it is manifest that that object itself cannot be enjoyed. And even if we knew all the qualities of every fowl of heaven, of eyery ~sh _of the sea, of every plant that grows on the snrface and of every mineral that 1e buried m the bowels of the earth, yet what use could any one individual make of them all? What a small portion of them would meet all the reo.l necessities of life I How few of them would suffice for man's limited powers of enjoyment I How few of them would suppl:r a substantial _answer to that wide question "What shall I eat, or what shall I dnnk, or wherewithal shall I be clothed?" If the cattle on e. thousand hills were ours, if all the mineral wealth of the world were our own, if earth and all its store of gold and silver and precious stones were at our feet, if earth with all its fruits and flowers, its animal and vegetable productions, were at our disposal, what could one individual, possessing limited powers a.ad ea.pa.ci- ties, do with them all? How could he enjoy them? Where would he_ store them that they might be safe? What, in a word, w~uld they really profit him ? Ah I how forcibly is the whole expressed in the simple Imes!- " Man needs but little here below, Nor needs tho.t little long." V. THE UNSATISFACTORY NATURE OF IT. The world, if we possessed it all, and could retain it always, and enjoy it fully, would not satisfy ll!I. We all know the possibility of being as much or more disappointed in a thing, as inconvenienced by being dis- appointed of it. Hope has its pleasures, and they are frequently as great, sometimes far greater than those of enjoyment. The poet, when he wrote of" the pleasures of hope," knew well that hope was one main source of human enjoyment. But in the supposed possession of the whole world that source of enjoyment would be cut off, as in that case man would have nothing to hope for. The distance, that lent its enchantment to the view, would be annihilated; desire would still be unsatisfied, and yet hope would be at an end. Besides, where is the rich man who is perfectly satisfied with his wealth, and who feels that it is a sufficient source of happintss? Where is the man of pleasure who can vuly say that his pleasures have been without alloy? Where the ambitious aspirant who is not in feverish dread of the fickleness of popular favour? Where the heart that has not yearned for more than earth can furnish ? Who has not felt that " aching void" which " the world can never fill" ? It is not in the increase of riches, nor in the accession of honours, nor in any augmentation of creature enjoyments, that true satisfaction is to be found: the wealth of this world cannot purchase it ; the pleasures of sense and sin cannot procure it; honours bestowed by fellow-creatures cannot confer it. Nor yet do we mean to decry the importance of temporal things. We know that they can minister much to man; they can add to our convenience and comfort ; they can furnish their quota to our enjoyment ; they can supply enlarged means of usefulness; they can contribute to the decency and dignity of life; they can shield us from the distresses, and difficulties, and discomforts of poverty. But we deny altogether that they can prevent or remove the vanity and vexation of spirit that are inseparably associated with all worldly things. In the midst of all that this world can furnish men have been heard to cry out, if not in words, at least in the sentiments of the p~triarch, "I would not live al way." When this is the way with the prosperous worldlmg, often too has the child of God, amid the perplexities of life, cause to repeat. the saying- "! would not live e.lwe.y; I ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the wo.y. The few fleeting mornings the.t do.wn on us hel"8 Are enough for life's sorrows, enough for its cheer. "Who-who would live e.lwa.y, a.way from his God; Awo.y from yon heaven, tho.t blissful a.bode, Whera rivers of plea.sure flow o'er the bright plains, Aud the noontide of glory eternally reigllB?"
VI. SPmITUAL Loss. 1. Practical bearing. qf all this. What, it may be asked, Is the practical lesson from all this? It is to lead us to God as the end, and to Christ a.s the way to the Father; to show us the value of salvation, the importance of clerua.l 368 'l HE GOSPEL AOCORDING TO ST. MARK. [oH. VIIL 1-38.