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. 4.12 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 factum ita ut sive peccaret sive non peccaret moreretur in corpore hoc est de corpore exiret non peccati merito 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 fruitful 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 thus renewed and 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 doudted 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 and 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 were with which his innocent condition was blessed We have no reason to think that there was any jar or disagreement amongst his faculties or opposition and sight of one quality with another It was mans disobedience that disturbed the whole universe and disordered every part of it while he was at peace with his Maker he enjoyed a serene condition and needed not fear any hurt either External or Internal then all the parts of his Body entertained a sweet harmony and there could be nothing except Sin that should have made any failure in his constitution or made a separation between his Soul and Body But Sin having entred the World every part of the universe changed its face and Man who was Heavens favorite in his first mould is now condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his face till he return unto the dust This is all that we can learn from Revelation concerning the introduction of Death to suppose any other account of it were to give up our selves to the dictates of our extravagant fancies and farther it is very unreasonable to infer mans mortality from his constitution and because he is earthly unless we think it also rational that perfected Bodies in the state of Glory are not Bodies or that they are even there mortal Both which seem to be plainly opposite to Scripture Consid 2. The Phrase Immortal may fall under a double notion for First sometimes it is taken absolutely implying a being most perfect which had no begining and can have no end and in this sense Immortality is solely the prerogative of our Maker and can never be attributed to any creature Secondly Sometimes it 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 although they had never eaten the forbidden Fruit. I know some men think that Sin only laid a necessary obligation upon men to obey 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 although 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 creat 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 although in some sense generatio unius est alterius corruptio yet the state of being even since the fall to which that axiom has only respect is not so brittle
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 time 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 strength 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 optate 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 curiousity 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 enqiries 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 Period to every Mans Life the primitive threatning rus thus in the day thou eatest
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 consess 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 that 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 defend 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 tediousness I shall reduce them to the two following heads 1. Some have foolishly imagined that the Period of Humane Life is
fatal and necessary 2. Others upon the contrary extream have as groundlesly thought that it is altogether fortuitous and casual Amongst those who ascribe every thing to the dispensation of a sure and inevitable destiny the Stoicks have been always reckoned the chiefest combatants It is well known that those stupid and senseless Philosophers did teach that all effects were necessarily produced by the natural order and series of causes which were from the outgoings of Eternity inseparably chained together so that neither Humane industry nor the Divine power could alter what such a conjunction of causes was to produce That Humane Industry care and good menagery cannot alter the decree of Fate the Stoick moralist Seneca very fairly confesseth Fatis agimur cedite fatis Non solicitae possunt curae Mutare rati stamina fusi Seneca in Oedip. The same Seneca also affirms that the supreme being is so strictly tyed to the Sempeternal series and order of Causes that he must follow but cannot gain-say what is thus established Quicquid est quod nos sic vivere jussit sic mori eadem necessitate deos alligat irrevocabilis humana ac Divina pariter cursus vehit Sen. lib. de provid 5. There are two very dangerous Authors of great name and fame who amongst many other bad opinions have recalled this Stoical Dream which was long since rejected the one is the Famous Mr. Hobs the other the subtil Author of that Book entituled Tractatus Theologico policitus Both which I may perhaps have occasion to examine more particularly But if all things were thus established by a fatal necessity sound reason would suggest to sober Men that it were a needless thing for the Sick to call for the Physitians aid And indeed Cicer overy ingeniously confesseth this Si fatum tibi est ex hoc morbo convalesceri sive tu medicum adhibueris sive non adhibueris convalesces Si fatum tibi est non convalesces sive medicum adhibneris sive non convalesces alterutrum fatum est medicum ergo adhibere nihil valet Cic. lib. de fato And although Seneca thinks he has fallen upon a very good answer yet it is truly never a whit better Cum sanitas inquit videatur de fato debetur medica quia ad nos benificium fati per hujus manus venit lib. 2. nat cap. 35. By which means the Physitian is as fatally determined to prescribe the Cure as the Sick Mans recovery is Destinated The Ages in which these Men lived being dark and blind we ought as much to pity their case as correct and reprehend them It is our happiness that we are not left to the conduct of natural reason and would God our thankful acknowledgments were answerable to the greatness of this Blessing I shall not need to stand in rejecting this Dream I think the hazards this speculation hath exposed some of its favourites to will be forcible enough to affright others from embracing it I remember I have read of some whom this conceit had so far distracted that they did cast away their Swords and other weapons when their Enemies approached Saying If it be our Fate to dye to keep our Weapons will never preserve us from Death 'T is also reported of the deluded Mahumetans that in Battel they take courage from this that they are no sooner Born than Fate Seals upon their Foreheads how long they shall Live and what death they shall dye Alas who would not pitty Men thus infatuated and bewitched Surely as St. Augustin excellently speaks Si cor tuum non esset fatuum non crederes fatum Tract 37. in Joh. Next the Stoick stand the Star-gazers and Astrologers who attribute the shortness or extension of our Lives to the bad or benign Aspect and Conjunction of the Stars in the time of our Nativity Now although I deny not that the Heavens have an influence upon inferior things yet surely this secret and occult dominion Star-gazers plead for is so manifestly cross to reason and dayly experiences that no man in his wit will affirm it The Prophet hath long since advised us not to be dismayed at the signs of Heaven adding the Heathens they are dismayed at them Jer. 10.2 As if it had been only peculiar to the Heathen part of the World who were ignorant of Gods Providence to believe the vain predictons of Astrologers Babylon was upbraided for her trusting Astrologers Star-gazers and monthly Prognosticators Isa 47.13 These Men confidently presumed to foretell the time of Mens Death and the easily deceived multitude gave a ready assent to whatever they spake so easily a matter it is to impose any thing upon the belief of the vulgar The Palmaster as foolishly pretendeth that God hath sealed upon every Mans Hand how long he shall live and that observing men as they would have us believe they are can understand this by the lines and draughts in the palm of the hand And for proof of this they aledg Job 37.7 Where it is said he sealeth up the hand of every Man that all Men may know his work But from this place no such thing can be collected for Elihu is there taken up in expressing the greatness of Gods works and the Divine power in commanding the Snow and the Rain small and great to be on the Earth and he addeth he sealeth up the hand of every Man That is when Snow and Rain are upon the Earth Men cannot labor and toil their hand is sealed up they cannot work Epicurus and his followers could never be reconciled to this opinion but yet the acount they give of this matter is every whit as extravagant and irrational they being equally unhappy in the account they give of the beginning and Period of Beings The account these Men give of the original of Beings is so incredible that no rational Man can have any temptation to believe it but this belongs not to the present discourse I shall therefore only consider what they say of the Period of Beings and briefly their opinion is that it is no more but the casual and fortuitous separation of those particles of Matter that were united by a happy chance and hit This error is of an Old Date and had long ere now past prescription if it had not been so suitable to the humors of bad Men. The Saducees whose Religion it was to contradict the Pharisees were very great sticklers for this Dream Some Men have confined the Divine providence to the Stars and plucked out sublunary Beings from his immediate Rule and Dominion Cicero could not be perswaded that God had any knowledg of things contingently future Some to mend the matter confess God may know the general kinds of things but they will not allow that he knows every particular 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
these we shall speak anon but yet this I think may be truly said that sometimes when all other remedies have been either ineffectual or not to be had repentance and prayer have done the business and compleated the cure And surely these are duties profitable at all times I know the Church of Rome tell us many extravagant Stories of the wonders and miracles that have been performed by the prayers of Holy Men those I shall not now mention only I shall say that although it is not credible that the Prayers of Saints upon the Earth do either mitigate and alleviate the pains of those that are in Hell or free them from that miserable state as some men have confidently enough reported yet it is sufficiently credible that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much Jam. 5.16 A Third Argument to prove that our lives may be extended or shortned may be taken from the use of medicaments Common reason will teach Men that it is needless to prescribe any Medicine to those that are dead and truly the case would be much alike if the Period of every Mans Life were determined by an inconditionate Decree For although men might then make use of medicaments yet I think I may truly say that their operation should be very ineffectual But that men may to good purpose employ the Physitian when they are sick and expect by the blessing of God benifit by the use of Medicaments applied by the art of Physick no reasonable man can doubt That the lives of many have been lengthned and prolonged by the excellent remedies applied by the expert and skilful Physitian is a truth so obvious to common experience that I need hot enlarge upon it And on the other side how many have died before their time only by their imploying ignorant Physitians It is a famous instance that we have recorded of one Manes the Father of the Manichees who having returned into Persia at that time when the Kings Son lay sick of a dangerous disease he amongst many other Physitians was present all the others plainly declared that the disease was dangerous but Manes who waâ—â— only a pretended Physitian coâ—fidently desired that they might be all removed and he would take care of the Kings Son and withal promised to restore him to health in a short space but the event was quite contrary for within a shore time the Kings Son died which did so provoke the King of Persia that he instantly caused Manes to be put to a miserable Death What mischief has been done by unskilful Physitians to many sad examples do daily attest but yet if the Period of every Mans Life were determin'd by an absolute and inconditionate decree no man could blame the ignorant Physitian nor needs any person be troubled if they neglect the means for God had determined they should do so which indeed makes Marthas speech to our Lord Christ to be ridiculous if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died That Naaman the Syrian should wash himself in the River of Jordan seven times and then be clean of his Leprosie was indeed miraculous But yet it is plain that if he had not done so his Leprosie had remained Whether that custom in the primitive Christian Church of anointing the sick with Oyl was miraculous or not I shall not dispute but this is certain that it was then a means used for the recovery of the Sick There is one objection which some men very impertinently urge against what I have been speaking and that is Asa his going to the Physitians which the Scripture seems to disallow To this I answer that King Asa is not therefore reprehended because he asked advice of the Physitians but because he trusted only in them and sought not the Lord as it is very plain from 2 Chron. 16.12 And sure no reasonable men will have any doubu but this was a very culpable neglect in Asa Fourthly Nothing is more evident than that there are several things which have a Physical efficacy in the shortning of Mens lives as all kinds of excess namely immoderate eating and drinking all inordinate passions of mind c. as also the bad and unwholesome constitution of a Kingdom And on the other side there are many things which effectually conduce to the lengthning of our days namely all kind of moderation and temperance the wholsomness of the region wherein we live and our good managery What kind of persons are those who for ordinary live longest are they not those who carefully moderate their sensual appetites and who govern their passions and who live in the wholesomest places We commonly say that Men who live in a Popolus City are shorter lived than those who live in the Country I have already shewed how some vices in their proper tendency shorten Mens Lives and that in some Nations and Kingdoms men live much longer than in others all which methinks plainly tells us the Period of every Mans Life is not Fatal but Mutable according as men are careful or negligent of themselves I shall onlyladd another considerable argument and so draw this discourse to a conclusion And that is don't we evidently perceive that many men had lived longer if they had not wretchedly and unreasonably exposed themselves to danger and is it not evident that many Millions who have died in battle would have had their days prolonged if they had never descended into battle That God hath from the outgoings of Eternity by an absolute and inconditionate degree determined both the time and manner of every mans death this is more than we can learn from Revelation and methinks it is very inconsistent and irreconcilable with those many plain texts that shew it is lawful in time of eminent danger to flee for our safety in time of Famine and when any egregious contagion such as the Pestilence spreadeth in any place How many Hundreds prolonged their lives by their flight from battel If David and his Men had remained in Keilah it is certain they should have been delivered up into the hands of Saul and what the Event should have been we may easily conjecture if God by a special providence had not interposed for their safety But besides the many instances we might produce we have a positive precept to flee from any eminent danger Mat. 10.23 When they persecute you in this City flee into another Which plainly shews that this is a lawful means of prolonging our lives in such cases It is a notable instance we have Jer. 27.18 Thus saith the Lord behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death he that abideth in this City shall dye by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you he shall live and his life shall be unto him for a prey Which place plainly shews that God had not decreed the Period of their Lives by any inconditionate decree for