Three Treatises, Treatise 1 (2 of 3)

Three Treatises · Treatise 1 (2 of 3)

p. 41Thus you see how besides the originall limitednesse of the Creature, there is in a second place a Moth or Canker by the infection of sinne begotten in them, which hastens their mortalitie, God ordering the second causes so amongst themselves, that they exercising enmitie one against another, may punish the sinne of man in their contentions, as the Lord stirred up the Babylonians againstIer. 43. 8, 13.Jer 43:8Jer 43:13 the Egyptians to punish the sinnes of his owne people. And therefore wee finde, that the times of the Gospell, when holinesse was to bee more universall, are expressed by such figures, as restore perfection and peace to theEsay 30. 23.Isa 30:23 Creatures. The Earth shall be fat and plenteous, there shall be upon every high hill Rivers and Streames of water, the light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne, and the light of the Sunne sevenfold, as the light of seven dayes. Esay 11. 6. 7. locl 3. 18. Amos 9. 13.Isa 11:6Isa 11:7Amos 9:13And againe, the Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe, and the leopard shall lye downe with the kid, and a Calfe, and a young Lion, and a fatling together, &c. Which places, though figuratively to be understood, have yet me thinks p. 42thus much of the letter in them, to assure us that whatever blemish since the Creation any of those glorious heavenly bodies are either in themselves, or by interposition of foggy vapours subject unto, what ever enmities and destructive qualities enrage one beast against another, they are all of them the consequents of that finne which nothing can remove but the Gospell of Christ. And this is that universall contagion which runneth through the whole frame of Nature into the bowels of every Creature.

But yet further in a third place there is a particular ground of this mortality to many men, namely the Particular curse upon that place or creature which men enioy. For as a piece of oke besides the natural corruptiblenes of it, as it is a body compounded of contrary principles, whereby it would of it selfe at last returne to its dust againe, may further have a worme like Ionah his Gourd eating out the heart of it, & by that meanes hastening its corruption; and yet further besides that may be presently put into the fire, which will make a more speedy riddance then either of the former: Or as in the body of a man, besides the generall consumption, which lingringly feedeth upon the whole, each particular mēber may have a particular disease, which may serve to hasten that corruption to it self, which the other threatens to the whole: so may it be, and often is in the Creatures of God. BesidesQuodcun que nunc …, mundi ipsius senectute degenerat, ut nemo mirari debea… singula in mundo coepisse desicere, cum totus ipsetam mundus in defectione …. Cyprian. …. Dem. Hol. 5. 12. their naturall finitenes, and their generall bondage of corruption, which by a hidden & insensible insinuation doth emasculate the vigor and strength of the Creatures, there may be a Particular Curse, which may serve speedily to hasten that decay, which, without any such concu…rence, would have made hast enough to leave the possessors of them in everlasting penurie. I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Iuda as rottennes, saith the Lord. That is Gods first Instrument of mortality whereby he will certainely though indeed lingtingly consume a p. 43thing. But now if for all this when the Moth secretly consumes him, so that he seeth his sicknesse and feeleth his wound, he will yet trust in his owne counsels and confederacies, sacrifice to his owne net, goe to Assyria or King Iareb for succour, I will then be unto Ephraim as a Lyon, in a more sudden and swift destruction. As he dealeth thus with men, so with the things about them too, first he puts a Moth into them, rust in our gold, canker in our siluer, hartlessenesse in our earth, faintnesse in the influences of heauen; and if notwithstanding all this men will still trust in the Cisterne, God will put holes into it too, which shall make it runne out as fast as they fill it; heeProv. 23. 5.Prov 23:5 will giuegive wings to their monie, encrease the occasions of expence: and if they clip their wings, that they fly not away, he will make holes in the bottome of their baggsEccles 5. 11.Eccl 5:11 that they shall droppe away: he will not onelyonly send a▪ Moth and rust which shall in time eate them out, but heeHag. 1. 6.Hag 1:6 will send a Thiefe upon them too, which shall suddenly breake through and carry them away. So many steps and gradations are there in the mortality of the creature, when God pleaseth to adde his curse unto them for sin. As for Ephr…im, saith the Lord, their Glory shall fly away Hos. 9. 11.Hos 9:11like a Bird, from the birth, and from the wombe, and from the conception. Observe the gradations of mortality in the best blessings we enjoy, in our very glory, namely ourPsal. 127. 3. 5.Ps 127:3Ps 127:5 children, which are called an Inheritance and reward to take away shame from their parents. They shall fly away like a bird, that notes the swiftnesse of the Iudgement, and that first from the birth; as soone as they are borne the murtherer shall destroy them: yea from the wombe; before they be borne they shall perish, nothing of them shall be enjoyd but the hope, and if that be too much, here is a degree as low as can be, from the very conception they shall miscarry and prove abortive. I Amos 3. 15.Amos 3:15will smite the winter house and the summer house, the houses of Ivori…, and the great houses shall have an end. If p. 44the Lord undertake to smite, if he send abroad the fire of his wrath, it shall seize on those palaces and great housesAmos 1. 4. Psal. 49. 11.Amos 1:4Ps 49:11 which men thought should have endured unto all generations. For that Flying role, importing Iudgement decreed,Zach. 5. 4.Zech 5:4 and sudden, which was sent over the whole earth against the Thiefe and the swearer, did not onelyonly smite the man, but his house, and like a leprosie consume the very timber and stones thereof. Therefore wee read inLevit. 14. 35. 55.Lev 14:35Lev 14:55 the Leviticall law of leprosies not in men onelyonly but in houses, and garments, intimating unto us, that sinne derives a contagion upon any thing that is about us, and like Ivie in a wall, or that wild Caprificus, wil get rooting in the very substance of the stone in the wall, and breake it asunder. What ever it is that men can finde out vnderunder the Sunne to fasten their hearts upon for Satisfaction and comfort, this leprosie will defile it, and eate it out. If silverIam. 5. 1.Jas 5:1 and gold, besides their secret rust and proper corruption, the Lord can make the thiefe rise up suddenly, and bite the possessors, and so unlade them of their thickeHabak. 2. 6. 7.Hab 2:6Hab 2:7 clay: If Reall substance and encrease, the Lord cast…th away, Prov. 10. 3. Iob 20. 28.Prov 10:3Job 20:28saith the wise man, the substance of the wicked, a…d the increase of his house, saith Iob, shall depart and flow away. If greatnesse and high places, the Lord can put ice vnderunderPsal. 73. 18. 19.Ps 73:18Ps 73:19 their feete, make their places slippery, and subject to a momentarie desolation: If a great name and glory, the Lord cannot onelyonly suffer time and ignorance to draw out all the memorie of a man, but can presently rot hisProv. 10. 7.Prov 10:7 name from under heauen: If Corne and the fruits of the Earth, the Lord can kill it in the blade by with-holdingAmos 4. 7.Amos 4:7 raine three moneths before the Haruest: Hee can send a Thiefe, a Caterpiller, a Palmer worme to eate it up. If itVers. 9. hold out to come into the barne, euen there he can blow upon it and consume it like chaffe. However men thinke when they have their Corne in their houses, and their Wine in their C…llars they are sure and have no more to doe with God, yet he can take away the staffe and lif… of p. 45it in our very houses. Yea when it is in our mouthes andPsal. 78. 30. 31.Ps 78:30Ps 78:31 bowels, he can send leanenesse and a curse after it. Awake ye Drunkards, and howle ye drinkers of wine, saith the Prophet, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from Io…l. 1. 5.your mouths. The Lord could deferre the punishment of these men till the last day, when undoubtedly there will be nothing for them to drinke but that Cup of the Lords Habak. 2. 16. Isai. 51. 17. 22. Ezek. 23. 33.Hab 2:16Isa 51:17Isa 51:22Ezek 23:33right hand as the Prophet calls it: a Cup of fury and trembling, a cup of sorrow, astonishment, and desolation; a Cup which shall make all that drinke thereof to beeIer. 25. 16. 27.Jer 25:16Jer 25:27 moved and mad, to be drunken and fall, and spue, and rise up no more, even that fierce and bitter indignation, in the pouring out of which the Lord shall put to his rightEsai. 62. 8. 2. Thes. 1. 9.Isa 62:82 Thess 1:9 hand, his strong arme, not onelyonly the terror of his presence, but the glory of his power: I say the Lord could let drunkards alone till at last they meet with this Cup, (which undoubtedly they shall doe, if there be either truth in Gods word, or power in his right hand, if there be either Iustice in heaven, or fire in hell) till with Belshazzar they meet with dregs and trembling in the bottome of all their Cups: but yet oftentimes the Lord smites them with a more sudden blow, snatcheth away the Cup from their very mouths, and so makes one Curse anticipate and preuent another. Though Haman and Achitophel should have liv'd out the whole thred of their life, yet at last their honor must have laine downe in the dust with them; Though Iudas could have liv'd a thousand yeares, and could have improv'd the reward of his Masters bloud to the best advantage that ever Vsurer did, yet the rust would at last have seiz'd upon his bags, and his monie must have perished with him: but now the Lord sets forward his Curse, and that which the moth would have been long in doing, the gallows dispatcheth with a more swift destruction. Thus as the body of a man may have many summons and engagements unto one death, may labour at once under many p. 46desperate diseases, all which by a malignant con…unction must needs hasten a mans end (as Cesar was stabd with thirty wounds, each one whereof might have serv'd to let out his soule) so the Creatures of God labouring under a manifold corruption, doe as it were by so many wings post away from the Owners of them, and for that reason must needs be utterly disproportionable to the condition of an Immortall Soule.

Now to make some Application of this particular before wee leave it, This doth first discover and shame the folly of wicked worldlings both in their opinions and affections to earthly things. Love is blinde and will easily make men beleeve that of any thing which they could wish to bee in it: and therefore, because wicked men wish with all their hearts, for the love they beare to the Creatures, that they might continue together for ever, the Divell doth at last so deeply delude them as to thinke that they shall continue for ever. Indeed in these and in the generall, they must needs confesse that one generation commeth and another goeth: but in theirEccles. 1. 4.Eccl 1:4 owne particular they can never assume with any feeling and experimentall assent the truth of that generall to their owne estates: And therefore what ever for shame of the world their outward professions may be, yet the Prophet David assures us, That their inward Psal. 49. 11.Ps 49:11Thoughts, their owne retir'd contrivances and resolutions are, that their houses shall endure for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; and upon this Immortality of stones and monuments they resolve to rest. But the psalmist concludes this to be but brutish and notorious folly, This their way is their folly, they like sheepe are laid downe in their graves, and death feeds upon them. And indeed what a folly is it for men to build upon the sand, to erectan Imaginarie fabrick of I know not what Immortality, which hath not so much as a constant subsistence in the head that contrives it? What man will ever goe about p. 47to build a house with much cost (and when he hath done, to inhabit it himself) of such rotten and inconsistent materials, as will undoubtedly within a yeere or two after fall upon his head, and bury him in the ruines of his owne folly? Now then suppose a man were lord of all the World, and had his life coextended with it, were furnished with wisedome to manage and strength to runne through all the affaires incident to this vast frame, in as ample a measure as any one man for the governement of a private family: yet the Scripture would assure even such a man, that there will come a day in which the heavens shall passe away with a noise, and the elements shall2. Pet. 3. 7. 10.2 Pet 3:72 Pet 3:10 melt with heate, and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up, and that there is but one houre to come before all this shall be, Behold now is the last 1. Ioh. 2. 18.1 John 2:18houre: And what man upon these termes would fix his heart and ground his hopes upon such a tottering bottome, as will within a little while crumble into dust, and leave the poore soule that rested upon it to sinke into hell? But now when we consider that none of us labour for any such inheritance, that the extremitie of any mans hopes can be but to purchase some little patch of earth, which to the whole World cannot beare so neere a proportion, as the smallest molehill to this whole habitable earth; that all we toyle for is but to have our loade of a little thicke clay, as the Prophet speakes, that when wee have gotten it, neither wee nor it shall continue till the universall dissolution, but in the midst of our dearest embracements we may suddenly be puld asunder, and come to a fearefull end, it must needs be more then brutish stupidityEsai. 59. 5.Isa 59:5 for a man to weave the Spiders webs, to wrappe himselfe up from the consumption determined against the whole earth in a covering, that is so infinitely tooEsai. 28. 20.Isa 28:20 short and too narrow for him. Wee will conclude this particular with the doome given by the Prophet Ieremy. As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not, p. 48Ier. 17. 11.Jer 17:11(shee is either caught by the fowler, or her egges are broken) so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his dayes, and in the end shall bee a foole.

Secondly, this serves to justifie the wisedome and providence of God in his proceedings with men: The wicked here provoke God, and cry aloud for vengeance on their owne head, and the Lord seemes to stop his eares at the cry of sinne, and still to loade them with his blessings, he maketh their way to prosper, they take roote, and Ier. 12. 2.Jer 12:2grow and bring forth fruite: they shine like a blazing Comet, and threaten ruine to all that looke upon them; they carry themselves like some Tyrant in a Tragedy, that scatters abroad death with the sparkles of his eyes, and darts out threats against the heaven aboue him; they are like Agag before Samuel, clothed very delicately, and presume that there is no bitternesse to come. And now the impatiency of man, that cannot resolve things into their proper issues, that cannot let iniquitie ripen, nor reconcile one day and a thousand yeeres together, begins to question Gods proceedings, and is afraid le…t the World be governed blindfold, and blessings and curses throwne confusedly abroad for men as it were to scramble and to scuffie for them. But our God who keepeth times and seasons in his owne power, who hath given to every Creature under the Sunne limits which it shall not exceed, hath set bounds unto sinne likewise wherein to ripen. The Starres howsoever they may bee sometimes ecclipsed, have yet a fixed and permanent subsistency in their Orbes; but these Comets though they rise with a greater traine and streame of light, yet at last vanish into ashes, and are seene no more: the Tyrant though in two or three Acts or Scenes he revell it, and disturbe the whole businesse, yet at last hee will goe out in blood and shame▪ even so, though wickedmen flourish and oppresse, and provoke God every day, and p. 49rage like the Sea, yet the Lord hath set their bounds which they shall not passe, they have an appointed timePsal. 124. 5.Ps 124:5 to take their fill of the creature, and then when they have glutted and cloid themselves with excesse, when their humours are growne to a full ripenesse, the Lord will temper them a potion of his wrath, which shall make themHabak. 2. 16.Hab 2:16 turne all up againe, and shamefull spuing shall be on their glory. Thus saith the Lord, For Three transgressions and Amos 1. 2.Amos 1:2for foure I will not turne away the punishment of Damascus and those other Cities. So long as the wicked commit one or too iniquities, so long I forbeare, and expect their repentance; but when they proceed to three, and then adde a fourth, that is, when they are come to that measure of sinne which my patience hath prefixed, then I will hasten my revenge, and not any longer turne away the punishment thereof. In the fourth generation, saith God to Abraham, thy posterity shall come out of the Land where they shall be strangers, and shall inherit this Land, for the iniquitie of the Amorites is not yet full. ThereGen. 15. 16.Gen 15:16 is a time when sinne growes ripe and full and then the sickle comes upon it. When the Prophet saw a basket of summer fruites, that were so ripe as that they were gatheredAmos 8. 1, 2.Amos 8:1Amos 8:2 off the tree, (which was a type of the sinnes of Gods people, which are sooner ripe then the sinnes of Heathen that knew him not, because they have the constant light and heate of his Word to hasten their maturitie) then, saith the Lord, The end is come upon my people, I will not passeby them any more, I will have no more patience towards them. Ieremy what seest thou? I see Ierem. 1. 11. …2.Jer 1:11Jer 1:2the rod of an Almond tree. Thou hast well seene, saith the Lord, for I will hasten my Word to performe it. When men hasten the maturity of sinne like the blossomes of an Almond tree, (which come soonest out) then saith the Lord will I hasten the Iudgements which I have pronounced.Zachar. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.Zech 5:6Zech 5:7Zech 5:8Zech 5:9Zech 5:10Zech 5:11 We reade in the Prophet Zachary of an Ephah, a measure where into all the wickednesse of that people, p. 50figured by a woman, shall bee throwne together, and when this measure of sinnes is full to the brimme, then there is a masse of Lead importing the firmenesse, immutabilitie, and heavinesse of Gods Decree and counsell, which seales up the Ephah, never more to have any sinne put into it, and then come two women with winde in their wings, which are the executioners of Gods …wift and irreversible fury, & carry the Ephah betweene heaven and earth, intimating the publike declaration of the righteous Iudgements of God, into the Land of Shinar, to build it there an house, denoting the constant and perpetuall habitation of the wicked in that place of bondage whither the wrath of God shall drive them (for building of houses argues an abiding.) Put you in the sickle for the harvest Ioel 3. 13.Joel 3:13is ripe; come get you downe, for the presse is full, the fats overflow, for the wickednesse is great. The revenge of sinne is here and elsewhere compared to reaping, and treadingMath. 13. 30. Esay 63. 3. Lament. 3. 15.Matt 13:30Isa 63:3Lam 3:15 the winepresse; and the greatnesse of sinne is here cald the ripenesse of the harvest, and the ouerflowing of the fatts, to shew unto us that there is a time and measure of sinne, beyond which the Lord will not deferre the execution of his vengeance. There are dayes of visitation and recompence for sinne, which being come, Israel whichHos 9. 7. Esai. 26. 11. Esai. 42. 25. Deut. 32. 34. 35. Esai. 65. 6. Ier. 17. 1. Hos. 13. Ier. 2. 22. 24. Hag. 2. 18.Hos 9:7Isa 26:11Isa 42:25Deut 32:34Deut 32:35Isa 65:6Jer 17:1Hos 13Jer 2:22Jer 2:24Hag 2:18 would not know before shall know, that God keepes their sinnes in store sealed vp amongst his treasures, and that therefore their foot shall slip in due time, namely in the day of their calamity, or in their monethmonth, as the Prophet speakes. As Gods blessings have a punctuall time, from the foure and twentieth of the ninth monethmonth, from this day I will blesse you: so likewise have his Iudgements too. The dayes of Man shall bee a hundred and Gen 6 3.Gen 6:3twenty yeeres, to the old World: nor are yeeres onelyonly, but even moneths determined with him, Now shall a monethmonth Hos. 5. 7.Hos 5:7devoure them with their portions, to idolatrous Israel. Nor moneths onelyonly, but dayes and parts of dayes; In a morning shall the King of Israel be cut off, his destructionHos. 10. 15.Hos 10:15 p. 51shall bee as sudden as it is certaine. The wicked plotteth against the …, and goasheth upon him withPsal. 37. 17.Ps 37:17 his teeth: but though hee plot, hee shall not prosper, though hee gnash with his teeth, hee shall not bite with his teeth, for the Lord shall laugh at him▪ because hee seeth that His Day is comming. So much mischiefe as he can doe within the compasse of his chaine, the Lord permits him to doe; but when he is come to His Day, then all his thoughts and projects perish with him. Excellently hath holy Iob stated the Point, with whom I meane to conclude, Their good▪ saith he, is not in their Hand. Riot itIob. 21. 16.Job 21:16 indeed they doe, and take their fill of pleasure for a time, as the fish of the baite, when he hath some scope of line given him to play; but still their Good, their Time, their line is in Gods hand, they are not the Lords of their owne lives and delights. God layeth up his iniquitie for his children, that is, the Lord keepes an exact account of his sinnes, which haply he will r…pay upon the heads of his children, however hee himselfe shall have no more pleasure in his house after him, when once the number of his moneths is cut off in the midst; and in the meane time however he be full of strength, wholly at ease and quiet, yet saith he, The wicked is reserved to the day of destructiction; He is but like a prisoner, shackled peradventure in fetters of Gold, but he shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, and though he could rise out of the grave before Christs tribunall, as Agag appeared before Samuel delicately clothed, yet the sword should cut him in pieces, and bitternesse should overtake him. Thus wee see how infinitely unable the Creature shall bee to shelter a man from the tribunall of Christ, and how wise, just, and wonderfull the Lord is in the administration of the World in bearing with patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and suffering them to muster up his owne blessings against himselfe.

Lastly, this must serue for a needfull Caution to us, to p. 52take heed of deifying the Creatures▪ and attributing that Immortality to them which they are not capable of. ButSolatia miscrorum non gaudia beatorum. Aug. E…ist. 119. Imaginaria in seculo & … veri. Tertul. de coron. mil. ca. 13. in as much as they are onelyonly for present refreshment in this vale of misery, and have no matter of reall and abiding happinesse in them, not to looke on them with an admiring or adoring eye, but to use them with such due correctives as become such mortall and meane things.

First in using the Creature, be sure thou keepe thine intellectuals untainted; for earthly things are apt to cast a filme over mens eyes, and to misguide them into corrupt apprehensions and presumptions of them. We find nothing more frequent in the Prophets then to upbraid the people with their strange cōfidences which they were wont to rest upon against all the judgements which were denounced against them, by objecting their wealth, greatnesse, strong confederacies, inexpugnable munitions, their nests in the clouds, and their houses amongst the starres: they could never be brought to repent for sinne, or to tremble at Gods voyce, till they were driven off from these holds. A man can never be brought to God till he forsake the Creature, a man will never forsake the Creature till he see vanitie in the Creature. Turne away mine eyes from beholding vanitie. David intimates that a man can never heartily pray against fixing his affections on earthly things, till he be really and experimentally convinc'd of the vanity of them. This rule Salomon obserues to withdraw the desires of yong men, who have strongest affections and smallest experience of the deceit of worldly things, Though thou rejoyce and cheere up thy selfe, and walke in the waies of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes, yet Know thou that for all these Eccles. 11 9.Eccl 11:9things God will bring thee to judgement, a time will come when thou shalt be stripp'd of all these, when they shall play the fugitives, and the yeeres of darkenesse shall draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in p. 53them: and then the Lord will revenge thy great ingratitude in forgetting and despising him amidst all his blessings, in …dolizing his gifts, and bestowing the attributions of his glory, and the affections due unto him upon a corruptible Creature. In the Romane TriumphsTertull. Apolog. cap. 33. Brisson. de Formul. lib. 4. Aug…stus n… cturno visu s…ipem quota…is die cert… … à p…pulo cavam man…m asses …orr. gentibus praebens. Sue…on. in Aug. cap 9…. the Generall or Emperour, that rode in honour through the city with the principall of his enemies bound in chaines behinde his chariot, had alwaies a servant running along by him with this Corrective of his glory, Resp…ce post te, hominem memento te. Looke behinde thee, and in the persons of thine enemies learne that thou thy selfe art a man subject to the same Casualties and dishonors with others. Surely, if men who had nothing but the Creatures to trust to, being Aliens from the Covenant of promise, and without God in the world, had yet so much Care to keepe their judgements sound touching the vanity of their greatest honors, how much more ought Christians, who professe themselves heires of better and more abiding Promises. But especially arme thy selfe against those vanities which most easily beset and beguile thee; apply the authoritie of the Word to thine owne particular sickenesse and disease, treasure up all the experiences that meete thee in thine owne course, or are remarkeable in the lives of others, remember how a moment swallowed up such a pleasure, which will never returne againe, how an indirect purchase embitter'd such a preferment, and thou never didst feele that comfort in it, which thy hopes and ambitions promised thee, how a frowne and disgrace at another time dash'd all thy contrivances for further advancement, how death seised upon such a friend, in whom thou. Hadst laid up much of thy dependance and assurances, how time hath not onelyonly rob'd thee of the things, but even turn'd the edge of thy desires▪ and made thee loath thy wonted idoles, and looke upon thy old delights as Ammon upon Tamar with exceeding hatred. But above all addresse p. 54thy selfe to the throne of Grace, and beseech the Lord so to sanctifie his Creatures unto thee, as that they may not be either thieves against him to steale away his honour, or snares to thee to entangle thy soule. We will conclude this first Direction with the words of the Apostle: The Time is short: It remaineth that both they that 1. Cor. 7. 29.1 Cor 7:29have wives be as though they had none, and they that weepe as though they weep'd not, and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it, that is, as not to be drown'd and smother'd in the businesses of this life, as if there were any fundamentall and solid utility in them; for saith he, The fashion of this world passeth away. The Apostles exhortation is beset at both ends with the same enforcement from whence I have raised mine. First, The Time is short; The Apostle, as the learned conceive, useth a Metaphor from Sailes or Curtens, or Shepheards tents (as Ezekiah makes the comparison)Esai. 38. 12.Isa 38:12 such things as may be gather'd up together into a narrow roome. Time is short, that is, That time which the Lord hath spread over all things like a saile, hath now this five thousand yeeres been roling up, and the end is now at hand, as S. Peter speakes; the day is approaching1. Pe…. 47. when time shall be no more. And so the words in the originall will well beare it, foreign, The Remainder of time is short, or time is short for so much as yet remaineth of it to be folded up, and therefore we ought so to behave our selves as men that have more serious things to consider of, as men that are very neere to that everlasting haven, where there shall be no use of such sailes any more. And in the Apostles close the same reason is farther yet enforced: For the fashion of this world passeth away. foreign The figure, intimating that there is nothing of any firmenesse or solid consistencie in the Creature; it is but a surface, an outside, an empty promise, all the beauty of it is but skinne-deepe; and then p. 55that little which is desireable and pretious in the eyes of men (which the Apostle cals, The lust of the world, 1. Ioh. 2. 17.) foreign, It passeth away, and is quickely gone. The word, as the learned differently render it, hath three severall Arguments in it to expresse the Apostles exhortation.

1. It deceives or coozens, and therefore use it as if you used it not; use it as a man in a serious businesse would use a false friend that profers his assistance, though his protestations be never so faire, yet so employ him as that the businesse may be done though he should faile thee.

2. Transversum agit, It carries a man headlong, the lusts of the world are so strong and impetuous, that they are apt to enflame the desires, and even violently to carry away the heart of a man; and for this cause likewise use it as if you used it not, engage your selfe as little upon it as you can, doe as Mariners in a mighty winde, h…ise up as few sailes, expose as few of thy affections to the rage of worldly lust as may be; beware of being carried where two seas meet, as the ship wherein Paul suffer'd shipwracke, I meane, of plunging thy selfe in a confluence of many boisterous and conflicting businesses, least for thine inordinate prosecution of worldly things, the Lord either give thy Soule over to suffer shipwracke in them, or strip thee of all thy lading and tackling, breake thine estate all to pieces, and make thee glad to get to Heaven upon a broken planke.

3. The fashion of this world passeth over, it doth but goe along by thee and salute thee, and therefore use it as if thou used'st it not; doe to it as thou would'st doe to a stranger whom thou meetest in the way, he goes one way and thou another; salute him, stay so long in his companie till from him thou have received better instructions touching the turnings and difficulties of thine owne way, but take heed thou turne not into the way of the Creature, least thou lose thine owne home.

Secondly, Get an Eye of Faith, to looke Through and p. 56Above the Creature. A man shall never get to looke of from the world, till he can looke beyond it. For the Soule will have hold-fast of something, and the reason why men cling so much to the earth is, because they have no assurance if they let goe that hold of having any subsistence else-where. Labour therefore to get an interest in Christ, to finde an everlasting footing in the stedfastnesse of Gods Promises in him, and that will make thee willing to suffer the losse of all things, it will implant a kinde of hatred and disestimation of all the most pretious endearements which thy soule did feede upon before. Saint Peter saith of wicked men, that they are Purblinde, they cannot see a farre off; they can see nothing but that2. Pet 1. 9.2 Pet 1:9 which is next them, and therefore no marvell if their thoughts cannot reach unto the End of the Creature. There is in a dimme eye the same constant and habituall indisposition which sometimes happeneth unto a sound eye by reason of a thicke mist, though a man be walking in a very short lane, yet he sees no end of it; and so a naturall man cannot reach to the period of earthlyforeign. Arist. Rhet. lib. 2. things, death and danger are still a great way out of his sight, whereas the eye of faith can looke upon them as already expiring, and through them looke upon him who therefore gives the Creatures unto us, that in them we might see his power and taste his goodnesse. And nature it selfe me thinkes may seeme to have intended some such thing as this in the very order of the Creatures. Downeward a mans eye hath something immediately to fixe on; All is shut up in darkenesse save the very surface, to note that we should have our desires shut up too from these earthly things which are put under our feete, and hid from our eye…, and buried in their owne deformitie. All the beauty, and all the fruit of the earth is placed on the very outside of it, to shew how short and narrow our affections should be towards it. But upward the eye sindes scarce any thing to bound it, p. 57all is transparant and d…aphanous, to note how vast our affections should be towards God, how endlesse our thoughts and desires of his kingdome, how present to our faith the heavenly things should be even at the greatest distance. The Apostle saith, That Faith is the Substance Heb. 11. 1.Heb 11:1of things hoped for, that it gives being and present subsistency to things farre distant from us, makes those things which in regard of naturall causes are very remote, in regard of Gods Promises to seeme hard at hand. And therefore though there were many hundred yeeres to come in the Apostles time, and, for ought we know, may yet be to the dissolution of the world, yet the Apostle tels us that even then it was the last houre, because faith being able distinctly to see the truth and promises of God, and the Endlesnesse of that life which is then presently to be revealed, the infinite excesse of vastnesse in that made that which was otherwise a great space seeme even as nothing, no more in comparison then the length of a Cane or Trunke, through which a man lookes on the heavens, or some vast countrey. And ever the greater magnitude and light there is in a body, the smaller will the medium or distance seeme from it; the reason why a perspective glasse drawes remote objects close to the eye, is because it multiplies the species. We then by faith apprehending an infinite and everlasting Glory, must needs conceive any thing through which we looke upon it to be but short & vanishing. And therfore though the promises were a farre off in regard of their owne existence,Heb. 11. 13.Heb 11:13 yet the Patriarkes did not onelyonly see, but embrace them; their faith seem'd to nullifie and swallow up all the distance. Abraham saw Christs day and was glad, he looked upon those many ages which were betweeneIoh. 8.John 8 him and his promised seed as upon small a…d unconsiderable distances in comparison of that endlesse glory into which they ran, they were but as a curten or piece of hangings, which divide one roome in a house from another▪ p. 58Labour therefore to get a distinct view of the height, and length, and breadth, and depth, and the unsearchable love of God in Christ, to find in thine own soule the truth of God in his promises, & that his word abideth forever, and that will make all the glory of other things to seemeEsai 40. 8.Isa 40:8 but as grasse.

Lastly, though the Creature be mortall in it selfe, yet in regard of man, as it is an Instrument serviceable to his purposes, and subordinate to the graces of God in him, it may bee made of use even for Immortality. To which purpose excellent is that speech of Holy Austin, If you Si desunt, non per mala opera quarantur in mundo, si adsunt, per bona opera serventur in coel…. Epi. 205. Luk. 16. 9.Luke 16:9have not these earthly Goods, saith he, take heed how thou get them by evill workes here, and if thou have them, labour by good workes to hold them even when thou art gone to heaven. Make you friends, saith our Saviour, of the unrighteous …, that when you faile, they may receive you into everlasting habitations; a religious and mercifull use of earthly things makes way to Immortalitie and Blessednesse. Cast thy bread upon the waters, and after many dayes thou shalt finde it. It is an allusion unto husbandmen. They doe not eate up and sell away all their corne, for then the world would quickely bee destitute, but the way they take to perpetuate the fruits of the earth, is to cast some of it backe againe into a fruitfull soile where the waters come, and then in due time they receive it with encrease: so should we doe with these worldly blessings, sow them in the bowels and backes of the poore members of Christ, and in the day of harvest we shall finde a great encrease. If then draw out thy soule to the righteous, and satisfie the afflicted soule, Esai. 58. 10, 11.Isa 58:10Isa 58:11then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkenesse be as the noone day, then thy waters shall not lye unto thee; that happinesse which it falsly promiseth unto other men, it shall performe unto thee. And so much be spoken touching the great disproportion between the Soule of man and the Creature, in regard of the Vanitie of it.

p. 59The next disproportion is in their Operation, They are vexing and molesting things. Rest is the satisfaction of every Creature, all the rovings and agitations of the Soule are but to find out something on which to rest; and therefore where there is Vexation, there can be no proportion to the soule of man; and Salomon tels us, That All things Eccles. 1. 8.Eccl 1:8under the Sunne are full of labour, more then a man can utter. He was not used as an Instrument of the Holy Ghost to speake it onelyonly, but to trie it too; the Lord was pleased for that very purpose to conferre on him a confluence of all outward happinesse, and inward abilities which his very heart could desire, that he at last might discover the utter insufficiency of all created Excellencies to quiet the Soule of man. But if we will not beleeve the Experience of Salomon, let us beleeve the authority of him that was greater then Salomon; who hath plainely compar'd the things and the cares of the earth to Thornes, Matth. 13 22. 1. Tim. 6. 10.Matt 13:221 Tim 6:10which as the Apostle speakes, Pierce or bore a man thorough with many sorrowes.

First, They are Wounding Thornes; for that which is but a pricke in the flesh is a wound in the spirit: because the spirit is most tender of smart: and the wise man cals them Vexation of spirit. The Apostle tels us they beget many sorrowes, and those sorrowes bring death with2. Cor. 7. 10.2 Cor 7:10 them. If it were possible for a man to see in one view those oceans of bloud which have been let out of mens veines by this one Thorne; to heare in one noise all the groanes of those poore men, whose lives from the beginning of the world unto these dayes of blood wherein we live have been set at sale, and sacrificed to the unsatiable ambition of their bloody rulers; to see and heare the endlesse remorse and bitter yellings of so many rich and mighty men as are now in hell, everlastingly cursing the deceite and murther of these earthly Creatures, it would easily make every man with pitty and amazement to beleeve, that the Creatures of themselves without Christ to p. 60qualifie their venome and to blunt their edge, are in good earnest Wounding Thornes.

Secondly they are Choaking Thornes; they stifle and keepe downe all the gratious seeds of the word yea the very naturall sproutings of noblenesse, ingenuity, morality in the dispositions of men. Seed requires emptinesse in the ground that there may be a free admission of the raine and influences of the heavens to cherish it: And so the Gospell requires nakednesse and poverty of minde, a sense of our owne utter insufficiencie to our selves for happinesse, in which sense it is said that the poore receive the Gospel. But now earthly things meeting with corruption in the heart are very apt, First, To Fill it, and secondly, To Swell it, both which are conditions contrary to the preparations of the Gospell.

They Fill the Heart. First, with Businesse Yokes of oxen,Luk. 14. 18, 20.Luke 14:18Luke 14:20 and farmes, and wives, and the like contentinents take up the studies and delights of men, that they cannot finde out any leisure to come to Christ.

Secondly, They Fill the Heart with Love, and the Love 1. Iohn 2. 15.1 John 2:15of the world shuts out the Love of the father, as the Apostle speakes. When the Heart goes after covetousnesse, the power and obedience of the word is shut quite out.Ezeck. 33. 31. They will not do thy words, saith the Lord to the Prophet, for their heart goeth after their covetousnesse. A deare and superlative Love, such as the Gospell ever requires (for a man must love Christ upon such termes as to bee ready without consultation or demurre, not to forsake onelyonly, but to hate father and mother, and wife, and any the choisest worldly endearments for his Gospels sake) I say such a Love admits of no Corrivalty or competition. And therfore the love of the world must needs extingvish the love of the word.

Lastly, they fill the heart with feare of forgoing them; and feare takes of the heart from any thoughts save those which looke upon the matter of our feare: p. 61when men who make Gold their Confidence heare that they must forsake all for Christ, and are sometimes haplie put upon a triall, they start aside, choose rather securely to enjoy what they have present hold of, then venture the interuption of their carnall contentments for such things, the beauty where of the Prince of this world hath blinded their eyes that they should not see. For certainly till the minde be setled to beleeve that in God there is an ample recompence for any thing which wee may otherwise forgoe for him, it is impossible that a man should soundly embrace the love of the truth, or renounce the love of the world.

Secondly, as They Fill, so they Swell the Heart too, and by that meanes worke in it a contempt and disestimation of the simplicity of the Gospell. We have both together in the Prophet, According to their pasture soHos. 13▪ 6. Psal. 10 4.Hos 13:6Ps 10:4 were they Filled; they were filled, and their heart was Exalted, therefore have they forgotten me. Now the immediate child of Pride is selfe-dependence and a reflection on our owne sufficiencie, and from thence the next issue is a contempt of the simplicity of that gospell which would drive us out of our selves. The Gentiles out of the pride of their owne wisedome counted the Gospell of1. Cor. …. 25. Christ foolishnesse, and mocked those that preached it unto them: and the Pharisees, who were the learnedAct. 17. 32. Ier. 43. 2.Acts 17:32Jer 43:2 Doctors of Ierusalem, when they heard Christ preach against earthlie affections, out of their pride and covetousnesse Derided him as the Evangelist speakes. Nay furtherLuk. 16. 14.Luke 16:14 they stifle the seeds of all noblenesse, ingenuity, or common vertues in the lives of men; from whence come oppression, extortion, bribery, cruelty, rapine, fraud, iniurious, treacherous, sordid, ignoble courses, a very dissolution of the Lawes of nature amongst men, but from the adoration of earthly things, from that Idol of covetousnesse which is set up in the heart?

Thirdly, they are Deceitfull Thornes, as our Saviour expresseth p. 62it. Let a man in a tempest go to a thorne for shelter, and he shall light upon a thiefe in stead of a fence, which will teare his flesh in stead of succouring him, and doe him more injury then the evill which he fled from; and such are the Creatures of themselves, so farre are they from protecting, that indeed they tempt, and betray us. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thouObad vers. 3. 4. Habak. 2. 9. 10. Ezek. 28. 17. Zeph. 2. 15.Hab 2:9Hab 2:10Ezek 28:17Zeph 2:15 that dwellest in the Clefts of the Rockes, thou that sayest in thine heart, Who shall bring me downe? I will bring thee downe, saith the Lord to Edom.

Lastly, they are vanishing Thornes. nothing so apt,Psal. 58. 9. 118. 12.Ps 58:9Ps 58:118Ps 58:12 nothing so easie to catch fire, and be presently extingvished. They are quenched like a fire of Thornes.

To consider yet more distinctly the vexation of the Creature, we will observe first the Degrees; secondly, the Grounds of it; and thirdly, the Vses which we should put it to.

Five Degrees we shall observe of this Vexation. First, the Creatures are apt to molest the spirit in the procuring of them, even as Thornes will certainely pricke in their gathering. They make all a mans dayes sorrow, and his Eccles. …. 22. 23.travell griefe, they suffer not his heart to take rest in the night, as the Wise man speakes. What paines will men take? what hazards will they runne to procure their desires? Paines of body, plotting of braine, conflicts of passions, biting of conscience, disreputation amongst men, scourge of tongues, any thing, every thing will men adventure, to obtaine at last that which it may bee is not a competent reward for the smallest of these vexations. How will men exchange their salvation, throw away their owne mercy, make themselves perpetuall drudges and servitors to the times, fawne, flatter, comply, couple in with the instruments or authors of their hopes, hazard their owne blood in desperate undertakings, and staine their consciences with the blood of others, to swimme through all to their adored haven. Ad…rare vulgus, p. 63iacere oscula, & omnia serviliter pro imperio. The HistorianTacit. Hist. lib. 1. spake it of Otho that Romane Absolom, he worshipped the people, dispenced frequently his courtesies and plausibilities, crouched and accommodated himselfe to the basest routs, that thereby he might creepe into an usurped honour, and get himselfe a hated memory in after ages. And that the like vexation is ordinary in the procurement of any earthly things will easily appeare, if wee but compare the disposition of the minde with the obstacles that meete us in the pursuite of them. Suppose we a man importunately set to travell unto some place where the certainty of some great profit or preferment attends his comming, the way through which he must goe is intricate, deepe, unpassable, the beast that carries him lame and tired, his acquaintance none, his instructions few, what a heavie vexation must this needs bee to the soule of that man to be crossed with so many difficulties in so eager a desire? Iust this is the case with naturall men in the prosecution of earthly things. First, the desires of men are very violent (which the Scripture useth to expresse by making haste, greedy coveting, a purpose to Prov. 21. 5. 26. 1. Tim. 6. 9.Prov 21:5Prov 21:261 Tim 6:9be rich) Qui Dives fieri vult, & cit… vult fieri, they that will be rich, cannot be quiet till their desires are accomplished: and therefore wee finde strong desires in the Scripture-phrase expressed by such things as give intimation of paine with them. The Apostle describes them by gro…ing and sighing; the Prophet David by panting Rom. 8. 23. 26. Psal. 42. 1. Cant. 2. 5. 2. Sam. 13. 2. 1. King. 21. 4.Rom 8:23Rom 8:26Ps 42:1Song 2:52 Sam 13:21 Kgs 21:4and gasping; the Spouse in the Canticles by sicknesse, I am sicke with love. Thus Ammon grew leane for the desire of his sister, and was vexed and sicke; thus Ahab waxed heavy, and laid him downe on his bed, and turned away his face, and would not eate because of Naboths Vineyard. So that very importunity of desires is full of vexation in itselfe. But besides, the meanes for fulfilling these desires are very difficult, the instruments very weake and impotent: peradventure a mans wits are not suteable p. 64to his desires, or his strength not to his wits, or his stocke not to his strength, his friends few, his corrivals many, his businesses tough and intricate, his counsels uncertaine, his projects way-laid and prevented, his contrivances dashed and disappointed, such a circumstance vnseene, such a casualty starting suddenly out, such an occurrence meeting the action hath made it unfeasible, and shipwrack'd the expectation. A man deales with the earth, he findes it weake and langvid, every foot of that must often times lye fallow, when his desires doe still plow; with men, hee findes their hearts hard, and their hands close; with servants, he findes them slow and unfaithfull; with trading hee findes the times hard, the World at a stand, every man too thrifty to deale much, and too crafty to be deceived; so that now that vexation which was at first begun with vehemency of desire, is mightily improued with impatiency of opposition, & lastly much encreased with the feare of utter disappointment at last. For according as the desires are either more urgent, or more difficult, so will the feares of their miscarriage grow; and it is a miserable thing for the minde to bee torne asunder betweene two such violent passions as Desire and Feare.

The second Degree of vexation is in the multiplying of the Creature, that men may have it to looke upon with their eyes, and to worship it in their affections. And in this Case the more the heape growes, the more the heart is enlarged unto it; and impossible it is that that desire should be ever quieted, which growes by the fruition of the thing desired. A Wolfe that hath once tasted blood is more fierce in the desire of it then hee was before, experience puts an edge upon the Appetite; and so it is in the desires of men, they grow more savage and raging in the second or third prosecution then in the first. It is a usuall selfe-deceit of the heart to say and thinke, If I had such an accession to mine estate, such p. 65a dignitie mingled with mine other preferments, could but leave such and such portions behind me, I should then rest satisfied and desire no more. This is a most notorious cheate of the fleshly heart of man; first thereby to beget a secret conceit, that since this being gotten I should sit quietly downe, I may therefore set my selfe with might and maine to procure it, and in the meane time neglect the state of my soule, and peradventure shipwracke my conscience upon indirect and unwarrantable meanes for fulfilling so warrantable and just a desire. And secondly thereby likewise to inure and habituate the affections to the love of the world, to plunge the soule in earthly delights, and to distill a secret poyson of greedinesse into the heart. For it is with worldly love as with the Sea, let it have at the first never so little a gap at which to creepe in, and it will eate out a wider way, till at last it grow too strong for all the bulwarkes and overrun the soule. Omne peccatum habet in se mendacium: thereAug. de Civ. Dei. lib. 14. c. 4. is something of the lie in every sinne, but very much in this of worldlinesse, which gets upon a man with slender and modest pretences, till at last it gather impudence and violence by degrees; even as a man that runnes downe a steepe hill is at last carried not barely by the impulsion of his owne will, but because at first hee engaged himselfe upon such a motion, as in the which it would prove impossible for him to stop at his pleasure. Wee reade in Saint Austens confessionsConfess. lib. 6. c. 8. of Alipius his Companion, who being by much importunity overcome to accompany a friend of his to those bloody Romane Games, wherein men kill'd one another to make sport for the people; and yet resolving though hee went with his body, to leave his heart behind him, and for that purpose to keepe his eyes shut, that he might not staine them with so ungodly a spectacle, yet at last upon a mighty shout at p. 66the fall of a man, he could not forbeare to see the occasion, and upon that grew to couple with the route, and to applaud the action as the rest did. In another place of the same booke wee reade of Monica, the mother of thatCoofess. lib. 9. c. …. holy man, that she had so often used to sip the wine that came to her fathers table, that from sipping shee grew to loving, and from thence to excessive drinking, which particulars are by him reported, to shew the deceitfulnesse of sinne in growing upon the conscience, if it can but win the heart to consult, to deliberate, to indulge a little to it selfe at first: for it is in the case of sinne, as it is in treason, qui deliberant desciverunt, to entertaine any the modestestTacit. termes of parley with Gods enemy is downe-right to forsake him. And if it bee so in any thing, then much more in the love of the World; for the Apostle tels us, … that is a Roote, and therefore we must expect, if ever1. Tim. 6. 10.1 Tim 6:10 it get … in us, partly by reason of its owne fruitfull qualitie, partly by reason of the fertile soyle wherein it is, the corrupt heart of man, partly by reason of Satans constant plying it with his husbandry and suggestions, that it will every day grow faster, settle deeper, & spread wider in our soules. By which meanes it must needs likewise create abundance of vexation to the spirits ofExod. 16. 20.Exod 16:20 men. For as Manna in the Wildernesse, when the people would not be content to have from God their daily bread, but would needs be hoarding and multiplying of it, bred wormes and stanke; so when men will needs heape up wealth and other earthly supplyes beyond stint or measure, they do but store up wormes to disquiet their minds, that which will rot and annoy the owners. They pant after the Dust of the Earth on the head of the Amos 2. 6, 7.Amos 2:6Amos 2:7poore, saith the Prophet of those cruell oppressors that sold the righteous for shooes; it notes how the fiercenesse of a greedy and unsatiable desire will weare out the strength of a man, make him spend all his wits, and even gaspe out his spirits, in pursuing the poore unto the dust, p. 67sucking out their very livelihood and substance, till they are faine to lye downe in the dust. Woe unto him, saithHabak. 2. 6.Hab 2:6 the Prophet, that encreaseth that which is not his, enlarging his desires as Hell and death, that loadeth himselfe Amos 3. 10. Iames 5. 3.Amos 3:10Jas 5:3with thick clay, that is in other expressions, that storeth up violence and robbery, that heapeth treasures against the last day; the words shew us what the issue of vehement and indefatigable affections is, they doe but create vexations to a mans owne soule, and all his wealth will at length lye upon his conscience like a load and mountaine of heavy earth.

The third Degree of vexation is from the enioyment, or rather from the use of earthly things. For though aforeign. Chrysost. ad pop. Antioch. Hom. …. wicked man may be said to use the Creatures, yet in a strict sense he cannot be said to enjoy them. The Lord maketh his Sunne to shine upon them, giveth them a lawfull interest, possession, and use of them; but all this doth not reach to a Fruition. For that imports a delightfull sweet orderly use of them, which things belong unto the blessings and promises of the Gospell. In which respect the Apostle saith, that God giveth unto us foreign,1. Tim. 6. 17.1 Tim 6:17 All things richly to enioy. This is the maine sting and vexation of the Creature alone without Gods more especiall blessing, that in it a man shall still taste a secret curse, which deprives him of that dearenesse and satisfaction which he lookes for from it. False joy like the crackling of Thornes he may find, but still there is some flie in the oyntment, some death in the pot, some madnesse in the laughter, which in the midst of all dampes and surprizeth the soule with horrour and sadnesse; there are still some secret suggestions and whisperings of a guilty conscience, that through all this Iordan of pleasure a man swimmes downe apace into a dead Sea, that all his delights do but carry him rhe faster unto a finall Iudgement, Ressevera Senec. ep.est verum gaudium: True joy, saith the Heathen Man, is not a perfunctory, a floating thing, it is serious and massy, p. 68it sinkes to the Center of the heart: As in Nature, the Heavens we know are alwayes calme, serene, uniforme, undisturbed; they are the clouds and lower regions that thunder and bluster; The Sunne and Starres rayse up no Fogges so high, as that they may imprint any reall blot upon the beauty of those purer bodies, or disquiet their constant and regular motions; but in the lower regions, by reason of their nearenesse to the earth, they frequently raise up such Meteors as often breake forth into thunders and tempests; so the more heavenly the minde is, the more untainted doth it keepe it selfe from the corruptions and temptations of worldly things, the more quiet and composed is it in all estates; but in mindes meerely sensuall the hotter Gods favours shine, and the faster his raine falles upon them, the more Fogges are raised, the higher Thornes grow up, the more darkenesse, and distractions do shake the soule of such a man. As fire under water, the hotter it burnes, the sooner it is extingvished by the over-running of the water: so earthly things raise up such tumultuary and disquiet thoughts in the minds of men, as doth at last quite extingvish all the heate and comfort which was expected from them.

Give me leave to explane this Vexation in some one or two of Salomons particulars, and to unfold his enforcements thereof out of them. And first to begin with that with which he begins. The Knowledge of things, either naturall in this present text, or morall and civill. vers. 17. of both which he concludeth that they are Uanitie and vexation of spirit. The first argument he takes from the weakenesse of it either to restore or correct any thing that is amisse. That which is crooked cannot be made strait. Wee may understand it severall waies. First, All our knowledge by reason of mans corruption is but a crooked, ragged, impedite knowledge, and for that reason a vexation to the minde: for rectitude is full of beauty, and crookednesse of deformity. In mans Creation his understanding p. 69should have walked in the strait path of truth, should have had a distinct view of causes and effects in their immediate successions; but now sinne hath mingled such confusion with things, that the minde is faine to take many crooked and vast compasses for a little uncertaine knowledge. Secondly, The weakenesse of all naturall knowledge is seene in this that it cannot any way either prevent or correct the naturall crookednesse of the smallest things, much lesse make a man solidly and substantially happy. Thirdly, That which is crooked cannot be made straite. It is impossible for a man by the exactest knowledge of naturall things to make the nature of a man, which by sinne is departed from its primitive rectitude, strait againe, to repaire that Image of God which is so much distorted. When they knew God, they glorified Rom. 1. 22.Rom 1:22him not as God, they became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned. It is the Apostles speech of the wisest heathen. Aristotle, the most rationallEthic. lib. 7. c. 3. & 4. Vide de philosophis Impudicis & veritatem corrumpentibus. Tertul. Apolog. cap. 46. Tacit. An. lib. 13. Dio. Tacit. Annal. lib▪ 6. Aristotel. Polit. lib▪ 1. cap. 10. Uid. Rosin▪ Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 20. heathen man that the world knowes of, in his Doctrine confesseth the disability of moral knowledge to rectifie the intemperance of nature, and made it good in his practice; for he used a common strumpet to satisfie his lust. Seneca likewise the exactest Stoick which wee meet with, then whom never any man writ more divinely for the contempt of the world, was yet the richest usurer that ever wee read of in ancient stories, though that were a sinne discovered and condemned by the heathen themselves.

A second Ground of vexation from knowledge is The Defects and Imperfections of it. That which is wanting cannot be numbred. There are many thousand conclusions in nature which the most inquisitiue Iudgement is not able to pierce into, nor resolve into their just principles. Nay still the more a man knowes, the more discoveries he makes of things which he knowes not.

Thirdly, in much wisdome is much griefe, and he that p. 70increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. In civill wisdome, the more able a man is the more service is cast upon him, the more businesses runne through him, the lesse can hee enjoy his time or liberty. His Eminence lodes him with envy, jealousies, observation, suspicions, forceth him oftentimes upon unwelcom compliancies, upon colours and inventions to palliate unjust counsels, and stop the clamors of a gainsaying Conscience, fills him with feares of miscarriage and disgrace, with projects of honour and plausibility, with restlesse thoughts touching discoveries, preventions, concealements, accommodations, and the like, in one word is very apt to make him a stranger to God and his owne soule. In other learning, let a man but consider, First, The confusion, uncertainty, involvednesse, perplexities of causes and effects by mans sinne; Secondly, The paines of the body, the travell of the minde, the sweate of the braine, the tugging and plucking of the understanding, the very drudgery of the soule to breake through that confusion, and her owne difficulties; Thirdly, the many invincible doubts and errors which wil stil blemish our brightest notions; Fourthly, the great charges which the very instruments and furniture of learning wil put men to; Fifthly, the general disrespect which, when all is done, it findes in the world, great men scorning it as pedantry, ordinary men unable to take notice of it, and great schollers faine to make up a theater amongst themselves; Sixthly, the Insufficiency thereof to perfect that which is amisse in our nature, the malignant property thereof to put sinne into armour, to contemne the simplicity and purity of Gods Word; And lastly, the neere approach thereof to its owne period, the same death that attendeth us being ready also to bury all our learning in the grave with us: these and infinite▪ the like considerations must needs mingle much sorrow with the choisest Learning.

Secondly, let us take a view of pleasure. There is nothing p. 71doth so much disable in the survey of pleasure as the mixture either of folly or want. When a man hath wisdome to apprehend the exquisitnes of his delights, and variety to keepe out the su…fet of any one, hee is then fittest to examine what compasse of Goodnesse or satisfaction is in them. First then Salomon kept his wisedome, he pursued such manly and noble delights as might not vitiate but rather improve his intellectuals. Chap. 2. vers. 1. 2. 3. Secondly, his wisedome was furnish'd with variety of subjects to enquire into, he had magnificence and provisions suteable to the greatnesse of his royall minde. Sumptuous and delicate diet under the name of wine. vers. 3. stately Edifices. vers. 4. Vineyards and Orchards, yea very Paradises, as large as Woods. vers. 5. 6. Fish-ponds, and1. King. 4. & 10.1 Kgs 4 great Waters, multitudes of attendants and retinue of all sexes. Mighty heards of Cattell of all kindes. vers. 7. Great treasures of silver and gold, all kinds of musick vocall and instrumentall; Thirdly, Salomon exceedes in all these things all that ever went before him. vers. 9. Fourthly, As he had that most abundant, so likewise the most free, undisturbed, unabated enjoyment of them all, Hee with-held not his heart from any joy; there was no mixture of sicknesse, warre, or any intercurrent difficulties to corrupt their sweetnesse, or blunt the tast of them. Here are as great preparations as the heart of man can expect to make an universall survay of those delights which are in the Creature: and yet at last upon an impartiall enquirie into all his most magnificent workes, the conclusion is, they were but vanity and vexation of spirit, vers. 11. Which vexation he further explanes. First, by the necessarie divorce which was to come betweene him and them, Hee was to leave them all. vers. 18. Secondly, by his disability so to dispose of them as that after him they might remaine in that manner as hee had ordered them. vers. 19. Thirdly, by the effects which these and the like considerations wrought in him; they were so farre p. 72from giving him reall satisfaction, as that First, he Hated all his workes, for there is nothing makes one Hate more eagerly then disappointment in the good which a man expected. When Ammon found what little satisfaction2. Sam. 13. 15.2 Sam 13:15 his exorbitant lust received in ravishing his Sister Tamar, he as fiercely hated her after as he had desir'd her before. Secondly, He Despaired of finding any good in them▪ because they be get nothing but travell, drudgery, and unquiet thoughts.

Lastly let us take a view of Riches, the ordinarily most adored Idol of all the rest. The wise man saies first in generall, neither Riches nor yet abundance of Riches will satisfie the soule of man. Eccl. 5. 10. This he more particularly explanes. First, from the sharers which the encrease of them doth naturally draw after it. vers. 11. and betweene the Owners and the sharers there is no difference but this, an emptie speculation, one sees as his owne, what the other enjoyes to those reall purposes for which they serve as well as he. Secondly, from the unquietnes which naturally growes by the encrease of them, which makes an ordinarie drudge in that respect more happy. vers. 12. Thirdly, from the hurt which usually, without some due corrective they bring. vers. 13. either they hurt a man in himselfe, being strong temptations and materials too of pride, vaine-glory, couetousnesse, luxurie, intemperance, forgetfulnesse of God, love of the world, and by these of disorder, dissolutenesse, and diseases in the body; or else at least they expose him to the envie, accusations, violences of wicked men. Fourthly from their uncertainty of abode, they perish by an evill travell, either Gods curse,See Io… 20. 15.—29.John 20:15 or some particular humour, lust, or project overturnes a great estate, and posterity is beggerd. Fifthly from the certainty of an everlasting separation from them. vers. 15. 16. and this he saith is a sore evill, which galles the heart of a worldly man, that hath resolved upon no other heaven then his wealth, when sicknes comes to snatch him p. 73away from this his Idoll, there is not onelyonly sorrow, but wrath and …ury in him. vers. 17. Sixthly, from the disability to use or enjoy them, when a man through inordinate love, or distrustfull providence, or sordidnesse of spirit, or encumbrances of employments, will not while he lives enjoy his abundance, and when he dies hath not, either by his owne covetous prevention, or his successors inhumanity, an honorable buriall. Chap. 6. vers. 1. 2. 3. Seventhly, from the narrownesse of any satisfaction which can be received from them, vers. 7. All the wealth a man hath can reach no higher then the filling of his mouth, then the outward services of the body, the desires of the soule remaine empty still. A glutton may fill his belly, but he cannot fill his lust; a covetous man may have a hovse full of monie, but hee can never have a heart full of mony; an ambitious man may have titles enough to overcharge his memorie, but never to fill his pride; the agitations of the soule would not cease, the curiosity of the understanding would not stand at a stay, though a man could hold all the learning of the great library in his head at once; the sensualitie of a lascivious man would never be satiated, it would be the more enrag'd, though hee should ty…e out his strength and waste his spirits, and stupifie all his senses with an excessive intemperance. When men have done all they can with their wisedome and wealth they can fill no more but the mouth, and poverty and folly makes a shift to doe soe too. vers. 8. the desires wander, the soule …oves up and downe as ever. vers. 9. Eighthly, from their disability to protect or rescue a man from evill, to advance the strength of a man beyond what it was before. vers. 10. Though a man could scrape all the wealth in the wo…ld together, he were but a man still, subject to the same dangers and infirmities as before, nothing can exalt him above, or exempt him from the common Lawes of humanity: neither shall he be ever able to contend with him that is mightier then he. All p. 74his wealth shall be never able to blinde the eye, or bribe the Iustice, or testraine the power of Almighty God, if hee bee pleased to inflict the strokes of his vengeance vponupon his Conscience.

The fourth degree of vexation is from the Review of them. First, if a man consider the meanes of his getting them. His conscience will oftentimes tell him, that peradventure he hath pursued indirect and unwarrantable wayes of gaine, hath ventured to lye, flatter, sweare, deceive, supplant, undermine, to corrupt and adulterate wares, to hoard up and dissemble them t…l a dearer season, to trench upon Gods Day for his owne purposes, that so he might not onelyonly receive, but even steale away blessings from him. Secondly, if a man consider the manner, the inordinate and over-eager way of procuring them. How much pretious time hast thou spent which can never be recal'd againe, for one houre whereof a tormented soule in hell would part with all the World if he had the disposall of it, to be but so small a space within the possibilities of salvation againe, how much of this pretious time hast thou spent for that which is no bread, and which satisfieth not? How many golden opportunitiesforeign. Chrysost. ad pop. …. …om. 2. of encreasing the graces of thy soule, of feeding thy faith with more noble and heavenly contemplations on Gods truth and promises, on his Name and Attributes, on his Word and worship, of rouzing up thy soule from the sleepe of sinne, of stirring up and new enflaming thy spirituall gifts, of addressing thy selfe to a more serious, assiduous, durable communion with thy God, of mourning for thine owne corruptions, of groning and thirsting after heauenly promises, of renewing thy vowes and resolutions, of besieging and besetting heauen with thy more vrgent and retired prayers, of humbling thy selfe before thy God, of bewayling the calamities, the stones, the dust of Sion, of deprecating and repelling approching Iudgements, of glorifying God in all his wayes, things of p. 75pretious, spirituall and everlasting consequence, how many of these golden opportunities hath thy too much absurd love and attendance on the world stolne from thee? and surely to a soule illightned these must needs be matters of much vexation. Thirdly, if a man consider the use he hath made of them: How they have stolne away his heart from trusting in God to rely on them; how they have diverted his thoughts from the life to come, and bewitched him to dote on present contentmens; to love life, to feare death, to dispence with much unjust liberty, to gather rust and securitie in Gods worship? How much excesse and intemperance they have provoked, how little of them have been spent on Gods glory and Church, how small a portion we have repaid him in his Ministers or in his Members? how few naked backes they have clothed? how few empty bellies they have filled? how few langvishing bowels they have refreshed? how few good workes and services they have rewarded? These are considerations which unto sensible consciences must sometime or other beget much vexation. Fourthly, if a man consider his owne former experiences, or the examples of others that bring the vanitie of these earthly things into minde. How some of his choysest pleasures have now out-liv'd him and are expir'd; how the Lord hath snatched from his dearest embracements those Idols which were set up against his glory; how many of his hopes have fail'd, of his expectations and presumptions proved abortive; how much mony at one time a Sicknesse, at another a Suite, at a third a Thiefe, at a fourth a shipwrack or miscariage, at a fifth, yea at a twentieth time a lust hath consum'd and eaten out; How many examples there are in the world of withered and blasted estates, of the Curse of God not onelyonly like a moth insensibly consuming, but like a Lyon suddenly tearing asunder great possessions.

The last Degree of Uexation from the Creature is from p. 76the Disposing of them. All Creatures, sinners especially, that have no hope or portion in another life, doe naturally love a present earthly Immortality: and therefore though they cannot have it in themselves, yet as the Philosopher saith of living Creatures, the reason why they generate is, that that Immortality which in their owne particulars they cannot have, they may foreign so farre as they are able procure in the species or kinde which they thus preserve; so rich and worldly men, though they cannot be immortall on the earth themselves, yet they affect an immortality in their names and dwelling places, Psal. 49. 11. and therefore they desire to transmit their substance unto such successors as may hauehave wisedome and noblenesse of minde to continue it. Now then if a man either have no heire, or one that is so active as to alter, or so carelesse and supine as to ruine all, either base to dishonor the house, or profuse to overthrow it, these and many other the like doubts must needs infinitely perplex the mindes of men, greedy to perpetuate their names and places, Eccles. 2. 18. 19.

The second thing which we proposed to consider in this argument was the Grounds of this Vexation. I shall name but Three. Gods Curse; Mans Corruption; and the Creatures Deceitfulnesse.

I have at large before insisted on the Curse considered alone, now I am to shew in one word the issuing of Vexation therefrom. The curse of the Creature is as it were the poison and contagion of it; and let a man mixe poison in the most delicate wine, it will but so much the easier, by the nimblenesse of the spirits there, invade the parts of the body, and torment the bowels. Gold of it selfe is a pretious thing, but to be shackled with fetters of gold, to have it turn'd into a use of bondage, addes mockery to the affliction; and farre more pretious to a particular man is a chaine of iron which drawes him out of a pit, then a chaine of gold which clogs him in a prison; p. 77a key of iron which lets him out of a dungeon, then a barre of gold that shuts him in. If a man should have a great Diamond curiously cut into sharpe angles, worth many thousand pounds, in his bladder, no man would count him a rich, but a miserable and a dead man; this is just the case betweene a man and the Creatures of themselves without Christ to sanctifie them unto us; though the things be excellent in their owne being, yet mingled with our corruptions and lusts, they are turned into poison, into the Gall of Aspes within a man, they will not suffer him to feele any quietnesse in his belly, in the fulnesse Iob 20. 14. 16. 20. 22. 23.Job 20:14Job 20:16Job 20:20Job 20:22Job 20:23of his sufficiencie he shall be in straights, and while hee is eating, the furie of wrath shall raine downe upon him. Let a mans meate be never so sweet in it selfe, yet if hee should temper the sawce with dirt out of a sinke, it would make it altogether loathsome; and a wicked man eates all his meate like swine wrapp'd up and overdawb'd with dirt and curses. A little, saith Salomon, which the righteous hath is better then great riches of the ungodly: In se it is not, but Quoad hominem, in regard of the man it is: for that little which a righteous man hath is to him an experience of Gods Promise, a branch of his love, a meanes of thankefull affections in him, a viaticum unto heaven; whereas the wicked mans abundance turnes into his greater curse, their table becomes their snare, and those things which should have been forPsal. 69. 22.Ps 69:22 their good prove unto them an occasion of falling. God makes his Sunne to shine on the Iust and on the unjust, on a garden of spices and on a dunghill: but in the one it begetteth a sweete favour of praise and obedience, in the other it raiseth up noisome lusts, which prove a savour unto death. And who had not rather be free in a cottage, then condemn'd in a palace? Saint Paul distinguisheth of a Reward and a Dispensation. If I preach 1. Cor. 9. 17.1 Cor 9:17the Gospell willingly I have a Reward, if against my will a Dispensation is committed unto me. We may apply it p. 78to our purpose. Those good things which the faithfull enjoy though but small are yet Rewards and Accessions unto the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse, and so long they bring joy and peace with them; but unto the wicked they are meerely a Dispensation, they have onelyonly the burden and businesse, not the Reward nor benediction of the Creature.