74 An Expo{iti011, with Not1s CHA!olo 111 nd it u gone, and the pl4ce thereof ./hall k.,now it no mor~: When the flower is gone, the root, as afraid, lhrinketh into the ground, and cheretemaineth neither remnant, nor fign; So many a man that keepeth a bufling~l:lnd ruffieth it in the world, is foon (napped off by providence, and there cloth not remain the leaft jign and memorial o( him: So I Pet. I. 24. For all flefh is a& grafs, and all the _glory of man a& the flower of gr~fs; the grafr withcreth, and the flgwer thereof falleth away: •tis repeated and returned to our conGderation, a!Lflefh u grafs, and then) the grafs withereth, to thew that we fbould often whet it and inculcate ic upon our thoughts. In lhort, from this refemblance you may learn two things. · . I. That though the things of the 'World are fPeciom, pt they jhould not allure m, be·cau[e they are fading: Flowers are fweet, and affeCt the eye, bl'lt their beauty is foon·fcortched; The Soul is for an eternalgo()d, that it may have a happinefs fuitable to its own duration ; an immortalSout cannot have full contentment in that which isfading: But this is a point that calleth for meditttttion ra– ther then demonftration ; .. cis eafie to declaim upon the vanity of the creature, ·cis every mans objeEf, and every mansfabjeil: Oh but think of it ferioufly, and defire God to be in your thoughts i when the creatures tempt you, be not enticed by the beauty of them, fo as to forget tht·ir vanity. Say, Here u a fiower,gloriot-U, but fitding; glafs that's bright,but brittle. 2· The fairejl- things are ,m!Jft f4ding; Crefltures when thry come to their excellency, thm. they decay: as herbs when they come to flower, they begin to wither; or, as the Sun when it comech to the Zenith, then it declineth: P{al. 39· 5· Man at hu be§t eftate u altogether vanity; not at his worfi onely, when the feeblenefs and inconveniences of old age have furprized him : Many, you know, are blafied and cut offin their flower, and wither as foon as they begin to flourijh. Paul had ame.Jfenger of St~tan prefemly upon his exta(ze, 2 Cor. 12. 7· So the Prophet fpeaketh of a Grafbopper in the beginning of the {hooting up 9f the latter growth, Amos 7· t. As foon as the ground recovered any verdure and greennefs, prefently there came a gralhopper eo, devour the· herbage ; t-he meaning is, a new affliCtion, as foon as theybegan to fiourilh. Well then, Sufpetl thefe outward things when you moft abound in them; David thoug4t of o'llerthrows when God had 1 given (
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