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

'Tis a dreadful Imprecation of the Holy Psalmist; Let their way ¹be dark and slippery; and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them. To fly in the dark, and in slippery places, and so to fall into the Mire and Pits, is a fit Emblem of their Condition, who are prosperous and wicked. They are hoodwinked by Prosperity, in a voluntary darkness, and see not the Precipices that surround them: And how slippery is their way by so numerous and insinuating Temptations? how easily, how frequently and dangerously do they fall, and both defile and wound themselves? Briefly, they are truly miserable here, even whilst they most pleasantly and ⟨p. 184⟩contentedly enjoy the World, they are accumulating the Treasures of Wrath, and preparing new Torments for their Souls: they stand upon brittle Ice, and Hell is beneath ready to swallow them up in its deepest Gulf. As 'tis said by the Apostle, concerning the Saints darkened by Sorrows here, that their glorious Life is hid ²in God, and shall illustriously appear with Christ at his second Coming: So the terrible Death of the Wicked, whilst they flourish here▪ is hid from the Eyes of Sense▪ but shall be revealed in the Day of Wrath. And to a wise Observer, to a serious Believer, the prosperous Sinner is the most unhappy and compassionable Object in the World; for he perishes by such a flattering kind of Death, that he is neither ⟨p. 185⟩apprehensive, nor affected with his Danger.

'Tis a dreadful Imprecation of the Holy Psalmist; Let their way ¹be dark and slippery; and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them. To fly in the dark, and in slippery places, and so to fall into the Mire and Pits, is a fit Emblem of their Condition, who are prosperous and wicked. They are hoodwink'd by Prosperity, in a voluntary darkness, and see not the Precipices that surround them: And how slippery is their way by so numerous and insinuating Temptations? how easily, how frequently and dangerously do they fall, and both defile and wound themselves? Briefly, they are truly miserable here, even whilst they most pleasantly and