Chap. 4. An . Expo f t > i on upon the Bod {,of f O. . ea: t t63 concludes ( Pfal. 39. ) Man at his beft p{.zte, oe in Ns beft eflate is altogether vanity. The excellencies that are ni him go away, in that day all his thoughts perifh, his counfels and his projeéfs pe- rifh with him. One of the Ancients !landing by CKf rs Tomb, ( who was one of the modaccornplifht men in the'wor ld,for na- tural, civil, and moral excellencies , learned,valiant, noble, rich, and powerful,) he (I fay) handing by Cæfars Tomb, wept and cryed out, Where is now theflouri(hing beauty of' Cafàr ? what's `v5int;nc poi- become of his magnificence ? where are the armies now, where the chitado ce. honours of Ceef)r ? where are note the vifories, the triumphsand f H? qu©abi_ t canificar4= trophies of Calar ?. All's gone, all's departed, the goodlinefs of tia turf; them is as the flower of .the field, his excellency which was in him is gone away. And thus it will be faid ofall thofe,who(with- out grace)are moil excellent in any thing below.Though your cla y be curiouílywrought,and hampt with fuch beauty,as renders you almoll Angelical to the eye of others. Though your bodies are flrongly joynted, and bleffed with fuch health as renders your lives moll alive and comfortable to your felves ;,though your minds are flored withvariety of learning, and you know as much as is knowable in the whole circle of Nature, or of times ; yet when Death comes, all thefe excellencies go`away., Nothing will flay by us then and go(not from us but)with tts,But theexcellency of the knowledge of Chrift Jefus our Lord,for tvbom Paul did,and) we ought to fuffer the lofsof all things, and count them but dung, that nay wi,e Chrift; (Phil. 3. 8.) For notwithftanding all other knowledge and wifdom,we [hall dye and conclude (as this Chapter concludes of man) without wifdome. They dye even rma; ï:itt1 without wifdome,or word for word, They dye not and inwifdome. We may underhand it two wayes.Firfl(as it he had Paid) though men are excellent in wifdotne,yet they dye; the' wifdome is to them in death,as if they had no wifdom; they have no more pri- viledge or defence againft the ftroakofdeath,by all their wifdome, Nab e. fl Jr*. learning,and knowledge,then fools or bruit beads who have no entia qua 'ecr knowledge, no wifdome at all, they dye even without reif dome, or tjm e-f u iant , even as if they had no whom. Died Abner as a fool dyeth, laid iMierc°' < _ mourning David? a Sant. 3.33. yes, Abner dyed as afoal dyeth. And fo in one fenfe do the wifeitofmen. -He was the wifelf ofall the children of men, and he fpake it by the wifdom ofGod, who asking thisquet.lion, Flowdyeth thewife man, anfwers, as thePoole, Eeclef, a, 16. Let not any man pride himfelf in the excellen- Y a cy
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