turne vs againe vnto dust And this should teach vs to take heed how wee place our maine and principall hope in Man who is but the child of dust who must returne to dust as soone as God calls him and bids him returne 4 This sheweth the absolute power which the Lord hath ouer these bodies of ours A Potter hath not more power ouer the vessell of clay that he maketh Which as it should teach vs to take heede how we murmur and repine against GOD for ought he doth in this kind so it should likewise admonish vs to use our bodies whilest wee haue them and before wee and they returne to dust againe to his glory That so from dust they may be raised againe by him to immortalitie VERS 4. For a thousand yeares in thy sight are but as yesterday that is past and as a Watch in the night THe Prophet sheweth further in this part of his complaint that God doth as it were suddainly raise vp a man and breake him againe because that in his eyes a thousand yeares are but as yesterday that is passed and as a watch in the night Now if it be so with God in regard of his eternity that a thousand yeares are but as yesterday and the fourth part of a night then surely in his eyes the life of man though he should liue to threescore and ten is but short as short as if a man should make a thing and marre it within a quarter of an houre yea in the very same minute or moment almost Hence we learne 1. Not to measure length of time by the time we spend here though wee were sure to liue till eightie or a hundred yeares but to measure it by Gods eternitie to consider what it is in respect of God and of theirs that liue with God and are in grace and fauour with him For surely when they haue enioyed his presence a thousand yeares in all blisse they are no whit then weary thereof nor is it but as if they had beene with him but an houre 2. This is a terror to the wicked for though they be a thousand yeares in hell yet with God it is but as yesterday Which shewes the extreame folly of them that for a little pleasure in this life which is so vncertaine and so momentary do so little regard eternall woe 3. The consideration of this should perswade that God hath made vs for another end then to liue here For we may not thinke he would with such endeuour make Man in his owne Image to destroy it suddainly againe and to no other purpose But he destroys man and makes him returne to dust againe that he may translate him to another condition of life And therefore our life here is but a way to another VERS 5. Thou carryest them away as with a Floud THE Prophet hauing before shewed what mortality God hath subiected the sonnes of Adam unto how he doth make them and as it were the same day yea the same houre that he hath made them marre and destroy them againe a thousand yeares in his sight being as yesterday or but as it were the eyghth part of a day He proceedes now to set forth this condition of Man more plainly by three Comparisons In the first Comparison he resembles him in respect of his life to those things that are violently carryed-away in an Invndation As we see in great and extraordinary floods invndations all that is in the way Beast and Cattell and all that are within the force of the streame are carryed violently away so it is with man God doth as it were set open certaine flood-gats against him and by violent streames and inundations of waters as it were he sweepes him away For as he shewed vs before the time that we liue here though we live more then the ordinary period of mans daies is with God but a very short time but as a watch in the night the fourth part of the night It continually flowes and flowes faster swifter and with greater violence then the strongest streame and it carryeth vs with it and the course thereof wee cannot stay no more then the ebbing and flowing of the Sea or the courses of the Sunne and Moone Against this streame we cannot swimme but the more we shall striue against it the faster we shall be carryed away with it Hence the Prophet teacheth vs. To meditate seriously of the swift passage of our dayes how our life runnes away like a streame of waters and carryeth vs with it our condition in the eyes of God in regard of our life in this world being but as if a man that knowes not how to swimme should be cast into a great streame of water and headlong carryed downe in it so that he may sprawle sometime lift vp his head or his hands cry for helpe catch hold of this thing and that for a time but his end will be drowning and it is but a small time that he can hold out but that as it carries him away so it will swallow him vp And surely our life here if it be rightly considered is but like the life of such a person as is violently carryed downe a streame All the actions and motions of our life and for it are but like vnto the striuings and struglings of a man in that case Our eating our drinking our Physicke our sports and all other meanes they are but like his motions that is violently carryed downe the streame When we haue done what we can die we must and be drown'd in this Deluge The use of this consideration may be to teach us 1. The vanitie of Men that thinke here vpon earth to build them euerlasting habitations and neuer to be remooued and that trouble their minds about nothing but how they may get sure houlds and tenures here Alas what vanitie were in this man that is carried down a violent streame of water that hath no hope to recouer himselfe but is sure howsoeuer for some small time hee breathes and hath his sences to bee drowned out of hand yet whilst he breaths and hath his sences to be thinking and fore-casting of building of houses of purchasing lands of planting orchards and of prouiding this thing and that thing for his use for fortie or sixtie yeares to come 2. This should teach vs in the want of the meanes of this life for our selues and posteritie to be content to take it lesse to heart then worldly and couetous persons vse to doe Who in feares and distrusts in regard of the time to come how they shall doe when they are old and not able to worke how they shall liue when such and such friends be gone how their children shall do when they are dead many times in the abundance for the present of those things which others before their eyes doe want liue most miserably and vncomfortably yea a life worse then death and that onely for thinking of the time to come whereas if these
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
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
persons would thinke how mortall they and their children are how short a time they haue to liue here how they are carryed away as it were with a flood they and their children and all else these matters would neuer so much run in their heads neither would they vexe and trouble themselues and others so much about them as they do But now we dreame of immortalitie in this life and put from vs as much as we can the houre of our death So liuing and desiring to liue here as if we should liue euer here or there were no liuing els where Were not they starke mad that seeing their children carried away with a flood strugling and breathing in the waters for life and readie to be drown'd and no hope of pulling them out would be carking and caring and vexing themselues how they should prouide for them Nay let Christians seeing their liues are so short here comfort themselues in their wants and their childrens and labour so that small time they haue to liue that after this short and transitorie life they and their children may liue eternally in Heauen They are as a sleepe THE second Comparison followeth wherein the Prophet compares the life of man all the pleasures and sorrowes accompanying the same to a sleepe Alas what sooner passeth away What is easier broken off then sleepe how short also are the pleasures and sorrowes that are in sleepe Surely the whole state and condition of a man in this life is but like the state and condition of a man in sleepe all things fall out so like in either Our life may be compared to sleepe in foure respects 1. In regard of the shortnesse of it 2. In regard of the easinesse of being put out of it 3. In regard of the many meanes to disquiet and breake it off 4. In regard of the many errors in it For the first three sleepe is but short and the sweeter it is the shorter it seemes to be And as it is but short of it selfe though it should last the full swinge of nature So the soundest sleepe is easily broken the least knock the lowest call puts men out of it and a number of meanes and occasions there be to interrupt and breake it off And is not it so with the life of man Is not the longest life short Is it not the shorter the sweeter and fuller of contents it is And is it not easily taken away Are there not many meanes to bring vs vnto our ends Euen as many as there are to waken vs out of sleepe For the fourth how many errors are we subiect to in sleepe In sleepe the Prisoner many times dreames that he is at libertie he that is at libertie that he is in Prison he that is hungry that he is feeding daintily He that is in want that he is in great aboundance He that abounds that he is in great want How many in their sleepe haue thought they haue gotten that which they shall be better for for euer and when they are even in the hope of present possessing some such goodly matter or beginning to enioy it or in the midst of their ioy they are suddainly awaked and then all is gone with them and their golden fancies vanish away in an instant So for euill and sorrow as well And is it not just so in the life of Man Whose life passeth sooner away or swifter then theirs that haue most comforts and sweetest Whose life is longer then theirs in seeming that liue least at ease Who are ordinarily more bound more in trouble haue greater vexation and disquiet then those that haue most libertie and aboundance Who are freer and more at libertie and want least then they that haue least How ordinarie a thing is it for men in the most aboundance to bee least satisfied And in the poorest cottage to find the greatest content And how suddenly are men even as if they had beene in a dreame cut off from all their hopes all their delights and pleasures that in this world they enjoyed The use hereof then is 1. To teach vs to account of the things that meerely concerne this life the profits the pleasures the honors of it but as of dreames such as are transitorie and passe away as a sleepe that we can haue no certaintie or assurement of but such as we may be depriued of even as easily as we may be broken of our sleepe 2. To watch and take heed how we looke to place any setled comfort in this life or the things of this life For we shall find as many errours in it and the things thereof as we doe in sleepe Men may fancie this and that but the issue will be nothing no more then of him who going to bed hungry dreames he eates c. 3. This should teach Christians not to enuie and malice the comforts honors and prosperity of wicked men for they are but as dreames thou hast much cause hast thou not to enuie a poore man that he should fare daintily in a dreame 4. It should make vs thinke the lesse of the sorrowes and miseries of this life that either our selues or others endure Our selues here are but as a sleepe The sorrowes that we endure here especially for righteousnesse are but as a dreame Our sleepe will soone end and our sorrowes will end with them and wee shall see that we were but deluded herein 5. Neuer to thinke that we doe the actions of Men that are truely waking but when we doe the actions that concerne the life to come where we shall euer watch and need no sleepe where wee shall euer reioyce and neuer be deluded In the morning they are like grasse that groweth VERS 6. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth vp in the euening it is cut downe and withereth THE third Comparison followeth wherein the life of Man is compared to grasse That as it is with grasse A man shall see it flourishing in the morning and the same day cut downe and withered So is man This day flourishing and lustie and to morrow laid in the dust Nay as it were in the morning well and before night hee and all his strength and glory vanished and gone 1. The consideration of this should teach men in the midst of all their glory and state in this life to thinke what a fading thing it is how soone it is cut downe and withered And therfore we should take heed how we set our hearts vpon these transitorie things for as Medowes when they are most pleasant and fullest of varietie of flowers they are then sodainly cut downe and all the beautie of them vanished So it shall be with all things that in this world wee delight in whether life or honor and riches though a man flourish neuer so much in them yet as it were the same day they shall be taken from him and he from them and then their hearts will be as gone with them that had their hearts before set on