The moral history of frugality vvith its opposite vices, covetousness, niggardliness, prodigality and luxury / written by the Honourable Sir George Mackenzie ... Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 1691 Approx. 128 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 54 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A50650 Wing M179 ESTC R20197 12043684 ocm 12043684 53065 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A50650) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 53065) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 570:16) The moral history of frugality vvith its opposite vices, covetousness, niggardliness, prodigality and luxury / written by the Honourable Sir George Mackenzie ... Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. [7], 95, [1] p. Printed for J. Hindmarsh ..., London : 1691. Marginal notes. Advertisement: p. [1] at end. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Saving and investment. 2004-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-08 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2004-08 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion LICENSED , March 12. 1690. Rob. Midgley . THE MORAL HISTORY OF FRUGALITY VVith its opposite VICES , Covetousness , Niggardliness , Prodigality , and Luxury . Written by the Honourable Sir GEORGE MACKENZIE , Late Lord Advocate of Scotland . LONDON : Printed for J. Hindmarsh , at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill . 1691. TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD . FInding such various Opinions concerning the first and fundamental Rules of Iustice , urged with great Animosity , and that the Laws of Nations were alledged by all sides : I resolved , after having studied the Roman Laws and the Municipal Law of our own Nation forty years , to spend some time in enquiring seriously into the Laws of Nations . For this end I retired into your Famous University , whose Library the Learned and Curious Selden has inriched with Books on these Subjects , beyond what is to be found in any other in Europe ; nor could it be thought that any thing could have been added to his excellent Collection , if your extraordinary Care , and this last Age , had not furnished you with many Books which either had escaped him , or he could not know : but after I had with all the diligence I could , instructed my self as far as I thought was possible , I clearly found that these Debates were not so much occasioned by the Laws of Nations , as fed by Luxury and Avarice , which of late have given Authority to that which some Men think a more obliging Law , called Conveniency : and therefore I resolved to Attack likewise this powerful Enemy of Law and Iustice , and I now present my Undertaking to you , not only because it was first formed within your University , but because I know that you of all Men , with greatest Reason , think your selves rather Stewards than Proprietors of benefits , being you reckon the Wants of those who are in Distress amongst your principal Debts , and because that to supply these is the greatest Convenience a self-doomed and illuminated Christian ought to study : and after I had calculated what you have of late bestowed upon the Exiled French. Protestants , the Fugitive Irish , and the Starving Clergy of your own Profession in Scotland ; besides the particular Briefs poured in daily upon you for Alms to your own Countrymen , whom Accidents have ruined , I could not but admire how even Frugality it self could have made you live with that neatness I observed among you . I am to lay up the other marks of esteem I have for your Learning , and that Floge which is due to your Libraries , whereof each of your Colleges has one , which might almost supply the want of a Bodleian any where else , until I compleat , by the helps I found amongst you , the Observations I am now writing upon the Digests , and some illustrious Questions which have in this last Age employed and divided the best Lawyers and Statesmen in Europe , but especially in Britain . And who , residing among you , could see in your Libraries the fame of learned Men of all Nations still so fresh , or could converse with many of your own now living , who have made profound Learning even useful and witty , without being forced by a noble Emulation to leave all other Pleasures , that he might retire unto your Libraries , or his own Closet , there to purchase some share of that improvement which every private Mans Breast concurs with the World to esteem . I am Your most obliged and humble Servant , Geo. Mackenzie . The Copy of a Letter sent together with the Dedication . Mr. Hindmarsh , I Have sent you the Dedication to the University of Oxford , which the Author of the History of Moral Frugality , now deceased , designed for that Book : if there be any thing in it unworthy of that Society , or the Author , it must be imputed to the fatal distemper of Body which he languished under , when he wrote it ; and though it falls far below what that University might have justly expected from him , and he was inclined to have said of them ; yet as it is I allow you to Print it , because the World may thereby know the high and just esteem that Sir George Mackenzie retained , even to his dying day , of that famous Society . London , May 16. 1691. Sir , Your Servant Arch. Cockburn . THE MORAL HISTORY OF FRUGALITY With its opposite Vices , Covetousness , Niggardliness , Prodigality , and Luxury . DISCOURSE I. WHEN I consider how many have had their Affections warm'd by pious Sermons , how many Moral Philosophers have convinc'd those who have read them , and yet how few have been reform'd by either ; I begin to think , that there must lie some strange hidden Engine in the Heart of Man , which is able to pull back even thinking Men from improving these impressions : and that which seems to be one of the chief occasions of this , is that men are become so poor , by the general Avarice and Luxury which now unreasonably tyrannize over the World , that they are tempted to be Wicked to satisfie their Imaginary fantastic Necessities . Thus we are uncharitable , because we want money for our Imaginary wants : We are disloyal to get it by Rebellion , for supplying these men betray their Country , King , Friends and Masters to get Employments whereon to live , and then betray their Trust in these Employments , that they may be able to live without them . And thus Luxury and Avarice offer not only the Temptations , but furnish the Excuses when they persuade us to yield to them , they tell us that Charity must begin at home , that we must prefer our selves to our friends , and that Necessity is exempted from Law. And whilst Preachers , Philosophers and Friends are arguing from the Principles of Religion , Reason and Honour , they by an influence as latent , but stronger than that of the Stars , draw mens attention from considering the force of these Arguments to consider what Charms are in Riches , and the Ease which Riches procure , and so men are not Proselytes , because they are not Hearers . Therefore to secure us against this reigning Distraction , and those Temptations , let us embrace ancient Frugality , under whose Empire Vice was of old curbed with great success , and which by freeing us from Poverty , secures us against all the Snares which it occasions . For if I can once bring my self to live on a little , and to enjoy that little with as great pleasure as others follow their Recreations , why should I ruine my Soul or Mankind , that I may get what Frugality will persuade me to be superfluous ? And if I once be convinced by this faithful Counsellor , that a great Estate is a great snare , I will not pay down for it my Honour and Quiet as a competent price . I heard a Dutch Ambassador tell King Charles the Second , That he had spent only a hundred Gilders in Meat and Drink in Holland , during a whole Year after he had been Ambassador in most Courts , nor had he ever been in better Health , or Company . And when the King asked why he had done so unusual a thing ? He answered , To let his Country-men see , that one needed not betray or injure their Native Country to get whereon to live ; which , as it was the Design of this his Conduct , is now the Design of my Book . This friendly , wise , and convenient Vertue of Frugality has two Capital Enemies , Avarice , and Luxury ; the one whereof surfeits it , and the other starves it . The one cheats us by representing a great Estate as too little , and the other by representing a little Estate as too great . But if these Idols , Avarice and Luxury , were once thrown down in the High places , we should no more see Church-men sacrificing to them their Religion , Judges the Laws , Statesmen their Honour : and most men their quiet and tranquillity . And since Interest has got such an Ascendant over Mankind , that it has brought Law and Vertue within its Power , and under its Dominion , nothing now seeming reasonable or legal , but what it recommends ; 'T is fit by this Method I now propose , to make it consistent with Vertue ; and I hope so to manage my Theme , as to render it subservient to that Vertue with which it has seemed to be so long at variance . It may seem that some grains of Avarice and Luxury , are mixt oft-times by the great Physician with Vertue , as Poison is with the best Medicaments , to make them active and useful ; and as some Pride heightens true Courage , and some Jealousie makes Prudence more cautious , so without Avarice Merchants would not toil to bring us Necessaries , nor Souldiers desend even the justest Quarrels , and a little Luxury is now requisite to diffuse Riches among the indigent : But when these Vices exceed their allowance , and set up for themselves ; then is Vertue obliged to curb them , who having been call'd in as Auxiliaries , design to turn Conquerors ; yet I cannot allow my self this way of thinking , for beside that it does too much honour to Vice , we cannot justly say , that Luxury and Avarice are requisite to excite Vertue ; for when they tend to what is good , they change their Nature with their Design . But to set this Thought in its true light , we may say that Frugality has all the Activity by which Avarice deceives us , and can give all the true pleasure and ease by which Luxury recommends it self , and it is not to be less esteemed than Prodigality , because it does not dazle us with a false ▪ Magnificence , as that does , no more than true Courage is to be less valued , than Bragging , or Eloquence than bombast Floridness . To enable us to understand the better how much Frugality is founded upon the Principles of Religion and Reason , and how weak Enemies Avarice and Luxury are upon due Examination , it is fit to trace them from the very Creation . And thus we will find that God Almighty having created the World , to the end men might live , admiring his Providence , and tasting his Goodness : It was just that all whom he brought to it , should be supplied in it , and that men being to him as our Families are to us , it was unjust for any of the Family to hoard , or eat up the Portion of many others ; and incredible , that he would suffer any of them to want . In order to the better maintaining this his great Design , he did limit our Natural Necessities within very narrow bounds : We need little Meat , few Clothes , and he made all our Generous inclinations point outwards towards the sharing with our Neighbours , what should be convenient for them . Liberality was given man , that he might supply the want of Meat and Drink in his Neighbours ; Courage , that he might thereby supply their want of Power ; Compassion , that he might in their Miseries afford them Consolation ; Justice , that they-might defend one another against the Oppression of those who desired too much , &c. His Divine Wisdom has for the same End imprinted an abhorrence upon our Minds against Avarice , Niggardliness , Prodigality , and Luxury , as Pirates , and the common Enemies of this just and equal distribution , and has enamoured us of Frugality , as its Protector and Bulwark . For this same End also God at first made all things common , and they continued so , till Mankind multiplying upon the Earth , it was fit that Propriety should by a division be introduced , to the end the Earth might be the better cultivated , and so made the more useful for many ; but lest the Proprietor should think that by this division all others were to be excluded from any share in it , the same Divine Providence made him need the help of very many others , to the end they might be also provided for , and made him see , by the Uncertainty of humane Affairs , that this Propriety was so ill secured , that it was necessary for him to accustom himself to live upon that little , to which he might probably be reduced ; and that it was fit to supply others , because he might need one day to be supplied by others ; and lest some should be unmindful of this Uncertainty , he made Glory and even Prodigality and Luxury useful to draw superfluous Riches from those who would not other ways have parted with them , and he made it as a Duty upon Man to believe himself only a Steward . To the end also that Man might be the more sensible , that this equal distribution was his general design in all the Creation , he let him see instances of it every where , and even in Brutes , who are guided merely by Instinct , and have not that luminous , and generous Guide of right Reason . The Lion and Vulture ; the most ravenous of all Beasts , have no Store-houses ; and tho the Ants have , yet that proceeds from unability to travel in Winter , and not from a desire to leave any remnant beyond the Year . Thus God has given to the Beasts of the Field , that moderation by Instinct , which Man , created to adore him , is to beg from him , in these words , Give us this day our daily bread . So that Frugality is the true Mathematick of Christian Morality , and there can be nothing more against Nature , than Avarice and Luxury . Nothing can recommend this Frugality more , than that in the Commonwealth of the Jews , of which God Almighty was Contriver and Governor for many years , Frugality seems to have been its chief Basis , and to this end God multiplied them to a vast multitude , and pent them up in very narrow bounds ; They us'd no Taylors , Cooks , nor Pastry-men . Abraham , who had rather an Army than Family of Servants , makes his Wife bake bread for his Guests , Gen. 18. 6. Each Family furnished it self all sorts of Tradesmen , and in place of Lordships , each contain'd himself within his field , in which the Judges , and even the first Kings , laboured . Gideon was threshing in his Barn , when the Angel call'd him to deliver the People , Judg. 6. 11. When Saul got the News of the Invasion on Jubes Gilead , he ( tho a King ) was leading two Oxen , 1 Sam. 11. 5. Thus their Servants did not encourage their laziness , but assist their industry . The simplicity of their Diet appears from Esau's being tempted with a dish of Pottage , Abraham's feasting the very Angels , by bringing himself a Kid from the Flock , Gen. 18. 6. at one time ; and a Calf at another , with bread bak'd under the ashes . Boaz treated his Mistress Ruth ( who was gleaning ) by allowing her to dip her bread with the Servants in the Vinegar ; and tho Rebecca feasted Isaac with well seasoned Venison , yet that was only one dish , made for a Prince , on a great Design , and when his great Age required somewhat to recover rather a lost Appetite , than pamper a strong one . Their chief Pleasures were , that Innocence , which grew from Frugality , and that Health which is the natural Effect of a simple Diet. Their assiduity in Labouring excluded House games , and well laboured Fields allowed no Hunting , Hawking , or other Field Eexercises . We read of no Feasts among them , save those that were rather Rewards of their Industry , than the Contrivances of their Luxury . Such as those which they had at their Reaping , Vintage , &c. And the only Feast we read of , made by David's Children , even after he was exalted to be King , was at their Sheep-shearing . Nor did God , under the New Testament , leave off his great Design of instructing men to live soberly ; but on the contrary , Luxury and Avarice having grown up amongst the Jews , as Tares amongst the Wheat , after the Almighty himself had left off to cultivate them by his own immediate hand : He thought it again necessary to repress and root out these Weeds , and to sow amongst them new and fresh Seeds of Sobriety and Moderation . In order whereunto ▪ he sent his Son to be born in the house of a frugal Artisan , and to work with him at his Trade until he thought fit himself to come abroad to work out the Work of our Salvation . That Idleness might want a Pattern in our great Master he chose also for his Disciples and Courtiers men as poor as a Trade could suffer them to be . He commanded them , and all others to pray only for their daily Bread , excluding in the word Daily , the covetous wishes of those , who lengthen their desires , beyond those plain Necessities that are inconsistent with Luxury , and so great a desire had he to secure man against these two great Tyrants , that he not only by his Example and Doctrine discredits and forbids them , but he descends from being a Legislator , to reason with Mankind against them ; And he reasons upon no Subject more frequently , nor strongly than against avaritious Anxiety . If you be ( saith our Saviour ) the Children of God , will he not care for his own Children ? since you who are wicked care for yours . God cloaths the Lilies and Flowers of the Field , more glorious than Solomon , tho they are to be cut down the next day , and feeds the Fowls of the Air , adding , Are you not better than they ? He shews in the Parable of the five Loaves and two Fishes , how easie it is for him to provide for his own Family : His Omnipotency being a sufficient Granary for those that depend upon him . By teaching us that we are Stewards , not Proprietors . He shews how miserable those are that lay up their Treasures where the Moth can eat , or the Thief break through , and steal ▪ And by that terrible Sentence , O! thou Fool , this night thy Soul shall be taken from thee . He has left a dreadful impression of the uncertainty of those Riches , which are too oft preferred to the Heauen that is lost for them . Stop here , O my Soul , and read with astonishment , that dreadful Sentence pronounced by the infallible Judge , and join to it another , wherein these who preferred their Riches to the distressed Members of Jesus Christ , are condemned to Torments which shall endure as long as they could have wished their Riches to have done ; When I was hungry , you did not feed me , &c. The Blessed Apostles sufficiently illuminated by the Divine Power and Goodness , for so great a Work as the Conversion of the World , continued to preach this excellent Doctrine , calling Avarice Idolatry , and in that one word comprehending a greater Satyr against it , than all that ever the Philosophers taught , but very consequentially to the Doctrine of their great Master , who assured his Disciples , that they could not both serve God and Mammon . In them also we find that judicious Lesson , to use the World as if we used it not , not foolishly throwing away Riches as the Philosophers did , lest they might be thereby tempted ; nor hoarding them up as Misers do ; but suffering them to flow on gently , and in their natural Course for the good of others , and keeping a loose hand on them , lest our hearts being too much united to them , should not be united by Love to God Almighty , who declares himself irreconcileable with Mammon : And to make this great Doctrine go the more easily down , and give it a more pleasant relish , they assure us , that the chief Ornaments of reasonable Creatures are mercifulness , Patience , Innocence , Charity , and not large Territories , swelling Treasures , splendid Titles , fine Cloaths , nor those other gaudy Trappings , which are no part of us , and consequently cannot be the Standard by which we are to be measured . The World having been debauched by the Roman Luxury , as that was fed by their Spoils , Mankind was under Nero , Heliogabalus , and some other of the Roman Emperors , depraved beyond what we can believe . And even at that time , when all their Philosophers could gain very few Proselytes to Vertue ; The Apostles and their Disciples were able to make many thousands to Christianity , and to refine them to a degree of Moderation , Sobriety , and Innocence , which these Philosophers themselves admired far more than others did them ; and certainly those numerous and entire Conversions were infallible Proofs of the Verity of that Religion which they taught , and the Primitive Christians were as great Miracles themselves as any that were wrought amongst them . If we propose then those admirable Patterns to our selves , we shall find that most of the rich among them did work with their own hands , to avoid thereby that Idleness which brings on Luxury , Curiosity , Backbiting , and many other Vices , which are inconsistent with the Christian Religion ; and all the Poor were commanded to work , that they might thereby have to pay their debts , and do works of Charity , they subdued their Bodies by Fasting , and their Spirits by Humility ; nor would they have been Souldiers , but because the Severity of Military Discipline among the Romans at that time , did oblige them to the Sobriety and Activity which overcame Avarice and Luxury as well as their Enemies ; they did seldom eat save once a day , but then never fed upon what Luxury prepared , nor diverted themselves with what it invented ; they valued not Health it self , but that they might serve God with it , nor Riches , but because they might be useful to the Poor . Never any man wish'd more earnestly to be rich than I , to have liv'd in those glorious Times , and to have seen those great Triumphs over Luxury and Avarice . But we may correct the useless Wish , by the just Remedy of reading and meditating much upon what they have left , for our Instruction in their excellent Writings , and above all , by living as they did ; for without doubt , the most pleasant , and most comfortable Prospect of Vertue , would be to see it in our Actions ; and the most joyful Image of Innocency , would be to see it graven upon our Hearts . Those Commonwealths , or Societies of Men , which grew up from Consent , and were not the Product of popular Faction , and Fury , did found themselves upon Sobriety , as their true Basis ; that being the kindly Nurse of Equality , and nothing con tributing more to make the common Treasure rich for the publick Safety , than that private Citizens should satisfie themselves with what was necessary . They justly concluded . That as the Body Natural must perish , if the Blood does not circulate ; so also the Riches of the Commonwealth become useless , or rather corrupted , when they stagnate by being hoarded in the buried Treasury of private men . They made also many Laws against Luxury , and the Severity of their Military Discipline and Censures exceeded yet those Laws . Cato was more celebrated for his frugal Severity , than Caesar or Pompey for their Conquests ; the Roman Poets and Historians vie one with another in their expressions of Esteem of him , and Lucan gives this Character both of Frugality and him . — Hi mores , haec duri immota Catonis Secta fuit , servare modum , finemque tenere , Naturamque sequi , patrioeque impendere vitam Nec sibi , sed toti genitum se credere mundo . Huic epuloe vicisse famem , magnique penates Summovisse hiemem tecto , pretiosaque vestis Hirtam membra super Romani more Quiritis Induxisse togam , Venerisque huic maximus usus , Progenies : Urbi pater est , urbique maritus : Iustitiae cultor , rigidi servator honesti : In commune bonus , nullosque Catonis in actus Subrepfit , partemque tusit sibi nata voluptas . Which May has translated thus . These were his Manners , this four Cato's Sect , To keep a Mean , hold fast the End , and make Nature his Guide , die for his Countreys sake , For all the world , not him , his Life was lent , He thinks ; his Feasts but Hungers banishment ; His choicest Buildings were but fence from cold : His best Attire rough Gowns , such as of old Was Roman Wear ; and nothing but desire Of Progeny in him warm'd Venus fire . Father and Husband both to Rome was he , Servant to Iustice and strict Honesty : For th' publick Good ; in none of Cato's Acts Creeps self-born Pleasure , or her share exacts . But I read not of any Laws made against Avarice since the tenth Law in the Decalogue , of which the Reason may seem to be , That the great irregularity of Covetousness arises from the inordinate Love to Riches , which being a latent Act of the Mind , can be known to none save God , and therefore it can be punishable by no Laws , but those which are made by him who is the Searcher of Hearts ; and the Contempt which follows Avarice , is in it self a sufficient Temporal Punishment . To understand the progress of Frugality , and its opposite Vices in the other unhallowed Nations , we must recur to the more ancient Histories of the World , where we 'll find that Nature endeavoured to please those who were situated in desert Countries , such as the Scythians , with the thoughts of their being secure by their Frugality against the Invasions of those who were tempted to Robberies by the expectation of Spoil , and thus their Ambassadors diverted Alexander from the hopes of conquering them , telling him , That he could gain nothing but blows by invading them , who had no pleasure in any thing but in defending their Native Country , and whose Courage had never been effeminated by Luxury , nor stained by Rapine . In other Nations , where Plenty was capable to corrupt , their Lawgivers did most industriously turn all the edge of their Laws against Luxury , making Frugality the Fundamental Law of their Government ; as we see in Lacedemon , which Rome afterwards did imitate , and Rome has in this of late been imitated by Hloland . But I find this difference between the Frugality of Lacedemon , Rome and Holland , that the great design of Lycurgus in Lacedemon , was to wean his ambitious and factious Country-men from too ardent a desire of coming into the Government , that thereby they might enrich themselves ; and therefore he did allow no Salary to Statesmen save Fame , and preferred none to be such , but they who shew'd a contempt of Riches . The Romans recommended Frugality and the contempt of Riches , because they found nothing was so necessary for a warlike Nation , as the Love of Glory , and nothing was so great a Rival , or rather an Enemy to Glory as Avarice : They also consider'd justly , that Frugality harden'd men into a temper of being Souldiers . The Hollanders practised at first Frugality , rather through Necessity than Choice ; but finding thereafter that it was probable they might enlarge their Territories by Commerce , as the Romans did by Conquest , they recommended Frugality as that which could best enlarge their Trade ; and thus they by sailing their Ships with fewer men , and feeding these men , and their Manufacturers too , less sumptuously than other Nations do , have been able to out-sell them ; Their Merchants and Tradesmen likewise living less prodigally than other Merchants , are able to lay out more of their Stock in Trade , and to sell at easier Rates : Nor do so many of them break as elsewhere , and the breaking of one Merchant , who hath lived sumptuously , endangers twenty . By this Frugality likewise they are able to contribute , and do contribute more freely to the paying of Taxes , than any other Nation ; for men part freely with that without which they may live . So that Frugality is amongst them , not only a Nurse to their Trade , but a Bulwark to their Country : Yet I cannot but blame them for making Frugality , not only the chief of their Vertues , but a sharer in their Religion ; they having few Merchants or Tradesmen , who do not sell and work freely on the Sunday , and one of them excus'd it to me , by telling that he was worse than an Infidel who provides not for his Family , and from this Politick has arisen possibly that great Faction in Holland , who oppose the Morality of the Sabbath . As to the Management of Publick Imployment , Holland and Venice have always thought it unjust to defraud those who are able to serve the Publick , of necessary Subsistence : for sometimes the abler States-men have not whereupon to live ; but on the other hand the greatest Men among them , have very mean Salaries , which are neither able to feed their Luxury , nor raise their Avarice . They laugh at Monarchies , and say , they bestow so large Salaries upon their Ministers that they are generally diverted from the Publick Affairs , by following those Pleasures , with which vast Salaries do daily tempt them ; and thus they use the Publick , as those Coach-men do , who otherwise skilful enough , yet if they too much good Liquor , they overturn their Masters in the plainest ways . MAHOMET design'd to found a New Empire as well as Religion , and made his Religion subservient to his Empire , teaching his Mussul-men or Believers , that they should be sav'd accordingly as they shew'd Zeal for enlarging his Kingdom , and by an entire and blind Obedience to the Emperor's Command , they might save their Souls in sending their Heads . In recompence of which severe Obedience he allow'd them plurality of Wives here , and promis'd them new Scenes of carnal Pleasures for ever hereafter ; so that he seem'd ( contrary to all other Institutions ) to found his upon Luxury ; but yet no Society is oblig'd to study the contempt of Riches so much as they : for to the end that their Treasury might only be rich , Mahomet oblig'd them to believe that all belong'd to the Emperor , and that no private Man had Property , persuading them , that when the Treasury was rich , all private Men were secure ; and that by extending the Limits of the Empire , every man who was vigorous and active in the Conquest , had the opportunity thereby of making himself great and rich . Which hath made me very oft admire how humane Nature could allow Men to believe a Point that was so stretch'd : but Mahomet ow'd his Success in this more to the brutality of his Followers , than to the solidity of his own Reason . And if we consider more narrowly his Principles , we will find that he did not chiefly design to gratifie their Luxury , but to teach what was useful to his own Interest : For he allow'd them plurality of Wives only to compensate , and make them insensible , by this impious Liberty , of the great Prejudice he had done them in robbing from them their Liberty and Property , but he discharg'd them the use of their delicious Wines , because it might disable them at any time from going about their publick Employments . It appears at first difficult to reconcile their being so avaritious with the want of Property ; for Reason teaches us to value little that of which we cannot be secure : But we must consider , that no Vice looks further than the present time ; thus Avarice is every where unsecure of its prey as well as among the Turks ; and this Instance of the Turks is enough to prove , how far Avarice makes us toil beyond what we ought to do , however it wants not its own colours there ; for it perswades them , that it 's good once to be in possession of Riches , that none can take them away save the Emperor , and that he can have no temptation to take them from any , save such as are Factious , and Traitors . To return to my former Design , I continue to observe , that men having no defence against these Vices , save the use of their Reason , assoon as this Reason was bribed by Avarice , or made drunk by Luxury , it ranged it self on the side of those Vices , and then frail man was soon overcome by his own Auxiliaries , which a more refined sort of men call'd the Philosophers perceiving , they run to the assistance of Reason , and they gain'd indeed many Proselytes , though they could not gain intire Countries . And after others had made a great progress in Greece , Pythagoras made one in Italy , and his recommendation and esteem of Frugality retains yet great vigour amongst the Brachmans in India , as Confucius's has done amongst the Chinese for many Ages ; And the same Doctrine was transmitted by them to the Druides , the joint Priests and Philosophers of our Northern Regions ; who made Silence and Frugality the Nurses and Supports of all Virtue . Lycurgus discharg'd the use of all Gold and Money , and made his Iron Coin so unpleasant and unportable , that ( as he thought ) no man would be covetous of it . He ordered all Men to eat in common and publickly , that none might live more deliciously , than others . The Roman sumptuary Laws set limits to Extravagancy , and their severe Censors ' were esteem'd in their Magistracy according as they punish'd the transgressors of these Laws . Some of the Philosophers threw away their Riches lest they should be tempted by them ; and others of them did in their Cynick way not only bark against Riches , but vainly glory in fordid and nasty Poverty . By which Laws and Philosophy the less attentive part of Mankind may think themselves better guarded against these Vices , than by the Precepts of either the Old or New Testament . But these Lawgivers not knowing the heart of Man so well as he who made it , fram'd Laws that were inconsistent with true Natural Reason , or at least subdued Nature only for a time , but could not reform it . They gained few Proselytes but either by the Novelty of their Doctrine , or by a love to Singularity , or from a hid design of making the People believe that if they were brought into the Government , they would not rob and squeeze the Riches of their Subjects . The Heroes who condemned Avarice and laugh'd at Luxury never failed of being universally admired ; and having their memories celebrated , ( the great and peculiar reward of Vertue . ) We find that Epaminondas the Thebane , by being buried at the publick Expence ( after he had been Master of all the Substance of the Common-wealth , and not having wherewith to bury himself ) was more esteemed , than those who had all the Riches in the City . Nor does the Roman History remember with so much applause the Triumph of any of their Generals , as it does the Generosity of Fabritius , who when he was tempted by Pyrrhus King of Epirus to betray his native Country , overballanc'd that Kings Gold by his own more solid Vertue . I shall not contend much for the sincerity of the Heathen Philosophers , but sure I am , that their professing Enmity to Riches and Prodigality , does fully evince that the most Ambitious mind can find nothing worthier of its Imitation ; nor could Nature teach the Vulgar any Thing that they could more easily believe than that he deserved most to be admired , who valued himself least upon his Riches . We have many Sects of those Philosophers , who put Virtue under the tuition of Sobriety , such as the Pythagoreans , Stoicks , and even Epicurus himself taught , that he who could live upon Bread , and Water , was equal to Jupiter ; and he expressed so much joy in his Sobriety , that it burst forth into Raptures . They do all in their Discourses against Avarice and Luxury overflow , as Rivers do , when they are swell'd with too great abundance . And in those Passions expressed themselves with a natural force and zeal , which was thought inimitable by Hypocrisie . And their refusing the Imployments and Riches which they cried out against , was concluded to be a very probable Argument of their Sincerity . They admir'd the wise Gallantry of one of the Athenian Philosophers , who when he was reproached as railing only at Riches , because he could not command them ; left his Philosophy for some time and turning Merchant , enhansed the whole Trade of the City : but then divided what he gained most Generously betwixt the Common-wealth and the Poor , designing to gain nothing by his Trade , but the Belief that he was in earnest a Philosopher . Nor can I forget Phocion's generous Answer to the Ambassadors of Alexander , who having brought him a great sum of Money , he ask'd , Why Alexander sent him that vast sum of Money ? And when they had answered , that he had sent it to shew his Esteem of his great Vertue ; He replied , That he hoped Alexander would suffer him to enjoy that Vertue , for which he esteemed him , and which he had never gain'd by Riches . And tho the Philosophers were very excessive in their contempt of Riches , and contradicted thereby Nature , as well as the Multitude ; ( which made them in the end as Ridiculous , as the Vices truly were which they contemned : ) Yet certainly God did think fit to send these Philosophers into the World a little before his Son , to convince Men , that the Vices which he was to curb by his Gospel , were abhorr'd by those whom they Honoured with the names of Wise Men , and Lovers of the Truth . COVETOUSNESS . DISCOURSE II. WHEN Nature began first to yield to Vice , and to be misled by blind Appetites , it yielded to Ambition in the Angels , to Vanity in Eve , and to Revenge in Cain ; but it did cost Vice many Ages before it could prevail so far as to persuade Men to toil and sweat beyond Necessity , or to believe that to be necessary which was superfluous ; so far were these contrary to Nature , nor had it ever been able to corrupt reasonable men without disguising its Designs ; and therefore it first represented to them that men growing numerous and unjust , it was fit to divide that Land which they inhabited , pretending that the Earth which God had given them would be daily beautified by those to whom each portion should fall , and every man remaining content with his own share should want all pretext of oppressing his Neighbour . This Property became afterwards so charming , and Men were so pleas'd with what they had , that by a fatal mistake they concluded the more they had , they would be the more pleased , and so that which was designed to bound our Appetites , did enlarge them , Thus Avarice was the first of the two Extremes which attacqued Frugality , and as the number of Men encreased upon the face of the Earth , it encreased with them ; for its pretences grew thereby much stronger , because it was so much the abler to persuade Men , that by how much the multitude of sharers grew , the shares must lessen by the same measure : and that they would not be able to supply their Necessities without making laborious provisions for them . And when men grew very numerous , Avarice thought it time to suggest to them , that if they multiplied by the proportions formerly observed ; the Earth which was already scarce able to supply them would shortly become absolutely insufficient . Tho Avarice had thus got some footing in the World , yet because Commerce was then only entertained by Exchange , it could make no considerable progress till men for their own destruction had digged up Gold and Silver , those Metals which have destroyed more than Iron or Steel , and then it getting something that was durable , and might be hoarded up , toil'd to Excess ; but even that Money it laid up being thereby barren was so much the less desireable , therefore it suggested to Men the taking Bonds and Obligations with eating Usury . And thus Avarice grew up to its full Perfection . Avarice in the next place borrowed New Forces from the Experience of Mankind ; for as time run on , 't was easie to observe that Favour and Security were to be bought by Money ; and from this it suggested that it was inculpata Tutela , and one of the wisest Duties of Self-defence to hoard up Riches as the means whereby men could ransom themselves from all Dangers . It borrowed also assistance from all the Passions , and when it found any man too strong for it by his innate Reason , it transformed it self into the likeness of his favourite Inclinations , and did like the Ivy with the Oak creep up to a height to which it could not naturally have risen . And thus when it found a man incline to Ambition , it endeavoured to perswade him , that without Money all his generous Thoughts would turn Crimes , that it only could raise him Soldiers , because men must venture their Lives for that without which they cannot support them . That this would hire them New Counsellours by making his Interest theirs , and that the making of Peace and War was more its Prerogative , than of Kings and Princes , who though they vainly founded their Power upon their Right of Blood and the Justice of their Laws , yet they owed it onely to their Treasures ; nor had the faces of Emperours so much influence any where as upon their Coins . And thus Avarice like the smoak which it truly resembles , raised it self amidst the touring flames of Ambition . We see Riches prove the most successful of all Gallantries : for let whining Lovers talk what they please of their Chains , the strongest ones are made of Gold , and Jupiter himself could not otherways win Danae , than by descending on her in a Golden Shower ; what can not be expected from the force of Gold ? when it not only becomes the best of all the Paints and Beauty-Patches that Ladies can use , but is miraculously able in our Matches to make the crooked streight , and the blind see . In vain is Bloud pretended to , except this make it circulate ; and mens parts are lookt on as aiery Notions when a Competitor appears , who hath such solid advantages as Lands and Riches . I have with Contempt and Disdain consider'd the Omnipotency of Mammon , in commanding the most beautiful and haughty Ladies to humble themselves to the Sons of those who had got their Estates by Insamy , and had themselves Souls that were unworthy of any other Bodies , than those deformed ones , which every one abhor'd , but the bought Bride , and her bribed Relations . If any Man design to pursue his Revenge , Money will furnish him a Murtherer , or if he resolve to improve himself in Arts and Sciences , he must owe his Education , Travels , Books , and Instruments to his Riches , and possibly he may buy a Poem , Play , or other Book which may afterwards make the Stock of his Reputation . He who wants Children must adopt Riches in their Place , and after he has comforted himself against the miseries of old Age by being Courted by all who either expect Succession , or Legacies , He at last thinks he can perpetuate more his Name by leaving a great Estate , than by leaving a Son though recommended by the best Parts and Education , having observed in the long course of his life , that a great Estate is more esteemed than generous Qualities . I have known Avarice insinuate it self with some , as 't were only a pleasant effect of the love of Proportion and Harmony ; and thus he who wants onely two or three hundred Pounds of ten thousand a Year , or he who has a whole Barony , except some few Acres belonging to a poor Neighbour , can be as little at ease till he get these , as he whose fine Lodging wants some Rooms to compleat its Symmetry : which false Colour did tempt King Achab to covet that Vineyard which he got to the destruction of his Queen and Kingdom . It insinuates it self on Gamesters as an Innocent Love of Divertisement , and persuades them that their Anger for losing proceeds not from an Esteem of the Money they have lost , but from the shame of being overcome . It persuades the Lazy , that if they come once to an Estate they need not be afraid of losing any thing by their Slothfulness . And thus it promises to be a Hedg to that soft and nice Humour . It persuades those who are in Debt , that any thing is lawful which may pay it : I was pleas'd once to hear a Lady say , that she abhor'd Privateering so much , as a kind of publick Robbery , that she would no way suffer the Money arising from the Prizes , in which she had Interest , to enter into her Pack , that is to say , she would buy no Land with it for her Heir , but design'd with it only to clear her Debts . A nice way indeed of reconciling Covetousness with Honour , Law and Conscience . Yet I could not but regret to hear another Lady whom I esteemed much more say , Oh , that my Debts were paid ; to the end I might have the great pleasure of doing works of Charity : To which my answer was , Madam , Sell a little of the Land you lately bought and pay those Debts , and yet ye shall have remaining thrice as much Land as ever you expected . Avarice borrows sometimes a Mask from a Man's Temperament , it persuades easily the Melancholy , that he may starve , and that in laying up Riches he only provides for Nature ; without which he is as much a Self-murderer as if he should cut his own Throat ; Nam qui alimenta negat , Necat . And for the same Reason we see the older men grow , they grow the more Covetous , because the more Melancholy ; for not being able to gain as they did when they were Young , they think they should supply this by Niggardliness and Avarice , and resolve to gain Esteem by it , since they can by no way else . Upon which Considerations the Eloquent Apostle , Heb. 12. 1. designs Avarice by these words , And the sin which doth so easily beset us ; for the Greek words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be better translated the well Circumstantiated Sin , or the Sin which hath the fair pretences , and in this Avarice is the most dangerous of all Sins , that others occasion Remorse by their heinousness , but Avarice precludes it , for few or none are ever convinced that it is a Sin , and so cannot repent for it . Though these be the Disguises under which it oft-times recommends it self to us , as the product of Reason . Yet it is too well known , that Avarice is sometimes so absurd that it seems to have more of a Disease than a Vice in it , and to be rather a total want of Reason than a corruption of it . But alas ! it is such a Disease as comes not by fits , as other Vices do ; for the Drunkard may be quenched , and the Leacher is soon drain'd , but the Miser and covetous Man is always tortured . And in this it differs from other Diseases , that those who are sick of it , desire never to be Cured , and therefore it resembles more a Madness , which makes men admire and value themselves , even in that wherein all men else see they are distracted . For there are Men truly mad , who talk reasonably enough on all Subjects , save in that one , in which they are distempered , not unlike an Excellent Lute , having all its strings well tun'd , save one , but the least defect is sufficient to disconcert all the Harmony . Nor does Bedlam it self lodge greater varieties of Madmen , than Avarice produces ; for some will be so mad as to starve themselves , and the very Heir to whom they are to leave their plentiful Estate . And some have past by their starving Relations , to leave it to one who had no recommending Qualities , save that he would succeed him in his Humour , as well as his Estate , and keep together the beloved Treasure : And some who would not leave six pence to the poor , have left their whole Estate to Persons who have bribed them out of it , by inconsiderable Presents ( for Bribing is the only Flattery that can prevail on the Avaritious ) and though they would not give a shilling for an Eloquent Panegyrick , have yet left it all to such insipid Flatterers , and have suffered their Estates to be taken away by Processes , or exposed to publick Enemies , rather than secure them by a timely and prudent Expence against either . I have also admired to find , that men who are sure of no Property , as in Turkey , and it may be nearer , should of all men be most Avaritious , though it is probable that they toil for their Tyrants , rather than Heirs , and yet the counterfeit Happiness of griping , is irresistible . So that Avarice seems only to sport it self with its Votaries , and to use them as the Devil does Witches . Avarice having thus corrupted the Reason of Mankind , this Corruption propagates it self by Imitation and Example ; for as Avarice arises often from a distempered Judgment , like to the Hemlock springing out of Mud ; so it is sometimes copied by Imitation , as a Picture is drawn by a Face . And I must here observe , that Parents have a most special Obligation to be virtuous beyond others , for Children whilst young , do easily like soft Wax , receive impressions from their Example , because of the Respect they have to them , and their being constantly in their Company . So that Parents share in their Childrens Crimes without lessening the Childrens guilt , by bearing this share . The being likewise meanly bred , does oft-times by a fixed Habit draw over some mens Inclinations to this byass , and though they rescue themselves from Poverty , they are not able to recover from that vitious Habit. There are likewise some Countries , in which by general custom Vice seems to be authorized , as Drunkenness in Germany , Revenge and Jealousie in Italy : The Industry of Holland inclines Men somewhat to Avarice ; The Pride of Scotland to Prodigality , and the Plenty of England to Luxury , in which Cases Reason is rather prevented than corrupted or persuaded . Nor durst either Prodigality or Avarice undertake to corrupt Nature , and Reason so highly , if they had not the assistance of General Example , to which men by a false Modesty think they are in Reason obliged to submit , and oft-times a general Custom passes for Nature , in such as understand not , or have no mind to understand the difference , and to examine wherein the Copy differs from the Original . I confess that Rich and Trading Nations , such as England , may be allowed greater scope to Sumptuousness , as men who have great Revenues , without the least imputation of Luxury , do live proportionably to what they possess , without being censured by any reasonable man for so doing . THE Church hath also concurred to its Assistance , and Avarice having gained even some Churchmen , to be its Chaplains ( who love Ease , and concluding Riches necessary for procuring it ) that they might more easily convey them into their own Channel , have endeavoured to make Riches as necessary for other mens Salvation , as they thought they were for their own Ease . And though we poor Mortals think them only Snares , yet they have of late become the best Antidote against Sin , and a Man may as well by them purchase a place in Heaven as in Earth , and as easily free himself from Purgatory as Poverty ; or if any Man designs to ruin the State by raising Factions and Rebellions , Money alone can furnish him from the Altar , with the best Trumpeter of Sedition . It is no wonder we Laicks accuse Church men of Avarice , since they tax one another with this Vice. Those who separated from the Church of Rome , objected that Avarice had kindled the fire of Purgatory , invented Masses to save men by Money from its flames ; had wrought false Miracles , &c. Those who separated from the Episcopal Churches , pretended that Bishops had Arrogated that Superiority , to make thereby great Benefices necessary . Those who subdivided from Presbytery , cryed out against Soul-selling Stipends , and all those Churches may probably conjecture that those Dissenters cry down Stipends , out of a design to excuse themselves from the Payment of them . Nor is Covetousness able to debauch private Church-men , and set particular Sects at Variance with one another ; but 't is subtle enough in some collective and reformed Meetings of the Clergy , to influence the decision of General Cases of Conscience , though ( I confess ) with a Delicacy peculiar to it self : It will suggest that the Clergy are to be rescued from Contempt , and ought to have wherewith to maintain , not only themselves , but Hospitality , and Foundations of Charity : From which humbler thoughts Cardinal Palavicino in his History of the Council of Trent , rises by an insolent flight to defend all the Magnificence of the Church of Rome , under pretence that Mankind is govern'd by Sense , as well asby Reason : and therefore they must see in the Church and its Ministers what may draw respect from the Outward , as well as from the Inward Man. It passes for pure Devotion in that Church to hook into its Patrimony all they can ( though by as palpably forg'd Donations as Constantines was ) and it would be judg'd Sacriledg to quit what is once acquired . Nor shall you find in all your travels any more Covetous , and thereby greater Oppressors , than some who having left the World to retire to Religious Houses , are made by them their Procurators . But though these considerations may sufficiently justifie the Liberal , but sutable Provisions which have been bestowed on the Church of England for promoting Charity and Learning , yet they can never with Palivicino vindicate the excessive sums brought in by those indulgences to the Treasures of the Romish Church which occasion'd the dreadful Wars of Germany ; and they extremely condemn those . Impropriators who have made not only the Preachers , but the Gospel it self , contemptible by denying a Competency to them who serve at the Altar . At which inconsistency of Designs , occasion'd by the Natural force of Covetousness ( which can be disguised but never mortified ) I have frequently been astonished . In Secular Meetings also , it can persuade not only the Hearers , but the Speakers themselves to go along with whatever it dictates : and it will insinuate it self at last so far , that a man will really believe himself publick-spirited , when at the bottom his chief Inclinations arise from private Interest , which we now by a kind and gentle word , call Convenience , which is in effect a Combination of Luxury and Avarice , each whereof finding themselves too weak a part to encounter the strength of Reason , have most remarkably in this Age join'd their Forces together and assumed the insinuating common name of Convenience . Oh! Happy Orator ! Teach me thy Art of Persuasion , and bestow thy Bags upon those who delight to trudge under them ; But if I could persuade as thou canst , I would endeavour to rescue Mankind from thy Tyranny ; for if thou bewitching Convenience be made the Standard , farewel for ever to the Glory of Martyrdom , to the Loyalty of Subjects , to the Dutifulness Children , and to the Ties of Friendship . Having thus seen Avarice condemned by Nature , by the great Author of it , by all the great and wise Societies of Mankind , and by that same general agreement of Men , which hath taught us that our Souls are Immortal . Having seen the Original and Progress of Frugality and Avarice , and the several Masks under which Avarice has cheated us : It will be fit to proceed to consider the Remedies and Arguments whereby we may secure our selves against its Influence . The true way to wean us from Avarice , is first to find out , what does in our Breast incline us to it . And if it be that we may be esteem'd , we shall easily find this but a Cheat , because none but the Avaritious themselves esteem other men for being Rich ; and we may be as well in love with Cheating , because those who value that Craft and Subtilty are pleased with such as are Masters in it : But if We can once persuade our selves that Riches are not to be Admired , and are rather given to men for Ease than for Esteem , we shall be clearly convinced , that this is but a faint colour to excuse it : and when men in Trade or Imployments die very Rich , the generality of Mankind concludes that they have taken a Latitude of gaining by any means , or are guilty of the folly of having defrauded themselves of Necessaries , to lay up so much as might corrupt their Heirs by Luxury . It has been frequently observed , that the Children of Avaritious men , have proved more Luxurious or Prodigal , than others ; which proceeds either from their abhorring of Avarice , because they found themselves , when they were young oppressed by it , or because finding their Parents much reproached with it , they thought themselves obliged in Honour to shun that Vice which occasioned this Reproach : or else having conceived an opinion when they were young , that their Parents were very Rich , as all Avaritious men are thought to be , they concluded they might allow themselves to spend the more freely . But upon the whole matter , I must conclude that Indian wise who laugh'd at the Europeans who toil excessively to make their Children excessively Lazy . I doubt not but some men have been desirous to gain Money by their Imployment , because the want of Practice is look'd upon as want of Parts : But I have observed few who deserving to be esteem'd for Parts , have missed it from the Wiser sort , because they wanted Practice : and those , and not the multitude , are the true Judges . Nor is that Wit and Learning which gains Money the true measure of Esteem ; being rather the Mechanick part of true Sense , given by Nature to us for maintaining our Bodies , than the sublime part bestowed by Heaven for adorning our Souls . We have few Monuments at this day of the rich Lawyers among the Romans , that gained great Estates , but we retain still great Esteem for those who contemned them . And have we not seen some rich Men among our selves , who having gained even to Envy , died more neglected , and scorned , than they whom Poverty had starved , and who now are remembred for nothing but as Instances of Folly and Madness . That can never pass for Wit , nor deserve Esteem among reasonable men , which naturally tends so far to debase our Reason : nor did the Illustrious Turene ( to instance likewise the Brave ) want that Esteem which the greatest Misers in the World would have coveted , tho he never valued that Money which they admire , having died without being Master of fifty Pound , though he could have been Master of far more than those Misers durst have wished . Fame is the heritage of the Virtuous , and Esteem is a Rent that all men must pay them . Such as think that by Riches they can secure themselves against Danger , have certainly forgot how many Avarice has made a Prey ; nor did ever any ravenous Creature choose to devour the Lean. Men look on the Avaritious as Pyrats , against whom Interest arms all Mankind , and tho Drunkards love Drunkards , yet the Avaritious hate all who are so , as men do those Rivals who are prefer'd by their Mistress . Money may indeed supply the want of Innocence , when men are accused : but few Tyrants , or Robbers are content with a part when they may have the whole , and when Darius offered to Alexander , all on this side of Euphrates , Alexander laughed at it , and desired him to offer something to him which he could not take . Tyrants also and States-men are invited to rob Avaritious Wretches , because they can commit this Crime with the applause of the far greater part of Mankind , who are glad to see those robbed , who robb'd them : or who at least hindred Riches to circulate for the supply of the Poor , and needy . But the Knaves whom Money defends are those only , whom the love of it has made Knaves ; And it were better not to be tempted to the Crimes that Avarice occasions , than to be defended by the Treasure which it lays up , since it may , and oft-times does fail to defend , and at best but secure some few against the many Evils which it occasions . The best Plea that Avarice can make , is that it provides against those Necessities which otherwise would make us miserable ; but the love of Money deserves not the name of Avarice , whilst it proceeds no farther . And it is then only to be abhorr'd ; when it cheats , and abuses us , by making us believe that our necessities are greater than they are . In which it treats us as Fools , and makes us Slaves : but it is indeed most Ridiculous in this , that oft-times after it has persuaded men that a great Estate is necessary , it does not allow them to make use of any suitable proportion of what they have gained ; and since nothing can be called Necessary but what we need to use , all that is laid up cannot be said to be laid up for Necessity . And so this Argument may have some weight when it is prest by Luxury ; but it is Ridiculous when it is alledg'd by Avarice . I have therefore oft-times admired , how a Person that thought it Luxury to spend two hundred Pound , toil'd as a Slave to get four hundred a Year for his Heir ; Either he thought , an honest and Virtuous Man should not exceed two hundred Pound in his Expence , or not ; if he thought he should not , why did he bribe his Heir to be Luxurious by leaving him more ? If he thought his Heir could not live upon so little , why should he who gain'd it , defraud himself of the true Use ? I know some who preserve themselves against Avarice , by arguing often with their own heart , that they have twice as much as they Expected : and more than others who they think live very Contentedly , and who did bound their Designs in the beginning with moderate Hopes , and refuse obstinately to Enlarge , lest they should thus Launch out into an Ocean that has no Shoar . To meditate much upon the Folly of others who are remarkable for this Vice will help somewhat to limit it . And to railly him who is Ridiculous for it , may influence him and others to Contemn it . I must here beg Rich and Avaritious Mens leave , to Laugh as much at their Folly , as I could do at a Shepherd who would weep , and grieve , because his Master would give him no more Beasts to herd : or at a Steward , because his Lord gave him no more Servants to feed . Nor can I think a man who having gain'd a great Estate is afraid to live comfortably upon it , less ridiculous than I would do him , who having built a convenient , or it may be a stately House , should choose to walk in the Rain or expose himself to Storms , lest he should defile and prophane the floor of his almost Idolized Rooms . They who think that they are obliged to live as well as others of the same rank , do not consider that every man is only obliged to live according to his present Estate . And therefore this Necessity will also grow with our Estates , and this Temptation rather makes our Necessities endless , than provides against them . And he who having a paternal Estate of an hundred Pound a year will not be satisfied to live according to it , will meet with the same difficulty , when he comes to an Estate of ten thousand Pound , and like the wounded Deer , he flees not from the Dart , but carries it along with him . We are but Stewards , and the Steward should not be angry that he has not more to manage ; but should be careful to bestow what he has , and if he do so , neither his Master nor the World can blame him . The next Cure against Avarice , is , to consider what abominable and dreadful Effects it produceth in the World , how like the evil Spirit that possessed the poor wretch spoken of in the Gospel , it draggs him up and down through Deserts and Mountains , throwing him sometimes into the Fire , and sometimes into the Water . No Climate so Hot , nor Cold , no Sea so Boisterous , nor Shoar so Rocky , but the Avaritious Man must venture upon it . And after he has gained something at the Price of so much Toil and Slavery , it barbarously starves , and tyrannously denies him the Use of his own . As if God designed to punish those Sinners so ; That he will let all the World see them want the Use of that for which they have damn'd themselves . There can be nothing more Inhumane than Avarice , when it perswades men to enter into Plots and Factions , that they may augment their Estates ; and yet will not allow them to bestow such a Portion of these upon their Design , as may secure themselves by making the Villany successful : And we have seen of late men of vast Fortunes , forfeit them , and their Lives too , rather than contribute what was inconsiderable ; but absolutely necessary for the Success of their Enterprise . Many also are perswaded , as it were , to Bury themselves alive in Mines , and Coal-pits , or to Sacrifice many of their Years , by living in such places as Scanderoon , exchanging Life it self , which is most desirable , for Money , that tyrannous Idol . Envy , that cruel Torturer of the Soul , deserves a place amongst the Executioners which attend Avarice . For most mens Avarice proceeding from comparing themselves with others ; this must necessarily beget Envy , and Envy forces men to toil till they be as rich as those they envy . I confess that Ambition raises also Envy , but in the ambitious , it refines itself into a noble Emulation , and forces those who are possest with it , to do what may exalt them to an equal height with others . And this requires Liberality , Clemency , &c. but the Envy of the Avaritious , depresses the Spirit to that Earth , with which he is , by a Love to it , united ; and makes him starve the Poor , bribe , cheat , and oppress ; that he may be as rich as those who occasioned this Passion . The Envy that arises from Ambition , cannot always keep a man on the Rack , for the Occasion fails , tho the Inclination remain : But in this also , Avarice is the most disquieting of all Vices , and Passions , that every thing that it sees , or hears , both kindles and feeds its Flame . In vain do we expect Justice , if Judges weigh Money against Arguments , or if Witnesses value Gain more than an Oath . In vain do Kings and Common-wealths fortifie their Towns , if Avarice govern them . Nothing is secret that can be bought , nor is Religion it self secure at the Altar , if its Priests can be brib'd . Such as would shun Covetousness , should shun the aspiring to great Dignities , which seem to make Avarice rather a Debt , than a Vice ; And perswade men , that the Robbing others to maintain their Grandeur , is a Duty , not a Sin ; And that he who maintains not his Honour , forfeits it . And thus men support Avarice by Pride , and vanish it with the deceiving Lustre of Generosity . It contributes not a little to our being Avaritious , that when Children we are bred to an esteem of Money , before we can understand any thing . And therefore this Impression lasts with them , even after their Understanding is gone . For we see that men in Bedlam , are always asking Mony , and that when Avaritious men are on their Death-bed , past the sense of every thing else ; yet they still grasp at their Mony , and Bonds . Parents should likewise carefully consider in breeding their Children , what their Genius or Temper is . For there are some Trades which encline more to one Vice than another . As for instance , the being a Lawyer is thought to incline them to Avarice , because in that Imployment men are always treating , and contending about Riches ; and are oft-times by defending unjust Acquisitions , tempted to think the Guilt contracted by them very small . Familiarity lessening always Guilt on such occasions : And therefore if a man find his Child inclined to love Mony , he should breed him to no Trade , that can enflame his Desires ; and a Lawyer engaged once in the Employment , should , and I am sure some do , balance this Inconveniency , by the high esteem they have for Justice , whereby they can only secure Fame , and Property , the two most desirable of all things ; and the great experience they have above others of the Uncertainty of Riches , and Estates , should convince them , most of all men , of the Folly as well as Guilt of this Vice. Soldiers are generally enclined to Luxury , because they are not frequently in Business relating to Estates , and Commerce . And in the interludes of their dangers , they are inclined to recreate themselves even to Excess , to compensate the Toil they have suffered , and the Risques they have run . On the other hand , a Child inclined to Luxury should rather be bred a Lawyer ; and though this be not the proper place of speaking against Luxury , yet the Contingency of the matter obliges me to say , that Soldiers of all men should shun most Luxury , for it softens too much , makes men too Lazy , and succeeding dangers the more intolerable . The proper Sanctuary against both these Vices , should be the Imployment of Churchmen ; and we should fly for protection against these to the Horns of the Altar . Yet as I have formerly observed , the World is much inclined to be jealous of their Avarice , though they of all men should , and I hope do shun it most ; for he who preaches against Avarice , and yet acts it , is no more a Preacher , but a Mountebank ; nor can his Discourse convince , whose Example disswades ; most men being more led by Sense than by Reason . By this Vice also Church-men fall under that Contempt , which over-turns their Church , and in Consequence takes away their Benefice . And this Vice cannot but doubly augment their Torments to all Eternity . Upon the whole matter then , Men should consider most of all things the Education of their Children , as the only way to make them happy , which is all the Avaritious designs . And this is not to be done by Providing too much , but by making them to be Content with every thing : One who is bred up in solid Virtue , will not probably speak , or do what may forfeit his Estate , as he will not endanger it , or his Health by Women , and Drinking ; He will think the little , that is left him , enough , and his Frugality will make it so , if it do not find it so . We need no Eloquence , but solid Reason , to charge the Avaritious man with Theft in stealing from the Common wealth the true use of those Riches which are necessary for the support of the Common Treasure , the Necessities of the Poor , and the encrease of Commerce ; which made Timandridas the Lacedemonian chide his Son , who valued himself for having spent nothing , as having thereby defrauded his Country , his Neighbours and the Poor ; We may likewise charge him with Murther ( as I formerly instanced , ) for he takes away the Life of the Poor , who refuses the means of supporting it , and men feel too much , not to find that Avarice tempts its Slaves to invade their Neighours in time of War , Killing all those who intercept their Prey , and murthering in time of Peace , by Processes those from whom they can expect any Estate ▪ I● makes men at last Atheists , by persuading them that God is not able to supply their Necessities , and they are really so , when they trust it , and not him . Idolaters , they also are , because they worship Riches as their only Deity . To raise our Thoughts higher than those Moral Arguments : We may easily discern how much stronger Helps Christianity affords us , than we can expect from the Heathens or those Thoughts which Nature suggests , for we have immediate Promises from an Omnipotent God , that those who depend on him shall never want . And to assure them the more of his Care , He calls the Poor his Children , his Family ; and has wrought Miracles to relieve their Necessities , by which advantage no Heathen Philosopher could have secured men against the fear of Want , which is a strong temptation to Avarice . And against which the Apostle very wisely guards us , Heb. 13. 5. Let your Conversation be without Govetousness , and be content with such things as you have ; for He hath said I will never leave thee , nor forsake thee . And because this immoderate Care stretches itself to our Posterity , That same God hath desired us to leave our Fatherless Children upon him , and declares himself the Father of the fatherless , and Husband of the Widow . WE may also see by Christianity , the Purity that is required in its Believers , beyond what the most spiritual Heathens could imagine . For they condemned only the outward effects of Covetousness , when they prevail'd against a mans Reason , and proceeded so far as to wrong the Society in which he lived , or the Neighbours whom he injur'd , by Theft , Robbery or Oppression . But Christianity designing to make the Heart a Temple for the holy Ghost , and Man an Hsir of Heaven , it did therefore Command him to keep his heart pure from that Concupiscence , and Covetousness , which polluted , or disordered the Inclination , without wronging any else , save the Persons in whom these Desires were raised . And thus he who desires to have a great Estate without desiring any other mans , or who wishes that his Neighbours Lands or Moveables were his , even for a Price , is condemned by Christianity , as guilty of Covetousness , and Concupiscence ; and as one who has not learned that noble Lesson , To be content with his own Condition whatever it be . An accomplishment which the great Judge of all things requires in those whom he will own for his Servants . And for our better understanding the heart of Man , it will be fit to distinguish three degrees in this Irregularity : The first is , that whereby the exterior and sensible Object , entering in by the Sense , unto the Fancy , does so suddenly move the Appetite , that the Judgment has no leisure to perceive , much less to make Reflections upon it . And there can be no Irregularity in this degree , except we have fail'd , to accustom our Judgment , and Reason to be watchful , as it ought to be , over the very first motions of our Appetite , and to observe continually as a good Sentinel , what enters in by the Ports of our external Senses . The second degree is , when the Object makes its Impression upon the Appetite , and raises Commotions , whereby the Judgment takes a wrong view of the Object , though afterwards the Judgment overcomes , yet this Disorder deserves the name of a Vicious , or irregular Affection ; not unlike to that Disorder a Rider is put in , when his Horse boggles at any sudden Object , with which the Beast is surprised , and which , though his Rider overcome without difficulty , yet it shews that he has not sufficiently managed the Horse he has taken in charge . The third is , When this Commotion in the Appetite lasts so ▪ long , and prevails so much , that it makes the Judgment doubt which Party it should take : and becomes like to a Rider , who keeps his Saddle , but with Difficulty . In this Degree , Saint Paul represents Man's Reason and his Covetousness wrestling against one another . I confess , that Aristotle acknowledges that there are some Appetites in a man repugnant to Reason , which indeed he blames . And that Plato before him taught in his Eloquent way , that the Chariot of Reason was drawn by two Horses , whereof one was black , and resty , disobeying the Reins of him who govern'd them . Seneca also numbers those Appetites which oppose our Reason among the culpable Passions , but none of them discovered the Irregularity of the first two Degrees , and the best of them saw only the Irregularity of the third with so dim an Eye , and through so thick Clouds , that St. Paul had reason to assert , that if the Law ( meaning the Moral Law of God ) had not said , thou shalt not Covet , Man had not perceived the sin that lies in Simple Concupiscence . And whereas the Heathens did only forbid these immoderate Cares as inconvenient , our holy Religion goes higher , not only in its Purity , but in its Penalty ; for all Anxiety as to our selves , or Covetousness , either relating to our selves , or Neighbours are forbid upon pain of displeasing a kind Father and an infinite God , and becomes uneasie by the cutting and severe reproach of a terrified Conscience : Whereas among most Heathens the Conscience did take no notice , nor thunder out its Terrors upon such spiritual and inward Delinquencies . PARSIMONY AND NIGGARDLINESS . DISCOURSE III. THERE is I confess a difference betwixt Avarice , and excessive Parsimony or Niggardliness , that wrings from others what is theirs ; this only exceeds in sparing too much what is ones own ; the one rises purely from a fear of Want , and therefore in the first Ages of the World it was scarce known ; the other from a desire to heap up th● uselesly ; the one is a kind of Self-defence , the other an Invasion , and therefore the one is the worst , the other amongst the best of Neighbours ; for as the Miser checks us when we exceed in our expence , so he is most unwilling to wrong us , lest he thereby encourage others to wrong him . The Niggard is , generally speaking , a better Subject than the Avaritious , for he is afraid to lose what he has , whereas the Avaritious loving more what he wants , than what he has , hazards the present in expectation of a greater advantage . Niggardliness oft-times grows up rather from Education than any vitious Inclination , and I have seen some become Parsimonious by living near Prodigals , having occasion daily to abhor their Extravagancies , and to be terrified at the Miseries to which they have seen them reduced by these Extravagancies . Men express their abhorrence of this Vice in calling such as are mastered by it , Misers ; as il they were the most miserable of all Men : but yet they must have some Pleasure in it , else they would not be so assiduous and diligent about it ; certainly they think to spare , is to gain ; and therefore they wonder why others who take such pains to gain , should laugh at them for taking pains to spare . Nor do they see that they want any of these things , for providing of which others take pains to heap up money , or that they should toil to get mony to entertain others ; and upon these grounds it is that we find the Parsimonious to be generally proud , thinking they shall never need to depend upon any . But yet Parsimony is to be pitied since it exceeds , for it must proceed from a too high value of Riches , and so argues a blindness in our Reason . And it employs too much of that time which might be better bestowed , starving both Charity and Friendship , the greater Duties , as well as Comforts of our Life : Yet it may seem a more excusable Vice than Avarice , for Avarice still promises to employ the mony that it tempts us anxiously to seek , in the service of Charity and Generosity ; but after we have got the mony , Parsimony will not allow Men to employ it , no not on their own Necessities , though the Niggard ( God knows ) is himself a great object of Charity , which made Horace account it a Madness rather than a Vice. Parcus ob haeredis curam nimiumque severus Assidet insano — The Scripture assures us that Riches take the wings of the morning and fly away . They do not wait till others come and take them from us , but they naturally tend to fly about , and therefore they run away with so much hast , as deserves to be called taking of Wings , and they leave us so soon that this hast is called the Wings of the Morning , and when they have taken wings , I imagin I see them looking back with contempt , and laughing at those who thought to have secured them and kept them Prisoners . Let us then endeavour with the wise Apostle to learn to be content in all conditions , expecting more permanent Riches and Treasures : Imitated in this by Horace , who reflecting on the instability of Fortune , had the same thought from his Fountain , as most of the Heathens borrow from the Scripture , Fortuna saevo laet a negotio , & Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax , Transmutat incertos honores , Nunc mihi , nunc alio benigna , Laudo manentem : si celeres quatit Pennas , resigno quae dedit ; & meâ Virtute me involvo , probamque Panperiem sine dote quaero . I must remark by the way the different Genius of Virgil and Horace , which appears in this , as well as with relation to all Morality . Virgil loves Virtue as a part of Devotion , Aude hospes contemnere opes , & te quoque dignum , Finge Deo. — Horace loves it as conducing to his Ease , as we see in this and many other passages in his Satyrs condemns it easily . — Juvenal in his , rails at it bitterly , and troubles himself almost as mueh in writing against it , as Covetousness could have vexed him ; like Seneca who grows angry in writing against Anger . The Scripture speaking against Covetousness compares it to an evil Eye , which makes the body dark . Matth. 6. And Horace tells us that an honest Man , Oculo irretorto spectat acervos . The Scripture calls Avarice Idolatry . And the Poets alluding to this , say : Praese●temque semper possidet area Deum . One of the chief Pleasures and Arts of Moral Philosophy lies in considering the various mixture of Passions and Vices with one another , as to which Plutarch himself has not been special enough , contenting himself with observing who were Covetous , who Prodigal , &c. but to give some glances of this , upon which I will possibly bestow an Essay apart . It is observable that many in the late Civil Wars who were known Niggards , bestowed frankly their Estates in the service of King Charles I. Many who would not bestow a hundred pound in the Education of their Heir , do bestow with delight many thousands in building the House they are to leave him ; and that beautiful young Lady who allowed a favour to a rich old niggardly Excise-man in France to get mony to preserve her Fathers life , has left it dubious what name this transgression deserved . The different and contrary effects produced by the same Vice or Passion are proofs of this : as for instance , a meer Niggaid starves his Cause ; for he dares not bestow so much as one Shilling upon Hope it self , whereas if Niggardliness be quickened by some degress of Avarice , no Man is a franker Client than the Niggard ; for he knows Mony is a better Fee , than the good Dinner the Luxurious thinks a sufficient reward . It is ordinarily observed that a Niggards Feast is the greatest , and the reason seems to be , that they design thereby to convince the World that their Parsimony proceeds not from their over-valuing Mony. But in my Opinion they as Painters not used to Paint , mistake Proportions more than others do , or it may be they seldom Treat without design of gain , and so their Entertainments are Bribes and not Feasts . LUXURY . DISCOURSE IV. ONE might reasonably have thought , that as the World grew older , Luxury would have been more shunned . For the more Men multiplyed , and the greater their dangers grew , they should have been the more easily induced to shun all expence , that they might the more successfully provide against those inconveniencies . But yet it proved otherwise , and Luxury was the last of all Vices that prevailed over Mankind , for after Riches had been hoarded up , they rotted as it were unto Luxury , and after that Tyranny and Ambition had robbed many poor Innocents , Luxury more cruel than they , was made use of by Providence , to revenge their quarrel : and so triumphed over the Conquerors . Thus when Rome had by Wit , and Courage subdued the World , it was drowned in that inundation of Riches , which these brought upon it . This Vice has its own Masks and Disguises too , for it transforms itself into Virtue , whilst like that it runs faster from Avarice , and laughs more loudly at it than Liberality it self does , and to that height that it seems to be angry at Liberality , as being only a kind of Niggardliness . It pretends to keep open Table to those who Starve , and to have an open Purse always for Men of Merit . Beauty and Learning are its Pensioners , and all manner of Divertisements are still in is retinue . It obliges the peaceable to favour it , as an enemy to every thing that is uneasie ▪ and it ingages Men of Parts to speak for it , because whilst it lavishes the Treasures others have hoarded up ; it feeds the hope , and expectations of such as were provided by Nature of nothing , but a stock of Wit. And there being seldom other marches betwixt Liberality and Prodigality , but such as are to be measured by exact reflections upon the Estates of the Spenders , it sometimes praises that as Liberality , which ought to be condemned as Luxury . And even where the transgression may be discerned , the bribed and interested Multitude will not acknowledge , that Liberality by exceeding its bounds has lost its name . Some also from the same principle authorize this Vice , by the pretext of Law , crying out that every Man should have liberty to dispose of his own , as he pleases , and by the good of Commerce , saying with a serious Face , that Frugality would ruin all Trade , and if no Man spend beyond his Measure , Riches should not Circulate ; nor should virtuous , laborious , or witty Men find in this Circulation , occasions to excite or reward their Industry . And from this probably ; flows the Law of Englands not interdicting Prodigals , denying him the administration of his own Estate , as the Laws of all other Nations do . I know also some very devout Men , who would persuade us , that it is not fit to decry Luxury too much in this Age , because it entertains , and feeds so many poor Artisans , and others who would starve without its assistance , having no other Trade , but the making Perfumes , Laces , Embroideries , and such things which Frugality contemns as Baubles , or abhors as Poisons . And though when Charity had in the youth of Christianity Vigor enough to persuade Men to entertain the Poor as Members of the same Body with them : Yet God seems now to permit Luxury to throw away that mony amongst the Poor , which Charity cannot persuade them to give . Others again recommend Luxury as that which occasions the sharpning of Wit , and the beautifying of the Universe , for those who have Wit , study Painting , Architecture , Sculpture ; and by these the Rich adorn the World , and make it a more glorious instance of his excellent Skill , who first formed it , and bestowed those excellent Talents on Men for improving it . That same God also has made Jewels , Perfumes , and many other things which he must allow to be used by Luxury , since Frugality knows no use for them . But the great Advocate for Luxury , is Self-Love , that Orator which never fails to persuade . And it suggests to us , that the greatest of our Concerns should be for ourselves , and that a reasonable Man should think all thrown away , which he spends not to please himself . And which he can no way do so well as by gratifying all his own Appetites , and Inclinations with the full enjoyment of all they can desire , the Publick Good , and Charity being meer Notions invented by Philosophers and Divines , to make us share with them that mony which when they have once got , they laugh at us for parting with . I confess , that all the Arguments that plead for Avarice seem to conclude at last in favour of Luxury ; for to what purpose , should a Man lay up mony , except he use it ? And Nature would not allow one to toil much for it , if it were not , that he promised to himself to live one day softly , and pleasantly , on the fruits of these Labours : and on the other hand , Luxury never approves any Argument or Design that Avarice can bring ; for it is so much taken up with the present pleasure of using what it has , that it will allow it self no time to foresee , or toil for what it may want . Many who have been very Prodigal , and Luxurious , have afterwards turned very Avaritious , whereas they never gained one Proselyte from Avarice . And I have known some who have spent a very prodigal and luxurious Youth , throwing away the little they had , who so soon as they grew Rich , became so fond of it , that they could not part with what was sufficient to supply their Necessity . And when I asked them why they run from one extreme to another , in spight both of Reason and Custom : They answered , that what formerly they had was not worth their Care , and therefore they spent it in hopes thereby to gain more . In which we may see a new and different view of the genius of Avarice and Luxury , and the motives whence they rise . As Avarice differs from Parsimony , so does Prodigality from Luxury , for Prodigality is a profuse spending on others , but Luxury upon ones self . In Prodigality a Man seems to value every Man more than himself , because he prefers them , defrauding himself of Necessaries , to bestow upon them . In Luxury a Man prefers himself to all others , robbing and cheating them by all arts and devices , to get thereby superfluities , to feed himself and his Lusts. For which Reason , and since also the Scripture speaks so much against Luxury , and not against Prodigality , it may seem strange , why the Laws are so severe to Prodigals in interdicting and forbidding them the Administration of their own Estates , without putting any restraint upon the Luxurious : whereas it seems that the Prodigal is less an Enemy to the Common-Wealth , than the Luxurious . Seeing he is ready to prefer his fellow-Citizens to himself , and generally they who get the Prodigals means have more Wit than he , and can make better use of what they get from him ; and so should by the Laws be preferred to him . But I think the reason of this is , that the Law fears , that after he hath dissipated his own , he may fall a burden on the Society : and therefore it confiders him as a generous kind of Idiot , and so puts him under Tuition , as it does an Idiot . And thus it cares for him more than for the Luxurious ; and it were to be wished that by the same compassion it provided also Tutors for the Niggard , who is in greater danger to be ruined by himself , than the Prodigal by others . To which nothing can be answered , but that the Law thinks this Churl unworthy of its care , and that the Common-Wealth would lose little , though he should starve himself . Since Self-Love is mans chief Counsellor , it seems that Men are more naturally inclined to Luxury than Prodigality : as they are inclined to love themselves better than their Neighbours . But yet on a more serious Reflection it will appear that even Prodigality has Self ▪ Love to plead for it , because Ambition , which is a more violent Passion than Sensuality , drives a Man to Prodigality , as that whereby he may raise his Reputation by buying that Fame , of which only he is greedy . The great Arguments that weigh with me against Luxury , are first , That Luxury disorders , confounds , and is inconsistent with that just and equal Oeconomy , whereby God governs the World as his own Family , in which all Men are but Children , or Servants ; for as the Avaritious hoards up for one , that which should be distributed among many ; so in Luxury one vitious Man spends upon himself what should maintain many hundreds : and he surfeits to make them starve . This is not to be a Steward , but Master . Nor can we think that the wise and just Judge of all things , will suffer in his beautiful World , what the most negligent , and imprudent amongst us , could not suffer in his private Family . The second Argument is , That Nature should be Mans chief Rule in things relating to this World ; and Reason his great Director under God in making use of that Rule , and the Eyes ( as it were ) by which we are to see how to follow it . By this Nature teaches us how to proportion the means to the end , and not to imploy all the Instruments whereby such an end may be procured , but only such as ▪ are necessary , and suitable for the procuring of it : which proportion Luxury neither understands , nor follows ; and therefore we must conclude it unnatural and unreasonable , and that Frugality is the true Mathematicks of Moral Philosophy : and by this we may condemn not only such as Senecio was in the Roman History , who delighted to have his Cloaths ; and his Shooes , twice as large as were fit for his Body , and Feet ; which the Luxurious laughed at , with others : but even such as keep twice as great Tables , build twice as great Houses , pay twice as many Servants as are fit for them , are as mad as he . For though that disproportion be not so very perceptible as the other , because the bulk of a Mans Estate is not so easily measured and known as that of his Person ; and because there are twice as many Fools of this kind , as there are of the other . So that Reason is out-voted , though it cannot be answered ; yet the folly is the same every where , and in this it is more dangerous , that Senecio wronged only himself , whilst they oft-times wrong and ruin both their Posterity and Neighbours . To convince us that Luxury is a great defect in our Reason ; we shall ordinarily find ▪ that young Men , Fools , and Women , are most given to it . Thus I have seen a Man , otherwise judicious enough , much surprized , when it was represented , that his Building ( though it seemed to him , and many others , to carry no great disproportion to his Estate ) yet would in forty four years ( which is but a short time ) equal his Estate , allowing the Interest of his Mony to equal the Capital summ in the space of eleven years and an half , which it did by Law ; for 100 l. forborn for forty eight years at 6 per cent . compound Interest amounts to 8635 l. 5 s. 4 d. and how many may forbear 100 l. and this summ in ten years , which is but a very short time , will amount to 86330 l. by simple Multiplication without compound Interest : and very few consider the extravagancy of this Age , in which Houses and Furniture go out of Fashion , as Hats or Shooes do . Nor does the expence of building contain it self within the Walls ; for it obliges a Man to a suitable way of living , there being nothing more ridiculous , than to see one who lived in a Palace at home , Travel and Lodge abroad with such Equipage , and in such Inns , as Men who live in ordinary Houses do . We should therefore be very proportionable in our Expence , for that which widens a Mans fancy in any one thing , makes it Extravagant in all things . As they who use their Stomachs to too much of any one Meat , will make it craving as to all others . Whereas on the other hand , that which should enamour Men of Frugality , is , that it accustoms us to Reasoning , and Proportion ; observing exactly the least perceptible Proportions , and the smallest Consequences . Which makes me call to mind the remarkable Story of the Holland Merchant , who having married his Daughter to a Luxurious rich Citizen , to the great dissatisfaction of his Wife , she came the next day to the Bride and Bridegroom , and offered them the Egg of a Turky Hen , and desired her Daughter to use herself in exactly looking to the product of that Egg , to consider the great things which Frugality can do in other matters . But her Husband and she having laughed at the Lesson , the Mother improved so far the Egg , that within twenty years the advantage of it , and the Luxury of that married couple grew so fast , that they needed the meanest assistance , and the product of the Egg afforded a comfortable one , for with the considerable summ that was gathered by it , they stocked themselves anew , and by the help of the ( formerly slighted ) Lesson of not despising the meanest things , raised themselves again to a very considerable Estate . And if any Man will but consider yearly , what he superfluously spends , and how much that would multiply in process of time , he will easily perceive that what he spends in the Consequence , is vastly greater than appears to him in the first Calculation : as for instance if a Man who may spend 500 l. per annum does spend 600 , this small error of a 100 l. a year will amount in 44 years at 6 per cent . to thesumm of 1373 l. 6 s. and odd pence . And tho a Man thinks it scarce worth his pains , to manage so as to preserve a 100 l. he must be very Luxurious , who thinks it not worth his pains to gain the summ of 1373 l. And it is a great defect in our Reason , that those ills which follow by necessary Consequence are despised as mean , because the Consequences themselves are remote . And as that is the best Eye , so that is likewise the best Reason , which sees clearly at a great distance . Another great Error that Luxury tempts us to , by not reasoning exactly , is , that it makes us Calculate our Estates with deducing what is p●●●able out of them to the Poor , to the King , and to Creditors , before we proportion our expence ; whereas we should spend only what is truly our own , and the Law to prevent Luxury tells us that , id tantum nostrum est quod deductis debitis , apud no● remanet . That is only ours which remains with us , after our Debts are deduced . Nor will a proportional part of our Estates answer the equivalent of our Debts . For if I owe a 100 l. a year , no part of my Estate that pays me a 100 l. a year will pay it , for many accidents may hinder me to get my own Rent , but no accident will procure an abatement of my Debt . And this leads me to consider that Frugality numbers always the Accidents that may intervene amongst other Creditors ; and the wise Hollander observes , that a Man should divide his Estate in three parts , upon one third he should live , another third he should lay up for his Children , and the last he should lay by for Accidents . There are few Men who do not in their Experience find , that their whole life being ballanced together , they have lost a third part always of their Revenue by Accidents . And most Families are destroyed by having the Childrens Provision left as a Debt upon them . So that a Man should at least endeavour to live upon the one half ; and leave the other half for his Children . The next Argument that discredits Luxury with me , is , that it occasions many and great inconveniencies both to him who labours under it , and to the Common-Wealth under which he lives . The Luxurious Man oppresses that Nature which should be the Foundation of his Joy , and by false reasoning he is made by this Vice to believe , that because some Ease and Aliments are pleasant , therefore the more he takes of them , the more he will be pleased . And the first proofs by which he is convinced , that he is cheated in this , are those Gouts , Gravels , and other Diseases , into which those Vices , when they are swelled , overflow , and destroy that Ground , which a gentle watering would have refreshed . Then he begins to understand that Mediocrity is the golden Rule , and that Proportion is to be observed in all the course of our Life . Luxury also makes a Man so soft , that it is hard to please him , and easie to trouble him . So that his pleasures at last become his burden . Luxury is a nice Master , hard to be pleased , res est severa voluptas ; said he who knew it best : whereas the frugal , and temperate Man , can by fasting till a convenient time , make any Food pleasant : and is by travelling , when it is convenient , hardned sufficiently not to be troubled , by any ordinary Accidents . The Luxurious must at last owe to this Temperance , that Health and Ease which his false Pleasures have robbed him of ; he must abstain from his Wines , Feastings , and Fruits , until Temperance has cured him ; and I have known many , who after they have been tortured by the Tyranny of Luxury , whilst they had Riches in abundance to feed it ; became very healthful and strong , when they fell into that Poverty which they had so abhorred . Some whereof have confessed to me , that they never thought themselves so happy , and that they were never so well pleased , as since they had escaped the temptations of that dangerous Vice. Luxury does not more ruin a man's Body than it debases his Mind , for it makes him servilely drudg under those who support his Luxury . In pimping to all their Vices , flattering all their Extravagancies , and executing the most dreadful of their Commands . I have oft-times remarked with great pleasure , that in Common-Wealths , where to be Free was accounted the greatest glory , nothing reigned save Frugality , and nothing was rich save the common Treasure . But under those Monarchies , which have degenerated into Tyranny , care is taken to have those who get the publick pay , spend it Luxuriously , to the end , that those they employ may still want , and so may be obliged to that contemptible slavery , to which none would bow , if they could otherwise live . It is also very observable , that those who dwell in the richest Countries , which incline Men to Luxury , such as Greece , and Italy , are poor , and slaves : whereas the hard Rocks of Switzerland breed Men who think themselves rich and happy . I heard that a Churchman called that the best Religion which was able to entertain a Coach and six Horses ; but I am sure , that if the Master who was in it , knew that he had made himself a Rascal to get the Coach , he could not be so easie in it , as if he walked on foot with his Innocence . I like well his Reply , who being tempted to comply with what his Conscience could not digest , said to him who tempted him , I can contentedly walk on foot , but you cannot live without a Coach ; I will be advised by my Innocency , consult you with your Grandeur . Rulers can bestow Treasures , but Virtue only can bestow Esteem ; and all the respect that is bestowed upon a vitious Man , is no more , to be valued , and is as ridiculous as a Copy of Verses , writ for mony , in praise of a Coward . Nor can either fine Houses or Gardens , large Territories , or pleasant Fields delight him , who when he walks in them , must remember that they were purchased at the rate of the Curse of God , and his own Infamy . From all which we may easily see , that the Luxurious are not only useless , but enemies to the Common-Wealth wherein they live , useless because they become effeminate and soft ; unable to defend and improve their Native Country , Enemies because they debauch the Innocent , and assist the guilty . Whereas the Frugal Man takes more pleasure in being a good Example to the Youth , and in opposing the Lusts of Tyrants , than the Luxurious can do in feeding upon what their Cooks prepare , or in dallying with the Prostitute whom his Mony can buy . The pleasure of sin lasts but for a moment , but a good Conscience is a continual Feast . The one pleases only those corrupted Flatterers , whom the Luxurious himself contemns : Whilst the other pleases the Heroick , the Wise , and the Virtuous , whom the Vitious must admire in spight of his Corruption . And even many thousands , who though they are not virtuous themselves , yet are by Conviction , or Interest forced to appear as such . I shall close these few Arguments against Luxury , in observing that it appears from all that hath been said ; how unsatiable both Avarice and Luxury are , both of them are acted by Imagination which can never be satisfied , nor bounded ; the one seeks Mony only , that he may have the Pleasure to have it lying by him , and the other that he may please his Fancy in spending it . And yet I think that Avarice is a more severe Master than Luxury . For the Luxurious Man proposes only what he may spend , but the Avaritious Man covets every thing ; the one is satisfied sometimes in enjoying what is got , but the other gets no sooner any one thing , than he presently runs after another , and when he has reaped the Fruit of his Pains he is made poor again by Possession . From these Reflections also may arise Remedies against Luxury , to any thinking Man , for tho when we consider the Luxurious as they shine at Courts , live in sumptuous Palaces , saluted in the Streets , adorned with Panegyricks ; it is probable that most Men will think , that Philosophers and Divines have only writ against Luxury , because they could not attain to the Riches that are necessary for maintaining it : Yet to ballance this , let us consider the vast numbers of those whom it has drowned in Pleasures , others whom it has sent to starve in Prisons , and dragged to Scaffolds by its temptations . I have oft-times seen the Luxurious railed at with much Malice , by those they sumptuously Entertained , who envied the Entertainer for being able to Treat them so highly ; and for living so far above their own Condition . Concluding that they were rather called to be Witnesses of the Entertainers abundance , than sharers in his Bounty . And though some think to make an Atonement for their Oppression , by living sumptuously upon its Spoils , yet no Wise Man will pardon a Robber , because he gives back a small share of the great Riches he has taken . Some think Riches necessary for keeping great Tables , and excuse this by the hopes they have of good Company . And a Great Man told me he wished such a Mans Estate , that he might keep us all about him : but my answer was , that the Luxurious gathered about them ordinarily the worst of Company ; and worthy Men valued more virtuous Conversation , than sumptuous Diet , which they rather shunned than followed . I believe there are few so Prodigal of their Mony but that they have oft some regrets for having spent it , from which the Frugal Man is exempted by the assurance he has from his Virtue , that he can live happily upon the little he has , and can with Pleasure find that he is neither oppressed by the weight of Riches , nor terrified by the fear of Want , breeding up his Posterity not to need these great Patrimonies , which he cannot give . I know that some think they are never to be charged with Prodigal and useless spending , if they take exact account of their Servants of what they spend ; but our Inclinations may cheat us as much as our Servants , and therefore I am very well pleased with the answer of that Father , though Miser , who having seen his Son very busie in taking in his Accompts , told him Son , Son , spend nothing you can spare , but after it is once spent , think not you can make it up by keeping an exact accompt your self , or taking in such accompts from your Servants . I am so far from thinking that Luxury is useful , because it sustains many poor Artisans , that I think there would be no Poor were it not for Luxury and Avarice : for all would have somewhat , and none would have too much . The Common-Wealth of the Jews Instituted by God Almighty , proves most Artisans to be unnecessary , and though a present Innovation in this Point may starve some , yet it would not starve so many , as might be easily entertained upon what the Luxurious and Avaritious possess beyond a due measure : and in a little time all these Artisans who now drudge to please Luxury , would follow other Trades , whereby they might please God Almighty much better ; whose Service is the chief end of Man , and to please whom is his chief happiness . And these Arts neither provide Meat nor Drink , as the Husbandman does : from which it follows clearly , that Husbandry , and not these Trades sustains the World. And there would be need of no such Arts to draw Mony from the Rich for the supply of the Poor , since this would bring Men to a greater equality as to Riches and Poverty : It is very observable , that many of these Tradesmen starve , whereas few Husbandmen do , and it is also observable that Prodigality and Luxury entertain always the worst of Men , for they are ordinarily such who Trade in things that please the Vitious : Men being either by Force , or Custom , easily induced to imitate the Masters on whom they depend , and to esteem those whom they serve , whereas the Frugal Man not only chooses fit occasions on which to spend his Mony , but persons worthy of his Employment . And yet if Men do bestow their Mony upon Perfumes , Pictures and such other Baubles with design to let it fall unto Hands which need it , their sincerity in this design will certainly rescue them from the severity of a Censure which they would otherwise deserve . This Discourse tends not to forbid the use of all Pleasure , nor even the pleasing our Senses ; for it is not to be imagined , that God Almighty brought Man into the World , to admire his Greatness , and tast his Goodness without allowing him to rejoyce in these things which he sees , and receives . The best way to admire an Artist , is to be highly pleased with what he has made , and a Benefactor is ill rewarded , when the receiver is not pleased with what is bestowed : his Joy being the justest Measure , and Standard of his esteem . We find that in Eden the tasting of all the sweet and delicious Fruits was allowed , save only that of the Tree of Knowledge : and why should all these Fruits have been made so pleasant to the Eye , and so delicious to the Tast , if it had not been to make Man , his beloved Guest happy there ? And I really think that the Eye has got the quality of not being satisfied long with any Object , nor the Ear with hearing any Sound , to the end that they might by this Curiosity , be obliged to seek after that Variety in which they may every moment discover new Proofs of their Masters Greatness , and Goodness . But I condemn the pleasing of the Senses only , where more pains is taken , and more time is spent in gratifying them , than is due to those inferior or less noble parts of the Reasonable Creature . The Soul being the Nobler and more Sublime part , our chief care should be laid out in pleasing it , as a wise Subject should take more care in pleasing the King , than his Ministers , and the Master than his Servants . The true and allowable Luxury of the Soul consists in Contemplation , and Thinking , or else in the practice of Virtue , whereby we may employ our time in being useful to others : albeit when our Senses , and other inferior Faculties have served the Soul in these great Employments , they ought to be gratified as good Servants : but not so as to make them wild Masters as Luxury does , when it rather oppresses than refreshes them . I do also think that our chief Pleasure should not be expected from the Senses ; because they are too dull , and unactive to please a thinking Man , they are only capable to enjoy a little , and are soon blunted by Enjoyment : whereas Religion , and Virtue , do by the ravishing hopes of what we are to expect , or the pleasant remembering of what we have done , afford constantly new Scenes of Joy , and which are justly augmented by the concurring Testimonies of the best of Mankind , who applaud our Virtuous Actions , and decry the Vitious . So that the Virtuous Man is by as many degrees pleased beyond the Vicious , as the past , and future , exceed the single moment of the present time , or as many suffrages exceed one . Nor doubt I , but these who have relieved a starving Family by their Charity , have feasted more upon the little which they have bestowed with Joy , than ever Lucullus , or Apicius did , in all the delicacies their Cooks could invent . I am convinced , that any generous Gentleman would be much more troubled to think , that his poor Tenants who toil for him , are serued up to some degrees that look too like Oppression , than he could be pleased with any Delicacies which that superplus of Rent could buy for him : and that he who has rescued a poor innocent Creature from the Jaws of a ravenous Oppressor , finds a greater Joy irradiated on his Spirit , by the great and just Judge ; than any General does in that night , wherein he has defeated his Enemies merely for his glory . We remember to this day with veneration , and esteem , John the Baptists Locusts and Wild Hony , but the deliciousness of Herods Feasts lasted no longer than the Tast : and even the Pleasure of the present moment , which the Luxurious only enjoy , is much lessened , by the prevailing Conviction , which arises from that small remaining force , which is still left in the reasonable Faculty of the most corrupted Men : and which can never be so blinded , as not to have some glimmerings , whereby it can discover the ugliness and deformity of Vice. It may surprise a serious Man to see that Men immediatly after being at the Sacrament of Baptism , or about the Celebration of Marriage ( which all acknowledge to be of Divine Institution , and which many own to be a Sacrament also ) they should run out immediately into such Luxurious Extravagancies , as may make lookers on rather conclude , that they acknowledge no God ; than that they are obliged to him for those great Mercies , or that they hope by their Gratitude , to improve them into Blessings . Whether Avarice , Prodigality , or Luxury be the more dangerous and polluting Vice , is less worth our care than the a voiding of all three . But however , it seems that Avarice lies under more disadvantages , than any of the two . For Prodigality and Luxury are useful to many , Avarice to none . These are ordinarily the Extravagancies of Youth , and are cured by Age ; but the other grows stronger by it . Interest and Self-Preservation may contribute much to cure these , but both do argue most frequently to the advantage of Avarice . These have a great deal of Liberality in their Composition , and Prodigality has all that Liberality has , except its Moderation ; whereas Avarice has nothing of Virtue in it . Luxury wants many things , but Avarice all things . Luxury may seem the more desirable quality in a Governor , because they who love to please themselves , are observed to desire all may be pleased about them , or at least they are so busie in pleasing themselves , that they are not employed about those new Projects , which Avaritious Rulers are ever inventing . The Luxurious also are more easily influenced , and more exorable , because they will not endure the torture of opposing the importunity of the Miserable . But I have heard it asserted , that the Luxurious make the worst Soldiers , because that Vice effeminates and softens : whereas Avarice makes Men Hard and Laborious : and the love of Pay and Preferment will make the very noise of Cannons become melodious . However Agur thought it worthy , not only of his wish , but of his Prayer , that God would give him neither poverty nor riches , but would feed him with food convenient for him : and as the Life is compared to a Lamp , so like a Lamp it burns longest and clearest , when it is neither opprest with too much Oil , nor starved for want of it : and in this likewise we have occasion of admiring the Wisdom , and Goodness of God , who when we break all Squares , forces us even by our Vices to ballance one another : and makes things return to that just Proportion , which he at first designed . Thus he not only opens every wise Mans Eyes , to see that it is his Interest to hold the Scales equal , betwixt Riches and Poverty : but when any Vicious Man runs to an Extreme in any of the two , all others , though as Vicious as he , find it their Interest to lie heavy upon the other Scale . If any affect an Universal Monarchy , all Princes who are not Fools , or guided by Fools , or Knaves , combine against him ; if a private Neighbour do Avaritiously incline to oppress , he will joyn , even those who were Enemies before , in a firm design of bounding his Violence : and the Avaritious , and Luxurious , are in a constant enmity against one another . So that while each endeavours to draw that which is contended for to his own side , it must necessarily remain in the middle : and whilst the Frugal and Virtuous Man , is going about his Affairs , he is secured by Vicious Mens being Spyes upon one another : and the very seeing them run to an excess , is a new obligation on such as are Wise , to Pray with Agur , that God would give them neither Poverty nor Riches . Every single Man also has the same ballance within himself , and thus though the excessive love of Mony , incline a Man to Oppress , yet the fear of being oppressed , stops his Carier : and many would pollute themselves , and others by Adultery , Gluttony , &c. if Avarice would allow them to go to the price : he who is fondest of Pleasure , is forced by the fear of Law , and the love of Health , and Self-Preservation , to imitate that Moderation , which he would otherways neglect : for if he have enjoyed too much at any time , he is cloyed with his own excess , and is forced to commend the Temperate whom he formerly scorned . The chief thing that can recommend Frugality to all Men , but especially to Magistrates , is that it employs every thing to the use for which it was ordained . If Men were enamoured with it , and made it their chief care , we should shortly see bloody Wars cease every where , since ( let Men talk now what they please of Glory ) the great design of the War , is rather to gain Land , than Reputation : of which this is a convincing Proof , that those who talk of Glory , take more pains to gain Towns and Countries by Bribes , and Cheats , than by exposing their own Persons to Danger , or observing Capitulations . Nor should we see Monarchs betrayed by their Ministers , nor Common-Wealths by their Rulers ; as now most frequently they are ; Statesmen would not ruin their Native Country , and consequently their own Posterity , that they might get superfluous Riches ; nor would such as are under their care be tempted to Rebel against their Sovereign , to be free from their Oppression , and to enter into Combinations against those Rulers ; but Reason would make all our Laws , and Duty would make us obey them . If Frugality prevailed , it would open the Store-Houses of Charity , the Poor would be Fed , the Sick would be taken Care for , and the Prisoner would be Relieved . This would restore Men to their sleep , which is now oft-times broke by the fear of Want , or the oppression of Abundance . This would prevent the Melancholy caused by the one , and the many Diseases occasioned by the other . And we should have a satisfied mind in a sound Body : a Frugal Womans staying within doors , would prevent the jealousies of her Husband , and the Husband by minding his business , would thereby secure her against the infecting Diseases which he contracts in his idleness : and Parents living thus regularly , would not have Children , who will prove rather Crosses than Comforts , wishing either their Parents dead , through Avarice : or making them Beggars during their life by Luxury . Frugality would enable every Man to live so well , that the Servant needed not cheat his Master , nor the Tenant the Landlord , but on the contrary , every Man would take as great Pleasure to help his Neighbour , when he needed his assistance , as Men do now in Hunting and Hawking : and certainly there must be more delight in helping a reasonable Creature , bearing the Image of God , that is in distress ; than in rising Early , and sitting up Late , and giving our selves far more toil and vexation than Frugality requires , merely to kill poor innocent Creatures that never offended us . I know that it is hard to Reform a World , wherein that which is wanting cannot be numbered ; and that which is Crooked cannot be made Streight . And it seems that such Devils as Avarice , and Luxury , cannot be cast out without Fasting and Prayer , but yet the opposing of these , is so much every Mans Interest , and is so sutable to Nature ( from which Men will get all possible assistance ) that if Kings , and Governors would concur with God and Nature ; the Task would be Easie , as the Effects would be Pleasant . I cannot but commend most Cordially the Quakers , who have let us clearly see that if Men please they may emancipate themselves from the Tyranny of Custom in this particular ; and this one excellent Endeavour , does not only give them much Tranquillity , and enables them to help all those of their Persuasion to a degree , that is to be admired and commended , but it really makes them acceptable in the Neighbourhood : and Atones very much for the other irregularities with which they are charged : and they may convince us , 〈◊〉 least in this one Point , that if such as 〈◊〉 much Power and Reason should concur together , they would easily make Mankind Happy , by making them Frugal . FINIS . This Elogy was written under the Authors Picture , by Tho. Glegg M. D. in Dundee . PIngere vis quâ fronte Cato titubante Senatu , Asseruit patriae jura Verenda suae ? Pingere vis magnus quo Tullius ore solebat Dirigere attoniti linguam animamque fori ? Pingere vis quantâ Maro majestate canebat , Et quali tetigit pollice Flaccus Ebur ? Pinge Makenzaeum Pictor , namque altera non est , Quae referat tantos , una tabella viros . BOOKS Printed for , and are to be Sold by J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill . THE Antiquity of the Royal Line of Scotland fort● Cleared and Defended , against the Exceptions 〈◊〉 offer'd by Dr. Stillingfleet , in his Vindication of 〈◊〉 Bishop of S. Asaph . By Sir George Mackenzie , his Majesty's Advocate for the Kingdom of Scotland . A Memorial for his Highness the Prince of Orange , in Relation to the Affairs of Scotland : together with the Address of the Presbyterian Party in that Kingdom to his Highness ; and some Observations on that Address . By two Persons of Quality . An account of the present Persecution of the Church in Scotland , in several Letters . The Case of the present Afflicted Clergy in Scotland truly Represented . To which is added for Probation , the Attestation of many unexceptionable Witnesses to every Particular ; and all the Publick Acts and Proclamations of the Convention and Parliament relating to the Clergy . By a Lover of the Church and his Country . An Historical Relation of the late Presbyterian General Assembly , held at Edinburgh , from October 16. to November 13. In the Year 1690. In a Letter from a Person in Edinburgh , to his friend in London . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A50650-e490 Sect. I. The occasion of writing these Discourses . Sect. II. The Extremes of Frugality . Sect. III. God's design to maintain the World by Frugality . Sect. IV. That Frugality was the Basis of all Vertue & Government amongst the Iews . Sect. V. Our Saviour made it a Standard and Bulwark in his Gospel . Mat. 6. 19 , 20 , 21. Sect. VI. This Doctrine was continued by the Apostles and Primitive Church . Cass. de Sp. Aced . c. 7. Constitut . Apostol . 1. 4. Tertul. Apol . c. 3 , 7. Sect. VI. How the other Common-wealths were founded on Frugality , as Lacedaemon , Rome , Holland . Sect. VII . The Ancient Heroes and Philosophers were admir'd for this Virtue . Notes for div A50650-e2860 Sect. I. The first rise of Covetousness and how Men were tempted to it by the conveniency of Property . Sect. II. The disguise under which Avarice insinuates it self , such as its promises to gratifie mens Passions , and supply their Necessities . Sect. III. It gets assistance from Mens different Temperaments . Sect. IV. It is propagated by Imitation and Example . Sect. V. It is assisted by the respective Countries where Men live . Sect. VI. Its last Essay was to tempt Church-men , and how . Sect. VII . Arguments and Remedies against Avarice . Sect. VIII . The Cruelty of Covetousness . Sect. IX . Devotion affords the strongest and best Remedies against Avarice . Sect. X. The Christian and Pagan Philosophy compared , as to their Remedies . Notes for div A50650-e4460 Sect. I. The Origine and progress of Parsimony or Niggardliness . Sect. II. Some expressions of Scripture compared with the Poets upon this Subject . Sect. III. That the special bumours in Morality , and their various mixture , are not yet fully enquired into , an instance whereof is given on this Subject . Notes for div A50650-e5030 Sect. I. The Rise and Progress of Luxury . Sect. II. The disguises under which Luxury insinuates it self . Sect. III. Some Devout and Virtuous People think Luxury now necessary to supply the decay of Charity . Sect. IV. The difference betwixt Prodigality and Luxury . Sect. V. Arguments against Luxury , as first , That it is inconsistent with that egual distribution whereby God supports the World. For that Egg might produce a Turky , which might multiply into many : and the price of these might purchase Swine , Cows , &c. Sect. VI. The other Argument is , that Luxury is most inconvenient for the Luxurious Man himself and the Society wherein he lives . Sect. VII . Remedies against Luxury . Sect. VIII . This Discourse is not designed against true , but immoderate Pleasures . Sect. IX . Whether Avarice , Prodigality , or Luxury , be the more Dangerous . A pleasant view of what effects Frugality would produce in the World. Sect. X. How happy the World would be if Men would be Moderate in their Expence and Pleasures .