wrestling and fighting whereas the ablest stoutest strongest of the Children of men is a meer Child in comparison of one of the Angels of God yea or of one Devil either yea I may add in comparison of any Child of the Resurrection for these Bodies of ours are buried in Weakness but shall be raised in Power 1 Cor. 15. 43. Besides this Strength of his which he pretends to has no duration with it it vanishes away in a moment and Man as a rotten thing consumeth as a garment that is moth-eaten Job 13. 28. Who could chuse but pitty Peter stretching out his Hands to be bound and carried away whither he would not who had formerly seen him girding himself and walking whithersoever he would or Sampson grinding in the Prison who had formerly seen him carrying away the Gates of Gaza upon his Shoulders Doors Posts and Bar and all Who I say can chuse but bewail the vain shew that the strong man makes who sees his Iron Sinews become like Straw and his Brass Bones turn'd into rotten Wood as the Almighty loftily expresses it in the 41st of Job And as his Beauty is but a Paint or Varnish his Strength but Infirmity and Rottenness so His Valonr is but a Flourish and a meer Vapour The bombast words and prophane brags of the Philistine-Champion Goliah who defied the Armies of the living God and disdain'd the little Champion of Israel Come unto me and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field prov'd to be nothing but the blasphemous Bravado of an uncircumcised Tongue which was presently silenc'd and carried away with the wicked Head that contain'd it and his mighty brandish'd Blade was wrapp'd up in a Clout and laid behind the Ephod in obscurity Besides this Valour and Prowess will in a short time be turn'd into such Cowardise and Dastordliness that it will not dare to encounter no not so much as the Worms that will crawl and feed upon the valiant Hero and then he that sees it will wonder and say Loe here 's all that remains of great Saladine or Loe here that Limb of a man who is now a Worm and no Man His Valour is but a Flourish and a meer Vapour His Constancy and Faithfulness is but a shew of Stedfastness Ten thousand Instances do tell us how frail fickle and deceitful the Affections Words Promises Oaths and Vows of the Children of Men are they love to day and hate to morrow and the Hatred with which they hate perhaps is greater than the Love wherewith they loved Ammon is sick for his Sister Tamar to day to morrow having spoil'd her of her Glory he is as sick of her Arise be gone 2 Sam. 13. 15. And again Put now this woman out from me and bolt the door after her v. 19. Though all the world should deny thee cries Peter to his Master yet will not I deny thee I will dye with thee rather Mat. 26. 33 35. But before morning his note is changed ver 72. I know not the man And ver 74. He began to curse and swear saying I know not the man Peter I warrant ye thought he had a substantial stedfastness but see what a vain shew it proved to be It seems by the Apostle Paul that the Purposes and Promises that are made according to the Flesh i. e. according to men in the Flesh are doubtful and unstable on and off they are yea yea and nay nay 2 Cor. 1. 17. And indeed there is so much lightness and unsteddiness in humane Minds and Resolutions and so much variableness in their Affections that their Constancy is no more to be compared to substantial Steddiness than the levity of a Feather to the stability of a Mountain Besides let men be never so firm faithful and constant in their Affections alas their time comes presently when all their Thoughts perish Let them be never so just punctual and true to their Word their Breath and with that all their Words will vanish into Air in a short time so vain a thing is Man Surely every man walketh in a vain shew His Patience is but a shew of Patience mingled with a great deal of Impatience and soon worn out too Ye have heard of the patience of Job says the Apostle James yes so we have and we have heard of his Impatience too witness the third Chapter of his History when he opened his mouth and cursed his day read the Chapter We have heard of the Meekness of Moses too who was the meekest man upon Earth Numb 12. 3. but we have heard of his Passion too and rash Anger Psal 106. 32 33. It went ill with Moses for their sakes because they provoked his spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips And be Man's Patience never so pure it is rare to find it have its perfect Work one Evil after another one Battery upon the back of another will shake it if not demolish it Elijah long endured the Perverseness of Israel the Affronts and Gainsayings of Ahab and Jezabel but when word was brought him that notwithstanding all his good Offices Jezabel would have his Head to morrow he arose and went for his Life and prayed in the anger and anguish of his Spirit that he might dye saying It is enough now O Lord take away my life 1 Kin. 19. 4. His Successor Elisha patiently endured many Provocations and Persecutions from that idolatrous Generation in which he lived but when the wicked and ungrateful King of Israel for whom he had done so many good Offices sent a Messenger to take away his Head he falls into a sit of Impatience 2 Kin. 6. 32. See ye how this son of a murderer is sent to take away my head And still worse in ver 33. he said Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer Loesa patientia fit furor And as the Patience so the Charity of Man upon Earth is imperfect it is but a shew of Charity in comparison of the pure Kindness and Benevolence of the Angels of God or of the Spirits of just men made perfect Alas how great an Allay a mixture of Bitterness is to be found in the sweetest Temper upon Earth The Children of Men indeed so far forth as they are Children of God i. e. followers of him are Children of Love for God is Love But alas the most God like and the best-natur'd of them do love but in part they have Gall mingled with their Honey the root that beareth gall as Moses calls it Deut. 29. 18. is not perfectly eradicated no not out of the Trees that are of the Lord 's own planting Paul and Barnabas were men beloved of God and his Church Lovers of God and of his Gospel great Lovers one of another constant and dear Companions in Travel in Preaching in Persecution yet for a small matter one would think this loving pair sell out and the Controversie grew
the false Heart itself will not be convinc'd of them And as for Idolatry though the foreign Reformed Churches do all put it off from themselves to the Heathen and Antichristian Nations yet I fear concerning some of them one may take up Samuel's words to Saul If ye have indeed destroyed Idolatry utterly what means this bleating of the sheep and lowing of the oxen which I hear If any one should answer as Saul did we have reserved these innocent safe and significant Ceremonies to sacrifice to the Lord to adorn and grace the Worship of God it will perhaps be replied as Samuel replies Obedience is better than Sacrifice or as another Prophet expresses it Quis ne quisivit hoec I answer further What man is there upon Earth in whom these Sins are not found in some degree or other And so far as they are found they do pollute the Worship and subject it to the denomination of Vanity But I answer thirdly That the word Tselem in the Text does not signifie a vain shew properly but a shew a resemblance a representation or image in opposition to substantial as the Picture which we see in a Looking glass is the representation or resemblance of the Face that looks into it And so every man without exception may be said to walk betselem in imagine in a shew as to his religious acts which I shall further explain under the next Head viz. his inward religious acts The internal actings of Grace are but a shew a resemblance of some such thing in comparison of what they were in Man innocent or shall be in Man glorified The inward pious acts of our Minds do make us approach the nearest to Substance of any thing that we have or do For as a man thinketh in his heart saith Solomon so is he If any thing will denominate a man a substantial Christian it is these inward Acts of the Mind the Acts of Faith Hope and Love the Acts of Self-denial and Contempt of the World and of the whole Creation in comparison of the Creator And yet even these are but a shew a resemblance of something rather than any thing substantial The Love that the most affectionate devout and refined Soul exercises towards GOD in this mixt state is but a shadow a resemblance of Love in comparison of the Ardours of another World I love thee said Peter I love thee yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee John 21. 15 16 17. Poor Peter I believe in a degree he did love him yet I believe he was grieved that he could love him no better Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind with all thy strength Mark 12. 30. This is the first and great Commandment a great one in deed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And who is able to perform it How many All 's are here All and All and All and All. Lord what mortal man can with any Modesty pretend to such a generous Love as this is Every man that has his Senses exercised to discern between Good and Evil will confess that this Command is just equal and reasonable yea and very pleasant too for what is what can be sweeter than a Life of Love But yet the most devout the most amorous and ardent Soul that this day inhabits a mortal Body must needs confess his Straitness and bewail his Unaffectionateness and though he may seem to be drench'd in this holy Passion yet has cause to pray Lord shed abroad the Love of God in me Perfect love says the loving and beloved Apostle casts out fear 1 John 4. 18. Alas Where is this perfect Love then for Fear yea some degree of slavish Fear is found in every Heart of Man yea though he love GOD sincerely and ardently too yet he is apt to fear he does not love him enough The hottest of our Love is cold the strongest is weak and faint in comparison of what Adam's once was and Abraham's now is We call it Love indeed but it is rather Liking than Love rather hankering than either It is but a going Fire a Glow-worm at best but a Blaze or a Blazing-Star in comparison of the Fervors the Delights the Complacencies of the Spirits of Just men made perfect The greatest zeal of mortal Man for GOD which yet is the Flower of Love is in comparison of the angelical Ferver but as a Fire painted upon the Wall in comparison of that which burneth upon the Hearth The Apostle Paul was as zealous for his Lord and did and suffer'd as much for him as any of his Disciples whatsoever so that in nothing was he behind the chiefest Apostles yet he esteemed himself as nothing which is not so much as a shew 2 Cor. 12. 11. How weak and tottering is the Trust and Confidence in GOD which the most steddy Soul can pretend to in this World in comparison of the unmixt and unshaken Affiance in him which constitutes the Joy and Security of the other World The three unmartyr'd Martyrs in Dan. 3. are renowned for their Faith and firm Dependance upon their GOD ver 17. He will deliver us out of thy hands O King This was their Confidence in GOD but it had its If for all that ver 18. But if not be it known to thee O King c. But the Affiances and Assurances of the other World are above all Buts and Ifs The stoutest of our Confidence here is but a shadow of that Confidence which shall have no shadow of turning What fear of miscarrying can there possibly be to him who perpetually walks in the light of God's Countenance what Danger what Suspicion can there be of being pluckt from thence to a Soul folded in the Arms and wrapt up in the Bosom of the Almighty And what is our Hope in this mortal state A poor languid thing a faint Velerity a dull yawning rather than a greedy gasping a lifeless stretching forth the Hands towards rather than an eager laying hold upon Eternal Life It ought to be an earnest and vehement Longing and alas it scarce amounts to a sincere Desire or Expectation And what are our Acts of Self-denial in comparison of the exinanition of the glorified Saints who cast down their Crowns before the Throne Rev. 4. 10. What is our Contempt of the World in comparison of that Disdain with which refined and glorified Souls behold all earthly Possessions eying and enjoying all things in GOD alone Alas what mortal man can oculo irritorto spectare acervos with an Eye altogether undazzled or with a Heart altogether unaffected and disengaged contemplate the Bravery and Grandeur the precious and glistering Possessions of this World whether his own or other mens perfectly free from Enchantment I mean who can do it and neither dote nor envy But they that are got above the Sun and look down with the Eyes of Angels do see all things under the Sun to be a contemptible Vanity a sore
and clatter in the World disquiets himself and all his Neighbors defrauds his Carcass troubles his House with restless Motion and Business and all this is but as Childrens sweating and running after a painted Butterflye he is alwaies catching at something or other in which he is commonly disappointed and cannot catch it and if he do happen to catch it he opens his Hand to view it and behold it is a Flye Bad men are but like men even as Nebuchadnezzar who had the Heart of a Beast under the Shape of a Man Yea indeed and Good men too in this World walk in a vain shew How ignorant of many things are the wisest of men How uncertain and fickle in their Resolutions how uneven in their Tempers how ebbing and flowing in their Devotions are the Best of men in this World And although Religion be something solid real and substantial yet it is but a shadow of what is to come The best men are but like good men in this World It is but a kind of typical Religion that we have here What a scant Resemblance is the holiest Life upon Earth to the Life of the other World We rather make a shew of performing religious Duties than perform them As Angels sometimes make a shew of eating and drinking and sitting and walking and doing as we do so we make a shew of serving and praising God and doing as they do This Knowledge of ours is but seeing in a Glass like a Fable or Parable in comparison of the intuition and vision of the other World Our Love is but like a going Fire in comparison of the Ardours and Amours of that World As men laugh at little Children when they measure heights so shall we hereafter disdainfully look back upon our dwarfish stature of this present World The whole Life of the best man upon Earth is but a Dream in comparison of that state that we shall be in when we awake in the Resurrection Read 1 Cor. 13. 9 10 11 12. Every man walketh in a vain shew Walks I told you according to the Hebrew Idiom is as much as lives or converses and comprehends whatsoever a man is has or does I come now therefore to speak particularly to these First It relates to what he is Every man is but a Shew a Resemblance a kind of an Apparition Tselem the word in the Text signifies the Image or Resemblance of a Body which doth not exist truly and really but in the Fancy only Thus the Psalmist uses it Psal 73. 20. As a dream when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image i. e. them who are rather a Resemblance of something than truly or really any thing To the same purpose speaks Sophocles in his Ajax 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We mortal men are nothing more than Images or light Shadows Man is a Shadow as to any Reality or Substantialness and also as to duration he is fickle and slitting evanid as a Vapour Jam. 4. 14. as a Bubble as a Person that comes upon the Stage and represents a King or a Peer or a Peasant for a short space and then disappears He is a Flower a pretty thing to look on for a time but heunimium breves rosae Alas how short liv'd are Roses Man cometh forth like a Flower that is sweet and is out down that is sad Job 14. 2. yea he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not The eloquent Prophet uses the same elegant comparison Isa 40. 6. The voice said Cry and he said What shall I cry All flesh is Grass and all the goodliness thereof as a flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass The Apostle James applys the comparison to Rich men Jam. 1. 10. 11. As the flower of the grass he shall pass away for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways But the Apostle Peter applies it to them in particular and also to all in general 1 Pet. 1. 24. For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away The Heathen Sages used the same comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poor Man is no better than a Garment fretted and half eaten with Moths which you know is then no better than a Rag he dwelleth in a House made of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust and is crush'd before the Moths Job 4. 19. he consumeth as a rotten thing as a Garment that is Moth-eaten Job 13. 27. The greatest Bravery of Man is but like a Moth a thing that men alwaies kill by crushing it it needs no Knife to shed its Blood no Halter to strangle it no Ax to behead it no nor so much as a Womans Nail to dispatch it do but catch it and crush it and it ceases to be Ps 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Surely every man is vanity They speak of the Apples of Sodom fair and beautiful to look upon but touch them and they drop into Ashes Such a comely Vanity is Man do but touch him and he drops to Dust in his Body and his Soul takes its flight into another World so vain a thing is Man as to his duration But this Doctrine of Man's frailty flittingness and undurableness is so well known to all men and so readily confess'd by all that I think I need not further insist upon it though it opens to any man a great Field of Discourse at the very first view A little therefore to reassume the former Argument concerning Man's seeming to be something when indeed he is nothing I say therefore there is no solidity no consistency in Man His Beauty is but a Paint a Varnish in comparison of true and substantial Amiableness and falls as far short of it as a patcht and painted Face falls short of of the native loveliness and sweetness which is to be discerned in the Complexion of a pure uncorrupted Virgin or the Virginity of a Damask Rose The Beauty of this corruptible Body is no more to be compared to the sweetness and lustre of the glorified Body than Moses's Sun-burnt Face when he was Shepherd to Jethro the Midianite was to be compared to his shining Face when he came down from the Mount of God and was fain to put a Veil upon it that the Children of Israel might behold him or indeed no more than the glistering of a Glow-worm is to be compared to the bightness of the Sun at mid-day His Strength alas it is but weakness and rottenness Men especially young-men are apt to glory in their strength and to pride themselves in their running riding
have had their Plots and Contrivances frustrated and disappointed than gratified or perform'd Amnon consulted with his Cousin Jonadab and subtilly contrived to fulfill his incestuous Lust upon his Sister Tamar And Jonadab says the Text was a very subtile man 2 Sam. 13. but Jonadab had better have been a Fool than to have given such Counsel and Amnon was a Fool for following it vers 13. Thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel And indeed by this subtile Plot he lost not only his Reputation but his Life too ver 28 29. Haman the Agagite plotted and contrived cunningly against Mordecai by obtaining a Decree from the King for the murdering of a whole Nation at once for so he knew that Mordecai could not escape Well he obtain'd the Decree and thought to glut his Eyes with their Blood little thinking that the Queen herself was a Jew and that unhappy Mistake brought him to the Gallows What Contrivances and Plottings are to be found every where for the procuring of Places the getting of rich Matches the establishing of Trade the encreasing of Riches which after a short time the Projectors wish had rather been frustrated and disappointed than accomplish'd And lastly After all vain Man lays his plotting Head in the Dust and then at least then all his thoughts perish Psal 146. 4. His Breath goeth forth he returneth to his Earth in that very day his Thoughts perish Sennacherib plots against poor helpless Judah and makes himself sure of her With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon and will cut down the tall Cedar trees thereof and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders and into the Forest of his Carmel 2 Kin. 19. 23. Well the next News is It came to pass that night that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand ver 35. The King himself returned with shame enough you may imagine and whilst he was at his Idol-worship his Sons smote him with the Sword ver 37. Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then c. And so I come to consider Man as to what he enterprizes and undertakes and to shew that therein also he walketh in a vain shew Solomon was a man of the greatest Undertakings that the Sun ever saw You may see an Epitome of his Labours and Undertakings and the many things that he set his Hand unto Eccles 2. and after all he turned himself and looked on all the Works that his Hand had wrought and on the Labour that he had laboured to do and behold all was Vanity and there was no profit under the Sun ver 11. As to that which Man undertakes he disquiets himself in vain says the Psalmist here in the Text the Verb is of the plural number in the Hebrew because of the Collective Ish or every man going before and is translated tumultuantur turbantur perstrepunt They make a great deal of bustle and clutter and disquiet themselves and indeed they disquiet the neighbouring World round about them as Alexander the Great did of old and Lewis the Fourteenth does at this day and all in vain Surely every man walketh in a vain shew they disquiet themselves in vain It would be endless to run through all the Actions Undertakings and Enterprizes of men in the World in particular In general there is a great deal of bustle commotion disturbance distraction made by this silly Animal called Man upon the Stage of this World and all to no purpose One arms himself and all his Vassals cap-a-pee and goes out into the Field to amaze and affright the impotent and on-looking World he wins Towns and Countries he adds Kingdom to Kingdom enlarges his Dominions spreads his Language advances his Name erects Statues and Trophies and yet this great Undertaker obtains no real Interest Love or Honour in the Hearts of his fellow-Creatures he does not approve himself to God he has no Favour from his holy Angels His exalted Name will soon be forgotten his stately Trophies in a short time demolish'd and himself to the end of the World confin'd to a few feet of Earth and after all the great Hero shall be judg'd as another man as the meanest private Centinel Another is continually contriving for his Appetite how to gratifie that he searches the Air the Earth the Seas he ransacks the World for Meat for his Belly or Sawce for his Meat or curious Cookery for both These Dainties are hard and costly to be gotten when they are gotten they gratifie but for a Meal they perish with the using and lose all their sweetness after the cravings of this silly whining Appetite are once gratified After these fresh Entertainments must be sought out and after those still new ones or else the childish whimpering Appetite cannot be quieted In all which much Money is spent many Hands employed much of Man's vain short life wasted and great Estates many times exhausted many men feeding their Capons with Currans so long till themselves have not a Capon nor so much as a Hen to feed upon In the mean time the Stomach is rather cloy'd than truly gratified and the Constitution rather surfeited and depraved than nourished or strengthened and after all that heavy Doom of the Apostle takes place 1 Cor. 6. 13. Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them And the Worms will make no distinction nor find no difference between their Carcasses and the Flesh of meaner Mortals Another runs up and down the World catching here and there goes into this City and that Country and Kingdom to buy and sell and traffick and get Gain where there is any Market or Fair or concourse of People for Trade there is he His whole Enquiry is Who will shew us any Good and his whole business to acquire it The whole design and business of his vain and vexatious Life is to gather Riches and yet see how he walks in a vain shew perhaps he can no more catch these Riches than a man can catch a Shadow or if he do catch them they are but a Shadow still And to whom he shall leave them he cannot tell Perhaps I say he can no more catch them than a Man can catch a Shadow Riches in this respect are much a-kin to Honour of which it uses to be said Sequentem fugit fugientem sequitur it flees him that follows it and follows him that flees from it They look for Riches they look for much but lo it comes to little and if they bring it home the Providence of GOD the Blast of the Almighty bloweth upon it Haggai 1. 9. Or as the same Prophet speaks ver 6. They sow much and bring in little eat and have not enough cloth them but there is none warm earn wages and put it into a bag with holes
Laban the Syrian a plodding Mammonist left no Stone unturn'd no way unessay'd to multiply his Flocks and grow very pecorose he changed his Servants Wages ten times he requir'd the stoln and the torn at the Hands of his Shepherd but Heaven found out a way to frustrate him and after all his Shepherd died as rich as he Or if he do catch them they are but a shadow still no substance weight or solid worth in them no Virtue to fill the Soul to satisfie the Desires to still the Cravings or allay the raging Appetites of a Worldly Mind It is with vain Man in this respect as the Prophet elegantly expresses it Isaiah 9. 20. He snatcheth on the right hand and yet is hungry he eats on the left hand and is not satisfied The Desires and Cravings of Minds and Spirits can be no more satisfied with Gold and Silver than the Hungerings of the Body can be allay'd with Words or satisfied with Notions and Speculations Solomon that had all things was satisfied with nothing but still cries out All is vanity and there is no profit under the sun He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Eccles 5. 10. Nay it is a thousand to one but Vexation is added to the Vanity Worldly Wealth does only not satisfie but oftentimes molesteth the Owner tempts him to Pride Security Forgetfulness of God and disdaining of Men exposes him to Envy and that lays him open to Thieves and abundance of Snares and Dangers makes him lead an unquiet life anxious days and wakeful nights whilst he is sollicitous how to keep them whilst he lives and how to bestow them when he dyes And it 's ten to one he is as much hated or laugh'd at when he is dead as he was envied whilst he lived which brings me to the third thing To whom he shall leave them he cannot tell If he have no Child of his own Body begotten he is all his Life time sollicited by his own or it may be his Wives Relations and at his Death he is sollicitous how to distribute his Wealth if he give all to one the rest will judge him unnatural and be ready to curse his Ashes if he distribute it amongst many it spoils the great design of making one only very great and rich and the pretty Plot of keeping up the Name and Grandeur of a Family If he have an Heir of his own Body to transmit his Wealth to then if it be a Daughter he fears her great Portion will betray her to some idle swaggering Gentleman or other that will first impoverish her and then hate her first get rid of what she has and then seek to be rid of her too If it be a Son still alas who knows whether he shall be a Wise man or a Fool whether he will be industrious or profuse This fretted King Solomon whilst he was alive Eccles 2. 18 19. I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool And indeed as Job speaks the thing that he feared came upon him for his Son and Heir Rehoboam foolishly forsook the Counsel of the grave Senators and follow'd the rash Advice of his giddy beardless Courtiers and in one day lost ten parts in twelve of that great Estate which his Grandfather with so much Hazard and Courage had purchas'd and his Father with so much Care and Prudence had so long preserv'd Was not this a foolish Prodigal Son who at one sitting rent off ten parts in twelve of a Kingdom which his Father had kept together forty years And does not this sort of men walk in a vain shew Another plods day and night spends his Time and Strength in endless Enquiries after Knowledge which Enquiries are sometimes bootless commonly painful and always imperfect They are sometimes bootless for how often do poor Mortals search for the hidden Treasures of the knowledge of many things both in Nature and Divinity which they find out even as they find out the Philosopher's Stone sought by many but found by none who whilst they seek an Art to turn all things into Gold only find a way to turn all their own Gold into nothing The Apostle I remember speaks it to the reproach of some silly Women that were alwaies learning and never yet were able to come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Tim. 3. 7. I believe the Character may as well be apply'd to foolish and vain men as to silly Women for how many industrious men are to be found in the World who by the most diligent search could never arrive at the knowledge of many things which they desir'd and because God did not reveal it to them resolv'd to consult the Devil and make him their Intelligencer and Interpreter Certainly the Thirst after Knowledge is no less vehement than after Silver and Gold I doubt not but that many curious inquisitive and fine Minds are as earnest and vehement in this Case as the Merchant that we read of in the Parable who sold all his Possessions to buy the Field in which was the Pearl of great price As appears by the Saying of a young Nobleman of this Kingdom not then Two and Twenty years old in a Book entituled Seraphick Love that he would gladly exchange all the Honour and Estate that he had in this World for the knowledge of Natural things and their Causes These Enquiries after Knowledge are commonly painful to which I may add costly The knowledge of things indeed by Inspiration may seem to be easie and yet the inspired Priests and Priestesses of the Heathen gods labour'd under great Distress and Difficulty whilst they were pleni deo as they call'd it and in plain English besides themselves This Knowledge I say by Inspiration may seem to be easie but yet Solomon who himself was also sometimes at least inspir'd tells us That much study is a weariness of the flesh Eccles 12. 12. And the expence of the Animal Spirits and the fatigue of the Brain is confest by all men skilful in human Bodies to be greater than the travel of the Feet or the labour of the Hands To speak nothing of the costliness of enquiring after Knowledge in some respects though the charge of Education Books and Travels might be reasonably suggested the most studious and inquisitive men do find to their Cost and Vexation of Mind many things which they may wish they had been ignorant of and by the pretence of knowing many things come to this miserable pass to be forc'd to confess their own Ignorance and to acknowledge that they know nothing But of all the Painfulness and Vexation which belongs to the Enquiries after Knowledge nothing seems to me to be a greater than the Vnresolvedness and Vnsatisfiedness of mens Minds after they have made all these Enquiries After all to hesitate and be doubtful and to cry out in the anguish