but is of the world; and the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof," 1 John ii. 16, 17. All these things are vanity.

II. The Second thing proposed was, To inquire what is imported in its being called vain; nay, vanity itself: All is vanity." And to inquire into the emphasis of the phrase, "Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities."

1st, As to the first of these, viz. what is imported in its being called VANITY: "All is vanity." It imports, among others these eight following things.

1. VANITY here imports the unprofitableness of all things; "What profit hath a man thereof?" Eccl. i. 3. And to this purpose, saith Christ, "What shall it profit a man, though he had the whole world, if he lose his own soul?" Matth. xvi. 26. Treasures of wickedness profiteth nothing. The world is an useless thing to the soul; it cannot save the soul from hell: The redemption of the soul is precious, and ceaseth for ever, for any thing that either the world, or the things of the world can do for its recovery, Psal. xlix. 8. As to the world, it cannot deliver a man from the sentence that shall pass at the great day; it will rather aggravate the misery.

2. All is vanity; the word imports emptiness: VAIN; that is, void of substance, worth, and sufficiency. Thus the words of Rabshakeh are said to be vain words, Isa. xxxi. 5.; that is, empty, having nothing but wind in them even so the world is vain, i. e. empty: it promiseth great things, but performeth nothing; like the god of this world, that said to Christ, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me," Matth. iv. 9. The world promises much, and boasts much but yet can give nothing, and do nothing.

3. All is vanity: the word imports hurtfulness, while they make the heart more and more vain; and draw the affections away from God, and heavenly things. They are hurtful; like a man lying down to rest upon a bed of thorns and briars: he shall never find the rest there that he would be at.

4. All is vanity; the word imports unsatisfactoriness: Eccl. i. 8. "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing." As there is no true profit, so no true

comfort therein, abstract from God. It is but a vain comfort that men have in that which is but vanity.

5. All is vanity; the word imports falsehood and lying; Psal. iv. 2. "O ye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing?" And hence the things of the world are called lying vanities: " They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy,' Jonah ii. 8. The world seems to be something; but it is a lye: it is not what it appears to be.

6. All is vanity; the word imports frustration and disappointment; James i. 26. " If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, that man's religion is vain" that is, he will be disappointed; he deceiveth himself. Thus the world is a cheat and a deceiver.

7. All is vanity the word imports folly; Job xi. 12. "Vain man would be wise, though he be born like the wild ass's colt." All is vanity, all is folly.

"He that

followeth vain persons, is void of understanding."

8. All is vanity; it imports frailty and inconsistency; vanishing away as smoke: "The world passeth away, and the lusts thereof, 1 John ii. 17. All flesh is grass; and all the goodness thereof as a flower of the field; the grass withereth and the flower fadeth; surely the people is grass," Isa. xl. 6,-9.

2dly, We proposed next to inquire into the emphasis of the phrase," Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities." Why, this phrase, and the repetition of it, imports these six things.

" Va

1. The excessiveness of the vanity of these worldly things. Vanity implies, that they are not only vain, but exceedingly vain; as vain as vanity itself. nity of vanities," is, in the Hebrew, a superlative form of speech, to set forth the highest vanity: as the "Song of songs;" i. e. the most excellent song; the "King of kings," i. e. the most excellent king. So "Vanity of vanity;" i. e. the greatest vanity.

2. It imports the multitude and variety of vanities that are heaped up in earthly things: as Samson speaks in another case, "Heaps upon heaps," Judges xv. 16. There are vanities upon vanities: one heap upon the top of another.

3. It imports the strangeness of these vanities: he speaks by way of admiration, to shew the wonderful and strange vanity of these things; O vanity of vanities! He braketh forth into this exclamation.

4. It importeth the inexpressibleness of it; it cannot be uttered with words; and therefore the same words must be uttered again and again; to shew what we cannot sufficiently comprehend, or express, the vanity of things below.

5. It imports the fertility of these vanities of the world; one vanity begets another; one piece of vanity brings on another; therefore called, Vanity of vanities:" such vanity as is the cause of other vanities.

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6. It imports the certainty of the vanity of worldly things, and what impression it should have upon us, when vanity is five times repeated in this one short text; these repeated strokes should make impression upon us, to affect us with the certainty of the thing. Surely all is vanity.

III. We proceed to the Third thing proposed, viz. To offer some arguments to prove that all is vain and empty; or to prove the vanity and emptiness of the world.

1. The world is treacherous; it betrays both the hopes and the souls of men at once. How big is man with expectations of remote distant enjoyments! Like a man looking at a picture, or statue, at a distance; but coming near to it, and taking a close view he sees it but a cheat, a dead lifeless thing: so, when a man comes to the enjoyment of the world; he falls infinitely short of his expectations. Like children that think the cloud is just touching such a hill, and if they were at it they would be just in the cloud; and when they go there, they find the cloud removed away to another hill. Yea, the world betrays the soul, as well as the hopes; it betrays a man's soul to ruin: like sweet poison, that goes down pleasantly, but kills presently. The silken cords of the world have taken away a prisoner; and they have proven their fetters, which they could never break again. As Judas said of our blessed Lord, "Whomsoever I kiss, take him, hold him fast :" So the

world being the devil's agent, says, "Whomsoever I kiss "and embrace, and embraceth me mutually, and setteth his heart upon me; take him, hold him fast." So the creature betrays the soul as well as the hope of the man.

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2. The world is vanity, because it is vexatious; for, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit," Eccl. i. 14. You cannot grasp the thorn of this world but you must be hurt. The world is vexation in the purchase of it. A man spends night and day for a conquest: he sits up late and rises early; sets his invention upon the rack, how to conquer such a fortune, how to make such a purchase. The world is vexation in the possession of it when a man hath it, what cares, what fears, what solicitude about the keeping of it! He knows not how to secure it. If but a tyle or slate falls off his house, he thinks the whole fabric will be down next. If he takes but a penny out of a large sum, he thinks it will melt and diminish away to nothing. He is vext in keeping it. And again the world is vexation in the loss of it. When the man loses it, he cries, "Alas! they have "taken away my gods, and what have I more? My hope is gone, my all is gone, my portion is gone.”

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3. The vanity and emptiness of the world appears in this, that a little cross will imbitter all the pleasures and enjoyments of time. Solomon saith, 66 That the dead fly makes all the box of the apothecary's ointment to stink," Eccl. x. 1. So the whole box of the world's greatest enjoyments, one small cross, such as a toothach, a touch of the stone, of the cholic or gout, will imbitter all, and make all to stink. We have an eminent instance of this in Haman, Esther v. 11. 13. If any man in the world might have promised himself satisfaction from the world, Haman now might have done it : he was raised from a low degree to the highest pinnacle and dignity of a subject; being the chief minister of state to one of the greatest kings on earth. If a man be born to a great estate, it turns, as it were, natural to him; it never increases, never elevates him: but promotion from a low estate to an high, doth enhance the value of the estate, and gives a relish to the enjoyment, if we may speak so. Well, Haman had all riches; he had a numerous family, plenty of children: he was the

greatest favourite of the king, and reckoned himself a favourite of the queen also; and yet, all this avails me nothing," saith he: Why? what is the business, man? What hath poisoned your box of ointments? There is a wretched Jew, saith he, an ill-natured, illmannered fellow, that will not give me a hat, when I go in to the court, and come out again. And that mar-. red all his happiness, because a poor man would not yield him obeisance. A little cross will imbitter the greatest enjoyments.

4. The world's emptiness and vanity appears in this, that it is so changeable, and of such a short duration. It is compared in scripture to the motion of an eagle; "Riches take wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven," Prov. xxiii. 5. When they fly away, they will not fly like a tame bird, to return to you again; they go away like an eagle out of sight. Many a man thinks by his good rights and security, by his heritable bonds, and the like, he will clip the wings of the world, that it shall not fly away from him: but for all that, it will take the wings of the morning, whose wings cannot be clipt. The world is compared to the moon, Rev. xii. 1. which is sometimes full, and shining brightly; but instantly it changes again. Men are ready to say, in a worldly sense, as David in a spiritual, " My mountain standeth strong;" and, behold! instead of health we have sickness; instead of reputation, we have disgrace instead of ease we will have pain; instead of riches, we have poverty.

5. The vanity and emptiness of the world appears in this, that it will never be of service to you in a day of need. Are you in sickness? All the riches of the world will not heal you; it will not cure you of a gout or a gravel: make an experiment of it, lay your head on a pillow of gold, see if that will make you sleep sound. Nay, all the enjoyments of time will not ease you of the pain of a cholic. And then, in the day of death, when death says, "I am coming, I am at the door; the tri"bunal is fixing to judge you:" what will the world avail you! Nay, it cannot secure you from the wrath of God, from a hell, from a tribunal.