There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: (2) A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
I beg the Reader to observe with me, that in the gifts here spoken of, no mention is made of grace. Riches, wealth, and honour; that is, the world's honour, may be given to the most worthless of men; but these are left-hand gifts in the common providences of God. It is grace which is of the upper-spring blessings. Never would the Lord have marked the path of his children in the suffering way, if his glory, and their happiness, had not been highly interested thereby. Reader! I take this occasion to remark to you, what can never be too frequently, nor too strongly impressed upon the mind, that among the mistakes of the carnal, the misinterpreting God's providences is a very principal one, to quiet and still their consciences. Thousands conclude, that if they prosper in their worldly concerns, this is a proof of divine love towards them; and that therefore they are high in his favour. May the Lord deliver the Reader from this delusion, if he should be at this time under it. And though the reverse of this is not always the case, for sometimes God's dear children may be blessed in their honourable and honest callings, yet so much to the contrary is the case, that prosperity is always to be suspected. Who so poor, so wretched, so great a man of sorrows as Christ? What servant, what apostle of his, eminent for labours, but hath been eminent for suffering also? Let the serious Reader consult those two scriptures only upon the subject, without adding more, and I will then leave him to his own comment upon them: Job 21:1 and Psalms 73:1.