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

But hereafter the misery of foolish Sinners will be extreme. The Apostle tells us, that the love of the World causeth Men to fall ¹into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts, which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition. The Expressions are full ⟨p. 150⟩to exaggerate the horror of their ruins, and to signify that 'tis absolute and irrecoverable. The Lusts of Men are equally foolish and pernicious; they please themselves in the Enjoyments of the World, and are secure, as if bathing in the Fountains of Felicity, when ready to be swallowed up in the Whirlpool of Death. By sensual Vanities they are estranged from God, careless of their Duty, and are finally separated from his blessed Presence. And as the enjoying God, without a possibility of losing him, is our consummate happiness; so to lose him, without hopes of ever enjoying him, is extreme misery. The foolish Sinner is not affected with this now; whilst he lives in pleasure, he is content to be without ⟨p. 151⟩God in the World; but hereafter, when he shall be deprived of these slight short-lived Pleasures, and shall know the unvaluable loss of his Happiness, Sorrows will overwhelm him for ever. As it befell that Infidel in the 2 Kings 8. he saw the Plenty, but was not suffered to taste of it; so the damned shall see the Glory of Heaven shining in the Saints, but shall not partake of it.

But hereafter the misery of foolish Sinners will be extream. The Apostle tells us, that the love of the World causeth Men to fall ¹into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts, which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition. The Expressions are full ⟨p. 150⟩to exaggerate the horror of their ruines, and to signify that 'tis absolute and irrecoverable. The Lusts of Men are equally foolish and pernicious; they please themselves in the Enjoyments of the World, and are secure, as if bathing in the Fountains of Felicity, when ready to be swallowed up in the Whirlpool of Death. By sensual Vanities they are estranged from God, careless of their Duty, and are finally separated from his blessed Presence. And as the enjoying God, without a possibility of losing him, is our consummate happiness; so to lose him, without hopes of ever enjoying him, is extream misery. The foolish Sinner is not affected with this now; whilst he lives in pleasure, he is content to be without