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
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
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
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
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
from the Grave Now when a Christian is prepared for this noble Act of Self-denial to forsake all things when his Duty to Christ requires it this preserves him from the ensnaring temptations of Prosperity 'T is observable the same Divine Disposition of Soul makes us temperate in the use of present Abundance and patient in the loss of it The low esteem of earthly things joyn'd with the lively hope of Heaven renders the enjoyment of the World less delightful and the loss of it more tolerable The Philosopher and Courtier says of himself that he always in his Prosperity kept a great distance between his Affections and Riches with Honours and in the change of his state they were rather taken easily away than rent from him According to the temper of the Mind the difference is as sensible in the parting with outward things as between clipping the Hair and tearing it off with violence Nay the Glory of Heaven does so eclipse the faint and fading lustre of this World that a Believer not only patiently but chearfully makes the exchange of the one for other Moses preferred Affliction with the People of God before the Crown of Egypt because of the Reward above that was in his view And the Christian Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods knowing that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance The blessed Hope will preserve us from being foil'd by Prosperity when it surrounds us and from sinking in Adversity Like Mertyllus his Shield that secur'd him in the Field and sav'd him being Shipwrack'd at Sea by wasting him to the Shore Lastly Earnest and constant Prayer to God for Divine Grace is a soveraign means to preserve those who are in Prosperity from the danger that attends it I know how to abound says the Apostle and immediatly adds I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Supernatural Strength in an eminent degree is requisite to keep us entire and upright in the dangerous conflict with the pleasant Temptations of the World and that Strength is derived from Christ and obtain'd by humble Prayer 'T is St. Austin's observation that Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah's Spirit because he was in publick Honour and exposed to a more dangerous trial an extraordinary Grace was necessary for him But Elias was under continual persecution The Trees that are expos'd to storms are strong and firm but those in the sunny Vallies are brittle and easily blown down We are directed to ask Wisdom of God for the governing of our selves in Afflictions that in patience we may possess our Souls and the turbulent Passions may not cause rebellious disorders but the sanctified Mind may use Afflictions for our spiritual and eternal Good And 't is as necessary to beg Heavenly Wisdom for governing our selves in Prosperity that when Temptations are frequent and favour'd by our joyful Affections which are equally vehement and exorbitant as the sad Affections Reason may keep the Throne and manage Prosperity so as we may obtain our blessed End Such is the malice of Satan that he incessantly desires leave to tempt us and love to our Souls should make us pray continually for confirming Grace against his Temptations Briefly if the good things of this World make us more humble and holy more fearful to offend God and careful to please him if they are Motives to renew our Homage and Thankfulness to him if they are used in subordination to his Glory they are the Testimonies of his present Favour and the Pledges of our future Felicity Our blessed Saviour keeps the best Wine for his obedient Friends till the last FINIS ERRATA PAge 68. line 10 for Love read Law P. 134. l. 1. for Man r. Name P. 181. l. 12. for conceit and r. conceited Some Books printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhil THe Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D. in Quarte Considerations of the Existence of God And of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added The Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation◠for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times By William Bates D. D. in Octavo The Soveraign and final Happiness of Man with the effectual means to obtain it Also the Joys of Heaven and Torments of Hell are discoursed of By William Bates D. D. in Octavo Several Sermons upon Death and Eternal Judgment By William Bates D. D. in Octavo The great Duty of Resignation to the Divine will in Afflictions enforced from the Example of our suffering Saviour By William Bates D. D. in Octavo * Mark 3. 5. Vers. 24 26 27 28 29. * 1 John 2. 16. * 2 Pet. 1. 4. * Hos. 11. 4. Rom. 2. * Psal. 69. 22. Ephes. 2. James 4. 1. Prov. 13. 10. 2 Kings 8. 12 13. Psal. 10. 4. Ezek. 28. 2. Prov. 30. 9. Deut. 6. 12. An non paena satis est te non amare Aug. Conf. Psal. 55. 19. Deut. 32. 15 Deut. 29. 19 20. 2 Cor. 4. Ephes. 2. 2. 2 Tim. 2. l. James 1. 14 15. * Nec mora quod pontus quod terra quod educat aer poscit Ezek. 16. 49. * Ut remos agere possint hastas tractare non possint * Haec enim conditio superiorum est ut quicquid faciunt praecipere videantur pernitiosissimus est malae rei maximus quisque author Quintil. Ipsa vitia religiosa sunt atque non modo non vitantur sed coluntur Lact. * Non me potes uti amico adulatore Phocion Antipatri * Nullis vitiis desunt pretiosa nomina Plin. Gal. 5. Jude * Nec te posse carere velim Gen. 6. Mark 6. 5. Acts 7. John 3. 20. 2 Pet. 3. 5. Titus 1. 15. Psal. 57. 10. Ephes. 4. 17 18 19. 2 Pet. 2. 12 13. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. l. 7 c c. 3. * Omnia torpent omnia rigent sola feritas calet Isa 44. 16 17. Heb. 4. 2. Prov. 5. 11 12 13. Exod. 9. 27. 28. Jer. 2. 24 Mat. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 1. 23. Gal. 5. 11. Rev. 21. 8. 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. 1 Tim. 6. 13. 1 Joh. 5. Min. fel. Rom. 8. 18. Heb. 3. 12. 1 Joh. 4. 18. 1 Joh. 4. 19. Euseb. lib. 6. Mat. 10. 33. Heb. 3. 7. In cane sagacitas prima est si investigare debet feras cursus si consequi audacia si mordere invadere Id in quoque optimum est cui nascitur quo censetur In homine optimum quid est ratio Haec animalia antecedit Deos sequitur Senec. Epist. 76. Luk. 12. 20. * Morto all piacer dell ' immortal suo nome Prov. 1. 22. Isa. 1. * Pretium mirantes accipiunt Tacit Jer. 17. 11. Dan. 12. 2. 1 Tim. 6. 9. Prov. 1. Deut. 32. 6. Rom. 11. Mat. 5. Rom. 11. 20 21. Prov. 1. 24 25 26 27 28 29. Psal. 78. 34 36 37. * Stat anceps medicus non videt bonum quod promittat timet malum pronunciare ne terreat modestam tamen istam concipit sententiam Deus bonus omnia potest orate pro illo Aug. Ezek. 33. 11 Ezek. 18. 21 Mat. 5. 46. Deut. 32. Rom. 2. * Deus illum ad solium evexit iste Deum ad boves demisit Pet. Mart. Deut. 29. Rev. 18. 7. Psal. 106. 4. Psal. 50. Nahum 1. 3. Rom. 9. 22. Isa. 29. 10. Psal. 49. Eccles. 7. Psal. 35. 6. Horrenda via tenebrae lubricum Tenebras solum quis non horreat lubri cum solum quis non caveat In tenebris lubrico qua is ubi pedem figis sunt istae magnae poenae hominum Aug. Col. 3. Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. * Vino debimus quod etiam non sitientes bibimus Plin. Nemo venenum temperat felle Elleboro sed conditis pulmentis id mali injicit Ita Diabolus letale quod conficie rebus gratissimis acceptissimis imbuit Tert. Rev. 3. Ezek. 16. 42 Senec. de providentia Heb. 12. Inter adversa melior Tacit. Optimos nos esse dum infirmi sumus Plin. lib. 3. Propitius Deus cum male amamus negat quod amamus iratus autem dat amanti quod male amat Aug. Phil. 4. 12. 2 Chron. 17. 3. Sponte manans pretiosior sudor est elicitus corticis vulnere vilior judicatur Solin Psal. 9. Jam. 1. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 4. Zach. 9. 9. Tit. 3. 3. Deut. 6. 11 12. Deut. 8. 12. Hos. 13. 6. Ps. 103. 1 2. * Psal. 34. 2. Psal. 26. Utentis modestia non amantis affectu Hos. 4. 11. Ephes. 4. 19. 1 Cor. 7. 30 31. * Omnis humana perversio fruendis uti velle utendis frui Aug. Psal. 139. 17 19. Psal. 4. 6 7. Psal. 63. Luk. 10. 20. 1 Tim. 6. Mat. 11. Intervallum inter me illa magnum habui itaque abstulit illa non avulsit Senec. Cons. ad Helv. Heb. 11. Phil. 4. Aelizaeus cum magno honore seculi dignitate prophetiae donum habuit Elias profugus persecutus