( Z9) 'ofgre~teft price~. and je/teth a/l tha~ he hath lm4 hNyeth. it; c,ven alt the worldly treafures wh1ch you Jo htghly value : Mat.I3. 45, 46. There is m<>re true Riches in this One pearl then in a rhoufand loads of fand or dirt. Ifyou will load your felves with mire and clay conceiting it to be your treafure,your backs will be broken before you .will have enough to make you rich. 0 Sirs, with what eyes:, with 'what hearts do you ufe to read fuch paffages of Chrifl: that fpeak fo plainly toyou,as if h~ named you, and fo piercingly as one would think{hould make you feel, Luke 12. I 9, 20,.2 I. Soul, thou haft mu~h goocls laid up f~r many years; tak.e thine ea{e, eat, drink._, and. be merry: But 'God [i!id to ,him,ThoH fool, this night/hall thy foul be required of. thee ; and then whofe fha/l .thofe things be whieh thou hPijr provided? fo ·u he that layeth up treafure for 'himftlf, ~tnd u not rich towards God.] Would you have Chrifl: fpe'<lk plaimr to to you: or clofelyer apply it, that y<>u may perceive he fpeaks to you ? You · have loll all the Labour of your lives ; but tha.ts not aH. 3· .But furthermore confider, that if the One thing nudfull have been negletted. whatever elfe you have been doing, or whatever you have got, ( unlefs as preparatory to this) you have not only lo{f your labour, but you have all this while · been bujily ~ undoing your fdves, ,nd t.ibowing fo·r your own ' perdition. . · If it were but the lrifs of your Time and Litbour, you would then die but as bruus, and be as if you had never been : and w thofe that have brutified themfelves, this will feem more · tolerable, then tO Jive in holinefs trJ God: But alas , .you have .dol'l.e much worfe.then this ; You have not only been digging your own graHS', but barring up againit your felves the doors of heaven, and kindling.:the unquenchable .fire to torment you i Mar. 9-44· . · I befe<:ch you give me a confiderate hearing; you ambitious Gentlemen, you covetous worldlings; and you that ferve your h:1fis and pleafures ! .Do you ,think you ·had been doing the the work of wifemen, if you had all this while been burning your own fingers, or cutting your own fldh , or fett'.ng )'OUr own or your neighbours houfes on fire ? What would you ha:v.eus .ca\l . tha~ '?an ~ha~ w.oul4 live in fuch imployrpeqts as'· ~ -3~ 3 !t"~~f~i ,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=