Secondly Men become rich by hereditary succession as Solomon by the incredible Treasures that his Father King David heaped up together by the Wars he had with divers Nations which according to Sir Walter Raughleys Opinion cannot be paralleld in any History See Sir Walter Raughley Thirdly Men grow to be rich by being diligent and active in their lawful calling for as Solomon saith Prov. 10.4.5 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich And again He that gathereth in Summer is a son of wisdom but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son of shame Now these three wayes of obtaining worldly riches are commendable and approved of God so the dispensation of them be sutable to his word But the fourth That is by indirect and unlawful means it is odious to God and destructive to men And yet it is the ordinary way whereby men do attain to incredible riches And specially by these four sorts of Professions 1. By the practice of Arms. 2. By the managing of Politick affairs 3. By the practice at law 4. By the practice of Merchandise which shall be proved by instances First by the practise of Arms Sylla and Lucullus became incredibly rich See Plutarch in their lives but it was by unjust rapines and Tyrannical couses Secondly Sejanus and Titus Vinius by the managing of Politike affairs became extraordinarily wealthy See Tacitus but it was by concussion and bribery Thirdly by the practise at Law Sir John Cook and Judge Richardson became wealthy and rich but it was by condemning the innocent and acquitting the guilty Fourthly by the practise of Merchandize Peter de Medecis and Sir John Spencer became extraordinary rich but it was by falsifying and Monopolizing of all manner of Commodities Whereupon I conclude with Solomon That such as make haste to be rich shall not be innocent Prov. 28.20 For the second first the preservation of riches is as irksom to the minde as their acquisition hath been painful to the body for when men have heaped up much wealth they are in continual fears to be deprived of them and hold no place secure for the keeping of their treasures Secondly Riches expose their owners to eminent dangers to preserve them for as the highest Cedars in a tempest are more shaken then the low shrubs even so rich men in a Civil war are the objects of the false accusations of all Promoting Knaves as it appears in k You may finde divers instances to prove this point in Tacitus Tacitus and in the life of Sylla there is a notable instance for it for although a Roman Senator called Quintus Aurelius in the civil wars between Marius and Sylla had always kept himself neuter and never sided in words and actions with either of these two parties yet notwithstanding Sylla coming victorious to Rome his name was written in the prescriptions of such as had been of the abbettors of the faction of l See Plutarch in Syllas Life fol 180. Marius and for no other reason but because he was very rich and had a stately Palace at Alba and so lost his life because of his riches But it were in vain to prove this Point by many forraign instances sith in this unnatural civil war of ours many have been accounted Round-heads and other Malignants that neither had sided with one or the other side but meerly because of their riches Thirdly Rich men are commonly the prey of Theeves for where store of gold and silver is these spirits never leave haunting For wheresoever the m Matth. 24.28 carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together In Queen Elizabeths days a Pirate of Dunkerk laid a plot with twelve of his mates to carry away Sir Iohn Spencer which if he had done fifty thousand pounds ransome had not redeemed him he came over the seas in a Shallop with twelve Musketiers and in the night came into Barking-Creek and left the Shallop in the custody of six of his men and with the other six came as far as Islington and there hid themselves in ditches near the path in which Sir Iohn came always to his house n I have this out of a private Record but by the providence of God Sir Iohn upon some extraordinary occasion was forced to stay in London that night otherwise they had taken him away and they fearing they should be discovered in the night time came to their Shallop and so came safe to Dunkerk again This was a very desperate attempt but hear another of the like nature only it was more bloody and more successful for the villains that undertook the same some two years past it hapned at Paris in France that ten stout theeves had notice given them that the Duke of Orleans had received six thousand pounds in gold and had caused them to be laid in a chamber next to his own bed-chamber in the Palace of o This hapned in Paris in the year 1647. at the beginning of the year Lugseinbourg his ordinary abode hereupon they plotted to steal away this gold so in the day time got into the great garden and in the night broke into the middle court and with a ladder of cords got up to the Chamber window so into the chamber slew two Gentlemen that were asleep in their bed and carried away the gold unheard and undiscovered although there was above one hundred Officers and servants in the house and that the Duke lay in the next Chamber Many other instances might be produced for the confirmation of this Point That riches do expose their owners to great dangers but these shall serve for brevity sake Fourthly the care of the preservation of riches interrupts the rest and sleep of men and hinders learned men from their Studies and others from their ordinary employments It is recorded that the Tyrant Policrates to shew his liberality gave at one time to the Philosopher Anacreon three talents that is above nine hundred pounds sterlin but after he had it some four or five days in his custody the care he took to preserve the same did so trouble his minde that he neither could take his rest in the night nor in the day tend his School as he did before for the fear he had that theeves should break into his Chamber in the night and deprive him of his gold took away his sleep and the carking cares he took in the day to dispose of his money to increase the same hindred him from his Studies whereupon being vexed in his minde he carried the said money again to the Tyrant intreating him to keep it himself for it had done him more hurt in that time then it could ever do him good if he kept the same And Demetrius p See Plutarch in the tranquillity of the mind the Phalerian who by trading in merchandize had attained to be very rich finding his minde daily more and more perplexed with
fear and tempt them 1 Cor. 6.15 To make of the members of Christ the members of a Harlot It is also one of the most prevailing snares of Satan by which he draweth more millions of souls into the Pit of destruction then by any other sin whatsoever And therefore give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars 1. Upon the definition of this passion 2. Upon the nature of it 3. Upon the causes why some are more addicted to it then others 4. Upon the evil proprieties of it 5. Upon the pernitious effects of the same 6. Upon the judgements that God doth inflict upon voluptuous men 7. Upon the means or remedies which are to be used to avoid the venome of it 8. And lastly Upon the express prohibition of the same by the Word of God First Volupty is a composed passion of love and desire The definition of Volupty arising from a tickling delight of the senses when men enjoy really or by imagination such objects as seem pleasant to their phansie It is so general that all such as are under the state of Nature are more or less addicted to it Nay the regenerate are sometimes ensnared by it by the temptations of Satan and their original corruptions the difference between them is that the unregenerate by their impenitency die in their sins and the regenerate by the free grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God are awaked out of this spiritual lethargy and by an unfained repentance are converted and reconciled to God Secondly It is of a feminine nature for all such as are overmuch addicted to this passion loose their masculine generosity and become effeminate Hercules did cast off his Club and Lyons skin to vest himself and spin like a woman before Omphale his Mistress And it is daily seen that voluptuous men imitate in their gestures carriage and fashions the Courtizans of these days for they powder their hair wear black patches and paint their Faces as they do It was not then without cause that the ancient Poets did represent volupty under the shape of the old Witch Circe for as she transformed the Passengers who sailed through the Straits of Sicilia into Swine if they listned to her Charms Even so Volupty doth transform into brute beasts rational men if they converse long and let themselves be ensnared by the alluring Charms of Harlots for as Zerubbalel proved it before King Darius the Charms of a beautiful woman are more powerful then strong Wine Esdras 3. from the 14. ver to the 32. or a mighty King Thirdly The Causes why some men are more addicted to this passion then others may be natural accidental or artificial such as are naturally more addicted to it are commonly of a hotter and moister constitution then others and these are of a sanguine complexion for the Bilious are hot and dry the Flegmatick moist and cold and the Melancholike cold and dry which are not so apt to the Venereal delight as the Sanguine The Accidental Causes are The hot Climate where men live for Heat dilates the spirits outwardly and Cold restrains them inwardly And Experience doth shew that the Africans Spaniards and Italians whose Climate is hotter then the Germans Dutch English are the most addicted to Venery And yet they are not so apt to generation as the last because the desire of the reiteration of the Act doth weaken their bodies and doth waste their spirits Idleness Pride and Fulness of bread is also an Accidental Cause why one Nation may be more addicted to Venery then another For this was the Cause why the Sodomites as the Prophet Ezekiel saith were so vitious Ezek. 16.49 and transported with Lust The Artificial Causes are Sophistical meats Delitious Wines and enticing Simples Drugs and Amber-gris over-much used in these days to provoke Men and Women to Lust See Guicciardine in the Emperor Charls the Fifth his Life Guicciardine records that a King of Tunis being at Naples spent five hundred Ducats in enticing Drugs and Amber-gris to dress a Peacock to incite himself and the company that supped with him that night to Lust But these Means are destructive to the Soul and Lives of Men. For Instance the Queen of Arragon gave Ferdinand her Husband an inticing Love-Drink to make him more apt to the Venereal sport See the History of Spain in Ferdinands Life but it cast him into an incurable Consumption which brought him to his grave And Van-Dick an excellent Dutch Painter lost lately his life by these inticing Drugs provoking to Lechery Alass Men are too prone of themselves to sin without Artificial Means to provoke them to it Fourthly The evil Proprieties of this vitious Passion are so numerous that I should be over-tedious to speak of them all and therefore will speak but of some of them First It is insatiable and may be compared to the horsleech to the barren womb and to the Grave for the Desires of Voluptuous men are never satisfied with their carnal Delights their bodies being sooner tyred with the reiteration of the Act then their Lust can be exstinguished For many have been found dead in their Mistresses Armes by endeavoring to satisfy their Lust beyond their Natural Abilities The Reason of it was because overmuch evacuation of the spirits exstinguisheth life Secondly it is as inconstant as the wind for they delight in nothing more then in changes because their judgement is so depraved by the Spirit of uncleanness which besots them that they cannot discern the beauty of one Object from another and do often forsake the most lovely to dote upon the most unworthy and deformed conceiving erroneously that stollen waters are the sweetest Thirdly It hath a Destructive quality for it provoketh men to commit the most abhorred sins that can be named Gen. 12.15 By it the Sodomites were inticed to commit with the very Angels the sin against Nature Gen. 19.5 It moved Pharoah and Abimelech to take away by violence Sarah Abrahams wife Reuben to defile his Fathers bed Gen. 35.22 Gen 34.2 Judg 19 25. Sechem to deflour Dinah The Gibeahnites to abuse brutishly the Levites concubine David to commit Adultery with Bathshebah and to vail his sin to murther Vriah her husband Amnon to ravish his own sister Tamar Sueton. in his Life Augustus to take away by force Livia from her husband Tacitus in his life Caligula to commit Incest with his two Sisters Nero to defile himself with his mother French History Faragonde to murther King Clotair her Husband that she might the more freely enjoy her Paramour English History King Edgar to murther his Favourite to marry his Wife And King Roderick to ravish Duke Godfreys Daughter Spanish History which was the cause of the Conquest of Spain by the Moors And a thousand like abhorred sins which should move Christians to abhor and flee from this most accursed and sinful passion as from a Serpent Fifthly The Effects of
long practical experience a Learned man cannot attain to Prudence or Wisdom As for rich men which are above all others honored in these days except they be Magistrates or publike Officers or have any of these qualities above spoken of I see no reason why they should be honoured above the common civility for their Riches yet an ancient Greek Philosopher being demanded which of the two the Rich or the Wise should be most honored answered The wise yet saith he I see both the learned and the wise court and attend upon the rich but above all other the true sanctified children of God should be honoured because they are the onely o Psal 16.3 excellent upon earth For the last Branch of this Discourse which is the joy and comfort that men reap from spiritual honors 1. They that will attain to spiritual honor must above all things honor God for if they honor any above him they shall be lightly esteemed this is confirmed in the first of Samuel Chap. 2. vers 30. When the Lord by one of his Prophets reproved Eli for honoring of his sons above him I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy p 1 Sam. 2.29 30. father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith Be it far from me for them that honor me I wil honor and they that dispise me shall be lightly esteemed 2. They q Prov. 3.7 are to fear the Lord and to depart from evil 3. They are to r Exod 20.6 Deut. 5.10 trust in the Lord with all their heart and lean not to their own understanding 4. They must Å¿ Exod. 23.25 love him and keep his Commandments that he may shew them mercy unto thousand generations for Love and Obedience are inseparable companions 5. They are to serve the t 2 Chron. 20.21 Lord their God that he may bless them 6. And lastly They are to praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever and in so doing they shall be honored of him and be as his precious Jewels Men in these days account it a great favor to be honored of a King but to be honored of God who is the King of Kings it is a superlative favour and honor Nay to be so beloved of God that hath not u Rom. 8.32 spared his only Son but hath delivered him up to the death of the Cross to redeem them that truly love and honor him this is an unparalleld love and honor or to make some out of his free grace x 2 Tim. 2.20 vessels of honor when he might have made them vessels of dishonor this is a superlative love and honor Now what greater joy or comfort can men attain unto then to be assured to be the adopted children of so loving and gracious a God and to be his pretious y Mal. 3 17. Jewels and reputed by him as the only z Psal 16.3 excellent upon earth and in whom is all his delight This is then the onely honor they should strive to attain to for it is permanent and eternal but worldly honors vanish away like smoak and are meer vanity and vexation of Spirit CHAP. III. Of the vanity of worldly riches THere are two sorts of riches the one worldly and the other spiritual the spiritual are the immediate gifts of God and by consequence superexcellent but the worldly are meer vanity and vexation of spirit subject to divers accidents and changes Wilt thou saith Salomon a Prov. 23.5 set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches make themselves wings they flye away as an Eagle toward heaven notwithstanding men make an Idol of riches and will venter their lives and hazard their souls to obtain and enjoy them Now as comparing two objects together it is easie to discern which is the most excellent of the two so by the comparing of the imperfections of the worldly riches against the perfections of the spiritual the excellency of the last will be more visible to the Reader I will therefore begin with the worldly and for method sake observe these four Particulars first how they are obtained secondly how they are perserved thirdly how they are lost fourthly how they are to be dispensed For the first Worldly riches are of an indifferent nature and by consequence become good or evil by accident I mean that they are either a blessing or a curse by the evil or good acquisition and dispensation of them They are called the gifts of fortune because they are more proper to the undeserving then to the well-deserving men for fortune being blinde doth commonly distribute her gifts more by chance then by judgement And daily experience doth shew that the wicked abound in worldly riches and the righteous are poor and needy Wherefore do the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power saith Job Their seed is established in their sight with them Job 21.7 8 9 10 11 12 13. and their off-pring before their eyes Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them Their bull gendreth and faileth not their Cow calveth and casteth not her Calf They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance They take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ And spend their dayes in wealth The reasons why ungodly men do out-strip the godly in Riches may be these 1. Because they have a larger conscience then the godly 2. Because they account worldly Riches as their supream good 3. Because they erroneously conceive that they were created for no other end then for to enrich themselves whereas the godly make conscience of enriching themselves by any indirect means hold the love and favour of God their supream good and are confident that they were only created to propagate the honour and glory of their Creator The main end of the ungodly being then to enrich themselves it is no wonder if they out-strip the godly in wordly riches Psal 37.35 and flourish in this life like a green Bay-tree But the end of the godly being only the advancement of Gods glory and to make their calling and election sure they value not these momentary riches Math. 6.21 knowing that wheresoever their Treasure is there will their heart be also But to return to the point in hand worldly riches are obtained 1. By the immediate hand and blessing of God 2. By hereditary succession 3. By activity and diligence in our calling 4. By indirect and unlawful means And of these I will speak in order For the first The riches of Abraham Isaac Jacob and Job did immediately proceed from the hand and blessing of God for their innocent vocation did depend only upon the blessing of God Gen. 26.12 and not upon the art and industry of man Therefore God was pleased that the earth should bring forth a hundred for one Gen. 30.43 and that their Cattel should multiply extraordinarily