John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 3:1

CHAP. III. Verſ. 1. To every thing there is a ſeaſon.

A Set time, ſuch as we can neither alter nor order. This is one of thoſe keys that God carries under his own girdle, Act. 1.7. To ſeek, to doe or get any thing before the time, is to pull apples before they are ripe, ſaith a Father, which ſet the teeth on edge,Fom[illegible: 1 letter] importuni tempore decerpunt. Tertul. and breed ſtomack-worms. They labour in vain that would prevent the time prefixed by God, as thoſe haſty Ephraimites in Aegypt, 1 Chron. 7.22. with Pſal. 78.9. thoſe heady Iſraelites in the Wilderneſs, Numb. 14.40. Moſes would be acting the Judge before his time, Exod. 2.12. he is therefore ſent to keep ſheep in Midian, verſ. 15. David ſtaid Gods leiſure for the Kingdom; thoſe in Eſther, for deliverance, they knew that God would keep his day exactly, as he did with the Iſraelites in Aegypt, Exod. 12.40, 41. Ev[illegible: 1 letter]n the ſelf-ſame day, when the four hundred and thirty years fore-told were expired, Gods people were thruſt out of Aegypt. So Dan. 5.30. In that night was Belſhazzar ſlain; becauſe then exactly the ſeventy years were ended. And as God fails not his own time, ſo he ſeldome comes at ours, J[illegible: 1 letter]r. 8.20. for he loves not to be limited. We are ſhort-breath'd, ſhort-ſighted, apt to antedate the promiſes in regard of the accompliſhment, Hab. 2.2. And no leſs apt to out-ſtand our own markets, to let ſlip opportunities of grace, which are ever head-long, and (once paſt) irrecoverable. O if thou hadſt known at the leaſt in this thy day,Heb. 2.3. Pſal. 32.6 &c. How ſhall we eſcape, if we neglect ſo great ſalvation? Therefore ſhall every one that is godly ſeek thee in a time when thou mayſt be found. There is a certain time ſet for men to come in and be ſaved; as Alexander ſet up a Taper, when he beſieged a Town: as Tamerlan hang'd out firſt a white flag, and then a red. Many a man loſeth his ſoul as Saul did his Kingdome, by not diſcerning his time. Eſau came too late: ſo did the fooliſh Virgins. If the gate of grace be over-paſt, the gate ſhut, the draw-bridge taken up, there is no poſſibility of entrance.Heb. 4.1 [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Let us therefore fear leſt a promiſe being left us, and an overture made us of entring into Gods reſt, any of us ſhould ſeem to fall ſhort, or come late, a day after the fair, an hour after the feaſt. God, who in his eternal Counſel hath appointed things to be done, hath alſo ordained the opportunity and time wherein each thing ſhould bee done; which to neglect is ſuch a preſumption, as hee uſually puniſheth with final hardning, Ezek. 24.13.