Background Image
Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  127 / 514 Next Page
Basic version Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 127 / 514 Next Page
Page Background

SLAM.

VII.

,PALLING

SHORT OF

HEAVEN.

IT$

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

ingenu-

ously

here,

"that

his

concern

about

his

soul,

was

dot a

sick

-bed meditation,

for

he

was

in

health

;

nor

a

melan-

choly

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

to-

gether,

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

ac-

cept

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.

Ist

Remark. How much

good and

evil

maybe

min=

gled 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 glo-

rious composition

of

all

that

was

good.

How has

sin

ruined

human

nature

from its primitive

glory,

and

min-

gled

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 becom-

ing universally

monstrous and loathsome

!

Let

us

take

a

survey

of

the world, and

see

what

a

mix

-

I

4