power they cannot make use of the Armor of God for their Defence and their Lusts are strong they are patient of his Drudgery constant at the Oar and faithful to their Chains And from hence 't is evident that Men are never more dangerously under the destructive power of Satan than when they enjoy Prosperity 3. Prosperity is destructive to many in that it affords them advantages to corrupt others and reciprocally exposes them to be corrupted by others Persons in Dignity Wealth and Power when depraved in their Inclinations and Actions are like publick Fountains poison'd that convey a spreading ruin abroad Their evil Example has a pernicious Influence and more commanding Efficacy as a Rule than their Laws they ordain as Rulers The Manners of Princes are as current as their Mony that being stamp'd with their Image and Superscription tho the Metal be base passes freely among the People The reason of it is evident for without the restraints of shame and fear the sensual Passions are riotous and licencious Shame is a displeasure at Evils that are attended with dishonour and infamy especially at sinful Evils that are so shameful in their own Nature that the most sordid things in comparison are less ignominious Now foul Vices when practis'd by Men of conspicuous Eminence do not seem with that turpitude and deformity as is inherent in their Nature As a muddy Vapour drawn up by the Sun and enamel'd with the Rays of Light appears amiable to the Eye not dreggy and foul as 't is in it self Innumerable miscarry by the vicious Examples of Persons in Honour for when Sins are gilded over with creditableness many think it necessary to be unholy that is truly vile that they may be fashionably noble And when those that are in Power abuse it as a privilege for licenciousness in Sin inferiors are viciously bold expecting Facility and Indulgence in the pardoning those Faults of which their Superiors are guilty And those who do not fear to be punish'd do not fear to sin Thus amongst the Heathens Lasciviousness was lawless because they ascribed their vicious Passions to their supposed Deities and did not fear their revenging Justice for what was practis'd by them Besides Prosperity exposes the Rich and Great to be more corrupted by others Servile Spirits will be cruelly obsequious to the Humors and Lusts of those upon whom they depend and the ready Instruments of accomplishing their irregular Desires 'T is their Interest to please them from whom they receive Favours and Benefits And how few have so firm a Vertue as to break the twisted Temptations of Pleasure and Profit The Rich and Great in the World are usually attended with a train of Dependents or vicious Associates whose compliance is very influential to harden a vicious Disposition into a corrupt Habit. These are underworkers to Satan the Mastertempter and feed the double Element of infernal Fire Lust and Rage in the Breasts of those with whom they converse 'T is the peculiar misery of Men in a high and flourishing Condition that they have many Flatterers and few Friends Few or none dare faithfully represent their Sins and Danger lest the sight of their Guilt in its true reflexion should offend them As Love is blind to others so especially to one's self and mercenary Wretches by the most vile flattery endeavour to make them believe of themselves what is pleasing to them to believe Such to ingratiate will commend the mere shadows of Vertue as substantial Vertue and excuse real gross Vices as but the shadows of Vice By deceitful Arts they colour and conceal the native ugliness of Sin under a thin appearance and name of Vertue The arrogant and revengeful they call generous the covetous frugal the lascivious gentile the prodigal magnificent the malicious wary and cautious the brutish and secure couragious The Conversation of such is infinitely dangerous and corrupting for under the disguise of Friendship they are the most deadly Enemies What greater danger of being poison'd can there be than when by Art the taste of Poison is taken away from the Poison and there is no suspicion of the Traitor that gives it Thus 't is further evident that Prosperity is very dangerous to the Souls of Men. 4. The Prosperity of Sinners usually renders the means of Grace ineffectual that should reclaim and reform them and consequently their Destruction is remediless The Means of Grace are Internal or External Internal the motions of the Holy Spirit and the Convictions and Excitations of Conscience External the Ministry of the Word and the Counsels of faithful Friends all which are usually made frustrate and inefficacious by the Vices and Lusts of the Prosperous 1. Prosperity makes Sinners more uncapable of receiving the heavenly Impressions of the Spirit and obstinate in resisting his gracious working The Flesh and the Spirit are contrary And accordingly as the carnal Appetite has dominion and over-rules in Men such is their opposition to his restraints from Evil or his motions to what is holy and good The sensual have not the Spirit They wilfully refuse to give admission to him when by inward impulses he sollicits them and have a stubborn and active contrariety to his Attributes and gracious Operations He is stiled the Spirit of Power and Love and a sound Mind He communicates a sacred Sovereign Vertue to the Soul whereby the irregular Passions are reduc'd to the obedience of the sanctified Mind and the reigning power of Sin is dissolv'd He is a free Spirit and restores the Soul to true and perfect Liberty by inlarging the Will and making it commensurate with the Divine Will and from hence it is the inseparable Character of a converted Person he is willing to do what God will have him do and to be what God will have him be But sensual Persons by the pleasant infusions of servility from the Tempter and carnal Objects have lost their power and desire of spiritual Liberty and resist the holy Spirit when he offers to break the Bands of their Lusts. The Spirit in converting the Soul inspires it with heavenly Love to God for the ever-satisfying beauty of his Perfections and from Love proceeds intellectual delight in communion with him in affectionate ascents to him and his gracious descents to the Soul but the Sensual are fastned in the Mire of their sordid Pleasures and can take no heavenly flight and relish no divine Comforts The Spirit produces a sound Mind to judg sincerely of things as they are And from hence the corrupting Vanities of the World lose their attractive Charms and eternal things appear in their reality and excellency and are chosen and sought with persevering diligence But the sensual Heart is a perpetual Furnace whose Smoke darkens the Mind that it cannot discover sublime and heavenly Excellencies and whose impure Heat fires the Will that 't is earnest in the pursuit of fleshly Pleasures Briefly nothing does more quench the Spirit in his
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
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
his worst Enemies his Lusts and Satan This will be amplified more in the following parts of the Discourse This being premis'd we come to shew how Prosperity abus'd is destructive to Sinners both meritoriously as it induces a deadly guilt and makes them obnoxious to the revenging Wrath of God and effectively as 't is opposite to the felicity and perfection of Man that consists in the renovation of the Image of God in the Soul and in joyful Communion with him for ever This will appear by the following Considerations 1. Prosperity is the continual Incentive of the vicious Affections the fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul that deprive it of its Beauty Order Freedom and Felicity Man is compounded of Flesh and Spirit by the one he communicates in nature with the Beasts by the other he confines with the Angels By the original Law of Union the Body was subject to the Soul and tho taken from the Earth did not oppress it and hinder its Heavenly flight The Flesh did not lust against the Spirit nor the Spirit against the Flesh. But as the motion of the two Eyes in the Head is always uniform and directed the same way so Reason and Sence accorded the Appetites were regular and concentrick with the Mind Upon this established order the internal Peace and Holiness of Man depends But by the rebellious Sin of Adam the Soul lost its regal Power and Freedom and as in the first temptation the Soul infected the Body so now the Body infects the Soul The carnal Appetite the spring of Lust and Anger that infernal pair that reigns so universally over-rules the rational Will and gives Law to Men. The love of sensual Pleasures is natural to Men as Temptations are more charming and increas'd 't is more predominant The Senses the Fancy and the Passions are in a conspiracy against the Soul and there is a continual circulation in their working they excite one another By the Sences pleasing things obtain an easy entrance into the Fancy and Fancy has a strange power to charm or terrify by false Representations it amplifies the Evil and heightens the seeming Good of things and by the inspiration of Fancy the Passions are moved and the Passions being allured bribe and seduce the Mind and draw the consent of the Will by the actual Pleasure that is mixt in the gratifying of them And as Adam lost his Innocence and Paradise by his compliance with the blandishments of his Wife so the Soul loses its purity and happiness by yielding to the Desires of the Flesh that is in conjunction with it For this reason Man in his fallen State is called Flesh as if there were no other Principle in his Nature and of his Operations The Spiritual and more noble Faculties that were made for delightful Communion with God are sunk into Carnality The description of Men in their natural State by the Apostle is a full proof of this We all had our Conversation in times past in the Lusts of the Flesh fulfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind 'T is observable that the lusts of the Flesh that spring from the sensual Part are drawn forth into act by the concurrent Wills of the Flesh and of the Mind The nobler Faculties the Understanding and Will are depraved and freely indulge the Carnal Appetites in their pursuit of Pleasures Prodigious degeneracy of the reasonable Creature Of this we have a resemblance in the marvellous transforming Power of Nature If a Cyon be grafted into a Tree of another kind the Fruit that grows on it will not be according to the Nature of the Stock but of the Graft that over-rules the Sap and turns it to its own quality Thus the Beast is grafted into the Man and the intellectual Powers are corrupted and carnal The Mind is employed to disguise the Ignominy and Guilt that attend the Lusts of the Flesh and the Will consents to a submission to those ignoble and unruly Appetites Man has only this privilege that he is a more ingenious Brute to spring new Pleasures to make provision for his sensual Desires and to accomplish them Now in Prosperity when the Senses are entertained with variety of alluring Objects the Fancy is more predominant and contagious It has more force vivacity and extent the more 't is conversant about sensible things And the polluted Imagination is the most active and general Principle of corrupting the Heart for the Mind transcribes a Copy of what is written in the Fancy and presents it with a false gloss to the Will that is ready to chuse what brings actual pleasure And the sensitive Affections are excited by the Fancy so that the presence of a suitable Object foments the warmth into heat and turns the heat into fire and the fire into flame And the more the carnal Affections are indulg'd the more they are inlarg'd the more importunate and head-strong they become and the Soul is utterly disabled from recovering it self from the besotted vile prostitution to the ignoble and unruly Appetites Millions had been less guilty and defiled and less miserable for ever if they had not been surrounded by pleasant Temptations and intanglements of Iniquity 2. Prosperity occasionally incenses the irascible Appetite For the usual Incentives of Anger are the crossing the Desires and Contempt and the stronger the Desires the more impatient they are to be controll'd and in proportion to the height of mind is the indignation for any contempt that is offer'd Now prosperity makes the carnal Desires more exorbitant and consequently raging when frustrated Violent burning Desires when controll'd provoke violent burning Anger and Anger inflam'd extinguishes the calm Light of Reason becomes blind and furious in revenging apprehended Injuries 'T is the Inquiry joyn'd with Conviction by St. James From whence come Wars and Fightings among you Come they not from your Lusts that war in your Members The voluptuous ambitious covetous Passions when disappointed are the common and natural Causes of all the bloody Disorders in the World The other cause of Anger is Contempt either real or suppos'd and that is more provoking to those who rais'd by Pro sperity look with a distance of Mind upon others below them Prosperity in any kind swels Men with a vain opinion of their Worth and Dignity and makes them insolent and intolerable There is a strange distemper of the Eyes in some Persons where-ever they look their own Image visibly encounters them The reason of it is assign'd by an inquiring Philosopher ' That the visive Faculty has not spirits and vigour to penetrate through the Air to see other things and the Air as a Glass makes the reflection of their own Image Thus one of a shallow and weak Understanding is continually representing to himself his own conceited Excellencies And Prosperity increases their esteem of themselves unmeasurably above their just value 'T is like a Concave Glass that breaks the Rays and dilates the visive Angle and by a
enquiry For what End am I created for what do I consume my Time If my Endeavours are all for the Earth what remains for Heaven what do I prepare what shall attend me what shall I meet in the next State How long will it be before I must leave this visible World and after the irrevocable step into the next immediately appear before the inlightned Tribunal of God whose Judgment is so strict that the Righteous are scarely saved and so heavy that the strongest Sinners cannot endure Can the World prevent my doom to Hell or release me from it Will the remembrance of the Enjoyments here afford any refreshment in Everlasting Burnings By such sad and frequent Soliloquies the vicious sensual Affections are eradicated and the Heart is transplanted from Earth to Heaven If Men would wisely ponder things if Conscience the sincere and unsuspected Judg did hold the Ballance and put into one Scale the Glory the Riches and Pleasures of this World and into the other the Promises that belong to Godliness here and hereafter how despicably light will they be found 'T was truly said that false Scarlet appears with lustre till compared with the Rich and True so the fictitious Felicity of this World is very specious and ravishes the Minds of Men till compared with Coelestial Felicity Worldly Honour is counterfeit because 't is no certain Argument of inherent worth Vain-glory and real Infamy often meet in the same Person yet 't is admir'd and ambitiously sought till compar'd with the Honour of the Saints What is a Reputation and Honour with the Worms and Moles of the Earth compared with the Honour that comes from the esteem of God and Angels and other blessed Spirits above who incomparably exceed all Mortals in number and infinitely in understanding What is a vanishing shadow of Reputation against an eternal inestimable weight of Glory What are the Riches of this World Gold and Silver and Jewels for gaining of which so many lose their Souls but vile trash compared with the sacred Treasures of Heaven the Graces of the Saints What are the empty delights of the Senses compared with the Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost that can sweeten all our Sorrows here and the fulness of Joy that springs from God's Presence in Heaven If Men would make judicious Comparisons their Affections would cool towards perishing Vanities But they will only look upon what is pleasant and attractive in the World without regarding its miserable Defects without considering what is infinitely better and most worthy of their ardent desires and vigorous endeavours They are so pleas'd with their Error so ingaged in the sweet captivity of the World that they cannot extricate themselves if they would because they will not if they could 2. 'T is a culpable and guilty Folly When Children prefer things of Lustre before things of Value their childish Toys before real Treasures when they chuse a little present Enjoyment before a future Good that is incomparably better their Folly is innocent because Reason cannot display its operations in them But when Men who are capable to distinguish between the things that are seen and temporal and the things that are not seen and eternal when they sottishly prefer sensible things before Spiritual notwithstanding the vast difference between them both in the quality and duration their choice is so criminal as deserves an everlasting Hell If Esau had been a Child when he sold his Birthright for a Mess of Pottage his folly had been excused for he was compelled by hunger and the glorious dignity of the Birthright was disproportionate to his Appetite and Understanding but in his mature Age when capable to understand his Interest to part with so sacred and precious an advantage for a little sensual satisfaction was so profane an Act that he was justly deprived of the Divine Blessing that was annext to the Birthright That Beasts are wholly led by their sensual Appetities is natural and regular their voracity and crueâ—ty folly and filthiness envy and fury are not vicious passions because Sense is the superior Faculty in them But when Men are so brutish that the Objects that please their Eyes and carnal Senses are the only Attractives of their affections 't is unnatural and monstrous because Reason should have the supremacy in them If a Woman remain in a single state she has power over her Actions and may freely govern her self but if married is subordinate to her Husband and disobedience to his Authority and prudent Counsels is culpable The Body considered as the Seat of the Senses has natural Appetites and might enjoy what is suitable to them according to their capacity but united with an immortal Spirit that is stampt with the living Image of God its desires must be limited and directed by the Mind and the pleasing of Sense in Actions forbidden by the Mind is rebellion against the ruling Faculty If one be under a Disease that Wine inflames and increases and the Physician forbids it as deadly yet the Patient will judg only by his Pallate whether Wine be good for him were it not a kind of brutishness worthy of the Evil that attends it Such perverse Folly are Men guilty of in their sensual Satisfactions whereby the Soul is unspeakably wronged and God highly dishonoured who has given to Man a more excellent Spirit than to the Fowls of the Air that he may judg of things not as they appear but as they are 3. 'T is the most ignominious Folly Shame arises from the sense of a debased Excellence the Understanding is the most excellent Faculty in Man and nothing brings a greater disreputation to him than when he is deceived by the ignorance or inconsiderateness of his Mind And the delusion is most shameful in matters of great moment Now for a Man to exchange his Soul that is of Angelical Eminence for transitory Vanities O folly how enormous how astonishing The Lord Jesus who as the Creator and Redeemer of Souls perfectly knew their Worth puts the Question so as to imply the strongest denial What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul The vanity of the Purchase and the value of the Loss is such that no Man conscious of his Immortality in the next state but must acknowledg that he is an infinite loser and prodigious Fool that gains the World by the loss of his Soul 'T is said of the ancient Germans that in their Commerce with the Romans receiving Silver for their Amber that has no virtue but to draw Straws to it they were amazed at the price And certainly the great Tempter cannot but wonder at the foolish exchange that Men make in giving their immortal Souls to him for perishing Vanities and having this scornful advantage will much more upbraid them hereafter than ever he allur'd them here The shame that attends this Folly is sometimes felt
fall and both defile and wound themselves Briefly they are truly miserable here even whilst they most pleasantly and contentedly enjoy the World they are accumulating the Treasures of Wrath and preparing new Torments for their Souls they stand upon brittle Ice and Hell is beneath ready to swallow them up in its deepest Gulph As 't is said by the Apostle concerning the Saints darkend by Sorrows here that their glorious Life is hid in God and shall illustriously appear with Christ at his second Coming So the terrible Death of the Wicked whilst they flourish here is hid from the Eyes of Sense but shall be revealed in the Day of Wrath. And to a wise Observer to a serious Believer the prosperous Sinner is the most unhappy and compassionable Object in the World for he perishes by such a flattering kind of Death that he is neither apprehensive nor affected with his Danger And when an illuminate Christian sees the Marks of Damnation in Sinners whom Prosperity deceives and hardens he cannot but be tenderly moved and is obliged most earnestly to pray to the merciful Father of Spirits whose Grace is Omnipotent that he would recover their lapsed Souls bleeding to eternal Death If there be any heavenly Charity in our brests it will melt our hearts and dissolve us in tears to prevent or at least to solemnize and lament their heavy Destiny 5. From hence we are instructed to judg truly and wisely of Afflictions they are the necessary and merciful Dispensations of Heaven to recover Sinners corrupted by Prosperity and to return them to God Sense tho its principal end is to preserve the Body is not always a fit judg of things beneficial to it the Appetites and Aversions are sometimes pernicious One in a Dropsy drinks to quench his Thirst and increases his Distemper A bitter Potion is rejected by a sick Child not considering that a Medicine not Sweet-meats can cure his Disease The pleasure of the taste is no certain indication of what is wholsome for Health much more uncapable is Sense to judg of what is useful for the Soul Reason is entirely renounc'd and fallacious Sense is in the Throne when Prosperity with its gaudy Allurements is esteemed as our Happiness and Adversity is abhorr'd as the worst Misery The Wise Man instructed by dear Experience tells us It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to go to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all Men and the living will lay it to heart Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better The Heart of the Wise is in the House of Mourning but the Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth Prosperity irritates and fortifies the sensual vile Affections the pleasing of which is fatal to the Soul As 't is observed by the natural Historian that the sparkling Colour and delicious Relish of Wine tempts Men to drinking without thirst and from Intemperance innumerable Diseases flow Prosperity diverts the Mind from considering the things that belong to our eternal Peace and the Will from consenting to them The Thoughts are so scattered abroad that few are left at home duly to ponder the miserable Effects of Sin Now in this the Rules of natural and spiritual Medicine agree that one Extream is to be cured by another The Devil cruelly destroys the Souls of Men by the pleasures of Sin and God the wise and compassionate Physician recovers them by bitter Sorrows the most congruous and powerful means for that blessed Effect Affliction makes us retire within our Hearts and shuts out the noisy throng of worldly distracting Objects and then Truth and Conscience that were under unrighteous Restraints will break the Fetters and speak loudly and terribly to the Sinner Affliction fixes the Mind upon those Objects that duly considered are able to terrify the most determin'd and resolved Sinner There is no Man so prodigiously bad so perfectly a Brute but has at times some twinges of Conscience some workings in his Spirit some desires of Salvation Even Balaam who in the judgment of the Angel was more stupid than the Ass he rode on yet had some springings in his heart towards Heaven O that I might die the Death of the Righteous and my last end may be like his but these are fleeting and variable and so weak in comparison of the Opposite desires of the Flesh while Prosperity continues that they prove abortive Now affliction deads the flaming edge of the Affection to Vanity When the Sinner feels the truth of the divine Threatnings then he is effectually convinc'd of the Evil of Sin and understands by the beginning of Sorrows here what the Issues will be hereafter and retracts his foolish choice In the time of Affliction our Sins find us out and 't is most likely we shall then find our Sins out and with repenting tears acknowledg them and with hatred renounce them Now the consideration of the designed Benefit by Afflictions should reconcile them to our Wills and perswade us with patience and thankfulness to accept of them as the Testimonies of God's peculiar favour Our Saviour declares As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous and repent God is often most angry when he makes no sensible discovery that he is so thus he threatens the rebellious Jews I will make my Fury towards thee to rest and my Jealousy shall depart from thee and I will be quiet and will be no more angry implying a final divorce a leaving them to their impure Idolatries without more correction If there be such a hardness of heart as the Fire cannot melt such a rust that the Fire cannot purify God will not waste his Judgments on such desperate Sinners He withdraws his chastising hand as hopeless of their amendment and that desertion is a fatal signature of Reprobation And on the contrary many times God's Love is most tender and compassionate to us when to Sense there is the least evidence of it Even the Heathens in the twilight between the darkness of Idolatry and the light of Nature discovered that Afflictions were the privilege of those that are singularly beloved of God And Christians have a more sure word for their instruction Whom the Lord loves he chastens and scourgeth every Son whom he receives There is not a stronger evidence of his fatherly wise Love than the discipline of the Rod and the afflicted returning Sinner may with an adoptive assurance come to the Throne of Grace By afflictions the World is less enticing and hurtful to us and Heaven is more amiable and desirable the things that are seen are vilified and distasted and invisible things are sought with our highest esteem and respect and zealous endeavours Those Lusts that spring and grow and flourish in Prosperity are blasted and wither and die in adversity Those who forget God when prosperous in the World are taught by the voice
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
the lower Appetites is natural to Men but chiefly incident to those in Prosperity The great care of such should be to use worldly things with that modesty and measure that the Divine Part the Soul may be untainted by them that it may neither overvalue nor overdelight in them The first degeneracy of Man is by sensual satisfaction This expell'd him from Paradise and keeps him out ever since The excess of Pleasures darken the Mind stupify the Conscience extinguish the radiancy and vigour of the Spirit Wine and Women take away the Heart The Apostle speaks of those who are abandon'd to Pleasures they are past feeling without a quick and tender sense of their Sin and Danger That we may not in an unlawful degree use lawful things we should always be ordered by the Principles of Fear and Restraint not indulging our selves to the utmost of what may seem allowed for to be upon the Confines of Sin exposes us to be easily overthrown by the next gust of a temptation 'T is a Divine Command that Christians should rejoice as tho they rejoiced not and buy as tho they possessed not and use the World as not abusing it A Christian should converse with the World as a carnal Person converses with Heaven he prays for spiritual Blessings with that coldness as if he had no desire to obtain them he hears the Word with that carelessness as if he had no desire to profit by it He performs other Religious Duties without a Heart as if he had no desire to be saved such an indifferency of Spirit in outward Enjoyments is our Duty and Safety 'T is a prodigious disorder and the great Cause of the Sins and Miseries of Men that their Affections are lavishly wasted upon Trifles their Love Desires and Delights are let forth in their full vigour to the Honours Riches and Pleasures of this World but are wretchedly remiss to spiritual and eternal things They would enjoy the World as their Heaven and Felicity and use God for their Necessity And thus by embracing vanishing Shadows they lose the most substantial and durable Good 'T is a Point of great wisdom to consider the several respects of temporal things as they respect our sensitive Part and the present Life and as they respect our Souls and the future State and to use them that the outward Man may be a more active and ready Instrument of the Soul in working out our own Salvation 6. Let the Favour of God and Communion with him be most precious and joyful to us in the midst of Prosperity The highest esteem and most ravishing apprehensions of God the dearest delight in him as the most excellent suitable Good and in whom the Soul has the most intimate propriety is the honour due to his incomparable Perfection The Holy Psalmist often declares his transcendent Valuation and inflamed Affection towards God How precious are thy Thoughts unto me O God! no artifice of words could fully express it how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number than the Sand when I awake I am still with thee As if he breathed not oftner than he thought of God with reverence and complacency Thus also he despises all that carnal Men pursue with violent desires in comparison of God's Favour There be many that say Who will shew us any Good that is a sensual Good for nothing is pleasant to them but what appears in a fleshly fashion Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased The carnal Man who is a stranger to spiritual Joys has a sweeter relish of carnal things than a Saint that has a new Nature that deads the Appetite to dreggy Delights and in the Vintage and Harvest there is a Spring-tide of carnal Joy yet David feels a more inward joy and cordial contentment in the fruition of God's Favour than a natural Man has in the flower of his worldly Felicity Nay he prizes the Favour of God before Life it self which is our most precious possession in this World Thy loving kindness is better than Life therefore my lips shall praise thee Communion with God is the beginning of Heaven and differs from the fulness of Joy that is in the Divine Presence above only in the degrees and manner of Fruition As the Blushes of the Morning are the same Light with the glorious brightness of the Sun at Noon-day The natural Man is averse from this heavenly Duty and most in Prosperity 'T is the observation of holy Job They spend their days in Wealth therefore they say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy Ways 'T is the malignant property of worldly things to deface the Notions and cause a disrelish of sublime and spiritual things The Objects that pleasantly affect the carnal Faculties draw the Soul from God This is the principal and universal temptation of the present World by the corruption of our Hearts and never so dangerous as in our Prosperity 'T is a rule in Building that chief care must be taken for the contriving of Windows for the transmission of a liberal Light to refresh the Inhabitants Now to build in a Plain where the Heavens are open on all sides and the pure Light shines 't is easy to make the House convenient but to raise a luminous Fabrick in a City thick set with Houses and straitned for room requires Art and the Building must be higher thus a Person that is surrounded with the Honours Riches and Pleasures of the World that are so apt to darken the Soul and to exclude the Influences of Heaven has need of holy Skill to preserve a free communication with God and to be always receptive of his Grace Then holy Duties should be frequent and fervent wherein the Soul ascends to God by raised desires and God descends into the Soul by the Operations of his sanctifying and comforting Spirit And as we see in Nature the Flowers of every kind open their Leaves to the rising Sun to be reviv'd with his vital Heat so we should every day open our Hearts to God in Prayer and Praises And since all his Mercies invite and conduct us to the blessed Author and temporal Benefits are sensible Arguments of his Love those who most richly enjoy them are obliged infinitely more to value and delight in the Giver than in the Gifts themselves If the Heart be set upon Riches which 't is very apt to be when they increase or upon pleasures God is neglected and vilified and tho many are not openly vicious and profane yet so pleasantly the things of the World insinuate into their Affections that they cannot taste how good the Lord is a sad indication of their unregenerate state for the Divine Nature in a Saint inclines him to God as his supream Good his only
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