A65285:2521
A Body of Practical Divinity
A body of practical divinity consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster : with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of Scripture / by Thomas Watson ...
London: printed for Thomas Parkurst, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Quest. How so?
Resp. 1. By Niggardliness. The Niggard is a Thief, he steals from himself, in that he doth not allow himself what is fitting. He thinks that lost which is bestowed upon himself. He robs himself of Necessaries. Eccles. 6.2. A Man to whom God hath given Riches, yet God gives him not power to eat thereof. He gluts his Chest and starves his Belly. He is like the Ass that is loaded with Gold, but feeds upon Thistles. He robs himself of that which God allows him. This is indeed ⟨p. 378⟩to be punished with Riches; to have an Estate, and want an Heart to take the Comfort of it, this Man is a Thief to himself.
Resp. 1. By Niggardliness. The Niggard is a Thief, he steals from himself, in that he doth not allow himself what is fitting. He thinks that lost which is bestowed upon himself. He robs himself of Necessaries. Eccles. 6.2. A Man to whom God hath given Riches, yet God gives him not power to eat thereof. He gluts his Chest and starves his Belly. He is like the Ass that is loaded with Gold, but feeds upon Thistles. He robs himself of that which God allows him. This is indeed ⟨p. 378⟩to be punish'd with Riches; to have an Estate, and want an Heart to take the Comfort of it, this Man is a Thief to himself.
2. A Man may be a Thief to himself, and rob himself by Prodigality, viz. Wasting his Estate. The Prodigal lavisheth Gold out of the Bag; he is like Crates the Philosopher, who threw his Gold into the Sea. The Prodigal boils a great Estate to nothing. This is to be a Thief to himself, to spend away that Estate from himself, which might conduce to the Comfort of Life.