[Here it is that the vanity of earthly things pre-eminently appears. For in what respect can they advance our eternal happiness ? Would to God that they did not so generally and so fatally obstruct it ! Truly, " neither riches nor honours can profit us in the day of wrath." With our holy and heavenly Judge " there is no respect of persons." The rich and the poor will be dealt with according to one equal law : only the rich, and the great, and the learned, will be called to a more severe account in proportion to the influence they possessed, and the advantages they neglected to improve.]
But as the testimony is unquestionably strong, I shall, II. Quahfy it —
Beyond all doubt, the Scriptures generally contain the same language : " Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie : to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity''." But stronger still is the language of the Psalmist in another place, where he says, " Verily every man, at his best estate, is altogether vanity ^" Consider how strong and how unqualified these expressions are, and you will not expect me to say much in mitigation of them. Yet I must say, that the vanity of the creature, though the same in itself, is differently felt,
1. According to our mode of acting in reference to it —
[If we give ourselves up to creature comforts, we shaU
be dreadfully disappointed But if we enjoy them in
subserviency to God, and in subordination to higher pursuits, we shall not find them so empty as may be imagined. For God has " given to his people all things richly to enjoy :" and provided only we enjoy God in them, they are both a legitimate and an abundant spring of pure delight. For, whilst we derive from them the happiness which they are calculated to impart, we taste not the bitterness which is infused into the cup of the mere worldling. Our enjoyments are elevated and sanctified ; our pains, moderated and changed into an occasion of praise and thanksgiving. Only let them be sought in their proper place, and they are comforts in the way to heaven, though they can never stand to us in the place of heaven.]
2. According to the degree in which we blend re- ligion with it —
[Religion raises us above the creature altogether. If we have much of this world, we shall have a high enjoyment of it, ^ Ps. Ixii. 9. c Ps. xxxix. 5.