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I. HINDRANCES.

1. Riches tend to obscure faith; to make one trust in them, instead of in God.

2. They encourage their possessor to love the world, and to withhold his heart from God.

3. They exclude disinterested love and goodwill toward others.

4. They hinder humility. People dare not tell a rich man of his faults, so he seldom gets an opportunity of mending them.

5. They prevent meekness.

6. They make a man hard and unyielding, difficult to convince of what is true, unwilling to be persuaded, or to submit m any way to others.

II. TEMPTATIONS.

1. To atheism. With riches a man seems dependent on no one. He thinks himself his own master.

2. To idolatry. From the worship of no God there is an easy transition to, the worship of false gods. He who loves not the Creator will certainly love the creature, e.g., the gratification of the outward senses. Not necessarily gluttony and drunkenness, destroying the body. A moderate sensuality, a regular kind of epicurism will be quite enough to keep the soul dead to God and all true religion.

3. To the gratification of the imagination — beautiful houses, elegant furniture, curious pictures, delightful gardens. Innocent in themselves, how do all these things draw off the mind from more serious pursuits!

4. To self-inflation.

5. Pride.

6. Salt-will.

7. Contempt of inferiors.

8. Fretfulness and peevishness. A gentleman of large fortune, while we were seriously conversing, ordered a servant to throw some coals on the fire. As he did so, a puff of smoke came out, on which the gentleman threw himself back in his chair and cried out, "Oh, Mr. Wesley, these are the crosses which I meet with every day!" I could not help asking, "Pray, Sir John, are these the heaviest crosses you meet with!" Surely these crosses would not have fretted him so much if he had had only fifty pounds a year, instead of five thousand.

(John Wesley.)

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KJV: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

WEB: Jesus said to his disciples, "Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty.