The Governance of Virtue, Part 2 · Section 21
Against Couetousnes.
If the deuil and the worlde moue thee not to bee content with that is sufficient and enough, but inordinatly add vnmeasurably to scrat together the goods of the world, to oppresse the pore▪ to ioine house to house, land to land, lordship to lordship, &c. to take great incommes, to raise the rentes, and to get that maye be gotten by right or by wrong, defend thy selfe against them with these holye scriptures that folow euer remembring that thou arte but a straunger and a pilgrime in this worlde, and that thou must go hence, eyther vntounto glory or vntounto paine, yea and that▪ how sone thou knowest not.
Sentences out of the olde Testament.
TThou shalt not couet thy neyghboursExo. 20 goods.
Ye shall not trouble, hurt, nor anoy noExo. 22 widow nor fatherles childe.
If ye shall hurt them, and they cry vntounto me, I wil surely heare t…eir cry, and thē wil my wrath waxe whote: and I will kill you with the sweard, and your wiues shalbe widowes, and your children fatherles.
Thou shalt take no giftes, for giftesExod. … blinde the wise, and peruert the wordes of the righteous.
Thou shalt not do thy neighbour wronge…eu. 12. neither violently oppresse him. Ye shal do no vnrighteousnes in iudgement, in mete yard, in weighte or in measure. True ballances, true weightes, a true Epha and a true Hin, shall ye hauehave.
Fire shall consume the houses of such…ob. 15 as are gredy to receiue giftes.
He heapeth vp treasure and yet knowPsal. 39 eth not he for whom he gathereth it.
O truste not in wronge and robbery,Psal. 42 geue not your selues vntounto vanities▪ and if ritches encrease, set not your harte vponupon them.
Encline my har… (O Lord) to thy testimoniesPsalm. 119 and not to couetousnes.
Who hordeth vp his corne shalbe cursedPro. 11 among the people, but blessing shall light vponupon his hed that geueth food.
He that trusteth in his riches, shal hauehave a fall, but the righteous shall florishe as ye greene leaf.
Better is a little with the feare of the Lorde, then great and innumerable treasures otherwise. He goeth aboute to destroy his own house, that geueth his mind to couetousnes but who so hateth reward shall liue.
Better it is to hauehave a little with righteousnesse,Pro. 16 then great rentes wrongfully gotten.
He that hateth couetousnesse shall liuePro. 18 long.
A man that is sodenly riche, enuyeth other, and considereth not that pouertye shall come vponupon hym.
Who so robbeth his father and saith it is no sinne, y• same is like vntounto a mans…ear.
O Lord geue me neither pouertye norPro. 30 riches: onelye graunt me a necessarye lyuinge.
He that loueth mony, wil neuer be satisfiedEccle. 5 with monye, and who so delighteth in riches, shall hauehave no profit therof.
Where as muche riches is, ther are ma ny also that spende them away. And what pleasure more hathe hee possessed then sauing that he maye looke vponupon them wyth his eyes.
A labouring man slepeth swetely, whether it be litlle or much that he eateth, but the aboundance of the riche wil not suffer him to slepe.
There is a sore plague, which I hauehave sene vnderunder the sonne, namely riches kept to the hurte of him that hath them in possession. For oftimes they pearishe with his great misery and trouble, and if he hauehave a childe it getteth nothing.
Read forth the Chapiter.
Let not thyne hande be stretched outEccle. 4 to receaue, and shut when thou shouldest geue.
Trust not vntounto thy riches, and saye notEccle. 5 tushe, I hauehave inoughe for my life. For it shall not helpe thee in the time of vengeance and temptation.
Trust not in wicked riches, for they shal not healp thee in the daye of punishment and wrath.
Nothing is more wicked and vngratiousEccle. 11 then a couetous man.
He that with all his carefulnes heapethEccle, 14 together vnrightuously gathereth for other folkes, and another man shal make good chere with hys goods.
A couetous mans eye, hath neuer inough in the portion of wickednes vntil the time that he wither away, and hath lost his own soule.
The riches of the proude shalbe rootedEccle. 21 out.
He that loueth ritches, shall not …e iustified.Eccle. 31
Manye one is come in great mysfortune by the reason of gold, and hauehave found their destruction before them. It is a tree of fallinge vntounto them. It is a tree of passage vn to them that offer it vp, and al such as be folish, fall therin.
Blessed is the riche, which is founde without blemish, and hath not gone after gold, nor heaped in mony and treasures, where is there such a one: and we shal com mende him and call him blessed? For great things doth he among his people.Esay. 5
Wo be vntounto you, that ioyne house to house, and coopl… land to land euen so lōg as any can be gotten. Shal ye alone dwel vponupon the earth? These things are in the eares of the Lorde of hostes &c.
Wo bee vntounto them that geue sentence with the vngodly for rewards and condemne the iust cause of the righteous.
Wo be vntounto thee that spoylest, for thouEsay. 33 also shalt be spoyled.
Wo be vntounto him that heapeth vp other mennes goods. Howe long will he lade himselfe with thick claye?
O howe sodenly will they stand vp, thatAbac. … bite and awake, that shall teare thee in peces? yea thou shalt be their pray.
Wo be vntounto him, that couetously gathe reth euil gotten goods into his house, that he may set his neste on hye, to escape from the power of misfortune Thou haste deuised the shame of thyne owne house, so that the very stones of the wall shall cry out of it, and the tymber that lieth betwixt the ioynts of the building, shall aunswere.
Their siluer and theyr gold shall not be able to deliuer thē in the day of the Lords wrath.
Examples out of the olde Testament.
Balaam for luc…es sake would hauehave curNum. 12 sed the people of Israel contrary to his own conscience, but he was reproued of the Aungell of the Lord, so that his cursing was turned into blessing.
Acham by the commaundement of GodIosue. 7 was stoned to death, because …e toke of the excommunicate goods.
Saul for the couetousnes of the praylost1. Reg. 13. his kingdome.
The couetousnes of Naball & his churlishnes…. Reg. 35 shewed vntounto Dauid, had almoste caused that Naball and all that euer hee had, had bene vtterly destroyed, if Abigail his wife had not pacified the matter. Notwithstanding God shortlye punished him with death so that he was taken away frō all that euer he had.
The couetousnes of Achab and Iesabel3. Reg. … was the occasion that the good Nabothe was stoned vntounto death, against all equitie and right, that by this meanes they might hauehave his vineyarde. But howe miserable their end was for that their abhominable murther, the holy stories do declare.
Gehesy was striken with leprosy, because4. Reg. 5 he receiued mony of Naaman.
☞ Sentences out of the new Testament.
BLessed are the poore in spirit for theirsMath. 5 is the kingdome of heauen.
Lay not vp treasure for youre seluesMat. 6 vponupon earth, where neither rust nor mothe doth corrupt, and where theues break thorow and steale.
But lay vp treasures for you in heauē where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt and where theeues do not breake through nor steale. For where your tresure is ther wil your hart be also.
What dooth it prophet a man to winMath. 1… the whole worlde, if he loseth his soule? A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdome of heauen.
It is more easye for a cable rope to goMat. 19. thorow the eye of a nedle, then a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen.
Wo be to you riche men, whiche hauehaveLuke. 6 your comfort.
Take heede and beware of couetousnes.Luke. 12 For no mans life standeth in the aboū dance of thinges which he possesseth.
Thou foole this night wil they fetche away thy soule againe from thee. Then whose shall the thinges be, that thou hast gathered.
Take hede to your selues, lest at anyLuke. 21 time youre hartes bee ouercome with the cares of this life.
If any that is called a brother, that is1. Cor. 5 to say a christen man, be couetous or an ex torcioner, with him eat not.
Neither theues, neither couetous per1. Cor. 6 sons, nether extorcioners, shal inherit the kingdome of God.
Let not couetousnes be once named amongEphe. 5 you. For no couetous parsō, which is a worshipper of Idols, hath any inheritance in the kingdome of Christ and God. Godlines is great riches, if a man be content with suche as GOD sendes. For we brought nothing into the worlde, neither shall we cary any thing out.
Whan we hauehave fode and rayment, let vsus therwt be content, they that wil be rich fall into temptation and snares and into many folishe and noysome lustes whiche drown men in temptation and destructiō For couetousnes is the roote of all euill, which while some lusted after they erred from the faith, and tangled them selues wt manye sorowes. But thou whiche art the man of god, flee such things. Folow righteousnesse, godlynesse, louelove, patience, and mekenes.
Let your conuersation be without couetousnesse, and bee content with that ye hauehave alredy. For God verely hath saide, I wil not faile thee, nor yet forsake thee.
Examples out of the new Testament.
ACertaine riche and couetous person,Luc. 21. made great prouisiō for many yeares that he might liue pleasantly and welthely, but shortly after God tooke awaye hys life, so that he died.
The riche and vnmerciful glotton thatLuke. 1… fared daintely euerye daye, and was gorgeously apparaled, died and was buryed in Hel.
Iudas for lucre of mony, sould and betrayed his maister christ to the bishops Scribes and Pharises. Afterward he hanging vp him selfe, brast a sunder in the mides and al his bowels gushed out.
Ananias and Saphira were punishedAct. 5 with soden death, because of a couetous mynde, they kept away parte of the mony which they receyued for the possession that they had sould.