II.--WE SEE A BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION OF CONTENTMENT.--They had come down together after the great battle, and David said, "Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me at Jerusalem." It was worthy of them both, and we cannot but feel touched at David's gratitude; he would fain have the patriarch spend his last days with him. "With me," said he, "I will see thou hast everything thou canst want." "Nay," said the old man, "I will see thee safely over the river, and then I will return to the green fields I love, and when the time comes for me to die I will be laid by the side of my father and my mother." When will men learn that it is not their surroundings but themselves that make a place comfortable or not? Paul could say, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," and he said this in a letter he wrote to the town where he had sung praises in the jail! Some people would have jumped to have had this chance of going to live in a palace, but this farmer said, "Give me my farmhouse and my quiet grave beside my mother." Elevation may undo us. A sparrow could only chirp even though in a golden cage. Barzillai felt, "A rustic, like I am, seems all right among my ploughs and cattle, but I should not fit a palace." Many a man has made himself a laughing stock because he left the place he was fitted for, and so looked like a dandelion in a conservatory. III.--We have in Barzillai's words AN OLD MAN'S VIEW OF EARTHLY ENJOYMENT. As though he had said, "I have lost hearing, sight, and taste; what are all these things to me? I am soon to be in my grave, what do I want away from home?" It would be well for most of us to weigh these words, "How long have I to live?" To judge from the way we see men toil to get houses and land, you would think they were going to live for ever. Watch them how they are scraping the money they have; they have none to spare to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; they have poor relatives, but they cannot help them. Are they not going to be rich, live in a splendid house, be grand folks some day? Aye, but death cannot be bribed. I was passing through a splendid estate the other day, and was told of the gentleman that owns it; he is an old man, but he will not own to it, and he is quite a fraud, with his dyed hair and wrinkled face; he looks quite ghastly, in spite of all that art can do to pad him and make him up. I wish some of those who are denying themselves the luxury of giving, because they have determined to have a splendid estate for their children, would think "How will my mansion look with the blinds down, and a hearse at the door with a coffin in it, with my name on a silver plate?" We cannot refuse to help the poor, and hear Jesus say, "Well done." We cannot save money for selfish purposes and go to heaven. Besides, to leave riches for those who come after us is the way to have dry eyes at our funeral!