(2.) Hurtful as to grace. The spirit is debased by a carnal aim, and made a slave to all sort of sins : * The love of money is the root of all evil,' ver. 10. Nothing breedeth baseness of mind so much as the love of money. Those that make their belly their god are men of an abject spirit ; such a person can never act with resolution. Yet of the two the covetous is the more vile, and serveth the baser god: Phil. iii. 19, 'Whose end is destruction; whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame ; who mind earthly things.' For the life and belly, for which food is necessary, are better than food ; and yet food for the belly is the best part of riches, and that which alone Adam in innocency stood in need of ; so that, serving so base a god, they cannot but be of a base low spirit, and so can do nothing worthily in their generation. To provide for the body above the soul is but to overvalue the appendages of a worldly life.
3. The result and final tendency of these lusts : ' Which drown men in destruction and perdition.' By destruction is meant death temporal ; by perdition, death eternal : ruin in this world, and hereafter eternal damnation ; drown men as with a millstone about their necks.
[1.] Destruction or ruin in this world. How many lose their lives to have wherewith to live, and live poor that they may die rich ; others, by aspiring projects, lose all their designed advantages, and come to utter ruin. The love of the world brought Judas first to the halter, and then to his own place.
[2.] Perdition or eternal damnation : Mat. xvi. 26, ' What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? ' The soul is lost, not in a natural sense, so as to be no more heard of, but lost in a legal sense. A wicked man said. He that will not ven- ture his body is never valiant ; he that will not venture his soul, never rich. But it is a sad venture to give the soul for a little tem- poral pelf, which we must leave we know not to whom.
Use 1. It informeth us of a twofold deceitfulness of heart that men are conscious unto. The first is this, many think they will follow the world as hard as they can for a while, and then dream of a devout retirement. Thus foolishly do men presume, first upon life, and then upon grace, both which are in God's hands ; whereas they shorten their days by their inordinate cares, and entangle their hearts ; so that they are over head and ears in the world, drowned in noisome and hurtful lusts, that they cannot easily get out again. Alas ! the world is a very deceitful thing; if once we are taken in the love of it, more and more it will get in with us, and steal away our hearts, ere we can think of it.
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194 SERMON UPON I TIMOTHY VI. 9.
2. The next deceit of the heart, akin to the former, is this, that if men had snch a proportion of estate, thej should be content with their portion, and serve God cheerfully. Alas ! when you have it, tlie lust will grow with the possession. Covetonsness is a fire that in- creaseth the more wood you put thereon : Eccles. v. 10, ' He that loveth silver will never he satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase.' And therefore we should rather seek to bring our minds to our estates, than our estates to our minds. Be content now with such things as ye have, or else ye will not be con- tent hereafter. Non augendce res, sed minuendce cupiditates — We should not seek so much to increase our estates, as to abate our desires. We go the wrong way when we think more estate would do it, if grace doth not do it. As in some diseases, non opus liabent impletione, sed purgatione ; a man is still hungry though he has eaten enough, and still thirsty though drunk enough. As in the bulimy and dropsy, purging is better than impletion ; in an ordinary fever we are not to quench the burning thirst by filling the patient's belly full of drink, but to better the heat by purging and opening a vein ; so it is not wealth, but grace ; the way is not to increase our substance, but mode- rate our desires. As long as love terminateth on outward things, we shall never be satisfied, but still exercised with foolish and hurtful lusts. Contentment cometh not from the things, but the mind ; a little grace would show us that we had enough already to be better satisfied.
Use 2. This point will give us satisfaction as to that question, whether we may pray for and desire riches, or anything beyond food and raiment ? I answer —
1. By distinction. Outward things are either necessary, or sufficient, or superfluous. The first degree of riches is to have what is neces- sary ; the next to have what is enough ; the next above that, what is more than enough.