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129
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SERMON
XXXVIII
THE
CHRISTIAN's TREASURE.
1
Coe.
iii. 21.
All
things
are
yours.
THERE
is
nothing
that
a
wise
man can
wish
for in
order
to make
him
happy,
but
the gospel
proposes
it
to
encourage
the faith and
practice
of
christians.
What
honour
is
there
to
be
enjoyed among the sons
of
men,
that
is
wont to gratify
our
ambition,
but
the
gospel
as-
sures
us
of
higher
honours than
this,
when
it
makes us
the
sons
of God
?
What
pleasures are there to
be
tasted
in the satisfaction
of
animal
nature,
but
the gospel in-
vites
us
to more refined, and more
lasting pleasures,
which are
to
be
derived
from the love
of God,
and the
company
of our
Saviour with
all his
saints?
What
riches can
be
possessed
or desired
by
the
most covetous
mind,
but the
gospel
proposes a far more extensive,
a
more durable,
and more useful
treasure,
when
it
tells us
in the words
of
my
text, all things
are
yours
?"
The former
discourse has made
it appear
in
what
sense
these
words
are
to be
understood
:
Not that
we
have a
present
possession
of
all things, a
power over
them,
or
a
civil
right
to seize
and
enjoy them
;
but
the
meaning
is
this,
that
so
far
as a
christian can
have
any
thing
to
do with
the things
of
this world,
or
of
another,
things
present, or
to conic,
they shall
all be
made
to
work
together
for
his
real
good.
It
has
been
also
proved in the
Second place,
that
this
inheritance
of
the saints
is
in-
comparably richer, and more valuable
than any
thing
which
sinners can
possess.
I
proceed
now to
the
Third
general proposed, and
that
is,
to
enquire
how
christians come to
be
partakers
of
so
fair and
rich,
a
treasure.
VOL.
I I.
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