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upon them as to forget our best provision, and be sa charmed with our fine mental discoveries, as to lose sight of the beauty of Christ and the ornamental practice of the gospel. Believe me, they will all fail; and, like false friends, desert you in the hour of difficulty, in affliction, death, and judgment. We shall then have to say of every speculation, and even of unfelt scriptural truth, 'Miserable comforters are ye al!!'

THE UNCONSUMED.

FRIENDLY HINTS TO CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE PROSPERED IN THE WORLD.

IN A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO INTIMATE FRIENDS.

O how portentous is PROSPERITY!

Is heaven tremendous in its SMILES? Most sure.

And in its FAVORS, formidable too.

Its favors here are trials, not rewards:

A call to duty, not discharge from care.

Fidelio.

YOUNG.

WELL, my dear Secundus, you go on very successfully. What a charming house you have built here! how beautiful are your prospects! I have been to your London residence, and seen over your capital manufactory and warehouses there. Every one of our acquaintance admires them: And I most sincerely rejoice in every thing truly advantageous to my friend. Many, either in words or looks, are giving you joy, on the alteration in your style of living, appearance, and company, and that you can now enjoy yourself and your friends: But,

will you permit your old bosom friend to whisper a caution against the new snares which surround you?

Secundus. Why yes, Sir, I have made some good strokes in trade of late, and have got a good windfall or two; thank God, I go on comfortably here; and you know Solomon says, "in the day of prosperity be joy. ful." Come, will you look round my premises? here is my garden, and there are offices.

Fidelio. Very convenient and neat! But we were speak. ing about prosperity and its snares. I confess it is promised and bestowed by God as the fruit of diligence; Prov. x. 4: And when it is enjoyed with a humble, watchful, dependent, and prayerful spirit; when it is used with liberality, and to the purposes of doing good, both to the souls and bodies of the poor, after the pattern of the late truly honored LIBERO; prosperity is a token of high favor, and comes with the smiles of heaven. But, as Archbishop Leighton somewhere says, "It is a difficult thing to carry a full cup even;" and multitudes have been much ensnared by the temptations of a rising fortune. Saul before his elevation was "little in his own sight," 1 Sam. xv. 23; but afterwards became lofty, cruel, and so rebellious as "to reject the word of the Lord."

Secundus. Saul, you know, was never reckoned sin cerely pious. But don't we read of some truly good men in scripture, who were favored with temporal wealth and dignity? Were not Abraham and Job rich; and Joseph, David, and Daniel advanced to high honors?

Fidelio. Granted. But worldly prosperity in itself is no token of special Divine favor, or of a man's being a child of God, Eccles. ix. 1. Nay, on the other hand,

it is generally seen, that "the ungodly prosper in the world," and it is awfully declared concerning them, "Surely they are set on slippery places, and cast down into destruction," Psalm 1xxiii. 12. 18. And though some few good men have been entrusted with affluence and honor, yet you know it is not the general method of God "to call the mighty and the noble," but, on the contrary, "to choose the poor in this world, to be rich in James ii. 5.

faith, and heirs of the kingdom,"

Secundus. Must a man's sincerity in religion, then, be called in question because God has blessed him? Cannot he be successful, and get a fortune without

the insinuation, that he is not one of God's people? I hope no one has a right to accuse me of any thing base and dishonorable because providence smiles, nor

Fidelio. Be not apprehensive, my friend, of insinuations never intended. The uprightness of the heart is what we have no right to judge of, but by its fruits. The fairness of your conduct I do not mean to impeach. You used, Secundus, to allow me to be free with you: I took the liberty of long and endeared friendship: But if you wish, I will drop the subject, or I will withdraw and keep a respectful distance.

Secundus. No: pardon me, I do not think you mean to offend. Let me hear what you have further to say, Fidelio.

Fidelio. Under your leave I will remark that "the love of money is the root of all evil," 1 Tim. vi. 10. We need not recur to the old and awful examples of Balaam and Judas, as an illustration of it; you remember the desperate case of Orientus, the great NaVOL. III. *30

bob; he had a serious education, but stifled all convictions; at last he could not bear to be alone, his conscience so tormented him, because of the rapacious means in which he had heaped up his riches; and you well knew poor Mercator, who was once a tall professor, and who, when he came to die, said to his surrounding family, "My children, I have procured you all, what the world calls, good fortunes; but fear I have lost my own soul." Ah, my dear Sir, how many, "while they have coveted money, have first erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows;" and some at length have plunged themselves into perdition, 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10.

Secundus. But this has never been the case with any of the real people of God. "We know, that all things work together for their good." And the Lord has promised, that "he will keep them from falling."

Fidelio. True. I do not mean to call in question. "the immutability of the Lord's counsel" and covenant. "He is abundantly willing that the heirs of promise should have strong consolation." But, my dear friend, suffer me to observe, that the tried saint is the true saint, as the old Puritans used to say; "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation;" and nothing has made more discoveries than the touchstone of prosperity. It has brought to view the concealed deceitfulness of the heart of hypocrites; not that I mean to say you are insincere. Also it has too often injured the real people of God. When Hezekiah was "magnified in the sight of all, his heart was lifted up; and there was wrath upon him," 2 Chron. xxxii. 25, 26. And how was David drawn aside into a confident presumptuous spirit, Ps. xxx. 6. And I be

lieve therefore it is generally seen, from Scripture and experience, that, respecting the lot of his people, as the Lord has put power, wealth, and consequence into one scale, he hath put some weighty trial into the other, to keep the balance even.

Secundus. You think then, I now see that I am not what I was. But who can charge me with any irregularity? Am I not a constant attendant at our place of worship when I am in town? And I hope I am not backward in advancing my mite to several charities.

Fidelio. My freedom hurts you: I do not mean to accuse, to reproach, but to warn you: But if I am not so happy as to make myself understood, I will take my leave.

Secundus. Proceed. I will not interrupt you again with my petulance. You have thought much more on this subject than I, who am more deeply interested,

have done.

Fidelio. Remember your promise. I must then remind you, that covetousness is a frequent attendant on growing wealth. And therefore God says, "If riches increase set not your heart upon them," Psal. Ixii. 10. I have known some, who were once very compassionate, kind, and good to the poor, out of a small store, who, since they have grown rich, look upon the poor with a haughty spirit of disdain, and steel themselves with hard-hearted arguments against their suffering cases. Many, who were once temperate in all things, have yielded to excesses they would before have trembled at; "their tables have become their snare;" and though they are not chargeable with drunkenness, "yet have been overcharged with surfeiting," which blunts, confuses, and disorders the faculties of the mind.

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