Counsel to the Rich, Chapter 2
CHAP. II. Of the Ways whereby Proſperity ſlayeth.
THE Rich hath many Friends, ſaith the Royal Preacher. Yea, more than be good, ſaith every Spectator. Many, as the Italians ſpeak, which dwell at Placenza. Which be bold to pleaſe you to your Hurt, and as fearful to offend you for your Good. Prompt to court you to Hell, and afraid to chide you to Heaven!
Sirs, Your State is like that of Men in a Great but very Leaky Ship. Unleſs you continually Pump, you unavoidably Periſh. But, Hard Labour agrees with few of you. Nor can you much better hear of it, than Lewis the 11th could hear of Death; Death, whoſe Name was half the Thing to him.
And, as little do moſt who are about you incline to trouble you with it. One ſays as Cain; Am I their Keeper? No, let the Chaplain ſee to his Lord and Ladies Salvation! Another ſays as Solomon's Sluggard; There is a Lion in the Way, and I ſhall be bitten! I know that a Bee gets nothing by ſtinging of a Bear. Another argues like Judas; To what purpoſe is this Waſte? It is as eaſy to make an old Man Young, as a Rich Man Wiſe.
But what Friends of God, or of your Souls, are theſe worſe than Cannibals? To your Souls, what is their Affection, whoſe Silence gives Conſent to your Damnation? Toward God, what can more prove an Infidel, than ſuch contrariety to his Precept and Example? Wherefore,
By your leave, and whether you will or no, it is to be ſaid as follows:
With a Corrupt Nature, common to Adam's Race, you have Trains of Temptations, peculiar to your own Rank. All Men have Rubs in their way towards Heaven; but, upon Oſſa, you have Pelion. All our Lives, be continued Temptations. But yours be the moſt multiplied ones. For, what are your Eſtates but Superfluities? and ſee you not that things ſuperfluous be generally miſchievous? That rank Corn does ſtill Lodg. Overladen Boughs do break. Bloſſoms of extream Plenty, ſeldom come to maturity. And overgrown Bodies be the fulleſt of Maladies. Beſides, Satan knows, that one of you is worth a thouſand of us, for his turn; and he accordingly ſtrains to get you. And, there is no Eve but what offers you an hundred Apples, for every one that is preſented to your Neighbours! You are encircled with Lures ſufficient, if it were poſſible, to deceive the very Elect!
In ſhort; your Riches are
Blinds to your Reaſon;
Opiats to your Conſcience;
Fewel to your ſenſual Appetites;
Bellows to your Paſſion;
Extinguiſhers of Devotion;
Bars againſt the Croſs of Chriſt;
Nets wherein Satan takes you;
Bands wherein he holds you;
Toils by which you do take Men; and
Chains by which you lead them Captives in Sin.
Inſomuch, that it is of little wonder they ſhould ſlay Fools, and wound the Wiſeſt of you.
1. Your Riches are Blinds. The Faculty and Habit of Reaſon they do not deſtroy. But the Ʋſe and Exerciſe of it they do ſadly ſuppreſs. For, their ſpecious Vanities do perpetually court your Senſes; perpetually incur your Eyes, your Ears, and your Mouths. And thrô them make way into your Fancies. By whoſe quick and mighty Inſpiration, they do eaſily raiſe your Paſſions, and allure thoſe blind Powers to their embraces. Which being gained, your Minds are preſently bribed and blinded; your Underſtandings, given to be your Guides; conſtituted God's Deputies to order your Lives; made the Eyes of your Souls, to direct in all your Duties; to inhibit from Evil, and to inſtigate you unto Good; to teſtify your Innocence, or your Guilt in every Practice; and to approve or condemn you accordingly: theſe your Underſtandings are darkned by your Paſſions, your blind, but burning Paſſions; the ſmoke of whoſe Furnace puts out their Eyes, making them either to ſtand Neuters, or turn Parties for your Luſts. Utterly to neglect their Office, or act moſt contrarily to their Duty.
Thus, do your Riches murder your very Thoughts, as Herod, the Infants. Eſpecially, as Pharaoh, all your Maſculine ones. Thus, they do hold you entertaining your Fancies, and treating your ſenſual Appetites. Which is the Buſineſs and Pleaſure of Aſſes and Apes; not of Angels and Men. Thus they ſerve you, as the Athenians did the Men of Egina, cut off your Thumbs, and diſable you to every thing that is Manly; every thing, ſave pulling an Oar in their Galley. Miſerable ſervitude! wherein you are all Fancy, no Thought. And are ſet upon your Caſh, as Swine on their Draff; without one look Upwards. Great Men do not know, the Rich do not conſider!
2. Your Riches are Opiats. Your Conſciences feel them ſuch. Your Conſciences, which are inſeparable Faculties of your Souls. Which are Laws in them, and more unalterable than the Medes and Perſians. Are Witneſſes alſo; Witneſſes, not to be made away with. And are Judges; Judges for Life, and not durante beneplacito. But, theſe, (thank your Riches) are all aſleep in your Breaſts. For, as your Inheritances, and your Purchaſes do give you great Power to Command, they do take from you all Will to Obey. Their Duſt, as hath been ſaid, puts out your Eyes. And, as it is ſaid of the Belly, an unthinking Mind hath no Ears. While you ſee not the Lord over you, you hearken not to any of his Meſſengers. If Conſcience then as ſuch, be importune and troubleſome; loquacious, and imperious; what Peace? It is next and immediately under God and his Chriſt, ſupream Moderator and Governour. And its words are of Terror, greater than you can bear. Neither is there any Peace to be had, unleſs it be humbly Obeyed, or utterly Suppreſſed. Your high Eſtates make your Minds too high for the firſt. And furniſh you with means to ſtill the roaring Lion that troubles you. To give Sleep to that, which would take it from you.
A continual Feaſt of your Senſes effectually does it. And your Riches do, all the Year long, hold this continual Feaſt. For, whatſoever your Eye, or any other Senſe deſires, you keep it not from them. The Rarities of the Earth, the Air, and the Water, are your common fare. Velvets, and Tiſſue, your ordinary Raiment. Very Paradiſes, your plain Gardens. Stately Palaces, your conſtant Dwelling houſes. It's true, theſe things, tho they do never ſatisfy, do ſoon cloy. What is moſt ſweet, by frequent uſe becomes Inſipid. But, by Variety, and Viciſſitude, you prevent that. The Se…vants of your Pleaſure, do take off the wearineſs of one, by bringing you another. Inſomuch, that Conſcience can never find you at home, and at leiſure to be ſpoke with. And having not…ing to do with any, but with your Selves; or with your Selves, but in the buſineſs of your Souls; for want of Company and Buſineſs, it falls aſleep. And what ſhould be your Seer, becomes Blind. What ſhould be your Crier, is a dumb Dog, that cannot bark, ſleeping, lying down, and loving to ſlumber.
3. Your Riches are Fewel. Fewel to your Luſts, and vicious Deſires. Deſires, partly Brutiſh, and partly Deviliſh. Brutiſh and ſordid, of things that are below Men; Deviliſh and Proud, of things that are above Angels. Theſe, make the Ʋniverſity, in which all Sins are bred and educated. Theſe are the Wombs that bear, and Duggs which give Suck unto all. But, never ſo much as when high fed; when pricked with Provender. Which they always are, within every Rich Door. The Furniture of your Houſes, conſiſting of little beſide Blandiſhments. Blandiſhments, that foment Luſt's Warmth to Heat; their Heat, to Fire; their Fire, to Flame! Flame, ſwift as Lightning, and only leſs extinguiſhable than that of Hell. From all the Elements you do fetch in alluring Objects. Laviſhing Gold out of the Bag, for ſuch whoſe Smoke doth moſt darken your Minds, and Fire enliven your Luſts. Camerades, you muſt have few, more than ingenious Brutes. Ingenious, to ſpring many games of Folly, and to diſguiſe the Guilt of all, and their Ignominy. Whoſe ſervile Tongues, and mercenary Hands, be Artiſts to dreſs your ſenſual Pleaſures, and raiſe your languiſhing Appetites. Theſe, with their much fair Speech, do cauſe you to yield. With the flattering of their Lips they do force you.
4. Your Riches are Bellows. Bellows to your angry Fires. And, no leſs than unto your Luſts; which, have not more Hell in them, than your Wrath. Wrath, which whether cloſe and Buried, or open and Burning; whether the haſty one of a Waſp, or the more Slow, but ſeverer one of a Lion; always is a morbid Paſſion, always a deadly Gangrene! A Fever in the Heart, that kindles Fire in the Eyes; and if not check'd, gives the Face the paleneſs of Aſhes. Makes Reaſon drunk; and like an haſty Servant, to poſt away without its Errand. And, as an ill Dog, to break out upon Friends, juſt as on Thieves. Yet this Fire do your Riches blow up. Your Plenty promotes this Anger, as much as any Deſire. For, have you not felt it? Indignities, and ſtorming Provocations, have place in your higheſt Regions. Caligula is ever and anon called a Dotard by a Cobler; a Belizarius is ſometimes, fain to beg Farthings. You mortal Gods are not above Contempts and Croſſes. Nay, you do meet with moſt, thô your Stomachs can digeſt them leaſt. Your Names are greater than ours; and capacious of more Slanders. Your ſecular Purpoſes are more than ours; and you are liable to more Diſappointments. Your Self-eſteem alſo, and carnal Deſires, appear more exorbitant than ours. And, conſequently, your Calenture muſt be higher under every Injury. Yea, under any juſt Slight, or Fruſtration. Becauſe no Serpents do more twine and wreath about each other, than Anger and Revenge do about Pride and Luſt. Eſpecially, Pride, as yours is, armed with Power; and Deſire, as yours is, edged with Expectation. By this means; your larger Walks have more pricking Briars, and grieving Thorns; as well as more beautiful Lillies, and ſweeter Roſes, than ours. Your numerous Families, are, oftner than ours, boiling Furnaces. Boiling with Wrath and Bitterneſs, and running over with Clamour and Evil-ſpeaking. The way of Peace they know not.
5. Your Riches are Extinguiſhers. Not kindling or blowing up impure Fires, more than they quench Sacred ones. Opulence, is a more notorious Enemy to Devotion, than want of Bread! Devotion, is higheſt Eſtimation of the Almighty; Supream Love, profoundeſt Reverence, conſtant Dependance, moſt entire Obedience! But, feel you not what a weight thick Clay is of? And how hardly, you, that are laden with it, can turn your Eyes, to any of theſe? Alas, your Poſſeſſions do take the full poſſeſſion of your Souls! Of your Minds and Memories, of your Thoughts and Cares. Inſomuch, that, as at Bethlehem, there is no Room in your Hearts and Houſes; but the Lord of the World muſt out into the Stable, and be laid in the Manger. As little as they do coſt, Good words are more than is allowed him there, by all of you. And they are the moſt that is allowed, by one of an hundred. If any thing be ſaid to him in your Cloſets, the Door had need be ſhut for very Shame. The Complement of your Knees, at Morn and at Night, are unreconcileable to your Speech and Action all Day. Wherein, he is plainly out of your Thoughts; and his Name is ſeldom, but very contumeliouſly in your Mouths. So truly ſaith the renowned old Chancellor of Paris; God hath the leaſt Rents from thoſe who hold his greateſt Farms. And, whereto is this owing? Why, the Prince of Tyrus is told, Thy Heart is lifted up, becauſe of thy Riches! And, he who beſt knows, ſaith alſo of others; Becauſe they have no Changes, therefore they fear not God. And, O memorable words! They ſpend their Days in Wealth, THEREFORE they ſay unto the Almighty, Depart from us. Yea, when you are diſpoſed to ſpeak, you do ſay as much your ſelves; Jer. 2.31. We are Lords, we will come no more unto thee, O God! Were it otherwiſe, no Saint had ever deprecated Riches. But, without all peradventure, it is only poſſible to poſſeſs, and altogether impoſſible, to ſerve, God and Mammon!
6. Your Riches are Iron Bars. As from all Chriſtianity, ſo eſpecially from its Croſs. From all kinds, and degrees of Suffering for it. Your Salvation, it's true, is wholly bought by your Redeemer's Sufferings; but it is not to be received without your own. And, you perfidiouſly deſert his Cauſe, if, at his call, you do not promptly take up his Croſs. You are no more than Flatterers, if in reſolution, you be not his Martyrs. Neither can you reign, if you will not ſuffer with him!
But, faring deliciouſly every Day, weds you to Pleaſure and Delicacy; makes you too tender to be blown on, by any adverſe Wind. Like a Palſy, it ſlackens the Nerves, and looſens the Joints of your Souls; makes them Frightful. And, like a ſtartling Beaſt, cauſes you in your Fright, to leap down a Precipice to avoid a Shadow! To turn aſide and take the bite of a Viper, to avoid the prick of a Pin. To throw your ſelves into eternal Flames, to ſcape the Sufferings that be, comparatively, lighter than Feathers! It ſeduceth you into Conceits, that the Hill of your Proſperity, is the Mount of Transfiguration; and there's no good Life on any lower Ground. That, Death, is a very Hell; and a poor Life, is a very Death. That plain Food, makes but a durable Famine; that ordinary Clothes be but Grave-Clothes. And not to be worſhipped by the World, is to be buried by it. So Timorous are you made by your Riches; and thereby, Treacherous. Fearful, Ʋnbelieving, and Abominable!
7. Your Riches are Nets and Bands. Thoſe, wherein Satan takes and holds you. He, and his Angels, cannot hurt you by immediate Impreſſions. It is by Objects without, that they work on your Affections within. They are notable Movers in your Sins, but, not without Gold and Silver Engines. By theſe, they do ſo move your Wills, as to take you Captive at their own. And, hold you as faſt as their Malice can wiſh. The Devil is ſtiled the God of this World, as reigning in the deluded Men of it. But, delude you he cannot, nor obtain or eſtabliſh his Throne in you, but by uſing worldly things to effect it! With theſe, he did ſet upon the firſt; yea, and the ſecond Adam. Imagining, as it ſeems, that Holineſs it ſelf might be made to ſin for this World's Glory. This made the Primitive Chriſtians to ſuſpect Riches; inſomuch, that, Trypho the Jew, derided them as Fools, and Men afraid of Temporal good Things!
Richly your Eſtates furniſh Satan with materials for your Ruin. With the abundance of this World, to lay amort your Care of the next. With the Comforts of this Life, to make Snares for your Eternal one. Agrippina gave Claudius his fatal Poiſon in his moſt beloved Meat. And, with theſe things that do moſt pleaſe you, Satan doth moſt effectually poiſon you. Yea, he makes you to take his very Office out of his Hands, and turn Tempters to your ſelves. Thus are Riches kept to you owners thereof, to your Hurt! Thô the Cock muſt crow loud that awakens you to ſee it. Yet, the very Turks themſelves have a ſaying, That the World is but a Carcaſs, and they who feed on it are Dogs. Laſtly.
8. Your Riches are Toils and Chains. Such wherewith you your ſelves, do take and hold Multitudes to their Sorrow. As they do make you eaſy Trophies of the Tempter; ſo next unto him, they make you the greateſt of Tempters. For, whatever their Wills be; Poor-folk, and Yeomen, are Babies at ſeducing. You, of the Gentry, and Nobility, are Plenipotentiaries. Your great Dunghils, (for no other are your great Eſtates) are heaps of Worms and Flies, to angle for any ſimple Fiſhes. Your Cellars and Pantries do draw in whole Shoals of them. Making your Words, the very worſt of them, a Law of Iniquity to City and Country. No Examples do move ſo as yours. Tully's Obſervation is moſt true, The Manners of a Countrey do lie at your Mercy. Your Examples, can ſet up Vices or Vertues. [Corrumpere mores Civitatis vel corrigere poſſunt, Cic. de Legib.] Your Practices do diſguiſe Vices, and gild them with a very Creditableneſs. If a Churchman be buſy, his Reproof is quaſh'd with your Authority. Or, if an Head be broke by any Reprover, your Smile is a conſiderable Plaiſter. No ſmall Matter will make a Tenant afraid, of being as wicked as his Landlord. This you know, O ye Jeroboam's, who do ſin, and make all Iſrael to ſin.
But, be it ſadly acknowledged, Lords and Gentlemen; Proſperity, hath been all which it has been ſaid to be, unto the very Clergy alſo. Conſtantine's Gift, was a Doſe of Poiſon; tho given with a good meaning. Shepherds, as well as Sheep, are baned with too high Feed. Like Horſes, we grow unruly when pampered. Except but here and there a rare Exemplar of Mortification, the Sons of Levi do become as the Sons of Eli, they turn very Hophni's and Phineaſſes, when they have Benjamin's Meſſes. When they do very much more than live by the Altar, their ſcandalous Lives make Men to abhor their religious Offerings. The Heads are extraordinary, whom high Places do not make Giddy. The beſt of Men are moſt afraid of them. We cannot name many a Sampſon, but the Dalilah of Opulence hath been too hard for him, and ſhaved his Locks. Queen Elizabeth dared to ſay, that ſhe ſpoiled a Preacher when ſhe beſtowed a Mitre. All the World ſees it; too much Oil, as well as too little, ſpoileth the Lamps of the Temple. Strabo calls a rich City of Egypt, Neeropolis, a Town of dead Men. Becauſe ſo very many Dead, were therein kept Embalmed. And, every Ruſtick hath it in his Mouth; that, where the Benefice is Fat, the Miniſtry is Lean, if not Amort.
But, Sirs, to do you Juſtice, very few of you do this way ſpoil us. Rarely it is, that you Patrons do kill Incumbents with kindneſs. Many are ſtarved, for every one that is ſurfeited. They may be as ſtudious as the great Calvin, and leave their Inventory as ſlender as his; which amounted but to ſixty Pounds, with his very Library thrown in. Thô many a hopeful Son of the Church be Overlaid, they are very many who take their Deaths in Patmos, not in Arabia Foelix. And whoſe Service would be valuable, if their Stipends were not contemptible. You very well know, that, thô by Office they are Angels, by Nature they are Men. And, their Bodies be not as Cameleons. Nor are their Books, to be bought for ſo little, or to be ſold for much more, than Songs. Albeit, a Miniſter without thoſe Ʋtenſils is but a Workman without his Tools. In a word; till their Families are decently maintained, and their Libraries competently furniſhed, you may not look to ſee your Prieſts clothed with Righteouſneſs, and hear your People ſhouting for Joy.
But to return to your ſelves. None of your Souls are taken from you by Force. All, which are taken by Satan, are by your own Hands ſold to him! And, for what? Poverty and Sorrow are no good Sterling; nor do you ever part with your ſelves for them! Wealth and Mirth be the only Coin that's Currant; the only Price, at which you let your Souls go. Nec quiſquam Animi cauſa fit malus, ſaith Seneca. None are ſo prodigal of their Service, as to ſerve the Devil grat is. Eſau, will have red Pottage for it; Ahab, will have a Vineyard; Gehazi, will have Sheep and Oxen; Achan, will have a Golden Wedg; Judas, will have three Pound eight Shillings and Sixpence, (unto that Sum of ours, came his Thirty Pieces;) Demas, will try the Market; and have as much as he can get. In theſe things therefore, in theſe is your Danger. As it was exclaimed by a dying Miſer; In rich Graſs, laid all my Snakes!
You ſhall ſcarcely read of one in an Age, like unto Job. Who feared God, and eſchewed Evil, when he was the Prince of the Eaſt, more than when he was Poor to a Proverb! Or, like unto Jehoſaphat; who, then, when all Judah brought him Preſents, and he had Riches and Honour in abundance; had his Heart lifted up in the ways of Jehova. The Enjoyments which uſually fuel Mens diabolick Luſts, enflamed his Seraphick Love. Genteel and Noble, moſt Men are like Hannibal; in Wars victorious, but with Pleaſures vanquiſhed. In Affliction, they Pray; in Proſperity they Blaſpheme! The very Man after God's own Heart, was leſs exactly after it, upon his Throne, than in his Exile. Multitudes we have known, like to the Lamps in the old Roman Tombs. Which as long as they were kept low and cloſe, burned and ſhone with a Light very Glorious: But as ſoon as taken up, went out with a Stench.
Rarely are hail Conſciences held in the contagious Air of ſecular Pomp. White Silver draweth black Lines in all Hands. Yellow Duſt is choaking in all Throats. And, as Mercury, it kills Men that come by it ever ſo Honeſtly, if they uſe it not as carefully. Opinion it is, that gives it its Worth, and Opinion is ſufficient alſo to make it your Death. For Covetouſneſs, the Canine Appetite after it, is not more mortal than Fondneſs, and immoderate Eſteem of it. To covet your Neighbours Vineyard, is a Sin very hainous; but to overvalue your own, is not at all leſs. The Cauſes and Effects of both, are alike malignant. It is ſaid that the Runnagate from our Saviour, went away becauſe he had great Poſſeſſions; (had them in Poſſeſſion, and in Admiration) It is not ſaid, nor can it be concluded, that he coveted greater Poſſeſſions! Wherefore,
Awake, Sirs, and look out! A fronte Lupus, a tergo Praecipitium; Before and Behind, foreign.your Dangers are great. Plato's Thunder, is without a Bolt; he has falſely ſaid, It's impoſſible for you to be eminently Good; Rich Abraham, was as Good on Earth, and is as Great in Heaven, as poor Lazarus. Except but Hell, one would have looked for a Saint any where, ſooner than in Nero's Court. Yet in that Cage of all Uncleanneſs, there lived ſome Birds of Paradiſe. Uſ que adeó difficillimum eſt magnarum rerum Contubernio, non corrumpi.Your Seneca's words are very Sun-beams; To keep Chaſte in the bed of Proſperity, is of extream Difficulty. You may be ſaved, it is moſt ſure; yet, ſo as by Fire. No Men take the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Violent; or any way, but by Force. Nor may you, Rich, look to take it but by ſpecial Force and Violence. Up then, and be Doing; and God ſpeed you. For your Eyes are Witneſſes, the moſt do ſleep the ſleep of Death. And if here and there, one of you do ſtand by Grace; yet, Thouſands at his ſide do fall, (God knows whither) and Ten thouſand at his right Hand! Is this an hard Cenſure? And is it ſaid to your Monitor, as it was ſaid to our Saviour; Thou art a Samaritan, and haſt a Devil? I dare, in his Name, to reply in his words; I have not a Devil, but I honour my Father! My Father, of whom ye ſay that he is your God!