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must include adequate means of support, either as derived from a worldly calling, or as independent of such pursuits. It must also embrace general health, a fair reputation, and, in the case of most men, the elements of friendship, or of domestic comfort. We do not regard the man as prosperous who has to contend with incessant difficulty in providing against the pressure of necessity; nor are we accustomed to attach the idea which the term prosperity conveys to the circumstances of those who are wasting under sickness, who are degraded by calumny, or who are exposed to the bitterness of dissension or to unsympathizing solitude from the nature of their connexions.

By the prosperous, therefore, we understand those who possess the means of much present good, persons who have the ease, the credit, and the gratifications of our world, in a considerable degree at command. The prosperity of fools, saith Jehovah, shall destroy them; but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. This passage sets two classes of persons before us as subject to the influence of the above circumstances. These persons are the foolish and the wise, or, in other words, the irreligious and the devout. In the case of the former, the things of prosperity are the ministers of destruction. In the case of the latter, there are means of preservation; so that where others perish, these dwell in safety, quietness, and confidence. There are two points which immediately present

themselves on the subject of this chapter-the Dangers of Prosperity, and the Means by which Christians are secured against them.

I. With respect to the dangers which are ever attendant on a state of prosperity, we must recollect that these do not arise from the things themselves which constitute such a state. Health, competence, reputation, domestic pleasures,-these are things which cannot in themselves be evil; their only effect upon us should be an increase of gratitude, of affectionate confidence, and of cheerful obedience, in relation to the Being from whom they proceed. If different results follow, the cause must be sought, not in the gifts, neither in the Giver, but in the recipient. If prosperity shall prove destructive, or in any degree injurious, there must be properties attaching to those in whom its influence is thus exhibited, which have the power of converting food into poison, of causing the things which should nourish to become the means of death. In nature, there are some substances which can assimilate others to their own baser qualities, when placed in contact with them; and it is the depravity of man which makes the blessings of prosperity so generally conducive to evil, as to give them the appearance of curses rather than of blessings. Viewed only in their effects, they often resemble the treacherous bestowments of some malignant adversary more than the generous bounty of infinite benevolence. So

commonly are they allied with the extremes of irreligion, as to have the appearance of producing them; whereas, the law, with respect to all intelligent and perfect natures, is, that the more they receive from God, the more do they partake of the spirit of godliness. That it should be so much otherwise with men is not only a proof that the human heart is deceitful, but that it is desperately wicked.

The source of danger, then, is not from without; it is not from the world, nor from the influence, however subtle or powerful, of that malevolent nature who is called the god of this world; its place is within us, in the state of our own spirit; and there are four respects in which this enfeebled and perverted condition of our nature is often found to manifest itself in the seasons of prosperity. These may be described as consisting in Self-indulgence, Worldliness of spirit and conduct, Forgetfulness of God, and an impious Independence of the Divine government.

With regard, then, to SELF-INDULGENCE, it is obvious, that where there are the most ample means of gratifying it, there is always the greatest danger of its becoming dominant; and such means are ever at the bidding of the prosperous. Those scriptures which speak of the table as a snare, of gluttony as a kind of idolatry; which tell us that we are not to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof; that we are rather to mortify the body, to deny ourselves, and to

consider temperance as an indispensable preliminary to patience and godliness;-all these are scriptures, which, from the frequency of their recurrence, must have an important meaning. They do not say that Christians should become monks; they do not teach that we should reject what has been mercifully bestowed upon us as means of nourishment and comfort-still less that we should subject the flesh to voluntary torture. It may be a greater sin to abuse the gifts of God than not to use them ; but both are sins. To do less than God enjoins, may be to contract a greater guilt than would be incurred in attempting to do more; but guilt must follow in both instances, since both are at variance with a proper deference to Divine authority. It is to put some other rule in the place of that which is alone infallible and complete; and, in this sense, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. But passing over the idle sophistry to which we are sometimes obliged to listen on this subject, it is plain that the passages to which we have alluded describe a course of life, from which the prosperous are ever under a strong temptation to depart.

Such men have only to speak, and the means of indulgence are before them. Their wishes only need be known, and their palate will be hourly consulted; their wines will sparkle in the glass; and earth, and air, and sea will give up their stores to perpetuate the many pleasures which have their seat in the senses. Thus the purpose of the man whose lands brought forth plentifully was to eat,

drink, and be merry, during the remainder of his days. And that other child of fortune, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, is described as faring sumptuously every day.

It is certain, also, that indulgence in this form will lead to the same evil in other shapes. The epicure is usually a sluggard: and where men allow the animal nature to gain this marked ascendency over the rational, they almost inevitably become hard-hearted. Always careful as to their own comforts, they have no time to be concerned about those of their neighbour. Hence it sometimes becomes a daily employment to wear down the sensibilities of the heart, and to blind the conscience, that the mind may be at ease in its degradation as the mere slave of the body. The love of ease occasions a constant war with all love of mankind; the claims of humanity being always in the way when prosecuting plans of selfish indulgence.

We need say nothing with a view to demonstrate that results like these are often attendant on prosperity; and the baseness of such a life must be sufficiently manifest. What is said by Moses of the ancient Hebrews, may be said of the prosperous generally; and too often, in no small measure, of prosperous Christians. The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. So the Lord alone did lead him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the field; and he made him to suck honey out of the