Serm. XXXVIII. of Covetoufnefs. Appetite, becaufe at this rate, the Man can never be contented, .becaufe he can never have enough ; nay fo-far is it from thar, that every new.accefiion to his Fortune, fets his delires onedegree farther from reftand fatisfa&ion : For a Co- vetous Mind having no bounds, it is very probable that the Man's Delire will increafe much falter than his Eftate ; and then the richer he is, he is {till the poorer, becaufe he is flillthe lefs contented with his Condition. However; it is impofiible that the Man's Delire fhould ever be fatisfied ; for Delire being al- ways firft, if the Man's delire ofRiches advanceth and goes forward as fait as Riches follow, then it is not poffible for Riches ever to overtake the Delire of them, no more than the hinder Wheels of a Coach can overtake thofe which are before : Becaufe as they were at a diftance at firft Petting out, fo let them go never fo far, or fo fafl; they keep the fame diflance (fill. So that it is the vaineft thing in the World, for a Man to delign his own fa- tisfa &ion by the perpetual increafeof his Fortune, becaufe Contentment doth not arife from the abundance ofwhat a Man bath, but it mutt ípring from the in- ward frame and temper of our Minds ; and the true way to it, is not to enlarge our Efface, but to contraCt our Delires ; and then it is pofíible that a Man's Money and his Mind may meet ; otherwife the purfuit is endlefs, and the far- ther a Man follows, Contentment, it will but flee fo much the farther from him; and when he bath attained the Eftate of a Prince, and a Revenue as great as that of France, or the Turkifh Empire, he fhall be farther from being fatisfied, than when he began the World, and had no mire before-hand than would juft pay for his next Meal. I fhould now have proceeded to the Fourth Thing, whereby the unreafona- blenefs ofCovetoufnefs doth appear ; becaufe the Happinefsof Humane Lifedoth not confifl in Riches. And this is the Argument which I shall more efpecially infift upon, becaufe it is that which our Saviour ufeth here in the Text, to take Men off from this Vice. The Life of Man conlifleth not in the abundance of the Things which he poffeth. And this certainly is one of the bell and molt rea- fonable Confìderations in the World, to moderate Mens Affe&ions towards thefe Things. Every reaforable Delire propounds force End to it Pelf. Now to what purpofe fhould any Man delire to increafe his Wealth fo vaftly beyond the proportion of his Necefíities, and real Occalions? What Benefit and Ad- vantage would it be to any Man, to have a hundred times more than he knows what todo withall ? But I (hall not enlarge upon this Argument at prefent, but refer it to another Opportunity. S RMON XXXVIII. TheEvil and Unreafonablenefs ofCovetoufnefs. LUKE I2. I. Andhe Paid unto them, Take heed of Covetoufnefs; for a Man's Life confiffeth not in the abundance of the things which hepofefeth. Fter I had, in my Firfi Difcourfe upon this Subjeá, given you an Ac- count of the Nature of the Vice of Covetoufnefs, I proceeded in the next place to reprefent the great Evil and Unreafonablenefs of it. , Becaufe it takes Men off fromReligion, and the Care of their Souls. Secondly, ir The Third serntnn OH ibis Text.
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