Preparation to death. For thy house, for thy persons, goods, or chil- dren, look thou set them in order.
First, For thy persons, dispose of thy children as Barzillai doth here. Dispose of thy family, of thy kindred, place them in callings, dispose of them for thy habitation. As Isaac and Jehoshaphat, and others in Scrip- ture, give them good instructions, leave them precepts that shall stick by them when thou art dead and gone.
Second, For thy rjoods, dispose of them; what is evil gotten restore, what is well gotten dispose to pious and merciful uses, to thy family, to those that may challenge right in thee. And it is good to set these things in order before such time as death cometh. Oh, my brethren, it is a miser- able madness among the sons of men. They defer these weighty and important businesses to the last hour. When the powers of nature are shaken, when their wits and memories fail, when their speech and under- standing leaves them, then, then they go about the most important business of all others. Do this in time ; have thy will ready about thee, dispose of thy family, of thy estate, whilst thou art in memory and understanding.
Third, As thy house must be disposed of, so much more thy heart must be disposed of. Repent of thy sins, pluck out the sting of death, which is sin ; ' the sting of death is sin.' Death cannot hurt where there is repentance of sin. Sinunrepentcd will bring a sting in the time of death. It will fill the heart with sorrow, and the soul with amazement, and the conscience with terror. Pull out the sting, and then thou shalt triumph over death, and over the grave, and say, ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ? ' 1 Cor. xv. 55. 0 hell, where is thy triumph? 0 Satan, where is thy malice and power ? Nothing is able to do thee harm.
Fourth, In the next place, labour to take possession of heaven now. Make
entrance into it while thou art here, by getting the liife of Christ, and the
life of faith in thee, by getting the saving graces of the Spirit in thee. If
these things be in thee and be not unfruitful, then thou shalt have entrance,
* That is, ' shut up,' == included. — G.
THE VANITY OF THE CEEATUBE.
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as Peter speaks, * into the inheritance and kingdom,' 2 Pet. i. 11. This then is somewhat, that we should have said more largely, if we had had more time and fitness to have spoken to the first point ; and therefore we will but name to you some other particulars that we should have spoken to.
In the next place, you see his second reason why he would not be a courtier, is, that now his natural parts, his outward senses begin to fail, that he found his sight to decay, that he could not discern colours ; his taste wasted, he could not distinguish between sweet and sour ; his ears were not serviceable ; now the mirth, and music, and melody of the court was nothing to him. Herein then we see in the next place how it fares with us.
Boct. 2. That natural parts and powers ivill decay ivith age. Age will decay and wear out our nature. All parts, and powers, and faculties what- soever they be, time and age will wear out. The clothing both of the body and of the mind, age wears out the clothing of the body, and the gar- ment of the mind, as it were. The mind and the soul is clothed with flesh. This body of ours, our flesh, is clothed with other raiment. Time wears out the one as well as the other. The heaven and the earth, which are more durable than man, yea, than a generation of men, as Solomon saith : Eccles. i. 4, ' Man dieth, a generation of men pass away, but the earth stands,' and much more the heavens continue ; yet the heavens and the earth, they are as a garment, they wax old and are soon changed, as the Holy Ghost tells us, Isa. 1. 9, much more the sons of men. Yea, the water by drops wastes the stones, nay, a rock of stones, nay, a mountain of stones, as it is in Job xiv. 19, and therefore it will consume in time flesh and blood. To stand to prove this is needless ; I will give you some instances for the enlightening of the point, and so end.
1. First, Isaac, when he was an old man, w^hen he waxed old, his sight was thick and dim, as in Gen. xxvii. 1. David in 2 Kings i., when he was stricken in age, when he was passed on in years, then saith the text, David's natural heat began to decay, and they were fain to apply means to help him; so Solomon in Eccles. xii. 1, a place known, tells us that evil days will come, and cloud will follow upon cloud, and then the keepers of the house, the hands, will wax feeble ; the pillars of the house, the legs and thighs, will wax faint and weak ; those that look out at the windows, the eyes, will be dark and duskish ; then all the daughters of music, the ears, they will begin to wax thick too and heavy, and so of the rest, as we see there (c). We cannot stand on particulars.