which the very instruments and furniture of learning will put men to: fifthly, The general disrespect which, when all is done, it finds in the world, great men scorning it as pedantry, as ordinary men unable to take notice of it, and great scholars fain to make up a theatre amongst themselves : sixthly, The insufficiency thereof to perfect that which is amiss in our nature, the malignant property thereof to put sin into armour, to contemn the simplicity and purity of God's word and lastly, The near approach thereof to its own period, the same death that attendeth us, being ready also to bury all our learning in the grave with us. These and infinite the like considerations must needs mingle much sorrow with the choicest learning. Sect. 46. Secondly, Let us take a view of pleasure. There is nothing doth so much disable in the survey of pleasure, as the mixture either of folly or want. When a man hath wisdom to apprehend the exquisiteness of his delights, and variety to keep out the surfeit of any one, he is then fittest to examine what compass of goodness or satisfaction is in them. First then, Solomon kept his wisdom; he pursued such manly and noble delights, as might not vitiate, but rather improve his intellectuals, chap. ii. v. 1, 2, 3. Secondly, his wisdom was furnished with variety of subjects to inquire into; he had magnificence and provisions suitable to the greatness of his royal mind: sumptuous and delicate diet, under the name of wine, v. 3; stately edifices, v. 4; vineyards and orchards, yea, very paradises, as large as woods, v. 5, 6; fish-ponds, and great waters, multitudes of attendants and retinue of all sexes; mighty herds of cattle of all kinds, v. 7; great treasures of silver and gold; all kinds of music, vocal and instrumental. Thirdly, Solomon exceeded "in all these things, all that ever went before him," ver. 9. Fourthly, as he had the most abundant, so likewise the most free, undisturbed, unabated enjoyment of them all; "he withheld not his heart from any joy:" there was no mixture of sickness, war, or any intercurrent difficulties to corrupt their sweetness, or blunt the taste of them. Here are as great preparations as the heart of man can expect, to make an universal survey of those delights which are in the crea b 1 Kings iv. 23. ture: and yet, at last, upon an impartial inquiry into all his most magnificent works, the conclusion is, they were but "Vanity and vexation of spirit," vers. 11. Which vexation he further explains, first, by the necessary divorce which was to come between him and them; He was to leave them all," vers. 18. Secondly, by his disability so to dispose of them, as that, after him, they might remain in that manner, as he had ordered them, vers. 19. Thirdly, by the effects which these and the like considerations wrought in him: they were so far from giving him real satisfaction, as that, first, he hated' all his works; for there is nothing makes one hate more eagerly than disappointment in the good which a man expected. When Amnon found what little satisfaction his exorbitant lust received in ravishing his sister Tamar, he as fiercely hated her after, as he had desired her before. Secondly, he 'despaired' of finding any good in them; because they beget nothing but travail, drudgery, and unquiet thoughts. Sect. 47.-Lastly, Let us take a view of riches, the ordinarily most adored idol of all the rest. The Wise Man says, first in general, "Neither riches, nor yet abundance of riches, will satisfy the soul of man," Eccles. v. 10. This he more particularly explains; first, from the sharers which the increase of them doth naturally draw after it, vers. 11; and between the owners and the sharers, there is no difference but this, an empty speculation; one sees as his own, what the other enjoys to those real purposes for which they serve, as well as he. Secondly, from the unquietness which naturally grows by the increase of them, which makes an ordinary drudge in that respect more happy, verse 12. Thirdly, from the hurt which usually, without some due corrective, they bring, vers. 13: either they hurt a man in himself, being strong temptations and materials too of pride, vain-glory, covetousness, luxury, intemperance, forgetfulness of God, love of the world, and by these, of disorder, dissoluteness, and diseases in the body; or else, at least, they expose him to the envy, accusations, violences of wicked men. Fourthly, from their uncertainty of abode, they perish by an evil travail ; either God's curse, or some particular humour, lust, or project, overturns a great estate, and posterity is beggared. Fifthly, from the certainty of an everlasting separation from them, vers. 15, 16: and this, he saith, is a 'sore evil,' which galls the heart of a worldly man, that hath resolved upon no other Heaven than his wealth: when sickness comes to snatch him away from this his idol, there is not only sorrow, but "wrath and fury in him," vers. 17. Sixthly, from the disability to use or enjoy them, when a man, through inordinate love, or distrustful providence, or sordidness of spirit, or encumbrances of employments, will not, while he lives, enjoy his abundance; and when he dies, hath not, either by his own covetous, prevention, or his successor's inhumanity, an honourable burial, chap. vi. ver. 1, 2, 3. Seventhly, from the narrowness of any satisfaction, which can be received from them, vers. 7. All the wealth a man hath, can reach no higher than the filling of his mouth, than the outward services of the body; the desires of the soul remain empty still. A glutton may fill his belly, but he cannot fill his lust: a covetous man may have a house full of money, but he can never have a heart full of money : an ambitious man may have titles enough to overcharge his memory, but never to fill his pride: the agitations of the soul would not cease, the curiosity of the understanding would not stand at a stay, though a man could hold all the learning of the great Library in his head at once: the sensuality of a lascivious man would never be satiated, it would be the more enraged, though he should tire out his strength and waste his spirits, and stupify all his senses with an excessive intemperance. When men have done all they can with their wisdom and wealth, they can fill no more but the mouth; and poverty and folly makes a shift to do so too, vers. 8: the desires wander, the soul roves up and down as ever, vers. 9. Eighthly, From their disability to protect or rescue a man from evil, to advance the strength of a man beyond what it was before, vers. 10. Though a man could. scrape all the wealth in the world together, he were but a man still,' subject to the same dangers and infirmities as before nothing can exalt him above, or exempt him from, the common laws of humanity; neither shall he be ever able to contend with him that is mightier than he. All his wealth shall never be able to blind the eye, or bribe the jus tice, or restrain the power, of Almighty God, if He be pleased to inflict the strokes of his vengeance upon his conscience. Sect. 48.-The fourth degree of vexation is from the review of them. First, If a man consider the means of his getting them, his conscience will oftentimes tell him, that, peradventure, he hath pursued indirect and unwarrantable. ways of gain; hath ventured to lie, flatter, swear, deceive, supplant, undermine; to corrupt and adulterate wares, to hoard up and dissemble them till a dearer season; to trench upon God's day for his own purposes, that so he might not only receive, but even steal away, blessings from him. Secondly, If a man consider the manner, the inordinate and over-eager way of procuring them. How much precious time hast thou spent, which can never be recalled again, for one hour whereof, a tormented soul in Hell would part with all the world, if he had the disposal of it, to be but so smali a space within the possibilities of salvation again; how much of this precious time hast thou spent for that which is no bread, and which satisfieth not! How many golden opportunities of increasing the graces of thy soul; of feeding thy faith with more noble and heavenly contemplation on God's truth and promises, on his name and attributes, on his word and worship; of rousing up thy soul from the sleep of sin; of stirring up, and new inflaming thy spiritual gifts; of addressing thyself to a more serious, assiduous, durable communion with thy God; of mourning for thine own corruptions; of groaning and thirsting after heavenly promises; of renewing thy vows and resolutions; of besieging and besetting Heaven with thy more ardent and retired prayers; of humbling thyself before thy God; of bewailing the calamities, the stones, the dust of Sion; of deprecating and repelling approaching judgments; of glorifying God in all his ways,-things of precious, spiritual, and everlasting consequence; how many of these golden opportunities hath thy too-much absurd love and attendance on the world stolen from thee! And surely to a soul enlightened, these must needs be matters of much vexation. Thirdly, If a man consider the use he hath made of them: • Ἐν τοῖς ἔξω πλουτοῦντες ἀμελοῦσι τῶν ἔνδον, ἔρημον καὶ αὐχμῶσαν, ἀραχνίων γέμουσαν, περιορῶντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν ψυχήν. Chrysost. ad Pop. Antioch. hom. 2. how they have stolen away his heart, from trusting in God, to rely on them; how they have diverted his thoughts from the life to come, and bewitched him to dote on present contentments; to love life, to fear death; to dispense with much unjust liberty; to gather rust and security in God's worship; how much excess and intemperance they have provoked; how little of them have been spent on God's glory and church; how small a portion we have repaid him in his ministers, or in his members; how few naked backs they have clothed; how few empty bellies they have filled; how few languishing bowels they have refreshed; how few good works and services they have rewarded;These are considerations, which, unto sensible consciences, must, some time or other, beget much vexation. Fourthly, If a man consider his own former experiences, or the examples of others, that bring the vanity of these earthly things into mind; how some of his choicest pleasures have now outlived him, and are expired; how the Lord hath snatched, from his dearest embracements, those idols which were set up against his glory; how many of his hopes have failed, of his expectations and presumptions proved abortive; how much money, at one time, a sickness, at another, a suit,-at a third, a thief,-at a fourth, a shipwreck or miscarriage,—at a fifth, yea, at a twentieth time, a lust hath consumed and eaten out; how many examples there are in the world of withered and blasted estates, of the curse of God, not only, like a moth, insensibly consuming, but, like a lion, suddenly tearing asunder great possessions. - Sect. 49. The last degree of vexation from the creatures, is from the disposing of them. All creatures, sinners especially, that have no hope or portion in another life, do naturally love a present earthly immortality: and therefore, though they cannot have it in themselves, yet as the philosopher saith of living creatures, the reason why they generate, is, That that immortality, which in their own particulars they cannot have, they may, éàv dúvævται, so far as they are able, procure in the species or kind which they thus preserve; so rich and worldly men, though they cannot be immortal on the earth themselves, yet they affect an immortality in their names and dwelling-places, Psal. xlix. 11. |