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a After this Adam knew his Wife; and he begat a Son in his own Likenefs, after his Image. And after he had lived nine hundred and thirty Years, and begat Sons and Daughters, he died.

b And it came to pafs, 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 faved by Water.

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, whofe 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 fcatter them abroad upon the Face of all the Earth.

d Since which time the Lord weakned the Strength of Man, and fhortned his Days.

Gen. 4. 1. Gen. 5. 3, 5, 4.

Gen. 6. 5. Luke 17. 27. Gen. 7. 23.

1 Pet. 3. 20.

47, 8,

b Gen. 6. I, II, S.
Gen. 6. 14, 22.

Gen. 1o. I, Gen, 9, 1. Gen. 11, 19

Pf, 102, 23.

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The PRESENT STATE of MAN by NATURE,

His MORTALITY.

a It is appointed unto Men once to dye. The Days of Man are determined; the number of his Months are with the Lord; He hath appointed his Bounds that he cannot pass.

The Duft fhall return to the Earth as it was; and the Spirit shall return unto God who. gave it.

d What Man is he that liveth and fhall not fee Death? And who fhall 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 Difcharge in that War, neither fhall Wickednefs deliver thofe that are given to it.

e The inward Thought of the rich is, that their Houfes fhall continue for ever, and their Dwelling-places to all Generations: nevertheless, Man being in Honour, abideth not.

f Wife Men likewife dye, as well as the foolifh and brutish Perfon: And they that truft in their Wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their Riches; None of them can by any means redeem the Soul of his Brother; nor give to God a Ranfom for himself, that he fhould ftill live for ever, and not fee Corruption.

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* No Man is fure 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 fhall feed on them, and their Beauty fhall confume in the Grave.

b Man dieth, and wafteth away; yea, Man giveth up the Ghoft, and where is he? He fhall return no more to his House, neither fhall his Place know him any more. There is hope of a Tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout out again, and that the tender Branch thereof will not ceafe; but Man lieth down, and rifeth not till the Heavens be no more.

c One Generation paffeth 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 perifhed; neither have they any more a Portion for ever, in any thing that is done under the Sun.

d Man goeth to his long Home, and the Mourners go about the Streets.

e By one Man Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin, and fo Death paffed upon all Men: For in Adam all dye.

The SHORTNESS and UNCERTAINTY of his LIFE.

f Man that is born of a Woman, is of few Days.

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Job 24. 22, 24. Pf. 49. 14. Job 14. 10. Job 7.10. ·
Job 14, 7, 12.
d Eccl. 12. S.
Job 14. In

Eccl. 1.4. Eccl. 9. 5, 6..
Rom. 5. 12, 1 Cor. 15., 22.

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Beholdi

a Behold, O Lord, thou haft made our Days as an Hand-breadth; and our Age is as nothing before thee.

b All Flesh is as Grafs, and all the Glory of Man as the Flower of Grafs. The Grafs withereth, and the Flower thereof falleth away. As for Man his Days are as Grafs: As a Flower of the Field, fo he flourisheth; for the Wind paffeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof fhall know it no more. We all do fade as a Leaf.

Man fleeth alfo as a Shadow, and continueth not; his Days are like a Shadow that declineth; and there is none abiding.

d Our Days are fwifter than a Poft. They are paffed away as the fwift Ships. We fpend our Years as a Tale that is told.

e 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 vanifheth away.

f We dwell in Houfes of Clay, whofe Foundation is in the Duft,, which are crushed before the Moth. There is but a ftep between us and Death.

and as the fo are the when it

8 Man alfo knoweth not his time: but as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net, Birds that are caught in the Snare, Sons of Men fnared in an evil time, falleth fuddenly upon them.

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a One dieth in his full Strength, being wholly at ease and quiet: His Breafts are full of Milk, and his Bones are moistned with Marrow. Another dieth in the Bitterness of his Soul, and never eateth with Pleafure: His Days are spent without Hope, and the Number of his Months is cut off in the midft. And another faith to his Soul, Soul, thou haft much Goods laid up for many Years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry; and yet, that very Night his Soul fhall be required of him.

b All Flefh fhall perish together. In a moment fhall they dye; and the Mighty fhall be taken away without hand.

c 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 fubject to.

a Man is born unto trouble, as the Sparks fly upwards.

e Tho' the Days of Man are few, yet are they full of trouble. Few and Evil are the Days of the Years of our Pilgrimage.

All the Days of Man are Sorrows, and his Travel Grief. His Flesh upon him fhall have Pain, and his Soul within him fhall mourn.

8 Many Evils and Troubles continually befal bim. He is liable to all manner of Sickness, and all manner of Disease; and, through fear of Death, he is all his life-time subject to Bondage.

*Job 21. 23, 24, 25 Job 7.
Job 34 15, 20.

19, 20.

e

Job 14. 1. Gen 47, 9.

6. Job 21. 21. Luke 12. Pl. 39.4- d a Job s.7 Ecct. 2. 23. Job 14. 220

8 Deut. 31. 17. Mat. 4, 23] Heb. 2. 15.

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