John Trapp on Job 4:20

Verſe 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening] Heb. They are beaten to pieces, as in a mortar, with one ſorrow upon another, till the very breath be beaten out of their bodies at length; and all this from morning to evening, all the day long, or all their life long,Per totum diem. Druſ. which is here ſet forth (for the brevity of it) by an artificial day, and ſuch alſo as no man can be ſure he ſhall have twelve hours to his day: for how many are there whoſe Sun hath ſet at high-noon? in the prime and pride of their dayes, have they been ſuddenly ſnatcht away by the hand of death: yea, how many ſee we whoſe ſun ſetteth in the very riſing, ſo that they are carried from the birth to the buriall? Every houre, ſurely, we all yield ſomewhat unto death, and a very ſhort cut hath the longeſt liver of all, from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave. Eliphaz here ſeemeth to compare us to thoſe creatures called Ephemer[illegible: 1 letter]bii, which are young in the morning, middle-aged at non,Ariſtot. and dead [illegible: 1 word] night; they begin and end their lives in a day. Mans life is a vapour, ſaith St. James, a bubble, ſay the Heathens, a blaſt, a dream, a ſhadow, a dreame of a ſhadow &c.

They periſh for ever] That is, they die once for all. For if a man die, ſhall hee live againe? Job 14.14. No ſuch matter. In this warre as there is no diſcharge, Eccleſ. 8.8. ſo neither is it granted to any man to erre twice: therefore Austin ſaid that he would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an Atheiſt for halfe an hour: becauſe he knew not but God might in that time call for him, and cu[illegible: 1 letter] him off from all time of repentance, acceptation and grace for ever, ſince he could die but once onely, and after death judgment: every mans deaths-day is his doomes-day, Heb. 9.27.

Without any regarding it] Heb. putting ſc. his heart to it, or laying it upon his heart, as every man living ſhould do, Eccleſ. 7.2. but that few or none ſo do. See Iſa. 57.1. David did, when hearing of his childs deceaſe, he ſaid, I ſhall go to him, 2 Sam. 12.23. And Moſes ſeeing the peoples carcaſſes fall ſo faſt in the wilderneſſe, prayed for himſelf and the reſt, So teach us to number our dayes, that wee may apply our hearts to wiſedome, Pſal. 90.12. Every dead corps is a Monitor, a dumb preacher: Etiam muta clamant cadavera. Abel, though dead, ſpeaketh; but how few hearken to him? Dives thought that if one came from the dead to fore-warn his brethren, great matters would be done. Petrus Sutorius telleth of one, that preaching a funerall Sermon on a religious man, as he calleth him, and giving him large commendations, heard at the ſame time a voice in the Church, Mortuus ſum, judicatus ſum, damnatus ſum, I am dead, I am judged, I am damned.Pet. Sutor. de vita Carth. This very much wrought upon the heart of Bruno, ſaith he, and occaſioned him to found the Carthuſian order. Waldus a French Merchant, was ſo affected with the death of one that died ſuddenly in his preſence, that he thenceforth became a right godly man, and the Father of the Waldenſes, thoſe ancient Proteſtants in France, called alſo, The poor men of Lions. But oh the dead lethargy, the ſpirit of fornication that hath ſo beſotted the minds of the moſt, that they can ſee death, and yet not think of it! they can look into the dark chamber of the grave, and never make the leaſt preparation for it: if for preſent they be ſomewhat affected, and have ſome good impreſſions, yet they ſoon vaniſh, as the water circled by a ſtone caſt into it, ſoone returns to its former ſmoothneſſe; as chickens run under the wings of the hen, whiles the kite is over them, or in a ſtorm; but ſoon after get abroad againe, amd duſt themſelves in the Sun. As Nebuchadnezzar had ſeen a viſion, but it was gone from him; ſo here, if men at the houſe of mourning have [illegible: 1 letter]ome good motions, they improve them not to reſolutions, or draw not forth their reſolutions into execution &c.