them bv Him who said to the rich man, " Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee." Let me then guard you all against "making gold your hope, or saying to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence ;" for it is a grievous impiety in the sight of God, and " an iniquity to be punished by the judge11."]
Wealth is given for far other purposes than these ; as will be seen, whilst I point out to the possessors of it, II. The duties they are to perform —
To be dispensed in acts of benevolence is the true use of wealth —
[Nothing is given to us for ourselves alone. As the sun in the firmament possesses not its light and heat for its own aggrandizement, but for the benefit of the whole creation, so all that we possess is for the good of those who lie within the sphere of our influence. It is a talent committed to us by Almighty God, who will call us to an account for the improve- ment we make of it. He permits us, as we have before said, "richly to enjoy" whatever he has bestowed upon us: but our richest enjoyment of it should be in the exercise of Chris- tian benevolence. We should " do good" with it: we should be " rich in good works;" accounting ourselves rich, not in proportion to what we can amass or spend upon ourselves, but in proportion to the good which we are thereby qualified to dispense, and the benefits which we are enabled by it to confer upon the Church and on the world around us. Nor should our wealth be disposed of in this way " grudgingly, or of necessity;" we should be " ready to distribute, and willing to communicate ;" precisely as one member of our body would be to administer to any other that needed its assistance. These are the dispositions which the rich are to cultivate, and these the works in which they are to abound.]
Nor is this less their interest than it is their duty — [By such acts as these " we lay up in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come, and eventually lay hold on eternal life." In hoarding up money, we lay it up for others (not by any means knowing who shall actually inherit it) : but by dispersing it in acts of piety and beneficence, we store it up for ourselves, rendering that " a firm founda- tion," which was in itself " uncertain ;" and that "eternally" permanent, which was in itself confined to " this present world." If the present enjoyment alone were considered, this mode of disposing of it would be our truest wisdom, since there is an infinitely richer zest arising from the exercise of love to God
11 Job xxxi. 24, 25, 28.