57o Chap.29. An Exp?ftion t+pon the Book efJò B. Verf. i8 tinuance of it, but to the continuance of it long ; and ufualiy the- longer they live, and the more of their dayes are fioln away, the more doth the defire of Long life, or of multiplying their dayes heal upon them.A good man once profeffed,thar when he was but twenty five yearesold,he'had no thought nor hope of living till thirty, and yet.when he was feventy-four he had great hopes of living to four core. It is not finful to think that AT may live long, but we may quickly think and fpeak too much of long life; it becomes a godly man to be fp °ákingand thinking rather -how fhort this life is, then how long it may be.That was David: pray- er (Pfal. 39. 4.) Lord,mal a me to knowmine end, and the meafure of my dayer, what it is , that I may know how frail tam., Hedid not deíi:e to know that he fhould' live long, much lefs to know (wee-rely) how long he fhould live (that's a fecret which God referves to hiniielf,and which man fhouid not curioufly enquire after, no p:y inco)but he would know orbe made ferfible of it, that he had not long to live. `O let me knave frail I air, And that isindeed a gracious and a fpiritual enquiry. 'Tis good to enquire and confider how our dayes are,diminifhed and daily Iub(Ira&ed, andhow foán theywill be. all gone. He that reckons his life a day beyond what he is in, reckons of more then he bath of his own, and may comefhort of his reckoning.. He answered well; thatbeing'invitedby his friend to morrow, faid, he had not had a to morrow for a long time before. There are two very.pro- fitable medicationsfor us at all times ; 6ra,the everlaftingnefs of the nçç life' fecondiy,the fhortnefs. and tranfitotinefs of this The Apofile Peter laid (2 Epì(1.t,.14.)I know tb rIm r f1 lhort- ly lay down thie earthly Tabernacle, even as our Lord Jefus fhriff bath (hewed me. And "though the Lord Je'us Ct.rift bath not fhewed every manby a word'fpoken to him in perCon (as he did to Peter)-yet he bath (hewed eve y one of us by a word written in common ro us with all o*her perfons,that wcr must thorny lay down this Earthy Tabernacle , and therefore we íhould rather be preparing for our !aft day, the be hoping for many dayes. Ode age fhould`be but little in our owa.eyes, or as DavidPaid (pfal. 3 ?. nothing . ç..) before God it is th,uur lire is as a vapour, motk,'cis gone prefenrlÿ 'whenit llayerhtirg -f+ in this wand. Though Iona life be a blefaïisg, and dar á, /oak for long life, cwalking<with `God)?cco ding to the"prto !.-,yetwe t oúld ra= the
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