under previous obligations to it as a duty) yet he has graciously encouraged us thereto, by affuring us that he will abundantly repay us, either here, by the bleffing of his providence to encrease the remainder; or in a better world, by the rewards of everlasting happiness. Thou, when thou makeft a feaft, fays our Saviour, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be bleffed; for they cannot recompenfe thee: For thou shalt be recompenfed at the refurrection of the just. St. Paul alfo charging those that are rich in this world, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to diftribute, willing to communicate; puts them in mind, that fo to do is but laying up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.. So that what we difperfe in works of charity, is fo far from being loft to us, or thrown away, that it is laid up for us, as a fund or treasure in heaven; where we fhall find it again, though not in fpecie, yet in fuch returns of happiness and glory, as fhall abundantly fatisfy, and for ever blefs us. And that what I have faid upon this fubject is not only true, but is directly and intentionally within the meaning of our Saviour's precept, is plain enough by his way of expreffing it in St. Luke, where the fubftance of this fame difcourfe is recorded, Sell that ye have, and give alms: Provide your felves bags which wax not old, a treafure in the heavens, which faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. And thus I have gone thro' my firft general head, and fhewn the full extent of this precept in both parts of it, that we fhould not lay up treasures on earth, and that we should lay them up in heaven. I come now to my

* Prov. xi. 25. Luke vi. 38. Tim, vi. 18,-19.

Luke xiv. 13, 14 Luke xii. 33.

II. SECOND general head, to fhew the force of every diftinct argument our Saviour here makes ufe of against laying up treasures upon earth. And these may be reduced to two heads; fuch as refpect the greedy affections of riches, and fuch as relate to an uneafy and difquieting provifion for the future.

1. SUCH as relate chiefly to the affection for, or love of riches: And these are,

(1.) THE uncertainty of riches. Lay not up for your felves treasures upon earth, where moth and ruft doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and fteal. To the fame purpose Solomon both exhorts and argues, *Labour not to be rich, ceafe from thine own wifdom: Wilt thou fet thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away, as an eagle towards heaven. And certainly, were we but difpofed to be wife at the cost of other peoples experience, rather than our own, we should fave our felves much grief and vexation, by setting only fuch a value upon the poffeffions of this world, as we would upon things we expect to lofe, or to have taken from us.

Do we not fee, by how many accidents those who had riches, arc on a fudden reduced to poverty? By fire, by fhipwrack, by robbery, by the villany or misfor tunes of a bankrupt, what a mighty alteration in our circumstances may be made in four and twenty hours? Christianity therefore, which is the trueft prudence, as well as the best religion, teaches us to fit loose to all the perishing enjoyments of this world. A temper which St. Paul has eloquently described in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. It remains, fays he, that they who rejoice, be as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they poffeffed not; and they that use this world, as not abufing it: for the

* Proy. xxiii. 4:

fashion of this world paffeth away. And our Saviour warns us, that treasures upon earth are flippery and uncertain, vain, and cafily loft; and because they arc fo, not worth a wife man's laying up. But there are other treasures that cannot fail us, and are not fubject to any fuch contingencies: Treafures laid up in heaven, are out of the reach of violence or chance; fecuring an interest there, we have choSen that better part, which shall not be taken from us. The glories of another world are an inheritance perfectly fecure, a kingdom which cannot be Thaken; there, and there only, let our hearts and hopes repose themselves.

(2.) THE fecond argument is drawn from the ill effect, which the laying up earthly treafures is like to have upon the religion of our minds; in alienating our affections and attention from the fervice of God, and debauching the whole heart, our time, our care, and industry, to the fervice of riches. Where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be alfo. No man can ferve two mafters; for either he will bate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and defpife the other. Ye cannot ferve God and mammon. The heart is the feat of affection, from thence flow defire and hope, and fear and joy, and all of that nature, and thefe all have their propenfity to happiness, and therefore he who places his happiness in the abundance of the things of this world, the motions of his heart tend chiefly to thofe things; as on the contrary, he who places his happiness in the rewards of another world, the operations of his foul are influenced by the expectations of fuch future bleffings, and the heart defires fpiritual things, and rejoices in the hope of that glorious state which is to be revealed hereafter. Now the belief and hope of future things, in that ftate of glory which Chrift has revealed and promifed, muft of neceffity much abate the inordinate

love and covetous defire of treasuring up temporal things. And on the contrary, the laying up treafures upon earth, will take off the heart and affection from religion, and the expectation of an inheritance in the world to come. This was visible at the first preaching of the Gofpel, when very few rich men came into it. What a fad fhipwrack did the young difciple make, who becaufe he had great poffeffions, and could not bear the thoughts of parting with them, rejected the falvation offered him, and laid afide his pretenfions to the heavenly kingdom! The parable concerning the excufes of those invited to the feaft, that one had married a wife, another taken a farm, and a third was to prove his new-bought oxen, was intended to expose the evil confequences of worldly things, and the prejudices they raise against the invitations of the Gofpel. And of the fame nature alfo is the parable of the feed, which being fcattered into the ftony ground, which is a mind over-grown with cares, and the defire of riches, is rendered altogether unfruitful, and of no encrease. Nor does it only wean the affections of a man from the inward power and principle of religion, but from the public worship of God. It may be an odious conceffion, and yet a true one, that too many of those that do frequent the Church, come thither not from any pious and devout propenfity to the duties of the place, or any fixed and ferious regard to the intereft of their fouls, but for fashion fake, or other fecret ends of hypocrify and yet these people, (how great foever their fin may be in the fight of God, which they must certainly answer for to him) do however pay an outward complement of refpect, by frequently appearing there. But the atheifm of a worldly-minded man, whofe time and thoughts are so enflaved to the pursuit of riches, that he can very seldom find in his heart to fpare one hour or

Z 4

two

two in a day to wait upon the service of God in public, is the worfe offence of the two, because he paffes an open flight upon religion, and his neglect is fcandalous. We fhew our love to God in our public acknowledgments of him, in praying to him, and praifing him in chriftian affemblies; and I fhall not fcruple to affirm, that all Chriftians are bound, where they have opportunity, and no unavoidable impediment, to worship God in the offices of the Church, in the ufe of which, the greater the company, the more available the devotion. But I mult charge it upon the love of riches, and the follicitous endeavours of men for the treafures of this world (amongst other causes) that there is fo vifible and fo fcandalous a neglect of the fervice of God in public; fo that while the world has many fervants, God has but a few: And thus it will be while earthly treasures engrofs our love, our care, and diligence.

2. I proceed now to thofe arguments, which our Saviour uses against an, uneafy and difquieting provifion for the future. And by these he does not argue against a moderate and prudent care to provide what is neceffary for our felves, and fuch as depend upon us, but only labours to take us off from an undue perplexity, follicitude, and diftruft of God's providence, in our care about fuch things. He argues therefore,

(1.) FROM the merciful care which God takes of all his creatures, even those of the lowest rank, the moft inconfiderable little bird is provided for every day, at the expence of its Almighty Creator, and by the fuperintendency of his providence. Even the grafs and the lillies of the field, incapable of any follicitude for themselves, and unregarded by human care, fpring up in their feafon, and look fresh and beautiful, and are more finely clothed by the great God of nature, than Solomon was in all