and integrity, as among the rich: the only difference is the absence of wealth, and often the want of cultivation.

While we see many very rich in this world's goods, and at the same time very poor as it regards the true riches, we behold thousands who are rich in faith, and yet comparatively destitute of earthly possessions, so that there is no real cause why the poor should envy the rich; nor is there any cause why the rich should regard the poor with supercilious contempt: "There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches." "The light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out."

But may we not with advantage "turn the tables ?" Do we not frequently see the poor, and the middle classes of society, as well as the rich, resting satisfied in things that are equally vain? Reason, experience, and the word of God, teach us that the soul of man is not, nor can it be, satisfied with temporal things, there is always a thirsting after something which we do not possess, until the heart and the affections are enamoured with the spiritual pleasures that are to be enjoyed in communion with God, and that are in reserve at his right hand. "He who loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loveth abundance with increase."

Very various are the ways in which men propose to themselves satisfactory enjoyment, and those ways are governed by their different tastes, their habits, and their circumstances. One man proposes satisfaction to himself in hoarding silver and gold; another man only values these things as they are the means of procuring him pleasure; whether those pleasures are sought in sensual indulgences, or in pursuits more

refined, depends upon the habits and the taste of the individual. It matters not in what rank of society a man moves, if his heart is resting in anything short of the love of God; he is standing on the same foundation, he is in the same condition, as the rich man in the parable; he is virtually saying to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry ;" he is equally liable to the condemnation of God, and equally exposed to the sudden challenge of rendering up his account.

Now let us look at his exposure-" Thou fool!" This rich man would, doubtless, have been commended by his acquaintance for the great measure of worldly prudence that he had shewn, in making ample provision for securing all his fruits and his goods, by pulling down his barns and building greater: and for the same reason he might have been on very good terms with himself; he might have considered himself quite justified, and even praiseworthy, for what he did; and, indeed, were it not for the sensual objects that he had in view as the end, the mainspring of his doings, our Saviour would not have censured him. But, observe, in all the care and provision that he was making for futurity, not one thought ever entered his groveling mind respecting God's poor; he thought not of supplying the wants of the widow, and the fatherless, and the destitute, and him that was ready to perish; there was no making provision for these requirements; it was all for the gratification of self; it was pandering for his appetites and his lusts : "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry."

He was a fool, knowing as he did that he had a soul, for spending all his thoughts, and all his care and attention, and directing all his outlay, to the one im

portant consideration of pampering his body, providing only for the pleasures of sense; and this was the reason that our Saviour exposed him by calling him a fool. Had he employed himself less thoughtfully about the things of this life, and suffered some of his attention to have been directed to the wants of his soul-had he been engaged in laying up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through to steal—had he been exercising his affections on things above, while his hands were busied in doing what was necessary to be done, so far from being exposed as a fool, he would have been deserving of the epithet of a wise man; but as it was, he proved himself to be a fool, and our Saviour always called persons by their proper This rich fool had not anticipated futurity in its most important considerations, and it is to be lamented that there are so many rich fools as there are in our day.

names.

Reader in the character of this rich fool cannot we discover in our conduct anything that is allied to his folly? Is it not more than probable, that some one who reads this is a spiritual fool—a fool in spiritual things? making fading vanities the chief object of his desires? who is pursuing with more than prudent care the transitory and unstable possessions of time, while the far more important concerns of the soul are neglected? Let it be our wisdom to try ourselves, to set before us the character under consideration, in order to find out what in us resembles his folly; let it be our wisdom, also, to do it before our souls are required of us. If we can discover marks of folly, let us set about rectifying them immediately. "Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he

may be wise; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

The wise man, in the book of the Ecclesiastes, challenges all the epicures in the world to shew what solid and satisfactory pleasure there can be in eating and drinking, in mirth and frivolity, in gaiety and laughter" I said in mine heart, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine; I gathered also silver and gold, and increased also more than all that were before me in Jerusalem and whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy. Then I looked on all that my hands had wrought: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

:

"This night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" In the selfsame night that he was solacing himself, and singing a requiem to his soul, death smote him; death arrested him midway in his schemes for longlived enjoyment, and placed him where he must eternally bewail his folly.

We not only learn his end, which was sudden, unexpected by him, and for which he had not even thought of a preparation, but we learn also his loss"Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" This was a heart-cutting inquiry to a man whose ALL was included in the loss; a proof of the vanity of human imaginations, the fallacy of human inventions. He fancied a long life of ease, but it proved a death of trouble; he expected days of merriment, but it was a night of sorrow; "thy soul is required of thee!" In this emergency it was too

late to urge the inquiry, "What shall I do?" Had he thought of this sooner, he might have done well, for his riches did not exclude him from heaven; but, like many a rich man, he suffered his riches to beguile his thoughts, and rob his soul of better things. There is no crime in possessing riches, the sin consists in making an idol of them to the exclusion of the eternal Jehovah from the heart's best affections. He was not rich towards God. He, like many of us, was calculating upon long life, and putting off serious thoughts till a more convenient season, which never arrived to him, and never may to us. Who can conceive of the anguish of a man cut off in the very midst of life, before he has set his spiritual house in order?

But let us for a moment contemplate his loss. The rich worldly-minded man must resign his fruits, and his goods, and his barns, and all the fair shew of provisions that he had prepared for future merriment; he must resign them all to his successors; perhaps it formed part of his mortification that he did not know who they might be; however, they were his no longer; he had forfeited them by abusing, by misemploying them; and this was the least part of his loss. He had lost them, but it was not to possess a better inheritance that was the woe: he had lost heaven, too; he had lost the soul-satisfying presence of God; he had lost the melody of the harpings of angels; he had lost a crown of glory, and the eternal enjoyment of that rest that is prepared for the people of God. Who can tell what he had gained? He had been calculating upon ease and merriment, but he had to realize sorrow and pain unutterable; he had been making provision for eating and drinking, but, instead thereof, the cup of God's wrath was put into his hands, the dregs of which he must for ever drink; his riches had been