209

A Difcourfe Concerning the Succeffive Vanity of Human Life.

T

ECCL. xj. 8.

All that Cometh is Vanity.

#

His is one of thofe Melancholly, but Wholsome Confiderations, wherewith the Wife Preacher qualifies and allays the Joy and Festivity of a Long and Profperous Life; the Pride and Luxu rancy of which he Tempers with a double Reflection; One taken from the Confideration of Death, and the other from the Succeffive Vanity of Human Life. But if a Man live many years, (fays he) and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the Days of Darkness, for they shall be many. As much as to fay, 'tis not very likely,that a Man fhould live many Years, confidering the Nicenefs and Delicacy of his Bodily Frame, the Variety of Difeafes and other Accidents he is Subject to, and the very fmall Number of thofe that attain to any confiderable Age, in Comparison of thofe Multitudes who drop away,before they come to any Ripenefs; like untimely Fruit, whom either fome inward Decay, or the Force of Violent, Winds, loofens or Snatches from the Tree. But,fuppofe a Man by the ftrength of his Seminal Principles and a right Conjunction of other Accidents,fhould live many Years, yet 'tis not at all likely he thould Rejoyce in them all. 'Tis not indeed likely, that a very Long Life fhould be alfo a very Happy one, at leait that it should be Happy through

P

throughout, in every Stage and Period of it. We ufually fay indeed,a Short Life and a Merry, and Fair Weather may laft for a little Seafon, but 'tis not probable,that fo long a Day fhould be without a Cloud to over-caft its Light, or a Storm to ruffle its Stillness, but fhould Shine on Clear and Calm to the very last. For befides that Human Life is liable to variety of Cafualties, and there are innumerable ways whereby a Man may be Crofs'd, even when he seems moft fecuie of what he fancies would make him Happy; the Scenes of the World Change fo faft, and the Foul Days in his Calendar have fuch quick returns, that in all probability a Man cannot live very long without meeting with fome of them. 'Tis much,if in a great while he does not Feel or See fome fad Event or other; 'tis much if he does not Suffer either in his own Perfon, or else in his Friends and Relations; unless he live fo tedi-. oufly long as to have none, but to be Friendlefs and Defolate in a wide and ill-natured World; and by that time I think his Days of Rejoycing will be pretty well over, and that he may be weary of the World, if the World be not of him.

By this it feems highly improbable,that a Man fhould live many Years and Rejoyce in them all. But fuppofe he should, fuppofe the Current of his long Life fhould run Clear and Fine to the laft; and that, by a rare and indulgent Providence,he fhould pafs over his flow Stage fmoothly and pleafantly, without meeting with the leaft rub in his way, any thing that may interrupt the Course of his Profperity, or diminish his Senfe of it. Suppofe, in a Word,that God fhould empty his Left hand upon him, blefs him with all Worldly Happinefs, and with Days too wherein to enjoy the fweet of it; yet let him remember, the Days of Darkness. Let him remember, that all this Happiness, as Great and as long-lived as it is, muft come to an End; that this Fair Sun must Set, and this long Day be follow'd

with a much longer Night; that Death fhall put an End to all; and that then his Confinement to Darkness fhall out-laft his Enjoyment of the Light, and he fhall lye longer under the Ground, than he has lived and walkt upon it. Let him remember the Days of Darknefs, for they fhall be many.

But then, for fear he fhould Forget them, becaufe he looks upon them as a great way off; the Wife Man prefents him in the mean while, with fomething of a nearer Confideration, and more prefent Concernment, and that is, that conftant Succeffion of Vanity which is in Human Life; that all that is to come of it fhall be no more to his Satisfaction, than what he has feen and enjoy'd of it already; and that his Future Expectations thall prove every whit as vain and uncontenting as his patt Fruitions; and that therefore, as a long Life is not Ordinarily to be hoped for, fo even by thofe that have it,'tis not much to be valued or reckon'd upon; but that fomething more Lafting and Satisfying is to be fought after: For, All that Cometh is Vanity.

There are fome Truths, which Men want to have prov'd and Explain'd to them in a Rational way, because they are wholly Ignorant of them, or at leaft do not clearly and fully underftand them. And there are others again,which they do understand well enough, whenever they are pleas'd to Confider and Reflect upon them; but the Fault and the Unhappiness is, that they feldom or never do fo, and accordingly live and order themselves as if they were ignorant of them. Now thefe Truths need not fo much to be Demonftrated as Illuftrated, and fet in a Fair and Advantageous Light, where they may meet and ftrike the Drowfie and Unattentive Eye, which needs no other affittance towards the Sight of fuch Objects, than only to be directed to them. Of this latter Order of Truths I take that of the Text under Confideration to be; and accordingly I intend,

P 2

First,

First, To give it fome Illuftration; and then, Secondly, To make fome Practical Improvement of it,to the moit Material Ufes of Life.

All that Cometh is Vanity, fays the infpired Preacher; wherein he directly meets with that grofs Cheat and Illufion,which Men fuffer to pafs upon themselves, and which a great many never difcover all their Lives long.

19. They will readily own, that all that is past is Vanity, if 'twere only becaufe it is paft. They have found it fo, and are convinc'd of it by a Thoufand Experiments, even by as many as they have made. They have found that the World, like the Prince of it, the Devil, has been a Lyar from the beginning, has always deceiv'd them; and that they never enjoy'd, but were difappointed. And accordingly, there is not a Man of them, that would live over his past Years again. And as free will they be to allow you, that the prefent is alfo Vanity. They actually feel it fo, are uneafie under it, and for that reafon with the prefent were past. And because it does not pafs fast enough, they contrive Arts and Devices to pass it away. They not only find,that whofoever drinks of thefe Waters fhall thirft again, (as our Saviour's Expreffion is) but they feel themselves dry, even while they are drinking; nay, that their very drinking increases their Thirst. They feel an emptinefs and an hollowness after they have feafted upon the World, and find they have fuck'd nothing but Wind from the Breafts of her Confolation. They abound, they overflow, nay, they furfeit with excels, and yet they are not pleased, there is fomething wanting; they poffefs enough, but they enjoy little; and their Souls are empty while their Arms are full. So fatal and unavoidable is the unhappiness of Man, whether he has the things of this World, or has them not. If he has them not, then he pines and languishes for want of them, and frets with Envy against those that have

them.

them. And if he has them, yet the matter is not mended; for then he is troubled at their Vanity, and fighs to fee himself fo baulkt and disappointed in them. p.2/5. They will therefore eafily be brought to confefs,that the past and prefent are all over Vanity. All the Que-J ftion is,concerning what is to come. And though, fince the past and prefent were once future, they have all the reafon in the World to fufpect the fame of that part of Life which remains; viz. That when it comes to be prefent,it will be as vain as those other Futures were, when Present or Paft; yet (fo ftrange and unaccountable is their stupidity) 'tis molt certain that they do not. No, on the contrary, though they need but confult their Memory for the Vanity of their past Life; and their prefent Senfe for the Vanity of what they now enjoy; though their Life has been all along till now, and is now, nothing but Difappointment; yec (fuch is the Magick that has inchanted them) they cannot forbear fancying, that they fhall find greater Contentment in that which is behind; that their Happy Days are yet to come; that they fhall one time or ather be better pleafed and fatisfied with their Condition; and that that Happiness, which has hitherto been too flippery for their hold, and, like a Shadow or a Vapour, has flipt through their grafping Arms, fhall one Dáy be confin'd within the Circle of their Embraces. Hence they pafs on to Fictions and Suppofitions, projecting Models of Happiness to themfelves, and imagining how well 'twould be with them, and how finely they should enjoy themselves, if they were but in fuch and fuch Circumftances. Thus they Fancy, or rather thus they Dream; and in the strength of this weak Imagination, they begin every Day with a fresh expectation, enter upon new Charges and Labours, as the credulous Chymift does in the flattering Search of his Elixir; and put forward with a P 3

trembling