garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken..

(y) After this Adam knew his wife; and he begat a son in his own likeness, after his image. And after he had lived nine hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters, he died.

(x) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, that the earth was corrupt before God, and filled with violence; and the wickedness of man was great, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And thus it continued till the flood came and destroyed them all; Noah only remaining alive, and they that were with him in the ark, which God had commanded him to make; wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

(a) After the flood, when the generations of the sons of Noah were multiplied, the whole earth was of one language and of one speech, till they attempted to build them a city and a tower,. whose top might reach unto Heaven; and then the Lord confounded their language, that they might not understand one another's speech; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth..

(b) Since which time the Lord weakened the strength of man, and shortened his days.

The PRESENT STATE of MAN by NATURE.

His MORTALITY.

(c) It is appointed unto men once to die.

(d) The days of man are determined; the number of his months are with the Lord: He hath appointed his bounds, that he cannot pass.

(e) The dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

(f) What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? And who shall deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war, neither shall wickedcss deliver those that are given to it.

(g) The inward thought of the rich is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; nevertheless. man being in honour, abideth not.

(3) Wişe men likewise die, as well as the foolish and brutish person: and they that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means re deem the soul of his brother; nor give to God a ransom for himself, that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

(c) Heb. 9. 27. (d) Job 14. 5. (e) Eccles. 12.7. 89.48. Ezek. 8.8. (g) Psal. 49. 11, 12. 10,8,9.

(f) Psal. (5) Psal 49.

No

(i) No man is sure of life; but they that are exalted for a little while, are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. Death shall feed on them, and their beauty shall consume in the grave.

(k) Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his There is hope of a place know him any more. tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout out again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; but man lieth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more.

(7) One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh. And the memory of them that are dead is forgotten; also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished. neither have they any more a portion for ever, in any thing that is done under the sun.

(m) Man goeth to his long home, and the about the streets. mourners go

(n) By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men: For in Adam all die.

The SHORTNESS and UNCERTAINTY of this.

LIFE.

(o) Man that is born of a woman is of few days.

(i) Job 24. 22, 24. Psal. 49. 14 (4) Job 14. 10.

7:10 Job 14.7, 12.

Job.

(1) Eccles. 3. 4. Eccles. 9. 5. 6. (•) Job: 1 Cor. 15. 22.

(m) Eccles. 12.5. (n) Rom. 5. 12.

141.

Behold,

(p) Behold, O Lord, thou hast made our days as an hand-breadth; and our age is as nothing before thee.

(9) All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. As for man, his days are as grass: As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. We all do fade as a leaf.

(r) Man fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not; his days are like a shadow that declineth; and there is none abiding.

(s) Our days are swifter than a post. They are passed away as the swift ships. We spend our years as a tale that is told.

(t) Here we have no continuing city, but are strangers and sojourners before the Lord, as were all our fathers. For what is our life! It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

(u) We dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. There is but a step between us and death.

(w) Man also knoweth not his time; but as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them..

64.6.

() Job 9. 25, 26.

29. 15.

Psal. 105. 15, 16.

(r) Job 14. 2. Psal. 102. II.

Isa.

1 Chron. 29. 15.

Psal. 90. 9. (t) Heb. 13. 14. I Cor. (u) Job. 4. 19, 1 Sam. 29.3.

James 4. 14.

(w) Eccl. 9. 12.

One

(*) One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet; his breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure; his days are spent without hope, and the number of his months is cut off in the midst. And another saith to his soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry; and yet that very night his soul shall be required of him.,

(y) All flesh shall perish together. In a moment shall they die; and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.

(*) Lord, make us to know our end, and the measure of our days, what it is; that we may know how frail we are.

The PAIN and TROUBLE he is subject to.

(a) Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.

(b) Though the days of man are few, yet they are full of trouble. Few and evil are the days of the years of our pilgrimage.

(c) All the days of man are sorrows, and his travail grief. His flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

(d) Many evils and troubles continually befal bim. He is liable to all manner of sickness, and all manner of diseases; and through fear of death, he is all his life-time subject to bondage.