938 THE LIFE OF MAN COMPARED To A CLOUD. ·Book IV, THE LIFE oF MAN coMPARED TO A WEAVER's SHUTTLE• .1\0' Days are fwifter !ha;• a Weaver's ShJ<ttle, &c. Job .vii. 6. L A Wea¥er's Shuttle is an Inftrument of a very fwift Motion; and the Word, ~~I'T, which is rendered fwifter, lignifies that which is fitted for the fwiftefi Motion. - II. When the Weaver hath finilhed his Web, he cuts off the Thread: So when a -Man hat!:, run om the Length .of his · Days appointed by the Almighty, his Life is CUt off, ..;;C. THE 'L !FE 'OF M'AN COMPA-RED TO W-1N D. . My Life·is Wind, Jcb vii. 7· , P A :rR A L · L E L S. I. THE Wind paffeth.away fpeedily: So dorh the Life of Man. II. The Wind paffeth irrefiitibly, you cannot ftop the Wind: •So no Man, be he never..fo ftrong, . can hinder the fpee.dy Morion of his Days. IlL .The Wind when it is part, returns no more: As you cannot fiop the \Vind, or change· its Courfe; fo all the-·Power in the World is not able to recall or direct the -\Vind; which Way the W.ind goes, it will go; and fo foon as it comes, it is c-one: So when a Man's Days are gone, there is ·no recalling -of them again: Our Days"pafs, and !hall not return, by any Law or Conftitution of Nature, or by any Efficacy of natural Caufes. He ren;embered. that .they . were but Flt/h, Wind .that. pajfeth away, Pfal. lxxviii. 34· 'THE "LIFE ·oF 'MAN COM"PARED TO A ' CLOUD. As tbe Cloud is colljumed and vanijheth awa)': So he that goetb -down to tbe Grave, jhaii come up no ;nore, he jba/i retum no more to his Houft, &c. Job vii. 9· ·P A R A L L E L ~ ·I. AS the Cloud, fuch a Cloud as you fee hanging in the Air, is confumed, or gra. dually !pent: So the Days or Life of Man by. little and .little is confumed. If. A Cloud comes to its Height, and· rj1en is quickly_difperfed, and . ~anilheth: So Man foon comes to his full Strength, and pr.cfently is-gone. III. A Cloud is like a Bottle full of. Rain, or ~ponges ·full of \Vater; God crulhes thefe Sponges, or unaops thefe .Bottks, and they are emptied; and in emptying va– . nilh aw-ay, and rerurn r.o more: So..Map,; being emptied of Life, vaniiherh away, and -returns not again. 'Obj. But why then doth Solomon affirm the Clouds return again after.Rain? EccleJ. xih 2. How then doth Job lay, that the Cloud vaniiheth, fo Man goeth to the Grave and returneth no more. /lnfw. .Solomon in that Place of Ecclejiafles gives a Defcription of old Age, and the fad Condition of·Man ..in it ;•.he calleth -it the evil Day, ."nd .wiihes Men would con– fider their latter End, before thole evil Days overtake them: Before the Light of the Sun, Moon, and-Stars be darkened, and the Clouds rctuxn qfter the Rain. In old Age the ·- Clouds return after the Rain thus; as in fome very ·wet Time, when we think it hath rained fo much, as-might have fpent and quite exhaufied the Clouds, and drawn thofe Bottles dry, . yet you !hall fee them return again, it will rain Day afrer Day as fait .,as ever: So in o!d Age, when J{heums diilil fo freely, that you would ·think an old Man .had emptied himli:Jf of all, yet the Clouds will retur.n .again, and Floods.oLwatery Humors overflow. Thus the Cloud'.<·of old Age return, and in this Senfe the,· Clouds of the A it return, after they are confumed and fpent into Rain. But hC\w cloth a Cloud rerurn? not the fame Cloud numerically, that Cloud which was dilfolved dorh not return; the fame Sun goes down and vanilheth out of.our.Sig~t 10
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