18o The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD toour dear Redeemer, yet the wholewas no more than a piece of hypocrify: for though he ailed himgood, yet he did not believe that he was fent from God, as fufficiently appears from his refuting to obferve . the counfel given him by Jxsus; nor could his artful inftnuations efcape the piercing .eye of the great Saviour of the world ; he well knew his ferret intentions, and beheld the inmofl receffes of his foul ; and accord- ingly rebuked him for his hypocritical addrefs, before he anfwered his quefion ¡kBy calls thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. But as he had defired the advice of our bleffed Saviour, who never refuted it to any of the tons of men, he readily anfwered .his queftion, by telling him, that he muff obferve all the moral precepts of the law ; there being a neceffary conneFion between the duties of _piety towards the Almighty, and of juaice and- temperance towards men, the latter of which were much more difficult to coun- terfeit than the former: If thou wilt enter ,into life, keep the commandments. Hefaith unto hint, Which? JefusPaid, Thou flaalt do no murder, Thou'halt not commit adul- tery, Thou fhalt not Real, Thou fhalt not bear falfe witnefs, Honour thyfather and thy mother; and, Thou /halt love thy neigh- tour as thy/élf. The young manfaith unto hint, All thefe things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Thefe commandments were, 'doubtlefs, underflood by the young ruler, in the vague fenfe put upon them by the doftors and interpreters of the law ; and, therefore, the character he here gave ofhimfelf might be very jufi : for, though he was far from being a perfon of true'probity and virtue, he might have appeared, in the fight of inen as a perfon of a very fair charafer: and having maintained that charaéter, not- withflanding his great riches, he certainly xleferved commendation ; and, therefore, might be loved by that benevolent perfon who left the bofomofhis Father, to redeem lot mankind : but he was, at the Tame time, very faulty with regard to his love of fenfual pleafures, a fin which might have efcaped even his own obfervation, though it could not efcape the all-feeing eye of the Son of God. Our bleffed Saviour, therefore, willing to make him fenfible of this ferret defire ofpoffeffing the riches of this world, told him, that if he aimed at perfeltion, he fhould diftribute his poffef -. ions among the poor and indigent, and become his difciple : Ifthou wilt be perfell, go and fell that thou haft, and give to the poor, and thou /halt have treafure in heaven : and come and followme. The young man did not expea this con- dition, he was aflonifhed at it, and, with- out making the Ieaft reply, retired filled with forrow, being very unwilling to part with his large eaates : But when theyoung manheard that faying, he went away for- rowful: for he had great pofffaons. The pernicious influence of riches over the minds of the children of men, being thus melancholy inlianced, our bleffed Sa- viour cautioned his difciples againft fixing their minds on things of fuch dangerous tendency, by {hewing how very difficult it was for a rich man to procure an habi- tation in the region of eternal happinefs: Verily, I fay unto you, That á rich man {hall hardly enter into the kingdom of hea- ven. _And again Ifay untoyou, It is eafier for a camel to go through the eye ofa needle, than for ,a rich man to enter into the king- dom ofGod. When, his' difciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed,Paying, Who then can be laved? But 7efus beheld them, and faid unto them, With men this is impoble; but with God all things are poffible. By this it appears, that if man be not affifled by the grace of God, it will be impoffible for him to obtain the happy re- wards of the kingdom of heaven ; but, by the affiflance ofgrace, which the Almighty never refufes to thofe who Peek it with theirwhole heart, it is very poffible. But the difciples of our bleffed Lord were far frombeing fatisfied with this an- fwer, as they had, doúbtlefs, often reflefled with
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