their Hearts of their revolting back to Pagan Idolatry and the Bondage of Satan And in the time of the Arian Persecution how many who by their Titles and Office were specially obliged to be valiant for the Truth and to contend earnestly for the Faith yet did accommodate their Profession to their aspiring Ambition and greedy Avarice The Standard of their Religion was the pitch of the State they had a politick Faith and appear'd either Orthodox or Arian as the publick Favour shin'd upon Truth or Heresy They rob'd our Saviour of the Honour of his Deity O astonishment rather than part with their beloved Dignities and Riches So powerful are humane Respects in those who mind earthly things Great force is requisite to pluck up a Tree that has its Roots spread and deeply fastned in the Earth and it cannot be so entirely separated but that part of the Roots will be broken thus when the Affections are deeply set in the World and by Pleasures and Riches fastned to it how hardly is it rent from it every Fibre of the Heart is broken with sorrow As Lot's Wife when by an Angel forc'd out of Sodom yet cast a lingring affectionate look after it and was turn'd into a Pillar of Salt The Separation is as bitter as the Possession is sweet and none are more unwillingly divorc'd from the World than those who enjoy the confluence of earthly happiness Now when secular Interest outweighs Duty when apparent Danger induces to deny the Truth of Christ how terrible and unavoidable will be the punishment of that disloyalty Our Saviour's threatning is universal Whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven A most righteous and dreadful retribution They denied him as their Lord and he denies them as his Servants They usurp'd the Title of Christians the Relation of his Disciples and in the last Day he will publickly disown them When that sad Sentence shall come from their Judg Depart ye cursed I know you not what confusion what anguish will seize upon them They shall be banish'd from his glorious Kingdom excommunicated from his blessed Society and tormented with the rebellious Angels for ever 'T is true this universal and peremptory Threatning must be understood with an exception of those who after their falling away are restor'd by Repentance Sometimes a Christian that has deliberately and entirely devoted himself to Christ that has sincerely resolved rather to part with his Life than that for which Life is worthy the enjoying yet by strong temptations has been faint-hearted and denied the Truth like one that disannuls in the heighth of a Fever the Will he made in his composed Mind but afterward such have resumed new courage and have by enduring the sharpest Sufferings confirm'd the Truth and ascended to Heaven in a fiery Chariot Lastly The Prosperity of Sinners is the great temptation to delay repentance till their state is desperate Nothing fills Hell with so many lost Souls as the putting off Repentance till hereafter How many Diseases would be cur'd in time if they threatned present Death but their Malignity being of a slow operation they are despised as not worth the trouble of a Cure till they are desperate 'T is in Spiritual Diseases as 't is in those of the Body for Sin that is a sickness unto Death might be prevented by speedy Repentance but many not apprehending present Danger neglect the precious Remedy till they are desperately ruin'd To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts The Command respects the Season as well as the Duty As our Obedience must be entire without reserves so it must be present without delay even in our early Age and continued in the whole tenor of our Life The Worm of Conscience sometimes nips Security and there is a strange union of Contrarieties in the Breast of a Sinner that makes him inexcusable and incurable He complains of the bondage to his Lusts yet takes pleasure in it he is convinc'd 't wil be destructive yet voluntarily continues in that sweet captivity If Conscience be troublesome he pacifies it with an intention to reform hereafter and thinks that a future Repentance will be sufficient to prepare for a future Judgment And none are so easily and willingly deceived to their everlasting ruin by this pretence as those who enjoy the present World Prosperity makes them forgetful of the Grave and humane Vicissitudes and hardens them in deep Security 'T was the Divine Prayer of Moses So teach us to number our days as to apply our hearts unto Wisdom implying that the great Cause of Mens destructive folly is from not reflecting upon the shortness and uncertainty of their Time here Death is certain to the Old and Life uncertain to the Young There are many back Doors to the Grave and Men are led surprisingly thither The time of their residence here is fixed by the Divine Determination and concealed from their Eyes How many in their Youth and Prosperity have presum'd upon a long Life yet unexpectedly have returned to their Earth as a Wall covered with Ivy that falls on a suddain with its green Ornaments by its weight and weakness The Hour of Death is the hour of mens Destiny for ever There is no space of Repentance in the interval between Death and Judgment but the Soul immediately after its departure receives a decisive irrevocable Doom that is in part executed and shall be publick and entirely executed at the last Day Yet Men boldly venture to continue in their pleasant Sins upon the forlorn hope of a Season to repent hereafter Astonishing enormous Folly as if they were assured of Time and the Divine Grace And thus 't is fully proved how fatal and destructive Prosperity is to the Wicked The second thing to be consider'd is the Folly of prosperous Sinners Folly is the Cause of their abusing Prosperity and the Effect of their Prosperity abused The most proper Notion of Folly is that the Understanding mistakes in judging and comparing things from whence the Will slides into Error and makes an unworthy choice And according to the weight and consequence of things the more remarkable is the degree of Folly in not discerning their Differences Now when Men value and are delighted in temporal Prosperity as their Happiness and Heaven with its Glory Joys is neglected and vilified in the comparison 't is Folly above all wonder Folly of so rare and singular a Nature that if the judicative Faculty were not corrupted it were impossible they should be guilty of it This will appear by considering the essential and inseparable Properties of Man's Felicity 't is perfective and satisfying of Man in his supream Faculties 1. The perfection of Man does principally consist in the excellencies of his spiritual immortal part As in the various kinds of Creatures there is something that is their proper Excellency for which they were made and accordingly are valued as
all the gracious Calls of God to Repentance so he is not moved by all their mournful Intreaties and takes pleasure in his Righteous Judgments upon them Their final Ruin is resolved into its proper Cause the wilful hardness of Sinners and the abuse of those Mercies that should have melted them into a compliance with the Divine Giver of them For that they hated Knowledg and did not chuse the Fear of the Lord. For the turning away of the Simple shall slay them and the Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them The title of Fool is the usual Character of the Sinner in the Language of Wisdom and 't is with great reason and congruity attributed to him in opposition to Prudence the universal Vertue and supream director of humane Life For as by Prudence a Man so governs himself and regulates his actions as to avoid impendent Evils and to obtain that Good that is suitable to his necessities So 't is the effect of Folly not to foresee Evils to prevent them and to neglect the Season of obtaining what is Good And by how much the Good is more valuable and desirable and the Evil is more pernicious and threatning in proportion the Folly is more unpardonable and woful that loses the one and exposes to the other And this is justly charg'd upon every wilful impenitent Sinner Prosperity comprehends all things in the order of Nature that are so much admir'd and desir'd by Worldly Men Riches Honours Pleasures Health Strength Peace Plenty and the abundant Variety of what is grateful to the carnal Mind and Appetites These Blessings of God abus'd and perverted by the Folly of Men are turn'd into Weapons of Unrighteousness to offend God and wound their Souls to everlasting Death The Point I shall insist on is this Prosperity abused is fatal and destructive to foolish Sinners In the treating on this Argument I will 1 shew how Prosperity is destructive to the Wicked 2. That 't is folly and madness above all wonder when Sinners abuse the Blessings of God to their destruction 3. How just and certain and heavy their destruction will be 1. I will shew how Prosperity is destructive to the Wicked In order to the explicating of this Head some things are to be premised 1. This great World with all the Parts and Creatures of which 't is compos'd has an inherent Goodness and Perfection convenient to the End for which 't was form'd by the Creator and that was to be useful and comfortable to Man in the Service of God There is no Pestilence and Contagion in the nature of things that are pleasing to our Faculties they are dangerous not as made by God but as managed by Satan They do not pervert the Minds of Men from any noxious inherent qualities but as they are corrupted by Concupiscence Upon this account St. John dehorting Christians from the Love of the World as inconsistent with the Love of God gives this reason of it For all that is in the World the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the World He signifies the Objects Riches Honours and Pleasures by the vicious Affections that make them deadly to Men. The Poison is not in the Flower but in the Spider And the Apostle speaking of the purifying Vertue of the Gospel says That exceeding great and precious Promises are given to us that by these we may be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. This is evident by visible experience for many Holy Men have enjoyed temporal Blessings without the offence of God and have been more holy and heavenly in themselves more beneficial and good to others by his Mercies whilst the Sensual like the Ocean that changes the sweet Showres of Heaven into its salt Quality turn the Divine Blessings into Provision for their brutish Lusts. It appears therefore that this Contrariety of Effects is not to be attributed to the quality of worldly things that is always uniform and alike but to the different Dispositions of the Persons that use them As the same Food is healthful or hurtful as the Stomach is clear or foul that receives it In some it renews the Blood and Spirits strengthens and preserves Life in others it increases the sickly Matter feeds the Disease and brings Death more painfully and speedily 2. The primary design of God in his most free and rich Benefits is to endear himself to us and bind us to his Service for they are the most proper and convincing expresses of his Love and Goodness and powerful Motives and Perswasives to a grateful correspondence of Love and Obedience I drew them saith God with the Cords of a Man with Bands of Love Goodness duly consider'd engages to please the Benefactor 'T is therefore said by St. Paul That the goodness of God leads Sinners to Repentance 'T is the most natural unconstrained Consequence that the Mind can regularly infer from his Clemency and Bounty The Hearts of Men should be melted in tender Resentments of their unworthy Conversation towards him and encouraged to return to their Duty since he will graciously receive those who unfeignedly repent of their Sins But the Event does not usually answer God's Aim Men are harden'd in Sin by his Mercies 3. When the Wicked abuse God's Blessings defeat his Kindness and frustrate the excellent Ends of it he most righteously and severely continues their Prosperity that foments their Lusts and renders them more wilful and incorrigible and the more guilty of their own damnation What was said by Simeon concerning the most glorious Gift of God our Saviour is applicable in this Case Behold this Child is set for the fall of many in Israel and for a sign that shall be spoken against When the riches of Grace offered in the Gospel are despised and neglected the blessed Saviour of Souls is most justly ordained to be the occasion of their sorer Punishment So when the common Benefits and Mercies of God are ungratefully perverted by Men to the dishonour of the Giver they are by Divine Determination ordered for the aggravating of their Sins and Sentence Prosperity is a fatal Ambush for their surprizal and ruin according to that heavy Imprecation of the Psalmist Let their Table become a snare to them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap an occasion of their falling This judgment proceeds from the most terrible and inexorable Displeasure 't is better and more eligible to encounter all the storms of a raging World than to enjoy the calm and security of a prosperous Sinner For the more afflicted we are by Men the more earnest are our addresses to God's propitious Throne to incline his Mercy to regard and relieve us but a Sinner the more full fruition he has of the World the more he forsakes and provokes God and the more he is abandon'd to
and degrees of suffering from the least afflicting evil to Death with ignominy and torment And how just is it if we expect to be glorified by his Sufferings that we should willingly suffer for his Glory At the first preaching of the Gospel many were offended at the Cross of Christ they esteemed it folly to expect eternal Life from one that was put to death and that he should bring them to the highest Glory who suffered in the lowest Weakness Our Saviour was conceal'd from their carnal Eyes by the overshadowing train of his Afflictions And the Cross of Christ that is to be voluntarily and obediently taken up by his Disciples is a greater offence to the World than that to which he was nail'd 'T is a harder Lesson that we must obtain Glory by our own Sufferings than that it was purchased by our Saviour's The Mind more willingly assents to the reasons of his Sufferings than of ours in the first it only encounters with false Prejudices and vain Shadows that darken that mighty Mystery but in the second it must overcome the natural Love of this Life and the Pleasures of it which is so predominant in Men. The alliance to the Body and the allurements of the World are the causes of forsaking Religion when the owning of it will cost us dear And those who enjoy Prosperity are most easily terrified from their Duty to Christ the account of which is open to Reason both from some general Considerations and from special that respect Sufferings for Religion The general Considerations are two 1. The living in Pleasures and soft Delicacy enervates the masculine vigour of the Spirit and damps Resolution that it presently faints when assaulted with Difficulties The Spirit of a Man encouraged by just and wise and generous Reasons will stand firmly under heavy Troubles But Fear breaks the native strength of Mind and like a secret suddain Palsy that slackens the Nerves and loosens the Joints causes a trembling and incapacity of bearing Evils The least glimpse of Danger makes the Fearful to retire like some that apprehensive of the rising Winds will not venture any further in a Boat than that one Oar may be on the Shore whilst the other strikes in the Water The Timerous when Afflictions attend the faithful profession of the Gospel usually are treacherous to God to their Souls and to the Truth To God whose Servants they are by the dearest Titles by contradicting their Duty which is to suffer chearfully for his Gospel and his Glory when called forth and by revolting from his Service they occasion such dishonourable unworthy conceptions of him as if he were regardless of his suffering Servants and would not gloriously reward those who are faithful to the Death the Seal of their Loyalty and Perseverance they are treacherous to their Souls by preferring the Interest of the perishing Flesh before the happiness of the immortal Part they betray the Truth by exposing it to a suspicion of Falshood for as the confirming Religion by Sufferings doth most effectually recommend it to the belief and affections of others so the denial of it or the withdrawing our Testimony in times of Danger will incline others to judg that it is not the Truth or at least of no great moment that the Professors of it do not think worth their Sufferings How many faint-hearted Persons have thus betrayed the Son of God again and their Consciences and their Religion Their Faith that sparkled in Prosperous times when Troubles come is a quencht Cole rak'd up in the cold pale Ashes of distrustful Fears without any Divine Light or Heat 2. Prosperity makes Men unthoughtful and careless of Evils that may happen I said in my Prosperity I shall never be moved Carnal Joy the Affection of Prosperity and Folly are nearly allied and flatter Men as if their Ease and Calm would never be disturbed and by supine negligence they are unprovided for the encountring with Evils According to our circumspection in Prosperity such is our courage in Adversity and by how much the less affliction is expected so much the more are we perplex'd when it seises upon us The last Day that shall strangely surprize the World in its deep security is compar'd to Lightning for its suddenness and terror Our Saviour therefore plainly has foretold that the Cross is the Appendix of the Gospel that 't is the Property of Error to persecute and the Lot of Truth to be persecuted He counsels his Disciples to imitate a wise Builder that computes the Expence before he begins the Fabrick lest having laid the Foundation and not being able to finish it he be exposed to the just Censure of Folly So Christians are to forecast the Injuries and Troubles they are likely to suffer for Religion lest when the Tempest threatens they shamefully desert it And how heavy will their Doom be The fearful that are not storm-proof and the Lyars that openly renounce what they believe and profess what they do not believe shall be with Infidels Idolaters and Murderers cast into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone 2. The special Reasons why Prosperity makes Men so dispos'd to quit the Truth in times of Danger are because it weakens the Principles from whence Christian Magnanimity springs and those are unfeigned Faith and divine Love As in natural things the formative Virtue determinates the Matter to such a Being and disposes to such Operations in proportion to the Principles from which it results So in moral things the Soul is disposed and regulated in its Actings correspondently to its Principles and is either Carnal or Spiritual The universal Principle of Carnal Persons is to be happy here their Eyes are ever engaged upon and their Desires ever thirsting after sensual Satisfaction Who will shew us any good and by consequence their main care is to obtain and secure temporal things the materials of their happiness The supernatural Principle of a Saint is to please God and enjoy his Favour As Men believe they love and as they love they live 1. Unfeigned Faith of the Rewards of the Gospel is necessary to keep a Christian steady in his course through all the Storms and Tides of this mutable World It is a faithful saying If we die with him we shall also live with him If we suffer with him we shall reign with him The Apostle usually prefaces with that strong assurance It is a faithful saying when the Truth is of eminent importance and contrary to the Sentiments of Carnal Nature If we die with him we shall also live with him Our Saviour dedicated Martyrdom in his own Person His Death was a Ransom for us to God and a sealing Testimony of the Gospel to Men He witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good Confession The Terror of the Roman Tribunal nor the Rage of the Jews could not make him retract the Divine Truth which he had so often declared that he was the Son of God come from
Heaven to save the World and when the Cross with its Infamy and horrour was in his view he avowed his Heavenly Kingdom And all those who suffer with him for his Truth and in conformity to his Pattern with his Meekness and Patience his Charity and Constancy shall reign with him And what is more powerful for the consolation and establishment of Christians than that their Sufferings for Christ shall end in Glory This is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith This did Miracles in the first Ages of the Church conquering all that was terrible to Flesh and Blood The Heathens despised the Hopes of Christians as wretched Illusions and with impious scorn upbraided them for their constancy under Persecutions Where is the God that can raise the dead and not rescue the living Unbelief is blind and cannot see beyond this World to the Eternal State But Faith in the blessed Redeemer opens a Prospect into the World to come so full of Glory that no Person that has an understanding and will to discourse and choose if he stedfastly believes it but must despise all the Evils that the wit and strength of Persecutors can inflict in comparison of it I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of the present Life in all their kinds and degrees are not to be compared with the Glory that shall be reveal'd Inlightned Christians esteemed their Sufferings for the Cause of God no Arguments of his Weakness but his Wisdom to exercise and try their Loyalty and cordial Obedience before he rewarded them and had reason to admire his Providence not to suspect his Power and Love They knew that the power of Tyrants could only reach the Body the vile frail and mortal part of Man but the precious Soul was entirely exempted from their rage and Faith assur'd them of a glorious Resurrection after Death The Body of a Martyr shall be revived as a Phaenix out of its Ashes when the Body of a Persecutor shall be quickned as a Serpent out of a Dunghil the one to be glorified the other tormented for ever The belief of this made them extremely valiant in the face of all their threatning cruel Enemies But the evil Heart of unbelief causes a departure from the living God He that suspects God's fidelity in his Promises will suspend his own Nature will shrink at the first sight of imminent Dangers An Infidel that lives as if he were all Body and no immortal Soul judges the loss of the present Life and the comforts of it as his utter undoing and total perishing He has an appearance of reason to secure his present Possessions what-ever becomes of Religion for he expects no future Good that will infinitely more than countervail his present loss And that Prosperity inclines Men to Atheism and Infidelity has been proved before 2. The Love of God inspires Believers with a heavenly Fortitude to endure the worst Evils that may befal them for his sake Perfect Love casts out Fear keeps its Supremacy inviolate in the midst of the greatest Dangers Love is an active invincible Affection as strong as Death that none can vanquish The Love of God is a never-dying Flame in the Hearts of the Saints because it depends upon the unchangeable Love of God to them We love him because he first loved us Love esteems God as the greatest Reward A Saint does not so much love God for Heaven tho a place of inconceivable Glory as Heaven for God because he there reveals his Perfections to his People This Holy Love makes the Christians faithful and obsequious to Christ and to prefer his Honour incomparably before the present World The Martyrs of the divinest Courage were animated by this holy Affection they loved not their lives unto the death but chearfully offered them as a Sacrifice to his praise Love kindled in them a sacred Vehemence in despising all the glittering temptations of the World Love inspir'd them with a victorious Patience to blunt the edg of Cruelty They never repented the choice of his Religion but rejoiced when his Glory was set forth by their Ignominy and when their love to Christ appear'd in its radiancy and vigor through their Sufferings Love is the Principle of Constancy by which Religion reigns on Earth and is crown'd in Heaven On the contrary when Riches Honours and Pleasures are the Idols of Mens Heads and Hearts the chief Objects of their esteem and affections they will sacrifice their Souls rather than lose the World their dear Felicity Therefore St. John earnestly dehorts Christians Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him they are utterly inconsistent partly because the Heart cannot be entirely set upon contrary Objects and partly because love to the one requires what is directly contrary to love to the other From hence St. James vehemently upbraids carnal Professors Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God The World is the powerful Star whose Aspect he regards and tho with the dishonour and displeasure of God he will by irreligious compliance secure his temporal Interests The pure refined Truth of the Gospel that has past the fiery Trial he will corrupt and embase by carnal temperaments the precious Truth so dearly bought by the Blood of the Martyrs he will vilely sell for the things of this World Nay of a Professor he will by degrees turn Persecutor of those who stedfastly own the Truth The love of the World so strangely inchants infects the Mind that a false Religion which a Man did abhor from yet when recommended by secular Advantages will appear tolerable then eligible then necessary and consequently the divine Truth must be supprest that contradicts it There are such frequent Examples of this in every Age that to insist upon many particular Instances were to tell great numbers of the dead to prove that Men are mortal The Young Man that so earnestly addrest himself to Christ for his direction how to obtain Eternal Life when commanded to give all his Estate to the Poor and to follow Christ he would not gain at so dear a rate Celestial Treasures but went away sorrowful Whereupon our Saviour declares with solemnity to his Disciples Verily I say unto you that a rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven We read of two Tribes of the Israelites that chose their Inheritance on this side Jordan and would not have a share in the Land of Canaan thus the earthly-minded prefer the present World the Object of their choice and love before the heavenly Canaan The Ecclesiastical Historian relates that in the time of Persecution by Decius the rich Men among the Christians were most easily and miserably foil'd the love of the World was a dangerous earnest in
Conscience that is now stupified by sensuality will make furious reflections upon the folly of their Choice and be more tormenting than the infernal Fiends When Cresus the rich King of Lydia was bound to the Stake and the Fire kindled for his burning he lamentably cried out Solon Solon Solon and being ask'd the reason of it declared that in the height of his Prosperity that wise Grecian had advised him to prepare for a Revolution from his Glory and Greatness into a miserable State and his neglect of that Counsel was more tormenting than the loss of his Kingdom How piercing will the remembrance be to lost Souls of their despising the Instructions Warnings and gracious Methods of the Divine Wisdom to have prevented their ruin that Mercy was so often and so rebelliously resisted this will be the Hell of Hell 2. The certainty of their Destruction is next to be considered 'T is unchangeably establish'd by the Divine Ordination that the Pleasures of Sin shall end in the misery of obstinate Sinners This is declared in the Word of God If ye live according to the Flesh ye shall die And as 't is founded in destributive Justice so it shall be executed from his Truth Our Saviour tells us Heaven and Earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of the Law shall not be unfulfilled All the threatnings of it in their fearful extent shall be accomplish'd upon impenitent Sinners the proper Objects of Vengeance God cannot deny himself in ceasing to be Holy and True and his Power seconds his Word to inflict the full effects of it upon the Guilty and Impenitent for a time they are spared that they might repent for Mercy is not only over all the Works of God but paramount to all his Attributes it suspends his Power from Acts of Vengeance it delays and mitigates his Justice we may appeal from Justice to Mercy in the Court of Heaven but when God's Mercy has been affronted and exasperated by the continual abuse of his Benefits when 't is renounc'd and forfeited by Sinners their destruction is irreversible for 't is Mercy alone atones his righteous Anger and this being so fearfully provok'd there is no Advocate in his Bosom to plead for them Did he not expel from Heaven the rebellious Angels Spirits of a higher Order and more excellent Endowments than Men and in their number perhaps exceeding the whole Progeny of Man Now as the Apostle considering that the Israelites the chosen People of God and dear to him above all others yet when they became unfruitful were broken off from the true Olive Tree and the wild Gentiles were grafted into it leaves this Caution in eternal memory Be not high-minded but fear For if he spared not the natural Branches take heed lest he spare not thee We may strongly infer If God spared not the Angels that sinned in their first act of disobedience but cast them down to hell and delivered them into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment Certainly he will not spare sinful Men that hate to be reformed and continue in the voluptuous course of Sin to the last The secure and foolish Sinners that now make a mock of Sin and have so far lost their Innocence and Ingenuity that shame and request for their foul Actions is counted a vicious Infirmity a degenerous Humour they shall understand in what degree Sin is hateful to the Holy God They who now sleep out all the denunciations of the Law will find at last they have to do with a terrible inexorable God Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no Man regarded But ye have set at nought all my Counsel and would have none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear comes When your Fear comes as Desolation and your Destruction comes as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish come upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated Knowledg and did not chuse the Fear of the Lord. This dreadful Threatning is pointed against foolish Sinners who abuse Prosperity When those who shut their Eyes against Danger shall be constrained to open them and see the fearful Face of Death attended with Judgment and Judgment with an eternal Hell when Diseases in the Body and Anguish in the Soul shall assail them at once like two Clouds that by collision break forth in Thunder and they mournfully cry for Mercy their Prayers will be rejected with scorn and their Ruin be remediless The carnal Conceit that God will graciously receive Sinners when the World has left them that when by calamitous constraint they are at last brought to confess their wickedness and are only sorrowful for the evil Consequences of it the conceit that they shall find Mercy is Atheism of as blasphemous a nature as the denial of a God for to ascribe such a Mercy to God as is inconsistent with his Wisdom Holiness Justice and Truth is to deprive him of his purest Perfections and in effect to ungod him In the rebellions of their lives they exprest open enmity against God and their Devotion at their death is secret Flattery in his account For thus t is said by the Psalmist of such Sinners When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him and they were not stedfast in his Covenant 'T is true God is rich in Mercy and most willing to pardon returning Sinners when their contrition is sincere when they are truly sorrowful that Sin has made them unholy as well as unhappy that they have abus'd the Mercies of God our gracious Creator and Preserver compassionate Redeemer and blessed Comforter as well as provok'd his Anger and when the resolutions of amendment are so deeply rooted as would prove effectual if they should be tried by the lengthning of their Time in this World But those who defer their repenting whilst God defers punishing and like the unjust Steward never think of making provision for their Souls till they are cited to give an account of their unrighteous and ungrateful abuse of his Blessings those who renounce their Sins when unable to commit them and resolve to live well when they can live no longer have great reason to suspect their own hearts and to be fearful of their future state If a Minister be call'd to assist such in their dying hours there is infinite reason he should be cautious of assuring them of Pardon and Salvation lest natural Sorrow be mistaken for godly Sorrow and the Repentance declar'd by them would be retracted upon new temptations 't is safe to imitate a discreet Physician that is unwilling to declare what he fears will be the issue of the
fall and both defile and wound themselves Briefly they are truly miserable here even whilst they most pleasantly and contentedly enjoy the World they are accumulating the Treasures of Wrath and preparing new Torments for their Souls they stand upon brittle Ice and Hell is beneath ready to swallow them up in its deepest Gulph As 't is said by the Apostle concerning the Saints darkend by Sorrows here that their glorious Life is hid in God and shall illustriously appear with Christ at his second Coming So the terrible Death of the Wicked whilst they flourish here is hid from the Eyes of Sense but shall be revealed in the Day of Wrath. And to a wise Observer to a serious Believer the prosperous Sinner is the most unhappy and compassionable Object in the World for he perishes by such a flattering kind of Death that he is neither apprehensive nor affected with his Danger And when an illuminate Christian sees the Marks of Damnation in Sinners whom Prosperity deceives and hardens he cannot but be tenderly moved and is obliged most earnestly to pray to the merciful Father of Spirits whose Grace is Omnipotent that he would recover their lapsed Souls bleeding to eternal Death If there be any heavenly Charity in our brests it will melt our hearts and dissolve us in tears to prevent or at least to solemnize and lament their heavy Destiny 5. From hence we are instructed to judg truly and wisely of Afflictions they are the necessary and merciful Dispensations of Heaven to recover Sinners corrupted by Prosperity and to return them to God Sense tho its principal end is to preserve the Body is not always a fit judg of things beneficial to it the Appetites and Aversions are sometimes pernicious One in a Dropsy drinks to quench his Thirst and increases his Distemper A bitter Potion is rejected by a sick Child not considering that a Medicine not Sweet-meats can cure his Disease The pleasure of the taste is no certain indication of what is wholsome for Health much more uncapable is Sense to judg of what is useful for the Soul Reason is entirely renounc'd and fallacious Sense is in the Throne when Prosperity with its gaudy Allurements is esteemed as our Happiness and Adversity is abhorr'd as the worst Misery The Wise Man instructed by dear Experience tells us It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to go to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all Men and the living will lay it to heart Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better The Heart of the Wise is in the House of Mourning but the Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth Prosperity irritates and fortifies the sensual vile Affections the pleasing of which is fatal to the Soul As 't is observed by the natural Historian that the sparkling Colour and delicious Relish of Wine tempts Men to drinking without thirst and from Intemperance innumerable Diseases flow Prosperity diverts the Mind from considering the things that belong to our eternal Peace and the Will from consenting to them The Thoughts are so scattered abroad that few are left at home duly to ponder the miserable Effects of Sin Now in this the Rules of natural and spiritual Medicine agree that one Extream is to be cured by another The Devil cruelly destroys the Souls of Men by the pleasures of Sin and God the wise and compassionate Physician recovers them by bitter Sorrows the most congruous and powerful means for that blessed Effect Affliction makes us retire within our Hearts and shuts out the noisy throng of worldly distracting Objects and then Truth and Conscience that were under unrighteous Restraints will break the Fetters and speak loudly and terribly to the Sinner Affliction fixes the Mind upon those Objects that duly considered are able to terrify the most determin'd and resolved Sinner There is no Man so prodigiously bad so perfectly a Brute but has at times some twinges of Conscience some workings in his Spirit some desires of Salvation Even Balaam who in the judgment of the Angel was more stupid than the Ass he rode on yet had some springings in his heart towards Heaven O that I might die the Death of the Righteous and my last end may be like his but these are fleeting and variable and so weak in comparison of the Opposite desires of the Flesh while Prosperity continues that they prove abortive Now affliction deads the flaming edge of the Affection to Vanity When the Sinner feels the truth of the divine Threatnings then he is effectually convinc'd of the Evil of Sin and understands by the beginning of Sorrows here what the Issues will be hereafter and retracts his foolish choice In the time of Affliction our Sins find us out and 't is most likely we shall then find our Sins out and with repenting tears acknowledg them and with hatred renounce them Now the consideration of the designed Benefit by Afflictions should reconcile them to our Wills and perswade us with patience and thankfulness to accept of them as the Testimonies of God's peculiar favour Our Saviour declares As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous and repent God is often most angry when he makes no sensible discovery that he is so thus he threatens the rebellious Jews I will make my Fury towards thee to rest and my Jealousy shall depart from thee and I will be quiet and will be no more angry implying a final divorce a leaving them to their impure Idolatries without more correction If there be such a hardness of heart as the Fire cannot melt such a rust that the Fire cannot purify God will not waste his Judgments on such desperate Sinners He withdraws his chastising hand as hopeless of their amendment and that desertion is a fatal signature of Reprobation And on the contrary many times God's Love is most tender and compassionate to us when to Sense there is the least evidence of it Even the Heathens in the twilight between the darkness of Idolatry and the light of Nature discovered that Afflictions were the privilege of those that are singularly beloved of God And Christians have a more sure word for their instruction Whom the Lord loves he chastens and scourgeth every Son whom he receives There is not a stronger evidence of his fatherly wise Love than the discipline of the Rod and the afflicted returning Sinner may with an adoptive assurance come to the Throne of Grace By afflictions the World is less enticing and hurtful to us and Heaven is more amiable and desirable the things that are seen are vilified and distasted and invisible things are sought with our highest esteem and respect and zealous endeavours Those Lusts that spring and grow and flourish in Prosperity are blasted and wither and die in adversity Those who forget God when prosperous in the World are taught by the voice
with God who is the Maker the Searcher and the Judg of our Hearts Therefore the Holy Psalmist calls upon his Soul and all that is within him every Faculty to unite in the Praises of God the Understanding to consider the several Arguments of Praise and Thankfulness to esteem and to admire the divine Goodness to ascribe the Glory that is due to God for his Mercies the memory to register his Benefits the Will and Affections to love him for his Mercies and above them Thankfulness implies a solemn recognition of the Mercies of God with all the Circumstances that add a lustre to them to affect us in as vigorous a manner in our Praises for the Blessings we enjoy as we are in our Prayers for what we need Not only signal Mercies but common and ordinary should be continually acknowledged by us And since our Memories are so slippery as to the retaining of Favours Injuries are inscrib'd in Marble Benefits written in Dust We should every day review the Mercies we enjoy to quicken our Praises for them and to make Impressions not soon defac'd Thankfulness implies a due valuation of God's Benefits This will be raised by considering the Author the great God the meanest Mercy from his Hand is a high Favour As the Guilt of Sin arises from the greatness of the Object tho some Sins are comparatively small yet none is in its intrinsic Nature a small Evil so tho of Mercies some are in comparison eminent and some are ordinary yet every Mercy is great with respect to the Author from whence it comes And the thankful esteem of Mercies will rise in proportion to the sense of our unworthiness A constant poverty of Spirit in reflecting upon our own vileness that there is not meerly a want of desert in us with respect to God's Blessings but a desert of his heavy Judgments will heighten our esteem of them For this end it is very useful that the Prosperous would consider those below them how many better than themselves are under oppressing Wants tormenting Pains heart-breaking Sorrows whom you may trace by their Tears every day and what free and rich Mercy is it that they enjoy the affluence of all things this distinguishing Goodness should be acknowledged with a warm rapture of affection to the Divine Benefactor To compare our selves with those that excel us in Grace will make us humble and with those who are below us in outward Blessings will make us thankful The Prosperous have special Obligations to be most conversant in this Celestial Duty there are various Graces and Duties that are only useful in this imperfect state and shall expire with us as Repentance Faith Hope Patience c. the Reward of them will be Eternal but the exercise is limited to present Life but Love and Praise remain in Heaven The Saints eternally admire love and bless God for his Mercies And the sincere and constant performance of this Duty is most pleasing to God and profitable to us for thankfulness to our blessed Benefactor engages his Heart and opens the Treasures of his Bounty more liberally to us The way to obtain new Benefits is not to suffer former Favours to be lost in ungrateful oblivion In short 't is the best and surest evidence of our thankfulness to God when his Mercies are effectual Motives to please him We cannot always make an actual commemoration of his Benefits but an habitual remembrance should ever be in our Hearts and influential in our Lives Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes saith holy David and I have walked in thy Truth unfeignedly respected all thy Commandments 4. The Fear of God and a vigilant care to avoid the Sins that so easily encompass us is necessary in Prosperity The Secure assist Satan in his War against the Soul but watchfulness disarms the Tempter Circumspection is never more a Duty than when Pleasures without and Passions within conspire to betray us 'T is useful to reflect upon the great numbers who have been corrupted and ruin'd by Prosperity that the Vices of the dead may secure the Vertues of the living The fear of God is clean effectively as it preserves from Sin 'T is Solomon's advice to young Men that enjoy the World in its Flower and in the season of their sinning that they would remember that God for all their Vanities will bring them to Judgment This Consideration will be powerful to prevent the risings of the corrupt Affections or to suppress their growth and hinder their accomplishment But with the excellently temper'd Soul an ingenuous Fear from the consideration of God's Mercies is an effectual restraint from Sin 'T is said they shall fear the Lord and his Goodness fear to offend and grieve and lose his Goodness This Fear does not infringe the comfort of the Soul but preserve and improve it Servile Fear when the Soul is afraid to burn not to sin is a judicial forc'd Impression the Character of a Slave but an ingenuous grateful Fear that springs from the sense of the Divine Goodness is a voluntary Affection becoming a Child of God and cherish'd by him The Fear of the Lord is his Treasure This watchfulness must be universal against all Temptations to which we are incident by Prosperity otherwise we shall be guilty of a like folly with those that shut and fortifie one Gate and leave the other open to the Enemy And it must be as continual as our Temptations Blessed is the Man that feareth always 5. A moderate use of worldly things is an excellent preservative from the Evil adhering to them 'T is a Divine Blessing to partake of the Gifts of God with contentment and tranquility especially 't is sweet to taste his Love in them God gives to a Man that is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledg and Joy that is to use temperately and comfortably outward Blessings But the Flesh is the Devil's Sollicitor and perswades Men with a freer Fancy and looser Affections to enjoy the World than is consistent with the prosperity of their Souls When Diogenes observed with the many sick and languishing Persons the Hydropick Consumptive and other Diseases that came to the Temple of Esculapius for recovery and that after their Sacrifices they made a luxurious Feast he cried out Is this the way to recover Health If you were sound 't is the speedy and effectual way to bring Diseases and being diseased to bring Death to you 'T is applicable in a higher sense the intemperate use of sensual Delights weakens the Life and Vigour of the Soul in a Saint and certainly brings Death to diseased Souls that habitually indulge their corrupt Affections The Apostle saith of the licentious Woman She that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives an allusion to a Torch that is consum'd by its own flames Sensual Lusts are cherish'd and pamper'd by Prosperity and the carnal Heart over-rules the whole Man Our Saviour charges his Disciples to beware of surfeiting and drunkenness The indulging