a 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.

b 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.

c 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.

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

Gen. 4. 1. Gen. 5. 3, 5, 4. b Gen. 6. 1, 11, 5. Gen. 6. 5. Luke 17. 27. Gen. 7. 23. Gen. 6. 14, 22. 1 Pet. 3. 20, Gen. 10. I, Gen, 9, 1. Gen. II, 19 47, 8,

Pf. 102, 23.

The PRESENT STATE of MAN by NATURE, His MORTALITY.

• 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 Dust shall 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 shall not fee 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 Wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

e • 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.

f Wife Men likewise dye, 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 redeem the Soul of his Brother; nor give to God a Ransom for himself, that he should ftill live for ever, and not fee Corruption.

• 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 confume in the Grave.

b 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 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 cease; but Man lieth down, and riseth not till the Heavens be no more,

• 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.

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 so Death passed 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.

!

a Behold, O Lord, thou hast 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 Grass: As a Flower of the Field, fo he flourisheth; for the Wind paffeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. We all do fade as a Leaf.

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

d Our Days are swifter than a Post. They are paffed away as the swift Ships. We spend our Years as a Tale that is told.

• 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.

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

8 Man alfo 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 fuddenly upon them.

Pf. 39. 5.

b 1 Pet. 1. 24. Pf. 105.15, 16.

Job 14 2. Pf. 102 11. 1 Chr. 29. 15.

11. 64. 6. a Job 9.

a One dieth in his full Strength, being wholly at ease and quiet: His Breasts are full of Milk, and his Bones are moistned 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 faith 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.

b All Flesh shall perish together. In a moment shall they dye; 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.

d 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 shall have Pain, and his Soul within him thall mourn.

& Many Evils and Troubles continually befal him. 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. 6. Job 21. 21. Luke 12. 19, 20. Job 34. 15,20. Pl. 39.4d Job s. 7 Job 14. 1. Gen 47, 9. Eccl. 2. 23. Job 14. 22. Deut. 31, 17. Mat. 4. 23.) Hcb. 2. 15.

• All