Again, God will bt^g them to an account for all tlioae talents of power, of honour, of riches, of trust, of time, of interest that God hath given them in the world; and the more they have employed the liberality and bounty of God against God or his glory, or interest, or people, the shorter shall be their felicity, and the more endless shall be their misery. Mat. xxv. 14-31. The greatest account and the greatest damnation commonly attends the great ones of the world. I have read of Philip the Third of Spain, whose life was free from gross evils, pro- fessing that he would rather lose all his kingdoms than offend God will- ingly ; yet being in the agony of death, and considering more thoroughly of that account he was to give to God, fear struck him, and these words brake from him, ' Oh, would to God I had never reigned I Oh that those years I have spent in my kingdom, I had lived a private life in the wil- derness ! Oh that I had lived a solitary life with God, how much more confidently should I have gone to the throne of God ! What doth all my gloiy profit me now, but that I have so much the more torment in my death, and the greater account to give up to God V I have read of a soldier, who, being to die for taking a bunch of grapes contrary to his general's command, as he was going along to execution, he went eating of his grapes, whereupon one of his fellow-soldiers rebuked him, saying, What! are you eating your grapes now you are going to execution? The poor fellow replied, Prithee, friend, do not envy me my grapes; for I shall pay a dear price for them, I shall lose my life for them ; and so accordingly he did. So I saj^ Oh you that have God for your portion, do not envy, do not fret and vex, at the prosperity of the wicked ; for what though they have more than their heart can wish, what though they live in pleasure and wallow in aU carnal and sensual delights, &c., yet they have a sad account to give up to God, and they shall pay dear at last for all their worldly enjoyments. For without sound repentance on their sides, and pardoning grace on God's, they shall not only lose their lives, but they shall also for ever lose their immortal souls ; and therefore never fret at their prosperity.
O sirs, do not you remember that Lazarus did not fret nor fume
Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 47
because Dives had robes for his rags, and delicates for his scraps ? &c. for he very well knew that though he was sine domo, yet not sine Domino. He had a guard of glorious angels to transport his holy, precious, heaven-born soul into Abraham's bosom. He knew that it was better to beg on earth, than to beg in hell. O sirs, what is dark- ness to light, earth to heaven, chaff to wheat, tin to silver, dross to gold, or pebbles to pearls ? No more are all earthly portions to that God who is the saints' portion ; and, therefore, let not the saints, that have such a matchless portion, envy the prosperity and felicity of wicked men. It is the justice of envy to kill and torment the envious; and, therefore, shun it as you would posion in your meat, or a serpent in the way. A man were better have a serpent tumbling up and down in his bowels, than to have envy a-gnawing in his soul. Envy is as pernicious a wickedness, as it is a foolish and a groundless wickedness. Envy is a scourge to scourge the soul; it is a serpent to sting the soul; it is a poi.son to swell the soul; it is a saw to saw the soul; it is a moth that corrupts the soul, and it is a canker that eats up the soul; and there- fore fly from it, as you would fly from the most cruel and destroying adversary. O sirs, to be angry, because God is bountiful to others ; to frown, because God smiles upon others; to be bitter, because God is sweet in his dealings with others; and to sigh, because God multiplies favours and blessings upon others; what is this but to turn others' good into our own hurt, others' glory and mercy into our own punishment and torment ? And if this be not to create a hell in our own hearts, I am much mistaken. I shall conclude this first inference with the counsel of the prophet in that Ps. xlix. 1(5, 17, 'Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased ; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away ; his glory .shall not descend after him.' When the bodies of the wicked are rotting in their graves, and their souls are roaring in hell, none of their worldly greatness, pomp, state, glory, gallantry, riches, rents, or revenues, shall descend after them to administer one drop of comfort to them; and therefore never envy their outward prosperity or worldly glory, &c. But,
(2) Secondly, If the saints have such an excellent, such a transcen- dent, and such a matchless portion, oh then, let them he content with their present condition, let them sit down satisfied and contented, though they have hut a handful of meal in their harrel, and a little oil in a cruse, 1 Kings xvii. 12. 0 sirs, in having of God you have much, in having of God you have enough, in having of God you have all ; and why then should you not sit down quiet with your present allowance ? Certainly, if much will not satisfy you, if enough will not satisfy you, if all will not satisfy you, nothing will satisf}'^ you: Heb. xiiL 5, ' Let your conversation be without covetousness (or love of silver, as the Greek word signifiesj; and be content with such things as you have (or as the Greek hath it, a^xou/zico/ ro7j rra^ovsiv, be content with pre- sent things): for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' There are five negatives in the Greek, ' I will not, not, not, not, not leave thee nor forsake thee ;' fully to assure and fully to satisfy the people of God that he will never forsake them, and that he will ever- lastingly stick close to them. What doth this unparalleled gemination, ' I will never, never, never, never, never,' import but this, ' I will ever,
4-8 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LaM. III. 24.