Lifts Apparition, andMansDi/folution. 295_1 to a weavers fhuttle : fometimes to afwtft poll: fometimes to a ¡port racer fome- times to a watch in the night: fometimes to a flower in the field : fometimes to a tale that it told. All there are fignificant expreflions, to Phew theYhortnefs and uncertainty of life ; fo that from other places, ofScripture we might anfwer the Apollles queftion, though he had faid nothing ; but his own anfwer expreffeth it fitly and fully, by a pregnant, and pertinent refembling it to a vapour. ThePhilofophers obferve differences between vapours and exhalations, though both are drawn from the earth,yet the matter ofan exhalation is mat and hot;the natter of vapoursmoiftand cold : Exhalations rife from the fuperficies of the earth, Vapours lie in theearth : exhalations continue longer,vapours lhorter ; but I need not ftand upon Philofophicaldiftin&ions, your lifeid avapour. Obferve how the refemblanceholds between the oneand theother.Firft,a vapour is nothing but a breath, thereforeit is called fo,of a'word that figniticth,blowing or a breath,or nothing butfmoak,therefore4Et. z. it is called a ,vapour offmoak; and filch is our life, a vapour, becaufe breath is nothingburtbe breath oflife: So /Wit called it in.gen. 2.7. and when a man dies, it is faid his breath departsfrom bins; Therefore the Prophet /filial), he brings it as an argument, to thew what a vain thing it is for a man to truft upon one, that bath no more hold of his life than fo ; feafefromman, whole breath it in his nojfrils ; robot account is to be made of hi:oí, yea, itisevenaefmoak, hicdaye{pa[a, andvanifb awayas fmoak: Secondly, vapours are ingendred in the earth, and they lodge in the caverns, and hollow places of the earth ; that is their Manfsonhoufe, where they have their being,füch a vapour is our life; for this body ofours wherein our lifeis,it is a body ofearth; Man loath hit foundation in the daft, lob 14. and there God hach pro- vided a receptacle and dwelling place,for auricle to be received into,and contained; it is faid, whenGod óave it Adamfirft, be blewit imabìt notrils, there he made a. lodging for it; therefore man is faid to have hie breath in hit ssoftrilt, in regard of which there is no truft to be given to him,nor no account to be made ofhim. Thirdly, Vapours are drawn out of the earth by the Sun into the air, fome tes higher regions thanothers are; yet when they areall at their higheft, theyhave no fixingnor fetling,but arecarried,andagitated,and toffed by thewinds, till at laftthey bediffolved in fhowers,anddews,and fall back tothe earth : fo it iswith our life,we come allat the firft as vapours out ofthe earth, and there wehave funsthat draw us up,the favour of Princes peradventure,or great perfons,fometo higher regionsthan others;fome are drawn to high places of honour,but when they are there,they have no fetling nor fixing, as vapours in theair ; they are hurried andtoffed, and carried to and fro, fromone wind to another, and after a long and refuels motion, at left . they fall down to theearth again, out ofwhich they weretaken. Fourthly,where the earthexhales many vapours,the earth is not fopureand whol- fomeils other places; for by experience we find the healthfulleft places are in the hil- ly highCountries,but moarifh lowgroundshave leaft health, and fhorteff lives, be- caufe ofvapours; our life is a vapour in this refpeet ; Many ill aires continually exhaled inour corrupt natures,the world isfull of inordinate concupifcence,and the Devil poyfons everyplace where he comes ; fo thatwhile welive here, we live in a Moarifh ground, and full of ill vapours and air, and therefore the higherwe climb the fofer : as God faith to Lot inanothercafe,when hebidhimget him to theMoun- tains, and therehe fhould be fate; fo if we can get upto theMountain, tbemount Sion,the place and habitationfor God,andhisbleffed Angels for ever,therewe (hall dwell in fafety, for thereare no foggs andmiffs of temptations ; there areno ill ayres ; there is nothing that favours offin or mifery, either to breed us anoyance, or threaten vexation ;' Soyou fee thefirlt thingwhat itis our life is ref-ambled unto, and how fitly the refemblance holds. The-fecond is, wherein it is compared to a Vapour. In two things ; The fhortnefsof abiding. The fuddennefs ofdeparting. The fhortnefs ofabiding, it appearsfor a titlewhiß. Where
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