Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

290 That al iVorldlr thing! dre but meere vanities. and place themfelues in the feate of honour. The which is the more vfuall path which is traded in thefe daies,men be- ing now become fo politike, that they will not take fubflan- tiall paines,to bee rewarded with a fhadow,but fitting their worke according to their wages, they compaffe vaine ho- nours with femblances ofgood and vaine fhewes. But yet in the meane time by vfing thefe wicked and vnlawfull meanes to attaine veto their defires ,they hazard their falua- tion,and for the purchafing ofhonours by vnlawfull means, they fet their foules to laic; and therefore it is no maruell if hauing obtained them, they doe highly value them, feeing they haue bought them at finch deere rates. And thus riches are molt highly efteemed, when as they are moll hardlie compaffed; that only being thought worth the hauing, which cannot be had without much paines and peril!; and all other things being efteemed worthleffe and light, which hauenot difficultieand dangerput into the skole with them, to make them downe waight. This maketh pearles trulie precious, becaufe they are farce fetched from the Eaflerne parts of the world, and not onelybought at deare rates, but allo brought home with great danger. This maketh gold and filuer elleemable, becaufe they are digged out of the Wefierne mines with much fweate,and not procured but by great labour and.trauell,hazard anddanger,both by fea and land.This improueth riches farre aboue their worth,becaufe they are obtained with much labour,care, andwatching, by pinching and affli&ing the body whilefl they let it goe of- ten empue, that they may more fpeedily fill their chefls; and that which is wont of all, by hazarding the eternal! falua- tion oftheir foules,in vfing wicked meanes, as lying, decei- isi-ng, (wearing, forfwearing, opprellion and all manner of crueltie, fpr the increafing of their wealth. All which diffi- culties in getting riches, make men the more to loue and efleeme them when they haue them : whcreofit is, thathee who bath thus dearely purchafed his.wealth; doth alwaies much more affect and value it,then his heire who commeth lightly by it; cuco as the mother doth much more account ofachildefor which her felfe hath laboured,then otanother which