1 Tim. vi. 9.  “Gold and silver hath destroyed many,” Ecclus. viii. 2. divitia saeculi sunt laquei diaboli:  so writes Bernard; worldly wealth is the devil’s bait:  and as the Moon when she is fuller of light is still farthest from the Sun, the more wealth they have, the farther they are commonly from God. (If I had said this of myself, rich men would have pulled me to pieces; but hear who saith, and who seconds it, an Apostle) therefore St. James bids them “weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon them; their gold shall rust and canker, and eat their flesh as fire,” James v. 1, 2, 3.  I may then boldly conclude with [3698]Theodoret, quotiescunque divitiis affluentem, &c.  “As often as you shall see a man abounding in wealth,” qui gemmis bibit et Serrano dormit in ostro, “and naught withal, I beseech you call him not happy, but esteem him unfortunate, because he hath many occasions offered to live unjustly; on the other side, a poor man is not miserable, if he be good, but therefore happy, that those evil occasions are taken from him.”

[3699] “Non possidentem multa vocaveris
        Recte beatum; rectius occupat
        Nomen beati, qui deorum
        Muneribus sapienter uti,
        Duramque callet pauperiem pati,
        Pejusque laetho flagitium timet.”

       “He is not happy that is rich,
        And hath the world at will,
        But he that wisely can God’s gifts
        Possess and use them still: 
        That suffers and with patience
        Abides hard poverty,
        And chooseth rather for to die;
        Than do such villainy.”

Wherein now consists his happiness? what privileges hath he more than other men? or rather what miseries, what cares and discontents hath he not more than other men?

[3700] “Non enim gazae, neque consularis
        Summovet lictor miseros tumultus
        Mentis, et curas laqueata circum
                Tecta volantes.”

       “Nor treasures, nor majors officers remove
          The miserable tumults of the mind: 
        Or cares that lie about, or fly above
          Their high-roofed houses, with huge beams combin’d.”

’Tis not his wealth can vindicate him, let him have Job’s inventory, sint Craesi et Crassi licet, non hos Pactolus aureas undas agens, eripiat unquum e miseriis, Croesus or rich Crassus cannot now command health, or get himself a stomach. [3701]"His worship,” as Apuleius describes him, “in all his plenty and great provision, is forbidden to eat, or else hath no appetite,” (sick in bed, can take no rest, sore grieved with some chronic disease, contracted with full diet and ease, or troubled in mind) “when as, in the meantime, all his household are merry, and the poorest servant that he keeps doth continually feast.”  ’Tis Bracteata felicitas, as [3702] Seneca terms it, tinfoiled happiness, infelix felicitas, an unhappy kind of happiness, if it be happiness at all.  His gold, guard, clattering of harness, and fortifications against outward enemies, cannot free him from inward fears and cares.