5$6 Chap. t4.. An Expo,ition upon the Bookof Jos. himfelf, fo he determined alfo, that Hezekiah fhould recover and o&it live that dangerous fickneffe fifteen years. Secondly, That of the Preacher may be objeaed ÿ Eecef.7. a6, 17.) Be not righteous overmuch, neither make thy el over- wife why fhouldessb thou dej7roy thy Pelf ? Be not over much snicked, neither be thou foolifb , why fhouldeft thou die before thy time ? I anfwer, He that diesbefore his time, dies not before the time which Godbath determined. An unfeafonable death to man Bothnot prevent Gods feafon. To clear which we mutt: diftinguifh about death, which is twofold ; firft, natural, fecondly, violent: A man that dieth aviolent death, is faid to die before his time, becaufe he dieth before that time which he might have reached according to the courfeofnature : fin cutsman off before nature cuts him off, but then God cutshim off for his fin. Thus many die before their time ; and, except in that fenfe, no man dieth before his time. That, fuchwas the meaning ofSolomon, is plain Which the text, when he faith, benet wicked over much ? hich (by the way) doth not imply that there is a mean inwickedneffe, or that the Preacher would perfwade men only to a temper in wickedneffe ; be wicked fo far but no farther ; all wickedneffe is too much or more then enough, Every mean in finning is n extream. But when he faithbe not over muchwicked, heintends only thus much, give not thy felf up to wickedneffe, left theMa. giftrate (who bears not the fword in vain) call thee town ac- count, and fend thee to the grave by the handof juftice, before old age or fickneffe fend thee thither. The Hebrew is, wherefore fhouldeft thou die in a time not thine? that is, before thine old age, for thit is mans proper time of dyir. g. Again, The proper time of mans dying is, when he is ready for death : As when a Steward is ready tomake his account, then is his belt time to give up his Stewardfhip ; and therefore be not wicked over much left God take thee away when thy accounts are altogether un- ready, that's no time for thee todie in. There is time of him that dieth, and a time ofdeath ; the time ofdeath is whenfoever a man dieth, but the time of him that dieth is Only then, when be is fit todie. Thirdly, Some mayobject the promife which isadded to the fifth commandment, Honour thy fatherand mother that thy days may Verfe s
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