Who sees not how often men fail even in their best-concerted efforts ? Success depends, in fact, on so many contingencies, whicli it is altogether beyond the power of man to control, that the wisest and most industrious of men must of necessity rely on God alone ; even as the husbandman, who, though he can plough and sow his land, can command neitherthe clouds to water it, nor the sun to fructify it with his invigorating rays. No man therefore, however successful, should " sacrifice to his own net, or offer incense to his own drag'';" but all must give glory to God alone, " who maketh poor, or maketh rich ; and bringeth low, or liftcth up ; who raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and hfteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit a throne of glory "^."J
2. Because it is itself the greatest of all wealth — [What can be compared with the blessing of God upon the soul ? If we succeed in life, it is that which constitutes our chief joy ; or, if we fail in our earthly pursuits, it is that which will compensate for the loss of all. The poorest man in the universe is rich, if he have the presence of God with his soul : and the richest man in the universe is poor, miserably poor, if he be destitute of that great blessing. Behold Paul and Silas in prison, their feet fast in the stocks, and their backs torn with scourges ; and yet singing praises to God at midnight ! Were they poor ? They were rich, truly rich ; as were the Hebrew youths, wlien, in the fiery furnace, the Lord Jesus Christ came and walked with them''. To the eye of faith Lazarus was rich, though he subsisted only on the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. And had he been ofi^ered an exchange of condi- tion with his opulent benefactor, he would have disdained the offer, and called himself incomjDarably the richer man. So, in having God for our portion, tve are truly rich. St. Paul, vmder such circumstances, accounted himself the richest man in the universe : and so he was; for, " though he had nothing, yet he possessed all things^." And in like manner of us also, even though we are at this moment destitute of bread for the morrow, it may with truth be said, that " all things are ours, if we are Christ's*." Thus, if we can say, " The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cups," we may account ourselves richer than those who have crowns and kingdoms at their command.]
But we are especially informed by Solomon what is, IL The peculiar happiness of the person so enriched —
With all other riches there is a mixture of sorrow to embitter them —
[As for riches obtained by iniquity, the curse of God is
^ Hah. i. 1(5. c ] Sam. ii, 7, 8. ^ Dan. iii. 25.
e 2 Cor, vi. 10. f 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. s Ps. xvi. 5.
775.3 god's blessing, the greatest riches. 1(),j
upon them^'. But where there has been nothing of rapacity or dishonesty in acquiring them, yet, if the blessing of God be not upon the soul, there is much care in the preserving of them, much grief if they be lost, and little but disappointment and dissatisfaction in the use of them. In truth, they are entitled to no better name than " vanity and vexation of spirit'." Let the whole state of mankind be candidly surveyed, and it will be acknowledged that the most wealthy are far from being the happiest of men : for, partly from the tempers generated in their own bosoms, and partly from the collision into which they are continually brought with persons envious, or proud, or dishonest, or in some way disobliging, it may well be doubted whether the pain occasioned by their wealth do not far exceed any pleasure which they derive from it. It was a wise petition which was offered by Agur, " Give me neither poverty nor riches ; but feed me with food convenient for me^."