270 The Evil and ` iareafonablenef Vol. I. I. Let our Saviour's Caution take place with us, let thefe wordsof his fink into our Minds, Take heed and beware of Covetoufnefr. Our Saviour I told you dou- bles the Caution, that we may double our Care. It is a Sin very apt to fleal upon us, and fliely to infinuate it feifinto us under the fpecious pretence of Indullry in our Callings, and a Provident Care ofour Families : But however it may be coloured over, it is a great Evil, dangerous to our felves, and mifchievous to the World. Now to kill this Vice in us, befides the Confiderations before-men- tioned taken from the Evil and Vnreafoieablenefr of it I will urge thefe Three more a. That theThings of this World are uncertain. 2. That our Lives are as uncertain as thefe Things : And, 3. That there is another Life after this. I. The uncertainty of theThingsof this World. This fhould very much cool our Afle&ions toward them, that after all our Care and Diligence for the ob- taining of them ; we are not Cure to enjoy them ; we may be deprived of them by a thoufänd Accidents. This Confideration Solomon urgeth, to take Men off from an over-eager purfuit of thefe Things, Prov. 23. g. Wilt thou fit thine eyes upon that which is not ? for Riches certainly make to themfelves wings, they flie away as an Eagle towards Heaven. After we have fat brooding over an Eflate many! Years, it may all on a fudden, before we are aware,- take wing, and (lye away, like an Eagle towards Heaven, (oaring fuddenly out of our fight, and never to return again. And the fame Argument St. Paul ufeth, to take off Mens Affe&ions from the World, I Cor. 7. 31. becaufe the fafhion of this World path away HaPg e zó Xrluc -r ;eS e os rs 1v. He compares the Things of this World to a Scene, which is pre- fently changed, and vanifheth almoft as foon as it appears. Now feting theft Things are fo uncertain, we fhould take heed' howwe fix our Hearts too much upon them ; we fhould not make love to any thing that is fo Fickle and lncon- ftant as this World is. We fhould be afraid to contra& too near and intimate a Friendfhip with any thing which will forfake us, after we have courted it with fo much importunity, and purchas'd it with fo much pains, and endeavour'd to fe- cure it with fo much Caution and Tendernefs. 2. Our Lives are as uncertain as thefe Things. If our Elates remain with us, we are continually in danger ofbeing removed from them. And (as one Pays) it is Folly to build our hopes upon a Match, where both Parties are fo uncertain and inconftant. Why fhould we place our deareft Affe&ionsuponThings which we are not Cure to enjoy one Moment? Thou Fool, this Night Jhall thy Soul be ta- ken from thee, and then whofe'hall thofe things be ? I remember Seneca tells us a real Story, jol'anfwerable to the RichMan in the Parable, of an Acquaintance of his, who by long and great Indufiry had arrived to a val Eftate; and jul when he began to enjoy it, after one of the firlt good Meals which perhaps heever made in his Life, that very Night his Soul was taken from him, for prefently after Supper he died. In ipfo aEtubene fedentium rerum, in ipfoprocurrentis fortunsi irrspete. In the height of his Profperity, and in thefull career ofhis good Fortune. But if we live to enjoy for any time what we have got, we fhould remember that our Life is but a paffage through the World, and that we are but Pi/grime and Strangers in theWorld, as all our Fathers were, that we have here no abiding place, no continuing City, but are travelling towards our own Country. And why fhould we load our felves whilft we are upon our journey, and cumber our felves with thofe things which will be of no ufe to us there, whether we are going ? But the great wonder of all is, that this Vice fhould fo ftrongly reign, and even grow upon Men inOld Age, and get ftrength, as weaknefs creeps uponus. This very Thought, that we are todie, fhould work in us a great indifferency to- wards the Things of this World. But when Men are convinc'd.they cannot live long, and that every Step they take, they are in danger of (tumbling into the Grave, this one would think fhould wean our Affe&ions from this World ; " and yet ufually none take fo fait hold of it, and embrace it fo kindly as oldMen ; like Friends, who tho' they know they muff leave one another, yet are loth to part. Do we not fee many purfue thefe things with as much eagernefs and ap- petite,
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