Mene, God hath numbred thy Kingdom, and finifh'd it; Tekel, thou art weighed in the Balance, and art found wanting; Perez or Upharfin, Thy Kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Perfians. As foon as this great Monarch had caft his Eyes upon this miraculous Writing, it is faid, that his Countenance was chang'd, and his Thoughts troubled him, fo that the Joints of his Loins were loofed, and his Knees fmote one against another. Certainly, the proud Worldling has a greater Caufe to be difmay'd in the midst of his Glory and Pleasures, when he may perceive Death writing upon every Wall of his Houfe invifible Characters, and printing upon his Forehead, that God hath numbred his Days, and this in which he now breaths, fhall be foon followed by an eternal Night; that God hath weighed him in the Balance of his Justice, and found him as light as the Wind; and that the Almighty Creator, unto whom Vengeance belongs, will foon diveft him of all his Glory and Riches, to cloath therewith his Enemies. What Comforts can be found for the wretched Sinners, who do not only understand their final Sentence, but also hear the thundering Voice of the great Judge of the World exafperated by their Impieties? They may now perceive Hell prepared to fwallow them up, and the fiery Chains of that doleful Prifon ready to embrace them. They may at prefent feel the Hands of the Executioner of divine Juftice, that feizeth upon them already, and fee themselves before ftretcht and tortur'd in that Place, where there fhall be nothing but weeping and horrible gnashing of Teeth. At prefent they may feel the fierce Approaches of that Fire and Brimftone which is the second Death; for it may juftly be faid of these wretched Varlets, That Hell comes to them before they go to Hell; and that in this Life they have a Pre-fentiment of the grievous Pangs of their future Torments. Therefore fome of them in Despair, offer Violence to themselves, and commit an horrid Murder upon their own Perfons, as if they were afraid not to die by a Hand wicked enough. The Expectation

of

of Death to them, is more fufferable than Death it felf, and they had rather caft themselves into the bottomless Pit of Hell, than endure the Apprehenfions and Fears of Hell in their guilty Confciences; and, to be deliver'd of the Flashes of Hell-fire, and mount up their Souls in this Life, they caft themfelves in a brutish Manner into that unquenchable Burning.

That which is moft terrible is, that the horrid and infufferable Fears that feize upon the Wicked, are not short and tranfitory; for as a Criminal that knows there is a Sentence of Death pronounc'd against him, continually thinks upon thofe Torments that are preparing for him, as foon as he hears the Door unlocking, or a Fly buzzing about his Ears, he imagines that fome are entring to drag him from his Prifon to Execution. In fome Senfe, he defires what he appre hends, and haftens the Approaches of that, which he wishes, and cannot avoid. Thus defperate Sinners, that know there is a Sentence of eternal Death proclaimed against them in the Court of the King of Kings, and that from this Sentence there is no Appeal nor Escape, must needs be in continual Fears. Such forcfee the fearful Image of Death that disturbs their Quiet, and, as St. Paul expreffeth himself, Through Fear of Death, they are all their Life-time fubject to Bondage, Heb. ii. 15. That is, they are all like fo many wretched Slaves that daily tremble under the inhuman Power of a merciless Tyrant.

I know that there be fome Athiefts who talk of Death with Contempt or Scorn, and who make an open Profeffion of braving Death without the leaft Senfe of Fear; nevertheless, they feel in their Souls fome fecret Thorns, with which Death often gauls them; fome Fears and Apprehenfions, with which it tortures and difquiets them when they dream leaft of her. It is true, they, for the most part, boast of not fearing the Approaches of Death, and laugh at it when they imagine that fhe is at a distance from them;

but

but these are they who are moft apt to tremble at the near and grim Countenance of Death, and fooneft discover their Weakness and Despair.

If there be any that feem to laugh at Death, their Laughter is only in Appearance upon the Lips. They are like a Child newly born, that feems to fmile when 'tis inwardly tormented in the Bowels; or like those that eat of the famous Herb mentioned by the Herbalifts, which causeth a pleasant Laughter to appear upon the Lips of fuch, into whose noble Parts it conveys a mortal Poyfon that kills them.

There be fome, I confefs, that die without any Concern; but these are either brutifh or fenfeless Perfons, much like unto a fleeping Drunkard, who may be caft down a Precipice, without any Knowledge or Forefight of the Danger; or they be pleasant Mockers, who are like the foolish Criminals that go merrily to the Gallows; or they be fuch as are full of Rage and Fury, whom I may very well compare to an enrag'd wild Boar, that runs himself into the Huntsman's Snare: Such Monsters of Men deferve not to be reckoned amongst rational and understanding Creatures.

CHA P. II.

That in all the Heathen Philofophy, is there no folid and true Comforts against the Fears and Apprehenfions of Death.

T

Here are certain Empyricks that seem at the first Difcourfe to be very well fkill'd in their Art, that talk of Difcafes, and of their Caufes most learnedly and acutely; and nevertheless, in their Practice

they

they are both unhappy and ignorant. Their unfeafonable Learning disturbs the Patient more than their Phyfick eases him; and increases the Sufferings of the languishing Body. These kind of Phyficians very well defcribe to us, in this particular, the Properties of the Heathen Philofophers. For when they reprefent the Calamities of our human Condition, they fharpen their Wits, and difcover all their Skill and Rhetorick. Some of them laugh ingenioufly at our Miferies, others artificially weep to behold them. But in all their Writings and tragick Expreffions, we find not any folid and fincere Comforts to ftrengthen us against the Apprehenfions of Death. Therefore their contemptible and vain Fancies oblige us to tell them, as Job his troublesome Friends, Your Remembrances are like unto Afbes, your Bodies to Bodies of Clay, Job. xiii. 'Tis true, fome of these learned Philofophers have very well spoken, that we begin to die as foon as we begin to breathe, that our Life is like unto a Candle that lives by its Confumption, whereof the Flame devours and confumes it. For the natural Heat that entertains our Life, infenfibly undermines it; 'tis that which spends our radical Moisture, that yields the fame Benefits to our Life, as Oyl to a Lamp, or Wax to a Taper.

Others have as well faid, that our present Life is but a fwift Race from one Mother to another. They meant from the Womb of our Mothers that brought us into the World, into the Womb and Bofom of the Earth that will receive us at laft. For as foon as we are born, we run a fwift Race towards our Grave. At that inftant when we fly from Death, we approach infenfibly towards it, and, contrary to our Intention, we caft our felves into its Embraces. Some of the fame School have compared Man to a Bubble upon the Water, that rifes and fwells, and immediately decreases and breaks. Others make him like unto the waterish Bottles of divers Colours, that Children blow with their Breath, and deftroy with the fame. In Truth, all Man's Beau

ty

ty is but a vain Appearance that vanishes away in an Inftant; Ifai. xl. All Flefb is like Grafs, and all the Glory of Man like the Flower in the Field, 1 Pet. i.

One of these great Philofophers being afk'd what the Life of Man was, anfwered never a Word, becaufe fuch a Question deferv'd none, or rather because he would imitate the Cuftom of his Age, of speaking by guefs, and fymbolick Representations. For that Purpose he entred into a Chamber, and pafs'd out again at the fame Inftant, to fignifie to his Difciples that questioned him, how that Man's Life is but an Entrance in, and an Egrefs out of the World; the one fucceeds immediately the other.

Another of the fame Sect walk'd in a Bravado two or three Turns, and then fhrunk into a Pit, to fhew that our Life is but a kind of Masquerade, a vain Appearance, that foon vanifhes: when Men have well admired themselves in their Splendor, and have drawn to them the Looks and Efteem of the World, Death furprises them, and spoils all their Luftre, and covers their borrow'd Glory in a mournful Grave. "Tis with us as with Actors in a Comedy, the one reprefents a King, the other an Emperor; the one a Counsellor, the other a Minifter of State; but when a Comedy is ended, and the Garments chang'd, you know not which is which. We are like Counters upon a Table, fome fignifie Units, others Tens, others Hundreds, and others Thousands and Millions; but when they are fhuffled together and put again into the Purse, the vaft Difference appears no more. This is a lively Image of all Mankind; for in this Life fome appear upon a Throne, others are feated upon a Dunghil; fome flourish in Golden and Silken Attire, others are cloathed with Nakedness; fome command as Princes, others fubmit as Gally-Slaves; fome are fed with exquifite Dainties, others must be content with the Bread of Affliction. But when Death hath caft them all into their Graves together, then they appear without any Diftinction.

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