Chapi5. AnExpafitioatupon the ßookof J O B. Verf. 32, r 8 time. We have filch an Expreflion ( Ecclef..y.r7.) Be not righ- teous over-much, neither make thy [elf overwife ; why fhouldeft thoudeflroy thy 'elf ? Be not over much wicked ( not that there is any mediocrity in wickedness , or that a man can be wicked in due proportion, but he, take heed of high adtings in wickednefs) why Jhouldcft thora die before thy,time ? Sonic wie- kedneffes lie clolè , men live and continue in them long un. teen ; others arc fo open and abominable , that their a&ors are obnoxious to the hand of Jullice : He that is wicked over- much, that is, extremelywicked, (hall be cut off tome way or other before his time, (úarrellers die by the Sword , Drunkards die by furfet, Adulterers decay into filthy Difeafes , Sorcerers are killed by the Devil, Malefac` ors of all forts are cut off by the sentence of the Magifirate. Molt defire to live long, and yet they take a courfe to make their lives fhort ; they forget that thort way to long life ( Pfál. 34.1 2.) That promise ( lfa.65.2o. ) hands oppofite to this threat- implore dies ea ning , There(hall be no more there an infant of da}s,nor an old loginfælà , man that barb not filled Ws dajs : A good man fills his days, a ceneq:;efen._ wicked man (hall be accomplifhed , or there thall be an end ilam,pertinet of himbefore his day both, before that day which he would vel denorarr Y ' lr > y lam ærsrù live to , according to the course of his defire, and before turlrotem,qrtr u.a that day which he might live unto , according to the course ton annorum of nature. numero;fedply Betides, a wicked man never fills his days, though he be full etatspert£l,. of days ; he that is not prepared for death ( how old foever one definirur. he is ) dies before he is ripe : he is ripe for defiruEtion , but he is neither ripe nor fit for death : The youngel} Saint that dies, dies ripe, though he die before he come to that elate, P,i ticer erarc wherein nature ufeth to crop men off ;_ yet, he (as the Apo- uvenet, fever file fpeaks, Ephef. 4. 13. ) is come to the fulneft ofthe ftature ofPant arorzbx,-, Chrifk. Secondly, Referring thefe words unto the eflate of a wick- ed man , it £hall be accomplifhed, or cut off before the time that is, his pomp , and greatness, all that he hath gotten to- gether (of which he fpake in the precedent part ofthe Chap- ter) fliail be fcattered suddenly. Hence note. Wickednun often outliveall their wordly enjoyments Spine , B b 2 live
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