The Life ofFaith. 167 fore : And fin bath made them much narrower, foolifh and fhort-fighted than they wouldhave been. A certainty ofd y- ing atleft, fbould do much with us : But yet he that i,eoketh to litre long on earth, will the more hardly live by Faith in Heaven ; when he that daily waiteth for his change, will have eatily the more ferious and eifcâual thoughts of the world in which he mutt live next, and ofall the preparations near- fart' thereunto and will the more cafily defpife the things on earth, which are the employment and felicity of the fenfual, Col. 3. t, 2,3. pbil. 1.20,21,22,23. i Cor. 15. 31. As we fee it in confiant experience in men, when they fee that they mull prefcntly die indeed, howflight then let they by the world ? how little arc they moved with the talk of honour, with the voice ofmirth, with the fight of meat, or drink, or beauty, or any thing which before they had not power to deny ? and how ferioufly they will then talk of fin and grace, of God and Heaven, which before they could not be awakened to regard ? If therefore you would live by faith indeed, let your (elves as at the entrance of that world which faith forefeeth, and live as men that know they may die tomorrow, and certainly mull be gone cre long Dream not ofI know not howmany years more onearth, which God never promifedyou; unirlo you make it your bufcncfs to vanquith faithby-fe citg its ob- jet% at a greater difianee than God hath let them. Learn Chrifis warning to one and all, To match, and to be almaiee ready, Mark 13.33, 35,37. I Pet. 4..7. Mat. 24. 44. Luke 1 Z. 40. He that thinkcth hebath yet time enough, and day- light before him, will be the apter to loiter in his work or journey : When every man will make haflc when the Sun is felting, ifhe have much to do, or far to go. Waits which are the great preventers of Repentance, and undoers of the world, do take their greatefl advantage from this unground- ed expeeration of long life. When they hear the Phylician fay, He is a dead man, and there is net hope, then they would fain begin to live, and thenhow religious and reformed would they be ? whereas if this foolifh emus did not hinder them, they might be ofthe fame mind all their lives, and might have then done their work, and waited with define for the Crown ;. and laid withPaut, For Jana now ready tube ererd, and the time
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