Grosse - BV4500 G76 1640

+0 Vanity of thing,r without Chriji. Micah 6: v Iobn.i. Tv Prat. 61.3. x Tnca,ifum la- berat in acqtu- fitíonem virtr,- tam, qui eus a- libi quam -n CJ3'1d`0 quarlt 2. Vanity ofall things without Chrift. x Ecclef. +.i Azuwm ! fi ma- teria labarum periculum por_ fodentium; au rum enerva :lo virtutum, rum malus do mivf,,s, prodi for feivus. Aug. a thotfand hams, and ten tbonfand.Rivers of Oyle, nay, ten thou -i fand worlds, if man werelord and owner of them,were an infuflicient price for the leaft fin of man : None but Chrift,a price infinite and=invaluablei is the -price of mans redempti- on. Man is empty, an& none, but Christ can fill him ; the world is a feaft, the more man feeds upon it, the more his hur:ger is encreafed ; like the dropfie man, the more he drinketh, the more he thirtieth -: Chrift alone fatisfieth, he gives V water whereof wbofo drinketb,.tbirffeth no more. Not the creature but the Lord Jefus is mans fulnefse. Man is diftref- fed, perplexed, tormented, and none but Chriti can quiet him : he cafteth out thetormenting fpirit, he appeafeth the ftormy tempeft, he calmeth the violent and forging waves and waters ; he leads him through the fea of affliction, to a wRoc)ptbat is bigber then man, to an eftate and condition fecure and fife from all oppofing power : Endlefs and cafelefs are the foules perplexities which conies not to Cori( Jefus : As tsernard x fometime faid, He labours in vaine in the acquiGti- on of vertues, that Peeks them elfwhere then in Christ. Thus man labours in vaine that Peeks peace, fafety, comfort,.any where except im Chrift ;: and what is man that wants Christ, but a body without.a head, a dead and idle, a loathfome tam ; a houle without a foundation, which.cannot fund ; a field without dew, which withers ; and a branch without root, abiding barren,and haftening to the fire ? Behold then O man, thy necetiity of Chris}, thy mifery without Chrift, and give thy foule no reft untill thou art come home to Chrift. Fatten your thoughts upon the vanity of all things with- out Christ.: What is worldly fulnefse to him that comes not to Chiift Jefus but vanity and x vexation of ffiirit a bed of thornes, on which he cannot fl'ep without .terrour ; a way offnares, in which he cannot walk without ftumbiing,brui- fng any hu ting himfelfe ; a.cup of gall, of which he can- not drink with any comfort;like the waters ofMarab to ¡ira- el without the tree, borthens, opprcilìng, chaines, fettering, arrowes wounding, feas toiling, and winds ihaking,..are. all worldly poiseffiions to them _that pofsets not Cheift Jefus. What

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