Fifthly, No man can tell what is in the breasts, in the womb of divine Providence; 1no man can tell what a a day, a night, an hour, may bring forth. Who can sum up the many possible deaths that are still lurking in his own bowels, or the innumerable hosts of external dangers which beleaguer him on every side? or how many invisible arrows fly about his ears continually? and how soon he may have his mortal wound given him by one of them, who can tell? Now, how sad would it be for a man to have a summons to appear before God in that other world, before his heart and life is changed, and his evidences for heaven cleared up to him? The life of man is but a shadow, a post, a span, a vapour, a flower, &c. Though there is but one way to come into the world, yet there are many thousand ways to be sent out of the world; and this should bespeak every Christian to have his evidences for heaven always ready and at hand, yea in his hand as well as in his heart, and then he will find it an easy thing to die. The King of terrors will then be the King of desires to him, and he will then travel to glory ⟨image 5⟩under a spirit of joy and triumph. We carry about in our bodies the matter of a thousand deaths, and may die a thousand several ways several hours: As many senses, as many members, nay as many pores as there are in the body, so many windows there are for death to enter in at. Death needs not spend all his arrows upon us, a Worm, a Gnat, a Fly, a Hair, a stone of a Raisin, a kernel of a Grape, the fall of a Horse, the stumble of a Foot, the prick of a Pin, the pairing of a Nail, the cutting one of a Corn; all these have been to others, and any of them may be to us, the means of our death within the space of a few days, nay of a few hours. Don't it therefore highly concern us to have our evidences for heaven cleared, sealed, shining and at hand. Naturalists tell us, That if a man sees a Cockatrice first, the Cockatrice dieth; but if the Cockatrice sees a man first, the man dies. Certainly, if we so see death first as to prepare for it, as to get our evidences for heaven ready, we shall kill it; but if death sees us first, and arrests us first before we are prepared, and before our evidences for heaven are cleared, it will kill us everlastingly, it will kill us eternally. Time travelleth with God's decrees, and in their season brings them forth;
Fifthly, No man can tell what is in the breasts, in the womb of divine Providence; 1no man can tell what a a day, a night, an hour, may bring forth. Who can sum up the many possible deaths that are still lurking in his own bowels, or the innumerable hosts of external dangers which beleaguer him on every side? or how many invisible arrows flie about his ears continually? and how soon he may have his mortal wound given him by one of them, who can tell? Now, how sad would it be for a man to have a summons to appear before God in that other world, before his heart and life is changed, and his evidences for heaven cleared up to him? The life of man is but a shadow, a post, a span, a vapour, a flower, &c. Though there is but one way to come into the world, yet there are many thousand wayes to be sent out of the world; and this should bespeak every Christian to have his evidences for heaven alwayes ready and at hand, yea in his hand as well as in his heart, and then he will find it an easie thing to die. The King of terrors will then be the King of desires to him, and he will then travel to glory ⟨image 5⟩under a spirit of joy and triumph. We carry about in our bodies the matter of a thousand deaths, and may die a thousand several wayes several hours: As many senses, as many members, nay as many pores as there are in the body, so many windows there are for death to enter in at. Death needs not spend all his arrows upon us, a Worm, a Gnat, a Fly, a Hair, a stone of a Raisin, a kernel of a Grape, the fall of a Horse, the stumble of a Foot, the prick of a Pin, the pairing of a Nail, the cutting one of a Corn; all these have been to others, and any of them may be to us, the means of our death within the space of a few dayes, nay of a few hours. Don't it therefore highly concern us to have our evidences for heaven cleared, sealed, shining and at hand. Naturalists tell us, That if a man sees a Cockatrice first, the Cockatrice dieth; but if the Cockatrice sees a man first, the man dies. Certainly, if we so see death first as to prepare for it, as to get our evidences for heaven ready, we shall kill it; but if death sees us first, and arrests us first before we are prepared, and before our evidences for heaven are cleared, it will kill us everlastingly, it will kill us eternally. Time travelleth with God's decrees, and in their season brings them forth;
- 1The Brathmanni had their graves before their doors. The Sybarites at Banquets had a deaths head delivered from hand to hand by every guest at the Table. The Egyptians in the midst of their Feasts, used to have the Anatomy of a dead man set before them, as a memorandum to the guests of their mortality. The poor Heathen could say, that the whole life of man should be meditatio mortis, a meditation of death. Dwell upon that, Deut. 32.29. Prov. 27, 1.
