The bright star which leadeth wise men to our Lord Jesus Christ, or, A…

Sith it is so that riches are so little profitable or available, this must keep out of our hearts this whorish desire of riches that cannot profit. Secondly, as riches are sure to do us no good, so we are sure that the desire of them will do us much hurt, and as there is no help from the having, so there is certain danger from the coveting. For in Timothy, the Apostle calls it, the root of all evil. Where this is there is sin enough, no evil that a man will abstain from, if it may procure his filthy ⟨image 160⟩lucre, he will forbear nothing if it lye in his way to gain, neither will he do any good that seemeth contrary to his profit; therefore the danger is great that accompanies covetousness, namely the rushing into all kind of mischief and wickedness and the neglecting and omitting of every thing that is good. For it hinders one from the chief means of salvation and hinders the working of these means in him. How it keeps men from the word and sacraments, Christ shows in the parable Luk. 14. 18. Some had oxen & could not come, some had farms and must be held excused; in general every covetous man hath some pullback from religion, or if happily sometimes he do overcome that let by much a doe, & step into the Church door and set him down before the preacher, yet the holy Ghost tells us how he is occupied, speaking to Ezekiel he says that they sat before him indeed, but though he was a man of rare gifts and very eloquent yet their hearts went after their covetousness. So that a covetous mans heart is in continual travail, though his body sit still, for sometime yet his meditations and thoughts are moiling and rotting into the earth; so that he can give no attention to the word nor mark nothing that is spoken.

Sith it is so that riches are so little profitable or availeable, this must keepe out of our hearts this whorish desire of riches that cannot profit. Secondly, as riches are sure to doe vs noe good, so we are sure that the desire of them will doe vs much hurt, and as there is no helpe from the hauing, so there is certaine danger from the coueting. For in Timothie, the Apostle cals it, the root of all euill. Where this is there is sinne enough, no euill that a man will abstaine from, if it may procure his filthy ⟨image 160⟩lucre, he will forbeare nothing if it lye in his way to gaine, neither will he doe any good that seemeth contrarie to his profit; therefore the daunger is greate that accompanies couetousnesse, namely the rushing into all kinde of mischeefe and wickednesse and the neglecting and omitting of euerie thing that is good. For it hinders one from the cheefe meanes of saluation and hinders the working of these meanes in him. How it keeps men from the word and sacrements, Christ shewes in the parable