In a treatise on the subject Edward Reynolds focusses on Ecclesiastes 1:14 with these points
Proportion and propriety, the grounds of sanctification to the soul
The Creatures insufficient to satisfy the Desires of the soul
The ground hereof, The vast disproportion between the soul and the Creature.
The Creature vain
1. In its nature and worth
Therefore we should not trust in it, nor swell with it.
The Creature vain,
2. In its deadness and inefficacy
Therefore we should not rely on it, nor attribute sufficiency to it
How to use the Creature as a dead Creature:
1. Consider its dependence, and subordination to God's power
2. Sanctify and reduce it to its primitive goodness
How the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Prayer
Love it in its own order
The Creature vain
3. In its duration
The Roots of Corruption in the Creature,
Corrupt minds are apt to conceive an immortality in earthly things
The proceedings of God's Providence in the dispensation of earthly things
Wise and Just
Correctives to be observed in the use of the Creature
1. Keep the intellectuals sound and untainted
2. By Faith look through and above them
3. Convert them to holy uses
Great disproportion between the Soul and the Creature
It is vexation of Spirit
Cares are Thorns, because, first, they wound the Spirit, secondly, they choke and over-grow the heart, thirdly, they deceive, fourthly, they vanish
Degrees of this vexation:
1. In the procuring of them,
2. In the multiplying of them
3. In the use of them. Discovered,
1 In Knowledge, Natural and Civil
2 In Pleasures
3 In Riches
4 In the Review of them
5 In the disposing of them:
The Grounds of this vexation :
1 God's Curse.
2 The Corruption of Nature
3 The deceitfulness of the Creature:
It is lawful to labour and pray for the Creature, though it vex the Spirit. We should be humbled in the light of sin which hath defaced the Creation.
We should be wise to prevent those cares which the Creatures are apt to breed.
Irregular cares both superfluous, and sinful
How to take away or prevent vexation:
1 Pray for that which is convenient to thy abilities and occasions
2 Take nothing without Christ
3 Throw out every execrable thing.
4 Keep the Spirit untouched, and uncorrupted,
What it is to set the heart on the Creature
The Spirit is the most tender and delicate part of man
A Heart set on the World is without strength Passive or Active.
1. Unable to bear Temptations
1 Because Satan proportioneth Temptations to our Lusts
2 Because Temptations are edged with Promises and Threatenings:
3 God often gives wicked men over to believe lies.
2. Unable to bear afflictions
3. Unable to perform any active obedience with strength
How to use the Creature as a vexing Creature
*
Honey though the bee prepares,
An envenomed sting he wears;
Piercing thorns a guard compose
Round the fragrant blooming rose.
Where we think to find a sweet,
Oft a painful sting we meet:
When the rose invites our eye,
We forget the thorn is nigh.
Why are thus our hopes beguiled?
Why are all our pleasures spoiled?
Why do agony and woe
From our choicest comforts grow?
Sin has been the cause of all!
'Twas not thus before the fall:
What but pain, and thorn, and sting,
From the root of sin can spring?
Now with every good we find
Vanity and grief entwined;
What we feel, or what we fear,
All our joys embitter here.
Yet, through the Redeemer's love,
These afflictions blessings prove;
He the wounding stings and thorns,
Into healing med'cines turns.
From the earth our hearts they wean,
Teach us on his arm to lean;
Urge us to a throne of grace,
Make us seek a resting place.
In the mansions of our King
Sweets abound without a sting;
Thornless there the roses blow,
And the joys unmingled flow.
Piercing thorns a guard compose
Round the fragrant blooming rose.
Where we think to find a sweet,
Oft a painful sting we meet:
When the rose invites our eye,
We forget the thorn is nigh.
Why are thus our hopes beguiled?
Why are all our pleasures spoiled?
Why do agony and woe
From our choicest comforts grow?
Sin has been the cause of all!
'Twas not thus before the fall:
What but pain, and thorn, and sting,
From the root of sin can spring?
Now with every good we find
Vanity and grief entwined;
What we feel, or what we fear,
All our joys embitter here.
Yet, through the Redeemer's love,
These afflictions blessings prove;
He the wounding stings and thorns,
Into healing med'cines turns.
From the earth our hearts they wean,
Teach us on his arm to lean;
Urge us to a throne of grace,
Make us seek a resting place.
In the mansions of our King
Sweets abound without a sting;
Thornless there the roses blow,
And the joys unmingled flow.
John Newton