A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;
Ver. 2. There is a time to be born, and a time to die]. We do not hear the wise man say, There is a time to live. What is more fleeting than time? yet life is not long enough to be worthy the title of time. Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in our grave. Orimur, morimur. we spring forth, we die.
“ Multos ostendunt terris bona faeta, nec ultra
Esse sinunt … Finisque ab origine pendet. ”
How many have we seen carried from the womb to the tomb; a from the birth to the burial! And what a short cut hath the longest liver from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave! Men chop into the earth before they are aware many times; like as he that walks in a field covered with snow falls suddenly into a clay pit.
A time to plant, &c.] In point of good husbandry fit seasons are to be observed, or else little increase can be expected. God also, the great vinedresser, plants and plucks up more churches or particular persons at his pleasure. Isa 5:1-8 Mat 15:13 Jerusalem, that plant of renown, is now of an Eden become a Sodom, and that which Moses threatened Deu 28:49-57 is fulfilled to the utmost. Susa in Persia signifies a lily, and was so called for the beauty and delectable sight; now it is called Valdac, of the poverty of the place. Nineveh, that great city, that once had more people within her walls than are now in some one kingdom, is at this day become a sepulture of itself, a little town of small trade, where the patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his seat at the devotion of the Turks.
“ Roma diu titubans variis erroribus acta
Corruet, et mundi definet esse caput. ” b
a Ab utero ab urnam.
b Frid. secund. Imper.