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
their Hearts are apt to reply as the Priests did to Judas What is that to us see ye to it The Terrors of the Lord no more affect them than Thunder does the Deaf or Lightning the Blind In short tho charged and adjured by all the Threatnings of the Law and the neglected Gospel tho intreated by all the precious Promises of Mercy they continue hardned in their voluptuous sins they despise the eternal Rewards of Holiness and Wickedness as incredible and impertinent and Ministers as men of vain talk and imaginations For the Infidel Senses are not affected with things future and Sinners whilst prosperous are under their Dominion 3. Suppose in preaching the Word a sharp ray of Truth darts through the deep and setled darkness of the Heart yet 't is soon dampt and without saving effect upon Sinners in their Prosperity They may be terrified but are not subdued by the Armour of Light for they presently take sanctuary in the World to escape the strokes of it The carnal Passions dare not appear before such Objects as awaken the Conscience the Senses strongly apply the Mind to things that touch them the Fancy is the spring of of distraction in the thoughts and these reign in their full power in prosperous Sinners so that they do not by serious consideration apply things of eternal consequence to themselves The Heart of Man with difficulty changes its end the outward actions may be suspended or over-ruled for a time but the love that is natural and predominant in the Heart to the present World cannot be purified and raised to Heaven without the Divine efficacy of the Word applied by most solemn and frequent thoughts How plain and convincing are the words of our Saviour What will it profit a Man if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul But how few in hearing them have found their Souls that were lost in the corrupting Vanities of this World The most seem not to know they have immortal Souls whilst they live as if they had none The Reason is they will not consider duly their unvaluable worth and the woful folly in neglecting them When the Bird often straggles from the Nest the Eggs are chil'd and unprolific for want of its warming incubation Divine Truths are without life and vigour when they only lie in the memory without serious and frequent reflections on them Many are enlightned but not affected or affected but not resolved or resolved but their resolutions are not prevailing and permanent because the Word does not sink into their Minds by deep consideration 2. The other external means of recovering a Sinner from the snares of Death is private admonition either authoritative or meerly charitative by shewing him his Sins and the fearful Consequences that attend them The neglect of this Duty is a sign and effect of the greatest hatred as the command of it implies Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart and suffer Sin to lie upon him The performance of it with prudence and meekness with dear and earnest love has a special advantage and efficacy being directly applied to the Person whose Soul is concern'd The Reproofs of a Preacher are levell'd in common against the Sins of Men but not applied in particular to every Sinner 'T is the Office of Conscience to bring home to every Man's Bosom what is proper to his Case and singularly to observe in himself what is spoken in the general But in private Admonition the Superior or Friend supplies the part of Conscience And in this sense wo be to him that is alone that wants a faithful Friend to supply the Duty of Conscience either to preserve him from falling into Sin or to raise him when down Now a prosperous Sinner is most unlikely to receive the Benefit design'd by admonition If the Patient does not assist the Cure by receiving holy Counsels with humility respect and thankfulness they prove ineffectual and much more if they be rejected with aversness and contempt When a Superiour like a Father that holds a Child over a Pit to make him fear where there is danger with solemnity admonishes him of his Guilt and approaching Judgments he is apt to slite his Person as censorious and his Admonition as impertinent When a Friend by faithful reproof endeavours to save his Soul from Sin and Hell he entertains his Reproof with scorn or with conviction and indignation Thus the wise observer of Men declares the careless wretched disposition of Sinners in their Prosperity by their sorrowful reflections in Adversity Thou shalt mourn at the last when thy Flesh and thy Body are consumed and say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me Instruction to prevent Sin Reproof to correct Sin were disregarded with an implicit hatred or rejected with absolute and express hatred To conclude this part of the Argument Experience sadly proves that Sinners are never reclaimed from their stubborn Folly but by sharp Afflictions They will not believe the evil of Sin till by a real and sensible conviction they take a measure of the Evil they have done by the Evil they suffer Affliction tames the stubborn heart and makes it humble and relenting Even Pharaoh that was a bold Atheist in his Prosperity and stood upon high terms with Moses saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him yet was an humble Suppliant in his Distress And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them I have sinned the Lord is righteous and I and my People are wicked Intreat the Lord that there be no more mighty Thundrings and Hail This is set forth in a true and lively comparison by the Prophet Jeremy As a wild Ass used to the Wilderness that snuffs up the Wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away When fir'd with Lust she ranges about swiftly without a Rider to guide and a Curb to restrain her All they that seek her will not weary themselves but in her mouth they shall find her 'T is in vain to pursue her then but when she is bagg'd and heavy they will tame her Thus when Sinners are prosperous the call of God and Conscience and of Teachers do not stop them in their voluptuous course but affliction confines and reduces them to obedience 5. Prosperity renders Men averse from suffering for the sake of Christ when they are called to give testimony to his Truth and support his Cause Self-denial with respect to the present Life and all the Ornaments Comforts and Endearments of it is absolutely necessary by the Law of Christianity when the preserving of it is contrary to the Glory of Christ and inconsistent with our Duty to him Then said Jesus to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me The Cross implies all kinds
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
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