"Boast not thyself of
to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Proverbs 27:1
CONTENTS
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Subject: We ought to behave ourselves every day as
though we had not dependence on any other day.
The design of the wise man in this
book of Proverbs, is to give us the precepts of true wisdom, or to teach us how
to conduct ourselves wisely in the course of our lives. Wisdom very much
consists in making a wise improvement of time, and of the opportunities we
enjoy. This is often in Scripture spoken of as a great part of true wisdom; as
Deu. 32:29, “O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would
consider their latter end!” And Psa. 90:12, “So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” So the wisdom of the wise virgins is
represented as consisting much in this, that they improved the proper season to
buy oil.
Therefore the wise man in these books of Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes, agreeably to his design, insists on this part of wisdom. He tells
us the advantage of seeking Christ early; Pro. 8:17. And advises us “to do what
our hand findeth to do, with our might;” Ecc. 9:10. He advises young people to
remember their Creator in the days of their youth, while the evil days come not,
in which they shall say they have no pleasure; Ecc. 12:1. So here he advises us
to a wise improvement of the present season. — In the words are two things to be
particularly observed.
1. The precept, not to boast of tomorrow; i.e.
not to speak or act as though it were our own. It is absurd for men to boast of
that which is not theirs. The wise man would not have us behave ourselves as
though any time were ours but the present. He that boasts of tomorrow, acts as
though he had tomorrow in his possession, or had something whereby he might
depend on it, and call it his own.
2. The reason given for this precept; for thou
knowest not what a day may bring forth. It is a good reason why we should
not behave ourselves as though the morrow were our own, that indeed it is not;
we are not sure of it; we have no hold of future time; we know not whether we
shall see the morrow. Or if we do know that we shall see it, we know not what we
shall see on it. — Hence, we ought to behave ourselves every day, as though we
had no dependence on any other.
SECTION I
Needful
precautions.
To prevent a misunderstanding of the doctrine, I observe
that it is not meant, that we should in every respect behave as though we knew
that we should not live another day. Not depending on another day, is a
different thing, from concluding, that we shall not live another day. We may
have reason for the one, and not for the other. We have good reason to depend on
another day, but we have no reason to conclude, that we shall not live another
day.
In some respects we ought to carry ourselves, as though
we know we should not live another day, and should improve every day as if it
were the last. Particularly, we should live every day as conscientiously and as
holily as if we knew it were the last. We should be as careful every day to
avoid all sin, as if we knew that that night our souls should be required of us.
We should be as careful to do every duty which God requires of us, and take as
much care that we have a good account to give to our Judge, of our improvement
of that day, as if we concluded that we must be called to give an account before
another day.
But in many other respects, we are not obliged to behave
ourselves as though we concluded that we should not live to another day. If we
had reason to conclude that we should not live another day, some things would
not be our duty which now are our duty. As for instance, in such a case it would
not be the duty of any person to make provision for his temporal subsistence
during another day. To neglect which, as things now are, would be very imprudent
and foolish, as the consequences would show, if every man were to act in this
manner. If so, it would never be man’s duty to plow or sow the field, or to lay
up for winter; but these things are man’s duty; as Pro. 6:6, “Go to the ant,
thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer,
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest.” And chap. 10:5, etc. “He that gathereth in the summer is a wise son:
but he that sleepeth in harvest, is a son that causeth shame.” And many other
places might be mentioned.
So, on the other hand, if we were certain that we should
not live another day, some things would be our duty today, which now are not so.
As for instance, it would be proper for us to spend our time in giving our dying
counsels, and in setting our houses in order. If it were revealed to us, that we
should die before tomorrow morning, we ought to look upon it as a call of God to
us, to spend the short remainder of our lives in those things which immediately
concern our departure, more than otherwise it would be our duty to do. —
Therefore, the words which forbid us to boast of tomorrow, cannot be extended so
far as to signify, that we ought in all respects to live, as if we knew
we should not see another day. Yet they undoubtedly mean, that we ought not to
behave ourselves in any respect, as though we depended on another
day.
SECTION II
The precept
explained.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow. In this precept two things seem to be forbidden.
First, boasting
ourselves of what shall be on the morrow, or behaving ourselves as though we
depended on particular things to come to pass in this world, in some future
time. As when men behave themselves, as though they depended on being rich, or
promoted to honor hereafter; or as though they were sure of accomplishing any
particular design another day. So did the rich man in the gospel, when he did
not only promise himself, that he should live many years, but promised himself
also, that he should be rich many years. Hence he said to his soul, that he
had much goods laid up for many years.
And if men act as though they depended upon it, that
they should another day accomplish such and such things for their souls, then
may they be said to boast themselves of tomorrow, and not to behave themselves
as though they depended on no other day. As when they behave themselves, as
though they depended upon it, that they should at another day have such and such
advantages for the good of their souls; that they should at another day have the
strivings of God’s Spirit; that they should at another day find themselves
disposed to be thorough in seeking their salvation; that they should at another
day have a more convenient season; and that God at another day would stand ready
to hear their prayers, and show them mercy.
Or if they act as though they depended upon it that they
should have considerable opportunity on a deathbed to seek mercy; or whatever
they promise themselves should come to pass respecting them in this world, if
they act as depending on it, they boast themselves of tomorrow.
Second, another
thing implied, is our boasting of future time itself, or acting as though we
depended on it, that we should have our lives continued to us another day. Not
only is the command of God delivered in the text transgressed by those who
behave themselves as depending upon it, that they shall see and obtain such and
such things tomorrow; but by those who act as depending upon it, that they shall
remain in being in this world tomorrow.
Both these ways of boasting of tomorrow are reproved by
the apostle James, chap. 4:13, “Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we
will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get
gain.” By promising themselves that they shall do such and such things, and that
they shall get gain, they boast themselves of what shall come to pass in such a
time. The apostle in the next verse teaches them, that they ought not to do
this, no nor so much as depend upon seeing another day, or on having their lives
continued, verse 14, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow: for what
is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away.” And in verse 15 he teaches us that both are uncertain and
dependent on the will of God, viz. Whether we shall live another day, and
if we do, whether such and such things shall come to pass? “For that you ought
to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” Therefore he add
in verse 16, “But now you rejoice in your boastings; all such rejoicing is
evil.”
SECTION III
When men act as though they depend
on another day.
First, they
will do so, if they set their hearts on the enjoyments of his life. I
mean not, if they have any manner of affection to them. We may have some
affection to the enjoyments of this world; otherwise they would cease to be
enjoyments. If we might have no degree of rejoicing in them, we would not be
thankful for them. Persons may in a degree take delight in earthly friends, and
other earthly enjoyments. It is agreeable to the wise man’s advice that we
should do so. Ecc. 5:18, “It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to
enjoy the good of all this labour that he taketh under the sun.” — But by
setting our hearts on these things, by placing our happiness on them, and
letting out the current of our affections after them — by turning and fixing our
inclinations so much upon them, that we cannot well enjoy ourselves without
them, so that very much of the strength of the faculties of our minds is
employed and taken up about these things — we show that we have our dependence
on another day.
The man who doth, thus acts as though he depended on
another day, yea many other days, in the world. For it is most evident, that if
the enjoyments of this world be of such a nature that they are not to be
depended on for one day more, they are not worth the setting of our hearts upon
them, or the placing of our happiness in them. We may rejoice in the enjoyments
of the world, but not in such a manner as to place the rest of our souls in
them. As the apostle saith, we should rejoice in them as though we rejoiced not,
1 Cor. 7:30. So that if the joy should fail, our stock may hold good. And in
this case we must behave ourselves only as if we had lost a small stream of joy,
but still had the fountain in full possession. We should conduct ourselves as
those who have not the fountain of their joy shaken, though some appurtenances
have failed. Our happiness as to the body of it, if I may so speak,
should yet stand as on an immovable foundation.
They who are very much pleased and elated with the
enjoyments of the world, certainly behave themselves as though they had much
dependence on their continuance for more than one or two days more. — They who
addict themselves to vain mirth, and lead a jovial life, show that they set
their hearts on the enjoyments of the world, and act as those who depend on more
days than the present. For if they were sensible, they could not depend on any
future time, but that death would put an eternal end to all their carnal mirth
before tomorrow, they would have no heart to spend the present day in such a
manner as they now do. It would immediately produce in them a disposition far
from levity and vanity.
And when persons are very much sunk with the loss of any
temporal enjoyments, or with any temporal disappointments, it shows that they
set their hearts upon them, and behave as though they boasted of tomorrow, and
depended upon their long continuance of life. If they had no such dependence,
they would not be overwhelmed by their frustration. If they be very much sunk,
and the comfort of their lives destroyed by it, it shows that those temporal
enjoyments were too much the foundation on which their comfort stood. That which
makes a building totter, and threatens its destruction, is not the taking away
of some of the exterior parts of the superstructure, but the removal of some
considerable part of the foundation on which the house stands.
Second, if men
are proud of their worldly circumstances, it shows that they have a dependence
on tomorrow; for no man would think it worth his while to vaunt himself in that
which is to be depended on only for a day. Though a man have a great estate
today, he will not be puffed up with it, unless he depend upon having it
tomorrow. A man who hath no dependence, but that he may tomorrow may be in the
grave, where the small and great are upon a level, Job 3:19. Will not be much
lifted up with his advancement to a post of honor. That person will not be proud
of his rich and fine clothes, who is sensible that he may be stripped by death
tomorrow, and sent out of the world, as he came naked into it. He will not today
be very proud of his personal beauty, who hath no dependence on escaping
tomorrow that stroke of death which will mar all his beauty, and make that face
which he now thinks so comely, appear ghastly and horrid; when instead of a
ruddy and florid countenance, there will be the blood settled, cold and
congealed, the flesh stiff and clayey, the teeth set, the eyes fixed and sunk
into the head. Nor will he today very much affect to beautify and adorn with
gaudy and flaunting apparel, that body concerning which he is sensible that it
may be wrapped in a winding sheet tomorrow, to be carried to the grave, there to
rot, and be covered and filled with worms.
Third, when men
envy others their worldly enjoyments, their wealth, their worldly ease, or their
titles and high places — their sensual pleasures, or any of their worldly
circumstances — it shows, that they set their hearts on the things of the world;
and that they are not sensible that these things are not to be depended upon for
another day. If they were, they would not think them worth their envy. They
would appear so worthless in their eyes, that they would not care who had them,
nor who went without them. — So when they contend about worldly possessions and
enjoyments (as almost all the contentions that are in the world are about these
things), it shows that they have dependence on tomorrow. Otherwise they would
not think the enjoyments of the world worth contending about. They would be very
much of the temper recommended by Jesus Christ. Mat. 5:40, “He that will sue
thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.”
Fourth, men
behave themselves as if they depended on another day, when they rest at ease
today, in a condition out of which they must be delivered before they die. When
a man’s mind is at rest, there is something that he rests in. It must have some
foundation, either real or imaginary. But if the man be in a condition from
which he is sensible he must some time or other be delivered, or be undone, it
is impossible that he should rest in the thoughts of remaining in his condition
always, and never being delivered from it. For no man is willing to be ruined.
No man can rest in that which he conceives to be connected with his own misery
and undoing. — Therefore, if he rest in such a condition for the present, it
must be on a supposition, that he shall be delivered from it. If he rest in it
today, it must be because he depends on being delivered another day, and
therefore depends on seeing another day.
We in this land generally profess, that as we are by
sinful nature, we are exposed to eternal death, and that therefore there is a
necessity that we get out of a natural condition some time before we die. And
those among us who are sensible that they have never passed through any such
change as in Scripture is called a being born again, though they be not
sufficiently convinced that there is any such place as hell, yet have a kind of
belief in it; at least they do not conclude that there is no such place, and
therefore cannot but be sensible that it would be dreadful to die unconverted.
Therefore, if they be in a considerable degree of ease and quietness in their
condition, it must be because they have a dependence on being delivered out of
such a condition some time before they die.
Inasmuch as they are easy, remaining in such a condition
today, without any prospect of present deliverance, it shows plainly that they
depend on another day. If they did not, they could have no quietness in their
spirits; because, if there be no grounds of dependence on any further
opportunity, then what they are exposed to, by missing the opportunity which
they have today, is infinitely dreadful. — Persons who are secure in their sins,
under the light of the gospel, unless they be deceived with a false hope, are
generally so because they boast themselves of tomorrow. They depend on future
opportunity; they flatter themselves with hopes of living long in the world;
they depend on what shall come to pass hereafter; they depend on the fulfillment
of their good intentions as to what they will do at a more convenient
season.
Fifth, men
behave themselves as those who depend on another day, when they neglect anything
today which must be done before they die. If there be anything, which is
absolutely necessary to be done sometime before death, and the necessity of it
be sufficiently declared and shown to the person for whom it is thus necessary,
if he neglects setting about it immediately, sincerely, and with all his might,
certainly it carries this face with it, that the man depends upon its being done
hereafter, and consequently that he shall have opportunity to do it. — Because,
as to those things which are absolutely necessary to be done, there is need, not
only of a possibility of a future opportunity; but of something which is to be
depended on, some good ground to conclude that we shall have future opportunity.
Therefore, whoever lives under this gospel, and does not this day thoroughly
reform his life, by casting away every abomination, and denying every lust — and
doth not apply himself to the practice of the whole of his duty towards God and
man, and begin to make religion his main business — he acts as one who depends
on another day; because he is abundantly taught that these things must be done
before he dies.
Those who have been seeking salvation for a great while,
in a dull, insincere, and slightly manner, and find no good effect of it, have
abundant reason to conclude, that some time before they die, they must not only
seek, but strive to enter in at the strait gate, and must be violent for the
kingdom of heaven. And therefore, if they do not begin thus today, they act as
those who depend on another day. — So those who have hitherto lived in the
neglect of some particular known duty, whether it be secret prayer, or paying
some old debt, which they have long owed to their neighbor — or the duty of
confessing some fault to a brother who hath aught against them, or of making
restitution for some injury — they act as those who depend on another day.
Sixth, men
behave themselves as though they depended on another day, if they do that today
which some time or other must be undone. There are many things done by men which
must be undone by them. They must go back again from the way which they have
gone, or they are ruined to all eternity. Therefore, in doing these things, they
act as those who depend on future opportunity to undo them. As when a man cheats
or defrauds his neighbor in anything, he acts as one that boasts of tomorrow.
For he must undo what he doth before he dies; he must some time or other make
restitution, or divine justice, which oversees all things, and governs the whole
world, and will see to it that right be done, will not let go its hold of
him.
So when men hearken to temptation, and yield to the
solicitations of their lusts to commit any sin they act as those who depend on
another day. They do what must be undone. What they then do must be undone by
hearty and thorough repentance, or they are ruined and lost forever. So if
persons have been seeking salvation for a time, and afterwards are guilty of
backsliding, and turn back after their hands have been put to the plow, they act
as those who depend on another day. For what they now do, they must undo some
time or other. They must go back again from their backsliding, and have all
their work to do over again. And these things must be undone in this world,
while men live; for there will be no undoing of them afterwards; they may be
suffered for, but never can be undone.
SECTION IV
Why we ought not to
boast of tomorrow.
I come now to show, why we ought not thus to
boast ourselves of tomorrow; but on the contrary, to behave ourselves every day
as though we had no dependence on another. And there is this plain and
sufficient REASON for it, viz. that we have no grounds of dependence on
another day. We have neither any foundation to depend upon seeing any particular
things come to pass another day, which we may hope or wish for, nor upon
enjoying another day in this world. We have nothing for a foundation of
dependence that we shall not be in eternity before tomorrow, as both reason and
experience show. — We have no promise of God that we shall ever see another day.
We are in God’s hands; our lives are in his hands; he hath set out bounds; the
number of our months and days are with him; nor hath he told them to us. We see
that the life of man at longest is very short, and nothing is more uncertain.
And it is a thing universal among mankind, that they know not the day of their
death. We see that great natural abilities, and sharpness of wit, and clearness
of discernment, do not help to any discovery in this matter. Wise men are as
uncertain of the term of their lives as others.
There are so many ways and means whereby the
lives of men come to an end, that no circumstances in which a man can be are any
security to him from death. That it is but a very little while till tomorrow, is
no good ground of dependence that we shall live till then. We see that deaths as
sudden as our dying before tomorrow morning, are common in the world. We very
often see or hear of sudden deaths. How many suddenly, in a few minutes, pass
from a state of health to a state of death, in the daytime, by several kinds of
disease, which give no warning of their approach, and by many unforeseen
accidents! How many go to sleep in health, and are found dead in their beds in
the morning! So that our present health is no good ground of dependence that we
shall live to see another day. — That persons are now in youth is no good ground
of dependence upon another day; for sudden unexpected deaths are common even
among those who are in the bloom of youth. Nor is it any ground of dependence in
this case, that a man is of a more than ordinary healthy and strong
constitution. It is found by experience, that such are liable to sudden death as
well as others. Job 21:23, “One dieth in his full strength. His breasts are full
of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.”
That persons have already lived to see a
great many days, and that after they had been often in times past, told that
they were uncertain of any future time. Or that persons have a strong desire to
live longer; or that they are now very unprepared for death, both on temporal
and spiritual accounts; is no ground of dependence on the future. Death tarries
for no man, but comes when and to whom he is sent, and strikes the deadly blow,
whether the man be prepared or not. That men have been very useful in their day,
and that it is of great importance to their families and neighbors that they
should live longer, is no ground of dependence. The most useful men are often
cut down by death, in the midst of their usefulness. The same may be said,
though we cannot see which way death should come at us before tomorrow. To how
many accidents, to how many diseases, are we liable, which may prove fatal
before tomorrow, which yet it is impossible for us to foresee! So, if we be very
careful of our lives, and our health, not to expose ourselves to any dangers,
still this is no ground of dependence as to any future time. Death comes in many
ways which were not thought of. Men foresee not the means of their death, any
more than the fish securely swimming in the water foresee the net, or the bird
that securely feeds upon the bait sees the snare. It is as the wise man
observes, in Ecc. 9:12, “For man also knoweth not his time; as the fishes that
are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are
the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon
them.”
SECTION V
Serious
inquiries.
I shall improve this doctrine, by putting you
upon examining yourselves, whether you do not boast yourselves of tomorrow, or
whether you do not live in such a manner as you would not, were it not that you
depend on future time and future opportunity in the world. Would not your
behavior be very different from what it now is, if you every day lived and acted
without any dependence on seeing one day more? — You cannot but acknowledge it
to be most reasonable, that you should live and act thus. You cannot but own,
that you have no good ground of dependence on another day; and therefore that
you cannot act wisely any otherwise than in acting as one who hath no dependence
on any such thing. Therefore inquire whether you act wisely and reasonably in
this respect.
First, do you not set your hearts much more on this
world, than you would, if you had no dependence on the morrow? Is not the
language of the rich man in the gospel, the secret language of your hearts?
“Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years,” etc. Is not this the
language of your hearts, with respect to what you have gotten already; which
makes you place your happiness so much in it? And with respect to what of the
world you are seeking and pursuing, is it not with a dependence on enjoying it
for a great while, when you shall have obtained it? Are not your lands and other
possessions which you have gotten, or are about to get, in your own imagination,
yours for a great while? — Would your mind be so filled with thoughts and cares
about these things, so much to the exclusion of another world. Would you lay
yourselves under so great disadvantages for your soul’s good, by involving
yourselves in worldly cares, if you had no dependence on having anything to do
with these things for more than the present day? If you did not depend on
considerably more time in the world, would your inquiry be so much, What shall
we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? And so
little, How shall we make our calling and election sure? How shall we be assured
that we are upon a good foundation for another world, and that we are in such a
state, that death cannot hurt us? How shall we be sure that we are ready to
appear before the judgment-seat of a heart-searching God? — Would there be so
much of your time spent in laying up treasure on earth — and so little in laying
up treasure in heaven, that you might have store against the day of death — were
it not that you put death at a distance? Would you be so much raised at your
temporal prosperity, and so much sunk when you meet with crosses and
disappointments in your worldly affairs, if you did not think that continuance
in the world is to be depended on for more days than the present? — Let those
who very much affect to adorn their bodies in gaudy apparel, inquire whether
they would think it worth their while to spend so much time to make themselves
fine, and to set themselves forth as gayer than others, if they really had no
dependence that their bodies would be preserved one day longer from being
clasped in the cold arms of death?
Second, inquire, whether you would not much less
meddle with the concerns of others, and be much more employed with your own
hearts, if each day you had no dependence on living another day. If you were
sensible that you had had no other day to depend upon than this, you would be
sensible that you had great affairs of your own to attend to. You would find a
great deal of business at home between God and your own soul. And considering
that you cannot depend upon another day, it would seem to you that you have but
a short time in which to do it, and that therefore you have need to be much
engaged. You would find so much to be done, and so much difficulty in doing it,
that you would have little leisure, and little heart, to intermeddle with the
business of others. Your business would be confined to a much narrower compass.
You would have so much to do at home in your closets, and with your own hearts,
that you would find no occasion to go abroad for intermeddling business to fill
up your time.
But the truth is, men conceive a great deal
of time which they have to be filled up, and hence they want business. They
depend on tomorrow, and the day following, and next month, and next year, yea
many years to come. When they are young they depend on living to be middle-aged,
and when middle-aged they depend on old age, and always put far away the day of
death. Let them be young or old, there always seems to them to be a great
vacancy between them and death. Hence they wander to and fro for business to
fill up that vacancy. — Whereas if they were sensible of the uncertainty of
life, they would, in the first place, make sure of their own business. The
business of their own precious, immortal souls would be done, before they would
attend much to the business of other people. They would have no desire or
disposition to concern themselves with every private quarrel which breaks out in
the neighborhood. They would not think it much concerned them to inquire into
the matter, and to pass their censure on the affair. They would find something
else to do, than to sit by the hour together, discussing and censuring the
conduct of such and such persons, gathering up or rehearsing the stories which
are carried about to the disadvantage of this and that person.
We seldom, if ever, see men who are upon
sickbeds, and look upon themselves very dangerously sick, disposed to spend
their time in this manner. And the reason is, that they look upon it doubtful
whether they shall live long. They do not, so much as others, depend on much
time to spare. Hence their minds are taken up more about their own souls’
concerns, than about the concerns of others. So it would be with persons in
health, if their health did not make them depend on a great deal of time in the
world.
Third, if you each day depend on no other than but
the present, would you not engage and interest yourselves much less in party
designs and schemes, than you are now wont to do? Among a people divided into
two parties, as this town hath been for a long time, there is commonly much done
by the partisans in forming schemes of opposition to one another. There is
always a strife, who shall get their wills and carry their point. This often
engages them, if not in open quarrels, in secret intrigues. That there is so
much done in these things, is a certain evidence that they boast themselves of
tomorrow, and put death at a distance.
Men would certainly find themselves very much
indisposed to such things, if they were so sensible of the uncertainty of life,
as to depend on no other day than the present. It is therefore very proper, that
you should examine yourselves in this particular, at this time. If you really
depended on no other day than the present, would your hearts be so much engaged
in strife between two parties, as they often are? Would your spirits be so often
raised and ruffled? Would you go about with so much prejudice against such and
such men; harboring so much of the old leaven, which so often breaks out in
heats of spirit; and, as an old sore which was skinned over, but not cured, set
to raging with a touch which would not have hurt sound flesh? — Commonly in the
management of a strife between two parties, there is a great deal of envy. When
any who belong to one of the parties seem to prosper, the other party will envy
them; it is a grievous thing to them. So there is also much contempt. When one
of the parties gets the ascendant a little over the other, they are ready to
make the utmost improvement of it, and to insult the other party. — And there is
commonly in such cases a great deal of mutual secret reproach. When those of one
party get together, then is the time to inveigh against those of the other
party, and to set forth their injustice and their fraudulent practices. Then is
the time for them to pass their censure on their words and actions. Then is the
time to expose their own surmises and suspicions of what the other party
intends, what it aims at in such and such things, what the purposes of
individuals are, and what they suppose their secret actions are. — Then is the
time for all that are friends in the cause, and engaged in the same designs, to
entertain one another by ridiculing the words and actions of the other party,
and to make themselves sport of their folly and disappointments; and much is
done at calling one another Raca and fools, or other names
equivalent, if not much more than equivalent. Then is the time to lay their
heads together, to plot and contrive how they shall manage such an affair so as
to disappoint the other party, and obtain their own wills.
Brethren, these things ought not so to be
among a Christian people; especially among a people that has made the profession
which we have made. Nor would they be so if it were not for your dependence on
much future time in the world. If you were so sensible of your continual
liableness to death, that every day was the last you depended upon, these things
certainly would not be so. For let us but consider what are the effects of death
with respect to such things. It puts an end to party-quarrels. Many men hold
these quarrels as long as they live. They begin young, and hold on through many
great and sore afflictions and chastisements of Providence. The old sore
remains, when the supporters of nature bow, and the eyes grow dim, and the hands
tremble with age. But death, when that comes, puts an end to all their
quarreling in this world. Death silences the most clamorous, and censorious, and
backbiting tongue. When men are dead, they cease to lay schemes against those of
another party. Death dashes all their schemes, so far as they have any concern
in them. Psa. 146:4, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that
very day his thoughts perish.”
When men are dead, they cease to bite and
devour others; as it is said to have been of old a proverb among the Egyptians,
Dead men do not bite. There are many who will bite and devour as long as
they live, but death tames them. Men could not be quiet or safe by them while
alive, but none will be afraid of them when dead. The bodies of those that made
such a noise and tumult when alive, when dead, lie as quietly among the graves
of their neighbors as any others. Their enemies, of whom they strove to get
their wills while alive, get their wills of them when they are dead. Nothing can
please their enemies better than to have them out of their way. It suits them,
that those who were so troublesome to them, are locked up safe in the close
grave, where they will no more stand in their way. — There are no more effects
of their pride, their craftiness, their hatred and envy. Ecc. 9:6, “Also their
love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished.”
The time will soon come, when you who have
for many years been at times warmly contending one with another, will be very
peaceable as to this world. Your dead bodies will probably lie quietly together
in the same burying place. If you do not leave off contending before death, how
natural will it be for others to have such thoughts as these, when they see your
corpses; What! Is this the man who used to be so busy in carrying on the designs
of his party? Oh, now he has done. Now he hath no more any part in any of these
things. Now it doth not at all concern him, who get their wills, or what party
is uppermost. We shall hear his voice no more in our town meetings. He
will not sit any more to reproach and laugh at others. He is gone to appear
before his Judge, and to receive according to his conduct in life. — The
consideration of such things as these would certainly have a mighty effect among
us, if we did not put far away the day of death. If all acted every day as not
depending on any other day, we should be a peaceful, quiet people.
Fourth, inquire, whether or no you do not allow
yourselves in some things, and endeavor to flatter yourselves that there is no
evil in them which you would by no means dare to do if you had not a dependence
on living till tomorrow. It is very common among men, when they are strongly
enticed to some sinful practice, by their worldly interest, or by their carnal
appetites, to pretend that they do not think there is any evil in it; when
indeed they know better. Their pretense is only to serve a present turn. And if
they expected to have their souls required of them that night, they would by no
means dare to persist in the practice. — Therefore examine the liberties you
take by this test. What would you think of them, if you now should have the
following news sent you by some messenger from heaven; John, or Thomas (or
whatever your name be), this night shall thy soul be required of thee. How would
such tidings strike you! How would they alter the face of things! Doubtless your
thoughts would be very quick; you would soon begin to reflect on yourselves, and
to examine your past and present conduct. And in what colors would the liberties
you now take, appear to you in the case now supposed? Would you then conclude,
that there is no evil in them? Would you not be less bold to go forward and meet
death, for having continued in such practices? Would you dare to commit such
acts again before you die, which now you pretend are lawful? Would not the few
hours which you would have to live, be at all the more uncomfortable to you for
having done such things? Would you not presently wish that you had let them
alone? Yea, would they not appear frightful and terrifying to you? If it be
thus, it is a sign that the reason why you now allow yourselves in them, and
plead for their lawfulness, is that you put death at a distance, and depend on
many other days in the world.
Fifth, inquire, whether you do not some things on
the presumption, that you shall hereafter repent of them. Is not this the very
thing which causes you to dare to do some things? Is it not the very ground on
which you venture to gratify your lusts? Let young people examine all their
secret carriage; what they do alone in the dark and in secret corners. God
knoweth, and your own hearts know, though men do not. Put the question
impartially to your own consciences; is not this the very thing that gives you
courage, that God is very merciful, and that he often of his sovereign mercy
gives repentance of great sins, and even willful sins, and in consequence of
repentance forgives? And so you hope that one day or other he will do so to you.
You intend some time hereafter earnestly to seek; and you hope you shall be
awakened. And if you be very earnest, as you intend to be, you hope you shall be
converted, and then you shall be forgiven, and it will be as well as if you had
never committed such sins.
If this be the case, consider how you boast
of tomorrow, and foolishly depend on future opportunity to repent, as well as
foolishly presume on the mercy of God to give you repentance, at the same time
that you take a course to provoke God, forever to give you up to a sealed
hardness and blindness, and to a most fearful damnation; not considering that
God will glorify his revenging justice as well as his mercy; nor remembering the
sad example of Esau, “who for a morsel of meat sold his birthright; and
afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he
found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Heb.
12:16, 17.
Sixth, inquire, whether you improve this day, as
one who doth not depend upon ever having opportunity to keep another Sabbath, or
to hear or read another discourse. It appears from what hath been already said,
that you have no grounds to depend on any more such opportunities. Now the day
is present, and so you are in the better capacity to determine how it is with
you. It is but for you to reflect upon yourselves, to look inward, and see how
it is with you at this present time. And how is it? Are you as strict and as
diligent in keeping this Sabbath, watching your thoughts, keeping your hearts,
striving in duties both public and private, and improving ordinances, as might
be expected of one who hath no dependence on ever enjoying such an opportunity
anymore; one who doth not depend on ever setting foot again within the walls of
God’s house? — Do you attend to this address with that care, and desire, and
endeavor to improve it for your good, as you would, if you did not depend upon
it, that your bodies would not be in the grave, and your souls fixed in
eternity, in their unalterable state, before the next Sabbath?
Seventh, are you careful to see to it that grounds of
your hope are good? A man who hath some hope of being in a state of acceptance
with God, but is not sure, if he had no dependence on any other day’s
opportunity of making it sure, would be very strict in examining himself and
searching the grounds of his hope, and would not rest in an uncertainty. He
would be very thorough in informing himself what might be depended on as good
evidence of an interest in Christ, and what not; and would be exceedingly strict
in searching his own heart, to see whether there was anything in him that comes
up to the requisites laid down in the Scriptures. — If what appears hopeful in
him were dim and obscure, he would set himself very earnestly to obtain that
which would be more clear and manifest, and would cry earnestly to God for it,
and would apply himself to a diligent use of means in order to it. And good
reason why; for he depends on no other opportunity to make his calling and
election sure, than what he hath today. Inquire therefore whether you be thus
thorough in examining your hope. And are you thus careful effectually to see to
it, that you are on a sure foundation? If not, then you behave yourselves as
those that depend on tomorrow.
SECTION VI
How to spend every
day.
God hath concealed from us the day of our
death, without doubt, partly for this end, that we might be excited to be always
ready, and might live as those that are always waiting for the coming of their
Lord, agreeably to the counsel which Christ gives us, Mat. 24:42, 43, 44; 25:13,
and Mark 13:32, etc. — That watchman is not faithful who, being set to defend a
house from thieves, or a city from an enemy at hand, will at any hour venture to
sleep, trusting that the thief or the enemy will not come. Therefore it is
expected of the watchman, that he behave himself every hour of the night, as one
who doth not depend upon it that the enemy will tarry until the next hour. Now
therefore let me, in Christ’s name, renew the call and counsel of Jesus Christ
to you, to watch as those that know not what hour your Lord will come. Let me
call upon you who are hitherto in an unrenewed condition. Depend not upon, that
you will not be in hell before tomorrow morning. You have no reason for any such
dependence. God hath not promised to keep you from it, or to withhold his wrath
so long.
How can you reasonably be easy or quiet for
one day, or one night, in such a condition, when you know not but your Lord will
come this night? And if you should then be found, as you now are, unregenerate,
how unprepared would you be for his coming, and how fearful would be the
consequence! Be exhorted therefore, for your own sakes, immediately to awake
from the sleep of sin, out of sleep, and sleep no more, as not depending on any
other day. — Let me exhort you to have no dependence on any future time; to keep
every Sabbath, and to hear every sermon, as if it were the last. And when you go
into your closet, and address yourself to your Father who seeth in secret, do it
in no dependence on any future opportunity to perform the same duty. When you
that are young go into company for amusement and diversion, consider that it may
be the last opportunity of the like nature that ever you may have. In all
your dealings with your neighbors, act as if you were never to make another
bargain. Behave in your families everyday, as though you depended on no other. —
Here I shall offer you two motives.
First, consider, if you will hearken to this
counsel, how much it will tend to your safety and peace in life and death. It is
the way really and truly to be ready for death; yea, to be fit to live or fit to
die; to be ready for affliction and adversity, and for whatever God in his
providence shall bring upon you. It is the way to be in, not only an habitual,
but actual preparedness for all changes, and particularly for your last change.
— It is the way to possess your souls in a serene and undisturbed peace, and to
enable you to go on with an immovable fortitude of soul, to meet the most
frightful changes, to encounter the most formidable enemies, and to be ready
with unshaken confidence to triumph over death whenever you meet him; to have
your hearts fixed, trusting in God, as one that stands on a firm foundation, and
hath for his habitation the munition of rocks, that is not afraid of evil
tidings, but laughs at the fear of the enemy. It will be the way for you to
possess the quietness and assurance spoken of. Isa. 32:17, “The work of
righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance for ever.” — The servant who always stands watching, will not be at
all surprised at the news that his Lord is coming. This will be the way for you
to live above the fear of death. Yea, if heaven and earth should shake, you may
stand firm and unshaken, being settled on a rock, which cannot be removed, but
abideth forever. O how happy are such persons, who have such safety and peace!
What a blessed peace is that which arises from such a constant preparation for
death! How happy therefore is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall
find so doing!
Second, what dismal calamities and miseries mankind
are subject to for want of this, for want of behaving themselves every day, as
not depending on any future day! The way of the world is, one day foolishly to
depend on another, yea on many others. And what is the consequence? Why, the
consequence with respect to the greater part of the world is, that they live all
their days without any true peace or rest of soul. They are all their lifetime
subject to bondage through fear of death. And when death sensibly approaches
they are put into a terrible fright. They have a dismal view of their past
lives. The ill improvement of their time, and the sins they have been guilty of,
stand staring them in the face, and are more frightful to them than so many
devils. And when they look forward into that eternity whither they are going,
how dismal is the prospect! O how do their hearts shrink at the thought of it!
They go before the judgment-seat of God, as those that are dragged thither,
while they would gladly, if they would, hide themselves in the caves and dens of
the earth.
[ Thanks to: Jonathan-Edwards.org ]