47. That no present worldly business should interrupt his pursuit of future blessedness
Another principle by which a Christian should walk, is this: That no present worldly business should interrupt his pursuit of future blessedness.
Solomon says, All the labour of man is for his mouth. Though he says it is so, yet he does not say it should be so. This would not be for a heathen to commence Christian, but for a Christian to become a glutton.
That hawk which follows the world's prey, is in danger of falling into God's snare. Why should I lay out that time in seeking pebbles, which may be better employed in search of jewels? What God bestows on some men as a temporary pension, they embrace as their only portion. Such foolish travellers are so taken up with the inn, as to forget the end of their journey. They may indeed sow this seed, but it will produce nothing but wormwood.
Outward mercies are not so mean as to be totally neglected; nor so great as to be primarily desired. If they be seducements from the mercy-seat, they will prove indictments at the judgment-seat.
I may say of the earth, as a philosopher said of Athens, 'It may serve for a transient lodging, but not for a constant dwelling.' Outward plenty may be a comfortable ship for indigence to sail in; but it is a dangerous rock for confidence to build upon. Give some people the earth in their hands, and they care not who has heaven in his heart.
When Crates threw his gold into the sea, he cried out, Ego perdam te, ne tu perdus me. That is, 'I will destroy you, lest you should destroy me.' Thus, if the world be not put to death here, it will put us to death hereafter. Then we shall say, as Cardinal Wolsey, when discarded by his prince, and abandoned to the fury of his enemies: 'If I had served my God as faithfully as my king, he would not have thus forsaken me.' Poor man, all the perfumes on earth are unable to prevail over the stench of hell.
It would be well for Christians, could they say, as Erasmus: 'I desire riches no more than a feeble beast wishes for a heavy burden.' Cares are bound to crowns. Anxiety disfigures the face of prosperity, and renders it like a crystal glass blown up by impure breath. A body laden with cares, and a soul laden with spiritual fruits, cannot well unite together. Those who die trifling with salvation, will after death tremble under the pains of damnation.
I have heard of a woman who, being busied to save her goods when her house was in flames, forgot her child; but the child being soon after inquired for, she cried out, 'O my child, my child!' Thus will many thoughtless sinners, in a worse fire, cry out, 'O our souls, our souls!' Poor Sisera was not much better for the milk and butter, when he so soon after felt the nail and the hammer.
v 3
Ah! how careful are men of their outward, and how careless about their inward concerns! In a vigorous body there is a vicious soul. The evil disposition of the latter spoils the good composition of the former.
For a man to be attentive to his flesh, and inattentive to his spirit; what is this, but as if a husbandman should gather in his stubble, and leave his corn behind? or as if a goldsmith should weigh his dross, and cast away his gold?
Reader, will you curiously trim your scabbard, and let the costly sword decay with rust? This would be like Jacob, to lay the right hand upon the younger, and the left hand upon the elder. If there be nothing done in your soul on earth, there will be nothing done for it in heaven.
It is truly lamentable that the soul, which received its being from God, should be excluded from a being with God.
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