this Support and consequently obnoxious to those Sufferings which call for it but besides it were to reflect upon Almighty God as if he had not that regard for our welfare which he has declared himself to have And we are not therefore to persuade our selves that he will never permit his faithful Servants to endure any kind of Afflictions though never so necessary and expedient but only that he will consider their condition and will not let them groan under more and heavier Calamities than he knows to be useful for them For to keep them from necessary Sufferings is not a favour to them but may prove a very great diskindness and cannot therefore be the meaning of those many professions which he makes from time to time of this willingness to take care of them Thus much then and no more we may conclude from these and the like Declarations of God's concern for them that conscientiously serve and depend upon him that he will take continual care of them and will give them as much ease and quiet as is agreeable to their Circumstances as much ease from Sufferings and as much quiet under them * Divitiae quippe atque fastigia dignitatum caeteraque hujusmodi quibus se foelices esse putant mortales verae illius foelicitatis expertes quid afferunt consolationis cum sit eis non indigere quà m eminere praestantius D. August Ep. 121. c. 2. And what great matter is it whether of these two be our portion whether we be wholly kept from Sufferings or be enabled to bear them comfortably whether we have Riches or be taught to live contentedly without them whether we be honoured or disgraced if we can welcome either condition and whether we be healthy and strong if we can but be as happy as those that are A great part of our Troubles proceed only from our own Fancies and Apprehensions of things and others are much heightened or diminished by them And if we can but conquer our selves so far as not to be rufled and discomposed at the Inconveniencies we meet with our Case may be much better than many others who abound in the things we most want but are uneasie in their own Minds Wherefore if Almighty God condescend by the influence of his holy Spirit thus graciously to prepare us for Sufferings we need not be dismay'd though the World frown never so much upon us and we have never so cross a passage through it Wo could think the first professors of our Faith miserable when they meet with those Tribulations their Saviour had forewarned them of and yet were not only patient under them but could rejoice at and glory in them or * Henry Voes and John Esch went joyfully and merrily to the place of Execution and joyfully embraced the Stake and one of them seeing the Fire was kindled at his Feet said Methinks you do straw Roses under my â—eet â—ox's Acts and Monuments Vol. 2. p. 102. James Bainham at his Execution protested That in the Fire he felt no more pain than if he had been in a Bed of Down that it was to him as a Bed of Roses p. 301. Anthony Pearson with a chearful Countenance embraced the Post in his Arms and kissing it said likewise Welcome mine own sweet Wife for this day shalt thou and I be married together in the love and peace of God p. 554. Henry Filmer said to Pearson and Testwood his fellow-sufferers Be merry my Brethren and lift up your Hands unto God for after this sharp Breakfast I trust we shall have a good Dinner in the Kingdom of Christ our Lord and Redeemer p. 555. Lawrence Saunders took the Stake to which he should be chained in his Arms and kiss'd it saying Welcome the Cross of Christ welcome Everlasting Life Vol. III. p. 144. Thomas Hawkes when his Speech was taken away by the violence of the Flame his Skin also drawn together and his Fingers consumed in the Fire so that now all Men thought certainly he was gone suddenly and contrary to all expectation reached up his Hands burning on a light sire over his Head to the Living-God and with great rejoicing as seem'd strook or clapp'd them three times together p. 266. Mr. Bradford took a Faggot in his Hand and kissed it and so likewise the Stake p. 307. See the like also of T. Thomkins p. 187 188 189. Bp Farrar p. 216. Mr. Denley p. 396. Spicer Denny and Pool p. 704. and others Beati Martyres nostri Hus Hieronymus in mediis flammis cantabant hymnos Deo Jo. Comenii Paraenes ad Ecclesias nominatim Anglicanam p. 122. Eos inter qui necati sunt vidimus puerulum sex vel septem annorum qui tanto animi gaudio gestiens praedicans cantans Christianos Psalmos Japonico sermone ad mortem praparabat ut in tali aetate mirati id valdè simus Varen de religione in regnis Japon c. 11. those later Martyrs who could profess in the midst of their Flames That they felt themselves as upon a Bed of Down or of Roses could embrace and welcome the Stake and shew other tokens of joy to the Beholders Not much unlike what Socrates relates of one Theodorus †Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 19. who being tormented with sundry kinds of punishments and wounded all over his Body and then dismissed because he was thought to be past all possibility of recovery yet being through the Goodness of God restored to his former Health acquainted Ruffimis that his Pains were not like what the Beholders imagined for that there stood by him a certain young Man who wiped away his Sweat and strengthened his Soul and made his Sufferings a pleasure to him rather than a punishment And if they instead of complaining of their hard their fiery-tryal seemed rather to be pleased with and delighted in it what reason can our selves have to be afraid of lesser Evils whilst our God is ready by his Almighty Power either wholly to preserve us from them or at least to prevent their smart and take away their pungency that they shall not hurt us And that this is not a vain hope but what we have abundant encouragement to depend upon is so evident that none who is but tolerably versed in the holy Scriptures can have the least pretence to doubt of it I confess God may and often doth suffer wicked Men to proceed in their Iniquities for a long time together and perhaps without any visible harm attending them but his Patience and Clemency to these is no sign that he puts not a real difference betwixt such and those that are heartily intent upon the observance of his Will or that he is not much more concerned for the one than he is for the other For that he is so the Wise-man assures us delivering it as a Truth of which he had sufficiently enformed himself and which we may therefore certainly depend upon * Eccles 8.12 Though a sinner do evil a
apparent if we proceed farther to consider the Objection 1. As it respects the times of the Old Testament 2. As it respects the times of Christianity 1. As it respects the times of the Old Testament that is from the Creation to the coming of our blessed Lord it will need no other answer than what is contained in these two following Propositions 1. Divers of the Miracles of those times are recorded also by Heathen Writers The first and most remarkable that I have mentioned was the universal Deluge which overwhelmed the Earth in the days of Noah and from which himself only and his wife and children were preserved And that a tradition of this was continued amongst the Heathens must be owned till some other account can be given of what Metamorph. l. 1. Ovid and Georg. l. 1. Virgil and Carm. l. 1. Od. 2. Horace and Sat. 1. Juvenal and the rest of their Poets so commonly relate concerning Deucalion and his Wife Pyrrha re-peopling the Earth after a mighty Flood which themselves only had escaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. De Dea Syr. Lucian gives such an account of it as shews plainly to what it relates telling us that they had escaped by getting into a great Ark whither swine and borses and lions and serpents came to them by pairs and were preserved whâ—â—â— the rest of the World were drowned And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de Solertia animalium Platarch from the Mythologists speaks of a Dove sent forth by this Deucalioâ— cut of his Ark which informed him of the increase of the waters by its return to him for shelter and again of their abatement by forsaking him to shift for it self The dismal and stupendous overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrha is attested by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. l. 16. Strabo Hand procul inde campi quo ferunt olim uberes magnisque urbibus habitatos fulminum jactu arsisse manere vestigia c. Histor l. 5. Tacitus and Longo ab Hierosolymis recessu tristis finus panditur quem de coelo tactum testatur humus nigra in cinerem soluta due ibi oppida Sodoma nominatum alterum alterum Gomorrum c. Pelyhist c 48. edit Basil 1538. Solinus to name no more And the learned Count du Plessi collects from Artabanus or Artapanus as Strom. l. 1. Clemens Alexandrinus calls him an account of a certain appearance to Moses De veritat Rel. Christ c. 26. of Fire without fewel to support it and that he also heard a voice informing him that he should deliver the Israelites out of Egypt and that afterwards he caused so great an Earthquake in Egypt that King Pharaoh hereupon let them go but afterwards pursuing them as some of the Egyptian Priests themselves related Moses by God's direction touched the Sea with his Rod and presently its Waves stopped and made a way for him and his whole People to pass through but that the Egyptians perished part by the multitude of Thunderbolts that were discharged against them and the rest by the return of the Waters upon them Which account varies so little from what the holy Scriptures teach concerning this whole affair that none can doubt but it is a corruption of their truer and more compleat Relation And this saith he Ibid. is testified also by Demetrius and Eupolemus amongst the Greeks with divers other circumstances not mentioned here as there are moreover in Numenius the Pythagorean So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Josep Antiq. l. 8. c. 7. Menander spake of the excessive drought in Elijah's time And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 B. Cyril c. Julian l. 10. Julian himself acknowledges that fire descended from Heaven in the time of Moses and again in this Prophet's days to consume the Sacrifice upon the Altar So that from this Specimen it appears that these kind of relations are not wholly without the countenance of others besides Jewish and Christian Writers 2. I come now in the next place to shew that where Heathen Authors say nothing of them a fair account may be given of this omission For 1. The Jews were but a single People a Nation of no great extent and which kept at a distance from all other Nations and Credat Judaeus Apella Horat. l. 1. sat 5. Curtis Judaeis Id. sat 9. Judaeis querum cophinus foeaumque supellex Juv. sat 3. Qualiacunque voles Judaei somnia vendunt sat 6. Quaefitum ad fontem solo deducere verpos Sat. 14. Recutitaque Sabbata palleâ— Pers sat 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. c. Cels l. 4. p. 181. was again despised by them Which makes it no wonder if many things very remarkable in themselves and of a very extraordinary nature were done amongst them and either not known to the greatest part of the World or not attended to by reason of the aversion the Gentiles had to this People They that lived in Greece or Italy at Athens or Rome might have no account of many things that had passed in Palaestine or if they heard of them might not think it worth their while to certifie themselves of them and commit them to writing because of the People amongst whom they were done 2. Besides if it be remembred that a long time since there were but very rare if any footsteps of any credible History either amongst the Graecians or Romans concerning any Persons that lived or Actions that were done much before the Cur supra bellum Thebanum funera Trojae Non alias alii quoque res cecinêre poetae Lucret. l. 5. Trojan Wars this is a sufficient Answer to any pretence that can be drawn from the silence of Heathen Authors in relation to what passed in those early times with which they were so little acquainted Those obscure aenigmatical intimations of some of them which occurr in some of their Poets and other Authors are more than could necessarily have been required considering the little notice they had of these things 3. And yet again had never such care been taken to transmit the memory of these things who knows not what multitudes of Authors have been wholly lost or preserved only in some small fragments just enough to let us see that once there were such Writers And if this has been the fate of many that have wrote since our Saviour's time it were easie to conceive how divers good Historics that had been composed many Ages before might have perished long ere this and the memory of what was contained in them might have been past recovery And now if we put these things together that divers of the Miracles recorded in the Old Testament are mentioned also in some sort by Heathen Writers that the Jews were a people of no great reputation amongst the rest of the World and about whose affairs other Nations did not much concern themselves that we have a very imperfect account of any thing done in any part of the World in the times when these Miracles were wrought except what
parts of the Creation * S. Matt. 6.25 c. Take no thought for your life saith our Saviour what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or for the Body what ye shall put on for these following Reasons 1. Because the Life is more than Meat and the Body than Raiment Whereby is intimated that God who hath already vouchsafed us the better will not refuse us the less having given us life he will not deny us those things which are requir'd for its support He spake the word and we were made he commanded and we were created and dare any say that he will not condescend to order a due provision for those to whom he hath thus bountifully given a Being It is easie to believe that his intent in producing us was not that we might pine away with insuperable hunger or parch with insupportable thirst or that we might starve for want of something to shelter us from the cold and that therefore he will not let us languish under any of these Inconveniencies longer than he sees very good reason for it Having bestowed upon us Life which is a much greater blessing than Meat for it and a Body which is far more valuable than the Raiment we put upon it and the production whereof was a far greater work of his Omnipotence than a supply of these things is there is no cause to fear that these shall not also be added to those other in a due proportion 2. Because he takes care of the Birds to give them their Meat in due season For so it follows Behold the fowls of the air they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them are ye not much better than they As much as to say Since you are certainly of far more account with God than the Fowls and yet he makes such plentiful provision for them your own Reason will enform you that he will much less neglect your selves 3. Because his Providence extends it self to the Flowers of the Field as well as to the Birds for these also are delicately cloathed by him Consider the Lilies of the Field how they grow they toyl not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Wherefore if God so cloath the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall be not much more cloath yeu O ye of little faith Where our Saviour still proceeds à fortiori as in the former case only that he doth it with more advantage arguing that the Wisdom and Goodness of God manifested in this lower rank of Creatures ought to convince every one what reason there is to conclude that he will much rather multiply his Blessings upon Mankind whom he hath created of a nobler Race and to whom he hath all along professed much greater kindness And indeed it is not conceiveable that he will take care not only of the Beasts but of the Birds too and even of those little inconsiderable Birds the Sparrows as I noted before that * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Chrysost in loc not one of them falls to the ground or is ensnared and perishes without his Providence and of the Flowers to array them in such gorgeous Attire and that he will yet be regardless of Man the master-piece of this lower World It is not to be thought that he will have a constant respect to the Creatures that were made for our sake and †Psal 8.6 put in subjection under our feet and will neglect us for whose sake they were made and to whom they were thus subjected The consideration of a general Providence sustaining these inferior Beings is on the contrary a powerful Argument for engaging Men to hope for a greater Interest in his care because of the nearer relation they bear to him And what our Saviour here proves by a very rational method of deduction the holy Scriptures at other times expresly affirm declaring That * 1 Tim. 6.17 God giveth us all things richly to enjoy †Act. 17.25 giveth us life and breath and all things ‖ S. Ja. 1.5 giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not that is that he giveth all necessary things and this not with a sparing Hand but bountifully richly and liberally and not to some select number of Favourites only but to all men of whatsoever Age Language Nation or Religion that it is in him or by his assistance that * Act 17.28 we live move and have our being and again That if †S. Matt. 7.11 we being evil know how to give good gifts unto our Children our Father which is in Heaven will much more give good things to them that ask him And again That he ‖ Job 5.11 setteth up those that be low and those that monrn he exalteth to safety * v. 18. He maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole †v. 20. In famine he redeemeth from death and in war from the power of the sword Sometimes he represents himself ‖ Exod. 15.3 as a man of war and the Lord of hosts is his name and again * Psal 46.9 he maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder and burneth the chariot in the fire †1 Sam. 2.6 He killeth and maketh alive bringeth down to the grave and bringeth back ‖ Psal 146.7 8 9. 107.9 and 68.5 He executeth judgment for the oppressed suiting his Relief to theirs as he doth also to other Men's Necessities If People be hungry he giveth them Food if Prisoners he looseth them from their Confinement if blind it is he that openeth their Eyes if bowed down he is ready to raise them up nor is he wanting to preserve the Stranger or to help the Fatherless and Widows in their streights When any are in the wost disconsolate condition to all outward appearance and are neither able to help themselves nor have any Friend that will stand by them and assist them they have yet this comfort left that the God of Heaven sees their Distress and hears the Sighs and Groans which they send forth in the anguish of their Souls and when * Psal 27.10 Father and Mother forsake them and all other hope fails he will take them up and will provide for them Neither are they only matters of greater concernment that he attends to as Balbus in †Magna Dii curant parva negligunt De nat Deor. l. 2. c. 66. Tully supposes of the Heathen Deities but those likewise of least importance even the very ‖ S. Matt. 10.30 Hairs of our Head all which our blessed Saviour assures us are numbred by him There is nothing about us that escapes his notice nothing in all our Affairs that he is not privy to or wherein we may not
‖ Psal 33.18 19. the eye of the Lord to be upon them that fear him and put their trust in his Mercy to deliver their soul from death and to feed them in the time of dearth He proclaims him to be * Psal 17.7 the Saviour of them that put their trust in him He urges it as an Argument for inclining Almighty God to hearken to him and grant his Requests that †Ps 7.1 16.1 25.20 71.1 c. his trust was stedfastly placed in him He blesses himself in the security he found from his continual Dependance upon God to take care of him ‖ Ps 26.1 whereby he was set above the danger of miscarrying And again he praises and admires the great Goodness of God which had been extended not to himself only and his Contemporaries but to their Ancestors who had left them many remembrances of his Mercy to such as had applied to him in their streights and had been helped by him They cried unto him and prevailed They were confident he would be their Defender and their hope had not made them ashamed * Ps 22.4 5. Our father 's trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them They cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were no◠confounded From all which and divers other like passages in the Book of Psalms it is easie to collect that this Vertue shall not go without its Reward in this present life besides the unconceivable Recompence that shall be allotted it in the other It is a sight highly pleasing to God to behold his poor Creatures sensible of their own insufficiency and flying to him for shelter and his Bowels are presently moved towards them And if their Case be pressing and themselves lay no impediment in the way he will find out a Method for their relief as he did for * 2 Chron. 13.17 18. Abijah and the Men of Judah who when the Army of the Israelites came upon them both before and behind to have cut them off obtained a Victory over them meerly by his Assistance and because they relied upon the Lord God of their Fathers Because they looked up to him in their Distress as their best Safeguard against all their Fears and Dangers and cast themselves wholly upon his Protection this wise Behaviour of theirs engaged his Providence on their side which therefore wrought much more successfully for them than all their own Conduct or Strength or Courage could be supposed to have done Thus it is recorded also of Job that †Job 1.14 c. when it had pleased God to bring him into a very low condition having deprived him of his Children and his Wealth and his Health and soundness of Body so that ‖ c. 2.8 he took a potsheard to scrape himself withall and sat down among the ashes until * c. 30.1 he became a derision to them whose fathers he would have disdained to set with the dogs of his flock as himself expresseth it Still he was not discouraged but professes that though †c. 13 15. God should slay him yet would he trust in him though he were at the point of death and had no appearance of recovery to depend upon this should not make him cast away his Confidence in God but he would still hope for good from him And behold the wonderful effect of this his resolute affiance in God * c. 42.10 The Lord turned the captivity of Job and gave him twice as much as he had before And †v. 16. after this he lived an hundred and forty years and saw his sons and his sons sons even four generations Another very remarkable Instance we have to this purpose in the three Jewish Captives who with undaunted boldness declared before King Nebuchadnezzar what assurance they had that God would rescue them out of his hand ‖ Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O King Which confident Assertion of theirs was soon after verified to his great astonishment when the more effectually to defeat their Expectation he had commanded them to be cast into the burning Furnace and burning in a very unusual manner * v. 19 20. being purposely heated seven times more than it was wont to be upon other occasions but presently he beheld them †v. 25. walking in the midst of the fire without any manner of hurt and the Angel of God with them And when they came out it was visible to the King and all his Courtiers ‖ v. 27. That the fire had no power upon their bodies nor was an hair of their head singed neither were their coats changed nor had the smell of fire passed on them So miraculously did the Goodness of God exert it self for their Deliverance But not to insist upon particular Instances the Son of Syrach appeals for the proof of this Truth to the Experience of many Ages directing to * Ecclus 2.10 look at the generations of old and see did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded or did any abide in his fear and was forsaken or whom did be ever despise that called upon him Which direction whosoever duly follows will find no difficulty in assenting to the following words that †v. 11. the Lord is full of mercy and compassion long-suffering and very pitiful and forgiveth sins and saveth in time of affliction and that as his Majesty is great so is his Mercy He has always been mindful of them that have fled to him in their distress and been ready to proportion his Assistance to their affiance in him In like manner when Maximin the Tyrant had made a Vow to Jupiter That if he got the Victory over Licinius he would utterly extinguish the Christian Name and came on flushed with hopes of an easie Conquest and with a full expectation of putting this impious and bloody Design in execution upon the earnest Prayers of Licinius and his Army ‖ Summe Deus te rogamus Omnem justitiam tibi commendamus salutem nostram tibi commendamus imperium nostrum tibi commendamus Per te vivimus per te victores foelices existimus Summe sancte Deus preces nostras exaudi Brachia nostra ad te tendimus Exaudi sancte summe Deus Lactant. de Mort. praefect c. 46. begging of God to be their Saviour and Protector ascribing all their Power to him and humbly recommending their Safety and their Empire to him and when their General had tried to persuade the Tyrant to a peaceable accommodation but to no purpose his mighty Army was soon overthrown by a very unequal number of these Supplicants and himself forced to fly for his life and thenceforward he found all his attempts to regain his former Station in vain till being at length seiz'd with severe pains even to distraction and having lost his sight in this miserable
picturis ostroque rubenti Jactaris quà m si plebeia in veste cubandum'est Lucret. l. 2. will not reach to all Cases nor administer a Salve for all Sores a cure for all Maladies nor is it any kind of Relief against divers of the severest Afflictions whereto Mankind are liable The greatest Treasures cannot prevent a fit of the Gout or Stone or Cholick or Fever nor remove any other Distemper of the Body nor heal a wounded Conscience nor recover a lost Member nor deliver from Death nor profit in the day of Wrath. Riches are a great Blessing of God and for the most part tend considerably to facilitate the Owner's passage through this World and the greater share therefore any have of them the more cause they have to be thankfull for them But seeing there are great troubles of different kinds for which these afford no remedy it is a necessary piece of Prudence to look after some other more substantial Support that may stand us in stead where these fail 2. Where a Man's Wealth is most helpfull it is but a very uncertain Comfort because he knows not how soon he may possibly be deprived of it * Prov. 23.5 Riches make themselves wings and fly away as an eagle towards heaven They are a transient deceitfull Possession that like the Apples †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 4. c. 27. Duo ibi oppida Sodomum nominatum aiterum alterum Gomorrum apud quae pomum gignitur quod habeat speciem licet maturitatis mandi tamen non potest Solin Polyhist c. 48. Edit Basil of Sodom seem beautifull and enticing at a distance but being handled turn presently into Dust or Smoak and so do us many times little or no good ‖ Quicquid longa series multis laboribus multâ Deûm indulgentiâ struxit id unus dies spargit ac dissipat Senec. Epist 91. After a Man has undergone a course of hard labour for many years together has busied his Brain in designing and his Limbs in acting that if possible he might advance himself and perhaps has at length had the good fortune to obtain his aim he knows not how soon he may be reduced to his former or a worse condition If his Soul be not immediately required of him as the rich Man 's in * c. 12.16 c. S. Luke's Gospel was when he had been just now contriving to enlarge his Barns and take his ease and enjoy himself yet all his store upon which he so highly values himself may be taken away from him and he may have but little profit of all the labour that he hath taken under the sun Instances †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Max. Tyr. dissert 35. are numerous in all Ages of persons who from the greatest plenty whether by the immediate hand of God against them for their Sins or by the malice or treachery of other Men or by their own Luxury and Imprudence have been strangely reduced to a low state to the great amazement of the Beholders Fires losses at Sea or miscarriage at home the wickedness of a perjured Villain the rapine of an Enemy some flaw in a Title some part of an Estate unjusily detained or some extravagant Humour of his own is enough to impoverish a Man in a little time though at present he seem to be as far from it as any But * Nempe dat quodcunque libet fortuna rapito Irus est subito qui modo Croesus erat Ovid. Trist l. 3. cl 7. where these and other like Causes concurr as oftentimes many of them do though one had the Wealth of Croesus he could not prevent his own ruine Thus it pleases God †S Luk. 1.51 52 53. to shew strength with his arm and to scatter the proud who are pussed up at the thoughts of their large Estates in the imagination of their hearts putting down the mighty from their seats and exalting them of low degree filling the hurgry with good things and sending the rich in the mean time empty away 3. A plentifull Fortune is not only an imperfect and uncertain Comfort to the Owner but it is many times an apparent means of his Ruine ‖ Eccles 5.13 14 15 16 17. There is a sore evil saith Solomon that I have seen under the sun namely riches kept for the Owners thereof to their hurt but those riches perish by evil travail and he begetteth a son and there is nothing in his hand As he came forth of his mother's womb naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand And this also is a sore evil that in all points as he came so shall he go and what profit hath he that he hath laboured for the wind All his days also he eateth in darkness and be hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness Where the Preacher not only declares that the rich Man's Wealth shall not accompany him into the other World but affirms moreover that in the mean time it frequently creates him a great deal of Care and Anxiety and Fear and Danger and * Nam illud praetereo quà m multi perierint possessionum aut opum gratiâ Lactant. de mort persecut c. 7. perhaps is the cause of his death at last exciting Thieves or his own Servants or it may be his Children or other his Relations to dispatch him out of the way to the end they may divide the Spoil amongst themselves Or else it exposes him to the Malice or Covetousness of some great Person whom he is in no capacity to withstand Which was the case of †1 King 21.4 v. 9 c. Naiboth the fairness and convenience of whose Vineyard made Ahab uneasie for want of it and thereby put Jezebel upon contriving his death to obtain it So ‖ Jussuque Neronis Longinum magnos Senecae praedivitis hortos Clausit egregias Lateranorum obsidet aedes Tota cohors Juv. Sat. 10. Longinus's plentiful Revenues and Seneca's stately and pleasant Gardens cost each of them his life which they lost only by having so tempting a Bait for the greedy Tyrant And thus it often happens that an * Sed plures nimiâ congesta pecunia curâ Strangulat Ibid. overgrown Estate raises the Envy of some and works upon the Avarice of others and so the Possessor comes to pay dearly for it For in the conclusion either he is secretly murdered or which is worse is taken †Ubicunque cultiorem agrum viderat Dioclesianus aut ornatius aedificium jam parata Domino calumnia poena capitalis Lactant. de mort persec c. 7. Cum opus esset Maximiano Herc. non deerant locupletissimi senatores qui subornatis indiciis affectasse imperium dicerentur ita ut effoderentur assiduè lumina Senatus Ibid. c. 8. off by false Accusation and a pretence of Justice and so is