Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_624.TXT

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dosing iniquity, transgression,. and sin: they should
remember him under this character, as a Creator, who
has made them, and not they themselves; that they
are made by him out of the dust of the earth, and
must return to it; that he has brought them into
being, and preserved them in it, and favoured them
with the blessings of his providence, which are all
from him that has made them': and they should re-
member the end for which they are made, to glorit
him; and in what state man was originally made, u
right, pure, and holy; but that he now is a fallen crea-
ture, and such are they, impure and .u,,nrighteous, im-
potent and weak, abominable in the sight of God, un-
worthy to live, and unfit to die; being transgressors
of the laws of their Creator, which is deserving of
death: they should remember what God their Crea-
tors, Father, Son, and Spirit, must have done or must
do for them, if ever they are saved; the Father must
have chosen them in Christ unto salvation; must have
given his Son to redeem, and must send his Spirit into
their hearts to create them anew; the Son must have
been surety for them, assumed their nature, and died
in their room and stead; and the Spirit must regene-
rate and make them new creatures, enlighten their
minds, quicken their souls, and sanctify their hearts:
they should remember the right their Creator has over
them, the obligations they are under to him, and
their duty to him; they should remember, with thank-
fulness, the fayours they have received from him, and,
with reverence and humility, the distance between
him, as Creator, and them as creatures: they should
remember to love him cordially and sincerely; to fear
him with a godly fear; to worship him in a spiritual
manner; to set hiim always before them, and never for-
get him. And all this they should do in the days
their youth; which are their best and choicest day
in which to serve him is most desirable by him,
acceptable to him; who ordered the first of the ripe
fruits and creatures of the first year to be offered to him:
and then are men best able to serve him, when their
bodies are healthful, strong, and. vigorous; their senses
quick, and the powers and faculties of their souls
capable of being improved and enlarged: and to delay
the service of him to old age, as it would be very un-
grateful and exceeding improper, so no man can be
sure of arriving to it; and if he should, yet what
follows is enough to determine against such a delay.
While the evil days come not; meaning the days of old
age; said to be evil, not with respect to the evil of
fault or sin; so all days are evil, or sin is committed
in every age, in infancy, in childhood, in youth, in
manhood, as well as in old age: but with respect to
the evil of affliction and trouble which attend it, as
various diseases; yea, that itself is a disease, and an
incurable one; much weakness of body, decay of
intellects, and many other things, which render life
very troublesome and uncomfortable {}, as well as unfit
for religious services. Nor the years draw nigh, when
thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them; that is, cor-
poreal pleasure; no sensual pleasure; sight, taste, and
hearing, being lost, or in a great measure gone; which
was Barzillai's case, at eighty years of age: though
some ancient persons have their senses quick and
vigorous, and scarce perceive any difference between
youth and age; but such instances are not common:
and there are also some things that ancient persons take
pleasure in, as in fields and gardens, and the culture of
them, as Cicero d observes; and particularly learned
men take as much delight in their studies in old age
as in youth, and in instructing others; and, as the
same writer {} says, "what is more pleasant than to
"see an old man, artended and encircled with youth,
"at their studies under him ?. and especially a good
man, iu old age, has pleasure in reflecting on a life
spent in the ways, work, and worship of God; and in
having had, through the grace of God, his conversation
in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity; as also
in present communion with God, and in the hopes and
views of the glories of another world: but if not re-
ligious persons, they are strangers to spiritual plea-
sure, which only is to be had in wisdom's ways; such
can neither look back with pleasure on a life spent in
sin; nor forward with pleasure, at death and eternity,
and into another world; see o. Sam. xix. 35. Psal.
XC. 10.
Ver. 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or
the stars, be not darkened, &c.] The wise man proceeds
to describe the infirmities of old age, and the troubles
that attend-it; in order to engage young men to regard
God and religion, before these come upon them, which
greatly unfit for his service. This the Targum and Mi-
d rash, and, after them, Jarchi, interpret of the sp{end our
of the countenance Of man, of the light of his eyes.
and the beauty of his cheeks, and other parts of iris
face; which decrease and go off at old age, and pale-
ness and wrinkles succeed: and others of the adver-
sities and calamities which attend persons at such
years; which are sometimes in Scripture signified by
the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, Isa. xiii.
]0. but some choose to understand this, more literally,
of the dimness of sight in old men; by whom the light
of the sun, moon, and stars, is scarcely discerned: but
as this infirmity is afterwards described, I rather think.
with others, that by the sun, light, and moon, are
meant the superior and inferior faculties of the soul.
the understanding, mind, judgment, will, and affec-
tions; and, by the stars, those bright notions and ideas
raised in the fancy and imagination, and fixed in the
memory; all which are greatly impaired or lost in old
age: so Alshech interprets the sun and moon bf the
soul and spirit, and the stars of the senses; light is not
in the Syriac version. Nor the clouds return after the
rain; which some understand of catarrhs, defiuxions.
and rheums, flowing at the eyes, nose, and mouth.
one after another, which frequently attend, and are
very troublesome to persons in years; but may be
more generally applied tothe perpetual succession of
evils, afflictions, and disorders, in old age; as soon as
one is got over, another follows, billow after billow;
or, like showers in April, as soon as one is gone, another


{c} Plautus in Aulular. Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 4. Menaechm. Act. 5. Sc. 2.
v. 6. calls old age mala astas; and the winter of old age, Trinummus,
Act. 2. Sc. 3. v. 7.  And Pindar, \~ghrav oulomenon\~ Plth. Ode 10. so
Theognis, v. 272, 776, 1006. And Homer, \~ghrav lutrov\~, Iliad. 10. v. 79.
& 23. v. 644. Tristis senectus, Virgil. AEneid. 6.
{d} De Senectute, c. 14, 15, 16.
{e} lbid. c. 8.