A Body of Practical Divinity

1. If we love our Estate more than God, then we make it a God. The young Man in the Gospel loved his Gold better than his Saviour; the World lay nearer his Heart than Christ, Matt. 19.22. Fulgens hoc aurum praestringit oculos, Var. Hence it is the covetous Man is called an Idolater, Eph. 5.5. Why so? Because he loves his Estate more than God, and so he makes it his God: Though he doth not bow down to an Idol, yet he worships the Graven Image in his Coins; he is an Idolater: That which hath most of the Heart, that we make a God.

2. If we love our Pleasures more than God, we make a God of Pleasure, 2 Tim. 3.4. [Greek or Hebrew]. Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God. Many let loose the Reins, and give themselves up to all manner of sensual Delights, they idolize Pleasure, Job 21.12, 13. They take the Timbrel and the Harp, and rejoice at the sound of the Organ. They spend their days in mirth. I have read of a place in Africa, where the People spend all their time in Dancing, and making Merry: And have not we many, who make a God of Pleasure; who spend their time in going to Plays, and visiting Stews, as if God had made them like the ⟨p. 278⟩Leviathan to play in the Water, Psal. 104.26. In the Country of Sardinia there is an Herb like Balm, that if one eat too much of it, he well die laughing. Such an Herb is Pleasure; if one seeds immoderately on it, he will go laughing to Hell. Such as make a God of Pleasure, let them read but two Scriptures, Eccl. 7.4