not be coveted. They should rather be considered as a snare which we are to dread, than as a blessing we are eager to obtain. They are as clay upon the feet of one that is running a raced, or as a weight tied to the neck of one that is swim- ming for his life e. There has scarcely ever occurred an instance wherein the acquisition of them has furthered the divine life ; but thousands have been retarded by them, and not a few eternally destroyed f.
Reputation is that which men in general are most averse to sacrifice : but we must be willing to part with that, if we would be Christians indeed. If we seek the honour that cometh of men, we cannot possibly be steadfast in the faith g; we shall shrink from reproach, and prove unfaithful to God in the time of trial11; and being ashamed of Christ, we shall cause him to be ashamed of us in the day of judgment'.
There is not any thing, not health, nor friends, nor liberty, nor life itself, that we should value any further than as it may be improved to the glory of Godk. Our hearts must be weaned from all, so as to be ready to part with every thing, whenever God, in his providence, shall call for it.]
To evince that such a state is attainable, we shall shew,
II. What methods God employs to wean us from them —
[Without any indelicacy or impropriety we may observe, in allusion to the metaphor in the text, that to wean us from creature-comforts, our heavenly Parent embitters them to us, withdraws them from us, and gives us something more suitable in their stead.
Such is our attachment to earthly things, that we should never be willing to part from them, if they were not in some way or other embittered to us. God therefore, in mercy to us, mixes gall and wormwood with every cup he puts into our hands. In the pursuit of pleasure, our brightest prospects become clouded, our highest gratifications cloy, and number- less unforeseen accidents arise to damp our joys, and to disap- point our expectations. In the attainment of wealth, there are many cares to corrode, many vexations to disquiet us, so that we must write on all the bags that we have amassed, " This is vanity and vexation of spirit." The acquisition of knowledge seems to promise the most permanent satisfaction; but such is the labour requisite to attain it, and so little, after all, is within the reach of human intellect, that the wisest of men was con- strained to say, " Much study is a weariness to the flesh ; and
d Hab. ii. 6. e Matt. xix. 23, 24. f 1 Tim. vi. 9—11.
e John v. 44. h John xii. 42, 43. > Mark viii. 38.
k Col. hi. 2. 1 John ii. 15—17. Luke xiv. 26.