Works, Part 4 · Religious instruction · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of Couetousnesse, and the desire of Riches.
THere are manie which can be content to make Iacobs vowe, that is, if they hauehave meate, drinke, and cloathing, they will serue God, but they goe vpwards still in their worldlike accounts, and downwards in heauenlyCouetousnes. things, they rise from tens to scores, from scores to hundreths: they will not goe downeward with Abraham, they will hauehave thousands of sheep, els they be but poore: they will hauehave Nab…oths vineyard with Ahab, and dwell alone, els they be sicke. Thou hast set vp the heauensMans desire how satisfied. high, saith the Prophet, else surely rich men would hauehave all the vse of them, & leese them too. So nothing can satisfie mans desire which is infinit, but God, who infinite. And if he hauehave all the riches in the world, he will desire more. A very vnnaturallSimile. desire is this (as the dropsie in desiring drinke) when the desire proceeds from fulnes, for a man should desire that which he wanteth. The minde of a man is not filled with corporall things, no more then a chest can be filled with wisdom or spirituall things. But presupposeSimile. Note. Desire of riches. that riches could fill a man: if wee had all wealth, all riches, all apparell; wee put not our wealth in our mindes, our clothes do vsus no good, but whē they are vponupon vsus. The possessing of riches doth not so fully possesse the heart, but that it can desire a thousand things more.
2 Riches are in question whether they be good or no; When the Scripture speaks of riches, they ioyne alwayes somewhat to them: to take away our hearts from them, as the deceitfulnes of riches, the vncertainty of riches, the riches of this world, and therfore like the world; now here, & now gone, they either hauehave their own end, or our end. They make no man good, but they are euen like a penie purse, which is worth as much as the money that is in it: but the money taken out, it is nothing worth: euen so is the man that hath his good in his riches. When they are takē from him, he is worth nothing, he hath no good in him.Many rich men are emptie of all goodnes. God hath them not, and yet he wanteth no good thing. It is the common complaint, that the worst men doe most abound with them. Dauid was faine to goe to Nabal for them. Esau had foure hundred men; when Iacob lay downe at his feet with a few. Sometimes indeed they doe good, but that is not sufficient to ground a Maxime; they are good: for that which is good doth alwayes good. They hauehave a mixte nature retaining some vse as a blessing ofThe nature of riches. their creation, and much euill by the fall of Adam. And they hauehave bene euer greater causes of harme then of good by occasion. And therfore saith a Father on the Prayer, Prou. 30. Lord giuegive me neither riches nor pouertie. Pouertie (saith he) hath bene the decay of many a man, but riches of a farre greater number.
3 Many desire that, which when they hauehave gotten, their conscience is afraide to vse.
4 Nothing is ours, but as we feele our title in Christ, and as it is sanctified by praier and by the word.
5 Manie are outwardly well and rich in this world, which are inwardly ill and poore inMany rich poore. godlines, and many hate outward euill things, which for want of spirituall knowledge fee not the corruptions of the heart.
6 Though the hawthorns in spring-time hauehave a faire white flower, pleasant to the sense;Simile. yet indeed, it is but a pricking thorne: so riches, glorious to the eye, by Christs own mouth are called thornes. They pricke both hand & heart. CHRIST hath spoken it in his time,Riches Thornes. and it is not to be thoght that they hauehave changed their own nature since. And though we feele not these pricks in the beginning, yet we shall find this true in the end. Though some die as swine in a ditch, as benummed, as men already plunged in the pit of hell; yet hauehave others wished on their death-bed that they had neuer gone further then the shouell & spade.How some rich men die.
7 There are two kindes of louelove among vsus, as may be gathered by our common talke: First, we say we louelove our friends, that is, we would hauehave them doe well: Next, when wee be said to louelove money, the meaning is, we wish to hauehave it. But let vsus obserue, that whatsoeuer we louelove, we wish the good of it. And the good of eueryevery thing is the end. For which God hath created it to serue his glorie. For this cause the Prophets tell vsus, that the wood and stones of our houses shall come and giuegive witnesse against vsus at the great day, for turning them violently to another vse than God hath ordained them. Now the vse of riches is toVse of riches. be communicated: else God might hauehave made all rich. If we wisely note this▪ we louelove not riches, when we desire so greedily to hauehave and keepe them. None would be so loued of his friends as hee loues his meate, that is to be eaten and deuoured, as great men deuoure the poore and riches.
8 And to shewe that God is highly displeased with this immoderate louelove of riches, heeNote. punisheth it with itselfe; hee doth punish a desire with a desire: As the Prophet Nathan saith. Thornes are folded one within another: So it is in the desire of riches, one desire followeth another. Such men are well compared to great Mastiues, who hauing receiued one morsell, swallowe it vp greedily, and waite for another. The holy Ghost compareth them to horsleaches, who sucke blood till they burst their skinnes. When men begin toThe heathen poore man at the first, would hauehave of his God but 1000. sheepe, but after he desired more saying: Pauperis est numerate pecus. Riches cānot fill the soule, Simile. be rich, their desire is infinite, and they like not their substance when it may be numbred or manifested. But we see Luk. 12▪ there is no other speech vsed of the rich man, then of most poore men: What shall I doo? There is mention made of a beast in Daniel, (and in that hee was a beast indeede) which wept because there were no more worlds for him to ouercome: So is it with the couetous rich men.
9 It is no maruell if riches fill not the soule, for they were all made for man, his soule for GOD. Whatsoeuer is capable of God, that can neuer be satisfied with any thing else: all riches, all preferments cannot satisfie one soule, but when God is come it is full; and whatsoeuer is added more it runneth ouer. Mans desire is like a burning fire, and riches are the wood and fuell, which may seeme to slake the fire for a time, but it will burne more vehemently afterward. The wise Preacher concludeth this, saying: Hee that loueth siluer shall not be satisfied with it, and hee that lovethriches shall be without the fruit thereof. Eccle. 5. 9.