Oh then drive moderately ; you will be at the end of all these things sooner than you imagine. We need not victual a ship to cross the channel, as they do that are bound to the Indies. " What " is your life ? It is even a vapour which appeareth for a little " while, and then vanisheth away," James iv. 1 4. " In one mo- " ment the projects of many years are overturned for ever.
Inf. 9. Is it but a puff of breath that holds men in life ? Then build not too much hope and cwiftdence upon any man.
Build not too high upon so feeble a foundation. " Cease ye " from man (saith the prophet) whose breath is in his nostrils ; for " wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 22. There are two things that should deter us from dependence upon any man, viz. his falseness and his frailty. Grace in a great measure may cure the first, but not the last. The best of men must die, as well as the worst, Rom. viii. 10. it is a vanity therefore to rely upon any man. It was the saying of a philosopher when he heard how mer- chants lost great estates at sea in a moment, — Non amo felicita- tern efunibus pendentem ; — I love not that happiness (saith he) which hangs upon a rope. But all the happiness of many men
554* A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAK.
hangs upon a far weaker thing than a rope, even the perishing breath of a creature.
Let not parents raise their hopes too high, or lean too hard upon their children. Say not of thy child, as Lamech did of Noah, *• This son shall comfort us," Gen. v. 29. The world is full of the lamentings and bitter cries of disappointed parents. Let not the wife depend too much on her husband, as if her earthly com- forts were secured in him against all danger. God is often pro- voked to stop our friend's breath, that thereby he may stop our way to sin, 1 Tim. v. 5. The trust and dependence of a soul are too weighty to be hanged upon such a weak and rotten pin as the breath of a creature.
Inf. 10. To conclude ; if this frail breath be all that differenceth the living from the dead, then fear not man wlwse breath is in his nostrils. There is as little ground for our fear of man, as there is for our trust in man. As death, in a moment, can make the best man useless, and put him out of a capacity to do us any good ; so it can in a moment make the worst man harmless, and put him out of capacity to do us any injury. Indeed, if the breath of our ene- mies were in their power, and ours at their mercy, there would be just cause to tremble at them ; but they are neither masters of their own, nor ours. " Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a " man that shall die ?" said God to Jacob, Isa. li. 12. The breath of the mightiest is no better secured than of the meanest, nor never in more danger to be stopt than when they breathe out threatenings against the upright.
Julian's breath was soon stopt after he threatened to root out the Galileans. Queen Mary resigned her breath at the very time when she had filled the prisons with many of Christ's sheep, and designed them for the slaughter. Read Isa. xvii. 12. and see what mush- rooms we are afraid of. The best way to continue your relations and friends to your comfort, is to give God and not them your de- pendence ; and the best way to secure yourselves against the rage of enemies, is to give God your fear, and not them. And thus much of the nature of the soul, and its tie with the body.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX. o55
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth ? And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said
unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as
they were, sliould be fulfilled.
jMLAVING, from the former text, spoken of the nature of the soul, and the tie betwixt it and the body ; I shall, from this scrip- ture, evince the immortality of the soul, which is a chief part of its excellency and glory; and in this scripture it hath a firm foundation.
This book of the Revelation completes and seals up the whole sacred canon, Rev. xxii. 18. It also comprehends all the great and signal events of providence, relating either to the Christian church, or to its antichristian enemies in the several periods of time, to the end of the world ; chap. i. 19. All which the Spirit of God dis- covers to us in the opening of the seven seals, the sounding of the seven trumpets, and the pouring out of the seven vials.
The first Jive seals express the state of the church under the bloody, persecuting, Heathen emperors.
The first seal opened, ver. &. gives the church a very encoura- ging and comfortable prospect of the victories, successes, and tri- umphs of Christ, notwithstanding the rage, subtlety, and power of all its enemies. He shall ride on conquering, and to conquer, and his arrows shall be sharp in the hearts of his enemies, whereby the people shall fall under him. And this cheering prospect was no more than was needful : For,
The second seal opened, ver. 3, 4. represents the first bloody persecution of the church under Nero, whom Tertullian calls * Dedicator damnationis nostrce : he that first condemned Christians to the slaughter. And the persecution under him is set forth by the type of a red horse, and a great sword in the hand of him that rode thereon. His cruelty is by Paul compared to the mouth of a lion, 2 Tim. iv. 17. Paul, Peter, Bartholomew, Barnabas, Mark,
♦ Tertul. Apol. c. 5.
556 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
are all said to die by his cruel hand ; and so fierce was his rage against the Christians, that at that time, as * Eusebius saith, " a " man might see cities lie full of dead bodies, the old and young, " men and women, cast out naked, without any reverence of per- " sons or sex, in the open street." And when the day failed, Christians (saith f Tacitus) were burnt in the night, instead of torches, to give them light in the streets.