ly to a condition which is to be ascertained by his own opinion. The most covetous man on earth may make the same profession, provided you leave him to be the judge of what that competency amounts to. Look above you to the superior ranks of society, and see whether their extensive possessions extinguish their desires for more. Is not the reverse the fact? The richest are often in as great necessity as the most indigent-as often, at least, (and it is not seldom) as the imaginary wants, created by luxury, exceed their means of gratifying them. The decisive inquiry is not how much you desire, but for what ends you desire it. A third conceives a favourable opinion of himself, because he uses no unlawful means to rise in the world. Now this is in so far good-and would to God we could all say as much for ourselves. But even this is not decisive in the point; for a man may love the world inordinately, who would neither steal, nor rob, nor dissemble, in order to enrich himself. The fact is, that those who have a just and steady sense of their interest, find that these are by no means the best ways of advancing it. A good character is so necessary to carrying on worldly business of any kind with success, that a wise man in his generation will be fair and honest in his dealings, from mere regard to his own advantage. But with all this prudential regard, coinciding with seeming virtue, his affections may be entirely placed on the world to the exclusion of things spiritual and everlasting, which is the very character described and condemned in the text. But, says a fourth, it is impossible that I should love the world to excess, for it is the very vice which I principally hate and condemn in others.-But alas, so do many thousands who are themselves abject slaves to the world, to the conviction of every person but themselves. It would indeed be utterly astonishing to observe, how keenly worldly men inveigh against the same dispositions in others, if this account of the appearance did not offer itself, viz. that the more they are rivals in this love, the more mutual jealousy and resentment must arise in their minds; or, to speak without any figure, the more covetous their neighbours are, the more they stand in the way to prevent their obtaining the emoluments they desire for themselves. I will mention but one more pretence by which men deceive themselves in the respect we are considering, and that is the resolution of leaving their substance to charitable purposes when they die.-But ah! what an absurd delusion is this-to offer their worldly possessions to God after they have abused them while they could, and can now retain them no longer. But upon this point I need not dwell longer; for although an abuse very common in former times, it is one with which the present age is not peculiarly chargeable. "Be not deceived then, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Amen. SERMON XXXIX. 1 JOHN ii. 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. I HAVE already described that excessive love of the world, from which the Apostle here dissuades us; and represented to you the greatness and malignity of this sin. I also laid before you some symptoms of an earthly mind, and endeavoured to detect the falsehood of those pretences, by which too many impose on their consciences, and flatter themselves that their love of the world is no greater than it ought to be. I now proceed to enforce the exhortation, and to offer a few directions for the help of those who are desirous of having their affections weaned from the world, that they may rise upward to spiritual things. Consider then, 1. That this undue attachment to the world is absolutely inconsistent with the love of God. This is the Apostle's argument in the text: "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."-" No man," said our blessed Lord, "can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Hence covetous men are styled idolaters. They reject the true God, and substitute an idol in his room; they put the creature in place of the Creator, and make the gifts of his bounty, which should knit their hearts to him, the occasions of alienating their affections from him. I am aware that worldly men are very unwilling to acknowledge this charge, and would be highly offended should any accuse them directly of hating the God that made them. There is something so monstrous and shocking in the idea of hatred and enmity against God, that it is scarcely to be supposed any thinking man can reconcile himself to it. But be assured this charge, however odious it may appear, will be made good against every worldly man at last; and therefore, as you would avoid the shame of standing before the judgment-seat in such a character, labour to get your affections divorced from earthly things, and henceforth let God be supreme in your hearts. Consider, II. That an immoderate love of the world is not less foolish than sinful. "All that is in the world," saith the Apostle, in the verse following the text, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."-Many of its enjoyments are imaginary as well as transient. The pleasure and happiness we expect from them have no foundation in the nature of things, but depend entirely on a diseased corrupt fancy. If we look back to the history of mankind in all ages, the discontented and miserable will be as often found among the prosperous and affluent, as among the poor and depressed conditions of life. Those situations which appear so desirable as objects of expectation, are often in experience found marvellously barren of real happiness. Whence does this arise? Is it not from the wise appointment of God, that nothing here below should satisfy the desires of an immortal creature? Vanity is, for this reason, engraved in deep and legible characters on all " things below the sun; and he that pursues the good things of this world as his only portion, will inevitably find that the most fortunate experience of life will never amount to a solid happiness, in which the heart of man can find rest and satisfaction. "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase." Therefore said our Lord to the multitude, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Nature is easily satisfied; but when men create for themselves imaginary wants, they only provide an inexhaustible stock of solicitude and disappointment. The craving appetite will still be crying, Give, give; and in the fulness of their sufficiency, they will be in want.— What has the world ever done for its most devoted servants, that should make you desire it so greedily? Solomon went as far as any man ever did, both in the acquisition and enjoyment of earthly things, and in the conclusion passed this sentence on the review of all his experience, "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”—And have you discovered an art of extracting comfort from the creatures, beyond what the wisest of men was able to do?-What do you seriously expect from the world? Will it prevent or remove sickness?-Will it ward off the stroke of death; or will it even administer any consolation to you at that trying season? Should one come to you on your death-bed, when your spirits are languishing, your hearts failing, and your bodies possessed with racking pain, and begin to console you by representing your vast acquisitions of wealth, would his words be reviving? Will it afford you any joy to contemplate those possessions, from which you are presently to be divorced for ever? You cannot think so. You must be sensible, that all things below the sun will prove miserable comforters in dying moments, and that the favour of God will |