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28 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse VIII - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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Upon our Lord's sermon on the Mount Discourse eight. Lay not up for yourselves
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treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break
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through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
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moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
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For where your treasure is there, will your heart be also. The
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light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
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thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil,
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thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that
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is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? Matthew Chapter six,
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verses nineteen to twenty three. From those which are commonly termed religious actions,
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and which are real branches of true religion, where they sprung from a
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pure and holy intention, and are performed in a manner suitable there too,
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our Lord proceeds to the actions of common life, and shows that the same
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purity of intention is as indispensably required in our ordinary business as in giving alms
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or fasting or prayer, and without question, the same purity of intention which
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makes our alms and devotions acceptable, must also make our labor or employment a
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proper offering to God. If a man pursues his business that he may raise
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himself to a state of honor and riches in the world, he is no
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longer serving God in his employment, and has no more title to a reward
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from God than he who gives alms that he may be seen, or prays
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that he may be heard of men. For vain and earthly designs are no
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more allowable in our employments than in our alms and devotions. They are not
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only evil when they mix with our good works, with our religious actions,
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but they have the same evil nature when they enter into the common business of
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our employments. If it were allowable to pursue them in our worldly employments,
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it would be allowable to pursue them in our devotions. But as our alms
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and devotions are not an acceptable service, but when they proceed from a pure
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intention, so our common employment cannot be reckoned a service to Him. But
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when it is performed with the same piety of heart. This our blessed Lord
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declares in the liveliest manner, in those strong and comprehensive words which he explains
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in forces and enlarges upon throughout this whole chapter. The light of the body
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is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall
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be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body
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shall be full of darkness. The eye is the intention. What the eye
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is to the body, The intention is to the soul. As the one
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guides all the motions of the body, so does the other those of the
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soul. This eye of the soul is then said to be single when it
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looks at one thing. Only when we have no other design but to know
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God and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, to know Him with suitable
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affections, loving Him as He hath loved us, to please God in all
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things, to serve God as we love Him with all our heart and mind
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and soul and strength, and to enjoy God in all and above all things,
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in time and in eternity. If thine eye be thus single, thus
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fixed on God, thy whole body shall be full of light. Thy whole
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body all that is guided by the intention, as the body is by the
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eye. All that art, all thou art, all thou doest, thy
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desires, tempers affections, thy thoughts and words and actions. The whole of
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these shall be full of light, full of true divine knowledge. This is
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the first thing we may here understand by light. In His light, thou
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shalt see light. He which of old commandeth light to shine out of darkness,
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shall shine in thy heart. He shall enlighten the eyes of thy understanding
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with the knowledge of the glory of God. His spirit shall reveal unto THEE
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the deep things of God. The inspiration of the Holy One shall give THEE
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understanding and cause THEE to know wisdom secretly. Yea, the anointing which thou
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receivest of Him shall abide in THEE and teach THEE of all things. How
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does experience confirm this? Even after God hath opened the eyes of our understanding,
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If we seek or desire anything else than God, how soon is our
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foolish heart darkened? Then clouds again rest upon our souls. Doubts and fears
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again overwhelm us. We are tossed to and fro and know not what to
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do, or which is the path wherein we should go. But when we
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desire and seek nothing but God, clouds and doubts vanish away. We who
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were sometimes darkness, are now light in the Lord. The light now shineth
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as the day, and we find the path of the Upright is light.
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God showeth us the path wherein we should go, and maketh playing the way
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before our face. The second thing which we may here understand by light is
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holiness. While thou seekest God in all things, thou shalt find Him in
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all the fountain of all holiness, continually filling thee with his own likeness,
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with justice, mercy, and truth. While thou lookest unto Jesus and him
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alone, thou shalt be filled with the mind that was in him. Thy
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soul shall be renewed day by day after the image of Him that created it.
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If the eye of thy mind be not removed from him, if thou
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endurest as seeing Him that is invisible, and seeking nothing else in heaven or
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earth, then as thou beholdest the glory of the Lord, thou shalt be
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transformed into the same image, from glory to glory by the Spirit of the
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Lord. And it is also a matter of daily experience that by grace we
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are thus saved through faith. It is by faith that the eye of the
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mind is opened to see the light of the glorious love of God. And
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as long as it is steadfastly fixed thereon on God in Christ, reconciling the
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world unto himself, we are more and more filled with the love of God
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and man, with meekness, gentleness, long suffering, with all the fruits
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of holiness which are through Christ Jesus, to the glory of the Father.
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This light which fills him who has a single eye, implies thirdly, happiness
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as well as holiness. Surely light is sweet and a pleasant thing. It
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is to see the sun, but how much more to see the sun of
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righteousness continually shining upon the soul. And if there be any consolation in Christ,
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if any comfort of love, if any peace that passeth all understanding,
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if any rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, they all belong to
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him whose eye is single. Thus is his whole body full of light.
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He walketh in the light, as God is in the light, rejoicing evermore,
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praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks, enjoying whatever is the
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will of God concerning him in Christ Jesus. But if thine eye be evil,
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thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If thine eye be evil,
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we see there is no medium between a single and an evil eye.
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If the eye be not single, then it is evil. If the intention
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in whatever we do be not singly to God. If we seek anything else
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that our mind and conscience are defiled, Our eye therefore is evil. If
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in anything we do aim at any other end than God. If we have
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any view but to know and to love God, to please and serve Him
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in all things, If we have any other design than to enjoy God,
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to be happy in Him, both now and forever. If thine eye be
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not singly fixed on God, thy whole body shall be full of darkness,
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the veil shall still remain on thy heart. Thy mind shall be more and
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more blinded by the God of this world. Lest the light of the glorious
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Gospel of Christ should shine upon thee, thou wilt be full of ignorance and
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error, touching the things of God, not being able to receive or discern
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them. And even when thou hast some desire to serve God, thou wilt
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be full of uncertainty as to the manner of serving Him, finding doubts and
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difficulties on every side, and not seeing any way to escape. YEA,
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if thine eye be not single, if thou seek any of the things of
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earth, thou shalt be full of ung good and unrighteousness, thy desires,
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tempers, affections, being all out of course, being all dark and vile
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and vain, and thy conversation will be evil as well as thy heart not
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seasoned with salt or meet to minister grace unto the hearers, but idle,
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unprofitable, corrupt, grievous to the Holy Spirit of God. Both destruction and
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unhappiness are in thy ways. For the way of peace, hast thou not
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known. There is no peace, no settled, solid peace for them that
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know not God. There is no true or lasting content for any who do
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not seek Him with their whole heart. While thou aimest at any of the
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things that perish, all that cometh is vanity. YEA, not only vanity,
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but vexation of spirit, and that both in the purson suit and the
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enjoyment. Also thou walkest indeed in a vain shadow, and disquietest thyself in
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vain. Thou walkest in darkness that may be felt sleep on, but thou
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canst not take thy rest the dreams of life can give pain, and that
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thou knowest, but ease they cannot give. There is no rest in this
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world or the world to come, but only in God, the center of
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spirits. If the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is
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that darkness. If the intention which ought to enlighten the whole soul, to
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fill it with knowledge and love and peace, and which in fact does so
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as long as it is single, so long as it aims at God alone,
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If this be darkness, if it aim at anything beside God, and
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consequently cover the soul with darkness instead of light, with ignorance and error,
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with sin and misery, Oh, how great is that darkness. It is
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the very smoke which ascends out of the bottomless pit. It is the essential
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night which reigns in the lowest deep, in the land of the shadow of
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death. Therefore, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
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and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steel. If you
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do, it is plain your eye is evil. It is not singly fixed
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on God. With regard to most of the commandments of God, whether relating
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to the heart or life. The heathens of Africa or America stand much on
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a level with those that are called Christians. The Christians observe them only a
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few, being accepted very near as much as the Heathens. For instance,
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the generality of the natives of England, commonly called Christians, are as sober
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and as temperate as the generality of the Heathens near the Cape of Good Hope.
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And so the Dutch or French Christians are as humble and as chaste as
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the Choctaw or Cherokee Indians. It is not easy to say, when we
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compare the bulk of the nations of Europe with those of America, whether the
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superiority lies on the one side or the other. At least the American has
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not much the advantage. But we cannot affirm this with regard to the command
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now before us. Here the Heathen has far the pre eminence. He desires
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and seeks nothing more than plain food to eat and plain raiment to put on.
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And he seeks this only from day to day. He reserves. He
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lays up nothing unless it be as much corn at one season of the year
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as he will need before that season. Returns this command. Therefore, the
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Heathens, though they know it not do constantly and punctually observe. They lay
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up for themselves no treasures upon earth, no stores of purple or fine linen,
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of gold or silver, which either moth or rust may corrupt, or
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thieves break through and steal. But how do the Christians observe what they profess
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to receive as a command of the most High God. Not at all,
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not in any degree, no more than if no such command had ever been
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given to man. Even the good Christians, as they are accounted by others,
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as well as themselves, pay no manner of regard. There too,
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It might as well be still hid in its original Greek, for any notice
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they take of it. In what Christian city do you find one man of
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five hundred who makes the least scruple of laying up just as much treasure as
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he can, of increasing his goods just as far as he is able.
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There are, indeed, those who would not do this unjustly. There are
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many who will neither rob nor or steel, and some who will not defraud
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their neighbor, nay, who will not gain either by his ignorance or necessity.
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But this is quite another point. Even these do not scruple the thing,
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but the manner of it. They do not scruple the laying up treasures
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upon earth, but the laying them up by dishonesty. They do not start
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at disobeying Christ, but at a breach of heathen morality, so that even
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these honest men do no more obey this command than a highwayman or housebreaker.
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Nay, they never designed to obey it. From their youth up. It
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never entered into their thoughts. They were bred up by their Christian parents,
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masters, and friends without any instruction at all concerning it, unless it were
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this, to break it as soon and as much as they could, and
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to continue breaking it to their lives end. There is no one instance of
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spiritual infatuation in the world world which is more amazing than this. Most of
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these very men read or hear the Bible, read many of them every Lord's
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day. They have read or heard these words a hundred times, yet never
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suspected that they are themselves condemned thereby any more than those which forbid parents to
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offer up their sons or daughters unto Moloch. So that God would speak to
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these miserable self deceivers with his own voice, his mighty voice, that they
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may at last awake out of the snare of the devil, and the scales
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may fall from their eyes. Do you ask what it is to lay up
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treasures on earth? It will be needful to examine this thoroughly, And let
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us first observe what is not forbidden in this command, that we may then
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clearly discern what is we are not forbidden in this command. First, to
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provide things honest in the sight of all men, to provide wherewith we may
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render, unto all their due, whatsoever they can justly demand of us.
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So far from it that we are taught of God to owe no man anything,
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We are taught therefore to use all diligence in our calling in order to
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owe no man anything, thus being no other than a plain law of common
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justice, which our Lord came not to destroy, but to fulfill. Neither.
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Secondly, does He here forbid that providing for ourselves such things as are
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needful for the body, a sufficiency of plain, wholesome food to eat,
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and clean raiment to put on. Yea, it is our duty, so
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far as God puts it into our power, to provide these things, also
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to the end that we may eat our own bread and be burdensome to no
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man. Nor yet are we forbidden. Thirdly, to provide for our children
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and for those of our own household. This also it is our duty to
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do, even upon principles of heathen morality. Every man ought to provide the
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plain necessaries of life, both for his own wife and children, and to
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put them into capacity of providing these for themselves when he has gone hence and
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is no more seen. I say, of providing these the plain necessaries of
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life, not delicacies, not superfluities, and that by their diligent labor.
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For it is no man's duty to furnish them any more than himself with the
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means either of luxury or idleness. But if any man provides not thus far
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for his own children, as well as for the widows of his own house,
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of whom primarily Saint Paul is speaking in these well known words to Timothy,
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he hath practically denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel or
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heathen. Lastly, we are not forbidden in these words to lay up,
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from time to time what is needful for the carrying on of our worldly business,
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in such a measure and a degree as is sufficient to answer the foregoing
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purposes in such a measure as first to own no man anything, secondly to
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procure for ourselves the necessaries of life, and thirdly to furnish those of our
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own house with them while we live, and with the means of procuring them
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when we are gone. We may now clearly discern, unless we are unwilling
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to discern it, what that is which is forbidden here. It is the
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designedly procuring more of this world's goods than will answer the foregoing purposes. The
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laboring after a larger measure of worldly substance, a larger increase of gold and
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silver, The laying up any more than these ends require is what is here
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expressly and absolutely forbidden. If the words have any meaning at all, it
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must be this, for they are capable of no other. Consequently, whoever
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he is that owing no man anything, and having food and raiment for himself
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in his household, together with a sufficiency to carry on his worldly business,
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so far as answers these reasonable purposes, whosoever, I say, being already
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in these circumstances, seeks a still larger portion on earth, he lives in
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an open, habitual denial of the Lord that brought him he hath practically denied
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the faith and is worse than an African or American infidel. Hear ye this
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all, ye that dwell in the world and love the world wherein ye dwell,
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ye may be highly esteemed of men, But ye are an abomination in
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the sight of God. How long shall your souls cleave to the dust?
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How long will ye load yourselves with thick clay? When will ye awake and
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see that the open, speculative heathens are nearer the Kingdom of Heaven than you?
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When will ye be persuaded to choose the better part that which cannot be
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taken away from you? Will ye seek to lay up treasures in heaven,
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renouncing dreading, abhorring all other If you aim at laying up treasures on earth,
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you are not barely losing your time and spending your strength for that which
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is not bred. For what is the fruit? If you succeed, you
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have murdered your own soul. You have extinguished the last spark of spiritual life
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therein now. Indeed, in the midst of life you are in death.
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You are a living man, but a dead Christian. For where your treasure
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is there will your heart be also your heart is sunk into the dust.
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Your soul cleaveth to the ground. Your affections are set not on things above,
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but on things of the earth, on poor husks that may poison but
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cannot satisfy everlasting spirit made for God. Your love, your joy, your
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desire are all placed on the things which perish in the using. You have
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thrown away the true treasure in heaven, God and Christ are lost. You
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have gained riches and hell fire. Oh how hardly shall they that have riches
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enter into the Kingdom of God. When our Lord's disciples were astonished at his
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speaking, Thus he was so far from retracting it that he repeated the same
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important truth in stronger terms than before. It is easier for a camel to
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go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
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the Kingdom of God. How hard it is for them whose very word is
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applauded not to be wise in their own eyes. How hard for them not
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to think themselves better than the poor, base, uneducated herd of men.
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How hard not to seek happiness in their riches or in things dependent upon them.
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In gratifying the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye or
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the pride of life. O ye rich, how can ye escape the damnation
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of hell? Only with God all things are possible. And even if you
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do not succeed, what is the fruit of your endeavoring to lay up treasures
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on earth? They that will be rich hoi baluminoi potien They that desire that
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endeavor after it, whether they succeed or know, fall into a temptation and
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a snare, a gin, a trap of the devil, and into many
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foolish and hurtful lusts epithymius and noetois desires with which reason hath nothing to do,
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such as properly belong not to rational and immortal beings, but only to
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the brute beasts which have no understanding, which drown men in destruction and perdition,
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in present and eternal misery. Let us but open our eyes, and
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we may daily see the melancholy proofs of this. Men who, desiring,
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resolving to be rich, coveting after money, the root of all evil,
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have already pierced themselves through with many sorrows, and anticipated the hell to which
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they are going. The cautiousness which with the Apostle here speaks, is highly
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observable. He does not affirm this absolutely of the rich, for men may
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possibly be rich without any fault of his, by an over ruling providence preventing
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his own choice. But he affirms it of hooy below Manoi Plourian. Those
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who desire or seek to be rich. Riches, dangerous as they are,
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do not always drown men in destruction and perdition. But the desire of riches
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does. Those who calmly desire and deliberately seek to attain them, whether they
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do in fact gain the world or know to infallibly lose their own souls.
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These are they that sell him who bought them with his blood, for a
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few pieces of gold or silver. These enter into a covenant with death and
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hell, and their covenant shall stand. For they are daily making themselves meet
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to partake of their inheritance with the devil and his angels. O who will
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warn this generation of vipers to flee from the wrath to come? Not those
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who lie at their gait or cringe at their feet, desiring to be fed
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with the crumbs that fall from their tables. Not those who court their favor
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or fear their frown. None of those who mind earthly things But if there
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be a Christian upon earth, if there be a man who hath overcome the
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world, who desires nothing but God and fears none but Him, that is
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able to destroy both body and soul in hell, Thou, o, Man
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of God, speak and spare, not Lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
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cry aloud, and show these honorable sinners the desperate condition wherein they stand.
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It may be one in a thousand may have ears to hear, may
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arise and shake himself from the dust, may break loose from these chains that
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bind him to the earth, and at LEAs length lay up treasures in heaven.
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And if it should be that one of these, by the mighty power
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of God awoke and asked what must I do to be saved? The answer,
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according to the oracles of God is clear, full and express. God
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doth not say to thee sell all that thou hast. Indeed, he who
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seeth the hearts of men sought needful to enjoin this in one peculiar case,
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that of the young rich ruler, but he never laid it down for a
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general rule to all rich men in all succeeding generations. His direction is first,
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be not high minded. God seeth not as man seeth. He esteems
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THEE not for thy riches, grandeur, or equipage, for any qualification or
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accomplishment which is directly or indirectly owing to thy wealth, which can be bought
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or procured. Thereby, all these are with Him as dung and dross.
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Let them be so with THEE. Also, beware thou think not thyself to
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be one jot wiser or better for all these things. Weigh thyself in another
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balance. Estimate thyself only by the measure of faith and love which God hath
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given THEE. If thou hast more of the knowledge and love of God than
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he, thou art on this account, and no other wiser and better,
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more valuable and honorable than him who is with the dogs of thy flock.
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But if thou hast not this treasure, those art more foolish, more vile,
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more truly contemptible, I will not say, than the lowest servant under
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thy roof, But then the beggar laid at thy gait full of sores.
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Secondly, trust not in uncertain riches, Trust not in them for help,
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and trust not in them for happiness. First, trust not in them for
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help. Thou art miserably mistaken. If thou lookest for this in gold or
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silver, these are no more able to set thee above the world than to
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set thee above the devil. Know that both the world and the Prince of
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this world laugh at all such preparations against them. These will little avail in
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the day of trouble, even if they remain in the trying hour. But
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it is not certain that they will, For how oft do they make themselves
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wings and fly away? But if not, what support will they afford even
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in the ordinary troubles of life? The desire of thy eyes, the wife
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of thy youth, thy son, thine only son, or the friend which
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was as thy own soul is taken away at a stroke? Will these riches
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reanimate the breathless clay, or call back its late inhabitant? Will they secure
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thee from sickness, diseases? Pain? Do these visit the poor? Only?
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Nay, he that feeds thy flocks or tills thy ground has less sickness
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and pain than thou. He is more rarely visited by these unwelcome guests.
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And if they come there at all, they are more easily driven away from
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the little cot than from the couch topped palaces, and during the time that
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thy body is chastened with pain or consumes away with pining sickness, How do
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thy treasures help thee let the poor heathen? Answer utelpum pictae tabulae fomentapodogram araculis
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sidharii colecta sorde dolentus. Such help as pictures to sore eyes afford as heaped
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up tables to their gouty lord. But there is at hand a greater trouble
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than these. Thou art to die. Thou art to sink into dust,
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to return to the ground from which thou wast taken, to mix with common
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clay. Thy body is to go to the earth as it was, while
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thy spirit returns to God that gave it. And the time draws on,
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the years slide away with a swift, though silent pace. Perhaps your day
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is far spent, the noon of life is past, and the evening shadows
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begin to rest upon you. You feel in yourself sure approaching decay. The
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springs of life wear a pace. Now what help is there in your riches?
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Do they sweeten death? Do they endear that solemn hour? Quite the
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reverse o death? How bitter art thou to a man that liveth at rest
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in his possessions, how unacceptable to him is that awful sentence? This night?
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Shall thy soul be required of thee? Or will they prevent the unwelcome
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stroke? Or protract the dreadful hour? Can they deliver your soul that it
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should not see death? Can they restore the years that are past? Can
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they add to your point of time a month, a day, an hour,
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a moment? Or will the good things you have chosen for your portion
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here follow you over the great gulf? Not so naked you came into this
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world naked? You must return the cuenda tell us at domus at Plakan's uxor
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ncay harm quas colis arborum te praeter invisum kupresso ule brevum dominum sequitour. The
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following is Boscowen's translation of these verses from Horace, thy lands, thy dome,
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thy pleasing wife. These must thou quit tis nature's doom. No tree
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whose culture charms thy life, save the sad cypress awaits thy tomb. Surely
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were not these truths too plain to be observed? Because they are too plain
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to be denied? No man that is to die could possibly trust for help
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in uncertain riches, and trust not in them for happiness, For here also
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they will be found deceitful upon the weights. Indeed, this every reasonable man
32:10
may infer from what has been observed already. For if neither thousands of gold
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and silver, nor any of the advantages or pleasures purchased thereby, can prevent
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our being miserable, it evidently follows that they cannot make us happy. What
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happiness can they afford? To him who, in the midst of all is
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constrained to cry out to my new courts, sad thought does still repair and
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round my gilded roofs hangs hovering care. Indeed, experiences here so full,
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strong, and undeniable, that it makes all other arguments needless appeal. We
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therefore, to fact, are the rich and great the only happy men?
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And is each of them more or less happy in proportion to his measure of
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riches? Are they happy? I had well nigh said, they are of
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all men most miserable? Rich man, For once, speak the truth from
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thy heart, Speak both for thyself and for thy brethren. Amidst our plenty
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something still to me to thee to him is wanting that cruel something unpossessed corrodes
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and leavens all the rest yea, and so it will till thy wearisome.
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Days of vanity are shut up in the night of death. Surely then to
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trust in riches, for happiness is the greatest folly of all that are under
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the sun. Are you not convinced of this? Is it possible? You
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should still expect to find happiness in money or all it can procure. What
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can silver and gold, and eating and drinking, and horses and servants and
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glittering apparel and diversion and pleasures as they are called make THEE happy? They
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can as soon make THEE immortal. These are all dead, show regard them.
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Not. Trust thou in the living God. So shalt thou be safe
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under the shadow of the Almighty. His faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield
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and buckler. He is a very present help in time of trouble, such
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an help as can never fail. Then shalt thou say, if all other
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friends die, the Lord liveth and blessed, be my strong helper. He
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shall remember THEE when thou liest sick upon thy bed, when vain is the
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help of man, when all things of earth can give no support. He
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will make all thy bed in thy sickness. He will sweeten thy pain.
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The consolations of God shall cause thee to clap thy hands in the flames.
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And even when this house of earth is well nigh shaken down, when it
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is just ready to drop into the dust, he will teach thee to say,
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Oh, Death, where is thy sting o grave? Where is thy
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victory? Thanks be unto God, who giveth me the victory through my Lord
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Jesus Christ. Oh, trust him for happiness as well as for help.
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All the springs of happiness are in him. Trust in Him who giveth us
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all things richly to enjoy perchanti plausi os panta iss apalausan who of his own
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rich and free mercy holds them out to us as in his own hand,
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that, receiving them as his gift and as pledges of his love, we
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may enjoy all that we possess. It is his love gives a relish to
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all we taste, puts life and sweetness into all, while every creature leads
35:52
us up to the great Creator, and all earth is a scale to Heaven.
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He transfuses the joy that are at his own right hand into all he
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bestows on his thankful children, who, having fellowship with the Father and his
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son Jesus Christ, enjoy him in all and above all. Thirdly, we
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seek not to increase in goods. Lay not up for thyself treasures upon earth.
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This is a flat, positive command, full as clear as thou shalt
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not commit adultery. How then, is it possible for a rich man to
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grow richer without denying the Lord that bought him? Yea, How can any
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man who has already the necessaries of life gain or aim at more and be
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guiltless? Lay not up, saith our Lord, treasures upon earth? If
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in spite of this you do and will lay up money or goods which moth
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or rust may corrupt, or thieves, break through and steel. If you
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would add house to house or field to field. Why do you call yourself
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a Christian? You do not obey Jesus Christ, you do not design it.
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Why do you name yourself by his name? Why call ye me lord
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Lord saith He himself? And do not the things which I say? If
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you ask, But what must we do with our goods? Seeing we have
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more than we have occasion to use, if we must not lay them up.
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Must we throw them away? I answer, if you threw them into
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the sea, If you were to cast them into the fire and consume them,
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they would be better bestowed than they are now. You cannot find so
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mischievous a manner of throwing them away as either the laying them up for your
37:40
posterity, or the laying them out upon yourselves in folly and superfluity. Of
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all possible methods of throwing them away, these two are the very worst,
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the most opposite to the Gospel of Christ, and the most pernicious to your
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own soul. How pernicious to your own soul the latter of these is has
38:00
been excellently shown by a late writer. If we waste our money, we
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are not only guilty of wasting a talent which God has given us, but
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we do ourselves this further harm. We turn this useful talent into a powerful
38:15
means of corrupting ourselves, because so far as it is spent wrong, so
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far as it is spent in the support of some wrong temper, in gratifying
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some vain and unreasonable desires, which as Christians we are obliged to renounce as
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wit and fine parts cannot be only trifled away, but will expose those who
38:34
have them to greater follies. So money cannot be only trifled away, but
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if it is not used according to reason and religion, will make people live
38:44
a more silly and extravagant life than they would have done without it. If
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therefore, you don't spend your money in doing good to others, you must
38:52
spend it to the hurt of yourself. You act like one that refuses the
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cordial to his sick friend, which he cannot drink here himself without inflaming his
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blood. For this is the case of superfluorous money. If you give it
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to those who want it, it is cordial. If you spend it upon
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yourself in something that you do not want, it only inflames and disorders your
39:15
mind. In using riches where they have no real use, nor we any
39:21
real want, we only use them to our great hurt. In creating unreasonable
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desires, in nourishing ill tempers, in indulging foolish passions, and supporting a
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vain turn of mind, for high eating and drinking, fine clothes and fine
39:37
houses, state and equipage, gay pleasures, and aversions. Do all of
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them naturally hurt and disorder our heart. They are the food and nourishment of
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all the folly and weakness of our nature. They are, all of them
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the support of something that ought not to be supported. They are contrary to
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that sobriety and piety of heart which relishes divine things. There are so many
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weights upon our mind that makes us less able and less inclined to raise our
40:06
thoughts and affections to things above. So that money thus spent is not merely
40:10
wasted or lost, but it is spent to bed purposes and miserable effects,
40:15
to the corruption and disorder of our hearts, to the making us unable to
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follow the sublime doctrines of the Gospel. It is but like keeping money from
40:25
the poor to buy poison for ourselves. Equally inexcusable are those who lay up
40:32
what they do not need for any reasonable purposes. If a man had hands
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and eyes and feet that he could give to those that wanted them, if
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he should lock them up in a chest, instead of giving them to his
40:45
brethren that were blind and lame, should we not justly reckon him an inhuman
40:51
wretch. If he should rather choose to amuse himself with hoarding them up,
40:54
than entitle himself to an eternal reward by giving them to those that wanted eyes
41:00
and hands. Might we not justly reckon him mad? Now money has very
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much the nature of eyes and feet. If therefore we lock it up in
41:09
chests, while the poor and distressed want it for their necessary uses, we
41:15
are not far from the cruelty of him that chooses rather to hoard up the
41:17
hands and eyes than to give them to those that want them. If we
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choose to lay it up, rather than to entitle ourselves to an eternal reward
41:27
by disposing of our money, well we are guilty of his madness that rather
41:31
chooses to lock up eyes and hands than to make himself forever blessed by giving
41:37
them to those that want them. May not this be another reason why rich
41:43
men shall so hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. A vast majority of
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them are under a curse, under the peculiar curse of God, inasmuch as
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in the general tenor of their lives, they are not only robbing God,
41:55
continually embezzling and wasting their Lord's goods, and by that very means corrupting their
42:01
own souls, but also robbing the poor, the hungry, the naked,
42:07
wronging the widow and the fatherless, and making themselves accountable for all the want,
42:10
affliction, and distress which they may but do not remove. Yea doth
42:17
not the blood of all those who perish for want of what they either lay
42:21
up or lay out needlessly cry against them from the earth. Oh, what
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account will they give to him who is ready to judge both the quick and
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the dead. The true way of employing what you do not want yourselves.
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You may fourthly learn from these words of our Lord, which are the counterpart
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of what went before. Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither
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moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
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Put out whatever thou canst spare, upon better security than this world can
42:57
afford. Lay up thy measures in the bank of Heaven, and God shall
43:01
restore them in that day. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto
43:07
the Lord, And look what he layeth out, it shall be paid him
43:10
again. Place that saith he unto my account, howbeit thou owest me thine
43:19
own self, besides, give to the poor with a single eye, with
43:23
an upright heart, and write so much given to God. For inasmuch as
43:30
ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done
43:32
it unto me. This is the part of a faithful and wise steward,
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not to sell either his houses, or lands, or principal stock, be
43:43
it more or less, unless some peculiar circumstance should require it, And not
43:47
to desire or endeavor to increase it any more than to squander it away in
43:52
vanity, but to employ it wholly to those wise and reasonable purposes for which
43:58
his Lord has lodged it in his hands. The wise steward, after having
44:02
provided his own household with what is needful for life and godliness, makes himself
44:08
friends with all that remains from time to time of the mammon of unrighteousness,
44:14
that when he fails, he may receive him into everlasting habitations. That whensoever
44:21
his earthly tabernacle is dissolved, they who were before carried into Abraham's bosom,
44:27
after having eaten his bread and worn the fleece of his flock, and praised
44:31
God for the consolation, may welcome him into paradise and to the House of
44:37
God eternal in the heavens. We charge you, therefore, who are rich
44:42
in this world, as having authority from our great Lord and Master a Gatharagian,
44:49
to be habitually doing good, to live in a course of good works,
44:53
be ye merciful, as your father, which is in heaven, is
44:57
merciful, who doth good, and ceaseth not. Be Ye merciful, how
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far after your power, with all the ability which God giveth, make this
45:08
your only measure of doing good, not any beggarly maxims or customs of the
45:14
world. We charge you to be rich in good works, as you have
45:17
much to give plenteously freely ye have received freely give so as to lay up
45:24
no treasure. But in heaven be ye ready to distribute to every one according
45:30
to his necessity. Disperse abroad, give to the poor, Deal your bread
45:36
to the hungry, cover the naked with a garment, entertain the stranger,
45:42
carry or send relief to them that are in prison. Heal the sick,
45:45
not by miracle, but through the blessing of God upon your seasonable support.
45:52
Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish through pining want come upon
45:55
thee. Defend the oppressed, plead the cause of the foless, and make
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the widow's heart sing for joy. We exhort you, in the name of
46:06
the Lord Jesus Christ, to be willing to communicate koonicus E and I to
46:12
be of the same spirit, though not in the same outward state, with
46:15
those believers of ancient times who remain steadfast an ti i koinonnai in that blessed
46:22
and holy fellowship, wherein none said that anything was his own, but they
46:28
had all things in common. Be a stuart, a faithful and wise steward
46:32
of God and of the poor. Differing from them in these two circumstances,
46:37
only that your wants are first supplied out of the portion of your Lord's goods,
46:42
which remains in your hands, and that you have the blessedness of giving.
46:46
Thus lay up for yourselves a foundation, not in the world which is
46:52
now, but rather for the time to come. They E may laid hold
46:55
on eternal life. The foundation, indeed, of all the blessings of God,
47:00
whether temporal or eternal, is the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness and
47:07
blood, what he hath done, and what he hath suffered for us and
47:12
other foundation. In this sense can no man lay, no, not an
47:16
apostle, no not an angel from heaven, but through his merits, whatever
47:22
we do in his name is a foundation for a good reward in the day
47:27
when every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Therefore,
47:32
labor thou not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth
47:37
unto everlasting life. Therefore, whatsoever thy hand now findeth to do, do
47:44
it with thy might. Therefore, let no fair occasion pass unheeded. By
47:51
snatching the golden moments as they fly, Thou by few fleeting years in sure
47:55
eternity, by patient continuance in well doing, seek thou for glory and honor
48:04
and immortality, in a constant, zealous performance of all good works. Wait
48:09
thou for that happy hour when the King shall say. I was a hungered
48:15
and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.
48:20
I was a stranger, and ye took me in naked, and ye
48:23
clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in
48:29
prison, and ye came unto me. Come, ye, blessed of my
48:32
father, received the kingdom prepared for you for the foundation of the world.
48:39
End of section twenty eight