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…

Surely, if men who had nothing but the Creatures to trust to, being Aliens from the Covenant of promise, and without God in the world, had yet so much Care to keep their judgements sound touching the vanity of their greatest honours, how much more ought Christians, who profess themselves heirs of better and more abiding Promises. But especially arm thy self against those vanities which most easily beset and beguile thee; apply the authority of the Word to thine own particular sickness and disease, treasure up all the experiences that meet thee in thine own course, or are remarkable in the lives of others, remember how a moment swallowed up such a pleasure, which will never return again, how an indirect purchase embittered such a preferment, and thou never didst feel that comfort in it, which thy hopes and ambitions promised thee, how a frown and disgrace at another time dashed all thy contrivances for further advancement, how death seized upon such a friend, in whom thou. Hadst laid up much of thy dependence and assurances, how time hath not only robbed thee of the things, but even turned the edge of thy desires▪ and made thee loath thy wonted idols, and look upon thy old delights as Ammon upon Tamar with exceeding hatred. But above all address ⟨p. 54⟩thy self to the throne of Grace, and beseech the Lord so to sanctify his Creatures unto thee, as that they may not be either thieves against him to steal away his honour, or snares to thee to entangle thy soul. We will conclude this first Direction with the words of the Apostle: The Time is short: It remaineth that both they that ¹have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it, that is, as not to be drowned and smothered in the businesses of this life, as if there were any fundamental and solid utility in them; for saith he, The fashion of this world passeth away. The Apostles exhortation is beset at both ends with the same enforcement from whence I have raised mine. First, The Time is short; The Apostle, as the learned conceive, useth a Metaphor from Sails or Curtains, or Shepherds tents (as Hezekiah makes the comparison)² such things as may be gathered up together into a narrow room.