Religion & morality > Human nature in its fourfold state

Head II. Man's Life Vanity. 313
pricking thorns of ciifficultiesj through them we muft
force cur way, to dccomplith the pujetls.and comri-
ij v.'.rces. of our riper thoughts And the more we foiace
ill curf lves in any earthly enjoyment we attain to, the
1 1 more bit: rrrtfs do’ vre find it) partirjg with it. Then
i comes old age, attended with its own train of infirmt-
: ties, h.bour and forte w, Pfal xc. 10. and fets us down
■ 1 next door to the gn ve. In a word, Jl fLJh is grafi.
Ifa;ah xl 9 Every ftage, or period in life, is vanity,
jj Man at his hcflfate (Ids middle age, when the heat of
< j youth is fpent, and the forrows of old age have not yet
;] overtaken him,, is altogether vanrty , Pfalm xxxix. 5.
ij Death carries off fome in the bud of childhood, others
in the bloffom of youth, and others when they come
..to their fiuit; few are left {landing, till like ripe-com
Sf they forfake the ground ; all die one time or other.
[j! Secondly. Man’s life is a fliort tiring ; it is not only
jla vanity, but a fliort-lived vanity. Confider Fvji,
llHow the life of man is reckoned in the Seri, ture.
It was indeed femetimes reckoned by hundreds of
nyears ; but no man ever arrived at a thoufand : which
met bears no proportion to eternity. Now hundreds
||are brought down to foores • three foore and ten or
Slfour foore, is its utmoft length, Pfal. xc. 10. But few
sfmen arrive at that length of life. Death dots but
(rarely wait, til! men be bowing down, by reafon of
age, to meet the grave. Yet, as if years were t o
big a word, for fuch a fmall thing as the life pf man
on earth •, we find it counted by months, Job. xiv, 3.
'The number cf bis morths are u:th thee. Our courfo,
like that of the moon, is run in a little time ; we are
always waxing or waning, till we difappear. But
frequently it is^reckoned by days ; and thefe but few,
b xiv. 1. Man that is born of a woman, is of few days.
jNay, it is but one dry in feripture account ; and that
a hireling’s day, who- will precifely obferve when big
"ay ends, and give over his work , ver. 6 Till he fh.iil
Qccompnjb as an hireling his day. Yea, the fori ture
rings it down to the fherteft fpace of time and ai's
a moment. 2 Cor iv. 17. Our light ajfliclian (though