Old Jacobs Account Cast Up and Owned, Sermon
Old Jacobs account caſt up, and owned by one of his Seed, a young Lady, &c.
GEN. 47.9.
Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained, unto the days of the yeers of the life of my Fathers, in the days of their Pilgrimage.
THeſe are the words of the Patriarch Jacob, and with what evidence of truth, might that Daughter of Abraham, whoſe Exequies we now celebrate, ſtand up and ſay them after him. Few and evil have the days of the yeers of my life been, &c. Yea excepting the number of his yeers (in that indeed more happy then he) I think we may all repeat them after him, as will better appear in the ſequel.
A ſubject not unſeaſonable for our thoughts at any time; for our whole life ſhould be, as Philoſophers could ſay, a continual meditation of death; much leſs then unſeaſonable, when God doth offer unto us, either in our ſelves, or others about us, ſome eminent occaſions and provocations to ſuch meditations.
The words do preſent unto your conſideration, our common condition, and we may reſolve them into theſe three Propoſitions or Concluſions.
1. Our life here is but a Pilgrimage.
2. The days of this our Pilgrimage are but few.
3. Theſe few days of our Pilgrimage are evil.
To begin with the firſt of theſe, from the laſt word in the Text; Our life here is but a Pilgrimage; this was ſhaddowed out in the continuall flitings of the Patriarchs, they dwelt but in Tents and Tabernacles, and did never ſtick to confeſs that they were but Pilgrimes and ſtrangers upon earth, as the Holy Ghoſt bears them witneſſe, Heb. 11.13. Aye they might well ſay ſo, may ſome think, for they had not yet obtained the Land of promiſe; but was it ſo afterwards? yes, mark what David ſays, when he was King of the Country, King I ſay, of that country, in compariſon of whoſe Inhabitants, al Nations beſides were ſtrangers, and that not then, when he was out-lawed by Abſalom, and went weeping up the Mount of Olives; but in the time of his ſolemn joy and feſtivity, when his Son Solomon was inſtalled as his ſucceſſor, 1 Chron. 29.14.15. All things (ſaith he) come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee, for we are ſtrangers before thee, and Sojourners as were all our fore-Fathers.
And therefore he calls the Church a Tabernacle, Pſal. 15.1. Lord who ſhall dwell in thy Tabernacle: And Peter, the time of our life, a being in this Tabernacle; 2. Pet. 1.13.
Our Lord Jeſus, whoſe members we are, was born in an Inn, a lodging for ſtrangers: in his life time, he had not a houſe where to lay his head, and when he was dead, he was buried in another mans Sepulchre, and the price of his blood did buy a field for the burial of ſtrangers, nor were theſe onelyonly ſtrangers in Iſrael, for we may all ſubſcribe in the ſame ſchedule, every man is an Hebrew, a Paſſenger, a Gerſham, a ſtranger in the Land, Hebraei, i.e. tranſitores from Gnabar migrare, And no marvel, for while we are here, we are abſent from our Fathers houſ, whilſt we are at home in the body, we are abſent from the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.6. and from the beſt of our friends, our elder brother, Chriſt Jeſus, and all our fellow brethren, the glorified Saints and Angels; we are abſent from our own home, our houſe is in Heaven: When this Earthly Tabernacle is diſſolved, we have a building of God, an houſe not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens, 2 Cor. 5.1. Houſes indeed we have here, as Foxes have their holes, and Birds their neſts, and Bees their hives, to be chaſed and driven from them; but here we have no continuing City: In my Fathers Houſe, ſaith Chriſt, are many Manſions, or ſettled dwellings, there muſt be our abode, that's our long home, Beth Gnolam, our houſe of Eternity, and there lyes our means, that Inheritance that fades not away, is reſerved for us in the Heavens. Nany profitable inſtructions we learn from hence. As,
Uſe 1. Not to ſeek great things for our ſelves; 'tis the ſame Uſe that God by Jeremy makes upon the like occaſion, Jer. 45.4.5. ſaith he to Barach, I will break down and pluck up this whole Land, it ſhall be given up into the hands of ſtrangers, thou muſt but Sojourn a while in it, and ſeekest thou great things for thy ſelf, ſeek them not: Travellers do not ſeek for honours and offices in the way as they go, all their care is, how they may paſs well and quietly on, they do not look over every Pale, nor ſtep aſide into every corn field, when as they have enough at home; if we have but as much as will bear our charges by the way, as will carry us to our journeys end, we need not care much: or if they do traffique, buy or ſell in the way, it is but for ſome Viands, ſome neceſſaries in the way, or to advance their eſtate at home: We who are Citizens of another corporation, muſt meddle no more with the world, then needs muſt; if we have any thing to do with it, it muſt be to get ſome competent proviſion for the way, or to make us a fairer and ſurer eſtate in our Country, to further our reckoning there, Phil. 4.17.
2. Not to take too much pleaſure in the things of the world. Travellers do not ſet their hearts upon their Inn, which they know they muſt leave the next morning: The Rechabites that lived in Tents as ſtrangers, would not drink wine or ſtrong drink, to make their hearts merry. If we had all the comforts of this Inn, yet we muſt rejoyce, but ſparingly, remiſly in it, as if we rejoyced nor, as Paul doth counſel us, 1 Cor. 7.30. Let them that rejoyce, be as though they rejoyce not; for the faſhion of this world paſſeth away, it is at the beſt but a feaſt of Tabernacles; do not ſtay too long upon any thing. Ariſe, depart this is not your reſt, Micha 2.10.
3. To abſtain from fleſhly luſts; and this uſe the Apoſtle Peter would have us make of it, 1 Pet. 1.11. Dearly beloved, ſaith he, as ſtrangers and Pilgrimes, abſtain from fleſhly luſts, which war againſt the ſoul; theſe like thieves will wound us in our travail; theſe were they that undid the People of Iſrael, as they were going to Canaan, they fell a luſting after the daughters of Moab, and ſo fell ſhort of their Country; 'tis not for Travelers to lye guzling in every Ale-houſe, 'tis not for theſe Travellers to go a whoring after theſe earthly things.
4. To look for hard entertainment; Dogs will be barking at ſtrangers, be they never ſo honeſt, and Travellers muſt look for foul weather, and ill way, and homely fare, and ſtrange uſage, all theſe muſt we look for in this life: many a curſed Doeg will be barking at us, many a Shimei will be curſing; much hard meaſure, and much foul weather, muſt we have with the world, and yet we muſt ride on, and in patience poſſeſs our ſouls, and to that end conſider we that our God hath provided us ſome comfort, to wear out the tediouſneſs of the way: He hath given us his Statutes to be our ſongs in the houſe of our Pilgrimage, Pſal. 119.34. To make merry within our journey, as David ſpeaks: Nay, he himſelf will go along and ſojourn with us, as he promiſed to go down with Jacob into Egypt, his Cloud his preſence, ſhall be our defence, and we may ſend home every day, by our prayers, for ſuch things as we want here; and for ſetting forward our buſineſs at home: Chriſt our Joſeph, is gon before us to make all ready for us; and we may have an anſwer at any time from him, we hear from him every week, and we are within ſight of home, and he wil at length entertain us into thoſe Manſions which he is gone to prepare for us, Ioh. 14.3.
5. To ſet our minds and hearts upon Heaven. Travellers do not much mind mens ſayings or doings by the way: they hear ſome chiding, ſee others dancing, others building, others plowing; they may perhaps caſt ſome light glance upon them, but theſe they do not heed much, as your clients in Tearm time, going to Weſtminſter, do not much mind whom they meet, or whom they paſs by, they have other buſineſs in their heads; Animus vere pius, non vacat ad laudes & opprobria, a truly pious mind ſhould not be at leiſure to think of any thing, but its Country; our deſires ſhould ſtill run upon home, our converſation ſhould be in Heaven, our earneſt groaning ſhould be to be clothed upon with that houſe; there is our treaſure, there ſhould our hearts be alſo: when Nehemiah was in the King of Perſias Pallace, yet his heart was at Jeruſalem, and Daniel opened his windows towards it every day, when he was in Babylon: why ſhould not we ſpend our beſt meditations upon our Jeruſalem which is above? why ſhould not we open our eyes, the windows of our ſouls, and caſt them upon our Heavenly Canaan, at leaſt once every day, as Moſes on Nebo did once upon that earthly one: and ſo with thoſe worthies mentioned in the Hebrews, declare plainly that we ſeek a Country, A City which hath foundations, whoſe builder and maker is God: and that the rather becauſe
2. Concluſ. The days of this our Pilgrimage are but few: Hence it is, that our life is compared to things of the ſhorteſt continuance; by James 4.14. to a Vapour that appeareth for a little ſeaſon, and then vaniſheth away. By Hezekiah, Iſa. 38.12. to a Shepherds Tent, ſet up for a night, whoſe cords perhaps are ſlacked the next day, and the covering folded up: By David, to a flying ſhadow, Pſal. 102.11. To a fading flower, which grows up and is green in the morning; but is cut down, dryed up, and withered in the evening, Pſal. 90.5.6. To a morning dream, which is as ſoon ended as begun, Pſal. 73.20. To a tale that is told, or a ſhort meditation, Pſal. 90.9. To duſt that is blown away with every blaſt, Pſal. 103.14. To a wind that paſſeth away and cometh not again, Pſal. 78.39. By Job, to the motions of a Weavers Shuttle, Job 7.6. to the riding of a Poſt, to the Sayling of a Ship, to the flying of an Eagle when ſhe haſteth to the prey, Job 9.25.26. The Holy Ghoſt hath picked out all the choiceſt ſimilitudes, whereby to expreſs our momentary condition, and if there had been any other, more emphatical, tis like he would have uſed it.
Hence it is alſo that Jacob in this place calls the years of his life but days, The days of the years of my Pilgrimage: he reckoned them but days, not by longer meaſure, on purpoſe to ſignifie the ſhortneſs of them; And hence it is alſo, that the book of the Chronicles, where the ages, Raigns and ſucceſſions of all the Kings of Iſrael and Judah, are ſet down, is called but verba dierum, words of days.
Nay indeed our whole life, is but as one day, and therefore our Saviour wils us to work while it is day, that is while we are alive, the night will come, the bell of our evening ſong will tole ere long, and then its paſt working time; Joh. 9.4.
One reaſon of this, may be taken from the matter whereof, we be made, and whereon we conſiſt, and that is Earth: Tabernacles you know are ſoon taken down or overthrown, becauſe they are but a covering, they have no foundation to ſettle upon, ſo ſaies Eliphaz of our bodies, they are houſes of clay, whoſe foundation is in the duſt, Job. 4.19. aclay cottage, if it were well underpind, and had a good grounſil, it might laſt a pretty while, but having no better materials, no ſtronger foundation, no marvel if they ſo ſoon moulder away: and that matter likewiſe is compounded of contraries, one continually fighting againſt another: now a Kingdom or a houſe thus divided, cannot long continue.
2. To this we may add the many enemies that do beleagure us: there are a thouſand ways to goe out of the world, though but one to come in; ſo that many a mans candle is blown out before it burn to the ſocket, many an apple plucked off, before it be ripe: not one of a thouſand hath the thred of his life drawn out to the full length, according to the courſe of nature: The goodlineſs of all fleſh is like the flower of the field, Iſa. 40.6. not of the garden, expoſed to all hardſhips and hazards whatſoever.
3. God in his wiſe providence, hath ſet ſuch limits unto our age leaſt we ſhould grow into extremities, as namely, into extremity of ſinning: in the beginning of the world, men were more upright and innocent, and then God lent them a longer time; but afterward when iniquity began to abound he decreed to ſhorten their days, leaſt ſin ſhould be out of meaſure ſinful: Thou haſt ſet our iniquity before thee, ſaith Moſes to God, Pſal. 90.8. and our ſecret ſins in the light of thy countenance: and then it follows, our days are paſſed away in thy wrath, even as a tale that is told, and our yeers are but threeſcore and ten: And our bleſſed Saviour foretelling his Diſciples what perſecution ſhould befal them, ſays unleſs thoſe days of perſecution ſhould be ſhortened no fleſh ſhould be ſaved, Mat. 24.22. there would be no living in the world, the malice of their enemies would know neither bank nor bottom, would not keep within any bounds.
There would be likewiſe extremities of miſeries if men ſhould live always in the world, if our days indeed were good, the more they were, we might be the merrier; but ſeeing they are ſo miſerable, its well that God in his mercy hath made them ſo few, Do but think with your ſelves, if Adam and Eve, our firſt Parents, had been tyed to have lived until this day, whether they would not have been the moſt miſerable couple that ever lived, they ſhould have had a ſhare in all the calamities that have light upon the world, God therefore out of his goodneſs will ſhorten our days, the ſooner to put an end to our ſorrows.
Object. Some perhaps will here think, that our life is not ſo ſhort as we make it, ſeeing many live till they be Seventy or Fighty years old, which ſeems to be a long time.
Anſw. To whom I anſwer, that yet this is nothing in compariſon of Eternity: a thouſand years with God are but as one day; nay, it is nothing in compariſon of the time that the Fathers lived before the Flood, to which it ſeems, Jacob in this place had reference, though he were an hundred and thirty years old, yet ſaith he, I have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my Fathers: In the days of their Pilgrimage: ſome whereof lived ſeven, ſome eight, ſome nine hundred years and upwards: Nay of that ſmall pittance of life which we have, there is a great part of it, which deſerves not the name: As the time,
1. Of ſleeping, thats but a ſhort kind of death; as anger is a ſhort fury, and their names are promiſcuouſly uſed. Our friend Lazarus ſleepeth: Awake thou that ſleepeſt, and ſtand up from the dead: I found him dead ſaid Epaminondas, when he ſlew the ſleeping Sentinal, and I left him dead: and this time is well nigh the third part of our lives: Vitae fur malus ille mae, ſaith Martial of ſleep.
2. Of Child-hood and Old-age, Homo est fatuus uſ que ad anum quadrageſsimum, deinde ubi novit ſe eſſe fatuum, vita conſumpti eſt, ſaid Luther, its long before a man begin to live, childhood and youth are vanity, Eccl. 11.10. and when he grows in yeers he dies dayly, as the old man Alexis, in Stobaeus, going eaſily upon his ſtaff, ſaid to one that asked him, whether he went, pedetentem morior, I am going ſtep by ſtep into my grave.
3. Of Eating and drinking, theſe are a repairing, not an injoying of nature, and yet how much is beſtowed in theſe reparations, Iſa. 5.11. The Germans live as they pronounce, vivere and bibere, with them is all one thing, and if we ply our liquor as we begin, they are like to loſe their Charter: and how many rich gluttons are there among us, who fair deliciouſly every day, and ſo every day loſe ſo much more of their life, howſoever uſually this time is one part of twelve.
4. Of Recreations, Amici diem perdidimus, ſaid he, my friends we have loſt the day, which we ſpent in idleneſs; yet how many ſtand all the day idle.
5. Of Sining, Ep. 2.1. You hath he quickened who were dead in ſins and treſpaſſes, ſaith Paul to his Epheſians, and he tells Timothy, That a widow that lives, in pleaſures, is dead whiles ſhe lives, 1 Tim. 5.6.
6. Of Sickneſs or ſuffering, non eſt vita vivere ſed valere, to live is not to be, but to be well; we ſay of ſome delights that a man cannot live without them: Wherefore is light given to him that is in miſery, and life to the bitter in ſoul, ſaith Job 3.20. as if he ſhould ſay, he had as good be without it, and ſpeaking of the day of his birth, which was the beginning of his miſery, verſ. 6. Let not that, ſaith he, be joyned unto the days of the yeers, let it not come within the number of the Months: and Noahs Ark wherein he was impriſoned, is called his Coffin, or his ten Months Sepulchre, and the men in Hell are ſaid to die the death, to wit, becauſe of their ſufferings, though there ſhall be alway a conjunction of ſoul and body in them;
Now when all this is abſtracted, after all theſe deductions, from the time of our life, that which remains, will be little or nothing, our days will be ſhrunk into a narrow compaſs.
The meditation of the ſhortneſs of our lives, this fewneſs of our days, will be uſeful to teach us.
1. Uſe. Not to be too much taken with the things of this world: Not with Honours, when Samuel was to annoint Saul, God gave him for a ſign that he would have him for a Prince over his people, that as ſoon as he was gone from him, he ſhould find two men neer unto Rachels Sepulchre, 1 Sam. 10.2. God might have given him ſome other ſign; but he choſe rather to give him this, it may be to quel the pride and haughtineſs of his new preferment, that the aſhes of ſo fair a creature as Rachel was, ſhould mind him what he ſhould be afterward, Not with wives and children; theſe which are now the pleaſures of thine eyes, ſhall ſhortly be loathſome and ſtinking carcaſes, inſomuch that Abraham ſhall deſire that his beloved Sarah might be buried out of his ſight, that he may not behold her: and therefore Iſaac on the night of his Nuptials, placed his wives bed in the Chamber where his Mother did dye, to temper their Nuptial delights with the remembrance of death, Gen. 24.67. Are theſe the things ye look upon, ſaid Chriſt to his Diſciples, when they told him of the goodly buildings of the Temple: there ſhall not be left one ſtone upon another, which ſhall not be thrown down; ſo do ye look upon the world, and the glory and beauty and pleaſure in it; theſe you muſt ſoon part withal, the time is ſhort, as Paul ſaith, 1 Cor. 7.29. and Eſau excuſeth the ſelling of his Birth-right, becauſe he ſaw his death was ſo nigh: I am at the point to die (ſaith he) and what good will this Birth-right do me, Gen. 25.32. ſo ſhalt thou ſay ere long, of all the Titles, the houſes, the riches, the relations thou enjoyeſt: let therefore thoſe that have wives, be as though they had none, thoſe that buy as though they poſſeſſed not, thoſe that uſe this world as not abuſing it; modicum & non videbimur: a little while and we ſhall not be ſeen, our places ſhall know us no more.
2. Not to be too much caſt down with adverſities, if our affliction be great, it ſhall be but ſhort: Sigravis, brevis, though it hold out to the end of our life, yet this will not belong: with this you may comfort your ſelves in all your troubles, tarry and wait the Lords leiſure a very little, and he that ſhall come wil come, and wil not tarry, though the way of your Pilgrimage be tedious and weariſom, yet the days thereof are but few.
3. Not to make our lives ſhorter, by neglect or abuſes of them: a man may ſpeak as much in few words as in many, and a man my live more in a day then another doth in a yeer: our life conſiſts in action, ſo much as we doe, ſo much do we live, and ſo much of our life as is unprofitable, ſo much of our life death poſſeſſeth: take heed therefore of melting away ſo many hours in pleaſure: he that lives in pleaſure is dead while he lives, though he thinks with the Italians, that onelyonly he and ſuch as himſelf know how to live, 1 Tim. 4.6.
4. Not to defer our repentance, our turning to him who is our life, & the length of our days, Deu. 30.20 to him who is the reſurrection and the life, Joh. 11.25 ſeeing our time is ſo ſhort: there were certain fools in Pauls time, that ſaid, Let us eat & drink for to morrow we ſhal die; of the ſame humor is the Devil, who hath great wrath, becauſe his time is ſhort; but the holy Apoſtle made no ſuch conſequence, but the contrary, Let us awake to live righteouſly, and ceaſe to ſin, 1 Cor. 15.34. and 'tis the miſery of theſe times alſo, though we all row forward to deaths ſhore; yet like Watermen we look backward, we dare not look death in the face, nor trouble our ſelves with thinking of it: It may ſeize upon us before we be aware. Old and young, like Peter and John, we both run to the Sepulchre, our life is a race thither, and ſometimes John the younger, out-runs Peter, and comes firſt to it.
God may take you away, while you are in the heat and fury of your youth, and while your wanton blood boils in your veins, therefore what manner of men ought ye to be, in all holy converſation and godlineſs, how ſhould we with Job 14.14. All the days of our appointed time, wait tell the change came.
3. Concluſ. So we have done with the ſecond Concluſion, The days of our Pilgrimage are but few: few in compariſon of Eternity, of the firſt fathers, and few in themſelves, the greateſt part being diverted, and otherwiſe employed, and it were well that the old Text were bound up in a leſſer and better Volume, their ſilver changed into gold: if our lives as ſhorter, ſo were happier then theirs, but it is not ſo with us; even theſe few days of our Pilgrimage are alſo evil. which is our third concluſion, as there is want of days, ſo ſtore of miſeries. Iob who was wel ſeen in this Theme, tyes theſe two concluſions both together, Job 9.25. My days are ſwifter then a Poſt, they fly away, and they ſee no good; and as of himſelf, ſo of other men, Job 14.1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and ful of trouble: If we look upon Jacob, we ſhal find him a very Map of miſery, experience he had of many weariſome winters, in his younger years in his Fathers houſe, he lived in continual fear of his brother Eſau, and at laſt was freed to fly the country, afterwards he endured a long and hard ſervice under his Uncle Laban, who changed his wages ten times in the day the draught conſumed him, and the froſt by night: and then had a trick put upon him in his marriage: heard every day the bitter contentions and emulations of his wives; when he comes home the firſt welcome is the death of his Rachel: then follows the news how his Joſeph was devoured, that Dinah was defloured, that Simon and Levi had murdered the Shechemites, that Ruben had defiled his own bed: I might tell you likewiſe of David and all his troubles as he calls them, Pſal. 132.1. But why ſhould I inſtance in two or three, as if it were not a common condition, every man is a Benoni, a ſon of ſorrow: It is a lot which every one muſt draw in their courſe, every man hath his task of affliction. We come weeping into the world, tears are the firſt preſage of our future condition; Nundum loquiter infans (ſaith Auſtin) & tamen prophetat; Tears are our firſt Rhetorique, before we can ſpeak we propheſie, and by a dumb kind of divination, wail out the ſtory of our after life. And when we have done our lives, we go weeping or groaning out, our Geneſis and our Exodus, our entrance and our ending do both agree: Nor is that little point of time that runs betwixt theſe, any whit happier. Our life, as you hear before, is a Pilgrimage, ſubject to colds and draughts, expoſed to dangers of beaſts and robbers, and a thouſand ſuch like, a continual warfare upon Earth, where we are encompaſed with enemies: a Navigation, calamity follows upon calamity, as one wave treads upon the heel of another: a very Babyloniſh captivity, The days of our age threeſcore years & ten, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, and juſt ſo long laſted the captivity of Iſrael; We have ſold our ſelves for nought as ſlaves, and the world is no better then an houſe of correction, where every one of us is ſet to his labour, and every one of us muſt look for his ſtripes, no ſtate or condition of man is exempted; even Kings Crowns are ſo full of cares, that if a man knew them indeed, he would not take one up, though he found it lying upon the ground.
The life of the Student, which ſome account a fair idle life, is called by Solomon a ſore travail, Ec. 1.13. which God hath given to the ſons of men, to exerciſe or to afflict them withal, as it is in the Margent, and verſe 18. He that encreaſeth knowledg encreaſeth ſorrow, much ſorrow and vexation it coſts before he have got it, and when he hath got it, it brings many with it; a wiſe man finds many defects, foreſees his miſeries, and ſo makes them longer can look into all the corners of them, and knows how to aggravate them, he ſees many things amis at home and abroad which he is unable to remedy, and ſo increaſeth his ſorrow.
And for your Mechanical callings, you are always complaining either of ſcarcity or deadneſſe of trading, or hevineſſe of taxes, or failing of your debtors, or of ſome one thing or other,
The wicked have their evil days, many an Aguiſh fit, many an inward gripe, and grudging, many a ſpice of that burning feaver that waits them in Hell.
The Righteous they alſo have their evil days: days of temptation, wherein they are to wreſtle with Principalities and Powers, days of ſpiritual deſertion, when by their ſins they have cauſed God to hide his face from them: days of troubles and opreſſions from the world. And all theſe ſo many, that if a man for all the good days, ſhould lay down ſo may white ſtones, and for all the bad ones, ſo many black ones; when we come to caſt up the reckoning, we ſhould find the number of the black ones, to exceed the white, ſuch a thing is our life, as a man would not take it, if he knew what it were before he took it; if he were to chuſe, he would not buy his being upon ſuch conditions: one cries with the Shunamites ſon, My head, my head, another with the Prophet, my belly, my belly; another with Aſa, complains of his feet; another with Ezekias of his ſore in the body; another with Eſau, of his hunger; one with David, my ſon my ſon; another with Eliſha, my Father, my Father; one with Job complains of an ill wife; another with Abigail, of a churliſh Husband, another with Joſeph, of unmerciful brethren: And the reaſon of all this, why the Lord lays this muſtard, theſe bitters, upon the Teats of this world, is, leaſt we ſhould hang too much upon them; he ſends daſhing ſhowrs, and rainy weather, to make us haſten our journey, for if our way were fair and good, we would loyter in our journey, ſit us down and hold chat, and ſo perhaps be benighted; if all things here went well with us and to our likeing, we ſhould go neer with the fool in the Goſpel, to ſing a requiem to our ſouls, here ſet up our reſt, and ſay with Peter, it is good being here: God therefore in great wiſdom having appointed man to a more excellent happineſſe, hath mixed all our ſweet cups, with bitter ingredients, that ſo we might ſipple more ſparingly of them, and ſeek elſewhere for our happineſſe: He ſees how we are wedded to the world, and have our hearts glued to it, and how we could be content to ſit down by its fleſhpots, and therefore he will have us here beaten and evil intreated, to make us long for that land, where flows milk and honey; he will have the waters of troubles overflow all things below, that with Noahs Dove, finding no reſt for the ſoals of our feet here, we might betake our ſelves to the Ark, and fly as a bird unto God, the hill of our refuge; When the Heathen had ſuffered Shipwrack of all his eſtate; Well fortune, ſaith he, now I perceive thou wouldſt have me become a Philoſopher: By all theſe things God would have us to become Chriſtians indeed, and to mind Heavenly things.
1. Uſe, The conſideration of theſe evil days, may ſerve to ſtrike a terror into the hearts of impenitents for theſe are but the beginning of their ſorrows, who do dye in their ſins.
The day of Judgement is moſt properly called the evil day, and that night of eternity that follows upon it: The night, John 9.4. in this life the wicked have now and then ſome twilight of comfort but after this life, there ſhall be a perfect midnight, no glimmering of light, no ſun to riſe any more upon them. The clouds of Gods anger, are now but in gathering, but then the great deeps ſhall be broken up, and ſhall overflow them: The days of this life, though they be miſerable, yet they are but few, and that is ſome help, but that help is not there to be had, Remember the days of darkneſs for they are many, Eccl. 11.8. Nay, they are infinite, they ſhall never have end: Therfore I ſay with Solomon, Remember theſe days; break off thy ſins by righteouſneſs, and take hold of him who is our peace, otherwiſe there is not the leaſt of thy troubles, but it is a certain earneſt and pledge of thy everlaſting torments.
2. Uſe, Let all the children of God learn to make that uſe of the evils of this preſent life, that God doth intend by them.
To long and breath after that State and Place, where all tears ſhall be wiped from our eyes; as that ſon that endures miſery in a far country, doth with the Prodigal, long to be at his fathers houſe: That Marriner that is toſſed and tumbled betwixt winds and waves ſtriving for him, longs to be at the Haven, as the wounded Hart brays for, and ſeeks after the water Brooks, as the watchman waits for the morning, as the Captive or Priſoner doth ſigh for deliverance, that which home is to the Traveller, what the Haven is to the Marriner, what water to the panting Hart, what the morning to the watchman, what redemption is to the captive, that is Heaven to the ſoul that is in miſery.
Never therefore read or hear that promiſe of our Saviour, Behold I come ſhortly, and ſurely I come quickly; but let the troubles that here moleſt and diſquiet thee, cauſe thee to take up that fervent acclamation, Amen, Even ſo come Lord Jeſus, come quickly.
FINIS.