Period to every Mans Life the primitive threatning runs thus in the day thou eatest 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 ro 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 Conncil 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 rhe creation but in Man in a more eminent manner conspicnous 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
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
DISCOURSE Proving from SCRIPTURE and REASON THAT THE Life of Man Is not Limited by any Absolute DECREE OF GOD. By the Author of the DUTY of MAN c. LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Henry Bonwicke at the Red Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1680. THE PREFACE Reader THE following Discourse is of so small bulk that a Preface may seem as needless and rediculous as an Index In some few hours it may be perused and then both the design of the Author and of the Book may be known It may be thou desirest to know what was the occasion of the following Discourse But I know not if I be obliged to answer this and such like idle questions yet to satisfie thy curiosity know that the Author was unhappily engaged to converse with a Society of men who frequently debated this and such like queries and mostly he was opposed by the greater part as maintaining an unreasonable position Whether their charge be true or false is a thing better determined by others unconcerned than either by them or me I know very well their clamorous calumnies and reproaches which since I cannot shun I shall endeavor to slight as indeed unworthy to be regarded If men of good consideration dislike any thing in the Discourse I promise them upon Information I shall either endeavor to satisfie them or to rest satisfied with what they say Nay further if there be any Line in it inconsistent with Piety and Religion freely reject it for I perswade thee if the Author knew any such he world burn the Book for its sake But I hope upon trial there shall be found no harsh notion in it to offend the most squeamish conscience For the opinion I have rejected is in my judgment inconsistent with the Divine Goodness and Holiness repugnant to the freedom of Humane Nature and destructive of all lawful means for the preservation of a mans life While as that sentiment I embrace begets in mens minds noble and generous conceptions to promote real Piety and Religion and intemperance upon the account that Piety is the meanes to prolong our lives and wickedness the cause of our short lives And that this is no cheat or delusion the wisest of men hath left upon record Pro. 11. 19. As righteousness tendeth to Life so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death This brings to my memory the Psalmists advice with which I shall conclude What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good Keep thy Tongue from evil and thy Lips from speaking guile Depart from evil and do good Seek peace and pursue it But the wicked and deceitful man shall not live out half his days OF THE PERIOD OF Humane Life JOB 14. 5 6. 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 THis excellent Book of Job represents to us a plain and unquestionable instance of the various successes all Humane actiions are liable to and of the promiscuous administration of Divine Providence to particular persons Here we may read of Job's happy and flourishing condition that he was the greatest of all the men of the East and of his low and afflicted state poor even to a Proverb and in a condition that only pleaded pity and compassion and how again the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning From this various administration of Providence men have taken occasion to make divers inferences The scoffing Atheist hath from thence wickedly concluded that God hath no care of Humane Affairs If God say these scoffers had any care of this World he would never suffer those men who have corrupted their ways by Treachery and Deceit to prosper and enjoy an affluence of all worldly delights whereas the vertuous and godly man who takes heed to his ways lest he sin and who throughtout the whole course of his life hath carefully studied to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and Man is notwithstanding a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief as plagued all the day long and chastened every Morning and hath Waters of a full Cup wrung out to him If God say they concerned himself with Humane Affairs he would never suffer the Tabernacles of Robbers to prosper and the House of the Upright to be ruined and destroyed This is without all contradiction a great stumbling block and offence to the Blind Atheist and hath even been a sad trial to the best of Gods people Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very Treacherously Was a question Jeremy could hardly at first resolve And we find Job and the Prophet Habakkuk very much puzled with it and the psalmist plainly confesseth that his feet were almost gone and that his steps had well nigh slipt when he saw the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73. To see bad men prospering in their wicked purposes and undertakings and good men unsuccessful and frustrated in their just attempts has been none of the least Topicks the Epicurean Atheists have made use of in their exempting this World from the Divine Rule and Dominion It was this single consideration that made Cato who was once a Preacher of Providence how Orthodox I enquire not accuse the Dominion and Government of the gods of instability and unjustness that Caesar who tyrannically invaded the Rights of the Commonwealth of Rome should be successful in so unjust attempts and Pompey put to the worst and overthrown in the lawful defence of his Country this stumbled him exceedingly 'T is true some few of the Learned and Sober Heathens did not thus rashly fall foul upon Providence but very wisely inferred the being of a future State where the vertuous shall be rewarded and the vitious punished And those Holy men in Scripture who did fret because of the prosperity of the wicked quickly perceived their folly and error and that the wicked were only fed like Sheep for the Slaughter and as the Poet excellently expresseth it tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant Job's Friends though they did not directly fall foul upon the Divine Providence yet it is evident they were of opinion that God would never have afflicted Job with such sad calamities if he had been upright and sincere Remember saith Eliphaz whoever perished being innocent Or where were the Righteous cut off ch 4. 7. Bildad tells Job If thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee ch 8. 6. To both these Zophar succeeds with a charge as grievous and bitter For thou hast said my Doctrine is pure and I am clean in thine eyes But O that God would speak and open his lips against thee ch 11. v. 4 5. These were the Cordials Job's Friends afforded him while as his afflicted condition pleaded pity from his
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 judgements 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 although 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 scpaululum 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 afflictions it is our part to submit to the Lords will and say Good is the will of the Lord. Thus although 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 is 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 accussomed 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 labor 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 hopes 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 tranquility 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 injoy here is uncertain an unthought-of causality may impair it but the Rest that remains for the people of God is everlasting there is no fear of losing it Heaven is a place free from trouble and there is nothing that can imbitter that pleasant state Philosophers have a saying that the end of of Motion is Rest this is indeed true of all those motions and trials the servants of God meet with the way to the Kingdom is spread over with thistles thorow many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but those Waves of affliction will quickly over and when the day breaks these shadows will flee away This Winter will soon be past and the singing of the Birds will come and Christians who by faith and patience continue in well-doing shall ere be long be placed in those mansions of Rest that are in Emanuels land Alas how insensible do we remain under the enjoyment of our outward comforts when we are blessed with food liberty and health we are but sensibly stupid and ignorant what is the value of those mercies but if hunger and want begin to pinch us if our former liberty be hedged in if sickness and pain seize upon us then we begin to gather some sense and we accuse our selves for our ingratitude to God Till he shall accomplish as an Hireling his day for the better understanding of this similitude I shall in four particulars compare the days of man with the days of an Hireling and in each of them make application to Jobs case 1. The days of an Hireling denotes a time set prefixed and limited for the performance of some particular piece of service and are not the days of man also allotted him for to do his masters business We were not born to be idle and negligent sure God had some greater design in the Creation of
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
Hebrews makes use of this Topick to induce us to cricumspection all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4. 13. and God himself appeals to the infinity of his knowledg in the demonstration of his Deity and challengeth the Idol-Gods to produce their cause and shew what shall happen that the latter end of things may be known Isa 41. 21. 22. The Psalmist upbraids the Idol-Gods in that they have eyes and see not but he always comforts himself with this considerarion that the God in whom he trusts does behold his condition all which instances make it undoubtable that God hath an infinite cognizance and that nothing can be hid from his eyes who equally beholds things past present and to come Now if it be so plain and evident that God hath such an Infinite knowledg no Man can reasonably doubt that God knows the Period of every Mans Life but if any shall ask how is it that God knows certainly the Period of Humane Life I answer that it is a very bold and fruitless enquiry which concerns not us to know his understanding is infinite and shall silly Man think to comprehend and measure it by his finite knowledg The Psalmist modestly acknowledgeth that such knowledg is too wonderful for him it is high says he I cannot attain unto it Psal 139. 6. And elsewhere he tells us it is only bold Atheists who ask How doth God know and is there knowledg in the most high I confess the Schoolmen as they are called weary themselves with such vain Disputes and they are as peremptory in determining the manner of Gods knowledg of future things as if they had proved their assertions with Mathematical demonstrations Some of them tell us that things future are really present with God in Eternity which methinks is a very noble Paradox Others run to the Divine decree and make it the Basis of the Divine knowledg Others tell us hat God in contemplating his own essence sees all the representations and Ideas of future things therefore knows them certainly We might add many other conjectures but these may let us know how vainly curious such wits are but that which may satisfie any sober enquirer is this that God is Infinite in knowledg and therefore knows certainly the Period of every Mans Life it being truly future The Second thing I premised was to prove that God knows the Period of Humane Life by examples from Scripture Now I think this will need but little proof since the predictions concerning the Period of persons are so many and plain so many Hundred years foretold so punctually fulfilled without a failure in a tittle The death of Eli's Two Sons Hophni and Phineas was foretold 1 Sam. 2. 24. And punctually fulfilled as we may read Chap. 4. 11. both the manner place of Jezebels death was foretold the Dogs shall eat Jezebel in the Portion of Jezreel and there shall be none to bury her 2 King 9. 10. Which prediction was fulfilled without a failure in any circumstances as we read in the close of that Chapter But the most remarkable instances are those manifold predictions concerning the death of Holy Jesus All the prophets as the Apostle observeth Act. 3. have foretold that Christ should suffer they have condescended upon the manner of his suffering upon the time and upon the circumstances relating to it The Psalmist in a figurative Speech a very usual way of expressing things amongst the Prophets speaks of his being pierced so doth the Prophet Zechariah and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced Zech. 12. 10. Daniel did punctually speak of the time And after Threescore and Two Weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself Dan. 9. 26. But farther God doth not only know the actual but also the possible bounds of every Mans Life that is God doth know that a Period should have been put to the days of many Men if they had not by their hearty repentance and Devout Prayers prevented its lash It was King Hezekia's Prayer to God that extended his Life Fifteen years for the message which God did send to Hezekiah was this Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live But he having prayed to God gets this return I have heard thy Prayer I have seen thy tears behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years Isa 38. 5. From which it is plain that God knew that a Period should have been then put to his days if his Prayer had not prevented it It was the people of Ninevehs repentance that prevented the threatned judgment that should have put a Period to their lives Which Method if the old World had observed they had prevented that Fatal Flood in which they were drowned Thirdly That it is onely the prerogative of God Almighty to know the Period of every Mans Life will be easily granted For those who deny Gods universal cognizance will never attribute it to any creature and those who do acknowledg the infinity of the Divine knowledg will never say it belongs to the creature The only things that we are to consider are these pretensions to a foreknowledg of things which the Heathen world bragged of but this Plea is easily removed For 1. in those dark ages of the World it was an easie thing to impose upon the faith of the vulgar who in all ages have been very credulous and apt to be thus deceived Secondly It is well known that there pretended predictions were very enigmatical and dubious Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse was a Problem rather than a Prophecy which might have concluded both ways Thirdly The most part of their pretended predictions were only guesses and conjectures which for the most part were false and groundless yet Fourthly I do not deny but God may for ends known to himself reveal the Period of particular persons when and to whom he thinks fit It is therefore singly the property of God Almighty who grasps all times and who can never be impeached for giving a wrong divination to know the Period of every Mans Life In the last place I come to consider those Material doubts and objections this principle may be urged with As 1. It is hardly credible that God doth certainly know the Period of Humane Life it being only contingently future this objection Cicero could not answer therefore being perswaded that some things were contingently future he thought God could not know such things But the difficulty is not so great as to make us deny God hath perfect knowledg of things contingently future For 1. The light of nature may teach us that we must not reject what is plain because we cannot comprehend what is obscure That there is in man a rational Soul is beyond doubt and yet how irreconcilable are the opinions of learned men about its original whether it be by seminal production or by immediate creation Again the union of Soul
arguements for the proof of the mutability of the Period of every Mans Life as shall be sufficient for the conviction of any man who is not blinded by prejudice or prepossess'd with some contrary notion And First Upon the observance of the Divine laws there are many promises in Scripture assuring us of length of days and on the other side there are many threatnings of cutting short the days of the wicked Thus God promises length of days to obedient Children Ex. 20. 12. Honor thy Father Mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy god giveth thee Deut 4 40. Thou shalt keep therefore his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee this day that it may go well with thee with thy Children after thee that thou may'st prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy god giveth thee particularly the Lord tells Solomon 1 King 3. 4. If thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes my Commandments as thy father David did walk then I will lengthen thy days The Psalmist encourageth men to consider the case of the poor upon this Motive Psal 42. 1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will preserve him keep him alive c. And upon this account the Wise-Man also perswadeth men to observe and keep Gods laws Prov. 3. 1 2. My Son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my Commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee How much the observance of the duties of Religion conduce to our health is a thing daily experience attests and therefore the Apostle very excellently exhorts Timothy to exercise himself unto Godliness for it is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Religon is as a bridle to keep men within due bounds in their eating and drinking it forbids all manner of excess which impares our bodily health and obliges men to make use of lawful means for their preservation and recovery If we consult experience we shall find these to be the men who for ordinary enjoy the longest lives it is true some good men may be naturally of a brittle constitution and others Gâ—od may remove for secret ends known to himself yet for ordinary the Godly man whose natural temper is strong hath the advantage of the wicked man and certainly Religion in its due tendency prescribes the best rules for long life As Righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evil as the Wise-Man tells us pursueth it to his own death Prov. 11. 19. We have a large Catalogue of the Punishments inflicted for sin Exod. 26. Where more particularly v. 16. the Lord threatens to appoint over those who obey not his Laws terror consumption and the burningague that Men may not foolishly think all these are but threatnings which God intends not to inflict upon poor Man the Prophet Isaiah tells us if ye refuse rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Isa 1. 20. And the wise-man concludes it as certain Prov. 10. 27. The years of the wicked shall be shortned to conclude the Psalmist also tells us bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal 55. 23. which the Poet very well expresseth Ad Generum Cereris sine caede ac sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges sicca morte Tyranni And the truth of this may be evident likewise from common Experience by which it will appear that no men are so obnoxious to Diseases as the wicked who spend their time in chambering and wantonness in riot and excess Who hath woe Who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause they that tarry long at the wine Prov. 23. 29 30. What the Wise-man says of one kind of Vice may be said of all They lead down to the Chambers of death Prov. 7. 27. But these things are so obvious that I need not to enlarge upon them I shall conclude this Argument with this consideration that since God Almighty promises to extend and lengthen out or prolong their life who walk piously and observe his Statutes and theratens to shorten the days of the wicked who refuse to obey his Laws it cannot be rationally imagined that the Period of every Man's Life is absolutely determined Another Argument to confirm our Assertion may be taken from the pious devout prayers of the righteous and their turning from their sins by an hearty repentance both which conduce to the lengthening out of their days I put Repentance and Prayer together because of their near affinity to one another Now that both these may be the Moral Cause of extending our Lives may appear to be true from common Experience besides the many Assertions and Promises in Scripture to this purpose First The truth of this may be evident from Experience by which it will appear that if Men had hearkned to Noah's Doctrin if they had repented of their wickedness within the space allowed to them they had not perished in the Deluge of Water Of repenting Nineveh we read That God saw their works that they turned from their evil may God repented of the evil he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jonah 3. 10. It was Hezekiah's Prayers and Tears that prolonged his life Go saith the Lord to his Prophet Isaiah and say to Hezekiah Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy Father I have seen thy tears behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years Isa 3. 8. 5. And if prayer were of no force to what purpose were men so earnest in their sickness to beg the prayers of others on their behalf I confess if the Period of every Mans Life were fatally determined our Prayers should be very needless For can we be so sensless as to imagin that our Prayers can move God to change his unalterable Statutes and Decrees But besides common experience the truth of this is likewise attested by plain evidences from Scripture At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation concerning a kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounce turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a kingdom to plant it If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them Jer. 11. 7 8 9 10 Methinks this is so plain an evidnce of the efficacy of repentance that no reasonable man can have any doubt concerning it But alas if God had from the outgoings of Eternity fatally determined the destruction of Nations and Kingdoms by an absolute and inconditionate decree Repentance could never alter the determination It is the Apostles
advice Jam. 5. 14. Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him I know there are other means to be made use of in order to the procuring of health than repentance and prayer and of 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 servent 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 not 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— 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 cusom 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 only ladd 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 the means both of prolonging and of cutting short their Lives are put in their choice And this is all that I shall say to the Third thing I proposed to speak concerning the mutability of the Period of every Mans Life for ordinary All that now remains is to conclude with some practical reflections upon what hath been said And first whatever debates there may be concerning the Period of every Mans Life yet there is no doubt but Mans Life hath a Period It is appointed for all men once to dye and from this warfare there is no discharge Pray what is become of all those who lived in former ages have they not gone the way of all living and shall we think to shun the approach of this last Enemy may not the multiplied experiences we have of other Mens frailty and mortality convince us that we are brittle and must return to the dust we are of the like constitution that they were of and we cannot expect to be otherwise dealt with What man is he that liveth shall not see death and yet many men live as unconcerned as if they had the perpetuity of their beings ensured to them and had concluded an agreement with Death and had secret intelligence with the Grave It is truly a business worthy to be regrated that men who are living as it were in the House of mourning daily visited with pains and diseases and have no promise at least for one moments security yet live unconcerned and never mind those pleasures It was indeed a praise worthy and commendable custom amongst the Jews to build their Sepulchers in their Gardens as we may guess from Joh. 19. 14. that so in the midst of their pleasures they might behold Monuments of their mortality Truly if we did frequently meditate upon our latter end we should live more like Christians than we now do The end hath a very great influence upon mens endeavors hence is that general Maxim Finis ultimus praescribat regulas totius vitae And it seems that the Psalmist upon this account prays Lord make me know mine end and the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am It is not to be doubted but we should order our conversation aright If we had this consideration in our view We should have but low and contemptible thoughts of the perishing pleasures which we now so much delight in Then we should be argued out of our folly in spending our years as a tale that is told It is threatned a sad Plague to the oppressor that the number of his years are hidden from him Job 15. 20. He is a person that never considers that his appointed time approacheth and that God will bring him into the Grave the place appointed for all living and it is laid down as the cause why Jerusalem came down wonderfully that she remembred not her last end Lam. 1. 9. And truly it may be also reckoned as the cause why Christians live so contrary to the commendable rules of the Gospel they profess If we did but entertain some what more familiar thoughts of our appointed time we could not but rectify those abuses we are guilty of But alas all the passages of our time are filled up with cares about things that perish we can walk to the Grave with our friends whom we once loved as intirely as our own lives and reap as little advantage by their death as if we had never been acquainted with them never remembring that we must go to them but they cannot return to us But Secondly although the Period of every Mans Life is fixed in respect of the Divine foreknowledg yet to us it is uncertain we know not when this Enemy may surprise us Of this we may say what our Lord Christ saith of the day of judgment but of that day and hour we know not When we least suspect its approach it may call us to go hence and be no more How many millions of strange and unexpected accidents attend us the Pestilence walketh in darkness and Destruction wasteth at noon-day astonishing dispensations may allarm us by night and the devouring Arrow fleeth by day Psal 91. 5 6. When we go abroad we cannot promise to our selves a safe return and at home when we put off our cloths we cannot tell if we shall ever put them on again the Grave is always ready for us What strange kind of unknown diseases doth our age produce from which we cannot promise to our selves any exemption We live amongst cruel and mad Men and do we know but those Beasts of prey may devour us When we look for peace destruction may come This was the Rich Mans Fate who while he was promising himself rest for many days that same night his Soul was required of him We are always apt to put the thoughts of this day far from us when we enjoy health we never think of any change and that sickness may seize upon us and put a Period to our lives We live indeed at a great deal of uncertainty man also knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Eccl. 9. 12. We look upon Death as the unfaithful Servant did upon his Masters coming we think Death doth delay its coming but if we were not fools we should always realize the quickness of its approach May be we are young and strong how many such have been called away in the morning of their age Goo too now saith the Apostle James ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow Jam. 4. 13 14. Alas our days at best are but labor and sorrow for they are soon cut off and we flee away When a few years are gone Wee must go the way of all flesh and yet upon the happy improvement of this depends our everlasting hapiness or misery for there is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the Grave whither we are going Eccl. 9 10. FINIS