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VIE
CH1tIST1AN'S
TItE.[SIIRFñ
rSERM.
1C71Z7'f.
may
be
stripped
of
all
earthly
possessions,
but the
loss
of
Ids
temporal
estate
shall
turn to
his
real
benefit,
as
well
as
the possession
of it.
Losses
and
crosses, as
well
as
plenty
and
peace,
are numbered among the
items of his
inventory, and make up
his
treasure
;
so
that
though
the
outward
scenes
of things
on
earth are perpetually
chang-
ing
his real
and everlasting
treasure
is
the
same: for
all
things
that appear
in
nature,
that
occur in present provi-
dence,
or
shall arise in
future
ages,
shall work
for
his
ad-
vantage
:
He
may
lose money
or lands as
well as
a
sin-
ner
;
but
that
very
loss
shall
turn
to
':pis
gain.
This
sort,
of treasure he cannot
be dispossessed
of
by
death
itself,
for when he
quits
his
visible
interest
in
all
things in
this lower
world,
he
enters into a
new
world
of
spirits,
which he
has
never seen:
and yet
all
things
in
that
world are his too
:.
All things in those
unknown
re-
gions,.
where the
departing spirit
goes,
are made
over
to
the
saint,
by
the
saine covenant as
the
things
of
this
world
;
they shall all
administer
some
divine profit
to
him,
and
be
a
part
of
his
happiness in
the
world to come.
III.
This treasure
of
a
christian
is
ever growing,
at
least in
the
possession
for the occurrences of
every
day
make
some
addition
to
it;
whereas
the
wealth
of
sinners
is impaired
with using.
The
largest earthly estate may
be wasted:
Money decreases
daily by
procuring the
.
supports of
life
;
but a christian's treasure
still
improves..
IIe
lives
upon
it
every
day, and
yet
it
grows still.
The
providences
of
God
here
on
earth, present
us
daily
with some new affairs, new
occurrence§
:
Wheth
they
be pleasant or
painful, still
the spiritual man
finds
his
interest
in
them; and
when he reviews his
4ccount
in,
the
evening,
if
his
heart
has
been
in
a
proper
frame,
be
may write himself
gainer. He
has possessed
and en-
joyed
all
the
crosses
and
sorrows
of
his
former
days
:
He
has
treasured
up
a store
of
divine experiences,
in the
midst
of
plenty and
want,
health and sickness:
New
scenes
of
life
arise,
new
appearances
of
things
;
he
is
still like
the
bee,
ready
to
suck honey from every flower
that
blows
:
He gathers
his food
and
his
riches
from
weeds
that
are unsavoury,
as well as
from
the
blossoms
.
of
pexfume
ti
If
he
is
by
this means adding
daily to the
number
and
strength
of
his
graces and
virtues)
he
is,
as
it
were, treasuring
up
a
good
foundation
for
time
to
coma