John Trapp on Job 4:19

Verſe 19. How much leſſe in them that dwell in houſes of clay] Or how much more (in reference to the latter part of the preceding verſe) may God charge men with folly and pravity? And how much more ought he to acknowledge, that hee cannot ſubſiſt nor ſtand before Gods judgment (as verſe 17) but only by his gracious pardon and abſolution?

That dwell in houſes of clay] Periphraſis eſt hominum, ſaith Mercer: this is a deſcription of men, as oppoſed to Angels, thoſe inhabitants of heaven, called therefore the Angels of Heaven, Matth. 24.36. Gal. 1.8. the courtiers of that heavenly Jeruſalem, Heb. 12.22. in and with which, it may ſeem, they were created: as Chriſts ſoule was in and with his body in the virgins womb, the ſame moment. Hence they are alſo ſaid to be in heaven, when as men and other things here below are ſaid to bee on earth, Matth. 6.10. on the ſurface only, as ready to bee ſhaken off, and as having here no continuing City, Heb. 13.14. no manſions till they come to heaven, John 14.2. no ſetled abode: ſome huts we have here, rather then houſes; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. clayie cottages, earthy tabernacles, as Paul after Plato calleth mens bodies, 2 Cor. 5.1. And ſo the moſt interpreters underſtand theſe words of Eliphaz concerning the body of man (rather then of his houſe he dwells in here, made up of clay and duſt a little refined and ſublimated by art or nature) which is nothing elſe but a clod of clay neatly made up. What is man (ſaith Greg. Nazianzen out of Gen. 2.7. but [non-Latin text not transcribed], [non-Latin text not transcribed] cinis. Gen. 3.19. Gen. 18.21. Hor. Carm. l. 4. Od. 7. ſoule and ſoile, breath and body, a puffe of wind the one, a pile of duſt the other? no ſolidity in either. Pulvis & umbra ſumus, ſaith the Poet, and [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith the Greeke Proverb. Man is but an earthen pot. The firſt man, Adam, was of the earth earthy, 1 Cor. 15.47. And no better are the beſt, quos ex meliore forſan luto finxit Titan, who are made of the fineſt common mould: but as the finer the metall, the purer the matter of any glaſſe or earthen veſſel, the more ſubject it is to break; ſo are they to die: for why?

Their foundation is in the duſt] The houſe is but weak, and yet the foundation weaker, terra friabilis, flying, light, unſtable, unmoveable, duſt that is ſoone wherried and whirled about with every puffe of wind. Hence the Apoſtle calleth mans body not an houſe only (in reſpect of 1. the comely and orderly workmanſhip thereof. 2. The ſoule which inhabiteth it) but a tabernacle which hath no foundation, and is tranſportative, 2 Cor. 5.1. oppoſing to it building, which is firm and ſtable. Hence David, Omnis Adam eſt totus Abel, ſaith hee. Verily every man in his beſt eſtate (when he is beſt founded and ſetled on his beſt bottome, when he is under-layd on all ſides, and ſeemes ſet to live) is altogether vanity, Pſal. 39.5, 12. So Pſal. 144.4. Adam is Abels compeere, or man is like to vanity; what can he be better, when as

They are cruſhed before the moth] He ſaith not, before the Lion, but before the moth. Now what a poor thing is man, that a moth may cruſh him, that a flie may choak him, as it did Pope Alexander; that a light bruiſe on his toe may kill him, as it did Aemilius Lepidus; Plin. lib. 7. cap. 53. that a poiſoned torch may light him to his long home, as it did the Cardinall of Lorrain? I have known, ſaith one, death admitted in by a corn on the toe; and though the hurt were ſo farre off the heart, yet the man died upon it.Purchas. Another I knew, who ſeeming to have conquered the elements, the wide Ocean, wilde wildernſſe, wilder beaſts, wildeſt men, hotteſt climates; after ſixteen yeares abſence, returned home, and died of an hurt in his thumb. Mr. Terry a great traveller, telleth of a Noble man in the great Mogols Court, who ſitting in dalliance with one of his women, had an haire pluckt by her from his breſt; this little wound,Lawl. liberty in a Serm. at Pauls by Edm. Terry. p. 21. made by that ſmall and unexpected inſtrument of death, preſently feſtered; and turning to an incurable Canker, killed him. God needs no bigger a launce then an hair to kill an Atheiſt, as this dying man acknowledged. But beſides all ill accidents and caſualties from without; look how the garment breeds the moth, and then the moth eates the garment: ſo mans own diſtempered body breeds ill humors,The New-lander cure. pag. 23. they diſeaſes, and theſe breed death, as one well obſerveth upon this Text. It is holden for certain, that in every two yeares, there is ſuch ſtore of ill humours and excrements ingendred in the body, that a veſſel of one hundred ounces will ſcarce containe them. Ipſa ſuis augment is vita ad detrimenta impellitur. ſaith Gregory, & inde deficit unde proficere creditur. Life weareth out by the very meat that maintaineth it; and every man hath his bane about him.