*As _wit_ and _fine parts_ cannot be only lost, but expose those that have them to greater follies, if they are not strictly devoted to piety; so _money_, if it is not used strictly according to reason and religion, cannot only be trifled away, but it will betray people into _greater_ follies, and make them live a more silly and extravagant life, than they would have done without it. If therefore you don’t spend your money in doing good to others, you spend it to the hurt of yourself. You will act like a man that should refuse to give a _cordial_ to a sick friend, tho’ he could not drink it himself without _inflaming_ his blood. For this is the case of _superfluous_ money; if you give it to those that want it, it is a _cordial_; if you spend it upon yourself, in something that you do not want, it only _inflames_ and disorders your mind, and makes you worse than you would be without it. 14. Consider again the fore-mentioned comparison; if the man that would not make a right use of spare _eyes_ and _hands_, should, by continually trying to use them himself, spoil his own eyes and hands, we might accuse him of still greater madness. Now this is truly the case of riches spent upon ourselves in _vain_ and _needless_ expences: in trying to use them where they have no real use, we only use them to our hurt, in creating unreasonable desires, in nourishing ill tempers, in indulging our passions, and supporting a vain turn of mind. For high _eating_ and _drinking_, fine _cloaths_, and fine _houses_, state and equipage, gay _pleasures_ and _diversions_, do all of them hurt and disorder our hearts; they are the food and nourishment of all the folly and weakness of our nature, and are certain means to make us vain and worldly in our tempers; they are all of them the support of something that ought not to be supported; they are contrary to that sobriety of heart which relisheth divine things; they are like so many weights upon our mind, that make us less able, and less inclined to raise up our thoughts and affections to the things that are above. So that money, thus spent, is not merely _wasted_, but spent to bad purposes; to the corruption of our hearts, and make us less able to live up to the doctrines of the gospel. It is like keeping money from the poor, to buy poison for ourselves. For so much as is spent in the vanity of _dress_, is so much laid out to _fix_ vanity in our minds. So much as is laid out for _idleness_ and _indulgence_, is so much given to render our hearts _dull_ and _sensual_. So much as is spent in _state_ and _equipage_, is so much spent to _dazzle_ your own eyes, and render you the idol of your own imagination. And so in every thing, when you go from _reasonable_ wants, you only support some unreasonable _temper_, some _turn_ of mind, which every Christian is called upon to _renounce_.