them, may not greatly multiply them to themselves. (Deut. xvii. 17) Cyrus esteemed himself more rich in the hearts and love of his people, than in his exchequer, as he told Croesus. We may be more rich in a narrow estate, with God's blessing, than many wicked men are in the midst of their abundance. (Psalm xxxvii. 16) As a man may be rich in bonds, who hath but little money in hand; so may a good man be rich in promises, who is but narrow in possessions. He forbids treasures of unrighteousness; (Micah vi. 10. Hab. ii. 6, 2. Jer. xxii. 13) he forbids misplacing of treasures, making our hearts the repositories of them. (Psalm lxii. 12) But when God is pleased, without the concurrence of our sinful actions and afflictions, to give in abundance, we may, with a good conscience, enjoy it, so long as it doth not draw away our delight from God, but enlarge our hearts to honour him therewith, and humble them the more to listen to his charge, and to be inquisitive after his counsel.

I shall not stand to enquire what measure of wealth it is which makes a man a rich man: we read of the vast riches of Croesus, Pallas, Narcissus, Lentulus, Seneca, and others *; and of the monstrous and portentous expenses, almost beyond arithmetical computation, in the luxury of games, feasts, apparel, and buildings, amongst the Romans, and others. Cleopatra dissolved and drank in one draught of wine, a pearl of above seventy-eight thousand pounds in value. The ornaments of Lollia Paulina amounted to above three hundred thousand pounds; and P. Clodius dwelt in a house which cost him above one hundred and fourteen thousand pounds. There is no standing quantity, which makes the denomination of a rich man. In the apostle's account, he certainly is a rich man who hath plenty sufficient for his calling, his occasions, his train, family, posterity, for necessary, decent, and liberal expenses: in one word, whose estate is amply proportionable both to his condition and to his mind; for copiosum viaticum,' avtápxsia, and penury doth not consist ἐν ὀλιγοχρηματίᾳ, but ἐν ἀπληστίᾳ, not in narrowness of wealth, but in vastness of desire.

So

• Vid.

d Xenophon. Cyropæd. 1. 8.-Vide Greg. Tholos. de Rep. 1. 3. c. 9. Budæum de Asse, 1. 2. fol. 50. lib. 3. fol. 83. 1. 4. fol. 98, 99, 100.—Lipsi. de Magnitud. Rom. 1. 2. c. 15.-Brierwood de Nummis, c. 9. Athenæus, 1. 12.

that which is suitable to a man's mind, and to his train or estate, makes him a rich man.

k

But yet still all this wealth is but év T vuv alvi, it enricheth a man but between this and his grave; "His glory will not descend after him." In all points, as he came into the world, so he must go out; naked in and naked out; he brought nothing" in, he can carry nothing out; he passeth i, but the earth abides, and his house will know him no more. And this shows the baseness of worldly wealth, First, that it is communicable to the men of this world, who have their portion only here; their bellies may be filled with these treasures';' they may have more than heart could wish; they may be mighty in power; and spend their days in wealth m; they may join house to house ", and lay field to field. "No man can know love or hatred by these things;" a Nabal, and a Doeg may have them as well as an Abraham, or a David. Jacob's ladder which conveyeth to heaven, may have its foot in a smoking cottage; and there may be a trapdoor in a stately palace, which may let down to hell.-Secondly, That it is of but a very narrow use; like a candle, needful in the night, but absurd in the day; like brass tokens, fit to buy some small trifles with, but not to purchase an inheritance. All the difference which riches make amongst men, are but, év To vov, in this little isthmus of mortality. As, in casting accounts, one counter stands for a thousand pounds, another for a penny; as, in setting letters, the same letter may one while be put into the name of a prince, and the next time into the name of a beggar; but when the counters are put into the bag, and the letters into their boxes, they are there all alike. No difference between the dust of Dives and Lazarus. Come to Ahab and Jezebel when the dogs have done with them; and their vineyard and their paint is vanished unto all eternity. A living dog is better than a dead lion; a dead lion no better than a dead dog.

Our wisdom, therefore, it is to labour for that which So

i 1 Tim

b Job i. 21. 'Eyd ♪ és ặdnv oŭte xgvoòv, ove' Ninus apud Athenæum, lib. 12. m Job xxi. 13. Isai. v. 8.

f Psalm xlix. 17. 8 Eccles. v. 16. vi. 7. Eccles. i. 4. Job vii. 10. ἵππον, Οὔτ ̓ ἀργυρὴν ἅμαξαν ᾠχόμην ἕλκων. cap. 7. 1 Psalm xvii. 14. et lxxiii. 7. Hab. ii. 5, 6. Eccles. ix. 1. • Eccles. ix. 4. VOL. V.

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lomon calleth durable riches; which is current in another world, which will follow a man when he dies: "his wealth will not, his works will." (Rev. xiv. 13) To make the fear of the Lord our treasure; (Isai. xxxiii. 6) to be rich towards God; (Luke xii. 21) to lay up treasure in heaven; (Luke xviii. 22) to buy of Christ gold tried in the fire, that we may be rich. (Rev. iii. 18) As Abraham sent jewels of silver, and gold, and raiment unto Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, the son of promise; (Gen. xxiv. 53) so doth the Lord give rich and precious ornaments unto the church his spouse. (Ezek. xvi. 10, 13) The graces of the spirit are compared unto chains and borders of gold, and studs of silver. (Cant. i. 10, 11) These riches are returnable into heaven. To be rich in faith, in knowledge, in wisdom, will stand us in stead, when the world hath left us. Things which come from heaven to us, while we are on the earth,-will go to heaven with us, when we leave the earth. Graces are like the waggons, which Joseph sent to carry Jacob his father: (Gen. xlv. 21) they are the vehicula, like Elijah's chariot of fire, to transport the souls of believers unto Christ. Men naturally desire durable things, strong houses, clear titles, lasting garments, jewels, and precious stones that will go every where. No riches are indeed durable, but those that are heavenly; no rust, no moth, no thief can reach them. What the philosopher affirmeth of heavenly bodies, is certainly true of heavenly graces, they are incorruptible.'

There is a strange contradiction between men's professions and their practice. Ask a man, which, in his conscience, he thinks the best, riches or grace? and he will answer very truly, There is no comparison, no more than between God and mammon: riches not to be named the same day with grace.'-But observe it, and you will find no man sit still, and drowsily look when riches will drop into his mouth; but he riseth early, and goeth late to bed His worldly heart shakes and awakeneth him; Surge,' nquit Avaritia, ‘eja surge: negas?' Instat, surge,' inquit; Non queo;''surge.'

He sweats, he toils, he spends his time, his studies, he ventures far and near,

Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per зaxa, per ignes.

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But for durable riches of grace and glory, which (our Saviour says) must be laboured for;' which (Solomon tells us) must be searched and digged for, as for hidden treasures;" (Prov. ii. 4) how few are there, who evidence the truth of their profession, by the measure of their diligence; who are not far more supine in their pursuance of holiness, than of wealth! Surely, even in this sense, is that of St. James true, "Your silver and your gold shall rise up in judgement against you;" and plead, as, Cyprian tells us, Satan will plead against wicked men by way of exprobration, 'I never died for them, I never made promises of eternal life unto them; so will your money say, "I was never able to cleanse their consciences,-to remove their guilt, or fears,— to pacify their hearts,-to secure their salvation, to present them without spot or wrinkle to God; yet me they wooed and worshipped, and hunted after; and left grace and mercy, righteousness and peace, Christ and salvation, unsaluted, undesired." O learn we to build our house upon a rock, to get a kingdom that cannot be shaken, to have a city which hath foundations. Crowns may fall, thrones may miscarry': such may the storms be, as may subvert the cedars of Lebanon, and the oaks of Bashan, as may overturn towers and palaces. Treasures of darkness", hidden riches of secret places *, may be searched out and taken away: but the righteous shall not be moved; he shall not be afraid of evil tidings. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, in which he shall be kept in perfect peace, because in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

t

Let us now proceed to the matter of the charge, which is first negative, and that double: First, "That they be not high-minded." This notes, that there is a secret malignity, which riches, meeting with corruption, have in them, to lift up men's minds above their due region. Tyrus edified herself, because of her wealth: "Thine heart is lifted up, because of thy riches; and thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God." (Ezek. xxviii. 5, 6) "According to their

pastures, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me." (Hos. xiii. 5, 6) Whence that caution which Moses gives unto Israel, "Beware, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thine herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast, is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God," &c. (Deut. viii. 12, 13, 14) Men are like larks, very silent and modest when they are low and on the ground; but, in a warm and glorious sunshine, they soar up, and are very clamorous. And though they be never a drachm the holier, the nearer to heaven, the safer from hell, by all their wealth; yet they think highly of themselves, walk with more state, look with more disdain, breathe more scorn, keep more distance, that you would not think such a one a richer only, but another man. Put money into a bag, and the bag remains leather or canvass still; but if it once get into the heart of a man, he is presently changed; his thoughts of himself greater, and of others meaner, than they were before.

This, the apostle saith, should not be so; for after all this, it is but man still, (Eccles. vi. 10) and the word is as much above him as before. A hill is proud, and overtops the valley; but in comparison of the sun, they are equally distant, and that haply scorcheth the one, when it reviveth the other; as the same word, it may be, comforteth a poor believer, and scourgeth a rich sinner. A rich man then should not be high-minded. For,

1. Riches are not noble enough to raise the mind, or to put any sclid value upon a man more than he had before. Righteousness indeed, because it comes from heaven, can exalt and lift up thitherward: but things, of a mere earthly extraction, do rather depress than heighten the soul; they bear no proportion unto it. The heart is as improper a place for riches, as a man's purse or barn is for grace. is the seat of wisdom, of knowledge, of divine impressions; whereas earthly things can, 'per se,' and in their own nature operate only unto earthly effects. They may, indeed, be used by sensual lusts, as the 'fomes' and instruments of pride

bProv. xiv. 34.

The mind