Section 5

The fifth subject of meditation is, meditate upon the vanity of the creature. When you have sifted out the finest flower that the creature does afford, you will find something either to dissatisfy, or nauseate. The best wine has its froth, the sweetest rose its prickles, and the purest comforts their dregs; the creature cannot be said to be full, unless of vanity; as a bladder may be filled with wind, Job 20:22. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; They who think to find happiness here, are like Apollo who embraced the laurel tree instead of Daphne. Meditate on this vanity. The world is like a looking glass which represents that face which is not in it.

The meditation of this vanity, first, would be like the digging about the roots of a tree, to loosen it from the earth, it would much loosen our hearts from the world, and be an excellent preservative against a surfeit. Let a Christian think thus with himself, why am I so serious about vanity? If the whole earth were changed into a globe of gold, it could not fill my heart.

Second, the meditation of the creature's vanity would make us look after more solid comforts; the favor of God, the blood of Christ, the influences of the Spirit. When I see the life which I fetch from the cistern is vain, I will go the more to the spring head; in Christ there is an inexhaustible treasury: When a man finds the bough begin to break, he lets go the bough, and catches hold on the main tree; so when we find the creature to be but a rotten bough, then by faith we shall catch hold on Christ the tree of life, Revelation 2:7. The creature is but a reed, God is the rock of ages.