II. That the state of man in the world to come, holds a proportion to his fpirit and temper; to the tenour of his life, and actions in this world.. I. That if we would take a right estimate of -man, we must confider him in respect to a double ftate; here, and hereafter; and that for thefe two reafons. 1st. Because there is lefs of man here, and hereafter. more 2dly. Because man is more valuable than this world reprefents him to be. I. The first of these I will make appear in three particulars, that there is lefs of man here, and much more hereafter. 1. In respect of his time, and continuance in being. Though we do but little, confider how uncertain our being is in this world; yet fee how abundant the fcripture is, in admonishing us of our uncertain abode, and short continuance in this world, Job vii. 6. My days are fwifter than a weaver's fhuttle; and you know how fuddenly that goes and returns, Job viii. 9. Our days upon earth are a fhadow, which if once a cloud come, the shadow vanishes. Job xiv. I, 2. Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth alfo as a fhadow, and continueth not. Gen. xlvii. 9. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been this was old Jacob's account of himself. And men that have been serious and confiderate, have thus reported concerning themfelves, and others: 1 Chron. xxix. 15. For we are Strangers before thee and fojourners, as were all our fathers: : S 3 thers our days on the earth are as a fhadow, and there is none abiding. Pfal. xxxix. 4. 5, 6. Lord make me to know mine end; and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou haft made my days as an hand-breadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man, at his beft eftate, is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew, furely they are difquieted in vain. Pfal. xc. 9. We spend our years as a tale that is told. Pfal. cii. 11. My days are like a fhadow that declineth: and I am withered like grafs. Pfal. ciii. 15, 16. As a flower of the field, fo he flourisheth. For the wind paffeth over it, and it is gone. Pfal. cxliv. 4. Man is like to vanity, his days are as a fhadow that paffeth away. Ifaiah xl. 6. All flesh is grass, and all the goodlinefs thereof is as the flower of the field: the grafs withereth, the flower fadeth away. And this is brought by the apostle, as an argument, that rich men should rejoice when they are brought low. James i. 10. Because as the flower of the grafs, he shall pass away. And it is referred to in 1 Pet, i. 24. For all flesh is as grafs, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grafs withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. And good men have had this fenfe of the fhortnefs of their abode in this world. 1 Pet. ii. 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as ftrangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lufts which war against the soul. And as knowing they had no continuing city here, they look't for one to come. Heb. xiii. 14. To all these places of holy writ give me leave to add one out of the apocryphal writers. Wisdom v. 13. As foon as we were born, we began to draw to our latter end. And And fee how he reprefents the condition of men in this world by things of the greatest swiftness, and uncertainty; as a shadow, and as a post that hasteth by, which no man may ftay; even fo a man hurries through time, into eternity, v. 11. 12. As a Ship that palleth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the path-way of the keel in the waves. Or as a bird that hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found. Or like as when an arrow is fhot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again; fo that a man cannot know where it went through. Even so doth a man pafs through the world. But I need not stand to prove this, it being a point of undoubted certainty and every man's observation; but (the more is the pity) of too little confideration. Let us therefore pafs over this point with the good meditation of the pfalmift, Pfal. xc. 12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wifdom. Time is a thing of the greatest importance, but of the most uncertain continuance; for we may say, upon the improvement of a little time, the state and welfare of an immortal foul doth depend to eternity. In this refpect you see that lefs of a man is in this world than hereafter here he is frail, and weak, brittle, and crafy, obnoxious to difeafes and all manner of accidents: fo that, were we not the care of divine providence, when we confider the many conveyances that are in our bodies, the varieties and changes we are expofed unto: we fhould think it a thousand to one, that a man lived to fix. ty ty years. That is the first thing; there is lefs of a man in this world, in refpect of his being and continuance here. 2. In this ftate, there is lefs of right judgment of things, and perfons. Things here, go under falfe appearances; and perfons here, are under the pow er of lying imaginations. The platonifis have obferved, that there is a world of diligence, care, and thoughtfulness neceffary for a man to understand the truth. I should not bely human nature, if I fhould fay, that the wifeft of us live very much in a fools paradife; and that in a world of things, we are mistaken; and that our fuppofitions are not well grounded, nor our apprehenfions well governed, nor our hope and expectation well fecured. There is much of that which is falfe, miftaken and infincere, that takes place in the life of man. I might here inftance in wealth and riches, which are thought to be the greatest reality in the world, and yet one of the wifeft men that ever was, and one that had the greatest experience, hath told us, that it is great folly for a man to fet his heart upon it. Prov. xxii. 5. Wilt thou fet thine eyes upon that which is not ? for riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away, as an eagle towards heaven. But then, as for the profane and diffolute part of the world, they live altogether in a lio, and are falfe in the main. For the fool hath faid in his heart there is no God. Pfal. xiv. 1. Not that he hath any ground for fuch a fuppofition or imagination: for fee what the pfalmift faith, in the next words as an account from whence this opinion arifeth, corrupt are they, and have done abominable works. So that this wicked principle in their mind, did arife from the wicked practices of their lives. Whereas, it ought to be, practice in pursuance of principle but here it is, principle accommodate, and fuitable to loofe and vile practice. And well might the pfalmift call these fools, because they are bold to control the eternal and indifpenfible reafon of things, and venture to deny the difference between good and evil, upon a moral account. And certainly thefe, in a chriftian ftate, are horribly prodigious and monftrous, that fhall take up fuch principles; when the very philofophers, who had only the light of nature, have fo ftrongly vindicated the difference of things, upon a moral account. And, if mind and understanding in man, fignify any thing; or if a man know any thing in the world, by the natural use of his mind and understanding; he knows the difference of good and evil, upon a moral account. But many mens principles are vitiated and corrupted by the exorbitancy of their practice, and a vitiated fenfe is no true judge. But to fpeak home to the point, that men here live in a lie, and are under mifapprehenfion, and led away with falfe appearances, that there is but little in the life of man that is fincere, and true the fool hath said to himself, that he had goods laid up for many years, and that his foul might now, eat drink, and be merry, Luke xii. 19. But v. 20. God faid unto him, thou fool, this night thy foul Shall be required of thee; then whofe shall those things be which thou haft provided. So Ifa. lvi. 12. we read of fome that fay, come let us fetch wine, and we will |
