapters taken out of R. Junius his Chrstian Library And are to be sold by J. Crump Stationer in Little Bartholmes Well-yard and H. Crips in Popeshead-ally LONDON Printed 1661. A Precious Methridate for the Soul Made up of those two Poysons Covetousness and Prodigality PREFACE Such as have formerly heard these Nightingales or seen these Jewels in another Cage or Cabinet may please to take notice that they are not stolen but borrowed Every Garden is furnished from other Gardens and so is mine but with leave from the Owners As Vertue is distributive and good Fruit the more common it is the better it is Besides the oftner these Nails are hammered the deeper they pearse and pearse too deep they cannot for five words remembred is better than a thousand forgotten Again old metal cast into a new mold becomes new and is so estâ—emed These Pearls are filed upon a string that men may not shake them out of their pockets If thou receivest any spiritual benefit by pertaking of this Banquet or extract give God the glory which is all the Confectioner expects for his pains for praise or thanks I seek none as I have deserved none Or in case my labour hath been worthy of hire the great pleasure I took therein hath been sweeter than anothers wages Yea if I have not grown better by it yet it hath kept me from worse and not afforded me time to entertain the Divel Nor have I more made my Book than my Book hath made me J. F. CHAP. I. HAving felt the Cormorants pulse I find it to beat most violently after gain He were a skillful Physician that could pick out the greedy worm which makes him so hungry yea he should deserve a greater reward then Erastratus had for curing Antiochus which was fourteen thousand three hundred seventy and five pounds But to hope this were an effect of Frenzie not of Reason for you shal sooner hear of an hundred Malefactors conversion at the Gallows then of one Covetous Cormorant in his bed Onely I will give you his and his Sons Effigies and set them up as Sea-marks to make others beware that both may do good service to the Church For whereas honest men profit the Commonwealth by occasioning themselves to be imitated these shall happily benefit the same by causing themselves to be evitated As sometimes a Harlots face hath suggested chastness and good may be learnt both by similitude and contrariety At least the beauties of all Christian graces are illustrated by the blackness of their opposite vices The Covetous Miser is one that affects no imployment or Occupation for it self but for gain all his reaches are at riches his summum bonum is commodity and gold is the Goddess he adores in every thing He plots studdies contrives breaks his peace his sleep his brains to compass his desires and though he venters his ears his neck his soul he dares not deny his slave his dog his Devil Avarice nor cares he how he gets but what he gets There is no evill that he will not do so goods may come of if you cannot name the Sin that he will not swallow in the sweet broth of commodity like Dorio the Bawde in Terrence he is not ashamed of the basest actions that bring him in benefit nor does he smell any difference between gold got by oppression and that which is honestly come by Avarice is the grave of all good it cats out the very heart of grace by eating grace out of the heart The damps of the earth do not more quench fire then the love of earth stifles grace neither trees nor grasse grow above where the golden Mines are below If the love of mony be once entred into the heart no fruits of goodness will appear in the life yea there is an absolute contrariety between the love of God and the love of Mammon as our Saviour shews Luke 16.13 This Machivillians heart is a very mint of fraud that can readily coyn falsehoods upon every occasion yea he is such a deep that one may better tell the haires of his bead then either the springs wards or wickedness of his deceitful heart and yet so foolish withall that he not onely impoverisheth his soul to inrich his body but to purchase a great estate he will sell both soul and body Like Sylvester the second who to get the Popedome gave his soul to the Devill The poorest Cheats soul if ever it be saved costs no less a price than Christs precious blood yet half a crown yea six pence will make this Churle sell his By which means he swels in his estate from a Toad to an Oxe as in the Fable and then bursts And which I would have you to observe he thinks himself so much the wiser as he is the richer which makes me the more willing to stigmatize his folly To shew that Covetous men belong to Hell after they die they are like Hell while they live Hell is never filled and they are never satisfied His abundance no more quencheth his lust than fuel does the flame yea like Oyl it kindleth the fire which it seems to quench Avarice is like that Disease we call the Wolf which is ever eating yet keeps the body Lean. The Covetous Cormorant is like one of Pharaoh's lean and illfavoured kine for though he devours much yet he is never the less hungry never the more fat A moderate water makes the Mill go merrily but too much will not suffer it to go at all The Covetous Miser is like the Indians who though they have all the Gold among them yet are the most beggerly people alive He is like Tantalus who stands up to the chin in water and hath all kinds of fruits hanging over his head but is not suffered to taste the one nor drink of the other Or like an Asse that is laden with gold and dainty cates but feeds upon thistles He scarce wears a good garment or eats a liberall meal or takes a quiet sleep but is ever tormenting himself to get that for getting whereof he shall be tormented As a proud man is ignorant in the midst of his knowledge so is he poor and needy in the midst of his wealth Yea whereas the Poor Begger wants many things the Rich Miser wants every thing His business will never give him leave to think of his conscience All his Religion is the love of money He goes to Church indeed but it is not to serve God but the State which he uses not as a means to save his soul but his silver To him all spirituall and eternall things seem incredible because they are invisible Nothing will sink into his head that he cannot see with his eyes or feel with hit fingers And in
they will have I shall beg of thee but once thy estate will so soon vanish of them often yea give me now a talent I may live to give thee a groat And at another time hearing that the house of a certain Prodigall was offered to sale he said I knew well that house was so accustomed to surfeiting and drunkenness that ere long it would spue out the Master Nay in all likelihood he foresees it himself and therefore as he makes short work with his estate so not long with his life as knowing that if he should live long he must be a begger As seldom but he shortens his days some way for he gives himself to all manner of vice gluttony and drunkennesse chambering and wantonness pride riot contention c. He even banishes civility and gives himself over to sensuality and such a life seldom lasts long They may rightly be called spend-alls for they not onely spend all they have but themselves also in stead of quenching their thirsts they drown both their bodies souls and estates in Drink They will call Drawer give us an Ocean and then leave their wits rather then the wine behinde them One cryes to his fellow Do me reason but the drink answers I will leave thee no reason no not so much as a beast hath for these Nabols cannot abound but they must be drunk surfet They have not onely cast off Religion that should make them good men but even reason that should make them men And saving only on the Sea they live without all compass as a ship on the water so they on the land reel too and fro and stagger like a drunken man Psal 107.27 All their felicity is in Tavern or brothell house where harlots and sicophants riflle their estates and then send them to robbe or teach them how to cheat or borrow which is all one for to pay they never mean and prodigality drives them to repair their too great lavishnesse in one thing by too great covetousnesse and injustice in another The greatest mispenders for the most part are constrained to be as great misgetters that they may feed one vice with another Now as if they had been bred among Bears they know no other dialect then roaring swearing and banning It is the tongue or language of hell they speak as men learn before hand the language of that Country whether they mean to travel By wine and surfeting they pour out their whole estates into their bellies The father went to the devil one way and the son will follow him another and because he hath chosen the smoother way he makes the more hast The one so loved Money that he could not afford himself good Drink the other so loves good Drink that he scornes Money The Father cannot finde in his heart to put a good morsel into his belly but lives on roots that his prodigal heir may feed on Phesants he drinks water that his son may drink wine and that to drunkenness The one dares not eat an egge lest he should lose a chicken and goes to hell with whay and carrots the other follows after with Canary Partridges and Potatoes These are Epecures indeed placing Paradise in their throats and heaven in their guts their shrine is their Kitchin their Priest is their Cook the Altar is their table and their belly is their God By wine and furfeit ng they pour out their whole estates into their bellies yet nevertheless complain against nature for making their necks so short Aristippus gave to the value of sixteen shillings for a Patridge his clownish neighbour told him he held it too dear at two pence Why quoth Aristippus I esteem less of a pound then thou dost of a penny the same in effect sayes the prodigal son to his penurious father for how else could he so soon bring a noble to nine pence an inheritance of a thousand pounds per annum to an anunity of five hundred shillings besides the one obtains a thousand pounds with more ease then the other did a thousand pence and by how much the less he esteems of money by so much the more noble and better man he esteems himself and his father the more base and hereupon he scorns any calling and must go apparelled like a Prince God hath inacted it as a perpetual law In the sweat of thy Face be it brow or brain shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth Gen. 3.19 And for the best Gentleman to dispise honest callings mental or manual is a pride without wit or grace Even gallant Absalom was a great sheep-master the bravery and magnificence of a Courtier must be built upon the ground of frugality Besides exercise is not more wholsome for the body then it is for the minde and soul but this vain glorious Coxcombe is all for sports and pleasure and seldom ceases hunting after sports as Esau for venison until he hath lost the Blessing But he should O that he would consider that medicines are no meat to live by Then for his pride in apparel you may know that by this he is like the Cinamon tree whose barke is of more worth then his body or like the Estridge or Bird of Paradise whose feathers are more worth then her flesh Or some Vermine whose case is better then het carcass And yet this swells him so and makes him look as big as if the river of his blood could not be bancked within the channel of his veins and shift his attire he must like the Islanders of Foolianna the sicle 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 Kitchin or on his Table be brought twice before him Indeed he cannot shift himself out of the Mercers books until he hath sold the other Farm or 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 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 hand mill 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 hit father like curs faune upon him and lick his hand like Spaniels Yea the Prodigalls case is herein better then the Misers for the Prodigal shall only have nothing hereafter but the Covetous man hath nothing here nor hereafter 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 Cyphers Idleness is the Coach that brings a man to Needam prodigality the post-horse His fathter was no mans friend but his own and sayes the proverb is no mans foe else be he never so old he never attains 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 lascivious 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 ho 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 de stroyeth them Prov. 1.31 CHAP. 3. 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 fruitlesse and no marvail when not onely his leud and vicious course bring Gods curse upon all he hath or takes in hand but when he and what he hath is also anted 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 blesse and reward the children yea the childrens children for their fathers goodnesse 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. 7.1 Mephibosheth fares the better for his fathers goodnesse 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. 17.20 And all Isarel fared the better for Abraham Isaac and Iacobs sake Deut. 4.37 1 Kings 11.12 The loving-kindnesse of the Lord sayes the Psalmist indureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him and his righteousnesse 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 peremptorily 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 unmercifull 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 beggers for whose sakes the fathers have made so many beggers this is a truth which the father will not beleeve but as sure as God is just the Son shall feel 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 extreme 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 with the unjust Steward who having wasted his masters goods for the time past could not be trusted with the like for the time to come and whereas hitherto he hath with Esan rejected the blessing of prosperity it will be denyed him hereafter though he should seek it with tears and which is worse then all if death find him as is much to be feared as banquerupt of spiritual as of Worldly goods it will send him to an eternal prison for what can we think of them that do not onely lose crusts and crummes which our Saviour would have carefully gathered up John 6.12 but even lavish and wherle away whole patrimonies yea most wickedly spend them in riot and upon Dice Drabs Drunkenness O the fearful account which these unthrifty Bayliffs will one day have to give up to our great Lord and Master when he shall call them to a strict reckoning of their talents if he was condemned that encreased not the sum concredited to him what then shal become of him that lawlesly and lavishly spends and impaires it bringing in such a reckoning as this Item spent upon my lusts pleasures and pride fourty years and five hundred or ten thousand pounds c. let them be in their right senses they cannot thin that God will take this for a good discharge of their Steward-ships though the devil may and will make them beleive that Christ will quit all scores between him the father and them And thus I have made it