[1.] First, - Consider that it is not absolutely necessary that you should be rich, or high, or great in this world ; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy. The want of riches can only trouble you, but the want of holiness will certainly damn you. You may be happy in another world, though you are not high in this world. Many a man has gone to heaven without a penny in his purse, or good clothes on his back ; and doubtless it is infinitely better with ragged, naked Lazarus to go to heaven, than it is with Dives to go rich and bravely clad to hell, Luke xvi. 19-31. It is better to go to heaven poor, and halt, and maimed, than to go to hell sound and rich. Poverty and outward misery with salvation, is far better than worldly prosperity and felicity with everlasting perdition. Holiness, and not riches, is the one thing necessary. If thou hast holiness, nothing can make thee miserable ; but if thou wantest holiness, no- thing can make thee happy. Outward blessings are no infallible
HeB XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 301
evidences of a blessed estate. Was Abraham rich ? so was Abimelech too. Was Jacob rich ? so was Laban too. Was David a king ? so was Saul too. Was Constantino an emperor? so was Julian too. It is only holiness that sets the crown of happiness upon a Christian's head. But,
[2.] Secondly, Consider that it is not sanctity, but impiety, it is not
holiness, but wickedness, that exposes men to the greatest poverty and
misery : Prov. vi. 26, ' For by the means of a whorish woman a man
is brought to a piece of bread.' Whoredom is a very costly sin, Prov.
xxiv. 33, 34, and xxviii. 19, 22 ; the prodigal had quickly spent his
portion among his harlots, Luke xv. Whoredom cannot be a greater
paradise to the flesh, than it is a purgatory to the purse, and many
great ones have found it so. Herod, that old fornicator, was so
inflamed and bewitched with the immodest wanton dancing of his
damosel, that he swore he would give her to the half of his kingdom,
Mark vi. 23, 24. And it is very observable, that whilst Solomon, in
his younger days, kept holy, chaste, and pure, silver and gold was as
plenteous at Jerusalem and at court as the stones of the street ; but
when Solomon had given himself up to his concubines, they quickly
exhausted his treasuries, and brought him to so low an ebb, that he
was forced to oppress his subjects with such heavy taxes, burdens,
and tributes, which occasioned the revolt of the ten tribes. i Josephus,
in his Antiquities, tells us of one Decius Mundus, that offered to give
so many hundred thousand drachms, that came to six thousand pounds
English money, to satisfy his lusts one night with a whore, and yet
could not obtain his desire. There is no sin that has brought more
men, and greater men, to beggary and misery than this has. It is a
great misery to be brought to a piece of bread, to a scrap, a little bit
of bread; but to be brought into so low a condition by harlots,
doubles the misery ; for he that is by a whorish woman brought to a
piece of bread on earth, shall be brought to a drop of water in hell,
except there be found repentance on his side, and pardoning mercy
on God's. Take another instance in that Prov. xxiii. 20, 21, 'Be not
among wine-bibbers ; amongst riotous eaters of flesh : for the drunkard
and the glutton shall come to poverty : and drowsiness shall clothe a
man with rags.' 2 Many dukes, earls, lords, and gentlemen of great
estates, have sadly experienced the truth of this scripture. Society
and luxurious company hath brought many a man to extreme poverty.
The full cup makes an empty purse, and the fat dish makes a lean
bag ; he that fills thee wine with one hand, and sets before thee
dainty dishes with the other hand, will be sure to pick thy pockets
with both hands ; and this Caligula, the Koman emperor, found by
experience; for his gluttony brought him to incredible poverty.
Diogenes, hearing that the house of a certain prodigal was offered to
sale, said, I knew that house was so accustomed to surfeiting and
drunkenness, that ere long it would spew out the master. Excessive
drinking is now so great in England, that the Germans may fear
1 1 Kings X. 27, 28 ; 2 Chron. i. 15-17; 1 Kings xii. 1-20.
* The glutton and the drunkard were to be stoned to death, Deut. xxi. 20, 21. Basil calls drunkenness a self-chosen devil. When jEschines commended Philip king of Macedon for a jovial man that would drink freely, Demosthenes, being by, told him that was a good quality in a sponge, but not in a prince.
302 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HEB. XII. 14.