Secondly, by their time and period as to continuance. All these
Ver. 9G.] sermons upox psalm cxix. 455
things perish in the using ; like flowers, they wither in our hands while we smell at them : ' The fashion of this world passeth away,' 1 Cor. vii. 31 ; and wliosoever liveth here for a while must look for changes, and reckon to act several parts in the world. Whatsoever was wonderful in former ages is lost and past with age; things that now are are not what they once were : Ps. cii. 26, 27, ' They shall perish, but thou shalt endure for ever,' saith the Psalmist, speaking to God ; *yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shalt be changed ; but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.' Christ, he hath no end, but men will soon see the end of all perfection. The world and all things were made ea lege ut aliquando pereant — that they might at length fail and come to an encl. That which you now have you cannot say it shall be yours this time twelvemonth, or it may be a mouth hence ; we hold all things by an uncertain tenure. God may take away these things from us ; for man is compared to grass, and the glory of man to the flower of grass, 1 Peter i. 24. What is the glory of man ? Eiches, wisdom, strength, beauty, credit, all these things are called the flower. Xow the flower fadeth before the grass, and withers ; the neglected stalk remaineth. When the leaves of the flower are shed, you may be gone and they gone. If they continue with you till <leath, then you must take your final farewell of all your comforts. Thus you see all perfection will have an end.
And then, here is the confirmation from sense, I have seen. Con- sider it — (1.) As it is matter of sense or experience ; (2.) As it is an observation upon experience.
1. The vanity of the creature is matter of sense and plain experi- ence. We have seen, and others have seen, all outward things come to their final period ; goodly cities levelled with the earth, mighty em- pires destroyed, worldly glory blasted, honours vanished, credit and esteem shrunk into nothing, beauty shrivelled with age, or defaced by sickness ; yea, all manner of greatness laid in the dnst. We trample upon the graves of others, and within a little while others will do the same over ours. All thinj^s have their times and turns, then- rise and ruin ; there is no man that converseth with the world, but he will soon see the vanity of it. David found it not only by clear reason, but by his own experience, ' I have seen,' saith he ; and so will you say too within a while ; these things will fail when you have most need of them. Credit and honour before the world ; what is more uncertain than the people's afiections ? They that cry, ' Hos- annah,' to-day, will cry ' Crucify him,' to-morrow. Pleasures are gone as soon as they come ; and when they are gone, they are as a thing of nought, but that they leave a sting in the conscience, and a sadness in the heart : ' Eiches take wings and flee away,' Prov. xxiii. 5. You can be no more confident of them than of a flock of wild fowl that pitcheth in your field. Honour is soon gone. Haman is one day high in favour, the next day high upon the gallows. Strength and beauty are soon assaulted by diseases. It will be matter of sense ; better believe it than try it ; then it will prevent a great deal of vexa- tion, and the shame of disappointment. Seldom doth a man act the same part in the world for a year together ; now joyful, anon sad ;
456 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. C.
now cliildren, then none ; now married, anon in a widowhood condi- tion. It is much in the desire and thoughts of natural men to have a perpetual enjoyment of this life and the comforts of it ; but it will never be. They perish, and we must die ; and when we are gone, our glory will not be remembered. Solomon recordeth his experience of the vanity of all earthly things. Oh, that we would believe it, without trying conclusions ! You that are so eager after the world, what will you think of it when it is parting from you, or you from it ? Will they then be found to be such excellent things as you once deemed them to be ? Oh, no ! At last you must come to this, ' I have seen an end of all perfection ;' and then you will say, Oh, how hath the world deceived me ! I have laboured for nought !
2. ' I have seen ; ' that is, with a spiritual eye ; this should be observed and improved by faith. Many are sensible of the vanity of tlie creature, but are not a jot tlie wiser : Ps. xlix. 13, ' This tlieir way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings.' They are sensible of the folly of their ancestors, but yet do not mend by it. We should not only see with our eyes, but understand with our hearts. When the wise man went by the field of the sluggard, he saw it over- grown with thorns and nettles, and the stone wall thereof broken down : Prov. xxiv. 32, ' I saw it, and considered it well ; I looked upon it, and received instruction.' We should profit by everything. In this sense we may gather figs off thistles and grapes off thorns. Espe- cially should we observe the vanity of all sublunary things : Eccles. vii. 2, ' It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting ; for this is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart.' We should make a good use of these occasions ; a man seetli his own end in the end of others, and by their death is admonished of his own frailty and mortality. It is a sad sign when this is not con- sidered : Isa. xlii. 25, 'Yet he laid it not to heart;' Isa. xxvi. 11, ' Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see.' They shall be forced to take notice of what now they will not, when God's hand is upon them to their utter confusion.