alth, riches and
authority, and strong powers of mind, would be very suitable to us: but
they are weak and diseased, and require so great a grace of God to bear
these advantages well, that we may be well content to be without them.

Still it may be urged, Are we then absolutely to give them up if we
have them, and not accept them when offered? It may be a duty to keep
them, it is sometimes a duty to accept them; for in certain cases God
calls upon us not so much to put them away, as to put away our old
natures, and make us new hearts and new spirits, wherewith to receive
them. At the same time, it is merely for our safety to know their
perilous nature, and to beware of them, and in no case to take them
simply for their own sake, but with a view to God's glory. They must
be instruments in our hands to promote the cause of Gospel truth. And,
in this light, they have their value, and impart their real pleasure;
but be it remembered, that value and that happiness are imparted by the
end to which they are dedicated; It is "the altar that sanctifieth the
gift[14]:" but, compared with the end to which they must be directed,
their real and intrinsic excellence is little indeed.

In this point of view it is that we are to covet earnestly the best
gifts: for it is a great privilege to be allowed to serve the Church.
Have we wealth? let it be the means of extending the knowledge of the
truth--abilities? of recommending it--power? of defending it.

From what I have said concerning the danger of possessing the things
which the world admires, we may draw the following rule: use them, as
far as given, with gratitude for what is really good in them, and with
a desire to promote God's glory by means of them, but do not go out of
the way to seek them. They will not on the whole make you happier, and
they may make you less religious.

For us, indeed, who are all the adopted children of God our Saviour,
what addition is wanting to complete our happiness? What can increase
their peace who believe and trust in the Son of God? Shall we add a
drop to the ocean, or grains to the sand of the sea? Shall we ask for
an earthly inheritance, who have the fulness of an heavenly one; power,
when in prayer we can use the power of Christ, or wisdom, guided as we
may be by the true Wisdom and Light of men? It is in this sense that
the Gospel of Christ is a leveller of ranks: we pay, indeed, our
superiors full reverence, and with cheerfulness a