First. Pray in prosperity, that thou mayest speed when thou prayest in adversity. Own God now, that he may acknowledge thee then. Shall that friend be welcome to us that never gives us a visit but when he comes to borrow? This is a right beggar’s trick, but not a friend’s part.
Second. Pray in prosperity, to clear thyself that thou didst not pray in hypocrisy when thou wert afflicted. One prayer now will be a better evidence for thy sincerity than a whole bundle of duties performed in adversity. Colours are better discerned and distinguished by daylight than by the candle in the night. I am sure the truth and plainness of our hearts in duty will be best discovered in prosperity. In afflic¬tion, even gracious souls have scruples upon their spirits that they seek themselves. Smart and pain, they fear, makes them cry till they remember that their acquaintance with God did not begin in their af¬fliction, but that they took delight in his company before these straits drove them to him.
Third. Pray in prosperity, that thou mayest not be ensnared by thy prosperity. Ephraim and Manasseh were brethren, and so are plenty and forgetfulness —the signification of their names. Prosperity is no friend to the memory; therefore we are cautioned so much to beware when we are full, lest then we forget God: magnus vir est cui præsens fælicitas si arrisit non irrisit (Bern.)—he is a holy man indeed whose present prosperity doth not mock and abuse him when it smiles most pleasingly on him. O how hard it is to be pleased with it and not be ensnared by it! ‘Wine,’ Solomon saith, ‘is a mocker;’ it soon puts him that is too bold with it to shame. Prosperity doth the same. A little of it makes us drunk, and then we know not what we do. This hath proved often an hour of temptation to the best of men. You shall find in Scripture the saints have got their saddest falls on the evenest ground. Noah, who had seen the whole world drowned in water, no sooner was he almost come to safe shore but himself is drowned in wine. David’s heart was fixed in the wilderness; but his wan¬ton eye rouled and wandered when upon the terrace of his palace. Health, honour, riches, and pleasures, with the rest of this world’s enjoyments, they are like luscious wine. We cannot drink little of them, they are so sweet to our carnal palate; and we cannot bear much of them, because they are strong and heady, fuming up in pride and carnal confidence. Now prayer is an excellent preservative against the evil of this state.
Second. Pray in prosperity, to clear thyself that thou didst not pray in hypocrisy when thou wert afflicted. One prayer now will be a better evidence for thy sincerity than a whole bundle of duties performed in adversity. Colours are better discerned and distinguished by daylight than by the candle in the night. I am sure the truth and plainness of our hearts in duty will be best discovered in prosperity. In afflic¬tion, even gracious souls have scruples upon their spirits that they seek themselves. Smart and pain, they fear, makes them cry till they remember that their acquaintance with God did not begin in their af¬fliction, but that they took delight in his company before these straits drove them to him.
Third. Pray in prosperity, that thou mayest not be ensnared by thy prosperity. Ephraim and Manasseh were brethren, and so are plenty and forgetfulness —the signification of their names. Prosperity is no friend to the memory; therefore we are cautioned so much to beware when we are full, lest then we forget God: magnus vir est cui præsens fælicitas si arrisit non irrisit (Bern.)—he is a holy man indeed whose present prosperity doth not mock and abuse him when it smiles most pleasingly on him. O how hard it is to be pleased with it and not be ensnared by it! ‘Wine,’ Solomon saith, ‘is a mocker;’ it soon puts him that is too bold with it to shame. Prosperity doth the same. A little of it makes us drunk, and then we know not what we do. This hath proved often an hour of temptation to the best of men. You shall find in Scripture the saints have got their saddest falls on the evenest ground. Noah, who had seen the whole world drowned in water, no sooner was he almost come to safe shore but himself is drowned in wine. David’s heart was fixed in the wilderness; but his wan¬ton eye rouled and wandered when upon the terrace of his palace. Health, honour, riches, and pleasures, with the rest of this world’s enjoyments, they are like luscious wine. We cannot drink little of them, they are so sweet to our carnal palate; and we cannot bear much of them, because they are strong and heady, fuming up in pride and carnal confidence. Now prayer is an excellent preservative against the evil of this state.
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