2 The Vanityof the World. ferviceablenefs is only to make a glittering and dazling fhew. Which fcnfe &loman approves, Ecclcf. 5· I I. What good is there to the Orrme;s thereof, (ave the beholding them with their Eye I? 'J1,e Pride of Life is Honour and Digmty, that flatulent and airy Notion, that puffi up Mens Pride and Vain-glory, and makes them look upon their Infcriours, as tho' they were not their Fellow Creatures. This is all that the World can lhew, Picafurcs, RiChe{, Honours; and. this is that All concerning which the wife Man pronounceth that it is Vanity. . ~ For thefe things, tho' they make a fair and gaudy fhe""' yet it is all but fhcw and appearance. As Bubbles blown into the Air, will reprefent great variety of Orient and Glittering Colours, not (as fome Ii.tppofe) that.Jltcre...ar.e_any .ftJch really there, but only they appear fo to us, through a falfe reflex ion of Light cart upon them: fo truly this VVorld, this Earth on which we lhre, is nothing elfe but a great Bnbble blown up by the Breath of God in thcmidft of the Air where it now h:1ngs. It fparkles with ten thoufand Glories; not that they are fo in themfclves, but only they feem fo tp us thro, the falfe Light, by whic,h we look upon them. If we come tografp it, like a thin Film, it breaks, and leaves nothing but \V"ind and Difappointment in T~c't our Hands: as Hiftorics report of the Fruits th;l.t grow near the Dead SCa, where flift.;ib. 5. once Sodom and Gomorrah frood, they appear very fair and bcatttiful to t1lC Eye, but Fu111lfm rx· if they be crulh'd, turn ftraight to Smoak and Allies. ;~~!~;:m/t The Subje~ which I have propound~ toDifcourfe ~f, is the Vanity of this\Vorld, ,~~.,' ' and of all thmgs here below; that bemg hereof convmced, we may defifl: ourvai11 ;:,~~:,. pu~fuit of vain Objects, and may fet our AlfeCl:ions on thofo things which are Abtn~e, Solin. Jo· yth!Ch arc the alone valuable, becaufe the only permanent and Ibhlc Good. Whence f~ph. An· is it tha~ we are become fo degenerate, that we, who haYe immort.tl and heaven-born nq. !. ~ ·c. Souls, fhould flake them down to thefe pcrifhing lnjoyments? \V hence is it, that S· we, who fuould foaraloftnnto God, and were to that end fitted with the Aeet Wings of Meditation and Affec:tions, to cut through the Heavens in an infl:ant, and to appear there before the Throne of the Great God, that we Ihould lie here groveling in the thick Clay and Muck of this V\Torld, as if the Serpent's Cm"fe were become ours, Gen. 3•Ii· to creep upon our Bellies, and ~o lick up the Duft of the Eanh? Do we not lb:vncfnlly degrade our felves, when we ftoop to admire what is fo.vaftly below us, and barter away our precious Souls, Souls more worth than ten thoufand Worlds, only to gain fome fmall part of one? Certainly the God of this World hath blinded Mens Eyes, and cart a ftrange milt before them, that they cannot difcern, what is mort evident and obvious, C\'Cn the inftability and vanity of all fi.1blunary Enjoymcnts. That I may therefore contribute fomewhat to fcatter this Mift, I !ball endeavour to reprcfent to you the nativeand genuine Vanity that is in all earthly things, free from that deceitful Varnifl1, which the Devil ufi.1all.y puts upon them; and fo to deform, aud wound th:tt great Sorcerer, that his Charms may have no more Power to prevail over you. Now, that we may rightly prOceed in this, I fhall premifethcfe two or three things. 1. Firft, There is noth ing in the World v:~in in refpeB: of its natural Being. What focver God hath made, is, in its kind, good. And fo the great Creator pronounced of them, \vhen he took a fi.trvey of all the \Vorks of his han~s, Gen. t. 3t.God[tr.rJ e1.1cry thing that he had m#e, and behold ir w.u 1.1ery good. There IS a mofl: harmonious Order and Beauty in all the Creation, and every part of it. And therefore Solomon mufl: not be here fo interpreted, as if he difparaged the Works of God in pronouncing them all Vanity. Certainly he cloth not libel his Creator, nor upbraid him, as tho' he had filled the World only with vain Toys and Trifles. If '"·e regard the wonderful Artifice andWifdom that fhines forth in the Frame of Nature, we cannot have fo unworthy a Thought either of the World it felf, or of God who made it. t 1am. 1 View the Sun (next unto ·f· Go~l) the great Fath~r of LightJ: view the numerou!t. · Alfembly of the Stars; ohferve then· Influences, their Courfes, and Mea£hres. Is it a vain or impertinent thing, to fprcad forth the Heavens, and to beat out a Path for '7· every one of thefe to walk in: The Air, that thin and. fi.Jbtilc Veil that God hath fpread over thCFace of Nature; the Earth;- that God hath pois'd in the midfl: of the Air, and the whole Univerfe in the ~idft of a vaft and houndlefs Nothing: The great Se:~, whofe proud Waves God binds in with a Girdle of Sand; and checks its rage by a Body almoft as unfcttled and rolling as it felf: The v:~rious kinds of Creatures that God governs by a wonderful Oeconomy; the great family of brute Bcafts, · which God brings up and educates without Diforder; but efpecially Man, the Lord and
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=