37° 1Ltfcs ILeafe. o~! ct~bit, htt a fJum, b~tt at7 i;:cb~ but a poin~, nay leffe than thttt: here's little longitude of hfe. \Veil, but our latitude perhaps •s_grcater: no, take a meafure ifyou pleafe fro:n one pole to another,_ as_we !land betWIXt the tcrmes of life and death, and where– foever we arc, death is w1thm a hand.breadth of our life: if we be on the fca there's but a thick:board betwixt. us 1nd drowning : if on the land, here's but a Jhor-fole be. twixt us and our grave : 1f we fieep,our bed is our bodies grave, anci there's but ajheet, (perh~ps a winding-Jl1ect) betwixt us and it: when we arc awake, our body is our fouls grave, nnd there's but afewskjns (as fay Phyficians) betwixt death andus. What is it! but d\C breadth of an hJmd, ofaboard, ofajhoe-[ole, ofa thinJheet, ofafma/1 skjm;e : there's little latitude you fee. Well, but our profundity may help all this : go tu therefore, and fee what that is. I !hall not lead you down many !!eps , for in– deed there are not m~ny llcps to lead you down. fn one word , come to the centre of the heart ofJnan : The Grcoians, to expre!fe the iliallowne!fc of this life,give the fame name to the heart, that they do to death : K'"J is the heart, the author oflife; and K · f is ciclliny , the worker of death; to thew that as every man hath an heart, fo cloth hath a dart for every man. Chrillians! mortals! confider your magnitude in all thcfc dimenGons; alas, how is it that many of you make your fclves fo great? what mean thofe titles which you take upon you? Tour Greatneff<, Tour Highnejfe, ToHr-– l know not what. 0 confider the mortality of your bodies, and that will tell you the *Mocs fo!a juf1: *fcantling of your fclvcs. farcrur' 2. For the 1mdrirude cfo11r day", he was branded with the name of a fool, that ,11~41 r0~~~~ithought he had manyyears to live. Mofes tells us, Thcdayes of o;rr years are rhrecfcure i!Jm corpufcu- ye.•rs and ten, Pfal. 90. 1 o. But now (as you heard) we value our life but at fivm Ja. ) nven•'· years, as if fix years we had to labour, and to do all we had t9 do; but the fcvenrh ~"1 t ,' 0 l were a Sabbath to reft with God, Rev. 14. 13· Nay, yet the Scripture comes Comeeve·' ··· 1 what lower, and bccaufe a Plurality might caufe a fccurity, it bcf1:owes but a unity upon our years: thus Jacob mth1s Text reckons of agreat number of one year, Th• d~yes of the year of my lifeare ~tn hundred and thirtypars, Gen. 47. 9. Nay .Anjline comes iliorter, and compares our life to a quarter of a year, like Jehoahafh's reign,which Gm. 47· 9 •Kint< >J. 3' laf1:ed aboretthrecmonethstime, 2 King. 23. 31. Nay , the Scripture defcendsfrom ::~~~i~~!:':a, moneths to dayes? Few and evil are my dayes, faith Jflcob '. ii_npling that this life is but f,d diurna. afew dayes , or but * one day as fame would have It , wh1ch ts the meanmg of Chnfis Ma!th .6. 11 Prayer, (}ive us this day o;q daily brc.~d, Matth. 6. 11 . And yet that we may not think our death a g ·cat way off, the Scripture tells us,it is not a day to come: no, Boaft not l'rov. 27. 1 ofto morro1v, f or zhouk.._noweJJ not what a day may bring forth, Prov. 27. 1. Tlly d~y is this prefent day, and therefore faith the Apollle, To day if you will hear his voice, Heb. 3. 7· nay, to fpcak further, this day (faith job) is pall already, We are b11t ofyefterd~y, }ieb. 3· 7 Job 8. 9 · nay, as if a day were too long for the life ofman, .Mofes refemblcs it to the n1·ajfc that grows up in the morning , and is cut down in the evening, Pfal. 90. 6. and G-regory compares it to Jonahs gourd, that came up in a night, andperijhed ere the day w.u J rn•/' 4· ro done, Jonah4. 10. Thecveningandthe morning m~k.J but one day, Gencfis 1. 5· bur *Qucrnd~ts *our day is oft-times an evening without a morning, and oft-times a m•rning without ;:rtcr bvemcns an evening. Nay, yet to go lower,as ifhalf a day were more than our-li fe could parallel, ~~~:~ d~:;· Mofes compares it to a watch, which is but the fourth part ofa night Pfal. 90. 4· Yea, vir!er 'abiens and as if this were longer than our life cloth la!l:, the Scripture caHJit but an hour, John jaccb!<m. ·5. 25. The hour iscoming, and now is, faith Chrill : nay, our li(e is but _a minme, or Ff•l 9°· 4 if we can fay lc!fc , a moment: In a moment they go down to the gi<Qve, fatth Job, Job ~~Z:~: :; 21. q. and Jnamomcntfhalltheydie, faithElihu, Job H: 20• .AndalyingtongueiJ Jo9 H · 2o but for a moment, faith Solomon, Prov. 12. 1.9· and Our hght a.fJlzflw': zs bur for_ a moy,.v. ••· 19 ment faith Paul, 2 Cor. 4- 17. Lo here the length of our little life, this IS the •Cor. 4· 1 7 grad~tion that God makes of it: at fir!! a matter of fevemy years, but thefe were tythed from Jtventy to[even; this number again was made no number, one jingle)CAr: 11 year l nay a moneth, nay a day, nay an hour, vay a minme, nay a moment ; asJoon as we were born we began to draw to our end, Wifd. 5. 13. There's but one poor momenr Wrfd. $.Ij • whichw;havetolive, andwhenthatisfpent, ourlifcisgone; How.? but one? and a moment ? one is the lea!l: number that is, and a moment the iliorte!! time that ever wos : 0 what mean men to plot and project for the time to come, as if this life would never be done ! 0 confider ofthe littlenefs of the time that thou hall to live! 0 con– fider of the greatnc!fe of-the matter that depends upon it! thy body, foul, heaven and hell, all hangs on this thread, a lhort life, a few daycs.] few] and evil h•ve zhe dayes of my life been, You
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