Soldiers Counseled and Comforted, Proposition 1
Proposition I. To have their Lives in their Hands, is a Condition which the Children of Men are liable unto.
There is indeed a Threefold Condition which brings the Lives of Men into the Hands of Men; with a Gradual Descent from Generals to Specials, it may be set before you.
The first Condition of this kind, is, that of All Men: Accordingly our Observation is,
1. Men have their Lives brought into their their Hands, in point of Mortality. Our Lives are come out from our Hearts unto our Hands; and they are in a sort ready to shake Hands with us. Our Lives do as it were take us by our Hands, and say, Well, I am going, Fare you well.
Our Lives are come into our Hands for the Brevity of them. Once indeed there was a Longevity in Fallen Man that seem'd almos… Aemulous of that Immortality, which Uprigh… man should have had experience of. The Antediluvian Patriarchs might have broke up Company, with probable Agreements to have met again in the same Place and Form an Hundred Years afterwards. But that LONG LIFE, i… by our Vice, and Gods Curse, now terribly Abbreviated. Our own Corruption has Enfeebled the principles of Life in our Successive Generations, and Gods just Malediction has confirm'd that Feebleness, whereby we Dy before our Time, for being wicked overmuch. The Sacred Law of God has now Abridged our Lives into Seventy Years, and the Common Law of Man, into Seven. Our Lives are now IN our Hands, and we have not an Handful thereof. The psalmist could say, in Psal. 39.5. Behold, Thou hast made my Days as an Hands Breadth. In an Hands Breadth may be grasped the whole of the Lives which we have in our Hands.
Our Lives are likewise come into our Hands for the Uncertainty of them. What is in our Hands is Extra nos, 'tis uncertain whether we shall keep it or no. Our Lives are so in our Hands, that we know not whether they will stay with us They may be wrested out of our Hands: and in a Turn of an Hand they are gone, before we are aware. 'Tis said in James 4.14. What is your Life? It is even a vapour. It is as a Vapour, or a Candle, that we bear (not in Horns, but) in Hands. 'Tis liable to be Extinguished by every puss of Wind.
The Second Condition of this kind, is, that of Old Men. And so our Observation is,
2. Men have their Lives brought into their Hands in point of Infirmity. Aged persons Lean with their Hands; and on their Staves they carry their Lives. The Life may be put for the whole Man; with the Old Man 'tis come into the Hands; his Feet cannot now support him. 'Tis said of him in Eccles 12.3. The strong men, (i. e. his Legs) bow themselves; and so the Trembling Hands must be the Keepers of the House. All the strength left him, and all his Life is in his Hands. He does all things with a Staff in Hand, and so with a Life in Hand; as 'tis noted of the Gray-headed and Decrepit Iacob, in Heb. 11.21. He Worshipped, leaning on the Top of his Staff: When he rose off his Couch to worship God, he could not rise without a Staff; his Life was relieved and exerted mostly by his Aged palsey Hand.
The third Condition of this kind, is that of Confessors, and that of Souldiers. And our Observation upon it is,
3 Men have their Lives brought into their Hands in point of Danger to Loose their Lives. 'Tis the Chaldee Paraphrase upon this place, Anima mea periclitatur ac si esset foreign in super ficie manus meae. Our Lives are sometimes by Dangers placed, as t'were on the Back of our Hands. We have no hold of them, but they will take wing, and be gone, in the Twinkling of an Eye. We are sometimes to venture our Lives; and when we do so, We may say, as in 1 Sam. 28.21. Behold I have put my Life in my Hand. That which is in our Hands, is easy to be Taken away; yea, What is ready to be Given away, we take in our Hands. In both respects, our God often calls us to have our Lives in our Hands. We are sometimes to engage in those things, wherein 'tis but a Peradventure, whether we shall ever come off Alive. Yea, we are sometimes not only to Expose our Lives, but also to Resign them, and let them go out of our Hands, and pour them forth as a Drink-offering before the Lord.
This is the case of Confessors. They Dy Often; they are as 'tis said in 2 Cor. 11.23. In Deaths often. Yea, they Dy Daily; they can say as in 1 Cor. 15.31. I Dy Daily. That is, They are Often, they are Daily in Danger in Dying; and so they have their Lives in their Hands. There is a Number of people in the World, who profess the Truths and Ways of God, and serve Him according to His Word. This people are a sort of Army, under the Colours and Commands of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the Ancient Legend (pardon me that I call it so) of the Thebaean Legion is verifyed in the usage that they meet withal. They have so many Hands against them, that their Lives are in their Hands; and from that Flock of Slaughter, now one, and then another is made a prey to Wolvish Persecutors; before whole Rabid Violence, they say, Lord, For thy sake We are killed all the Day Long.
And this is the case of Souldiers too. It was remarked by a notable man of that Character, … 2 Sam. 11.25. The Sword Devoureth One as Well as another. The Hebrews call War, by a Name that signifies, A Devourer. And Souldiers carry in their Hands, what the Monster feeds upon; the Leviathan devours the Lives of them who do Encounter him. The Lives of Souldiers are where their Arms are, even in their Hands; for they know not whether they shall return Alive, out of the Battels which they are push'd upon.
And it is for a double Reason that our God carves out such a condition for us.
First, It is to check our Worldly-mindedness: It was said unto that good man, in Jer. 45.5. Seekest thou great things for thy self, seek them not; for— thy Life will I give unto thee for a prey. When our Life is for a prey, our Life is then in our Hand; we have it by a meer snatch as it were. This now prohibits our seeking of great things for our selves, in as much as we cannot secure to our selves the Enjoyment of That, which alone makes us capable of Enjoying all other Sublunary Things. By bringing our Lives into our Hands, our Hands are knock'd away from too fast a gripe or grasp after Secular Objects. When our Life is in our Hand, God has a voice in His Mouth to this purpose, Dream not of mighty Things, no, nor of any Things in this Transitory World, until thou hast better Assurance of thy continuance here. The blessed God thus inviteth us, and obligeth us, to look after the glorious Crowns and Ioyes in another VVorld. He Inviteth us, and obligeth us, To set our Affections upon the Things which are above; and, To Look at the Things which are not seen and are Eternal; and to make sure of an Hope in Christ, without which we see (when we have Life in Hand) our selves to be of all men most miserable.
Secondly; It is to cure our Creature-Confidence. It was said by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 1.9. We had a Sentence of Death in our selves, that we should not trust in our selves, but in God, which raises the Dead. A Condemned Malefactor carries his Life in his Hand, from the Bar. VVe are sometimes in as perilous a Likelihood of Dying, as a condemned Malefactor; and we are hereby called upon to Trust in God alone for the Reversing and Repealing of the Sentence. By having our Lives in our Hands, we are under a Necessity of Reliance upon God alone to keep them there. VVhen we have our Life in our Hand, we have also that call in our Ear, Do not Lean upon any Temporal Visible, Interest for the preservation of thy Life; let all thy Expectations be, as all thy Salvations are, from God alone. The Lord breaks down the Hedge on every side of us, and we Ly open to Death every way: 'tis that we may reserve our Dependance for all support, and all succour, to be placed upon God alone; 'tis that we may learn the Song of him that returned with his Life in his Hand from the maw of the great Shark; Salvation is of the Lord.