Rules How to Use the World, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
The things of the World are unworthy of our Love, in that Vanitas est debitae entitatis vacuitas.they are vain and empty, yea Vanity in the Abstract; and this upon a double Account.
First, In respect of Efficacy, as Ʋnsatisfying.
Secondly, In respect of Duration, as Ʋncertain.
First, In respect of Efficacy, as Ʋnsatisfying.
THE things of Heaven are greater than what at present they appear to be (it does not appear what we shall be;) the Joy more full, the Pleasure 1 Joh. 3. 2.more sweet and ravishing, the Crown more weighty, and the Glory more transcendent, then we are able to conceive or imagine; for Admiration (the overplus of expectation) will be at the end of our Faith, when we behold, and enjoy them, but Earthly things are less when enjoy'd, then they appear'd to be when desired. They are indeed call'd Riches, Goods, Profits, Substance, but they go by false Names, and appear great to our view afar off, but little or nothing when we come to enjoy them; (like that Tree that at a distance seem'd thick with Boughs for Shelter but had none.) We are disquieted at the want of them, and after a while as much unsatisfy'd with them; (like the Israelites, at first sick for Quails and Manna, and then as sick with them.) They sometimes occasion Loathing, but never give Satisfaction.
Many Quails made the Israelites sick, and Manna when gathered above its proportion, stunk, and became corrupt.
Solomon the most experienced for enquiry, when he had ransackt the whole Creation, thoroughly Examin'd, and strictly Enquir'd into the Nature of all things here below, he brings in his Verdict, that all was Vanity: And we have more Wisdom than Solomon, or rather less, if we find any thing better in them; for, the things (as well as the men) of this World are Vanity, and a Lie; they promise much, but perform little; (give a blear-ey'd Leah for Rachel) they look fair to the Eye; Entice and Allure, but Delude. We come to them (as to a Lottery) big with Expectation, but return with Disappointment; with a Blank instead of a Prize; they enflame Desire, but cannot satisfy; for, they are broken Cisterns. Cisterns may be drawn dry, though the Ocean cannot; they hold but little, and broken Cisterns nothing; for they run out, and empty themselves into the Dust, and send us back (as the Jews were from their dry Pits) with Shame and Jer. 14. 3.Confusion.
Vanity begets Disappointment, and Disappointment breeds Vexation.
They are indeed of necessary Use to our Natural Life, as staves for lame Nature to walk with, (but cannot either prevent, abate, or remove, the Evils that attend it) not so much to Life Moral or Spiritual: Can avail us but little while we live, (only as baits in the way) less, when we come to die, (a brazen Serpent will then be of more use to us than a Golden Calf;) but nothing at all when we are dead, and gone hence, for our Glory shall not descend after Psal. 49. 17.us, nor will our Riches (that make themselves wings) take flight with us into another World; if they did, they would be as reprobate, not current Coin, and avail us nothing; Prov. 11. 4.for, the things of time, will not comfort in Eternity.
All Manna but what was in the Numb. 17. 8.Ark putrify'd, and no Rod but Aarons, budded and bloom'd.
How great then is their Folly, that spend their time and strength in seeking these lying Vanities, that are (as Children) pleas'd with these Toys, and (with the Serpent) make Dust their Food, that toil (with the Israelites) to gather straw, labour for Wind, and feed (with the Prodigal) upon Husks.
The damnati ad Metalla were of all most miserable.
Secondly, In respect of Duration, as Ʋncertain.
Sin has cast instability (Reubens lot) on the whole Creation: the World, and the things of the World are fading, and so are we.
1. The World is Fading.
It had (as Austin Notes) its Infancy, Childhood, Youth, Middle Age, Old Age, and its Dotage. Its Infancy from the time of Adam to Noah, its Childhood from Noah to Abraham, its Youth from Abraham to David, its Middle Age from David to the Babylonish Captivity, its Old Age from the Captivity to Christ, and now its Dotage from Christ to the End of the 1 Joh. 2. 18. foreign. 1 Pet. 4. 7. 1 Cor. 7. 9.World. The time was short when St. Paul liv'd, that time which God spread over all things like a Sail, and had been some thousand years roling up, was then roll'd As a Sail of a Ship when furling up, and roll'd together to the last corner, which also the Marriner is in hand with.together to the last Corner, and almost at an end; and if short then, it is now shorter, by above Sixteen Hundred years, if the end of all things was at hand in St. Peters days, and the last time was come in St. Johns, (viz. the last Age of the World) if his Age was the last Hour, ours (upon whom the Ends of the World are come) 1 Cor. 10, 11.is the last Minute of that Hour; if the Judge then stood at the door, he is now entring in, for the World is grown old, and stoops through Age, it is in its Declension, and its years are almost expir'd.
The Sun has almost run its Race, and then, when set, shall rise no more, the Heavens are fading, they and the Tabernacle in them set for the Sun are now dissolving, the Earth also, and the Works therein are Perishing, and shall shortly be consum'd by Fire, and then, not a Rag of our rich and costly Garments shall be left to cover us, not Psal. 19. 4, 5.a Foot of our Lands to walk on, not a farthing of our Treasures to Relieve us, nor a corner of our stately Houses to hide our Heads in, for they shall all be burnt up, 2 Pet. 3. 10.and by the light of that Fire, we shall then (if now we will not) read their Mortality.
Gods Name is, I am; the Worlds, I am not.
2. The Things of the World are Fading.
The things of Heaven are set out by the Temple, which was fixt and permanent; the things of the World by the Tabernacle, which was Transient. They (as the Sun) admit of no changes, these (as the Moon) are liable to them. They, like Pearls, keep their Lustre; these, like the gawdy works of Art, are Fading. They are perishing, and the Glory, Beauty, and Excellency of 2 Cor. 5. 12.them is perishing-too, they are not what they seem to be (a Glory in 1 Cor. 1. 31.appearance only) nor long continue in that appearance; they salute us as strangers, and pass away, come and go, are given and taken, but their abode or continuance, is either short (like Manna for a day) or none at all. They are failing Treasures, that please while they last, but last not long, and things that Perish (or are to Luk. 12. 33. Col. 2. 22.Corruption) in their use, for, we lose them while we seem to have them, and have neither gain nor pleasure from them, but as we use and spend them.
Pleasures are uncertain:Heb. 11. 25.
Their Streams are but shallow and soon dried up, of a short continuance, for they are but for a season.
Time may be long, but a season is but a short, or little Article of it.
Riches are uncertain1 Tim. 6. 17. Prov. 23. 5.
The Wings of other Creatures are made for them, but Riches make themselves Wings, not to fly to us, but from us; the Wings, not of a tame Bird that may soon be taken, but of one most swift of Wing, and strong in Flight: not of a Hawk, that may be known by her Bells where she is, fetcht down by a Lure, and brought to the Fist again, but of an Eagle that of all the Fowls of the Air flies highest and swiftest, mounts aloft, and flies away towards Heaven with so much haste, that nothing can recall her.
Riches are uncertain to get and to keep, to procure and enjoy.
Honours are uncertain:
Honour is Happiness in a Fable, foreign Cui veri aut selidi nihil subest foreign.not like that Cloud Aristotle calls a True, and Real Substance, but as the Rainbow, an Appearance only, and of short continuance, like a Tennis Ball, ever in motion, and liable to hazards, always uncertain, and sometimes dangerous: For its Throne is ascended (as some get upon hot Mettled Horses) with Difficulty, set upon with Fear, and sometimes left with Mischief: As is evident in Haman, who was one day advanc'd at Court, and the next day on the Gallows.
There are many of those, who once were Sons of Honour, that might (if they would) come in and subscribe to this Truth, having long since out-liv'd their Honours, Celebrated their Funerals, and seen them laid in the Dust.
(2.) They are uncertain as to our continuance.
We are junior to Time, and measur'd by it; Natural, and have our motion, beginning and end, our first and last; Finite, and have our bounds and periods, Nil ultra.made of Principles so contrary, at least, of Principles so corruptible, that we shall certainly have our end, and fall into pieces at last, either a Disease, or Old Age, (the sickness of Nature), will sooner or later put an end to our Life; and either the hand of Violence from without will pluck up, or a Worm from within, will devour our most flourishing Gourd. They are all Fading, (Death may be seen in the face of them) and so are we, and both like Grass, that if not cut down with the Sithe, will wither of it self, and come to nothing. They are withering whilst flourishing, and we are dying whilst living; going on to Death whilst we look forward to Life, and shall both have our end, but which of us first, is uncertain. Sometimes they are more Mortal than we, for they go away and leave us behind (Job's Riches were taken away, and he left to be poor to a Proverb) and sometimes we are more Mortal than they (the Rich Fools Goods remain'd, and he was taken from them) we leave them or they will forsake us, be lost while we live, or left when we die, like the Worm that leaves all the Dirt she roll'd in behind her upon the hole of the Earth she creeps in at.
To us then that are uncertain of our continuance here, they can be no other than uncertain things.
The Rich Man in the Gospel sung a Song of four Parts to his Soul (take thine Ease, Eat, Drink and be Merry) but it was the Laughter of a Fool, who thought he had a Lease for time, who was only a Tenant at Will, he was a Fool to be so merry, when he had no security to enjoy what he had for a Night; and so are all that rejoyce in these Transitory things. Their Mirth is Madness, and as Eccl. 2. 2, 6, 7.much to be wonder'd at, as that of the Romans Ambition was by Tertullian, in venturing such hardships Ʋnius anni volaticum gaudium.in the Field, to be Consul at last, which he calls the fading Joy of a Year.
Since then we are at such uncertainties, either for their continuance, or our own, let us be weaned in our Affections from them, die to the World while we live in it; take Wing, and fly from our Riches, before they make themselves Wings and fly from us; take a taste at the streams of Pleasure (as the Dogs at Nilus) for our Refreshment only, and either not seek the Honours of the World, (shadows that flee when pursu'd) or sit loose to them while we have them, that we may the more willingly part with them while we live, or leave them when we die.
The greater our Joy is in the things of the World, the greater will our sorrow be when they leave us, or we must them.