illuminating quickning and attractive Operations than Sensuality and nothing more heightens sensuality and increases the aversness of carnal Men to the holy Law of God and makes their Conversion more difficult than Prosperity Indeed the Spirit of God can by effectual Grace convert the most unprepared habituate Sinner the most obstinate Enemy of Holiness he can melt the most rocky stubborn Heart into a holy softness and compliance with its Duty for creating Power is of infallible Efficacy and there are some Objects and Miracles of Divine Grace that are the everlasting Monuments of its glorious Power in subduing the most fierce violence of rebellious Sinners But the Spirit of God does not work as natural Agents that are active to the extent of their Power The Winds blow with all their force and the Sun inlightens the Air with all its luster The holy Spirit is an intelligent and voluntary Agent whose Power in working is regulated by his Will and directed by his Wisdom There are some things repugnant to the Divine Attributes ' that 't is impossible God should do them the Apostle saith that God cannot lye for 't is contrary to his Truth one of his essential Perfections And 't is as impossible that he should do any thing unbecoming his Wisdom He threatned the sensual World My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for he is Flesh that is corrupt and indulgent to his fleshly Appetites and alway opposing and controuling the pure Motions of the Spirit We read that our Saviour could do no mighty Works in his own Country because of their unbelief Not as if their Infidelity abated his Divine Power but they were unprepared to receive benefit by them his Miracles would have been cast away upon such inconvincible Persons Who will sow the barren Sands or water dead Plants or give a rich Cordial to a furious Patient that will spill it on the ground And 't is an Act of Justice to deprive Sinners of those Inspirations which they have so long resisted Those who are tender and tractable and unfeignedly resign up themselves to his conduct in the Ways of Life shall receive more powerful Influences to perfect the blessed Work begun in them He will give more Grace to the humble But those who are so far from valuing his Graces and Comforts that should be received with the highest respect that they ungratefully despise them and rebel against his Motions and Counsels he righteously deserts St. Stephen in his Charge against the Jews to compleat the aggravation of their Sins reproaches them Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye always resisted the Holy Ghost The obstinate Sinner rebels against his Authority and contemns his Mercy The Tempter with his Charms is presently entertain'd as the Devils easily enter'd into the Swine but the Holy Spirit with his gracious Offers is rejected Wretched Indignity rather to obey a Slave and an Enemy than the lawful Soveraign If the Saints grieve the Spirit of God by a wilful neglect of his assisting Grace and fall into presumptuous sins altho from the perfection of his Nature he is not capable of passionate grief yet he infinitely dislikes their sins And as grief when 't is oppressing causes the Spirits to retire to the Heart and Nature is as it were shut up in its springs and obstructed from communicating agility and vivacity in the ordinary operations of the senses thus the holy Spirit when grieved withdraws and there follows a disconsolate eclipse and interruption of his reviving quickning presence But the indulgent habituate Sinners provoke him finally to leave them to their own Lusts. 'T is true his deserting them is usually gradual as in a consumptive Person the stomach the colour the strength decline by degrees till Nature sinks irrecoverably under the Disease so the motions of the Spirit in those who have often repell'd them are not so frequent and vigorous as before his after calls are weaker wasting and dying every day till his total withdrawing from them How fearful and hopeless is the state of such a sinner This spiritual Judgment always proceeds from inexorable severity and ends in the eternal ruin of sinners For without the Spirit 's supernatural working they can never be renewed to Repentance never reconciled to God They may for a time live in a voluptuous course or follow the Business of the World and a little breath may separate between them and Hell but they shall at last die in their sins in an impardonable state for ever 'T is said of the Jews They rebell'd and vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them 2. The Convictions and Excitations of Conscience are prevented or made ineffectual by the prosperity of sinners Conscience is the applicative Mind that respects Practice it directs in our Duty both by inhibitions from what is evil and by instigations to what is good and by comparing our Actions with the Rule testifies our innocence or guilt and approves or condemns us This intellectual Ray was planted in us by the wise God in out Creation and extended to the Divine Law the Object and End of it to keep us to our Duty And since our revolt 't is being enlightned and sanctified the vital Principle of Conversion to God the powerful means of rescuing the lapsed Soul from its prostitution to the Flesh and recovering it to a temper of Purity becoming its Original Excellence and Relation to the Father of Spirits 'T is true the Love of God is the primary Rule of our Duty and the Holy Spirit is the Efficient of our Renovation but the inlightned Conscience is the immediate Rule and the immediate Mover of us to return to our Duty And if Conscience which is the Eye of the Soul be covered with a film of Ignorance if it be blear'd with the false glitterings of the World if it totally neglects its Office or makes but a cold application of saving Terrors that may controul the licentious Appetites if it be disregarded when it suggests and excites to our Duty the sinner is hardned and setled in his lost state Now Prosperity foments the sensual Affections that obscure the Light of Conscience that corrupt its Judgment that smother and suppress its Dictates or despise and slight them that 't is powerless tho constituted God's Deputy to order our Lives 1. Affected Ignorance is the usual Concomitant of sensual Lusts for the enlightned Conscience will convince and condemn Men for their Pollutions and force them here to feel the beginning of sorrows and thereby make them apprehensive what the issues and consummation will be hereafter and this will cast an aspersion of bitterness upon their sweet sins and lessen the full pleasure of them From hence our Saviour tells us Every one that loves to do Evil hates the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved that is by the instructed and awakned Conscience Men love darkness
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
their Hearts are apt to reply as the Priests did to Judas What is that to us see ye to it The Terrors of the Lord no more affect them than Thunder does the Deaf or Lightning the Blind In short tho charged and adjured by all the Threatnings of the Law and the neglected Gospel tho intreated by all the precious Promises of Mercy they continue hardned in their voluptuous sins they despise the eternal Rewards of Holiness and Wickedness as incredible and impertinent and Ministers as men of vain talk and imaginations For the Infidel Senses are not affected with things future and Sinners whilst prosperous are under their Dominion 3. Suppose in preaching the Word a sharp ray of Truth darts through the deep and setled darkness of the Heart yet 't is soon dampt and without saving effect upon Sinners in their Prosperity They may be terrified but are not subdued by the Armour of Light for they presently take sanctuary in the World to escape the strokes of it The carnal Passions dare not appear before such Objects as awaken the Conscience the Senses strongly apply the Mind to things that touch them the Fancy is the spring of of distraction in the thoughts and these reign in their full power in prosperous Sinners so that they do not by serious consideration apply things of eternal consequence to themselves The Heart of Man with difficulty changes its end the outward actions may be suspended or over-ruled for a time but the love that is natural and predominant in the Heart to the present World cannot be purified and raised to Heaven without the Divine efficacy of the Word applied by most solemn and frequent thoughts How plain and convincing are the words of our Saviour What will it profit a Man if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul But how few in hearing them have found their Souls that were lost in the corrupting Vanities of this World The most seem not to know they have immortal Souls whilst they live as if they had none The Reason is they will not consider duly their unvaluable worth and the woful folly in neglecting them When the Bird often straggles from the Nest the Eggs are chil'd and unprolific for want of its warming incubation Divine Truths are without life and vigour when they only lie in the memory without serious and frequent reflections on them Many are enlightned but not affected or affected but not resolved or resolved but their resolutions are not prevailing and permanent because the Word does not sink into their Minds by deep consideration 2. The other external means of recovering a Sinner from the snares of Death is private admonition either authoritative or meerly charitative by shewing him his Sins and the fearful Consequences that attend them The neglect of this Duty is a sign and effect of the greatest hatred as the command of it implies Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart and suffer Sin to lie upon him The performance of it with prudence and meekness with dear and earnest love has a special advantage and efficacy being directly applied to the Person whose Soul is concern'd The Reproofs of a Preacher are levell'd in common against the Sins of Men but not applied in particular to every Sinner 'T is the Office of Conscience to bring home to every Man's Bosom what is proper to his Case and singularly to observe in himself what is spoken in the general But in private Admonition the Superior or Friend supplies the part of Conscience And in this sense wo be to him that is alone that wants a faithful Friend to supply the Duty of Conscience either to preserve him from falling into Sin or to raise him when down Now a prosperous Sinner is most unlikely to receive the Benefit design'd by admonition If the Patient does not assist the Cure by receiving holy Counsels with humility respect and thankfulness they prove ineffectual and much more if they be rejected with aversness and contempt When a Superiour like a Father that holds a Child over a Pit to make him fear where there is danger with solemnity admonishes him of his Guilt and approaching Judgments he is apt to slite his Person as censorious and his Admonition as impertinent When a Friend by faithful reproof endeavours to save his Soul from Sin and Hell he entertains his Reproof with scorn or with conviction and indignation Thus the wise observer of Men declares the careless wretched disposition of Sinners in their Prosperity by their sorrowful reflections in Adversity Thou shalt mourn at the last when thy Flesh and thy Body are consumed and say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me Instruction to prevent Sin Reproof to correct Sin were disregarded with an implicit hatred or rejected with absolute and express hatred To conclude this part of the Argument Experience sadly proves that Sinners are never reclaimed from their stubborn Folly but by sharp Afflictions They will not believe the evil of Sin till by a real and sensible conviction they take a measure of the Evil they have done by the Evil they suffer Affliction tames the stubborn heart and makes it humble and relenting Even Pharaoh that was a bold Atheist in his Prosperity and stood upon high terms with Moses saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him yet was an humble Suppliant in his Distress And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them I have sinned the Lord is righteous and I and my People are wicked Intreat the Lord that there be no more mighty Thundrings and Hail This is set forth in a true and lively comparison by the Prophet Jeremy As a wild Ass used to the Wilderness that snuffs up the Wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away When fir'd with Lust she ranges about swiftly without a Rider to guide and a Curb to restrain her All they that seek her will not weary themselves but in her mouth they shall find her 'T is in vain to pursue her then but when she is bagg'd and heavy they will tame her Thus when Sinners are prosperous the call of God and Conscience and of Teachers do not stop them in their voluptuous course but affliction confines and reduces them to obedience 5. Prosperity renders Men averse from suffering for the sake of Christ when they are called to give testimony to his Truth and support his Cause Self-denial with respect to the present Life and all the Ornaments Comforts and Endearments of it is absolutely necessary by the Law of Christianity when the preserving of it is contrary to the Glory of Christ and inconsistent with our Duty to him Then said Jesus to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me The Cross implies all kinds
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
Disease but modestly infinuates the Danger to those that are about the sick Person The good God can do all things he can revive the almost spent and expiring O pray for him 'T is advice given by a skilful Herbalist that particular care is necessary in planting the Seed of the Cardus for if they are not set upright they degenerate and produce a wild Herb. The Gospel is compar'd to Seed and if the conditional promises of Pardon and Salvation are not received in the Heart aright if the comfort of them be not applied according to the Qualifications that are requisite to give us an interest in them they produce a vain Presumption a false Hope a delusive Peace instead of an unfeigned Faith a purifying Hope a solid Peace God declares it with the most sacred solemnity As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked if the carnal Heart like the Devil who abus'd Scripture by leaving out part of it shall not consider what follows but that the Wicked turn from his way and live but shall harden and fortifie it self in Sin with hopes of impunity God will rejoice in their just destruction He tells us that a converted Sinner shall be forgiven but that conversion must be uniform and lasting If the Wicked turn from all his Sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live and not die He has promised to be found of those that seek him but we are commanded to seek the Lord whilst he may be found implying it is not in our power when we please to find him with his pardoning Mercy and assisting Grace To apply the Word of God against the Mind of God is injurious to his Honour and pernicious to deluded Souls 3. The heaviness of the Destruction will be according to the aggravation of their Sin who abuse Prosperity 1. 'T is a Sin most contrary to the acknowledged Duty of Man and unbecoming the reasonable Nature 'T is an universal concession that springs from the purest Light of Reason that we should return good for good the Heathens agreed in it To be defective in observance and thankful respects to a Benefactor is unnatural but to requite Evil for Good is so direct a violation of the ingenuous Principles of Humanity that one is prodigiously wicked in doing it he ceases to be a Man and becomes a Devil Now this black Guilt cleaves to those who abuse Prosperity The Blessings of God are strong and sweet obligations to love him yet their perverse Hearts are thereby alienated from him his Mercies engage and enable them to serve and glorify him but are used to gratify their Lusts and to make them more capable and presumptuous to offend him Prosperity makes them luxurious and secure Riches makes them sin at a higher rate the patient Providence of God that waits for their Repentance such is their desperate corruption fortifies them in their rebellion against him This was the reason of that stinging Reproach of Moses to Israel Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise 2. The abuse of Prosperity is most injurious and provoking to God To sin against his Law is an high affront to his Majesty but to sin against his Love and Benefits is more contumelious to him The Apostle calls it a despising of God's goodness what is more contumelious than to employ his Benefits for the pleasing our dishonourable vile Affections as the Gift of a Friend is slited that is put to a base use or as one that will not be reconciled by the Presents of a Friend despises his Gifts thus when the Favours of God do not melt the Heart into kindly resentments and endear him to us they are despised If a Favorite that were raised by a Prince to the highest Honour and Trust should betray his Magazines both Arms and Treasures to his Enemy could there be a fouler wickedness and of this heinous nature is their Wickedness who abuse the Mercies of God in the Service of Sin and implicitly betray them into the Devil's hands who maliously wars against God What a contumelious indignity heightned with the basest ingratitude was Jeroboam guilty of who chang'd the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image like a corruptible Beast God advanc'd him to the Throne and he deprest the Deity to the rank of stupid Calves What a hateful abuse of his Bounty was it that the Israelites turned the Jewels of Gold wherewith he inricht them by the Egyptians into a detestable Idol of such Wickededness are Men deeply guilty when the precious Blessings that God bestows upon them are made the Idols of their heads and hearts and rob him of the Honour and Love that is incommunicably due to him What can more provoke the jealous God Mercy is his dearest Glory in which he peculiarly delights 't is the Attribute of which he is most tender and the abuse of it is to stab him to the Heart From hence we may justly infer the punishment of such Sinners will be most heavy in exact proportion to their most odious ingratitude Damnation is the recompence of every impenitent Sinner and is the most fearful effect of God's Wrath. Temporal Judgments are but the smoke of his Anger the flaming Coles are in Hell But there are degrees of torment in Hell according to the number and quality of Mens Sins Those who despise the goodness of God treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath. As they continually abuse his Bounty and Patience they increase his Vengeance which will be as terrible as his Patience was admirable The Judgment of Babylon was a strict proportion to her Luxury How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much troment and sorrow give her Justice will exact all the Arrears of abused Mercies The lovers of this World shall pass from their good Things to the Flames that live by the Breath of God's revenging Wrath. Doleful exchange an hours feeling of that Fire is more tormenting than an Ages enjoyment of this World in all its abundance is pleasing But tho the Word of God has discovered the swift and thick-coming Sorrows that shall seize upon the Wicked yet so foolish and obstinate are Sinners in Prosperity they will not be perswaded to fly from the Wrath to come The Light of Reason and Illumination of Faith is too weak to make them sensible of their Danger they will not be convinc'd till shut up in the darkness of Hell It now follows that by Application we should make this great Doctrine more useful to our selves In the general 't is of excellent use to rectify our Judgments about the Things and Men of the World The most are miserably deluded and live in a blindness so gross and misleading that they are secure when near steep ruin Asclepius being blind mournfully complain'd that he was fain to be led by
a Child but carnal Men are voluntarily guided by Sence and Fancy the false Lights that rule in Children and blindly follow without considering who is their Leader and whether they are led Or like one in a slumber is strongly affected with slight things a Scene of Fancy in a Dream transports him as a glorious Reality a prick of a Pin makes him start as fearfully as if a Viper bit him thus carnal Men are as deeply affected with temporal good and evil things as if they were Eternal wherein their Blessedness or Misery consists And there is nothing of greater use and defence to the Soul than to make a true judgment of things that greatly and nearly concern us From thence proceeds a wise Choice a well-ordered Conversation and upon it our blessed End depends For as the Rudder is to a Ship the Will is to Man if it be duly turn'd it conducts him safely to Felicity The particular just Inferences from the Doctrine are 1. Temporal Prosperity is not a certain sign of God's special Favour There are some Benefits disperst by a general Providence to all like the common Benefits of a Prince to all within his Dominions some are like special Gifts to his Favorites Of the first kind are Riches and Honours and whatever is the support or comfort of the present Life of the second are spiritual and heavenly Blessings the Graces and Comforts of the holy Spirit of God the infallible Seal of his Love to us The Psalmist prays Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy People O visit me with thy Salvation there is a Favour common to all Men as his Creatures and the Fruits of it are promiscuous to the Evil and the Good but the Favour from whence proceeds Grace and Glory is the priviledg of his Chosen The temporal Prosperity of the Wicked is consistent with God's Hatred When Men turn his Blessings into the fuel of their Lusts and his Patience into an advantage of sinning more securely how flourishing soever they are in the World he looks on them with an avenging Eye He hates all the workers of Iniquity His seeming connivance is no Argument that he is not highly provok'd by their Sins or that they may obtain an easy Pardon Yet this is the inward principle of the gross and outward Sins in the lives of Men tho unobserved by them As the vital Heat is not felt in the Heart that is the Cause of all the Heat that is felt in the outward parts of the Body These things hast thou done saith God to the rebellious Sinner and I kept silence that is suspended the terrible Effects of Justice thou thoughts I was altogether such a one as thy self Astonishing blindness not to discern the apparent antipathy of such Connexions As if God's forbearance of the Guilty were forgiveness and rebellion against his Commands and the love of Sin which is enmity to him were consistent with the fruition of his Favour But we have the most clear and convincing assurance God cannot be pleased with Men without their being made like him in Righteousness and true Holiness He sees and hates Sin and abhors the Sinners tho for a time they are spared Justice and Patience are his Attributes He is slow to anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Guilty He endures with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath till they are fitted for destruction The presumptuous Sinner that is encouraged and harden'd as if Sin were not so hateful to God because he enjoys the World in abundance and expects an easy remission at last fearfully deceives his Soul He sows the Wind and shall reap the Whirlwind 3. The Prosperity of the Wicked is so far from being a sign of God's love that it often proceeds from his deepest Displeasure 'T is a Curse candied over with a little vanishing sweetness but deadly in the Operation It makes them careless of God and their Souls of Heaven and Eternity and they become incorrigible in their perverse Wills and wicked Ways and irrecoverable in their lost State Prosperity induces Security that presages and accelerates their ruin 'T is exprest as the most fearful and sorest Judgment by the Prophet The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep an insensibleness of the worst Evils their Sins and the infinite danger that attends them This Judgment is usually inflicted from the righteous God by the prosperity of the Wicked and extreamly provokes him it being a Sin of the greatest Guilt as well as a Punishment of former high provocations 'T is a distinguishing Judgment inflicted upon his Enemies from which his Children are exempted Other Judgments that cause grief and trouble to Sinners often incline his Compassions to them but this Judgment inflames his Wrath. In short the Prosperity of the Wicked here is a fatal sign they are reserved for the severity of Justice for their abuse of the Riches of his Mercy and of all Judgments that is the most terrible that insensibly destroys and certainly brings damnation 4. From hence we are instructed to look upon Prosperous Sinners with pity not with envy and indignation They please themselves and triumph in their conceit and happiness as the Psalmist expresseth it Whilst he lived he blessed his Soul But how contrary is the Opinion of vain Men to the Judgment of Christ He pronounces and upon his Sentence depends Eternity Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger Wo unto you that laughnow for ye shall mourn and weep And we are told by the inspired Prophet Man that is in honour and understands not that does not consider the Vanity and frail Tenure of his present flourishing State nor his Duty and Interest to imploy his Riches Power and Greatness for securing his everlasting Feliciâ—ty is like the Beasts that perish stupid and insensible of approaching Ruin as the Beast that was to be sacrificed did not perceive that the guilding its Horns and adorning it with Garlands was a sign it was destin'd to Death They now live in ease and pleasures but they must shortly remove from their rich Possessions and splendid Palaces to the dark Regions of Woe and Death will be an entrance into endless Sorrows The laughter of Fools is like the crackling of Thorns under the Pot a short Blaze soon damp'd and extinguish'd 'T is a dreadful Imprecation of the Holy Psalmist Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them To fly in the dark and in slippery places and so to fall into the Mire and Pits is a fit Emblem of their Condition who are prosperous and wicked They are hood-wink'd by Prosperity in a voluntary darkness and see not the Precipices that surround them And how slippery is their way by so numerous and insinuating Temptations how easily how frequently and dangerously do they
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