SECT. I. Of Mans Mortality and Immortality .

MANS Life is but a Race of mortality , and is then only well Run , when it comes to a blessed End . Others may run Faster , but he makes the best Speed , that first gets to Heaven : So run that ye may obtain , 2 Cor. 9. 24. Now a Blessed Immortality may be obtained two waies . 1. In Affection , 2. In Fruition ; This latter is to be expected at Gods leisure , but the former cannot be too soon obtained ; The very first step of Mortality should thus tend towards Immortality ; For as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ , were baptized into his Death , Rom. 6. 3. when we were yet scarce entred into our own Life , we were Baptized into his Death : which shews , that in truth we were not so much born to live , as we were born to die ; Well the man may think himself born to live , but sure the Christian ( that is baptized into the Death of Christ , ) must know that he was born again , only to die . For thus we all brought a body of death with us into the world , Rom. 7. 24. as well as a breath of life , Gen. 2. 7. And must therefore learn to dye in the beginning , as well as in the end of our daies : Saint John saith of himself , And when I saw him , ( that is Christ , ) I fell at his feet as dead , Rev. 1 17. So is it with us , when we truly see Christ , we sall down at his feet as dead , and yet do not lose our Station , but only mend it ; For whereas before we stood in our selves by thus falling we stand in our Saviour . No Christian is a loser by being dead with Christ , no more then Christ was a loser by his own death : For indeed , death is the only way for them both , to a Joyful Resurrection : I am He that liveth , and was dead , and behold I am alive for evermore , Rev. 1. 18. The Death was but for a short time , but the Life is for evermore ; This is such a Funeral as ought to be kept without Mourning , and is better solemnized with Joy and Triumph , then with Sorrow and Lamentation . For this Mortal must put on Immortality here on Earth , or it will not be fit to put it on hereafter in Heaven ; This Mortal must put on Immortality , before it put off it self ; Immortality in Affection , or it will never put on Immortality in Fruition .

SECT. II. Of the Knowledge of mans Mortality .

THE Knowledge of Mortality is more then a Science , it is also a Sapience ; O that they were Wise , that they understood This , that they would consider their latter end , Deut. 32. 29. Here is Sapience and Science Joyned both together : Sapience is a knowledge of Principles , Science is a knowledge of Conclusions ; This knowledge of Mortality is Both ; Teaching a man to joyn his last Ending to his first Beginning . The serious studies of Mortality , will make a man in His Moment to imitate God in his Eternity . It will make us Alpha and Omega in our Nothing , as God is , in his All. So to think of our First , as to think of our Last . For this is for a man to consider his latter End : To know the greatness of Mortality he is under , from within him , from without him , from above him , from below him : from within him , by the contradiction o●… his nature , those irreconcilable contrarietics in his constitution ; From without him by the Contentions an●… Violences of wicked men , his irreconcil●…ble Enemies ; who a●… wicked men , have their feet swift to sh●… blood ; and as Enemies , will yet make the●… swifter to shed his blood ; and as irreconcileable Enemies , will not give over that swif●…ness , till they have shed it : From abo●… him , The God of heaven calling for hi●… Breath , which he did but lend him for t●… Run his Race : From below him , The D●…vils of Hell sorry to see him Running t●… wards Heaven if he be Tending thither , an●… so desirous to interrupt his course , or glad of his running towards Hell , if his Race tend that way , and so willing to Precipitate and Hasten him thither .

This consideration of Mortality is fully expressed by the Psalmist , as it ought to be Practised by us , Psal. 39. 5. Lord let me know mine end , and the Number of my Daies : so the Septuagint , The Number of my Daies : you cannot know a Number without Joyning the First and the Last unites both together . So is it also in knowing the Number of your Daies , you must take in your last day , or you cannot have your full Number : Omnem crede Diem tibi diluxisse supremum : But the Hebrew saith , The measure of my Daies , now a measure is in continued quantity , but Number is in discrete quantity . It seems it is not yet fully Resolved in the Text , by what quantity the length of mans life is to be taken , whether by Magnitude or by Multitude ; For if it be taken by Magnitude , it is so small a measure that it may seem almost indivisible , but a span long ; And yet even so , it is rather taken by Multitude ; for , what is a span but a Multitude in Magnitude , the space betwixt the thumb and the little finger , when they are severally extended to make one measure ? And therefore the Septuagint saith , Behold thou hast made my daies old : Such as are already past and gone ; For whiles t is yet passing over , it is no day , you have but only the present minute of it ; when you have the whole day , you have nothing left , it is gone before you can have it : So is your life , it is but a minute whiles you have it , and if it be more , you have it not : It is gone before it comes to be more , or can be more in your Account . And therefore in this case of Numbring our Daies , we must fetch our Arithmetick from Heaven ; no Artist on Earth can teach it us , but only the Spirit of God ; so teach us to number our daies , Psal. 90. v. 12. A very Unquoth Arithmetick , to number that which is not ; To number daies whiles they are yet Passing , which cannot properly be numbred till they are Past : And yet without this Arithmetick there is no applying the Heart unto wisdom : Diu Fuit , non Diu Vixit , He had a long Continuance , but he had a short Life , is true of every one that Numbers not his Daies till they be spent . Here must be Numerus Numerans , before Numerus Numeratus ; The Number Numbring , before the Number Numbred .

God Numbreth the stars , and calleth them all by their Names : Yet the stars first Are , before they are Numbred . But man Numbreth his Daies before they Are : The Number is before the thing Numbred . He Numbers not what is past , that he may prolong , but what is to come , that he may Redeem his time : And it neerly concerneth him so to do , for his Daies are like a shadow that declineth , Psal. 102. 11. The shadow when it is declining waxeth longest , for the Sun is setting : but then presently it waxeth nothing , for the Sun is set . So is the life of man , as a shadow , ( nay as the dream of a shadow , ) it never seemeth long , till it is declining : and then , in a short time it is nothing at all : wherefore it is all one for a man to measure his shadow , and to measure his life , Both then being of shortest continuance , when of longest extension : which made the Psalmist desire above all things to know his frailty , Ps. 39. 4. That I may know how Frail I am : or according to the Hebrew , of what Time or Age I am ; which is thus glossed by Aben Ezra , How long I shall stand among the Inhabitants of the Age. Not one word of the gloss , but reads a large Lecture of Humane Frailty ; How long I shall stand : To wit , thus tottering and shaking , ready every minute to fall and tumble into my Grave : Among the Inhabitants , such as are to be turned out of doors at the pleasure of their Land-lord ; Of the Age , which is alwaies going away , and to be known only by its succession , not by its continuance : This is the true way to keep me from being one of those who are called Viri de Tempore , or Homines Seculi , Psal. 17. 14. Men of the Age , or men of the Times ; even to think mine own life in this to be like time , that it is of no consistency , to be measured only by its succession , not by its continuance . Every man is Vir Seculi , a man of the times in his condition ; but it is only the wicked worldling is so in his conversation . Dupliciter Aliquis est in seculo , per corporalem Praesentiam , per mentis Affectum , ( saith Aquinas ) A man may be said to be of this world in two Respects , either for the presence of his Body , or for the Affection of his soul : All men alike are of the world in the first Respect , but only wicked and ungodly men in the second : For he that knows himself a son of Eternity , will scorn to make himself a slave of time . Shall my soul submit to my bodies Vanity , because my body is made capable of my souls Eternity ? Oh no ; Rather let Eternity pass from the soul to the body , then Vanity pass from the body to the soul ; That was taken from the Earth , the proper place of changes and chances , but This came from Heaven , where is neither chance nor shadow of change : For if I would have God Remember my Time , I must remember his Eternity : Remember how short my time is , Psal. 89. 47. Remember how I am as the Age or Time , ( so the Hebr. ) That is , alwaies passing away : The Chaldee Paraphrase thus : Remember that I am created or made of dust : There 's the cause of this Fluxus in corpore , of the Seculum or Age within us , whereby our bodies are alwaies in motion , never at rest : For like as Saint Augustine ingenuously confessed time from the first instant of the creation , yet because he could not place any succession in the Heavens , before they were distinguished and had an orderly motion , he placed it in the Angels , saying , There was successio in mente Angelicâ : succession in the mind of the Angels . So may we say , were there no Time , no Age without us , There would be Time and Age within us : For there would be motion in the bodies of men ; and wherever there is motion , there must be also Time to number the parts of that motion . There is therefore time within us , because of the continued motion of our bodies , that tends to the Rest in the Grave , the dust naturally returning thither from whence it came ; In so much that Gabriel is not afraid to say , Christus si non fuisset Passus , stante miraculo fuisset senio mortuus , ( Bid. in 3. sent. dist. 16. ) That if Christ had not been put to Death by the Jews , yet he would have dyed at last meerly of Age , unless you will suppose him kept alive by miracle . But sure we are , This is true of all mankinde else , whether it were true of Christ or not . Every man making what haste he can , to be Resolved into his first dust , so that he needs no enemy to destroy him , having a civil war in his own body , till he hath destroyed himself .

SECT. III. Of mans vanity , and the knowledge thereof .

IT is Good for every man to call to mind the Vanity of his condition , that he may be the more careful not to admit Vanity either into his Affection or into his Action : or man is subject to a Threefold Vanity . One in his Condition , Another in his Affection , a Third in his Action ; his Condition is Vain , in that it is unsatisfactory ; his Affection is Vain , in that it is unlimited ; his Action is Vain , in that it is unrighteous : This made the Preacher say , Vanitas Vanitatum , & omnia Vanitas ; Vanity of Vanities , all is Vanity , Eccles. 1. 2. Solomon said this as a Preacher of Repentance unto himself , & his saying is Registred , that he might also be a Preacher of Repentance unto us . Nay indeed in this respect should every man be a Preacher unto himself , for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Foeminine Gender , to shew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nephesh is to be understood Anima predicans , and we may thus translate the Text , Vanity of Vanities , and all is Vanity , saith the preaching soul. Kimchy in his Roots thus expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebel Vanity , Res quae non est quicquam , A thing which is nothing ; and he there tells us that the Jewish Doctors did so call the Breath that cometh out of mans mouth , for that it is such a thing as presently ceaseth , and cometh to nothing . But in his Commentaries upon this place , be saith , Vanity is that which hath no subsistence ; no stability , and will not endure the Touch , as if you touch a Bubble it is gone ; wherefore the Ancient Latines properly called man , Bul●… lam , a Bubble , That is Vanity , in Kimchies Gloss ; And Aben Ezra goes further saying thus , That All things are called Vanity , even those which seem most firmly Rooted , and to have the surest subsistence : Ho●…much more the Actions of men which are b●… meer Accidents , and the thoughts of m●… which are but Accidents of Accidents ?

And it is much to be observed , Tha●… what the Son here speaketh of all things i●… general , The Father before him had spoken of man only in particular , Psal. 39. 6●… Certe omnis Vanitas omnis Homo consiste●… Surely every man in his best consistency is a●… Vanity . That is , in his Sons Language , Vanity of Vanities . And again ver. 7. Certe in Imagine seu simulachro ambula●… homo : Surely man walketh in a vain Imag●… or shew : His best works are more for Appearance then for Subsistence . Virtue is more looked after , in its Appearance then in its Existence , Secundum Apparentiam magis quam Secundum Existentiam ; A Distinction ingenuously delivered by Aquinas , but shamefully Justified by us , who had rather walk in Shew , then in Substance , in Vanity then in Reality : But yet the Psalmist speaks more plainly , Psal. 62. 9. Surely men of low degree are Vanity , and men of high degree are a Lye : to be laid in the Ballance they are altogether lighter then Vanity : Where it is evident , that if Man were put in one Scale , and Vanity in the other , Man would be found lighter then Vanity it self . O my God , weigh not my best Righteousness in the Ballance of thy Sanctuary , without putting my Saviours merits into the Scale ; For if I be lighter then Vanity , How can I hold weight with a blessed Eternity ? The Jews observe that the Father spake one thing concerning mankinde , which he left to his Son to explain after him , and that was this , Psal. 144. 4. Man is like to Vanity ; for he tells us not to what Vanity , whether the greater or the lesser ; but his Son comes after and explains him , saying , that he is like to that Vanity which is most Vain of all others , Similis Vanitati Vanissimae ; like to that Vanity which is Vanity of Vanities . Again , the Son spake one thing of man-kinde , which is best explained by the Father ; to wit , that of Eccles. 6. 12. All the daies of his Vain life , which he spendeth as a shadow ; For , he telleth not what shadow ; but here the Father explaineth the Son , saying , A shadow that passeth away , Psal. 144. 4. His daies are as a shadow that passeth away . Both Father and Son agree in this , that man is Vanity in the highest degree , so that no words are able sufficiently to express it , and no Heart able sufficiently to conceive it . He lives in the shadow of Life , and that shadow of Life is quickly and easily changed into the Darkness of Death ; In the midst of Life he is in Death , and had need take care lest in the midst of Death , he be in Hell : In the midst of Life he is in Death through the Vanity of his Condition , and had need be the more carefull , lest in the midst of Death he be in Hell , through the Vanity of his Affections and of his Actions ; For it is a most terrible expostulation , which remains upon the File , against all men whatsoever , whiles they shall remain in their own Vanities , Jer. 2. 5. Thus saith the Lord , What Iniquity have your Fathers found in me , that they are gone far from me , and have walked after Vanity and are become Vain ? This walking after Vanity , as it is the great Sin , so it should be the great Vexation of our souls : not only that it makes us become vain , but also that it casteth an Aspersion of Iniquity upon our God : according as Saint Basil hath spoken most divinely in his Sermon concerning the love of God and our Neighbour ; The Devil will at the last day object it as matter of Reproach against our Lord and Saviour , that we have Despised and Disobeyed him ; and will very much Boast that he neither created us nor dyed for us , and yet that we have been his diligent followers in the breach and contempt of Gods Commandments : And this Reproach ( saith he ) against my Lord , is more dreadful to me then the Torments of hell , that I should give the enemy of the Lord occasion to Blaspheme him , who Dyed for my sins , and rose again to make me Righteous .

SECT. IV. Of the Difficulty , Necessity and Excellency of this knowledge of Mortality .

IT neerly concerns man to know Vanity , That he may know himself , and much more that he may desire to know his Saviour ; And therefore it is no wonder that this knowledge is invested with very great Difficulty : For our Mortal having put on Sin , cares not to put off it self : David had been long pursued , and was like to be cut off every moment by his rebell Subject and ungracious Son , before he learned this Prayer , Lord let me know mine end : And though when he heard of Absoloms death , he said , Would God I had dyed for thee , O Absolom my son , my son , yet he did not thereby so truly shew a desire of his own Death , as a Horror for his sons Damnation : He knew that a wilful Rebel dying in his Rebellion , was not to be punished only with one death , but was to undergo a second death . The like is to be said of dying in any other wilful sin whatsoever , unrepented ; And therefore it is not possible for any man to desire God to part his Soul from his Body that he may Die , till he hath parted Sin from his soul , that he may not be afraid of the second death ; for he cannot but say Leave not my soul destitute , or naked and bare , Psal. 141. 8. But let it still be clothed with my Flesh , and its Insirmity , till thou shalt be pleased to cloath it with my Saviour and his Righteousness : For better is it for me to Live in misery , then to dye in it : Better for me to live in the Infirmities of my Body , then to dye in the Iniquities of my Soul : Hence proceeds the great Difficulty of learning this lesson , because our own fear makes us unwilling to learn it : But this same knowledge , as it is opposed by great Difficulty , so it is extorted by a far greater necessity : for our Mortal must put off both its sin and itself ; nay must therefore put off its self , that it may put off its sin : Excellently Theodoret , and most like a Christian Divine , in his Questions upon Genesis saith , God would not suffer Adam to eat of the tree of life after he had eaten of the forbidden fruit , that he might not suffer sin to be Eternal . Therefore death is to us a Remedy , not a Punishment ; it is a Medicine to cure us of our sins , rather then a Judgement to corment us for them . Our Flesh is not so neer our Body , as our Sin is neer our Flesh ; and therefore God hath in mercy appointed us to put off our Flesh , that with it we might put off our Sin . Thus is it most necessary for us to know our Mortality , That we may know an end of our sin and misery ; and this knowledge as it hath a great necessity , so it hath yet , a greater excellency : For he that knows truly how to put off himself , cannot but also know how to put on his Saviour ; And sure there can be no knowledge of like necessity with this , and much less of like excelleny with it : yea doubtless I count all things but loss , for the excellency of th●… Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord , saith Saint Paul , Phil. 3. 8. And let my sou●… say so too . For all other knowledge i●… excellent either from the Object or from the Subject ; but this only is excellent from the term or end of it ; one knowledge is more excellent then another , either for the exactness and perspicuity of the Demonstration ( saith Aust. 1. de An. c. 1. ) or for the height and sublimity of the notion ; either for the certainty of the Subject , or for the excellency of the Object . In the knowledge of earthly things , the science hath its excellency from the Perspicuity of the Demonstration ; In the knowledge of Heavenly things th●… science hath its excellence from the Sublimity of the Notion : Thus far Aristotle could go , but no further , That som●… sciences were more excellent ratione subjecti , others ratione objecti ; but we must here add a third excellency ( unknown in Philosophy , yet undoubted in Christian Divinity ) ratione termini : For the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord is most excellent of all others , not only from the Object , for that he is the brightness of his fathers glory , and the express image of his person , Heb. 1. 2. And from the Subject , for that h●… is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world , John 1. 9. But also from the Term or end of it : For this is life eternal , that they might know thee the only true God , and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent : Joh. 3. 17. Did they not know their own temporal Death , they would not care to know thy eternal Life ; Did they not know the Vanity which themselves have contracted , they would not so heartily desire to know the Glory which thou hast provided ; Did they not know themselves , they would not labour to know their Saviour ; and yet all the world cannot shew us any knowledge like this knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord , which thus begins in Majesty , goes on in Perspicuity , and ends in Glory .