An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of…An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of…

All these things laid together, evince, that the Post makes speed. Yet, saith Job, My time out-runneth the post, my time goes faster then he: The post must stay a little sometimes, but time will not stay at all: The post must stay for change of horses, but the chariot of the Sun never stayeth to change horses (the Sun is the measure of time) and that makes no stop, hath no stages or baiting places, Our days are swifter then a post.

All these things laid together, evince, that the Post makes speed. Yet, saith Job, My time out-runneth the post, my time goes faster then he: The post must stay a little sometimes, but time will not stay at all: The post must stay for change of horses, but the charriot of the Sunne never staieth to change horses (the Sun is the measure of time) and that makes no stop, hath no stages or baiting places, Our daies are swifter then a post.

Further, Experiences speak this most true of that special ⟨p. 336⟩time, the time of prosperity. The best things of the world are in a moveable, in a passing, posting condition. They scarce abide with us long enough to learn what they are. If a man ride post, we can hardly discern who he is; the good things of the world, the pleasures and profits, the form and fashion of it pass away so fast, that none can perfectly report what they are, excepting this, Transitory and vain: As the artificial fashions of the world, the fashions in building and in apparel, pass so speedily, that few know what the fashion is, before 'tis gone; a new one is abroad, before the greatest number are in the old: So the natural fashions of worldly things (some in themselves, all as to our enjoyment) the excellency and dignity, the lustre and beauty of the creature are out of sight, before we can well say of what colour and shape, or what manner of things they were. When the Painter takes the perfect feature of a mans face, or the lineaments of his body, he must sit. The world sits not so long with any man, as for him to take the picture of it. Creatures perish in their using, while they are in our hands we know not what they are, for even then they are perishing and declining from what they were. One said, when a creature-comfort was taken from him, If I had it again, me thinks I could enjoy it; we seldom enjoy what we have. And what we have is always in transitu, passing from us, while we have it; it is in motion, while in possession. We can scarce be acquainted with it, because it stays so little with us. Hence Job concludes this similitude.