True gain, opened in a sermon preached at Pauls, Nov. 9. 1656

2. It is exceeding disproportionable to the spiritual and immortal condition of the heart of man; whatever is in the world is material, carnal, mortal. It can benefit the outward and the natural man, But to look for peace of Conscience, joy in the holy Ghost, inward and durable comfort. in any thing which the world affords, is to seek a treasure in a coal pit. If you go to the creature to make you happy, the earth will tell you that Blessedness grows not in the furrows of the field; the sea, that it is not in the treasures of the deep; cattle will say, it is not on our backs; Crowns will say, it is too precious a gem to be found with us, we can adorn the head, but we cannot satisfy the heart, Solomon, who made a critical inquiry after this point, gives this in as the ultimate extraction from the creatures, vanity of vanities all is vanity. We have all great experience how loose the world hangs about us. Life it self is a bubble, and is suddenly gone, but besides that final separation, God hath a thousand ways to part us from this darling; fire burns it, water drowns it, a sword cuts it off, sickness takes away the savour of it. A prodigal son, an unfaithful servant, an ⟨p. 18⟩ill debtor, a suit of law, a world of the like accidents may deprive us of it. Now no man will dote on a false friend, or care for a false title, or set his affection on any thing that is false. Why then should we love a false world? Or set our eyes on that which is not, as the Wise-man speaks, Prov. 23.5. Why should we with Martha so much trouble our selves about the world, and leave Mary's unum necessarium wholly neglected? Like the man in Plutarch who went to the Physicians to cure a sore finger, ¹when in the mean time his lungs were putrefied, and he took no care of them.

2. It is exceeding disproportionable to the spiritual and immortal condition of the heart of man; whatever is in the world is material, carnal, mortal. It can benefit the outward and the natural man, But to look for peace of Conscience, joy in the holy Ghost, inward and durable comfort. in any thing which the world affords, is to seek a treasure in a cole pit. If you go to the creature to make you happy, the earth will tell you that Blessedness grows not in the furrows of the field; the sea, that it is not in the treasures of the deep; cattel will say, it is not on our backs; Crowns will say, it is too precious a gem to be found with us, we can adorne the head, but we cannot satisfie the heart, Solomon, who made a critical inquiry after this point, gives this in as the ultimate extraction from the creatures, vanity of vanities all is vanity. We have all great experience how loose the world hangs about us. Life it self is a bubble, and is sudenly gone, but besides that finall separation, God hath a thousand ways to part us from this darling; fire burnes it, water drowns it, a sword cuts it off, sickness takes away the savour of it. A prodigall son, an un faithfull servant, an