our selves and the Love of our selves is the Standard of our Love to him it follows that we have as great Obligations to the full to be tender of our own Lives as of his and therefore if it be Murther to Kill our neighbour it must be at least as great a crime to Kill our selves Nay in some respects it exceeds all the instances of Inhumanity and Vice and transcends the most cruel and Crying Sins For 1. To Kill our selves is the most unnatural Murther that can be if we consider how deeply the principle of Self-preservation is planted in our Nature and that it is a Law in our Minds teaching us to abhor the Destruction of our selves and to take the best care we can to preserve our own Life and Being there can be no such unnatural Murther as the putting of our selves to Death There is no Natural Union in the World so dear and intimate as that of the Soul and Body nor any that hath greater Interest depending upon it both in reference to this and the Future State And therefore nothing can be more contrary to the voice and dictate of Nature than the wilful Distruction of it by the same Person that is most nearly concerned to Preserve and Enjoy it 2. It is of any Sin the most directly opposite to the saving condition of Repentance which is a remedy for all other Sins but this Self-Murther is a Sin of that quick dispatch and that desperate Nature that it leaves a Man no time to Repent of it We may be Guilty of many other Sins and may live to Repent of them But he that Murthers himself is fure to Dye in his Sin and to be hurried away in the Reek and Guilt of his own Bloud to the Tribunal of God without allowing himself time to ask the forgiveness of it or at least to purge his Conscience from so deep and indelible a stain as this And therefore if we cannot be saved without Repentance as the Gospel assures us we can not he that Destroys his own Life cannot be saved according to the Gospel-Covenant because he dyes in a Sin that cannot be Repented of T is true God may have more Mercy for Sinners than he makes us acquainted with which may be just enough to keep our hopes alive at the Death of such Persons but the Gospel being the last Revelation of the Grace of God it is an infinite Presumption in expectation of unrevealed Grace to venture upon a Sin which all the Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ is too little to secure the Forgiveness of These are great Aggravations of the Sin of Self-Murther And I fear the excuses which are made for it will prove no better since they all center in a high discontent at the Providence of God NO man offers to make away himself that thinks himself well in this World or that submits to the Troubles and Calamities which befall him as coming from the just and overruling Hand of God And for men to throw away their Lives in a Pet and to grow so utterly weary of them that they cannot endure to live a few day's longer or wait for Gods Permission to Depart in peace is a very high Reflection upon the wisdom and goodness of his Providence As if he had thrust them into a World that was not fit for them to live in as if hey knew better when and how to deliver themselves out of the Miseries of this Mortal Life than he dos As if God had no Regard to their Sufferings or had left it to their discretion to leave the World and discharge themselves from his Service when they pleas'd or had not provided a better World to requit them for it As if an Eternal Weight of Glory was not a sufficient Recompence for their Patience under the heaviest Afflictions of this present Life which are but for a Moment This is so false and insolent a Charge against the Providence of God that it is enough to spoil the best-designed Action in the World and therefore cannot excuse so bloudy and unnatural an one as Self-Murther is I shall close all with a caution or two concerning this desperate unnatural Sin and the rather because it has been observed by those that have Travell'd into foreign Countries that Self-Murther is far more common in this than in any of the Nations about us 1. First then let us be very cautious of those Doctrines which have occasion'd many and some very serious Persons to despair of the Mercy and goodness of God and in the Anguish of their Souls to fling away themselves into the dreadful Abyss of Eternity There is no ground that I know of from the Gospel to believe that God had no good-will to any particular Man from Eternity and much less to the far greater part of Mankind or that the Generality of Men are bound over to destruction with the Iron Chain of an Irrespective Decree or that Christ dyed to save but very few of those that are called by his Name And methinks the effects which these and the like Doctrins have had upon Poor Melancholy Souls should be no Arguments to recommed them to any serious and impartial Judgment We ought to be very tender of narrowing the infinite Goodness of God who would have all men to be Saved Or laying the Damnation of Men upon any thing but their own wilful Oposition to the Grace and Goodness of God which leadeth to Repentance 2. It concerns us to be very cautious of all the methods and degrees of this Sin Such as piercing our Hearts with worldly Cares poisoning our Health and surfeiting our Bodies with Excess and Dying the Martyrs of Intemperance or Lust How many owe their Death to the Revels of a Night Drink away their reason and drown themselves in Rivers of Wine Game high and when they have lost their Money or engaged their Estates or Honours sell their Lives to Redeem them These Men do as certainly Kill themselves and very often as suddenly too as he that strangles himself or sheaths the Fatal Poyniard in his sobbing and despairin Breast And is not this to Dye as a fool Dyes without any consideration of the Life he has led or of the Everlasting State he is launching into That man that is not fond of Distruction and in love wih Misery would venter his Life and Soul upon such hazards as these Were there no other Life than this a prudent Man would not be prodigal of it but to throw it away at one Cast or to stake it against the Pleasure of a Debauch when all Eternity depends upon it is an astonishing instance of the Madness of Folly Oh that ment were Wise Deut. 32.9 that they understood this that they would consider their latter end That in kindness to their Souls which must live forever they would frequently entertain themselves with the serious thougths of Death and Judgment Eternal Happiness and Misery and not suffer their Lusts and
and we all pretend to know it yet it is certain that our Memories are short too and that our fondness of this World is such that we are apt to Forget where we are upon what Terms we are here how suddenly we must Remove and what is Requisite to procure us a safe and easy Passage into that Eternal World where we must dwell in perfect Bliss or Anguish for ever We are so much enamour'd with this present World that like Passionate Lovers we seem not to remember what we say or do while we are conversing with it It fetters our Memories while it captivates our Affections And while it subdues our Hearts it bereaves us of the best use of our Reason which certainly is to set our affections on Things Above where we hope e're long to be And not on Things on the Earth where were it worth our while we are sure we cannot stay long to enjoy them This is our great Unhappiness It is the inordinate love of this World that makes us forget our selves and the design of our Creator in sending us hither And the proper Remedy against it is to keep our Minds as much awake as we can with frequent and serious Thoughts on the suddenness of our Departure hence For it is not being of the opinion that our Lives are short when we hear a Discourse about it or follow a hearty Man to his Grave that will cure us of our Dotage on present Things Nothing less will do this than a quick and lasting Sense of the shortness and uncertainty of our Lives The power of Conviction lasts no longer than it is present to the Mind or become habitual and familiar to it as appears by the vanishing of those solemn Vows which Men commonly make in their Sickness and which nothing else could extort from them as soon as the Danger is over and they begin to flatter themselves with new Hopes of a long and pleasant Life And therefore as Melancholy a Thought as it is that our Lives are short besides that it is never unseasonable it is one of the most useful Thoughts that we can carry about us For it is certain we can never over come this flattering and enchanting World without it and then we can never arrive to the Glory and Happiness of that to come As cold a Truth as it is that we must shortly Dye and leave this delicious World it will mightily help to quicken our Devotions and inflame our Affections to Heavenly things It will thereby prevent a World of Sin and Folly It will excite us to hasten our Repentance to make the best of our little Life and improve all advantages we hold by it for a Blessed Eternity And for these Reasons the Scripture often recommends this serious Meditation to us And to keep it fresh in our Memories presents us with great variety of affecting Emblems and lively Representations of the shortness and uncertainty of Humane Life Such as are most obvious to our Senses and apt to raise a new Passion in our Minds every time we think of them For instance 1. Our Life is compared in Scripture to things of the most transitory and fading Nature St. James calls it a Vapour that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away Such is the Life of Mortal Men even the Greatest and Gallantest of them It is up down in a moment It is a Vapour very often in the civil as well as in the natural sense and commonly the greater Ostentation it makes the sooner it disappears and is gone and the Eye that saw it sees it not more And on the same account it is compared to a Shadow 1 Chron. 29.15 and to the Grass and Flower of the Fields for its weak and fading Nature Psalm 103.15 16. Vers As for Man his Days are as Grass as a Flower of the Field so he flourisheth for the Wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more So Job 14.1 2. Man that is born of a Woman is of few Days and full of Trouble he cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not 2. The shortness of Humane Life is represented by things that are smallest in number and extension in their Kinds Thus the days of Man are said to be like the Days of an Hireling Job 7.1 Which are few and precarious in comparison of those which the Children of the Family enjoy in their Fathers House as our Saviour himself observes John 8.35 The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever And so the Psalmist measures the Life of Man by the breadth of his hand which bears no proportion to the vast circumference of the Earth or Heavens Behold saith he Thou hast made my days as an Hand-breath Psal 39 6. Thou hast enclosed my Life in a very narrow Compass And then he adds as if he had spoken too lavishly of it and mine Age is as nothing before thee A mere cypher or nullity if compared to thy Eternal Duration Whereupon he concludes verily every Man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity 3. Our Life is also compared to things of the speediest and swistest Motion to remind us that it is Hastening away apace and will be too nimble for us if we delay the proper Work and Business which God hath assign'd us in this World My Days saith Job are swister than a Weavers shuttle Job 7.6 7. Oh remember that my Life is Wind. We read in Scripture of the Wings of the Wind which denote the wonderful swiftness of it And such is our Life It is always upon the Wing It makes all possible hast to be gone It keeps pace with the Wings of the Wind It is a Wind saith the Psalmist that passeth away Psal 78.29 and cometh not again Our time is ever in motion and always keeps the same speed what ever we are doing the while And since we have but a little time and that little however spent is always lessening and drawing to a Period it cannot be long e're the whole stock be exhausted tho' we should Husband it to the best advantage and live out which perhaps not one of a thousand do's to the utmost stretch and possibility of Living 4. The shortness and instability of this present Life is set forth by allusions to things which are moveable at Pleasure Implying that as short as the ordinary Term of Life is it is always subject to the Providence of God and often lessened by him in whose Hands our Times are In this respect our Life is compared to a Shepherd's Tent and our Bodies to Tabernacles i. e. Extempore Houses or Receptacles that are presently set up and taken down or removed at the Pleasure of the Owner And in this Language Hezechiah complains upon the sad tidings the Prophet brought him of his approaching Death Isa 38. v. 10 12. I am deprived
of the Residue of my Years Mine Age is departed and is removed from me as a Shepherd's Tent And this he immediately ascribes to the special Hand of God the Sovereign Lord of Life and Death He will cut me off with Pining Sickness from Day even to Night thou ilt make an end of me Thus also our Bodies are styled Tabernacles which are no durable Habitations no certain Dwelling-places The Spirit that lodges within them knows they were never designed for its constant Abode and Residence Knowing saith S. Peter that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me We know these Sorry Tenements cannot stand long We cannot tell how soon we may be Devested of these Earthly Bodies but when Death comes to undress us we certainly put them off and very often before they are worn out with Age or are almost ever the worse for Wearing We have no lease of our Lives but are every day liable to a Discharge For tho' God hath set us a Term that we cannot pass yet he hath left it in his own Power to cut off as much of it as he Pleases and accordingly our Lives are frequently much shorter than the common Measure 5. The Life of Man is so very frail and short that it is resembled to the vainest and most insignificant Things In Seripture it is said to flee away as a Dream Job 20.8 Psal 73.20 a meer Delusion of the Fancy which vanishes at the chace of a waking Thought and is nothing but Ramble and Contradiction when the Mind recovers the scatter'd Ideas of it The Psalmist also compares it to the Telling of a Story Ps 90.9 We bring our Years to an End as it were a Tale that is Told As we are talking and jesting Death intrudes into our Company and our Life is gone in a Trice dicto Citius before we can bring out the saying we were upon or as some Paraphrase the Words recording to the Arabie Version our Years are reputed as a Spiders Web whose curious Frame and Contexture signifies nothing to its own preservation having no strength or solidity to support it By such familiar Emblems as these do's the Spirit of God in whom we live breath and have our beings admonish us of what we are very apt to Forget the frailty and uncertainty of this present Life And this it do's to cure us of our Heat and Passion for this World and the great Vanity of reckoning upon time to come which at present we are sure is none of ours and perhaps never shall be and to excite and quicken us to secure our everlasting Interests and to take care of the whole compass of our Beings of which the longest Life in this World is a very small and inconsiderable portion And as this shews the great concernment of our Creator for our well-being and happiness so it is reasonable to think that the thoughts of it should stir and affect our Minds and that while we are hear we have but a short time to live we should be willing to understand the best way of Living and Dying of making a good hand of this present Life and of ordering our Steps as behoves those that Tread upon the Brink of Eternity I come now to the Second Thing proposed which was to shew what practical Inferences may be drawn from the consideration of the shortness and instability of our Lives And as unpleasant as this Argument is if we will but deal faithfully with our selves impartially weigh the consequences of it I doubt not but we may learn a great deal of Wisdom from it both for the regulation of our Lives and reconciling our Minds to the shortness of them First then we should hence learn to lay aside all expectation of meeting with true and real Happiness in this World For true Happiness is the most constant and durable thing that can be And then we may be sure that the Happiness of this World from which we must part so soon and without which we must live a whole Eternity in the Other is not true and proper Happiness We come into this World to conquer not to court or enjoy it so long as we are conversant with it and lye upon its border's it will be always tempting and troubling us ever and anon presenting us with new occasions of shewing our virtue and improving our conquest over it and till we have compleated our Victory we cannot expect our Triumph And it is well for us that our Triumph is not assign'd us in this World where the greenest Laurels do quickly Fade and the Head that wears them is soon laid in the Dust Now let us digest this Principle well that this Life is not a State of Rest and Happiness and it will surely cool our Affections to the present World and save us a great deal of trouble and vexation in persuing the Vanities of it for that is the proper Name of things which appear but for a little time and then vanish away And this is a good step towards a discovery of the Place and Nature of Happiness and engaging our Minds in the Prosecution of it Here it is not to be found and therefore I must seek for it in the next World where I shall dwell for ever and where all things are firm and everlasting And since it lyes not in fading Pleasures or in any of the perishing delights of fense I will look for it in things of a better and more permanent Nature in Spiritual and Divine Enjoyments I will expect my happiness in Heaven only as the place and in God as the Fountain of it And let the World smile at me for this as it is like it will my Life will be suddenly gone and 't is my Interest to make the best of it that I can and much better to be jear'd into Happiness than decoy'd into Misery Thus as the Shortness of our Lives is a plain Argument that we are not capable of being truly Happy in this World so the serious consideration of it will both lessen our esteem of its Delights and Treasures and strongly move us to aspire after a more lasting and blessed State And this was it that made those excellent Men Hebr. 11 16. who confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth here to day vers 13. and to morrow gone to their Everlasting home despise this Worlds transitory Glory and desire a better Country that is an Heavenly a more assured and enduring State a place of undisturbed Rest and Joy of endless and never-fading Happiness 2. The consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of our Lives should silence our complaints and comfort us under the greatest Evils and Troubles that are incident to us in this World The Miseries of this present Life besides that they are Checquer'd with innumerable Mercies cannot be very great because they must be short and a little time and patience will