December 30

"Are not my days few?" Jonah 10:20.

Not years, months, weeks, but days. Life is to be reckoned by days. Are not my days few? They are so in every respect: relatively, comparatively, absolutely. It will not be necessary to prove this. No one denies it; no one can deny it. Yet how much depends upon the proper use of a truth so obvious, and a reflection so simple. Are not my days few?

But how came they so? All men die, but not willingly. "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life;" but he cannot continue it. He hates, he dreads death. It is the king of terrors.

Mora. Exer.

The thought of it imbitters his comforts, and keeps him always subject to bondage. And could this have been the natural state of man as he came from the hands of his Maker? The deist meets with this fact as well as we; and as he cannot deny it, let him account for it under the empire and agency of a being who is "omnipotent benevolence." Revelation gives us the only rational and convincing account: "The body is dead because of sin." "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death hath passed upon all men, because all have sinned." It is not "a debt due to nature." It is the consequence of a judicial and penal infliction: "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath." We are not struck with this, because we are accustomed to the result, and it gradually takes place. But could we have seen the deluge destroying the whole world at once, we should not have questioned the provocation of God by some mighty cause. But where is the difference, as to punitive justice, whether all the criminals are executed together, or led forth one by one? Are not my days few?

Do not then render them fewer. What, you are ready to exclaim, are we in danger of turning self-murderers? Yet how many are continually reported as having destroyed themselves. But violence is not the only mode of shortening life. One of our most eminent physicians has affirmed, that "the board destroys more than the sword." Another has said, "Though all men are mortal, not one in a thousand dies a purely natural death." Many enervate themselves by lying late in bed, and living, if it deserves the name of life, in lazy inactiveness, as injurious to health as to virtue. Envy is the rottenness of the bones. Fretfulness and anxiety corrode. Anger and malice consume. It is needless to mention intemperance and sensuality, the effects of which so often lie down with the sinner in an early grave. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, by freeing us from the malignant passions, which are always injurious to ourselves as well as to others, and by inducing the affectionate and benevolent ones, which are always beneficial; by the peace it sheds abroad in the bosom, and the hope and confidence it authorizes and inspires, as well as by surrounding us with the care of Providence. It is, as David calls it, "the health of the countenance," and justifies the admonition of his son, "Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." Are not my days few?

Why, then, moderate your attachment to every thing that depends upon their brevity. Who would set their heart on that which is not? Who would load with treasure a vessel rotten or full of holes? All the admired distinctions and possessions of the world are very uncertain in themselves, and often leave us; but if they continue with us, we cannot continue with them. We brought nothing with us into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Yet, stripped and naked as we shall go, go we must, and the time of our departure is at hand. Oh, what shall we think, a few days hence, of those pursuits which now so much engross us? "To-morrow we die;" and what will it signify, whether we are carried to the grave from a cottage or a mansion, or leave behind us much or little? Endeavor to think always, as you will feel soon. "Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Are not my days few?

Then let us well employ and improve them. This is what Moses prayed for: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." And what is wisdom? This must be determined by circumstances. What is wise conduct in one man may be folly in another, because of their different relations and circumstances. But it is easy to determine what is wisdom in a man who numbers his days, and finds them to be few; and who has, during their continuance, an all-important interest to secure, and has no other opportunity. If he is guilty, it must be wise in him to seek forgiveness. If he is lost, it must be wise in him to seek salvation; and if he be unable to save himself, it must be wise in him to apply to another who is appointed for the very purpose. And in our case such a one there is. His name is Jesus. He is mighty to save; he is willing to save. Instead of complaining of your application, he only complains of your neglect: Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Many have tried his power and his love, and recommended him from their own happy experience. He is now on the throne of grace. But he will not be always there. He will soon ascend the tribunal of justice. Seek him while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

This part of our subject branches itself into another line of duty. As you are to gain good, so you are to do good, and this, too, is equally enforced by the fewness of your days. Life is yours, and it affords you one privilege above the saints in light. It is the opportunity of beneficence—of relieving the poor, of instructing the ignorant, of converting the sinner. But remember two things. Their days are few, and therefore they will soon be gone beyond the possibility of receiving relief. And your days are few, and you will soon be placed beyond the possibility of affording it. Wing your zeal, therefore, with the thought, "The night cometh, wherein no man can work."

There is a way of lengthening life. It is not by duration, but by diligence. It is by "filling our days." It is by doing much business in a little time. Some live longer in a week than others do in a year.