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
is dirty and nasty for a Soul to wallow in fitter for a Swine than for a Soul Let another Prophet speak Zech. 9. 3. Tyrus heaped up silver as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets Or let holy Job speak Job 27. 16. He heaps up silver as the dust and prepares raiment as the clay Nay again we will suppose that Riches be made use of yea and good use of which is the best that can be suppos'd yet when Goods encrease they are encreas'd that eat them and What good is there to the owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their eyes Eccl. 5. 11 In a word there is a Curse entail'd upon all that covet after Riches which does unavoidably light upon them all viz. they shall go on still hungring and gaping after more and shall never be filled Eccl. 5. 10. He that loveth silver shall not not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease And then he adds as with good reason he might This is also vanity The worth of these things is placed principally in the Fancies of Men. You have heard perhaps of some Rich men who under a melancholick Distemper have fancied themselves to be very Poor and I wonder then what good their Riches do them And I have read of a poor man who in his merry Melancholy would stand upon the Shore and clap his Hands and laugh and rejoyce at the coming in of the Merchants Ships fancying them all to be his own And I wonder what he could have done more if they had been all his own indeed And is not that a Vanity that a man may fancy himself into or out of when he pleases Besides in the latter sence these Riches are Vanity too because they soon vanish They take to themselves wings and fly away as Solomon expresses it yea and that swiftly and irrecoverably as an Eagle towards Heaven Now these Wings are made up of many sorts of Feathers such as Thieves Knaves violent Enemies and Oppressors false and deceitful Friends Fire Sword Wind and Tempests Suits at Law Forgery Perjury Moths and Rust and I know not how many more I will quit this point leaving with you that good and grave Advice of your best Friend Mat. 6. 19 20. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon Earth but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal Friends are a Worldly Possession highly prized by some and indeed needed by all They are a very precious Possession a very great but a very rare Treasure True Friends are seldom acquir'd hardly kept and with great Grief parted with There are so many things go to the making up of a true and rightly-accomplish'd Friend that it may well be doubted whether every thousandth man in the World have one They that live in populous places have many Neighbors the Rich have many Servants the Eloquent have many Auditors the Learned have many Pupils and Clients the Honourable and the Worshipful have many Flatterers and perhaps not one of these has a true Friend for neither Affinity Riches Eloquence Learning Honour or Grandeur can purchase true Friendship And indeed there are few men in this depraved state of Mankind fit to make Friends of If a man be foolish or false if he be covetous or selfish if he be cowardly proud or passionate if he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-conceited humerous inconstant or an intemperate self-lover he cannot be made a Friend of And alas where is the man that is not some of all this To keep a Friend is no less difficult than to get one The tenderer any part of the Body is the sooner it is hurt and the easilier-offended Friendship is a tender and delicate thing and easily grieved every small Infirmity Passion or so much as Neglect is apt to wound if not to violate it and Friendship when it comes to be suspected is half broken If no man can be properly called a Friend but such an one as Solomon describes Prov. 17. 17. Who loveth at all times I doubt there will very few be found so inconstant is all human Love so apt to be abated if not abolish'd Is this thy kindness to thy friend said Absalom jeeringly to Hushai because he did not willingly go with his Friend David into Banishment why wentest thou not with thy friend 2 Sam. 16. 17 How often have all men cause to reflect as tartly upon their pretended Friends upon the account of some Commission or Omission or other Is this your Kindness to your Friend Why did you not go hither or thither Why did you not do this or that Why did you not speak thus or thus for your Friend Friends were ordain'd for a time of Adversity but alas they will not abide it few of them are Adversity-proof But at best Friends must part If they have lived lovingly and faithfully all their days which is rare to be found yet Death worse and crueller than the Whisperer that Solomon speaks of will separate the chiefest Friends that ever lov'd or liv'd together and then behold what Lamentation and Mourning The beauty of Israel is slain O Jonathan thou wast slain in thy high places I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of women 2 Sam. 1. The taking away of such a Friend is like the rending of Limb from Limb or the violent tearing of Soul from Body Oh the desire of mine Eyes cries one Oh the delight of my Soul cries another how art thou taken away as with a stroke and hast left me to grapple with the Misfortunes of an injurious and vexatious World alone Surely every man walketh in a vain shew Children are a pleasant Possession With what Ardours of Soul with what unparallel'd Ravishments are these embrac'd These are Images of our selves nay Parts indeed rather than Pictures these are in a sound Sence Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh in them we enjoy our selves whilst we live in them we live when we are dead Well all this and a great deal more may be said concerning this Darling of human Nature but does not poor Man walk in a vain shew as to this Possession too After they are begotten and born in Sin and Sorrow and nurst up with much Wakefulness and Wearisomness they become pretty Playfellows and enchant the fond Parents with their sweet Smiles and lisping Rhetorick and every little Trick that is any thing akin to Wit or Ingenuity In the midst of these Charms it may be comes some Disaster or other and breaks a Leg or an Arm an Ague or the Worms and deprave the Constitution or the Small Pox and quite spoyl the Complexion nay it is great odds but some of these prove fatal and mortal and the Child never lives to see itself a Man or Woman but is
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