[2.] Consider, none ever trusted to the world but they have cause to complain in the issue. We think wealth can do great things for us, and stand us in stead beyond any other thing to make us happy, but we shall find it otherwise. God is jealous of our trust, and the creature that is of itself vain is made more vain by our dependence upon it. God will set himself to disappoint a carnal trust : Prov. xi. 28, ' He that trusteth in his riches shall fall.'
46 SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. [SeR. XL
[3.] Consider, the more wealth, many times the more danger, there- fore shall we trust in this ? In a net, when great fishes are taken, the- lesser make their escape. A great tree by the largeness and thickness of its boughs provoketh others to lop it, or it falleth by its own weight. Nebuchadnezzar led the princes and nobles captive wlien the poor were left in the land. As many times thieves and robbers cut off the finger for the ring's sake when they cannot otherwise pluck it off, so is a man destroyed and made a prey for his wealth's sake.
[4.] Consider the unprofitableness of wealth without God ; it cannot make you contented, and safe, and happy, and comfortable : Luke xii. 15, 'A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.' A man doth not live upon his wealth : ' Not by bread alone,' Mat. iv. 4, but by the providence of God. I do not only say they cannot make you happy and wise ; certainly they cannot do that ; but they cannot make you more healthful, cheerful, and comfortable ; so that whether you will or no, at length you are brought to depend upon God. But especially is their unprofitableness seen in the day of death and in the day of wrath. In the day of death, when a man must shoot the gulf of eternity, and launch out into the deep ocean of the other world : Job xxvii. 8, ' What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?' When you must die, and nothing shall remain with you but the bitter remembrance of an estate, either ill-got or ill-spent (for it is all one), oh ! how bitter and grievous will this be to you to call to mind the iniquity of traffic, to remember the cries of the oppressed widow or orphans, or neglected poor, or your pride and luxury, and sowing to the flesh, when God comes to take away the soul ! Or else in the day of wrath : Prov. xi. 4, ' Riches profit not in the day of wrath." Of internal wrath, when a spark of God's anger lights upon the conscience, and our thoughts are awakened against us, and fall as a heavy burden upon us, oh ! what will all riches do ! To allude to that Prov. vi. 35, ' He will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.' Justice will not be bribed, neither will all the money you have buy you a pardon. And in the day of external wrath : Zeph. i. 18, ' Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.' As Absalom's mule left him hanging by the hair of the head, so will riches leave and forsake you in all your misery.
[5.] Think seriously of this, that God is the author of all wealth, and the sovereign disposer of it ; and therefore, whether we have it or have it not, we must trust in God. If wealth fails, that we have it not, then it is manifest it is not to be trusted in. If it should increase, yet it should occasion us to trust in God, who gives us what we have ; by what means soever it comes to our hands, it is his gift : ' It is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich,' Prov. x. 22. If riches come to you by inheritance from your ancestors, it was by the providence of God that you were born of rich and noble friends, and not of beggars. If it come by gift, it is God that made them that gave it you able and willing. If it comes by industry and skill, it is God that gives the faculty, the use, and the success ; so that still God is to be trusted in, not the creature, for he hath a mighty hand in the disposal of things in the world.
YeR. 24.] SEiiMONS UPON ilAEK X. 17-27. 47
2. By way of practice.
[1.] Pray more to be kept from this sin than from poverty, namely, to have riches, and not to trust in them. It is an extraordinary gift of God, and to be sought with greater care, diligence, and frequency of prayers and tastings, than either health, preferment, life, or any other thing : ver. 27, ' With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.' God only can do it thoroughly. This should be the constant request of rich men, Lord, let me not trust in what I have ; this is a greater blessing than the greatest abundance in the world.