2. Our lives are as uncertain as thefe things. If our estates remain with us, we are continually in danger of being removed from them. And (as one fays) it is folly to build our hopes upon a match, where both parties are fo uncertain and inconftant. Why fhould we place our deareft affections upon things which we are not fure to enjoy one moment? Thou fool, this night thy foul fhall be required of thee, and then whofe fhall these things be? I remember Seneca tells us a real story, juít answerable to the rich man in the parable, of an acquaintance of his, who by long and great induftry had arrived to a vaft eftate; and juft when he began to enjoy it, after one of the first good meals which perhaps he ever made in his life, that very night his foul was taken from him, for prefently after fupper he died. In ipfo actu bene fedentium rerum, in ipfo procurrentis fortuna impetu. In the height of his profperity, and in the full career of his good fortune.

But if we live to enjoy for any time what we have got, we fhould remember that our life is but a pas-. fage through the world, and that we are but pilgrims and ftrangers in the world, as all our fathers were; that we have here no abiding place, no continuing city, but are travelling towards our own country. And hy fhould we load ourfelves whilft we are upon our journey, and cumber ourselves with thofe things which will be of no ufe to us there whither we are going?

But the great wonder of all is, that this vice fhould fo ftrongly reign, and even grow upon men in old age, and get ftrength, as weakness creeps upon us. This very thought that we are to die, fhould work in us a great indifferency towards the things of this world. But when men are convinced they cannot live long, and that every ftep they take, they are in danger of ftumbling into the grave, this one would think fhould wean our affections from this world; and yet ufually none take so fast hold of it, and embrace it fo kindly, as old men; like friends, who though they know they must leave one another, yet are loth to part, Do we not fee many pursue these things with as much

much eagerness and appetite, when they are leaving the world, as if they were to ftay in it an hundred years longer? So that in this fenfe alfo, they are children again, and are as fond of thefe toys, as if they were juft beginning the world, and fetting out for their whole life.

3. There is another life after this, to be feriously thought on, and provided for with great care and did men firmly believe this, they would not with Martha, bufy themselves about many things, but would mind the one thing neceffary; and with Mary, chufe that better part, which could not be taken from them. They would overlook the trifles of this world, and fcarce take notice of the things which are feen, but be only intent upon the things which are not feen; becaufe the things which are feen are but temporal, but the things which are not feen are eternal. The great concernments of another world would employ their utmost care and their best thoughts.

Whilft we are in this world, we should remember that this is not our home, nor the place of our reft; and therefore, as men do in an inn, we should make a fhift with those indifferent accommodations which the world will afford us, and which we can have upon eafy terms, without too much trouble and ftir, because we are not to continue long here; and in the mean time we fhould chear up ourselves with the thoughts of the pleasure and the plenty of our father's house, and of that full contentment and fatisfaction which we fhall meet withal, when we come to those everlasting habitations.

So that our great care fhould be to provide for eternity. If we have unbounded defires, let us place them upon fuch objects as are worthy of them. Let us earnestly covet the best things, and feek after the true riches. We fhould fo mind the world, as to make heaven our great care; as to make fure to provide ourfelves bags that wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth, as our Saviour advifeth, Luke xii. 33. To the fame purpofe is the counsel of St aul, 1 Tim. vi. 17. 18. 19. Charge them that are

rich in this world, that they be rich in good works, willing to diftribute, ready to communicate, laying up for themfelves a good foundation (or, as the word x105 may also be rendered, a good treasure) against the time which is to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

I have told you, that all these things will fail in a fhort fpace; we shall either be ftripped of them, or feparated from them when we come to die, and fhall look over to that vaft eternity which we must shortly enter upon. This world, and all the enjoyments of it, will then be as nothing to us, and we fhall be wholly taken up with the thoughts of another world, and be heartily forry that the things of this world have taken up fo much of our time and care, and that the great and weighty concernments of eternity have been fo little minded and regarded by us. Now, feeing all these things fhall be, pardon me, if I earneftly beg of you, in the midft of all your worldly cares, to have fome confideration for your immortal fouls, which are no wife provided for by a great eftate, but are defigned for nobler enjoyments than this world can afford. When you are taking care to feed and clothe thefe dying bodies, remember that better part of yourselves, which is to live for ever. Let not all your inquiry be, What shall I eat? what fhall I drink? or wherewithal fhall I be clothed? But fometimes afk yourselves this queftion, What Shall I do to be faved? I have an immortal fpirit, it is but fit fome care fhould be taken of that, to train it up to eternity, and to make it fit to be made partaker of an inheritance among them that are fanctified.

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The firm belief and ferious confideration of the great things of another world, cannot furely but cool the heat of our affections towards thefe dying and perifhing things, and make us refolved not to do any thing whereby we may violate the peace of our confciences, or forfeit our intereft and happiness in an other world.

II. By way of remedy against this vice of covet oufnefs, it is good for men to be contented with VOL. V.

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their

their condition. This the Apoftle prefcribes as the best cure of this vice, Heb. xiii. 5. Let your converfation be without covetousness, and be content with fuch things as ye have; åpnovμevor Tots zapovov, being contented with the present, and thinking that fufficient. A covetous man cannot enjoy the prefent, for fear of the future; either out of fear that he fhall come to want, or out of a sickness and uneafinefs of mind,which makes that nothing pleaseth him : But if we could bring our minds to our condition, and be contented with what we have, we should not be so eager and impatient after more.

This contentedness with our present condition doth not hinder, but that men by providence and induftry, and lawful endeavours, may lay the foundation of a more plentiful fortune than they have at present. For provided a man use no indirect and dishonest ways to increase his estate, and do not torment himself with anxious cares, do neither make himself guilty, nor miferable, that he may be rich; provided he do not neglect better things to attain these, and have not an infatiable appetite towards them; provided he do not idolize his eftate, and fet his heart upon these things; and if he can find in his heart to enjoy them himself, and to be charitable to others, nothing hinders but that he may be contented with his prefent condition, and yet take all fair opportunities which the providence of God puts into his hands of enlarging his fortune. It is a good character which the poet gives of Ariftippus,

Omnis Ariftippum decuit color, et ftatus, et res
Tentantem majora, ferè præfentibus.æquum.

"Every ftate and condition became him; for though "he endeavoured after more, yet his mind was always in a manner equal to his prefent condition."

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But if a man be discontented with the prefent, and reftlefs because he hath no more, the whole world will not fatisfy him; and if God fhould raife him from one step to another, he would never think his fortune high enough, and in every degree of it, would be as little contented as he was at firft. Our Saviour reprefents

reprefents this fort of men by the rich man here in the parable, who, when his barns were full, and ready to crack, his mind was not filled; therefore he pulls them down and builds greater; and if he had lived till thefe had been full, they must have gone down too, and he would ftill have built greater: fo that though he defigned, when he had raised his eftate to fuch a pitch, to have fat down, and taken his ease, yet his covetous humour would have been stirring again, and ftill have stepped in between him and contentment, and for ever have hindered him from arriving at it.

III. By way of direction, I would perfuade thofe who are rich, to be charitable with what they have. If God hath blessed us with abundance, and we would not be like this rich man here in the parable, we must lay out of our eftate, in ways of piety and charity, for the public good, and for the private relief of those who are in want; for that is the aridors, or moral of the parable; fo is he that layeth up treasures for himself, and is not rich towards God. So fhall he be, fuch an iffue of his folly may every one expect (to be taken away from his eftate, before he comes to enjoy it) who layeth up treafures for himself, but is not rich towards God; but does not lay up riches with God. How is that? By works of mercy and charity. This our Saviour calls laying up for ourselves treafure in heaven, Matth. xvi. 20. And at the 33d verfe of this chapter, he calls giving of alms, provi ding for ourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens which faileth not: They who do thus, who are rich in good works, ready to diftribute, willing to communicate, are faid to lay up for themselves a good treafure against the time which is to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life, 1 Tim. vi. 18. 19. Extra fortunam eft quicquid donatur: "Whatfoever we give

to the poor, is fafely difpofed, and put out of the "reach of fortune, because it is laid up in heaven, "where we may expect the return and recompenfe of "it." Charity to our poor brethren is a certain way of tranfmitting our riches into the other world to make way for our reception there. So our Lord