them Let vs therefore learne to set our hearts vpon another life and the things thereof and then we shall be sure neuer to loose that we loue And let vs striue to be Plants in Gods house liuing Plants trees of righteousnesse Planted by the rivers of his Sanctuary And then wee shall neuer be cut downe Our leaues shall neuer fall our branches neuer wither 2. Let vs learne so to loue this life and all things of this life as matter that we must part with that we haue no Lease or Assurance of for one day And where God makes them instruments of comfort and helpe vnto vs if we enioy them day after day let vs blesse God for it and count euery day that he lends vs euery blessing that he bestowes vpon vs day after day an aduantage vnto vs more then we deserue 3. Let vs euery morning fit and prepare our selues for cutting downe Though we be neuer so lustie and flourish neuer so much yet let vs consider that wee are but as grasse and though this morning we flourish yet before night we may be cut downe and withered and all our glorie and comforts lie in the dust It were well with vs if we so liued that when death shall come to cut vs downe we could not say I little thought that I should die so soone And for others whose liues are deare vnto vs and whose deaths may bee a judgement vnto vs let vs so set our sinnes before our eyes that they may be a meanes to worke in vs an holy and religious feare of their death in the midst of these comforts and contents wee receiue from them And how strong and flourishing so euer wee shall see them in the morning yet let vs thinke with feare that before euening they may be cut down and we may loose them and all the comforts that depend vpon them VERS 7. For we are consumed in thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled HItherto the Prophet in his complaint hath set forth by Comparison what great mortalitie God hath brought vpon the Children of Adam Now here in this verse he sheweth the cause thereof The anger of God Adam and all the sonnes of Adam haue offended him and therfore he hath brought this universall mortality and deluge upon man And this Anger of GOD hee sets forth 1. By the cause 2. By the greatnesse Concerning the anger of God wee must not thinke that it is a perturbation of minde in him whereby he indeed fretteth and is vexed within himselfe as men use to bee whose wrath and anger doth ordinarily more hurt torment themselues then those they are angry withall But it is in God an holy and just disposition to inflict deserued punishment upon his creature Though God therefore haue absolute power of his owne free will to destroy the creature which hee hath made without any cause yet he doth not destroy man without some speciall cause and motiue therevnto And this cause is not a pleasure and delight as though it should be a sport and pastime of God to make and marre so excellent a workmanship of his owne as it is with Children to kill Flies or Huntsmen to kill wild Beasts Neither is any speciall profit or use any cause thereof As it is the cause why Husbandmen cut downe grasse not that they are angry with it or that they place any delight in so doing but for necessary use and benefit But the true and immediate cause is Anger that which is the cause of mortalitie in war God hath beene prouoked by vs. And as a mightie King being prouoked by his subiects nothing followeth but death so is it with God 1. Hence then we learne to labour to see and behold the wrath and anger of God in sicknesse distresses old age death and in that mortalitie that we see in this world and vpon speciall occasion to acknowledge it And it should teach vs to feare and tremble before him and to take heed how we farther prouoke him to wrath 2. We should admire the goodnesse and grace of God that his wrath being so universall vpon all the sonnes of Adam yet in this wrath he should remember mercy and raise those againe to life even to eternall life that in anger he hath wounded to death 3. We should labour more to see the wrath of God in our accursed estate after this life God doth but play with vs as it were in taking away our liues here And if the first death be such a signe thereof what a signe therof is it in them in whom there appeare fearefull and prodigious fignes of the second death which is eternall wherein a man shall for ever die and yet neuer be dead VERS 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance THat wrath of God from which proceeds mortalitie and all the troubles and calamities and alterations of this life that attend vpon the same is set forth here 1. By the cause 2. By the greatnesse of it The cause is the remembrance of our sinnes not knowne onely but secret Whence we learne that 1. It is sin that first kindled that fire of GODS wrath whereby we are consumed on this wise God is not angry with his creatures for nothing But there is a just cause of that wrath of God from whence proceedes the mortalitie of mankinde Yea the greater and more infinitely wise the Maiestie of God is the greater must that cause bee that prouoketh him to wrath It s weaknesse to be prouoked with a small matter Weaknesse nor no propertie of weaknesse can befall the Almightie God Sinne therefore whatsoeuer it is can be no small matter no trifle that prouokes the infinite Maiestie of God to wrath and to such a wrath as hath such deadly effects The use of this then is When we see any signes of Gods displeasure in the world as which way almost can wee turne our eyes but we see it even the very prints of death how his footing is in euery Towne yea in euery House presently to thinke of sinne and the greatnesse thereof and to make it a meanes to make vs haue it in great detestation in whom soever it is 2. It is our sinnes that haue prouoked God to this wrath It was not the sinne of Angells that made God thus angry with mankinde Nor the sinne of any particular persons that made him angry with them all But it is our owne sins that haue done this All of us euery mothers sonne haue our parts and haue joyned hands in prouoking the Lord to bring this universall mortalitie vpon the world The true use therefore that we are to make of this Is not so much to thinke of sin in generall or of this or that bodies sinne when wee see the generall judgements of God but to see and looke after our owne sinnes wherein we haue trespassed against God and broken his Law and not rest till we haue found
So are the yeares of a man especially if we compare them with things aboue and with the daies and yeares that we are to liue in heauen So that let a man looke backe to the time passed and wisely judge of it and set to it the uttermost of the time to come and all will appeare to passe away from vs either as the time wherein a tale is told or those things passe away that are told in a tale which is very quickly and speedily 1. This shewes the vanitie of them that make such a-doe for states and titles and tenures for this life Oh they thinke it a goodly matter if they haue and hold a thing for so many liues and for theirs and their childrens liues And yet alas it is if it be compared with the life of Heauen but as if it were a tenure for the space of a tale telling or a word spoken And what madnesse then is it that most men shew to hazzard the one to get the other that they care not almost how they breake the Lawes of God and Man for it Surely the little faith and hope or none that we haue of the life to come makes persons so dote and mad vpon the titles and tenures of this life which are of the same nature that our dayes and yeares are they passe away all alike 2. It shewes also the vanitie of such who as though their dayes and yeares would never come vnto an end spend day after day and yeare after yeare in that they call pas-time whereas time passeth away of it selfe swift enough and that in Gods wrath It were more agreeable to reason if it could bee to use meanes to hold and continue time rather then to passe it away 3. Let this teach vs whilst we haue it to make the best use wee can of it When our yeares are gone we cannot reuoke them How soone they are gone the holy Ghost here teacheth and wee may feele by our owne experience Therefore whilst we liue here let vs not so much trouble our thoughts about the meanes of this life as about devising how we may imploy our time and spend our life to best purpose 4. Though we are to count the shortnesse of our liues in regard of the misery thereof and in regard of the life which followes a blessing Yet in it selfe we should not so account of it but tho it be miserable and the longer it is the longer it keepes vs from a better yet the very shortnesse of this miserable life is to be considered as an effect of Gods wrath And therefore it is a blessing of God if wee know how to use it to liue long here though we should liue as miserable a life as any euer lived Neither should wee endevour or desire to doe any thing to shorten the same VERS 10. The dayes of our yeares are seuentie yeares and if by reason of strength they be eightie yeares yet is their strength then labour and sorrow for it is soone cut off and we fly away IN these words the Prophet proues that which he sayd before that wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told The yeares of them which ordinarily liue the uttermost of their dayes is but threescore and ten and if any liue till eightie through strength yet is their strength then labour and sorrow c. Now if the longest period of dayes that men ordinarily liue be so short a time and the longest time flyeth so fast then well might the Prophet say That our dayes passe away as a tale that is tould For those who by reason of their strength liue till eightie yeares either they are men that vnder-goe in this life many labours and trauels and then their very strength brings nothing vnto them but matter of labour and sorrow For the stronger a man hath beene and the greater labours and trauels he hath vndergone the more full of aches and paines is his old age wont to be Or they liue merrily and chearefully free from ordinary passions and grievances And then their life flyeth away and when they are brought to these yeares their daies are but daies of sorrow and that with them the rather because they cannot follow those delights then that formerly they haue done Howsoeuer it be there are none cōmonly whose dayes haue seemed to them to passe swifter away then those that lived the longest None are lesse weary of life nor more unwilling to die commonly then they The life therefore of such though full of never so much sorrow and trouble flyes away And such is the loue that ordinarily we beare to this life that though death come not till eightie yeares yet it seemes then to fly vnto us The Doctrine is plaine That our dayes are now but seventie yeares that is to say The time that ordinarily man doe not passe in this life is no more or if more their life after is but a Death and Death comes flying 1. This then should teach vs also to remember our Creator betimes in the dayes of our youth Alas not one of a hundred of us liue till sixtie or seuentie years or if we liue longer and haue spent that time in prophanenesse except the Lord shew more then ordinary mercy wee shall bee no more fit then to honour our Creator then so many dead men The longest that wee can hope to liue and not be children againe is eightie yeares and then commonly we are as children againe mewed vp and our children are either Parents or Lords ouer vs vsing vs as innocents 2. It shewes the strange folly of so many of us as are come to the height and middle of our Age yea to be fistie and vpward yea to be sixtie c. Wee can talke of our dayes past and of things we did fortie yeares since as if they were done but yesterday and for the time to come though wee haue no reason to hope it should be as much as we haue spent and though wee may presume it will flie as fast away as that which is past in the whole though not in the parts yet we liue as though we had a 100 yeares yea a 1060 yeares to come Yea You shall haue many that are of 60. 70. yea 80. years that haue no more care to fit them to death but put the houre thereof as farre from them as if they were in their freshest youth If some liued a 100. some 500. some a 1000. some 10000. yeares amongst vs as now they liue some 5. some 10. some 40. some 60. some 70. c. there might bee some colour for this folly but seeing one of 500. liues not til 60. one of 5000. til 80. one of 100000. till a hundred None till 200. what madnesse it is then especially in those that haue passed the greatest time they can expect to haue no care of the houre of death and of the account they shall then make when their whole time is but short as a tale that
them out Especially when the Lord by any speciall judgment shall come neerest vnto vs As the Lord hath lately to this family If we hereupon doe not make a speciall inquisition after our sinnes and so by Repentance make our peace with God wee haue cause even euery one of vs to feare a greater stroke though this hath made many of our hearts to ake 3. They are not onely our greater sinnes that haue prouoked God but all our sinnes great and small not our publicke onely and knowne sins but our speciall and hidden ones euery one of them hath his part herein And if wee will not haue this wrath of God to pursue vs eternally we must learne hence not onely to hate and forsake our greater sinnes and to repent of those that are great and notorious but even of our smaller sins of our lighter vanities also Yea herein we should not content our selues with leauing those sinnes which other and our selues knowe to bee sinnes but we should seeke after our secret and hidden sins whither there be not some sinnes in vs that we nourish in our selues and know not to be sins And to this end we should diligently search into the Law of God and not be at rest till wee haue taken notice of them and giue no leaue of continuance to any the least sinne but hate and forsake all 4. That all our sins are present before GOD. Our great our small our knowne our secret sins they are all in his presence they are before his eyes he knowes them he sees and beholds them This should make vs the more afraid ashamed to sinne because there is no sinne how secret soever but we doe it in the face of God he looking on A seruant that hath any grace or loue in him whatsoeuer he may do behind his masters backe yet he will not doe that before his Masters face which may prouoke and displease him many things he doth priuately that if he thought they would come to his Masters knowledge he would not doe them But there is no sinne ever so secret though committed in our Closet yea though in our owne breasts onely but he knows it and sees it and beholds the committing of it Further this noteth the hay nousnesse of all sin For those trespasses that are committed before the face of a Gouernour are accounted contempts So is euery sinne committed it is committed in the eare and eye of God and is therefore the more grieuous and odious 5. God needs no other light to discerne our sinnes by but the light of his owne face It peirceth through the darkest places the brightnesse thereof enlightneth all things discouers all things So that the sins that are committed in deepest darknes are all one to him as if they were done in the face of the Sunne For they are done in his face that shines more and from which proceeds more light then from the face of the Sunne So that this it ought to make vs the more feareful to offend Hee sees vs when we see not him and the light of his countenance shines about vs when we thinke our selues hidden in darkenesse 6. They are not onely then in his sight when they are a committing and whilst the deed is doing but euer after when the act is past and gone and forgotten yet then is it before the face of God even as if it were in committing And how should this make vs afraid to sinne When our sinnes are not onely in his sight while they are a committing but so continue still for euer after they are past and done 7. Gods sets our sins before him this shewes he is so affected with them hee takes them so to heart that he doth in a speciall manner continue the remembrance of them As those that hauing had great wrong will store it vp or register it or keepe some remembrance of it or other least they should forget when time shall serue to bee quit with those that haue wronged them so doth God and his so-doing is a signe that he takes our sins deeply to heart which should teach vs to feare the more how we offend him When God in any judgement of death or sicknesse or losse of friends shewes his wrath wee should thinke and meditate of this especially when he comes neerest vs Now the Lord lookes vpon my sinnes they are now before him and wee should neuer rest till wee had by repentance moued him to blot them out Yea to this end we should our selues call them to remembrance For the more we remember them the more God forgets them the more wee forget them the more God remembers them the more we looke vpon our selues the more he turneth his eyes from them And this also we are to manifest and acknowledge as here Moses doth vnto God himselfe by Prayer VERS 9. For all our dayes goe backe againe in thy wrath HItherto of the cause of that wrath of GOD which moueth him to smite the world with such mortalitie Now here he further sets forth the same by the effects and degrees thereof in respect of that present Argument he hath in hand 1. That our dayes doe as it were goe backward in his wrath That whereas God gaue vs being to liue our life and our being is nothing els but a going backward as it were to death and to nothing Euen as if a stranger being suddainly rapt and carryed the mid way to his home where are all his comforts he should spend all the time that is behind not in going forward to his home but in going backward to the place from which he was suddenly brought All the sonnes of Adam as soone as they haue being and liue are brought suddenly a great part of their way And whereas they should goe forward and liue longer and longer they from their first beginning to liue goe backward againe to death and to nothing This is the summe in effect with that which the Lord sayth in the beginning of the Psalme Thou bringesi man to destruction saying Returne againe ye sons of Adam As if he should say Thou makest a man and when he is made hee in thy wrath doth hast to nothing else but destruction and to bee marred againe Thus doe our dayes as it were goe backward and wee in them returne from whence we came Our lesson then hence is this That our life in this life is nothing els but a returning backe againe vnto death Euery man whilst he is here walkes to the house of his graue and though he bee a little longer in going backe vnto the earth then he was comming from it yet he doth nothing while he is here but goe backe to it Yea our dayes passe away in such a manner as if a man being a childe should suddainly bee made a man and after that should presently goe backe againe and bee a child So that though we haue here some time of growth and strength yet the more wee grow in