John Trapp on Job 7:1

CHAP. VII. Verſe 1. Is there not an appointed time to m[illegible: 1 letter]n upon the earth?]

THere is certainly: Our bounds are preſcribed us; and a pillar ſet by him who beares [illegible: 1 letter]p the heavens, which we are not to tranſpaſſe. Stat ſua cuique dies, (ſaid the He[illegible: 1 letter]then Poet; our laſt day ſtands, the reſt run. It is ſaid of the Turkes,Virg. Aeneid. 10. Sr. H. Blounts Voyage into Levant. Humanae vitae terminus non eſt de[illegible: 1 letter]reto ſimplici & abſoluto [illegible: 1 span] Heming. that they ſhun not the company of thoſe that have the prague, but pointing upon their fore-heads [illegible: 1 letter]ay, it was written there at their birth when they ſhould die. Now if there be an appointed time &c. what meane the Lutherans to teach that God hath not determined the period of mens dayes, but it is in mans power to lengthen or ſhorten them: In this one verſe we have two metaphors, both which do evince the contrary. The [illegible: 1 word] is from ſouldiers, implyed in the word [illegible: 1 word] tranſlated an appointed time, or a warfare, becauſe there was a ſet time for ſouldiers to fight, and a ſet time alſo for them to ſerve. The ſecond is from an [illegible: 1 word].

Are not his dayes alſo like the dayes of an [illegible: 1 word]?] De[illegible: 1 letter]cribit humanae vitae brevitatem, ſaith Vatablus. Here he deſcribeth the ſhortneſſe of mans life, and withall that his dayes are determined, for with an hireling wee agree to worke with us for a certaine time, and uſually for a day, or by the day; and hence we call them day-labourers. It importeth, then that the time of mans life is ſhort and ſet: for hirelings are appointed to an hour. See Job 14.14. Eccleſ. 2.3. John 7.30. Iſa. 38.5. Fifteene yeares juſt were added to Hezekiahs life: our haires are [illegible: 1 word], much more our dayes. This Job alledgeth to ſet forth his own extreme miſery, as one condemned to [illegible: 1 word] torment without any reſpite or refreſhing: and therefore in a worſe caſe then any ſouldier or ſervant.