The Expectation of Another Life

Of the expectation of another life. The xmnity and misery of man in his best estate if there be none. The satisfactory removal of that supposition by the thoughts of God, and of eternal felicity, in his blessed presence.

Let me retire a little, O my soul! and bethink myself, what a world this is; what men design and seek, and do and suffer: with what false and feigned joys they are pleased, being only happy by comparison; and with what real sorrows they are afflicted; what innumerable disappointments, sicknesses, (and as troublesome remedies,) dangers, labours, pains, and calamities, of all sorts, multitudes groan under, and loudly complain of! And what little unworthy ends are pursued by all that do not seriously seek eternal rest 1 And how often frustrated! And withal consider the cares that disquiet us, the errors that deceive us, the many temptations that assault and overcome us; how busy we are about vanities; bow often dejected and melancholy for the breaking of a bubble; how eager and industrious to pursue a shadow; active and in earnest to destroy ourselves and one another; and then reflect on the malice and cruelty, the.filthiness and impiety, and great corruption, which abound every where, whereby God is dishonoured, and provoked to anger! After this, what a theatre of tragedies must this world appear! what an hospital of sick and diseased, or rather diltacld persons! How should I be tempted to say, Lord why hast thou made all men in vain?” In vain, in deed, if I could not look from this sea of troubles the haven of rest; from this dark prison to the re* gion of light; from this deceitful, troublesome, am defiling earth, to a blessed, everlasting heaven; foi verily, if there be no world but this, every man it his best estate,” in this world, is altogethei vanity, Selah.” It is a certain undoubted truth, thi prefixed verily tells us so; and that it deserves be well considered, we learn from the “Selah, every man is vanity.” Not the inferioi parts of the creation only: but man, the lord of all and every man, every Adam, from himself, to th last man that shall by ordinary generation desGeH from him. Not the ignorant, poor, or wicked, only but all the individuals of this species. Young o old, strong or weak, beautiful or deformed, rich 01 poor, high or low, good or bad, (in respect of th body and this present life,) every one is vanity and this is true, suppose him in his best estate, no only in helpless infancy and childhood, or in decrepi old age; not only in pain, and poverty, and dis* grace; but in his most settled, most flourishing most envied, and admired, condition upon earth; ii the midst of strength, and wit, and honour; whei at best, as to body, and mind, and outward circuni* stances; when he looks fairest; when he shinef brightest; in the height of all his glory, with th greatest likelihood of a continuance; yet then he ii but vanity. In his frame, in his temper; constitation, inclinations, actions, and employments; he ii a mere shadow, an empty, mutable, inconsiderabUigy and not to be accounted of. His hearty hUd, his imagination, reasonings, desires, purposesy eets, hopes, and fears, are all vanity, and altober vanity, in all the parts, and kinds, and partiuris of it. He not only may be, but he is so, in best estate; if this world be his best, if this be

all, and nothing more to be expected after
th.

(Lad how should such a reflection strike me to the rty to suppose that after a few years are ended, I It return to my first nothing, and my very being swallowed up of eternal death! - What satisfac- can I then take in any present enjoyments, if Btemal annihilation be at hnd, when I roust bid m for ever to all that I now possess 1 What ght can I have in the ordinary comforts of life, ] this belief, that within a year or two, it may be QorroWy I shall sink into the dust, and exist no e I What pleasure in any thing with this disexpectation! The more flourishing my condi-I is in this world, the more I should dread to I it, if nothing better, nothing at all, can be enm after death. Some philosophers have igno- :Iy urged such a consideration as an antidote inst the fear of death; but the admission of it r rather deprive a man of all the comfort of life, lat then is the advantage of a wise man above a? The exercise and improvement of our noblest ikies would render us more miserable than others, othing be expected, and certain, when this life is r. Not only sensual but intellectual tpleasures lid be disturbed and destroyed by such thoughts; t very shortly, the next year, or day, I must dis-D 43 jppear; and all mj eojojineDU and hopes be uUerlj aod (or ever lost, with ray very being.

Were the case thus, (which sadi conseqaenceseraioe it is not,) it were better for most men tbq had never been born, whether their condition here be prosperous or afficted. For, what comfort or qaiet can any man have in plenty and prosperity, when this frightful apprehension of an approaching end is ever present? And what consolation can it yield a man, who is afflicted and calamitous, and yet loves his life above all things, to think that he shall not cease to bemberaUe, but by ceasing to be? And what is become of all religion, if such a thought be entertained? All devotion to God is thereby extinguished, all the restraints of vice removed, the flood-gates of impiety opened, the encouragements of virtue, the rewards of holiness, the foundation of tribulation, and suffering for righteousness’ sake, all at once taken away. Lord 1 confirm my belief of the invisible future state of rewards and punishments! and let not infidelity damp my zeal in thy service, or rob me of the comforts of this life; which, if I have any solid ones, roust suppose the hopes of a better.

Let others therefore, O my soul! who expect not an everlasting heaven beyond the grave, place their affections on earthly things, and mind this world as if there were no better, no other. Let them, who doubt or disbelieve the promised rewarcU of eternity, take up with what they must shortly leave, and labour for the bread that perishetb. But, since I profess to believe and seek the life everlasting, let me daily entertain myself with the

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hopes of it) and let all the flattering dreams of what is desirable upon earth give place to nobler and better thoughts. Let me derive my principal joy from the promise and expectation of that future felicity) and endeavour nothing more than a roeetness to partake of it. O my God, my God! thou art my life, and joy, and portion; in thee, and in thy love, all my desires and hopes are answered, and all my wants supplied. However evil this world is made by sin, yet thou art the infinite and supreme good. How mutable, how uncertain, how perishing soever, are all sublunary things, yet thou art the Rock of Ages, the fountain of everlasting life, and hast appointed another world, and another life, when this is ended, wherein thou wilt be better known, and loved, and served, and honoured, and communicate thyself more abundantly than now to those, the desire of whose souls is towards thee, that believe and love thee, that partake of thine image, and are devoted to thy fear. The assurance of this, and nothing else, will answer the objection of the present vanity and misery to which we are subject.

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