-Such is Worldly Conformity. They are not the poor, but the rich, who have intercourse with the world. These are they who are tempted to recommend themselves to their friendship; to emulate their pretensions; to adopt their maxims, and manners, and hours.

We

-We may also mention Self-indulgence. are far from pleading for monkish austerities and abstemiousness. Yet a Christian is to deny himself. Yet temperance is a part of godliness. Yet we are forbidden to provide for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. But who is most likely to be profuse in dress and in furniture? Whose table is likely to become a snare? Who is in danger of feasting himself without fear? Whose precious mornings are most likely to be wasted in bed?

He is

-To this we may add Unfeelingness. most likely to be kind to a stranger who knows the heart of a stranger, having been a stranger in a strange land. Who ever thinks of the gay and the dissipated in the hour of trouble? What interest will he feel in my grief who never wept himself? The tenderest and the most active sympathy flows from experience. What does a king know of the miseries of his subjects? He never looked into their hovel; never tasted their bitter bread. They whose condition or office exempts them from the common vexations and distresses of life, are always the most insensible to the duties and calls of compassion. Only a priest or a Levite could have passed by on the other side; and left the poor wounded bleeding traveller to his fate.

After all, we have only presented a few specimens of the dangers of Prosperity. But surely they are

enough to keep you from looking with grudging and uneasiness on the condition of those that abound in the world. Surely they are enough to induce you, instead of envying those that rise, to pity them and pray for them; for they are set in slippery places.

Surely we have said enough to excite those who are denied prosperity to be resigned and satisfied. Ah! ye who have had your purposes broken off, even the thoughts of your hearts: ye who have wished to build your nests on high, and to say to your soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry: ye to whom, after all your importunings of his Providence, God has said, "Let it suffice; say no more to me of that matter"-Ah! who can tell what you have escaped? Who can tell what you might have been? You might, as Solomon has it, have been talking with your feet, and have swaggered by your neighbours. You might have answered roughly. You might have pleased a tyrant's heart, in making yourselves feared. You might have acted a Diotrephes in the parish or the church. You might have heard with indifference every tale of wo. You might have abandoned the worship of God in your families, and have lost your attachment to his Sabbaths and his house. You might have made your passage your portion; and instead of arising and departing hence, have felt yourselves at home in the body; and, "careful about many things," have overlooked that "good part" which now you have happily chosen, and which shall not be taken away from you.

Let all abandon their eager desires after the world; and if they must increase, be concerned to increase with all the increase of God. "Seekest thou great

things to thyself? seek them not." "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." "For they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The Apostle, in this passage, seems to refer to two classes of persons. First, to those who perish in their worldly - things, making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. These he compares to men at sea who founder, and are seen no more-they are drowned in destruction and perdition. Secondly, to those who are not destroyed but injured. These he compares to travellers, who seeing, as they are going along, some inviting fruit a little out of their road, step aside to gather but as it is surrounded with thorns and briers, they wound themselves in the attempt. These err from the faith, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.

For while the prosperity of fools destroys them, the prosperity of wise men may harm them.-Saul was lost by his advancement; but David himself was injured and hence we read of his "first ways." The hero, the conqueror, the king, never equalled the shepherd of Bethlehem.

Upon this principle, if you had to choose, you should not, you would not choose a state so frequently destructive; so commonly hurtful. You would not conclude that you were better than others, and that you should be safe where your brethren have so gen

erally failed. If you did, you would be sure to yield; for "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

But the choice is not left to yourselves. The Lord chooses your inheritance for you: and in his pleasure you must acquiesce. Only be sensible of the perils

of the condition.

II. You are required to employ its SAFEGUArds.

And, first, if you would escape the evils of Prosperity, consider much your Responsibility. Never imagine that the things you possess are your own, and that you are at liberty to do what you please with them. They are all in the nature of a trust. You are not the proprietors, but the stewards. When you receive them, a voice cries, "Occupy till I come:" and then the same voice will say, "Give account of thy stewardship, for thou shalt be no longer steward." Keep your minds alive to the certainty of this account; the extent of this account; the strictness of this account; the nearness of this account-"Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." "Let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand."

Secondly, Reflect on the brevity of your Possessions. There is a day coming when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burned up. And then, "to whom will ye flee for help, and where will you leave your glory ?"-But this prospect seems very far off; and the distance prevents im

pression. Is death then far off?

life-interest in your estate.

You have only a

And "what is

And "what is your life?

It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Then you must part with all for ever. "For we brought nothing with us into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."-But how frequently is the continuance of your possessions and enjoyments much shorter than life itself! "Wilt thou," therefore, says

Solomon, "set thy heart on that which is not? For riches make to themselves wings and fly away." "Brethren," says the Apostle, "the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not."

Thirdly, Study the vanity of your Acquisitions. How little can they contribute to the reality of your happiness! Look at those in the circle of your ac quaintance. Do you know any of them, I will not say, that have improved in religion, but that have increased in comfort? As to yourselves; have your contentment, and peace, and pleasure, risen with your circumstances in the world? Some years ago, a merchant, who had retired with affluence, said, I now keep eight servants, but I am not half so happy as when I kept one. A clothier, also, who had risen to wealth, was heard to say, as he was walking up and down in his room, devoured with ennui and depressed spirits, O! for the comfort I knew when I was working at the loom. And when the preacher ventured to ask these gentlemen what prevented their going back, and going down, to the comfort and happiness of their former condition, they shook the head -This is one of the evils of the state. People rise