Three Treatises, Treatise 1 (1 of 3)

Three Treatises · Treatise 1 (1 of 3)

p. 1THE VANITIE OF THE CREATVRE.

ECCLESIASTES 1. 14.

I have seene all the workes that are done under the sunne, and Behold, All is Vanitie and Vexation of Spirit.

TO have a selfe-sufficiencie in being and operation, and to bee unsubordinate to any further End above himselfe, as it is utterly repugnant to the Condition of a Creature, so amongst the rest to Man especially; who besides the limitednesse of his nature, as he is a Creature, hath contracted much deficiencie and deformitie as he is a Sinner. God never made him to be an End unto himselfe, to be the Center of his owne motions, or to be happy onelyonly by reflection on his owne excellencies. Something still there is without him, unto which he moves, and from whence God hath appointed that he should reape either preservation in, or advancement and perfection unto his nature. What that p. 2is upon which the desires of man ought to fixe as his Rest and End, is the maine discoverie that the Wise Man makes in this Booke. And he doth it by an historicall and penitentiall review of his former Enquiries; from whence he states the point in Two maine Conclusions. The first the Creatures Insufficiencie, in the beginning of the Booke, Vanitie of Vanities, All is vanity. The second Mans Duty to God, and Gods All-sufficiencie unto man, in the End of the Booke, Let us heare the Conclusion Eccles. 12. 13.Eccl 12:13of the whole matter, Feare God, and keepe his Commandements, for this is Totum hominis, the whole Duty, the whole End, the whole Happinesse of Man. The former of these two, namely the Insufficiency of the Creature to satiate the desires, and quiet the motions of the Soule of man, is the point I am now to speake of, out of these words.

For understanding whereof, wee must know that it was not God in the Creation, but sinne and the curse which attended it, that brought this Vanity and Vexation upon the Creature. God made Every thing in it selfe very Good, and therefore very fit for the desires of man some way or other to take satisfaction from. As prickes, and quauers, and rests in musicke serue in their order to commend the cunning of the Artist, and to delight the Eare of the hearer, as well as more perfect notes: so the meanest of the Creatures were at first fill'd with so much goodnesse, as did not onelyonly declare the glory of God, but in their ranke likewise minister content to the minde of man. It was the sinne of man that fill'dRom. 8. 20, 22.Rom 8:20Rom 8:22 the Creature with Vanitie, and it is the Vanitie of the Creature that fils the Soule of man with Vexation. AsRom. 3. 23.Rom 3:23 sinne makes man come short of Glory, which is the rest of the Soule in the fruition of God in himselfe; so doth it make him come short of Contentation too, which is the rest of the Soule in the fruition of God in his Creatures. Sinne tooke away Gods favour from the Soule, p. 3and his Blessing from the Creature. It put bitternesse into the Soule that it cannot relish the Creature, and it put Vanity into the Creature, that it cannot nourish nor satisfie the Soule.

The Desires of the Soule can never be satisfied with any Good, till they finde in it these two qualities or relations, wherein indeed the formalitie of Goodnesse doth consist; namely Proportion and Proprietie. First nothing can satisfie the desires of the Soule till it beares convenience and fitnesse thereunto; for it is with the minde as with the body, the richest attire that is if it be either too loose or too straite, however it may please a mans pride, must needs offend his body. Now nothing is Proportionable to the minde of man, but that which hath reference unto it as it is a spirituall Soule. For though a man have the same sensitive appetites about him which we finde in beasts; yet, in as much as that Appetite was in man created subordinate unto reason, and obedient to the spirit; the case is plaine, that it can never be fully satisfied with its obiect, unlesse that likewise be subordinate and linked to the Obiect of the superior faculty, which is God. So then the Creature can never bee Proportionable to the Soule of Man, till it bring God along with it. So long as it is emptie of God, so long must it needs be full of Vanitie and Vexation.

But now it is not sufficient that there be Proportion, unlesse withall there be Propriety. For God is a Proportionable Good unto the nature of divels as well as of men or good angels, yet no good comes by that unto them, because he is none of their God, they have no interest in him, they have no union unto him. Wealth is as commensurate unto the mind and occasions of a beggr as of a prince; yet the goodnesse and comfort of it extends not unto him, because he hath no propriety unto any. Now sinne hath taken away the Proprietie which we have in Good, hath unlinked that golden chaine, whereby the Creature was p. 4joyned unto God, and God with the Creature came along unto the minde of man. So that till we can recover this Vnion, and make up this breach againe, it is impossible for the Soule of man to receive any satisfaction from the Creature alone. Though a man may have the possession of it, as a Naked Creature, yet not the fruition of it, as a Good Creature. For Good the Creature is not unto any but by vertue of the Blessing and Word accompanying it. And man naturally hath no right unto the Blessing of the Creature; for it is Godlinesse which hath the Promises, and by consequence the Blessing as well of this as of the other life. And God is not in his favour reconciled unto us, nor reunited by his Blessing unto the Creature, but onelyonly in and through Christ. So then the minde of a man is fully and onelyonly satisfied with the Creature, when it findes God and Christ together in it: God making the Creature suteable to our inferior desires, and Christ making both God and the Creature Ours; God giving Proportion, and Christ giving Propriety.

These things thus explained, let us now consider the Insufficiencie of the Creature to conferre, and the Vnsatisfiablenesse of the flesh to receive any solid or reall satisfaction from any of the workes which are done under the Sunne. Man is naturally a proud Creature, of high projects, of unbounded desires, ever framing to himselfe I know not what imaginarie and phantasticall felicities, which have no more proportion unto reall and true contentment, then a king on a stage to a king on a throne, then the houses which children make of cards, unto a princes palace. Ever since the fall of Adam he hath an itch in him to be a god within himselfe, the fountaine of his owne goodnesse, the contriver of his owne sufficiencie; loth hee is to goe beyond himselfe, or what hee thinkes properly his owne, for that in which hee resolveth to place his rest. But alas, after hee hath toil'd out his heart, and wasted his spirits, in the most exact inuentions p. 5that the Creature could minister unto him, Salomon here, the most experienc'd for enquirie, the most wise for contrivance, the most wealthy for compassing such earthly delights, hath, after many yeeres sitting out the finest flowre, and torturing nature to extract the most exquisite spirits, and purest quintessence, which the varieties of the Creatures could afford, at last pronounced of them all, That they are Vanitie and vexation of spirit: Like Thornes, in their gathering they pricke, that is their Uexation, and in their burning they suddenly blaze and waste away, that is their Uanitie. Vanitie in their duration, fraile and perishable things; and Vexation in their enjoyment, they nothing but molest and disquiet the heart. The eye, saith Salomon, is not satisfied with seeing, nor the eare with hearing. Notwithstanding they be the widest of all the senses, can take in more abundance with lesse satiety, and serue more immediately for the supplies of the reasonable Soule, yet a mans eye-strings may even cracke with vehemencie of poring, his eares may be filled with all the varietie of the most exquisite sounds and harmonies, and lectures in the world, and yet still his Soule within him be as greedy to see and heare more as it was at first. Who would have thought that the favour of a prince, the adoration of the people, the most conspicuous honours of the court, the liberty of utterly destroying his most bitter adversaries, the sway of the sterne and universall negotiations of state, the concurrency of all the happinesse, that wealth, or honour, or intimatenesse with the prince, or Deity with the people, or extremitie of luxurie could afford, would possibly have left any roome or nooke in the heart of Haman for discontent? and yet doe but observe, how the want of one Iewes knee (who dares not give divine worship to any but his Lord) blasts all his other glories, brings a damp upon all his other delights, makes his head hang downe, and his mirth wither: so little leaven was able to p. 6sowre all the Queenes banquet, and the Kings favour. Ahab was a king, in whom therefore wee may justly expect a confluence of all the happinesse which his dominions could afford; a man that built whole cities, and dwelt in Ivorie palaces, and yet the want of one poore Vineyard of Naboth brings such a heavinesse of heart, such a deadnesse of countenance on so great a person, as seemed in the judgement of Iezabel farre unbeseeming the honour and distance of a prince. Nay Salomon, a man every way more a king both in the minde and in the state of a king then Ahab, a man that did not use the Creature with a sensuall, but with a criticall fruition, To finde out that good which God had given men under the sunne, and that in such abundance of all things, learning, honour, pleasure, peace, plenty, magnificence, fortaine supplies, roiall visits, noble confederacies, as that in him was the patterne of a compleat prince beyond all the plat-formes and Ideas of Plato and Zenophon; and yet even he was never able to repose his heart upon any or all these things together, till he brings in the feare of the Lord for the close of all. Lastly, looke on the people of Israel; God had delivered them from a bitter thraldome, had divided the sea before them, and destroied their enemies behind them, had given them bread from heaven, and fed them with angels foode, had commanded the rocke to satisfie their thirst, and made the Cananites to melt before them; his mercies were magnified with the power of his miracles, and his miracles crowned with the sweetenesse of his mercies, besides the assurance of great promises to bee performed in the holy land: and yet in the midst of all this wee finde nothing but murmuring and repining. God had given them meat for their faith, but they must have meate for their lust too; it was not enough that God shewed them mercies, unlesse his mercies were dressed up and fitted to their palate, They tempted God, and limited the holy one of p. 7Psal. 78. 41.Ps 78:41Israel, saith the Prophet. So infinitely unsatisfiable is the fleshly heart of man either with mercies or miracles, that bring nothing but the Creatures to it.

The ground whereof is the Vast disproportion which is betweene the Creature and the soule of man, whereby it comes to passe, that it is absolutely impossible for one to fill up the other. The soule of man is a substance of unbounded desires: and that will easily appeare if wee consider him in any estate, either Created or Corrupted. In his Created estate he was made with a Soule capable of more glory, then the whole earth or all the frame of nature, though changed into one Paradise, could hauehave afforded him: for he was fitted unto so much honour as an infinite and everlasting Communion with God could bring along with it. And now God never in the Creation gave unto any Creature a propercapacitie of a thing, unto which hee did not withall implant such motions and desires in that Creature as should be some what suteable to that capacitie, and which might (if they had beene preserved intire) hauehave brought man to the fruition of that Good which he desired. For notwithstanding it be true, That the glory of God cannot be attain'd unto, by the vertue of any action which man either can, or ever could hauehave performed: yet God was pleased out of MercieMercy, for the magnifying of his name, for the Communicating of his glory, for the advancement of his Creature, to enter into Covenant with man, and for his naturall obedience to promise him a supernaturall reward. And this, I say, was even then out of MercieMercy; in as much as Adams legall obedience of workes could no more in any vertue of its owne, but onelyonly in Gods mercifull contract and acceptance, merit everlasting life, then our Evangelicall Obedience of faith can now. Only the difference betweene the merciemercy of the first and second Covenant (and it is a great difference) is this. God did out of merciemercy propose Salvation unto Adam as duplicate page p. 6duplicate page p. 7p. 8an Infinite Reward of such a finite Obedience, as Adam was able by his owne created abilities to have performed. As if a man should give a Day-laborer a hundred pound for his daies worke, which performe indeed hee did by his owne strength, but yet did not merit the thousandth part of that wages which he receives: But Gods mercy untous is this, That he is pleased to bestow upon us not onelyonly the reward, but the worke and merit which procured the reward, that he is pleased in vsus to reward another mans worke, even the worke of Christ our head; as if when one onelyonly Captaine had by his wisedome discomfited and defeated an enemie, the prince notwithstanding should reward his alone seruice, with the advancement of the whole armie which he led. But this by the way. Certaine in the meane time it is, that God created man with such capacities and desires, as could not be limited with any or all the excellencies of his fellow and finite Creatures.

Nay looke even upon Corruptednature, and yet there we shall still discover this restlesnesse of the minde of man, though in an evill way, to promote it selfe: whence arise distractions of heart, thoughts for to morrow, rovings and inquisitions of the soule after infinite varieties of earthly things, swarmes of lusts, sparkles of endlesse thoughts, those secret flowings, and ebbes, and tempests, and Estuations of that sea of corruption in the heart of man, but because it can never finde any thing on which to rest, or that hath roome enough to entertaine so ample and so endlesse a guest? Let us then looke a little into the particulars of that great disproportion and Insufficiencie of any or all the Creatures under the sun to make up an adequate and suteable Happinesse for the soule of man.

Salomon here expresseth it in Two words, Vanitie and Uexation. From the first of these wee may observe a threefold disproportion betweene the Soule and the p. 9Creatures. First in regard of their nature and worth, they are base in comparison of the Soule of man: When David would shew the infinite distance betweene God and man in power and strength, he expresseth the basenesse of man by his vanitie, To be laid in the ballance, they are altogether lighter then vanitie. Psal. 62. 9. And surely if we waigh the Soule of man and all the Creatures under the Sunne together, we shall finde them lighter then Vanitie it selfe. All the Goodnesse and honour of the Creature ariseth from one of these Two grounds: Either from mans coining or from Gods, either from Opinion imposed upon them by men, or from some Reall qualities, which they have in their nature. Many things there are which▪ have all that worth and estimation which they carry amongst men, not from their owne qualities, but from humane institution, or from some difficulties that attend them, or from some other outward Imposition. When a man gives monie for meate, we must not thinke there is any naturall proportion of worth betweene a piece of silver and a piece of flesh; for that worth which is in the meate is its owne, whereas that which is in the monie is by humane appointment. The like we may say for great titles of honour and secular degrees, though they bring authoritie, distance, reverence with them from other men, yet notwithstanding they doe not of themselves, by any proper vertue of their owne, put any solid and fundamentall merit into the man himselfe. Honour is but the raising of the rate and value of a man, it carrie, nothing of substance necessarily along with it: as in raising the valuations of gold from twenty shillings, to twenty two, the matter is the same, only the estimation different. It is in the Power of the king to raise a man out of the prison like Ioseph, and give him the …xt place unto himselfe. Now this then is a plaine argument of the great basenesse of any of these things incomparison of the Soule of man, and by consequence of their great disability to satisfie p. 10the same: for can a man make any thing equall to himselfe? can a man advance a piece of gold or silver into a reasonable, a spirituall, an eternall substance? A man may make himselfe like these things, he may debase himselfe into the vilenesse of an Idoll, They that make them are like unto them; hee may under-value and uncoyne himselfe, blot out Gods Image and Inscription, and write in the image and inscription of earth and Satan, he may turne himselfe into brasse and iron and reprobate silver, as the Prophet speakes; but never can any man raise the Creatures by all his estimations to the worth of a man: we cannot so much as change the color of a haire or adde a cubite to our stature, much lesse can we make any thing of equall worth with our whole selves. We read indeed of some which have sold the righteous, and that at no great rate neither, for a paire of shooes. Ioel 3. 6. Amos 2. 6. but we see there how much the Lord abhorr'd that detestable fact, and recompenc'd it upon the necke of the oppressors. How many men are there still that set greater rates upon their owne profits, or libertie, or preferments, or secular accommodations, then on the Soules of men, whose perdition is oftentimes the price of their advancements? but yet still Saint Pauls rule must hold, For meat… destroy not the worke of God, for money betrayRom. 14. 15. 20.Rom 14:15Rom 14:20 not the bloud of Christ, destroy not him with thy meate, with thy dignities, with thy preferments, for whom Christ died. We were not redeemed with silver and gold from our vaine Conversation, saith the Apostle 1. Pet. 1. 18. and therefore these things are of too base a nature to be put into the ballance with the soules of men; and that man infinitely undervalues the worke of God▪ the Image of God, the bloud of God, who for so base a purchase as monie, or preferment any earthly and vaine-glorious respect doth either hazard his owne, or betray the Soules of others commended to him.

And therefore this should reach all those upon whom p. 11the Lord hath bestow'd a greater portion of this Opinionative felicitie, I meane, of money, honour, reputation, or the like; First not to Trust in uncertaine Riches, not to relie upon a foundation of their owne laying for matter of Satisfaction to their Soule, nor to boast in the multitude of their riches, as the Prophet speakes, Psal. 49. 6. (for that is certainely one great effect of the Deceitfulnesse of Riches, spoken of Matth. 13. 22. to perswade the Soule that there is more in them then indeed there is) and the Psalmist gives an excellent reason in the▪ same place, No man can by any meanes redeeme his brother, nor give to God a ransome for him, for the Redemption of their Soule is Pretious.

And secondly, it may teach them as not to Trust, so not to Swell with these things neither. It is an argument of their windinesse and emptinesse that they are apt to make men swell; whereas if they cannot change a haire of a mans head, nor adde an inch to his stature, they can much lesse make an accession of the least dramme of merit, or reall value to the owners of them. And surely if men could seriously consider, That they are still members of the same common bodie, and that of a twofold body, a civill and a mysticall body, and that though they haplie may bee the more honorable parts in one body, yet in the other they may be the lesse honorable; that the poore whom they despise may in Christs body have a higher roome then they (as the Apostle saith, Hath not God chosen the poore in this world, Rich in faith, Iam. 2. 5.) I say, if men could compare things rightly together, and consider that they are but the greater letters in the same volume, and the poore the smaller, though they take up more roome, yet they put no more matter nor worth into the word which they compound, they would never suffer the tympanie and inflation of pride or superciliousnesse, of selfe-attributions, or contempt of their meaner brethren to prevaile within them. Wee see p. 12in the naturall body though the head have a Hat on of so many shillings price, and the foot a Shooe of not halfe so many pence, yet the head doth not therefore despise the foot, but is tender of it, and doth derive influence as well unto that as to any nobler part: and surely so should it be amongst men, though God have given thee an Eminent station in the body, cloath'd thee with purple and scarlet, and hath set thy poore neighbour in the lowest part of the body, and made him conversant in the dirt, and content to cover himselfe with leather, yet you are still members of the same common body, animated with the same spirit of Christ, moulded out of the same dirt, appointed for the same inheritance, borne out of the sameEx eodem utero ignorantiae. Tertul. wombe of natural blindnesse, partakers of the same great and pretious promises (there was not one price for the Soule of the poore man, and another for the rich, there is not one table for Christ's meaner guests, and another for his greater, but the faith is a aaTit. 1. 4.Titus 1:4Common faith, the salvation a bbIud. verse 3.Common salvation, the ccGal. 3. 16. Phil. 3. 16.Gal 3:16Phil 3:16rule a Common rule, the ddEphes. 4 4.Eph 4:4hope a Common hope, one Lord, and one Spirit, and one Baptisme, and one God and Father of all; and ee1. Cor. 3. 11.1 Cor 3:11One foundation, and ffEphes 2. 19. Eph. 3. 15. 1. Tim. 3. 15.Eph 2:19Eph 3:151 Tim 3:15One house, and therefore wee ought to have gg1. Cor. 12. 25.1 Cor 12:25Care and Compassion one of another.

Secondly, consider that Goodnesse and value which is fix'd to the being of the Creature, implanted in it by God and the institution of nature, and even thus we shall finde them absolutely unable to satisfie the desires of the reasonable and spirituall soule. God is the Lord of all the Creatures, they are but as his severall monies, he coin'd them all. So much then of his Image as nay Creature hath in it, so much value and worth it carries. Now God hath more communicated himselfe unto man, then unto any other Creature; in his Creation we finde man made after the hhGen. 1. 27.Gen 1:27similitude of God, and in his restauration we finde God made after the ii1. Tim. 3. 16. Rom. 8. 3.1 Tim 3:16Rom 8:3similitude of man, and man once againe after the kkEphes. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10.Eph 4:24Col 3:10similitude of God. And now p. 13it is needlesse to search out the worth of the Creature, Our Saviour will decide the point, What shall a man gaine though he winne the whole llMatth. 16. 26.Matt 16:26World, and lose his owne soule, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soule? To which of the Creatures said God at any time, Let us create it after our image? of which of the Angels said He at any time, Let us restore them to our image againe? there is no Creature in heaven or earth, which is recompence enough for the losse of a Soule. Can a man carrie the world into hell with him to bribe the flames, or corrupt his tormentors? No saith the Psalmist, His glory shall not descend after him, Psal. 49. 17. but can hee buy out his pardon before he comes thither? no neither, the Redemption of a Soule is more pretious, vers. 8. we know the Apostle counts all things Dung, Phil. 3. 8. and will God take dung in exchange for a soule? Certainely, Beloved, when a man can sow grace in the furrowes of the field, when he can fill his barnes with glory, when he can get bagges full of salvation, when he can plow up heaven out of the earth and extract God out of the Creatures, then he may bee able to finde that in them which shall satisfie his desires. But till then, let a man have all the exquisitest Curiosities of nature heap'd into one vessell, let him be moulded out of the most delicate ingredients, and noblest principles that the world can contribute, let there be in his body a concurrency of all beauty and feature, in his nature an Eminence of all Sweetnesse and ingenuity, in his minde a conspiration of the politest, and most choice varieties of all kinde of learning, yet still the spirit of that man is no whit more valueable and pretious, no whit more proportionable to Eternall Happinesse, then the soule of a poore and illiterate begger. Difference indeed there is, and that justly to bee made betweene them in the eyes of men, which difference is to expire within a few yeeres: and then after the dust of the beautifull and deformed, of the learned p. 14and ignorant, of the honorable and base are promiscuously intermingled, and death hath equall'd all, then at last there will come a day when all mankinde shall be summon'd naked, without difference of degrees before the same tribunall; when the Crownes of kings and the shackles of prisoners, when the robes of princes and the ragges of beggers, when the gallants braverie and the peasants russet, and the statists policie, and the Courtiers luxurie, and the schollers curiosity shall be all laid aside; when all men shall be reduc'd unto an equall plea, and without respect of persons shall bee doom'd according to their workes; when Nero the persecuting emperor shall be throwne to Hell, and Paul the persecuted Apostle shall shine in glory, when the learned Scribes and Pharises shall gnash their teeth, and the ignorant, and as they terme them, cursed people shall see their Saviour: when the proud antichristian prelates, that dyed their robes in the bloud of the Saints, shall be hurried to damnation, and the poore despised martyrs whom they persecuted shall wash their feet in the bloud of their enemies; when those puntoes, and formalities, and cuts, and fashions, and distances, and complements, which are now the darling sinnes of the upper end of the world, shall be prov'd to have beene nothing else but well-acted vanities: when the pride, luxurie, riot, swaggering, interlarded and complementall oathes, nice and quaint lasciviousnesse, new invented courtings and adorations of beauty, the so much studied and admited sinnes of the gallantrie of the world, shall be pronounc'd out of the mouth of God himselfe to have beene nothing else but glittering abominations; when the adulterating of wares, the counterfeiting of lights, the double waight and false measures, the courteous equivocations of men greedy of gaine, which are now almost woven into the very arts of trading, shall be pronounced nothing else but mysteries of iniquitie and selfe-deceivings: when the p. 15curious subtilties of more choise wits, the knottie questions, and vaine strife of words, the disputes of reason, the variety of reading, the very circle of generall and secular learning pursued with so much eagernesse by the more ingenious spirits of the world, shall bee all pronounc'd but the thinne cobwebs, and vanishing delicacies of a better temper'd prophanenesse; and lastly, when that poore despised profession of the power of Christianitie, a trembling at the Word of God, a scrupulous forbearance not of oathes onelyonly, but of idle words, a tendernesse and aptnesse to bleed at the touch of any sinne, a boldnesse to withstand the corruptions of the times, a conscience of but the appearances of evill, a walking mournfully and humbly before God, a heroicall resolution to be strict and circumspect, to walke in an exact and geometricall holinesse in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, the so much conclamated and scorned peevishnesse of a few silly, unpolitique, unregarded hypocrits as the world esteemes them, shall in good earnest from the mouth of God himselfe bee declared to have beene the true narrow way which leadeth to salvation, and the enemies there of shall, when it is too late, be driven to that desperate and shamefull confession, We fooles counted their life madnesse, and their end to have been without honour; how are they now reckoned amongst the Saints, and have their portion with the Almighty?

A second Branch of the disproportion between the soule of man and the Creatures, arising from the Vanitie thereof, is their Deadnesse, unprofitablenesse, inefficacie by anyIer. 16. 19.Jer 16:19 inward vertue of their owne to convey or preserue life in the Soule. Happinesse in the Scripture phrase is called Life, consisting in a Communion with God in his Holinesse and glory. Nothing then can truely bee a prop to hold up the Soule, which cannot either preserue that life which it hath, or convey unto it that which it hath not. Charge those, saith the Apostle, that are rich in this p. 16world, that they bee not high minded, neither trust in uncertaine Riches, but in the living God, 1. Tim. 6. 17▪ he opposeth the life of God to the vanitie and uncertainety, the word is, to the Inevidence of Riches, whereby a man can never demonstrate to himselfe or others the certainety or happinesse of his life. The like opposition we shall finde excellently expressed in the Prophet Ieremie, My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me the fountaine of Living water, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Ier. 2. 13. That is, my people are willing to attribute the blessings they enjoy, and to sue for more rather unto any cause then unto me the Lord. She did not know, saith the Lord else where, that I gave her her corne and her Hos. 2. 8. 12.Hos 2:8Hos 2:12wine, and multiplied her silver and gold, &c. but said of them, these are my rewards which my lovers have given me. But saith the Lord, so long as they trusted me, they rested upon a sure fountaine that would never faile them; with thee, saith the Psalmist, is the Fountaine of life: AndPsal. 36. 9.Ps 36:9 so saith the Apostle too, Let your conversation be without covetousnesse, that is, Doe not make an Idoll of the Creature, doe not heape vessels full of monie together, and then thinke that you are all sure, the Creature hath no life in it, nay it hath no truth in it neither, there is deceit and cozenage in riches; but saith he, Let your conversationMatth. 13. 22.Matt 13:22 be with contentment, consider that what you have is the dimensum, the portion which God hath allottedProv. 30. 8.Prov 30:8 you, that foode which he findeth most convenient for you; he knowes that more would but cloy you with a surfet of pride or worldlinesse, that you have not wisedome, humility, faith, heavenly mindednesse enough to concoct a more plentifull estate; and therefore receive your portion from him, trust his wisedome and care over you, For he hath said, I will not faile thee nor forsake thee. Heb. 13. 5.Heb 13:5Well then, saith the Lord, so long as they rested on me, they rested upon a sure supply (All his mercies are sure p. 17mercies) upon a Fountaine which would never faileAct. 13. 34.Acts 13:34 them: But when once they forsake mee, and will not trust their lives in my keeping, but with the prodigall will have their portion in their owne hands, their water in their owne Cisterns, their pits prove unto them but like lobs torrent, deepe and plentifull though they seemeIob 6. 18.Job 6:18 for a time, yet at length they make those ashamed that relied upon them. And so I finde the Prophets assuring us, that Israel which put so much confidence in the carnall1. King. 12. 26.1 Kgs 12:26 policies of Ieroboam for preserving the kingdome of the ten tribes from any re-union with the house of David, was at last constrained to blush at their owneIer 48 13. Esai 30 3. Esai. 20. 5.Jer 48:13Isa 30:3Isa 20:5 wisedome, and to be ashamed of Bethel their confidence. Briefly then for that place, there are two excellent things intimated in those two words of Cisterns and Broken Cisterns. First the wealth and honour which men get not from the Lord, but by carnall dependencies, are but Cisterns at the best, and in that respect they have an evill quality in them, they are like dead water, apt to putrifie and corrupt; being cut of from the influence of God the Fountaine of life, they have no favour nor sweetnesse in them. Besides they are Broken Cisterns too, as they have much mud and rottennesse in them, so they are full of chinkes, at which whatever is cleere and sweet runnes away, and nothing but dregges remaine behinde. The worldly pleasures which men enjoy, their youthfull vigor that carried them with delight and furie to the pursuite of fleshly lusts, the content which they were wont to take in the formalities and complements of courtship and good fellowship, with a storme of sickenesse, or at farthest a winter of age blowes all away, and then when the fruite is gone, there remaines nothing but the diseases of it behinde, which there surfet had begotten, a conscience worme to torment the soule.

Thus the life which wee fetch from the Cisterne is a vanishing life, there is still, after the use of it, lesse left behinde p. 18then there was before: but the life which we fetch from the fountaine is a fixed, an Abiding life, as S. Iohn 1. Ioh. 3. 15.1 John 3:15speakes, or, as our Saviour cals it, a Life that Abounds, likeIoh. 10. 10.John 10:10 the pumping of water out of a fountaine, the more it is drawne, the faster it comes.

We grant indeed that the Lord, being the Fountaine of life, doth allow the Creature in regard of life temporall some subordinate operation and concurrencie in the worke of preserving life in us. But we must also remember, That the Creatures are but Gods Instruments in that respect: and that not as servants are to their masters, Living instruments, able to worke without concurrence of the superior cause; but Dead instruments, and therefore must never be separated from the Principall. Let God subduct from them that concourse of his owne which actuates and applies them to their severall services, and all the Creatures in the world are no more able to preserue the body or to comfort the mind, then an axe and a hammer and those other dead instruments are able by themselues alone to erect some stately edifice. It is not the corne or the flowre, but the staffe of bread which supports the life, and that is not any thing that comes out of the earth, but something which comes downe from heaven, even the blessing which sanctifies the Creature▪ for man liveth not by bread alone, but by the word which proceedeth out of Gods mouth. The Creature cannot hold up it selfe, much lesse contribute to the subsistence of other things, unlesse God continue the influence of his blessing upon it. As soone as Christ had cursed the figge-tree, it presently withered and dried up foreign Mark. 11. 20.Mark 11:20fr…m the rootes; to shew that it was not the roote alone, but the blessing of Christ which did support the figge-tree. The Creatures of themselues are Indifferent to contrary operations, according as they have been by God severally applied. Fire preserved the three children in the furnace, and the same fire lick'd up the instruments p. 19of the persecution. Fire came downe from heaven to destroy Sodome, and fire came downe from heaven to advance Elias; the same sea a Sanctuarie unto Israel and a grave unto Egypt; Ionah had been drown'd if he had not been devour'd, the latter destruction was a deliverance from the former, and the ravine of the fish a refuge from the rage of the sea; pulse kept Daniel in good liking, which the meat of the kings table could not doe in the other children: for indeed Life is not a thing meerely 1. Tim. 4. 8. 2. Tim. 1. 1.1 Tim 4:82 Tim 1:1naturall, but of promise, as the Apostle speakes; Let the promise be removed, and however a wicked man lives as well as a righteous man, yet his life is indeed but a breathing death, onelyonly the cramming of him to a day of slaughter: When the blessing of God is once subducted, though men labour in the v…ry fire, turne their vitall heateHabac. 2. 13. with extremity of paines into a very flame, yet the close of all their labour will prove nothing but Uanitie, as the Prophet speakes. We should therefore pray unto God that we may live not onelyonly by the Creature, but by the word which sanctifieth the Creature, that wee may not leane upon our substance, but upon Gods promises, that we may not live by that which we have onelyonly, but by that which we hope for, and may still finde God accompanying his owne blessings unto our Soule.

But here the vanitie and wickednesse of many worldly men is justly to be reproved, who Rest on the Creature as on the only staffe and comfort of their life, who count it their principall joy when their corne, and wine, andHabac. 1. 15. 16. Ephes. 5. 5. Col. 3. 5.Eph 5:5Col 3:5 oyle encreaseth, who magnifie their owne arts, sacrifice to their owne net and drag (which is the Idolatrie of Covetousnesse, so often spoken of by the Apostle, when all the trust, and hope, and glory, and rejoycing which men have is in the Creature, and not in God.) They boast, saith the Psalmist, in the multitude of their Riches.Psal. 49. 6.Ps 49:6 Nay so much sottishnesse there is in the nature of man, and so much sophistrie in the Creature, that the proud p. 20foole in the Gospell from the greatnesse of his wealth,Luk. 12. 19.Luke 12:19 concludes the length of his life, Thou hast much laid up for many yeeres, and the certainety of his mirth and pleasure, Take thine ease, eate, drinke, and be merry. Their inward thought is that their houses shall endure for ever, and Psal. 49. 11. Psal. 10. 6.Ps 49:11Ps 10:6their dwelling places to all generations. And David himselfe was over-taken with this folly, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. Yea so much seed is there of pride in the heart of man, and so much heate (as I may so speake) & vigour in the Creature to quicken it, as that men are apt to Deifie themselves in the reflection on their owne greatnes, & to deifie any thing else which contributes to the enlargement of their ambitious purposes.Uid Brisson. de Regno Pers. lib. 1. pag. 8. 14. The greatnesse of the Persian Emperors made them all usurpe religious worship from their subiects. The like insolence we finde in the Babilonish monarchs, they exalted themselves above the height of the clouds, and made themselves equall to the most high, Esai. 14. 14. yea their pride made them forget any God save themselves, I am, and there is none besides me, Esai. 47. 7. 8. ItZeph. 2. 15.Zeph 2:15 was the blasphemous arrogance of Tyrus the rich citty, I am a God, I sit in the seate of God, I have a heart like the heart of God, Ezek. 28. 26. neither are these the sinnes of those times alone; the fountaine of them is in the nature, and the fruites of them in the lives of those, who dare not venture upon the words: For albeit men with their mouths professe God, there is yet a bitter roote of AtheismePsal. 9. 20.Ps 9:20 and of Polutheisme in the mindes of men by nature, which is mightily actuated by the abundance of earthly things. Where the treasure is there is the heart,Matth. 6. 21.Matt 6:21 where the heart there the happinesse, and where the happinesse there the God.

Now worldly men put their trust in their riches, set their heart upon them, make them their strong citty, andPsal. 49 6. Psal 62. 10. Prov. 10. 15.Ps 49:6Ps 62:10Prov 10:15 therefore no marvell if they be their Idoll too. What is the reason why oftentimes wee may obserue rich and p. 21mighty men in the world to bee more impatient of theIer. 43. 2. Obad. ver. 3.Jer 43:2 Word of God, more bitter scorners of the power of religion, more fearefully given over to the pursuite of fleshly lusts and secular purposes, to vanity, vaine-glory, ambition, revenge, fierce, implacable, bloudy passions, brasen and boasting abominations, then other men, but because they have some secret opinion that there is not so great a distance betweene God and them, as betweene God and other men; but because the abundance ofPsal. 17. 10. Psal. 10. 4, 5. Iob 20. 7. 15.Ps 17:10Ps 10:4Ps 10:5Job 20:7Job 20:15 worldly things hath brawned their heart, and fatted their conscience, and thickned their eyes against any feare, or faith, or notice at all of that supreme dominion and impartiall revenge which the most powerfull and just God doth beare over all sinners, and against all sinne? What is the reason why many ordinary men drudge and moile all the yeere long, thinke every houre in the Church so much time lost from their life, are not able to forbeare their covetous practises on Gods owne Day, count any time of their life, any worke of their hand, any sheaffe of their corne, any penny of their purse throwne quite away, even as so much bloud powr'd out of their veines, which is bestow'd on the worship of God, and on the service of the Altar; but because men thinke that there is indeed more life in their monie, and the fruits of their ground, then in their God or the promises of his Gospell? Else how could it possibly be, if men did not in their hearts make God a lier, as the Apostle speakes,1. Ioh. 5. 10.1 John 5:10 That the Lord should professe so plainely, from this day upward, since a stone hath beene layed of my house, sinceHag. 2. 15. 19.Hag 2:15Hag 2:19 you have put your selves to any charges for my worship, I will surely blesse you, and againe, Bring all my tithes into my house, and prove me if I will not open the windowes of heaven, and powre a blessing upon you that there shall Mal. 3. 10.Mal 3:10not be roome enough to hold it: and againe, He that hath pitty on the poore lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he Prov. 19. 17.Prov 19:17hath given, will he pay him againe: and againe, If thou p. 22wilt hearken unto me, and obserue to doe all these things, Deut. 28. 2. 14.Deut 28:2Deut 28:14then all these blessings shall come on thee and over-take thee, blessings in the city and in the field, &c. If men did in good earnest personally, and hypothetically, beleeve and embrace these divine truths, How could it be, that men should grudge Almighty God and his worship every farthing which he requires from them of his owne gifts, that they should date let the service and house of God lie dumbe and naked, that they should shut up their bowels of compassion against their poore brethren,Matth. 25. 42.Matt 25:42 and in them venture to denie Christ himselfe a morsell of bread or a mite of monie, that they should neglect the obedience, prophane the name, word, and worship of God, use all base and unwarrantable arts of getting, and all this out of love of that life, and greedinesse of that gaine, which yet themselves, in their generall subscription to Gods truth, have confessed, will either never be gotten, or at least never blessed, by such cursed courses? so prodigious a property is there in worldly things to obliterate all notions of God out of the heart of a man, and to harden him to any impudent abominations. I Ier. 22. 21.Jer 22:21spake unto thee in thy prosperity, saith the Lord, but thou saidst, I will not heare. According to their pasture, so Hos. 13. 6.Hos 13:6were they filled, they were filled and their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me. Take heede, lest Deut. 6. 10, 11, 12. Deut. 8. 10. 18. Iam. 2. 5. Matth. 11. 5. 25Deut 6:10Deut 6:11Deut 6:12Deut 8:10Deut 8:18Jas 2:5Matt 11:5Matt 11:25when thou hast eaten and art full, thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God. Therefore it is that we reade of the Poorerich in faith, and of the Gospell preached to the Poore, and revealed unto babes; because greatnesse and abundance stops the eare, and hardens the heart, and makes men stand at defiance with the simplicitie of the Gospell.

Now then that we may be instructed how to use the Creature, as becommeth a dead and impotent thing, wee may make use of these few directions. First, have thine Eye ever upon the Power of God, which alone animateth p. 23and raiseth the Creature to that pitch of livelihood which is in it, and who alone hath infinite wayes to weaken the strongest, or to arme the weakest Creature against the stoutest sinner. Peradventure thou hast as much lands and possessions, as many sheepe and oxen as Iob or Nabal; yet thou hast not the lordship of theforeign. Chrysost. Hom. 2. ad pop. Antioch. clouds, God can harden the heavens over thee, hee can send the mildew and canker into thy corne, the rot and murren into thy cattell; though thy barnes bee full of corne, and thy fats overflow with new wine, yet he can breake the staffe of thy bread, that the flowre and theHos. 9. 2.Hos 9:2 winepresse shall not feed thee; though thou have a house full of silver and gold, he can put holes into every bagge, and chinkes into every Cisterne, that it shall all sinke away like a winter torrent. God can either denie thee aEccles. 6. 1, 2.Eccl 6:1Eccl 6:2 power and will to enjoy it, and this is as sore a disease as poverty it selfe: or else hee can take away thy strengthQuantumlibet delectent jactantia divitiarum, & tumor honorum, & vorago popinarum, & bella theatricorum, &c. Aufert omnia ista una febricula, & adhuc viventibus totam falsam beatitudinē subtrahit; remanet inanis & saucia consciencia. Aug. de Catechiz. Rud. ca. 16. Gen. 4. 7.Gen 4:7 that thou shalt not relish any of thy choisest delicates; he can send a stone or a gowte that shall make thee willing to buy with all thy riches a poore and a dishonorable health; and, which is yet worst of all, he can open thy conscience, and let in upon thy Soule that lyon which lies at the dore, amaze thee with the sight of thine owne sinnes, the historie of thine evill life, the experience of his terrours, the glimpses and preoccupations of hell, the evident presumptions of irreconciliation with him; the frenzie of Cain, the despaire of Iudas, the madnesse of Achitophel, the trembling of Felix, which will damp all thy delights, and make all thy sweetest morsels as the white of an Egge; at which pinch, however now thou admire and adore thy thicke clay, thou wouldest count it the wisest bargaine thou did'st ever make, to give all thy goods to the poore, to goe bare-foote the whole day with the Prophet Esay, to dresse thy meate with the dung of a man, as the Lord commanded the Prophet Ezekiel, to feede with Micajah in a dungeon on bread p. 24of affliction and water of affliction for many yeeres together, that by these or any other meanes thou mightest purchase that inestimable peace, which the whole earth, though changed into a Globe of Gold, or Center of Diamond cannot procure. So uttterly unable are all the Creatures in the world to give life, as that they cannot preserue it intire from forraine or domestique assaults, nor remove those dumps and pressures which doe any way disquiet it.

Secondly, to remove this naturall deadnesse of the Creature, or rather to recompence it by the accession of a Blessing from God, use meanes to reduce it unto its primitive Goodnesse. The Apostle shewes us the way. Every Creature of God is good, being sanctified by the 1. Tim. 4. 4.1 Tim 4:4Word of God and by Prayer. In which place, because it is a text then which there are few places of Scripture that come more into dayly and generall use with all sorts of men, it will be needfull to unfold; 1. What it meant by the sanctification of the Creature. 2. How it is sanctified by the Word. 3. How wee are to sanctifie it to our selves by Prayer.

For the first, The Creature is then sanctified, when the curse and poison which sin brought upon it is remooved, when we can use the Creature with a cleane conscience, and with assurance of a renewed and comfortable estate in them. It is an Allusion to legall purifications and differences of meates, Levit. 11. No Creature is impure of it selfe, saith the Apostle, in its owne simple created nature:Rom. 14. 14.Rom 14:14 But in as much as the sinne of man forfeited all his interest in the Creature, because eo ipso a man is legally dead; and a condemn'd man is utterly depriu'd the right of any worldly goods (nothing is his ex jure, but onelyonly ex largitate) and in as much as the sinne of man hath made him▪ though not a sacrilegious intruder, yet a prophane abuser of the good things which remaine, partly by inditect procuring them, partly by despising the author p. 25of them, by mustering up Gods owne gifts against him in riot, luxurie, pride, uncleanenesse, earthly mindednesse, hereby it comes to passe that to the uncleane all things are uncleane, because their mindes and consciences Tit. 1. 15.Titus 1:15are defiled. Now the whole Creation being thus by the sinne of man uncleane, and by consequence unfitted for humane use, as Saint Peter intimates, I never eate any Act. 10. 14.Acts 10:14thing common or uncleane, it was therefore requisite that the Creature should have some Purification, before it was unto men allowed: Which was indeede legally done in the Ceremonie, but really in the substance and body of the Ceremonie by Christ, who hath now unto us in their use, and will at last for themselves in their owne being, deliver the Creatures from that vanity and malediction, unto which by reason of the sinne of man they were subjected, and fashion them unto the glorious Rom. 8. 20, 21.Rom 8:20Rom 8:21liberty of the Children of God, make them fit palaces for the saints to inhabit, or conferre upon them a glory which shall bee in the proportion of their natures a suteable advancement unto them, as the glory of the Children of God shall be unto them. The bloud of Christ doth not onelyonly renew and purifie the soule and body of man, but washeth away the curse and dirt which adhereth toEph. 5. 26.Eph 5:26 every Creature that man useth; doth not only clense and sanctifie his church, but reneweth all the Creatures, Behold,Revel. 21. 5.Rev 21:5 saith he, I make All things New; and if any man be in Christ, not onelyonly He is a New Creature, but saith2. Cor. 5. 17.2 Cor 5:17 the Apostle, All things are become New. Those men then who keepe themselves out of Christ, and are by consequence under the Curse, as their persons, so their possessions are still under the curse, as their consciences, so their estates are still uncleane; they eate their meate like Swine rol'd up in dirt, the dirt of their owne sinne, and of Gods malediction. So then the Creature is then sanctified, when the curse thereof is washed away by Christ.

p. 26Now secondly, let us see How the Creature is sanctified by the Word.

By Word wee are not to understand the Word of Creation, wherein God spake and all things were made Good and serviceable to the use of man. For sinne came after that Word, and defaced as well the goodnesse which God put into the Creature, as his Image which he put into man. But by Word I understand first in generall Gods Command and Blessing which strengtheneth the Creature unto those operations for which they serue: in which sense our Saviour useth it, Matth. 4. 4. and elsewhere, If ye call those Gods unto whom the Word of God Ioh. 10. 35. 36.John 10:35John 10:36came, that is, who by Gods Authority and Commission are fitted for subordinate services of Gouernement under him, say ye of him whom the Father hath Heb. 5. 5. Ioh. 6. 27. 37. 40. Act. 4. 27. Ioh. 10. 18.Heb 5:5John 6:27John 6:37John 6:40Acts 4:27John 10:18sanctified, that is, to whom the Word of the Father and his Commission or Command came, to whom the Father hath given Authoritie by his zzIoh. 5. 22. 27. 30. Matth. 28. 18.John 5:22John 5:27John 5:30Matt 28:18Power, and fitnesse by his Esai. 11. 2, 3, 4. Ioh. 3. 34, 35.Isa 11:2Isa 11:3Isa 11:4John 3:34John 3:35Spirit to Iudge, and save the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Sonne of God? Secondly, by that Word I understand more particularly the Fountaine of that Blessing, which the Apostle cals in generall the Word of Truth, and more particularly, The Gospell of Salvation, Eph. 1. 13.Eph 1:13and this word is a sanctifying Word; Sanctifie them by Ioh. 17. 17.John 17:17thy truth, thy Word is Truth: and as it sanctifies us, so it sanctifies the Creatures too, it is the Fountaine not onelyonly of Eternall, but of Temporall Blessings. And therefore we finde Christ did not onelyonly say unto the sicke of the Palsie, Thy sinnes are forgiven thee, but also Arise and Matth. 9. 2, 6.Matt 9:2Matt 9:6walke, intimating, that Temporall Blessings come along with the Gospell, it hath the Promises as well of this life 1. Tim. 4. 8. Psal. 37. 25. Heb. 13. 5.1 Tim 4:8Ps 37:25Heb 13:5as that to come. I never saw the righteous forsaken, saith the Prophet David (suteable to that of the Apostle, He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee) nor their seed begging their bread; That is, never so wholly by God forsaken, if they were the seed of the Righteous, p. 27inheritors of their fathers hope and profession, as to make a constant trade of begging their bread, and so to expose the promises of Christ, that they which seeke the kingdomeMatth. 6. 33.Matt 6:33 of heaven shall have all other things added to them, unto reproach and imputation from wicked men. Or thus, I never saw the righteous forsaken, or their seede forsaken by God, though they beg'd their bread, but even in that extremitie God was present with them, to sanctifie to their use, and to give them a comfortable enjoyment of that very bread which the exigencie of their present condition had constrained them to begge. Thus we see in generall, That the Blessing or Command of God, and the fountaine of that blessing, the Gospell of Salvation, doe sanctifie the Creature.

But yet neither by the Blessing nor the Gospell is the Creature effectually sanctified unto us, till it be by us apprehended with the Word and Promise, and this is doneHeb. 4. 2.Heb 4:2 by Faith; for the Word, saith the Apostle, profited not those that heard it, because it was not mingled or temper'd foreign. in 1. Cor. homil. 2. Chrysost.with faith. For Faith hath this singular operation, to particularize and single out God and his Promises unto a mansselfe; So then the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Blessing beleeved and embraced, whereby we come to have a neerer right and peculiarity in the Creatures which we enjoy: for being by Faith united unto ChristEphes 3. 17. Gal. 2. 20.Eph 3:17Gal 2:20 and made one with him (which is that noble effect of faith to incorporate Christ and a Christian together) we thereby share with him in the inheritance, not onelyonly ofRom. 8. 17.Rom 8:17 Eternall life, but even of the common Creatures. Fellow Heires we are and Copartners with him; therefore in as much as God hath appointed him to be Heire of All Heb. 1. 2.Heb 1:2things, as the Apostle speakes, we likewise, in the vertue of our fellowship with him, must in a subordinate sense1. Ioh. 1. 3.1 John 1:3 be Heires of all things too. All is yours, saith the Apostle,1. Cor. 3. 21, 23. Rom. 8. 32. Aug. epist. 89.1 Cor 3:211 Cor 3:23Rom 8:32 and you are Christs, and Christ is Gods. Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est, The Saints, saith Saint p. 28Austin, have All the world for their possession. And if it be here demanded how this can be true, since wee finde the Saints of God often in great want, and it would doubtlesse bee sinne in them to usurpe another mans goods upon presumption of that promise that Christ is theirs, and with him all things: To this I answere, first in generall, As Christ though he were the Heire of All2. Cor. 8. 9.2 Cor 8:9 things, yet for our sakes became poore, that we by his poverty might be made rich: so God oftentimes pleaseth to make the faithfull partake not onelyonly in the priviledges, but in the poverty of Christ, that even by that meanes they may be rich in faith and dependance upon God, as Saint Iames spake, Having nothing, and yet possessing Iam. 2. 5.Jas 2:5All things. Secondly, All is ours in regard of2. Cor. 6. 10.2 Cor 6:10 Christian liberty, though our hands are bound from the possession, yet our Consciences are not bound from the use of any. Thirdly, Though the faithfull have not in the right of their inheritance any monopolie or ingrossement of the Creatures to themselves, yet still they have and shall have the service of them All. That is thus; If it were possible for any member of Christ to stand absolutely in neede of the use and service of the whole Creation, All the Creatures in the world should undoubtedly waite upon him, and bee appropriated unto him. The Moone should stand still, the Sunne goe backe, the Lions should stop their mouths, the Fire should give over burning, the Ravens should bring him meate, the Heavens should raine downe bread, the Rockes should gush out with water, all the Creatures should muster up themselves to defend the Body of Christ. But though no such absolute necessity shall ever be, yet ordinarily we must learne to beleeve, That those things which God allowes us are best suteable to our particular estate, God knowing us better then we doe our selves: that as lesse would haply make us repine, so more would make us full, and lift up our hearts against God, and set them on the world; p. 29so that All is ours, not absolutely, but subordinately, serviceably according to the exigence of our condition, to the proportion of our faith and furtherance of our Saluation.

The third particular inquire into was, How we doe by Prayer sanctifie the Creature to our selves? This is done in these three courses. 1. In procuring them. We ought not to set about any of our lawfull and just callings without a particular addressing our selves unto God in Prayer. This was the practise of good Eleazer Abrahams servant, when he was emploi'd in finding out a wife for his masters sonne, **Gen. 24. 12.Gen 24:12O Lord God of my master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this day: and this also was the practise of good Nehemiah in the distresses of his people, **Nehem. …. 4.I prayed unto the God of heaven, and then I spake unto the king. And surely the very Heathen themselves shall in this point rise up in judgement against many prophane Christians, who looke oftner upon their gold then upon their God, as Salvian speakes. We reade often in their writings that in any generall aaMorbis grassantibus vel prodigijs nunciatis Pacem Deûm exposci moris erat, vide Brisson. de Formul. lib. 1. pa. 81. edit. 1592Calamitie they did joyntly implore the peace and favour of their idolatrous gods; that in any bbPlin. Panegyr. Bene ac sapienter majores instituerunt ut rerum agendarum, ita dicendi ini…ium à Precationibus capere, &c. Sueton. in Aug. cap. 35. vid. Brisson. de Form. lib. 1. pag. 42. Et Coqu… …ommentaria in Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. cap. 8. num. 2.matter of consequence they made their entrie upon it by Prayer, commending the successe thereof to the power and providence of those deities which they beleeved. In so much that we read of ccLivius li…. 26. A. Gel. Noct. Attic. lib▪ 7. cap. 1. C…s ab A… describitur … dedita, … Civit. Dei. lib. 3. . cap. 21.Pub. Scipio a great Romane, that he ever went to the Capitole before to the Senate, and began all the businesses of the Common-wealth with Prayer. How much more the… ought we to doe it, who have not onelyonly the Law and Dictate of nature to guide us, who have not deafe and impotent idols to direct our Prayers to, as their gods were; but have first The Law of Christ requiring it; dd…ph. 6. 18. 1. Thell. 5. 17. Phil. 4. 6.Phil 4:6Pray Alwayes. Pray without ceasing. In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thankesgiving, let your requests be made knowne to God. Who have secondly the Example of Christ to enforce it, for not onelyonly p. 30aaMarke 1 35.Mark 1:35Morning and bbMatth 1…. 23.Matt 1:23Evening was it his ccLuk. 21. 39.Luke 21:39Custome to Pray; but upon every other solemne occasion. Before his ddMark 1. 3…. 38.Mark 1:3Mark 1:38Preaching, before his eeMark. 6. 41.Mark 6:41Eating, before the ffLuk. 9. 12, 13.Luke 9:12Luke 9:13Election of his Disciples, before his ggLuk. 9. 28.Luke 9:28Transfiguration in the mount, hhMatth. 26. 36. Ioh. 17. 1.Matt 26:36John 17:1before and iiHeb▪ 5. 7.Heb 5:7in his Passion; Who have thirdly from Christ That Legitimate, Ordinarie, Fundamentall Prayer, as kk… orat. cap. 9.Tertullian cals it, The Lords Prayer, as a Rule and Directorie by him framed to instruct us how to Pray, and to bound and confine our extravagant and vast desires; Who lastly have also the Altar of Christ to receive, the Incense of Christ to perfume, the Name and Intercession of Christ to present our Prayers unto God by, who have Christ sanctifying, and, as I may so speake, praying our prayers unto hi… Father for us; as we read of the Angell of the Covenant, who had a golden Censer Revel. 8. 3, 4.Rev 8:3Rev 8:4and much incense, to offer up the Prayers of the Saints, which was nothing else but the mediation of Christ bearing the iniquitie of our holy things, as Aaron was appointedExod. 28. 38.Exod 28:38 to doe; nothing but his intercession for us at the rightRom. 8. 34.Rom 8:34 hand of his Father. I say, how much more reason …ave we, then any Gentile could have, to consecrate all our enterprises with Prayer unto God? Humbly to acknowledge how justly he might blast all o…r businesses, and make us labour in the fire; that unlesse he keepe the City the watchman watcheth but in vaine; that unlesse hee build the house their labour is in vaine that build it; that unlesse he give the increase, the planting of Paul, and the watering of Apollo are but emptie breath; that it is onelyonly his blessing on the diligent hand which maketh rich without any sorrow; that unlesse he be pleased to favour our attempts, neither the plotting of our heads, nor the solicitous…esse of our hearts, …or the drudgerie of our hands, nor the whole cōcurrence of our created strength, nor any accessorie assistances which we can procure will be able to bring to passe the otherwise most obvious and feasible Events: and therefore to implore his Direction p. 31in all our counsels, his concurrence with all our Actions, his blessing on all our undertakings, and his glory as the sole end of all that either we are or doe. For by this meanes we doe First acknowledge our dependencie on God as the first cause, and give him the glory of his soveraigne Power and Dominion over all second agents, in acknowledging2. Chron. 20. 6. 2. Chron. 14. 11 Matth. 8. 2.2 Chr 20:62 Chr 14:11Matt 8:2 that without him we can doe nothing, and the power of God is the Ground of Prayer. Secondly, by this meanes we put God in minde of his Promises, andEsai. 43. 76.Isa 43:76 so acknowledge not our dependence on his power only, but on his Truth and Goodnesse too: And the Promises and Truth of God are the foundation of all our Prayers. That which encouraged Daniel to set his faceDan. 9 1, 2, 3.Dan 9:1Dan 9:2Dan 9:3 to seeke unto God in Prayer for the restitution of libertie out of Babylon was Gods Promise and Truth revealed by Ieremie the Prophet, that hee would accomplish but s…ventie yeeres in the desolation of Ierusalem. That which encouraged Iehosaphat to seeke unto God against2 Chron. 20. 9.2 Chr 20:9 the multitude of Moabites which came up against him, was his Promise that he would heare and helpe those that did pray towards his house in their affliction. That which encouraged David to pray unto God for the stability of his house, was the Covenant and Truth of God,2. Sam. 7. 27, 28, 29.2 Sam 7:272 Sam 7:282 Sam 7:29 Thou hast revealed to thy Servant, saying, I will build thee an house, therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this Prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord, thou art That God, that is, the same God in thy fidelity and mercy, as then thou wert, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodnesse to thy servant; therefore let it please thee to blesse the house of thy Servant, &c. Excellent to this purpose is that which S. Austin obserues of his mother, who very often and earnestly prayed untoAug …. lib. …. cap. 9. God for h…r sonne when he was an Hereticke, Chirographa tua ingerebat tibi, Lord, saith he, she urged thee with thine owne hand-writing, she challenged in an humble and fearefull confidence the performance of thine owne p. 32obligations. Thirdly and lastly, by this meanes wee hasten the performance of Gods decreed mercies; we retardate, yea quite hinder his almost purposed and decreed Iudgements. The Lord had resolved to restore Israel to their wonted peace and honour, yet for all these things Ezek. 36. 37.Ezek 36:37will I be enquired vntounto by the House of Israel to doe it for them, saith He in the Prophet. The Lord had threatned destruction against Israel for their Idolatry, had not Moses Psal. 106.Ps 106stood before him in the breach to turne away his wrath, as the Psalmist speakes. And we reade of the PrimitiveIustin Martyr Apolog. Christians, that their prayers procured raine from heaven, when the Armies of the Emperours were evenTertul. Apol. c. 5. famished for want of water, and that their very persecutors have begg'd their prayers.

Secondly, as by prayer the Creature is sanctified in the procurement (for no man hath reason to beleeue that there is any blessing intended vntounto him by God in any of the good things which doe not come in vntounto him by prayer) so in the next place the Creature is by Prayer sanctified in the fruition thereof; because, to enjoy the portion allotted us, and to rejoyce in our labour, is the Gift of God, as Salomon speakes. The Creature of itEccles. 5. 19.Eccl 5:19 selfe is not onelyonly Dead, and therefore unable to minister life by it selfe alone, but, which is worse, by the meanes of mans sinne, it is Deadly too, and therefore apt to poyson the receivers of it without the corrective of Gods Grace. Pleasure is a thing in it selfe lawfull; but corruption of nature is apt to make a man a lover of pleasure, more2. Tim. 3. 4.2 Tim 3:4 then a lover of God, and then is that mans pleasure made unto him the metropolis of mischiefe, as Clemens Alexand…inus speakes. A good name is better then sweetEccles. 7. 1. Pro…. 22. 1.Eccl 7:1 oyntment, and more to be desired then much riches; but corruption is apt to put a flie of vaine-glory and selfeaffectation into this oyntment, to make a man foolishly feed upon his owne credit, and with the Pharisies to doe▪ Matth. 23. 5. Ioh. 5. 44. 12. 43.Matt 23:5John 5:44John 5:12John 5:43all for applause, and preferre the praise of men before the p. 33glory of God; and then our sweet oyntment is degenerated into a curse; Woe bee unto you, when all men shall Luk. 6. 26.Luke 6:26speake well of you. Riches of themselves are the good gifts and blessings of God, as Salomon saith, The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, but corruption is apt to breed by this meanes covetousnesse, pride, selfe-dependency, forgetfulnesse of God, scorne of the Gospell, and the like; and then these earthly blessings are turned into the curse of the earth, into Thornes and Briers, as the Apostle speakes, They that will be rich pierce themselves thorow 1. Tim. 6. 10.1 Tim 6:10with many sorrowes. Learning in it selfe is an honourable and a noble endowment; it is recorded for the glory of Moses, that hee was learned in all the wisedomeAct. 7. 22.Acts 7:22 of the Egyptians: but corruption is apt to turne learning into leauen, to infect the heart with pride, which being arm'd and seconded with wit breakes forth into perverse disputes, and corrupts the minde. ThereforeCol. 2. 4. 8.Col 2:4Col 2:8 Saint Paul advised the Christians of his time, to beware lest any man spoile them through Philosophy and begvile them with entising words. And the ancient Fathers counted the aaTertul. de praescript. cap. 7. de Idolatr. cap. 10. Hieron. contr. Luciser. cum praefat. Erasmi. vid. Pet. Erodium. Decret. lib. 1. Tit. 6. §. 2. Hook. l. 5. §. 3.Philosophers the Seminaries of heresie. Proofe whereof, to let passe the Antitrinitarians and Pelagians, and other ancient Here…ikes, who out of the nicenesse of a quaint wit perverted Gods truth to the patronage of their lyes; and to passe by the Schoolemen and Iesuites of late Ages, who hauehave made the way to heaven a very labyrinth of crooked subtilties, and have weav'd Divinity into Cobwebs; wee may have abundantly in those Libertines and Cyrenians, who disputedbbSee Reynolds …. c. 2. diuis. 3 p…g. 72. Act 6. and 17. Eccles. 12. 12. Rom. 1. 22. 2. Tim. 3. 9.Acts 6Eccl 12:12Rom 1:222 Tim 3:9 with Stephen, and those Stoicks that wrangled with Saint Paul about the resurrection. And now learning being thus corrupted is not onelyonly turned into wearinesse, but into very notorious and damnable folly, for thinking themselves wise, saith the Apostle, they became fooles, and their folly shall be made k…owne unto all men. To get wealth in an honest and painefull Calling is a p. 34great blessing▪ for the diligent hand maketh rich; but corruption is apt to perswade unto cozenage, lying, equivocation, fals weights, ingrossements, monopolies and other Arts of cruelty and unjustice, and by this meanes ou… law full Callings are turned into abominations, mysteries ofDeut. 25. 14. 16. Prov. 20. 10. 23. Prov. 21. 6.Deut 25:14Deut 25:16Prov 20:10Prov 20:23Prov 21:6 iniquity, and a pursuit of death. Every creature of God is good in it selfe, and allowed both for necessitie and delight; but corruption is apt to abuse the Creatures to luxury and excesse, to drunkennesse, gluttony and inordinate lusts, and by this meanes a mans table is turned into a Snare, as the Psalmist speakes. Now then since all the world is thus bespread with ginnes, it mainely concernes us alwayes to pray, that we may use the world as not abusing it, that wee may enjoy the Creatures with such wisedome, temperance, sobriety, heavenly affections, as may make them so, many ascents to raise us neerer unto God, as so many glasses in which to contemplate the wisedome, providence, and care of God to men, as so many witnesses of his love, and of our duty. And thus doth prayer sanctifie the Creature in the use of it.

Lastly, and in one word, Prayer sanctifies the Creatures in the review and recognition of them. and Gods mercy in them, with thanksgiving and thoughts of praise, as Iacob, Gen. 32. 9. 10. and David, 2. Sam. 7. 18. 21. looked upon God in the blessings with which hee had blessed them. And now since Prayer doth thus sanctifie the Creatures unto us, wee should make friends of the unrighteous Mammon, that wee may by that meanes get the prayers of the poore Saints upon us and our estate, that the eye which seeth us may blesse us, and the care that heareth us may give witnesse to us; that the loynes and the mouthes, the backes and the bellies of the poore and fatherlesse may be as so many reall supplications unto God for us.

The third and last direction which I shall give you to finde life in the Creature, shall bee to looke on it, and p. 35love it in its right order, with subordination to God and his promises; to love it after God, and for God, as the beame which conveyes the influences of life from him; as his instrument, moved and moderated by him to those ends for which it serves; to love it as the Cisterne, not as the fountaine of life; to make Christ the foundation, and all other things but as accessions unto him. Otherwise if wee love it either alone, or above Christ, however itIn cofundamentum non est Christꝰ cui cae…era praeponuntur. Aug. de Civ. dei. lib. 21. cap. 26. Luk. 12. 25.Luke 12:25 may by Gods providence keepe our breath a while in our nostrils, and fatten us against the last day, yet impossible it is that it should ever minister the true and solid comforts of life unto us, which consisteth not in the abundance of things which a man possesseth, as our Saviour speakes. Life goes not upward▪ but downeward, the inferiour derives it not on the superiour; therefore by placing the Creature in our estimation above Christ, we deny unto it any influence of livelihood from him, whom yet in words we professe to be the fountaine of life. But men will object and say, This is a needlesse caution not to preferre the Creature before the Creator, as if any man were so impious and absurd. Surely Saint Paul tells us, that2. Thes. 3. 2. Multi no… a Christi vnitate sed a suis commodis nolunt recedere. Aug. de Baptis. lib 4. c. 10. Mark 5. 17. Psal. 106. 24. Act. 7. 39. Mal. 1. 7. Zech. 11. 12. Uti volunt Deo vt fruantur mund…. Aug. de Civ. dei. lib. 15. cap. 7.2 Thess 3:2Mark 5:17Ps 106:24Acts 7:39Mal 1:7Zech 11:12 men without faith are impious and absurd men, who doe in their affections and practises as undoubtedly undervalue Christ, as the Gadarens that preferred their Swine before him. What else did Esau, when for a messe of pottage he sold away his birth-right, which was a priviledge that led to Christ? What else did the people in the Wildernesse, who despised the holy Land, which was the type of Christs Kingdome, and in their hearts turned backe to Egypt? What else did those wicked Israelites, who polluted the Table of the Lord, and made his Altar contemptible, which was a type of Christ? What else did Iudas and the Iewes, who sold and bought the Lord of glory for the price of a beast? What else doe daily those men, who make Religion serve turnes, and godlinesse waite upon gaine? who creepe into houses with a p. 36forme of pietie, to seduce unstable foules, and plucke off their feathers to make themselves a neast? The Apostles Rule is generall, that sensuall and earthly-minded men are all the enemies of the Crosse of Christ, Phil. 3. 18. 19.

The third and last disproportion betweene the soule of Man and the Creature arising from the vanit…e thereof, is in regard of duration and continuance. Man is by nature a provident Creature, apt to lay up for the time to come, and that disposition should reach beyond the forecast of the Foole in the Gospell for many yeeres, even for immortalitie it selfe▪ For certainely there is no man who hath but the generall notions of corrupted reason alive within him, who hath not his conscience quite vitiated, and his minde putrified with noysome lusts, who is not wrapped up in the mud of thicke ignorance, and palpable stupiditie, but must of necessitie have oftentimes the immediate representations of immortalitie before his eyes. Let him never so much smother and suppresse the truth, let him with all the Arte he can divert his conceits, and entangle his thoughts in secular cares, let him shut his eye-lids as close as his naile is to his flesh, yet the flashes of immortalitie are of so penetrative and searching a nature, that they will undoubtedly get through all the obstacles, which a minde not wholly over-dawb'd with worldlinesse and ignorance can put betweene. Therefore the Apostle useth that for a strong argument, why rich men should not trust in uncertaine riches, but in the living God, and should be rich in good workes, That so, saith he, they may lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternall life, 1. Tim. 6. 17. 19. Wicked men indeed lay up in store, butAmos. 3. 10. lam. 5. 3.Amos 3:10 it is not riches, but wrath, even violence and oppression against the last day. But by trusting God, and doing good a man layes up durable Riches, as the wise ManProu. 8. 18.Prov 8:18 speakes; in which respect he presently addes, That the fruit of wisedome is better then Gold. For though Gold p. 37be of all Mettals the most solid, and therefore least subject to decay, yet it is not immortall and durable riches; for the Apostle tels us, that silver and gold are corruptible 1. Pet 1. 18. Iam. 5. 2.1 Pet 1:18Jas 5:2things, and that there is a rust and canker which … up the gold and silver of wicked men. I confesse the hearts of many men are so glewed unto the world, especially when they finde all things succeed prosperously with them that they are apt enough to set up their rest, and to conceite a kinde of stedfastnesse in the things they possesse. Because they hauehave no changes. saith the ProphetPsal. 55. 19.Ps 55:19 David, therefore they feare not God. But yet I say, where the Lord doth not wholly give a man over to heape up2. Pet. 3. 4.2 Pet 3:4 treasures unto the last day, to be eaten up with the canker of his owne wealth, the soule must of necess…y sometime or other happen upon such sad thoughts as these. What ailes my foolish heart thus to eate up it selfe with care, and to rob mine eyes of their beloved sleepe for such things, as to the which the time will come when I must bid an everlasting farewell? Am I not a poore mortall Creature, brother to the Wormes, sister to the Dus…? Doe I not carry about with mee a soule full of corruptions, a skinne full of diseases? Is not my breath in my nostrils, where there is roome enough for it to goe out, and possibility never to come in again? Is my flesh of brasse, or my bones of iron, that I should thinke to hold out, and without interruption to enjoy these earthly things? Or if they were, yet are not the Creatures themselves subject to period and mortalitie? Is there not a Moth in my richest garments, a Worme in my tallest Cedars, a Canker and rust in my fi…nest Gold to corrupt and eate it out? Or if not, will there not come a day, when the whole frame of Nature shall bee set on fire, and the Elements themselves shall melt with heate, when that universall flame shall devoure all the bagges, and lands, and offices, and honours, and treasures, and store▪houses of worldly men? When Heaven and Hell shall divide the World; p. 38Heaven, into which nothing can be admitted which is capable of Moth or rust to corrupt it, and Hel, into which if any such things could come, they would undoubtedly in one instant bee swallowed vp in those violent and unextinguishable flames? And shall I be so foolish as to … my felicity in that which will faile me, when I shall stand in greatest neede, to heape up treasures into a broken bagge, to worke in the fire where all must perish? Certainely the soule of a meere worldly man, who cannot finde God or Christ in the things hee enjoyes, must of necessity be so f…rre from reaping solid or constant comfort from any of these perishable Creatures, that it cannot but ake and tremble, but be wholly surprized with dismall passions, with horrid preapprehensions of its owne wofull estate, upon the evidence of the Creatures mortalitie, and the unavoideable flashes and conviction of its owne everlastingnesse.

Now if we consider the various rootes of this corruption in the Creature, it will then further appeare unto us, that they are not onelyonly mortall, but even momentarie and vanishing:

First, by the Law of their Creation they were made subject to alterations, there was an enmitie and reluctancy in their entirest being.

Secondly, this hath been exceedingly improved by the s…ne of man, whose evill, being the lord of all Creatures, must needs redound to the misery and mortalitie of all his retinue. For it was in the greater World, as in the administration of a private family; the poverty of the Master is felt in the bowels of all the rest, his staine and dishonour runnes into all the members of that society. As it is in the naturall body some parts may be distempered and ill affected alone, others not without contagion on the rest; a man may have a dimme eye, or a withered arme, or a lame foot, or an impedite tongue without any danger to the parts adjoyning; but a lethargie in the p. 39head, or an obstruction in the liver, or a dyspepsie and indisposition in the stomake diffuseth universall malignity through the body, because these are soveraigne and architectonicall parts of man: so likewise is it in the great and vast body of the Creation. However other Creatures might have kept their evill, if any had been in them, within their owne bounds, yet that evill which man, the Lord and head of the whole brought into the world, was a spreading and infectious evill, which conuey'd poyson into the whole frame of nature, and planted the seed of that universall dissolution which shall one day deface with darkenesse and horror the beauty of that glorious frame which wee now admire. It is said that when Corah, Dathan, and Abiram had provoked the Lord by their rebellion against his servants to inflict that fearefull destruction upon them, the earth opened herNumb. 16. 32.Num 16:32 mouth & swallowed not only them up, but al the houses, and men, and goods that appertained to them. Now in like maner the heaven and earth and al inferior Creatures did at first appertaine to Adam: the Lord gave him the free use of them, & dominion over them: when therefore man had committed that notorious rebellion against his maker, which was not only to aspire like Corah and his associates to the height and principality of some fellow Creature, but even to the absolutenesse, wisdome, power and independency of God himselfe, no marvell if the wrath of God did together with him seize upon his house, and all the goods that belongd unto him, bringing in that cō fusion and disorder which we even now see doth breake asunder the bonds and ligaments of nature, doth unjoynt the confedera…ies and societies of the dumbe Creatures, and turneth the armies of the Almighty into mutinies and commotion, which in one word hath so fast manicled the world in the bondag… of corruption, as that it doth alreadyRom 8. 2….Rom 8:2 groane and linger with paine under the sinne of man and the curse of God, and will at last breake forth into p. 40that universall flame which will melt the very Elements2. Pet. 3. 10.2 Pet 3:10 of Nature into their primitive confusion. Thus wee see besides the created limitednesse of the creature, by which it was utterly unsuteable to the immortall desires of the soule of man, the sinne of man hath implanted in them a secret worme and rottennesse which doth▪ set forward their mortalitie, and by adding to them confusion, enmity, disproportion, sedition, inequalitie (all the seeds of corruption) hath made them,Aristet. Polit. lib. 5. cap. 1. 10. not onelyonly as before they were mortall, but which addes one mortalitie to another, even momentary and vanishing too. When any Creature loseth any of its native and created vigour, it is a manifest signe that there is some secret sentence of death gnawing upon it. The excellency of the Heavens wee know is their light, their beauty, their influences upon the lower World, and even these hath the sinne of man defaced. Wee finde when the Lord pleaseth to reveale his wrath against men forRom. 1. 18.Rom 1:18 sinne in any terrible manner, hee doth it from Heaven; There shall be wonders in the Heauen, blood and fire, and Ioel 2. 30.Joel 2:30pillars of smoake, the Sunne shall be turned into darkenesse, and the Moone into blood; and the day of the Lord is called a day of darknesse, and gloominesse, and thicke darknesse. Zeph. 1. 15.Zeph 1:15How often hath Gods heavy displeasure declared it selfe from Heaven in the confusion of nature? in stormes …sal. 11. 6. Psal. …8. 12. Ier. 4. 23. 28. Esay 13. 10. Euseb. H…st. l. 3. cap 8 & Ioseph. de Bello Iudaico lib. 7. cap. 12.Ps 8:12Jer 4:23Jer 4:28Isa 13:10and horrible tempests? in thick clouds and darke waters? in arrowes of lightning and coales of fire? in blacknesse and darkenesse? in brimstone on Sodome, in a flaming sword over Ierusalem, in that fearefull Starre of fire to the Christian World of late yeeres, which hath kindled those woful combustions, the flames whereof are still so great, as that wee our selves, if wee looke upon the merits and provocations of our sinnes, may have reason to feare, that not all the Sea betweene us and our neighbours can bee able to quench till it have scorched and singed us. Wee find likewise by plaine experience how languid the seeds p. 41of life, how faint the vigor either of heavenly influences, or of sublunary and inferiour agents are growne, when that life of men, which was wont to reach to almost a thousand yeeres, is esteemed even a miraculous age, if it be extended but to the tenth part of that duration. WeGen. 3. 17. 18. Hos. 10. 8. Esay 34. 13.Gen 3:17Gen 3:18Hos 10:8Isa 34:13 need not examine the inferiour Creatures, which we find expressely cursed for the sinne of man with Thornes and Briers (the usuall expression of a curse in Scripture.) If we but open our eyes and looke about us, wee shall see what paines Husbandmen take to keepe the earth from giving up the Ghost, in opening the veines thereof, in applying their Soile and Marle as so many Pills or Salves, as so many Cordials and preservatives to keepe it alive, in laying it asleepe, as it were, when it lyeth fallow every second or third yeere, that by any meanes they may preserve in it that life, which they see plainely approching to its last gaspe.