A shadow, a ship, a bubble, a bird, a dream, an arrow – Thomas Brooks

“Don’t weary yourself trying to get rich. Why waste your time? For riches can disappear as though they had the wings of a bird!” Proverbs 23:4-5

All earthly portions are very uncertain; now they are and shortly they are not! Though the foolish world calls riches substance yet they have no solid subsistence. All earthly portions are as transitory as a shadow, a ship, a bubble, a bird, a dream, an arrow, a runner who passes swiftly away. Riches were never true to any who have trusted in them. All earthly things are vain and transitory, they are rather phantoms and shadows than real things themselves. All the glory of this world is rather a matter of shadow, than of substance; it is a body without a soul; it is a golden shell without a kernel; it is a shadow without a substance. There is no firmness, there is no solidness, there is no consistency, there is no constancy in any of the creatures. All the pomp, and state, and glory of the world is but a mere painted pageantry, a mask, a comedy, a fantasy!

Look! As the rainbow shows itself in all its dainty colors, and then vanishes away so do all worldly honors, riches, and preferments show themselves and then vanish away!

A storm at sea, a spark of fire, an unfaithful employee, a false oath, or a treacherous friend may quickly bring a man to sit with Job upon an ash-heap!

Look! As the bird flies from tree to tree so all the riches, honors, and glory of this world fly from man to man!

There is nothing but vanity and uncertainty in all earthly portions.