To the Right Worshipful, Sir Robert Vyner, Knight and Baronet

Sir,

Were you one of that sort of men, who value themselves by the bag, or the acre; it might possibly be thought rather an affront, than a dedication, to prefix your name to this treatise. For since it is purposely intended to beat down the price of the world, and to expose its admired vanities to public contempt, those sordid spirits, who have no other worth to commend them, but what is summed up in their yearly revenues, would interpret such an address, not so much a tender of respect and service, as a design to undo and beggar them. But Sir, to you, whom God has doubly blessed with a large estate, and a larger heart, I doubt not but this piece will be very acceptable; if upon no other account, yet at least as the perusal of it may be helpful to you to strip off, and as it were to sequester all your worldly advantages, that you may the better take an estimate of yourself according to your native and genuine worth, both as a man, and as a Christian.

I am not so much a cynic, as to plead for affected poverty, and a disdainful rejecting the gifts of divine providence. Such a morose and sour pride I judge worthy to be chastised not only with the censure of vanity, but impiety. We need not shelter ourselves under any monastic vow; nor fly to deserts, and solitudes to hide us from the allurements of the world: this is to run away from that enemy, whom we ought to conquer. Certainly religion allows us the possession of earthly comforts; only it regulates the use, and forbids the inordinate love of them. We may prize them as comforts, but not as treasures: and while we employ a due part of our abundance, in the works of a generous charity, and true piety, we may well look upon what is left, as a salary that God gives us for being faithful stewards of the rest. Thus to use the world for the interests of heaven, to make its enjoyments tributary to God's glory, it is to convert and proselyte it; and turn that into an offering, which others make an idol. By this we give earth a translation; and in a nobler sense than the new system of astronomy teaches, advance it to be a star, and a celestial body. And by this method, we change those helps that vice had to make itself prodigious and infamous, into the most serviceable instruments that virtue can have to make itself conspicuous and exemplary. For wealth and honor in a virtuous person, are like the well setting of a gem, which, though it makes it not more precious, makes it more sparkling.

But Sir, I forget myself, and instead of writing a letter, am writing a tract. I shall make no other apology for it, but that the book being designed against vanity, I would not have the dedication of it guilty of that common and notorious one, to be filled only with compliments. And I hope you will not think it anything of that strain, when I shall assure you that my prayers to God for you are, that you may still enjoy all advantages of doing good here on earth, and hereafter receive the reward of it in heaven.

Exeter, February 1, 1668. Your most humble, and most obliged servant, Ezekiel Hopkins.