a tenant at will, and know not how soon you may remove; and you can
one hour is walking with an uplifted heart in his palace, saying, Is not this great Babylon that T have built, etc.? and the next driven from men, and made to eat grass as an ox. Herod in great pomp makes an oration, the people cry out, "It is the voice of a God, and not of a man" and he is immediately eaten up of worms. The rich man today fares sumptuously on earth, and tomorrow cannot get a drop of water to cool his tongue.
(4.) Consider the danger that people are in by worldly things, when they have more than daily bread. The rich man in Luke xii. felt this to be a stumbling-block on which he broke his neck. The young man in the gospel, for love of what he had of the world, parted with Christ, heaven, and glory, and so made a sad exchange. Prosperity in the world is a dangerous thing; it is what destroys fools; Prov. 6:32. When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked against God, and forgot the Lord that fed him, Deut. 32:15. It was better for David when he was on the one side of the hill, and his enemies on the other, and so in great danger, than when he was walking at ease on his house-top, when he espied Bathsheba. And of this, O my soul, you have had the experience. Our Lord tells us, that it is very hard for a rich man to be saved; and teaches us that it is hard to have riches and not set the heart on them. What care and toil do men take to themselves to get them! what anxiety are they exercised with, and how do they torment themselves to keep them! and when they are got and kept, all is not opera pretium to them. Many by riches and honour, etc., have lost their bodies, and more have lost their souls. It exposes men to be the object of others, as Naboth was even for his vineyard; and who can stand before envy? Prov. 27:4. See 1 Tim. 6:9, 10. This ruined Naboth, 1 Kings 21. So that he who handles the world, can very hardly come away with clean fingers. It is a snake in the bosom, that, if God prevent it not by his grace, may sting your soul to death.
5. Remember the shortness and the uncertainty of your time. You are a tenant at will, and know not how soon you may remove; and you can carry nothing with you. Therefore having food and raiment (which the Lord does not let you want), be therewith content, 1 Tim. 6:7, 8. You
are a stranger in this earth, going home to your Father's house, where there will be no need of such things as the world affords. Why should you then, O my soul, desire any more than will carry you to your journey's end? Are you going to set up your tent on this side Jordan to dwell here? Are you saying, It is good for me to be here? Are you so well entertained abroad, that you desire not to go home? No, no. Well then, O my soul, gird up the loins of your mind! You are making homeward, and your Father bids you run and make haste: go then, and take no burden on your back; lest it make you halt by the way, and the doors be shut ere you reach home, and so you lie without through the long night of eternity.
And to shut up all, remember that there are other things for you to set your affections on than the things of this world. There are things above that merit your affections. Where is Christ, heaven and glory, when you look upon the world, highly esteeming it? See you no beauty in it to ravish your heart? Surely the more you see in him, the less you will see in the world. And has not experience confirmed this to thee? Alas, when the beauty of the upper house is in my offer, that ever I should have any kindness for the world, that vile dwarf and monster, that shall at the last be seen by me all in a fire. O my soul! you look too low. Behold the King in his glory; look to him that died for you, to save you from this present evil world. See him sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Behold the crown in his hand to give you, when you have overcome the world. Behold the recompense of reward bought to you with his precious blood, if you overcome. Ah! are you looking after toys, and going off your way to gather the stones of the brook, when you are running for a crown of gold, yea more than the finest gold? Does this become a man in his right wits? Yea, does it not rather argue madness, and a more than brutish stupidity? The brutes look down, but men are to look up. They have a soul capable of higher things than what the world affords: therefore,
Be then of a more noble spirit than the earth-worms. Let the swine feed on husks. Be you of a more sublime spirit: trample on those things that are below. Are you clothed with the sun? get the moon
under your feet then; despise it, look not on it with love, turn from it, and pass away. Let it not move you if you are poor, Christ had not where to lay his head. Let not the prospect of future troublesome times make you solicitous how to be carried through; for "you shall not be ashamed in the evil days, and in the days of famine you shall be satisfied." God has said it, Ps. 36:19, therefore do you believe it. Be not anxious about your provision for old age, for by all appearance you will never see it. It is more than probable you will be sooner at your journey's end. The body is weak; it is even stepping down to salute corruption as its mother, ere it has well entered the hall of the world: your tabernacle pins seem to be drawing out by little and little already. Courage then, O my soul; ere long the devil, and the world, and the flesh shall be bruised under your feet; and you shall be received into eternal mansions. But though the Lord should lengthen out your days to old age, he who brought you into life will not forsake you then either. If he give you life, he will give you meat. Keep a loose hold of the world then; contemn it if you would be a fisher of men.
Seventhly, Christ was useful to souls in his private converse, taking occasion to instruct, rebuke, etc., from such things as offered. Thus he dealt with this woman of Samaria; he took occasion from the water she was drawing, to tell her of the living water, etc. Thus being at a feast, he rebuked the Pharisees that chose the uppermost seats, and instructed them in the right way of behaviour at feasts. O my soul, follow Christ in this. Be edifying in your private converse. When you are at any time in company, let something that smells of heaven drop from your lips. Where any are faulty, reprove them as prudently as you canst; where they appear ignorant, instruct them when need requires, etc. And learn that heavenly chemistry of extracting some spiritual thing out of earthly things. To this purpose and for this end endeavour after a heavenly frame, which will, as is storied of the philosopher's stone, turn every metal into gold. When the soul is heavenly, it will even scrape jewels out of a dunghill; whatever the discourse be, it will afford some useful thing or another. Alas! my soul, that you do follow this example so little. O what a shame is it for you to sit down in company, and rise again, and part with them, and never a word of