Et citò vult fieri. Sed qua reverentia legum, tr "This, fays he, is the caufe of moft fins: nor is "there any vice of which the mind of man is capable, that hath been guilty of more murders and poisonings, than a furious defire of immoderate "wealth; for he that will be rich will make hafte to be fo: And what reverence of laws, what fear "or thame, was ever feen in any man that was in "hafte to be rich ?" And this is the fenfe of what the Apostle fays concerning this vice of covetoufnefs, this peremptory refolution of being rich, 1 Tim. vi. 9. 10. They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a fnare, and into many foolish and hurtful lufts, which drown men in deftruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil. If this vice of covetoufnefs once reign in us, if we have once fixed our end, and fet up this refolution with ourselves that we will be rich, we fhall then make every thing ftoop and fubmit to this defign. A covetous man will make his principles and his confcience to bend to his refolution of being rich, and to bow to that interest. The eager defire of riches makes men to pursue them in indirect and uncharitable ways, by falfhood and perjury, by undermining and over reaching, by dif fembling and flattery, by corrupting and imbafing of commodities, by falfe weights and measures, by taking fees with both hands, by making ufe of their power and wit to opprefs and defraud their brother, by impofing upon his ignorance and fimplicity, or by making a prey of his poverty and neceffity. Covetoufnefs many times makes men cruel and unjuft; nay it makes them guilty of the worst fort of cruelty and oppreffion. For (as one fays well) the covetous man oppreffeth his neighbour, not for any good to himself; for he does not enjoy what he tears and rends from others; fo that he is of that most hateful kind of beafts of prey, that kill other creatures, not to eat them, but that they may fee them ly dead by them. Lions and wolves kill out of hunger; but the covetous man, like a ferpent or fcorpion, ftings and bites others to death, not for his need, but for his pleasure and recreation. Covetoufnefs is the parent of the most monstrous fins; because it fixeth a man in a refolution of getting an eftate by any means. If falfenefs and deceit, violence and op-' preffion, will further this end; the earnest defire of the end tempts men to use any fort of means whereby the end may be compaffed; and though a man may have fome averfenefs from them at first, yet that wears off by degrees, and the ftrong defire of the end reconciles a man at laft to the love and li king of the means, how wicked and unwarrantable foever. Covetoufnefs tempted Achan to fteal the accurfed thing, and Gehazi to lie to the prophet, and Ahab to opprefs and murder Naboth. Nay, a fmall fum tempted the covetous mind of Judas to betray his master and his Saviour. And how do many men every day train their confciences to get an eftate, and hazard their fouls for money; nay exchange their fouls, which are of more value than the whole world, for a very fmall portion of it! II. There are likewife many other temptations which a covetous man is expofed to in the keeping and securing of an eftate when he hath got it. A covetous and worldly minded man, when it comes to the trial, is in great danger of quitting his religion, and making hipwrack of faith and a good confcience. When his eftate comes to be in hazard, he is very apt to fall off from the truth; it is an hundred to one but in these circumstances, he will choose rather to violate his confcience, than to forfeit his eftate. What the Devil falfely faid of Job, is true of the covetous man, he does not ferve God for nought. Upon these terms it was that Chrift and the young man parted; he had great poffeffions, and it troubled him to part with them. When Demas was brought to the trial, and put to it, whether he would ftick to the profeffion of the gospel, or his worldly poffeffions, he quitted St. Paul, and declared for the world, 2 Tim. iv. 10. Demas hath forfaken me, having loved this prefent world. So far had his covetous humour beforted him, as to make him prefer his prefent intereft in these tem temporal things, before thofe eternal rewards which the gofpel offered. III. There are likewife many temptations which men are exposed to in the enjoying and spending of a great eftate. It is hard to have a great eftate, and not to be mastered by the love of it; nor to have our cares and thoughts, our hearts and affections fwallowed up by it. It is no eafy thing for a man that hath riches, not to overvalue them, and love them more than he ought; not to be puffed up by them, and fo place his truft and confidence in them, Prov. xviii. 11. The rich man's wealth is his ftrong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. The covetous man fetteth up his riches in the place of God, and is apt to fall down before this golden calf, and worship it: To fay to the gold, thou art my hope, and to the fine gold, thou art my confidence: To rejoice, because his wealth is great, and because his hand bath gotten much. Riches are a great temptation to irreligion and atheifm. Upon this account Agur wifely prays to God for a moderate eftate, because of the danger of both the extremes of riches and poverty; because of the great and violent temptations which men are expofed to in both thefe conditions, Prov. xxxviii. 9. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with food convenient for me. Why not riches? Left I be full and deny thee, and fay, who is the Lord? And much more do riches tempt men to pride and infolence towards others, Prov. xviii. 23. The poor ufeth entreaties, but the rich anfwereth roughly. Mens fpirits are commonly blown up and bloated with their fortunes, and their pride, and stomach, and paffion, do usually increase in proportion to their wealth. And many times riches tempt men to luxury and intemperance, and all manner of excefs. Rich men have a mighty temptation to allow themfelves all manner of unlawful pleasure, because he who hath a great estate is furnished with that to which hardly any thing can be denied. And this is not inconfiftent with a covetous humour; for there are, many times, men who are covetous in getting, for no other end VOL. V. and and reafon, but that they may spend it upon their lufts. As covetoufnefs fometimes ftarves other vices, fo fometimes it ferves them, and is made fubordinate to a man's ambition, or luft, or fome other reigning vice. There is no fuch abfolute inconfiftency between riches and virtue, but that it is poffible that a man that is very rich may be very good. But yet if we confult experience, I doubt it will be found a true obfervation, that there are but very few rich men, who are not infupportable, either for their vanity or their vices; fo that our Saviour had reafon for that fevere queftion, How hard is it for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God? And well might he upon this account pronounce the poor (the poor in eftate, as well as the poor in fpirit) blessed, as we find he does, Luke vi. 20. Bleffed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. They oftener enter there than the rich. Thirdly, Covetoufnefs is likewife evil and unreafonable, because it is an endless and infatiable defire. A covetous mind may propose to itself fome certain bounds and limits, and a man may think that when he is arrived to fuch an eftate, and hath raised his fortune to fuch a pitch, that he will then fit down contented and fatisfied, and will feek after no more. But he deceives himself in this matter; for when he hath attained to that which he propofed to himself, he will be never the nearer being fatisfied. So Solomon tells us, Ecclef. v. 10. He that loveth filver, fhall not be fatisfied with filver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increafe; for no degree of wealth can fatisfy a covetous mind. He may think fo beforehand, that if he had fo much it would be enough; but when he hath attained it, he will be ftill reaching after more; for covetoufness is a disease of the mind, and an unnatural thirst, which is inflamed by that which fhould quench it. Every defire that is natural, is fatisfied and at reft, when it hath once obtained the thing it defired. If a man be hungry, he is fatisfied when he hath eaten; or if he be thirty, the thirst is allayed and quenched when he hath drank to fuch a proportion as nature doth require; and if he eat and drink beyond this meafure, nature is oppreft, and and it is a burden to him. But covetoufnefs is not the thirst of nature, but of a difeafed mind. It is the thirst of a fever, or of a dropfy; the more a man drinks, the more he defires, and the more he is inflamed. In like manner, the more the covetous man increaseth his estate, the more his defires are enlarged and extended, and he finds continually new occafions and new neceffities; and every day as he grows richer, he difcovers new wants; and a new poverty to be provided againft, which he did not think of before, comes into his mind: Et minùs hac optat, qui non habet; and he that is without thefe things, covets them less than he that hath them. So far is a covetous man's attaining to riches from giving him fatisfaction, that he who hath fcarce any thing at all, is many times much nearer to contentment, than he that hath got so much; nay, fo unreafonable is this appetite, as to defire more, even when the man knows not how to bestow what he hath already. This Solomon obferved long fince (for the vices and humours of men are much the fame in all ages) Ecclef. iv. 8. There is one alone, and there is not a fecond; yea, he hath neither child nor brother; yet there is no end of all his labour, neither is his eye fatisfied with riches, neither faith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my foul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a fore travel. And indeed what can be greater vanity and folly, than to be at certain pains and labour all the days of a man's life, and yet to be uncertain all the while, for whom it is that he drudgeth and taketh all these pains. And if this be the nature of this vice, the more it gets, ftill to covet the more; then nothing can be more unreasonable, than to think to gratify this appetite; because at this rate, the man can never be contented, because he can never have enough; nay, fo far is it from that, that every new acceffion to his fortune, fets his defires one degree farther from reft and fatisfaction: for a covetous mind having no bounds, it is very probable that the man's defire will increase much faster than his eftate; and then the richer he is, he is ftill the poorer, because he is fill |