Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

626 ?hat al worldly thing:are mutad/e and vxconfant. who hath a6fed his part well in the reff ofhis life, fpoileth all in the lafi fcene, concluding an happie life in refpeé} of worldly profperity, with a fhamefull and miferabledeath. Onmia mode. Neither in truth is it any maruell that ourworldly eflates rafLxa fira0 fhould bee fo variable and vnconflant, feeingthe ground vela: in calco whereupon they Eland is fo moorifh and deceitful!; for euen !Dram lock ari- the world it felfe is fickle and felfe ; and therefore as it is Ur. its ad altos ia- eîantar.Greg. poflìble to (land firmely on a dancing quagmire, or Readily Nazianz,de and immoueably in tottering fhip,whenit istoffedwith pauperum a. forging wanes in a tempefluous (forme; fo is it alike impoffi- °1O`Q' ble to ground an vnchangeable elfate on this mutable world, or not to be mooed with this worldly earthquake. Yea roen thole things in the world which chiefly intitle profperity, are moll variable and fubieêc to change,- and like veto the dull railed by the wind, they are toad to and fro, and from one to another, as it pleafeth Gods prouidence to dilpofe of them ; or vnto fhadowes and apparitions,which vanifh awayand flip betweene the hands, when a man thin - keth to take fureff hold. So that this.idoll of worldly pro. fperity when iv.dothmof glorioufly Thine muff needs bee continually in danger-of falling and breaking,..feeingboth the matter thereof is (as it were) of brittle glaffe, and the bale or foundation whereon it Randethrotten and vncon Rant. And yetfuch is the follie of worldly men, yeafome times alto of Gods dearefl fèruants,that when they haue this Pfa1.3o,9: eele in their hand they thinke they can hold it f(l, and are ready to fay in their profperity that they !hall neuer bee een.k,a, mooed. And as Eue thought that her fon Cain would haue been a Pure pofl-eflion,though he proued a run nag ate;fo they imagine that thefe births of their careful! braines, and fruits of their labours, will bee confiant and permanent; whereas theeuent fhewcth,that (like beggers brats) they will not flay long in any place; and that Iike run -away fer- uants . almofl euery ntoneth they- change their mailer. In Plurarch,Con- which refpe6Ti the conflancie of humaine affaires is fitly com- foiadApol. pared toahe mouing of the cart wheele; the lowefl part be- ingwithin a while vppermou, and Toone after as low as it wasbefore. So that they who thinke to find Pure footing on this