A SERMON Preached at the Solemnity of the FUNERAL OF M rs DOROTHY St. JOHN Fourth Daughter of the late Sir Oliver St. John Knight and Baronet of Woodford in Northamptonshire In the Parish Church of St. Martins in the Fields on the 24 th of June 1677. BY ANTHONY HORNECK Preacher at the Savoy Published at the desire of her Relations LONDON Printed for James Collins in the Temple Passage from Essex Street MDCLXXVII Imprimatur Guil. Sill R. P D. Episc. Lond a Sac. Dom. Julii 26. 1677. TO THE HONORABLE THE LADY BARBARA St JOHN MADAM UPon Your Request I have adventured to appear in Publick and expos'd that to common view which I thought would never have gone farther than my Study Not to have yielded to your desires had been uncivility and though I am sensible of the weakness of the Discourse yet to pleasure you I have resolv'd to deny my self in that thing we call Credit and Reputation the rather because in this Sermon I have prov'd it to be Vanity The Text was of your Daughters choosing whether she regarded the sound more than the sense I will not enquire but as the different sentiments of Divines about this passage have allow'd it a place in the Catalogue of the sublimer mysteries of the Gospel So if I had had more time to view and correct my Comment it might have come abroad more polish'd and fitted more to the palate of the Age. What nicer men would have made the Scene of curious Speculations I have endeavour'd to make as practical as I can being sensible that our work is to convert Souls not to paint them In an Age so loose as ours so full of Vanity and Sin we had need be very serious and earnest with men to come away from these Idols to serve the Living God and as this shall be my sincere endeavour while the Great Master of my Life is pleas'd to continue me in the station I am in So if I can contribute any thing either to your Ladyships or your Relations Spiritual Advantage and Edification it will be no small Satisfaction to MADAM Your LADYSHIPS Most Humble Servant ANTHONY HORNECK Rom. viii 20. For the Creature was made subject unto Vanity not willingly but by reason of him who subjected it unto the same in hope THE 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or things hard to be understood in this Epistle would almost justifie a Man's wish for St. Paul's return to this valley of Tears to explain them As this Epistle hath occasion'd more differences in the World than any other Book of Scripture So we seem to want some heavenly Interpreter more infallible than St. Peter's pretended Successor at Rome to compose them and yet I cannot deny but that by Prayer and industry and assiduous reading and laying aside partiality and prejudice and superstitious reverence to our education and by attending to the scope and drift of the Writer and the circumstances he then was in and the controversies that vex'd the Church in that age the mind of the Holy Ghost though not in every particular yet in most things may be known to our comfort and satisfaction In this Chapter the Apostle partly directs the Roman Christians and partly comforts them shews them their duty and their cordial lets them see how they must be qualified if they claim an interest in Christ Jesus and how much God is concern'd in the midst of all their afflictions and persecutions In his directions which reach from the 1. to the 16. v. he acquaints them That if they lay hold on the love and favour and merits of Christ Jesus they must mind spiritual things more than temporal change their bvass and the spirit of God must be predominant in their souls govern their inward man make all their passions stoop and all their desires bow to his command In his comforts he is ever stately and magnificent and doth as it were empty Heaven to bring the Blessed Trinity and all the treasures of that Glory down into their souls and having mention'd Heavens glory the reward of all troubled and weary souls he knows not how to be large and copious enough upon so rich so illustrious a Subject And therefore by way of a Prosopopoea or Figure whereby we ascribe actions and postures of rational Creatures to things either inanimate or sensitive he brings in the whole Creation longing for that glory as if the universe sympathiz'd with all the suffering servants of God and together with them breath'd after that splendid manifestation of God's power and majesty v. 19. For the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God and because the more curious among the Christians he writes to might ask how Creatures corruptible and vain come to pant after that glorious day he in my Text lets them know that it is the great Commander of Heaven and Earth that hath so ordered it and intends to bring Light out of that Darkness and make that vanity they are subject to subservient to their future perfection For the Creature was made subject unto vanity not willingly but by reason of him who subjected it unto the same in hope In which words we find 1. A peremptory assertion of a signal change made in the Creature The Creature was made subject unto vanity 2. The manner of this change or rather the cause of it Not willingly but by reason of him who subjected it unto the same 3. Something which qualifies and mitigates that change or vanity It is subjected in hope and of these in order I. A signal change made in the Creature The Creature was made subject unto vanity There is hardly any word in Holy Writ that Expositors have toiled more to find out the meaning of than that of Creature in the Text. Not to mention that some by it have understood Mankind in general others the Christian World others the Blessed Angels who minister unto those that shall be heirs of Salvation some eminent men of late have undertaken to make out that the Apostle means the Gentiles or Heathens which were to be brought over to the Christian Faith But if we admit of this sense it must follow that the Apostle in the foregoing Verse where he begins to speak of the Creature falls abruptly upon a new subject which seems altogether improbable that verse being joyn'd by the particle FOR to v. 18. in which we have him comforting the afflicted Christian with that glory which ere long should be revealed in him and then immediately it follows the earnest expectation of the Creature c. So that what is said v. 19. and in my Text must have relation to the same subject he had spoke of v. 18. and if by the Creature we understand all creatures in this visible World in a word Heaven and Earth and the things that are therein the coherence is elegant and the sense perfect easie and natural and it is an argument à minori ad majus from
the less to the greater If the whole Creation hopes to be delivered from her bondage and oppression you may with far greater reason both look for a happy deliverance and comfort your selves with the thoughts of it And indeed he will soon be convinced that the Creature was made subject unto vanity that shall observe how much its gloss and beauty decay'd after the fall of Adam how the Earth that before was a stranger to all noxious herbs and plants brought forth Thistles and thorns now how her former fertility was lost in a dismal barrenness and the ground that before required no labour would yield little now but what Men forced and squeezed out of it by the sweat of their brows how the Blessing that enrich'd and adorn'd it before exspir'd into a Curse and Nature which before knew no poison no enmity to Man degenerated now into Hostility and from a friend became a foe how her former lovely face is all disfigured with spots and freckles now and that which was all charm to a rational soul before is now become an object which few wise men indeed none but fools delight in how the Heavens which before dispens'd their kindly influences to Man and seem'd to be proud of the employment soon after became Gods Arsenal from whence he sometimes fetches water to drown as he did the first World sometimes fire to consume as he did Sodom and Gomorra sometimes hailstones to kill as he did the Amorites sometimes winds to overturn as he did Job's houses how the Creatures which were commission'd only to seed and cherish man are now very ordinarily made use of to punish him and they that before served him for the noblest uses in his integrity at the best do now relieve him in his misery how the Creatures which before did reverently observe and bow to him do now as often seize on him as if Nature were inverted and they had got the dominion over him whose primitive right it was to have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the Earth and how many things which before might have made him truly happy serve only now to make him an object of scorn to God and his holy Angels So much of this change II. The manner of the change or rather the cause of it Not willingly but by reason of him that subjected it unto the same Men and the Apostate Angels indeed were made subject to vanity with their own consent and their own wilfulness lost them that glory they once enjoy'd but the other creatures in a manner against their will because it was not for any fault of their own but for Man's sin that God doomed them to their vanity Cursed be the Earth for thy sake saith God to Adam Gen. 3. 17. And that no man may think it strange that the curse of God should light on things innocent and incapable of sinning we must remember that God in punishing the creatures with their vanity punished Man himself for whose use and service chiefly they were created as a Magistrate that confiscates the offenders goods inflicts Justice on the offender and puts him in mind of the error he hath committed and of the injury he hath done to the publick So that he that hath subjected the Creature unto vanity is God by whose just sentence it came to pass that the Creatures all glorious before became sutable to Man's corrupt and miserable condition and were permittied to be stings and thorns in his side and so far from yielding true content and satisfaction that they ordinarily lead to trouble and vexation of spirit I will not here enlarge upon Adam's sin nor shew you what unbelief what pride what contumacy what ingratitude what want of love what Apostacy may be discover'd in it We may be confident God had reason for what he did and that he saw the crimson dye of the transgression which made him issue out this order that upon this Great Princes fall the whole Creation should go into Mourning III. That which in a great measure qualifies and mitigates this Vanity the Creature hath been suffer'd to sink into is this That it is subjected in hope God hath as it were endow'd the Creatures our eyes behold with hopes of their restitution to their pristine beauty usefulness and glory For according to his promise we look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness the old Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the old Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. 13. Thus the Creature will one day undergo a kind of Glorification and participate of the splendor which shall encircle all righteous and sanctified souls and as Gold in the fire is refin'd it 's dross purged away and comes out more splendid than it was before So the World that now lies under corruption purified by that future fire will put on a face more pleasant and beautiful than now it hath and let no man scoff at this assertion under a pretence that the Earth at that time will be of no use for good men will be in Heaven and the wicked in Hell and consequently the Earth will have no need of Renovation for can any man be so irrational as to think that there is no use of the Creature but what consists in eating and drinking and sensual pleasure And though I will not say with Tertullian who favours the Millenary opinion that the new Heavens and the new Earth will be in compensationem eorum quae in seculo vel despeximus vel amisimus to make amends for what we have either lost or despis'd in this World yet how are we sure that the glorified Saints shall be so confined to that place we strictly call Heaven as not to descend upon this glorified Earth which for ought we know will be fill'd with God's glory in a manner as much as Heaven and will together with Heaven make one great Theatre of bliss and happiness And who knows but these triumphant Saints as at that time they 'll know things perfectly and see through a glass no more are to read the wisdom and goodness and bounty of the Great Creator in the several Creatures that shall adorn that new World And this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that restistution of all things foretold of all the Holy Prophets since the World began mention'd Act. 3. 21 That this stately Fabrick of the World is to be at last consumed by fire and whatever we see before us to be lost in an universal Conflagration is not only the import of the Apostles discourse here but hath been the opinion of the most ancient Heathen Philosophers Pythagoras Heraclitus Zeno and of all the Stoicks who therefore talk'd much of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seem to have receiv'd it by an immemorial tradition from Adam himself who as Josephus tells us Prophesied that the World should once
's but reason it should have my choisest thoughts and affections And do you charge that with Vanity which alone deserves my industry and care And doest thou talk like a man of reason Sinner If a Beast could speak would not this be his language Hath God given thee no higher faculties Hath not he endow'd thee with nobler desires Are these oâ—â—ward Goods indeed the things thou chusest for thy treasure How brutish is thy Soul that thou canst fancy any proportion betwixt that and the Creature Hast thou a soul capable of grasping a God and dost thou run into the embraces of an Idol Thy soul wants an Everlasting object and are these the things that will endure for ever Thy soul must have an all-sufficient Being in her arms and are these Butterflies that perish in the handling fit to ingross thy affections Thy Soul must have an Anchor that can give it rest and will these thorns and bryars do it Thy Soul must have an individual companion that will never leave it nor forsake it and will these deceitful props stand by it at the great Tribunal Thy Soul must have a friend that must conduct it to Everlasting Mansions and will these miserable comforters that shake hands with it at the brink of Eternity serve for guides Rouse rouse thy slumbering Soul vain Man and let not thine eyes be always shut Thy blindness is not incurable if thou wilt not stand in thine own light thou maist see through all these shadows and burst these entanglements There is certainly Vanity in the Creature and God will discover it to thee if thou wilt but call upon him with the same earnestness that blind Bartimaeus used to Christ Jesus God is pleased with the cry of him that longs to be deliver'd from his misery O the wonderful difference that is betwixt an illuminated and darkned understanding One pities the Creature the other admires it one looks upon it with tears in his eyes the others heart leaps at the sight of it for joy one uses it soberly the other gluts himself with it one sees so much of its weakness as drives him from this barren Wilderness to make his nest among the stars of Heaven the other so adores its beauty that he can be contented to sweat and toil and labour in its service for ever one salutes it as a stranger the other embraces it as a wife one looks beyond it the other sixes his eyes upon it as if he were in an ecstasie So great a difference doth Illumination make and indeed without it you must needs continue strangers to God's designs and your own duty you walk in the dark and see not how the Devil imposes upon you how your Lusts cheat you and how the World cozens you how far you run from Heaven and how near the burning Lake you come you run on blindly upon Eternity and delude your selves with a few formalities of Religion you know not how the case stands betwixt God and your own souls and cannot avoid falling into errors you prepare for endless sorrows and make way for bitter though vain lamentations at last O that I had known in my day what belonged unto my peace but it was hid from mine eyes You delay your conversion because you know not the great importance of it and make light of that which were your eyes but open'd would make you tremble to think what pains you have taken to procure your own ruine II. Men Fathers and Brethren If you do believe that the Creature is subject to Vanity let me intreat you to act like men that do believe it Let your faith be known by your works and let 's but see you live like persons that do despise this Vanity and seek a better World When the primitive Christians O happy O blessed times gave out that they look'd upon this World as vain and transitory their enemies saw that they were in good earnest when they said so for they saw them forget what was behind them and press towards the mark for the high prize of God's calling in Christ Jesus They saw it and thought them mad They saw how they fled from the satisfactions of this World into flames as if those were the fiery chariots they were proud to ride to Heaven in Their faith lay not in talking and as they believed the Creature to be subject to vanity so they raised their thoughts from Earth to Heaven and lived as much above the World as mortality would give them leave They made no more of the honors and preferments of this life when inconsistent with God's honor and a good conscience than they did of glasses and rattles and the Prince that offered them riches to be enamour'd with Vanity as much as he was repuls'd this Heroick answer Offer these things to Children and not to Christians They made their houses Oratories and their dwelling-places were but so many Churches where you might hear the praises of God resounding day and night The husband-man that follow'd his Plough fancied himself in Heaven and sung Psalms as cheerfully as if he had been placed in the Quire of Angels The injuries they suffer'd for the testimony of Jesus they smiled at and they that had an incorruptible Crown to look after justly thought it below them to be concern'd at the slanders and reproaches of a poor envious World as if Heaven had been the Countrey from which they had been banish'd and which they hoped they should be shortly restored unto they made all the provision they could for it secured the riches of another World and bestowed a great part of their goods on Christ's distressed members because they knew they should find them again after a few years in Heaven They believ'd Christ's promises and looking upon him as the Son of God they had as great a confidence that they should be recompenced in the Resurrection of the just as if they had the reward already in their hands They could keep a calm and serene mind under the wars and tumults of this world and while men raged about them they fed upon peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost They used the World as if they used it not and one might see that they had practically learnt the great Lesson You cannot serve God and Mammon This Earth they looked upon as a desert and their perpetual wishes were When shall we come to appear before God in Sion The great things of this World which their Heathen neighbours magnified they made light of and well might they renounce the glories of this Earth when they were assured from the Word of God that they had a greater inheritance laid up for them in God's Paradise They regarded not the censures of their carnal friends and relations and were contented to be made a spectacle to the World and to Ange's and to Men. They rejoyced when they could express their love to Christ and were troubled when the World made any encroachment upon their affections They
be drown'd by Water and another time destroy'd by Fire And this conflagration whereby the World shall be renew'd and reinstated into its primitive splendor all the Creatures groan for and travel as it were in pain together until now to use the Apostles phrase v. 22. with hopes to be deliver'd from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God Thus far the sense of the words which sense I do the rather pitch upon because both Ancient and Modern Divines some few only excepted agree in 't And now what subject of discourse can be fitter for this present occasion than THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE Can we see a curious Fabrick here all broke to pieces and a Creature that was made a little lower than the Angels cut off before half her race was run and tumbling down as she was going up the Hill and forbear crying out with Solomon Vanity of vanities all is vanity There are few men that pretend either to sense or reason but will freely acknowledg the vanity of all sublunary Objects and yet to see them dote on things which by their own confession are fickle inconstant and unsatisfactory to see them hug this Vanity as if it were Mount Sion which shall never be moved as if it were the rock of ages against which the gates of Hell shall not be able to prevail would make any contemplative man bless himself and wonder Quis daemon subiens praecordia flammam Concitat raptam tollit de cardine mentem What evil spirit makes them act contrary to those convictions cross those principles give themselves the lie and love such contradictions But it 's no new thing to speak well and to act ill and to make a learned Harangue of the emptyness and weakness of things below while the affections are so set upon the World that you had as good attempt to move the Pyramids of Egypt out of their places as hope to disentangle the heart from these bryars and thorns The great Idols of this Earth Riches Honors Pleasures Life Health Children c. which the World adores with preposterous Devotion alas what are they all but vanity in grain I. Riches when the Magnificent Croesus sat upon his Throne deck'd with beaten Gold adorn'd with a thousand Jewels and precious Stones he had the curiosity to ask Solon whether he had ever seen a more glorious sight Yes Sir saith Solon for I have seen Hens and Phesants and Partridges more gloriously array'd than you The Philosopher saw the vanity of all this wealth and cost and laught at it The covetous man indeed that Son of the Earth sees with other eyes and cannot think himself solidly happy except he swims in Wealth This is it engrosses the secret wishes of his mind and to have as much as other men is that his soul doth chiefly long for So have I heard a man in a Feavor wish for a cup of cold water which when he hath obtain'd hath prov'd his death and ruine What happyness doth the wretch fancy in a little shining clay He sees no vanity in great Possessions and he thinks that man liv'd like a God that could say I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods What ever other men think of Nabal he commends him and calls that living like himself when he scrapes what wealth he can together to feed his appetite and luxury Have not you read of whited Sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness So here there is a veil drawn over this glittering dust and the veil is painted and gaudy and takes the eye but that man which hath courage to lift it up and to see what is underneath will quickly find that these are things which to day caress their favourite and to morrow make themselves wings and flee away and that they can neither preserve the Body from disasters for in despight of all my Treasures Lightning from Heaven may strike through my sides and kill me and Vapours of the Earth may infect my spirits and blow my life away and sickness may breed in my bones and rack me nor afford any real content to the Soul for when I see a Judas tremble with his purse full of money and Gehazi walk in fear while he brings home his talents of Silver and an Alexander in the midst of all his opulency dissatisfied and torâ—ured with Ambition and Belshazzar with all his Golden cups about him grow pale as Ashes and quake at the sight of the fatal hand when I see how their outward plenty entices men to that which will undo them and how strong a temptation it proves to run away from him who is the proper center of their Souls how it doth teach men to sin and fills their carnal minds with carâ—s and carkings and anxieties makes Man the noblest work of the Creation a slave to Dust dethrones his reason thrusts him into Vassallage and trrnsforms that part which is like to Angels in o a beast and consequently prepares him for shame and confusion in the end and by degrees breeds in him the Worm that dies not What name what title can I bestow upon it but that of the Apostle Deceitful riches which lead men into snares and drown them in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. Not but that our of this Mercury a wholesom Medicine may be drawn and men may lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal life But where one prepares an Elixir of it thousands makes nothing of it but Sublimate so strong a Poyson as doth not only kill the body but lays force on the soul makes it sick to death and which is strange for morte carent animae murther that part which the great Creator hath blessed with immortality II. Honour What a stir do men make about greatness and reputation in the world and what is it all but the breath of dying men He that sees the ambitious clamber that Mountain as if it were the Hill of God and there lay the way to Heaven would wonder what the man means to labour so hard when in good truth he only leaps to catch an atom tumbling and playing in a Sun-beam He stands on firm ground and nothing will serve him but a slippery place from whence the least frown of a Monarch throws him down Consul Bibulus surrounded with Acclamations and Euge's knows not where he is whether he is riding in his Chariot or treading air But see the sad reverse which waits on humane triumphs while his fond thoughts and the numerous multitude with their praises swell him above himself a Tilestone falling accidentally from a house puts an end to his life and all his glories together before he can reach the Capitol Sejanus is honored like a God to day to morrow kick'd
denied themselves in all superfluities that they might have the more to give to pious uses nay would not allow themselves conveniencies that they might be in a better capacity to cloath the Naked They stooped to the meanest offices and were not ashamed to converse with men of the lowest rank as with Brethren They laid aside their grandeur to obey the precepts of the Gospel and would not suffer any outward respects to take them off from a close adherence to God's will They would visit Hospitals and with their own hands dress meat for them that lay upon the bed of Languishing This World seem'd so contemptible to them that they prayed day and night to be deliver'd from it and it might be truly said of them that the World was crucified unto them and they unto the World And thus they despis'd the vanity of these sublunary objects and by despising believ'd it Disparage not your great immortal Souls Beloved Hearers they are capable of another happiness than this World can afford and when God hath provided for them Angels food and bread of Heaven why should you feed them with trash and husks to impoverish and weaken them for ever Arise Christians and depart for here is not your Rest. Advance into yonder regions of Bliss and live there where you may hope to live for ever Let the World be your Slave and God your only Master Let it not be said that your Souls are subject to Vanity as well as your Bodies and do something to convince the World that you dare to have your conversation in Heaven The Creature was made subject unto Vanity on purpose that you might flee away from it and breath after a more solid good Will you do less than Pagans Will you fall short of Men that never heard the Gospel Will you sink beneath those that never had any other light but what the glimmering Candle of Nature gave them Can you see Philosophers contemn this Vanity and dare you be in love with it Shall a Diogenes to shew how little these things which sensual men admire ought to be valued take as much delight in his Tub as Xerxes in his Babylon and in dry bread as much as Smindyrides in his sauces in ordinary spring-water as much as Cambyses in his richer fountains in common Sun-shine as much as Sardanapalus in his purple in his staff as much as Alexander in his Spear and in his Mallet as much as Craesus in his treasures Shall a Pagan look on these outward glories as unworthy of his affections and will you suffer yours to be entangled with them Shall a Plato a Socrates an Agesilaus a Spartan look upon these outward things as dross and dung trample them under his feet look upon them between anger and scorn and think it below a Creature made after the image of God to dote on Earth and dust and can you that pretend to have learn'd Christ and pretend to be followers of the humble self-denying Jesus come behind Heathens whom you call Blind and Wretched Will not they be your Judges one day Will not their temperance and abstinence condemn your greediness after these perishable objects Will not they shame you that did more by the strength of nature than you with all the encouragements of the Holy Ghost Will not this aggravate your neglect and change your Rods into Scorpions Will not this make your furnace hotter Will not this fill your faces with greater confusion Will God let your unprofitableness under the richest means of grace go unpunish'd And doth the clearest manifestation of Heaven add no weight to your guilt and stubborness If you turn the grace of God into wantonness will God play with it do you think as you do It was a Mahometan King could cause the following words to be written upon the Gates of his Pleasure-house and the story saith his Life was answerable to the grave Sentences This World will not continue long it 's pride and lustre will soon be gone Remember Brother and apply thy heart to him who only intended this World for our Inn. Let not thy life be united to this bitter sweet for it hath drawn in many first jested with them and then butchered them If thy Soul can but come away from her prison pure and undefiled and reach the Mark it 's no great matter whether thou diest on a Throne or on a Dung-hill O Christians delude not your own souls God is resolved they shall be withdrawn from this world while you live here or they shall never arrive to the inheritance of the Saints in light God is resolved they shall be loosened from this Earth even in the midst of your strength and health and plenty and liberty or they shall never ascend his Holy Hill Away then with those fond conceits that glue your hearts to things below Let God be the great and dear object of your souls Let the rivers of your delight run all into that Ocean For him spend your strength your labour and your care Make room for him in your hearts and whatever hath had supremacy or priority there pull it down and shew it the ruler it must for the time to come obey Breath after another Country where true and lasting pleasures are where the presence of God makes hearts chearful and ravishes souls for ever where the society of Angels gives content and endless bliss shuts out all imperfection and vanity and as they say of Boleslaus King of Poland that he used to wear his Fathers Picture in his bosom and whenever he was to do any thing of moment he pull'd out the Picture lookt upon it and begg'd of God that he might do nothing unworthy of so great so good so wise a Father so you let the Landskip of that celestial Country hang always before your eyes and whatever you are doing whether you are rising or sitting down whether you are walking or standing whether you are travelling or conversing with men still look upon that Pourtraiture and let this be your resolution to do nothing unworthy of that Heaven you are aiming at And then when you come to die and no friend no relation no acquaintance no riches no honours no children can give you ease this remembrance that your mind hath been endeavouring to extricate it self from the vanity of the creature and that you have lived like persons that have indeed looked for a City which hath foundations this remembrance I say will give you ease this will make you die with joy at the kiss of God as the Jews say of Moses and enable you to triumph over death O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory But thanks be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. III. The Creature is made subject unto vanity but what shall we say to those that subject the creature to greater vanity than ever it was condemn'd to The Idolater that melts his Gold and makes a God of
it as the Israelites in the Wilderness breaks down the limits of that vanity outdoes Adam that was the occasion of it nay goes beyond the Judg that doom'd that Gold to corruption The Creatures labour under vanity enough because they cannot serve us in that innocence and integrity we once stood in but to abuse them now they are under a state of misery and to force them to serve us in our sins is a bondage which will bear witness against the daring sinner in that day when God shall judg the secrets of mens hearts by the Gospel of Jesus Sinner that wine thou abusest to besot thy understanding suffers violence from thee thou dost ravish it serve thy lusts and it groans as it were under thy oppression and thou makest it vainer than Heaven ever made it God made it serviceable to thy infirmity and intended it as a remedy against the weakness of thy nature but when thou swallowest it to destroy thy nature to throw down the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which must guide thy actions and shed discretion into thy speeches and converse forcest it to make thee a beast and leave nothing in thee but the brutal part indeed scarce to leave thee sense and appetite thou dost offer greater insolence to it than Amnon did to Thamar Surely every man is vanity saith the Psalmist Psal. 39. 11. But he that tempts his neighbour to run with him into excess of riot Makes him worse than vanity the Adulterer and Fornicator that is restless till he hath caressed his Mistress as he calls her to consent to his folly The ill companion that solicits his associates to be lewd and prophane with him such persons make the creature so vain that a devout soul cannot but stand amazed at the enterprize vain indeed for they double and treble its misery and he that entices his friend into sin makes him besides his vanity a creature of the Devil The man before this sin was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward but the sin he is drawn into makes his burden greater increases his load and makes his pound of vanity a talent and as if his weakness and frailty here on earth were too little sinks him into Hell and as if the curse of God of old were too light a punishment makes him obnoxious to Gods everlasting malediction And such men must necessarily be of the first form in the Devils Kingdom for these make Devils help to increase the number of the Fiends and are Familiars that make men sinck with them into endless torments The Covetous who confines his money to his Chest and makes that lie still in his Coffers which like blood should have its circulation and as it is given him from Heaven should return to Heaven again by way of charity and doing good seems to be angry with God for giving that Creature so small a touch of vanity and therefore as if God had not made it frail enough makes himself Gods Officer renders the Dye deeper drowns it in misery and inflicts vanity upon it with a witness and Gods little finger he makes heavier than his loyns for he wants in the midst of plenty and is indigent while he knows not how to consume that which he hath already and this vanity increases if extortion and oppression joyn with it and tempt hm to wade through Orphans tears and Widows blood through the necessities of the Fatherless and through the cries and lamentations of the needy to make his heap much greater and certainly if the Creature is to be purged from its vanity by fire it 's but reason his body should be the fewel who hath loaded the Creature with so much vanity and misery and against Gods will and order too His stripes will be iustly doubled for his sin was so and he deserves to be punished both for his cruelty and disobedience The Scripture excludes such men from the Kingdom of Heaven and good reason for they are so given to vanity that they would attempt to make Gods Joys and Hallelujahs so IV. In the vanity of the Creature let us behold our own and whenever we take a view of the decay of terrestrial glories and see day die into night and Summer into Winter one hour one moment into another and herbs and plants shed their blossoms let us reflect upon our own death and departure hence The Stoicks were in the right when they defined Philosophy or Religion to be a Meditation of death He that is frequently engaged in such meditations embitters his sensual delights crushes his fondness of the world dares not live in those sins which other men allow themselves in and takes the readiest way to overcome himself for how should he be enamoured with earth that looks upon himself as leaving of it and what delight can he take in the laughter of fools or in jovial company that expects every hour to be summon'd to the Bar of Christ how should he set his heart upon his Farm and Oxen that looks every moment to be call'd to give an account of his Stewardship and knows not how soon the Arch Angels Trumpet will sound and the Judg of Quick and Dead awaken the world with his thundring voice Arise ye dead and come to judgment This even the Heathens were so sensible of that the Egyptians as every man knows had a Sceleton or Death's head set on amidst their greatest dainties and at their greatest Feasts to check vain mirth and to put their Guests in mind what they were shortly to come to This made the Patriarchs of old dig their Sepulchers in their Gardens while their glory was yet fresh in them that neither the pleasure of a Garden nor their business might take them off from a continual contemplation of mortality This made others order their Winding sheet to be carried before them others command their Servants to call to them every night they went to bed That their life was spent for their going to sleep they looked upon to be but a kind of going to their Graves And indeed he that thus thinks of death cannot be surprized when it comes for it is but what he look'd for and when it knocks at his Chamber door he can let it in and embrace it as a welcome Messenger with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation V. In the vanity of the Creature let us take notice of the odiousness of sin and it 's large demeriâ—s when God for mans sin hath subjected the Creature unto vanâ—â—y it shews what an abhorrency he hath from sinful actions and how displeased he is with transgression of his Laws in that he confines not the punishment to Man alone but extends it to the Creatures or to his Servants too To the generality of men sin seems but an inconsiderable thing and they fancy God to be altogether such a one as themselves they will not believe that sin hath that poison in it which
all true penitents find nor that there is that Hell in it when ever the Conscience awakes which Cain and Saul and Judas found They apprehend God childishly merciful and because he knows their frame forsooth that they are frail and weak he cannot be angry with them for not observing his injunctions They make him a Being without justice and though they could wish he would revenge their quarrel whenever they receive any signal affront of their neighbours yet they would not have him revenge their ingratitude to him and because they would not have him angry with them therefore they believe he will not and from their loose behaviour infer his good nature and please themselves with thinking that he will overlook their wilful errors because their nature abhors every thing that looks like pain and torment But these fancies Sinner are so far from extenuating that they but aggravate thy folly Alas it is not thy unwillingness to suffer that will allay Gods wrath nor thy tenderness to thy self that will make him express less hatred and indignation against thee If unwillingness to endure pain were a sufficient bar to justice what Malefactor would be put to death and if this plea will not serve on Earth sure I am it will be insignificant in the Court of Heaven and as light as sin seems now there will a time come when it will be weightier than Rocks and Mountains Though thou losest the sense of it yet God doth not forget the dishonour done unto him by it and when the monstrous load sunk the Son of God and pressed him that was infinite into a sweat of blood and made the immortal die think what a pressure it will be for thy impenitent soul for from such Christ hath not taken away Gods anger when the whole burden shall be thrown upon thee at the Revelation of the righteous judgment of God VI. Doth the whole Creation hope to be deliver'd from her bondage Then lift up your heads ye mourners of Sion and learn to imitate the Creature in its hope Doth the Creation as it were support it self with this hope from sinking into its primitive Chaos and cannot this hope of your everlasting deliverance keep your hearts from fainting under the darkest providence Behold the Husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain Jac. 5. 7. You sow in tears now the day will come when you shall reap in joy It 's but a little while and he that shall come will come The hope of a Kingdom keeps a captive Prince from murmuring and should not the hopes of that Kingdom which fades not away bear up your spirits against despair Have you fought the good fight so long and will you give over now Are you within reach of the Crown and will you lay down your weapons Are you within sight of the Haven and will you suffer shipwrack Behold that Jesus who was dead and is alive and is the King of the Princes of the Earth is hastening to your rescue you 'll see him ere long coming in the clouds of Heaven and all his holy Angels with him your afflictions then will all be changed into Eternal Freedom your waters of Marah into rivers of delight which make glad the City of God your prison into perfect liberty your Lions Den into a Palace your fiery Furnace into the light of God's countenance your Dungeon into Heaven your poverty into plenty your sickness into Eternal health your losses into solid possessions your shackles into kisses your setters into the kindest embraces your bryars into glory your thorns into a Crown O joyful day when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality and your rags be changed into splendid robes Who would not suffer a while to enter into that rest Who would be afraid of being destitute tormented afflicted when these storms are all to expire into Eternal Sun-shine The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that hears say Come Even so Come Lord Jesus Having thus led you from the Creature to the Creator I must crave leave to lead you back again from the Creator to the Creature viz. To the party deceased And here I could wish I were able to give you that account of her Life and deportment which in all probability you expect upon this occasion But when I shall have told you that it was not my happiness to be acquainted with her before she died you 'll soon pardon my silence in her Commendations And yet I dare not be so injurious to her Memory as to conceal the Character which those that knew her intimately were pleased to give of her Her Piety it seems was great and early and her Soul big with Devotion in an Age which is exposed to the greatest Temptations What Solomon learn'd by sad experience in his latter years she practised in the days of her youth and the fear of God which he found to be the only true happiness when he had run through all the risks of sin she embraced before she had tasted any of the Worlds pleasures She no sooner came to years of discretion but she saw that her greatest interest lay in loving God and understood that to remember her Creator before the evil days do come was the greatest prudence and policy As young as she was her eyes were fix'd upon a better World and it was hard to say which had her greatest care God's glory or her own Salvation Her affection to Goodness appear'd in her when Vice begins to flourish in other persons and she began to shoot out buds of Grace when others look upon 't as a piece of necessity to run out into Sin and Vanity The Word of God was the food her Soul delighted in and she thought no provision comparable to the Bread of Life which feeds men into Eternal content and satisfaction She had learn'd that God was one that did hear Prayers and to address her self to him was not the least part of her employment In these tender years she was already arriv'd to that knowledg which Philosophers formerly attained not unto till they were grown aged and was become Mistress of the greatest vertues at a time when others are apt to laugh at strictness and severity as a mellancholy humor She had already learn'd to scorn reproaches for Righteousness sake and did clearly apprehend that her greatest glory must be Religion and God's favour At those years when others hardly know what Heaven means she had already felt it in her Soul and she could guess at what Angels did above by her praising and magnifying the beauty and bounty of her Maker The fruits of the Spirit which are not seen in others before fifty appeared in her at eighteen and the joys of the Holy Ghost which are not counted modish till fourscore became familiar to her as soon as her reason began to exert it self into action She had already practised to lay up her treasure in Heaven and as if she had foreknown her death she made preparation for it at a time when others make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof What would this Plant have come to if it had grown up to its full height and stature and how glorious would this Tree have been if it had been permitted to spread its branches like the Cedars in Lebanon She that did already like Aarons rod bud and blossom and bear fruit how rich would the fruit have been if it had been warm'd some years longer by the Sun of Righteousness But the flower was too costly for this valley of tears and the soil here below too course for this curious Plant to thrive in God therefore cropt it to transplant it into Paradise and withdrew it from the eyes of men because it was a fitter spectacle for Angels FINIS Some Books Printed for James Collins THe Duke of Albermarl's Compleat Body of Military Discipline Fol. The Great Law of Consideration in order to a Serious Life by Anthony Horneck Preacher at the Savoy Octavo Essays on several Important Subjects in Philosophy and Religion by Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Quarto Two Discourses viz. A Discourse of Truth by Dr. Rust Lord Bishop of Dromore in the Kingdom of Ireland and the way of Happyness and Salvation rescued from vulgar Errors by Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Twelves Bishop Wards Sermons before the King and other occasions Oct. Doctor Parkers Answer to Marvel Oct. Bishop Bramhall's Vindication of the Church of England Oct. Private Conference twixt a rich Alderman and poor Countrey Vicar by Dr. Pettis Oct. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Tertuli lib. 3. adv Marc. Luc. 12. 17 1â— Matth. 23. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. lib. 6. de Diog. De 300 Statuis Demetrii Phalerei nullâ— corrupit aerug aut situs sed omnes vivent ipso eversae sunt Demadis statuae coâ— flatae sunt in matulas Plutarch de Reiâ— Ger. praec Tertullian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. Voluptas bonum pecoris est Senec. a Campana luxuria perquam utilis ciâ—itati nostrae â—uit Inviâ—tum enim artis Hannibaâ—em illicebris â—uis complexa â—incendum Romano militi â—ibuit Val. Max. lib. 9. â— 1. b Aelian Lib. 5. de Animal c. 40. Max. Tyrius Dissert 21. In Strab. lib. 1â— Vid. Trigant Com. de Exped apud Sinas Et Martin Hist. Sin lib. 8. Vid. Plat. in Axioch Job 1. 14. seq 2 Cor. 11. 26. Job 29. 3. 6. 19. c. 31. 4. Vid. Senec. Consil. ad Polyb c. 28. Homâ— Via Helmont â—â— Sympath Vid. Valer. Max. lib. 5. c. 4. Vid. Olear Rosar pâ—rs lib. â— c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Debarim Rabba