CHAPTER XXI.

GENERAL EXHORTATION.

I SHALL now bring this treatise to a close, by a brief and serious appeal to several classes of persons. O that I could prevail with all to seek as their own the treasure which has been so largely opened! Methinks it should be an easy thing to persuade men to embrace a treasure; and yet how hard is it to engage them to look after a treasure for their souls! I know well what a besotted thing the carnal heart is, and how madly it fights against its own interests, and repels the grace that would confer on it eternal blessings.

One would think that they who are poor in this world would the more readily give heed to a treasure for the next. Let me beseech such to reflect on their condition and their prospects, and to let thoughts like these find place in their minds. God has placed me in a state of poverty and privation, and I work hard for a bare subsistence. I toil and drudge night and day, and yet can scarcely obtain

arse clothing and food for myself and family. I ad hoped to have got something beforehand; but

I see it is in vain; times are hard; one expectation fails me after another; and I despair of materially improving my circumstances. The world is like a shadow-the more I pursue it, the further it flies from me. And have I so long been following that which I cannot overtake, and which, if I should overtake it, can do me little good, and may do me much harm? And have I, in the mean time, neglected my immortal soul, and the attainment of that only treasure which can make it rich and happy? These spiritual goods are the best that can be gained, and these may be gained, even if temporal ones are beyond my reach. And shall I, then, not only be poor in this world, but poor to all eternity? Must I live in misery. here, and then pass to greater torment hereafter? O why should I be thus doubly destitute-destitute of a portion on earth, and destitute of a portion in heaven? Let me rather seek to be poor in spirit, that I may be heir to possessions better than any which this transitory world can afford. If I want bread for my body, Lord, evermore give me the bread of life for my soul, the garments of Christ's righteousness to cover my nakedness, and fine gold that I may be rich. If the meanness of my condition separates me from my neighbor, let me, Lord, be united to Thee. If I am despised by men, let my soul be owned by its Maker and Re

deemer. And although I have not a foot of land, or a house of mine own in this world, yet give me, O give me a right to the mansions above, that at death I may enter upon the inheritance of the saints in light. Let me exhort those whose worldly circumstances are straitened, thus to reason and thus to act. If you cannot get earth, make sure of heaven, and then you have a provision ample for ail emergencies, both in this life and in that which is to come. Keep up this trade of religion, when other trades decay. Live by faith; seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you; or, if any are withheld, divine grace will enable you to bear their loss, and will even render it a means of increasing your eternal riches.

Let rich men also look after a treasure above. I know well how difficult it is to persuade such as have large possessions on earth, to take any pains about an interest in heaven. It is impossible for them that trust in riches to be saved; and most rich men do trust in their riches. How apt are such to please and soothe themselves on account of their large estates! When the poor reproach them for their grinding oppressions and extortions, or when the message of God is brought home to them by some faithful minister, how ready are they to say, "Why should we care for the complaints of these

starving beggars, or the invectives of these meddling priests? We have need of nothing, and fear no man. It is a hard world, and every one must take care of himself. God has been pleased to bless us with property; we regard this as a token of His special favor, and have no doubt of its being well with us at last." Such thoughts are often working in rich men's breasts. The God of heaven knows the secret self-flatteries to which you cling; but they will all be found vain and delusive when the day of trial shall come. When the hour of death arrives, and your naked and unfurnished souls are about to launch into eternity, what good will your full coffers do you? What will you be the better for all the thousands which you have hoarded so anxiously? They may provide for you a splendid couch on which to die, a gorgeous sepulchre for your body, and a lying epitaph for your memory; but they cannot purchase a passport for your guilty spirit into the bliss of immortality. A rich sinner once exclaimed on his deathbed, "Ten thousand pounds for a good conscience !" But, alas, pardon and heaven cannot be bought with money. Peace and purity of conscience are

valued at a far higher rate. price of a Saviour's blood;

They cost the infinite and are not purchased,

but freely given by God, in His own way, and in His own time. He was a fool that pleased him

self with the conceit of satisfying his soul with full bags, and furnished houses, and fruitful fields. What are these as a portion for the immortal soul, which is spiritual in its nature, and can be filled only with spiritual supplies? No, no; riches profit not in the day of wrath. You cannot stop the mouth of conscience in the pangs of death with a little worldly trash. Try the efficacy of wealth in smaller things, and see whether it will remove pain, or ward off sickness and bereavement. You know it cannot. How, then, can it content, or sanctify, or save the soul? A time is coming when the careless and greedy worldling would be glad to exchange earth for heaven, and to give up all his rare commodities in order to attain salvation. But he who has made the world his God, will have no God to sustain him when he leaves the world. He who has spent his strength and time to compass his worldly ends, will, in the upshot, have only his labor for his pains. O how little will he have gained, "when God taketh away his soul!" Nay, these very treasures, for the acquisition of which he has bartered his eternal welfare, shall rise up in the judgment against him. "Your gold and silver," says the apostle James," is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." O