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PSAL. xxx. 6, 7, 8.

In my profperity 1 faid, 1 shall never be moved, Lord, by thy favour thou haft made my mountain to ftand ftrong: Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord: and unto the Lord I made fupplication.

Or, as it is in the translation now used in our church:

In my Profperity, Ifaid, Ifball never be remov ed: Thou, Lord, of thy goodness hadft made my bill foftrong. Thou didst tarn thy face from me, and I was trubled. Then cried I unto thee, O Lord, and gat me to my Lord right humbly.

HE collection of pfalms, which make a part of the daily fervice of the church, is on no account more valuable than this, that therein the heart of holy David (the man after God's own heart) is laid open and naked before us: The feveral postures of his devout foul in all conditions and circumstances of life; his hopes and fears, his defires and averfions, his joys and griefs, are there displayed with great fimplicity and freedom: All his infirmities and defects are diftinctly registered; the falfe judgments he made of things are owned; and the methods pointed out by which he rectifieth them. And these accounts of himself are very instructive and useful to all fuchas seriously peruse and study them, and are defirous of im

proving

proving themselves in piety and virtue, by the means of fo admirable a pattern.

One great inftance of this kind we have in the words of the text; wherein the good Pfalmift acknowledges and condemns the foolish thoughts, which a reflexion on the profperous ftate of his affairs had fometimes occafioned in him: in my profperity 1 faid (that is, vainly faid), I shall never be moved; Thou, Lord, of thy goodness hadft mate my bil fo strong! or, according to the reading of the LXX. which feems more fignificant, haft added Strength to my dignity! He proceeds to thew, how God began to punish this vain elation of mind, by withdrawing his favours: Thou didst turn thy face from me, and I was troubled: And then, how he entitled himfelf to the continuance of the divine protection and goodnefs, by "humiliation and prayer: I cried unto Thee, O Lord, and gat me to my Lord right humbly."

Our fucceffes have been very great and furprifing, and our hearts, I fear, have been but too much lifted up by the means of them. So that we have reafon to humble ourselves before God (as we now do) by fasting and prayer; left he hould punish our misuse of his mercies, by ftopping the course of them.

I fhall fpeak therefore not unsuitably either to the defign of these words, or to the occafion of this affembly, if I confider,

I. What ill effects great profperity ufually hath on the minds of a people; tempting them to fay within themselves, as the Pfalmift did, in the

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like

1

like cafe; We shall never be moved; Thou, Lord, of thy goodness, haft made our bill ja ftrong.

II. How vain, and finful, these imaginations are: For holy David, by his way of mentioning, plainly condemns them.

III. What the confequence of them often is: They provoke God to ftop the current of his goodnefs towards us: He bideth his face, and we are troubled.

. IV. In what manner are we to behave ourselves, in order to fecure the continuance of the divine favour and protection: We muft cry unte the Lord, and get yourfelves to our God right humbly.

I. Good men know very well, that we are here in a state of difcipline and trial; that we are to pals through things temporal to things eternal, and that nothing therefore can be reckoned good or bad to us in this life, any further than it prepares or indifpoles us for the enjoyments of another. And yet they over-look this great truth in the judgments they generally pafs on the feveral states of adverfity and profperity. The temptations and difficulties, that attend the former of thefe, they can easily fee, and dread at a diftance; but they have no apprehenfion, no fufpicions, of the dangerous confequences of the latAnd yet it is certain, that the temptations of profperity are the most mifchievous and fatal of the two; infinuating themfelves after a gentle,

ter.

but

but very powerful manner, fo that we are but little aware of them, and leís able to withstand them. Wife 4gu, therefore, equally directs his petition against both thefe extremes; Give me (fays he) neither poverty nor riches: eft (on the one fide) I be poor and steal or (on the other) I be full and deny thee, and fy, Who is the Lord? And, according to this pattern, hath our church taught us to pray that God would, not only in all time of our tribulation, but in all time of our wealth alfo, be pleafed to deliver us.

Indeed, a state of great profperity and abun dance, as it expofes us to various temptations, and furnishes us with all manner of opportunities and encouragements to fin, fo it is often preju dicial to us, on this account (particularly mentioned in the text); that it fwells the mind with undue thoughts and opinions, renders us fecure and carelefs, proud, vain, felf-fufficient: banifhes from our thoughts a lively fenfe of religion, and of our dependence on God; and puts us upon fo eager a purfuit of the advantages of life that are within our reach, or view, as to leave us. neither room nor inclination to reflect on the great Author and Beftower of them. We do then, more than at any other time, lie open to the impreffions of flattery; which we admit without fcruple, because we think we deferve it; and, that we may be fure not to want it, we take care to flatter ourselves with imaginary fcenes and profpects of future happiness: We like our prefent circumftances well, and dream of no change. but for the better: not doubting but that " to66. morrow fhall be as this day, and much more "abundant,'

"abundant," Ifa. lvi. 12. We fay, "We fhall "die in our nefts, and multiply our days as the "fand; that we fhall never be removed, God in "his goodness having made our hill so strong!" Job xxix. 18.

And this enchanting power, which prosperity hath over the minds of private perfons, is more remarkable in relation to great states and kingdoms; where all ranks and orders of men, being equally concerned in public bleffings, equally join in fpreading the infection that attends them; and they mutually teach, and are taught, that leffon of vain confidence and fecurity, which our corrupt nature, unencouraged by example, is of itself but too apt to learn. A very profperous people, flushed with great victories and fucceffes, are rarely known to confine their joys within the bounds of moderation and innocence; are feldom fo pious, fo humble, so just, or so provident, as they ought to be, in order to perpetuate and increase their happiness: Their manners wax generally more and more corrupt, in proportion as their bleffings abound; till their vices perhaps give back all thofe advantages which their victories procured, and profperity itfelf becomes their

ruin.

Of this the people of Ifrael were a very signal and inftructive inftance. As never any nation upon earth was bleffed with more frequent and vifible interpofitions of divine providence in its behalf; fo none ever made a worse use of them: For no fooner were they at any time delivered out of the hand of their enemies, and established in peace and plenty, but they grew careless, dif

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