Chap. 7. An Expofttionupon theBookofJ OB. Vert i. 579 fo fhort:iftheir lives were longer, they would be wickeder,and fo heapingupmore tîn,they would heapup more wrath againflthem- felvcs.And it is very well for the Saints,that their lives are fo Their corruptions & temptations,their weakneffcs and infirmities, their troubles and aflliations are fo many,that it is well their dayes are fo few. If they Ihould have length of life added to heaps of forrowes,& perpetuity with outward mifery,howmiferable were they!Chtiti promifeth it,as a point offavour to his,that the days of trouble thould be fhortned, Except draft dayés fhould be Jhort- ned, noflelh fhoxld befzved ( that is, kept or preferved alive in thole tribulations ) but for the Elells fake, thofe dayes Jha'1 be (hortned, Mat 24.22. It is a favour alto to the Saints, that their particular dayes are fhortencd, that their's are but as the dayes of an hireling,for as much as their prefent dayes are dayes oftrouble and travel. 7he dayes ofthe belt árefofall.ofevil,that it is good, they are no fuller of dayes. And further, it is good they are fo evil, or full of trouble ; It is well for wicked men, that their dayes are full of trouble. The. Tweeter their lives are to them, the fiufuiler they are againfi God. Theiroutward comforts.are but feweI and incouragement to their lufis ; and while their lives are calm and quiet, they do but faile more quietly down into that dead fea of everlafiing mifery. And the Saints have this advantage by the troublelòmegefs of their Iives, to be kept in continual exercife, and more dependance up- on God ;-they would love the world too well, and delight in the creature too much, if God did not put bittcrnefs into their cup. ob having thus fhadowed the gate of man, feems tomake out his intendment or fco.pe thus. Tbere.ir no realn why I Jhould be cbargedfodeeplyfor defiring death ; For what it the life of man ? Is it not a lifefull of travel, and of trouble, full of dangers and temptations, ir, not the time ofhis life fhort and fet ? Is it not a fpeedypafngtime, andyet a firmly appointed time ? Why then fhould:not I think theperiod of my life to be at hand ? `Why fhooeld not.I thinkmy appointed rime is come ; Forafrnuch as I have fa many evidences and f mptoms ofdeath before me, and have beard fo many meffages and Jummons to the grave. Death fits upon my lips, ready to came,in, while l am fpeaking. Death bath taken Phlin t-mgrs, o e ton o me and ei d m port : deatk it in m fade, ¡ill" p.li11' f y, f' y y'f , I am the verypihiure of death, and images of death fraud round E e e e about
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