§. Sect. 1 What prospe∣rity is, and how apt wee are to abuse it through our corruption.
WEE are now come in the last place to consider how we ought to carry our selues euery day, in respect of those seueral estates and conditions of prosperitie and aduersitie vnto which God calleth vs. The which hauing no certaine and set time allotted vnto them by God, (for we may diuers daies toge∣ther flourish in prosperity, or bee as long cast downe and humbled by troubles and afflictions, yea sometime, and that most commonly, haue them intermingled the one with other, beginning the day with ioy in our prosperous affaires, and ending it with sorrow and griefe by reason of our crosses and calamities, or contrariwise haue cause of mourning in the morning, and of reioycing before the euening) therefore the duties which concerne these seuerall estates, cannot be limited to any set time, but must follow and accompany them, as it shall please God to giue vs occasion by the interchanging our diuers states and conditions the one with the other. Of which my purpose is to speake very briefely, though they bee matters which greatly import the Christian life, because I haue largely handled them already in my Christian Warfare. And first, for pros∣perity, * 1.1 which consisteth in the possession and fruition of all Gods tempo∣rall blessings or many of them, as health, wealth, peace, plenty, libertie, fame, friendship, honours, pleasures, with wife, children, houses, lands of the best sort; they are in themselues Gods good gifts, which he de∣lighteth * 1.2 to bestow vpon those that serue him, as the present pay and re∣ward of their loue and dutie; and wherein he would haue vs to delight, praying for them when we want them, and praysing him when wee haue them, as being in their owne nature, and if they bee rightly vsed, testi∣monies of Gods loue, and signes of his gracious presence. But in respect of our corruption, this state is liable to much abuse, as not being absolute∣ly good, but of an indifferent nature, in respect of that vse whch wee make of it, remaining good to those that vse it rightly, and degenerating into euill when it is abused. Vnto which abuse wee are naturally most prone, as euery man may finde, not onely by generall obseruation, but