36 Amos 3.to. lames 5.3. Prov. 8.4 8. `t be I/anity of the Creatùre. forme of pieties to feduce unf +able foules, and pluck off their feathers to make themfelves a flea ? The Apofiles -Rule is general!, that fenfuall and earthly - minded men are all the enemies of the croffe of Chrifl, Phil. 3. i 8,r g._ The third and lal+ difproportion betweene the foule of Man and the Creature, arifng from the vanitie there- of, is in regard of duration and continuance. Man is by nature a provident Creature, apt to lay up for the time to come, and that difpofition fhould reach beyond the fore- cat+ of the Foole in theGofpell, for many yeares, even for immortalitie it felfe. For certainly there is noman who hath but the generali notions of corrupted reafon al *e within him, who hath not his confcience quite vitiated,. and his mindeputrified with noyfome lulls, who is not wrapped up in the mud of thick ignorance, and palpa- ble flupiditie, but mull of neceffitie have oftentimes the immediate reprefentations of immortalitie before his eyes. Let him never fo much finother and fuppreffe the truth, let him with all the Art bee can divert his conceits, and entangle his thoughts in fecular cares, let him Phut his . eye -lids as clófe as his naile is to his flefh, yet the flafhes of immortalitie are of fo penetrative and fearchìng a na- ture, that they will undoubtedly get thorow all the ob- flacles, which a minde.not wholly over -dawbed with worldlineffe and ignorance can put betweene. There- fore the Apoftle ufeth that fora f +rong argument, why rich men fhould not true in uncertaine riches, but in the living God, and fhould be rich in good worker, That fe, faith hee, they may lay up in floreagood foundation again. the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternall life, r Tim.6.r7,19. Wicked men indeed lay up in fore, but it is not riches, bt wrath , even violence and oppref on againf+ the lai+ day. But by trufling G o D, and doing good, a man layes up durable Riches, as the Wife-man lbeakes; in which refpea hee prefently addes, ?°hat the fruit of wifedome is better than Gold. For though Gold bee
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