| Plal. XC4 4 * Fora thouſand years þ in thy fight ; are but as * 2Ter. | yeſterday || when it is paſt &, and as a watch / in the 3F | © night m, | | — ; 5, Oy | 2 hath + If we ſhould now live ſo long as ſome of our Progenitors well- paſſed | nigh did. Ashe compared Mans. duration with Gods in reſpe& of chem. © ts beginning, v. 2. ſo here he compareth them in reſpe& of the end, or continuance. # In thy account, and therefore in. truth ; which is oppoſed to the parti! and falte judgment of. men,i who think time long becauſe they do,not underſtand Eternity : Or in compatiuon of thy endleſs duracion. & Which is emphatically ad+ ded ; becauſe time fecms long when it is to come, .but when it is paſt, and men look backward upon it,.it tcems very ſhort and con- temptible, and men value one hour to come more than a thouſand. years which are paſt. 1 Which laſted but for three or four hours ; | tor the night was antiently divided into three or four. Watches.See Judg. 7. 19. Mark 6. 48. and 13. 35. Luke 12. 38. m Which alſo hath irs weight; for the ſilence and ſlumbers of the night makes ume ſeem ſborter thanit doth in the day. | MT TRETET 5 Thou carrieſt them » away. as with a floud o;*they *PC.73.2) are as a lleep p: in the morning * hey are like graſs which * PL. 10 [| growech up 9. | BS Erc-7, Ae + | 2 7. 6. Mankind, of whom he ſpake, v. 3. o UnexpeSedly, vio- lently and irreſiſtibly, univerfally, without exception or diſtin&ion f Short and vain, as fleep is, and not minded till it be paſt. Or like a Dream, when a Man flecpeth, wherein there may be ſome real pleaſure, bur never any iarisfattion, or ſome real trouble, bur very. inconliderable, and feldom or never pernicious. Even ſuchan idle and inſignificant thing is humane life conſidered in ir ſelf withour reipett ro a future ſtate, in which there is but a meer ſhadow of dream of felicity, only the calamities attending upon it. are more real and weighty. 4 which 7: changed, eicher tuft for the worſe, which paſſeth away, asſome render tke word, Which having general- ly affirmed here, he may ſeem more particular'y to explain in the next Verſe. Or rather ſecondly for the berter, as this word is' ſometimes uſed, as Job 14. 7. Ja. 49. 31. which ſprouteth our of theEarth,and groweth more apparent and green and flouriſhing. And this interpretation is confirmed from the next Verſe, where this ſame word is uſed in this ſenſe ; where. alſo the merning is again mentioned, and that as the time not of its decay, but of its tious riſhing. | ; 6 inthe morning it flouriſheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth 7. = r The whole ſpace of Mans Life is compared to ons day, arid his 45% perity 1s contined to a part of that day, and ended in the cloſe of it. » 7 For we 5 are conſumed by thine anger 4, and by thy wrath are we troubled. | | + Either, 1. We Men: Or rather, 2. We if-azlites in this Wilders neſs. # Either naturally by the frame of our bodies, or violently by extraordinary judgments. Thou doſt not ſuffer us to live 1o long as we might by the courſe of Nature. « Cauſed by our ſinful ſtate and lives. 8 Thou haſt ſet our iniquities before thee x ; our ſe- ;;, 1m: - 4 : ; Je 110m cret /ins y Þ in the light of thy countenance. ry.of thy. . x Thou doſt not now cover or blot out or paſs by our ſins, as countenane thou haſt uſually done to thy people 3 but thou doſt diligently | ſearch thempnr, and accurately obſerve them, as a ſevere, bur righteous Judge, and art now calling us to an account for thenr, Y Thou doſt nor only puniſh us for onr notorious and ſcandalous fins, which thine honour may ſeem to oblige thee to do, - but even for our ſecret Lults, the murmuring and unbelief, and apoltaſic, and idolatry of our hearts; which though hid from the eyes ofmen, thou haſt ſer before thine eyes, and brought them to light by thy +: : Judgments. I | -.” - _— 9 For all onr days are | paſſed away x in thy wrath 1:4 away. | we ſpend our years || as a tale chat 5s told a. , \ | Or, 45,8 z Or, turn away themſelves or their face fromus. They do not continue with us, but quickly turn their backs upon us, and leav us. 4 Which may a little affeQ us for the preſent, bur is quickly ended and gone out of mind. Or, as # word, as Jeb 37. 2, which inan inſtant is gone, and that irrevocably. Or, as # thought, or 8 ſigh, or a breath, All which come to one ſenſe. . PET 10 + The days of our years b are threeſcore years f Heb. as and ten c ; and if by reaſon of ſtrength 4 they be four- Fr the , ſcore years, yet is their ſtrength e labour and forrow f: ps wn for it g is ſoon cut off b, and we flee away if... . Them age b Either, 1. Of the [/raelites in the Deſart, who being twenty ſeventy years old, and ſome thirty, ſome forty, ſome fifry years old when years. they came out of Egypt, and dying in the Wilderneſs, as all of that age did, Numb. 14. 29. a great number of them doubtleſs dyed in their ſeventieth or eightieth year, as is here implyed. Or rather, 2. Of the generality of mankind, and the 1/relites no leſs than o-. thers, inthatand all following Ages, ſome few perſons excepted,a- mongſt whom were Moſer, and Caleb, and Joſhus, who' lived an hun+ dred and twenty years ; which is therefore nored of them asathing ſingular and extraordinary. This ſenſe ſuirs beſt with the follows, ing wcrds, and with the ſcope of Moſes 7 which was to repreſent the vain and tranſitory condition of men in this life, and how. much, mankind was now ſunk below their Anceſtors, who commonly lived many hundreds of years, and that the 1aebites, though Go3s peculiar people, and endowed with many priyiledges, yet in this were no better than other men.” , All which may be conſidered, either as an argument to move God to pity and ſpare them, or as a motive to awaken and quicken the 1fraeliter to ferious preparati- ons for death, by comparing this with'v. i2. c Which time the antient Heathen Writers alio fixeÞ-a$ the uſual ſpace of menslives. d i. e. By the ſtrengtly of their Natural Contticution ; which, is the true and common cauſe of longer lite. e Their firongelt and moſt vigorons old Age. - Or, their excellehicy, or pride ; that old, age which is their glory, and in which men do commonly glo- ry. F Filled with troubles and griefs frorm the infirmities of Age, the approach of Death, and rhe contingencies of Humane Life.'
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