to crack the nut, but God takes away the kernel, and gives it to them that are godly before them. Is not this the meaning of the preacher, God giveth to a man good "in his fight-wisdom and knowlege, and joy, but to the fianer, he giveth travel? Eccles. ii, 26. He gives to the godly wisdom to purfoe riches, and to go right ways for the attainment of them; he gives them alfo knowlege. how to improve them, and joy, or comfort of them: But to the finner he gives travel, to gather and heap up, but not for this comfort; the wicked dig the mines, they plough the ground, but the faints enjoy, they only reap and g ther. And is not this the meaning of the apostle, Galli ness with contentment is great gain? 1 Tim, vi. 6. Thef two, godliness and contentment, make up riches; thou talkeft of gain, but art thou-content? and art thou gadly? there is the gain, there lies the happiness. In this fenfe, the little thata righteous man hath, is better than the riches "of many wicked,' Pfal xxxvii. 6. The folid comfort of all outward things, is the faints peculiar, becaufe of his nearness unto God; never tell me of this great man, and the other noble man, for indeed that which men are, they are unto God; their true value is according to their proportion of the nearuels, not the riches, nor to princes, not to the great things of this world, but to God.

4. Confider that of the apostle, No man that warreth intangleth himself with the affairs of this life,' 2 Tim. 4. Now, what are we but warriors against principalities, powers, rulers of the darknets of this world, and Ipiritual wickedneffes? How then do we intangle ourselves with the affairs of this life? it is true, we may use the world as if not, but to be intangled with it is dangerous and pernicious. As rivers that lide in the ocean, touch the coafts and fhores by which they run, but they stay not there, fo muft our fouls in their return to heaven, only touch the earth as we pass along, but not ftay there for fear of entanglements. Luther tells us, that when the pope-fent fome cardinals to him, to entangle him with the Fromife of great wealth and honour, turning himself to God, he fpeedily faid, Se-nolle fic fatiari ab eo, that God Thould not put him off with these low things. O that all

foldiers

here foldiers under Chrift's banner were but of this mind, for then might they fay, The fare is broken, and we are de livered, or then might they do as the billy bird that mounts baloft towards heaven, when the fees any danger of being patched and thereby fhe fruftrates the fowler's hope. Surfum corda, dift up your hearts, amount on the wings of faith and love, have your converfations in heaven, be much da meditation of thefe furpaffing joys, do will you fruftrate Satan's hopes, and refeape the world's intanglements vor fnares.

5. Confider the words of the preacher, Wanity of vani ties tall in wanity, Ecclef. i. 2. How? all is vanity; yes, all, and fome: I know not any thing in the world but thou mayeft write vanity on it. Bethink thyfelf, O deluded world, (faith Dr. Arrowmith) and write over all thy fchool doors, Let not the wife man glory in his wildom : and above all thy court gates, Let not the mighty man glory in his might; and over all thy exchanges and banks, Let not the rich man glory in his riches; yea, write upon thy looking glaffes that of Bathsheba, Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; upon thy mews and artillery yards, that of the Pfalmift, God delighteth not in the ftrength of an horfe, he taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man: Upon thy taverns that of Solomon, Wine is a mocker, ftrong drink is raging, and whofoever is deceived thereby is not wife; upon thy magazines and wardrobes that of our Sa viour, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and ruft doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and feal; upon thy counting-houles that of Habakkuk, Wo to him that increaseth in that which is not his; how long? and to him that ladeth himfelf with thick clay; upon thy banqueting houfe that of the apostle, Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God will deftroy both it and them, Jer. ix. 23. Prov. xxx. 84.PC. cxlvii. 10. Prov. xx. 1. Matth. vi. 419. Hab. i. 6. 1 Cor. vi. 13.

O thewanity of the world; and of all things in it! Will =a mandhearken to Satan, and give his foul to the devil før anity, emptinefs, nothing at all? God forbid.

6. Confider the coun fel and promife of God himfelf,

Let

Let your converfation be without covetoufnefs, and be 'content with fuch things as you have, for he hath faid 'I will never, never, never, never leave nor forfake the Heb. xiii. v. The word in the original is so often repeated; and if one promise be enough to ftay thine heart, fhall not five promises in one; but heark again, To him that over cometh will I grant to fit with me in my throne, even as overcame, and fit with my Father in his throne, Rev. 21. One ferious thought of sitting in the throne with Je fus Chrift, were enough (thro' grace) to wean a foul from worldly mindedness: He that overcomes fhall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he fhall be my fon,' Rev. xxi. 7. Let the world be as nothing, and thou shalt have all things; fit loose to thy relations here, and Chrift will be inftead of all relations; Whofo forfaketh houses, ⚫ or brethren, or fifters, or father, or mother, or wife, a 'children, or lands for my name's fake, fhall receive an hundred fold, and fhall inherit everlasting life,' Matth. xix. 29.

7. Act thy faith upon these promises, Heb. xiii. 5. Rev. iii. 21. Matth. xix. 29. O the fulness and freenels of these precious promifes! How shouldst thou want, that by the promise hast a command (as I may say) of God's own purfe? Let him that is without God in the world, fhift and fharp by his wits, but do thou live by thy faith in reference to these promises.

8. Commend thyself to God in prayer, that he may keep thee faultless before the presence of his glory; that he may incline thy heart unto his teftimonies, and not to covetousness; that he may prepare thy foul, andifpeed his work, and haften his coming, Make hafte my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or a young hart upon the mountain of Spices. He that teftifieth these things, faith, Surely I come quickly, Amen, even fo come Lord Jefus. Jude 24. Pfal. cxix. 36. Cant. viii. 14. Rev. xxi. 20.

9. Look up to heaven, and grow more and more weary of the world. A man that would always live here, is like a fcullion that loveth to lye among the pots; in those bleffed manfions above thou shalt have pure company, and be out of the reach and danger of temptations; there is no

W

devils in heaven, they were caft out long fince, and we are to fill up their vacant rooms and places. The devil, when he was not fit for heaven, he was caft into the world, a fit place for misery, fin and torment: And now this is the devil's walk, He compaffeth the earth to and fro. Oh who would be in love with a place of bondage, with Satan's diocefe! Oh who in this pilgrimage would not often look. upwards and heaven-wards, and mind his home!

10. Go before-hand into that world to come, mind that eternity into which thou must enter, the Lord knows how foon. It is a wonderful thing, that men of reafon that are here to day, and in endless joy or misery to-morthrow, shall ever forget, or should not ever remember fuch unexpreffible concernments. Come, fhake off thy worldly mindednefs, and inftead thereof get this into thy mind, and dwell upon it, within a few days and nights thy foul will be either in heaven or hell, and if in heaven, thou wilt little care for the world then, and why should thy care of it be too exceffive now? Or if in hell, the world will leave thee for its pleasure then, only thy finful care and minding of it, will vex and torment thee everlastingly. O realize this, as if thou wert entring into that other world of fouls! Certainly thou flandeft at the door, thou art daily dying, and even stepping in, there is but a thin veil of flesh betwixt thee and that amazing fight, that eternal gulf, and shall not this wean thee from thy worldlinefs?

11. Think over thy beginning and thy ending. I. For thy beginning, it was of nothing: Methinks I am confidering what and where thou waft some few years ago, what and where thou waft when thy father was born, or when he was a child; if I lay afide an odd trifle of days, if I take away a fhort course of running time, no man or woman now living was alive, and then creeping things, tho' they could but creep, did live and rejoice in a comfortable being; and other little creatures had wings, and were able to fly readily here, there, and here again, up. wards and downwards; and thou (who now goest with fuch a grace, and lookeft fo full-eyed, and buildest fuch Babels in thy imagination) hadst then no kind of being;

1

thefe

thefe churches, these towns, thefe kingdoms, this heap of Kingdoms in the world, were as now we fee them, but thou for thy part waft not so much as heard of, and all because thou waft not; the very fame fun that rifes and fers did. hine,, now red; now pale upon the world, it ran its day's journey;, and conftantly kept its time; fuch birds ́of the fhme colours did fing, and hop from branch- to branch, and by from tree to tree, as now they do, bealls and fishes in the fame diverfity of hapes. followed their everal inflints of nature, the winds blew cold and warm, and warm and cold again; men and women fuch as thou art, did as thou doft; and all this while thou waft not:

wonderful a little while before yesterday thou knewest not that there was a world that there were angels, that there was a God; thou hadst no knowlege, no being, which is the foundation and ground of knowlege: O'think of this beginning! 2. For thy ending, it will be worke han nothing if thou continuest to be a worldling fille Methinks I fee thee lying on thy fick bed, or on thy death bed; ob how pale and wan thou art! thou hadft a fresh and youthful colour the other day; alas! how much art thou changed from the gallant man thou walk? How thy breath labours, how every joint shakes for excels of pain, how every vein trembles, thy eyes fix constantly upon one thing, as if there thou faweft the dreadful fentence of e ternity: Oh how little now do all thy profits and incomes of the world pleasure thee! fuch rich purchase, the faveur of fuch a nobleman, fuch and fuch a merry meeting, what do they help thee in this agony? Thy friends are prefenti yet of themselves they are miferable comforters, human power stands amazed and cannot help thee, and for thyself, thou art fo dull'd and overclouded with the pangs of death, that thou canst not raife from the fog of thy body one clear thought towards God or heaven. 9ee, fee, thou art going, thou ftande ft upon the threshold, death-looks in at yoader corner, and aims at thy heart; there flew the ar row, and now here's a change indeed; thy fouf is gone, but it could not be feen. Verily, verily, here is the mind that hath wisdom, to improve this meditation, fo as to a void the devil's temptation to, worldlinefs, or worldly mindedness. \SECT.