OCR Text |
Show indigent Merit a Partaker with him, is in rea.lity embezzling what was only zntrujled, no: grven him · Riches being properly a Stewardjhrp committ; d to a Man for trial of his Charity, Ab!linence and other Virtues of the fame Kind; as Pover;y is fent upon others as a Trial of th~ir Refignation, Contentednef.i, and fuch other V trtues. For it is abfurd to fuppofe, that the different Conduct of Providence to different Men is the Effect of Partiality for fome above others of Mankind, who are all alike God's Creature, , and confcqucntly all alike dear to him. And if on the other hand, it fhould pleafe the f~preme Difpofer of all Things to baffie your induftrious Endeavours towards acqUinng and keeping a Competency of the good Things of this \Vorld, and to link you into Po~erty and Want ; I charge you, as you woulJ wdl1 to enjoy Peace of Mind in this World, and everla!l:ing Happinefs in the next, that you do not. go one lingle Step beyond the Bounds of the !lncte! l: Sincerity and Hone!ly (fuch I mean as may bear the Scrutiny of the all-piercing E ye) m order to raife yourfelf to thofe Circum!lances you 31m at. For I here forewarn you, that, lhould your indirect Schemes fucceed, which is likewife a very great Chance, .Hone!ly bemg always 111 the End the bell l'olicy, you will find to y~ur fad Experience, that for what you ~am m Wealth, you willlofe an hundred-fold 111 Peace of Confcience, which no Wealth w1ll make up to you; and that the Curfe, which atten,ds illgotten Riches, w1ll confume them hke a Canker, fo that they will vanifh, you won't know how. Let me therefore advife you to have a Care how you forego Happinefs for the fake of Rich~s, or mlhct inflict ·on your own Confcience fuch Wound5 as all theW ealth of the World will not cure. The Love of Plcafure is the th:rd fatal Bait, which allures Numbers of Mankind to Perdition, of the Danger and bewitching Nature of which you have been very fully and frequently ·warned; I wo ulJ have you remember what T have often told you, T hat there are no true Pleafures, but what are lawful; and, that thofe which leave a Sting behind 1 hem, ought not to be called Pleafures, but Torments. That. it is only the Good and Virtuous who have any Right to the Pleafures of Life; or who indeed can truly enjoy them; for that it is a ContradiClion to fuppofe, that a Perfon whofe Confcience is wounded by Guilt, and whofe Mind, if he is not pall thinking, which is !!ill a worfc State, mull be in continual Pain through Remor(e fvr what is pafr, and Horror at the Thought of what is to come, fhould be capable of relifhing any fort of Joy or Comfort : But that a good Man, whofe Mind is calm and undi!l:urbed, has both the Advantage of Freedom from Pain or Fear, and a proper Difpofition for relifhtng the natural and innocent PJeafures of Life; and is like to receive infinitely more Happinefs from them than a ~icked Man; becaufe he may j ufily confider them as the Gifts of a tender and bountiful F ather, whofe Favour be has reafon to hope for, which mull give them "" add1tional Rcli01 ; and becaufe he expetl:s nothing from tht:m, but what they will really alford, and has !I ill in refc1 ve a higher Happinef,, after the Grati fications of Senfe have done their Part. That, whatever Men may fay in the Hours of Mirth and Jollity, in defence of a voluptuous Lif<, there needs no better |