An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of…

For First, What low and mean things are they? What are they but crumbs that the Master of the Family casts to Dogs? They are such things as make thee never a whit ¹the better, nor the more excellent; Indeed it's said, that knowledge puffs up the heart, for that puts an excellency upon the man: The heart of the wicked is little worth, let him have never so much prosperity. Those things that thou pridest thy self in, they are no other than may be the portion ²of a Reprobate, and have been, they are no other than may stand with Gods eternal hatred of thee, and Gods eternal wrath against thee: Yea, they are such things as ³may come from Gods wrath, and like enough they do, ⟨p. 493⟩and it's a sign they do when thou art filled with them, and thereby puffed up by them, it's a sign that there's a curs mixed with what thou hast filled thy self withal. If a man comes to a Table and eats, and then he swells presently upon it, God be merciful to me, am I poisoned, saith ⁴he? If thou fillest thy self, and art puffed up, it is an argument thy prosperity is poisoned, there's the curse of God in it: Had not you rather have the coursest diet that is wholesome, than the daintiest dish with poison in it? Is it not better to have the Russet Coat that is not dangerous, than a Velvet Coat that hath the Plague in it? Thy condition, if thou knewest it, it may be was a great deal better before. Oh that any Considerations might prick the bladders of mens spirits that are so puffed up with outward prosperity; Thou art less, filled with spiritual good than ⁵before, That that is substance thou hast lost, and thou art filled with wind. Ere long what thou hast must be taken ⁶away; And perhaps the right to what thou doest enjoy, it is but the right that a Malefactor hath to his supper, before the ⁷