Meditation on Mans Mortality, Verse 9
VERS. 9. For all our dayes *foreign ▪goe backe againe in thy wrath.—
HItherto of the cause of that wrath of GOD which moueth him to smite the world with such mortalitie. Now here he further sets forth the same by the effects and degrees thereof in respect of that present Argument he hath in hand.
1. That our dayes doe as it were goe backward in his wrath: That whereas God gaue vsus being to liue, our life and our being is nothing els but a going backward as it were to death, and to nothing. Euen as if a stranger being suddainly rapt and carryed the mid way to his home, where are all his comforts, he should spend all the time that is behind, not in going forward to his home, but in going backward to the place from which he was suddenly brought. All the sonnes of Adam as soone as they hauehave being and liue are brought suddenly a great part of their way: And whereas they should goe forward and liue longer and longer, they from their first beginning to liue goe backward againe to death, and to nothing. This is the summe in effect with that which the Lord sayth in the beginning of the Psalme, Thou Verse 3.bringesi man to destruction; saying, Returne againe ye sons of Adam: As if he should say, Thou makest a man, and when he is made, hee in thy wrath doth hast to nothing else, but destruction, and to bee marred againe. Thus doe our dayes as it were goe backward, and wee in them returne from whence we came.
Our lesson then hence is this.
That our life in this life is nothing els but a returning backe againe vntounto death. EueryEvery man, whilst he is here, walkes to the house of his graue; and though he bee a little longer in going backe vntounto the earth, then he was comming from it; yet he doth nothing while he is here but goe backe to it. Yea, our dayes passe away in such a manner, as if a man, being a childe should suddainly bee made a man; and after that should presently goe backe againe, and bee a child. So that though we hauehave here some time of growth and strength; yet the more wee grow in strength and yeares, the neerer we draw still to the place from whence we came. In so much that there be none of vsus but are neerer to our end to day then yesterday, and this houre then the houre that is past. And though some walke backward more slowly somwhat then others doe; yet all goe one way; and no bodie knowes how swiftly, or how soone he shall come to his end.
The use hereof.
1. This should teach vsus eueryevery day to meditate and thinke seriously of our death, and the graue. It is the place that wee are continually trauailing unto. All the dayes and yeares we liue, goe backward as it were with us, and carry us backward thither. So that which way soever our faces are, we moue and goe thitherward. Since Adams fall all men are condemned and adjudged vntounto one death at the least; and our life here is nothing else but a going to the place of execution. How then should we not thinke of our end? Is it possible for condemned Malefactors, whilst they are going to the place of death, to forget wher-about they go? And yet though all our life bee nought else but a leading to death, yet ordinarily nothing lesse troubles our minds; and we so liue, as if death should neuer come neare vsus, or we it. Nay, though we see many both neare vsus and farre off vsus die before vsus, and wee know that our condition is the same; yet we lay it little to heart, as if wee alone were exempted from the common condition of all Adams issue.
2. This should teach vsus also, whilst we do liue here, to behaue our selues in that manner, that wee may die with comfort. And this should bee it that in this life should most trouble us, and about which we should most beat our braines, how wee should so die that wee might eternally liue. But alas that which runs altogether in our minds whilst we liue here, is about the meanes of our living here, how we shall doe for this yeare and the next, and the other yeare after that; and how our children should do after us: never taking thought for the maine: which is as if parents and children being altogether drawne vponupon a Sled, or carryed in a Cart, for diuers dayes to execution, and the meanes of this life being left them onelyonly for this end, to bring them thither; they should never trouble their mindes about that that they were drawne unto, but should bee carking and caring, how they should doe, and their children for this thing and that thing concerning this life.
The second point is that our dayes goe thus backward in the wrath of God: that is to say; through the iust judgement of God vponupon the sin of Man it comes to passe, that our dayes thus returne and goe backward, and passe away.
This then is our lesson:
That eueryevery day whilst wee liue here is a day of wrath; an euill day, subiect to some judgement or other. Few and euill (sayeth old Iacob) be the daies of my Pilgrimage. All things vnderunder the Sunne are Genes. 47. 9. Eccles. 2. 11, 17.nothing but matter of vanitie and vexation of spirit. The best of Gods Saints hauehave found nothing here that this life and world hath brought forth, but matter of sorrow. What day is it that passeth ouer our heads, but wee might easily perceiue it (if we were not besotted,) marked with Gods wrath, bringing with it some judgement and Memorandum or other of Gods anger for sin? There is not a day nor houre that passeth ouer our heads, but that wee might, if wee looked about us, and considered the judgements that some way or other cleaue to vsus, See, that it is in some respect or other passed away in wrath.
The use of this serues:
1. To reproue those that hauehave no sence and fecling thereof; but so passe away their time and dayes whilst they hauehave them, as though they were vnderunder no wrath and judgement at all; But all were well and sure betweene God and them: That glory in their daies past, how merrily they hauehave liued, and how many comforts they hauehave had; such as never felt any wrath of God past, nor feare any to come, but say ordinarily in their madd moods; Away with sorrow; let the world slide, &c.
2. It should teach vsus to labour eueryevery day that passeth, to marke and obserue wherein God hath manifested unto us his wrath for sinne. For there is no day but bringeth terrible remembrance thereof, not in others onelyonly, but in our selues. So that if we consider the Revolution of times, wee shall be able to say, that there is not a day, nor an houre passed over our heads, but it is mark'd with the wrath of God by some judgement or other for sinne: yea, and the very passing of it away (it vseth to goe in such a manner) is in wrath.
3. The more our dayes that are gone, are passed in wrath, the more in those that are to come wee should labour to appease and pacifie that wrath, and seeke after the meanes of our attonment with God. Its a desperate madnesse, when wee shall perceiue that God for the time past hath shewed himselfe angry with vsus, to hauehave no care for the time to come, to prevent further indignation.
4. This should make the children of God that hauehave any grounded hope for life to come, to lessen their stay on and delight in this life; and delight in their hope and meanes of that life, wherin never a day shall passe away in wrath, but all in louelove, fauour, and glory; and wherein the dayes of our life shall not be a returning to death, but a going on from life to life, and ioy to ioy; when we shall liue to liue; and the longer wee shall liue, the longer we shall hauehave to liue; and that in all happinesse and glory, which daies and times shall never wast. Whilst we liue here, (if we had hearts to consider of things as they are,) there is never a day goes over our head, but yeeldeth matter of sighing, and groaning vnderunder some act or other of Gods wrath, doe wee the best wee can. Yea, let a man hauehave the greatest causes of comfort, both for this world and the world to come, that the world can afford, or that any man euer had, yet when he shall sum vp his accounts, he shall find the dayes hee liues here are but dayes of euill; and he shall see more cause of sorrow and mourning then of joy. Let this therefore win vsus from this life, and the dayes thereof; And let the bitter of Gods wrath here make vsus the more seeke after the daies of eternitie; wherein there shall be no sence thereof in the least crosse or affliction.
—Wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told.
THe Prophet here further amplifieth the aforesayd effect of Gods wrath: shewing in what manner our dayes passe away, even as a tale that is told, a meditation or thought that is conceived and gone. A tale is quickly told; a word is soone spoken, and a thought or meditation is soone conceiued. So are the yeares of a man, especially if we compare them with things aboue, and with the daies and yeares that we are to liue in heauen. So that let a man looke backe to the time passed, and wisely judge of it, and set to it the uttermost of the time to come, and all will appeare to passe away from vsus, either as the time wherein a tale is told, or those things passe away that are told in a tale, which is very quickly and speedily.
1. This shewes the vanitie of them that make such a-doe for states, and titles, and tenures for this life. Oh they thinke it a goodly matter, if they hauehave and hold a thing for so many liues, and for theirs and their childrens liues. And yet alas it is, if it be compared with the life of Heauen, but as if it were a tenure for the space of a tale telling, or a word spoken. And what madnesse then is it, that most men shew, to hazzard the one to get the other, that they care not almost how they breake the Lawes of God and Man for it? Surely the little faith and hope or none that we hauehave of the life to come, makes persons so dote and mad vponupon the titles and tenures of this life, which are of the same nature that our dayes and yeares are, they passe away all alike.
2. It shewes also the vanitie of such, who as though their dayes and yeares would never come vntounto an end, spend day after day, and yeare after yeare in that they call pas-time: whereas time passeth away of it selfe swift enough, and that in Gods wrath. It were more agreeable to reason, if it could bee, to use meanes to hold and continue time, rather then to passe it away.
3. Let this teach vsus, whilst we hauehave it, to make the best use wee can of it. When our yeares are gone, we cannot reuoke them. How soone they are gone, the holy Ghost here teacheth, and wee may feele by our owne experience. Therefore whilst we liue here, let vsus not so much trouble our thoughts about the meanes of this life, as about devising how we may imploy our time, and spend our life to best purpose.
4. Though we are to count the shortnesse of our liues, in regard of the misery thereof, and in regard of the life which followes, a blessing; Yet in it selfe we should not so account of it: but tho it be miserable, and the longer it is the longer it keepes vsus from a better; yet the very shortnesse of this miserable life is to be considered as an effect of Gods wrath: And therefore it is a blessing of God, if wee know how to use it, to liue long here, though we should liue as miserable a life as any euer lived. Neither should wee endevour or desire to doe any thing to shorten the same.