Surely every man walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.-Ps. xxxix. 6.

Every man walketh in a vain show. His walk is nothing but a going on in continual vanity, adding a new stock of vanity, of his own coining, to what he has already within, and vexation of spirit woven all along in with it. He walks in an image, as the word is; converses with things of no reality, and which have no solidity in them, and he himself has as little. He himself is a walking image, in the midst of these images. taken with the conceit of images and pictures, that is an emblem of their own life, and of all other men's also. Every man's fancy is to himself a gallery of pictures, and there he walks up and down, and considers not how vain these are, and how vain a thing he himself is.

They who are

My brethren, they are happy persons (but few are they in number) who are truly weaned from all those images and fancies the world dotes so much upon. If many of the children of men would turn their own thoughts backward in the evening but of one day, what would they find for the most part, but that they have been walking among these pictures, and passing from one vanity to another, and back again to and fro, to as little purpose as the running up and down of children at their play! He who runs after honor, pleasure, popular esteem,-what do you think? Does not that man walk in an image, pursuing after that which hath no other being than what the opinion and fancy of men give to it?-especially the last, which is a thing so fluctuating, uncertain, and inconstant, that while he hath it, he hath nothing? The other image that man follows and worships, is that in the text, that wretched madness of heaping up riches. This is the great foolishness and disease especially of old age, that the less way a man has to go, he makes the greater provision for it. When the hands are stiff, and fit for no other labor, they are fitted and composed for scraping together. But for what end dost thou take all this pains? If for thyself, a little sober care will do thy turn, if thy desires be sober; and if not so, thy diligence were better bestowed in impairing and diminishing of these; that is the easier way a great deal. And if it be for others, why dost thou take a certain unease to thyself, for the

uncertain ease of others? And who these are thou dost not know; may be, such as thou didst never intend them for. It were good we used more easy and undistracted diligence for the increasing of those treasures which we can not deny are far better, and whosoever hath them may abound therein with increase; he knows well for whom he gathers them; he himself shall possess them through all eternity.

If there were not a hope beyond this life, there were reasons for that passionate word of the psalmist, Why hast thou made all men in vain? To what purpose were it for poor wretched man to have been all his days tossed upon the waves of vanity, and then to lie down in the grave, and be no more heard of? But it is not so he is made capable of a noble and blessed life beyond this; and our forgetfulness of this is the cause of all our misery and vanity here.

It is a great folly to complain of the shortness of our life, and yet to lavish it out so prodigally on trifles and shadows. If it were well managed, it would be sufficient for all we have to do. The only way to live indeed, is to be doing service to God and good to men: this is to live much in a little time. But when we play the fool in misspending our time, it may be indeed a sad thought to us, when we find it gone, and we are benighted in the dark so far from our home. But those that have their souls untied from this world and knit to God, they need not complain of the shortness of it, having laid hold on eternal life. For this life is flying away, there is no laying hold on it; and it is no matter how soon it go away; the sooner the better, for to such persons it seems rather to go too slow.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.-Matt. x. 29-31.

THE word of God assures us, that nothing happens in this tumultuous and tempestuous world, without the knowledge, the will, either approving or permissive, and efficacy of God, so far as to dispose the worst evils by his powerful providence sub

ordinately to his main end, that is always good. Nothing is so high as to be exempted from the dominion, nor so low as to be excluded from the care of his providence. The little sparrow, and even the hairs of our head, are cared for by the providence of our heavenly Father.

God

Divine providence is more special and tender towards God's peculiar people. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him. His tender mercies are over all his works but more eminently exercised according to their degrees of goodness, and his propriety in them. Our Saviour infers by the clearest consequence, that the Divine providence, that reaches to the falling sparrow, is much more concerned for his people; accordingly encourages his disciples, Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows. God is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. Now, as when the reason of a command has a direct aspect upon us, it more strongly binds us to obey God; so when the reason of a promise has a peculiar respect to us, it engages God more strongly to preserve us. has a right to all mankind by a general tenure, but a special interest in the godly. He is the king of nations, and the king of saints it is his dearest title, above all the titles of majesty ascribed to him. They are precious in his esteem, his treasure, his jewels-the most valuable part of his treasure, the jewels of his crown, the most radiant and rich jewels. Propriety and preciousness engage his powerful and propitious providence for their good. They are exposed to many evils for their relation to him their heavenly Father, and for his image shining in them. For thy sake we are killed all the day long. They are like a flock of sheep among wolves and tigers, unable to defend themselves. His compassionate love excites his power for their preservation. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. His love inclines him, and his promise engages him never to leave nor forsake them when they are ready to despair he is ready to deliver. Now the firm belief of the universal providence of God, and his special care for his people, is like a rudder to a ship, without which it is constrained to yield to every storm; but guided by it, sails with every wind to its designed port. When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, he assures him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be perfect. Every deflec

tion from our duty, proceeds either from the hope of obtaining some temporal good, or the fear of incurring some temporal evil: these passions are very forcible in men's breasts. We see how powerful they are in sensitive creatures; even in a greyhound's coursing a hare, hope adds wings to the feet of the one, and fear adds wings to the feet of the other. Men without faith in God, will break through his laws, when temptations work on their hope or fear; for they are under the dominion of sense. But the belief of God's all-sufficiency, that he is a Sun to supply us with all truly desirable good things, a shield to secure us from all destructive evils, confirms our dependence on him, and engages our obedience to him.

This conduces to our present peace, and future blessedness. There are secret springs of providence that work sometimes in an extraordinary manner, for the preserving of his people. Joseph was raised from a prison to a principality. The poor prophet was fed by a raven when the wicked king was like to starve in his palace. The malicious design of Haman, to destroy the whole nation of the Jews, was frustrated, and reflexively per. nicious to himself, by a strange concurrence of circumstances, ordered by Divine providence. The faithful companions of Daniel, who resigned themselves to his will and wisdom, were rescued from the furnace and fury of the proud king by an Angel.

But many times the saints of God are involved in common calamities: inundations, earthquakes, the pestilential air, sword, famine, make no difference between the innocent and the guilty: The sun rises upon the evil and the good; the thunder falls upon the good and evil. Nay, as our Saviour tells his disciples, They shall weep and lament, when the world rejoices. But he comforts them with the assurance, that their sorrow shall be turned into joy. The apostle declares, We know all things work together for good to them that love God. There are mysterious depths in the economy of Providence, that the short line of our reason can not sound. But we may rely upon the promise of God, who can bring light out of darkness. We have an illustrious proof of his universal providence, in the regular disposal of natural causes, superior, middle, and lowest, in such a union, that from the insuperable discord of natures, insuperable concord of operations proceeds, for the preserving the world. The afflictions of the saints are medicinal to prevent or recover them from sin. And what man

of understanding does not esteem his physician that prescribes bitter remedies for his health, before a cook, that prepares things pleasant to his taste? Faith sees the love of a Father through a cloud of tears; and that he is as gracious when he corrects us for our transgressions, as when he encourages us in his service. In the sufferings of his people from the wickedness and wills of their enemies, his wisdom and power appear in ordering them for excellent effects. For the same things that increase the guilt and punishment of their enemies, increase the graces and reward of the saints. These light afflictions that are but for a moment, work out for them an exceeding eternal weight of glory. When all the folds of Providence shall be opened, we shall clearly understand every dispensation was as it ought to be, and for the best.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.-Prov. xvi. 25.

SOME men are so obviously and daringly wicked, that their wickedness, as it is open and manifest to others, so it can not be hid from themselves. They are bound for the regions of death with their eyes open. They even glory in their shame. Others there are of a more calm, civil, composed course, whose way seemeth to be right, and yet in truth it leads to the courts of death. This is indeed a melancholy picture. Here we see sin reigning unto death in one, whose way seemeth unto himself to be the way of righteousness unto life. And this teaches a solemn lesson to all, and the great importance of taking heed to our ways according to the word of God.

There may be a reign of sin, where it is not perceived; and that insensibility is a main argument of it. For this is a certain rule, the more tenderly and seriously any man is affected with sense and sorrow for the power of sin, the more he is delivered from it. The young man in the gospel was fully persuaded that he kept the whole law, and little thought that his own possessions were his king, and that he was a vassal to his own wealth, -till Christ convinced him of a mighty reign of covetousness in his heart. A ship may, in the midst of a calm, by reason of a great mist, and the negligence of the mariners to sound and dis