Truth And considering in my Mind the exceeding preciousness and necessity of the Truth in order to bring others and my self unto eternal Life it being equally necessary for that end as Meat and Drink to keep and preserve temporal Life as eternal Life is much beyond and better than this present temporal Life yea more then Ten Thousand fold here to allude unto those words of the Apostle Yet I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue In like manner if I had so much Money I had rather bestow five Pounds towards the Publishing of God's eternal Truth which is to feed up the Soul unto eternal Life then Ten Thousand Pounds to feed the Poor that is to feed their Bodies only Or suppose I had wherewithal and I did bestow five Pounds towards the Publishing of God's eternal Truth and also I did indeed bestow Ten Thousand Pounds towards feeding of the Poor yet I should have more expectation of a better Reward from God for the five Pounds expended that way than from the Ten Thousand Pounds distributed the other way because of the so much more Excellency and Preciousness of Truth which is for the saving of the Soul over outward Alms which is only for feeding of the Body It is the Command of God Buy the Truth and sell it not also Wisdom Instruction and Understanding For should not People lay out their Money to help forwards the saving of their Souls as the Truth doth Yet contrariwise People do day after day buy Meat and Drink to feed their Bodies but they grudge and will not lay out their Money for such Books wherein are contained the Words of Truth which are requisite and necessary to feed up the Soul unto eternal Life and to make it prepared for the Lord all one as Meat and Drink are necessary to nourish and keep the Body in Life The reason why People do not alike in one Case as in the other is besides that enmity against the Truth which is a Root of bitterness springing up and troubling them and thereby many are defiled Heb. 12. 15. Because also they are not alike sensible of the necessity of the Truth to the saving of the Soul as they are sensible of the necessity of Food in order to feed the Body But when that time is come which hasteneth upon all us living when now Meat is for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall destroy both it and them The Grass withereth The Flower fadeth and so all material visible things come to an utter end and shall be no more at all but the word of our God shall stand for ever Then shall ye return and discern of what necessity the knowledge of the Truth would have been to the saving of your Souls much more than ye can now discern in these Days of your flesh and ye will then be more sensible of that reproof of the Spirit of God Wherefore do you spend Money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Isa 55. 2. Wherefore do People spend all their Money for that Bread which was only for the support of this dying Life whereas it it is his requiring also that they should Consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance towards the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. And towards the making known his Truth Even then at the very time of receiving it might be perceived that the outward Bread though indeed it did feed the Body yet it did not satisfie the Soul and so it was not Bread to the Soul as it was to the Body Man doth not live by Bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live By the Word of God the Soul is to live eternally This is that Bread which cometh down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are Dead and so they that have what can be desired for Food and Rayment must die He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Now we are taken up chiefly if not wholly with things sensible then we shall be let into things Spiritual and they will by their remaining always before us be then the whole of our Thoughts although perhaps now it be none or the least of all It will be the Question and Reproof in the state of Eternity Why People did in the Days of their Flesh bestow their labour for that which satisfieth not The Scene will then change things will then appear opposite and contrary to what they do now O thou that dwellest upon many Waters abundant in Treasures thine end is come and the measure of thy Covetousness Jer. 51. 13. Then it will appear how little it doth sifnifie to have heaped up Riches and gotten Gain or to have been Cumbred abovt many things when one thing was needful and we should have chosen the better part which would not have been taken from us now all other things shall fail Then also it will most eminently and clearly appear how that Man did throughout this Life on Earth walk in a vain shew And he disquieted himself in vain He heapeth up Riches and knoweth not who shall gather them There is somewhat alike to this in Hab. 2 6. Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his How long And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay O that such People would consider of this who make it their main and principal end of Life and consume almost all their time in getting of Money or Riches They know not or are not sensible of as much or at least they do not take such warning so as to refrain how that the Spirit of God doth pronounce a Wo against them To Build and another shall Inhabit or to Plant and another shall eat the Fruit thereof is according to the Curse of God in the Book of Deuteronomy as also it is a Discouragement Vexation and Disquiet to the Creature in its seeking and labouring thereafter That increaseth that which is not his Ay but saith the Creature it is mine when I have it To which the Answer of God presently and immediately succeeds How long That is How long will it be before it is taken from thee Or how long will it be before thou shall be taken from it One Day will certainly come when it shall be no longer his when he shall be dislodged from this Tenement of Clay that is the Body and then he can no longer lade himself with thick Clay that is heap up Silver or Gold Let People be never so much Busied or Employed in heaping up Riches or getting Estates yet the Forty Ninth Psalm lies express against them For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his Glory shall not descend after him By reason that Death is to succeed and shut up all Therefore Man walketh in a vain shew Surely they
food convenient for him Such an one whilst he fears and serves God and fulfils all righteousness shall be more happy and blessed in the end than he that heapeth up Riches and knoweth not who shall gather them or than he that lays up goods for many Years and is not rich towards God The reason and end of things is to be considered Wherefore is it that any one desires Riches If he be one who loves God with all his Heart and with all his Strength and with all his Soul and with all his Mind and who understands throughly the things pertaining to his Kingdom Then it is because he would Honour the Lord with his Substance because he would approve himself as a good Steward of the manifold gifts of God For so much as we have so much we are accountable for Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Eph. 4. 28. Hence it appears that even in the labour of our Hands which is to subminister the necessaries of Life somewhat out of that should be afforded to Alms and good Works Much more a larger Portion should be expended towards the same end out of the Plenty and Superfluities of Life Yea whatever is more than the necessity and conveniencies of each Family the same belongeth to the Poor and is their due Whereupon shewing mercy to the Poor is called Righteousness Dan. 4. 27. The more Riches or Money any one hath committed unto him in this Life proportionably a demand and account will be required of him at the Day of Judgment whether he hath expended accordingly for the relief of the Poor and for the maintenance of good works Titus 3. 8. As it is written Obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account So it may be truly said to every one who hath or to whom this Worlds Goods are committed do thou so use expend and distribute them forth as thou that must give account thereof That time will come even upon the Death of each one Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayest be no longer Steward And it being afterwards commanded And I say unto you Make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations For we brought nothing into this World and it is certain that we can carry nothing out So in the Day of our Death and from thence forward throughout all eternity we shall have no benefit of our Money or the Riches we had in this Life but of what we gave to the Poor or distributed towards the maintenance of good Works For my part as I have a God to serve and a Soul to have which I desire as much to have saved as any Man living In that little Money which falls into my hands for the World hateth me because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil If ye were of the World the World would love his own Besides the necessaries of Life provided for the same is the constant thought of my Heart and endeavour of my Hands so to expend the greater part thereof as that I must give account thereof before God and so that I may give up a good account of my Stewardship and that it may be most acceptable and pleasing in the sight of the Lord and that I may receive a full reward 2. John 8. Even the Reward of such who have done the best works Now of good Works there is a twofold sort either outward Alms which is a temporal kindness to the dying Body And seeing that we have this treasure in Earthen Uessels and by the good health and temperament of our Body we are better enabled to serve God and to follow the Duties of our respective Callings And they would Languish Sicken and Die without necessary Food and Rayment So that the Subministring of these to the Person who really wants them is a very great good in that it doth preserve Life But yet as the Apstle saith Covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I to you a more excellent way 1 Cor. 12. 31. As much as the Soul is better and a more enduring Substance than the Body so what doth good immediately unto the Soul is proportionably a better Work than what is a temporal kindness unto the dying Body Hereupon the words of eternal Life are better than Money or Food for the former are all one necessary to the feeding and nourishing up of the Soul unto eternal Life all one as Meat and Drink are necessary unto temporal Life According to what David saith by the Spirit which same Spirit gave him the Faith and Knowledge of the future and invisible things of God The Law of thy mouth is better unto me then thousands of Gold and Silver Psal 119. 72. So that the making known thy Truth Isa 38. 19. Or the words of eternal Life and the multiplying the Copies thereof is consequently the Best of works as much as the Soul is better than the Body Indeed in this ignorant but more especially Corrupt World where we know in part things do appear differently unto Christians although they all pretend to walk by the same Rule of the Scriptures Yet forasmuch as many called Christians who seem to be Religious and to make a fair shew in the Flesh have a secret inward enmity against Publishing the Word and Truth of God for the same and alike Reasons as the Pharisees did take Counsel to put Christ to Death Because they perceived that he had spoken the Parable against them Even so such apprehend that the Word Spoken or Published is against some of their own sinful Corrupt or Hypocritical doings therefore they conceive beforehand an enmity towards and afterwards an opposition or Persecution against it and They do not receive the Love of the Truth 2 Thess 2. 10. Nor will they do any thing for it But for my part though I cannot as yet so fully say as I could wish for that I have made my Heart clean nor have all my doings as yet been perfectly conformable to that great and compleat Rule of Righteousness in Scripture For in many things we offend all And the Scripture is against some of my doings which I desire to cease from once before I die and to bring them all yea every Word and Thought in me unto a conformity and agreeableness unto all the Words of God's Law for I believe and tremble that The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unâ—ighteousness of Men. Which word Unrighteousness signifies what is a variation from the great Rule of Righteousness aforementioned Yet nevertheless I am so far from conceiving an Enmity Opposition or Persecution against that form of sound words in Scripture or any of them that I can do nothing against the Truth but for the
renit yet better and better to perfect our works Rev. 3. 2. Yet more and more that they may shine unto perfect Day even till the breaking forth of the Day of Immortality As long as we are on this Corrupt Earth and sinful sinning Body we are never holy enough to meet with and appear before the holy God but still as long as we have life and being so ought we to be still a doing according to the Exhortation which speaketh on this wise Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God So we are still to be upon the cleansing and purifying Work according to what is commanded Wash ye Make ye clean So is the mind and endeavour of the true Servants of God even of the Elect and such that shall Obtain Unto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come Acts 26. 7. Thy God whom thou servest continually Dan. 6. 16. Without more intermission or weariness than what is necessary such Service hath the favour and acceptance of God And so the Apostle Paul saith Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended and so he did not think himself fit for Heaven but this one thing I do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before This Blessed Saint did take more pains for Heaven than any Christians now a Days and much less formal Worshippers can pretend unto He saith thus of himself That three Years he did not cease to warn every one night and day with Tears The consideration whereof is said to have made Chrysostom who was also a labourer and not a loyterer in God's Harvest as is the manner of too many in these days to tremble because of his own remisness and negligence in the Work of the Ministry compared with that The same Apostle was in labours more abundant in watchings in fastings in imprisonments and tumults Truly and in good earnest all that ever a poor Mortal Creature can do putting forth all his strength imploying all his time using and exerting all that is within and without him is little enough to obtain Heaven If it were not for this real and great end all Men's doings are in vain For nothing remains in a Man but what he doth in the Service of God and for the good of his own Soul The world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever All other Acts and Actions perish in the using and at length come to an utter end and signifie nothing at last It is to be disquieted in vain and to be cumbred about many things in vain and for the people to labour in the very fire and to weary thmeselves for very vanity Heb. 2. 13. And whereas the Prophet doth before ask the question Is it not of the Lord of Hosts that people do thus Thereby is imported forth that the Lord doth leave them and withdraw himself from them and then they do labour in the very Fire and weary themselves for very vanity Which confirms what was aforesaid that although Man indeed is a noble Creature wholly a right Seed considered in his Relation to God yet separated from and forsaken by God he is the meerest vanity that can be Surely every Man walketh in a vain shew Surely they are disquieted in vain He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them As it is said in the Book of Job that upon the Death of a Man his Sons come to honour and he knoweth it not So we may give a guess how things will be after our Decease all one as we may of the time to come whilst we are in Life The like hath been fulfilled in our Brethren of the same Condition Circumstances and Years yet we know not exactly how it will be As to our own forecasts concerning futurity most commonly it happens contrary but always otherwise than we think or imagine before hand Foreknowledge is the pecular Attribute of God who knoweth all things But it is not for us Creatures to know the things to come But we have heard with our Ears and our Fathers have told us and we have read of several Examples of those who have heaped up Riches and knew not who should gather them For after that they have been Dead it may be their greatest Enemies and those whom they whilst living would not speak a good and kind word unto nor give them so much as a Cup of cold Water and yet either by being next of Kin the right of Inheritance did devolve unto them or by the contention and decision of the Law some way or other it hath fallen unto them There is somewhat alike to this said in Luke 12. The ground of a certain rich Man brought forth plentifully And he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said this will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods And I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years Take thine ease eat drink and be merry And God said unto him thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided And so he heapeth up Riches and knoweth not who shall gather them They come near to the same sense and signification It is certain that those things which he hath provided and the Riches he hath heaped up are no longer his when once his Soul is required of him and then he knoweth not who shall gather them And whereas that excellent and useful Truth is afterwards added So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God From all this laid and considered together it appears that the heaping up riches which signifies the abundance plenty and superfluities of them is not the proper end of Life Indeed every one ought to be honest and diligent in his Calling and to provide for his own House But saith the Lord Jesus Take heed and beware of Covetousness for a Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth So if a Man can have the necessaries and comforts of Life by doing that and that only which is Lawful and Right to such the promise is His Soul shall live If he can bring the World about and pay every one his own If he hath neither poverty nor riches but is fed with
Surely every Man walketh in a vain shew Surely they are disquieted in vain He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them Psal 39. 6. UPON my inward and most retired Thoughts when I get out from the Hurry Business and Company of the World there doth Naturally recur and arise to me this Subject of Meditation of the Vanity of Man What the holy Ghost here speaketh by the Mouth of David is twice â—rought and ushered in by this Adverb of Confirmaâ—ion surely thereby intimating and giving us to understand that the more we know and consider of it â—he more it doth appear to be so namely That Man â—s vain he walketh in a vain shew and he is disquieted â—n vain In the Margent opposite to the Word vain shew it is an Image From whence it may be truly thought that as an Image now differs from the thing whereof it is an Image or Representation so Man in this present state of things differs from what he will be in the future state of things Yea as much as a reality doth exceed and is more than only the Image Figure Shew or Representation thereof So much will Man in the future state of things exceed Man in this present state of things As it is written The holy places made with hands are the figures of the true Heb. 9. 24. So it may be believed and so it will be found that the Heavens and the Earth which now are yea the whole visible Creation and all things contained therein made by the Hands of God his handy work Psal 19. 1. All these are the Figures of the True even of which himself saith The new Heavens and the new Earth which I will make Isa 66. 22. And then all this present state of things is but a Figure of that true future state of things which God will certainly bring in So that Man at present is but a Figure or shew of what Man will be Somewhat alike to this the Scripture faith It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is If one had only seen the Figure or Shew of a thing and had never seen the real thing whereof it is a Figure or Shew he would not then so perfectly apprehend what the real thing it self was although he might guess at and think concerning it Hence it is that we are so puzzled and at a stand concerning futurity We know not what it is and yet we have great thought and searching of Heart concerning it We see indeed some likeness thereof but not the thing it self For we know in part and we Prophesie in part For now we see through a Glass darkly And so we have some faint and imperfect guesses before hand concerning futurity but as to the thing it self It doth not yet appear what we shall be But this we believe that it will be better and more real than the state we are now in That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance Prov. 8. 21. And so as much as Substance doth exceed Vanity so much will the future state of things exceed the present state of things After that Solomon the Wisest of Men had taken a survey of the whole lower Creation this is the Epiphonema and Burden of his Song Vanity and Vexation of Spirit All is Vanity And here in our Text the Father of Solomon or rather the holy Ghost by the Mouth of David saith Surely every Man walketh in a vain shew Every Man even the most Rich or Prosperous Man as Solomon and David were for they speak of their own Experience as well as from the truth as it is in others Although they heap up riches according to the following words which is reckoned the Principal and most Substantial end of Life yet still they walk in a vain shew The word Walk denotes the constancy thereof and that it is so for the most part even throughout the course of this Life There is a parallel alike place unto this in Psal 62. 9. 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 Which is the most diminutive kind of expressing it Certain it is as to the past time of our Life It is all but vanity for as we consider throughly and look back upon it then it all appears as a Dream when one awaketh and almost all one as if it had never been Even the present is but just perceived and hasteth away As to the outward Good or Evil Pleasure or Pain we have it is soon over and we are gone Our Bodies like brittle Glass or withering Hay can be soon broken and dashed in pieces and are always Perishing and Dying And we do all fade as a leaf Isa 64. 6. We are as a Bubble Shadow or Dream or by whatever may be conceived the utmost vanity of things By vanity is meant what either sâ—rves to no purpose or else seems to serve to no purpose and in this latter sence Man is vanity For though he was Created to Serve and Glorify God which is a great and real end yet many do neglect this and then they are vanity and it is fulfilled in such what is written Nevertheless Man being in honour abideth not but is like the Beasts that perish And who do really answer that same good end Yet through the hidden Mystery of the Kingdom and also because they are conversant about unseen things they also for the Flesh is the same of a Saint as of a Sinner seem as vanity Certain it is that separated from God Man is the meerest vanity that ever was Yet I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right Seed that is in his relation and tendency unto God his Creator but if he is one separated from him then he is turned into a degenerate Plant of a strange Vine Jer. 2. 21. Now a degenerate Plant or a strange Vine elsewhere called wild Grapes Isa 5. 4. A wild Olive Tree Rom. 11. 17. All these serve to no Goodness and bring forth no good Fruit. Even so where Man turns away from and becomes forgetful of God he also serves to no Goodness or Fruit at all but is a lump of Flesh just enlivened A breathing clod of Clay a Sink and Receptacle of Filth and Flegm a Seed plot of Stink and Corruption a walking piece of Earth Our Text saith He walketh in a vain shew or an Image So he may be stiled a vain walking Statue of Earth How should the consideration of these things perswade Man to engage his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord Jer 30. 21. And for our Soul to follow hard after him and to cleave unto him Unto him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49. 10. Even so our Spirits should be gathered up and United to the Father of Spirits This being the
way to live for ever more because he liveth we shall live also But on the other hand if Man should be separated from and disowned by God he would thereupon become vile abject and vain But now the Lord saith Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall le lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. The Men that have transgressed against me shall be an abhorring unto all flesh Isa 66. 24. For he knoweth our Frame he remembreth that we are but dust He hath so made all Men that as himself saith All their Excellency that is above the other Creatures is of me The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour So contrariwise that Man who is without God in the World There is not so pitiful and vile a Creature in the World no not the most ugly Toad as he is For whereas the Beasts perish he shall after Death rise up to everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12. 2. Our Text is chiefly to be understood of the Natural Man alienated from the Life of God and who hath not the knowledge of God But it cannot be so truly said that the Godly Man is disquieted in vain For he can and also doth cast his Disquiet and Sorrow upon God And he hath that Faith and Consideration that if he heapeth up Riches he knoweth who shall gather them that is to say that is Besides providing for his own and those of his own house 1 Tim. 5. 4. The Poor shall gather them both in his Life-time and also after his Death Every Man walketh in a vain shew This is to be understood of every Natural and Ungodly Man as he is busied only about Earthly things Certain it is that the Natural and Ungodly Man doth more walk in a vain shew than the Spiritual and Godly Man doth for he hath some certain proposed end and is conversant about real things even the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God whilst the other is only employed about vain things which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain All this World is but vanity so that all they must necessarily walk in a vain shew who do not terminate their thoughts and doings beyond this World who do not in Mind and Heart enter within the vail where indeed and only is the substance of things hoped for For the Creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Rom. 8. 21. From hence it may be truly gathered that the Creature which is now made subject to vanity is in hope to be translated changed and delivered into a more real and much better state of things And then Man who now on this Earth walketh in a vain shew will abide that is to say such who shall be accounted worthy Luke 21. 36. in a glorious and substantial State For so it stands according to the method and appointment of God that Vanity is in order to Reality the Figure or Shew goes before the thing Figured and Shewed And Perfection is to succeed Imperfection and Mortality will be swallowed up of Life and Incorruption is to follow after this state of Corruption here And so likewise Eternity is to succeed Time Thus the Works of God are worthy of himself For as the Psalmist saith Remember how short my time is Wherefore hast thou made all Men in vain Now if God should have made all Men and all things in vain this would not have seemed with reverence be it spoken and conceived so befitting an alwise God for it is an essential part of Wisdom not to do things in vain But when he doth things first in a vain state in order to lead and raise them up from thence into a substantial state this raiseth the highest admiration of the Wisdom of the Agent O Lord how glorious are thy works in Wisdom hast thou made them all It is now an usual thing with Artificers or Builders first to draw the Plat-form or Model of what they intend to build and make In like manner it may be conceived that he who built all things now he who built all things is God did create the Heavens and the Earth and all the things that therein are as a Plat-form or Model of the new Heavens and the new Earth which he will make If we could now have such lively Thoughts and Apprehensions of the new Heavens and new Earth and of the things contained therein as we shall then have a sence and feeling and open sight thereof in the future state all one as we now have of the things in this present state then by reason of the so much exceeding Greatness Duration and Reality of those future things we should be otherwise affected and concerned as to them then now we are Even whilst our Body is on this Earth our Conversation would be in Heaven and our Mind would be always there And like as Strangers and Pilgrims when they are from â—ome in another Country their mind runs still or for the most part on home even whilst they are in the strange and distant place In like manner if we did confess our selves to be Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth Heb. 11. 13. Our Thoughts Mind and Desire would be wholly taken up about Heaven and Futurity Who then much minds the Figure or Picture when he hath before him the thing Figured or Pictured Then it will appear that the things which are now visible are as the Figure or Shew and only what things are now invisible they are the Realities While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal It may now be so brought to pass by the Word of Faith which we Preach which speaketh of those things that be not as though they were and warns of things not seen as yet Heb. 11. 7. That the things which now are not seen might be rendred intelligible unto our Souls all one as the things now sensible are to our outward senses But People are so settled on the lees and sunk down and immersed into sensuality and the cares and concernments of this Life that they are not altogether so much and so continually thoughtful about the other as they should be Here again our Duty to God and care for our Immortal Soul teaches rather to renounce things present as much as possible that we may think and act more after the things to come It is Sin and Sensuality that do now eclipse overshadow as with a Cloud and darken the Soul and hinders from the sight and light of the suture eternal things Although we do Daily yea every Hour and Minute press nearer and nearer unto them The more we think of those suture eternal things the more we are convinced of the vanity and littleness of all present things These are now heightned in expectation and imagination but when we know