some of a beggar or poor man ; all is but an acting of a part (c). And there is a less proportion between the acting of a part in this life, than there is between our life and eternity. All is but the acting of a part. We are not rich in the gi-avc more than others. The king is as poor in the grave as the base peasant ; his riches follow him not. The worm and the grave know no diflbrence. "\Mien we go to that house there is no dilicrence ; all acting and all ditl'erences end in the grave. And therefore, considering that this world is but an apparition, but the acting of a part, why should we think ourselves the better for anything here ? Doth he that acts the part of a nobleman upon the stage think himself better than another that acts the part of a poor man ? No. He knows he shall go oft' in a short time, and then he shall be as he was before. Wliy are we not thus wise in better things ? It is not he that acts the greatest part, but he that acts any part best. He that acts the part of a poor man may do better than he that acts the part of a rich man. It is not the greatness of the part, but the well acting of it. All is but an apparition. If a mean man honour God in his condition, and be faithful in a mean estate, he is a thousand times better than a great man that makes his greatness an instrument of injustice, as if all the world were to serve his turn, and to make men idolise him ; such a man is a wretched man, and will be when he is turned oft' the stage. It is no matter how long he hath lived, or how great a part he hath acted, but how well. We value not men as they are when they are acting, but as they are after. If they w^re bad before, they are bad after ; and they are praised after if they do it well. So it is no matter what a man acts. If he do it well, he is for ever happy ; if he do it ill, he is for ever miserable ; all here is but a pageant. If you talk of reality, it is in the things of religion. If you talk of true nobility, it is to be the child of God. If you talk of true riches, they are those that we carry to our deathbed ; those that we carry to heaven ; those that comfort the soul ; those that enrich the soul with grace and comfort and peace ; that is true riches. If you talk of true beauty, it is to have the image of God stamped upon our souls, to be like Christ, to be new creatures. If we talk of true strength, it is to stand against temptations, to be able to serve God, and to go through the world without polluting our souls, to bear crosses as we should ; that is the true reality. The things of this life are all but apparitions and pageants. The greatest man in the world will say so when he lies a-dying, as that great emperor said, ' I have run through all things, and now nothing doth me good.'* The reality was gone that he thought of, and now there was nothing but a show and apparition ; when the reality was gone, nothing doth me good. Come to a man that is gasping out his life, and ask him. What doth honours do you good ? What doth riches do you good ? What doth possessions do you good ? Solomon, a wise man, wise by the Spirit of God ; wise by experience, because he was a king ; wise by a special gift of God, a gift of wisdom ; he had all to enable him to give a true sentence ; he that had run through the variety of all good things, what doth he pronounce, but ' vanity of vanities ?' He cannot express himself. ' Vanity of vanities,' saith wise, holy, experienced Solomon. He that had all abilities, that no man was able to say it so well as he, jei he saith, ' Vanit}' of vanities ;' and that which is worse, * vexation of spirit,' if a man have not especial grace to manage them aright. And therefore I beseech you, ' brethren,' do but represent the things of this life, even under the notion here ; they are but apparitions, they are but pageants. If we go to buy anything in this * Cf. Note, Vol. III. page 531, note z.—G.
THE SPIRITU.VX, MAn's AIM. 53
world, we first pull off tho trappings ; wo pull off tho mask, or else we may bo cozened in the thing. So if we would judge of the things of this world as they are : what is within riches ? Is there not a great deal of care ? What is within government '? What is within the things of this life ? There is a goodly show and apparition. What is within ? Pull off tho mask, and then you shall see the things of this world. The more you pierce into them, and the more you know them, tho worse you like them. There is emptiness, and not only so, but vexation. But in the things of heaven, the nearer you are the more you will love them, the more you will admire them. The more a man knows God, the more he may know him. The more a man knows Christ, and loves Christ, the more he may. There is a height, and breadth, and depth there, all dimensions in the love of G-od in Christ, and in the joys of heaven ; they are beyond comprehension. The things that we have in Christ, they are larger than the soul ; we cannot comprehend them. There is nothing here but we may compass it ; it is inferior to our knowledge and affections. Our affections and our knowledge are larger than anything here ; the things of a better life are beyond all. Shall we be taken with apparitions, that the more we know them the more w^e shall undervalue them ?