•to light by the gospel.' The heathens had dreams of Elysian fields, and Mahomet tells his followers of a sensual paradise ; but life and immortality is a revelation proper and peculiar only to the gospel. The heathens were at a loss for the reward of virtue. Austin out of Varro gives us nn account of two hundred and eighty-eight opinions concern- ing happiness and the chief good of man ; but now here is all brought to light ; we may look beyond the grave now, and there is not such a mist and darkness upon things to come, God having acquainted us with the gospel. Nay, there is more revealed than was in the time of the law. If God had still kept this secret in his own bosom, what a support should we have wanted in our trouble, what encouragement to the practice of holiness ! Oh ! therefore prize the gospel, it is the charter of your blessed hope.
5. It informs us what little cause we have to be slack in God's work, or to begrudge the pains of his service : 1 Cor. xv. 58, ' Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour will not be in vain in the Lord.' The children of God are wont to think they can never do enough for God, that hath found out such a reward for them in Christ. A thousand years' service will not deserve one hour's enjoyment of this blessed hope, much less eternal happiness. When we come to see what shall be bestowed upon us, we shall be ashamed that we have done no more work for God, having so much wages, and such excellent encouragement. Mat. xxv. 37, tlie saints are brought ia there saying, ' Lord, M-hen saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? ' being
201 SERMON'S UPON TITUS II. 11-14, [SeR. XV,
ashamed. Ah ! Lord, this is nothing ; what liave we done ? At the day of judgment there will be the highest exaltation of the saints, and yet the lowest self-abasement ; they will wonder even to admiration of angels. There will be Christ's owning them, and they disclaiming their own services and all their works, and Christ rewarding them. And therefore grudge not if you have the strictest precepts of any reli- gion ; remember you have the noblest and highest reward.
6. It informs us what cause we have to contemn all earthly things, though they be never so great and glorious, because of this blessed hope There are two considerations that will make us contemn the world, and they are suited to the two essential parts of man, and we should ever thinlv of them. "We carry about us a mortal body and an immortal soul ; the body lasts but for a while, and the soul survives and outlives the body's happiness. Now we toil ourselves in gather- ing sticks to our nest, when to-morrow we must be gone. Alas ! here ' we dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth/ Job iv. 19. Oar estate in this world is repre- sented by a tabernacle, which is a movable habitation ; but our estate in heaven is represented by a temple. Here it is but a tabernacle, and that of clay, that will be crumbled into dust ; nay, we are said to be crushed before the moth, and a moth is but a little enlivened dust, and so is man. The world is but a house of potters' vessels, that will be soon broken ; and shall we, for the conveniences of a temporal life, prejudice and ran the hazard and loss of our eternal hopes? Shall we injure the soul to gratify the body ? that is the way to destroy both for ever. Our great care should be for that place where we live longest ; in the other world we have the longest life and the most glorious posses- sion, therefore our great care should be for that.
7. It informs us what little cause we have to envy carnal men ; the hope of your profession is a blessed hope. This was David's preserva- tive ; he was daily in danger of his life, and his enemies were fat, and shining in the pomp of the world, and how doth he comfort himself ? Ps. xvii. 1.5, ' When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness ; ' as if he had said, Alas ! their felicity is but a sorry thing ; they are filled, and I shall be filled too. David sums up their happiness under two heads. Whatever here we have, it is either for personal use or for our posterity. A worldly state is only valuable upon these two grounds, what we may use for the present, and what we may transmit to our children. Now, what a sorry happiness is this to what I expect?
[1.] For personal use, ver. 14, ' Their bellies are filled with thy hid treasure ; ' that is, with the rarest dishes and best meats which God's storehouse doth afford. By ' hidden treasures,' is meant food and other worldly comforts, therefore called ' hidden treasures' because it doth not lie ■within every one's grasp and reach ; they are not vulgar and common delights. The meaner sort their liand will not attain to it. Lo ! here is all that which God allows them for their portion, the filling of the belly -, a-nd alas ! this is but the happiness of beast.s, who eat with less remorse : yet all their happiness is to fill their belly with better food than the poorer sort, which iodeed is a mi.sery rather than a happiness, for what doth this but nourish sensual lusts, and strengthen and hearten our enemy. And gorgeous apparel is but a supply from creatures