[4.] Fourthly, It lays them, open to a neglect and slighting of the ways of God, and of the otyJlinances of God, Job xxL 5-16 ; Mai. iii. 13-15 ; Jer. xxii. 21. Wheu the protestants in France were in their prosperity, they slighted powerful preachings, &c., and began to affect a vain frothy way of preaching and living, which ushered in the massacre upon them. Moulin' hit it, when, speaking of the French protestants, he said, when the papists hurt us and persecute us for reading the scriptures, we burn with ' Peter du Moulin, D.D.— G.
Lam. III. 2^.] an ark for all god's noahs. 43
zeal to be reading of them ; but now persecution is over, our Bibles are like old almanacs.
[5.] Fifthly, It lays them open to a stupidness, unmindfulnesa, and forgetfulness of the afflictions of the people of God, Amos vi. 1-8. Pharaoh's chief butler was no sooner set down in the seat of prosperity, but quite contrary to his promise, he easily forgets Joseph in misery.
[6.] Sixthly, It layeth them open to dreadful apostasy froTn the ways and worship of Ood, Deut. xxxii. 15-18. No sooner was Israel possessed of the good land that flowed with milk and honey, &c., but they forsook the true worship of God, and fell to the worshipping of idols, for which at last the good land spewed them out as a generation cursed and abhorred by God.
[7.] Seventhly, It lays them open to all carnal security, as you may see in the old world : their prosperity cast them into a bed of security, and their security ushered in a flood of sin, and that flood of sin ushered in a flood of wrath. Mat. xxiv. 37-39.
[8.] Eighthly, It lays them open to idolatry, which is a God-provoking arid a land-destroying sin, Hosea ii. 6-8, and chap. iv. 6, 7, &c. Ah, sirs ! who can seriously consider of the dreadful sins that the prosperity of the wicked lays them open to, and yet fret and vex at their prosperity?
Again, as their prosperity lays them open to the greatest sins, so their prosperity lays them open to the greatest temptations. Witness their tempting of themselves, and their own lusts, and witness their temptings of others to the worst of wickedness and villanies, and witness their fre- quent tempting and provoking of the great God to his own face, and witness their daily, yea, their hourly tempting of Satan to tempt their own souls. O sirs ! as there is no condition that lays persons open to such great transgressions as prosperity doth, so there is no condition that lays persons open to such horrid temptations as prosperity doth ; and why then should God's holy ones envy wicked men's prosperity, and worldly glory, &c. ^
Again, Their prosperity, and worldly felicity and glory, is all the poHion, and all the heaven and happiness that ever they are like to have : Ps. xvii. 1 4, ' From men of the world, which have their portion in this life.' Certainly, men whose hearts are worldly, whose minds are worldly, whose spirits are worldly, whose desires are worldly, whose hopes are worldly, and whose main ends are worldly, have only the world for their portion ; and what a pitiful perishing portion is that ! Men that choose the world as their portion, and that delight in the world as their portion, and that trust to the world as their portion, and that in straits run to the world as their portion, and that take content and satisfaction in the world as their portion ; doubtless these have never known what it is to have God for their portion. That is a very heart-cutting and soul- killing word that you have in that Mat. vi. 2, ' Verily I say unto you, that they have their reward.' The scribes and pharisees proposed to themselves, the eyes of men, the praise of men, and the applause of men, for a reward of their alms, &c., and Christ tells them, that they have their reward ; not God's reward, but theirs ; that is, that reward that they had propounded to themselves, as the prime and ultimate end of their actions ; and doubtless that word was a thunderbolt to Dives, 'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and like-
44f AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24.
wise Lazarus his evil,' &c., Luke xvi. 25. Wicked men have their best here, their worst is to come ; they have their comforts here, their tor- ments are to come ; they have their joys here, their sorrows are to come ; they have their heaven here, their hell is to come. Gregory being ad- vanced to great preferment, professed that there was no scripture that struck so much terror and trembling into his heart, as that scripture did, 'Here you have your reward.' Had wicked men but their eyes in their heads, and a little understanding in their hearts, and life in their consciences, they would quickly conclude that it is hell on this side hell, for a man to have his portion in this world ; and why then should you envy the prosperity of the wicked ?
Again, All their prosperity is cursed unto them, ; as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together.' All their comforts are cursed without doors, and all their comforts are cursed within doors ; there are snares on all their tables, and poison in all their cups, and the plague in all their brave clothes, &c. Dionysius the tyrant, to shew Damocles, one of his flatterers, the felicity, or rather the infelicity, of a king, attired him as a king, and set him at the table, served as a king ; and whilst he was in his imperial robes, he caused a naked sword, with the point downward, to be hung just over his head by a horse hair, which made Damocles to tremble, and to forbear both meat and mirth.' Though the feast was a royal feast, and the attendance royal attendance, and the music royal music, yet Damocles, for his life, could not taste of any of those varieties that were before him, nor take any comfort or contentment in any other part of his royal entertainment, because of the sword, the sword, that hung but by a single hair over his head. O sirs ! a sword, a sharp sword, a two-edged sword, a sword of dis- pleasure, a sword of wrath, a sword of vengeance, hangs over the head of every wicked person when he is in his most prosperous and flourish- ing condition ; and had sinners but eyes to see this sword, it would be as the handwriting upon the wall ; it would cause their thoughts to be troubled, and their countenances to be changed, and their joints to be loosed, and their knees to be dashed one against another ; and why, then, should Christians fret and vex at the prosperity of the wicked ?