II. Let us see whence this difficulty doth arise ? I answer — Because of the sins to which u wealthy estate doth expose us.
1. Eiches are apt to breed atheism and contempt of God. They that are wholly drowned in pleasures of sense do not look into the in- visible world, and see God which is the Father of spirits : Prov. xxx. 9, ' Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say. Who is the Lord ? ' There is a practical atheism when men forget or despise God, and a specu- lative atheism when they deny God. Now the rich are apt to do both. A man that tumbles in wealth, ease, and plenty is apt to forget and despise God : ' But Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked ; thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness, then he for- sook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salva-
30 SERMONS UPON MAIIK X. 17-27. [SeR. X.
tion,' Dent, xxxii. 15. Nay, in some sort they deny God ; they live as if there were no God at all, none to call them lo account. Men that have seen no changes, and were never humbled under God's mighty hand, never think of an invisible power. I remember the psalmist saith, Ps. Iv. 19, ' Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God ; ' they have not an awe or reverence, or due sense of a divine power upon their hearts, because they never have been acquainted with changes ; the condition they have lived in hath been a constant tenure of worldly happiness. So Zeph. i. 12, ' They are settled upon their lees ; ' that is, are not tossed from vessel to vessel, as wine that is racked. They live in an even coufse of worldly prosperity, and in abundance of worldly comforts, without a change, and this chokes and gluts the heart, that they have no sense of the Lord's goodness. Changes do more awaken us, and make us look to God, as the foun- tam^ of good and evil. Istce vices magis in nobis excitant sensum divince honitatis, quam continuus tenor fodicitatis, qui nos inebriat. In short, the pleasures and thoughts of the world do so take up their hearts, that there is no place for any serious thought and solemn remembrance of God, such as should beget an awe in us. It is said, Isa. v. 12, * The harp and the viol, and tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts ; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.' Thoughts of God are suppressed as soon as they do arise, and they take no notice of the work of God's hands, nor what he doth in their days to revive the sense of his eternal power and Godhead ; nor do they take their comforts out of God's hands, but look altogether to natural and to second causes, as being sufficient to themselves, to live of themselves. Indeed, they may seem in opinion to own a God, as others do ; they take up the current opinions, and perform customary worship, but they do not glorify him as God, or repair to him with that life and fervency as those that stand in need of him, nor consecrate their best time, and strength, and affections to his service. It is usually the broken-hearted godly poor, and those that have had frequent experiences of the changes of providence, that exercise themselves to godliness, and seek after God in good earnest. The great landlord of the world hath more rent from many poor cot- tages than from divers great palaces, for they wallow in plenty, and never think of God.
2. Kiches keep men from being broken-hearted and seeing their need of Christ. It is the poor needy soul, sensible of its own sin and misery, that is likely to thrive in religion, and prosper in any heavenly design and pursuit. Now those that are rich have so many entertain- ments of sense to inveigle their minds and divert their thoughts, and are so besotted and enchanted with present delights and pleasures, that they have no feeling of their condition, or sense of the necessity of God's grace ; therefore it is our Lord begins his description of blessed- ness : Mat. v. 3, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- dom of heaven.' How few of them that are rich in estate are poor in sj)irit ! The sense of their present ease and welfare makes them for- get all thoughts of their spiritual condition, and reconciling themselves to God by Christ. The prodigal never thought of going to his father till he began to be in want, Luke xv. 17, 18. While men have any-
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. 31
thing in the world, they are senseless and secure in the midst of all their sin and misery ; and if they can live without God and apart from God, they will not come at him : Jer. ii. 31, ' Wherefore say my people. We are lords, we will come no more unto thee ? ' As if this merry world would always last, and there were no judgment to come, and God would never bring them into his presence, but they live a life of estrangement from God ; they can live upon themselves, and their own supplies, and things that fall to them by the bounty of God's providence.