hunger and thirst to be rich, are but too often tempted to make haste to be rich, and to overreach and steal for that purpose. But the rich are saved from such temptations. 2. The rich are under no temptation to murmur at the dealings of divine providence. The poor are in danger of that; and those who cannot lay hold of wealth as soon, or to that amount, which they desire, are in danger of doing it; and all who are tempted to murmur at the conduct of divine providence, and yield to it, if they ever had any religion have lost some, if not the whole, of what they had, and so cannot be saved in that state. And without religion there is nought but hell for them. 3. Riches afford a man the means of doing good; and he who does good with his wealth lays up in store for himself "a good foundation against the time to come, that he may lay hold on eternal life." (Tim. vi. 19.) 4. A rich man's charity will engage the prayers of others for him; and these his friends will be ready to receive him into everlasting habitations. Besides, 5. As riches exempt a man from so much inconvenience and suffering, and furnish so powerful an incentive to gratitude and obedience to God, may we not fairly and with much propriety ask, II. What great difficulty can there be lying in the way of a rich man's entrance into the kingdom of God? What difficulty? Why every man finds it difficult to enter it; for his entrance into it is opposed by the world, the flesh, and the devil; and so do these oppose, that he has to labour, to run, to fight, and to suffer, to get in; nay, he has to deny himself and take up his cross daily to do it. But the rich find it peculiarly hard to enter in. For, 1. Riches generate a spirit of independence on the providence of God. We are prone to say in our hearts as we become rich," My might, and the power of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth." (Deut. viii. 17.) 2. The possession of riches often leads to false impressions of divine favour. We are apt to consider riches given as a reward of excellency, rather than as a trust. 3. The possession of wealth often unfits for the discharge of most important duties; as visiting the sick poor, holding communion with the saints, especially poor saints, while rich men in the church cannot endure if they may not be allowed to have the preeminence. 4. Rich persons often take it so ill to be reproved, or even to be told of their faults, especially by persons beneath them in rank, and have it so much in their power to annoy those who dare to do it, that it is but seldom that they are faithfully dealt with, and are often flattered. 5. Riches but too often inflame avarice. The young man in the text would have followed Christ had he been poor; but the parting with his wealth he could not brook; he rather wished for more than less. 6. If the rich escape the foregoing evils, they are in danger of pampering their bodily appetites, of feasting the eye with delectable scenes and finery, the ear with melodious sounds and harmony, and to gratify the flesh with ease and softness. 7. Riches but too often lead us to indulge our children and dependents (if we have any) in pride and parade, in idleness and vice. Thus do riches blind the mind, steal away the heart, indulge the flesh, and proportionately indispose men to conversion, and to submit themselves to God: and thus it is that they stand in the way of man's salvation. Yet after all, who is there that believes this doctrine? Would not all like to make the experiment or trial for themselves? From what has been said, we see how it comes to pass that so few deeply or even truly pious persons are rich; namely, because so many seek, or at least come at, wealth before religion is thought of, and then they cannot submit to the terms on which alone it can be had. Or if religion and wealth come together, the surpassing love of wealth and other things springs more rankly, and so chokes the seed. From the whole we may learn what cause the poor have to be resigned to the dispensations of divine providence in allotting to them so small a portion of this world's goods, and in preferring to give to them the true riches; and we see too how much reason there is why they should make the most of their advantage. |