So Christ expresses himself to the woman of Samaria, John iv. 13, 14. "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life."

1. All that is for the sustenance and welfare of the body, has the character of the meat that perisheth. Which is apt enough to express the following things, which justly depreciate all wordly good, and yet are proved to be true, by daily experience.

Every present enjoyment may be lost. Though it be ever so comfortable, ever so suitable, we hold it by no certain tenure. Whatever advantage riches may give us, they may "take themselves wings, and fly away" and shall we then "set our eyes upon that which is not ?" Prov. xxiii. 5. All earthly treasures are perishable things: some of them moth and rust may corrupt; for others, the thief may break through and steal them from us, Matt. vi. 19. Devouring flames may consume a large and liberal substance, and reduce a man in a few hours from very plentiful circumstances, to extreme necessity. Or, if people should imagine themselves secure in an inheritance, a small observation of human life may shew, that this cannot absolutely be depended upon; for fraud, or violence, may turn a man out of that which appeared the firmest possession. Health is as uncertain as riches. When it seems most confirmed, it is not proof against the assaults of sickness or pain. All the prudence of precaution, and all the skill of the physician, cannot ascertain to us this the greatest of outward comforts. Every member of the body, every bone, and joint, and sinew, lies open to many unknown disorders; and we cannot always prevent those disorders from coming upon us as an armed man. If we were exalted to the highest honors, an exchange of them for the lowest abasement, and the most general contempt, is no uncommon step in life. The rich man is frequently reduced to poverty; the healthy man laid upon a bed of languishing; and the man who stood in the first rank of dignity, is soon debased in his character and influence. So perishing, so changeable, is all worldly good!

The use and comfort of worldly enjoyments may be lost,

while the things themselves continue. In that respect they are perishing. Some of them are no more than a transient pleasure, such as perishes with the using: it is well if they are followed with no lasting sting, such as make a dear reckoning for a momentary delight: that is certainly the case in all unlawful sensualities. And those external delights, which are most innocent, in a little time, upon a man's being accustomed to them, leave him empty, unless he can make some new experiment for happiness: "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing," Eccl. i. 8. New circumstances, and new wants, which are not provided for by what we have already, will supersede the comfort and use of present enjoyments. Pain and sickness will take off the relish of riches, or honors, or pleasures. And especially a wounded spirit, whether arising from bodily melancholy, or from the strong temptations of Satan, or from the arrows of God stuck fast in the soul, will embitter all enjoyments at once.

The body itself, to which alone such comforts are suited, is perishing. It is ever tending towards the dust, and will soon be stripped of all sensation, and suitableness to the things that are in the world. What are they all to a dead carcase, that will entirely lose the relish of things once most agreeable? This is the case of us all; we are going down to the silent grave, and can carry none of those things along with us, to be of any service in the state whither we are going. All their pleasures and use, if it should happen to last so long, must have its period with the stroke of death.

On the other hand,

2. That which serves the interest of our souls is of the most durable use. It is meat that endureth to everlasting life. Christ here compares bodily food with his own instructions, which were sufficient to make men wise unto salvation. These are often in scripture represented by the emblem of food, Prov. ix. 5. "Wisdom crieth in the streets, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled:" which is explained, ver. 6. by "going in the way of understanding. And Isa. lv. 2. "Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness:" which is expressed in plainer words, ver. 3. "Hear, and your souls shall live."

This food of souls is said to endure to everlasting life.

Not that the means of grace will last always: if we could enjoy them in the future world, the folly would not be so great in neglecting them at present: but their continuance is of as short a date as that of the meat that perisheth. This transitory life, and all such opportunities, must end together. All that is intended is, that the benefit and happy fruits of them will be eternal, if they are carefully and conscientiously improved now.

This is the argument, which our Lord intimates, to induce. us, while we are probationers, to prefer the interests of our souls, and the means of their welfare, before those concerns which are terminated within the present life and world. And to shew the force of it, I would lay together the following considerations.

(1.) We have immortal souls, as well as perishing bodies. A part within us, which has no tendency to corruption and dissolution, as the earthly house of this tabernacle hath; but is designed, and framed, by our great Creator to subsist for ever. When the body returns to the dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it, and is adjudged by him to endless happiness, or misery. The wiser heathens, by natural light made some discovery of this; but we have more abundant evidence of it by revelation, that we are spirits dwelling in houses of clay, of which God is immediately the Father, as men are the fathers of our flesh. These will not cease to be, or to act, to feel pleasure or pain, to bear the wrath, or enjoy the favour of God, when their present dwellings shall become uninhabitable. Immediately upon death, they either are in torments, or go to paradise; either become the companions of devils, or the associates of holy angels; and so remain for ever. The fashion of the world passeth away; one generation goes off the stage, and another comes on; there is a continual succession of persons and things below, the visible heavens, and this earth, shall in time be dissolved: but God hath taken care to assure us by reason and scripture, that we have souls designed for eternity.

(2.) Our state hereafter will be determined by our behaviour here. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, will be our final portion, just as death finds us; whether in Christ, or out of him; dead in sin, or become alive to God. For we are to "receive hereafter the things done in the body, whether good

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or bad," 2 Cor. v. 10. God will "render to every man according to his deeds: to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Rom. ii. 6-8. Ever since the apostacy, by the grace of God, life as well as death is set before us, and we are allowed our choice. We may either, "after our hardness, and impenitent hearts, treasure up unto ourselves wrath against the day of wrath;" or we may "lay up treasure in heaven; lay up in store for ourselves a good foundation," or security, "for the time to come, that we may lay hold of eternal life." This is all our sowing-time; and "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting," Gal. vi. 7, 8.

(3.) We are often determined in the affairs of this life, by hope and fear of things to come, where we have far less certainty. All our pursuits, and I may say, most of our actions, are for the sake of something future, and not yet in sight; either to prevent some evil feared, or to obtain some good desired, which are both futurities. In the beginning of life, people apply themselves to become masters of some of the learned professions, or of some trade or business, in hope of a livelihood, or of serviceableness when they arrive at maturity: but they are not sure they shall ever live to be masters of business themselves. Those who are entered upon the world, pursue their several businesses in expectation that they will answer their end; but they are not certain of success in the most prudent steps they can take. In the affairs of our souls, we act upon a future prospect; but divine promise ascertains us of success, in the way of the gospel. That the benefit is future, is no reason therefore to abate our zeal in prosecuting it; that is the case in our aims for this world: and we have the advantage of a better hope in our aims for another.

(4.) It is a plain rule of wisdom, that we should decline a present pleasure for one equal to it of longer continuance; or that we should submit to a present inconvenience, to prevent one more lasting, or to obtain a more lasting good. We justly esteem it wisdom to act in this manner, though there should

tinuance.

be no difference in the things themselves, but only in the conWould a man be wise in refusing to go through a short course of physic, in an ill condition of body, upon a fair prospect of a regular state of health after it? or in neglecting to give a small sum of money in hand, upon security of enjoying a good inheritance in a little time?

Now, the most lasting things below bear no tolerable proportion to the future state. There is no room for measuring them with eternity. A minute compared with our whole lives, or even with the whole duration of the world, is no disproportion in comparison of that between time and eternity. We lose all our thoughts, and stretch beyond the power of numbers in that one word, Eternity! For go as far on as you can, add millions of years to millions, and yet you are never the nearer to an end; an unfathomable depth is still behind. Now, the state of all men at death is fixed for ever. Can we think of this, and find any pretence to prefer present things to future? Shall we prefer a minute's satisfaction to lose an eternity of joys, or to sink into an eternity of woe? Shall we refuse the light afflictions, which Providence may call us to bear in the way of our duty, "which are but for a moment," when they "work out for us a far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory?”

(5.) Whatever is temporal, for that very reason is capable of giving full satisfaction. It is a great abatement of the pleasure of any enjoyment, to think that it may be lost. In truth, the more pleasant it is, so much the more afflicting will be the thought of parting. Heaven itself would not satisfy the possessors, if they had the prospect of an end. This arises from the natural principle of self-love, which necessitates our wishing for the continuance of that which is agreeable. When we are all, therefore, upon an inquiry after happiness, we may discern at first, that earth says, It is not in me, for every thing here is perishing, and must soon be at a period.

(6.) The eternal continuance of happiness, is one of the most satisfying characters of it; and the eternity of misery the most bitter ingredient in it. As it is impossible to be perfectly happy with the prospect of an end before one; so this one consideration would magnify inferior delights, to think that we should never be deprived of them and light afflictions, an aching of a tooth, or a finger, with eternity written upon them,