Ofearly Aifii8ion.r. 187 to hhn, but becaufe it is our greatefl: hap– pinefs and perfeCl:ion. · He befl:bweth his z, mercie~ to gain. our hearts; but, when we begin to doat on the gifts, and forget the giver, he becon1es jealous, and takes them away, that he n1ay not have any rival in our affection. - And certainly it is no fmall · advantage to have our hearts in any n1eafure loofened from the \vorld, diflntang~ed from every thing here below. ~ocunque pretio bene emitur·: He makes a good purchafe who obtains it, let it cofi him never fo dear. Another .bad effeCt . which profperity is wont to produce jn our corrupt natures, , is, that it makes us forgetfl.1l of God, and unthankful of his n1ercies. - When fecond caufes ·anfwer our expeCtations and defires, we are feldom wont to look beyond them : we never regard the fountain, till the cif£- - · erns begin to fail. This it was that made · Agur to pray againfi a plentiful. fortune, lefl I be full, and deny thee, andfoy Who is the Lord? When the weather is fair, and the fails are 'filled with a ·profp~rous gale, the rough and fiubborn mariners are fel-. · dom at their devotion: but when the fiorm is rifen, and the fea begins to fwell, and every wave threateneth to devour t~em i then
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