that the devil throws before him; so that he is led by him as he pleaseth, till at length he be utterly destroyed, 1 Tim. vi, 9. And therefore the same apostle elsewhere tells us, that the covetous have no inheritance in the kingdom of God, but the wrath of God will most certainly fall upon them, Eph. v, 5, 6. But the wrath of God is the greatest evil of punishment that it is possible for men to bear: indeed it is that, which being once incensed makes hell-fire. And yet we see that the heat of our love to money will enkindle the flames of God's wrath against us, yea and such flames too as will never be quenched. And so for the little seeming transient pleasure they take in getting or keeping money now, they must live in misery and contempt, in shame and torment for evermore.

Thus now we see that the love of money will not only put us upon the evil of sin, but it will also bring the evil of punishment upon us; both which the apostle here, in verse 9, 10, imputes to this sin. And therefore he both well may and must be understood of both these sorts of evil, when he saith, that the love of money is the root of all evil; which, the premises considered, I hope none can deny. And need I then heap up more arguments to dissuade men from this sin, and to prevail with them to leave doting upon the world and loving money ? Is not this one argument of itself sufficient? For is it possible for us to indulge ourselves in this sin, now we know it is the root of all evil; and that if we still love money, there is no sin so great but we may fall into it, and no misery so heavy but it will fall upon us? Surely if this consideration will not prevail upon us to despise and contemn, rather than to love and desire this world, for my part I know not what can. Only this I know, that so long as men continue in this sin, all writing and preaching will be in vain to them; and so will their hearing be, their going to church, their reading the scriptures, their hearing them read' and expounded to them; all this will signify nothing; this root of all evil is still within us, and it will bring forth its bitter fruit, do what we can. And therefore as ever we desire to profit by what we hear; as ever we desire to

avoid any one sin whatsoever, to know the happiest means to escape either present torment or eternal misery; as ever we desire to be real saints, and to manifest ourselves to be so, to go to heaven, and live with God and Christ for ever, let not our affections be entangled, any longer in the briars and thorns of this lower world; let us beware of loving money. If riches increase, let us not set our hearts upon them, but scorn and despise them hereafter, as much as ever heretofore we have desired or loved them.

But I cannot, I dare not, but in charity believe and hope, that by this time my readers are something weaned from their doting upon this present world, and desire to know how they may for the future get off their affec tions from it, so as to have this root of all evil extirpated and quite plucked up from within them. I hope this is now the desire of all, or at least of most of them; and therefore I shall now endeavour to show them how they may infallibly accomplish and effect it. In order thereto,

1. Let such persons often consider with themselves how unsuitable the things of this world are for the affection of love, which was designed only for the chiefest good. When God implanted the affection of love within us, he did not intend it should be the root of all evil, but of all good unto us; and therefore he did not give it us to place it fondly upon such low and mean objects as this world presents unto us, but that we should love himself with all our hearts and souls. And surely he infinitely deserves our love more than such trash can do.

2. Let them remember, that so long as they love money, they may pretend what they please, they do not love God, 1 John ii, 15; nor Christ, Matt. x, 37; Luke xiv, 26; and, by consequence, they have no true religion at all in them.

3. Let them often read and study our Saviour's sermon upon the mount, where he pronounces the meek and lowly, not the rich and mighty, to be blessed. And let them weigh those strong and undeniable arguments which he brings, to prevail upon us not to take thought

for the world, nor trouble our heads about the impertinent concerns of this transient life, Matt. vi, 24, 31.

4. Let them labor to confirm and strengthen their trust and confidence on the promises of God, who hath • assured us, that if we love and fear him, he will take care of us, and provide all things necessary for us, Matt. vi, 33. This is the great argument which the apostle uses, Heb. xiii, 5, 6.

5. Let them remember that they are called to higher things than this world is able to afford them. The Christian is a high and heavenly calling. We are called by it, and invited to a kingdom and eternal glory, 1 Thess. ii, 12; and therefore ought not to spend our time about such low and paltry trash as riches and wealth.

6. Let them get above the world; let their conversation be in heaven; and then they will soon look down upon all things here below as beneath their concern. " Vilescunt temporalia, cùm desiderantur æterna," said St. Gregory. He that seriously thinks upon and desires heaven cannot but vilify and despise earth. O what fools and madmen do the blessed angels and the glorified saints in heaven think us poor mortals upon earth to be, when they see us busying ourselves about getting a little refined dirt; and in the mean while neglecting those transcendent glories which themselves enjoy, although they be offered to us!

7. Let them never suffer the vanity of all things here below to go out of their minds; but remember still, that get what they can, it is but vanity and vexation of spirit, as Solomon himself asserted upon his own experience, though he, be sure, had more than any of us are ever likely to enjoy. And let them not only often repeat the words, but endeavour to get themselves convinced thoroughly of the truth of them, which their own experience, duly weighed and rightly applied, will soon do.

8. Let it be their daily prayer to Almighty God, that he would take off their affections from the world, and incline them to himself, as David prayed, saying, Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

To all these means, let them add the constant and serious consideration of what they have here read, that

the love of money is the root of all evil; assuring themselves that if they will not believe it now, it is not long before they will find it all but too true by their own sad and woeful experience, when they shall be stripped of their present enjoyments, and so turn bankrupts in another world; where they will be cast into prison without ever having a farthing to relieve themselves, or so much as a drop of water to cool their inflamed tongues.

By these and such like means, none of us but may suppress the love of money in us, which is the root of all evil, and so avoid or prevent all the evil which otherwise will proceed from it. Whether any of my readers will be persuaded to use these means or no, I know not; let me however tell them, that if they are loath to strive to get their affections deadened to the world, it is an infallible sign that they are too much in love with it, and that this root and seed of all manner of evil remains in them. Nor can it be expected they will be persuaded to any one duty whatsoever, until they are first prevailed upon to do this, even to mortify their lusts and affections to the things of this world; for so long as those are predominant within us, no grace whatsoever can be exerted, nor duty performed, nor any sin avoided by us.

But O how happy would it be, if it should please the most high God to set what I have here said so home upon any, as to induce them to set themselves seriously for the future to the eradicating or rooting up this love of money out of their hearts! What a holy, what a blessed, what a peculiar people should we then be, and how zealous of good works! Then we should take all opportunities of performing our devotions to Almighty God. Then we should have as many at the sacrament as at a sermon. Then our churches would be filled all the week, as well as on Sundays, and the eternal God constantly worshipped with reverence and godly fear. Then we should take delight in clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and relieving the oppressed. Then there would be no such thing as cheating and cozenage, as lying and perjury, as strife and contention amongst us. We should all walk hand in hand together in the ways of

piety, justice, and charity upon earth, until at length we shall come to heaven, where we shall be so far from loving or desiring money, that we shall account it as it is, even dross and dirt; where our affections shall be wholly taken up with the contemplation of the chiefest good, and we shall solace ourselves in the enjoyment of his perfections for evermore.

SECTION II.

TIMOTHY, after his conversion to the Christian faith, being found to be a man of great parts, learning, and piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the ministry, St. Paul, who had planted a church at Ephesus, the metropolis or chief city of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it after his departure from it, giving him power to ordain elders or priests, and to visit and exercise jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false doctrines; that they be unblameable in their lives and conversations, and to exercise authority over them, in case they be otherwise. And therefore it cannot in reason but be acknowledged that Timothy was the bishop, superintendant, or visitor of all the Asian churches, as he was always asserted to have been by the fathers of the primitive church, as Eusebius reports, saying, that Timothy is reported to have been the first bishop of the province of Ephesus. Be sure he had the oversight of all the Churches that were planted there; and not only in Ephesus itself, but likewise in all Asia, which was subject then to his ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction.

And hence it is that the apostle St. Paul, in his First Epistle to him, gives him directions how to manage so great a work, and to discharge so great a trust as was com mitted to him, both as bishop and priest; both how to ordain and govern others, and likewise how to preach himself the gospel of Christ. And having spent the whole epistle in directions of this sort, in the close of it, as it were at the foot of the epistle, he subjoins one general caution to be constantly observed by him; Charge them