Treasure and exceeding Joy and as soon as he begins to breath the Life of Holiness he dies to the Vanities of the World And when Prosperity alienates the heart from God 't is as surely destructive as when it draws forth the sensual Appetites into exorbitant and foul actions A Consumption kills as surely as a Calenture Those who abuse the Favours of God to impiety and luxury throw themselves headlong into the bottomless Pit and those who in their abundance are remiss and cold towards God gradually descend thither for God will not be our Joy for ever in Heaven if he be not our exceeding Joy upon the Earth But when in the midst of Prosperity the Soul is fill'd with a noble admiration of the Divine Excellencies when it tastes incomparable more sweetness in the Love of God from whence outward Blessings are derived than in the things themselves when the chief Joy arises from the contemplation of his Favour in Christ whereby we are pardon'd and preferr'd to be his Brethren Coheirs with him of the immortal and undefiled Inheritance then we know how to abound Our Saviour commands his Disciples not to rejoyce that Spirits were subject to them tho an admirable testimony of his Favour but that their Names were written in Heaven Much less should this perishing World be the matter of our Joy in comparison of our Title and the blessed hope of Heaven Spiritual Joy purifies and fortifies the Soul against the insnaring and corrupting Allurements of the World The Joy of the Lord is their strength that of which he is the Author and Object is both productive and preservative of the Vigour of the Soul to resist the Charms of the World 'T is said of Orpheus when he past by the Syrens who by their charming Voices subdued Men to sleep and then destroyed them that he played on his Harp and the sweet sound made him despise their singing and prevented the danger The Fable is fitly moralized Joy in the Lord as our Portion and that infinite sweetness that is in communion with him makes such an impression upon the Soul that the insnaring and destructive Pleasures of the World are abhorr'd in comparison with them That firm Peace and pure Joy passes the Understanding our most comprehensive Faculty whereas all the Pleasures of the World do not satisfy our Senses 7. When Riches and Power are employed for the Glory of God and the good of others they are a happy advantage to those that possess them All Benefits are virtual Obligations and the greater our Receipts are the greater our Accounts will be God has a soveraign Right in all things we have and they are not to be employed meerly for our Pleasure or Profit but according to his Will and for his Honour 'T is true he enjoys his own Eternity his own Glory and Blessedness to which there is no possibility of accession his essential Glory cannot be increas'd but his declarative Glory may be more manifested in the Eyes of Men and he strictly requires that we should use his Gifts so as to shew forth his Glory to declare how highly we value his Glory and how ardently we desire and endeavour that others should bless and praise him Thus Men in high Dignity should govern their Greatness so as to make it subservient to this blessed End that the Wisdom Power Holiness Justice and Mercy of God may be manifested in their administration And those who enjoy a present abundance should according to their capacity relieve the Wants of others The wise God has order'd several degrees in the Society of Men the Rich and Poor that the inequality may be an occasion of the exercise of Charity And 't is a special favour that he is pleased to make some his Treasurers to dispense his Benefits to his Family Whilst others can only be charitable in their compassionate Desires he gives to some an ability os diffusive Goodness and 't is Injustice mixt with foul ingratitude not to pay that Tribute of which he has appointed the Poor to be his Receivers not to abound in good Works when from his most free and special Favour he enables Men to imitate and honour him who is rich in Mercy 'T is more blessed to give than to receive The present Reward is excellent 't is our Saviour's encouragement Give Alms of such things as you have according to your Capacity and behold all things are clean unto you As under the Law by offering the first Fruits in the Temple the whole Harvest was consecrated and bless'd so by a charitable distribution the Rich have a pure and comfortable enjoyment of their Estates And the Reward hereafter will be glorious by infinite degrees exceeding the most costly and liberal Charity 'T is the Encouragement used by the Apostle Charge them that are rich in this World that they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life Some by corrupt prodigality waste their Estates are profuse as the Sea some heap up Riches as the Sand and both must be responsible to the Righteous Lord who will severely call them to an account for the abuse of his Blessings But those who according to their utmost ability honour him with their Substance and by their charity and beneficence open the hearts and lips of many in thanksgivings to God shall be accepted and rewarded from the Divine Mercy Especially doing good to those whom God loves who bear his Image who are peculiarly related to him shall have an excellent Reward The Apostle tells us that some by entertaining Strangers received Angels the honour is incomparably greater that in relieving the Godly Jesus Christ the Lord of Angels is fed and cloathed in his Members And at the last Day he will publickly own those Acts of Mercy as done to himself Then he will give to the contented Poor the Crown of Patience and to the charitable Rich the Crown of Liberality In short Riches and Honour Power and Prosperity are Temptations to the Carnal that draw forth their Lusts and increase their Guilt and Misery but to wise and faithful Christians they are Talents improved for their Master's Honour and their own everlasting Good 7. A firm resolution to part with all Possessions and Dignities when God's Honour and the testimony of his Truth requires it is an excellent Antidote against the Evil of Prosperity God doth sometimes call forth his Servants to hard Trials to declare with more strength and evidence their love to his Name their zeal for advancing his Glory Satan is an irreconcileable Enemy to God and his Saints and inspires the perverted World with his own Malice against them Rage has no Reason the Jews would excommunicate the blind Man because he saw and ascribed the Glory of the Miracle to our Saviour and Lazarus must die because he was raised
THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY Discovered in several SERMONS Upon PROV 1. 27. Nihil infaelicius faelicitate peccantium qua poenalis nutritur impunitas mala voluntas velut interior hostis roboratur Aug. By William Bates D. D. LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil MDCLXXXV The PREFACE THE Experience of all Ages has verified that none are exposed to more dangerous Trials than the Prosperous in this World The great Tempter has found the Temptations of Prosperity so insinuative and prevailing with Men that he attempted our blessed Saviour expecting by the pleasant prospect of the Kingdoms of this World and their Glory to have fastned an Impression upon his Spirit and tainted his inviolable Purity But he found nothing in our Saviour not the least irregular inclination to his Allurements and could work nothing upon him 'T is otherwise with Men born of the Flesh in whom there is a carnal Heart the Centre of Apostacy and Corruption that is easily enticed and overcome by charming Complacencies Prosperity is a disguised Poison pleasant to the unwary sense but deadly in the operation and the more pernicious in the Effects because less dangerous in the Opinions of Men. The Temptations of Prosperity are so frequent and favour'd by us that they give vigour to the inward Enemy the sensual affections and boldness to the malicious Tempter They foment the carnal Appetites that defile and debase the Soul and are the more rebellious and exorbitant the more they are gratified Prosperity is the strongest obstacle against the Conversion and Reformation of Sinners Whilst they are plying their various Pleasures they have neither will nor leisure to advert to the Voice of Conscience so reproachful and stinging to them And many times Prosperity stupifies Conscience that Men are fearless of Divine Judgments involv'd in sensual Security They will not reverence and obey God's Authority till they feel his Power they abuse his Blessings to Pride and Vanity Idleness and Luxury and are hardned in their Impenitence dyed with the deepest tincture of Ingratitude they drive on through a course of Sin till Death puts a period to their Lusts. How destructive how penal is Prosperity to such graceless Souls When God rains Snares upon the Wicked when the affluence of this World is abused to satisfy their vicious Desires 't is a sad forerunner of the Shower of Fire and Brimstone and the horrible Tempest that shall overwhelm them at last Others in Prosperity are not openly profane and boldly vicious yet are corrupted and insensibly destroyed by it They over-value and over-delight in the good things of this World and please themselves in an opiniative Felicity in their present State They enjoy the World with more appearance of Reason and less Sensuality than the Riotous and Luxurious but their conversation with so many charming Objects alienates them from God They do not sanctify him in their Hearts placing their highest esteem upon his most amiable Excellencies and their dearest delight in communion with him They look upon Religion as a sour Severity and count nothing delightful but what is suitable to the fleshly Affections A deceit like that of a sick Person who feeling no pleasure but in the easy intervals between his Fits and the remission of his Distemper should imagine that if he were freed from his Disease he should lose all Pleasure whereas the Delights of Health are more full and durable The Angels are uncapable of sensual Pleasures their Happiness arises from the perfection of Good not the allays of Evil. The Beasts are only capable of sensual pleasures the remedies of natural Evils Hunger Thirst Weariness or accidental Evils Diseases and Pains And many are so sottishly deceived as to prefer brutish Pleasures that affect the Senses before Angelical Joys that arise from the fruition of God's Favour and Obedience to his Laws This is a sad Symptom of an unrenewed Heart and an heavy Presage of future Misery for God will not be our everlasting Joy in Heaven if he be not our exceeding Joy upon the Earth Others surrounded with Riches and Honours are neither thankful to their Divine Benefactor nor careful to employ their Prosperity and Power for his Glory The Law of Mercy requires a solemn affectionate recognition of God's Benefits but the Current of Prosperity drowns their sense of the Divine Goodness and incogitant practical Atheism is as destructive as Absolute and Speculative And how many by the deceitfulness of Riches are apt to imagine that they possess with Dominion what they receive in trust they might be rich in good Works and if their Hearts were according to their Ability be fruitful as Paradise but are as barren as the Sands of Africa They are in a mighty Debt for so many received Blessings for which their Account will be heavy and undoing with the highest Lord. These and many other Considerations make it evident how dangerous Prosperity is to the most that enjoy it here 'T is therefore a Point of high and holy Wisdom how to manage Prosperity so as to avoid the impendant Evils that usually follow it and to improve it for our eternal Advantage This is the Design of the present Treatise and humbly recommended to the Divine Blessing from one who most unfeignedly desires the Salvation of Mens Souls W. B. THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY PROV 1. 32. The Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them IN the former Verses the Divine Wisdom is introduc'd in a very elegant and pathetical manner reclaiming Men from their miserable Errors to partake of Light and Felicity The Address is directed to them with Upbraidings and Indignation at their Folly and with tender compassion for their Ruin How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and Fools hate knowledg Thus 't is said of our Saviour the Incarnate Wisdom of God That he look'd on the Pharisees with anger being grieved at the hardness of their hearts We have also exprest an earnest desire of their Conversion Turn ye at my Reproof And that is seconded by a gracious Promise I will pour out my Spirit upon you to illuminate and conduct you in the way of Life But for their stupid obstinacy in despising the Counsel and rejecting the Reproofs of Wisdom they are surprized with utter destruction This is described with that Train of killing Circumstances that are the most forcible Excitations timely to prevent that Evil which neglected will be remediless Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no Man regarded I will also laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call on me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledg and despised the fear of the Lord. In their distress they supplicate for Mercy but as they were unchang'd notwithstanding
Element all that he possesses to supply his want and satisfy his desires is from pure Mercy and the more eminent the advantage of some is above others in this World the greater are their Receits and Obligations and who would be proud that he is in a mighty Debt rich and poor honourable and mean are distinctions among Men but in respect to God all are equally mean and low Neither do these things give any inherent worth and make Persons more acceptable to God Poor Lazarus who was a miserable Spectacle his Body corroded with Ulcers yet had a precious Soul under it the glorious Angels descended from Heaven to receive it at the point of Death and convey it to the reviving presence of God but the rich Man was cast into Hell Besides how uncertain are all the admired things of this World Is he truly rich whose whole Estate lies in a Ship abroad that is to pass through Seas exposed to Tempests and infested with Pirats and runs a double hazard of being rob'd or cast away And the Consideration thereof is a proper Argument to cause us to keep a low Mind in a high Condition 'T is the Apostle's counsel Let the rich and the great in the World rejoice in that he is made low because as the Flower of the Grass he shall pass away when the florid Beauty is displayed it presently withers How many survive their Estates and Dignities and by unforeseen Revolutions become poor and low Many that were overflowing in Riches and Pleasures are as dry and desolate as the Desart And is it not a disparagement to our Reason to admire Shadows and be proud of transient Vanities But suppose they continue with Men here can they preserve the Body from Diseases and Death or the Soul from oppressing Sorrows And is it not miserable folly to pride themselves in secular Greatness that is so insufficient to prevent the worst Evils But especially the consideration how Man is vilified by Sin should make him be abased and low in his own Eyes As that blessed Martyr Bishop Hooper says Lord I am Hell thou art Heaven I am a Sinck of Sin thou art the Fountain of Holiness And the more gracious and bountiful God is to Men the more sinful should they appear to themselves Humility discovers our native Poverty in the midst of rich Abundance our true Vileness in the midst of glittering Honours that nothing is ours but Sin and Misery and makes us say with the Spirit of that humble Saint We are less than the least of all God's Mercies Now the more of Humility the more of Heaven is in the Soul 't is that disposition that prepares it to receive the Graces and Comforts of the Spirit in an excellent degree God resists the Proud the Self-conceited and Aspiring he is at defiance with and abhors them he justly deprives them of Spiritual Treasures who value themselves and bear it high for the abundance of this World But he gives Grace to the Humble The due sense of our Wants and Unworthiness makes us fit to partake of Divine Blessings 2. A meek temper and deportment is an excellent preservative from the evil of Prosperity Humility and Meekness are always in conjunction and most amiable in the Eyes of God and Men. A meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price They are the brightest Jewels that adorn Humanity and shin'd so gloriously in our blessed Saviour the supream Pattern of Perfection and are propounded as signally imitable by us Learn of me for I am meek and lowly When he came in his Regal Office he is thus described Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Sion Behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly the Church is excited to rejoice in his mild Monarchy And Christians who in Profession are his Disciples are commanded to be gentle and to shew all meekness to all Men. This especially concerns those who are in a superior Order for Prosperity is apt to make Men insolent and intollerable and to treat with an haughty roughness those that are below them But there is nothing more becoming Men in Prosperity and Power than a sweetness of Spirit not easily provok'd by Injuries and easily pardoning them a gracious condescension exprest in Words and Actions even to all Inferiors And especially meekness is necessary in a submissive receiving Reproofs for Sin whether by the Ministry of the Word or by a faithful Friend Prosperity is never more dangerous than when Sin takes sanctuary in it when Men think Riches and Power to be a privilege to free them from sound and searching Reproof and damn themselves with less contradiction And an humble submission with respect to the Authority of God and an ingenious tractableness with respect to the sincere affection of those who are faithful in their Counsels for our Souls is an eminent instance of Meekness and preserves from the danger of Prosperity 3. Solmn and affectionate Thanksgiving to God for his Mercies sanctifies Prosperity This is the certain consequent of an humble disposition of Soul Pride smothers the Receits of God's Favours Thankfulness is the homage of Humility This is infinitely due to God who renews our Lives as often as we breath and renews his Mercies every moment yet so unjust and ungrateful are Men especially in Prosperity that they strangely neglect it From hence are those Divine Warnings so solemnly repeated to the Israelites When thou shalt have eaten and art full then beware lest thou forget the Lord. And lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly Houses and dwelt therein then thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God This was the wicked effect of their Prosperity According to their pasture so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me There is a great backwardness in a carnal heart to thanksgiving for Mercies Prayer in our distress is a Work of Necessity but thankful Praise is an Act of Duty carnal Love is the cause of the one divine Love of the other Even David how ardently does he excite his Soul to the performing this Duty Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits The earnest and repeated Address to make a lively and fervent Impression upon his Soul is a tacit intimation of the drowsy negligence he found in himself This Duty is Spiritual and to be performed by the Soul that is our noble part and capable to understand our Obligations to the Divine Goodness Indeed 't is often exprest in the vocal praises of God for there is a natural correspondence between the Tongue and the Heart as between the Hand of a Clock and the Motion of the Wheels within but the chief part is performed in the Soul and is only of value and acceptance