that which is Something upon that which is All upon that which is Lasting upon that which is Everlasting upon that which is Truth it self and will not nay cannot deceive us upon that which will be more in Fruition then ever it was in Expectation Oh! let us not trust in lying vanities but in the Ever-living and Never-failing God Man will be trusting in some-what and he is so forward to trust in vanity which indeed is nothing that it is the hardest thing in the World to take him off We cannot press our selves or others too much to trust in God and we cannot Repress them enough from trusting vanity We say Such a man has deceived me once but he shall not deceive me a second time Why should we be so willing to be deceived a Thousand times with vanities God never deceived or failed any man that ever trusted in him Psal ix 10. Oh! therefore let this perswade our Hearts to trust in God we cannot trust him too much or the Creature too little If we make the Creature our Staff it will be our Scourge if we lean upon it as our Rock it will run into our Hands as a broken Reed The best way to keep up our Comforts in the Creature is to keep our Distance from the Creature and let me tell you this That they shall always finde most Comfort from the World who live furthest off it and expect least from it God is good and the more we trust in him the better he will be to us nay he will not be good to us at all unless we trust him Trust not therefore in man that is inconstant changeable mortal vain Rely not on him he 's a broken Reed but trust in God for he is the help of our Countenance and our God It is better to trust in the Lord then to put any Confidence in man Yea 't is better to trust in the Lord then to put any Confidence in Princes Psal cxviii 8 9. But blessed is the man that makes the Lord his Trust and they that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee for thou Lord never failest them that seek thee That 's the first Use Trust not in man which is but vanity Again Secondly Since Every man at his best Estate is c. Then this may check our Pride and pull down our proud Spirits what worth or Excellency is in any man to cause him to be blown up as a Bladder why is Earth and Ashes proud Seeing that when a man dyes he 's but Heir of Worms a Companion of crawling Worms The Unicorn may boast of his Horn which medicineth the poysoned Streams the Bezoar of his pretious Stone the Bever of his Skin the Panther of his Colours the Pink of its Sweetness the Tulip of its Beauty and many other Creatures of some singular Excellency but man vain man mushroom man has nothing of his own to animate Pride but rather should be exceedingly humbled for his manifold Wants and exceeding Vanities If a Beggar may be proud of his Rags or a Lazar of his Soars then have we cause to be proud not else That 's a Second Thirdly Seeing Man at his best Estate c why then this convinces and sharply reproves the Folly and madness of Worldlings who trifle away their pretious time in loathsome Vanities like Swine that root up Beds of Flowers and sweet Roses but wallow in the Mire Oh! ye Sons of Men how long will ye love Vanity Psal iv 2. Why walk ye after vanity and draw Iniquity with Cords of vanity Isa v. 18. Why do ye take pleasure in the vanity of Wickedness thinking it vain not to be vain in your Conversations Oh! how sweet soever it seems to you for the present I must tell you 't will prove very distructful in the End Oh! drink no longer of the pleasant Rivers of Damascus but on the wholsom streams of Jordan Do not affect vain Company or vain and Idle persons who have not the fear of God before their Eys who flatter with their lips and do speak with a double Heart Psal xii 2. Whose mouth speaketh Vanity and their Right-hand is a Right-hand of falshood Psal cxliv. 8. Oh! do not squander away your pretious hours in Vanities but know that whosoever travels with Vanity shall bring forth iniquitie which late Repentance must either drown or damnation Nurse And lastly seeing that every man c. Why then learn from hence to condemn thy vain life with all its Vanities and to seek for a new and better life where vanity is not admitted Oh! let us thirst after Heaven after Christ let our life be hid with Christ in God that so when Christ shall appear we may also c. Whilst we live let 's live by the Faith of the Son of God that so when we dy we may dy in the Faith and favour of Christ let our Conversation be in Heaven whilst we are here upon Earth let 's Meditate continually on Christ and his Merits our Redemption and the Glorious inheritance he has Purchased for us and let us say Thou O Lord Jesus art our Hope and our Stay seeing thou hast given us the World which we Contemn give us thy self whom our Souls desire let others strive for Temporal Kingdoms but let us strive for Eternal let others heap up Riches but let our hearts Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness let others Gape after the vanities of this World but let us pant and breath and gape after Christ desire to be desolved that we may be ever with the Lord whilst we live here one Earth let us Pray also that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our Mortal Flesh and then come Lord Jesus come quickly Though our lives here be but as a span-long and attended with as many Miseries as there be Stars in the firmament and vanities as sand by the Sea-shore Yet after this life is ended we shall have a building not made with hands but Eternal in the Heavens though we now for a time hang up our Harpes by the Rivers of Babylon and weep for the Floods of vanity that are ready to over-whelm us in our Captivity Yet after a while we shall be brought home with Triumph unto a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey to life without Death to Days without end to such Mufick as we never heard before by a Quite of Angels to a World without Vanity to a Condition without alteration and to Eternal Glory which Ey ha's not seen nor Ear heard c. Which he will give us that has purcha'st for us by his own most pretious Blood to whom with the Father c. So much for the Text I come now to the Occasion Sory I am to be an Actour in this mornfull Scene For truly here I can scarce speak for grief or give you a Funeral Eulogy of this Deceased Lady whose liveless Dust lies here before us unless instead of strewing of Flowers I bedew her Hearse
BREVITY and VANITY OF Man's Life DISCOVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED At the FUNERALS of Mrs. ELLEN HARTCOVRT 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 Man being in honour abides not Pallida mors aquo pulsat pede Pauperum Tabernas Regúmque Turres Hor. Od. 4. Hb. 1. Bulla Palustris Homo ventus stos pulveris umbra Incipit cessat nascuur moritur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by Tho. Royerost for William Grantham at the Black Bear near the little North-door in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXI To the Virtuous and my Ever-Honoured Lady the Lady SARAH Wife of Sir SUTTON CONY of STOKE in Lincolnshire the Sorrowful Mother of this Deceased Lady MADAM IT was not my intention when I Preached this Ensuing Sermon that it should spread further then the Pulpit I thought indeed being Your grief hindered You from the hearing of it You might perchance request a Copy of it for Your Closet but never dreamed You would have been so Importunate with me for the Press But if it may be any Allay of Your Sorrow for Your great Loss or of any use to the Publick I shall not Repent of gratifying your desires though of it self the expressions being so home-span and the Notions so common I cannot 〈…〉 thy to come forth 〈…〉 when I seriously considered my many 〈…〉 to 〈…〉 lf and Family and the Comforts 〈◊〉 I have 〈…〉 from You since I first knew you and Lived amongst you I thought I was bound to Exhibit a Testimonial of that Service and Respect which I dived unto You and therefore had rather Hazard my own Reputation if I may Advance the Edification of others and adventure once more the Censures of the world rather then have my own heart Censure me for Unthankfulness I do therefore most humbly offer it into Your Ladyship's Hands and if You think it Unworthy of that Honour cast it at Your Feet only let me Entreat You for Her sake who was the Occasion of it to cast a favourable Ey upon it now and then and Graciously receive it into Your Presence and it will Reckon it self highly graced and Dignifyed and not Ambitiously desire any other Patronage MADAM I know you are Sensible enough of the Afflictions of Your Family more Paticularly of this great Loss You have lately sustained the God of Patience and Consolation grant You to Study a quiet Submission unâ—… and an Holy Improvement of this his Afflicting hand If You do but Commune seriously with Your own Heart You will see Cause enough for this Holy silence and submission How pretious so ever this Jewel was in Your Ey and indeed she was very Pretious yet you see it 〈◊〉 of a Brittle Nature All the Sons and Daughters of Adam are Mortal Creatures and why should You be troubled to see a Mortal Creature Dy. To make complaint that our Relations are dead is to complain That they were Mortal good MADAM I beseech You look upon the hand of God that hath done what is done and this if any thing will quiet your Spirit because the stroke was given by God him self Remember that a Dear Childe is far better in the bosom of Christ then in the Bosom of the greatest Earthly Monarch Though You want her company yet she wants not yours you shall go to her if you dy as she did but she can never come back to you Though she was an Obedient Childe to you and did Honour her Parents whilst she lived yet God did not break his Promise with her because he did not grant her a long life here as long as he translated her to life Eternal therefore I would have you Sensible as you are indeed of God's Afflicting Providences but I hope you will not Murmure under them for as one saies wel He that sees not God's hand in his severest Dispensations disowns his Sovereignty but he or she that Repines denies his Righteousness MADAM I beseech you Excuse my Boldness that I use this freedom with you give me leave in three words to Counsel you as well as Comfort you and I shall trouble you no further First I beg that you would Meditate much on your own End you have lived a great many Years already and 't is not Probable you can live so many more Certainly Death comes near the Mother when it lays hold upon the Childe when your Dear Daughter departed this Life She left you this Memento that you must shortly follow Secondly Confider how uncertain all wordly things are Children the best of worldly Comforts yet they are but dying Comforts the loss of worldy Contentments Me thinks should make us love the world the less God grant it may work this Effect in you Lastly Study more to make out Your Spititual Relation to Christ this Relation can never be Dissolved though your Children your Husband your Friends may be taken from you yet this Union this Relation cannot be Obliterated Now the good Lord of Heaven and Earth grant you an Assurance of this Relation before you go hence and be seen no more And thus dear MADAM begging your Pardon I commend your self and all your excellent Relations to the Protection and Blessing of Almighty God beseeching him it it be his blessed will for a Continuing of the Remaining Comforts to you here and a full Consummation of perfect joy and Happiness with themh ereafter Which shall be the constant Prayers of MADAM Your Ladyships most obliged and perfectly Devoted Servants RICHARD HENCHMAN May 3d. 1661. PSALME XXXIX 5. Behold thou hast made my Days as a band-breadth and mine Age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity THE Text you see is suitable to the Occasion It contains a sad Story of man's Frailty Mortality and Vanity A Meditation never untimely but most seasonable upon such occasions as these are The Text divides it into these two general Parts First The Brevity of man's Life in those words Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth Secondly The Vanity of man's Life in the last words Verily every man at his best Estate is c In the First there are these two things considerable of us 1. An Excitation of Attention in that word Behold 2. An excellent Description of man's sudden Dissolution Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth Again in the Description there are two things also more worthy of our Notice 1. Who it is that limits mans Life it is God Thou O lord hast made c. 2. The Line wherewith our Lives are measured and that also it two fold 1. By is self if we consider is in its own Frailty so the just Measure of our Lives 't is an hand-breadth 2. If we consider it by the Line of Eternity so it is found to be as just nothing Mine Again as nothing before thee
that 's the first general Part The Brevity of mans Life In the second also which contains the Vanity of man's Life There are two more considerable things ouf us 1. A Serious Solemn A Asseveration to free us from Doubts of this Truth in that word Vanily 2. A Positive and Peremptory Conclusion and Proposition in the last words That man is at his best Since altogether Vanity In which there are also two other things observable here 1. The Vniversality Every man or woman without Exception none exempted 2. The Amplification from their Quality Be he in Condition never so Excellent in Place never so Eminent in Fortune never so permanent Yet there is no Exemption no Limitation For Every man in his very best Estate is altogether Vanity Thus I have as briefly as I could given you an Accompt of the Parts of the Words Give me leave to give you but a brief Explication of them and I 'le come to the Doctrinal Observations which Genuinely flow from them And First Thou hast made my Days i. e. Tempus meum or Vitam meam my Life or Age or Time in the the World So most Expositours render it Secondly As on hand-breadth instar Pugilli as a Span-length this is put by way of Similitude and Resemblance A short time no Doubt that is inched out or finger'd by the Span other things have larger Dimensions they are lin'd out by the Fathom or the Cubit or the Foot at least Nothing that I can read of is measured by this frail Measure but the Life of man a thing so Fragil and Momentary that there was nothing could so well express it as a Span. A word so tost and tumbled by Expositors that they are somewhat driven to a Plunge to give the right Signification of it Some translate it ad Mensuram Pugillorum a little Handful so Musculus Others ad Mensuram quatuor Digitorum the Breadth of four Fingers Junius and Mollerus render it thus Palmares posuisti dies Thou hast made my Days as a hand-breadth The Word of the Septuagint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Vulgar Latin reads Mensurabiles something that is me sureable and therefore but short Though the Age of man in Scripture is sometimes measur'd by Days and Moneths and Years yet these days are breves quickly gone these Moneths are Moneths of vanity Job vii 3. these years are Anni paucissimi few years and short Iob viii 9. We are but of yesterday and know nothing our days upon Earth are a shadow and Jacob though he liv'd an hundred and thirty years yet he tells Pha. roab That few and evil had the days of the years of his Life been Gen. lxvii 9. A Span-long streightned to a Prescript time a strict measure this Span-long which man can neither diminish or dilate in his own Power but he is pent up here by this narrow frail Inclosure his Life 's span'd out his Pillar 's pitcht his Non ultra limited his Circuit's bounded he cannot exceed a Tittle not the smallest Hair of his appointed time as God says to the Sea Hitherto you shall come and no further so he sets Bars to mans Life and says to every man So long you shall live and no longer and if we live as long as ever any man lived yet t is but a Span-long a few days indeed that are span'd out that 's a Second Again Thirdly When these days are gone Lord what are we Surely even as nothing before thee All this whole Pilgrimage on Earth is but as nothing most Expositours read it Ut nibil or tanqnam nibil Mustulus renders it Est ac si non esset man's age is as if it were not a yesterday that is past A thousand Years in thy Sight are but as yesterday when it is Past Psal xc 4. Had Moses there resembled it to a Day such a day as we enjoy or to an Hour of this day or to one Minute of this hour we might have thought there had been some Stability in man's Life but he resembles it to a day spent consumed and expired to a yesterday that 's a nothing 't is past and gone Oh! how this intimates to us our Frailty and Transitoriness Alass our Age is as nothing in respect of God's Infinitness for if a thousand years Lord to thee be but as yesterday that is past then frail man that is but a Resemblance of that yesterday must be nothing to thy thousand thy thousand thousands thy Myriads of thousands thy Eternity thy Everlastingness Mine age is nothing before thee that 's a Third Fourthly Why is it nothing the last words will tell us Because man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity See not man in his Autumn or Declination but in his best Estate in his most flourising Condition in the Spring of his Prosperity is Vanity and not onely Vanity but omnimoda Vanitas altogether Vanity not man in particular but all mankind is not onely vain but Vanity I and altogether Vanity Verily every man in his best Estate c vers o Surely every man walketh in a vain Shew and disquieteth himself in vain I beheld him says David and he was gone I sought him and he was no where to be found Psal xxxvii 36. We go hence as the Shadow that departs we are tossed to and fro and driven away as the Grashoppers or Locusts Psal cix 23. This Life is but a tossing and a driving away We make a great deal a doe and a stir but to little purpose Death comes and he shakes us off he crops our Flowers he withers and drives us away and then what are we a little Dust And what 's Dust a little light Stuff a vain thing every puff of Wind blows it away so that we may well say with our Prophet here Thou O Lord hast made our days c. And thus I have run through the words by a brief Paraphrase or Exposition Come we to collect some Doctrinal Observations from them and they onely shall be these two Which comprehend the Marrow and Quintessence of the whole Verse As First Mans Life is short his Pilgrimage on Earth is of very short Continuance his glass is soon run out his Date expired his Term of Life quickly ended That 's the First Secondly Man frail man in all his worldly Pomp and glory is a meer Vanity I 'le begin first with the First Take some Proof Job xiv 1.2 Man that is born of a Woman is of few days c. See the Original or Birth of man speaks the Frailty of man can we expect any thing from frail but frail from her who is of few days and full of trouble any thing but him who is such himsels Man being born of a woman the weaker Vessel is a Vessel of Weakness which like the purest Chrystal breaks in pieces with the least Knock or Fall Man breeds the Worm in his own Root which smites the flourishing Gourd of his Life Nay when the total Sum of
his Pilgrimage is exactly cast up it amounts but to threescore Years and ten and if by reason of Strength they be fourscore years yet is their Strength Labour and Sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flee away Psal xc 10. Again Job vii 6. Man's Life is assimilated to a Weaver's Shuttle My days are swifter then a Weaver's Shuttle The Septuagint renders it thus My days are nimbler then a Word or Speech now nothing moves faster or passes away more lightly then a Word a word is gone suddenly hence the Similitude is used Proverbially We spend our days as a Tale that is told Psal xc 9. Swifter then a Weaver Shuttle which is an instrument of a very sudden Motion which spends the Yarn with speed and what remains from the Web is cut off Again at the 7 vers Man's Life is resembled to the Wind that blusters for a day and at night passes away none knows whither the Life of man is like Wind in two things as 1. The Wind passes away speedily so does man's Life 2. The Wind when it is past returns no more as you cannot stop the Wind or change its Course so all the Powers in the World cannot recal a man's life when it is gone Psal lxxviii 39. He remembers that they were but flesh a Wind that passes away Again man's Life is resembled to a Bubble Hos x. 7. now a Bubble ye know rises and falls again in one and the slef-same Moment To a Vapour Jam. iv 14. which is disperst as soon as raised as soon as it appears it disappears 't is as one calls it a little Spot of time between two Eternities Saint Augustine doubts whether to call it a dying Life or a living Death Again the Brevity of man's Life is set forth in Scripture by the Flower of the Field Is xl 6 7. by the Grass by a Shadow by a Dream 't is compared to Pilgrims and Travellers who take up their Inn for a short Time not to abide there for ever Heb. xi 13. and Psal xxxix I am a Stranger and a Pilgrim sayes David as all my Fathers were We have no abiding City Job ix 25. My days are swifter then a Post whose pace is all upon the Speed and Spur so our days flee away as the swift Ships as the Eagle that hasts to the Prey Pliny mentions a certain Plant called Ephemeron a Plant of one day's duration such a Plant is man planted by the Rivers side to bring forth his fruit in the due season of that Day And he tells us also of a certain Worm about the River of Hispany in Pontus which lives but one day and is gone termed Hemerobion such a Worm is man A Worm and no man as David said Psal xxii 6 born in the Morning dead at Night alive and in perfect Health one Day and dead the next Now man is a Worm in a fivefold Respect 1. Look upon his Original and Constitution he is from the Earth as the Worm is 2. Look upon him in his Natural Estate and Condition he lives upon the Earth and earthly things as Worms do 3. He 's a Worm because continually subject to danger every Foot may crush him 4. He 's a Worm because as the Worm is subject to danger so likewise unable to resist or make Defence the Worm is a naked Creature and wears no Arms neither offensive nor defensive such an one is man unable to defend himself unless the Lord be a Shield and a Defence to him round about Lastly man is a Worm because he must shortly return to the Earth where the Worms are housed He is going to Worms as a Worm As the Lord said Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return so we may say A Worm thou art and to Worms thou shalt return Thus you see man is a very poor contemptible thing A Worm Why then should we envy any man What envy a Worm What if another have a little more Glory Riches Beauty Strength Power then thou hast what though he have a little more Knowledge and better gifted then other yet he is but a Worm still and why should a Worm envy a Worm what though some are Silk worms a little better furnished and richer then others in Mind and Body yet they are but Worms in Silk and many who appear so now a days are but Glow-worms which shine a little but have no Consistence Again Seeing we are but Worms let 's take heed of vexing one another why should Worms rise up against VVorms Why should VVorms destroy Worms cruelly and bloodily We are weak as Worms Let us therefore rather engage that little Strength we have for supporting not ruining one another But this you will say is a Digression To proceed therefore Man's Life is nothing else but a little warm Breath Tun'd in and out by the Nostrils a narrow passage and soon stope Methinks by all these Scripture Similitudes which I have cited we may be put in mind of our Frailty and they may serve to check those proud Desires which are in man of an Eternal abode and lasting Happiness of this Life You may see a Monument of man's Frailty set forth in all the Elements Go to the Land and there is a Post see Time 's there upon the Spur Go to the Sea and there is a swift Ship Go to the Air and Time 's upon the VVing in the swift flying Eagle Go to the VVater man's Life a Bubble a Vapour T were to trifle away precious time to shew Resemblances in other things I only produced these to shew you the swift passage of man's Life And therefore not to stay long upon that which moves so swiftly Give me but leave to shew you in what Respects Man's days are said to be so short as an hand-breadth which may serve as the Grounds and Reasons of the Point and so I 'le apply it that I may proceed to the next As 1. The Days of man are of short Continuance if we consider them in themselves That 's not long which is no longer then an hands-breath take it which way you will in the largest extent for a Span or the whole space between the top of the Thumb and the little Finger stretched out or in the lesser extent for the Breadth only of the four Fingers and indeed this is but a short space that 's the First 2. The Days of man are of short Continuance if we consider them Comparatively and that two ways 1. As man may be compared with man 2. As man is compared with God 1. We collect the fewness of man's days by comparing him with man under a twofold Consideration 1. Of what Number the Days of man once were 2. Of what Number the shall be 1. The Days of man are few compared with what his days were before the Flood then many men liv'd six seven eight nine hundred and some almost a thousand Years Now if any man attain fourscore or an hundred Years he is
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