136 / 514
128
A
HOPEFUL YOUTH
[SEAM.
vII.
sible
?
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 corne;
1
Tim.
vi. 17, &c.
because
men
are
so
ready
to think
that
a store
6f
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
them-
selves
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 shin-
ing
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
gos-
pel;
and not
many rich,
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