Friends These accusations were heavy but he saw it was needless to tell them that God might destroy the perfect as well as the wicked and although he would not plead not guilty for then he confesseth his own lips should prove him perverse yet he humbly conceived that it was a dangerous principle to conclude love or hatred from any such outward dispensation Therefore finding all his intreaties rejected and his plea's for his own defence slighted he is at length forced to beg their silence desiring far rather to plead his cause with his Maker who could discern his sincerity and therefore having ordered his cause ch 13. 18. and taken an exact and accurate examination of his former ways he begins his pleadings for a mitigation of his present calamity from v. 23. which he continues till interrupted by Eliphas ch 15. and amongst the many arguments he urgeth that taken from the determined days and unpassable bounds prefixed to men is not the smallest Seeing his days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Turn from him that he may rest till he shall accomplish as an hireling his day These words being the ground of the following Discourse it is but reasonable I should spend a little time in their explanation Seeing his days are determined c. The word which our Translators render seeing is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if which some Expositors think is used by way of quaery thus If his days be determined But the Context seems to warrant our Vulgar Translation and there is no doubt but it is very emphatick for it contains an implicit affirmation a phrase very ordinary when the thing for its certainty is confessed and acknowledged But let us suppose that the words should be rendred by way of quaery yet there are two doubts that must be removed else their quarrelling with our Translation is vain and impertinent 1. It seems to be very evident that it has then been a received opinion that the days of men are determined else Job had never made use of this argument in his pleadings for a cessation from trouble 2. If Job had indeed doubted that mans days were determined it was no wise nor rational plea especially since he was pleading with God who knew whether it were so or not and since he might have made use of indubitable Topicks But I pass by this debate as trivial His days c It is debated by some why Job makes use of the third person and not of the first The reason some give is this because the third person used for the first denotes contempt and modesty and therefore Job in his low state is pleased thus to abase himself especially since pleading with his Maker But this conjecture is not fully satisfactory for Job in several of his other pleas makes use of the first person which methinks he would not have done if he had made use of the third person upon the account of the former consideration therefore from the promiscuous usurpation of the persons we may easily conjecture that when the argument he brings does in a more peculiar manner reach his own private condition then he makes use of the first person an instance of this we have ch 13. 23 24. c. But now this argument taken from the determined days and unpassable bounds set to men is a general one which all men as well as he might plead therefore he speaketh in the third person yet always eying his own condition The like instance we find in the beginning of this Chapter Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble Here he speaks in the third person and not in the first for to be of few days and full of trouble is the character of every man Few and evil says Jacob to Pharaoh have the days of the years of my life been Gen. 47 9. Are determined c. This word in the Original properly signifieth to dig or cut thorow here it is to be understood metaphorically because God doth as exectly know the number of mens days as if the most accurate search were made 'T is true in all humane determinations it is reasonable that consultation precede Some space must intervene betwixt their knowing of a thing and their determinations about it I confess it is disputed whether the Humane Will be of it self a knowing faculty or if it must follow in its choice the dictates of the intellect I will not dispute this now but there is truth in that general Maxim ignoti nulla cupido But to fancy that there is any such priority between the Divine knowledg and volition is a gross mistake irreconcilable with the Infinite and Eternal perfections of God who uno actu ictu as they speak comprehendeth and willeth all future Events The number of his Months are with thee c. This phrase holds out these two things First the Exactness and Infiniteness of the Divine knowledg and Secondly the Divine rule and dominion First it holds out the Divine knowledg to be Infinite and Exact The number of his months are with thee That is thou art a God whose knowledg reacheth the smallest portion of our time even to months and days thou alone knowest all those circumstances and to know the particular portion of days allowed to every man does certainly require an infinite and exact knowledge I will not curiously enquire what truth there is in the pretended diabolical predictions of future Events and whether Star-gazers from the Conjunctions and contrary Aspects Of Coelestial Bodies can foretell the future number of the days and months of terrestrial and inferior Sublunary beings a passing view of this I will have occasion to take afterwards at present we rest satisfied with this that an exact and comprehensive knowledg of our days and months is only the prerogative of him who holds our lives in being the pretended knowledg any Creature boasteth of is conjectural and uncertain if not as frequently it is fictitious unless when the Divine wisdom for some secret and to us unknown ends reveals to his creatures such future Events But Secondly the Phrase holds out the Divine Rule and dominion The number of his months are with thee that is they are in thy power thou may'st either prolong or shorten the days of Men and I think the meaning of this whole verse is comprehended under these two heads which I shall afterwards discourse of at more length Thou hast appointed his bounds c. It is not Fate or Fortune but the wise God who appoints to every Man his time Now the bounds set to Men may be considered under a two-fold notion First As it signifies that common and ordinary Period which the God of Nature has setled which Men by the common course of Nature may fulfil if no adcidental circumstance hinder and it seems the Psalmist only understands this common term of Humane Life
man than this now this particular quadrates very well with Jobs case and seems to make the meaning of Jobs words to run thus Lord thou hast given me a being and appointed me a work to accomplish but alas while I am thus excruciated with horror and pain I am unfitted for thy service the surplusage of misery measured out to me disinables me to go about thy work be entreated therefore O merciful Father to turn from thy displeasure remove the present heavy calamity I am overburdened with that I may yet accomplish the remainder of my time in thy work and service 2. This set and fixed day of the Hireling is full of pain labour and toil he is poor wretch both late and early at work and seldom has he any intervalls of rest unless his Master be more than ordinary gentle and benign and when he has thus indulged a little ease he must not with the sluggard say O si hoc esset laborare he must to his work again for upon this depends his payment no wages is the result of not working and in some cases stripes and whipping is the fruit of negligence And what is Mans Life At the best state it is but sorrow and trouble till mortality be swallowed up in Life Our pleasures upon which we put the highest value are either purchased or accompanied with pain and labor If we be in a prosperous state our minds are either distracted with care to make it more prosperous or with fears puzled and perplexed lest it be overclouded and if we be in a low and adverse state we grieve and repine nay knowledg the most excellent of earthly pleasures is yet in the judgment of the wisest of men but vexation of spirit For in much Wisdom there is much Grief and he that encreaseth Knowledg encreaseth Sorrow The life of Man is not unfitly compared to Ezekiels Roll which was full of woes If one misery or woe passeth behold another cometh as one Wave succeeds another And by all these calamites we may learn what an evil Sin is the fruit of which are all those calamities we meet with in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy Bread till thou return unto the Ground And upon this account Job may be supposed to plead with God thus Lord is not my time at best but lamentable and miserable And wilt thou superadd to this inevitable misery a surplusage of pain and affliction O deal kindly with thy servant who is devoted to thy fear Turn from me that I may rest till I shall accomplish as an Hireling my day Thirdly True it is that the Hirelings day is but Labor and Pain yet the brevity and shortness thereof makes him regard it the less It is but a day and that will quickly be over and gone and what is the Life of Man It is but as a hand breath of a small extension or like to a passing shadow which we scarce sooner perceive than it vanisheth Man that is Born of a woman is of few days he cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down his decaying is within some few minutes of his budding as the Poet speaketh of Roses dum nascuntur consenuisse Rosas Now from this reason Job may be supposed to argue thus Lord thou knowest how frail and brittle I am and if thou contend thus with me how quickly shall I return to the Dust I Beseech thee consider that my tâ—â—â— is however but short and let thy goodness appear in removing thy stroke away from me for I am consumed by the blow of thine hand O spare me that I may recover strenght before I go hence and be no more Fourthly The Rest and Wages the Hireling expecteth makes the accomplishing of his day more easie and tolerable The word rendred accomplish signifieth to will and delight in a thing earnestly donec optata veniat dies 'T is a day wished and longed for and much delighted in when it comes And indeed the strength of the comparison seems to lye in this which makes the meaning of Jobs words to be this Lord now my trouble and pain excruciats and torments me and my life is more wearisome to me than the Hirelings day can be to him therefore turn away thy wrath from me that in the finishing of my course I may be as jovial and cheerful as the Hireling is when his day is accomplished and thus I have done with the Explanation of these words The next thing I designed in this undertaking is to enquire how the days of every Mans Life may be said to be determined and whether the Period of every Mans Life were so fixed and bounded that by his care good managery and use of the means it cannot be extended nor shortned by his negligence intemperance or exposing of himself to the Famine Sword or Plague it is very certain from this plain Text of Scripture that the days of every Mans Life are determined but the manner how is left unexplained and this we do not learn from Scripture And it were to be wished that our curiosity would forbear any enquiry into things that are hid but alas our inclinations are so wicked and preverse that nitimur in vetitum we are always bent and eager in our enquiries after things of a mysterious alloy and God knows how miserably some men have mistaken in their enquiries after a solution of the present doubt and if I could promise to my self to rectifie those huge mistakes some men have fallen into this would be a sufficient justification of my present undertaking But in order to the unfolding of this doubt I shall promise four things which will contribute to the better understanding of it First There is no doubt that every Mans Life hath a Period It is appointed for all men once to dye this is a warfare from which there is no discharge What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death As to this the Prince and Peasant stand upon even terms and as the wise man tells us the rich and poor meet together there is no justling in the Grave for precedency I confess it were not worth the pains to consider the trivial instances taken from the Translation to Enoch and Elias to infringe this position For first we are not to debate what God may do he has a Soveraignty over his Creatures and must not be called to give a reason of his actions all whose ways are tracts of wisdom and goodness Secondly We know nothing of the manner of their Translation he who will positively say that they did not undergo that which is equivalent to death will say more than he can prove I am apt to believe that no sober man will say that they entred their Heavenly Habitation with their unrefined bodies no more than those who rise at the sound of the last Trumpet in the twinkling of an eye are carried into Heaven without any change Secondly It is also unquestionable that Sin introduced this
the state of being even since the fall to which that axiom has only respect is not so brittle as that the production of the Child infers the destruction of the parent Neither doth that curious query concerning the place for that supposed numerous off-spring carry with it more reason for First It is nor to be doubted but the wise Creator who gave being to Man knew well enough how to provide an Habitation for his off-spring Secondly the Precepts be Fruitful and Multiply carries with it a Limitation and replenish the Earth so that we can never well conclude from it that Generation should have continued after the replenishing of the Earth But Thirdly What suppose this little Map of Earth had not been able to contain so numerous an off-spring could not God have Translated Man after he had lived some space upon the Earth to some better Habitation as he did with Enoch and Elijah Consid 3 Though Man in the state of Innocency stood in need of Meat and Drink yet his nutriment was not noxious and hurtful to him as now it is It was for Mans disobedience that a Curse was upon the ground before which there was no fear of hurt from the Fruit of the Trees and the Herbs of the Field which were the only things granted to Men for Food in that state And indeed if we but consider that even in this fallen state there is a huge difference between the Lives of those who live upon wholsome Food and observe a moderate Diet and of those who are careless in their Diet and feed upon Husks we cannot but think the former Consideration reasonable especially since that blessed state excluded all manner of excess Consid 4. Great and Manifold are the blessed benefits that are conferred upon Mankind upon the account of his Redeemer now Man who was at odds with his Maker upon the account of his Rebellion is again taken into favor and the disobedient World is reconciled unto God And although the being of sin is not quite abolished yet the Curse is removed and Death is not properly now a punishment Consid 5. Immortality conjoyned with a state of perfect felicity is reserved for Heavens favourites In the state of Innocency our first Parents were liable to Death if they rebelled but the Saints above are confirmed in their Blessed state atd as our Lord Christ tells us they can dye no more But this much may suffice for the removing the former doubts The Third thing I premise is that 't is very usual in Scripture as it is in all Languages to put the Whole sometimes for the Part thus Man is said to dye to cease to be Mortal because the Boby is liable to Corruption and not that the whole Man or all the Essential constituent parts cease And thus when we dispute concerning the Period of every Mans Life we must not foolishly fancy that a Period is ut to the being of the Soul but only that its union with the body is dissolved otherwise a dismal stroke would be given to our Religion and what would become of the vertuous I confess it is very hard and difficult to demonstrate the Immortality of our Souls by natural reason 'T is true by reason I may prove that our Natures are spiritual and that we elicite acts which are beyond the power of matter but yet we could never be fully ascertained thar there is a Life after this if Revelation had not plainly discovered it The Heathen Philosophers very wisely entertained some hopes of a Life after this upon moral arguments taken from the goodness of God and his justice in distributing Rewards and Punishments but alas how doudtfull were their hopes and with how much hesitation did they discourse of it But by the help of Revelation these doubts are fully temoved and we now know that there is a Resurrection from the dead and that the Souls of Believers at death go immediately into glory Fourthly Because the explication of terms is very necessary for the unfolding of doubts I shall consider the twofold notion and acception the period of Humane Life is lyable to 1. Sometimes it is taken in a large sense for that common and ordinary Period which the Author of our natures hath setled which Men by the common course of nature arrive at Now many learned Men upon good grounds think that this is the determined bounds mentioned in Scripture 2 Sometimes it is taken for the last moment of every Mans Life at whatever time it happeneth whether 1. In the Beginning of Mans days or 2. In the midst of his days Thus the Psalmist prays that God would not cut him off in the midst of his days Or 3. When Men come to be of a good old Age and full of years as it is said of Abraham he died in a good Old Age an Old Man and full of years Gen. 25. 8. That there is such a Common Period of Humane Life seems to be certain and indubitable we evidently enough perceive that Men in the Age and place wherein we live exceed not unless rarely the bounds fixed upon Psal 90. 10. The days of our years are Threescore years and Ten and if by reason of more strength they be Fourscore years c. And if we shall descend to the Consideration of other Animals and Vegetables we will find it true enough that the individuals of every specifick nature have a common Period which doth not sensibly alter but where there is a manifest difference of the climate temperature and soil Again it is very unquestionable that this Common Period hath not been equally extended in all Ages and places 'T is true for many hundred years by-past it hath suffered very little alteration but sure from the beginning it was not so nor can we upon any good ground be ascertained that it will continue the same that it is now till the end of all flesh come Though I will not positively affirm that Mens Lives will be insensibly shortened till they become uncapable for procreation But to determine what hath been the common period of Humane Life in by-past ages of the World is a Theme very difficult and hard for 1. Although from Abrahams time till this present Age it hath altered but little or nothing as we may collect from Gen. 15. 13. and 16. where a generation is equalled to an Hundred years as the Vetses collated make it evident yet before the Flood and in some few Ages following it this common Term was not concluded within the short bounds it is now although then it was indeed exceedingly mutable Before the fatal Flood we read not of any who lived not above seven Hundred years unless Abel who was murdered and Enoch whom God took to himself nor of any who exceeded nine Hundred sixty and nine years Now the common Period not being so denominated from some few particular instances but from what happens to the most of Mankind in every Age who dye a natural death we
may suppose that Eight Hundred years was the common Period before the Flood But then after the Flood the mutability of this common Poriod is conspicuous for in the next age after the Flood it was cut short two hundred years and in the next three succeeding generations it was abridged to four hundred years and in the three succeeding ages to the former it was reduced to two hundred years and in Abrahams time it seems not to have been extended to an hundred years In reducing the Life of Mankind into shorter bounds now than it was in the infancy of the World the Divine wisdom and goodness do very plainly appear for 1. Although it is true that Sin was the cause of Misery yet it is manifest that as Men began to multiply so they became more corrupted and as the Earth was replenished with Men so with multiplyed Miseries and those not only particular but common War and bloodshed slavery and toil pains and diseases were in the first ages of the World very rare and singular now these are ordinary and common and is it not then a great mercy that the days of our life are few since so full of evils But 2. If Men lived as long now as in the first-ages of the World a Land would not be able to contain its inhabitants and this is a far greater inconvenience and disadvantage than the shortening the lease of our beings can be supposed to be In the first ages of the World the lives of Men were extended that the earth might be replenished and it is very plain that this common Period was shortened according as Man multiplyed I confess God threatens to destroy the inhabitants of a Land for their transgressions it was because Men had corrupted themselves that God brought a Flood of waters upon the World and yet the Divine Justice was accompanied with astonishing goodness for he did not as justly he might have instantly cut off that perverse generation but he gave them the space of an Hundred and Twenty years to repent Yet saith God His days shall be an Hundred and Twenty years Gen. 6. 3. That is although this be a perverse and corrupt generation yet because Man is but flesh I will give him this time to repent of his wickedness and if notwithstanding he will not after such warning mend his manners I will destroy him I know many learned Men think that God here only threatens to shorten the common Period of Mens lives and that it should be contracted within the bounds of an Hundred and twenty years but this exposition is not agreeable to the experiences of some ages next following the Flood in which Men lived much longer than an Hundred and Twenty years But they say God uses not to anticipate his time in bringing judgments upon a nation or people to which I naswer it is very true but methinks men have no ground to think that in the present case God anticipates the time in bringing judgements upon them for we cannot think that Noah was compleat five Hundred years old when God threatned to distroy the World And indeed any Man who is but a little acquainted with the Jewish custom of reckoning of years knows how usual it is with them to name the greater part of any thing for the whole St. Austin is so clear in this I 'le rather set it down in his words than my own Intelligendum est hoc Deum dixisse cum circa finem quingentorum annorum esset Noah i. e. quadragintos octoginta vitae annos ageret quos more suo Scriptura quingentos vocat nomine totius maximam partem plerumque significans Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 15. c. 24. Thus much I have spoken of the common Period of Humane Life in respect of the ages of the World I shall now add a little concerning its changeableness in respect of places and I confess in this case it is so variable that it is a hard matter to pitch upon particulars only in the general it is certain that this common Period is not the same in all places in a temperate Climate this common term is extended but where there is an excess of heat or an unconstancy of the weather in those places this common Period is shortned But passing this I come now to consider the particular Period of every mans life there be two ways it is commonly taken 1. As it implies the disunion of the parts by reason of the excess of some one quality or other or 2 as it implies the Period of Humane Life whatever way it is occasioned without any relation either to the defect or excess of any quality and thus the learned Episcopius states the case in his first Epistle to Jo. Beverovicius But to make this yet more plain I shall consider that text 1. Sam. 26. 10 As the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall desend into battel and perish Though David was anointed King yet he durst not stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed neither would he permit Abishai who inconsideratly offered to do it knowing none could do so and be guiltless Therefore he comforts and solaces himself with this consideration that God should rid him of Saul one of these three ways 1. By smiting him with some disease and now to what a numberless number of diseases are our frail natures incident variety of maladies prey upon frail man and millions of miseries attend him the Pestilence walketh at noon-day and the Air which he breaths may blow out the spark of his life 2. Or his day will come that is or he will dye a natural Death now Saul was well-stricken in years and he knew that by the course of nature he could not live long 3. Or he shall descend into battel perish That is if some disease cut him not off or if his day come not yet he shall be exposed to a violent Death or he shall descend into battel Sometime a violent Death is purely casual thus it was with those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell Luke 13. 4 Sometimes it is only improperly casual as when one of two equally exposed to danger is only killed and sometimes it is only and properly violent such was Sauls death such was Achitophels and Hamans The way to this discourse in hand being thus far cleared I shall now prosecute the design of it in this method 1. I shall set down those erroneous opinion into which some men have unhappily fallen in their enquiry for satisfaction in the present case 2. I shall lay down the two common opinions that offer fairest for solving this doubt 3. I shall attempt a full and satisfactory answer and lastly I shall conclude with some reflections upon the whole discourse I begin with the first to give an account of those erroneus sentiments some men have unhappily embraced in their enquiry for satisfaction in this matter And that I may shun
Psal 39. 5. Lord make me to know mine end the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am This place is strangely brought to confirm the former Opinion For the Psalmist doth not desire the knowledge of the Period of his life he does not ask when he shall die only he begs the Divine aid and assistance that he may wisely improve the short time he hath to live I cannot stand to consider such Texts of Scripture as these which are no ways acquainted with the Doctrin they are brought to defend There is only one Text that seems to favor this Opinion viz. Job 14. 5. Seeing his days are determined the number of his Months are with thee thou hast appointed his bonds that he cannot pass But I have considered this all along in this Discourse I confess some in return to this say that all Job's words are not approved of God therefore it is hard to conclude any thing from them but this is a very insufficient answer That which satisfieth me is this that Job here only says that our days are determined but he speaks nothing how they are determined now in what sense the Period of every Man's life may be said to be determined I have already considered Secondly There are many Examples in Scripture which shew that the Period of every Man's Life is bounded and limited by an absolute Decree The most remarkable is that Act. 4. 28. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles the people of Israel were gather'd together for to do whatsoever thy hand thy counsel determined before to be done The Scribes Pharisees frequently stirr'd up the multitude to lay hands upon Christ but their endeavours were always to no purpose and the account the Scripture gives for this is because his hout was not come In return to this I shall desire it may be considered that when we say the Period of every Man's Life may be extended or shortned the meaning is not that it is impossible that it can be otherwise we never doubted but the great Governor of the World may make what reserved Cases he pleases from the ordinary course of things and no wonder though the present Case which is upon all accounts so extraordinary be exempt from the general Rule and for such exempt Cases to which there ought to be allowance made no reasonable man can think they do any prejudce to the thing I have been proving Thirdly It is a common opinion that the futurition of things depend only upon the Divine will antecedently to which things are only possible In answer to which I easily grant that there is nothing that comes to pass contrary to the Divine will the most criminal actions are ordered by his Infinite Wisdom and permitted to be But yet we have no ground to think that he decrees every future action Else it were hard to vindicate the holiness of God upon which consideration many Learned Men have been induced to deny Gods immediate concurring with the Creature in all its operations and yet we need not run our selves upon this Rock for we may safely enough maintain that the Divine will is immediately efficatious for God who created man with a freedom of will designed that he should act without constraint and the reason why man acts freely is because God wills men to act so which plainly discovers that the most contingent actions depend immediatly upon the Divine will Fourthly We can never give a rational nor satisfying account how the Divine knowledg concerning the Period of Humane Life is infallible certain if it be not founded upon the sure Basis of an absolute decree This object I have partly removed already while I shewed that God knows whatsoever is true because his cognisance is Infinite wherefore it is unreasonable to think that God could not have a perfect comprehension of things if he had not decreed them absolutely Now to make this yet more plain I shall prove by instances from Scripture that God hath a certain knowledg of those things which he never decreed as absolutely future And First It is a very remarkable instance which we have 1 Sam. 23. 11 12. where David hearing that Saul was to come to Keilah he earnestly beseecheth God to tell him if the men of Keilah will deliver him and his men into the hand of Saul and if Saul will come down To both which he gets this answer That Saul will come down and that the Keilites will deliver him up And yet the Event shews that none of those came to pass because the fulfilling of both did depend upon Davids staying in Keilah And yet God certainly knew that if David had not depart'd from Keilah they should have delivered him into the hands of Saul And farther it is very evident that David was not inquiring what were the present propensions and inclinations of the Keilites but what should be the event of his staying and accordingly he receives an answer from God Another Instance we have 2 Kings 13. 19. where Elisha the Prophet is very wroth with Joash King of Israel because he did not smite upon the ground five or six times and the reason the Prophet adds is for then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it Which makes it as evident as any thing can be that God foreknew that Joash should have smiten Syria till he had consumed it if he had smitten upon the ground five or six times It were no difficult task to prove this by a multtude of instances from Scripture but I think I need add no more for the satisfaction of considering Man and for others a Million of demonstrations will be urged to no purpose And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed that God hath not by any absolute or inconditionate Decree fatally determined the Period of every Mans Life I proceed to the Third thing proposed namely whether the Period of every Mans Life be mutable And before I prove it to be so I must premise two cautions First when we say the Period of every Mans Life is mutable we mean no more but that it may be shortned by our intemperance or neglect of the means and be extended by our good managery and religious manner of living Secondly When I say the Period of every Mans Life is moveable the meaning is not that it is necessarily so and that it cannot be otherwise for this would not be consistent with our dependent condition therefore there is allowance to be made to extraordinary cases The acts of Divine providence in the government of Humane affairs are sometimes extraordinary and therefore it must be left to his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness to make what reserved cases he thinks fit from the general rule Yet for ordinary the Period of Humane Life is mutable and God doth not exclude the power of second causes in governing the World These things being premised I doubt not but to offer such