raiment necessary for us, as angels do not want: but then it is no more allowable for us to turn these necessities into follies, and indulge ourselves in the luxury of food, or the vanities of dress, than it is allowable for angels to act below the dignity of their proper state.For a reasonable life, and a wise use of our proper condition, is as much the duty of all men, as it is the duty of all angels and intelligent beings. These are not speculative flights, or imaginary notions, but are plain and undeniable laws, that are founded in the nature of rational beings, who as such are obliged to live by reason, and glorify God by a continual right use of their several talents and faculties. So that though men are not angels, yet they may know for what ends, and by what rules men are to live and act, by considering the state and perfection of angels. Our blessed Saviour has plainly turned our thoughts this way, by making this petition a constant part of all our prayers, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A plain proof that the obedience of men, is to imitate the obedience of angels, and that rational beings on earth, are to live unto God, as rational beings in heaven live unto him.

When therefore you would represent to your mind, how Christians ought to live unto God, and in what degrees of wisdom and holiness they ought to use the things of this life; you must not look at the world, but you must look up to God and the society of angels, and think what wisdom and holiness is fit to prepare you for such a state of glory; you must look to all the highest precepts of the gospel; you must examine yourself by the spirit of Christ; you must think how the wisest men in the world have lived; you must think how departed souls would live, if they were again to act the short part of human life; you must think what degrees of wisdom and holiness you will wish for, when you are leaving the world.

Now all this is not over-straining the matter, or proposing to ourselves any needless perfection. It is but barely complying with the apostle's advice, where he says, Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and it

there be any praise, think on these things. Phil. iv. 8. For no one can come near the doctrine of this passage, but he that proposes to himself to do every thing in this life as a servant of God, to live by reason in every thing that he does, and to make the wisdom and holiness of the Gospel, the rule and measure of his desiring and using every gift of God.

CHAP. VI.

Containing the great obligations, and the great advantages of making a wise and religious use of our estates and fortunes.

AS the holiness of Christianity consecrates all states and employments of life unto God, as it requires us to aspire after an universal obedience, doing and using every thing as the servants of God, so are we more especially obliged to observe this religious exactness, in the use of our estates and fortunes.

The reason of this would appear very plain, if we were only to consider, that our estate is as much the gift of God, as our eyes, or our hands, and is no more to be buried, or thrown away at pleasure, than we are to put out our eyes, or throw away our limbs, as we please.

But besides this consideration, there are several other great and important reasons, why we should be religiously exact in the use of our estates.

First, Because the manner of using our money, or spending our estate, enters so far into the business of every day, and makes so great a part of our common life, that our common life must be much of the same nature, as our common way of spending our estate. If reason and religion govern us in this, then reason and religion hath got great hold of us; but if humour, pride and fancy, are the measures of our spending our estates, then humour, pride and fancy, will have the direction of the greatest part of our life.

Secondly, Another great reason for devoting all our

estate to right uses, is this, because it is capable of being used to the most excellent purposes, and is so great a means of doing good. If we waste it, we don't waste a trifle, that signifies little, but we waste that, which might be made as eyes to the blind, as a husband to the widow, as a father to the orphan; we waste that, which not only enables us to minister worldly comforts to those who are in distress, but that which might purchase for ourselves everlasting treasures in heaven. So that if we part with our money in foolish ways, we part with a great power of comforting our fellow-creatures, and of making ourselves forever blessed.

If there be nothing so glorious as doing good, if there is nothing that makes us so like to God, then nothing can be so glorious in the use of our money, as to use it all in works of love and goodness, making ourselves friends, fathers, benefactors, to all our fellow-creatures, imitating the divine love, and turning all our power into acts of generosity, care and kindness, to such as are in need of it.

If a man had eyes, and hands, and feet, that he could give to those who wanted them; if he should either lock them up in a chest, or please himself with some needless or ridiculous use of them, instead of giving them to his brethren who were blind and lame, should we not justly reckon him an inhuman wretch? If he should rather choose to amuse himself with furnishing his house with those things, than to entitle himself to an eternal reward, by giving them to those that wanted eyes and hands, might we not justly reckon him mad?

Now money has very much the nature of eyes and feet; if we either lock it up in chests, or waste it in. needless and ridiculous expenses upon ourselves, whilst the poor and the distressed want it for their necessary uses; if we consume it in the ridiculous ornaments of apparel, whilst others are starving in nakedness, we are not far from the cruelty of him that chooses rather to adorn his house with the hands and eyes, than to give them to those that want them. If we choose to indulge ourselves in such expensive enjoyments, as have no real use in them, such as satisfy no real want, rather than to entitle ourselves to an eternal reward, by disposing of

our money well, we are guilty of his madness, that rather chooses to lock up eyes and hands, than to make himself forever blessed, by giving them to those that want them.

For after we have satisfied our own sober and reasonable wants, all the rest of our money is but like spare eyes, or hands; it is something that we cannot keep to ourselves, without being foolish in the use of it, something that can only be used well, by giving it to those who want it.

Thirdly, If we waste our money, we are not only guilty of wasting a talent which God has given us, we are not only guilty of making that useless, which is so powerful a means of doing good, but we do ourselves this farther harm, that we turn this useful talent into a powerful means of corrupting ourselves; because so far as it is spent wrong, so far it is spent in the support of some wrong temper, in gratifying some vain and unreasonable desires, in conforming to those fashions and pride of the world, which, as Christians and reasonable men, we are obliged to renounce.

As wit and fine parts cannot be trifled away and only lost, but will expose those that have them into greater follies, if they are not strictly devoted to piety; so money, if it is not used strictly according to reason and religion, cannot only be trifled away, but it will betray pecple into greater follies, and make them live a more silly and evtravagant life, than they could have done without it. If, therefore, you don't spend your money in doing good to others, you must spend it to the hurt of yourself. You will act like a man that should refuse to give that as a cordial to a sick friend, though he could not drink it himself without inflaming his blood. For this is the case of superfluous money if you give it to those that want it, it is a cordial; if you spend it upon yourself in something that you do not want, it only inflames and disorders your mind, and makes you worse than you would be without it.

Consider again the forementioned comparison; if the man that would not make a right use of spare eyes and hands, should by continually trying to use them himself,

spoil his own eyes and hands, we might justly accuse him of still greater madness.

Now this is truly the case of riches spent upon ourselves in vain and needless expenses; in trying to use them where they have no real use, nor we any real want, we only use them to our great hurt, in creating unreasonable desires, in nourishing ill tempers, in indulging our passions, and supporting a worldly, vain turn of mind. For high eating and drinking, fine clothes, and fine houses, state and equipage, gay pleasures and diversions, do all of them naturally hurt and disorder our hearts; they are the food and nourishment of all the folly and weakness of our nature, and are certain means to make us vain and worldly in our tempers. They are all of them the support of something that ought not to be supported; they are contrary to that sobriety and piety of heart, which relishes divine things; they are like so many weights upon our minds, that make us less able, and less inclined to raise up our thoughts and affections to the things that are above.

So that money thus spent, is not merely wasted or lost, but it is spent to bad purposes, and miserable effects, to the corruption and disorder of our hearts, and to the making us less able to live up to the sublime doctrines of the Gospel. It is but like keeping money from the poor, to buy poison for ourselves.

For so much as is spent in the vanity of dress, may be reckoned so much laid out to fix vanity in our minds.So much as is laid out for idleness and indulgence, may be reckoned so much given to render our hearts dull and sensual. So much as is spent in state and equipage, may be reckoned so much spent to dazzle your own eyes, and render you the idol of your own imagination. And so in every thing, when you go from reasonable wants, you only support some unreasonable temper, some turn of mind, which every good Christian is called upon to re

nounce.

So that on all accounts, whether we consider our fortune as a talent and trust from God, or the great good that it enables us to do, or the great harm that it does to ourselves, if idly spent; on all these great accounts it