CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

¹2. God hath appointed the time of our abode in this world, because he is the daily preserver and keeper of us. Should not he continue the breath of life, we should presently fall into the dust, out of which we came. Thus Act. 17.28. In him we live and move, and have our being. Thus we could not stir the foot, nor move the tongue did not God enable us; conservation is a daily creation. Hence Daniel tells that great Belteshazzar, though a mighty Monarch, Dan. 5.23. that he did not glorify God, in whose hand his breath was; If God do but blow upon the richest, greatest and healthfullest man that is, he is immediately scattered, as when we blow upon a little dust; yea neither food would nourish us, or the creatures afford any sustenance did not God give a blessing to them, as you may see Exod. 23.25. He will bless thy bread, and thy water, and take away thy infirmities from thee. Thus when ⟨p. 451⟩the pillars of the house are removed, that must presently fall into rubbish, so when God takes away his arm man runneth into nothing; and be David be, even to admiration, so affected with Gods providence in his constitution, shall not the same care be showed to his dissolution? Ps 139.16. he speaks there how curiously his body was wrought, even like any tapestry or needle work, and that all his members were in Gods book. Solomon saith, There is a time to be born, and a time to die. But as the one is from Gods appointment, so must the other be.

¹2. God hath appointed the time of our abode in this world, because he is the daily preserver and keeper of us. Should not he continue the breath of life, we should presently fall into the dust, out of which we came. Thus Act. 17.28. In him we live and move, and have our being. Thus we could not stir the foot, nor move the tongue did not God inable us; conservation is a daily creation. Hence Daniel tels that great Belteshazzar, though a mighty Monarch,