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
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
so hot and fierce that they parted one from the other when indeed they had more need to have gone together Acts 15. 39. Besides this very Charity as it is imperfect so it is evanid and apt to decay whilst men are in this Bodily state Be it a holy Fire kindled from above in the Souls of men yet the very Fire of the Altar will decay if Fuel be not administred to it Distance of Place want of Interviews and Correspondence the decay of that which we apprehend lovely any apprehension of Affront or so much as a Neglect with many an other Accident is apt to quench this Flame or at least abate the heat of the Passion How often do we hear Men complaining of their conditions which sometimes they seemed well pleased with Husbands saying to their Wives and Wives to their Husbands I would we had never met together the Father saying to his Son I would I had never begotten thee and the Mother to her Daughter Woe is me that ever I brought thee forth so poor impure imperfect and unconstant is this Passion which yet certainly is the noblest that belongs to the human Nature View poor Man in any of his Ages Conditions Qualifications Passions or the effects of them and you will find him vain and walking in a vain shew What 's his Mirth but a light and empty Jovialty without any real Content or solid Satisfaction We may all justly say as Solomon said Eccl. 2. 2. I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it What doth it indeed for the very contrary to it is commended above it and preferred before it Eccles 7. 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting And then v. 3. Sorrow is better than laughter And again v. 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools in the house of mirth And again v. 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools for as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of a fool loud perhaps but it is but a blaze neither of any use nor for any duration And if man's Mirth be so vain that even Sorrow itself is preferred before it it might be worth the while to enquire wherein lies the solidity of Sorrow and to say of this also What doth it For what doth it profit a man to sorrow for the Losses that he cannot retrieve the Disappointments that he cannot amend for things past that cannot be recover'd for things present that cannot be remedied for things to come which cannot be prevented Sorrow is an unhinging of the Soul and why should Man disquiet himself in vain And how much of the strength of their Souls do men mispend in sorrowing They oftentimes grieve for an Evil which really was not befaln them and oftentimes for a thing which though it was befaln them was not really evil Did not old Jacob walk in a vain shew when he walked heavily and mournfully many years for the Death of his dear Joseph who was at that time Lord of all Aegypt And suppose he had known that he was sold into Egypt I warrant he would nevertheless have grieved although really it was no evil to Jacob that he was sold thither Mary was troubled that she could not find her dead Lord in the Sepulchre when indeed it was good for her that he was risen and was not there So vain venturous and foolish a thing is the Mirth and the Sorrow too of the Sons of men Poor man Is he awake By Seeing or Hearing he is continually betray'd or at least molested He is either apt to speak what he should not or sure to hear what he would not he is either dissolved in Pleasure distracted with Cares or tired with Business either vex'd with seeing other men do amiss or envies them doing well he is either wearied with very Idleness and having nothing to do or surfeited with doing the same things over and over again all the days of his life He is forsooth ever and anon hungry or thirsty or weary and a great part of the waking time of his life is spent in relieving these Necessities Well then may some one say Commend me to Sleep for this frees the poor Mortal from all these Inconveniences True indeed But then alas what is he good for Then the Wise differs nothing from a Fool nor the Champion from a Child As the Grave is so is the Bed and all lye down alike in both and Sleep like Death sweetly feeds upon them all There is an old Question in the Schools An proestat miserum esse an non esse One might almost interpret and illustrate it by waking and sleeping whether is better to be awake and be disquieted or asleep and not to be at all That so great a part of our little Age passes away so unsensibly and is spent so unprofitably must needs trouble any wise man who reflects upon it when he is awake But alas there is somewhat worse than Unprofitableness in it If it were possible for men to be asleep and yet awake at the same time I mean if we did know how our time is spent and how it goes on when we are asleep it would add Shame to our Trouble and Vexation to the Vanity Many men do dream even waking the whole life of the greatest part of Mankind is nothing but a Dream but the best and wisest of men dream sleeping yea and so dream as that in the morning they have cause with shame to confess it was no part of their Goodness or Wisdom either Other while poor men are affrighted with Visions or strange Apprehensions in the night-time so as that their sleep itself is not sweet unto them The Inconveniences and Evils of the Night are so many that it may well be doubted whether any man living if a man asleep may be said to be alive do pass any one night of his life in that Peace and Purity as he desires and as becomes his noble Nature And now I am speaking of Man as to what he is and that therein he walks in a vain shew I may fitly consider also what he knows he walks in a vain shew as to that also As his Beauty is but a Paint his Valour but a Flourish his Strength Rottenness his Constancy Patience and Charity but a Resemblance of some such things so indeed that wherein he is so very apt to glory His Knowledge is but a Conjecture He thinks he knows many things which indeed he does but guess at And if any man think that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know 1 Cor. 8. 2. To know things is properly to know the causes of things and alas how little is there of this sort of Knowledge that a modest man dare pretend to We all allow Solomon to have been a wise and knowing
Vexation and Labour and that there is no Profit in them as Solomon expresses it How pinch'd and narrow are the most enlarged and capacious Souls upon Earth in their Thanks and Praises to the Almighty Goodness in comparison of the noble Raptures and Ravishments of glorified Spirits who never cease to chant forth the Praises of God singing the Song of Moses and saying Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne Rev. 5. 13. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Rev. 7. 12. In a word How poor and insipid how dull and stagnant are the Joys and Delights of the best assured and most satisfied Souls upon Earth in comparison of the pure strong active and ravishing Complacencies which are the Portion of the Spirits of just men made perfect when all their Faculties are filled up to the very brim of their respective Capacities with the Communications of Divine Grace Light Life and Love and the blessed creature is made all that which the ever blessed Creator is so far as his finite and limitted nature will permit How mean is the Satisfaction that imperfect Souls do reap who sit down by the Streams and drink a little to allay their Thirst in comparison of the Solaces of glorified Souls who are always in an extasie of fresh and unfading Joys who are still drenching themselves in Fulness of Joy and bathing themselves in Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's right hand for evermore It was properly said therefore to the good and faithful Servant Mat. 25. 21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord because it was impossible that the infinite Joy of his Lord should enter into him But here some one will be apt to cry out with the passionate Psalmist complaining of his own and the Churches Afflictions Psal 89. 47. Lord wherefore hast thou made all men in vain To this I answer GOD made Man upright holy blessed and substantial but Sin hath brought Vanity upon Mankind yea the whole Creation is thereby subjected to Vanity Man in departing from his GOD who is Life and Substance is become vain and whatever he is has or does is but imperfect is but a shew But yet GOD has not made all Men in vain neither because he has yet ordain'd for all believing Souls a substantial and durable state of Happiness so that though they be mean and imperfect in this World they shall be perfect and compleat in another Let us rather cry out with the same Psalmist when he was in a more serene and undisturbed Temper Psal 8. 4. Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him What is poor Man whom his Sin and Apostasie has made so vain and despicable that thou after all this shouldst think Thoughts of Love towards him and prepare such excellent Honour and Happiness for him How great cause have all the poor crippled Souls of Men to admire the infinite Bounty of the Great King and to cry out with lame Mephibosheth in 2 Sam. 19. 28. we were all but as dead Souls before God yet has He set us amongst the Angels of Heaven and will entertain us with them that eat at his own Table And this indeed might serve for one use that I would make of this Doctrine but this is not all therefore Secondly This may serve to humble the Children of Men to pull down their proud Crests and to reduce them to a sober Temper This is one of the most notorious and odious Vanities of vain Man that he does think highly of himself and magnifies himself in his own Eyes and is ambitious to be Great in the Eyes of other men There is nothing more miserable than the Devils and yet nothing prouder than they Even Simon Magus himself the Sorcerer that Child of the Devil was desirous to be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some great one amongst his Neighbors It is a common and true Observation that by how much the less worth any man has the more he is conceited of his own Worthiness and seeks to put off himself in the estimation of the World Whereas the Wise and the Good suâ se virtute involvunt are satisfied in and from themselves and are sufficiently defended by a conciousness of their own Worth and Innocence and goodness of their Cause and had rather be accounted to have nothing to say than to answer Fools according to their Folly had rather forseit their Reputation than their Discretion Now what can be thought of more effectual for the correcting the Insolence of vain Man than to be throughly convinc'd of his own Vanity If the Bubble could be perswaded it was but a Bubble surely it would swell no more If Man could be perswaded that he was a Worm and no Man he would be content with a humble crawling upon the Earth and not magnifie himself as if he were not a creeping thing If any thing in the World can enoble Man and make him something it is Humility and if any thing in the World can humble him it must be the consideration of his own Vanity and Nothingness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was justly esteemed by the wise Greeks as a Voice from Heaven as an Oracle of God è coelo descendit and I think the Christian Divinity acknowledges the same When the noble Souls of men do consider their own original how pure and excellent it was how they are now sunk into Prisons of Flesh and inverst in Sence and Sensuality how dark they are in their Apprehensions how unsteddy in their Resolutions how uncertain in their Knowledge how irregular in their Affections how boisterous and unreasonable in their Passions how easily carried away to Vice how imperfect in Virtue how weak distempered and diseased in Body how disappointed in Relations how vex'd tir'd deceiv'd or opprest in their Estates how perplex'd in this World and how doubtful of a better in a word what a bundle of Vanity Mankind is become how can it be but that it must needs make him sober and humble and consequently contribute something to the restoring of him to his primitive Excellency Nam quò minus sibi arrogat homo eò evadit clarior nobilior The less Man arrogates to himself the more excellent he is Thirdly Let this Doctrine of Humane Vanity affect our Hearts compassionately towards the miserable apostate Sons of Men. Of all Sights in this World this is the saddest and most to be lamented Nations unhinged Kingdoms weltering in Blood the most devilish Plots the most unnatural Wars the most barbarous Persecutions that ever the Eye of a Spectator beheld or the Pen of an Historian recorded if they were all registred would not make up such a tragical Volume as the third Chapter of Genesis alone does We pitty the Wounded when we see their Wounds bleeding and their Limbs broken we pitty the Sick
when we see their restless and painful state and hear their lamentable Shrieks and deadly Groans we pitty the Poor and the Forlorn the Fatherless Motherless Friendless Harbourless Helpless when we see them with naked Feet and half-naked Bodies in the pinching Severity of Frost and Snow seeking their Bread in desolate places we pitty poor Prisoners that lye in Dungeons are bruised with Irons sink in the deep Mire or else are made fast in the Stocks sed with black Bread and cold Water lodg'd on a little Litter amongst Toads and Newts and noisom Vermin we pitty poor banish'd men driven out of their own sweet Country and from amongst their dear Relations wandring amongst wild Beasts or barbarous men more savage than Beasts enjoying no Liberty except it be that of wandring from one Cave or Den or Desart to another we pitty unhappy Princes whose Crowns are fallen from their Heads and the Children of prodigal Gentlemen Lords of Towns who come to be reliev'd by the Towns whereof their Fathers were sometimes Lords Oh! but how much more reason have we to pitty and bewail vain Mankind the miserable Posterity of Adam wounded in Soul with a most deadly wound all their Bones broken sick of the most painful Disease and loathsom Leprosie poor and desolate naked and forlorn Slaves and Prisoners in the Dungeon of the Body and under Sathan their Jayler bunisht from Paradise estranged from God and his holy Angels and wandring in the Wilderness of this World in a thousand Wants Necessities Dangers Uncertainties and Perplexities degraded from their excellent Honour and Dignity and now feeding upon Husks ordained to be Ment for Swine When Peter and John saw the lame man that could not walk at all they pittied him and healed him When we consider poor Mankind walking in a vain shew though we cannot heal them let us pitty and pray for them and bewail our own and their Degeneracy Nay Fourthly Let us not only bewail the Vanity of Mankind but be in a godly sence weary of our vain Life The highest pitch which most men aim at is but this to be desirous to live and content to dye But the Apostle Paul was of a higher form he was only content to live but desirous to dye desirous to depart and to be with Christ because it was far better Phil. 1. 23. Possibly you will not allow me to argue from the Prophet Elijah 1 Kin. 19. 4. Lord take away my life nor from holy Job chap. 7. 15 16. My soul chooseth death rather than life I loath it I would not live always for my days are vanity Perhaps you will say these holy men were either in a Passion not to be justified or in a Rapture not to be imitated but yet sure in good earnest and in sober Temper without either Passion or Extasie the consideration of our poor imperfect state and vain life ought to beget in every Pilgrim Soul a holy and comely weariness of this state of alienation and elongation from its GOD I dare not venture to call it the Grace of Discontentment because the Grace and Art of Contentment has obtained so great a Name in the World but methinks a degree of Weariness or Discontentment may well enough stand with a predominant submission to and satisfaction in the Will of God One thing cannot be desired especially not with such a desire as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports but the contrary to it must be in some degree rejected or undervalued So that I suppose the Apostle Paul's desire to depart comprehends in it a kind of weariness of Commoration in the Body And indeed who can reasonably blame a man that is weary of a state of Bondage Banishment Imprisonment Poverty and Vanity and desires a state of Liberty Enlargement and Perfection Which brings me to the last thing Fifthly Study covet love and long after things durable and substantial As we ought with a holy kind of Weariness to lead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a life void of Pleasure in things here below so ought our life to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a flight of our Souls to God alone The whole Creation is subjected to Vanity but the Creature shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption therefore the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain Rom. 8. 20 21 22. And shall not we much rather long to be delivered from our state of Vanity Can we seriously think of our Vanity Misery and Indigency and not cry out Oh that we were as in times past when we came out of the Hands of God at first or Oh that we were as we shall be in time to come when we shall be put into the Hands of God again It is lawful it is reasonable it is safe it is seemly to look for and long after a state of Purity and Perfection a state of compleat Health and Liberty a Re-union with our God and Center to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. It is most natural and comely for every thing to tend to its own Perfection and the most healthful Constitution of a Soul is to be sick of Love The description of regenerate and sanctified Souls is that they love the appearing of Christ 2 Tim. 4. 8. that they look for his appearing Tit. 2. 13. that they look for or long for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal life Jude ver 21. that they look for and hasten to the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. And so we find they have done Paul desiring to depart and to be with Christ and David longing for the Salvation of God Psal 119. 174. his Soul breaking for very longing Psal 119. 20. waiting for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning I say more than they Psal 130. 6. To conclude Lament not intemperately the removal of any out of this state of Vanity and Vexation of Spirit into a state of satisfaction and perfection of Spirit Rejoice not immoderately in the fairest and sweetest Circumstances of this present life but live under a painful sense of your own Indigency breathing after a state substantial and durable blissful and eternal And God of his infinite Mercy grant that we always endeavouring to perfect Holiness in the fear of God at our removal hence may have an abundant Entrance administred unto us into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory for evermore Amen ERRATA PAge 1. line 8. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 2. l. 4. r. male p. 29. l. 19. r. in 3 p. 100. l. 7. r. requisivit p. 106. l. 8. 8. velleity A Catalogue of Books printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside Books in Folio RIchard Baxter's Catholick Theology plain pure peaceable for pacification of the Dogmatical Word-Warriours In three Book Methodus Theologiae Christianae By Mr. Richard Baxter Sixty one Sermons preached mostly on publick Occasions By Adam Littleton D. D. Rector of Chelsey in Middlesex c. One Hundred select Sermons upon several Texts Fifty upon the Old Testament and Fifty on the New Choice and Practical Expositions on Four select Psalms These two by the Reverend and Learned Tho. Horton D. D. late Minister of Great St. Hellens London A third Volume of Sermons preached by the late Reverend and Learned Tho. Manton D. D. In two parts the first containing Sixty Six Sermons on the Eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews With a Treatise of the Life of Faith Part the second A Treatise of Self-denial with several Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and other occasions with an alphabetical Table to the whole