c Funeral Sermon. Piety of his lifedid far furpafs and exceed the paucity and tendernefs of his years. l Let this alfo fuffiee for the fecond importanceof thisdutyof numbring our days, implying G?editationembrevitatis, an often meditation of the fhortnefs and brevity of our lives. A fecond importance_ is, recogitatio incebtitudinis, a frequentrecogirátion of;ehe inconflancy and uncertainty, of our beings ; here to day, and gone to morrow : and what a next hour may bring forth, or do hang over our heads every mo- ment, we cannot tell , God knows. The utmofl that any prefent comfort or enjoyment can afford us, is only a probability of hope ; for to be fure certainty it affords none ; and we'fee the fairefl hopes do many times mif- carry in their iffues, not unlike promifingbloffomes, either the frofl nips them, or the "wind blows them down , ere they can come to ripen into fruit and maturity. Sperm pecuniam 3 (fays holy sluguf¢ine, Enar. in Pfalm ;8.) incertum eft an proveniat, fperasfilios ? incertum eft an nafcantur, mitt faint ? ineertum eft an vi- vant, vivant 3 incertum eft an proficiant, guacungue to verteris, incerta,Puntem- nia. Doeft thou hope to be rich ? it is uncertain whether thou fhalt grow to be fo : floel!k thou expeet children ? it is uncertain whether they will be born : are they born? it is uncertain whether they will live : do they live ? it is uncertain whether they will prove dutiful and towardly ; whether foever thou turneff thy felf, all things =uncertain. , Holy David doubtlefs in the midfl of his great honourMid pro(periry thought , himfelf very'fecure and certain,for fo (ifyou will believehim) he tellsus,Pfal.30,ô. 1fetid in my profperity, 1fiall never be removed; but yet you fee at what uncertainties he then flood, and how loon the (cenewas changed withhim ; and prefently a new face of things appeared upon the ftage, verf. 7. then did, hide thy face from .me, and I spas troubled. . Oh that this meditation were deeplyengräven on all our hearts, and written (if poffible)with a pen oftIron, and the point of a Diamond, jet-. 17. I. that fo no- thing might be lure ever to blot.it out; but that confidering at what uncertainties we do here continually live, we might the more ferioufly and effeatially apply our hearts unto wifdom, and in time leekout andmake fore of fomewhat that is certain; and that.fomewhae, what other is it, but heaven and happinefs, eter- nity and immortality ? yea too, and the way to obtain this, is lure and certain allo, and the holy Scriptureshave plainly told it us, and we cannot be ignorant of ir, viz. by applying our hearts unto wifdom : by the exercifes of a pious and holy life, the reformationof finful courfes and pradlifes, the mortification of our earthly members, and the like. This briefly, for the third and lafl importance of this duty of numbring our days, implying recogitationem inter- titudinü, a frequent recogitation of theunconflancy and uncertainty of our pre- lent beings. Comewe now to the fourth andlaá thing confiderable in!the Text,the defignand (cope ofA/ofeshis prayer;Sa teachess,tbat we may applyour hearts unto wifdom.Seehere a good prayer, and for a goodend alfo; and that too not barely an end of (pecu- lation,only to know the certainnumber of our days and nomore; but an endof praéhcal improvement and edification, fo as to be improved, and grow every day better by knowing, tit adducamus cor ad fapientianì, that we may apply our hearts unto wifdom. Se. Paul in his Epiflles takes notice of feveral forts of wifdom, asviz. a wifdom ofwords, r Cor. r. 17. again,the wifdomof tbùworld, 1 Cor. 2.19. again, CotpfaCat - mia, fle(hly wifdens, or the wifdom of theflefh, 2 Cor. 1.12. butneither of theft, is the wrfdoinherein the Text; oh no ! This itis,thatvery wifdomwhich the Apolille St. james,chap.'3.17. calls ávesato Coofdry wifdomwhichis from above, or divine and heavenly wifdom ; and then the etddufiecordis,th'e applyingour hearts unto this wif. dom, confifts particularly in thefe three things. . Firfl, Inminus diligendo, inan holy weanednefs from thisprefent life,in expref fions of leis loveand alfefion tothe world, everyday thenother, not fuffering our Ddddd z hearts(
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