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 rectify 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 premise 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 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 of Euoch 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 Period to every mans life the primitive threatning runs thus in the day thou eats thou shalt dye And the Apostle hath as plainly exprest it as it can be wherefore as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5. 12. where it is plain that Death is a punishment inflicted for Sin so that if man had never sinned we have no reason to think he should have died I confess without Revelation we could never have guessed this to be the cause of Death The Heathen Philosophers were exceedingly confused in their notions concerning the origine of Sin and the cause of Death many of them thought that Death was a natural accident originally appurtenant to Humane Nature And indeed if Revelation had not declared the contrary I had been fully satisfied that Death had been no other thing but such a natural accident but it is strange that any man that has conversed with sacred writ should be of this opinion And yet we find the Pelagians of old were great sticklers for it hence is it that the ancient Fathers and Councils have condemned it with a Curse In the Milevitan Council Can. 2. we read thus Placuit ut quicunque dicit Adam primum hominem mortalem sactum ita ut sive peccaret sive non peccaret moreretur in corpore hoc est de corpore exiret non peccati meriâ—o sed necessitate naturae anathema sit In after-ages the Scotists the most subtil of all Scholastick writers inclined much to this opinion against whom the Thomists their irreconcilable Enemies took up the cudgels amongst modern writers the seemingly rational Socinians have owned this groundless conceit But I cannot stay to debate this at length only in brief if Death had been natural to man in the state of Innocency it behoved to have been because of these following reasons 1. Because Adams natural constitution implied mortality the Materials of his constitution were not so amicable as to entertain a lasting amity and friendship 2. It was the primitive precept be fruitfull and multiply now it is plain that procreation includes mortality in its notion and farther it seems to be unconceivable how this little Map of Earth should have contained a numerous multiplying and never-dying off-spring 3. Humane Nature in the state of Innocency did stand in need of Meat and Drink as is plain from Gen. 1. 19. now the end of eating and drinking is not only to hold up but to repair the decays of our Bodies which would sudenly return to dust if they were not this renewed strengthened 4. If Death were only the effect of Sin and the Devil were called a Murderer from the beginning because of his tempting our first parents to eat of the forbidden Fruit it will follow that since Christ came to take away the sins of the World and to destroy the works of the Devil that he also took away the wages of sin which is Death than which nothing is more contrary to daily experience 5. Immortality seems to be entailed only to the state of future Glory where Corruption shall put on Incorruption and Mortality shall be swallowed up in life and then there shall be no more death Rev. 21. 4. These are the most material reasons I can find for the proof of this opinion in answer to which I shall desire the Five following considerations may be weighed Consid. 1. It is not to be doubted that the Eternal wisdom furnished our first parents with all these accomplishments their specifick nature could suffer the signatures of Wisdom and Goodness were legible in the lowest least regarded piece of the creation but in Man in a more eminent manner conspicuous It is almost impossible for us in this fallen state to conceive what those endowments is taken Conditionally and so under various considerations it may be attributed either First To perfected Saints who are stated in Glory where the primitive Image lost by mans fall is renewed and perfected and of those our Saviour in the Gospel of Luke tells us that they can dye no more Luke 20. 36. or Secondly to our first parents in the State of Innocency For so long as they remained obedient to the Laws of Heaven Immortality was entailed upon their nature for the tenor of the primitive threatning is in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye where temporal Death seems to be threatned which had been idle and vain if men had died altho they had never eaten the forbidden Fruit. I know some men think that Sin only laid a necessary obligation upon men to dye and provoked God to remove that Supernatural and Superadded quality and gift which preserved them from Death With such sort of men I have no great quarrel altho I think that God could as easily have made mans constitution so lasting and the constituent parts of his fabrick so harmonious that he should have never dyed if he had not sinned as to create a superadded being to preserve him safe For reason would plead that that superadded gift required another and so in infinitum But farther 't is very unreasonable to infer mans corruption from that precept be fruitful and multiply for altho in some sense
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 knowledg 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 Celestial Bodies can foretell the future number of the days and months of terrestial and inferiour 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 fulfill if no accidental circumstance hinder and it seems the Psalmist only understands this common term of Humane Life Psal. 90. 10. The days of our years are Threescore years and Ten and if by reason of Strength they be fourescore c. or Secondly It may be understood in a more strict sense as it is taken for the last moment of every individual and particular person and of both these I shall more fully discourse afterwards and show that the words seem to refer to the common term of Humane Life or if they mean this particular term in what sense they are to be understood determined appointed c. These and such like condescending Phrases have been most unhappily used and sadly misunderstood in the Schools Some men no sooner read in Scripture of Gods determining or appointing but they instantly conclude a physical previous necessitating act which inevitably and irresistibly determines Men and this kind of determination they plead for in all cases so that Men even in their vitious actions are irresistibly determined to do so I know no opinion which has rendered the reformed Church more odious than this would to God I could say the Censure is causeless and that I were forced to apologize for saying our Divines have erred in this case But alas the opinion is grown strong and not long since it was not much less than Heresie to condemn it and even to this day it is the study of some Teachers to instill it into the hearts of their Hearers For the correcting of this sowre opinion I shall have occasion to add some things in this following discourse now I shall desire it to be considered that while we speak of the Divine determinations appointment c. we speak of things our knowledg cannot reach the best conceptions we can frame to our selves of the Divine volitions are dangerous and imperfect our capacities in this lapsed state are more narrow than we are aware of and altho they were raised to a higher pitch yet we can never comprehend his way of working who in all his ways is unsearchable 'T is truly sad to see the contending World so serious and restless in digging those deeps that are unfathomable it were to be wished that Men did not found their pretended knowledg of the Divine volitions on the basis of their own silly volitions and did not argue from what we find in our selves to be the same in God 'T is true the holy Spirit hath condescended to express things suitable to our Understanding mean capacities therefore we read in Scripture of the Divine determinations appointments c. but yet to abuse such condescending expressions and to imagine that there were really such purposes and volitions in God as these we perceive in our selves this were a hainous crime pray let us satisfy our selves with this that God in an eminent and transcending manner doth these things which we cannot do without willing decreeing c. That he cannot pass or as others render it and he shall not pass which Phrase is not to be understood as if the particular Period of every Mans life were so fatally fixed that he can neither shorten nor prolong it for this is contrary to many clear Texts of Scripture as shall afterwards fully appear but by this Phrase we are to understand the common term of Humane Life which is not mutable as the particular term is and yet is not so fixed that it cannot be altered for God has still reserved in his own power the shortening and prolonging of it And further we must not apprehend that the particular term of Humane Beings is so mutable that God knows them not and cannot foretel the precise Period of every mans life or that the Divine Counsel concerning things Future is mutable no sure God has declared the contrary I am God and there is none like mee saith the Almighty declaring the End from the Beginning and from ancient time the things that are not yet done saying my Cousenl must stand and I will do all my pleasure Isa. 46. 9. Two things there be which occasion men to change their purposes and resolutions 1. Their want of Power to execute them 2. their finite and shallow Knowledg which cannot foresee those future circumstances which render their Designs ineffectual But now there is no difficulty that can pose the Almighty with him all things are possible it is the Prophets argument the Lord of Hosts hath purposed who shall disanull it his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back Isa. 24. 17. And further there is no circumstance or condition that lyes in the dark and unseen to him whose knowledg is infinite and who equally comprehends things past present and to come Therefore is it that men cannot pass these bounds prefixed by the Divine foreknowledg But of this afterwards Turn from him c. it is queryed whether Job here petitioneth a withdrawing of Gods supporting presence and a cessation by death or a cessation from the affliction and trouble he lay under There be three things that plead for the former Interpretation 1. Because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 placed absolutely signifieth to cease by death 1. Sam. 2. 5. and they that were hungry ceased i. e. died 2. Because the supporting hand of Providence being removed men return to the Dust. Thou hidest thy face they are
troubled thou takest away their Breath they dye and return to their dust Psal. 104. 29. 3. It is not inconsistent with Jobs former desires Chap. 3. and 6. Why died I not from the Womb why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the belly for now should I have lien still and been quiet I should have sleept then had I been at rest O that I might have my request even that it would please God to destroy me That the phrase can never admit the former gloss evidently appears from the words immediately following for if Job had been pleading for death why is that reason added that he might accomplish his day It is only then a cessation from his grievous affliction that he so earnestly intreateth as if he had said Lord thy afflicting hand is heavie and what am I but weak dust not able to bear thy heavy Chastisments my Soul is overburdened with grief and wilt thou set thy terrors before me to afright me hath not poor man in this lapsed state Troops of miseries attending him from which he may expect no freedom till Mortality be swallowed up in Life and are not his few days labour and sorrow pain and affliction and wilt thou to those inseparable evils superadd a burthen of pain more grievous and insufferable O do not measure out so dismal a Condition to thy silly Creature make me not the object of thy direful vengeance but in the midst of wrath remember mercy Art thou not Goodness it self and far more compassionate than the most tender parent and shall it be said thou hast measured out so acute torments to vex thy poor Creatures I confess Perfection is not the thing I plead yet may not I say it is not for my iniquity nor for my sin that thou hast afflicted me and let this Consideration also prevail with thee that my untender friends sadly mistake thy design in afflicting me they conclude it is for some secret heinous crime that thy judgments are upon me O that thou wouldst turn from thy wrath that I may enjoy some rest before I go whence I shall not return This phrase turn from him is sometimes taken in a very bad sense Thus we find the wicked sadly characterized as a people who desire God to depart from them but as it is uttered by the people of God under the pressure of afflictions it implies no more but a serious desire that God would be pleased to remove that burden Now in such innocent petitions there appeareth no crime for it is certain that afflictions simply considered are grievous even to the best of Mankind there is no affliction saith the Apostle for the present that is joyous but grievous 'T is true impatience under affliction is an excess which no excuse whatsoever can pardon there are some persons of such hasty complexions that they rise in passion against God if they meet with the least affliction just like that wretched man who said this evil is of the Lord why should we wait any longer upon him But those petitions of the Faithful in holy writ altho at the first view they seem to be peremptory and absolute yet they are truly qualified and submissive and at the most only express the harmless resentments of innocent nature that cannot but express how contrary afflictions are to it That he may rest ut quiescat sc. paululum that his affliction being removed he may yet enjoy a little space to solace himself till he accomplish his day I will purposely decline the answer of that querie Whether it is lawful to wish death when our condition is charged with a surplusage of calamity for the brevity I design will not suffer me to survey the difficulties of that case only in the general I shall add two things 1. If the affliction be violent fierce and seemingly durable rendering us uncapable of exercising any duty I question not but common reason will suggest to every sober man that in that case Death is more eligible than Life Yet 2. since we are ignorant what God designs to us by sending us such afflicti-ons it is our part to submit to the Lords will and say Good is the will of the Lord. Thus altho we may comparatively and submissively wish Death upon the account of some acute trials yet it is never lawful to be peremptory and absolute in such desires for frequently the happy event makes men conclude that it was good for them they were afflicted Rest c. Methinks the very sound of this word is full of ravishing sweetness and pleasure and yet to those who are stated in a condition of Woe and Misery it is bitter and harsh as the most ravishing and pleasant Musick is in the Ear of him who is sad those who never tasted the honey-comb know not its sweetness the men who have been always drudges and slaves have no discerning what Liberty is and those who from their birth have been accustomed to pain know not their misery so sensibly But to have once enjoyed blessings and on a sudden to be deprived of them not only the unexpected change but also their former happiness adds to their misery and makes their condition more unsufferable If man had been created to toil and labour his eating of bread in the sweat of his face had been no curse but to have been placed in a blessed and happy state and by his folly to be hurled into a state of misery and pain that compleats his calamity and makes him sensible how miserable a thing it is to have been happy This single consideration seems to add very much to Jobs misery his condition was once more than ordinary happy and the amission of the comforts he formerly enjoyed makes him pathetically cry out O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me but now as he sadly complains they that are younger than I have me in derision If Job in this state of woe had been perswaded of the certain change of his condition and that his latter end should be more blessed than his beginning the expected hopes of this had served to allay and mitigate his sorrow and to render his case more sufferable and easie It is the hops of rest that puts strength in the wearied traveller it was the expected reward and assurance of a future blessedness and better resurrection which made those Worthies Heb. 11. so cheerfully undergo suffering What the happiness of the Saints rest is I am not able to represent it being so far above any thing we can in this imperfect state conceive or imagine The advantages that attend our present tranquillity and rest are many and great which to enumerate would be prolix and tedious but if from that we should frame to our selves an Idea of that Celestial Rest how imperfect would it be any Rest we enjoy here is uncertain an unthought-of causality may impair it but the Rest that remains for the people of God
For this they think is inconsistent with the immutability of the Deity But others have been more illiberal in their concessions thinking it enough if they grant that God hath a care of Mankind altho he never regard lesser matters and that Curat magna Deus fortunae parva relinquit By means of these wild conceits this Error has proceeded from bad to worse yet very few of the old Philosophers or any other rank of men Atheists those Anomalus births excepted had ever that confidence in impiety to say with the Epicureans that the World is perfectly left to its own fortuitous and casual resolutions or that I may express it in their Poets own phrase Sive nihil positum est sed sors incerta vagatur Fertque refertque vices habent mortalia casum That the Period of every mans life is not so casual and fortuitous as these men imagine may be made evident by clear testimonies from Scripture concerning the particular Providence whereby God takes care of every particular thing in the World But because I will have occasion to consider this afterwards I shall now add only an instance or two from Scripture whereby it may appear that the most seemingly casual Periods of men are ordered by an infinite Wisdom and fall under the Divine Rule and Dominion And first the man-slayer who killeth his Neighbour unawars seems to be as casual a business as can be and yet we may read how far the Divine providence is concerned in this particular Exod. 21. 13. But farther one of Epicurus Discples would readily conclude that Ahabs death was a piece of chance and governed by no Supreme power It was but an Archer's drawing his Bow at a venture which by chance killed Ahab But the word of truth informs us that by this means the prophecy 1 Kings 21. 19. was fulfilled and that it came not to pass without the Divine providence who rules among the children of Men. And now I have done with the two erroneous extreams which some men have inconsideratly run to for shelter the next thing I premised was to lay down the two common opinions that offer fair for removing the difficulty but I must say for the thing is palpable that I am now only to give the two former rejected opinions of the Stoicks and Epicureans dressed up in better apparel and much refined from the impure dregs of Heathenism as 1. Some run to the absolute and inconditionate Decrees of God and tell us that from the outgoings of Eternity previous to the Divine consideration of circumstances in which men are to be placed God has so absolutely determined the Period of every mans life that it can neither be lengthned nor extended by care and diligence nor shortened by intemperance Sword or Plague 2. Others who see the inconveniencies and absurdities that follow upon the granting that opinion to be true are induced to believe that the Period of every mans life is ordinarily mutable and may be both extended shortned yet still they grant that God may as it seems good to him either extend or shorten it There are four very considerable particulars that seem to strengthen the first opinion First There are many plain places of Scripture that conclude the days of every man to be bounded by the Divine determination Secondly There are many examples in Scripture which shew that the Period of every Mans Life is from the out-goings of Eternity set and bounded in by the Divine will Thirdly It is a common opinion that the futurition of all things depends upon the Divine will antecedently to which things are only possible and therefore Fourthly we can never give a rational and satisfying account how the Divine knowledg concerning the Period of Humane Life is infallible and certain if it be not founded upon the Basis of the sure absolute Decree Upon the other hand those who plead for the mutability of the Period of every Mans Life endeavour to remove the fore-named doubt and to shew the great inconveniences it is lyable to That it quite evacuates the use of the means and encourages men to expose themselves to any danger c. as I shall endeavour to make appear afterwards And now I come to the chief thing I aimed at in this undertaking viz. To attempt a satisfying answer of the present doubt in the prosecution of which intendment I shall observe this Method First I shall endeavour to shew how the Period of every Mans Life may be said to be determined Secondly I shall shew in what sense it is not determined and Thirdly how it is mutable and may be extended or shortned I begin with the first how the Period of every Mans Life may be said to be determined and I shall endeavour to do this in the two following particulars 1. The Period of every mans Life is so far determined that it is not without a Period To determine signifieth properly to set bounds or limits to any thing Now since it is appointed for all men once to dye every mans life is enclosed and bounded within a certain number of years And I must add that if I be not very much mistaken this is the genuin sense of the most if not of all those places of Scripture that express the determination of Mans days and indeed Jobs words seeing his days are determined c. seem to mean no other thing but this and in this sense it is unquestionable that God has appointed our bounds which we cannot pass But 2. the Period of every particular Mans Life is determined in respect of the Divine prescience Now because this is a very considerable particular and as I told in the explaining of the text that which was intended by Job when he says the number of his months is with thee I shall therefore endeavour to make out this truth by the plainest and most convincing evidence that can be In order to this I shall shew that God hath a perfect comprehension of all things past present or to come and by consequence fore-knows the Period of every Mans Life Secondly I shall prove this by plain evidence from Scriptural Examples Thirdly I shall make it appear that it is solely the prerogative of our Maker to know the Period of every Mans Life And lastly I shall answer the most Material objections and doubts that are brought agaist it First that God hath a perfect comprehension of all things past present and to come is so reasonable a principle of natural Religion that it hath been generally owned by the wisest and most learned Heathen And those impious wretches who at every turn take the name of God in vain in attesting him in the truth of what sometimes themselves know is false sufficiently implie that they believe Gods Infinite knowledg Besides the truth of this is plainly held out in Scripture it was to this city of refuge Peter did flee when his love was seemingly called in question Lord says he Thou knowest all things