The notes are these : —
Obs. 1. Kiches are not altogether inconsistent with Christianity. * Let the rich,' that is, the rich brother. Usually they are a great snare. It is a hard matter to enjoy the world without being en- tangled with the cares and pleasures of it. The moon never sufiereth eclipse but when it is at the full ; and usually in our fulness we mis- carry ; and therefore our Saviour saith, Mat. xix. 24, ' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.' It is a Jewish proverb to note an impossibility. Kich men should often think of it. A camel may as soon go through a needle's eye, as you enter into the kingdom of God. That were a rare miracle of nature, indeed, to see a camel or an ele- phant to pass through a needle's eye ; and it is as rare a miracle of grace to see a rich man gained to Christ and a love of heaven. Of all person sin the world, they are least apprehensive of spiritual excel- lences. Christ himself came inpoverty, in a prejudice, as it were, to them that love riches. Plato, an heathen, saith the same almost with Christ, that it is impossible for a man to be eminently rich and emi- nently good.^ The way of grace is usually so strait, that there is scarce any room for them that would enter with their great burthens of riches and honom-.^ But you will say, What will you have Christians to do then? In a lavish luxury to throw away their estates ? or in an excess of charity to make others fuU, when themselves are empty ? I answer — No ; there are two passages to mollify the rigour of our Lord's saying. One is in the context, ' With God all things are possible,' Mat. xix. 26. Difficulties in the way to heaven serve to bring us to a despair of ourselves, not of God. He can loosen the heart from the world, that riches shall be no impediment ; as Job by provi- dence was made eminently rich, and by grace eminently godly — ' none like him in all the earth,' Job i. 8. The other passage is in Mark x. 23, 24, ' Jesus said, How hard is it for them that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God ! And the disciples were astonished at his words ; but Jesus answereth again. How hard is it for them that trust riches to enter into the kingdom of God ! ' It is not the having, but the trusting. Kiches in the having, in the bare possession, are not a hindrance to Christianity, but in our abuse of them. The sum of all
^ ''Ayadbv oVra Sta^epoiTWs Kai Tr\oijaLov elvai 0M<pep6vToi% dSuvarov.' — Plato. 2 ' Non possunt in coelum aspicere, quouiam mens eorum in humum prona, terrseque de- fixa est; virtutis autem via non capit magna onera portantes.' — Lactant. lib. sept.
G8 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. 1. 10.
is, it is impossible to trust in riches and enter into the kingdom of God, and it to us is impossible to have riches and not to trust in them. Well, then, of all men, rich men should be most careful. A man may be rich and godly, but it is because now and then God will work some miracles of grace. Your possessions will not be your ruin till your cor- ruptions mingle with them. Under the law the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom, Exod. xxx. 15, intimating they may have interest in the same Christ. It is Austin's observation ^ that poor Laz- arus was saved in the bosom of rich Abraham. Riches in themselves are God's blessings that come within a promise. It is said, Fs. cxii. 3, of him that feareth the Lord, that ' wealth and riches shall be in his house ; ' that is, when God seeth good, for all temporal promises must be understood with an exception. They do not intimate what always shall be, but that whatever is is by way of a blessing, the fruit of a promise, not of chance, or a looser providence. Yea, riches with a blessing are so far from being a hindrance to grace, that they are an ornament to it ; so Prov. xiv. 24, ' The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly.' A rich wise man is more conspicuous ; an estate may adorn virtue, but it cannot disguise folly. A wise man that is rich hath an advantage to discover himself which others have not ; but a fool is a fool still, as an ape is an ape though tied with a golden chain. And to this sense I suppose Solo- mon speaketh when he saith, Eccles. vii. 11, ' Wisdom with an inheri- tance is good ; ' that is, more eminent and useful. And thus you see riches are as men use them, blessings promiscuously dispensed — to the good, lest they should be thought altogether evil ; to the bad, lest they should be thought only good.^
Ohs. 2. That a rich man's humility is his glory. Your excellency doth not lie in the i)omp and splendour of your condition, but in the meekness of your hearts. Humility is not only a clothing, ' Put on humbleness of mind,' Col. iii. 12, but an ornament, 1 Peter v. 5, ' Be decked with humility,' iyKOfM/Scoaaade. It cometh from a word that signifieth a knot, that maketh decency when things are fitly tied. Men think that humility is a debasement, and meekness a derogation i'rom their honour and lepute. Ah! but you see God counteth it an ornament. It is not a disguise, but a decking. None so base as the proud in the eyes of God and men. Before God, you must not value yourself by your estate and outward pomp, but your graces. An high mind and a low condition are all one to the Lord, only poverty hath the advantage, because it is usually gracious. If any may glory, they may glory that have most arguments of God's love. Now a lowly mind is a far better testimony of it than an high estate. And so before men, as Augustine said, he is a great man that is not lifted up because of his greatness. You are not better than others by your estate, but your meekness. The apostles possessed all things though they had nothing. They have more than you if they have a humble heart.