A44695:65
A sermon preached on the late day of thanksgiving, Decemb. 2, 1697 by John…A sermon preach'd on the late day of thanksgiving, Decemb. 2, 1697 by John…
A sermon preached on the late day of thanksgiving, Decemb. 2, 1697 by John Howe ... ; to which is prefixed Dr. Bates's congratulatory speech to the King, Novemb. 22, 1697, in the name of the dissenting ministers in and about London.A sermon preach'd on the late day of thanksgiving, Decemb. 2, 1697 by John Howe ... ; to which is prefixed Dr. Bates's congratulatory speech to the King, Novemb. 22, 1697, in the name of the dissenting ministers in and about London.
London: printed by S. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst, 1698
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. THEY may, by mere External Peace, become so much the worse Men. That may be an Occasion to them of their growing worse and worse. The Prosperity of Fools (i. e. of Wicked Men) slays and destroys them, Prov. 1. 32. 'Tis an Observation, that runs through the Course of Time, that as Wars at length beget an enforced Peace; so Peace, infers free Trade and Commerce, and that Plenty, and that, Pride and Wantonness; so these run us back in an messy, but unhappy Circle to be as we were, in War again. And if tha• prove not the present or the speedy Consequent, that ensues ⟨p. 13⟩which is worse than War, unless GOD vouchsafe that other sort of Blessing, which will Influence, and Better Mens minds. Vice springs up in the more fattened Soil. Mens Lusts will soon prove more Oppressive Tyrants than they can have freed themselves from, by the justest and most prosperous War, and will subdue them to a far Viler and more Ignoble Servitude. An ingenious Writer of those Affairs,1 observes, that the former Scipio opened the way to the Roman Power; the Latter, to their Luxury. Their Virtue languished, and they were conquered by their own Vices, who before could Conquer the World.† That Noted Moralist says, Infirmi est animi, non posse pati divitias. 'Tis a weak mind that cannot bear a prosperous condition: But where are there minds strong enough to bear it, if they be not Blest from Above with somewhat better than that Prosperity it self.
3. THEY may, by meer External Peace, become so much the worse Men. That may be an Occasion to them of their growing worse and worse. The Prosperity of Fools (i. e. of Wicked Men) slays and destroys them, Prov. 1. 32. 'Tis an Observation, that runs through the Course of Time, that as Wars at length beget an enforced Peace; so Peace, infers free Trade and Comerce, and that Plenty, and that, Pride and Wantonness; so these run us back in an •esie, but unhappy Circle to be as we were, in War again. And if tha prove not the present or the speedy Consequent, that ensues