And Abram [was] very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
Ver. 2. And Abram was very rich.] All rich men therefore are not rejected of God, though it be hard for such to hit on heaven. Poor Lazarus lies in the bosom of rich Abraham there. Riches neither further nor hinder in themselves, but as they are used: as a cipher by itself is nothing, but a figure being set before it, it increaseth the sum. Wealth, if well used, is an ornament, an encouragement to duty, and an instrument of much good. All the danger lies in loving these things. Have them we may, and use them too, as a traveller doth his staff, to help him the sooner to his journey's end; but when we pass away our hearts to them, they become a mischief, and as the word here rendered rich, signifies in the original a burden. Let not therefore the bramble be king: let not earthly things bear rule over thy affections; "fire will rise out of them that will consume thy cedars," Jdg 9:15 emasculate all the powers of thy soul, as they did Solomon's, whose wealth did him more hurt than his wisdom good. How many have we now-a-days, that when poor, could pray, read, &c., who, grown rich, resemble the moon, which, grown full, gets farthest off from the sun, never suffers eclipse but then, and that by earth's interposition! Let rich men therefore take heed how they handle their thorns; let them gird up the loins of their minds, lest their long garments a hinder them in the way to heaven; let them see to it, that they be not tied to their abundance, as little Lentulus was said to have been to his long sword; b that they be not held prisoners in those golden fetters, as the king of Armenia was by Anthony, and so sent by him for a present to Cleopatra, c lest at length they send their mammon of unrighteousness, as Croesus did his fetters, for a present to the devil, who had deluded him with false hopes of victory. d
a Socrates divitias comparabat tunicis talaribus .
b Quis generum meum ad gladium alligavit ? - Cic.
c Dio in Augusto.
d Herodot.