the great Ocean Time is a Spot on this side Eternity and what a little of that Spot is Mans life Thus you see in what sense Time is short It will not be long before the Silver cord be loosed and the Golden bowl broken Eccles. 12. 6. By the Silver Cord I understand the Pith or Marrow of the Back which for its whiteness is called Silver this Silver Cord will soon be loosed By the Golden Bowl is meant the Meninx or Skin wherein the Brains are enclosed as in a Bowl this Golden Bowl will soon be broken Time goes on apace The Poets painted Time with Wings because it flies so fast In Joshua's dayes when the Sun and Moon stood still Time went on In Hezekiah's Reign when the Sun went Ten degrees backward Time went forward Our whole life is nothing else but a passage to Death where there is no staying by the way or slacking our pace Vse 1. See what a poor inconsiderable thing Life is The time is short and upon this small Wire of time hangs the Weight of Eternity Life is but a short Scene Acted here It is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Vapour or puff of Wind Jam. 1. 4 Life is made up of a few flying Minutes Oh then how imprudent are they who to save their Lives will damn their Souls He were unwise who to preserve a short Lease would lose his Freehold How many such are there who to preserve this short Life will take indirect courses defraud and oppress and to build up an Estate will pull down their Souls many to save their Skins will deflour their Conscience Spira to preserve his Life abjured the Faith The Irish make great reckoning of their Skimeter a Warlike Weapon and will endure a blow on the Arm to keep their Skimeter from being hurt To this Skimeter I may compare the Soul better it is to endure a blow on our Body or Estate than suffer our precious Soul to be endamaged The Soul is the Man of the Man The Soul of Plato is Plato The Soul is the Princely part Crowned with Reason it is Dei insignita imagine it carries in it some faint Idaea or Resemblance of the Trinity The Soul is a rich Diamond set in Clay what folly is it for saving the Clay to lose the Diamond Like Tiberius the Emperour who for a draught of Water lost a Kingdom Vse 2. Is Time so curtail'd and shortned Let us often contemplate the shortness of Life Feathers swim upon the Water but Gold sinks into it Light Feathery-spirits float in vanity but serious Christians sink deep into the thoughts of their sudden change Deut. 32. 29 O that they were wise that they would consider their latter end Forgetfulness of the latter end makes Life sinful and Death formidable People naturally shrink back from the thoughts of Death Amos 6. 3 They put far away from them the evil day When they are young they hope they shall spin out Life to the Blossoming of the Almond Tree and when old age comes they hope to renew their strength as the Eagle though their Bodies are subject to corruption and they feel the symptoms of mortality in them Deafness of Hearing here is Death creeping in at the Ear Dimness of Sight here is Death creeping in at the Eye yet so frantique are they as to perswade themselves of long life Bodily diseases are but Deaths Harbingers which go before to bespeak a Lodging for Death Why then do men dream of an Earthly Eternity Psal. 49. 11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever Where is the Man that contemplates Times Shortness or makes another's Death a Looking-glass in which he may see his own dying Face Some may say this Discourse of the Shortness of Time is fit for such as are Consumptive whom the Physicians have given over but for their parts they are well in health and may live these many years But though your Blood be fresh in your Veins and your Bones are full of Marrow you know not how short your time may be He was not sick nor in fear of sickness who said Soul take thy ease but that night Death sealed him a Lease of Ejectment Luke 12. 20. Freshness of Complexion is sometimes a lightning before Death The metal of which Glass is made when it begins to shine is nearest melting Persons likely enough to live have been suddenly taken away by Squinisies Convulsions Appoplexies How soon may Death sound its Allarm 'T is reported of Zeleuchus that the first piece of Household-stuff he brought into Babylon was a Tomb-stone O Meditate of the transiency and brittleness of Life think often of your Tombe-stone Quest. What advantage will accrew to us by often thinking of our short stay here Answ. 1. The shortness of Time meditated on would cool the heat of our affections to the World These visible objects please the fancy but they do not so much delight us as delude us they are brevi dilapsura suddenly gone from us Worldly things are like a fair Picture drawn on the Ice which the Sun quickly melts The time is short why should we love that over-much which we cannot keep over-long 1 Cor. 7. 31 The fashion or Pageant of the World passeth away Time passeth away as a Ship in full sail this thought-on seriously would mortify Covetousness Paul looked upon himself as ready to loosen Anchor and be gone 2 Pet. 1. 14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle And how did his love to the World dye Gal. 6. 14 The World is Crucified to me and I unto the World Who would covet that much which hath neither Contentment nor Continuance Among the Graecians the City of Sparta had a King of it but for a year and then he was to lay down his Crown which made every one strive not to be King Why should we so toil about the World as if we were to live here ever What needs a long provision for a short way If we have but enough to bear our charges to Heaven it sufficeth Suppose a mans Lease were ready to expire and he should fall a building and planting would not he be judged indiscreet When our time is so very short now to follow the World immoderately as if we would fetch happiness out of the Earth which God hath cursed is a degree of frenzy we shall have no need of the Earth shortly but to be buried in it 2. The meditation of the shortness of Time would be a means to humble us St. Augustin calls Humility the Mother of the Graces Balm sinks to the bottom of the Water a good Christian sinks low in Humility and what can sooner pull down the Flags and Banners of Pride than to consider we are shortly dropping into the Dust The Priest was to cast the Feathers of the Fowls by the place of the ashes Levit. 1. 16. All your Feathers of Honour must
A SERMON Preached July 2 at the FUNERAL OF M r John Wells Late Pastor of Olave-Jury London By Thomas Watson late Minister of the Gospel in Stephens Walbrook London LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Marcers-Chappel 1676. TO THE READER Good Reader AT the Request of some friends I have been induced to publish this Sermon it is swelled something bigger in the Press But the matter I had prepared before only there wanted Time to serve it in If thou reapest any benefit by this ensuing Discourse I shall not repent that it was made publick July 7. 1676. Thine to serve thee THO. WATSON TIMES SHORTNESS I COR. VII 29. But this I say Brethren the time is short THe blessed Apostle in these words shews us what our station in the world and all our Secular enjoyments are they are minute and transient But this I say Brethren the time is short The Text consists of two parts 1. A Kind Compellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brethren 2. A Seasonable Admonition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time is short 1. A Kind Compellation Brethren The Saints of God are Brethren They are eodem sanguine conglutinati cemented together with the blood of Christ. Then let there be no strife among them seeing they are brethren Gen. 13. 8. Believers are regenerated by the same Spirit they suck the same Breasts the Promises they wear the same Garment Christs Righteousness they sit at the same Board the Table of the Lord they partake of the same Glory the inheritance in light Col. 1. 12 and shall they not love There ought to be no contending among Gods people but who should love most Satan leaps at discord he warms himself at the fire of mens Passions If he cannot divide the Spiritual members from their Head he will endeavour to make them smite one against another If he cannot keep the Saints from Heaven he will endeavour to make them fall out by the way It was ill for Abrahams Herd-men and Lots to fall out when the Canaanite was in the Land Gen. 13. 7. 'T is an ill time for Mariners to be fighting when the enemy is boring an hole in the bottom of the Ship Take heed the Popish Enemy doth not enter at your breaches Let Christians remember they are Brethren Unity among Brethren resembles the harmony among Angels Psal. 133. 1 2 Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it is like the precious ointment upon the head as the dew of Hermon 'T is compared to ointment because it is sweet and to the dew of Hermon because it makes every thing fruitful The Primitive Christians were of one heart Act. 4. 32. Let us pray That that Golden Motto may be written upon England Cor unum via una one Heart and one way Jer. 32. 39. What a blessed place will Heaven be where our light shall be clear our love shall be perfect our joy shall be full 2. A Seasonable Admonition The time is short This word Time I shall take more strictly for the term and period of mans life The time is short The divers instances of Mortality may serve as so many Commentaries upon the Text. The Greek word for short alludes to Mariners who roul up their Sails and bring them into a narrow compass when the Ship draws near the Harbour So though the sails of mans life were spread larger in the times of the Patriarchs yet now God is folding up these sails in a narrower compass Tempus contractum est the Time is short the Scripture frequently asserts the brevity and transitoriness of mans life Psal. 89. 97 Remember how short my time is Psal. 39. 5 Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth which is the least of the Geometrical measures Job useth three elegant Metaphors to set forth the shortness of mans life Job 9. 25 My days are swifter than a Post they are passed away as the swift ships as the eagle that hasteth to her prey If we look to the land there mans life is like a swift Post if we look to the Sea there it is like a swift Ship if we look to the air there it is like a flying eagle Life is compared to a cloud Job 7. 9 a cloud is a vapour drawn up by the Sun into the middle-region of the air when this cloud comes to its full proportion it is soon dispersed and blown away with the wind Life gathers as a cloud bigger and bigger but on a sudden it is dissipated by death Our life is but as a point to the Globe nay it is less Psal. 39. 5 My age is as nothing before thee There is but a span between the Cradle and the Grave Solomon saith There is a time to be born and a time to die Eccles. 3. 3 but mentions no time of living as if that were so short it were not worth speaking of Quest. In what sense is the time of life short Answ. 1. It is short in respect of the uncertainty it may instantly expire A man that holds a Farm at the will of his Landlord if he be asked how long time he hath in the Farm he will say no time at all because he is sure of none he may be turned out the next hour So our time is short because uncertain Hezekiah it is true had a lease of fifteen years sealed Isa. 38. 5 but we have no such lease sealed us death may be within a days march of us Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernae crastina vitae tempora dii superi There are so many casualities that it is a wonder if the slender thread of our Life be not cut off by untimely Death Have you not seen a Virgin on the same day dressed in her Bride-apparel and her Winding-sheet 2. Time is short in respect of the improvement If we reckon that for Time which is well spent then Time is brought into a narrow compass indeed a great part of our Time lies Fallow take from our life all the time of Eating Drinking Sleeping besides idle impertinencies and then how short is out Time How little is the time wherein we can truly say Hoc Vixi This time I have lived O how little is the time which is spent with God! Time misimployed is not Time lived but Time lost 3. Time is short compared with Eternity There is no Prospective-glass to see to the end of Eternity Eternity is a Day that hath no Sun-setting It is a Circle without beginning or end Eternity is a sum that can never be numbred a Line that can never be measured reckon as many millions of years as there have been minutes since the Creation and they stand for Ciphers in Eternity The most elevated strains of Rhetorique cannot reach Eternity It is a Sea without Bottom and Banks Time may be compared to a spot of Earth lying at the mouth of
But the time is shortly coming when all his mirth shall cease Rev. 18 22 The voice of the Harpers and Musicians and Trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee The Grave buries all a sinners joy When a wicked man dies the Devil gets a windfal Satan in Samuel's shape said to Saul 2 Sam. 28. 19 Thou shalt be with meto morrow The Sinner is to day with his Lusts and may be tomorrow with the Devil Who would envy the wicked their honour or pleasure they must pay dear for it They have a short Feast but a long Reckoning for a drop of mirth they must drink a Sea of wrath and Who knows the power of that wrath It was a saying of Cardinal Bellarmine If a man had but a sight of Hell it were enough to make an intemperate person sober Hell is the emphasis of Torment The Sacrifice of Jealousy was to have no Oyl nor Frankincense put to it Numb 5. 15. In Hell is no Oyl of Mercy put to the Torments of the wicked to lenify them nor is there any Incense of Prayer to appease Gods wrath Oh that sinners would in time break off their iniquities What is become of their Intellectuals have they sinned away Reason as well as Conscience The time of life is short but the torments of Hell are lengthened out Rev. 14. 11 The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever 4. Vse Here is a light side of the Text to the Godly they may be glad that their time here is short they cannot live but by dying Behold honey at the end of the rod. 1. The time being short their sinning-time cannot be long Sin is a troublesome inmate Rom. 7. 24 Paul that Bird of Paradise sighed and groan'd under corruption a child of God mingles sin with his duties he cannot write a copy of holiness without blotting there 's a party in a regenerate heart sides with Satan but be of good comfort the time is short it is but a while Christians that the dead man shall be tyed to the living that you shall be combating with a proud unbelieving heart The year of release is coming Death doth to the Godly as the Angel did to Peter it smites them and makes their chains of sin fall off quite 2. The time being short their working-time cannot be long in this life much work is cut out There is 1. The work of the hand as the Artificer works in his Trade Prove 10. 4. 2. The work of the head notions are the children of the brain and there is labour in bringing them forth 3. The work of the heart which is the hardest work to search cleanse watch the heart as a clock sometimes goes faster sometimes flower so the heart sometimes goes faster in sin sometimes flower in duty But here is the Saints comfort their working-time is but short Rev. 19. 13 They rest from their labours When their bodies return to dust their souls return to rest 3. Time being short their suffering-time cannot be long Life is inter-larded with trouble Job 14. 1. You may as well separate weight from lead as trouble from mans life We come into the world with a Cry and go out with a Groan Every one hath his yoke and 't is well if there be not a nail in it but Time is short Though the Cross be heavy we have but a little way to carry it death will give the godly a writ of ease Job 3. 17 There i.e. in the Grave the wicked cease from troubling 4. The Time being short their waiting-time cannot be long the Godly shall not be long out of Heaven While the blessed Angels see the orient beauties that shine in Gods face Believers live far from Court being imprisoned in the body Here they do rather desire God than enjoy him But the Time is short it is but a few days perhaps hours and the Saints shall be ever solacing themselves in the light of Gods Countenance They shall leave their pillow of thorns and lay their head on Christs bosom Faith gives a propriety in God death gives a possession The Wagons and Chariots came ratling to old Jacob but they were to carry him to his Son Joseph Deaths Chariot-wheels may come ratling to a Believer but it is to carry him home to his Fathers house In that Paradise of God a Christian shall have more than he can think Eph. 3. 20. He can think What if every mountain were a Pearl every flower a Ruby every sand in the Sea a Diamond the whole Globe a shining Chrysolite but all his thoughts are too low and dwarfish to reach the glory of the Coelestial Pyramides The reward Heavenly as St. Austin saith exceeds Faith and the Time being short a Christian shall be in Heaven before he is aware then shall he bathe his Soul in those perfum'd pleasures of Paradise which run at Gods right hand for evermore I have done with the Text let me speak next to the Occasion We are met to commemorate the Death of an Eminent Minister in this City Mr. JOHN WELLS Sorry I am to be an Actor in this Mournful Scene But being requested by Him in his life in case I survived I was willing to do this last Office of love There hath been of late a great mortality of Ministers The men of the World need not be so fierce against Gods Ministers they will not trouble them long Gods taking away his Ministers so fast two in a day boads much evil It presageth the fall of an House when the Pillars are removed Concerning this Reverend Brother deceased it is not my purpose to use any hyperbolical Encomiums or Panegyricks only give me leave to strow a few Flowers upon his Hearse This our worthy Friend was endued with Learning and volubleness of speech He could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divide the word rightly as a workman that need not be ashamed Seals he had to his Ministry Some of his hearers might call him as Cyprian did Caecilius novae vitae parentem their Spiritual Father For his Piety he was not only a Follower of that which was good but a leader he said not long before his death That he had brought this to an issue That he loved God He was fixed to his Principles Though he be now by Death a Fallen-Star yet he was not a Wandring-Star His disposition was not Morose but Affable a man of that Candor and Curtesy as did oblige and win the affections of many to him When Grace and sweetness of Nature meet it is like a Pearl in a Gold-Ring For his Preaching 1. He did frame himself ad captum populi he Preached intelligibly to the capacity of his Auditory Sure that Minister will never hit the hearts of his hearers who shoots over their heads Ministers should be Stars to give light not Clouds to darken the Truth Clearness is the grace of Speech Gregory Nazianzen Preached plain to the ignorant yet was admired by the learned 2. He was elaborate and painful in his work Sloath in a Minister is as bad as Sleep in a Sentinel He would not offer that to God which cost him nothing Christ bled for Souls well may we sweat This good man like a Taper wasted himself while he gave light to others He was a man of a forgiving-Spirit he was not troubled with the overflowing of the Gall Kindnesses he wrote in Marble Injuries he forgot He was very Charitable The Backs and Bellies of the Poor were the furrows where he sowed the Seeds of his liberality But though his Charity did shine he did not care it should blaze He is now taken from the evil to come For you that did sit under his Ministry let me tell You you have lost a Friend and a Guide you have cause to be Close-mourners Let me request only this of you That you would remember the many good Instructions given you though he is dead let not his Sermons dye too but labour to Copy them out fair in your Lives FINIS * August * 1 Pet. 3. 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Quantillum sit tempus meum Gejer. * Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus Sen. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vita adeò parum a morte distat ut ipsa mors sit Musc. * Horat * Diu suit in mundo non vixit Sen. * Una dies continua occajum non habens Gerh. * Cogita centum millia annorum cogita decies Centena millia annorum Cogita mille milliones annorum immò saeculorum nondum in choasti aeternum Corn. à Lap. * Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est * ut Vir Crescit Vita decrescit Senec. * Bern. Use 2. Exhort Br. 1. * Vive memor Lethi Pers. * Nemo putat se citò moriturum Aug. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. * Theodoret. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Parùm viae quid multum viatiâ—i * Agnoscat homo se esse mortalem franget elationem Aug. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Hom. 22. de Simult * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In licitis perimus omnes * 1 Sam. 14. 27. * Plut. * Joh. 4. 19. * Turpe est difficiles habere nugas Mart. * Sen. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Claud. * Prov. 9. 12. * Isa. 26. 9. * Animula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in loca Hadr. * Gen. 6. 8. * Nil in hac vita dulcius sentitur nil ita mortem ab amore mundi sâ—parat nil sic animam contra tentationes roborat nil hominem ita ad omne bonum opus excitat quam gratia contemplationis Bern. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. * Dio servire est regnare * Incipe erogaere si non vis errare Aug. de Verb. Dom. * Act. 12. 7. Quid est diù vivere nisi diu Torqutri Aug. Praemium quod side non attingetur