The Changeable State and Short Duration of Earthly Things

Of the changeable state and short duration of earthly things especially of man; how little it is con sidered and believed; how necessary it should be

When I consider that yesterday was the conclusion of the last year, and that I am now entered on other, it is seasonable to reflect on the mutable condition and short duration of all things in this world, which are measured by time. That, as they have their beginning, so they have their end; and that the distance or space of time between the one and the other is very little. Let me not then, O my soul! rejoice and please myself too much in new en* joymenta, remembering a change may be at hand, and the end is certain.

Many, who were rich and flourishing the last year, may he reduced t poverty axid dee lx before the end of this; who are now in a capacity to relieve others, within a few months, or a shorter space, may be objects of other men’s charity. “The thing which hath been is that which may be;” and that which hath been seen in one year may happen in another: so easily, so quickly, may a change be made! Riches may unexpectedly change their owners, and borrow wings of a thousand accidents, wherewith to fly to heaven for a new disposal. “They, therefore, who possess, should be as if they possessed not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.” Innumerable casualties may effect that change, which no human art or skill can possibly foresee or hinder. Afflictive unexpected evils attend us every where: we cannot promise ourselves tranquillity for a day, much less one year to come. They lie in wait for us on every side, enter at every crevice, and commonly overtake us when we are least apprehensive of their ^proach. “Man, that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh up as a flower, and is cut down; fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.” What then are riches, beauty, strength, and honour, the accidents of this substance, which is itself but a shadow!

How false is the hope of man, and how frail is all his glory!. One day can make an end of all his riches and honours: and yet what’ solicitude, care, and labour, to get what we desire of these things, (though often we do not need them,) and then to keep what we have gotten, and then to increase it, and then to defend it, and at last to enjoy it; and, jjj a moment it is snatched from uS) or we from it! JEUs life is but a vapouri on wKVcVi lle ti dL«^??iA then bow much less are they? To how speedy an alteration are they subject! What numbetless instances of this doth one- year’s experiende furnish! What saddening disappointments and unexpected ealamities have befallen many since this day twelvemonth! and multitudes who arq now at ease, and think their mountains too strong to be removed, shall meet with sharper trials before the end of this year. Alas! how few consider or believe it, till they find it so! All men should count upon trouble and disappointment, suffering and sorrow, in this world; and he that hath the least share is reckoned the most prosperous man; and yet he knows not how soon his portion may be doubled. We reckon our joys by the absence of some degrees of sorrow and calamity that others meet with; and before the end of this year our condition may be as disconsolate as theirs.

O.my soul! though I know this to be true; though I cannot, I dare not deny it; yet how difficult is it to conquer the love of this world, and of this body, to that degree I ought! to undervalue the interest o£a short, a mutable, uncertain, and troublesome life, in comparison of the permanent possession of an everlasting good! though I know that what is earthly and temporal must needs be thus changeable and fading, and that it is as true of man himself as of any thing under the sun; yet how do I forget what man is! not only mutable in this state, his body, and his life, but in bis mind too, so as to love and hate, to choose and neglect, to delight in and abhor, such things at one time as he did not before. He doth not pass the same judgment xvot ilvcv^ same M&etioDSf at one time as at anolYvet. l<(^’«i

I live, as if all this were as certainly false as it is unquestionably true! Admire, love, fear, trust, in man, as if he were the direct contrary to what he is and seek for immortality upon earth, and act as if I were assured of it, and were not liable to any diange; though J acknowledge and know the contrary. Though the last year’s experience, and the observation of every day, convince me of it; though all history and all the records of the grave attest it; though all mankind, in every age, have found it so; though it be a manifest notorious truth, legible in the various changes and calamities, but especially in the dust and ashes of all who have lived before us, (our graves being often made of our predecessor’s dust, and the earth we bury in having once been living,) yet how little is it believed, how seldom considered I the confirmation of it, which one year gives us, hath little influence on our hearts or lives with respect to the next. We ought, therefore, to accustom ourselves to these thoughts, before such changes happen, to which our final change shall, erd long, succeed. They will be less efficacious if nevev admitted till our minds are oppressed and enfeebled by the weight of affliction. We shall then want that vigour of reason which should co-oper&te with the remedy; and which, if used beforehand, would help to support and stay our minds, under all subsequent revolutions. For those considerations may be able to fix and stay our minds under changes that may not be sufficient to recover and raise our spirits after they are dejected and fallen*