Senn, XXXVIII. of Covetauftef. 261 purpofe ; for there is a Man (faith he) wholelabour is ;11[4'i/dons, and in Knowledge, and in Equity, that is, who by wife and honeft Means hash rais'd a great Eftate) Yet to a Man that bath not Iabosir'd therein(that is,to a Man who is endowed with none of thefe Qualities) fhall he leave it for his Portion; this alfo is Vanity, and agreat Evil. _ And as for Friends, tho' the Rich Man bave many that will call themfelves fo, yct he had almoft as good have none ; for he can hardly ever knowwhether they be fo or not, unlefs he chance to fall into Poverty, and then indeed the change of his Condition may give him that Advantageand Opportunity, whichother- wife he is never like to have, of difcerning between his Friends and his Flatter- ers. Thus you fee that Riches are noSecurity againft themolt confrderable Evils which attend us in the courfeof our Lives. II. When we come to die, nothing will minifier lefs Comfort to us at that time, than a great Eftate. It is then a very fmall Pleafure to a Man, to refleft howmuch he bath gotten in the World, when he fees that he muff leave it ; nay, like the young Man in the Gofpel, hegoes away fo much the moreforrowfirl, becaufe be had great PoffeJons. All the things of this World feem very inconfide- rable to a Man, when he approaches to the Confines of the other : For when he fees that he mutt leave this World, then he would fain make a Virtue ofNeceffity, and begins to change his Apprehenfions of thefe Things, and to have very flight and mean Thoughts of them, when he is convinc'd he can enjoy them no longer. What the Philofopher was wont to fay of the Pleafures of this World, is as true ofRiches, and all the other Enjoyments of it ; That, " if they did but put on " the fame Countenance, and look with the fame Face, when they come to us, " that they will do, when they turn from us, and take their leave of us, we 06 should hardly entertain them. Now if a Man have placed his chiefHappinefs in thisWorld, as theCovetous Man does in his Riches, his great trouble when he comes to die, will be, that he mutt leave them. Nothingcould be more feverely faid to the Covetous Man, than that whichGod fays to the Rich Man in the Parable ; Thou Fool, this nightfball thy Soul be requiredofthee, and then whofe(hallthefe things be? For ofall things in the World, fuck Men cannot endure to think of parting with thefe things, or that what they havegot with filch great Care and Labour, fhould come to thePoffeffion ofanother. And therefore when we are fo hot and eager in the purfuit of thefe things, we fhoulddo well to confider, how they will appear to us in a dying hour. And this Confideration well imprinted upon our Minds, will make us very careful, to treafure up other kind of Comforts to our felves againft fuch a Time, and to la- bour after thofe Things which we fhall never grow out of conceit withal, but fhall value them to the lait, and then molt of all when we come to die, and leave this World. For as a Poet of our own fays excellently, 'Tis not that which firfl we love : But what dying we approve. Thus I have done with the Fourth Thing, whereby the Evil and Unreafon- ablenefsof Covetoufnefs doth appear ; namely, that the Happinefs ofHumane Life doth not confift in agreat Eftate ; the Life of Man dothnot confsfl in the abundance of the things which he pojffeth. The great Ends of Religion, and Covetoufnefs, are verydifferent. The great End which Religion propofeth to it fell, is Happinefs : But the great End which Covetoufnefr propofeth is Riches ; which are neither a neceffary nor a probable means of Happinefs. I (hould now have proceeded to the Fifth and Lafl Particular; namely, That Riches are fo far from being the Happinefs of Humane Life, that they ufually contribute very much to our Mifery andSorrow ; as will appear, if we confider thefe Four Things. Fielt, TheLabour and CarewhichCovetous Men are at in the Getting of agreat Eftate. Secondly, The Anxiety ofkeeping it, together with the Fears of lofing it. Thirdly, The Trouble and Vexation of having loft it; and, Fourthly, The dreadful and heavy Account which every Man muff give of a great Eftate. But there Particulars, together with the Application of this whole Difcourfe, I (hall refer to another Opportunity. Mma SER.M-
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