OF GOD-REDEEMER. 285 lieveth that there is a losing of life which saves it, and a savingof it which certainly loseth it ; Matt: x. 39. and xvi. 25. 0 that I could reach the hearts of self-seekers, that spend their care and time for their bodies, and live not unto God ! That I were bun able to make them see the issue of theircourse, and what it would profit them to "win all the world and lose their own ,souls." 0, all you busy men of this world, hearken to the proclamation of him that bought you " Ho, every one, that thirsteth, come' ye to the waters! Buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you speed money fox that which is not bread, and your labór for that which sat+isfieth' not ? Hearken dil- igently to me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul de- light itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me : hear, and your soul shall live,' and I will make an everlasting covenant with you ; " Isaiah 1v. I-3. O, sirs, what a deal of care' and labor do you lose ! How much more gainfully might your lives be improved ? Godliness with contentment " is the great gain ; " 1 Tim. vi. 9, That which you now think you make your own, will shortly prove to be least your own ; and that is most lost which youso carefully labor for. You that are now so idly busy in gath- ering together the treasure of an ant-hillock,- and building chil- dren's tottering piles, do you forget that the foot ofdeath -is coming to spurn it all abroad, and tread down you and it together ? You spend the day of life and visitation in painting your phantásies with the images of felicity, and in dressing yourselves, and feathering your nest with 4hat which you impiously steal from God ; and do you forget that' the night of blackness is at- hand, when God will undress you of your temporary contents, and deplume you of all your borrowed bravery? How easily, how speedily, how certainly will he do it ! Read over your case in Luke xii, 16-22. How can you make shift to read such texts, and not perceive that they speak to you? When you are pulling down and building up, and contriving what to do with your fruits, and saying to yourselves, "I have so much now as may serve me so many years ; I will take mine ease, eat, drink, and be -merry ;' remember,, then, the con- clusion ; but God said unto him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. . Then 'whose shall these things- be which thou hast provided ?" So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. ' Are these things yours or mine? (saith God.) Whose are they? If they are yours, keep them now if you can: either stay with them, or take them with you.' But God, will make you know that they are hit, and dis- robe such men as thieves, who are adorned with that which is none of their own. This honor (saith God) is mine; thouhast sto- len it from me : this wealth is, mine this life, and all is mine
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