Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Ofthe einilends which worldly things bring to their owners.739 worldly pleafures were fo bale and contemptible, that they were beneath the reach of enuie which looketh vpward, and hath it fight alwaies fixed on high obie &s; yet when thefe camail delights, which are in their owne nature low, are advanced and extolledby mensouer partial! iudgements and opinions, they altoprefently become the marke ofen- uie; euery one being readie to fpite at their neighbours, when they fee themwallowing in thefe earthly pleafures; efpecially if themfelues want neceflaries, notwithltanding they tire both bodie andminde with painful! labour. Now the reafon why the abundance of worldly benefits is thus accompaniedwith enuieand hatred,is,becaufe being finite, there is but a certaine meafure of them; fo that the more fomeabound,the more ofneceflïtie null others want : and into the more parts thefe earthly things are diuided, the finaller (hare mull eueryone haue, to whom they are thus diflributed. And therefore then louing and Petting their hearts vponthefe vanities, do enuie and grudge that others fhould enioy that which they delire; becaufe their hauing it,is the caufe why they want it,or at leaft why their portion is the lefhe,fo as they cannot haue it in that quantitie which they could wifh; Peeing a finite and limited proportion or quantitie, muff ofnecefiïtie become fo much the leihe in the feueral parts,by how much the whole is more often diuided. And therfore feeingworldly profperitie and the abundance ofthefcearthly things, doe bring as much enuiewhen wee baue them, as miferie when wee want them ; and will fcarce counteruaile with their profit and benefit, the difcontent which they bring with them through this malignitie and fpite, efpecially when this malice and enuie, being armed with power, is readie continually to make anothers happi- nefhe a fufficient caufe of quarrel!, & to take fharpe reuenge, becaufe they prefumed to receiue the worlds proffered fa-. uours; let vs not too much affe& thefe maligned vanities, but wholly Pet our hearts vpon thofe heauenly honours, ioyes,and treafures, which being infinite,are not diminifh- ed when they arecommunicated to many; but are rather in- finitely multiplied and increafed by this communion, euerie Bbb z one