C 6. SERM. hath he that laboureth for the wind? from hence, to be but wind; a thing not anywise to be fixed or settled; which it is vain to think we can appropriate or retain; and vain therefore greedily to covet, or Ps. xxxix. pursue: so the Psalmist also reasons it: Surely every man, saith he, walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. Men, in his account, that troubled themselves in accumulating wealth, did but idly delude themselves, fancying to receive content from such things, which they must themselves soon be separated from; and leave at uncertainties, to be disposed of they know not how: that which in his wise son's esteem was sufficient to Eccl. ii. 18. make a man hate all his labour under the sun : Jam. i. 11. Because, saith he, I shall leave it to the man that shall be after me; and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet he shall have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun: all, it seems, that we are so wise and so industrious about, that we so beat our heads about, and spend our spirits upon, is at most but gaudium hæredis, the joy of an heir, and that an uncertain one, (for your son, your kinsman, your friend, may, for all you can know, die before you, or soon after you;) e it is but a being at great pains and charges in tilling the land, and sowing and dressing it; whence we are sure not to reap any benefit to ourselves, and cannot know who shall do it. The rich man, St. James tells us, as the flower of e In his elaborant, quæ sciunt nihil omnino ad se pertinere; serunt arbores, quæ alteri sæculo prosint. Cic. de Senect. 20. the grass shall he pass away; for the sun is no SERM. sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth XLVI. the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion thereof perisheth; so also shall the rich man fade in his ways. All the comfort (we see by the apostle's discourse) and the convenience, all the grace and ornament, that riches are supposed to yield, will certainly wither and decay, either before or with us; whenever the sun (that is, either some extreme mischance in life, or the certain destiny of death) doth arise, and make impression on them. But our Saviour hath best set out the nature and condition of these things, in that parable concerning the man, who, having had a plentiful crop Luke xii. of corn, and having projected for the disposal of it, resolved then to bless himself, and entertain his mind with pleasing discourses, that having in readiness and security so copious accommodations, he might now enjoy himself with full satisfaction and delight, not considering, that, though his barns were full, his life was not sure; that God's pleasure might soon interrupt his pastime; that the fearful sentence might presently be pronounced: Thou fool, this night thy life shall be required of thee; and what thou hast prepared, to whom shall it fall? Euripides calls riches φιλόψυχον χρῆμα, a thing which much en- τινι ἔσται. dears life, or makes men greatly love it; but they do not at all enable to keep it: there is no ávτáλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς, no price or ransom equivalent to life: all that a man hath, he would give to redeem it; but it is a purchase too dear for all the riches in the world to compass. So the Psalmist tells us: They that trust in their wealth, and boast them- Psal. xlix. selves in the multitude of their riches, none of them Luke xii. 20. SERM. can by any means redeem his brother, nor give XLVI. to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious. They cannot redeem their brother's soul or life, nor therefore their own; for all souls are of the same value, all greatly surpass the price of gold and silver. Life was not given us for perpetuity, but lent, or deposited with us; and without delay or evasion it must be resigned into the hand of its just owner, when he shall please to demand it; and although righteousness may, yet Prov. xi. 4. riches, as the Wise Man tells us, cannot deliver from death, nor at all profit us in the day of wrath. Could we probably retain our possessions for ever in our hands; nay, could we certainly foresee some considerably long definite time, in which we might enjoy our stores, it were perhaps somewhat excusable to scrape and hoard, it might look like rational providence, it might yield some valuable satisfaction; but since, Rape, congere, aufer, posside, statim reProv. xxvii. linquendum est; since, as Solomon tells us, Riches are not for ever, nor doth the crown endure to every generation; yea, since they must be left very soon, nor is there any certainty of keeping them any time; that one day may consume them, one night may dispossess us of them and our life together with them, there can be no reason why we should be solicitous about them; no account given of our setting so high a rate upon them. For who would much regard the having custody of a rich treasure for a day or two, then to be stripped of all, and left bare? to be to-day invested in large domains, and to-morrow to be dispossessed of them? Sen. Ep.98. No man surely would be so fond, as much to affect the condition. Yet this is our case; whatever we 24. call ours, we are but guardians thereof for a few days. SERM. This consideration therefore may serve to repress XLVI. or moderate in us all covetous desires, proud conceits, vain confidences and satisfactions in respect to worldly wealth; to induce us, in Job's language, not Job xxxi. to make gold our hope, nor to say to the fine gold, 24. Thou art my confidence; not to rejoice because our wealth is great, and because our hand hath gotten much; to extirpate from our hearts that root of all evil, the love of money. For if, as the Preacher thought, the greatest pleasure or benefit accruing from them, is but looking upon them for a while, (what good, saith he, is there to the owners thereof, Ecel. v. 11. saving the beholding of them with their eyes?) if a little will, nay must suffice our natural appetites, and our present necessities; if more than needs is but, as the scripture teaches us, a trouble, disquiet- Eccl. v. 12. ing our minds with care; a dangerous snare, draw- 1Tim. vi. 9. ing us into mischief and sorrow; if this, I say, be their present quality; and were it better, yet could it last for any certain, or any long continuance ; is it not evidently better to enjoy that pittance God hath allotted us with ease and contentation of mind; or if we want a necessary supply, to employ only a Simplici moderate diligence in getting thereof by the fairest means, which, with God's blessing promised thereto, will never fail to procure a competence, and with ratur. this to rest content; than with those in Amos, Matt. vi. to pant after the dust of the earth; to ourselves with thick clay; to thirst insatiably afters. floods of gold, to heap up mountains of treasure, to Psal. Iv. 26. extend unmeasurably our possessions, (joining house to house, and laying field to field, till there be no place, that we may be placed alone in the midst of lade cura constant necessaria, in delicias labo Sen. Ep. 89. Heb. xiii. 15. Amos ii. 6. Hab. ii. 6. Is. v. 8. SERM. the earth, as the prophet Isaiah doth excellently deXLVI. scribe the covetous man's humour;) than, I say, thus incessantly to toil for the maintenance of this frail body, this flitting breath of ours? If divine bounty hath freely imparted a plentiful estate upon Luke xvi.9. us, we should indeed bless God for it; making ourselves friends thereby, as our Saviour advises us, employing it to God's praise and service; to the relief and comfort of our brethren that need: but to seek it earnestly, to set our heart upon it, to rely thereon, to be greatly pleased or elevated in mind thereby, as it argues much infidelity and profaneness of heart, so it signifies much inconsiderateness and folly, the ignorance of its nature, the forgetfulness of our own condition, upon the grounds discoursed upon. 3. Now in the next place; for pleasure, that great witch, which so enchants the world, and which by its mischievous baits so allures mankind into sin and misery; although this consideration be not altogether necessary to disparage it, (its own nature sufficing to that; for it is more transitory than the shortest life, it dies in the very enjoyment,) yet it may conduce to our wise and good practice in respect thereto, by tempering the sweetness thereof, yea souring its relish to us; minding us of its insufficiency and unserviceableness to the felicity of a mortal creature; yea, its extremely dangerous consequences to a soul that must survive the short enjoyment thereof. Some persons indeed, ignorant or incredulous of a future state; presuming of no sense remaining after death, nor regarding any account to be rendered of this life's actions, have encouraged themselves and others in the free enjoyment of pre |