seldom reaches the third. And surely it would have been a better and a safer legacy, to have given the example of a devout life, and that most sure of all inheritances of which the Psalmist speaks:-" Saw I never the righteous forsaken." Yea, even those little things which I prize will go to others. My chair, my books, and whatever I love through long use will be put away with me, and will with me be forgotten. Others will till my land, dwell in my house, sit in my seat, and walk by my grave without a thought. All I have done, and I who did it shall be forgotten and pass away like a stranger that tarrieth but a day, like smoke in the sky, like an arrow or a bird through the air. O how true is the sentence-"The days of man are but as grass; for he flourisheth as a flower of the field. For as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more."" Is there then nothing certain, nothing abiding, nothing which shall not pass away? The Psalm replies to me.2 "My days are gone like a shadow; and I am withered like grass. But Thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever." "They," the things of time, "shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not fail." 993 And another Scripture answers again, "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.' GOD is by Nature Eternal. He cannot pass away. And I by gift am everlasting. I cannot pass away from being, from feeling, from joy or woe, when I leave this world. And what I have done and been must go with me; my "works follow" me: 1 Ps. ciii. 15, 16. 2 Ps. cii. 11, 12, 26, 27. 3 Dan. xii. 2. they pass not away in their effects, but are everlasting also in their fruits. I shall go hence, but only from one life to another. I shall be forgotten, but I can never forget. I can never cease to be, and never cease to feel; and I go before Him Who ever was, and will be; or rather Who is eternally, and everything depends upon His favour, Who must be my Eternal loss or gain. Oh what then, oh what have I been doing all these long years? Why have I joyed, or sorrowed, or toiled, or watched, or planned, or loved, or feared, or hated, for any other purpose than to ensure His love, Whom I, an undying being, must for ever lose, and by losing suffer beyond all word and thought; or for ever possess as my infinite and unspeakable Bliss? Devotions to be used in private after reading this LORD, have mercy upon me. Our FATHER, Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Psalm xxxix. I said, I will take heed to my ways: that I offend not in my tongue. I will keep my mouth as it were with a bridle : while the ungodly is in my sight. I held my tongue, and spake nothing: I kept silence, yea, even from good words; but it was pain and grief to me. My heart was hot within me, and while I was thus musing the fire kindled and at the last I spake with my tongue; LORD, let me know mine end, and the number of my days that I may be certified how long I have to live. Behold, Thou hast made my days as it were a span long and mine age is even as nothing in respect of Thee; and verily every man living is altogether vanity. For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain: he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. And now, LORD, what is my hope: truly, my hope is even in Thee. Deliver me from all mine offences: and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish. I became dumb, and opened not my mouth: for it was Thy doing. Take Thy plague away from me: I am even consumed by the means of Thy heavy hand. When Thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, Thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment: every man therefore is but vanity. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and with Thine ears consider my calling: hold not Thy peace at my tears. For I am a stranger with Thee: and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Oh spare me a little, that I may recover my strength : before I go hence, and be no more seen. Glory be to the FATHER, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Ecclesiastes i. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath GOD given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly; I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Wisdom of Solomon, v. 8-16. What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by; and as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves; or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings, and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found; or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through; even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to show; but were consumed in our own wickedness. For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day. But the righteous live for evermore; their reward is also with the LORD, and the care of them is with the MOST HIGH. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the LORD's hand; for with His right hand shall He cover them, and with His arm shall He protect them. Prayer. The even of life is age, Cast me not away in the time of age; |