- Gilemex, king of Vandals, led in triumph by Belisarius, cried out, ' Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.' The fancy of Lucian, who placeth Charon on the top of an high hill, viewing all the aft'airs of men living, and looking on their greatest cities as little birds' nests, is very pleasant.
* Oh the imperfection, the ingratitude, the levity, the inconstancy, the perfidiousness of those creatures we most servilely affect. Ah, did we but weigh man's pain with his payment, his crosses with his mercies, his miseries with his pleasures, wo should (lien see that there is nothing got by the bargain, and conclude, ' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 65
Tell me, you that say all things under the sun are vanity, if you do really believe what you say, why do you spend more thoughts and time on the world, than you do on Christ, heaven, and your immortal souls ? Why do you then neglect your duty towards God, to get the world ? Why do you then so eagerly pursue after the world, and are so cold in your pursuing after God, Christ, and holiness ? Why then are your hearts so exceedingly raised, when the world comes in, and smiles upon you ; and so much dejected, and cast down, when the world frowns upon you, and with Jonah's gourd withers before you ?
Remedy (3). The third remedy against the device of Satan is, To divell much upon the uncertainty, the mutability, and inconstancy of all things under the sun. Man himself is but the dream of a dream, but the generation of a fancy, but an empty vanity, but the curious picture of nothing, a poor, feeble, dying flash. All temporals are as transitory as a hasty headlong current, a shadow, a ship, a bird, an arrow, a post that passeth by. ' Why shouldst thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ?' saith Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 5. And saith the apostle, 'The fashion of this world passeth away,'1 1 Cor. vii. 31. Heaven only hath a foundation, earth hath none, ' but is hanged upon nothing,' as Job speaks, xxvi. 7. The apostle willed Timothy to 'charge rich men that they be not high-minded, nor put their trust in uncertain riches,' 1 Tim. vi. 17.2 They are like bad servants, whose shoes are made of running leather, and will never tarry long with one master.3 As a bird hoppeth from tree to tree, so do the honours and riches of this world from man to man, Let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testify this truth, who fell from great wealth to great want. No man can promise himself to be wealthy till night ; one storm at sea, one coal of fire, one false friend, one unadvised word, one false witness, may make thee a beggar and a prisoner all at once. All the riches and glory of this world is but as smoke and chaff that vanisheth ; 'Asa dream and vision in the night, that tarrieth not/ Job xx. 8. ' As if a hungry man dreameth, and thinketh that he eateth, and when he awaketh his soul is empty ; and like a thirsty man which thinketh he drinketh, and behold when he is awaked, his soul is faint,' as the prophet Isaiah saith, chap. xxix. 8. Where is the glory of Solomon ? the sumptuous build- ings of Nebuchadnezzar ? the nine hundred chariots of Sisera ? the power of Alexander ? the authority of Augustus, that commanded the whole world to be taxed ? Those that have been the most glorious, in what men generally account glorious and excellent, have had in- glorious ends ; as Samson for strength, Absalom for favour, Ahithophel for policy, Haman for favour, Asahel for swiftness, Alexander for great conquest, and yet after twelve years poisoned. The same you may see in the four mighty kingdoms, the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and
1 1 Cor. vii. 31 intimateth, that there is nothing of any firmness, or solid consistence, in the creature.
2 Riches were never true to any that trusted to them ; they have deceived men, as Job's brook did the poor travellers in the summer season.
3 A phrase meaning, he is given to rambling about. See Halliwell and Wright sub voce. — (jr.
GG PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
Roman : how soon were they gone and forgotten I1 Now rich, now poor, now full, now empty, now in favour, anon out of favour, now honourable, now despised, now health, now sickness, now strength, now weakness. Oh, let not these uncertain things keep thee from those holy services and heavenly employments, that may make thee happy for ever, and render thy soul eternally blessed and at ease, when all these transitory things shall bid thy soul an everlasting fare- well.2
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That the great things of this world are very hurtful and dangerous to the outward and inward man, through the corruptions that be in the hearts of men. Oh, the rest, the peace, the comfort, the content that the things of this world do strip many men of! Oh, the fears, the cares, the envy, the malice, the dangers, the mischiefs, that they subject men to ! 3 They oftentimes make men carnally confident.4 The rich man's riches are a strong tower in his imagination. ' I said in my prosperity I should never be moved/ Ps. xxx. 6. They often swell the heart with pride, and make men forget God, and neglect God, and despise the rock of their salvation. When Jeshurun 'waxed fat, and was grown thick, and covered with fatness, then he forgot God, and forsook God that made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation/ as Moses spake, Deut. xxxii. 15. Ah, the time, the thoughts, the spirits, that the things of the world consume and spend ! Oh, how do they hinder the actings of faith upon God ! how do they interrupt our sweet communion with God ! how do they abate our love to the people of God ! and cool our love to the things of God ! and work us to act like those that are most unlike to God ! Oh, the deadness, the barrenness that doth attend men under great outward mercies ! 5 Oh, the riches of the world chokes the word ; that men live under the most soul-searching, and soul-enriching means with lean souls. Though they have full purses, though their chests are full of silver, yet their hearts are empty of grace. In Genesis xiii. 2, it is said, that ' Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.' According to the Hebrew (Chabbedgh) it is ' Abraham was very weary ;' to shew that riches are a heavy burden, and a hindrance many times to heaven, and happiness.6
1 The most renowned Frederick lost all, and sued to be made but sexton of the church that himself had built. I have read of a poor fisherman, who. while his nets were a-drying, slept upon the rock, and dreamed that he was made a king, on a sudden starts up, and leaping for joy, fell down from the rock, and in the place of his imaginary felicities loses his little portion of pleasures.
2 The pomp of this world John com pare th to the moon, which crescit et decrescit, in- creaseth and decreaseth, Apoc. xii. 1.