1Ltfcs 1£,cafc. 379 -·--- tome dying, in every fheet men ·watching, in every place, every where, wailing and weeping, or groaning & dying. Thefc are the evils that ha.vc been,] and how fhould we forget them that have one~ fcen them with our eyes? Call to mmdc wne paJf, was the .. rule ofEcmard; and what better rule h1Ve we to fquare our lives, than the remcm- ;ccol'/'>n:oro brancc ofthofe evils which our lives have fuffcred? Look back then with Jacob, ancl ·"· <tJ. we have gooc\ rcafon to redeem the time paft, bccaufe onr dayes have been evil. 2 • But there !S yet another rcafon why rhcfc few evil daycs have been.] As the time pr.fl is bef! known to Jac·ob, fo the life of Jacob is but as the time pafl. Go to non·, (faith St. J ames) ye that r~y to day 07/0 nwrroiV IVe willgo into[itch a City, and contmue there ayear, and buy amffoil, and;;er gain, andyet ye cannot tell what jhal! be to morrow, ]ti!IJrs 4· 13 Jam. 4 . q . It is amcer prcfumpt!On to boafl of the tuneto come~ can any man fay he will live till to morrow? Look back ye that trufr to th!s fiafF of Egypt, there IS no man can affure you of this day; jj.fan k_noweth not his time, faith the Preacher, Ecclef. Ecclef. 9 • 12 C). 1 2. As near as it is to night, it may b~ before evening fomc one of us may be dead, and cold, and fitter to lodge in our graves under earth, than in our beds above it; nay, affure your fdves, our life is of no rong continuance: What fpcak we of to morrow, or thisday? we are not fure of (that leaft of times divifion)' avery hour: Watch therefore (faith our Saviour,) and will you know the reafon: For ye /z.n•w neithcrrhe rJ,.y, M•e~l> 2l· 13 nor the how !Vhen the Sorme of man will oome,Matth. 25.13. The man With ten or twenty dilhes fer before him on his table, when he hath full intelligence that in one of them is poyfon, will he not rcfufc all, left in eating of any he runne upon the hazard of his life? W.hat is our life but a few houres? and in one of them death mufl needs come; watch then, for the hour is at hand, and we know not how foon it will fci ·Le upon us. This hour the breath thou drawcfr may be thy infection, this hour the bread thou eatell: " may be thy poyfon,this hour the cup thou tafleft may be that cup that mujl not pafsfrom thee. But what fpcakwc of this hour,fceing it is come,and gone?The fweetefl: ditty that Mofes fung, were his briefs and femi-briefs of life, and what is it' but a wau·h? Pfal. P[al. 9o. 4• 90. 4- what is it but ajleep? Pfal. 90. 5. We watch when it is dark, we flecp when it Pfal. 5o. s is night; if then our !if~ be no more but a night·work, what is rruer than this wonder, our life is door, our daye; they have been? . Youmaythinkwegofarre toprovefo flrangeaParadox: yet 'job goes further; 7ob. 8. 9 what arc we but of yefterday, torotJr dayeS' 1tpon earth are but ajhadow? Job. 8. 9· See here the chronologie of mans railty, we have a time to live, and when is it, think you? not to morrow, nor to day, nor this hour, nor lafr night, it is as long fince asyefterd4J itfolf. Are not we flrangcly deceived '! What mean our plots and projects for the time to come? why,ourlife is done,and we are now but dead men. To fpeak properly, In the mid(! oflife we be in death, our \\>hole life being truly ( if not pail, yet) as the time paJf that is gone and vanilhed. The firrtilitude or rcfemblance will run in thcfe refpeCls; The f fi 5 cannot be recalled. lme pa / fuddcnly is vanifhed. . 'And fo is our life: can we recal that which is fled away? the life that we le.d yeftcr day, you fee it is &one;, the life that :vclcd lafl.ni~ht, it is pafl and done; the life that we led th1s morn•ng, 1t 1snow a gomg, nay, It IS gone affoon as we have fFoken, Nicodemus's faying according to the flefh was true, How can aman be born which is old.> Jobn l· 4 can he en:er into his mothers wombe again,and be borne? John 3 . 4· How lhould a man rc- ~all that IS pafl? can he receive again the foul once given, and begin to live ? Man never fo great in power, and fpreading himfelflil;s agreen baytree; a tree] mofl durabk; "bay·tree] moO: flourifhing; agreen bay tree J that is mofl in prime, if anything P[. 1 • 6 Wlll.ftand at a flay, what is more likely; yet he pafled away, (faith the Pfalmift) and 11 'L " 35 • 3 lohe~asgone; !fought him, buthecottld not be fo•md, Pfal. 37· 35, .36· Wecannot fiay t1me prefent; How lhould we recal time pafi? See hete the man on whom the eyes of the world are fixt with admiration,. yet for all this he pajfech] with9ut flay; he tsgone] Withoutrecal; I fought him, btttto.finde pim] is without all recovery. Time was that Adamhved in Paradife, Noah b)Jilt an Ark, David flew Goliah, Alexander overcame the world: where be there men that are the wonder of us living? we all know !hey are loq~ fince dead, an~ the times th~y raw lha!l ,never COf!lC again.. How foncl was that fiClwn of Plato, that after the revolution of his tedious year,~n he mufr live A>mm PIJ:o2gam and teach hiS Scholars in the fame chair he fate ill ? our faith is aB'<ivc his reafon, .,;,.,, for The heavens Jha/1paj[e aw~y; tfic clCimnts jl1a/l mtlt with heat, "nd the earth with the 2 Per. 3 10 . Cc c ~ ,, ., wor.k.!
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