John Trapp on Job 14:1

CHAP. XIIII. Verſe 1. Man that is born of a woman &c.]

Or, THat is born about by a woman in her wombe. Jobs deſign is here to ſet forth the miſery of man (whom in the laſt verſe of the former chapter he had compared 1. To a rotten thing. 2. To a moth-eaten garment) ab exordio ad exodium, from his conception to his diſſolution. Man, Earthly man, that is born of a woman, Gen. 3.16. or manneſſe that weaker veſſel, who both breedeth, beareth, and bringeth forth in partu doloroſa, poſt partum laborioſa, every way calamitous: neither is her babe in a better condition, but born with a croſs on his back (as it is ſtoried of Frederick the Elector of Saxony) and having his whole life over-ſpread with ſins and miſeries,Job. Manl. los. com[illegible: 1 letter] as with a filthy morphew.

Is of few dayes] Heb. ſhort of dayes. Short indeed, every thing reckoned: For 1. Child-hood and youth are vanity. 2. Sleep, as a publican, takes off a third part of our time. 3. All the dayes of the afflicted are evil, and M[illegible: 4 letters] [illegible: 1 letter]abet vicer quae trabitur vit[illegible: 1 letter] gemitibus; it is not a life, but a death rather that is ſpent in ſorrow:Aug. de civ. Dei lib. 9. c. 10. in which regard Plotinus the Philoſopher held mortality a mercy, that we may not alwaies be held under the miſeries of this life preſent. 4. Scarce one of a thouſand live that little time that they are here, but wofully waſte the flower of their age, the ſtrength of their bodies, the vigour of their ſpirits in ſinful pleaſures, and ſenſual delights; and then either ſit and ſing all too late and in vain, O mihi praterites ref[illegible: 1 letter]rat ſi Juppiter ann[illegible: 1 letter]s!

Or elſe complain with old Themistocles, that now they muſt die when they do but begin only to be wiſe: the life of a wicked man runneth out, as the ſand in an hourglaſſe that doth little good: He conſidereth not that upon this little point of time hangs the crown of eternity; and that the very next moment, he may be cut off from all poſſibility of repentance, acceptation and grace for ever. Hence his many troubles here: all which are but typical of thoſe hereafter; beſides the fear of death, which maketh him all his life time ſubject to bondage, Heb. 2.15. It were much to bee wiſhed that men would conſider their time is ſhort, their taske long, and that therefore they ſhould uſe all ſpeed and diligence; leſt (ſo as children have uſually torn their books) they have ended their lives before they have learned their leſſons.

And full of trouble] Or, of indignation, commotion, perturbation. Thoſe three vultures, Fear, Anger, Griefe, are frequently feeding upon his heart whiles he is in this world; and like a ſhip in a ſtorm, he is toſſed much, but ſaileth little or nothing. Few and evil are the dayes of my pilgrimage, ſaith good old Jacob, Gen. 47.9.Th[illegible: 1 letter]tis ap. Hom. Iliad. And ſhe in the Poet could ſay as much of her ſon Achilles.

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