John Trapp on Job 4:21

Verſe 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?] Journyeth not their excellency with them? ſo Broughton rendreth it. By their excellency here, ſome underſtand the ſoule, called by David his glory. A Philoſopher ſaid,Favorium. there was nothing excellent in the world but man, nothing in man but his ſoul. The Stoicks affirmed, that the body was not a part of a man, but the inſtrument, or rather, the ſervant of the ſoul. Hence the Latines call the body Corpus or Corpor (as of old they ſpeak) quaſi cordis puer ſive famulus. And Plato ſaith,Camer. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. that that is not the man that is ſeen of him; but the mind of a man, that's the man. And in the 19 verſe of this chap. man is ſaid to dwell in an houſe of clay; that is, the ſoul to inhabit the body. The ſoul goes away with the name of the whole perſon: the ſoul indeed is the man in a morall conſideration, and is therefore elſewhere called the inward man, 2 Cor. 4.16. 1 Pet. 3.4. and the hidden man of the heart: the body compared to it, is but as a clay-wall encompaſſing a treaſure, a courſe caſe to a rich inſtrument, a leathern ſheath to an excellent blade, Dan. 7.15. or as a mask to a beautiful [illegible: 1 word]. Now at death, this excellency of a man departeth, returneth to God that gave it, Ecleſiaſ [illegible: 1 letter].7. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts periſh; even the moſt excellent effects of his mind and ſpirit, as the word ſignifieth, Pſal. 146.4 And as that, ſo all other excellencies go away at death, Pſal. 39.11. and 49.13. even the whole goodlineſſe of man, Iſa. 40.6. whether it be the good things of the mind, as wiſedome, ſcience, conſcience, judgment: or of the body, as beauty and health; or of fortune (as they call it) as favour and applauſe, together with plenty of proſperity. No mans glory goeth down with him into the grave, Pſal. 49.16. Where is now the flouriſhing beauty, and gallantry of Caeſar, ſaith one? his armies and honours, his triumphs and trophies? where are the rich fools great barnes? Nebuchadnezzars great Babel? Agrippa's great pomp &c? Have not all theſe made their bed in the dark, leaving their excellency behind them? Are they not (many of them) gone to their place, as a ſtone to the center, or as a foole to the ſtocks?

They dye even without wiſdome] Heb. They die, and not with wiſedome; They die like ſo many beaſts (but for their pillow and bolſter) without any care to lay hold on eternall life;1 Sam. 3.33. they die as a fool dieth. Not in wiſedome; that is, in abundance of folly, ſaith Pineda: and this is moſt mens caſe; their wit ſerves them not in this weighty work of preparing to die; they put farre away the thoughts of it, and hence they die tempore non ſuo, Eccleſ 7.17. when it were better for them to do any thing, rather then to die. To live with dying thoughts, is an high point of heavenly wiſedome, Pſal. 90.12. Deut. 32.29. How might one ſuch wiſe Chriſtian chaſe a thouſand fooliſh and hurtfull luſts,1 Tim. 6.4. which drowne mens ſoules in perdition and deſtruction?