CHAPTER IX.

I. Rules for our religious Conduct in Prosperity.

WHEN at any time you prosper in any thing, and have good success, that you may therein walk according to God's word,

First, Take heed of committing those sins to which the nature of man is most addicted, when his heart is satiated with prosperity.

Secondly, Be careful to produce those good fruits, which are the principal ends why God giveth good success.

1. The sins especially to be watched against, are, (1.) Denying of God, by forgetting him and his ways; departing from him, when you are waxen fat like Jeshurun; taking the more license to sin, by how much you prosper the more in the world. (2.) Ascribing the praise of success to yourself or to second causes; sacrificing to your own net. (3.) High-mindedness; thinking too well of yourself, because you have that which others have not, and despising and thinking too meanly of those who have not what you possess. (4.) If riches increase, or if you thrive in any other earthly thing, set not your heart thereon, either in taking too much delight therein, or in trusting thereto. Holy Job and good David were in some particulars overtaken with this fault. When Job was prospered, he entertained this secure conceit, that he should die in his nest, and multiply his days as the sand; and

David in his prosperity said, he should never be moved. But the Lord, by afflictions, taught them both to know, by experience, how vain all earthly things are to trust to, and ingenuously to confess their error.

2. I reduce the good effects, or fruits, which are the principal ends why God giveth good success, to these two heads: (1.) Professed praise and thankfulness to God. (2.) Real proofs of the said thankfulness, in well using and employing this good success for God.

II. Motives to Praise and Thankfulness.

First, Praise and thank God. For, (1.) It is the chief and most lasting service and worship which God hath required of you. (2.) It is most due, and due to him only; he alone is worthy, for of him are all things, and he is called the God of praises. (3.) It is the end why God doth declare his excellency and goodness, both in his word and works, that it may be matter of praise and thanksgiving; also why he hath given man a heart to understand, and a tongue to speak, that for them, and with them, as by apt instruments, they might acknowledge his goodness and excellency; thinking and speaking to his praise and glory. Wherefore David, speaking to his heart, or tongue, or both, when he would give thanks, saith "awake, my glory, and I will give praise." (4.) There is not any service of God more beneficial to man, than to be thankful; for it maketh those gifts of God, which are good in themselves, to be good to you, and they

are the best preservatives of good things to you; nay, thankfulness for former blessings, are real requests for farther favours, as well as the best security you enjoy; for God will not withdraw his goodness from the thankful.

This praise and thanksgiving is a religious service, wherein a man maketh known to God, that he acknowledgeth every good thing to come from him, and that he is worthy of all praise and glory, for the infinite excellency of his wisdom, power, goodness, and all his other holy and blessed attributes, manifested in his word and works; and that he is beholden to God for all that he hath had, now hath, and which he still hopeth to enjoy.

Praise and thanksgiving go together, and differ only in some respect. The superabundant excellency in God, shown by his titles and works, is the object of praise. The abundant goodness of God, shown in his titles and works, to his church, to you, or to any person or thing to which you have referenee, is the object and matter of your thanks.

Second, Directions for thanksgiving.

These following things, concerning praise and thanksgiving, are needful to be known and observed:

1. Who must give praise and thanks: namely, you, and all that have understanding and breath, must praise the Lord.

2. To whom praise and thanksgiving are due: only to God. "Not unto us, not unto us," saith the church," but unto thy name give glory."

3. By whom must this sacrifice of thankfulness be offered: even by Christ only, the only high-priest of our profession, out of whose golden censor our

prayers and praises ascend, and are acceptable to God as incense.

4. For what must we praise God and give him thanks: we must praise him in all his works, be they for us, or against us; we must thank him for all things, spiritual and temporal, wherein he is any way good unto us.

5. With what must we praise and thank him: even with our souls, and all that is within us, and with all that we have. We must praise and thank God with the inward man; praise him with the spirit, and with the understanding; praise him with the will; praise and thank him with all the affections, with love, desire, joy, and gladness; praise him with the whole heart. We must likewise praise him with the outward man, both with tongue and hands; our words and our deeds must show forth his praise. When our thanks are cordial and real, then they make a good harmony and sweet melody, most pleasant in the ears of God.

6. When must we give thanks: always, morning, noon, evening, at all times; as long as we live and have any being, we must praise him.

7. How much: we must praise and thank him abundantly. We must endeavour to proportion our praise to his worthiness and goodness: as we must love him, so we must thank him with all our soul, and with all our strength.

Third, The evil of unthankfulness, and dissuasives against it.

There is no sin more common than unthankfulness; for scarce one out of ten give thanks to God for his benefits; and those who do give thanks,

besides many errors in thanksgiving, do not thank God for one mercy in twenty. Many in distress will pray, or cry and howl at least, as they of old, for corn and oil; but who returneth proportionable praises to his prayers? Whereas the Christian should be oftener in thanks than in prayers, because God preventeth our prayers with his good gifts a thousand ways.

Take heed therefore that you be not unthankful. It is a most base, hateful, and damnable sin. For he that is unthankful to God, is (1.) A most dishonest and disloyal man, he is injurious to God, in detaining from him his due, in not paying him his tribute. (2.) He is foolish and improvident for himself; for by not paying his tribute of thankfulness, and doing this homage, he forfeits all that he hath into the Lord's hands; which forfeiture many times he taketh: but if he doth not presently take the forfeiture, it will prove worse to the unthankful in the end. For prosperity, without a thankful heart, always increaseth sin, and prepares a man for greater destruction. The more such a one thrives, the more doth pride, hard-heartedness, and many other evil lusts grow in him. This unthankfulness is the highway to be given over to a reprobate sense. Such prosperity always proves a snare, and endeth in utter ruin. For the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. And when the wicked prosper, it is but like sheep put into fat pastures, that they may be prepared for the slaughter. An unthankful man of all men, most unfit to go to heaven. Heaven e no heaven to him; for there is praising of ontinually. Now to whom thanksgiving and