them ! Ah sirs ! do not envy wicked men's grapes, do not envy their riches, their honom-s, their greatness, their offices, their dignities ; for they shall one day pay dear for their things. High seats to many are uneasy, and the downfall terrible : ' How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning ! ' Isa. xiv. 12. It is spoken of the Chaldean monarch, who, though high, yet had a sudden change befell him. It is not a matter of so great joy to have been high and honour- able, as it is of grief, anguish, and vexation to be afterwards despicable and contemptible: 'Come down, and sit in the dust,' Isa. xlvii. 1. Babylon was the lady of kingdoms ; but, saith God, ' sit in the dust ; take the mill-stones, and grind,' ver. 2 ; ' The Lord of hosts hath pur- posed to stain {Heb., to pollute) the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth,' Isa. xxiii. 9 ; ' He shall bring down their pride together,' Isa. xxv. 11 ; ' Woe to the crown of pride : the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet,' Isa. xxviii. 1, 3. God will bring down the crown of pride to the dust, to ashes, yea, to hell ; and, therefore, do not envy the crown of pride. Croesus was so puffed up with his crown of pride, with his great riches and worldly glory, that he boasted himself to be the happiest man that lived ; but Solon told him that no man was to be accounted happy before death. Croesus little regarded what Solon had said unto him, until he came, by miserable experience, to find the uncertainty of his riches, and all worldly glory, which before he would not believe. For when he was taken by King Cyrus, and condemned to be burned, and saw the fire preparing for him, then he cried out, 0 Solon, Solon ! Cyrus asking him the cause of the outcry, he answered, that now he remembered what Solon had told him in his prosperity — nemo ante ohtfum felix — that no man was to be accounted happy before death. Who can sum up those crowns of pride that in Scripture and history God has brought down to the dust, yea, to the dunghill ! Have not some wished, when they have been breathing out their last, that they had never been kings, nor queens, nor lords, nor ladies .? &c. Where is there one of ten thou- sand who is advanced, and thereby anything bettered ? Solus impera- torum Vespasianus in melius mutatus. Few men believe what vexations lie under the pillows of princes. You look upon my crown and my purple robes, saith Artaxerxes ; but did you know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up. Damocles highly extolled Dionysius his condition. Dionysius, to convince him of his mistake, provides a royal feast, invites him to it, commands his ser- vants to attend him. No meat, no mirth, no music is wanting ; but withal caused a sharp sword to be hung overhead by a horse hair, which made Damocles tremble, and to forbear both meat and mirth. Such, even such, saith Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant, is my life, which thou deemest so pleasant and happy. 0 sirs ! there is a sword of wrath which hangs over every sinner's head, even when he is sur- rounded with all the gay and gallant things of this world.
Outward prosperity is commonly given in wrath, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together, i Prosperity kills and damns more than adversity. The Germans have this proverb,
* Hos. liii. 11 ; Ps. Ixxiii. and Ixxviii. 30, 31; Prov. i. 32 ; Luke xii. 16-22; Eccles. V. 12, 13.
140 A FIVEFOLD IMPROVEMENT OF HELLISH TORMENTS.
That the pavemsnt of liell is made of the glorious crests of gallants. It had been infinitely better for the great men of this world that they had never *been so great, for their horrid abuse of God's mercy and bounty will but increase their misery and damnation at last. That ancient hit it, [Augustine,] who said, Because they have tasted so liberally of God's kindness, and have employed it only against God's glory, their felicity shall be short, but their misery shall be endless ; and therefore to see the wicked prosper and flourish in this world is matter rather of pity than envy, it is all the heaven they must have.i These are as terrible texts as any in the whole Book of God : Mat. vi. 2, ' Verily I say unto you, they have their reward ; ' Luke vi. 24, ' Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation ; ' James V. 1-3, * Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for ,your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered : and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.' Gregory, being advanced to places of great preferment, professed that there was no scripture that went so near his heart, and that struck such a trembling into his spirit, as that speech of Abraham to Dives, Luke xvi. 2.5, ' Son, remember thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things.' They that have their heaven here, are in danger to miss it hereafter. It is not God's usual way, saith one, [Jerome,] to remove a deliciis ad delicias, from delights to delights — to bestow two heavens, one here and another hereafter ; and doubtless hence it was that David made it his solemn prayer, ' Deliver me from the wicked, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fiUest with thy hid treasure,' Ps. xvii. 14. It is a very hard thing to have earth and heaven too. God did not turn man out of one paradise that he should here provide himself of another. Many men with the prodigal cry out, ' Give me the portion that belongs to me,' Luke xv. 12 — give me riches, and give me honour, and give me preferment, &c, , and God gives them their desires, but it is with a vengeance ; as the Israelites had quails to choke them, and afterwards a king to vex them, and a table to be a snare unto them, Ps. Ixxviii, 24-32, When the Israelites had eaten of their dainty dishes, justice sent in a sad reckoning which spoiled all. Ah friends, there is no reason why we should envy the prosperity of wicked men. Suppose, saith one, [Chrysostom,] that a man one night should have a pleasant dream that for the time might much delight him, and for the pleasure of such a dream should be tormented a thousand years together with exquisite torments, would any man desire to have such a dream upon such conditions ? All the contentments of this life are not so much to eternity as a dream is to a thousand years. And, oh, how little is that man's condition to be envied, who for these short pleasures of sin must endure an eternity of torments ! 0 sirs ! do wicked men purchase their present pleasures at so dear a rate as eternal torments ? and do we envy their enjoyment of them so short a time ? Would any envy a man going to execution, because he saw him in prison nobly feasted and