[156]Whether the consequent be good or hurt is like to be greater, must be well considered.[157]Exod. xx. 21, "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him." Exod. xxiii. 9, "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger," &c. So that usury to a stranger was no oppression.[158]Of recreations, see before.[159]Leg. Steph. Vinan. Pigh. in Hercule prodigo, pag. 130-132. Cui peregrinatio dulcis est, non amat patriam: si dulcis est patria, amara est peregrinatio. August.[160]Lege Eurycic. Pateani Orat. 9.[161]Read Bishop Hall's "Quo Vadis" on this subject.[162]Peregrinatio levia tædia quædam animorum et veluti nauseas tollit: non tollit morbos qui altius penetrarunt, quam ut externa ulla medicina huc pertingat. Id. ib.[163]Congressus sapientum confert prudentiam: non montes, non maria. Erasm.[164]Peregrinatio omnis obscura et sordida est iis quorum industria in patria potest esse illustris. Cicer.
[156]Whether the consequent be good or hurt is like to be greater, must be well considered.
[157]Exod. xx. 21, "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him." Exod. xxiii. 9, "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger," &c. So that usury to a stranger was no oppression.
[158]Of recreations, see before.
[159]Leg. Steph. Vinan. Pigh. in Hercule prodigo, pag. 130-132. Cui peregrinatio dulcis est, non amat patriam: si dulcis est patria, amara est peregrinatio. August.
[160]Lege Eurycic. Pateani Orat. 9.
[161]Read Bishop Hall's "Quo Vadis" on this subject.
[162]Peregrinatio levia tædia quædam animorum et veluti nauseas tollit: non tollit morbos qui altius penetrarunt, quam ut externa ulla medicina huc pertingat. Id. ib.
[163]Congressus sapientum confert prudentiam: non montes, non maria. Erasm.
[164]Peregrinatio omnis obscura et sordida est iis quorum industria in patria potest esse illustris. Cicer.
Oppressionis the injuring of inferiors, who are unable to resist, or to right themselves; when men use power to bear down right. Yet all is not oppression which is so called by the poor, or by inferiors that suffer; for they are apt to be partial in their own cause as well as others. There may be injustice in the expectations of the poor, as well as the actions of the rich. Some think they are oppressed, if they be justly punished for their crimes; and some say they are oppressed, if they have not their wills, and unjust desires, and may not be suffered to injure their superiors: and many of the poor do call all that oppression, which they suffer from any that are above them, as if it were enough to prove it an injury, because a rich man doth it: but yet oppression is a very common and a heinous sin.[165]
There are as many ways of oppressing others, as there are advantages to men of power against them. But the principal are these following.
1. The most common and heinous sort is the malignant injuries and cruelties of the ungodly against men that will not be as indifferent in the matters of God and salvation as themselves; and that will not be of their opinions in religion, and be as bold with sin, and as careless of their souls, as they. These are hated, reproached, slandered, abused, and some way or other persecuted commonly wherever they live throughout the world. But of this sort of oppression I have spoken before.
2. A second sort is the oppression of the subjects by their rulers; either by unrighteous laws, or cruel executions, or unjust impositions or exactions, laying on the people greater taxes, tributes, or servitude, than the common good requireth, and than they are able well to bear. Thus did Pharaoh oppress the Israelites, till their groans brought down God's vengeance on him. But I purposely forbear to meddle with the sins of magistrates.
3. Soldiers also are too commonly guilty of the most inhuman, barbarous oppressions; plundering the poor countrymen, and domineering over them, and robbing them of the fruit of their hard labours, and of the bread which they should maintain their families with, and taking all that they can lay hold on as their own. But (unless it be a few that are a wonder in the world) this sort of men are so barbarous and inhuman, that they will neither read nor regard any counsel that I shall give them. (No man describeth them better than Erasmus.)
4. The oppression of servants by their masters I have said enough to before; and among us, where servants are free to change for better masters, it is not the most common sort of oppression; but rather servants are usually negligent and unfaithful, because they know that they are free (except in the case of apprentices).
5. It is too common a sort of oppression for the rich in all places to domineer too insolently over the poor, and force them to follow their wills, and to serve their interest be it right or wrong: so that it is rare to meet with a poor man that dare displease the rich, though it be in a cause where God and conscience do require it. If a rich man wrong them, they dare not seek their remedy at law, because he will tire them out by the advantage of his friends and wealth; and either carry it against them, be his cause never so unjust, or lengthen the suit till he hath undone them, and forced them to submit to his oppressing will.
6. Especially unmerciful landlords are the common and sore oppressors of the countrymen: if a few men can but get money enough to purchase all the land in a country, they think that they may do with their own as they list, and set such hard bargains of it to their tenants, that they are all but as their servants, yea, and live a more troublesome life than servants do: when they have laboured hard all the year, they can scarce scrape up enough to pay their landlord's rent; their necessities are so urgent, that they have not so much as leisure to pray morning or evening in their families, or to read the Scriptures, or any good book; nor scarce any room in their thoughts for any holy things: their minds are so distracted with necessities and cares, that even on the Lord's day, or at a time of prayer, they can hardly keep their minds intent upon the sacred work which they have in hand. If the freest minds have much ado to keep their thoughts in seriousness and order, in meditation, or in the worshipping of God; how hard must it needs be to a poor oppressed man, whose body is tired with wearisome labours, and his mind distracted with continual cares, how to pay hisrent, and how to have food and raiment for his family! How unfit is such a troubled, discontented person, to live in thankfulness to God, and in his joyful praises! Abundance of the voluptuous great ones of the world, do use their tenants and servants but as their beasts, as if they had been made only to labour and toil for them, and it were their chief felicity to fulfil their will, and live upon their favour.
Direct.I. The principal means to overcome this sin, is to understand the greatness of it. For the flesh persuadeth carnal men to judge of it according to their selfish interest, and not according to the interest of others, nor according to the true principles of charity and equity; and so they justify themselves in their oppression.
1.Consid.That oppression is a sin not only contrary to christian charity and self-denial, but even to humanity itself. We are all made of one earth, and have souls of the same kind: there is as near a kindred betwixt all mankind, as a specifical identity; as between one sheep, one dove, one angel, and another: as between several drops of the same water, and several sparks of the same fire; which have a natural tendency to union with each other. And as it is an inhuman thing for one brother to oppress another, or one member of the same body to set up a proper interest of its own, and make all the rest, how painfully soever, to serve that private interest; so it is for those men who are children of the same Creator. Much more for them who account themselves members of the same Redeemer, and brethren in Christ by grace and regeneration, with those whom they oppress. Mal. ii. 10, "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" If we must not lie to one another, because we are members one of another, Eph. iv. 25; and if all the members must have the same care of one another, 1 Cor. xii. 25; surely then they must not oppress one another.
2. An oppressor is an antichrist and an antigod: he is contrary to God, who delighteth to do good, and whose bounty maintaineth all the world; who is kind to his enemies, and causeth his sun to shine and his rain to fall on the just and on the unjust: and even when he afflicteth doth it as unwillingly, delighteth not to grieve the sons of men.[166]He is contrary to Jesus Christ, who gave himself a ransom for his enemies, and made himself a curse to redeem them from the curse, and condescended in his incarnation to the nature of man, and in his passion to the cross and suffering which they deserved: and being rich and Lord of all, yet made himself poor, that we by his poverty might be made rich. He endured the cross and despised the shame, and made himself as of no reputation, accounting it his honour and joy to be the Saviour of men's souls, even of the poor and despised of the world. And these oppressors live as if they were made to afflict the just, and to rob them of God's mercies, and to make crosses for other men to bear, and to tread on their brethren as stepping-stones of their own advancement. The Holy Ghost is the Comforter of the just and faithful. And these men live as if it were their calling to deprive men of their comfort.
3. Yea, an oppressor is not only the agent of the devil, but his image: it is the devil that is the destroyer, and the devourer, who maketh it his business to undo men, and to bring them into misery and distress. He is the grand oppressor of the world: yet in this he is far short of the malignity of men-devils, 1. That he doth it not by force and violence, but by deceit, and hurteth no man till he hath procured his own consent to sin; whereas our oppressors do it by their brutish force and power. 2. And the devil destroyeth men, who are not his brethren, nor of the same kind; but these oppressors never stick at the violating of such relations.
4. Oppression is a sin that greatly serveth the devil, to the damning of men's souls, as well as to the afflicting of their bodies. And it is not a few, but millions, that are undone by it. For as I showed before, it taketh up men's mind and time so wholly, to get them a poor living in the world, that they have neither mind nor time for better things. They are so troubled about many things, that the one thing needful is laid aside. All the labours of many a worthy, able pastor, are frustrated by oppressors: to say nothing of the far greatest part of the world, where the tyranny and oppression of heathen infidels and Mahometan princes, keepeth out the gospel, and the means of life; nor yet of any other persecutors: if we exhort a servant to read the Scriptures, and call upon God, and think of his everlasting state, he telleth us that he hath no time to do it, but when his weary body must have rest. If we desire the masters of families to instruct and catechise their children and servants, and pray with them, and read the Scriptures and other good books to them, they tell us the same, that they have no time, but when they should sleep; and that on the Lord's day their tired bodies, and careful minds, are unfit to attend and ply such work: so that necessity quieteth their conscience in their ignorance and neglect of heavenly things, and maketh them think it only the work of gentlemen and rich men, who have leisure (but are further alienated from it by prosperity, than these are by their poverty): and thus oppression destroyeth religion, and the people's souls as well as their estates.
5. Oppression further endangereth both the souls of men, and the public peace, and the safety of princes, by tempting the poor multitude into discontents, sedition, and insurrections. Every man is naturally a lover of himself above other: and the poor, as well as the rich and rulers, have an interest of their own which ruleth them; and they will hardly honour, or love, or think well of them by whom they suffer. It is as natural almost for a man under oppression, to be discontented and complain, as for a man in a fever to complain of sickness, heat, and thirst. No kingdom on earth is so holy and happy as to have all or most of the subjects such confirmed, eminent saints, as will be contented to be undone, and will love and honour those that undo them. Therefore men must be taken as they are. If "oppression maketh wise men mad," Eccles. vii. 7, much more the multitude, who are far from wisdom. Misery maketh men desperate, when they think that they cannot be much worse than they are. How many kingdoms have been thus fired (as wooden wheels will be when one part rubbeth too hard and long upon the other)! Yea, if the prince be never so good and blameless, the cruelty of the nobles and the rich men of the land, may have the same effects. And in these combustions, the peace of the kingdom, the lives and souls of the seditious, are made a sacrifice to the lusts of the oppressors.
Direct.II. Consider with fear how oppression turneth the groans and cries of the poor to the God of revenge against the oppressors. And go to that man that hath the tears and prayers of oppressed innocents, sounding the alarm to the vindictive justice, to awake for their relief. "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night tohim, though he bear long with them? I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily," Luke xviii. 7, 8. "The Lord will be a refuge to the oppressed," Psal. ix. 9. "To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress," Psal. x. 18. "The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed," Psal. ciii. 6; cxlvi. 7. Yea, God is doubly engaged to be revenged upon oppressors, and hath threatened a special execution of his judgment against them above most other sinners: partly as it is an act of mercy and relief to the oppressed; so that the matter of threatening and vengeance to the oppressor, is the matter of God's promise and favour to the sufferers: and partly as it is an act of his vindictive justice against such as so heinously break his laws. The oppressor hath indeed his time of power, and in that time the oppressed seem to be forsaken and neglected of God; as if he did not hear their cries: but when his patience hath endured the tyranny of the proud, and his wisdom hath tried the patience of the sufferers, to the determined time; how speedily and terribly then doth vengeance overtake the oppressors, and make them warnings to those that follow them! In the hour of the wicked and of the power of darkness Christ himself was oppressed and afflicted, Isa. liii. 7, and "in his humiliation his judgment was taken away," Acts viii. But how quickly did the destroying revenge overtake those bloody zealots, and how grievous is the ruin which they lie under to this day, which they thought by that same murder to have escaped! Solomon saith, Eccl. iv. 1, he "considered all the oppressions that are under the sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of the oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter." Which made him praise the dead and the unborn. But yet he that goeth with David into the sanctuary, and seeth the end of the oppressors, shall perceive them set in slippery places, and tumbling down to destruction in a moment, Psal. xxxvii.; lxxiii. The Israelites in Egypt seemed long to groan and cry in vain; but when the determinate time of their deliverance came, God saith, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows: and I am come down to deliver them.—Behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come up unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them," Exod. iii. 7-9. Deut. xxvi. 5, 6, "The Egyptians evil entreated us, and laid upon us hard bondage, and when we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression." See Psal. cvii. 39-42. So Psal. xii. 5, 6, "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him (or would insnare him). Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." "Trust not therefore in oppression," Psal. lxii. 10. For God is the avenger, and his plagues shall revenge the injuries of the oppressed.
Direct.III. Remember what an odious name oppressors commonly leave behind them upon earth. No sort of men are mentioned by posterity with greater hatred and contempt. For the interest of mankind directeth them hereunto, and may prognosticate it, as well as the justice of God. However the power of proud oppressors may make men afraid of speaking to their faces what they think, yet those that are out of their reach, will pour out the bitterness of their souls against them. And when once death hath tied their cruel hands, or any judgment of God hath cast them down, and knocked out their teeth, how freely will the distressed vent their grief! and fame will not be afraid to deliver their ugly picture to posterity, according to their desert. Methinks therefore that even pride itself should be a great help to banish oppression from the world. What an honourable name hath a Trajan, a Titus, an Antonine, an Alexander Severus! And what an odious name hath a Nero, a Caligula, a Commodus, a D'Alva, &c.! Most proud men affect to be extolled, and to have a glorious name survive them when they are dead; and yet they take the course to make their memory abominable; so much doth sin contradict and disappoint the sinner's hopes!
Direct.IV. Be not strangers to the condition or complaints of any that are your inferiors. It is the misery of many princes and nobles, that they are guarded about with such as keep all the lamentations of their subjects and tenants from their ears; or represent them only as the murmurings of unquiet, discontented men; so that superiors shall know no more of their inferiors' case than their attendants please; nor no more of the reproach that falleth upon themselves. Their case is to be pitied; but the case of their inferiors more (for it is their own wilful choice which hath imprisoned their understandings, with such informers; and it is their unexcusable negligence, which keepeth them from seeking truer information). A good landlord will be familiar with the meanest of his tenants, and will encourage them freely to open their complaints, and will labour to inform himself who is in poverty and distress, and how it cometh to pass; that when he hath heard all, he may understand whether it be his own oppression or his tenants' fault that is the cause: when proud, self-seeking men disdain such inferior converse, and if they have servants that do but tell them their tenants have a good bargain, and are murmuring, unthrifty, idle persons, they believe them without any more inquiry, and in negligent ignorance oppress the poor.
Direct.V. Mortify your own lusts and sinful curiosity, which maketh you think that you need so much, as tempteth you to get it by oppressing others. Know well how little is truly necessary! and how little nature (well-taught) is contented with! and what a privilege it is to need but little! Pride and curiosity are an insatiable gulf. Their daily trouble seemeth to them a necessary accommodation. Such abundance must be laid out on superfluous recreations, buildings, ornaments, furniture, equipage, attendants, entertainments, visitations, braveries, and a world of need-nots, (called by the names of handsomeness, cleanliness, neatness, conveniences, delights, usefulness, honour, civilities, comeliness, &c.) So much doth carnal concupiscence, pride, and curiosity thus devour, that hundreds of the poor must be oppressed to maintain it; and many a man that hath many score or hundred tenants who with all their families daily toil to get him provision for his fleshly lusts, doth find at the year's end, that all will hardly serve the turn, but this greedy devourer could find room for more; when one of his poor tenants could live and maintain all his family comfortably, if he had but so much as his landlord bestoweth upon one suit of clothes, or one proud entertainment, or one horse, or one pack of hounds. I am not persuading the highest to level their garb and expenses equal with the lowest; but mortify pride, curiosity, and gluttony, and you will find less need to oppress the poor, or to feed your concupiscence with the sweat and groans of the afflicted.
Direct.VI. Be not the sole judge of your ownactions in a controverted case; but if any complain of you, hear the judgment of others that are wise and impartial in the case. For it is easy to misjudge where self-interest is concerned.
Direct.VII. Love your poor brethren as yourselves, and delight in their welfare as if it were your own. And then you will never oppress them willingly; and if you do it ignorantly, you will quickly feel it and give over upon their just complaint; as you will quickly feel when you hurt yourselves, and need no great exhortation to forbear.
Quest.I. Is it lawful for a mean man, who must needs make the best of it, to purchase tenanted land of a liberal landlord, who setteth his tenants a much better pennyworth than the buyer can afford.
Answ.Distinguish, 1. Between a seller who understandeth all this, and one that doth not. 2. Between a tenant that hath by custom a half-title to his easier rent, and one that hath not. 3. Between a tenant that consenteth and one that consenteth not. 4. Between buying it when a liberal man might else have bought it, and buying it when a worse else would have bought it. 5. Between a case of scandal and of no scandal.
And so I answer, 1. If the landlord that selleth it expect that the buyer do use the tenants as well as he hath done, and sell it accordingly, it is unrighteous to do otherwise (ordinarily). 2. In many countries it is the custom not to turn out a tenant, nor to raise his rent; so that many generations have held the same land at the same rent; which though it give no legal title, is yet a half-title in common estimation. In such a case it will be scandalous, and infamous, and injurious, and therefore unlawful to purchase it with a purpose to raise the rent, and to do accordingly. 3. In case that a better landlord would buy it, who would use the tenant better than you can do, it is not (ordinarily) lawful for you to buy it. I either express or imply "ordinarily" in most of my solutions; because that there are some exceptions lie against almost all such answers, in extraordinary cases; which the greatest volume can scarce enumerate.
But if, 1. It be the seller's own doing to withdraw his liberality so far from his tenants, as to sell his land on hard rates, on supposition that the buyer will improve it. 2. And if it be a tenant that cannot either by custom or any other plea, put in a claim in point of equity to his easy-rented land. 3. And if as bad a landlord would buy it if you do not. 4. If it be not a real scandal: I say if all these four concur; 5. Or (alone) if the tenant consent freely to your purchase on these terms; then it is no injury. But the common course is, for a covetous man that hath money, never to consider what a loser the tenant is by his purchase, but to buy and improve the land at his own pleasure; which is no better than oppression.
Quest.II. May not a landlord take as much for his land as it is worth?
Answ.1. Sometimes it is land that no man can claim an equitable title to hold upon an easier rent, and sometimes it is otherwise, as aforesaid, by custom and long possession, or other reasons. 2. Sometimes the tenant is one that you are obliged to show mercy to; and sometimes he is one that no more than commutative justice is due to. And so I answer, 1. If it be an old tenant who by custom or any other ground, can claim an equitable title to his old pennyworth, you may not enhance the rent to the full worth. 2. If it be one that you are obliged to show mercy as well as justice to, you may not take the full worth. 3. The common case in England is, that the landlords are of the nobility or gentry, and the tenants are poor men, who have nothing but what they get by their hard labour out of the land which they hold; and in this case some abatement of the full worth is but such a necessary mercy, as may be called justice. Note still, that by the full worth, I mean, so much as you could set it for to a stranger who expecteth nothing but strict justice, as men buy and sell things in a market.
But, 1. If you deal with a tenant as rich or richer than yourself, or with one that needeth not your mercy, or is no fit object of it; 2. And if it be land that no man can by custom claim equitably to hold on lower terms, and so it is no injury to another, nor just scandal, then you may lawfully raise it to the full worth. Sometimes a poor man setteth a house or land to a rich man, where the scruple hath no place.
Quest.III. May a landlord raise his rents, though he take not the full worth?
Answ.He may do it when there is just reason for it, and none against it. There is just reason for it when, 1. The land was much underset before. 2. Or when the land is proportionably improved. 3. Or when the plenty of money maketh a greater sum to be in effect no more than a lesser heretofore. 4. Or when an increase of persons, or other accident, maketh land dearer than it was. But then it must be supposed, 1. That no contract, 2. Nor custom, 3. Nor service and merit, do give the tenant any equitable right to his better pennyworth. And also that mercy prohibit not the change.
Quest.IV. How much must a landlord set his land below the full worth, that he may be no oppressor, or unmerciful to his tenants?
Answ.No one proportion can be determined of; because a great alteration may be made in respect to the tenant's ability, his merit, to the time and place, and other accidents. Some tenants are so rich, as is said, that you are not bound to any abatement. Some are so bad, that you are bound to no more than strict justice and common humanity to them. Some years (like the last, when a longer drought than any man alive had known, burnt up the grass) disableth a tenant to pay his rent; some countries are so scarce of money, that a little abatement is more than in another place; but ordinarily the common sort of tenants in England should have so much abated of the fullest worth, that they may comfortably live on it, and follow their labours with cheerfulness of mind, and liberty to serve God in their families, and to mind the matters of their salvation, and not to be necessitated to such toil, and care, and pinching want, as shall make them liker slaves than freemen, and make their lives uncomfortable to them, and make them unfit to serve God in their families, and seasonably mind eternal things.
Quest.V. What if the landlord be in debt, or have some present want of money, may he not then raise the rent of those lands that were underlet before?
Answ.If his pride pretend want where there is none, (as to give extraordinary portions with his daughters, to erect sumptuous buildings, &c.) this is no good excuse for oppression. But if he really fall into want, then all that his tenants hold as mere free gifts from his liberality, he may withdraw (as being no longer able to give). But that which they had by custom an equitable title to, or by contract also a legal title to, he may not withdraw. (And yet all this is his sin, if he brought that poverty culpably on himself; it is his sin in the cause, though, supposing that cause, the raising of his rent be lawful.) But it is not every debt in a rich man, whohath other ways of paying it, which is a true necessity in this case; and if a present debt made it necessary only at that time, it is better (by fine or otherwise) make a present supply, than thereupon to lay a perpetual burden on the tenants, when the cause is ceased.
Quest.VI. What if there be abundance of honest people in far greater want than my tenants are, (yea, perhaps preachers of the gospel,) and I have no other way to relieve them unless I raise my rents; am I not bound rather to give to the best and poorest, than to others?
Answ.Yes, if it were a case that concerned mere giving; but when you must take away from one to give to another, there is more to be considered in it. Therefore in these two cases at least you may not raise your tenants' rents to relieve the best or poorest whosoever: 1. In case that he have some equitable title to your land, as upon the easier rent. 2. Or in case that the scandal of seeming injustice or cruelty, is like to do more hurt to the interest of religion and men's souls, than your relieving the poor with the addition would do good (which a prudent man by collation of probable consequents may satisfactorily discern): but if it were not only to preserve the comforts, but to save the lives of others in their present famine, nature teacheth you to take that which is truly your own, both from your tenants, and your servant, and your own mouths, to relieve men in such extreme distress; and nature will teach all men to judge it your duty, and no scandalous oppression. But when you cannot relieve the ordinary wants of the poor, without such a scandalous raising of your rents as will do more harm than your alms would do good, God doth not then call you to give such alms; but you are to be supposed to be unable.
Quest.VII. May I raise a tenant's rent, or turn him out of his house, because he is a bad man; by a kind of penalty?
Answ.A bad man hath a title to his own, as well as a good man; and therefore if he have either legal or equitable title, you may not; nor yet if the scandal of it is like to do more hurt, than the good can countervail which you intend. Otherwise you may either raise his rent, or turn him out, if he be a wicked, profligate, incorrigible person, after due admonition; yea, and you ought to do it, lest you be a cherisher of wickedness. If the parents under Moses's law were bound to accuse their own son to the judges in such a case, and say, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard; and all the men of the city must stone him till he die, to put away evil from among them," Deut. xxi. 18-21; then surely a wicked tenant is not so far to be spared, as to be cherished by bounty in his sin. It is the magistrate's work to punish him by governing justice; but it is your work as a prudent benefactor, to withhold your gifts of bounty from him. And I think it is one of the great sins of this age, that this is not done, it being one of the noblest means imaginable to reform the land, and make it happy: if landlords would thus punish or turn out their wicked, incorrigible tenants it would do much more than the magistrate can do. The vulgar are most effectually ruled by their interest, as we rule our dogs and horses more by the government of their bellies than by force. They will most obey those on whom they apprehend their good or hurt to have most dependence. If landlords would regard their tenants' souls, so much as to correct them thus for their wickedness, they would be the greatest benefactors and reformers of the land; but alas, who shall first reform the landlords? and when may it be hoped that many or most great men will be such?
Quest.VIII. May one take a house over another's head, (as they speak,) or take the land which he is a tenant to, before he be turned out of possession?
Answ.Not out of a greedy desire to be rich, nor coveting that which is another's; nor yet while he is any way injured by it; nor yet when the act is like to be so scandalous, as to hurt men's souls more than it will profit your body. If you come with the offer of a greater rent than he can give, or than the landlord hath just cause to require of him, to get it out of his hands by over-bidding him, this is mere covetous oppression. But in other cases it is lawful to take the house and land which another tenant hath possession of: as, 1. In case that he willingly leave it, and consent. 2. Or if he unwillingly (but justly) be put out; and another tenant must be provided against the time that he is to be dispossessed. 3. Yea, if he be unjustly put out, if he that succeeded him have no hand in it, nor by his taking the house or land do promote the injury, nor scandalously countenance injustice. For when a tenement is void, though by injury, it doth not follow, that no man may ever live in it more: but if the title be his that is turned out, then you may not take it of another; because you will possess another man's habitation. But if it should go for a standing rule, that no man may in any case take a house over another man's head, (as country people would have it,) then every man's house and land must be long untenanted, to please the will of every contentious or unjust possessor; and any one that hath no title, or will play the knave, may injure the true owner at his pleasure.
Quest.IX. May a rich man put out his tenants, to lay their tenements to his own demesnes, and so lay house to house, and land to land?
Answ.In two cases he may not: 1. In case he injure the tenant that is put out, by taking that from him which he hath right to, without his satisfaction and consent. 2. And in case it really tend to the injury of the commonwealth, by depopulation, and diminishing the strength of it. Otherwise it is lawful; and done in moderation by a pious man may be very convenient; 1. By keeping the land from beggary through the multitudes of poor families that overset it. 2. By keeping the more servants, among whom he may keep up a better order and more pious government in his own house, (making it as a church,) than can be expected in poor families; and his servants will (for soul and body) have a much better life, than if they married and had families, and small tenements of their own; but in a country that rather wanteth people, it is otherwise.
Quest.X. May one man be a tenant to divers tenements?
Answ.Yes, if it tend not, 1. To the wrong of any other; 2. Nor to depopulation, or to hinder the livelihood of others, while one man engrosseth more than is necessary or meet; for then it is unlawful.
Quest.XI. May one man have many trades or callings?
Answ.Not when he doth, in a covetous desire to grow rich, disable his poor neighbours to live by him on the same callings, seeking to engross all the gain to himself; nor yet when they are callings which are inconsistent; or when he cannot manage one aright, without the sinful neglect of the other. But otherwise it is as lawful to have two trades as one.
Quest.XII. Is it lawful for one man to keep shops in several market towns?
Answ.The same answer will serve as to the foregoing question.
[165]In omni certamine qui opulentior est, etiamsi accipit injuriam, tamen quia plus potest, facere videtur. Sallust. in Jugurth.[166]Psa. cxlv.; Matt. v.; Lam. iii.
[165]In omni certamine qui opulentior est, etiamsi accipit injuriam, tamen quia plus potest, facere videtur. Sallust. in Jugurth.
[166]Psa. cxlv.; Matt. v.; Lam. iii.
Becausemen's carnal interest and sensuality is predominant with the greatest part of the world, and therefore governeth them in their judgment about duty and sin, it thence cometh to pass that wastefulness and prodigality are easily believed to be faults, so far as they bring men to shame or beggary, or apparently cross their own pleasure or commodity: but in other cases, they are seldom acknowledged to be any sins at all; yea, all that are gratified by them, account them virtues, and there is scarce any sin which is so commonly commended; which must needs tend to the increase of it, and to harden men in their impenitency in it; and verily if covetousness, and selfishness or poverty, did not restrain it in more persons than true conscience doth, it were like to go for the most laudable quality, and to be judged most meritorious of present praise and future happiness. Therefore in directing you against this sin, I must first tell you what it is; and then tell you wherein the malignity of it doth consist: the first will be best done in the definition of it, and enumeration of the instances, and examination of each one of them.
Direct.I. Truly understand what necessary frugality, or parsimony, and sinful wastefulness are.
What necessary frugality is.
Necessary frugality or sparing is an act of fidelity, obedience, and gratitude, by which we use all our estates so faithfully for the chief Owner, so obediently to our chief Ruler, and so gratefully to our chief Benefactor, as that we waste it not any other way.
As we hold our estates under God, as Owner, Ruler, and Benefactor, so must we devote them to him, and use them for him in each relation: and christian parsimony cannot be defined by a mere negation of active wastefulness, because idleness itself, and not using it aright, is real wastefulness.
Wastefulness, what it is.
Wastefulness or prodigality is that sin of unfaithfulness, disobedience, and ingratitude, by which either by action or omission we mispend or waste some part of our estates to the injury of God, our absolute Lord, our Ruler, and Benefactor: that is, besides and against his interest, his command, and his pleasure and glory, and our ultimate end.
These are true definitions of the duty of frugality and the sin of wastefulness.
Inst.I. One way of sinful wastefulness is, In pampering the belly in excess, curiosity, or costliness of meat or drink, of which I have spoken, chap. viii. part i.
Quest.I. Are all men bound to fare alike? or when is it wastefulness and excess?
Answ.This question is answered in the foresaid chapter of gluttony, part iv. tit. 1. 1. Distinguish between men's several tempers, and strength, and appetites. 2. And between the restraint of want, and the restraint of God's law. And so it is thus resolved:
1. Such difference in quantity or quality as men's health or strength, and real benefit, requireth, may be made by them that have no want.
2. When want depriveth the poor of that which would be really for their health, and strength, and benefit, it is not their duty who have no such want to conform themselves to other men's afflictions; except when other reasons do require it.
3. But all men are bound to avoid real excess in matter, or manner, and curiosity, and to lay out nothing needlessly on their bellies; yea, nothing which they are called to lay out a better way. Understand this answer, and it will suffice you.
Inst.II. Another way of prodigality is by needless, costly visits, and entertainments.
Quest.II. What cost upon visits and entertainments is unlawful and prodigal?
Answ.1. Not only all that which hath an ill original, as pride or flattery of the rich, and all that hath an ill end, as being merely to keep up a carnal, unprofitable interest and correspondency; but also all that which is excessive in degree. I know you will say, But that is the difficulty, to know when it is excessive. It is not altogether impertinent to say, when it is above the proportion of your own estate, or the ordinary use of those of your own rank, or when it plainly tendeth to cherish gluttony or excess in others: but these answers are no exact solution. I add therefore, that it is excess when any thing is that way expended, which you are called to expend another way.
Object.But this leaveth it still as difficult as before.
Answ.When in rational probability a greater good may be done by another way of expense,consideratis considerandis, and a greater good is by this way neglected, then you had a call to spend it otherwise, and this expense is sinful.
Object.It is a doubt whether of two goods it be a man's duty always to choose the greater.
Answ.Speaking of that good which is within his choice, it is no more doubt than whether good be the object of the will. If God be eligible as good, then the greatest good is most eligible.
Whether a man is bound to prefer the greatest good.
Object.But this is still a difficulty insuperable: how can a man in every action and expense discern which way it is that the greatest good is like to be attained? This putteth a man's conscience upon endless perplexities, and we shall never be sure that we do not sin; for when I have given to a poor man, or done some good, for aught I know there was a poorer that should have had it, or a greater good that should have been done.
Answ.1. The contrary opinion legitimateth almost all villany, and destroyeth most good works as to ourselves or others. If a man may lawfully prefer a known lesser good before a greater, and be justified because the lesser is a real good, then he may be feeding his horse when he should be saving the life of his child or neighbour, or quenching a fire in the city, or defending the person of his king: he may deny to serve his king and country, and say, I was ploughing or sowing the while. He may prefer sacrifice before mercy; he may neglect his soul, and serve his body. He may plough on the Lord's day, and neglect all God's worship. A lesser duty is no duty, but a sin, when a greater is to be done. Therefore it is certain, that when two goods come together to our choice, the greater is to be chosen, or else we sin. 2. As you expect that your steward should proportion his expenses according to the necessity of your business, and not give more for a thing than it is worth, nor lay out your money upon smaller commodity, while he leaveth your greater business unprovided for; and as you expect that your servant who hath many things in the day to do, should have so much skill as to know which to prefer, and not to leave undone the chiefest, whilst he spendeth his time upon the least: so doth God require that his servants labour to be so skilful in his service, as to be able to compare their businesses together, and toknow which at every season to prefer. If christianity required no wisdom and skill, it were below men's common trades and callings. 3. And yet when you have done your best here, and truly endeavour to serve God faithfully, with the best skill and diligence you have, you need not make it a matter of scrupulosity, perplexity, and vexation; for God accepteth you, and pardoneth your infirmities, and rewardeth your fidelity. And what if it do follow, that you know not but there may be some sinful omission of a better way? Is that so strange or intolerable a conclusion; as long as it is a pardoned failing, which should not hinder the comfort of your obedience? Is it strange to you that we are all imperfect? and imperfect in every good we do, even by a culpable, sinful imperfection? You never loved God in your lives without a sinful imperfection in your love; and yet nothing in you is more acceptable to him than your love. Shall we think a case of conscience ill resolved, unless we may conclude, that we are sure we have no sinful imperfection in our duty? If your servant have not perfect skill, in knowing what to prefer in buying and selling, or in his work, I think you will neither allow him therefore to neglect the greater and better, knowingly, or by careless negligence, nor yet would you have him sit down and whine, and say, I know not which to choose; but you would have him learn to be as skilful as he can, and then willingly and cheerfully do his business with the best skill, and care, and diligence he can, and this you will best accept.
So that this holdeth as the truest and exactest solution of this and many other such cases: He that spendeth that upon an entertainment of some great ones, which should relieve some poor distressed families, that are ready to perish, doth spend it sinfully. If you cannot see this in God's cause, suppose it were the king's, and you will see it: if you have but twenty pounds to spend, and your tax or subsidy cometh to so much; if you entertain some noble friend with that money, will the king be satisfied with that as an excuse? or will you not be told that the king should have first been served? Remember him then, who will one day ask, "Have you fed, or clothed, or visited me?" Matt. xxv. You are not absolute owners of any thing, but the stewards of God; and must expend it as he appointeth you. And if you let the poor lie languishing in necessities, whilst you are at great charges to entertain the rich without a necessity or greater good, you must answer it as an unfaithful servant.
And yet on the other side, it may fall out that a person of quality, by a seasonable, prudent, handsome, respectful entertainment of his equals or superiors, may do more good than by bestowing that charge upon the poor. He may save more than he expendeth, by avoiding the displeasure of men in power: he may keep up his interest, by which if he be faithful, he may do God and his country more service, than if he had given so much to the poor. And when really it is a needful means to a greater good, it is a duty; and then to omit it, and give that cost to the poor, would be a sin.
Object.But if this rule hold, a man must never do but one kind of good; when he hath found out the greatest, he must do nothing else.
Answ.He must always do the greatest good: but the same thing is not at all times the greatest good. Out of season and measure a good may be turned to an evil: praying in its season is better than ploughing; and ploughing in its season is better than praying, and will do more good; for God will more accept and bless it.
Object.Therefore it seemeth the prudentest way to divide my expenses according to the proportion of others of my quality; some to the poor, and some to necessary charges, and some to actions of due civility.
Answ.That there must be a just distribution is no question; because God hath appointed you several duties for your expenses: but the question is of the proportions of each respectively. Where God hath made many duties constantly necessary, (as to maintain your own bodies, your children, to pay tribute to the king, to help the poor, to maintain the charges of the church,) there all must be wisely proportioned. But entertainments, recreations, and other such after to be mentioned, which are not constant duties, may be sometimes good and sometimes sinful: and the measure of such expenses must be varied only by the rule already laid down, viz. according to the proportion of the effect or good which is like to follow: though the custom of others of the same rank may sometimes intimate what proportion will be suitable to that lawful end; and sometimes the inordinate custom of others will rather tell one what is to be avoided. Therefore true prudence (without a carnal bias) comparing the good effects together, which rationally are like to follow, is the only resolver of this doubt. Which having so largely showed, I shall refer you to it, in the solution of many of the following questions.
Inst.III. Another way of sinful wasting is upon unnecessary, sumptuous buildings.
Quest.III. When is it prodigality to erect sumptuous edifices?
Answ.Not when they are for the public good, either in point of use, or ornament and honour, so be it no greater good be thereby omitted. Therefore it is not churches, hospitals, burses, or common halls that I am speaking of. Nor when they are proportioned to the quality of the person, for the honour of magistracy, or for a man's necessary use. But when it is for ostentation of a man's riches, or rather of his pride, and for the gratifying of a carnal, irrational fancy; and when a man bestoweth more upon buildings, than is proportionable to his estate, and to his better expenses; and (to speak more exactly) when he bestoweth that upon his buildings, which some greater service calleth for at that time; it is then his prodigality and sin.
Quest.IV. Here once for all let us inquire, Whether it be not lawful, as in diet, so in buildings, recreation, and other such things, to be at some charge for our delight, as well as for our necessities?
Answ.The question is thus commonly stated, but not well; for it seemeth to imply, that no delights are necessary, and so putteth things in opposition which are oft coincident. Therefore I distinguish, 1. Of necessity: some things are necessary to our being, and some to our felicity, and some but to our smaller benefits. 2. Of delight: some delight is sinful; as gratifying a sinful humour or disposition: some is unnecessary or wholly useless; and some is necessary, either to our greater or our lesser good. And so the true solution is: (1.) The sinful delight of a proud, a covetous, a lustful, a voluptuous mind, is neither to be purchased or used. (2.) A delight wholly needless, that is, unprofitable, is sinful if it be purchased, but at the price of a farthing, or of a bit of bread, or of a minute's time; because that is cast away which purchaseth it. (3.) A delight which tendeth to the health of the body, and the alacrity of the mind, to fit it for our calling and the service of God, (being not placed in any forbidden thing,) may be both indulged and purchased, so it be not above its worth. (4.) So far as delight in houses, or sports, or any creature, tendeth to corruptour minds, and draw us to the love of this present world, and alienate our hearts from heaven, so far must they be resisted and mortified, or sanctified and turned a better way. (5.) In the utensils of our duty to God, usually a moderate, natural delight, is a great help to the duty, and may become a spiritual delight: as a delight in many books, in the preacher's utterance, in the melody of psalms, in my study, and its conveniences, in my walk for meditation, &c. And a delight in our food and recreations, maketh them much fitter to cherish health, and to attain their ends; so it be not corrupt, immoderate, or abused to evil ends.
Inst.IV. Another way of prodigality, is in needless, costly recreations.
Quest.V. Is all cost laid out upon recreations unlawful?
Answ.No: but,cæteris paribus, we should choose the cheapest, and be at no needless cost on them; nor lay out any thing on them which,consideratis considerandis, might be better bestowed. But of this before.
Inst.V. Another way of prodigality is in over-costly apparel.
Quest.VI. What may be accounted prodigality in the costliness of apparel?
Answ.Not that which is only for a due distinction of superiors from inferiors, or which is needful to keep up the vulgar's reverence to magistrates. But, 1. All that which is merely serviceable to pride, or vain curiosity, or amorous lust, or an affectation to be thought more comely and beautiful than others. 2. All that which hath more cost bestowed on it, than the benefit or end is worth. 3. Or which hath that cost which should be rather laid out another way upon better uses. The cheapest apparel must be chosen which is warm and comely, and fittest to the right ends. And we must come nearer those that are below our rank, than those above it.
Inst.VI. Also prodigality is much showed in the cost which is laid out for needless pomp and ostentation of greatness or curiosity, in keeping a numerous retinue, and in their gallantry, and in keeping many horses, and costly furniture, and attendance.
Quest.VII. When is a costly retinue and other pompous furniture to be accounted prodigality?
Answ.Not when they are needful to the honour of magistracy, and so to the government of the commonwealth; nor when it is made but a due means to some lawful end, which answereth the cost. But when it is either the fruits and maintenance of pride, or exceedeth the proportion of men's estates, or (especially) when it expendeth that which better and more necessary uses call for. It is a most odious and enormous crime, to waste so many hundred or thousand pounds a year in the vanities of pomp, and fruitless curiosities, and need-nots, while the public uses of the state and church are injured through want, and while thousands of poor families are racked with cares, and pinched with necessities round about us.
Inst.VII. Another way of prodigality is that which is called by many, keeping a good house, that is, in unnecessary abundance, and waste of meat and drink, and other provisions.
Quest.VIII. When may great housekeeping be accounted prodigality?
Answ.Not when it is but a convenient work of charity to feed the poor, and relieve the distressed, or entertain strangers, or to give such necessary entertainment to equals or superiors as is before described: but when the truest relief of the poor shall be omitted, (and it may be poor tenants racked and oppressed,) to keep up the fame and grandeur of their abundance, and to seem magnificent, and praised by men for great housekeepers. The whole and large estates of many of the rich and great ones of the world goeth this way, and so much is devoured by it, as starveth almost all good works.
Inst.VIII. Another act of prodigality is cards and dice, and other gaming; in which whilst men desire to get that which is another's, they lose and waste their own.
Inst.IX. Another act of prodigality is giving over-great portions with children: it being a sinful waste of our Master's stock, to lay it out otherwise than he would have us, and to serve our pride and self-interest in our children instead of him.
Quest.IX. When may our children's portions be accounted prodigality or too great?
Answ.Not when you provide for their comfortable living according to your estates, and give them that due proportion which consisteth with the discharge of other duties: but when all that men can get is thought little enough for their children; and the business of their lives is to live in fulness themselves as long as they can, and then to leave that to their posterity which they cannot keep themselves! When this gulf of self-pampering and providing the like for children, devoureth almost all that you can gather, and the poor and other needful uses are put off with some inconsiderable pittance; and when there is not a due proportion kept between your provision for your children, and the other duties which God requireth of you. Psal. xlix. 7-9, 11, 13, "Their inward thought is, that their houses shall be perpetuated, and their dwelling-places to generations: they call their lands after their own names.—This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings." Psal. lxxiii. 12, "Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in riches." Psal. xvii. 14, "They have their portion in this life:—they are full of children, (or their children are full,) and they leave the rest of their substance to their babes." A parent that hath an heir, or other children, so wise, religious, and liberal, as that they are like to be more charitable and serviceable to good uses, than any other whom he can trust with his estate, should not only leave such children sufficient for themselves, but enable them as much as he can to do good; for they will be more faithful trustees to him than strangers. But a parent that hath but common and untrusty children, should do all the good he can himself, and what he would have done when he is dead, he must commit to them that are more trusty, and allow his children but their proper maintenance. And parents that have debauched, wicked, ungodly children, (such as God commanded them to cause to be put to death, Deut. xxi.) should allow them no more than their daily bread, if any thing at all (which is their own to dispose of).
Inst.X. Also to be careless in many small expenses or losses, because they are but little things, and let any such thing be cast away, is sinful prodigality.
Quest.X. How far is it a duty to be frugal in small matters, and the contrary a sin?
Answ.We must not overvalue any thing, great or small; nor be sparing out of covetousness; nor yet in an imprudent way, which seemeth to signify baseness and worldliness when it is not so; nor must we be too thinking in bargaining with others, when every penny which we get by it, is lost to one that needeth it more. But we must see that nothing of any use be lost through satiety, negligence, or contempt; for the smallest part is of God's gifts and talents, given us, not to cast away, but to use as hewould have us; and there is nothing that is good so small, but some one hath need of it, or some good use or other may be made of it. Even Christ when he had fed thousands by a miracle, yet commanded his disciples to "gather up the broken bread or fragments, that nothing be lost," John vi. 12. Which plainly showeth that it is a duty which the richest man that is is not exempted from, to be frugal, and sin in the greatest prince to be wasteful of any thing that is good; but this must not be in sordid covetousness, but in obedience to God, and to do good to others. He is commendable who giveth liberally to the poor, out of his abundance; but he is much more commendable who is a good husband for the poor, as worldlings are for themselves; and frugally getteth and saveth as much as he can, and denieth all superfluities to himself and all about him, that he may have the more to give to pious and charitable uses.
Inst.XI. Idleness also and negligence in our callings, is sinful wastefulness and prodigality; when either the pride of gentility maketh people think themselves too good to labour, or to look after the matters of their families, or slothfulness maketh them think it a life too toilsome for their flesh to bear. Prov. xviii. 9, "He that is slothful in his work, is brother to him that is a great waster:" these drones consume that which others labour for, but are no gatherers themselves.
Quest.XI. Is every one bound to labour in a calling?
Answ.This is answered before in its due place, part i. Every one that is able, rich or poor, must live in some profitable course of pains or labour.
Quest.XII. Is it a duty to desire and endeavour to get, and prosper, and grow rich by our labours; when Solomon saith, "Labour not to be rich?" Prov. xxiii. 4.
Answ.It is a sin to desire riches as worldlings and sensualists do, for the provision and maintenance of fleshly lusts and pride; but it is no sin, but a duty, to labour not only for labour sake, formally resting in the act done, but for that honest increase and provision, which is the end of our labour; and therefore to choose a gainful calling rather than another, that we may be able to do good, and relieve the poor. Eph. iv. 28, "Let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
Quest.XIII. Can one be prodigal in giving to the church?
Answ.Yes, if it be in a blind zeal to maintain a useless pomp or superstition; or if he give that which should be used or given otherwise: but this is a sin that few in these days are much in danger of.[167]
Quest.XIV. Can one be prodigal in giving to the poor?
Answ.Yes, when it is blindly done, to cherish idleness in wandering beggars; or with a conceit of meriting in point of commutative justice from God; or when that is given to the poor, which should be given to other uses (as in public tribute, maintenance of children, furtherance of the gospel, &c.): but this is a sin that few have need to be restrained from.
Quest.XV. May a rich man expend any thing upon (otherwise) lawful pomp, or conveniences, or pleasures, at such a time when there are multitudes of poor families in extremity of want? as now, when the flames which consumed London have left many thousands in distress?
Answ.Doubtless every man should spare as much for the relief of others as he can; and therefore should not only forbear all needless expenses, but those also that are needful but to such conveniences and accommodations as may be spared without a greater hurt, than is the want of such as that charge would relieve. To save the lives of people in want, we must spare any thing from ourselves, which our own lives can spare. And to relieve them in their deep poverty, we must abate much more than our superfluities. To expend any thing on pride and lust, is a double sin at such a time, when Lazarus is at our doors in want. If that Luke xvi. were well studied, (wherein it was that the rich man's sin and danger lay, in being clothed in purple and silk, and faring sumptuously every day, while Lazarus wanted,) it would make some sensualists wiser than they are.
But yet it must be confessed, that some few persons may be of so much worth and use to the commonwealth, (as kings and magistrates,) and some of so little, that the maintaining of the honour and succours of the former, may be more necessary than the saving the lives of the latter. But take heed lest pride or cruelty teach you to misunderstand this, or abuse it for yourselves.
There are divers other ways of prodigality or sinful waste, which I pass by, because they are such as few are concerned in; and my purpose is not to say all that may be said, but all that is needful. As in needless music, physic, books, (which Seneca handsomely reproveth,) gifts to servants which need not, in mere ostentation of pride, to be well spoken of, and many the like; and in unlawful wars, which is the greatest sinful waster in all the world. And as for expenses in debauchery and gross wickedness, as whoredom, revenge, in sinful law-suits, &c. I here pretermit them.
Direct.II. Understand well the aggravations of this sin of prodigality: viz.
1. It is a wasting of that which is none of our own, and a robbing God of the use or service due to him in the improvement of his gifts. They are his, and not ours; and according to his pleasure only must be used. 2. It is a robbing the poor of that which the common Lord of the world hath appointed for them in his law; and they will have their action in heaven against the prodigal. 3. It is an inhuman vice, to waste that upon pleasures, pride, and needless things, which so many distressed persons stand in need of. 4. It is an injury to the commonwealth, which is weakened by the wasteful. And the covetous themselves (that are not oppressors) are much better members of public societies than the prodigal. 5. It feedeth a life of other vice and wickedness. It is a spending God's gift to feed those lusts which he abhorreth. 6. It usually engageth many others in trades and labours which are unprofitable, that they may serve the lusts of these sensual prodigals. 7. And in the conclusion, it prepareth a sad account for these wretches, when they must answer at the bar of God how they have used all his gifts and talents. Remember all these aggravations.
Direct.III. Carefully mortify that greedy fancy, and fleshly lusts, which is the wasting sin, and the devouring gulf. Quench the fire, and you may spare all this fuel. Cure the fever or dropsy, and you may spare both your drink and life. A greedy throat and a diseased fancy are never satisfied, till they have wasted the peace of your consciences with your estates, and brought you to the end of brutish sinners: wisdom, and duty, and real benefit, are contented with a little; but lust is insatiable; the voluptuous brute saith, I must have my cups, my lusts, my pleasure; and the effeminate, vicious fancy of those empty souls that mind no great and solid things, is still ranging after some vanity or other;and like children, crying for every thing that they see another have: and the most needless, yea, burdensome things seem necessary to such; they say, I must needs have this, and I must needs have that, there is no being without it; when nothing needeth it, but a diseased mind, which much more needeth a cure by grace and true mortification. Subdue pride, and sensuality, and fancy, and you may escape prodigality.
Direct.IV. Remember the nearness of your account, and ask your consciences what way of expenses will please you best in the review. Whether at death and judgment it will be your comfort to find on your account, So much laid out on needless bravery, to set out this carcass which is now turning into dust; Item, so much upon proud entertainments of great ones; Item, so much on cards, and dice, and stage-plays; and so much on hounds and needless pleasures, &c. Or rather, so much to promote the preaching of the gospel; so much to set poor children to 'prentice, or to school; so much to relieve distressed families, &c. Let Matt. xxv. be well read, and your account well thought on.
Direct.V. Keep an account of your expenses, and peruse them before a fast or a sacrament; and ask conscience how it judgeth of them; yea, ask some holy, prudent friend, whether such proportions are allowable before God, and will be comfortable to you in the day of your extremity. If you are but willing to be cured, such means as these will not be in vain.