It was an excellent saying of Lewis of Bavyer, emperor of Genrianv, Such goods are worth getting and owning, as will not sink or wash away if a shipwreck happen, but will wade and swim out with us.'1 It is recorded of Lazarus, that after his resurrection from the dead, he was never seen to laugh, his thoughts and affections were so fixed in heaven, though his body was on earth, and therefore he could not but slight temporal things, his heart being so bent and set upon eternals. There are goods for the throne of grace, as God, Christ, the Spirit, adoption, justification, remission of sin, peace with God, and peace with conscience ; and there are goods of the footstool, as honours, riches, the favour of creatures, and other comforts and accommoda- tions of this life. Now he that hath acquaintance with, and assurance of the goods of the throne, will easily trample upon the goods of the footstool Ah that you would make it your business, your work, to mind more, and make sure more to your own souls, the great things of eternity, that will yield you joy in life and peace in death, and a crown of righteousness in the day of Christ's appearing, and that will lift up your souls above all the beauty and bravery of this bewitching world, that will raise your feet above other men's heads. When a man comes to be assured of a crown, a sceptre, the royal robes, &c, he then begins to have low, mean, and contemptible thoughts of those things that before he highly prized. So will assurance of more great .oid glorious things breed in the soul a holy scorn and contempt of all these poor, mean things, which the soul before did value above God, Christ, ami heaven, &c.
Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against tins device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That true ha pmness and satisfaction is not to be had in the enjoyment of worldly </ood. True happiness is too big and too glorious a thing to be found in anything below that God that
1 fli'j'iisinodi comparandce sunt opes qnce cum naufrago simul enutent. There is, saith Augustine, bona throni, goods of the throne ; and there are bona scabclli, goods of the footstool. When Basil was tempted with money and preferment, saith ho, Give roe money that may last for ever, and glory that may eternally flourish ; for the fashion of this world paaaeth away, as the waters of a river that runs by a city.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. Of)
is a Christian's summum bonurri; chiefest good.1 The blessed angels, those glistering courtiers, have all felicities and blessedness, and yet have they neither gold, nor silver, nor jewels, nor none of the beauty and bravery of this world. Certainly if happiness was to be found in these things, the Lord Jesus, who is the right and royal heir of all things, would have exchanged his cradle for a crown ; his birth cham- ber, a stable, for a royal palace ; his poverty for plenty ; his despised followers for shining courtiers ; and his mean provisions for the choicest delicates, &c. Certainly happiness lies not in those things that a man may enjoy, and yet be miserable for ever. Now a man may be great and graceless with Pharaoh, honourable and damnable with Saul, rich and miserable with Dives, &c. : therefore happiness lies not in these things. Certainly happiness lies not in those things that cannot comfort a man upon a dying bed. Is it honours, riches, or friends, &c, that can comfort thee when thou comest to die ? Or is it not rather faith in the blood of Christ, the witness of the Spirit of Christ, the sense and feeling of the love and favour of Christ, and the hopes of eternally reigning with Christ ? Can happiness lie in those things that cannot give us health, or strength, or ease, or a good night's rest, or an hour's sleep, or a good stomach ? Why, all the honours, riches, and delights of this world cannot give these poor things to us, therefore certainly happiness lies not in the enjoyment of them, &c.2 And surely happiness is not to be found in those things that cannot satisfy the souls of men. Now none of these things can satisfy the soul of man. ' He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase ; this is also vanity,' said the wise man, Eccles. v. 10. The barren womb, the horse leech's daughter, the grave and hell, will as soon be satisfied, as the soul of man will by the enjoyment of any worldly good. Some one thing or other will be for ever wanting to that soul that hath none but outward good to live upon. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue, or a circle with a triangle, as the heart of man with any- thing here below. A man may have enough of the world to sink him, but he can never have enough to satisfy him, &c.
Remedy (8). The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, Of the dignity of the soul. Oh, the soul of man is more worth than a thousand worlds ! It is the greatest abasing of it that can be to let it doat upon a little shining earth, upon a little painted beauty and fading glory, when it is capable of union with Christ, of communion with God, and of enjoying the eternal vision of God.
Seneca could say, ' I am too great, and born to greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body.'3 Oh ! do you say my soul is
1 True happiness lies only in our enjoyment of a suitable good, a pure good, a total good, and an eternal good ; and God is only such a good, and such a good can only satisfy the soul of man. Philosophers could say, that he was never a happy man that might afterwards become miserable.
12 Gregory the Great used to say, He is poor whose soul is void of grace, not whose coffers are empty of money. Anima rationalis cceteris omnibus occupari potest , impleri non potest; the reasonable soul may be busied about other things, but it cannot be filled with them. 3 Epistle xiv. — G.
70 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
too great, and born to greater things, than that I should confine it to a heap of white and yellow earth.1