[6.] Consider, nature teacheth us this lesson, to look upward for our home. Look to the frame of man's body, not only to the constitution of his soul, but to the frame of his body ; we do not go grovelling on the ground as beasts, nor are we stuck into the earth as trees. Grod hath given man an upright stature ; his head, which is the seat of the senses, is placed next to heaven, to teach us that man should look up thither ; and his feet are on the earth : Ps. viii. 6, ' Thou hast put all things under his feet.' A worldly man is like a man standing upon his head, spurning at heaven with his heels, and his head and heart fixed to the earth ; or like worms that come out of the earth, they are bred there and creep on the ground, and then creep into it ; so they are dwellers upon the earth, as the antichristian state is always called.
[7.] Consider the profit of being strangers and pilgrims on the earth.l
2. To direct you how you should do so.
[1.] As to the pleasures of the world, avoid fleshly lusts. Brutish affections are all for a present good; these weaken our desires of heaven, they cloud the eye, and deaden the heart, as the flesh-pots of Egypt made Iwael to despise Canaan. Carnal lusts are a great hin- drance. Men diet themselves for a race : 2 Cor. ix. 25, ' Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things ; ' and ver, 27, 'I keep down my body, and bring it into subjection.'
[2.] As to the profits of the w^orld take these directions —
(1.) Take heed of a resolution to be rich, of fixmg this as your end and scope, making gain the business of your lives : 1 Tim. vi. 9, ' They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.' He doth not say he that is rich, for a godly man may through the blessing of God increase in this world's goods ; but he that will be rich, the devil has you upon the hip when you make that youi" business and scope.
(2.) Grasp not at too much in the way of your calling ; take heed of enlarging worldly desires : Isa. v. 8, 'Woe unto them that join house to house, and field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.' When men fill the head with cares, and the heart with sins, when they grasp at too much, and jostle out better things, then they offend. Some business is necessary^ to drain the spirits ; whilst we are in the body, w^e cannot wholly mind spiritual employments ; in great condescension God hath appointed diligence in our callings as a part of our work. Our journey to heaven lies not only through duties of religion, but through the duties of our callings ; moderate labour is a help, not a hindrance ; but then take heed that you be not immoderate to waste the vigour of your spirits, and jostle out better things.
(3.) If gain come in but slowly, be content with God's allowance. A little will serve the turn for a viaticum for our journey to help us to heaven: 1 Tim. vi. 7, 8, 'For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out ; and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content;' it is enough for our passage, we are
^ See sermon on verse 9 .
324 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [Seh. XLVIII.
travelling to heaven, and when we come there the soul shall be filled up as full as it can hold. When we came into the world we were con- tented with a cradle, and when we go out we must be contented with a grave ; and whilst we are here, worldly goods serve only for a more plentiful life. David sums up worldly felicity : Ps. xvii. 14, ' Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure ; they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.' They that have the greatest portion in this life may have more variety of God's creatures upon their tables and backs, and what they do not thus spend, the rest of their substance they leave to their children. Now a more plentiful estate is but fuller of snares ; and for our posterity, our children are under a providence as well as we ; they have but a journey to go, and a little will serve their turn as well as ours, and when we die we leave a God behind us to provide for them. It is carnal confidence, — nay, worse, it is blasphemy and idolatry, — to think we can better provide for them than God. And therefore be contented with God's allowance, such as comes in with moderate labour in your callings.
(4.) If God give abundance, take heed of carnal complacency : Ps. Ixii. 10, 'If riches increase, set not your heart upon them;' when you rejoice in them, and grow proud of them, as if there were any real addition to your worth, it is a sigr^ you have them for 3"our whole por- tion. Kemember you are to use them as God's stewards ; if God give you abundance, you must give an account of it how you lay it out. If you think you are lords and not stewards, you are at home. The abundance that God hath given you is but a larger trust : Luke xvi. 9, ' Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive j-ou into everlasting habitations.' The more you have, the greater advantages you have of doing good ; and when you die, you will be welcomed to heaven with the applauses and suffrages of the poor saints.