Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n
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A43312
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[Mataiobrachytēs tou biou] The brevity and vanity of man's life : discovered in a sermon preached at the funerals of Mrs. Ellen Hartcourt, youngest daughter to the virtuous and excellent Lady Cony of Stoke in Lincolnshire, who was interr'd in Saint Andrews-Holborn-Church, March 23, 1661, being married that day five weeks before / by Richard Henchman.
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Henchman, Richard.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing H1428; ESTC R227539
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20,951
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44
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therefore in every thing give thanks and I must tell you also that if we thus bless God in our Afflictions our very Afflictions will prove Blessings to us Let us therefore when God takes away such blessings from us Bless God for it and submit our Wills to his Will and pray that he would Sanctifie these things to us and then all things shall prove best for us Set not your Hearts too much on any Earthly Comforts I have been the longer upon this Use Because t is so pertinent to the occasion Seeing our Days are of such short Continuance let us be Admonished to live all our Days some lose many out of a few and live not one of their few days we live no more of our time then we spend well An Heathen could say He liv'd no day without a line i. e. He did something Remarkable every day What a shame is it then that a Christian should live a day without a Line do nothing in it worth the doing Secondly Is a man's life so short but an hand-breadth as a thing of nothing then they are in a great Errour who place their chiefest Happiness in this life 'T is true life is sweet and Dear unto us I but there is a better life which is Dearer and Christ is dearest of all unto us for when Saint Paul said He was not only ready to be bound but also to dy at Hierusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Acts xxi 13. if to live on Earth were our best being in vain were the Apostle's desire of Dissolution if to dy and to live with Christ were not best of all Phil. i. 23. Thirdly Seeing this time of our life is short and hastens out of our hands Let us make hast to lay hold upon Eternal Life all our days are but few and every man living hath liv'd a few days already possibly thy few days past are all that thou shalt pass Say not therefore that thou wilt repent to Morrow Boast not thy self of to morrow says Solomon Prov. xxvii 1 for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Possibly this Day may bring forth thy Death and then how shall to morrow bring forth thy Repentance We say of some men that they do much in a little time and truly how much soever any man ha's to doe I am sure he ha's but a little time to do it in and indeed these few days are all the working days that ever we shall have Let this be a Spur to Diligence and to Duty Let us now work out our own Salvation c. for the Night of Death will shortly come upon us and then none of us can work any more In Heaven there is nothing but Rest and in Hell though there be no Rest yet there is no Letbour In Hell there is nothing but Wages and in Heaven there is nothign but Reward Our whole work lies in this short time we live That 's third Inference Fourthly Seeing this time of our Life is of so short Continuance How vainly do men reckon upon many Years yet to come when as their whole Time past present and to come can make but a few Days an hand-breadth See how the Apostle rebukes such Jam. iv 13 14. Vide locum So also the Apostle Paul pleads down a wordly Spirit with this Argument 1 Cor. vii 29 30. Vide locum Now methinks this Consideration should make us take up or draw in our Affections about worldly thing because our time in this World is short Fifthly This should make us patient in all our Afflictions all our days are but few and therefore out days of Sorrow cannot be many Let us not reckon the Suffering of this present time to be Worthy c. A Little Time and he that shall come will come and will not tarry For Our light Affiction which is but a Moment works for us a far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of glory 1 Cor. iv 14. Lastly Seeing Man's life is short let this teach us not to trust in man Cease from man whose breath is in his Nostrils place not the hope of your life in man's Protection but in God's in whom we live move and have our being Be not solicitous for the shortness of thy life but use it as an Inducement to live well and to walk with God to make thy Election sure and certain whilst it is called to day The Benefit of life is not in the length of it but in the pious use of it He sometimes lives the least that lives the longest and he allwaies lives the longest that lives the best When therefore thou goest out of thy doors say to thy self Perhaps I shall never Return home alive When thou risest from thy Bed Perhaps I shall never sleep more When thou lyest down to Rest Perhaps I shall never wake more this will add wings to thy desires to spend thy short time well In a word and so to shut up this first point from the first General Let the certain Knowledg of thy life's uncertainty and Brevity perswade thee like a wise Steward to perfect thy accounts and set thy House in order for shortly thou must dy and not live Isa xxxviii 1. Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine c. Man's life here is of short Continuance That 's the first point the Brevity of man's life Come we now to the second General part and that Demonstrates Man's Vanity in the last words Verily every man at his best Estate c. The Point Observable from hence is this That Man frail Man in all his wordly Pomp and Glory is a meer Vanity Job says Chap xi 11. The Lord knows Vain man or he knows the Vanity of man he knows that man is naturally full of Vanity very full of Vanity It is an Hebraisme that Noting how full of Vanity man is who is called a Man of Vanity and how false he is who is called a Man of Falshood Generally man has 1. Much Falsness of Spirit 2. Much Rashness of Spirit and he has also a double Rashness 1. Rashness in not considering his End Deut. xxxii 29. Oh! that they were wise that they would consider their latter End Wisdom looks to what is coming upon us Folly stayes upon what is present with us 2. Rashness in not considering the way or means that lead unto a good End many men see such an End I but he goes a way quite contrary he sets up a Resolution for Heaven that 's his End but he walks Hell-ward This also is Vanity and unless timely foreseen and turn'd from will prove the greatest Vexation of Spirit in the End Now you must know the Scripture uses this word Vanity under a fourfold Notion and in every one of them Man is included First Emptiness comes under the Notion of Vanity Psal ii 1. Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing i. e. An Empty thing a thing that shall take no Effect so Vain