evil but as he was Israel so his Days were many and good He had two Names Jacob and Israel Genesis 49.1 2. both given him from his Wrestling the farmer Name was given him for wrestling with his Brother for the Birth-right in the Womb wherein he Miscarried but the latter for his Wrestling with his God for the Blessing at Penuel wherein his Valour through Divine Condescension obtain'd the Victory When the Messiah saw Jacob's undaunted Courage in resolutely detaining him Asks him his Name Gen. 32.24 26 27. As if he should say Thou art such a Fellow as I never met with who though thou be lamed and laid Hard at yet wilt not let me go without my Blessing Thou hast let thy Flocks go and thy Herds go Thou hast let thy Wives go and thy Children go yet thou wilt not let me go nor my Blessing go I will not let thee go except thou Bless me saith Jacob v. 26. Hereupon He Honours Him as it were with the Honour of Knighthood saying to him Kneel down Jacob Rise up Israel for as a Prince thou hast had Power with God and with Men and hast prevailed Gen. 32.28 Hos 12.3 4. Now Jacob is a Name of Weakness the poor Worm Jacob Isa 41.14 Trampled upon and trodden under foot This Afflicted State made Jacob sigh out those Sad Words All these things are against me Gen. 42.36 and those of my Text also Few and Evil have the Days of the Years of my Life been But so far as he had Princely Power as Israel signifies both with God and with Men In this Sence his Days were many and good One Day with God is a Thousand elsewhere VSE Hence learn we the Reason why the Church is called Jacob through out the Scriptures when Speech is of her Weakness and Calamity But she is frequently call'd Israel to signifie her Splendour and Glory and as it is thus with the Church of God in General so it is with the Children of God in Particular Some times they are run down with strange Temptations and with strong Tribulations then are they the poor Worm Jocob Isa 41.14 The Shulamite found two Armies Warring in her The Army of the Flesh and the Army of the Spirit Cant. 6.13 When the Army of the Flesh or Amalek prevaileth as Exod. 17.11 then the Seed of Jocob droops but when they are made strong in their Weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 Strengthned with all Might Col. 1.11 and made able through the Supplies of Christ's Spirit Phil. 1.19 to Tread down Strength as Judg. 5.21 even the strongest Temptation without then are they called the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 for their Prince-like prevailing over Flesh World and Devil III. Observation From the Circumstances of the Text. The Third Observation ariseth from the Conjunction of these two Parts This Question and the Answer to it which is 'T is a Duty Incumbent upon all Mankind to be Asking and Answering How the Days of the Years of their Lives do pass away It was Moses's Prayer Lord teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psalâ— 90.12 In which Psalm it being â— Meditation of Man's Mortality corresponding with my Text therefore Mark 1. Moses mentions the Brevity and Uncertainty of Man's Life comparing it to a Watch v. 4. which is but the fourth part of a Night Mark 13.35 Then he goes on and compares it to a Sleep to a Dream all vanishing things and to a Tale that is soon told and is as soon forgotten lastly to Grass which we well know if it be not cut down in Summer or Autumn doth wither in Winter So such Mortals as are not cut down with the Sithe of Death in their Youth do yet wither away in the Winter of Old Age. Quid est Vita nisi quidam Cursus ad Mortem said the Ancient Father Life is nothing but a Posting to Death The 2d Occurrence in this Meditation of Moses upon Man's Morality is his assigning the proper procuring Cause of this Humane Miseâ—y to wit Divine Displeasure â—gainst Sin which causeth God to â—urn Man to Destruction ver 7 8. Man at the first was made Immortal he had then an Immortal Body a Suitable Companion for his Immortal Soul These two Sweet Associates had never been severed each from other if Man had not sinned against his Maker Had Adam stood on his State of Innocency He should then have rendred to the Lord a time of perfect Obedience and Service here upon Earth and when that Homage to his Great Landlord had been accomplish'd he should then have been Translated from Earth without the least taste of Death to Heaven the Soul should never have been separated from the Body as now it is for the Wages of Sin is Death Rom. 6.23 It was that one Man's Offence that pulled up the Sluce and let in Death as a Deluge with a Regal Authority over all the World Rom. 5.14 to 17. and Sin did not only let in Death but also all sorts of Sicknesses Sorrows and Sufferings that are Forerunners of it Then 3ly Moses Condemns Mans Dulness in taking no more notice of this Divine Displeasure ver 11. All other Creatures know their Times and their Seasons Jerem. 8.7 but Man knoweth not the Day of his Visitation till He come to be Snared in an Evil Net c. Eccles 9.12 Though Man's Life be a Life full of all Inconveniencies of Indignities of Injuries of Infirmities and of Iniquities also yet such is the Stupidity of the Fall'n Nature that Man puts the Thoughts of these things far from him Amos 6.3 Fourthly Hereupon Moses begs God for Illuminating Grace wherewith to make a more Distinct Discovery of all Humane Frailty Lord teach w to number our Days c. ver 12. And the Sweet-Singer of Israel David will be of the same Chorus with Moses sighing as well as singing out these Synonimical Sentences Lord make me â—o know my end and the Measure of my Days what it is That I may know how frail I am c. Psal 39.4 5. Thus likewise Jacob in my Text carries on the like Concord and Consort to compleat the Harmony complaining here Few and evil have the Days of the Years of my Life been c. Adding only this one Note of Discord for making better Musick that God had taught him this great Truth concerning his own Frailty He had seen it for time past and He would be sensible of it for time to come his Days had been few and Evil Now they might be fewer and worse seeing He and all his were famished out of Canaan the Land of Promise into Egypt the place where his Posterity would be evilly intreated Gen. 15.13 VSE Moses teacheth us what use to make of the knowledge of our own Frailty It should strongly stir us up to an earnest imploring of Divine Mercy He maketh a loud Out cry after Mercy Crying Return O Lord How long c. Oh satisfie us early with thy Mercy
shall eat drink or put on They hunger and thirst no more they are then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels that need no such things Mat. 22.30 The Lamb there Leads and feeds them Rev. 7.16 17 they are then clothed with Glory 2 Cor. 5.2 c 2. From Labours of Infirmity they have their Writs of Ease No more pain as well as no more pains Rev. 21.4 No Grief nor Gripes then Job in no fear of the Caldeans there Job 3.17 18. Their Bacah is then turned into Berachah their sighing into singing misery into majesty All Tears are wip'd from their Eyes 3. From the Labours of Iniquity All men are under a Sinful Necessity here Eccles. 7.20 Sin will keep house with us whether we will or no 'T is an heart-greiving Inmate till Death turn it out of doors as Sarah did Hagar Gen. 21.10 c. This the Anti-Type Typified by the fretting Leprosie that could not be scraped out of the walls of the house infected with it until all the Stones and Timber thereof were taken down to the ground Levit. 14.45 44 45. As Vltimus morborum medicus est mors Death heals all the Diseases of the Body So Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis mors erit Sepulchrum peccati Sin was the. Mid-wife to Death and Death shall be the Sepulchre of Sin in the Soul A believing Soul is not taken away in his sins as John 8.21 but from his sins Till then we are all bound to this Body of Sin which makes us cry out O Wretched men that wc are c. This brings down with Sorrow to the Grave But then Christ Delivers us from that Bond Rom. 7.24 25. Causing the Death of the Body quite to destroy that Body of Death till then mans life is a sore Travel Eccles. 1.13 2.23 While the Plummets of Sin hang at the heels of our Souls we are Restless altogether Restless but when Death comes to Strike off those Plummets Then there is a Rest in deed The Third and last Resemblance in Job 9.26 is from the Eagles Flying the Climax here is very observable An Eagle is swifter than a Ship as a Ship swifter than a Post The Eagle of all flying Fowls is reputed the swiftest flight and hath the strongest Wing Habb 1.8 Prov. 30.19 The way of an Eagle in the Air is High Swift Strong Thus Life hasteth from us and Death hastens to us as doth the Eagle to the Carcass it desireth to devour Matth. 24.28 Then is the Eagle most swift when hunger as it were doth add Wings to his Wings then comes he upon his Prey like a Thunder-Bolt upon the Earth swiftly and suddenly before it can shift for it self Thus Death is not said to walk on foot but is mounted on Horseback Rev. 6.8 Death rideth upon the Pale Horse Death Rideth Post as above upon a winged Horse to us as Life doth the like in Posting from us Oh how suddenly some persons are surprized with sudden Death The Sixth and last Observation is from the Quality of it mans life is also a most miserable Life 'T is not only a poor Pilgrimage but 't is also a short and miserable one 'T is called here a Pilgrimage and that made up of a few daies and those evil ones also When Man came first out of Gods Mint in his state of Innocency he was a curious Silver-Peice which shone most gloriously Psal 8.5 Eccles. 7.29 c. But now since the Fall he is become a poor thin worn lost Groat Luke 15.8 9. Which hath lost its lustre weight the sound of silver and its image and superscription He is now the Prodigal lost and a Pilgrim wandering in the Wilderness of sin when cast out of the Garden of God Man is now become miserable every way miserable in his Name Enosh which signifies mere misery And in his Nature but a bagg of Dung a lump not only of Vanity but of Misery also Man is miserable 1. At his Birth Antequam natus est Damnatus saith Ambrose He is Condemned as he is Conceived His Birth is polluted Psal 51.5 and Ezek. 16.4 5. Job 14.12 He comes crying into the World prophecying as it were that he is now launching out of the Haven of the Womb into the wide Ocean of Care and Calamity So 2. He is miserable in his Life A Life Full of Trouble Job 14.1 He is Born to misery Job 5.7 His Childhood and Youth is not only Vanity Eccles. 11.10 But if not villany 't is yet misery Yea his Middie-Age is made miserable by grasping too greedily of that bundle of Thorns the World c. Much more his Old-Age which is expresly called an Evil Age Eccles. 12.1 Thus in these four respects man is more than thrice miserable as to his life 3. At his Death most of all if not Bornagain before he Dye then he doth but Begin his Endless Misery VSE I. Oh that I could be a Boanerges or Son of Thunder to awaken souls out of the fleep of Sin what meanest thou O thou Sleeper arise c. Jon. 1.6 Awake awake why sleepest thou c. Eph. 5.14 Call upon thy God and be not still fast lull'd asleeep by a Soul-undoing Devil in the bewitching Cradle of Carnal Security Knowest thou not that upon this moment and God only knows how short it may be depends no less than thy Eternity of Woe or Weal As the Tree falls so it lyes and so it rises again what way the Tree leans that way it falls either to South or North and it leans that way it hath most boughs on O then enquire on what side most boughs grow that to Heaven or that to Hell Ye had better dye in a Ditch Dunghil or Dungeon as Dye in sin Joh. 8.21 VSE II. Then Study this Patriarchs Opticks who had a Right Prospect of mans life that it is but a Lingring Death a Poor Short and Miserable Pilgrimage wherein thou must expect foul way and weather as well as fair A Returna Brevi Term may ere ever thou be aware determine thy Pilgrimage The Angels Question to Hagar Whence comest thou and whither goest thou Gen. 16.8 Whether to Heaven or Hell is of Infinite Importance He that gathers in Summer is a wise son Prov. 10.5 As this Young-Man whose Funeral we are Solemnizing did He had learnt to look upon all worldly things with a Pilgrim's Eye and to make use of them in his way Home with a Pilgrims Heart Much more might I say from my own personal Knowledge were it not that it is not my manner to Paint Sepulchres or to Beautifie the Tombs of the dead which is a work fitter for a Pharisee Mat. 23.29 than for a Gospel-Minister c. VSE III. Oh that all Young Men were such Mortified Timothies as He was who lived much in a little Time And though he be deprived of the residue of his dayes Isa 38.10 And hath not the long life promised to Piety yet God keeps his
c. Psal 90.13 14. He could find nothing in all the World but Divine Mercy to be a Congruous and Competent Remedy for Humane Malady and Mortal Misery And 't is not a little of Mercy will do but he must have much even as much as will Satisfie Oh Satisfie c. The Salve must be suitable to the Sore for quantity as well as quality Great Misery smarted under requires Great Mercy to Cure it Yea and he must have it early also Oh Satisfie me early c. The Soul of a Frail Sinner made sensible of his Sinful Frailty even longs after Mercy He cannot Live without it he dare not Die without it He must have Mercy both the Giving and the Forgiving Mercy whatever else he wants 't is the Vnum Necessarium He must have it speedily or he cannot sit down satisfied Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic a Deo Satiari God saith Luther shall not put me off with Pleasure Treasure Honour or any thing below his Mercy Mercy gives us much yet forgives us more c. The Fourth Observation ariseth from the Body and and Substance of the Text more to be insisted upon to wit Doctr. 4. Man 's Life is but a poor Pilgrimage 'T is twice thus titled in my Text Jacob calls his own Life a Pilgrimage in the fore-part of it and the Life of his Progenitors he calls a Pilgrimage also in the latter part The Apostle James moves a Parallel Question to this of Pharoah's The latter asks What is your Age Gen. 47.8 and the former asks What is your Life Jam. 4.14 This of the Apostles admits of a double Answer The First is Philosophical And The Second is Theologicdl The First is that Answer which not Vain but Solid and Sage Philosophy gives to the Apostles Question What is Man's Life to shew the Nature of it 1. Plato that Divine Philosopher calls Man's Life a Game at Dice wherein what shall be the cast wore or less is not in the Gamesters Power yet whatever is the cast 't is the Gamesters Duty to make the best Improvement of it that he may win the Game This Platonick Notion carrieth a Correspondency with the Analogy of Faith and with the Scripture of Truth which saith Mans ways are not in himself c. Jerem. 10.23 'T is indeed the Saying of some quisque suae Fortunae Faber Every Man is the Framer of his own Fortune which may be taken in Sano Sensu if Interpreted only by that first Sermon after that upon the Fall which God Himself Preached to Cain Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well Shalt thou not he accepted But if thou Dost ill Sin lies at thy Door Notwithstanding It is not in Man to direct his own Steps faith Jeremy much less to order the Success of his Works Solomon saith Man's Diligence without God's Blessing cannot inrich Prov. 10.4 22. Man knows not therefore what his Cast shall be more or less in this Life yet is it his Duty to make the Best and if it be possible a Blest Improvement of all Occurrencies of Providence attending him That through Grace which is the true Philosopbers Stone that turns all it touches into Gold all Natural and Moral Evils may be converted into Spiritual good This is the only way to win the best Game in the World Vincenti Dabitur corona Vitae The Winner's Wage is Eternal Glory Revelat. 2.10 17 26. and 3.5.12.21 Secondly Next to Plato Hear Seneca These two were the two great Luminaries of the Heathen World who abounds in his Allusions upon this Point As 1. This Wise Morallist calls Man's Life a Warfare wherein how soon our Enemy Death will come upon us and overcome us we know not Therefore should we be always upon our Watch and Ward 2. He compares Man's Life to a Flash of Lightning which immediately appeareth and as immediately disappeareth again 3. The Philosopher comes up higher to the very Terms of our Text and plainly saith That Man's Life is but a Pilgrimage and Path-way to Death Some indeed say That this same Seneca was acquainted with the Apostle Paul his Contemporary in Nero's time and that Epistles were writ from each to other so might borrow such Divine Notions from him But sure I am he could not be Conversant with our Patriarch Jacob unless in Moses Pentateuch from which he might borrow such Sacred Phrases c. as Homer did his Alcinous Garden c. and Ovid his Deucalions Floud c. from thence Thirdly Pythagoras Briefly of the rest compareth Man's Life to a Stage-play on a Theatre where a Man acts his Part for a while then retireth being dis-attired or devested of all his Histrionical Attire and Acting Garments Fourthly To this add that of Simonides Related by Rodulphus Agricola who being askt What Man's Life was Answered with a Silent Sign shewing himself to the Company a little while and then with-drawing out of their sight Fifthly Epictetus Declares Man's Life to be like a Voyage at Sea upon the Narrow Seas wherein he meets with High Winds Rough Waters Surging Waves as it were all in a Conspiracy to swallow him up and if he escape the Storm either Ragged Rocks or Cruel Quick-Sands may Shipwrack him in a Calm Yea it may be that Pyrates may plunder him or some contrary Blasts may blow him too soon to Shore However in those Narrow Seas there is but a short Cutt from Shore to Shore Many more Sayings of those Heathen Sages might here be multiplied were it not to avoid Prolixity I have done with the Philosophical Answer to What is Man's Life Let us hear what is that which is Theological that hath a more Noble Original and is Taught in an Higher School Picus Mirandula saith excellently that Philosophy seeks Truth Divinity finds it and Piety possesseth it The Notable Essays of the former have been heard but Scripture Discovery is the more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto we shall do well to take heed 2 Pet. 1.19 The Word of God aboundeth with many Metaphors to Illustrate the Nature of the Life of Man being all Answers to the Apostles Question What is your Life I can but single forth some very few of them that this narrow Discourse swell not too much The First Resemblance waveing those I mention'd before from Psal 90 c. which I inlarged on the more because 't is a Paraphrase on my Text is that of the Apostle James who mov'd the Question What is your Life And gives himself the Answer to it no doubt but well Accommodated because he was inspired by the Holy Ghost to give it He saith It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 Oh what a poor empty thing is a Vapour no Solidity in it 't is not so much a Thing as next to No-thing It disperseth it self so soon as it is raised no sooner it appears but it disappears Oh then What a vain shew maketh Man in his Life Psal 39.6 The
Pomp of Great Princes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Swoln Bubble a big Phansie Act. 25.23 The Sâ—â—ond Resemblance is Smoak My Days saith David are Consumed like Smoak Psal 102. 3. Good God what a Vain thing is Life if no better than Smoak a Vapour may be lovely with its comely Colours but Smoak is a Sooty thing pleasing to none but offensive to all none thinks that Smoak is worth keeping so Life may be as Smoak to the Eyes burdensome enough Though the Flame of Fire be Smoak fired yet the Smoak it self hath not a Spark of fire in it Thus this Temporal Life hath not so much as a Spark of Light and Life in it compared with Eternity Who can hold Smoak in his hand or take and keep an handful of it No more can he his own Life Oh how Smoak hastens up into the Heavens in its Rowling Pillars and circular Agglomerations so doth Man's Life to the Fountain of Life froâ— whence it came The Spirit returns to God Eccles 12.7 The Third Metaphor is a Shadow Man fleeth as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.2 and Psal 112.11 A Shadow we know lasteth not long at any time it can but last the length of a Day at the longest for as soon as the Sun hides his Head under the Earth die Shadow is gone But mostly it lasteth but a little part of the Day because the Sun is oft hiding his Head under a Cloud and so oft is the Shadow gone The Shadow of the Dyal hasteth to its Period and who can stop it So doth Man's Life It flieth as the Shadow of the Night before the Day and as the Shadow of the Day until Night returneth The Shadow passeth along as the Body passeth and who can hold it but the Night cometh and taketh it away Man carries an handful but of Smoak or of a Shadow while he carries his Life in his hand Oh what a poor handful is that which cannot be held Oh how many like Aesop's Dog do catch at this Shadow of a Temporal Life which is slippery as Smoak or as a Shadow so cannot be held and oft so Vain and vexing that 't is not worth holding neglecting in the mean time that great Command Lay fast hold on Eternal Life 1 Tim. 6.19 The Fourth Similitude is a Shepherds Tent Mine Age is departed and removed from me as a Shepherds Tent saith Hezekiah I saiah 38.12 The Shepherd removes his Tent as his Flock removeth from one place to another and he can remove it easily and speedily Now the Lord is our Shepherd Psal 23.1 and our Bodies are as so many Tents or Tabernacles Blessed Paul who was a Tent-maker Act. 18.3 compareth the Body of Man to a Tent or which is all one to a Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 The Tent stands not or falls not at its own but at its owners Pleasure so Man's Life is not at his own choice but at God's Command The Body is not call'd there a Temple as Christ Body was John 2.21 which could see no Corruption Psal 16.10 Act. 13.35 but was to stand like a Stable Temple wherein the God-head dwelt Bodily Col. 2.9 For ever but 't is call'd an earthly House a shaken weather-beaten House a decaying Cottage and a Tottering Tabernacle that must be taken down God 's own hand that erected it comes in a Fit of Sickness and gently slackens the Cords and draws out the Pins that upheld this Tent or Tabernacle and sometimes the Tent is blown down with some Blast of sudden Death c. Yet if Godly to be raised again is a more Glorious Pallace The Fifth Comparison is the Shuttle of a Weaver Job 7.6 which in a moment passeth from one side of the Web to the other The Shuttle hath a very sudden Motion and a very swift Passage from end to end it stops not till it ordinarily be through the Web yet Job saith My Days are swifter than a Weaver's Shuttle that is the time on my Life hastens far faster than it to its appointed Period And Hezekiah compares God to a Weaver and his own Life to the Thread which the Weaver cutteth off either when the Web is finished or before it comes to the Thrums even at his Pleasure Isa 38.12 He will cut off like a Weaver my Life c. Before my Web be throughly wrought before it reach the Thrums that are tyed to the Beam at the end of the Loom The Blind Heathens did hammer at this great Truth in their Fiction of the Three Fatal Sisters Atropos Clotho and Lachesis Clotho colum Bajulat Lachesis Trahit Atropos Occat Clotho holds the Distaff Lachesis Spins out the Thread and Atropos cuts it off at Pleasure As the Shuttle is cast to and again and carries the Thread along with it forward and backward c. So is Man's Life tossed too and fro backward and forward Night and Day The Night casts this Shuttle of Life to the Day and the Day casts it back to the Night again but at length this tender Thread either breaks or is cut off according to Hezekiah's Phrase and possibly the Weaver will cut the Web out of the Loom before it be half accomplish'd as this Dead young Man may sufficiently demonstrate As to the Case of Hezekiah He then thought his Thread had been in breaking but God the good Weaver tyed the almost broken Thread again upon a Weavers Knot so Hezekiah's Life became as an interrupted Web anâ— was woven on for Fifteen Year longer And surely the Messiah puâ— forth the most Exquisite Skill of aâ— excellent Weaver upon all thosâ— whom he raised from Death to Life so made that tender Thread hold oâ— as firmly as if it never had beeâ— cut off or broken Lavater hath aâ— useful Note upon those two Texts oâ— the Weaver's Shuttle saying You that are Weavers or but Lookers up on their Work Meditate on your Mortallity and your hastening as the Shuttle to your End and learn thence to live Holily that you may Die Happily for without Holiness you cannot have Happiness Hebr 12 14. The Sixth Parallel omitting the many more Metaphors occurring in Sacred Writ of which some I may mention upon the next Observation is that is may Text Man 's Life is a Pilgrimage Sometimes the Scripture compares the Life of Man to a Voyage at Sea and sometimes to a Pilgrimage by Land These two are a Sisters Synonoma's and have the same Sence and Significations thought in differing Expressions First As Man's Life is likened to a Voayage at Sea so it representeth the Perils from Pyrates Tempests c. that Mortal Man is exposed unto Is there not an appointed time Job 7.1 The Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Locus Piratarum Zanchy a place of Pyrates The Ship is never safe but in Harbour But Job makes this Allusion more plainly saying My Days are passed away as the swift Ships Job 9.26 Alas how was poor Job as a Ship tossed with Tempests and not
till she reach her desired Harbour or Haven Mark also the Congruity in sundry Particulars betwixt Man's Passage through this Life and a Ships passing through the Sea The First Congruity is as a Ships Bulk being built just after the manner of Man's Body in a Supine posture the Bottom-Tree answering our Back-Bone which hath many Ribs rising up on both sides c. is made for Motion not Rest Hence the Ignorant Indians call'd the first ships they beheld Moving Islands All ships are made for launching out into the Deep Waters Psal 107.23 24. And when heaved from off the Stocks where they are built in order to their passing down into the Deep have a peculiar Name as the Good-Speed the Adventure c. put upon them Even so it is with the poor Isle of Man so called he upon his first Launching forth from his Mothers Womb into a Sea of misery hath some significant Name put upon him with many hearty wishes from Parents and Relations sent after him both for his Safety and Success Secondly No sooner is the Ship Launched out into the Main Ocean but she meets with contarry Winds raging Waves dreadful Storms c. as before so that she is never safe or quiet till she reach her Rest in her desired Haven Psal 107.30 Thus it is with Man while in this lower World the place of Pyracy Job 7.1 ut supra He is assaulted with many Pyrates who hang out false Colours to decoy him within the Command of their Cannons He is Afflicted tossed with Tempests and not Comforted Isa 54.11 This present evil World is a very Shop fully furnished with All Tempting Tools and the life of man is but as one Temptation continued from First to Last 'T is a life made up all of Temptation Man is ever under either Visible or Invisible Dangers He passeth through Perils in Perils often as Paul 2 Cor. 11.26 every moment untill he Reach to that Everlasting Rest in a Desired Haven Heb. 4.9 Revel 14.13 The Third Congruity is A Ship is not only made for Motion but for Swift Motion Hence Job phraseth it My days pass away as the Swift Ships Hebr. Ships of Ebeck which may be read Ships of desire whether they be Ships of Pleasure or Yatches which are Built Frigat-wise for Sayling Swiftly Or they be Ships of Pyracy as Mendoza reads it saying Naves Piraticae mercibus Vacuae quam velocissime Rapiuntur Plundering and Pilfering Privateers being empty of Burdens make the most speedy way in Plowing through the Waters especially when they have both Wind and Tide with them to promote their Progress Thus it is with poor mortal Man who is a rowling tumbling thing like a Ship hopping from Hill to Mountain and meeting with no Resting Place Jer. 50.6 He reels to and fro as if drunk like the Marriners in a tossed Ship Psal 107.26 27. Yea and many mens motions to Hell are as swift Ships making great haste thither Prov. 1.16 Isa 59.7 Rom. 3.15 mans life is swift of it self but it runs most swiftly when the wind of Temptation and the tide of Corruption concurr to carry it forward c. Oh would to God the motions of your minds made as much expedition towards Heaven as wicked men do towards Hell All men are Ships of Desire both good and bad All are Home-bound to one of those ports and never do the winds so much fill the Sails of such and such a Ship as Desires do fill the minds of the Mariners to be at such and such a Desired Haven 'T is true the worst of wicked men do not Desire Hell yet though they do not desire that end they have strong desires towards the way to that end how ought every gracious soul to pray for the fresh gales of Gods Spirit John 3.8 and to cry with the Spouse in the Song Awake O Northwind and come thou Southwind blow upon me c. Cant. 4.16 a Godly Person hath with Paul his Cupio Dissollvi a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 O how should we all with the penitent prodigal Hasten home to our Fathers House c. Luke 15.17 18 20. Heaven is our home 2 Cor. 5. from 1. to 7. 't is our Desired Haven Psal 107.30 even everlasting happiness Fourthly the Fourth paraphrase upon Jobs phrase that mans life is like a Ship followeth that as a Ship leaves no visible tract behind her so life passeth unto death and the memory of it is forgotten Solomon saith the way of a Ship in the midst of the Sea cannot be tracked Prov. 30.19 for though she make deep furrows in her passage all along ye◠do they immediately close up again and the same Solomon saith of men yea of great men that carry a great figure in their place and be of a Ruffling grandeur in the world when once Dead the memory of them wears out of the mind Eccles. 8.10 and 9.5 Thus Aegypt forgat Joseph Exod. 1.18 and Israel Gideon Judg. 8.34 35. Yea men Friends and Familiars remember the dead no more Thus likewise some understand that phrase in Dan. 8.5 The he goat toucheth not the ground in this sence that it imports not only the speed and expedition of Alexanders prodigious conquests but also that in ā short time no man would know what was become either of that great conqueror or of any of his vast Conquests there would be no print of any their footsteps left behind they would no more be found than the way of a ship in the midst of the Sea Yet O how good it is to be a godly person for the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance Psal 112.6 the memory of the just full be blessed Prov. 10.7 they shall be mentioned with much veneration after death even by those that spared not to Reproach them in their life their very name shall be honourable and acceptable to God and men whereas the name of the wicked rotteth and stinks above ground Prov. 10.7 Fifthly and lastly a Ship never rests till she come into her desired Heaven so mans life stays no where till it comes to its long rest and that is a blessed rest to those that dye in the Lord Revel 14.13 that fall asleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 God takes a way their Souls out of their bodies as it were by a Kiss thus Rabins read that phrase Gnal pi Jehovah Deut. 34.5 at the mouth of the Lord Moses dyed not as we according to the words of the Lord As if God had taken away his Soul with a kiss of his mouth such a kiss of love as the Spouse prayed for from the mouth of Christ Cant 1.2 when this is done what follows after but rest from labours 1 from Labours of necessity 2 from labours of Infirmity and 3 from labours of Iniquity 1. They Rest from the first to wit the Necessary yet toilsom◠Labours of this Life they take no more thought Propoter Victum Amictum what they