Heaven to save the World and when the Cross with its Infamy and horrour was in his view he avowed his Heavenly Kingdom And all those who suffer with him for his Truth and in conformity to his Pattern with his Meekness and Patience his Charity and Constancy shall reign with him And what is more powerful for the consolation and establishment of Christians than that their Sufferings for Christ shall end in Glory This is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith This did Miracles in the first Ages of the Church conquering all that was terrible to Flesh and Blood The Heathens despised the Hopes of Christians as wretched Illusions and with impious scorn upbraided them for their constancy under Persecutions Where is the God that can raise the dead and not rescue the living Unbelief is blind and cannot see beyond this World to the Eternal State But Faith in the blessed Redeemer opens a Prospect into the World to come so full of Glory that no Person that has an understanding and will to discourse and choose if he stedfastly believes it but must despise all the Evils that the wit and strength of Persecutors can inflict in comparison of it I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of the present Life in all their kinds and degrees are not to be compared with the Glory that shall be reveal'd Inlightned Christians esteemed their Sufferings for the Cause of God no Arguments of his Weakness but his Wisdom to exercise and try their Loyalty and cordial Obedience before he rewarded them and had reason to admire his Providence not to suspect his Power and Love They knew that the power of Tyrants could only reach the Body the vile frail and mortal part of Man but the precious Soul was entirely exempted from their rage and Faith assur'd them of a glorious Resurrection after Death The Body of a Martyr shall be revived as a Phaenix out of its Ashes when the Body of a Persecutor shall be quickned as a Serpent out of a Dunghil the one to be glorified the other tormented for ever The belief of this made them extremely valiant in the face of all their threatning cruel Enemies But the evil Heart of unbelief causes a departure from the living God He that suspects God's fidelity in his Promises will suspend his own Nature will shrink at the first sight of imminent Dangers An Infidel that lives as if he were all Body and no immortal Soul judges the loss of the present Life and the comforts of it as his utter undoing and total perishing He has an appearance of reason to secure his present Possessions what-ever becomes of Religion for he expects no future Good that will infinitely more than countervail his present loss And that Prosperity inclines Men to Atheism and Infidelity has been proved before 2. The Love of God inspires Believers with a heavenly Fortitude to endure the worst Evils that may befal them for his sake Perfect Love casts out Fear keeps its Supremacy inviolate in the midst of the greatest Dangers Love is an active invincible Affection as strong as Death that none can vanquish The Love of God is a never-dying Flame in the Hearts of the Saints because it depends upon the unchangeable Love of God to them We love him because he first loved us Love esteems God as the greatest Reward A Saint does not so much love God for Heaven tho a place of inconceivable Glory as Heaven for God because he there reveals his Perfections to his People This Holy Love makes the Christians faithful and obsequious to Christ and to prefer his Honour incomparably before the present World The Martyrs of the divinest Courage were animated by this holy Affection they loved not their lives unto the death but chearfully offered them as a Sacrifice to his praise Love kindled in them a sacred Vehemence in despising all the glittering temptations of the World Love inspir'd them with a victorious Patience to blunt the edg of Cruelty They never repented the choice of his Religion but rejoiced when his Glory was set forth by their Ignominy and when their love to Christ appear'd in its radiancy and vigor through their Sufferings Love is the Principle of Constancy by which Religion reigns on Earth and is crown'd in Heaven On the contrary when Riches Honours and Pleasures are the Idols of Mens Heads and Hearts the chief Objects of their esteem and affections they will sacrifice their Souls rather than lose the World their dear Felicity Therefore St. John earnestly dehorts Christians Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him they are utterly inconsistent partly because the Heart cannot be entirely set upon contrary Objects and partly because love to the one requires what is directly contrary to love to the other From hence St. James vehemently upbraids carnal Professors Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God The World is the powerful Star whose Aspect he regards and tho with the dishonour and displeasure of God he will by irreligious compliance secure his temporal Interests The pure refined Truth of the Gospel that has past the fiery Trial he will corrupt and embase by carnal temperaments the precious Truth so dearly bought by the Blood of the Martyrs he will vilely sell for the things of this World Nay of a Professor he will by degrees turn Persecutor of those who stedfastly own the Truth The love of the World so strangely inchants infects the Mind that a false Religion which a Man did abhor from yet when recommended by secular Advantages will appear tolerable then eligible then necessary and consequently the divine Truth must be supprest that contradicts it There are such frequent Examples of this in every Age that to insist upon many particular Instances were to tell great numbers of the dead to prove that Men are mortal The Young Man that so earnestly addrest himself to Christ for his direction how to obtain Eternal Life when commanded to give all his Estate to the Poor and to follow Christ he would not gain at so dear a rate Celestial Treasures but went away sorrowful Whereupon our Saviour declares with solemnity to his Disciples Verily I say unto you that a rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven We read of two Tribes of the Israelites that chose their Inheritance on this side Jordan and would not have a share in the Land of Canaan thus the earthly-minded prefer the present World the Object of their choice and love before the heavenly Canaan The Ecclesiastical Historian relates that in the time of Persecution by Decius the rich Men among the Christians were most easily and miserably foil'd the love of the World was a dangerous earnest in
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
Love of God includes an Act of the Understanding a transcendent esteem of his Favour Thy loving-kindness is better than Life it inspires the Soul with ardent desires after him My Soul follows hard after thee it produces the most joyful satisfaction in Communion with him The Thoughts of God are unspeakably precious and sweet the Ordinances the blessed Means of conveying his Grace are highly valued and Sin that displeases and separates from God is hated as the greatest Evil. Now the Soul must be refined to a heavenly temper to some degrees of Angelical Purity before 't is capable of Light to see his spiritual Excellencies and Love to enjoy them And if the Soul does not make the Body Heavenly and Spiritual the Body will make the Soul Earthly and Fleshly From hence it is that the affluence of things pleasing to the Senses fastens the carnal Heart to the World as its Happiness and Heaven it darkens the Mind and vitiates the Affections that the Soul can neither taste nor see how good the Lord is 'T is the universal Character of Men in the carnal State they are lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God And a remisser degree of Love is comparative Hatred A Sin of astonishing guilt and not less odious to God and damning in its Nature tho little observed and resented by carnal Men for the highest dishonour of God is complicated with disobedience in it A Sin that deserves and inflicts the sorest Punishment for God alone whose goodness is infinite can make us perfectly and eternally happy and the spiritual separation from him is such an unvaluable loss that when truly understood is the foundation of the heaviest sorrow 3. The Fear of God is a most distant affection from the Heart of the foolish Sinner in his Prosperity The Fear of Reverence and the awful esteem of God that proceeds from the reflection upon his glorious greatness is a grace that remains in Heaven the Angels in all their bright degrees of Excellence cover their faces before his Throne The fear of Circumspection that restrains from displeasing him upon the account of his Justice and Power is a proper Affection to Men in the present state The Blessed in Heaven are above this Fear being confirm'd in a state of unchangeable perfection and felicity the Damned in Hell are below this Fear in that no change can make their Condition worse but 't is most useful and congruous in this middle state This Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom the first and chiefest part of it in respect of Order and Dignity For the true Notion of Wisdom consists in the foresight of Evils in the choice and use of effectual means to avoid it and it is the best Wisdom that avoids the greatest Danger This Fear is the Principle of Conversion from Sin to Holiness exciting us to make God our Friend who is so dreadful an Adversary so Holy and Just that he will not connive at Sin and spare the Guilty and Impenitent and so powerful that with one stroke he can utterly destroy his most stubborn Enemies Carnal Security is directly opposite to this Fear of God and nothing does more harden and fortify Men in Security than a prosperous State The Voluptuous and Sensual are without apprehension of Danger till imminent and in their view Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God Uninterrupted Prosperity tempted them to Atheistical Security and as none are sollicitous and in anxiety lest the Sun whose presence is the support and beauty of the World should not arise in the morning because its regular course is establish'd and constant and it would be a Miracle contravening the Order of Nature if it should be stop'd Thus the long enjoyment of Plenty and Ease and Peace renders Men constantly secure and fearless as if the tenor of their Prosperity were invariable and no evil could disturb it or at least they will set back the expectation of Evil at a great distance like those prophane Scorners mentioned by the Prophet They say the Vision he sees is for many days to come he pro phesies of the times afar off and with a brutish stupidity slight the Divine Threatnings And from hence it follows that none are so rebelliously and boldly disobedient as the prosperous Sinner which is the fourth thing to be considered 4. Entire Obedience is due to the Supreme Lawgiver who is able to save and destroy for ever yet he is mercifully inclin'd to pardon the Infirmities of Men and greater Sins retracted by Repentance There are Sins of Ignorance when a Man dashes blindfold against the Law and of suddain surreption when there is no time to deliberate and for recollection and the best are not exempted here from Sins of this nature there are Sins of deadly malignity when Men are careless of God's Commands and indulge their Lusts tho not without some remorse But the prosperous Sinner is usually most presumptuous he sins with a high hand and incurrs a greater guilt and shall be exposed to greater punishment When the Fear of God is extinguish'd Luxury takes the Reins and breaks through the Hedg of the Law without feeling the wounding Thorns the fearful Threatnings in it and drives on through all the degrees of Sin 'T is the aggravation of the Israelites Ingratitude Jesurun waxed fat and kicked and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation They were like Beasts high fed that become fierce and untractable will endure no Yoke upon them The prosperous Sinner securely despises the Commands of God and by an implicit Blasphemy dares his offended Omnipotence as if he were stronger than the Lord. He concludes his safety from his present success and says in his heart I shall have peace tho I walk in the imagination of mine heart and add sin to sin The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord shall smoke against that Man to his destruction 3. Prosperity exposes dangerously to the tempting Power of Satan whose Subtilty Malice and Diligence is always exercised in training Men to Perdition His destructive Power cannot make immediate impressions on the Soul but he tempts by Objects without and the Affections within the World and the Flesh that are in combination with him He is accordingly stiled the God of this World as he reigns in the Men of the World by using the things of the World to obtain and establish his Kingdom He blinds their eyes by glittering Temptations deceives and surprizes them by his Fallacies And altho 't is difficult to conceive and unfold his internal Agency and pernicious Operations and 't is certain he cannot make a forcible entry into the Soul and tempt with prevalency and success without the consent of the Will yet we are told that he is a prime Mover in the sins of Men. He entred into Judas and by putting a lustre on the Silver exciting his covetous desires prevail'd with him to betray the Lord of Glory He
Strength or Beauty Swiftness or Courage so the first and chief and proper Excellency of Man is the rational Mind that distinguishes him from the Brutes and gives him a natural and regular dominion over them 'T is the highest and divinest Faculty of the Soul and from hence the deduction is clear that our Felicity consists in the perfection of the Mind If the Excellencies of all other Creatures were united in Man they could derive no true worth to him because they cannot adorn and perfect what is his proper Excellence Now according to the quality of the Objects about which the Mind is conversant 't is either tainted and depreciated or purfied and exalted To apply it to sensual worldly things how to increase Riches and make provision for the Flesh to fulfil its Lusts is more truly vilifying than if a Prince should employ his Counsellors of State and the Judges of his Courts in the Offices of his Kitchin or to dig in the Cole-pits The Mind is corrupted and debased by application to inferior perishing things as Gold and Silver are allayed and lose of their purity and value by a mixture with Copper and Tin God alone is the Sovereign Object of the Mind with respect to its dignity and capacity its superior and noblest Operations and by contemplating his glorious Attributes and Excellencies who is best in himself and best to us the Mind is inlightned and enlarged renewed and raised made holy and heavenly full of Beauty Order and Tranquillity and transformed into the likeness of the Divine Perfections 2. All the Prosperity in the World cannot bring true Satisfaction to him that enjoys it for 't is disproportionate to the spiritual and immortal nature of the Soul This is so clear by Reason that it may seem as needless and impertinent to insist on it as to use Arguments to prove that Gold and Diamonds are not proper Food for the Body but the self-deceiving folly of the carnal Heart so enamour'd of the vanity of this World that like the pleasure of a Charm is counterfeit and deadly makes it necessary to inculcate known Truths that Men may timely prevent the sad Consequences of such Folly and not be accessaries to their tormenting Conviction by experience 'T is true carnal and material Things pleasantly affect the outward Man yet such a vanity is in them that they are neither a pure nor a prevalent Good with respect to the natural and civil state of Man here Riches and Honours and sensual Pleasures are not without a mixture of bitterness that corrupt the content that Men expect in them they are not efficacious to remove or allay the Evil to which all are exposed in this open state A sharp Disease makes all the Joys of the World insipid and despicable But suppose them in their elevation they cannot supply the Wants and Exigencies nor satisfy the Desires of the Soul They cannot restore Men to the Favour of God and blessed Communion with him nor renew the Image of his Holiness in them They are but a vain Name a naked shadow of Felicity and entirely depend upon the simplicity and fancies of Men for their valuation The Apostle therefore tells us that they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish lusts Those who resolve and labour to get Riches thinking to find Felicity in them are misled by as gross folly as those who presume by their costly preparations to turn Brass or Lead into Gold For if it be Folly to desire and attempt what is impossible 't is equally so in those who seek for joyful satisfaction in Wealth and in any other secular Things as in the Alchymists that waste their real Estates for imaginary Treasures Besides the happiest Condition here as 't is like the Moon that at the brightest is spotted and imperfect so Eclipses are not less strange to it than to that Planet The World is at the best of a transient use and the pleasant Error of the Carnal Mind will be of short continuance Within a little while that which was declar'd with such solemnity by the Angel in the Revelation He lifted up his hand to Heaven and swore by Him that lives for ever that Time shall be no more will be true of every mortal Person The rich Man that was surveying his Estate with carnal complacency and extending his hopes of voluptuous living to many Years was surpriz'd with the fatal Sentence Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those Things be which thou hast provided Now can that be our Happiness that is of such an uncertain tenure that every hour may be snatch'd from us or we from it If one should with great Expences build a Mansion-House and plant Gardens in a place subject to frequent Earthquakes that would overturn all into confusion would not his folly be conspicuous Yet how many practise themselves what they would deride in others They set their Heart upon the things of the World that are liable to a thousand changes and must shortly be parted with for ever The Slaves of Honour that are so swell'd with airy Titles of Greatness and the flattering Respects of others must shortly be devested of all and when laid in their Tombs the Trophies of Vanity will be insensible of the renown and applauses of the World Alexander the Great is long since dead to the pleasure of his Immortal Man And Death will make a final separation between the Rich and their Treasures and put an end to all the Delights of Men. Now what folly is it to prefer a Felicity that is deceitful in the enjoyment and leaves the Soul empty when it most fills it that is so vain and transitory before an Eternal Heaven a blessedness that surpasses our Hopes that secures our Fears that satisfies our immense Desires a blessedness that the humane Understanding in all the capacity of its thoughts is not able to comprehend a blessedness becoming the Majesty and Magnificence of God that bestows it What madness to despise Heaven as if the Eternity of the next World were but a moment and to love this World as if this momentary Life were an Eternity The full aggravation of this dyes the Love of the World with the deepest tincture of Folly as will appear by considering 1. 'T is a voluntary chosen Folly Thus the Divine Wisdom with passion reproaches wretched Sinners How long ye simple Ones will ye love simplicity This heightens their Character to love so obstinately what is so unlovely and unbecoming the reasonable Nature The Light of Reason and Revelation discovers the Vanity of the World 't is not for want of Evidence but for want of using the Light that Men do not discern their wretched mistake God complains in the Prophet My People doth not consider The means of restoring Men to a sound Mind is by due consideration The Soul retires from the World and makes a solemn
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
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
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
and degrees of suffering from the least afflicting evil to Death with ignominy and torment And how just is it if we expect to be glorified by his Sufferings that we should willingly suffer for his Glory At the first preaching of the Gospel many were offended at the Cross of Christ they esteemed it folly to expect eternal Life from one that was put to death and that he should bring them to the highest Glory who suffered in the lowest Weakness Our Saviour was conceal'd from their carnal Eyes by the overshadowing train of his Afflictions And the Cross of Christ that is to be voluntarily and obediently taken up by his Disciples is a greater offence to the World than that to which he was nail'd 'T is a harder Lesson that we must obtain Glory by our own Sufferings than that it was purchased by our Saviour's The Mind more willingly assents to the reasons of his Sufferings than of ours in the first it only encounters with false Prejudices and vain Shadows that darken that mighty Mystery but in the second it must overcome the natural Love of this Life and the Pleasures of it which is so predominant in Men. The alliance to the Body and the allurements of the World are the causes of forsaking Religion when the owning of it will cost us dear And those who enjoy Prosperity are most easily terrified from their Duty to Christ the account of which is open to Reason both from some general Considerations and from special that respect Sufferings for Religion The general Considerations are two 1. The living in Pleasures and soft Delicacy enervates the masculine vigour of the Spirit and damps Resolution that it presently faints when assaulted with Difficulties The Spirit of a Man encouraged by just and wise and generous Reasons will stand firmly under heavy Troubles But Fear breaks the native strength of Mind and like a secret suddain Palsy that slackens the Nerves and loosens the Joints causes a trembling and incapacity of bearing Evils The least glimpse of Danger makes the Fearful to retire like some that apprehensive of the rising Winds will not venture any further in a Boat than that one Oar may be on the Shore whilst the other strikes in the Water The Timerous when Afflictions attend the faithful profession of the Gospel usually are treacherous to God to their Souls and to the Truth To God whose Servants they are by the dearest Titles by contradicting their Duty which is to suffer chearfully for his Gospel and his Glory when called forth and by revolting from his Service they occasion such dishonourable unworthy conceptions of him as if he were regardless of his suffering Servants and would not gloriously reward those who are faithful to the Death the Seal of their Loyalty and Perseverance they are treacherous to their Souls by preferring the Interest of the perishing Flesh before the happiness of the immortal Part they betray the Truth by exposing it to a suspicion of Falshood for as the confirming Religion by Sufferings doth most effectually recommend it to the belief and affections of others so the denial of it or the withdrawing our Testimony in times of Danger will incline others to judg that it is not the Truth or at least of no great moment that the Professors of it do not think worth their Sufferings How many faint-hearted Persons have thus betrayed the Son of God again and their Consciences and their Religion Their Faith that sparkled in Prosperous times when Troubles come is a quencht Cole rak'd up in the cold pale Ashes of distrustful Fears without any Divine Light or Heat 2. Prosperity makes Men unthoughtful and careless of Evils that may happen I said in my Prosperity I shall never be moved Carnal Joy the Affection of Prosperity and Folly are nearly allied and flatter Men as if their Ease and Calm would never be disturbed and by supine negligence they are unprovided for the encountring with Evils According to our circumspection in Prosperity such is our courage in Adversity and by how much the less affliction is expected so much the more are we perplex'd when it seises upon us The last Day that shall strangely surprize the World in its deep security is compar'd to Lightning for its suddenness and terror Our Saviour therefore plainly has foretold that the Cross is the Appendix of the Gospel that 't is the Property of Error to persecute and the Lot of Truth to be persecuted He counsels his Disciples to imitate a wise Builder that computes the Expence before he begins the Fabrick lest having laid the Foundation and not being able to finish it he be exposed to the just Censure of Folly So Christians are to forecast the Injuries and Troubles they are likely to suffer for Religion lest when the Tempest threatens they shamefully desert it And how heavy will their Doom be The fearful that are not storm-proof and the Lyars that openly renounce what they believe and profess what they do not believe shall be with Infidels Idolaters and Murderers cast into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone 2. The special Reasons why Prosperity makes Men so dispos'd to quit the Truth in times of Danger are because it weakens the Principles from whence Christian Magnanimity springs and those are unfeigned Faith and divine Love As in natural things the formative Virtue determinates the Matter to such a Being and disposes to such Operations in proportion to the Principles from which it results So in moral things the Soul is disposed and regulated in its Actings correspondently to its Principles and is either Carnal or Spiritual The universal Principle of Carnal Persons is to be happy here their Eyes are ever engaged upon and their Desires ever thirsting after sensual Satisfaction Who will shew us any good and by consequence their main care is to obtain and secure temporal things the materials of their happiness The supernatural Principle of a Saint is to please God and enjoy his Favour As Men believe they love and as they love they live 1. Unfeigned Faith of the Rewards of the Gospel is necessary to keep a Christian steady in his course through all the Storms and Tides of this mutable World It is a faithful saying If we die with him we shall also live with him If we suffer with him we shall reign with him The Apostle usually prefaces with that strong assurance It is a faithful saying when the Truth is of eminent importance and contrary to the Sentiments of Carnal Nature If we die with him we shall also live with him Our Saviour dedicated Martyrdom in his own Person His Death was a Ransom for us to God and a sealing Testimony of the Gospel to Men He witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good Confession The Terror of the Roman Tribunal nor the Rage of the Jews could not make him retract the Divine Truth which he had so often declared that he was the Son of God come from
a Child but carnal Men are voluntarily guided by Sence and Fancy the false Lights that rule in Children and blindly follow without considering who is their Leader and whether they are led Or like one in a slumber is strongly affected with slight things a Scene of Fancy in a Dream transports him as a glorious Reality a prick of a Pin makes him start as fearfully as if a Viper bit him thus carnal Men are as deeply affected with temporal good and evil things as if they were Eternal wherein their Blessedness or Misery consists And there is nothing of greater use and defence to the Soul than to make a true judgment of things that greatly and nearly concern us From thence proceeds a wise Choice a well-ordered Conversation and upon it our blessed End depends For as the Rudder is to a Ship the Will is to Man if it be duly turn'd it conducts him safely to Felicity The particular just Inferences from the Doctrine are 1. Temporal Prosperity is not a certain sign of God's special Favour There are some Benefits disperst by a general Providence to all like the common Benefits of a Prince to all within his Dominions some are like special Gifts to his Favorites Of the first kind are Riches and Honours and whatever is the support or comfort of the present Life of the second are spiritual and heavenly Blessings the Graces and Comforts of the holy Spirit of God the infallible Seal of his Love to us The Psalmist prays Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy People O visit me with thy Salvation there is a Favour common to all Men as his Creatures and the Fruits of it are promiscuous to the Evil and the Good but the Favour from whence proceeds Grace and Glory is the priviledg of his Chosen The temporal Prosperity of the Wicked is consistent with God's Hatred When Men turn his Blessings into the fuel of their Lusts and his Patience into an advantage of sinning more securely how flourishing soever they are in the World he looks on them with an avenging Eye He hates all the workers of Iniquity His seeming connivance is no Argument that he is not highly provok'd by their Sins or that they may obtain an easy Pardon Yet this is the inward principle of the gross and outward Sins in the lives of Men tho unobserved by them As the vital Heat is not felt in the Heart that is the Cause of all the Heat that is felt in the outward parts of the Body These things hast thou done saith God to the rebellious Sinner and I kept silence that is suspended the terrible Effects of Justice thou thoughts I was altogether such a one as thy self Astonishing blindness not to discern the apparent antipathy of such Connexions As if God's forbearance of the Guilty were forgiveness and rebellion against his Commands and the love of Sin which is enmity to him were consistent with the fruition of his Favour But we have the most clear and convincing assurance God cannot be pleased with Men without their being made like him in Righteousness and true Holiness He sees and hates Sin and abhors the Sinners tho for a time they are spared Justice and Patience are his Attributes He is slow to anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Guilty He endures with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath till they are fitted for destruction The presumptuous Sinner that is encouraged and harden'd as if Sin were not so hateful to God because he enjoys the World in abundance and expects an easy remission at last fearfully deceives his Soul He sows the Wind and shall reap the Whirlwind 3. The Prosperity of the Wicked is so far from being a sign of God's love that it often proceeds from his deepest Displeasure 'T is a Curse candied over with a little vanishing sweetness but deadly in the Operation It makes them careless of God and their Souls of Heaven and Eternity and they become incorrigible in their perverse Wills and wicked Ways and irrecoverable in their lost State Prosperity induces Security that presages and accelerates their ruin 'T is exprest as the most fearful and sorest Judgment by the Prophet The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep an insensibleness of the worst Evils their Sins and the infinite danger that attends them This Judgment is usually inflicted from the righteous God by the prosperity of the Wicked and extreamly provokes him it being a Sin of the greatest Guilt as well as a Punishment of former high provocations 'T is a distinguishing Judgment inflicted upon his Enemies from which his Children are exempted Other Judgments that cause grief and trouble to Sinners often incline his Compassions to them but this Judgment inflames his Wrath. In short the Prosperity of the Wicked here is a fatal sign they are reserved for the severity of Justice for their abuse of the Riches of his Mercy and of all Judgments that is the most terrible that insensibly destroys and certainly brings damnation 4. From hence we are instructed to look upon Prosperous Sinners with pity not with envy and indignation They please themselves and triumph in their conceit and happiness as the Psalmist expresseth it Whilst he lived he blessed his Soul But how contrary is the Opinion of vain Men to the Judgment of Christ He pronounces and upon his Sentence depends Eternity Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger Wo unto you that laughnow for ye shall mourn and weep And we are told by the inspired Prophet Man that is in honour and understands not that does not consider the Vanity and frail Tenure of his present flourishing State nor his Duty and Interest to imploy his Riches Power and Greatness for securing his everlasting Feliciâ—ty is like the Beasts that perish stupid and insensible of approaching Ruin as the Beast that was to be sacrificed did not perceive that the guilding its Horns and adorning it with Garlands was a sign it was destin'd to Death They now live in ease and pleasures but they must shortly remove from their rich Possessions and splendid Palaces to the dark Regions of Woe and Death will be an entrance into endless Sorrows The laughter of Fools is like the crackling of Thorns under the Pot a short Blaze soon damp'd and extinguish'd 'T is a dreadful Imprecation of the Holy Psalmist Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them To fly in the dark and in slippery places and so to fall into the Mire and Pits is a fit Emblem of their Condition who are prosperous and wicked They are hood-wink'd by Prosperity in a voluntary darkness and see not the Precipices that surround them And how slippery is their way by so numerous and insinuating Temptations how easily how frequently and dangerously do they
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
with God who is the Maker the Searcher and the Judg of our Hearts Therefore the Holy Psalmist calls upon his Soul and all that is within him every Faculty to unite in the Praises of God the Understanding to consider the several Arguments of Praise and Thankfulness to esteem and to admire the divine Goodness to ascribe the Glory that is due to God for his Mercies the memory to register his Benefits the Will and Affections to love him for his Mercies and above them Thankfulness implies a solemn recognition of the Mercies of God with all the Circumstances that add a lustre to them to affect us in as vigorous a manner in our Praises for the Blessings we enjoy as we are in our Prayers for what we need Not only signal Mercies but common and ordinary should be continually acknowledged by us And since our Memories are so slippery as to the retaining of Favours Injuries are inscrib'd in Marble Benefits written in Dust We should every day review the Mercies we enjoy to quicken our Praises for them and to make Impressions not soon defac'd Thankfulness implies a due valuation of God's Benefits This will be raised by considering the Author the great God the meanest Mercy from his Hand is a high Favour As the Guilt of Sin arises from the greatness of the Object tho some Sins are comparatively small yet none is in its intrinsic Nature a small Evil so tho of Mercies some are in comparison eminent and some are ordinary yet every Mercy is great with respect to the Author from whence it comes And the thankful esteem of Mercies will rise in proportion to the sense of our unworthiness A constant poverty of Spirit in reflecting upon our own vileness that there is not meerly a want of desert in us with respect to God's Blessings but a desert of his heavy Judgments will heighten our esteem of them For this end it is very useful that the Prosperous would consider those below them how many better than themselves are under oppressing Wants tormenting Pains heart-breaking Sorrows whom you may trace by their Tears every day and what free and rich Mercy is it that they enjoy the affluence of all things this distinguishing Goodness should be acknowledged with a warm rapture of affection to the Divine Benefactor To compare our selves with those that excel us in Grace will make us humble and with those who are below us in outward Blessings will make us thankful The Prosperous have special Obligations to be most conversant in this Celestial Duty there are various Graces and Duties that are only useful in this imperfect state and shall expire with us as Repentance Faith Hope Patience c. the Reward of them will be Eternal but the exercise is limited to present Life but Love and Praise remain in Heaven The Saints eternally admire love and bless God for his Mercies And the sincere and constant performance of this Duty is most pleasing to God and profitable to us for thankfulness to our blessed Benefactor engages his Heart and opens the Treasures of his Bounty more liberally to us The way to obtain new Benefits is not to suffer former Favours to be lost in ungrateful oblivion In short 't is the best and surest evidence of our thankfulness to God when his Mercies are effectual Motives to please him We cannot always make an actual commemoration of his Benefits but an habitual remembrance should ever be in our Hearts and influential in our Lives Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes saith holy David and I have walked in thy Truth unfeignedly respected all thy Commandments 4. The Fear of God and a vigilant care to avoid the Sins that so easily encompass us is necessary in Prosperity The Secure assist Satan in his War against the Soul but watchfulness disarms the Tempter Circumspection is never more a Duty than when Pleasures without and Passions within conspire to betray us 'T is useful to reflect upon the great numbers who have been corrupted and ruin'd by Prosperity that the Vices of the dead may secure the Vertues of the living The fear of God is clean effectively as it preserves from Sin 'T is Solomon's advice to young Men that enjoy the World in its Flower and in the season of their sinning that they would remember that God for all their Vanities will bring them to Judgment This Consideration will be powerful to prevent the risings of the corrupt Affections or to suppress their growth and hinder their accomplishment But with the excellently temper'd Soul an ingenuous Fear from the consideration of God's Mercies is an effectual restraint from Sin 'T is said they shall fear the Lord and his Goodness fear to offend and grieve and lose his Goodness This Fear does not infringe the comfort of the Soul but preserve and improve it Servile Fear when the Soul is afraid to burn not to sin is a judicial forc'd Impression the Character of a Slave but an ingenuous grateful Fear that springs from the sense of the Divine Goodness is a voluntary Affection becoming a Child of God and cherish'd by him The Fear of the Lord is his Treasure This watchfulness must be universal against all Temptations to which we are incident by Prosperity otherwise we shall be guilty of a like folly with those that shut and fortifie one Gate and leave the other open to the Enemy And it must be as continual as our Temptations Blessed is the Man that feareth always 5. A moderate use of worldly things is an excellent preservative from the Evil adhering to them 'T is a Divine Blessing to partake of the Gifts of God with contentment and tranquility especially 't is sweet to taste his Love in them God gives to a Man that is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledg and Joy that is to use temperately and comfortably outward Blessings But the Flesh is the Devil's Sollicitor and perswades Men with a freer Fancy and looser Affections to enjoy the World than is consistent with the prosperity of their Souls When Diogenes observed with the many sick and languishing Persons the Hydropick Consumptive and other Diseases that came to the Temple of Esculapius for recovery and that after their Sacrifices they made a luxurious Feast he cried out Is this the way to recover Health If you were sound 't is the speedy and effectual way to bring Diseases and being diseased to bring Death to you 'T is applicable in a higher sense the intemperate use of sensual Delights weakens the Life and Vigour of the Soul in a Saint and certainly brings Death to diseased Souls that habitually indulge their corrupt Affections The Apostle saith of the licentious Woman She that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives an allusion to a Torch that is consum'd by its own flames Sensual Lusts are cherish'd and pamper'd by Prosperity and the carnal Heart over-rules the whole Man Our Saviour charges his Disciples to beware of surfeiting and drunkenness The indulging
Treasure and exceeding Joy and as soon as he begins to breath the Life of Holiness he dies to the Vanities of the World And when Prosperity alienates the heart from God 't is as surely destructive as when it draws forth the sensual Appetites into exorbitant and foul actions A Consumption kills as surely as a Calenture Those who abuse the Favours of God to impiety and luxury throw themselves headlong into the bottomless Pit and those who in their abundance are remiss and cold towards God gradually descend thither for God will not be our Joy for ever in Heaven if he be not our exceeding Joy upon the Earth But when in the midst of Prosperity the Soul is fill'd with a noble admiration of the Divine Excellencies when it tastes incomparable more sweetness in the Love of God from whence outward Blessings are derived than in the things themselves when the chief Joy arises from the contemplation of his Favour in Christ whereby we are pardon'd and preferr'd to be his Brethren Coheirs with him of the immortal and undefiled Inheritance then we know how to abound Our Saviour commands his Disciples not to rejoyce that Spirits were subject to them tho an admirable testimony of his Favour but that their Names were written in Heaven Much less should this perishing World be the matter of our Joy in comparison of our Title and the blessed hope of Heaven Spiritual Joy purifies and fortifies the Soul against the insnaring and corrupting Allurements of the World The Joy of the Lord is their strength that of which he is the Author and Object is both productive and preservative of the Vigour of the Soul to resist the Charms of the World 'T is said of Orpheus when he past by the Syrens who by their charming Voices subdued Men to sleep and then destroyed them that he played on his Harp and the sweet sound made him despise their singing and prevented the danger The Fable is fitly moralized Joy in the Lord as our Portion and that infinite sweetness that is in communion with him makes such an impression upon the Soul that the insnaring and destructive Pleasures of the World are abhorr'd in comparison with them That firm Peace and pure Joy passes the Understanding our most comprehensive Faculty whereas all the Pleasures of the World do not satisfy our Senses 7. When Riches and Power are employed for the Glory of God and the good of others they are a happy advantage to those that possess them All Benefits are virtual Obligations and the greater our Receipts are the greater our Accounts will be God has a soveraign Right in all things we have and they are not to be employed meerly for our Pleasure or Profit but according to his Will and for his Honour 'T is true he enjoys his own Eternity his own Glory and Blessedness to which there is no possibility of accession his essential Glory cannot be increas'd but his declarative Glory may be more manifested in the Eyes of Men and he strictly requires that we should use his Gifts so as to shew forth his Glory to declare how highly we value his Glory and how ardently we desire and endeavour that others should bless and praise him Thus Men in high Dignity should govern their Greatness so as to make it subservient to this blessed End that the Wisdom Power Holiness Justice and Mercy of God may be manifested in their administration And those who enjoy a present abundance should according to their capacity relieve the Wants of others The wise God has order'd several degrees in the Society of Men the Rich and Poor that the inequality may be an occasion of the exercise of Charity And 't is a special favour that he is pleased to make some his Treasurers to dispense his Benefits to his Family Whilst others can only be charitable in their compassionate Desires he gives to some an ability os diffusive Goodness and 't is Injustice mixt with foul ingratitude not to pay that Tribute of which he has appointed the Poor to be his Receivers not to abound in good Works when from his most free and special Favour he enables Men to imitate and honour him who is rich in Mercy 'T is more blessed to give than to receive The present Reward is excellent 't is our Saviour's encouragement Give Alms of such things as you have according to your Capacity and behold all things are clean unto you As under the Law by offering the first Fruits in the Temple the whole Harvest was consecrated and bless'd so by a charitable distribution the Rich have a pure and comfortable enjoyment of their Estates And the Reward hereafter will be glorious by infinite degrees exceeding the most costly and liberal Charity 'T is the Encouragement used by the Apostle Charge them that are rich in this World that they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life Some by corrupt prodigality waste their Estates are profuse as the Sea some heap up Riches as the Sand and both must be responsible to the Righteous Lord who will severely call them to an account for the abuse of his Blessings But those who according to their utmost ability honour him with their Substance and by their charity and beneficence open the hearts and lips of many in thanksgivings to God shall be accepted and rewarded from the Divine Mercy Especially doing good to those whom God loves who bear his Image who are peculiarly related to him shall have an excellent Reward The Apostle tells us that some by entertaining Strangers received Angels the honour is incomparably greater that in relieving the Godly Jesus Christ the Lord of Angels is fed and cloathed in his Members And at the last Day he will publickly own those Acts of Mercy as done to himself Then he will give to the contented Poor the Crown of Patience and to the charitable Rich the Crown of Liberality In short Riches and Honour Power and Prosperity are Temptations to the Carnal that draw forth their Lusts and increase their Guilt and Misery but to wise and faithful Christians they are Talents improved for their Master's Honour and their own everlasting Good 7. A firm resolution to part with all Possessions and Dignities when God's Honour and the testimony of his Truth requires it is an excellent Antidote against the Evil of Prosperity God doth sometimes call forth his Servants to hard Trials to declare with more strength and evidence their love to his Name their zeal for advancing his Glory Satan is an irreconcileable Enemy to God and his Saints and inspires the perverted World with his own Malice against them Rage has no Reason the Jews would excommunicate the blind Man because he saw and ascribed the Glory of the Miracle to our Saviour and Lazarus must die because he was raised
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