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…

Infinitely therefore doth it concern the Soul of every man to be restless and unsatisfied with any other good thing, till he find himself entitled unto this happy Communion with the Life of Christ, which will never fail him. As all the Creatures in the world, so man especially hath in him a twofold desire; a desire of perfection, and a desire of perpetuity; a desire to advance, and a desire to preserve his Being. ⁱNow then till a mans Soul, after many rovings and inquisitions, hath at last fixed it self upon some such good thing as hath compass enough to satiate and replenish the vastness of these two ⟨p. 455⟩desires: impossible it is for that Soul, though otherwise filled with a confluence of all the glory, wealth, wisdom, learning and curiosity of Solomon himself, to have solid contentment enough to withstand the fears of the smallest danger, or to outface the accusations of the smallest sin. Now then let us suppose that any good things of this World, without the Life of Christ, were able to satisfy one of these two desires, to perfect and advance our nature (though indeed it be far otherwise, since without Christ they are all but like a stone in a Serpents head, or a Pearl in an Oyster; not our perfections, but our diseases, like Cleopatra her precious stone; when she wore it, a Jewell; but when she drank it, an excrement. I may boldly say that as long as a man is out of Christ, he were better be a beggar, or an idiot, then to be the steward of riches, honours, learning and wisdom, which should have been improved to the Glory of Him that gave them, and yet to be able to give up at that great day of accounts no other reckoning unto God but this: Thy riches have been the authors of my covetousness and oppression; thy honours, the steppes of my haughtiness and ambition; thy learning and wisdom, the fuel of my pride.) But now I say, suppose that nature could receive any true advancement by these things; yet alas, when a man shall begin to think with himself, may not God this night take me away, like the fool in the Gospel, from all these things, or all these from me? May I not, nay must I not within these few years, in stead of mine honour, be laid under mens feet? In stead of my purple and scarlet, be clothed with rottenness? In stead of my luxury and delicacies, become my self the food of worms?

Infinitely therefore doth it concerne the Soule of every man to bee restlesse and unsatisfied with any other good thing, till he find himselfe entitled unto this happy Communion with the Life of Christ, which will never faile him. As all the Creatures in the world, so man especially hath in him a twofold desire; a desire of perfection, and a desire of perpetuitie; a desire to advance, and a desire to preserve his Being.