21. These are all dead shew. Regard them not. _Trust_ thou _in the living_ God. So shalt thou be safe under the shadow of the Almighty; his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler. He is a very present help in time of trouble; such an help as can never fail. Then shalt thou say, if all thy other friends die, _the_ Lord _liveth, and blessed be my strong helper_! He shall remember thee when thou liest sick upon thy bed: when vain is the help of man, when all the things of the earth can give no support, he will _make all thy bed in thy sickness_. He will sweeten thy pain; the consolations of God shall cause thee to clap thy hands in the flames. And even when this house of earth is well nigh shaken down, when it is just ready to drop into the dust, he will teach thee to say, _O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto_ God _who giveth me the victory through my_ Lord Jesus Christ.
*O trust in him for happiness as well as for help. All the springs of happiness are in him. Trust _in him who giveth us all things richly to enjoy_, παρέχοντι πλουσίως εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν· Who of his own rich and free mercy, holds them out to us, as in his own hand, that receiving them as his gift, and as pledges of his love, we may _enjoy all_ that we possess. It is his love gives a relish to all we taste, puts life and sweetness into all, while every creature leads us up to the great Creator, and all earth is a scale to heaven. He transfuses the joys that are at his own right-hand, into all he bestows on his thankful children: who having fellowship with the Father and his Son _Jesus Christ_, enjoy him in all and above all.
22. Thirdly, seek not to _increase in goods_. _Lay not up for thyself treasures upon earth._ This is a flat positive command, full as clear, as _thou shalt not commit adultery_. How then is it possible for a rich man to grow richer, without denying the Lord that bought him? Yea, how can any man, who has already the necessaries of life, gain or aim at more, and be guiltless? _Lay not up_, saith our Lord, _treasures upon earth_. If in spite of this, you do and will lay up, money or goods, which _moth or rust_ may _corrupt, or thieves break through and steal_: if you will add house to house, or field to field, why do you call yourself a Christian? You do not obey _Jesus Christ_. You do not design it. Why do you name yourself by his name? _Why call ye me_ Lord, Lord, saith he himself, _and do not the things which I say_?
23. *If you ask, “But what must we do with our goods, seeing we have more than we have occasion to use, if we must not lay them up? Must we throw them away?” I answer, if you threw them into the sea, if you were to cast them into the fire and consume them, they would be better bestowed ♦than they are now. You cannot find so mischievous a manner of throwing them away, as either the laying them up for your posterity, or the laying them out upon yourselves, in folly and superfluity. Of all possible methods of _throwing them away_, these two are the very worst; the most opposite to the gospel of _Christ_, and the most pernicious to your own soul.
How pernicious to your own soul the latter of these is, has been excellently shewn by a late writer. “If we waste our money we are not only guilty of wasting a talent which God has given us, but we do ourselves this farther harm, we turn this useful talent into a powerful means of corrupting ourselves; because so far as it is spent wrong, so far it is spent in the support of some wrong temper, in gratifying some vain and unreasonable desires, which as Christians we are obliged to renounce.”
“As wit and fine parts cannot be only trifled away, but will expose those that have them to greater follies: so money cannot be only trifled away, but if it is not used according to reason and religion, will make people live a more silly and extravagant life, than they would have done without it: if therefore you do not spend your money in doing good to others, you must spend it to the hurt of yourself. You act like one that refuses the cordial to his sick friend, which he cannot drink himself without inflaming his blood. For this is the case of superfluous money; if you give it to those who want it, it is a cordial. If you spend it upon yourself in something that you do not want, it only inflames and disorders your mind.”