Let us every one labour to get out of the state of nature, to break off our wicked lives, and to get into Christ the blessed seed, and then we shall be blessed, we shall be made free, free from the curse of nature and of sin. Let us renew our covenants against all sin, and make conscience to be led by the Spirit of Christ, that we may gather sound evidence every day, that we are in Christ, and so out of the curse.
THE UNPROSPEROUS BUILDER.
NOTES.
(a) p "0 — ' Lutlier a man of great parts and grace, saith of himself, " That if," ' &c. The sentiment is found in his ' Table Talk,' on which of. note uu, Vol. III.
(b) P. 20.—' The Josnits themselves, amongst the rest one De Lapide, he saith.' ' One Do Lapide' is somewhat contemptuous for a name so famous as Corneille de la Pierre, commonly called Cornelius a Lapide. His great ' Commentarii in Sacram Scripturam ' (10 vols, folio) is an extraordinary chaos of wisdom and folly. The thing stated ante is a commonplace of popery.
(c) P. 20.—' As one of the ancients saith well, " the wrath of a man,' &c. Pro- bably Augustine, but I have failed to trace it.
(<i) P. 20. — ' The primitive church pronounced a curse against Julian.' It needeth not to annotate so familiar a fact in the early conflicts of Christianity ; but perhaps it is as well to notice that ' curse ' is not used technically. There was angry de- nunciation, yet scarcely excommunication proper.
(e) P. 22. — ' Children, according to the Hebrew word, are the building, the pillars of the house.' The allusion here is not, as at first sight would seem, to 'first-born' in the text, but to the general word for children, viz., □''^2; ^^^ probably also to
the Hebrew word for ' house,' /T>^ (quasi ]^22), ^^^^^ which words are derived from
the verb nJ3. ' *f build.' So we read the passage, ' Cursed be the man that riseth
T T
up and buildcth (HJ^) Jericho ;' as if he said, ' that riseth up and maketh Jericho
T T
to have children and house. That man shall suffer for it, inasmuch as his children shall die, and his house be left desolate.'
(f) P. 23. — ' As Zedekiah and Mauritius the emperor.' With respect to Zede- kiah, cf. 2 Kings xxv. 7. ' Mauritius ' is of course Mauricius Flavins Tiberius, one of the greatest of the emperors of Constantinople. Sibbes alludes to the well known fact, that his five sons were murdered in the church of St Antonomus, Chalcedon, while their father was compelled to look on.
(g) P. 24. — ' As Augustine complains, they so pestered,' &c. Eepeatedly in his De Civitate Dei, and in his Controversies.
[h] P. 24. — ' Gerson . . . saith.' To distinguish this from other Gersons, it may be stated that Sibbes no doubt refers to John Gerson of Gerson [Charlier], whose writings are numerous. Died 1429.
(«) P. 26. — ' We set out books of martyrology.' The great martyr-book is that of John Fox; but for others prior and subsequent to Sibbes, cf. Watt's Bib. Brit., sub voce. G.
(j) P. 28.— The reference is to the safe return of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles L, from the visit which he made in company with Buckingham into Spain, whence he returned on the 5th October 1623. His safe return is frequently referred to as a matter of thankfulness by the preachers of the period. There is already published in this Series a sermon preached on that occasion by Samuel Ward (Works, p. 134).
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
VOL. VII.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
NOTE,
' The Vanity of the Creature' forms No. 18 of the Sermons in the Saint's Cordials of 162Q. It is not contained in the editions of 1637, 1658. The separate title-page will be found below.* G.
*THE
V ANITIE OF
THE CEEATVKE.
In One Seemon.
■whekein is set forth,
C The decaying condition of all naturall parts, and worldly I comforts.
I Together with the meanes hoio to attaine an estate super- naturall, to live with God in Christ,
Shewing who are the truly wise men in the world.
With sundry helps and directions to stirre up in Christi- [ ans a longing desire after their best home, S^c.
[The ornament here, described in Vol. IV. page 60. So in all the Sermons from the Saint's Cordials in this volume. — G.]
Vprightnes Hath Boldnes.
LONDON, Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
And Barzillai said to the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the kiwi to Jerusalem ? I am this day fourscore years old, dc. — • 2 Samuel XIX. 34-38.
I HAVE read, beloved, a large text. In the handling of it, we will do as the traveller doth that is belated ; we will cast how we may post the next way to an end. The oration, you see, is very plain. We shall not need to spend much time in explicating the terms.
The words are part of a conference, you see ; a passage between king David and Barzillai of Eogelim, in the county of Gilead. This Barzillai had been wondrous kind to David in the time of his distress. David being now restored from danger, remembers the kindness of his old friend, and, in way of requital, tenders him this offer, that in case he would go with him to the court of Jerusalem, he should be very welcome thither, and he should have such entertainment as the court would afford. This invite- ment* of the king foregoes f our text.