judgment, and eternity. The obligations imposed upon us by the
possession of wealth may be irksome, but we cannot escape them; we must
bear them to the judgment. In our pride we may resolve that we will use
our money as we please; but God commands us to use it as he pleases. A
vivid sense, then, of the tremendous scenes before us should be ever
associated in our minds with ideas of property. We should realize how
our wealth will appear in the final hour, as its pleasures and
enchanting illusions begin to fade from the dying eye, and as we reflect
how short and unsatisfactory, like "a dream when one awaketh," all these
enjoyments have been. Rioting amid the luxuries of affluence, and giddy
with its bewildering joys, these may be unpleasant thoughts. But why
regard thoughts of that which we cannot avoid, unpleasant? We must not
only _think_ of these dread realities, we must _meet_ them, and
experience all their joy or woe. Then let us realize, now and always,
how all our uses of property will appear at the bar of God, where the
thought of every misimprovement will be sharper than a serpent's fang;
how, in eternity, as we contemplate those who might have been saved by
our liberality in undying misery; how, if we are lifting up our eyes
with them in torments; how, if, while we ourselves shall be saved as by
fire, we behold them excluded from those blissful seats by our
covetousness. Let each one put these searching questions to his own
conscience; and let him take heed that his gifts be such, that their
remembrance will not only sweeten his dying moments, but diffuse a
fragrance over all his future being.

16. The worth of money hoarded or spent unnecessarily, contrasted with
the worth of souls as gems in the Saviour's crown. The true value of
wealth as a worldly good we fully appreciate. It contains no hidden
excellence which the circumstances of life conceal. But the true glory
of a soul redeemed the mists of time obscure. Our attachment to the
world and the hallucinations growing out of it, prevent its full
appreciation. But soon all this illusion will vanish. Both will stand
before us in their true light. One will be seen to be vanity as it is;
the other to possess a worth which no language can express:--a worth
consisting not merely of the endless blessedness and glory it is itself
capable of enjoying, but also of the glory that will redound to the
adorable Trinity through its redemption. Take a positi