of the Rod to adore his Majesty obey his Laws imitate his Holiness and humbly to accept of his Mercy By Afflictions the sensual Appetites are sudu'd and brought into order a low state is a protection from many strong and destructive Temptations Sickness that brings near the Grave and makes us feel how frail we are renders the World despicable that by their Lusts so powerfully infatuates Men to their ruin Sanctified Affliction is a happy preparative for the fulness of Joy in the blessed presence of God The first to whom our Saviour promis'd the Rest and Joy of Paradise was the Companion of his Cross. Let us therefore with free Judgments and sincere Affections make an estimate of all sensible things not judg our selves to be in the favour of God by the good Things received here nor under his Wrath by Evil Let us not be surpris'd at the Prosperity of the Wicked nor shaken at the Afflictions of the Godly but regulate our Thoughts by the unerring Wisdom of God so clearly revealed in his Word He is propitious when he denies or takes from us those temporal Enjoyments that we are apt to abuse and severe when he bestows them and seems to indulge Mens carnal Affections It is but a little while and the Pleasures of Sinners and the Afflictions of the Saints will end in a state directly contrary to what is enjoyed or suffered here With God a thousand Years are but as one day the World is not of a weeks standing in the Divine Account he measures all things by Eternity the Vessels of Mercy are by sanctified Afflictions made fit for Eternal Glory The Vessels of Wrath are by the abuse of his Bounty and Patience fitted for eternal destruction In the last place from hence we should be warned to be always circumspect to avoid the Evils that usually attend Prosperity to improve it to our eternal Advantage Prosperity is not like an infected Garment that transfuses a contagious Malignity into every one that wears it A Person that is rich and honourable and in Power may not only be a Saint but the more a Saint by his dedicating and employing the Gifts of God to his Glory and the Publick Good 'T is a Point of high and holy Wisdom and only taught in the School of Heaven how to manage the opposite states of the present Life so as not to be vainly swelling in Prosperity nor broken and flagging in Adversity but to preserve an aequanimity a constant composed mind the blessed imitation of the divine Unchangeableness St. Paul saith without vain arrogance I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need 'T was a secret of Spirit not learn'd from Men but from the holy Spirit of God In some respects 't is a more difficult exercise to manage Prosperity than Adversity Many are like Hannibal victorious in Arms whilst conflicting with Adversity and vanquisht by enticing Pleasures 'T is observed of the Lamps in some of the Roman Tombs that have burnt for many Ages and are bright whilst kept close that as soon as they are open'd to the Air a breath of Wind extinguishes them Thus the Vertues of some shine in a low retired Condition when there are no Temptations no occasion of quenching them but when brought forth into the open World and should appear in conspicuous Operations their Vertues are of so weak and consumptive a Spirit that the Light expires and dies Even the Piety of David was chill'd by Prosperity 'T is said with an emphasis concerning Jehosaphat that he walk'd in the first Ways of his Father David Intimating that his Religion was not so exact when he was in the Throne as in his Banishment 'T is equally excellent as difficult To be holy and heavenly in the midst of sensual tempting Objects is the clearest discovery of the Truth and Power of Divine Grace of the piety ingenuity and generosity of the Christian Spirit Humility and Modesty in a low Condition are not so praise worthy as the absence of them is odious but Humility in a state of Honour is more illustrious than the Splendor of external Dignity Temperance in a Cottage where are only supplies of hunger and thirst seems rather the effect of Necessity than of wise Choice but to be temperate when abundance and variety tempt the sensual Appetites when the sparkling colour and delicious relish of the purest Wines tempt the Fancy and the Pallate is Vertue in a height and excellency To be pious and weaned from the World in Afflictions is no wonder but in Prosperity and Power to be serious in Religion and despise the splendid Vanities of the World is Vertue of a superior Order What is observed of the perfuming Gums of Arabia the Happy is applicable in this matter those that distil freely from the Tree excel in purity in fragrancy and value what comes from it when the Bark of it is cut Thus Obedience that comes from the heart in love with God for his Benefits is more valuable and precious than what is the effect of Compulsion that comes from the heart wounded with terrors in adversity I shall add farther The using Prosperity aright is most comfortable The Love of God can sweeten Afflictions and make a Dinner of green Herbs as savory as if they grew in Paradise and it gives a quick and high taste to all our temporal Blessings When his Love is conveyed and sealed to us by the Gifts of his Providence we have the purest enjoyment of them Now when Prosperity is made subservient to his Glory when it endears Obedience to us we have an infallible testimony 't is from his special Favour to us The Rules how to manage Prosperity for our everlasting Good are 1. Let us preserve an humble sense of our original meanness continual frailty and sinful unworthiness in the midst of Prosperity Men are apt to be high-minded and to cherish undue Conceptions of their worth when rais'd in the World as if they were not as inferior to the Majesty of God and as liable to his impartial Justice as others they lose the knowledg of themselves in a Mist of Vanity This provokes the high and holy One that inhabits Eternity to blast them in their most fluorishing and secure state and convince them how deceitful and insufficient the grounds of their pride are He puts them in fear that they may know themselves to be but Men. There are such great and just Allays of the vain Mind such Correctives of Pride that it is strange that any temporal Prosperity should occasion swelling Arrogance The Psalmist considering the Glory of God shining in the Heavens is in an extasy at his condescending Goodness What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him His Original is from the Earth the lowest
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
natural Inchantment makes an exorbitant Figure a Dwarf to appear a Giant Now as Pride is the usual Concomitant of Prosperity so there is no Passion so inseparable from Pride and so proper to it as Anger By Pride comes Contention 't is the observation of the wisest Man confirm'd by universal Experience Pride makes Men imperious and impatient boisterous and stormy against all that offend them Pride Anger and Revenge like Serpents twine and wreath about one another Pride interprets an Offence as an high Contempt and raises Anger and Anger provok'd takes proportionable revenge to the conceived Injury We have a Tragical Instance of this recorded in Scripture * Hazael when foretold by the mourning Prophet that he would stain himself with the Innocent Blood of the Israelites slay their young Men with the Sword and dash their Children and rip up their Women with Child He startled at it as an execrable Cruelty And Hazael said But what is thy Servant a Dog that he should do this great thing And Elisha answered The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be King over Syria When advanc'd to empire he devested humanity Pride armed with Power is furious at opposition and the flaming Passion like a frightful Comet presages and produces terrible Effects Thus 't is evident how the Lusts of the Flesh are fomented by Prosperity 2. Prosperity inclines Sinners to an impious neglect of God that is a Sin of the highest Nature and prolifick of innumerable Evils All Sin is an irregularity either in the excess or the defective Extreme either in overvaluing and loving the Creature or in the disesteem and indifference to the Creator and Prosperity increases the aversion of the carnal Heart from God in the same degrees as it strengthens the propensity to the World For the opening this it will be necessary to consider the essential and eternal Respects due from the reasonable Creature to God And they are four comprehensive of all the rest 1. A solemn thankful recognition of him as the Author of our Beings and all the Comforts we enjoy 2. Supreme love to him 3. An humble fear of his Displeasure 4. Entire obedience to his Will As in this regular Universe every kind of being has its proper End so it cannot be denied without the most evident absurdity that God in all these respects is the chief End of Man 1. A solemn thankful recognition of God as the Author of our Beings and all our Comforts is continually due to him The neglect of this is so contumelious to the Majesty and Glory of God and so contrary to those most binding Obligations to his Mercy and Goodness that 't is an Offence infinitely provoking In every Transgression the authority of the Lawgiver is despised but this immediatly reflects dishonour upon the Deity As a common Felony is a breach of the King's Laws but Treason not only violates his Laws but strikes immediatly at his Person and Dignity Now Prosperity inclines sensual Persons to this wretched neglect of God The World with all its desirable things has the Dominion and full Possession of the Understandings Memories and Hearts of Men and serious Thoughts with warm Affections towards God are banish'd from them 'T is the Character of a Wicked Person but most proper to him in his Prosperity God is not in all his thoughts Of this Impiety there are several Degrees the highest is explicit Atheism a disbelief of God and his Providence of his Being and Bounty and this is sometimes occasioned by plentiful Prosperity And the Consequences are Pride that blasts the Mind as it were with Lightning and Confidence in the things of this World Of this we have astonishing Instances in the Scripture Nebuchadnezzar transported in a vain-glorious flush of Joy at the view of his magnificent Works breaks forth in those lofty insolent Expressions Is not this great Babel that I have built for the House of my Kingdom by the might of my Power and the honour of my Majesty as if he had been raised by his own power and did not owe his Greatness to the King of Heaven Thus 't is charg'd against the Prince of Tyrus Thy Heart is lifted up because of thy Riches and thou hast said I am a God and sit in the Seat of God and thou sets thine Heart as the Heart of God He presum'd that his Throne for Glory and Stability was like the Divine Kingdom that cannot be shaken and forgot that he was a frail Man in a mutable World Plentiful Prosperity is so strong a Temptation to Atheism that a wise and holy Saint earnestly deprecated it as a pernicious Snare Give me not Riches lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord The Carnal Heart in the full fruition of the World is apt to ascribe all to the course of Nature or to humane Contrivance and Endeavours without any serious acknowledgment of the Divine Liberality and Beneficence Prodigious Ingratitude and equal Folly As if one should imagine that a Fountain of Water had not its original from the Sea but from the Marble Stones through which it immediatly and visibly springs Or as if it were requisite the Hand of the Giver should be as visible as his Gifts Now altho few arrive to this heighth of Impiety in actual Thoughts and open Words yet prosperous Sinners are always guilty of an interpretative and virtual denial of God they have not a solemn grateful remembrance of their Benefactor and his Benefits and a due sense of their dependance upon him It was the wise and holy Counsel of Moses to Israel When they should be possest of Canaan a place full of delight and profit * When thou shalt have eaten and art full then beware lest thou forget the Lord. The Caution so enforc'd intimates a sinful disposition in the carnal Heart in Prosperity to neglect God There may be a notional remembrance of him in the Mind a naked ascription of all good things to his Providence a complemental visit in exterior Worship yet without an inward cordial sense of our dear Obligations for his most free Favours The Apostle charges the Rich in this World not to trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God So foolishly are Men prone to depend for protection reputation and provision of all things upon their Estates as if they were unconsumable and neglect God their Rock who is the alone sufficient Foundation of all our Hopes and Comfort 2. Supreme Love to God is an indispensable Duty from Men upon the account of his most amiable Excellencies and Benefits Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy Heart with all thy Soul with all thy Strength and with all thy Mind this is the first and great Commandment and consequently a coldness and indifferency to God much more a strong aversion from him is a sin of the most heinous nature now Prosperity has a special malignity to disincline the Heart from God The supreme
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
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
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