For ivhat is your life ? It is even a vapour. — Brevity of life is set forth by many comparisons in scripture : by the flower of the field, Isa. xl. 6, 7 ; by the wind, Job vii. 7 ; a leaf before the wind. Job xiii. 25 ; by a shadow. Job xiv. 2. There is a heap of similitudes. Job ix. 25, ' Now my days are swifter than a post ; they flee away, and see no good ; they pass away as swift ships ; as the eagle hasteth to the prey,' The word useth the more similitudes, that by every fleeting and decaying object we might be remembered of our own mortality ; as also to check those proud desires which are in man of an eternal abode and lasting happiness in this life. In that place of Job there is a monument of man's frailty set forth in all the elements : go to the land, and there is a post ; go to the sea, and there is a swift ship ; look to the air, and tliere is an eagle. The heathen poets are much in deciphering the frail estate of man. ^schylus saith, man's life is kuttvov aKca, the shadow of smoke ; and Pindarus, cr/c/a? ouap, the dream of a shadow. Tlie similitude used here is that of a vapour. It were to Irille to show the resemblance in other things ; it is brouglit only to show the swift passage of it, and because man's life is but a little warm breath tunned in and out by the nostrils ; a narrow passage, and soon stopped, Isa. ii. 22.
01)scrve out of the whole verse two points: —
Obs. 1. That we have no assurance of our lives and comforts, and the events of the next day. It is a common argument ; heathens are
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mucli in it.^ Well, then, let every day's care be enough for itself, and live every day as the last day. Petrarch tellcth of one who, being invited to dinner the next day, answered, Ego a multis annis C7'astinum noii liahui — I have not had a morrow for these many years. And Liidovicus Oapellus telleth ns of one Rabbi Eleazer, that advised men to lepent but one day before their death, that is, presently ; it may be the next before the last. It is a sad thing to promise ourselves many years, and to have our souls taken away that night ; to measure out our time and years by our carnal projects, and of a sudden we and all our ' white thoughts perish,' ^ Ps. cxlvi. 4. Godly men wait for their change ; upon others it cometh unexpected. It is observable, that of bad men it is said their souls are not resigned, but ' taken away/ Job xxvii. 8, ' What hope hath the hypocrite, when God shall take away his soul ? ' So Luke xii. 20, ' This night shall they take away thy soul/ Wicked men would dwell longer in the body ; their carnal projects are never at an end, but of a sudden God cometh and snatcheth away their souls.
Ohs. 2. Man's life is very short ; it is a vapour that soon appeareth and disappeareth, dispersed as soon as raised: Ps. xxxix., ' Surely every man walketh in a vain show.' Though they toss to and fro, yet the whole course of their lives is but as a flying shadow ; a little spot of time between two eternities. Austin doubteth whether to call it a dying life or a living death.3 (1.) This checketh those that pass away their time rather than redeem it ; prodigal of their precious time, as if they had too much of it. Our season is short, and we make it shorter. It is time for all of us to say, ' The time past is more than enough to have wrought the wills of the flesh,' 1 Peter iv. 3, or as it is, Eom. xiii. 11, 'It is high time to awake out of sleep,' &c., which was the scripture that converted Austin. (2.) If life be short, then moderate your worldly cares and projects ; do not cumber yourselves with too much provision for a short voyage. The ship goes the swifter the less it is burdened ; men take in too much lading for a mere passage. (3.) Be more in spiritual projects, that you may lay up a foundation for a longer life than you have to live here ; do muck work in a little time. Shall we lose any part of that which is so short ? or in a short life make way for a long misery ? The apostle saith, 2 Peter i. 13, 'I will put you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle.' We are all shortly to divest ourselves of the upper garment of the flesh ; let us do all the good that we can. Christ lived but thirty-two years, or thereabouts ; therefore he ' went about doing good, and healing every sickness, and every disease.' Ministers pack their matter close when they have but a little time ; so should you ; you have but a short time, be the more diligent.