when all is' done, as if all this were too little, we flcep_ again, and go from (our grave) dv1F" .,..,[. the bed , to (that bed) our grave. A Jleep ? \hat IS too quiet; it is nothiug but a '"P"· Arino- dream, faith Ariflophanes; all our worldly pleafures are but waking dreamcs at !aft i'IM!";!· Death rouzeth our fouls that have flept m finnc, then lifting up our heads, a'nd feeing :;;~:~~'&. all gone, we awake forrowing. A drean::, onhcdream of 11 Jl1adon•, faith Pindarw; the l'ind. in PJtiJ. worll:, the weakell: dream that can be 1magmed ; fure one itcp further were to arrive Vi<> quid _ni~ at deaths door; and yet thus. far arc. w~ led by the hand of N11t11re: nay, if you rnorru •m•so. will, lower ; death fuccceds life, and life IS but the imnge of death, faith c ato. Here is Garo. a true picture ofour frailty, l.fe is like death; indeed fo like, fo near together that we cannot differ each from other. ' Vfe, z. See here the condition of our life; what is it but a Rofe, a Grajfe," fiCl11re, a Play a Shew, a Sletp, a DrMm, an image ofDMth? fuch a thing is life, that we fo mu~h talk of. · And if Nawrc give this light, how blind arc they that c?nr.ot fee itfes frailty? you need no more but mark the Dejlmus (as Poets fe1gn) to fpm the1r threads: one holds another draws, a third cutsJt off; what is your life but a thread? fome have a lltonge; twill:, others a more flender: fome J:ve till near rot, others die when fcarce born: there's none endures long; this thread o! life is cut fooner or later, and then our work is done, our courfe is finilh.ed. Are thefe the Emblemcs of our life? and dare we trull to this broken ll:affe ? how do the Heat~cn precede us Chrillians in thefe ll:udics ? Their bockJ were skulls, their desk_s weregraves, their remembrance an hour-glajfe. !\wake your fouls, and bethink you of mortality ; have you any priviledge for your lives.' are not Heathens and Chriftians of one Father A dam i of one mother Eart /q ? the Gofpel may free you from the fecond, not the firll: death; only pruvide you for the firll:, to efcape the fccond death. 0 men, what be your thoughts? nothing but of Cioods and Barncs, andmany TeaYJ? you may boall: of Life, as Oromaz.c; the Conjurer ofhis Egge, which ( he faid ) included the felicity of the world; yet being operied, there was nothing but Winde: Think what you pleare, your life is but aWind, which may be ll:opt foon, but cannot !all: long by the Jaw of Nawre, Btjt fecondly, as Nature, fo ScriptHre will inform you in this point. The life ofman is but of little efteem; what is it but a Shrub, or a Brier in the fire? As the cracbJing of thortles under the pot, fo is the (life or) laughter ofthe foci; momcntany and vanity, Ecclef. 7· 6. Nay, aJhrub were fomething, but our life is Jdfe, no better than a lc4; nota tree, nor.lh.rub, nor fruit, nor bloffome: We allfade M a l~af, ant{OI'r iniq~:itilf likfthewindeht~ve fweyt usaw11y, !fa. 6+. 6. Yet a' le.tf maygloryofhisbirth, it is defccnded of a Tree; Life is a Reed, fometime~broken, at !call: fhaken; fo vain, fo infirm, fo inconftant is the life of man: What wmt )'Oil out to fee i a reed Jhak,!n with M•tth.rr. 7 , the winde i Matth. 1 I. 7· Nay a reedwere fomcthing, our life is bafcr, indeed no better than a rujhor flag. Can a rujh grow without mire? though it weregreen, and not cut down, yetJha/1 it wither before any oth~r herb, Job 8. I r, 12. What !hall I fay more? what !hall I cry, a mfh i Alljlejll isgra!fe, and all the grace thereofas the jloweycoft!Je field; the grajfe !!'ithercth, the jlowerfadeth, furely the people is grajfe, !fa. 40, 7· I am defcendcd beneath jull: patience, but not fo low as the life ofman; as all thcfe refemble life, fo in fome meafure they have life.: but life is aJmokf, without any fpark of life in it: thus cries David, My dayes are conjitmed !ikf}""k:' and my bones arc burnt likt an hearth, Pfal. 102. 3· Yet is here no~, thejiiiDk! ingcnders clouds, and acloud is the fittell: refcmblancc of our life: My e!farc paj{cth away as a cloud (faith Job) And our lifejha/1 pajfe an(ay as the trace ofa clo d, & come to noHght, as the n1ijf that u drwen away with the betWts of the S11n, Job 30. 1 S. Neither is this all , clouds may hang calm, but life is like a tempell:, it is acloud, and a windc too; Renumber that my lifeisbHt a wind, tmdthatmineeye jhal/not turn to feepleafure, Job 7· 7· Nay, we mull: lower, and ·find a weaker element; it is not a winde, but water, faid that woman of T<kfah, We are Jo£8. 12 oSam. t4-l4 tU water fpilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, 2 S:m1. 14, 14. yet is water both a good and necdfary element. Life is the Jeait part of water'· nothing but a foam, a bubble: ·The King ofSamaria (that great King) ts dcftr.yed as the[oa)n 11pon the water, HoC, 10, 7· I can no more, and yet here is fomething leffc, afoam or b,bble may burft into a vapour, and What isyo~~r ltfe? it is even a vapo"r that appearethjtra 1~ma4 •. 14 little time, and«ftcrwardsVtmiflut!, away, Jam. ·4· I+. Leffe then this is nothing', yet life is fomething leffc, nothing in fubfiance; all it is, it is but a Jhadow, We are jlra11gers •end Jejc~trners as nil c11r fAthrrs wo·e; cur dayes are t.k! aJhadow 11pon the uzrrb,o,.'- there ts · non,
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