more regarded, than the fame things would be, if they came from Perfons of a lower Extraction.

But fuppofe it fhould not be your Lot to be in any Publick Office in Church or State, yet if you be only confidered in your private Capacities, the due improving your more liberal Education will be of unfpeakable Benefit and Service to you, for your better improving all those your other Advantages in refpect of your Wealth, Leisure, Power, and Honour; concerning each of which I crave Leave to add a few Words.

II. The next in order to be confidered is that of Wealth, unto which you are commonly born, but you are never born with Skill to manage it. That never defcends to you from your Ancestors, but is to be learned by your own Induftry. There is indeed no great Art or Knowledge required towards the wafting or mifemploying a fair Eftate; but you must be willing to bestow fome ftudious and ferious Thoughts if you defire to understand how you may preferve it and rightly use it. This is to be done by Prudence, Diligence, and Frugality, together with a liberal and generous Piety and Charity, all which greatly conduce to the truly honourable, pleafant, and advantageous managing an ample Revenue.

The firft of thefe, Prudence, which teaches us in all Affairs how to judge, chufe, and act, is well known to be one of the most comprehenfive Virtues, of univerfal Neceffity in the whole Conduct of Human Life. Without this none can be happy in any Condition, but 'tis of the highest Usefulness to the Rich and Great, as in all their Concerns, fo particularly in the managing their Eftates. Wifdom is good with an Inheritance, fays Solomon, Ecclef. 7. 11. By how much the larger Portion of worldly Goods the indulgent Benignity of Heaven hath favoured you with, fo much the more need have you to get your Minds as largely ftock'd with Wifdom and Prudence. "For great Fortunes "have been well compared to mighty Engines, which,

!

"if they are wifely and carefully managed, will per"form great and beneficial Effects: but if not, instead "of ferving their End, they may dash out the Brains " of him that ufeth them. Thus, without a vigilant and difcerning Precaution, that Wealth, which might be employed for the doing much Good, may only enfnare and ruin you, by thofe its ftrong and powerful Temptations, of which I difcours'd in the firft Chapter. When valt Treasures are in the Poffeffion of the foolish and vicious, they tend to make their Folly the more confpicuous, their Vices the more mifchievous, and themfelves in the Iflue both more ridiculous and more miferable. What wretched Work is made with the accumulated Product of the Sweat of Thousands, when 'tis all facrific'd to the wild and lewd Genius of fome fottish or wanton Voluptuary. Such a one often appears plainly infatuated with his Grandeur, and most exceffively conceited, when moft extravagantly wicked, having his Head fill'd with the Magottry of an Hundred Caprices, for the more nice and delicate gratifying the Riot and Luxury of himself, and his Parafites and Proftitutes, and all that minifter to his Follies, until at length his whole Estate is exhaufted in thofe inglorious Ufes, and wafted away upon the very Scum and abject part of Mankind. But where Riches are difpofed of, not by the boundless Cravings of ravenous Lufts, but by the Rules and Measures of true Wisdom, they will not only be kept from being confumed in the Service of Sin, but made great and valuable Bleffings to the Owners of them and many others.

Such a prudent Conduct will fhew it felf by an induftrious Diligence, and neceffary Frugality, for the preferving, augmenting, and improving your Wealth, ia a literal Senfe, that under the Direction of the fame Prudence you may be the better enabled to make a higher and more noble Improvement thereof in fuch Works of Liberality, Piety, and Charity, as may bear a just Proportion to the Greatness of your Poffeffions.

Your

Your Eftates, how large foever, may be diminished a pace, if you fhall think it beneath your Quality to look into them with your own Eyes, to fee and know what Rents are paid, and what Deductions are made for Taxes and Repairs, and other Charges, and to examine the Accounts your Stewards and Servants give you. Without fome Care and Diligence herein you will make a wrong Estimate in calculating the Value of your Revenues, and be altogether ignorant how to proportion your Expences. Juftice will not allow you to spend any more than what is truly your own, and a difcreet Frugality will teach you to fpend fomewhat lefs. Now that is only to be accounted yours which remains with you after your Debts, Taxes, Repairs, c. are deducted. And every wife Man that owes Money will confider what fome have reminded us of, viz. That a proportionable part of our Eftates will feldom answer the Equivalent of our Debts. For if a Man owe a Hundred Pound a Year, or be obliged to pay fo much annually, no part of his Estate that pays him a Hundred Pound a Year will ordinarily be fufficient to pay it, be cause many Accidents may often hinder him from get ting his own Rent, but 'tis very feldom that any Acci dent can procure an Abatement of his Debt. A pro. vident Frugality will call to mind the various, acci dental, and occafional Expences, that may unavoidably intervene, and make a fufficient Allowance for them. And fome think that a third, or at least a fourth part of a Man's Estate, is little enough to be laid by for Accidents.

J

Such a frugal husbanding your. Eftates is fundamentally neceffary to all the good Ufes that are to be made. of them. But if you fuffer your felves to be cheated of any confiderable part of them thro' a ftately Neglect or a flothful Carelefnefs, or if you fquander them away in Luxury and Profufenefs, you are not only ungrateful to the Donor of them, but oppofe and defeat the true Ends for which they were given you. Now M 3

the

the Ends and Ufes for which your Wealth was bestowed upon you are fuch as thefe. First, the innocent, fober, and chearful Enjoyment of fo much thereof as may decently support you in that Quality wherein you are placed. Then the laying up what may be a competent Provision for your Pofterity, if you have any. And lastly, the liberal, pious, and charitable difpenfing the rest of your Store for the Good of others.

If God has given you a more plentiful Share of Earthly Bleffings, it is not to be doubted but that they may be used and enjoyed by you in a larger Measure and in more splendid and magnificent Manner than may be allowed to People of meaner Condition, provided you live in a due Compass, and keep within the Bounds of Temperance, Sobriety, and juft Decorum. But if any fhall give up themselves to a foft, delicate, and voluptuous Life, or be extravagantly expensive in Buildings, Furniture, Cloaths, Equipage, Entertainments, Feaftings, or any unneceffary Pomps, beyond the Limits of their Fortune, these are no obscure Indications of Pride, Sensuality, and inordinate Self-love, these are Auch Devourers of a fair Patrimony as will leave but a small part of it for the Owner's future Support, and perhaps none at all for Works of Piety and Charity. When a Man has been incircled with the greatest Affluence of the Divine Bounty, when the Eaft and West have filled him with all their Treasures, and the Heavens have, as it were, rained down upon him miraculous Showers of Gold, and Silver, and precious Things, it has been fometimes known that even such a Man, inftead of doing more Good, and being more liberal and charitable with all this Redundancy of Wealth, has only made it an Inftrument of greater Dishonour to him that gave it, greater Oppression to them who ought to have been protected or relieved by it, and more exorbitant Pride and Diffoluteness in himself, and thofe about him, that flatter his Humours, and ferve his Lufts.

But

But I hope better Things of thofe among the Wealthy and Honourable who fhall condefcend to look into thefe Papers; and I would humbly befeech all fuch to obferve what St. Paul exhorts Timothy, not only to befeech, but to charge them that are rich in this World, viz. that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain Riches, but in the living God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy that they do good, that they be rich in good Works, ready to diftribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themfelves a good Foundation against the Time to come, that they may lay hold on Eternal Life, 1 Tim. 6. 17, 18, 19. Charge them, fays the Apotle, who are rich in this World, noting or implying that Riches are only for this prefent World, and cannot be carry'd into the other Life. And he intimates how uncertain our Enjoyment of them is even while we live here. It must therefore be an indubitable part of Wisdom, by a right and charitable ufe of that which is fo uncertain, and at longeft but for this prefent World, to establish a good Foundation against the Time to come, and by the pions and liberal Diftribution of Things Temporal to fecure the Things Eternal. The nobleft Employment of your Riches, and that which will moft promote your own Happiness, is the doing Good with them to others, the labouring to be rich in good Works, and the making to your felves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, (as our bleffed Saviour adviseth) that when ye fail they may receive you into their everlafting Habitations, Luke 16. 9. He calls Riches, which are not evil in their own Nature, the Mammon of Unrighteousness, because they are often the Portion of bad Men, often acquired by Fraud and Violence, and no lefs frequently ufed as the Inftruments of all Injuftice and Senfuality. But by a liberal and charitable ufe of them you fhall gain both the Love and Friendship, and the Portion and Happiness of the Righteous; fo that when at Death all your Riches shall fail, and be ufelefs to you, and your felves

M 4

fhall

1