A man bewitched with the world will gain no good by the ministry of the word : witness Ezekiel's hearers, Ezek. xxxiii. 31-33 ; and witness the stony ground. Mat. xiii. 22 ; and witness Christ's fol- lowers, John vi. Some writers say that notliing will grow where gold grows ; certainly where the love of this world grows, there nothing will grow that is good. A heart filled either with the love of the world, or the profits of the world, or the pleasures of the world, or the honours of the world, or the cares of the world, or the businesses of the world, is a heart incapacitated to receive any divine counsel or comfort. It is a heart shut up against God and holiness, it is a heart possessed with many devils ; and therefore no wonder if such a heart loathes the honeycomb of holiness ; yea, it is no wonder to see such a heart to deride and scorn holiness as the greatest foolishness, Luke xvi. 14. The poets tell of Lycaon being turned into a wolf; but when a worldling is made holy, there is a wolf turned into a man, yea, a devil turned into a saint ; therefore the Holy Ghost, speaking of Zaccheus, who had long been bewitched by the world, brings him in with an Ecce ! — ' Behold ! ' — as if it were a wonder of wonders that ever such a worldling should be made holy.
A man bewitched with the world will venture the loss of his soul to enjoy the world. Mat. xvi. 26 ; as that pope that sold his soul to the devil for the enjoyment of the j^opedom six years. We hate the Turks
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 201
for selling of Christians for slaves ; but ah, how many be there among us that call themselves Christians, who yet sell themselves and their souls to the devil for slaves for half-a-crown, yea, for a halfpenny 1 Look, as Shimei, by seeking his servant, lost his life ; so many, by seeking of the world, have lost their souls. Now though of all losses the loss of the soul is the greatest, the saddest, the "sorest, the heaviest, and the most intolerable, inconceivable, and irrecoverable loss, yet a man bewitched with the world will run the hazard of losing it, of damning it, to enjoy the world. You know the Keuben- ites in Joshua xxii. preferred the country that was commodious for the feeding of their cattle, — though it were far from the temple, where they might have fed their souls, and have got heaven and holiness for their souls, — before their interest in the land of promise. Well, so men that are bewitched with this world in these days, oh, how do they prefer their sensual delights, their brutish contentments, and their carnal enjoyments, before the heavenly Canaan, and before the beauties of hohness, and before the temple of God's holiness, where holiness sparkles and shines in all its bravery and glory, and where their souls might be abundantly satisfied and delighted with the most ravishing joys, the most surpassing delights, and the most tran- scendent pleasures which are at God's right hand! To draw to a close, the Arabic proverb saith that Mutidus cadaver est, et petentes eum sunt canes — The world is a carcase, and they that hunt after it are dogs. If this proverb be true, what a multitude of professors will be found to be dogs, who hunt more after earth than heaven, who hunt more after terrestrial than celestial things, who hunt more after nothingnesses and emptinesses, than they do after those fulnesses and sweetnesses that be in God, Christ, heaven, and holiness! Well, friends, as ever you would obtain that real holiness, without which there is no happiness, take heed of a witch, take heed of this world ; and to that purpose, oh that you would always look upon the things of this world, as you will look upon them when you come to die ! Oh that you would now look upon all the pomp, state, bravery, and glory of the world as you will look upon it when your souls shall sit upon your trembling lips ! Oh, with what a disdainful eye, with what a weaned heart, do men look upon those things then ! Do so now, and I dare assure you, that though the world may trouble you, yet it shall never bewitch you. I have read of a man that, lying in a burning fever, professed that if he had all the world at his dispose, he would give it all for one draught of beer ; at so low a rate do men value the world at such a time as that is. If men were so wise to value the world at no higher a rate in health than they do in sickness, in life than they do at the time of their death, it would never bewitch them, it would never be as a wall of separation between holiness and them. As ever jou would be holy here, and happy hereafter, take heed of this witch, and believe it to be a witch before it hath bewitched you, or else you may believe it too late.
3. Thirdly, If ever you would be holy, then tahe heed of comparing yourselves ivitJi those that are, at least supposedly, loorse than your- selves. Many there be who by comparing themselves with those that are bad, very bad, think themselves to be good, very good, yea, to be
202 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.