Of Covetise

Let us now somewhat see what this part of this medicine may do to the cure of covetise, which is a sickness wherein men be very sore deceived. For it maketh folk to seem far of another sort than they be indeed. For covetous men seem humble, and yet be they very proud. They seem wise, and yet be they very foolish. They seem Christian, and yet have they no trust in Christ. And, which most marvel is of all, they seem rich, and yet be very beggars and have nought of their own.

As for pride of the possession of their goods, whoso be well acquainted with them, shall well perceive it, how heartily they rejoice, where they dare speak and call their betters beggars, if money be not so rife with them because they regard it less and spend it more liberally.

Men ween them wise also, and so they do themselves, because they seem to have providence and be folk of foresight, and not to regard only the time present, but make provision for time to come. But then prove they more fools than they that live from hand to

• Covetousness of money.

mouth. For they take at the leastwise some time of pleasure with their own, though they fare hard at another. But these covetous niggards, while they pass on with pain always the time present and always spare all for their time to come, thus drive they forth wretchedly, till all their time be past and none to come; and then, when they least look therefor, leave all that they have heaped to strangers, that shall never can them thank.

If ye will say there be no such fools, I might say that I have seen some such in my time; and if ye believe not me, I could find you record. But to the intent ye shall not deny me, but that there have been such fools of old, ye shall hear what Solomon said seven years ere I was born: " I have seen," saith he, " another plague under the sun, and it is common among men. A man, unto whom God hath given riches, substance and honour, so that he wanteth nothing that his heart can desire, yet God hath not given him leave to eat of it or to enjoy it, but a stranger devoureth." * Of such sort of fools also speaketh the Psalmist: " Thus a man disquieteth himself in vain, and heapeth up riches and cannot tell for whom he gathereth them." And in the forty-eighth Psalm the prophet ex-

• Eccles vi.

presseth plainly the folly of such fools: "For," saith he, " both the rich and the poor shall die, and leave their riches unto strangers." And surely where they seem Christian they have none earthly trust in Christ. For they be ever afraid of lack in time to tome, have they already never so much. And methinketh utterly on the other side that, albeit, every man that hath children is bounden by the Fathers pr?vide ^^^^ ^f q^^ ^^^^ ^f mature to for their children. -j r.t ^-n i.i u provide for them till they be able at the least by the labour of their hands to provide for their bellies (for God and nature looketh not, as methinketh, much farther, nor thrust us not out of the paradise of pleasure to make us look and long to be lords in this wretched earth), yet I say meseemeth verily that, have we never so little, if we be not in spirit merry therewith, but live in puling "^ and whimpering and heaviness of heart, to the discomfort of ourselves and them that are about us, for fear and dread of lack in time to come; it appeareth, I say, plainly that, speak we never so much of faith and of trust in Christ, we have in our hearts neither more belief in his holy words nor trust in his faithful promise than hath a Jew or a Turk.

• i.e., in complaining.

Doth not holy Scripture say: " Cast thy thought into God and He shall nourish thee"?"^ Why takest thou thought now in thyself and fearest to fail for food?

Saith not our Saviour Himself: " Have no care for to-morrow "? t and then furnisheth and enforceth His commandment by ensample. saying: " Look upon the birds in the air; they neither sow nor reap, nor gather to no barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye far more excellent than they? Your Father in heaven knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek ye first for the kingdom of heaven and the justice of Him, and all these things shall be cast unto you beside." Whosoever he be that heareth this and yet puleth and whimpereth for doubt and fear of lack in time coming, either he believeth not that Christ spake these words (and then he believeth not the Gospel), or else, if he believe that Christ spake them, and yet feareth lest He will not keep them, how believeth he Christ or trusteth in His promise? Thou wilt haply say that Christ would not, for any trust of Him, that thou shouldst not provide for to-morrow, but look to be fed by miracle. In this thou sayest true; and, therefore, He said not, " Provide not

• Ps. liv. f Matt, vi; Luke xii.

for to-morrow," nor " Labour not for to-morrow." In token whereof He sent the Jews double manna weekly the day before the Sabbath day, to be provided for before the hand. But He said unto us have no anxiety nor care of mind for to-morrow. For the mind would Christ have clean discharged of all earthly care, to the end that wc should in heart only care and long for heaven. And therefore He said: " Long for first and chiefly the kingdom of God, and all these earthly things God shall cast unto us beside "; shewing thereby that by the hearty longing for heaven we shall have both twain.

And surely the things coming of the earth for the necessary sustenance of man requireth rather the labour of the body than the care of the mind. But the getting of heaven requireth care, cure "^ and ardent desire of the mind, much more than the labour of the body, saving that the busy desire of the mind can never suffer the body to be idle.

Thou wilt haply say, what if I cannot labour, or have more small children to find than my labour of three days will suffice to feed for one day, shall I not then care and take thought how they shall live to-morrow? Or tell what other shift I shall find. First, shall I tell thee

• i.e., forethoug^ht.

what shift thou shalt make in such case; and after shall I shew thee that, if all shift fail thee, yet if thou be a faithful man thou shalt take no thought? I say, if thou lack, thou shalt labour to thy power by just and true business to get that thee and thine behoveth. If thy labour suffice not, thou shalt shew thy state, that thou hast little money and much charge, to some such men as have much money and little charge; and they be then bounden of duty to supply of theirs that thee lacketh of thine. What if they will not? Then, I say, that yet oughtest thou not to take thought and care in heart or despair of God's promise for thy living, but to make thyself very sure that either God will provide thee and thine meat by putting other men in the mind to relieve thee, or send thee meat by miracle (as He hath in desert wilderness sent some men their meat by a crow),* or else his pleasure is that thou and thine shall live no longer, but die and depart by famine, as He will that some other die by sickness. In which case thou must willingly, without grudge or care (which care, though never so sore, cannot get thee a penny the more), conform thyself to His ordinance. For though He hath promised to provide us

• 3 Kings xvii.

meat, yet hath He not promised it for longer time than Him liketh to let us live, to whom we be all debtors of death. And, therefore, though He sent Daniel meat enough by Abacuc, the prophet, into the lake * among lions,! yet sent He none at all to Lazarus, but let him die for famine at the rich glutton's gate. | There died he without grudge, without anxiety, with good will and glad hope, whereby he went into Abraham's bosom. Now if thou do the like, thou shalt go into a better bosom, into heaven, into the bosom of our Saviour Christ.

N(nv if the poor man that nought hath, shew himself to lack faith, and to have no trust in Christ's words, if he fear lack of finding, what faith hath then the covetous wretch that hath enough for this day, for to-morrow, for this week, for the next, for this month, for the next, for this year, for the next, yea, and peradventure for many years, yearly coming in of lands, offices, or merchandise, or other ways, and yet is ever whining, complaining, mourning, for care and fear of lack many years hereafter for him or his children; as though God either would not or were not able to keep his promise with us? And (which is the more madness) his care

• i.e., a ditch or den. f Dan. xiv. i Luke xvi.

is all for the living of himself and his children, for some such time as neither himself nor his children shall haply live thereto. And so loseth he the commodity of all his whole life, ^Yith the fear of lack of living when he is dead.

Now if he hap to have a great loss, in what heaviness falleth he then? For if he had ten thousand pounds, and thereof had eight thousand taken from him, he would weep and ween he were undone. And yet if he had never had but one, he would have thought himself a great rich man, where now, for the loss of eight, twain can do him no pleasure.

Whereof riseth this high folly, but of the blind covetous affection that he had to that he lost? If he had had it still, yet he would peradventure not have occupied it; for this that is left is more than he will spend or haply shall need to spend.

If ye would have spent it well, ye have no cause to be sorry of the loss, for God accepteth your good will. If ye would have kept it covetously or spent it naughtily, ye have a cause to be glad and reckon that ye have won by the loss, in that the matter and occasion of your sin is by God's goodness graciously taken from you.

But ye will say that ye have now lost of

8o DE ^ATVOR NOVISSIMIS your worship, and shall not be set by so much as ye were, when ye were known for so rich. Ah well, I say, now ye come home low. Methought always that ye covetous niggards, how lowly soever ye looked, would, if ye were well searched, prove yourselves proud and highhearted. For surely, make they never so meek and humble countenance, they have much pride in the mind, and put their trust in their goods, making their good their God. Covetous men be Which thing is the cause that proud. our Saviour Christ said it were as hard for the rich man to come into heaven as a great cable or a camel to go through a needle's eye."^ For it is not sin to have riches, but to love riches.

If riches come to you, set not your heart thereon, saith holy Scripture.! He that setteth not his heart thereon, nor casteth not his love thereon, reckoneth, as it is indeed, himself not the richer by them, nor those goods not his own, but delivered him by God to be faithfully disposed upon himself and others, and that of the disposition he must give the reckoning. And, therefore, as he reckoneth himself never the richer, so is he never the prouder.

• Matt. xix.; Mark x.; Luke xviii. t Ps. Ixi.

But he that forgetteth his goods to be the goods of God, and of a disposer, reckoneth himself an owner, he taketh himself for rich. And because he reckoneth the riches his own, he casteth a love thereto, and so much is his love the less set unto God. For, as holy Scripture saith, " Where thy treasure is, there is thine heart "; "^ where, if thou didst reckon the treasure not thine, but the treasure of God delivered thee to dispose and bestow, thy treasure should be in earth, and thy heart in heaven.

But these covetous folk that set their hearts on their hoards, and be proud when they look on their heaps, they reckon themselves rich, and be indeed very wretched beggars — those, I mean, that be full christened in covetise, that have all the properties belonging to the name, that is to wit, that be as loth to spend aught as they be glad to get all. For they not only part nothing liberally with other folk, but also live wretchedly by sparing from themselves. And so they reckon themselves owners, and be indeed but the bare keepers of other men's goods. For sith they find in their heart to spend nothing upon themselves, but keep all for their executors, they make it even now not their own while they use it not, but other men's, for whose

• Matt, vi use and behoof they keep it. But now let us see, as I said before, how the remembrance of death may quicken men's eyes against this blind folly of covetise. For surely it is an hard sore to cure; it is so mad that it is much work to make any good counsel sink into the heart. Wilt thou see it proved? Look upon the young man whom Christ Himself counselled to sell that he had, and give it to poor folk, and come and follow Him; * he clawed his head and went his way heavily because he was rich; whereas, St Peter and other holy apostles, at the first call, left their nets, which was in effect all that they had, and followed Him. They had no great things whereupon they had set their hearts, to hold them back. But, and if their hearts had been sore set upon right small things, it would have been a great let.f

And no marvel though covetous be hard to heal. For it is not ethe | to find a good time to give them counsel. As for the glutton, is ready to hear of temperance, yea, and to preach also of fasting himself, when his belly is well filled. The lecherous, after his foul pleasure past, may suffer to hear of continence, and abhorreth

''^ Matt, xix, Mark x, Luke xviii. t Hindrance. J i.e., easv.

almost the other by himself. But the covetous man, because he never ceaseth to dote upon his goods, and is ever alike greedy thereupon, whoso giveth him advice to be liberal, seemeth to preach to a glutton for fasting, when his belly is empty and gapeth for good meat. Scantily can death cure them when he cometh.

I remember me of a thief once cast at Newgate, that cut a purse at the bar, when he should be hanged on the morrow. And when he was asked why he did so, knowing that he should die so shortly, the desperate wretch said that it did his heart good to be lord of that purse one night yet. And in good faith methinketh, as much as we wonder at him, yet see we many that do much like, of whom we nothing wonder at all. I let pass old priests that sue for advowsons '^' of younger priests' benefices. I let pass old men that hover and gapef to be executors to some that be younger than themselves, whose goods, if they would fall, they reckon would do them good to have in their keeping yet one year ere they die.

But look if ye see nut some wretches that scant | can creep for age, his head hanging

• The rig-ht of presenting' to a vacant benefice, t i.e., to desire earnestly.:J: Scarcely.

in his bosom, and his body crooked, walk pit-pat upon a pair of patens with the staff in the one hand and the paternoster * in the other hand, the one foot almost in the grave already, and yet never the more haste to part with anything, nor to restore that he hath evil gotten, but as greedy to get a groat f by the beguiling of his neighbour as if he had seven score years to live.

The man that is purblind cannot see far from him. And as to look on death we be for the most part purblind, all the many, for we cannot see him till he come very near us. But these folk be not purblind but stark blind, for they cannot see him when he cometh so near that he putteth almost his finger in their eye.

Sure the cause is for that they willingly wink and list | not to look at him. They be loth to remember death, loth to put this ointment on their eyes. This water is somewhat pricking, and would make their eyes water, and, therefore, they refuse it. But surely if they would use it, if they would as advisedly remember death as they unadvisedly forget him, they should soon see their folly and shake off their covetise. For, undoubtedly, if they

• i.e., rosary beads.

t A fourpenny piece or any small sum. X Wish.

rUE FOUR LASr THINGS &5 would consider deeply how soon they may — yea, and how soon they must — lose all that they labour for, they would shortly cease their business, and would never be so mad greedily to gather together that other men shall merely soon after scatter abroad.

If they thought how soon in what painful plight they shall lie a-dying, while their executors afore their face ransack up their sacks, they would, I ween, shortly empty their sacks themselves. And if they doubt how far that death is from them, let them hear what Christ saith in the Gospel to the rich covetous gatherer, that thought to make his barns and his warehouses larger, to lay in the more, because he reckoned in himself to live and make merry many years. And it was said unto him: "Thou fool, this night shall they take thy soul from thee! and then these things that thou hast gathered, whose shall they be?""^ And holy St Bernard saith that it may be said unto him farther: "Thou that hast gathered them, whose shalt thou be? "

If we would well advise us upon this point, and remember the painful peril of death that we shall so soon come to, and that of all that we gather we shall carry nothing with us, it

• Luke xii.

would cause us to consider that this covetous gathering and niggardous keeping, with all the delight that we take in the beholding of our substance, is in all our life but a very gay golden dream, in which we dreTm^"''''^''" dream that we have great riches, and in the sleep of this life we be glad and proud thereof. But when death shall once waken us, our gay golden dream shall vanish, and of all the treasure that we so merely dreamed of we shall not (as the holy prophet saith *) find one penny left in our hands. Which if we forget not but well and effectually remembered, we would in time cast covetise out of our heads, and leaving little business for our executors after our death, not fail to dispose and distribute our substance with our own hands.

If thou knewest very certainly that after all thy good gathered together thou shouldst be suddenly robbed of all together, thou wouldst, I ween, have little joy to labour and toil for so much; but rather as thou shouldst happen to get it, so wouldst thou wisely bestow it there as need were, and where thou mightest have thank therefore, and on them specially that

• Ps. xlviii.

were likely to help thee with theirs when thine were all gone. But it is so that thou art of nothing so sure as that death shall bereave thee of all that ever thou keepest, and leave thee scant a sheet. Which thing if we did as well remember as we well know, we should not fail to labour less for that we shall so lose, and would put into poor men's purses our money to keep that death, the cruel thief, should not find it about us, but they should relieve us therewith when the remnant were bereft us.