nothing by them they shall now all be banished let the morrow take thought for it self each day hath enough with his own grief Christian Geography and Arithmetick Psalm 90.12 So teach us to number our Dayes that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom TO omit what might be spoken of the Pen-man Scope Division and principal matter of this Psalm I come presently to draw out the Observations and Doctrines which may be raised from the Text. Doct. 1. The dayes of Men are numbred it is appointed for all Men once to Die I shall endeavour to open the point and then apply it for the opening of it I shall enquire into the import of the phrase of numbring Dayes or what is implied in this expression of numbring our Dayes 1. This that our Dayes are numbred does denote the shortness of them Eternity cannot be numbred what ever is in God is incomprehensible and innumerable the Dayes of God are not to be numbred We say he is a Poor man that can number his Flock that can tell how many sheep and cattel he has the Dayes of a Man are soon told they are quickly reckoned up he that hath but a little skill in Arithmetick may cast up the number he that is but newly entered into the Table of Numeration may count them if he know Units and Tens he may do it he need not go as far as hundreds David tells us how the account went in his Dayes and since his time the number is not increased Sin has rather shortened them and cut them off The Dayes of our Years are 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 stee away 2. It holds forth the fixedness of the bounds of them the time of their ending is set and fixed and there is no passing beyond those bounds which the Lord hath made there is no altering no removing of them God is exact to his numbers he will not upon any consideration revoke his decree and determination in this kind Seeing his daies are determined the number of his Moneths are with thee purely in thy power thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass The time of the Israelites captivity was out in the Night and though in 430 years as we use to say a Day would break no square much less a piece of a Night yet that the Lord might be exact to his own prefixed time he will be at the charge to light them out rather than stay till the morning So Belshazzar was slain in the night because as some think then the Captivity was out If a man could give all the World he could not purchase one hour beyond his appointed time Death 's not to be delayed it will not be bribed it wil fetch a Man out of his bed at Midnight and not stay till Morning it will seize upon a Man when he is abroad and not suffer him to go home and take his leave of his Family and set his House in order it will not give a Man time to make his Will nor to speak a few words which might prevent abundance of trouble and Law-suits that fall out about the division of his Estate where-ever thou art what ever thou art doing when the minutes of thy Life are expired Death strikes thee and there is no avoiding it 3. It sets forth the transitoriness the slipperiness the swiftness of our Daies How does the Scripture labour for similitudes to set this forth certainly to know and believe this is of very great importance to our Faith or else the Spirit of God would never gather so many illustrations from sense it would be worth while to gather them up and open them but they are frequently done by others and ly so obvious to your search that I need not spend so much time about it only give me leave seeing it is a business of so great consequence and so very little minded to deal a little plainly and pathetically with you Alas alas where is that Professor that sits down and seriously thinks with himself how swiftly his time passes away who knows not that time is short and passes swiftly away away it is a theme for School-Boyes ay but let me tell you few consider it or live under the power of it it is a Meditation fit for the best Saint upon Earth and without dispute to live in the right belief of it would be an especial and principal means to recover the power of Godliness which is so much decayed in this last age Do you think that Professors could be so Formal and Secure and Worldly if they lived every day as their last and performed every Duty as their last would there not be more Zeal and Life and Love and Heavenly-mindedness Do you believe that we spend our years as a Tale that is told as a Word as a Meditation swifter than a Weavers Shuttle That our life is as wind and vanisheth away as the Cloud That our dayes are swifter than a Poste You know how swift a Poste is he passes by so fast you can take no notice of him you get but a glimpse of him you could not know him again if you saw him so do our dayes post away how are we hurried in haste haste post-haste from one thing to another poste to Bed at night put off your Clothes post-hast poste up in the morning and put them on again pst to your Meals and post from them again post to your business and post from it how do Sabbaths and Sermons and Opportunities post by and that in such hast that you cannot remember them when they are gone it may be in twenty four hours you have forgot all How many Sermons that you have heard have lived a moneth with you What was the Message of God to you this day moneth the Matter as it was passing by did much affect you you were much taken with it and thought you should have known and remembred that matter as long as you had lived but it seems it went by in such haste the time of the Meeting passed away so swiftly that it has happened to you as to a man that looks his natural Face in a Glass he beholdeth himself and goes away and straight way forgets what manner of man he was so you have forgotten what manner of matter it was that you heard that you were so affected with and melted under that your Soul did so fully close with you could so evidently witness to the truth of it how lively it was represented to you how experimentally you did receive it what goodness you tasted in it and thought that taste would have never gone out of your mouth now no impression remaining the Text and every word of the Sermon so posted away so far gone that they cannot be recalled or recovered If a Painter would take the Picture of a Man the Man must
how with safety to turn private man complained that fortune had set him a Cock-height and then took away the ladder that he could not come down when he would And above all Solomon that had so flourishing a Kingdom as the best and sought good so accurately and universally what might be that good for the Sons of Men which they would so fain lay hold of under the sun and what can the man do that comes after the King yet after all this search the sum is this all is vanity and vexation this is proof enough of my Doctrine if I had no other He went about to cause his Heart to despair of all the labour which he took under the Sun King's Palaces say that peace and quietness is not in them the Crown and Purple say they have not heard of it but on the contrary trouble and vexation and anguish and sorrow and enough of it why should we then not think that it is no-where to be found if great Men that have so many fences against Affliction cannot escape how shall poor infirm naked Men avoid the dint of it I remember an answer of one Apollonius Thyaneus to one who asked him whether he believed the story of the Cup made of an Unicorns-horn that he who should drink out of it should be priviledged from all Diseases wounds and poisons I will believe it saies he if I shall know that the King of the Country where the Unicorn lives shall be immortal and escape Death he thought if any then the King would procure that Cup and enjoy the Benefit so if there be any that could free their Dayes from trouble or so much trouble as others may have King 's and Great-ones would surely hit on it but we find it is quite otherwise The Doctrine standing thus clear with the grounds and reasons of it I come now to draw some Inferences from it Vse 1. In the first place I note this that every man thinks he has trouble enough and would not willingly bear more than he has take any man in the World and come to him what day you will chuse and what time of the day you will and say to him Sir do you want any trouble no saies he I have trouble enough if it be a duty I must take it though troublesome but cares and crosses I want none come to the King and say Sir do you want any trouble he will tell you he has enough of his own the Crown of gold has thorns in it every man you meet with if you would sit down and hear him he will give you a large catalogue of his griefs and tell you either of some inward trouble from the fear and sense of the wrath of God from the temptations and bufferings and assaults suggestions and injections of the wicked one or else arising from the corruption and deceitfulness of his own Heart or he will acquaint you with some outward trouble full of discontent it may be from Superiors by putting up many a wrong and injury at their hands from inferiours by back-biting slander and detraction from equals by much unsociable fallings out or being in every thing our rivals or emulous copemates to give us the check at every turn from Friends by unkind falling away or treacherous disclosing of secrets or failing in the time of need like Jobs friends For now ye are nothing saies he ye see my casting down are afraid My Brethren have dealt deceitfully with me as a brook and as the stream of brooks they pass away From enemies also by doing us as we look for no other all the despite they can from Wife or Husband by many frowns or unkind fits between them from servauts by common negligence and unfaithfulness c. And as from all sorts of People so in all sorts of conditions in the married estate discontents sometimes for want of Children but much more for having unthriving Children and little less from having good and hopeful ones sometimes untimely taken away or that they must leave such to the wide World without leaving any thing to such pretty Babes The married body hath discontents in being put to care for others and the single person is not without it that he hath none to care for him Masters complain of bad Servants and Servants think that Masters are very cross and froward see the Apostle Paul's Catalogue of his Troubles 2 Cor. 11.23 c. There is trouble in getting the World trouble in keeping it and trouble in parting with it I shall conclude this with that of the Wise-Man who spoke by experience and there 's nothing like it What hath Man of all his labour and of the vexation of his Heart wherein he hath laboured under the sun For all his dayes are Sorrow and his travel grief yea his Heart taketh not rest in the Night This is also vanity Vse 2. I note the goodness of God that seeing the day hath trouble enough he has so ordered it that trouble is but for a day if many dayes and many troubles met together it would be sad it s well that Dayes of trouble and extream misery are shortened In Hell there is a Life without end and trouble without end seeing it is sharp it is a comfort it is so short Vse 3. I note the great difference between this life and the Life to come many Dayes and full of joy for few Dayes and full of troubles In thy Presence is fulness of joy at thy right Hand are pleasures for evermore Vse 4. The great mistake of promising a better morrow if you have not the same trouble to morrow which you had to day you shall have another in the room of it and full as bad to morrow may not be and if it be it will not be better it is looked upon as great vanity and wickedness in them that said to Morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Vse 5. The great Mercy of God that has been pleased to order suitable support and sufficient supply for the day As thy day is so shall thy strength be Vse 6. There is comfort in this that we canot expect a worse morrow more than enough cannot be fear of a worse makes this the worst The Lord will lay no more upon you than he will enable you to bear if thou shalt have burthen enough for thy bearing so thou wilt have strength enough for thy burden if thou hast but little trouble thou has but little strength and the burden is enough for thy strength so if thou hast great troubles thou hast proportionable strength and so the strength is enough for the burden To conclude this Text my care will not make to morrow's trouble less and therefore why should it make this day's trouble more I am resolved to part with a great many thoughts and cares which have been very chargeable to maintain have eaten up my strength and comfort and I have got
Bowels and causes me to make Faces and groan and cry out What is the Sins name what do you call that Iniquity of mine that has laid me under this great distress is not the name of it Self-Love Back-sliding falling from the Fear of God decay of love to God unprofitablness under the means I have heard that such kind of seed does use to bring forth Friut with such a taste or may not the Name of it be Love of the World Covetousnes or may it not be Idolatry have not I set up something or other in my Affections and esteem above God have not I made an Idol of some comfort for I hava read that God is very jealous of his Glory and cannot endure that any thing should be in the throne of the Heart equal to him much less above him and upon this account I have know a him sometime Kill a Child in the Mothers bosom a Wife in the Husbands bosom an Husband in the Wifes bosom to the amazement and astonishment and even overwhelming of the survivor and all this because he was robbed of that love he ought to have had and he will not give his Glory to another if the living have been the Idol the Dead shall he thy punishment Those that have trusted in their Wealth and the abundance of their Riches that have pleased and prided themselves in them he has all on a sudden sent his Serjeants and distreined and recovered all from them by Fire or Water or Thieves or that little moth his secret curse and blasting those that have lived carelesly and wantonly he has brought them to Pinching Peverty some the Lord paies with ready Money and lets them see their Fruit assooh as ever they have sown their seed let me not think therefore to want my troubles daily while I am committing sin daily there is none that lives and sinneth not the Righteous Man falls seven times a day into sin and let him not wonder if he get as many hurts as falls Moses and Aaron were Men as holy as the most yet what sais the Psalmist Thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance on all their inventions they had their crooked Affections their daily Infirmities their continued Irregularities for which the Lord thought fit to give them daily correction and chastifement and this was consistent enough with his forgiving them for therefore they were chastned that they might not be condemned with the World and so instead of a daily correction have incurred Eternal destruction To conclude this wonder not at Suffering whilst you see sinning They that Plow Iniquity and sow Wickedness reap the same if you see the Corn come up in rank clusters you conclude the seed has fallen too plentifully there Reason 2. The Lord fills our dayes with trouble for Discipline and the Exercise of Grace if the Sea was not rough Grace would be becalmed there would be no motion Faith Hope Self-denial Mortification c. cannot live but in hard and rough and stormy Weather the more tempeltuous the Sea is the better Faith works Faith has but little employment where there is much enjoyment No Grace honours God so much as Faith doth and the exercise of it and nothing gives Faith that exercise as trouble doth The Ships are safest in the Harbour and the Seamen quiet and out of danger in their Beds at home But there is nothing to be gotten and they may starve at home unless they venture forth to Sea How canst thou trust God when thy Cupboard is full thy Barns and Garners full it's true thou mayest and ought to exercise Faith then in acknowledging God and depending upon the goodness and blessing of God in the enjoyment of them and using them in his fear but the exercise of Faith is much more difficult and much less visible in such a condition Faith that is seen is not Faith till the Stream be dryed up thou canst not so well take thy fill of the Fountain When the water in the Bottle is spent then the Well is best seen and discovered see Hab. 3.17 18. No such rejoying in God as when we have nothing else to rejoyce in no such Grape as the Wilderness-Grape God tastes the sweetest when the World is the most bitter so Repentance and Mortification will go on the most prosperously when the occasions and means and supports of Lust and Corruption are removed Sensuality is sooner curbed by want than by plenty and Pride better checkt by disgrace than Honours and a wandring vain perverse Spirit sooner brought down by sickness and pain than by health and the love of the World delight in it designs for it are more easily mortified by continual losses and crosses and fastings than by successes encrease and prosperous returns we shall more readily be brought to believe on God alone when we can see nothing but him the life of Sense and the life of Faith are quite contrary the one to the other Take a Christian that hath lived in a quiet serene calm and undisturbed condition for some years never meeting with any considerable trouble Take another that hath still been exercised with variety of afflictions almost never without some great distress upon him in one kind or another let them both have been under the same means of Grace and advantages in that kind compare these two Christians together and you will find how much the Weather-beaten Saint will excel the other in Liveliness Fervency Zeal Faith Humility yea even in a Spirit and expressions of thankfulness there will be no compare between them Prosperity is clogging Adversity is cleansing it 's an harder matter to endure than to enjoy any one can lie upon a Feather-bed but every One cannot lie under an Hedg it 's more easie to love a Child than part with a Child to seek and possess than part with an estate to love a good Wife or Husband than to bury them all Honourable things are difficult things difficilia quae pulcra Wisdom is Honourable the experienced man is the Wise Man and he cannot be an experienced man that was never tried but in one conditions he that has travelled through all quarters that there is scarce a Country but he has been in hardly an Affliction but he has been under that 's the Man that 's Company for a Prince it 's worth sitting by such a Man to hear him discourse of his travels how he passed from one Region to another from one condition to another how loth he was to enter into it with what amazement he was received into it with what difficulty distress and anxiety of Spirit he passed on under it how many times he had almost fainted how wonderfully good and kind the Lord was to him how seasonably supports and supplies came in once and again what ebbings and flowings he passed through how when he vehemently cried out save me Master I perish presently the Lord Jesus appeared and said be not afraid it
hadest with him during the time thou wast upon Earth what Apprehensions thou hadst of him what Adresses thou madst to him as a Mediatour an Advocate and Saviour what Faith thou hast had in him whether there was an agreement made between him and thee whil'st thy dayes were in being that thou wouldst give up thy Soul and Body and Sins to him thy Unrighteousness and Righteousness and that he would undertake to satisfie the Justice of God and appease his Wrath for thee and reconcile thee to his Father that he would cloth thee with his Righteousness and sanctifie thy Nature by his Holy Word and Spirit that he would make thee meet to be a partaker of Glory and present thee blameless and unreproveable in the sight of God and give thee a full possession of an everlasting Kingdom and Glory with himself what fear thou hadst upon thy Heart in thy dayes of the Great God whether in every thing thou didst in Natural Civil and Religious Actions thou didst design and aim at his Glory How thy Affections were placed and what kind of love passed between thee and the World during their abode there what acts of Self-denial and Mortification thou put forth what exercise of Heavenly-mindedness what Duties thou didst and how they were done how thou didst honour God in the Conditions he placed thee what patience and contentedness in a low condition what humility meekness and repentance in an high condition how thou bore sickness and straits and how thou used thy riches and how honest thou wast in thy dealings There will be no discourses there of such vain matters as are here below but as Paul discoursed of Temperance and Righteousness and the Judgment to come of Uprightness and Sincerity and unfeigned Repentance and a true and full closing with the Person of Christ the Son of the Living God equal with the Father the Mediatour for poor Sinners the Saviour of all that truly believe on his Name and come to him what Obedience thou manifested to his Laws how thou loved him and kept his Commandments how thou loved the Brethren and there by manifested thy being passed from Death to life how fruitful thou wast in all good works and thereby didst justify thy Faith to be sound and true and of the right kind how willing and desirous thou was to do much for God and how little thou didst esteem thy self the better for what thou didst but how much thou didst abhor thy self and hate thy self for thy daily defects manifold infirmities and much unsuitable carriage to such great goodness and loving kindness and unworthiness of such rich Grace and Mercy c. Of this Nature will be the Discourses then and the more thou hast been exercised in these thing the greater will be thy consolation Oh my Beloved where is that Professor that lives under the serious frequent and powerful meditation of these things this and the other work I am imployed in this and the other thing I am discoursing of if God should now cut off the threed of my Life what should I be advantaged hereby would it turn to my advantage when I come in the presence of the Great God shall I be glad that I was exercised or rather wish that I had never medled or been concerned in such affairs and matters our dayes are not intended to be the dayes of Noah and Lot wherein Men built and planted and bought and sold and married and were given in Marriage all these Lawful things and not one of them sinful that is that did do all these things as the work of the day for themselves and rested in them rejoiced themselves in them and did not do them with respect to another Life with such fear regularity moderation righteous principles and designs as would have yeelded them comfort when those dayes had been cut off in another world are we not fallen into such dayes as Noah's and Lot's were eating drinking c. Eating Drinking is an unlawful thing if you do not do it to the Glory of God and honour God in it observe it as there is no time allotted for sin so neither are there any dayes allowed for the doing of lawful and good actions if they have not a reference to Eternity thy Prayers and Almes and duties are not numbred aright if they be not numbred for God and another world if they be numbred for thy self and thy present interest they are quite lost and which is worse do become sin and so prove mortal and damning you see how necessary it is to number every day for Eternity if thou mindest this Rule thou wilt reap much fruit hereafter from thy common and worldly actions because hereby those actions which otherwise are but common and worldly actions as the actions of our ordinary and homliest callings we shall sanctifie them and translate them out of themselves and their own base Element into an higher Orb and Element viz. to go as for actions truly holy and Religious and parts of God's own worship before him and rewardable as so at his hand 's what a comfort might this be to Men in going about worldly callings to the very Shuttleman and Sheersman Spinster and Carder and the veriest drudge and droil in the servilest condition what a comfort this to consider that if they do but honestly and faithfully in obedience to God that hath set them in those callings go about them they might sanctifie those and the like actions and translate them out of a Worldly into an Heavenly Orb and Element and Glorifie God and by that thou providest for Eternity as well in their proportion by those actions as the Angels that stand continually before God do by their standing and praising and singing Hallelujahs to him The poor Servants that in obedience to God do faithful and honest service be it in never such drudgeries to their Master are said to adorn thereby the Doctrine of God Titus 2.10 And is not this a working a numbring time and work for Eternity those that honour him and his Gospel he will honour them another day What a comfort is this that meer drudgeries and Worldly Actions that might seem only to smell of the World and this present life and time that these being gone about in the Obedience and Fear of God baulking iniquity and injustice in them may go for Holy and Heavenly actions The actions of the vertuous Woman Prov. 31. a Man would think were the actions only of a meer worldling she seeketh wool and flax c. yet those and such-like are all the actions for which she is called a vertuous Woman in the Beginning and to have done vertuously above all in the latter end Many Daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all and the next verse shews the reason because she did these in the Fear of the Lord A Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised shall have praise at the end of dayes