------------------------~----~--~----------------------------------- }Ltft!) JLtafe. 367 ---------------------------------------------------------~--- the flower which will not fade, thewme the fruit whi~h will not cor.rupt, lhew me the garment which will not wear, thew me the beauty wh1ch wlll not Wither, thew me the itrength which will not welken : behold, now is the houre that thy l•ghts thall darken, thy cheeks wrinckle, thy skmne be furrowed, .thy bcautV fade, and thy llrength decoy. Here is the ambition of a long life; thy le~fe lies a bleedmg, and death raps at the door of thy heart to take poflcffion: 0 forcible entire ! will not plcafures delay? cannot riches ranfome? dares not ll:rength defie? Is neither wit nor wealth .able to deceive nor bribe? what may rent this houfe, that the foul may but lodge there one night longer? Poor foul, that dies (or departs) in unremedied pangs! our fins may run on fcore , and repentanceforget her days of pa.Yment. Yet our leafe!haUend, the date expire,. this body fuffer, and the foul be dnvcn from ~er houre and harbour. See the fwift courfe of our mortal S1m , at North and South, tn our mothers Womb and tomb both in one year. . . Confider this, ye thitt forget God, you have but ayear to live, and every feafon y1elds Vfe. . fame occafion to tell you, ye mull: die; In childhood, what is your chell: of clouts, but a remembrance of our winding.theets? bryouth, what is your mirth and mufick, but a fummons to the knell? In manhood, what is your houfe and enclofure, but a token of the coffin? In age, what is your chair or litter, but a lhew of the beer, which at !all: !hall convey you to your graves ! Man, ere he is ~ware, hath drell his herfe: every feafon addingfomething to his folemnity. \Vhere ts the Adulterer, Murtherer, Drunkard, Blafphemer•? Are you about your fins? look on thefe objects; There is a Sunne notv feuing, or a candle bitrning, or an houre-glaj[e mnning, or aflower decaying, or a Traveller paffing,or a vapour 'Vnnijhing,or a fick__mlln g>wming,or a jlrong man dJing; te fure there is fomething pulls you by the fleeve, and bids you beware to commit fuch enormities : Who dares live in finne, that confiders;.vith him(elf he mull: die foon? And who will not confider, that fees before his eyes fo many a remembrancers? Alas, we mull: die, and howfoever we palfe from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood., from manhood to age; yet there is none can be more than old : here1is the utrnoll of our life, a Senctlurem Spring, aSmnmpr.,.an·Al<tumn, "Winter; and when that is done, you know the whole nemo cxccdii Tear is finithed. ·The fumme is aTear,] the Items are D11yes.] And what Dayes can ye expect o fuch aTtar? my Text, in relation tothefedayes,. gives os two attributes, thefirll: is few, the fecond is evil ; if you confider our d11yes, m regard of the fewmj[e, (which this word feems rather to intimate) you trtay fee them in Scripture.brought to fewer and fewer, till they are well near brought to nothing. If we begin with the beginning, wefindfirll: 1 that the firll: man Adamhad a !cafe of his Iifeinfee, arid (as Lawyers fay) To h11ve and to hold, from the bcgiiming to cver– Iall:iug : but for eating the forbidQcn fruit, he made a forfeiture of that cll:atc: of this he was torwarned, In the day thAt thou eates1 thereof, thouJhAlr die the dra·h, Gen. G.lt. 2, 1 'f 2. I7. And this he found too true, becaufe thot< '"'ft Mten of rhe tree, whereof I commanded thee, Tho~t jhalt not e"t ; --what then ? amongll: other curfcs this was one, Duft thou art, and to the dHft thou jha!t returne, Gen. 3. I 9· After him, the longell: life Gen. 3· 19 came lhort ofthe number of a thoufand yeares; The daycs ofMcthufaicm(faith Mofes) were nine hundred, fixtie, and nineyeares, Gen. 5· ~7· and had he come to a thoufand Gen. s. ,; which never was attaiped by man; yet a thou(and years'"' but one day Jvith God', 2 Peter 3· 8. yea , but a yellerday, faith Mofes; .A thoufalldyears i" Gods fight, are , PtJ. 3 . g but as yefftrday, Pfalm90. 4· But what fpeak I of a thoufand yeares? no fooner came f! a! 9o. 4 the flood, but the age of man (of every man born after it) was !hortcpcd half in half. The[e arcthegeneratiom of Sem (faith Mofes) Gen. I I. IO. to wit, Arphaxad, and Grn. 11.10 Selah, and Eber tiOne of which there could reach to the number of five hundred years; the longell: liver was Ebcr, and yet all his dayes, befor~ and afte~ his firll:-borne Peieg, were but [o11re h1mdred, fixty, and foHryears, Gen. 11. I 6, 17. nay, a> if half a G:n. 11.16; •i thoufand were more than too rnuch, yo\:i may fee God halfs their ages once ag1in : Peleghves as long as any man after him, and yet hi$ daies were neither a thoufand,nor half athoufand . nor half of half a thoufand . no no more than nvb hundred, thirty and nine ;:e.~res, Gen. 1 I. I 8, I 9· but this was' a l;ng life too: Ifwe come to arri~e at Gen. II ,g,,9 th~t1me of Jacob, we !hall find this little time well-near halfed again; when he fpoke thts text,hc tells he was one hundred and thirtyye~trs old, and after this he lived no longer than f~ventecn years more;fo that the whole age of Jacob was but (fevenfcore and fcven) •<n hHndredfo/lrty and frvm years, Gen. +7· 28. Nay, to l~ave Jacob a while, and to Gen. 41· 2 3 eome
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