The danger of prosperity discovered in several sermons upon Prov. I. 27 /

4. 'Tis the most woeful Folly. Here such mischievous Effects proceed from it as deserve the saddest lamentation. The Understanding, ⟨p. 148⟩the highest Faculty, the Beauty and Excellency of Man is blinded, the Will is fettered by corrupt Passions, and the whole Man miserably enslaved to Satan. What a spectacle of Compassion was Sampson in the slavery of the Philistines? He that had been the General and Judg of Israel, was deprived of his Sight, and Divine Strength: his warlike Hands, that had been of equal power with an Army, and performed such glorious Achievements, were employed in turning a Mill, the Work of a Beast: and his Misery was pointed and made sharper by the insultation of his Enemies. The true Emblem of the degenerate State of Men; the Soul that was created in the Image of God, and had a peaceful sovereignty ⟨p. 149⟩over the sensual Appetites, a superiority over sensible things, is now enslaved and employed in the vile drudgery of Sin, and become the derision of the Devils. This is little thought of, or lamented, but therefore the more woeful. The loss of the Kingdom was not so dismal a Judgment to Nebuchadnezzar, as the loss of his Understanding. When his Reason was taken away, and the Heart of a Beast was given to him; 'twas the lowest and saddest degradation.

4. 'Tis the most woful Folly. Here such mischievous Effects proceed from it as deserve the saddest lamentation. The Understanding, ⟨p. 148⟩the highest Faculty, the Beauty and Excellency of Man is blinded, the Will is fettered by corrupt Passions, and the whole Man miserably inslaved to Satan. What a spectacle of Compassion was Sampson in the slavery of the Philistines? He that had been the General and Judg of Israel, was deprived of his Sight, and Divine Strength: his warlike Hands, that had been of equal power with an Army, and perform'd such glorious Atchievements, were imployed in turning a Mill, the Work of a Beast: and his Misery was pointed and made sharper by the insultation of his Enemies. The true Emblem of the degenerate State of Men; the Soul that was created in the Image of God, and had a peaceful soveraignty ⟨p. 149⟩over the sensual Appetites, a superiority over sensible things, is now inslaved and employed in the vile drudgery of Sin, and become the derision of the Devils. This is little thought of, or lamented, but therefore the more woful. The loss of the Kingdom was not so dismal a Judgment to Nebuchadnezzar, as the loss of his Understanding. When his Reason was taken away, and the Heart of a Beast was given to him; 'twas the lowest and saddest degradation.