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

The love of sensual Pleasures is natural to Men; as Temptations are more charming and increased, 'tis more predominant. The Senses, the Fancy, and the Passions, are in a conspiracy against the Soul; and there is a continual circulation in their working, they excite one another. ⟨p. 16⟩By the Senses pleasing things obtain an easy entrance into the Fancy; and Fancy has a strange power to charm or terrify by false Representations; it amplifies the Evil, and heightens the seeming Good of things; and by the inspiration of Fancy, the Passions are moved, and the Passions being allured, bribe and seduce the Mind, and draw the consent of the Will by the actual Pleasure that is mixed in the gratifying of them. And as Adam lost his Innocence and Paradise by his compliance with the blandishments of his Wife; so the Soul loses its purity and happiness, by yielding to the Desires of the Flesh that is in conjunction with it. For this reason, Man in his fallen State is called Flesh, as if there were no other Principle in his Nature, ⟨p. 17⟩and of his Operations. The Spiritual and more noble Faculties, that were made for delightful Communion with God, are sunk into Carnality. The description of Men in their natural State, by the Apostle, is a full proof of this: We all had our Conversation in times ¹past in the Lusts of the Flesh, fulfilling the desires of the Flesh, and of the Mind. 'Tis observable that the lusts of the Flesh, that spring from the sensual Part, are drawn forth into act by the concurrent Wills of the Flesh, and of the Mind. The nobler Faculties, the Understanding and Will are depraved, and freely indulge the Carnal Appetites in their pursuit of Pleasures. Prodigious degeneracy of the reasonable Creature! Of this we have a resemblance in the marvellous transforming Power of Nature. ⟨p. 18⟩If a Scion be grafted into a Tree of another kind, the Fruit that grows on it will not be according to the Nature of the Stock, but of the Graft that overrules the Sap, and turns it to its own quality. Thus the Beast is grafted into the Man, and the intellectual Powers are corrupted and carnal. The Mind is employed to disguise the Ignominy and Guilt that attend the Lusts of the Flesh; and the Will consents to a submission to those ignoble and unruly Appetites.