be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I 'will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," Heb. xiii. That he might beget in us an aversion to this infamous vice, St. Paul tells us, "They that will be rich, fall into temptation and à snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition," 1 Tim. vi. He adds next, "For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows," Col. iii. The same apostle declares, that covetousness is idolatry, and that it shall never inherit the kingdom of God, Eph. v. Therefore 'we ought to follow the wise king's advice, "Labour not to be rich, but forbear from any such design," Prov. xxv. 6. If God please to afflict us with poverty, and to cast ús down into the dust of a mean estate, notwithstanding our continual labours in a lawful calling, let us endeavour to possess our souls with patience. Look upon Christ our Saviour, who for our sakes became poor, although he was rich, that we might be enriched by his poverty. Let us beseech him to grant us the blessed disposition of St. Paul, that we may be able to speak as he did, "I have learned to be content in whatsoever estate I am; "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," Phil. iv. Remember, Christian souls, to settle your treasure in heaven, 'where neither moth nor rust can corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal; labour to be rich in faith, and in good works, that ye may inherit the kingdom that God hath promised to them that love him. 7. But if it hath pleased God to bless thy labours, and his powerful and liberal hand hath raised thee up to great homour, so that thou enjoyest riches in abundance, thou must remem remember to possess them in such a manner, that they may not enslave thee; and, according to St. Paul's advice, thou must remember to enjoy them, as if thou enjoyedst them not, and that the fashion of this world passeth away. We must not trust upon them, nor pride in them. We ought to glory in something else, as God himself exhorts us: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, nor the strong of his strength; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories, glory in that he hath understanding, and knows me, Jer. ix. 8. We must not only take off our hearts and affections from the world and its vanities, trample upon them, and esteem them like dung, in comparison of the unspeakable treasures of heaven; but we must also be ready to leave them at every moment, as so many trifles, vain and perishable things. As we are to possess them without displeasure and fear, so we must part with them without grief or murmuring. Though we should lose in a day all that God hath bestowed upon us in this world, it becomes us to strengthen ourselves with an holy confidence and resolution, saying with Job, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord," Job i. 9. If we happen to part with our goods, honours, and dignities in the service of God, and for the profession of Christ's gospel; in such a case we ought to endure the loss with a Christian patience, and an excessive joy, because that such a loss for a just cause will prove at last to our advantage and glory. This was the practice of the faithful Hebrews, of whom St. Paul renders this testimony, "You have taken joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that you have in heaven a better and more lasting inheritance," Heb. x. Christian souls, represent unto yourselves the example of the prophet Moses, who "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater from this unmerciful grief and torment that it suffers, and from these troubles that are more than human: instead of looking to the inferior causes, and to the circumstances of the death of this beloved person, give me grace to remember, that the least things, as well as the greatest, are governed and ruled by thy wise providence, and that the good and the evil proceed from thy divine appointment. Give me grace to consider, that thou dost hold in thine almighty hand the keys of life and death, and thou alone dost cast us in the grave, and liftest us up from thence again. O Sovereign Monarch of the universal world, who dost not only let Death loose, but also appointest all the circumstances, make me truly submissive unto thy sacred pleasure, and to put, my finger upon my lips, because it is thy doing. If I open them, let it be to adore thy justice, and sing forth thy praises. The person for whom I lament so much, was nearly related to me, like another self, and was also thy creature, thy child, and a member of our Saviour's mystical body. We, for our parts, believe we have the right of disposing of our workmanship, and of that which we have bought with our money and hast not thou, O God, the liberty to dispose of that which thou hast created after thy likeness? bought, not with corruptible things, as with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish? Thou hast a Son, who is the brightness of thy glory, and the express image of thy person, whom thou hast not spared for me: and shall I, Lord, refuse thee my heart and my bowels? Thy only-begotten Son came down upon earth to suffer the most cruel and ignominious death of the cross; but thou hast taken up into heaven the person whom my soul loved, to crown him(or her) with a glorious and ever-happy immortality. Shall his (or her) felicity be the cause of my afflictions? and shall his (or her) rest occasion my displeasure? It is the property of true love to prefer the happiness of the beloved person to our satisfaction; therefore our Saviour told his apostles, If you did love me, : you you would rejoice, because I go to my Father; for my Father is greater than I. Between thee, O great and, living God, and us miserable worms of the earth, there is as vast a difference as there is between the innocent and harmless delights of this world, and the unspeakable pleasures of thy presence: for these are but as drops of water, that are dried up with the least wind; whereas the satisfactions of heaven. are like a bottomless sea of delights, in which we shall swim for ever. Do I therefore weep for him (or her) whose tears thou hast wiped away? Do I wear a mournful apparel, and black scarf, for him who is now covered with a glorious at tire of joy and gladness, who is adorned with an habit as white as snow? Do I delight myself in darkness, and doth he solace himself at the fountain of life and glory? Do I seek a solitary and melancholy retreat, and doth he rejoice amongst the thousands of angels, and the glorious company of immortal spirits? I sigh and groan, and he sings a new song, the song of the blessed, which is always in his mouth. All my complaints and groanings cannot bring him back on earth; but if that were possible, it is not just to attempt it; my kindness would be cruel; and my love must be inhuman. How could I resolve to make him leave the haven of eternal felicity, to expose him again to the furious waves and storms of this troublesome sea of the world; to engage him in fresh encounters, to clothe him with the rags of mortality, to take him out of rivers of pleasures, and bring him back again to a sea of gall and bitterness, and feed him again with the bread of affliction? Can I be so cruel as to wish him out of thine embraces, and the ravishing enjoyment of thy favour and eternal life, to deliver him again into the torments of mortality? The shortness of this life reminds me of my departure after him to the light of the living, where we may again enjoy one another. O Lord, truly wonderful and various in all thy dispensations! it is not only for the advantage of this happy creature, and thy glory, that thou hast taken him into thy rest; but for my good, good, and the instruction of his surviving friends; to put my obedience and faith to the trial, as thou didst the father of the faithful, whose trial was far greater than mine: for thou commandedst him to sacrifice his son with his own hands; but thou requirest from me no other sacrifice, but my submission to thy holy will. I will therefore speak in Eli's language, "It is the Lord, let him do as seemeth good;" or as Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Thou hast taken from me what I highly valued on earth, that I might look up to heaven, whither he is departed from me. me therefore grace to put an end to all these sighs, groans, and tears, and spend no longer my time and my breath lamenting the loss of my beloved object; but that I may employ myself to prepare for my removal out of this earthly tabernacle. Grant that I may imitate the piety, zeal, faith, and constancy, and all other virtues, of such as thou hast admitted into thine eternal rest, and crowned with everlasting joy and happiness. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! Amen. Grant CHAP. X. The Fourth Remedy against the Fears of Death is, to disengage our Hearts from the World. HE children of Israel decamped from the wilderness with a ready mind, and went joyfully over the river Jordan, when God commanded them so to do. The cause of their readiness was an earnest longing for the land of Canaan, and their unsettled condition in the wilderness, having nothing but tents to live in. Death is to us the same, in regard to our heavenly paradise, as the river Jordan was to the children of Israel, in respect to the promised land, Therefore from hence it appears, that the strongest motive |