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

Enlightened Christians esteemed their Sufferings for the Cause of God, no Arguments of his Weakness, but his Wisdom, to exercise and try their Loyalty and cordial Obedience ⟨p. 110⟩before he rewarded them; and had reason to admire his Providence, not to suspect his Power and Love. They knew that the power of Tyrants could only reach the Body, the vile, frail, and mortal part of Man; but the precious Soul was entirely exempted from their rage; and Faith assured them of a glorious Resurrection after Death. The Body of a Martyr shall be revived as a Phoenix out of its Ashes; when the Body of a Persecutor shall be quickened, as a Serpent out of a Dunghill, the one to be glorified, the other tormented for ever. The belief of this made them extremely valiant in the face of all their threatening cruel Enemies. But the evil Heart of unbelief, ¹causes a departure from the living God. He that suspects God's ⟨p. 111⟩fidelity in his Promises, will suspend his own: Nature will shrink at the first sight of imminent Dangers. An Infidel, that lives as if he were all Body, and no immortal Soul, judges the loss of the present Life, and the comforts of it, as his utter undoing and total perishing. He has an appearance of reason to secure his present Possessions, what-ever becomes of Religion; for he expects no future Good, that will infinitely more than countervail his present loss: And that Prosperity inclines Men to Atheism and Infidelity, has been proved before.

Inlightned Christians esteemed their Sufferings for the Cause of God, no Arguments of his Weakness, but his Wisdom, to exercise and try their Loyalty and cordial Obedience ⟨p. 110⟩before he rewarded them; and had reason to admire his Providence, not to suspect his Power and Love. They knew that the power of Tyrants could only reach the Body, the vile, frail, and mortal part of Man; but the precious Soul was entirely exempted from their rage; and Faith assur'd them of a glorious Resurrection after Death. The Body of a Martyr shall be revived as a Phaenix out of its Ashes; when the Body of a Persecutor shall be quickned, as a Serpent out of a Dunghil, the one to be glorified, the other tormented for ever. The belief of this made them extremely valiant in the face of all their threatning cruel Enemies. But the evil Heart of unbelief,