the flood came upon the world within an hundred years after this denunciation; which was made when Noah was five hundred years old, Gen. v. 32. And he was but fix hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth, ch. vii. 6. Now God doth seldom anticipate the execution of his judgments in wrath, but doth often prorogue it in mercy. It is as clear also, that many there were, even after the flood, whose lives were prolonged beyond this appointed period, but they found it very burthensome and grievous, and miseries with their age daily came upon them; the first-born of death, about that time began to devour their strength, Job xviii. 13. and to take poffeffion of them in the right of him that was to fucceed. And they might then be said to die, in the same propriety of language, as Adam did in the day wherein he did eat the forbidden fruit; but the Pfalmift gives a more exact account of this thing, which may stand firm to this very day : The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reafon of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labour and forrow, for it is Joon cut off, and we flee away, Pfal. xc. 10. But as the universal fabrick, that God at first extracted out of nothing, draws nearer to its end, fo doth every particular structure therein made, weaken and decay. As the heaven and the earth wax old, fo they that dwell therein shall die in like manner, Ifa. li. 6. And therefore it is not to to be thought, that in thefe days man's age should be fo long, nor fo many arrive at it, as in the days wherein the bow of universal nature abode in its greater ftrength. Nor can we exactly put the terms of any man's old age, so as to say he is now old at this present moment, but was not fo before; for it is that which creeps on by steps and degrees, as the shadow upon a dial. Inde minutatim vires, & robur adultum Frangit, & in partem pejorem liquitur ætas. Some of the flowers of age blow before othersome; sometime on one bough, fometime on another; here one, there one, infenfibly; however when perfected, you have it stand in full bloom, as it is to be feen in the enfuing analyfie Age is here described, Affertion. The evil days come. Rational. Principal. Irrational. The moon. Generally, v. 1. by way of 2 Negation. Animal, v. 3. appearing in the Subfervient to them both. Natural, v. 4. Mixt, v. 4. latter end. Of (Limbs, The fiars. SSuperiour. The keepers of the boufe fhall tremble. Inward and outward in want of fleep, which binds up both. The mind. Fear. The body in realterations, v. 5. Offpect of parts, Immediately, v. 6. fuch as belong to the (den. Sperm. or hard. The grafhopper fhall be a bur Brain, and the parts Without the fcull. Sta Statutum eft in cœlis. It is a ftatute in heaven, for all men once to die, Heb. ix. 27. by virtue of which it is, that man muft neceffarily pass through all those various steps and paffages, from the womb to the tomb, that are appointed unto him in that unalterable decree. As fure as man is born, fo fure he must pass along, and unless it please the Lord fooner by a violent stroke to take him to himself, he must go from state to state, from age to age, and never stay, till he come to these evil days, and unpleasant years mentioned in the text. There was, it is probable, within the compass of the creation, that which had a natural property in it to preserve mortal, yea, finful man without alteration. Now left he put forth his hand and take alfo of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; therefore the Lord God fent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken, Gen. iii. 22, 23. And when the creatures fhall be delivered from the bondage under which they now groan, this panacea may again be reftored to its primitive ufe: Then fhall the leaves of the tree of life be for the healing of the nations, Rev. xxii. 2. but for the prefent, this is kept from us by a flaming fword, and therefore not to be attained unto. And I never knew any one touch but the foot of that mount, I mean, attempt any thing that is but analogous thereunto, but his work, if not himself, was destroyed thereby. And as our cafe B 5 cafe now is, he that made us, he can fave us; he that made the fun, can cause it to ftand ftill or go back at pleasure; and he that made man, can uphold him without those changes, which otherwise unavoidably attend him. And in the days of wonder (when shoes and garments kept equal duration with mens flesh Deut. xxix. 5) fo he did his fervant Mofes, concerning whom it is faid, when he was one hundred and twenty years old, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, Deut. xxxiv. 7. But this is his own prerogative, when he pleaseth; in his ordinary providence, as he hath fet certain bounds that a man cannot pass, fo he hath fet certain other that he muft. Man that is born of a woman cometh forth as a flower, be fleeth as a badow, Job xiv. 2, 5. he fleeth from infancy to childhood, from thence to youth, and from thence to ftrength, from thence to full age, from thence to declenfion, from thence to the ftate we are upon. And thus fome interpret the fecond verse, While the fun is not darkened, (i. e.) the prime of youth be not spent, the light of that fun, is the full age; the moon, is declining age; and the stars, are the beginning of old age; but this I judge not fo primarily and properly the meaning of the place, as you will hear in this ensuing explication. |