John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 11:8

Verſ. 8. But if a man live many years and rejoyce, &c.] q.d. Say hee live pancratice & baſilice, and ſit many years in the worlds warm ſun-ſhine, yet he muſt not build upon a perpetuity, as good Job did (but was deceived) when hee ſaid, I ſhall dye in my neſt, Job 29.18 Pſal. 30 and holy David, when hee concluded, I ſhall never bee moved: For as ſure as the night follows the day, a change will come, a ſtorm will riſe, and ſuch a ſtorm, as to wicked worldlings will never be blown over. Look for it therefore, and bee wiſe in time. Remember the daies of darkneſs, that is, of adverſity, but eſpecially of death and the grave. The hotteſt ſeaſon hath lightning and thunder. The Sea is never ſo ſmooth, but it may bee troubled; the Mountain not ſo firm, but it may bee ſhaken with an earthquake. Light will bee one day turned into darkneſs, pleaſure into pain, delights into weariſomeneſs, and the dark daies of old age and death, far exceed in number the lightſome daies of life, which are but a warm gleam, a momentary glance. Let this bee ſeriouſly pondred, and it will much rebate the edge of our deſires after earthly vanities. Dearly beloved, ſaith St. Peter, I beſeech you as Pilgrims and ſtrangers abstain from fleſhly luſt, &c. q. d. 1 Pet. 2.12 The ſad and ſober apprehenſion of this, that you are here but ſojourners for a ſeaſon, and muſt away to your long home, will lay your luſts a bleeding, and a dying at your feet: It is an obſervation of a Commentator upon this Text, that when Samuel had anointed Saul to bee King, to confirm unto him the truth of the joy, and withall to teach him how to bee careful in governing his joy, hee gave him this ſign, When thou art departed from mee to day, 1 Sam. 10.2 thou ſhalt finde two men at Rachels ſepulchre. For hee that findeth in his mind a remembrance of his grave and ſepulchre, will not eaſily bee found exorbitant in his delights and joyes. For this it was (belike) that Joſeph of Arimathea had his ſepulchre ready hewn out in his garden. The Aegyptians carried about the Table a deaths-head, at their feaſts; and the Emperours of Conſtantinople, Iſidor. on their Coronation-day, had a Maſon appointed to preſent unto them certain Marble-ſtones, uſing theſe enſuing words, Elige ab his ſaxis ex quo, Invictiſſime Caeſar, Ipſe tibi [illegible: 1 letter]umulum me fabricare velis. Chuſe (Mighty Sir) under which of theſe ſtones, Your pleaſure is ere long to lay your bones.