Indifference to Life Urged from Its Shortness and Vanity, pt. 4 by Samuel Davies (1724-1761)   [Here we continue a series that urges a certain indifference to life, and the things of this world, due to the shortness of life, and the vanity of the things of this world.  This series is taken from a funeral sermon by Samuel Davies.]—Ed.   29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 30 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; 31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. (I Cor. 7:29-31 AV).    The next branch of the inference refers to the sorrows of life.  “It remaineth that they that weep be as if they wept not.”  Whatever afflictions may befall us here, they will not last long, but will soon be swallowed up in the greater joys or sorrows of the eternal world.  These tears will not always flow; these sighs will not always heave our breasts.  We can sigh no longer than the vital breath inspires our lungs; and we can weep no longer than till death stops all the fountains of our tears; and that will be in a very little time.  And when we enter into the eternal world, if we have been the dutiful children of God here, His own gentle hand shall wipe away every tear from our faces, and He will comfort the mourners.  Then all the sorrows of life will cease forever, and no more painful remembrance of them will remain than of the pains and sickness of our unconscious infancy.  But if all the discipline of our heavenly Father fails to reduce us to our duty, if we still continue rebellious and incorrigible under His rod, and consequently the miseries of this life convey us to those of the future, the smaller will be swallowed up and lost in the greater as a drop in the ocean.  Some desperate sinners have hardened themselves in sin with this cold comfort, “That since they must be miserable hereafter, they will at least take their fill of pleasure here, and take a merry journey to hell.”  But alas! What a sorry mitigation will this be!  How entirely will all this career of pleasure be forgotten at the first pang of infernal anguish!  Oh!  What poor relief to a soul lost forever, to reflect that this eternity of pain followed upon and was procured by a few months or years of sordid guilty pleasure!  Was that a relief or an aggravation which Abraham mentions to his lost son, when he puts him in mind, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst they good things?” (Luke 16:25). Thou hadst then all the share of good which thou ever shalt enjoy; thou hadst their portion in that world where thou didst choose to have it, and therefore stand to the consequences of thine own choice, and look for no other portion.  Oh!  Who can bear to be thus reminded and upbraided in the midst of remediless misery! Upon the whole, whatever afflictions or bereavements we suffer in this world, let us moderate our sorrows and keep them within bounds.  Let them not work up and ferment into murmurings and insurrections against God, who gives and takes away, and blessed be His name!  Let them not sink us into a sullen dislike of the mercies still left into our possession.  How unreasonable and ungrateful, that God’s retaking one of His mercies should tempt us to despise all the rest!  Take a view of the rich inventory of blessings still remaining, and you will find them much more numerous and important than those you have lost.  Do not mistake me, as if I recommended or expected an utter insensibility under the calamities of life.  I allow nature its moderate tears; but let them not rise to floods of inconsolable sorrows; I allow you to feel your afflictions like men and Christians, but then you must bear them like men and Christians too.    May God grant that we may all exemplify this direction when we are put to the trial. The third branch of the inference refers to the joys and pleasures of life.  “The time is short; it remaineth therefore that they that rejoice be as if they rejoiced not”;  that is, the joys of this life, from whatever earthly cause they spring, are so short and transitory, that they are as of no account to a creature that is to exist forever; to exist forever in joys or pains of an infinitely higher and more important kind.  To such a creature it is an indifferency whether he laughs or weeps, whether he is joyful or sad, for only a few fleeting moments.  These vanishing, uncertain joys should not engross our hearts as our chief happiness, nor cause us to neglect and forfeit the divine and everlasting joys above the skies.  The pleasure we receive from any created enjoyment should not ensnare us to make it our idol, to forget that we must part with it, or to fret, and murmur, and repine, when the parting hour comes.  When we are rejoicing in the abundance of earthly blessings, we should be as careful and laborious in securing the favour of God and everlasting happiness as if we rejoiced not.  If our eternal All is secure, it is enough; and it will not at all be heightened or diminished by the reflection that we lived a joyful or a sad life in this pilgrimage.  But if we spend our immortality in misery, what sorry comfort will it be that we laughed, and played, and frolicked away a few years upon earth?  Years that were given us for a serious purpose, as a space for repentance and preparation for eternity?  Therefore, let “those that rejoice be as though they rejoiced not”; that is, be nobly indifferent to all the little amusements and pleasures of so short a life. And let “those that buy be as if they possessed not.”  This is the fourth particular in the inference from the shortness of time, and it refers to the trade and business of life. It refers not only to the busy merchant, whose life is a vicissitude of buying and selling, but also to the planter, the tradesman, and indeed to every man among us; for we are all carrying on a commerce, more or less, for the purposes of this life.  You all buy, and sell, and exchange, in some form or other; and the things of this world are perpetually passing from hand to hand.  Sometimes you have good bargains, and make large acquisitions.  But set not your hearts upon them; but in the midst of all your possessions, live as if you possessed them not.  Alas!  Of what small account are all the things you call your own upon earth, to you who are to stay here so short a time; to you who must so soon bid an eternal farewell to them all, and go as naked out of the world as you came into it; to you who must spend an everlasting duration far beyond the reach of all these enjoyments?  It is not worth your while to call them your own, since you must so soon resign them to other hands.  The melancholy occasion of this day may convince you, that success in trade, and pletiful estate, procured and kept by industry and good management, is neither a security against death, nor a comfort in it.  Alas!  What service can these houses and lands, and numerous domestics, perform to the cold clay that moulders in yonder grave, or to the immortal spirit that is fled we know not where?  Therefore buy, sensible that you can buy nothing upon a sure and lasting title; nothing that you can certainly call yours tomorrow.  Buy, but do not sell your hearts to the trifles you buy, and let them not tempt you to act as if this were your final home, or to neglect to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; treasures which you can call your own when this world is laid in ashes, and which you can enjoy and live upon in what I may call an angelic state, when these bodies have nothing but a coffin, a shroud, and a few feet of earth.   (This study will continue in the next issue.)