A Precious Mithridate for the Soul, Chapter 3
CHAP. 3.
MAny an one hath his father unfeathered to warm him, but pride, drunkenneſs, gamming, &c. plucks them away again ſo faſt, that he ſoon becomes naked and bare. He is like a barren plot of ground, for let him receive never ſo much ſeed and manuring, Sun and ſhowers, he remaines ever dry and fruitleſſe, and no marvail, when not onelyonly his leud and vicious courſe bring Gods curſe upon all he hath or takes in hand; but when he and what he hath, is alſo anted for his fathers ſake. For whereas the Holy Ghoſt ſaith of the juſt man, His ſeed ſhall be mighty upon earth, his generation ſhall be bleſſed, &c. Pſal. 112.2. and many the like, Pſal. 103. where God hath promiſed to bleſſe and reward the children; yea, the childrens children for their fathers goodneſſe, verſ. 17. Iſa. 58.10, 11.12. Pſal. 37.25, 26, & 112.2. to 6. Of which I might give you examples, not a few. The children of Noah were preſerved from drowning for their fathers ſake, Gen. 7.1. Mephiboſheth fares the better for his fathers goodneſſe: The Kenites for Jetbroes, 1 Sam. 15.6. and that ſome hundreds of yeers after their Anceſter was dead; Phineas his ſeed for his ſake, Numb. 25, 11, 12, 13. Solomon for his father Davids ſake, 2 Sam. 1.2. Iſhmael for Abrahams ſake, Gen. 17.20. And all Iſarel fared the better for Abraham, Iſaac, and Iacobs ſake, Deut. 4.37. 1 Kings 11.12. The loving-kindneſſe of the Lord, ſayes the Pſalmiſt, indureth for ever, and ever, upon them that fear him, and his righteouſneſſe upon childrens children, Pſal. 103.17. Exod. 20.6.
And as God uſually bleſſeth, and rewardeth the children for their fathers goodneſs, ſo on the contrary, Exod. 20.5. Eternal payments God uſes to require of the perſons only, temporary oftentimes of ſucceſſion as we ſue the Heirs and Executors of our Debtors. God hath peremptorily told us, that he will viſit the iniquity of ungodly parents, upon their children, unto the third and fourth generation, Exod. 20.5. As for the ſin of Haman, his ten ſons were hanged, Heſter 9.13, 14. And ſo for Sauls ſin, his ſeven ſons were likewiſe hanged, 2 Sam. 21.6. and thus for Achans ſin, all his ſons and daughters were ſtoned to death, and burned with fire by the Commandment of Moſes, who was in Gods ſtead, Ioſh. 7 Yea God hath peremtorily threatned, Pſal. 109. that the children of a cruel and unmercifull man, ſhall be Vagabonds and beg their Bread, and that none ſhall extend mercy or favor unto them, ver. 7. to 17. God will make thoſe children beggers, for whoſe ſakes the fathers have made ſo many beggers; this is a truth which the father will not beleeve, but as ſure as God is juſt, the Son ſhall feel. As what common and daily experience have we thereof, had men but the wit to obſerve it? for hence it is, that riches ill got, ſhift Maſters ſo often. As rare it is, if the wealth of an Oppreſſor doth laſt to the fourth generation, ſeldom to the ſecond; for commonly in this caſe, as the father was the firſt that raiſed his houſe, by his extreme getting and ſaving, ſo the ſon proves the laſt, in overthrowing his houſe by exceſſive ſpending and laviſhing; as Tullius Cicero anſwered a Prodigal that told him he came of beggerly parents; for no man when his means is gone, will ever after truſt him with a ſtock to begin the world again; the caſe ſtanding with him, as it did with the unjuſt Steward, who having waſted his masters goods for the time paſt, could not be truſted with the like for the time to come; and whereas hitherto he hath with Eſan, rejected the bleſſing of proſperity, it will be denyed him hereafter, though he ſhould ſeek it with tears: and which is worſe then all, if death find him (as is much to be feared) as banquerupt of ſpiritual, as of Worldly goods, it will ſend him to an eternal priſon: for what can we think of them, that do not onelyonly loſe cruſts and crummes, which our Saviour would have carefully gathered up, John 6.12. but even laviſh and wherle away whole patrimonies; yea, moſt wickedly ſpend them in riot, and upon Dice, Drabs, Drunkenneſs? O the fearful account which theſe unthrifty Bayliffs will one day have to give up to our great Lord and Maſter, when he ſhall call them to a ſtrict reckoning of their talents! if he was condemned that encreaſed not the ſum concredited to him, what then ſhal become of him that lawleſly and laviſhly ſpends and impaires it? bringing in ſuch a reckoning as this; Item, ſpent upon my luſts pleaſures, and pride, fourty years, and five hundred or ten thouſand pounds, &c. let them be in their right ſenſes, they cannot thin that God will take this for a good diſcharge of their Steward-ſhips, though the devil may and will make them beleive, that Chriſt will quit all ſcores between him, the father and them.
And thus I have made it plain, that want and beggery, is the heir apparent to riot and prodigality, and that he who when he ſhould not, ſpends too much, ſhall, when he would not, have too littel to ſpend; a good leſſon for young gulls. I have likewiſe ſhown, that what the covetous hath baſely gotten, is as ill beſtowed, and worſe imployed, a good Item for old Curmudgens to take notice of, that ſo they may not ſtarve their bodies, and damn their ſouls, ſor their ſons, to ſo little purpoſe.
As O that the covetous Moule, who is now digging a houſe in the earth for his poſterity, did but fore-ſee how his Prodigal ſon will conſume what he with ſo much care and induſtry hath ſcraped together; for ſhould he have leave hereafter to come out of hell for an hour, and ſee it, he would curſe this his folly, yea, if poſſible, it would double the pain of his infernall torment, as it fares with Gnipho the Uſurer, who (as Lucian feigneth) lying in hell, lamenteth his miſerable eſtate, that one Rodochares, an inceſtuous Prodigal, on earth conſumed his goods Waſtfully, which he by unjuſt means had ſcraped together ſo carefully; the which ſeemeth to have ſome affinity with the word of truth; why elſe is Dives being in hell torments, ſaid to lift up his eyes, and to ſee Abraham a farre off and Lazarus in his boſome, parlying ſo ſeriouſly about his brethren, whom he had left behind him? Luke 16.13. &c. Why elſe doth our Saviour ſay, that the wicked ſhall gnaſh their teeth for vexation, when they ſhall ſee Abraham, and Iſaac, and Jacob in the Kingdome of heaven, and themſelves thruſt out of doors? Luke 13.28.
But that thou mayſt the better foreſee, or at leaſt fore-think what will follow, I will ſhew thee thy caſe in ſundry other perſons.
Clodius, ſon to Eſophus the Tragedian, ſpent marvelous great wealth which his father left him. Epicharmus the Athenian, having a large patrimony left him by his parents, conſumed it in ſix dayes, and all his life time after lived a begger. Apicius, in banquetting, ſpent great revenues, left him by his parſimonious father, and then becauſe he would not lead a miſerable life, hanged himſelf. Pericles, Calias, and Nicius, by prodigall laviſhing and palpable ſenſuallity, ſpent in a ſhort time very great patrimonies, left them by their parents, and when all their means was gone they drank each of them a poyſoned potion one to an other, and dyed in the place.
Again, we read that Caligula, in one year of his reign, ſpent prodigally, ſixty ſeven millions of gold, which Tiberius his Predeceſſor had gathered together, as Tacitus tells us, and whereas John the 22. left behind him, (as Petrarch reports) two hundred and fifty tun of gold; inſomuch that an odde fellow made this jeſt of him, Erat Pontifex maximus ſi non virtute pecunia tamen maximus. Pope Sixtus Quintus, (called of Engliſhmen, a by-word, for ſelling our Kingdom to Philip of Spain, Six Cinque,) through his intolerable covetouſneſſe, left in his Exchequer five millions; but his ſucceſſor Gregory the fourteenth, waſted four of them in ten months and leſſe, beſides his ordinary revenues, in riot and prodigality; and many the like which I could tyre you with; inſomuch that the curſe of Epimenides is daily fulfilled, which was, that all the treaſure horded up by the covetous, ſhould be waſted by the Prodigall; for, for the moſt part the Miſers means lights into the hands of ſome ſuch ding-thrifty dearth-maker, as out of a laborious Silk-worm, riſes a painted Butter-flye.