gift which God hath â—â—en me contrived a great picture in a little ring set forth the â—eat vanity of this world in a â—â—tle Map Let us now learne the lesson â—f Saint Iohn the beloved Disâ—â—ple of Christ who wrote so â—uch of love doth yet dehort â— from loving the world 1 Iohn â— 15. Love not the world neither â—e things that are in the world Why not the world for three â—asons 1. If any man love the â—orld the love of the Father is not â— him 2. All that is in the world â—e lust of the flesh the lust of the â—â—s and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world 3. The World passeth away and the lust thereof that is it is vain and vanishing yea in the abstract Vanity For these reason we must not suffer our hearts tâ— cleave to the best things in thâ— world as if happinesse were tâ— be found in them Follow thâ— counsell of the Holy Ghosâ— 1 Cor. 7. 31. Use this world 〈◊〉 though thou used it not for thâ— fashion of this world goeth 〈◊〉 way Use the things of thâ— world as helpes to thee in thâ— travell to heaven-ward but 〈◊〉 them not steale away thy heaâ—â— from better things from Goâ— and Christ and Heaven anâ— peace of conscience and joy the Holy Ghost these must dâ—light the heart of a Christian who was redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Jesus Christ in comparison of whom all the things of the world must seeme losse and drosse and dung and whatsoever is most despicable in the eyes of man If riches increase set not thy heart upon them no â—reasure no pleasure no honour nor gold nor plate nor jewels nor house nor land nor apparell nor friends must steale away thy heart We must be â—ffected to these things as Theodoricke the good King of Aâ—â—taine was with his play * In good casts he was silent in ill merâ—y in neither angry in both a Phylosopher or a wise man We must not make these a rivall unto God we must not leaue upon these by our confidence for they are a reed that shall quickly breake and the shivers will run into our hand Death is the most terrible of all things that are terrible said the Philosopher Aristotle it is terrible both to man and beast but most terrible to a wicked man that is worse then a beast when he remembers his sinfull life past the complexion of his flesh the palenesse of his face the dissolution of his members the rottennesse of his bones the obscurenesse of his grave the solitarinesse of his sepulcher the gnawing of wormes and the like But alas albeit these are terrible yet these are nothing without the consideration of sin which is the sting of death the strength and victory of the grave Thinke upon thy sinnes whereof thou art guilty and for which thou must dye as the condemned malefactor that after sentence pronounced is hurried to the fatall place of execution to suffer deserved punishment Remember yea againe and againe I say remember how miserably how violently how suddainely others have suffered death that were guilty of those sins which are more predominant in thee then they were in them Art thou a thiefe which thou maist be though thou wert never attached for theft by the lawes of men for covetousnesse is a Pick-purse before God read and remember how Achan dyed Iosh 7. Art thou a whoremaster which thou maist bee as well in thy minde as in thy body then read and remember how Hophni and Phineas dyed how Zimri and Cesbi were slaine in the very act of their uncleannesse And Iezabel an impudent strumpet dyed a sodaine and shamefull death Art thou a blasphemous swearer that dost rend grinde the sacred name of God betweene thy teeth Remember him under the Law that was stoned to death for his blasphemy Art thou an Idolatrous impe of the Popish Church that dost leave our Lord to worship our Lady and give that honour to Saints nay to stockes and stones which is proper to God alone call to minde how Sennacherib was slaine in the midst of his Idolatry Art thou an intemperate drunkard that dost sacrifice thy time and state nay soule and body unto Bacchus rising early to drinke strong drinke and sitting up late till Wine inflame thee thinke upon Belshazzar that was slaine in the midst of his cups whilst he was drinking in that Wine which the swords of his insulting enemies drew out of him together with his latest blood Art thou a covetous Usurer that dost let out thy money to men thy time to Mammon and thy soule to Satan that like a common Hackney jade wilt not beare thy debtors one houre past thy day or art thou a griping oppressor that dost racke thy poore tenants and exact upon thy neighbour to gaine a little transitory trash Remember Nabal and remember that Miser in the Gospell who being asleep in security and dreaming of enlarged barns and plentifull harvests was sodainly bereft of all and being awaked upon the hearing of his Soule-knell perceived himself to be forever wrerched Consider whether these and the like sinners that have made their souls the slaves of vanity have not in the end made themselves the slaves of misery Have they prospered or have they perished if they have prospered then follow them if perished as indeed they have then in the feare of God retire out of their paths left thou bee speedily cut off having no information of the danger till thine own eyes amazed with the sodainnesse behold it in the shape of inevitable damnation Be thou warned by their examples for God hath punished sinne in them to prevent sinne in thee Vt exempla sint omnium torment a paucorum that the torments of some few may be terrours unto all like as thunderbolts fall Paucorum periculo sed omnium metu to the hurt but of few though not without the horror of all That ship which sees another ship sinke before her lookes about her puls downe her saile turneth her course and escapes the sands which else would swallow her up as they did the other When the earth swallowed up Corah and his confederates all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said Lest the earth swallow us up also Num. 16. 34. The Bird will not light on the lime-bush nor into the net if shee see another insnared before her the Horse will not follow another whom he sees to sticke fast in the mire oh be not lesse wise then bird or beast nor more brutish then Horse and Mule that hath no understanding If thou seest another fall into the fire thou wilt not willingly follow him then follow not sinners to the fire of hell lest thou be constrained at last when it shall bee too late to bewaile thy folly to cry out with those that have
and covered about with massie gold where no uncleane thing may enter neither doth any abide there that is defiled Faire and beautifull in thy delights art thou O Ierusalem our mother none of those things are suffered in thee that are suffered here There is great diversitie betweene thy things and the things that wee doe continually see in this life In thee is never seene neither darkenesse nor night neither yet any change of time The light that shineth in thee commeth neither of lampes nor of Sunne or Moone nor yet of bright glittering Starres but God that proceedeth of God and the light that commeth of light is he that giveth clearenes unto thee Even the very King of Kings himselfe keepeth continuall residence in the middest of thee compassed about with his officers and servants There doe the Angels in their orders and Quires sing a most sweere and melodious harmony There is celebrated a perpetuall solemnity and feast with every one of them that cōmeth thither after his departure out of this pilgrimage There be the orders of Prophets there is the famous company of the Apostles there is the invincible army of Martyrs there is the most reverentassembly of confessors there are the true and perfect religious persons there are the holy Virgins which have overcome both the pleasures of the world and the frailty of their owne nature there are the young men and young women more ancient in vertue than in yeares there are the sheepe and little lambes that have escaped from the Wolves and from the deceitfull snares of this life and therefore doe now keepe a perpetuall feast each one in his place all alike in joy though different in degree There Charity raigneth in her full perfection for unto them God is all in all whom they behold without end in whose love they bee all continually inflamed whom they doe alwaies love and in loving doe praise and in praising doe love and all their exercises consist in praises without wearinesse and without travell O happie were I yea and very happy indeed if at what time I shall bee loosed out of the prison of this wretched body I might be thought worthy to heare those songs of that heavenly melody sung in the praise of the everlasting King by all the Citizens of that so noble Citie Happie were I and very happie if I might obtaine a roome among the Chaplaines of that Chappell and wait for my turne also to sing my Hallelujah If I might bee neare to my King my God my Lord and see him in his glory even as he hath promised me when he said O Father this is my last determinate will that all those that thou hast given unto me may be with me and see the glory which I had with thee before the world was created Hetherto are the words of S. Augustine Now tell me Christian brother what a day of glorious shine shall that be unto thee if thou lead thy life in Gods feare when after the course of this pilgrimage thou shalt passe from death to immortality and in that passage when others shall beginne to feare thou shalt beginne to rejoyce and lift up thy head because the day of thy deliverance is at hand Come forth a little saith S. Ierome unto the Virgine Eustochia out of the prison of this body and when thou art before the gate of this Tabernacle set before thy eyes the reward that thou hopest to have for thy present labours Tell me what a day shall that bee when our Lord himselfe with all his Saints shall come and meete thee in the way saying unto thee Arise and make hast O my beloved my delight and my Turtle dove for now the VVinter is past and the tempestuous waters are ceased the flowers doe beginne to appeare in our land Cant. 2. How great joy shall thy soule then receive when it shall be at that time presented before the Throne of the most blessed Trinity by the hands of the holy Angels and when shall be declared thy good workes and what crosses tribulations and injuries thou hast suffered for Gods sake Acts 9. S. Luke writeth That when holy Tabitha the great almes giver was dead all the Widdowes and poore folke came about the Apostle S. Peter shewing unto him the garments which shee had given them wherewith the Apostle being moved made his prayer unto Almighty God for that so mercifull a woman and by his prayers he raised her againe to life Now what a gladnesse will it be to thy soule when in the middest of those blessed spirits thou shalt bee placed with remembrance of thy almes-deeds thy prayers and fastings the innocency of thy life thy suffering of wrongs and injuries thy patience in afflictions thy temperance in diet with all other vertues and good workes that thou hast done in all thy life O how great joy shalt thou receive at that time for all the good deeds that thou hast wrought how clearely then shalt thou understand the value and the excellencie of vertue There the obedient man shall talke of victories there vertue shall receive her reward and the good honoured according to their merit Moreover vvhat a pleasure vvill it bee unto thee when thou shalt see thy selfe to bee in that sure haven and shalt looke back upon the course of thy navigation which thou hast sailed here in this life when thou shalt remember the tempests wherein thou hast beene tossed the straits through which thou hast passed and the dangers of theeves and pyrats from whom thou hast escaped There is the place where they shall sing the song of the Prophet which saith Had it not beene that our Lord had beene mine helper it could not be but my soule had gone into hell Especially when from thence thou shalt behold so many sins as are committed every houre in the world so many soules as doe descend every day into hell and how it hath pleased Almighty God that among such a multitude of damned persons thou shouldst be of the number of his elect and one of those to whom he would grant such exceeding great felicity and glory Besides all this what a goodly sight will it bee to see those seats filled up and the Citie builded and the wals of that noble Ierusalem repaired againe With what chearefull embracings shall the whole court of Heaven entertaine them beholding them when they come loaden with the spoiles of their vanquished enemies There shall those valiant men and women enter with triumph which have together with the world conquered the weakenesse of their owne fraile nature There shall they enter which have suffered martyrdome for Christs sake with double triumph over the flesh and the world adorned with all coelestiall glory There shall also daily enter many young men and children which have vanquished the tendernesse of their young yeares with discretion and vertue Oh how sweet and savorie shall the fruit of vertue then be although for a time before her roots seemed very bitter sweete
it not meet that that time which thou hast hitherto given to the world to thy flesh and to the Divell should suffice and that thou shouldest bestow some little time of that which remaineth to serve him who hath given thee all that thou hast Were it not a point of wisedome after so long time and so many great injuries to feare the most terrible justice of Almighty God who the more patiently he suffereth sinners the more hee doth afterwards punish them with severity and justice Were it not meet for thee to feare thy long continuance so many yeares in sinne and in the displeasure of Almighty God procuring thereby against thee such a mighty adversary as he is and provoking him of a mercifull loving Father to become thy severe terrible judge and enemy Were it not meet to feare least that the force of evill custome may in continuance of time be turned into nature and that thy long vicious usuall manner of committing sinne may make of a vice a necessity or little lesse Why art thou not afraid least by little and little thou maiest cast thy selfe downe head-long into the deep pit of a reprobate sence whereinto after that a man is once falne hee never maketh account of any sinne be it never so great The Patriarke Iacob said unto Laban his father in law These fourteene yeares have I served thee and looking to thine affaires now it is time that I should looke to mine owne and begin to attend unto the affaires of mine owne houshold Wherefore if thou hast likewise bestowed so many yeares in the service of this world and of this fraile transitory life were it not good reason that thou shouldest now begin to make some provision for the salvation of thy soule and for the everlasting life to come There is nothing more short nor more transitory then the life of man and therefore providing so carefully as thou doest for all such things as be necessarie for this life which is so short why doest thou not provide likewise somewhat for the life that is to come which life shall endure for ever and ever Earths Vanity A Sigh HEnce lazie sleepe thou sonne of sullen night That with soft-breathing Spels keeps sorrowes under Thy charmes cheares up the spirits with delight And laps the Sences in Lethaean slumber Packe and be gone for my sad soule knowes well Care best accordeth with a gloomic Cell And what more darke then my sin-clouded Soule Where yet the Sunne of Sapience never shone But still in Errors ougly cave did roule Where nought keepes concord but discordant mone Leave me I say and give me leave to tell That to my Soule my selfe ha's not done well Good man if good there lives one Thou that art So farre thrust from the worlds imperious eyes Helpe me to aâ—t this penitentiall part I meane No coyner of new Niceties Nor wodden Worshipper Give me him than That 's a God loving and good living man To be my partner in this Tragedie Whose scenes run bleeding through the wounded Acts Heart-strucke by Sinne and Satans fallacie And poyson'd by my selfe-committed facts Send me thy prayers if not thy presence found To stop the Ore-face of this streaming wound Steere me sweet Saviour while I safe have past The stormie Euroclydons of Despaire Till happily I have arriv'd at last To touch at Thee my Soules sole-saving stayre Tow up my sin-frought Soule sunke downe below And long lien weltring midst the waves of wo. New rig me up lest wallowing Iorewhelme Thy Mercy be my Main-mast And for Sayles My Sighs thy Truth my tackling Faith my Helme My ballast Love Hope Anchor that ne're failes Then in Heav'ns haven calme Peace me arrive Where once enharbor'd I shall richly thrive Woes me how long ha's Pride besotted me Proposing to dim Reason my good parts My nimble Wit my quicke proclivitie To Apprehension and in high deserts How many stood beneath me I vaine foole Thus fob'd by Satans sleights ore-slipt my Soule Who in darke Error downe embodied lies Blacke as the Star-lesse Night and hideously Impuritie with rustie wings crosse flies Betwixt the Sunne of Righteousnesse and me Whil'st Bat-like beats my Soule her leather sayles Gainst the soft Ayre and rising fals and failes Must I for each unsyllabled close Thought Render account O wit-fi'lde Conference Cal'd in is thy protection then deare bought How was my brow o'rehatcht with Impudence To let whole worlds of words my cheekes up-swell The least of whom would ding me downe to Hell O wretched Impes then of mans impious race who 'l breath out Blasphemies to make a Iest And call wit flashing the sole punctuall grace Of genuine knowledge But amongst the rest Iudge in what case are those wit-hucsters in That hourely practise this soule sinking sinne O may my tongue be ever rivetted Fast to my roofe but when it speakes Gods praise May not one vocall sound by breath be fed But when it carols out celestiall Layes Let not one tone through my tongues hatches flie But what beares with 't heav'ns glories harmonie Helpe Lord of power my feeble joynted praiers To clamber th' azure Mountaines throwne above me And keepe a seat for me there mongst those haires Apportion'd out to such as truely love thee Admit them in thine eares a resting roome Vntill to thee and them my soule shall come Meane while moyst ey'd Repentance here below Shall Inmate wise be Tenant to my minde For Prayers without true Penitence doe show Like meats unseason'd or like Bils unsign'd Or corne on tops of Cottages that growes Which uselesse no man either reapes or sowes O how my Soule 's surpriz'd with shallow feares When thinking to leane on Lifes broken staffe And counting to mine age large summes of yeares I heare the sweet and sacred Psalmograph Compare Life to a Flowre a Puffe a Span Who 's Monarch now next minute 's not a Man Must I needs dye why surfet I on Pleasure Must I needs dye why swim I in Delight Must I needs dye why squint I after Treasure Must I needs dye why live I not aright Must I needs dye why live I then in sin Thrice better for me I had never bin Feuntaine of breathing Dust such grace me give That I in life prepare in dust to lye Let me be dying still whiles I doe live That I may blisfull live when I shall dye For in Christs Schoole this Paradox learne I Who dies before he dies shall never die If I must die then after must begin The life of Ioy or Torment without end The life of Torment purchas'd is by sinne The life of Ioy by life that learnest ' amend Why should I then prophane sweare curse lust lie If I but thinke on this That I must die Why should I quaffe to more then Nature can Sith more drinke I gaine more losse is mine For may I not be term'd a bâ—stiall man To drowne my Reason in a cup of wine Yea tenfold worse Thus monster made
at least God made me Man I make my selfe a Beast How swelt I with hard travell through the Dale That leads to Prophanations irkesome cell But freeze by softly pacing up the skale Where burning zeale and her bright sisters dwell Thus sweat I in the shadow shake i' th shine And by free choice from good to ill decline Sweet Saviour cleanse my leprous loathsome soule In that depurpled Fount which forth thy side Gurgling did twixt two Lilly-mountaines roule To rinse Mans tainted Race Sin soylifide Wash it more white than the triumphant Swan That rides o' th silver brest of Eridan Suffer my prayers harmony to rise Into thine eares while th' Angels beare a part Accept my Sighs as smelling Sacrifice Sent from the Altar of my bleeding heart Vp to thy nostrils sweet as th' Oyle of Aaron Or th' odoriferous Rose of flowrie Sharon The Hart ne're long'd more for the purling brookes Nor did the lustfull Goate with more pursuit After the blossom'd Tritisolie looke Then do's my panting Soule t' enjoy the fruit Of thy Life-waâ—er which if I attaine To taste of once I ne're shall thirst againe Even as the chapped ground in Summers heat Cals to the clouds and gapes at every showre Whose thirstie Casma's greedily intreat As tho they would th' whole house of heav'n deuour So do's my riven Soule be parcht with sin Yawne wide to let moyst drops of Mercie in Earths Vanitie VAnitie of vanities and all is but vanitie saith the wisest Preacher that ever wrote One generation passeth and another commeth and all is but vexation of spirit Which divine theorem that we may the better perceive let us set our selves to the serious meditation of it for the more we search the more we shall see all things to be vanity nothing constant nothing for our eternall good but our soules salvation Mans life on earth doth no sooner begin but his end approacheth his death hasteneth Some come upon the stage of this world but to have a breathing and are presently gone others stay a while longer it may be a day perhaps a weeke perhaps a month peradventure a yeare or it may bee some few yeares but alas the longer they stay the greater their griefe care feare and anxietie of minde Even in the infancy of age man is oft times left as Moses sometime was in the flouds of misery but as age increaseth sorrow increaseth because sinne increaseth when youth runnes most at randome and thinketh it selfe most safe it is then hemm'd in with greatest dangers then the rashfoole-hardy minde of man hurrieth him headlong to hell except the irresistible power of Gods preventing grace doth speedily stay him then his wits are even intoxicated with a frenzie of iniquity and wholly bent upon riotousnesse rashnesse luxury jollitie superfluity and excesse in carnall pleasures Hee then devoteth his time and addicteth himselfe to all manner of evill drinking dancing revelling swaggering swearing whoring gaming quarreling fighting and in the meane while never thinkes on Heaven nor feareth hell His head is frought with vanities his heart with fallacies where by his soule is brought into â— labyrinth of inextricable miseries So great is the temerity oâ— his unadvised minde that nâ— consideration of Gods judgements either past or present or to come can set a stop to his wickednesse His youthfullnesse damps at no bogges quagmires hils or mountaines but wingeth him over all impediments mounts him over all motives that might way-lay his sinnes He sticks not to offenâ— his maker to recrucifie his Redeemer to resist shall I say his Sanctifier no but the Spirit whom God hath given to be his sanctifier and if hee so carry himselfe toward these no mervaile that he derideth his Tutor scornes the Minister like the little children that mock'd Elisha oppresseth his poore brother as Pharaoh did the Israelites spareth not Infants no more then Herod did regardeth not parents no more then Hophni and Phinias did Let the mother direct him the father correct him his ancients instruct him alas all is in vaine youth makes men head-strong selfe-conceited and proud so that they swell with an overweening opinion of their owne worth they thinke themselves the onely wits of the time the onely men of the world more fit to teach others then to learne themselves more able to give then to take advice If they go on a while in their lewd courses without the restraining and renewing Grace of God they get a habit of evill are hardned through the custome of sinne none may resist them none compare with them no law of God or man can restraine them They take counsell together against the Lord and against his annointed saying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Whereupon oftentimes the ripenesse of sinnâ— being hastened by outragiousnesse of sinning God suddenly cuts them off in their intemperancy luxury quarrels and disorders which shewes theâ— vainenesse to be meere vanity Suppose they grow as great as Tamberlaine yet a Gunne Pike Arrow nay a Fly Flea or Gnat a dram nay a drop of poyson proves them to bee vaine men one of these silly creatures may send him presently to his Creator to receive his finall doome Yet alas what doe these most minde The bum-basted silken Gallants of our time that come forth like a May morning decked with all the glory of Art the Epicurean Cormerants the gusâ—ing and tipling tosse-pots the dainty painting Dames the dedicate mincing Ladies the sweet-singing Syrens the dancing Damsels the finicall youths the couzening Shop-keeper the crafty Crafts-man I say what doe all these but set their minds upon vanitie upon glory honour pride drosse and such like trash which weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary prove lighter then vanity Doe we not sometime see more spent upon one suite in Law then would keepe a poore Country towne with the inhabitants for a whole yeare See wee not more spent upon one suite of apparell for one proud carkasse then would build Free-schoole So that the cloathes on many a Gallant backe exceeds his Rent-day See wee not more spent upon Feast to satisfie the curiosity oâ— a few then would satisfie thâ— necessity of a hundred poore wretches almost famished to death See wee not more drunke in a Taverne at one sitting by a small company then would serve a troope of sturdy Souldiers in the field Many goe daily to the Tavern where they sticke not to spend their twelve pence who would grudge to give one penny nay one farthing to a hungry begger Againe is there not now more spent upon a Ladies feather then would pay a meane mans tythes Is there not more spent upon one paire of sleeves then would cloath sixe bodies and more spent at a Whitsun-ale then would keepe the poore of the Parish for a yeare Have wee not amongst our Gentry some of the female sexe who will spend more upon a Glasse and a pot of complexion then they will give a
but there they must leave me my riches pleasures and such like vanities vanish before but my sinnes and conscience will never leave me the divell will still pursue me hee that tempts me now to sinne will then torment me for sinning untill I cry out with Caine My punishment is greater then I can beare A horse is but a vaine thing to save a man said the sweet singer of Israel so say I all earthly things are too vaine to save a man to make him blessed I appeale to the conscience of every man if thou hast tried the pleasures of vanity and who hath not whether thou maist not take up the words of Saint Paul What fruit have I of those things whereof I am now ashamed Shame and griefe and guilt and punishment are the fruit of vanity enough I thinke to rend our hearts from affecting of it Thinke upon this thou that art in the trace of vanity that thou maist make a retreat loose no more time herein for thou hast already lost too much redeeme the time because the dayes are evill and why are they evill but because they are vaine Whatsoever is without the circumference of evill is above the sphere of vanity Resolve therefore with thy selfe that all things earthly worldly carnall sinfull are vaine the fashion of this world passeth away saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 3. The fashion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word very emphaticall it signifies first an accidentall and externall figure without substance secondly the habit vesture or cloathing of a thing Saint Paul useth this word to debase the world by intimating unto us that the world is cloathed with a vesture that is wearing and wasting the fashion of it lasteth but for a time it is ready every houre to put on a new fashion againe by intimating unto us that the world is without any substantiall forme like unto shewes and shadowes that vanish in the representation Saint Luke cals all Agrippa's pompe but a fancie David cals the yeares of a man but a tale Psal 90. 9. We spend our yeares as a tale that is told As a tale nay as a thought for so much the originall word doth import and how many thoughts may a man have in an houre Nothing is more changable then a vesture nothing more fugitive then a shadow nothing more fickle then a fancie nothing more swift then thought What a disproportion therefore is it for the immortall soule of a man to bee fastened unto things which are of such a variable nature What a folly for us to preferre those which are but momentary for so I may more truely call them then temporall unto those things which are indeed eternall Glasses are in great use amongst us yet because of their brittlenesse who esteemes them precious Wee smell to flowers because they are sweet but because they are fading we regard them thereafter It were well if we would deale thus with all other vanities viz. regard them as they are use the creatures we may but not abuse them serve our selves of them but not serve them injoy them but not over-joy in them Now because examples are very effectuall whether we use them by way of dehortation or whether by way of exhortation let me propound one or two in this matter whereof I am treating that by them thou maist be beaten off from the vanities and iniquities of this present evill world When Alexander in the height of his glory kept a Parliament of the whole world himselfe was summoned by death to appeare in another world It was a wonderfull president of the vanity and variety of humane condition saith the Historian to see mighty Zerxes flote and flye away in a small vessel who before wanted Sea-roome for his Ships When Belshazzar was laughing and quaffing with his Princes and Concubines carowsing healths in the sacred Vessels deaths secretary the hand-writing on the wall told him he was weighed in the ballance and his Kingdome was finished And before him his father Nebuchadnezzar at that time the greatest Monarch in the world as hee was strouting in his Galleries and boasting of his owne power and honour a voyce from Heaven told him that his Kingdome was departed from him that he should be driven from amongst men that hee should have his dwelling with the Beasts of the field c. And the sentence was fulfilled on him the same houre So Zedekiah was a lively spectacle of this worlds vanity and misery who of a potent King became a miserable captive saw his children slaine before his face after that had his eyes put out and died miserably in prison I had almost forgotten Salomon the wisest King that ever was having given himselfe to take pleasure in pleasant things having made great workes built goodly Houses planted Vineyards Gardens and Orchards and planted in them trees of all fruit and having gathered silver and gold and the chiefe treasures of Kings and Provinces being now full of wisedome and schooled with experience he is licensed to give his sentence of the whole world and every man knowes what his censure was Vanity of vanities vanity of vanities all is vanity This wise King travelled all the world over and the further he went the more vanity he did see and the neerer hee looked the greater it seemed till at last he could see nothing but vanity Wouldst thou know what is to bee seene or heard or had in this vast Universe Vanity saith Salomon yea vanity of vanities and what else Vanity of vanities And what else All is vanity Nothing beneath the Moone that hath not a tincture of vanity Nay the Moone it self the Sunne all the Planets all the Starres the whole body of the Heavens is become subject to Vanity The creature is subject unto Vanity saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 20. that is the whole frame of the world consisting of the coelestiall and elementary region the visible heavens with all their goodly furniture of Starres and of coelestiall bodies and the earth with her ornaments and the other elements The Heavens shall perish and they shall waxe old as doth a garment and the Lord shall change them as a vesture and they shall bee changed As a garment the older it waxeth the lesse comely it is the lesse able to warme him that weares it so the materiall heavens by continuance of yeares decrease in beauty and veitue The neerer the Sunne drawes to the end of his daily course the lesse is his strength in the evening wee feele the Sunne to decay in his heat and he waxeth alway the weaker Now if those superiour bodies then much more things inferiour and sublunary are included within the compasse of vanity But it was my purpose when I first set upon this subject so ample and large to be so much the more short even understanding can of it self scourse where such plenty of â—atter is offered I have thereâ—â—re according to the modell â—f that