Serious Reflections on Time and Eternity, Tract · Chapter 3 – Chapter 4
III. Of the Uncertainty of Living to the Period of another Year. The Vanity of this Life: The Swiftneſs of Time, and how to be improved.
I Now begin another Year: But what Aſſurance have I to out-live it? I cannot ſay how ſoon my Sovereign Judge may call me hence, and ſummon me to appear before his Righteous Bar. O let me not defer my neceſſary Preparation for Death, which may be nearer than I imagine! Let me mind the Great things first, which are of abſolute neceſſity to be done, ſome time or other before I dye. This periſhing Body which I have pampered and indulged, at the expence of ſo much Coſt and Time, may be putrifying in a ſilent Grave, before half this Year be paſt. Lord! bleſs this thought, to awaken my diligent endeavours to ſecure the Bleſſedneſs of Eternity! to mortifie the Deſire of Great things for my ſelf, in future Years, by the conſidered poſſibility of dying before the end of this! Let me look into the Graves of others, and conſider that this may quickly happen to me, and muſt ere long be my own caſe: Let me think what this Body will ſhortly be, when it hath been ſix or eight days ſeparated from my Soul; how vile? how loathſome? that I may deſpiſe the Beauty, and be dead to the Pleaſures of the Body, which ſo eaſily, ſo ſuddenly, ſo ſtrangely may be changed. For no Glaſs is more brittle, no Bubble more vaniſhing, no Ice more diſſolving, no Flower more fading, no Shadow leſs ſubſtantial, no Sleep or Dream more deceiving, no Sound more tranſient, nothing more vain and more uncertain than Life, on which all other things in this World depend. My days are as nothing, ſaith Job, though they laſted above two Ages. There is hardly any thing very Frail and Fading, Mutable and Uncertain, but the Spirit of God in Scripture ſets forth the Vanity of Life by; as if he would teach us by it, from the Light of every periſhing Object, which our Eyes behold, to reflect on our own Mortality. We ſleep every Night, in the outer Chambers of Death: And in ſome Diſeaſes Sleep, which is the image and Picture of Death, is taken away, to give place to the Original, and make way for death. And every year, every week, every day are haſtening to our final Change; which may overtake us ere we are aware. Every day we loſe ſome part of our Lives; in our very growth from Infancy to Manhood, our Life decreaſes and grows leſs. Every Pulſe and Breath doth tell us we are haſtening to the End of Time, and calls upon us to diſpatch our Work. Every Word we ſpeak, is formed of that Breath whereby we live; and we may not live to pronounce another Sentence, but the Lamp of Life may be extinguiſht and blown out by a ſudden Blaſt. Every thing we do, carries away ſome Sands of our little Glaſs of Time; and how little may remain? Or how ſoon may the Glaſs be broke? Our Souls are in our Bodies, as a little Air incloſed in a thin Bubble; how eaſily is that broken, and where are we? How many who are now alive, in health and vigour, who deliberate on their Meat and Drink, and are curious of Air and Exerciſe, to maintain themſelves in Health, and pleaſe themſelves with the Dream of Years to come, ſhall never ſee another New-years-day? It may be not another month, or week or morrow? Many have promiſed themſelves great things on the morrow, but dyed before Night: Let me not ſay, I ſhall not dye this Day, when I may this Hour; and 'tis but once for all, there is no amending an ill Death, by another Tryal. When I lye down to ſleep, I hope to riſe ſtronger and freſher, and fitter for work; but I know withal, I may riſe no more. And may not my Name be on the Roll of thoſe who ſhall next be called, at leaſt ſome time this Year? Let me not then neglect or fooliſhly delay my Principal Buſineſs, to provide againſt a Change, which is inevitable, but the time of it altogether doubtful. Ought not my firſt and chiefeſt Care be imployed to make my Peace with God, (He alone can be my Happineſs; to his final Judgment I am haſtening: His Favour alone can give me ſupport and Joy in a dying Hour: To his Mercy I muſt truſt, when I leave this World, and can have no advantage more by any thing in it:) that he may mercifully receive my Soul at Death and be my Everlaſting Portion? Do I know my Life is thus vain and tranſient, and ſhall I not ſeriouſly improve it to ſuch a Purpoſe? Shall theſe Thoughts leave no Impreſſion upon me? Do I breath continually in this Element of Vanity, and yet forget where I am, and remain inſenſible of ſo near a Change? Shall theſe Thoughts paſs away as a vaniſhing Cloud, and diſtil no ſoftening drops on my Soul? Shall the Image of Death, which meets me every where, be only like an appearing Ghoſt or Phantaſm, that ſtartles and ſcares a little, but is preſently gone, and no more conſidered? O! let me now remember to make God my Friend, and ſecure an intereſt in his Eternal Mercy, while the Day laſts; yea, while my Reaſon and Underſtanding are free, and not diſturbed and clouded by Fear and Pain, and the Diſorders of the Body, as commonly they are in Sickneſs, if God ſhould vouchſafe me that Warning, which yet I may not promiſe my ſelf to have, for I may be cut off by a Sudden Stroke, before the end of this Year, I now begin.
And how great and neceſſary a Work have I to do in ſo ſhort and ſo uncertain a Portion of Time? endleſs joy or Miſery will be the conſequence of ſpending this preſent Time. My ignorant Soul muſt be inſtructed, my carnal Heart renewed, many falſe Opinions muſt be unlearnt, and ſinful Cuſtomes changed, and powerful Luſts mortified, and ſtrong Temptations overcome, and many Graces to be obtained, exerciſed, ſtrengthned and preſerved, to pleaſe and ſerve, and gratifie an Holy Omnipreſent God, my Soveraign; and expreſs the Thankfulneſs of my Heart and Life to Chriſt my Saviour; and is all this nothing? Is not all my little haſty Time too little for ſuch a Work? to prepare for a ſafe and comfortable Death in order to a bleſſed Eternity?
IV. Of the ſeeming Difference, between ſo many Years Paſt, and the ſame number of Years to come.
WHen I look back on the preceeding Years of my Life, how eaſily can I graſp them all at once? they are even as Yeſterday when 'tis paſt. But ſo many Years to come hath ſomething great and vaſt, which fills my Thoughts, and affects my Mind, after another manner. Such is the difference between paſt Injoyments, and the Expectation of future. Let me ſuppoſe the ſame term and duration of Years, and yet how different are my Apprehenſions of what is paſt, and of what is yet to come! Things paſt by a remembrance of ſome remarkable Paſſages, when they happened, ſeem to be preſent with me: But not knowing what may happen in the ſame number of Years to come, I have nothing whereon to ſix my Thoughts. Or the Reaſon of this Difference may rather be, that Men in this degenerate & neceſſitous State (with unſatisfied Deſires reaching after Happineſs, and ſenſible nothing preſent can afford it, and knowing by Experience that nothing paſt could have done it, (are eagerly deſirous of Felicity; and becauſe we know not but what is to come may procure it, we hope it will; which makes the Time ſeem long by reaſon of our Expectation and Deſire of Good. Whereas the foreſight of Evil, and the Expectation of that, ſome years hence, makes the Time rather ſeem ſhort and near at hand: So many years to come, in the expectation and deſire of Good, are long and tedious; ſuch Hope deferred makes the Heart ſick; even tho' 'tis of that ſort as muſt needs fail our expectations. Prepare me, Lord! for what thine unerring Counſel ſhall pleaſe to order, as to the remainder of my time on Earth; and ſuffer me not to count upon a great number of Years to come, ſince this, for ought I know, may be my laſt; neither let me expect Reſt and Happineſs in this World, which nothing Temporal can afford. This is not the ſtate or ſeaſon, wherein, by any promiſe of God, I am encouraged to hope it. And if fifty or threeſcore years to come, be thought ſo great a matter, and really is ſo, as to our ſtay on earth; Oh what apprehenſions ought I to admit concerning an endleſs, everlaſting State! eſpecially being as certain of the latter, after Death, as I am uncertain about the former; whether ſo many Years be yet to come before my Death. Let me not herereafter be ſo prepoſterous in any Solicitude, Cares and Fears, as to be anxious for to Morrow, and yet be thoughtleſs of Eternity.