Hopkins - HP BR75 .H65 1710

The Vanity of the World. 1 I <juict a troubled Confcic~ce, nor appeafe an angry God, .nor r~move the cond~m~ nina Guilt of the leaft Sm: No, The redempticm of the Soul u precwttJ (more prcctous Pfal. 49 D. tha~ to be purchafed by thefe poor things) and it ce.ftth for ever. · , Poffibly no1v in the time of your Peace and Profperity, you regard not thefe fpir itual Wants; but when the d~ys of sor;ow and parknefs fhall C?me upon you, when God fha\l·drop into your Conferences a little of hrs Wrath and Drfpleafure, you may as well feck to cure a Wound in your Body, by applying a Plliftcr to your Garment, as feek to cafe a wounded Spirit by all the Treafures, Pleaihres, and Enj.oyment.s of ,. this World. RicheJ (faith the Wift Man) pr.jitnoe in the day ofWrdtb': For mdeedthe¥P,0v, " · cannot reach the Soul to bring any tnte folacc to it. • 4· Thns you fee how unfuitable the World is to the Soul. Unfuita~le to the Nature of it, for the Soul is Spiritual, but all Earthly Enjoyments are droille and material; the Soul is immortal, but thefe are a !I perifhing: Unfhitable alfo to the Neceffities of the Soul, which they can never reach nor fupply. Apin; TheVanity of theWorld appears in its Jncon!bncy and Ficklcnefs. God's IX: Providence adminill:ers all things here below in perpetual Vicifiitudes. His Hand turns them about like fo many Wheels, (to which they are compared, Ez..ek. I.) the fJ.me part is now uppermoft, and anonlowermoft; now lifted up in the Air, and by and by grated through the Mire. This is the mutable condition of the World. And therefore we find it compared to the Moon, Rev. 12. r. wJ1ere the Church is defcribed to be Cbuhtd 1Pith the Swr, nnd to have the Moon (that is, the World) um:kr her feet. And well may it bear the refemblance, for it is frill waxing and waning, fometimes fnll of brightnefs, at other times fcarce a fina\lll:teak ofLight to be difcerned. There are none of us but have had experience in fome kind or other, of the inconfbncy of thefe fubh1nary E.njoymcnts: When the Sun fhines bright and warm, all the Flowers 'of the Field open and dif_Qlay their Leaves, to receive him into their Bofoms .; but 'when Night comes, they fold together, and fhut up all their Glories: And tho' they were like fo many little Suns fhining here below, able, one would think, to force~ day for' themfelves; yet when the Sun withdraws his Beams, they droop, and hang the Head, and ll:and negleCted, dnll and obfcnre Things. So hath it fured with us: While God hath fhone upon us with warm and cherifhing Influences, we opened and fprcad, antt flOurin1'd into a great Pomp and Glory: But he only hides his Face, draws in his Beams, and all our beautiful Leaves fhut up, or fall to theGround, and leave us a bare Stalk, yoor and contemptible. . Or if there have been no fuch confiderable Mutations in what concerns us, yet tl1e Revolutions that God illth of late Years brought upon others, fo beyond ExpcChti~ on or Example, may well inftrutt us in the Vanity of the \Vorld, and make us no tefs contemn it, than admire that infinite Wifdom that governs it. lt is fa id of the rVhu ls, Ezek. t. 17. '!hat they went upon theit four fides. For one Wheel interCeding and croffing another, the whole muft needs confift of four Side$ or Semicircl es: and moving upon thefe four fides, it muft of neceffity move very ruggedly, by jolts and jerks. So truly the Providences of God do fometimes move unevenly, as crofsWheels \Yould do moving upon their fides. Great and fuddcn changes are often bt:ought to pafs without being ripened by fenfible Degrees, but hap.. pen by the furprifal of fomc llllexpcded Provldence, and, as it were by the filddert jerk. of the \Vheel, fi1ak.ing off thofe who fate on the top, and chlfl1ing tt\em in its paflage over. , 'Tts trnc, thcfe Mutations. which to us feem fo confufcd and ttiri1ultQ;lry, are all orderly and harmonious in the Divine Counfel and Fore-knowledge. Tli.ere is not a Providence that hreaks its Rank, nor a Wheel that moves out of its Track; and there is a dell:ined End for them all, the Glory of the Almighty Creator; to which While every Creature purfu~s its own Inclinations, he fweetly, and yet e.fficaciounY fways them. They are all like Arrows !hot at a Mark by an unerring Hand : Some are !hot point-bl,ank, and forne by compafs, but none fo careleOy as to mifs it. Tho• Changes may fut·prize ns, yet they do not fbrprizc God: But as it is a great pleafurc to us, to fee our Defigns and Forecafts accomplilhed; fo infinite Wifdom delights it fclfto look on, and fee how all things ftart up into their Place and Order, as foon as called forth by his efficacious Decree and Fore-kno\vledge. Among all the weighty an.d arduous Cares of Governing the World, it is (if I may fo exprefs it) theRecrc.. atton of Providence, to amufe Mankind with fome wonderful Events; that when we <• nnot find out the Connexion and Dependence of fecond Caufes, we may,humbly "' a:cquiefce

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