Wesley Corpus

Chapter XIV Man's life is but short, sorrowful, and sinful; on which consideration he pleads for mercy, ver, 1 - 6. Other creatures revive, but man does not, ver. 7 - 12. Various wishes and complaints, ver. 13 - 22. Man - A weak creature, and withal corrupt and sinful, and of that sex by which sin and all other calamity was brought into the world. Flower - The flower is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost in the shadows of night. Of neither do we make any account, in neither do we put any confidence. Not one - No man. This is the prerogative of thy grace, which therefore I humbly implore. Determined - Limited to a certain period. With thee - In thy power and disposal. Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life. Turn - Withdraw thine afflicting hand from him, that he may have some present ease. 'Till - He come to the period of his life, which thou hast allotted to him, as a man appoints a set time to an hired servant. Die - To outward appearance. Scent - By means of water. Scent or smell, is figuratively ascribed to a tree. Man - Two words are here used for man. Geber, a mighty man, tho' mighty, dies. Adam, a man of earth, returns to it. Before death, he is dying daily, continually wasting away. In death, he giveth up the ghost, the spirit returns to God that gave it. After death, where is he Not where he was: his place knows him no more. But is he nowhere Yes, he is gone to the world of spirits, gone into eternity, gone, never to return to this world! As - So it is with man. Or thus, as when the waters fail from the sea, when the sea forsakes the place into which it used to flow, the river which was fed by it, decayeth and drieth up without all hopes of recovery. Lieth - In his bed, the grave. 'Till - Until the time of the general resurrection, when these visible heavens shall pass away. The grave - The grave is not only a resting - place, but an hiding - place to the children of God.