The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. in nine volumes (volume 1 of 9)

If we would know the person who was favoured with the love of Jesus, and be acquainted with his character, it is necessary to read the whole narrative, as we find it delivered in this chapter, from the 17th to the 23d verse.

And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18. And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good, there is none good save one, that is God. 19. Thou knowest the commandments; do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. 20. And he answered, and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come take up the cross, and follow me. 22. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved; for he had great possessions. 23. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?

Now if we consult and compare the account which the other evangelists give us of this transaction, we shall find that the person was a young man; Mat. xix. 20. and a ruler among the Jews; Luke xviii. 18. He had some concern upon his mind about his future state, and came to Christ, as to a divine prophet, to enquire the way to heaven: But it is evident he had a vain conceit of his own righteousness, and at the same time he had an excessive love to money; he would fain have been an heir of heaven, but he valued his inheritance on earth much more: He wished for the love of God, but would enjoy and love this world too; and rather than renounce the pleasant things of this life, he would quit his pretences to a life to come; for he went away grieved and full of sadness, at the direction which our Saviour gave him, and would not venture the experiment. He forsook Christ and heaven, having great possessions on earth.

It is necessary to our purpose, to know whether, in the following years of his life, he was brought to repentance and salvation, though it is most likely that he never was; for if he loved his estate and his money, so well in his younger years, that vice probably increased with his age. Besides, he stands in the history of the gospel, as an example of those men, who lose heaven for the love of money. But howsoever it might be afterward, this is certain, that at that time he was in the state of sin and death; which is sufficient to my present design.

From the words of my text, set in this light, and compared with the issue of the whole conversation, between Christ and this young man, we may derive this doctrine:

Doct. Our Saviour had some love for a person that preferred this world to heaven, and neglected his salvation.

In order to improve this thought, we shall consider.

I. What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this young man, and to persons of his character.—II. What was there in him that might attract our Saviour’s love.—III. What remarks may be made upon the sin and folly of a person so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.—IV. Make an address to three sorts of persons, taking the occasion from the character of the person in my text.

First, What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this young man, and how far may he be said to love a person who is void of true grace, and neglects salvation.

Here, I conceive, we are not to look upon our Lord Jesus Christ as acting according to his divinity, but only in his human nature; for it is evident that Christ considered as God, loved him not in that sense in which the love of God is usually taken; for he had plain evidences of a worldly covetous mind, and so could not be the object of special divine complacency: Nor do we find that Christ loved him so well, as to communicate divine grace and salvation to him.

I confess there may be some sort of love attributed to God, with relation to creatures of any kind, which have any thing valuable in them: So God loves all the works of his hands; so he loves the heavens and the earth, and all the pieces of inanimate nature: that is, he approves his own workmanship, the effects of his own wisdom and power. God is also sometimes said to love those to whom he communicates temporal blessings, or makes the offer of eternal ones. So he loved the whole nation of the Jews, though he did not give all of them his saving grace. But still it is much more natural to expound the words of my text concerning Christ as man; for there were some peculiar qualities in this youth, which were suited to attract the love of human nature; such qualities as a wise and perfect man could not but love: It was some such sort of love as our Lord expressed toward the apostle John, in a way of distinction from the rest; upon which account, probably, he was called, the disciple whom Jesus loved; John xiii. 23. Therefore I conceive Christ is here represented as exerting the innocent and kind affections of human nature towards a youth so agreeable and hopeful.

Now this love implies in it these five things:

1. A hearty approbation of those good qualities which Christ beheld in him: For he being perfect and wise, cannot but approve that which is excellent. He had a sharp eye, and great sagacity of nature: With a ready penetration he could discern what was valuable; and must necessarily have a just esteem for every thing wherein his Father’s wisdom and power did eminently appear. Whatsoever God created at first, was good; Gen. i. 31. And whatsoever remains of that good workmanship of God, Christ, the Son of God, approved still, so far as it was untainted with sin, and considered in itself, abstracted from the criminal qualities that might attend it.

2. This love of Christ to the young man, implies a complacency in his person; a sort of human delight in a fellow-creature that had several excellent properties; though the love of God, and powerful religion, were wanting. If I read a book that has much good sense in it, and where the reasonings are well connected, I cannot but have a delight in reading, though the subject itself may be trifling, or the theme disagreeable. If I hear an oration well composed, with many ingenious turns of thought and pathetic expressions; and all these pronounced with the various decencies of speech and gesture, I take pleasure in the performance, and may love the orator, though he insist upon sentiments quite contrary to my own. So I may be pleased with the learned conversation of a knowing and well-tempered man, and love him so far, though he may be my enemy, and perhaps, in his heart, an enemy to God too; for such was this young man, an idolater of gold, and therefore an enemy to God; Jam. iv. 4. concerning whom it is written, that Jesus loved him.

3. Some natural good-wishes for his welfare are implied in this love. There is in every wise and good man, a hearty desire of the happiness of his fellow-creatures, he loves them all in this sense, even the foolish and the wicked. Human nature that has any goodness in it, is ready to wish well to any person, though he be an utter stranger, and unknown; especially if he has some agreeable qualities. There may be an innocent inclination to see all men happy, though we know this shall not be brought to pass; for the word of God declares that most part of men walk in the broad-way, and shall go down to hell. You know how passionately St. Paul longed for the salvation of all his country-men the Jews. This is called a love of benevolence; and it is evident by the following particulars, that the Lord expressed this good-will towards the young man in my text.

4. A conferring of actual benefit or kindness, is implied in the love of Christ towards this youth; for he stood still and entertained him with friendly discourse: He endeavoured by proper methods to convince him of sin; he gave him directions what he should do to obtain treasure in heaven; he called him to be his disciple and follower; and gave him a promise of everlasting riches, if he would have complied with his proposal. This is called a love of beneficence: And this our Lord Jesus practised abundantly, even to those whom he did not savingly enlighten and convert by his gospel; for it was his character, that he went about doing good; Acts x. 38.

5. This love of Christ includes in it compassion for the young man, and some degree of sorrow to think that he should miss of heaven; that he should be so hardened in self-confidence, so puft up with a conceit of his own righteousness, and so hard to be convinced of his weakness and guilt, as to stand to it boldly, that he had kept all the commandments of God: and at last, that he should be so entangled with a love to money, as to despise the treasures of heaven, and to let Christ and salvation go. Such a mournful pity did our Lord express to Jerusalem, in the days of his flesh; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Luke xiii. 34. And he mingled the tears of love and sorrow when he came near the gates: for the same evangelist tells us, that he beheld the city and wept over it, with this melting language, If thou hadst know, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace; but now they are hid from thine eyes; Luke xix. 41, 42.

When we behold a noble palace, a well-contrived garden, a piece of painting of uncommon art: “It is pity, we cry, that such a building should be reduced to ashes, such a garden over-spread with desolation and disorder, or such a picture be all defaced.” We have a sort of pity for these inanimate beauties, and we are ready to mourn their danger or ruin. And the passion is innocent and becoming: But the grief and the love rise higher still, when we see a living soul, a fellow-creature of our own rank, a man or woman dressed in agreeable accomplishments, and yet making haste to wilful destruction. Such love and such grief are comely for a wise and good man, and they became our Saviour well. Blessed Saviour! that ever thy love should lay itself out on such objects, as would awaken thy grief, and give thee so painful a compassion! But this was only in the days of his flesh: He pities mankind now under their various wretchedness and folly, yet we cannot suppose his present exaltation and blessedness does indulge real sorrow, or admit any smarting affliction; though in his humble state on earth, his human love expressed itself agreeably in such mournful compassion and tenderness.

II. We come to consider, what there was in this person that might attract our Saviour’s love.

1. He had probably some natural qualifications which were agreeable and pleasing. His youth is expressed; Mat. xix. 20. A young man, in the prime of his days, in the force and flower of his age, the beauty and vigour of his nature: And it is very likely, that he might be of a comely figure and ingenuous countenance; for it is said, our Saviour beholding him, loved him. He fixed his eyes, and probably saw something in him delightful in his very aspect and appearance, which might partly induce him to those various expressions of love before-mentioned, and to pity so lovely a youth, who was enslaved to riches, and bound to destruction in fetters of gold.

2. He had a courteous and obliging carriage, which appears in several instances; viz. he kneeled before our Lord, and paid him great respect with the gesture of his body; he saluted him, good Master! which our Lord did not reprove, when he said, there is none good but God; but put him to the trial, whether he would own him to be God or no. He acknowledged Christ as his superior, though he was so much a stranger to him, and so much a poorer man than himself. By his whole deportment we find him a person of great civility; he knew how to pay the honours of his country well, to give titles to whom titles are due, and to do these things gracefully. A courteous, humble, and decent behaviour, without affectation or flattery, is so far from being reproved by Christ, that not only, in this place, our Lord seems to be pleased with it, but in many places of the New Testament, it is recommended to make christianity amiable: It is pleasing to human nature, and cannot but gain love and esteem with all wise and virtuous persons.

3. He was religiously educated even from his childhood, and had grown up in sobriety, perhaps, from his very cradle; for he was but a young man when he came to our Lord, and yet he says, concerning the commandments of moral duty, I have kept them all from my youth. He sprung surely from good parents; he had such instructions from them, and they such a jealous and watchful eye over him, that he was kept from gross sins, and was brought up in all the forms of godliness, and in the observance of the moral law. Now Christ, considered merely as a man, loved the law of God so well, that he could not but take pleasure in a person that performed it, so far as that obedience reached. Virtue, in the mere outward part of it, will command respect even from the vile and the wicked: much more will the good and pious man pay honour to the practice of it. There is something amiable in sobriety, temperance, charity, justice, truth, and sincerity, though they may not proceed from the divinest principle of love to God rooted in the heart.

4. He had given some diligence in seeking after eternal life, and had a great concern about his soul. He came running to ask a question of the biggest importance, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? He was convinced there was a heaven and a hell, and he was willing to do something here to obtain happiness hereafter. He did not come with a design to put curious and ensnaring questions, as the Sadducees did; Mat. xxii. 23. but he seems to have an honest design to know the way to heaven and happiness, for he went away sorrowful when he could not comply with the demands of Christ. Though he thought he had practised a great deal of religion, yet he was willing to receive further instructions; What lack I yet? Is there any other precept to be performed, in order to entitle me to life eternal? Now our Saviour loves to see conscience awakened, to see the springs of religion opened and beginning to flow: A divine teacher conceives some hope of a man that is willing to be taught, and ready to learn, and therefore he loves him. This youth thought himself righteous, yet he did not think himself all-wise; and therefore submits to farther instructions. Now it is a pleasure to communicate knowledge to those that long to receive it; and we pity them heartily when they do not comply with the necessary duties that are revealed to them, through the charms of some strong temptation.

5. Add to all this, that he had many civil advantages by reason of his riches, his authority, and his power. He was wealthy, and he was a ruler among the people; which things, though they cannot in themselves make any person amiable, yet when they are added to the former good qualities, they render them all more lovely and more valuable; and that because they are so seldom joined together. Dr. Goodman remarks very ingeniously here, “that his concern about his soul, was not a sick-bed meditation, for he was in health; nor a melancholy qualm of old age, for he was young: nor was it the effect of his being discontented and out of humour with the world, for he was rich and prosperous.” It is seldom that we see a man in the prime of his days, possessing large treasures and dominions in this world, that will seek after the things of another; or that will shew due respect to his fellow-creatures, or practise so much as the form of godliness: that when all these meet together, as they did in this young man, they conspire to make him lovely in the eyes of every beholder. But alas! this unhappy youth, furnished, as he was with all these virtues, and these advantages, which our Lord beheld in him, and for which he loved him, yet he lost heaven for the love of this world. He refused to accept the proposals of Christ; he went away sorrowful, for he had large possessions. And this naturally leads me to the third head.

[If this sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

III. Some remarks upon this mixed character; upon the folly, the guilt, and misery of a man so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.

1st Remark. How much good and evil may be mingled in the same person? what lovely qualities were found in this young man! and yet there was found in him a carnal mind in love with this world, and in a state of secret enmity to God. Our nature at first was a glorious composition of all that was good. How has sin ruined human nature from its primitive glory, and mingled a large measure of evil in its very frame! and yet how has restraining grace kept our nature from losing every thing that is good and valuable, and from becoming universally monstrous and loathsome!

Let us take a survey of the world, and see what a mixture there is of amiable and hateful qualities amongst the children of men. There is beauty and comeliness; there is vigour and vivacity; there is good-humour and compassion; there is wit and judgment, and industry, even amongst those that are profligate and abandoned to many vices. There is sobriety, and love, and honesty, and justice, and decency amongst men that know not God, and believe not the gospel of our Lord Jesus. There are very few of the sons and daughters of Adam, but are possessed of something good and agreeable, either by nature or acquirement; therefore, when there is a necessary occasion to mention the vices of any man, I should not speak evil of him in the gross, nor heap reproaches on him by wholesale. It is very disingenuous to talk scandal in superlatives, as though every man who was a sinner, was a perfect villain, the very worst of men, all over hateful and abominable.

How sharply should our own thoughts reprove us, when we give our pride and malice a loose, to ravage over all the character of our neighbours, and deny all that is good concerning them, because they have something in them that is criminal and worthy of blame! Thus our judgment is abused by our passions; and sometimes this folly reigns in us to such a degree that we can hardly allow a man to be wise or ingenious, to have a grain of good sense, or good humour, that is not of our profession, or our party, in matters of church or state. Let us look back upon our conduct, and blush to think that we should indulge such prejudices, such a sinful partiality.

2d Remark. A man that has not true grace, nor holiness, may be the just object of our love: for we find several instances and several degrees of love were paid by Christ, the wisest and best of men, to a youth of a covetous and carnal temper! one who preferred earth to heaven, and valued his present possessions above those eternal treasures that Christ had promised him.

I confess, under the Old Testament, in the cxxxix. Psalm, ver. 21, 22. David appeals to God, do not I hate them, that hate thee? and adds, I hate them with a perfect hatred. But this need not be construed to signify any malice in his heart against them, as a private person; but his design to fight against them, and suppress them, as a soldier, and a king, because they appeared publicly against God; for he adds, I am grieved at those that rise up against thee, I count them mine enemies. Besides, these persons were of so abandoned a character, that they seem to have had nothing good in them; and he might justly hate them, considered merely as sinners, in the same sense that we must hate ourselves, so far as we are sinful. I might add to all this, that they were cruel and bloody with regard to men, and they spoke wickedly against God, and were God’s professed enemies, ver. 19. and 20. After all, it was much more allowable in David the Jew in the heat of his zeal, to talk thus, than it can be for us, christians; while we read the words of our Saviour, Mat. v. 43, 44, 45. We have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust: While we consider also in what a divine manner our Lord Jesus has exemplified his own precept, and has loved many of his enemies, so as to die for them; and manifested so much natural affection, even for the young sinner in my text, because there were some good qualities found in him.

I will not say therefore within myself concerning any man, “I hate him utterly, and abhor him in all respects, because he has not true holiness:” but I will look upon him, and consider whether there may not be some accomplishment in him, some moral virtue, some valuable talent, some natural or acquired excellency; and I will not neglect to pay due esteem to every deserving quality, wheresoever I find it. It is a piece of honour due to God our Creator, to observe the various signatures of his wisdom, that he has impressed upon his creatures, and the overflowing treasures of his goodness, which he has distributed among the works of his hands.

Thus I may very justly love a man, for whom, in the vulgar sense, I have no charity; that is, such a one as I believe to be in a state of sin and death, and have no present hope of his salvation. How could holy parents fulfil their duties of affection to their wicked children? or pious children pay due respect to sinful parents? How could a believer fulfil the law of love to an unbelieving brother, or a dearer relative, if we ought to admit of no love to persons that are in a state of enmity to God? How can we be followers of God as dear children, if we are not kind to the unthankful, and to the evil; Luke vi. 37. To those who have nothing of serious religion in them; Gal. vi. 10. “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.”

As God has a peculiar love for his own children, for those who are renewed, and sanctified, and formed into his likeness; so ought we to love all the saints with a peculiar kind of affection, and take special delight in them, we should express a love of intimate fellowship unto them; a love of divine friendship, of spiritual pleasure, and hearty communion; rejoicing together with them in God our common Father, in Christ Jesus our common Head, and in the hope of our common Salvation; and we should ever be ready, in the first place, to assist and support them, and supply their wants according to the calls of providence. But sinners also must have some share in our love.

3d Remark. How different is the special love of God, from the natural love of man! God seeth not as man seeth; he appoints not persons to eternal life, because of some agreeable accomplishments which they possess in this life. Jesus Christ himself, considered as God, did not bestow his special and saving love upon that young Israelite, whom, as man, he could not help loving. So Samuel was sent to chuse a king for the Jews, among the sons of Jesse; 1 Sam. xvi. 6. When he saw Eliab appear, he looked on him, and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him; but the Lord said to Samuel, ver. 7. Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.” Old Jesse, it may be, was ready to look upon his eldest son too, being pleased with his tall and comely figure, and to say within himself, “It is a pity that Eliab was not made a king.” But David was God’s beloved.

If the question were put to us, Who are the persons that are fit to stand in the court of God above, to be the inhabitants and ornaments of heaven? We should be ready to say, the beautiful and the ingenious, the souls of a sweet disposition, and the persons of graceful behaviour. We are tempted to think that the well-born, the wise, the affable, and the well-accomplished, should all be made saints, and the favourites of God; but he sees with other eyes, he determines his special love by other principles, and makes another sort of distinction by his sovereign saving grace, unguided and unallured by the merit of man. 1 Cor. i. 26, 27, 28, 29. “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen: yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.”

What would become of the morose, the rough natural tempers, if God loved none but such as were lovely in our eyes? What would become of all the deformed and the most uncomely pieces of human nature; the clownish, and the weak, and base things of this world, if God should chuse none but the fair, and the well-bred, the well-figured, and the honourable? If this were the rule of his conduct, what dismal distinction would light upon thousands, and some good men too, who must wear in their faces, in this world, the dreadful sentence of their damnation in the next? But the great and sovereign God acts by other measures; he lays down to himself divine rules, that are to us unknown, and must be for ever unsearchable.

Some, who are endowed with native excellencies, he adorns with heavenly graces, and they shine as jewels set in rings of gold: Others, who have scarce any thing in them amiable by nature, are the objects of divine love, and made vessels of grace; though these do never make so charming an appearance among men. Moses the meek and obliging, Jonah the rough and the peevish, were both beloved of God; for he made saints and prophets of them. Abraham the rich, and Sarah the beautiful; Peter the poor fisherman, and Paul the man of mean aspect, and contemptible figure; were all beloved of God, and made heirs of eternal Life. The conduct of the great God, in this matter, is so various, and his reasons so sublime and impenetrable, that it is in vain for us to attempt to trace out his rules of action.

Sometimes he chuses a man of great intellectual powers, and sets an invisible mark of divine love upon him: At another time he takes pleasure to pour contempt on all the pride of human reason, by chusing a foolish man, and making him an humble believer. Sometimes he exalts the man of natural virtue into a saint; and again, he spreads shame and confusion over all our own pretended righteousnesses and vain confidence, by culling out, here and there, a profane wretch, and converting him to faith and holiness, and in the mean time he leaves some that are sober, and have many human virtues, and good appearances, to perish with the Pharisee and the hypocrite for ever, in their pride and self-righteousness. Jesus, the Man, looked upon this pretty youth that was well-born, sober, and virtuous, and he loved him; but the eternal God chose him not for a saint, for he suffered him to run madding after his many possessions, and to despise heaven. Here it becomes us to be silent and adore. O the depths of divine counsel! O the awful and glorious sovereignty of the grace of God, that could pass by so desirable a person, whom the man Jesus could not look upon without pity and love! How unsearchable are his ways, and his judgments past finding out; Rom. xi. 33.

Now though this be a very painful and tremendous meditation, yet there is an excellent use to be made of it. No man should despair of salvation, and the love of God, how mean and despicable soever his appearance be among men, or how remote soever from all that we call lovely. Let him forsake all sin and be happy for ever. Nor should the most amiable of creatures, in the natural or civil world, flatter themselves that they are upon that account beloved of God, and shall certainly be partakers of eternal blessings in the world of glory. Let them follow Christ, and be saved.

But I would dwell upon this last thought a little, and therefore I shall propose my fourth remark in this manner.

4th Remark. Many lovely accomplishments, joined together, will not carry a natural man to heaven. The finest composition of beauty and youth, strength and riches, and all this embellished with many forms of godliness, and some shining outward virtues, will not obtain eternal life. The man that is thus qualified and adorned, if he prefers earth to heaven, and loves the possessions of this world, above spiritual treasures, abides in a state of condemnation and death. Grace is not a flower that grows in the field of nature, nor is it made by the heart of man: it is a divine seed; it is planted in our hearts by the Spirit of God; John i. 13. The saints are born not of blood; that is, by natural generation; nor of the will of the flesh, that is, by our own powers of nature; nor of the will of man; that is, by the influence that others have over us; but of God.

A man may set himself to work awhile for the good of his soul, and yet may miss of salvation: Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; Mat. vii. 14. And many which seek to enter in, shall not be able; Luke xiii. 24, They seek, but not with all their might: they are not willing to forsake all for heaven, and therefore they obtain it not: they seek, perhaps, with diligence for a season, and give out before they have attained; they tire, and grow weary, and lose the prize: they seek, but not in God’s appointed way, and according to the rules of the gospel; and no wonder if their labour be vain; for he that striveth is not crowned, except he strive lawfully; 2 Tim. ii. 5. And this was the case of the rich young man; he sought eternal life, but not with all his soul, for he could not take up his cross and follow Christ; he sought the kingdom of God for a season; but when he came to the hard work of self-denial, he would not venture into that thorny path, but turned back, and went away sorrowful. He sought justification and peace with God, but not in a right way; for being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish his own, he fell short of the righteousness of God, and attained it not; Rom. x. 3. He loved heaven well, but he loved this earth better: he chose his portion and happiness in this world, and lost his soul.

The eye of God, our Judge, is sharp and severe; he sees the hidden vices of the mind, through all the fairest veils of nature, and the brightest dress of outward virtue. We may cheat others with the disguises of religion, and allure the love of the best of christians: we may cheat ourselves by these fair appearances, and entertain a fond opinion of our own saintship; but the great God can never be imposed upon at this rate. He knows well what is lovely and excellent in his creatures; but when he seats himself upon his throne of judgment, all their shining ornaments of body and mind are blemished, are darkened, are lost in his eyes, if he discovers a secret love to sin in the heart. Where the love of this world prevails, it over-balances all other good qualities, though ever so valuable in themselves, and though they may create love in every beholder, yet the love of God is not to be purchased, nor persuaded, contrary to his own settled and eternal rules of judgment. If any man love this world, the love of the Father is not in him; 1 John ii. 15. nor does the Father love him. The prince of devils has many noble endowments, and intellectual glories; the natural powers of an angel remained still with him; but his inward enmity to God, confines him for ever to hell: and in the sense of the apostle James, Whosoever will be a friend to the world, is the enemy of God; James iv. 4, though in many other excellencies he might be a fellow for angels.

Wise and happy is that soul who fears to build his hopes of heaven upon the sand, upon a shining but feeble foundation. Wise and happy is he who does not mistake the glories of nature for divine grace; who does not satisfy himself to seek a little after heaven, but resolves to find it, and parts with all for the knowledge and the love of Christ. While others, who pretend to much wisdom, raise their vain expectations of happiness, upon a few natural accomplishments, and devout wishes, this man pursues the work upon diviner principles, and brings it to perfection: and when others, at the great day of decision, meet with shame and terrible disappointment, he shall be applauded, in the face of angels, as the only wise man, and shall find himself for ever happy.

The 5th, and last remark, is this; how dangerous a snare is great riches! They become a sore temptation (even to persons well-inclined) to tie their souls fast to this world, and persuade them to neglect God, and Christ, and heaven. This was the case of the young man in my text; he went away from our Lord melancholy and grieved, that he could not join Christ and the world together: he had great possessions, and therefore he refused to be a follower of Christ, under the poor and mean circumstances of his appearance among men; see verses 22, 23. And our Lord himself makes this same remark, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God? that is, as he explains it in the following verse, because it is so hard, for those who possess great riches, not to love them too well, and to trust in them as their chief good.

How many lovely qualities are here spoiled at once, by the love of this world! and a man that was not far from the kingdom of God, divided from Christ, and driven to a fatal distance from heaven, by this dangerous interposing snare! A wretched chain, though it was a golden one, that withheld his soul from the embraces of his Saviour. He was young, he was modest and humble, he had a desire to be saved, and he went far in the outward forms of godliness; all these commands, said he, have I kept from my youth, or childhood; and he had a mind to follow Christ too: But Jesus was poor, and his followers must take up their cross, and share in his poverty. This was the parting point; this was the bar to his salvation; he was almost a christian, but his riches prevented him from being altogether so. O fatal wealth, and foolish possessor!

It became our blessed Lord, the heir of all things to divest himself of wealth and grandeur, and to renounce all the pomp and glittering equipage of this world, when he came to introduce a religion so spiritual and so refined, as the gospel was: and it became him to put such a test as this to such as pretended to be his disciples; whether they durst venture to exchange the present world, and the visible enjoyments of it, for glories future and invisible? It was proper he should try whether they could deny themselves, and become poor for his sake, who made himself poor for their sakes, and promised them unknown treasures in heaven. But the test proved too severe, and the gate too strait for this young man, with all the bulk of his estate to enter in at it.

Well might the apostle teach Timothy, the young preacher, to charge them that are rich in this world, not to trust in uncertain riches, but to do good to the poor, to distribute, to the needy, that they might lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come; 1 Tim. vi. 17, &c. because men are so ready to think that a store of gold is a good foundation to trust in for happiness here, and forget hereafter. Well might he admonish them to lay hold on eternal life, because they are so ready to hold their money fast, though they let eternal life go. They that have much, are often greedy of more, and thereby fall into temptations and snares, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, that drown men in perdition: for the love of money is the root of all evil; which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, have forsaken Christ, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows; ver. 9, 10.

Shall I take occasion here to put the rich in mind of their danger, and intreat them to watch against the shining allurement that besets them around? Have a care lest your eyes be dazzled with this glittering world, and blinded to the gospel of Christ: and shall I comfort the poor, by telling them their privilege, how much more free they are from this golden snare? You have been used to meanness and poverty, therefore we may hope that the plainness and simplicity of the gospel will not offend you: that the doctrine of the cross, and the poverty of the Man of Nazareth, who hung upon it for your sakes, will not be a scandal to your thoughts, nor a bar to your faith. In the days of Christ, the poor received the gospel; and not many rich, and not many mighty, have in any age been the followers of a despised Jesus.

O may the rich in this assembly be led by divine grace to break through all their temptations, and attend their Saviour, though his name, and his disciples here on earth be surrounded with all the forms of contempt and poverty! And may the meaner hearers improve their advantage, and take up their cross, and follow their Lord, till they are all joined to the glorious assembly above, and made possessors of everlasting riches! Amen.