Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulness of sin. The life…Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulnesse of sinne. The life…

Now a man ought not thus to set his heart on the Creature; first, because of the Tenderness and delicacy of the spirit, which will quickly be bruised with any thing that lies close upon it and presseth it. As men wear the softest garments next their skin, that they be not disquieted, so should we apply the tenderest things, the mercies and the worth of the blood of Christ, the promises of grace and glory, the precepts and invitations of the Spirit unto our spirits. And now as subterraneous wind or air being pressed in by the earth, doth often beget concussions and earth-quakes; so the spirit of a man being swallowed up and quite closed in earthly things must needs beget tremblings and distractions at last to the soul. The word here which we translate Vexation is rendered likewise by Contritio, a pressing, grinding, wearing away of a thing, and by Depastio, a feeding on a thing, which makes some render the words thus, All is vanity and a feeding upon wind. That as windy meats, though they fill and swell a man up, they nourish little, but turn into crudities and diseases; so the feeding upon the Creature may puff up the heart, but it can bring no real satisfaction, no solid nutriment to the soul of man. The Creature upon the spirit is like a worm in wood, or a moth in a garment, it begets a ⟨p. 99⟩rottenness of heart, it bites asunder the threads and sinews of the soul, and by that means works an ineptitude and undisposednesse to any worthy service, and brings a decay upon the whole man; for cares will prevent age, and change the colour of the hair before the¹ time, and make a man like a silly Dove, without any heart, as the Prophet speaks.

Now a man ought not thus to set his heart on the Creature; first, because of the Tendernesse and delicacie of the spirit, which will quickely be bruiz'd with any thing that lies close upon it and presseth it. As men weare the softest garments next their skinne, that they be not disquieted, so should we apply the tenderest things, the mercies and the worth of the bloud of Christ, the promises of grace and glory, the precepts and invitations of the Spirit unto our spirits. And now as subterraneous winde or ayre being pressed in by the earth, doth often beget concussions and earth-quakes; so the spirit of a man being swallow'd up and quite clos'd in earthly things must needs beget tremblings and distractions at last to the soule. The word heere which we translate Vexation is rendred likewise by Contritio, a pressing, grinding, wearing away of a thing, and by Depastio, a feeding on a thing, which makes some render the words thus, All is vanitie and a feeding upon winde. That as windie meates, though they fill and swell a man up, they nourish little, but turne into crudities and diseases; so the feeding upon the Creature may puffe up the heart, but it can bring no reall satisfaction, no solid nutriment to the soule of man. The Creature upon the spirit is like a worme in wood, or a moth in a garment, it begets a