A41657:143
The surest & safest way of thriving, or, A conviction of that grand mistake…
The surest & safest way of thriving, or, A conviction of that grand mistake in many, that what is given to the poor, is a loss to their estate : which is so directly contrary as to the experiences of the charitable : so to the testimony of God's spirit in divers places of Scripture ... by Thomas Gouge ...
London: printed for William Rawlins, 1673
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
John Clark, Doctor of Physic, one of great repute for his Learning, Piety and Charity: Some while President of the College of Physicians. His custom was, to lay by all his Lord's-Day fees, as a sacred stock for charitable uses; devoting that entirely to God, which he received on his day; accounting it a piece of sacrilege to appropriate it to himself, or any common use: whereupon the Lord was pleased so to prosper him in his Calling, that though at first his practice was little, and his estate not very great, yet afterwards his practice so increased, and the world so flowed in upon him, that he lived plentifully & comfortably, & gave to his children liberal portions.
Iohn Clark, Doctor of Physick, one of great repute for his Learning, Piety and Charity: Some while President of the Colledge of Physicians. His custom was, to lay by all his Lord's-Day fees, as a sacred stock for charitable uses; devoting that entirely to God, which he received on his day; acconting it a piece of sacriledge to appropriate it to himself, or any common use: whereupon the Lord was pleased so to prosper him in his Calling, that though at first his practice was little, and his estate not very great, yet afterwards his practice so encreased, and the world so flowed in upon him, that he lived plentifully & comfortably, & gave to his children liberal portions.
The like also was practised by John Bathurst, Doctor of Physic, with whom I was very well acquainted: His Lord's-Days fees were constantly kept as a bank for the poor, and wholly devoted to, and employed for their use; which was so far from lessening his incomes, that by the blessing of God upon his practice, they were greatly in few years augmented by it. For though at his first coming to London, he brought little estate with him, and here had small acquaintance, Yorkshire being his native Country, where he had spent his former days; yet the Lord was pleased so to prosper him in his Calling, that in twenty years time he purchased Lands of Inheritance, to the value of a thousand pounds per annum, to speak what I know to be certain; For in the repute of some, his estate at his death was no less than two thousand pounds of yearly value.