of a covetous mind are never to be fupplied, because it hath ordered the matter fo cunningly, as to want even that which it hath. Such a man does not get riches to fupply his wants, but is content to want that he may be rich; infomuch that he hath not the heart to use his eftate for the supply of his real neceffities. How many do almost starve themselves in the midst of plenty and abundance? There is no greater fign of poverty than to be deeply in debt ; now the covetous man lives and dies in debt to himfelf. Some men have been fo fhamefully penurious and ftingy to themselves, as even to dy to fave charges, which yet perhaps is the moft generous thing they ever did in their whole lives, in refpect to the world; because by this means fome body may come to the enjoyment of their eftates and that great dunghill which they have been fo long raking together, may by this means come to be fpread abroad for the publick benefit.

So that if a covetous man were poffeffed of the wealth of both the Indies, all this would not free him from want. A poor man's wants may be fatif fied, when he hath obtained what he wants: But the covetous man labours of an incurable want; cause he wants that which he hath, as well as that which he hath not.

be

(2.) As for contempt, riches will not fecure a coyetous nan against this neither; nay, fo far is it from that, that he is commonly more ridiculous and defpifed for living poor in the midst of abundance, than if he were really fo. Did I fay, really fo? He is the most really poor of all other men. For as one fays well, The rich poor man is emphatically poor.

(3.). Neither will riches free men from bodily illnefs and pain. The rich are liable to as many dif eafes, and as fharp pains as the poor, and they have commonly lefs patience to bear them than the poor; because they have not been inured to other forts of evils. They that have been accustomed to labour, are generally beft fitted to bear pain; the rich are commonly more tender and delicate, and have a quicker fenfe of pain, more matter, and greater

quan

quantity of humours to feed a disease, and to inflame it to a greater height.

I must not here forget that there is a fort of rich men, I mean the penurious mifers, who ftarve themfelves more than the poor, and fare many times more hardly; and for this reafon, tho' they be not in danger of the difeafes that come from intemperance, and a plentiful table; yet they are liable to the difeafes which proceed from ftarving and emptinefs; which the phyficians fay are more dangerous than the other So that neither the prodigal nor the niggardly rich man is fecured from bodily pains and difeafes, by a great estate.

(4.) Neither will riches fecure a man from being unhappy in his friends and relations. A great eftate will not make a man's children either more dutiful or wife, than the children of meaner perfons; and if they be not fo, his eftate cannot be fo great an happiness to him, as they may prove an affliction. Solomon tells us, that the very fear and apprehenfion of this did very much imbitter the fruit of all his labour; and he feems to fpeak it fenfibly, and very probably with a melancholy reflexion upon his fon Rehoboam, Ecclef. ii. 18. 19. Yea I hated all my labour which I had taken under the fun, because I fhould leave it unto the man that shall be after me; and who knows whether he shall be a wife man or a fool? Yet fhall he have rule over all my labour, wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have fhewed myfelf wife under the fun. Who knows whether he fhall be a wife man or a fool he feems to fpeak doubtfully but he had a very fhrewd guess what kind of man his fon would make; for he speaks more defpondingly in the next words, ver. 20. 21. therefore I went about to cause my heart to defpair of all the labour which I took under the fun; that is, when I thought ferioufly of it, I began to think that all the pains I had taken to get an eftate, would be but to little purpofe; for there is a man (faith he) whofe labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, (that is, who by wife and honeft means hath raised a great eftate) yet to a man that hath not la

H 2

boured

boured therein, (that is, to a man who is endued with none of thefe qualities) shall he leave it for his portion; this alfo is vanity, and a great evil.

And as for friends, though the rich man have many that will call themfelves fo, yet he had almost as good have none; for he can hardly ever know whe ther they be fo or not, unless he chance to fall into poverty, and then indeed the change of his condition may give him that advantage and opportunity, which otherwife he is never like to have, of difcerning between his friends and his flatterers. Thus you fee that riches are no fecurity against the most confiderable evils which attend us in the courfe of our lives.

II. When we come to dy, nothing will minister lefs comfort to us, at that time, than a great estate. It is then a very fmall pleasure to a man, to reflect how much he hath gotten in the world, when he fees that he must leave it; nay, like the young man in the gospel, he goes away fo much the more forrowful, because he hath great poffeffions. All the things of this world feem very inconfiderable to a man, when he approaches to the confines of the other: for when he fees that he must leave this world, then he would fain make a virtue of neceffity, and begins to change his apprehenfions of thefe things, and to have very flight and mean thoughts of them, when he is convinced he can enjoy them no longer. What the philofopher was wont to fay of the pleafures of this world, is as true of riches, and all the other enjoyments of it; That, "if they did but put on the "fame countenance, and look with the fame face, "when they come to us, that they will do when they turn from us, and take their leave of us, we "fhould hardly entertain them."

Now if a man have placed his chief happiness in this world, as the covetous man does in his riches, his great trouble when he comes to dy will be, that he must leave them. Nothing could be more feverely faid to the covetous man, than that which God fays to the rich man in the parable, Thou fool, this night shall thy foul be required of thee, and then whofe fhall these things be? For of all things in the world,

world, fuch men cannot endure to think of parting with these things, or that what they have got with fuch great care and labour, fhould come to the poffeffion of another.

And therefore when we are fo hot and eager in the purfuit of these things, we should do well to confider, how they will appear to us in a dying hour. And this confideration well imprinted upon our minds, will make us very careful, to treasure up other kind of comforts to ourselves against fuch a time, and to labour after thofe things which we fhall never grow out of conceit withal, but fhall value them to the laft, and then most of all when we come to dy, and leave this world. For as a Poet of our own fays excellently,

'Tis not that which, first we love,
But what dying we approve.

Thus I have done with the fourth thing, whereby the evil and unreasonablenefs of covetoufnefs doth appear, namely, that the happinefs of human life doth not confift in a great eftate; the life of man doth not confift in the abundance of the things which be poffeffeth. The great ends of religion, and covetoufnefs, are very different. The great end which religion propofeth to itself, is happiness but the great end which covetoufnefs propofeth, is riches; which are neither a neceffary nor a probable means of happiness. I fhould now have proceeded to the fifth and last particular; namely, that riches are fo far from being the happinets of human life, that they ufually contribute very much to our mifery and forrow; as will appear, if we confider thefe four things: First, The labour and care which covetous men are at in the getting of a great estate.

Secondly, The anxiety of keeping it, together with the fears of lofing it.

Thirdly, The trouble and vexation of having loft it and,

Fourthly, The dreadful and heavy account which every man must give of a great citaté. But thefe

H 3

par

particulars, together with the application of this whole difcourfe, I fhall refer to another opportunity.

SERMON XCIII.

.The evil and unreasonableness of covetouf nefs.

LUXE xii. 15.

And he faid unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness; for a man's life confifteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

The fourth fermon on this text.

N my two laft difcourfes on this fubject, I have reprefented the evil and unreafonableness of the vice of covetoufnefs, in four particulars. I proceed now to the fifth and laft particular, whereby I told you the evil and unreasonableness of it would appear, viz..

That riches are fo far from being the happiness of human life, that they ufually contribute very much to our mifery and forrow; as will evidently appear, if we confider thefe four things:

First, The labour and care which the covetous man is at in getting of a great estate.

Secondly, The anxiety of keeping it, together with the fears of lofing it.

Thirdly, The trouble and vexation of having loft it. Fourthly, The heavy and dreadful account which every man muft give of a great estate.

Firft, The labour and care which the covetous man bath in getting a great eftate. He that will be rich, muft fweat for it, and refufe no pains and trouble; he must rife up early, and ly down late, and eat the bread of carefulness. A flave that digs in the mines, or rows in the gallies, is not a greater drudge, than fome covetous worldlings are; only with this difference, that the covetous man thinks that he labours and takes all thefe pains for himself; whereas the flave understands the matter more truly, and thinks that he does it for another.

But