[2.] Their manifold experience should make them better. It is a miserable thing to pass under so many providences, and not to be bettered and improved by them : Deut. xxix. 2-6, ' And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and all his servants, and unto all his land ; the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, and the signs and those great miracles : yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness ; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink ; that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.' Surely none live long in the world but they have much experi- ence of the bitterness of sin : Jer. ii. 19, ' Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee : know therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord of hosts/ It is dangerous meddling with forbidden fruit. Of the vanity of the
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creature : Ps. ex. 96, ' I have seen an end of all perfection.' Some find it to their bitter cost. This vanity doted on and trusted in causeth vexation of spirit. Oh, the naughtiness of the world ! John xv. 19, ' If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because ye are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the world, there- fore the world hateth you/ Satan's indefatigable malice : 2 Cor. ii. 11, ' Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices ; ' 1 Peter v. 8, ' For the devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour/ On the other side, oh, the com- fort, peace, and blessedness that attendeth holy walking ! Micah ii. 7, ' Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? ' Ps. cxix. 56, ' This I had because I kept thy precepts/ This peace, this comfort, this joy in the Holy Ghost. Of God's hearing prayer : Ps. cxvi. 1, ' I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications/ Seasonable relief in difficulties and straits : Ps. xlvi. 1, ' God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.' The sweet reviv- ings in afflictions and trouble : Rom. v. 3-5, ' And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.' Fulfilling of promises : Ps. xviii. 30, ' As for God, his way is perfect : the word of the Lord is tried ; he is a buckler to all those that trust in him ; ' and many such like. Xow it is an argument of spiritual stupidness and folly, that a christian should be trained up for a long time in these things, and be not a jot the wiser ; if his faith be not stronger, his love to God more fervent, and hatred of sin more lively and earnest; if he cannot wait upon God with a more composed spirit in the midst of this world's uncertainties ; therefore they are to be excited and written unto.
Use 2. Is to show us what is a proper meditation for the aged chris- tians— God's ancientness and eternity. Their thoughts should be more taken up about this, about him who was before all things, and will be when all things shall be no more. Surely they that are going out of the world, they should not be contented with anything that had once a beginning, and within a little while will have an end; their great business is to know the eternal God, and eternally to enjoy him. They have had long experience of the transitory nature of earthly things, which should weaken temptations, and blare the glory of them in their eyes. They are going to converse with him immediately who 1 in the beginning laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of his hands : they shall perish, but thou remainest ; and they all shall wax old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change them; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail,' Heb. i. 10-12, Ps. cii. 25, 26. Christ is eternal, and cannot be per- ishing or die ; and this is the rock of the church's comfort. God from the mount of eternity beholdeth all successions and changes of the creature, but he cannot be changed. The world may be changed, and we, being mortal, may be changed, and must be changed that we may inherit eternal life ; but he from the beginning to the end is still the same, and shall destroy all enemies, consume the world with fire, and eternally glorify the saints. We are but of yesterday, and to-morrow