A Continuation of morning-exercise questions and cases of conscience practically resolvedA Continuation of morning-exercise questions and cases of conscience practicaly resolved

Who knows whether Riches, or Poverty, be best for man in this Life?

I. For Riches. I need say but little, because most Persons are ready to say too much; they seem to be the Cause without which there can be not so much as the fancying an earthly Happiness: what pleasures or esteem can worldlings have without an Estate to feed them? the Riches of the Mind are too Spiritual to be seen by carnal Eyes.

But when you consider these, or such like inseparable attendants on ⟨p. 9⟩a great Estate, you will see the desirableness to shrink, as the Vanity swells: e. g. Some run out the greatest part of their Life, before they can reach what they can call an Estate (to say nothing of those that dye the Worlds Martyrs, in the pursuit of that they never attain;) those that have got an Estate, or have an Estate left 'em, have ordinarily as great care and difficulty in keeping, as they or others have had in the getting of it. O the tiresome Days, the restless Nights, the broken Sleeps, the wild Passions, the fretting Disquiet of those troublesome occurrences, which they cannot possibly prevent! And when you come to speak of an Enjoyment, to speak strictly, they have nothing worth the Name of an Enjoyment, which they may not have as well (if not better) without what they call an Estate: Yet though 'tis thus while they have it, they are not able to bear the parting with it; the very thoughts of losing, puts 'em into Heart-convulsions. So that an Estate can neither be got, nor kept, nor lost, without manifold Vanity and Vexation of Spirit. Alas! what remedy?

But when you consider these, or such like inseparable attendants on ⟨p. 9⟩