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…

But here the vanity and wickedness of many worldly men is justly to be reproved, who Rest on the Creature as on the only staff and comfort of their life, who count it their principal joy when their corn, and wine, and¹ oil increaseth, who magnify their own arts, sacrifice to their own net and drag (which is the Idolatry of Covetousness, so often spoken of by the Apostle, when all the trust, and hope, and glory, and rejoicing which men have is in the Creature, and not in God.) They boast, saith the Psalmist, in the multitude of their Riches.² Nay so much sottishness there is in the nature of man, and so much sophistry in the Creature, that the proud ⟨p. 20⟩fool in the Gospel from the greatness of his wealth,³ concludes the length of his life, Thou hast much laid up for many years, and the certainty of his mirth and pleasure, Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Their inward thought is that their houses shall endure for ever, and ⁴their dwelling places to all generations. And David himself was over-taken with this folly, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. Yea so much seed is there of pride in the heart of man, and so much heat (as I may so speak) & vigour in the Creature to quicken it, as that men are apt to Deify themselves in the reflection on their own greatness, & to deify any thing else which contributes to the enlargement of their ambitious purposes.⁵ The greatness of the Persian Emperors made them all usurp religious worship from their subjects. The like insolence we find in the Babylonish monarchs, they exalted themselves above the height of the clouds, and made themselves equal to the most high, Isaiah. 14. 14. yea their pride made them forget any God save themselves, I am, and there is none besides me, Isaiah. 47. 7. 8