Sorts That so we may be thâ— more willing to quit the Stage and after the heat and toil of a tedious day to refresh our selves in the shades oâ— Death What a deep Tragedy now iâ— Life which begins and ends in miserie I now no longer wonder at Isis for saying in his Sacred book that thâ— Souls were all in Sadness when they understood they were Condemned tâ— enter Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies he And Camephes thus describes their complaint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. What have we poor Creatures done amiss to deserve this punishment to minister to a cold and humed Body Our Eyes shall no longer see the divine Souls since they are now streightned within little Orbs and Humours But as often as we shall look up to our Native Heaven we shall figh and sometimes we shall not be able to see so much as that For we poor Creatures are condemn'd neither have we an absolute power of sight but dependent upon the Light of the Sun Distance of place intercepts our sight and we shall hear our cognate souâ—s pittifully sighing in the air for want of our company Now we are no company for them Now instead of the high Arch of Heaven our house must be the narrow compass of an heart O if any one would loose us from what to what would he translate us But thou O Lord Father and Creator who so easily neglects thy workmanship set us some bounds and vouchsafe to converse with us tho never so little while we are here below The souls Petitioned Death as a solace of life and since 't was their doom to live in the body at least at length to die Next to not living at all nothing was more desirable then to die speedily So far is Death more eligible then life There is not one part of life desirable to a considering person because there is not one part free from sorrow and dissatisfaction And therefore as a Traveller tired with going up a rough and steep Hill is forc'd to stand still many times to recruit and take breath that he may with the more ease perform the remainder of his journey So the Pilgrim-Soul in this rough and uneven Life wants the rest and pause of Death whence she may gather a new supply of strength for the progress of Eternity Our jaded Life will not carry us through in one continued course to Immortality Such along journey cannot be perform'd without resting by the way The Grave is our Inn from thence we set out for Immortality Neither indeed can we stay so long till the pause of Death We must have many intervals of rest as wearied Travailers which bait oft by the way and and defer not their refreshments till they take up for all night The importunity of our labours troubles compel us to stop upon the Road before we take up our quarters in the Grave What else are the constant returns of Sleep but the pause and reparation of wearied and languishing life So much is Death better than Life that our Life is sustain'd by Deaths Our Immortality depends upon Death and our state of Mortality upon Sleep the Image and Shadow of it Now to compare Death with Life If that be the repast of this it will consequently be pleasant Or altho it be not Sweet in it self yet the trouble of Life will make it so Weariness prepares the pleasure of rest and whatsoever succeeds Bitterness is Sweet 'T was well said by Charidemus that Pleasures and Grievances were linkt together in a Chain interchangably succeeding one another so that the succeding pleasure would bâ— proportionable to the proceding grieâ—viance Now what greater grieviance then our Mortal Life and consequently what greater pleasere the Death Phalaris said that Life is therefore pleasant because we know of nâ— greater evil then Death But hâ— speaks the Sense of the vulgar anâ— yet to the discredit of Life too find it must be beholding to an evil to recommend it I should rather have said That Death ought to be thought pleasant because there is no greater evill then Life And yet we are flatter'd on by the emergent happiness of some men But why do we look upon those who have escaped shipwrack We should rather consider those that are drown'd These are innumerable and yet are thought few because they don't appear Let not now the Tears shed at Funerals be alleadg'd against what has been said This depends all upon the opinion of the vulgar And indeede every one laments rather himself then him whom he call's dead I say do not alleadg the Tears of others you may your own 'T is a mans own thinking which makes him either happy or miserable What argument is it for the preference of Life before Death that others weep When you die if when you are born you your self weep 'T is a folly to rate our miseries by other mens opinions Contrary circumstances attend our Death and Nativity At the Birth of a man others rejoice but he himself weeps at his Death others weep but he will rejoice unless his Death be imbitter'd by an ill Life Neither are we to think this gladness the less because calm and inward and not so obvious to the sense The Infant that wept at his Birth by sleep learns to smile says St. Austin He dedicates the Image of Death with a smile who begins his Life with Tears A notable presage of the miseries of Life and of the happiness after Death Weeping is narural we need no teaching to dissolve in Tears joy is a difficult Lesson slowly learnt and not without Discipline 'T is one of the precepts of Seneca learn to rejoyce Sleep gives us a sip of joy but Death the full draught Greif and Misery are Natural and Born with us but joy advances more leasurely For we may credit Avicenna the Infant has no sense of joy till after the Fortieth day The reason therefore why others weep at thy Death is because they never made trial of it and the reason why they rejoice at thy Birth is because they are not to live your life You alone who can best presage human condition refuse it with Tears which are the language of unwilling nature And as the Ceremonies of our Birth are contrary to those of our Death so is the condition of the one contrary to that of the other Death either inverts or restores all things Or rather restores by inversion For the inversion of things that are upside down is the way to set them right 'T was a Funeral Ceremony in use among the Tâ—bitenses to turn their garments inside outward Death it self is term'd a change and 't is our last and greatest for all beyond it is a State unchangeable The change is from confinement to liberty from Time to Eternity and unless it be our own fault from misery to happiness Fortune is commonly prefer'd before Life How many are there who prodigally throw away
their Lives in the pursuit of a Kingdom But is there any proportion between Fortune and Happiness between a speck of Ground a Point and the Kingdom of Heaven Death adds so much to our happiness as it cuts off from our Life Before present admission into Heaven was procured long Life was proposed as a reward to the good Patriarchs but now when there is an immediate access to the joys of Heaven We falsly think it due unto our friends That we should greive at their untimely ends 'T is envy now to mourn their early fate He only dyes untimely who dyes late And yet we are not sufficiently inâ—amour'd with those Glories which Death leads us to Somtimes we cast some faint longings that way and tho oppressed with miseries are not yet enough desirous to be rid of them The miseries of Life make us wish for Death but yet Distrust and darkness of a future State Make poor mankind still fearful of their fate Death in it self is nothing but we fear To be we know not what we know not where We would somtimes be dead but are unwilling to die Or if under the pressure of some Pungent calamitie we passionately court Death the Fit is no sooner over but we repent of our best Wish like the Man in the Apologue who languishing under his burthen threw it down and invoked Death but when it came and demanded his business he told it 't was to help him up with his burthen So apt are those to hug their miseries who hope for better exchange We are tired with out Toil and Labour and yet we resume the burthen What Hungry man that stood on a barren bank where there was no hope to relieve his Appetite anâ— saw at the other side of the Riveâ— Trees laden with delicious Fruit would be grived to hear of a Bridâ— or be afraid to be row'd over in Boat chusing to starve on the bank then hazard himself on the River 〈◊〉 O the unaccountable folly of Men We commit our selves to the perfidious Ocean inquest of Gold which lie at the Suburbs of Hell and yet we arâ— loth to be Transported into our Celestial Country to the Glories of eternity Suppose there were no necessity of dying but that every onâ— had the disposal of his own destinie yet he were a fool who would no hazard the attainment of felicity by Death and had rather live alwaies in a state of miserie then by dying to end it 'T is a great folly to fear that which we would wish for were there no such thing Much more then should we bear Death patiently now 't is necessary The popular argument why Death ought to be born patiently is because 't is a necessary evil Here is a true consequent but a fals principle For rather Death is a necessary good However if an evil requires patience on the Score of necessity much more does a necessary good Death as good calls for our joy as necessary for our submission That is certainly a very great good which puts us out of the reach of miserie which frees the Captive without a Fee which restores the Exile to his Country without fear of returne which sets at liberty the Slave without the consent of his Master which cures the Sick without a bitter Potiâ—n which redresses all the defects of fortune and unequal dispensations of providence 'T would have been a less errour if they had drawn an argument from necessitie to bear Life patiently for that more deserves the name of a necessary evil For 't is that which thrust you into evil without your election and then Wheedles you into evil with your own Consent 'T was cunningly contriv'd by Nature that Souls should be unknowingly Immers'd in the Body and cast blindfold into such a sordid Dungeon For who that is in his right will at the last Gasp would if he might reenter the Prison of his Mothers Womb be nourished with filth be deprived of light so many Months and of sense so many years run again the gandelope of Fortune resume the senslesness of Infancy the Fears of Child-hood the Dangers of Youth the Cares of man-hood and the Infirmities of Old age I believe never any man had a life so happy as to be willing to live it over again Certainly if Life were offerd to us without the condition of Death what ever Happiness it promised else it were to be refused The likeness that is between Death and Good is enough to take a way all Suspition of its being evil None live more happily thë those who most resemble the Dead Death is the Idea and rule of the best Life The greatest perfection of Life is to imitate Death as every Heroical Person does when he abstracts his Mind from his Body holds no commerce with his Senses and Weds himself to the Divinitie On what account do you think 't is that Sleep is often priviledgd with Visions and Revelations God Loves and Honours the Image of Death Ecstacie and Abstraction from Communication with the Bodie is one of the waies of Oracle I Prophecie The Mind which is disengaged from the Senses is the more capable of Divine infusions Besides what is Philosophy but the meditation of Death And why not Since the fruit of Philosophie is vertue and vertue is the imitation or incoation of Death 'T is the principal artifice of Philosophie to make Life pleasant by the imitation of Death and Death by conformity of Life The moral Death smooths the passage for the natural The separation of Soul and Bodie is intolerable to him who has not disengaged himself from his passions but must swallow down the bitter Potion of Death all together Our very Meat would Choak us if we did not Mince and Chew it and Eat it peice by peice Death if taken by degrees will be gustful and wholesome if we lop of one Passion to daie an other to morrow There a test weight is portable iâ— born by parts Philosophy is an anticipation of Death which by daily Substractions lessens its weight What wonder is it if Death be insupportable to him who under goes a great many Deaths in one The loss of one thing as of Honour Pleasure or a Friend is enough many times to wound us to the Heart what a Grief will it then be to loose all our Life in one moment And therefore the Soul of a Wise man disengages it self from the Bodie by degrees that it may converse with it self and God She finds that she reasons more clearly when withdrawn from the hurry of the Senses and that she must retire a while from the Contagion of the Flesh if she will speculate a refined truth Truth is a pure thing and cannot be beheld but by a clarified and spiritualized Sight Therefore the whole studie of vertue consists in a separation of the Soul from the Bodie and in near approaches to Death which for that very teason it loves or at least less fears How can he fear Death
A MEDITATION OF Life and Death Translated with some Alterations out of the works of the Learned and Ingenious Eusebius Nierembergius Agnoscere solis Permissum est quos jam tangit vicinia fati Victurosque dii celant ut vivere durent Faelix esse mori Lucan lib. 4. pag. 103. OXFORD Printed by L. L. for THO. FICKUS Anno Domini 1682. HUMBLY DEDICATED TO Madam F. N. Madam THO it may seem an unpardonable peice of impertinence to present a Meditation of Life and Death to a person whose whole life as appeares by your Angelical conversation is nothing else yet since it is a subject of such importance that it can never be too much or too often thought on I thought it might not be altogether unacceptable to add Meditation to Meditation especially since in this I was sure to hit your serious humour and entertain you with a dish of your own liking Life and Death tho two of the most common things are yet none of the commonest Subjects in the world For I believe generally nothing is less thought of and perhaps for no other reason but because they are so common I dare not promise you any thing new here perhaps I might another but you I dare not However I hope you will not blame the barrenness of the Author but impute it to the excess of your own thoughtfulness the Anticipation of your Closet For my own part I was so pleased with a great many sententious Remarks and pithy expressions which occur in this Discourse that I thought I might without any Prodigality of time employ two daies in the Translation of it But if the product of two daies study can afford you one hours entertainment I shall think my time could never have been better spent But not to detain you any longer from these or your own more weighty Meditations I take my leave of you with this real and unfeigned protestation that I am Madam Your most humble and devoted Servant A MEDITATION OF Life and Death LIFE in the opinion of most men is the greatest good and Death the greatest evil But they are in this as in other matters of greatest concern most â—istaken For rather Life is the greatâ—st evil if we don't live well and Death the greatest good if you don't lye ill Neither can you dye ill unâ—ess you live ill Life if it be not good â—oes but unfold a larger scene of Vice â—nd misery Death if not evil puts a period to all evil That wicked men think amiss of Death is no more a wonder then that a vitiated Palate disrelishes the sweetest Hony If it be evil 't is to them only who have made it so by an ill Life There is not one sufficient reason why we should hate Death but many why we should desire it Whether we consider it alone or with its attendants Whether we câ—nsider the evils from which it frees us or rhe good into which it instates us If we consider thaâ— it is not evil in it self nay that it 〈◊〉 good Or suppose it were an evil thâ— would not counter poisâ—â— the good which it brings or were iâ— nâ—â— gooâ— that would â—old no proportion witâ— the evil it removes I know nothing in Life considerable besides an emâ—â—lous throng of calamitys whose very multitude overwhelms our fear and which have this only wretcheâ— Lenitive to make them tolerable their own commonness and daily incursion T was the opinion of Orpheus that Life was the punishment of Souls and such a one to whereby the Living were commensurately bound fast to the Dead The latter part at least is true for by Life the pure and eternal Soul is Wedded to a Gross and Corruptible Body Should God on a suddain with his Almighty Fiat speak a man into Being endow'd with a free and perfect use of his thoughts and give him an entire prospect of all Mankind he would no sooner cast about his Eyes but he would meet with some miserable objects which would call for his fears Either he would see some Blind or some Maim'd some Lame some Begging some Decrepit some Languishing some Quarrelling some commiting Murther some Mad and almost all Weeping And could he look into the insides he would find all tormented with Desire and Discontent Surely such a dismal Scene of things would make him repent of his newly receiv'd Being and fall in love with annihilation And therefore cunning Nature doth leasurely and thriftily dispence the use of reason to Mankinde that we might not startle at the suddain appearance of evils but by custome might be brought to bear them with less impatience A peice of policy much like that of the Emperor Who Cloister'd up his Son from his Infancy in a Magnificent Apartment and to keep him unacquainted with the condition of Mankind took care that he should never see nor hear any mirerable object That no Poor Diseased or Old man should ever come in his fight and that nothing should be said or done but what was highly pleasing and acceptable A vain project to think to keep out Grief with Cloisters and Walls to shut the Gate of the Palace against Melanchâ—ly when the dore of Life stood wide open The very diversions themselves were an â—nlet to Sadness and Melancholy crept â—n through the Satiety and Fatigue of pleasure Change is so much an Ingredient of all Human delight that an uninterrupted state of Joy occasions sadness Certainly tho the Emperor could keep off all miseries from the Sight of his Son yet he could not from his Mind and tho he could secure him from other calamities yet he could find no preservative against desire His Son began to long and grow sad in an Elysium of pleasures And what do you think 't was he desired Not to live so pleasantly He began to complain of the tediousness of â—his too indulgent fortune and Petitioned the Emperor to uncloister him from his wretched happiness A Petition which put his Father to a great streight who for fear of giving offence to his Son was fain to alter his resolution he had made never to displease him He consented to his liberty but withal took special caâ— that no sad object might come in hâ— way He gave order that all Blinâ— Deform'd Maim'd Poor and Old meâ— should be remov'd far off but alaâ— when was diligence so fortunate as tâ— conceal all miseries They are sâ— numerous that they cannot be hidâ— much less quite taken away Poweâ— was here unable to contend with hâ— man infirmity which in spite of thâ— Emperors endeavours discover'd iâ— self 'T was the fortune of the younâ— man to light upon a Blind Cripple and a Leper He startled and stooâ— amazed at the strange spectacle aâ— if he had seen an Apparition He asked what it was And when he knew that these were the fruits or humanâ— Life he had his antidote against alâ— the pleasures of it and took a disgusâ— against Life it self And that hâ— might have as little of it
as was possible where fortune had possession oâ— the greatest part he presently reâ—ounc'd if not his Life yet the hope of 〈◊〉 or what is with many of equal value 〈◊〉 is Crown and Dignities He took â—anctuary at that which is most like â—eath obscurity and privacy where â—e might enjoy security at least if â—ot safety Now if from such a small occurrence he took such a disgust at â—ife what would he have done had â—e took a general survey of the world â—ad been presented with a Scene of Mortality Charnel-houses Sculs Dead Bones and Worms Had he ransackd â—ll the corners of the earth and seen â—hose sordid Foundations on which Life is built the dedication of our misery celebrated by the pangs of the Mother and the tears of the Infant What if he had lookt into our bed Chambers and breasts He would â—ave seen us in Tears Desires and â—oathings one bewailing his Wife â—n other his Children one hungry â—nother surfeited one carking for necessaries another uneasy under superfluities What if he had seeâ— no house without some misfortune in it What if he had seen all thaâ— were Wracked with the Gout Stonâ— and other Maladies What if he had seen all that Languish under Sickness all that were distracted with Cares all that were discomposed with desires This certainly would have prejudiced him against Life against the World where we so die in miseries and miseries live in us How glad would he have been to hear of a way of setting himself once more at libertie I fancy he would extol Death aâ— the best invention in the World Suppose a man were hedg'd round with a circle of Wild Beasts herâ— saw a Tigre rushing upon him there a Lyon putting forth his Paw tâ— devour him and in an other placâ— a Venemous Serpent hissing at him what would not this man give to purchase a freedom from this assembly oâ— mischiefs what happiness would he think greater then to be rescued from so many dangers and will it be a lesse to be snacht from greater evils we are environd with most furious and impetuous passions and at all sides assaulted with misfortunes We are in the midst of a whole Ring of Evils Some we feel and fear all Now we have but one Sanctuary from all these evils and that 's Death Were it not for this there would be no end of our miseries How comes it to pass then that we dread that which is recommanded to us by as many Endearments as there are Celamities in Life One would think danger were enough to recommend security And there is no other besides Death And therefore Socrates after he had took his Deadly Draught offer'd a Sacrifice to Aesculapius the God of Physick acknowledging Death to be the Catholick Medicin for all Maladies I think one of the most rediculous things Xerxes ever did in his Life and which well deserved the reproof of Artabanus was when having a prospect of his Numerous Army from an high Hill he Wept to think that within the compass of an Hundred years they shauld be all dead and gon He thought it seems 't was pitty Men should die so soon But I think he had more reason to lament the flow process of that Funeral which is usher'd along with an age of miseries Without question if from his high Station he had seen human infelicitys as well as Men he would have dry'd up his Eyes at the remembrance of that universal remedy Death neither would he have feard that which takes a way all that is to be fear'd That can be no evil Which is the only deliverance from evil Should those who have tried both Life and Death be put to the question which â—hey would chuse either to reenter â—pon that or to continue in this â—one would chuse Life but those â—ho were most unworthy of it those â—ho lived ill But as for those who had â—d a good Life they would never â—epent of Death or desire to return 〈◊〉 Life again which they would dread â—ore now they were dead then they â—d Death when they were alive 〈◊〉 is said of Stanislaus a Man of â—eat Integrity and Constancy that 〈◊〉 gave one the Option of Life or â—eath who told him he had rather 〈◊〉 again then live again So that one â—fe was enough to Cloy him whereas â—eath would endure a second trial If Souls Subsist as Origen Plato â—rmes and many of the antient Phiâ—sophers would fain make us believe â—fore their Imprisonment in the â—omb one would think they should â—auseat their putrid and narrow conâ—ement where they are almost Stifled in Seminal impurities and matâ—rial Concretions Especially if should be told them that they must â—â—mued up 9 Months in this dark Pâ—â—son and then above Ten years moâ— in the darkness of ignorance and eâ—rour Add to this If they knew tâ— many Labours and Hardships thâ— were to undergo wherein they woâ— tast the miseries of Life before thâ— knew what it was to live The Infaâ— serves an Apprentiship of misery froâ— the very Cradle The avoidance Hunger makes him breake Prison the first He goes out according Hippocrates to Seek his living abroâ— when there is a dearth of provision home And then falls out of one â—â—sery into an other which is worâ—â— What if he could peep out througâ— Crany of his Prison and see all 〈◊〉 Miserable Languishing and Decrepâ— Wretches that are in this great Hâ—pital the World He would sâ— back from the sight of so many evâ— much less hazard the enduring of â—hem Plato ascribes the suspension of reason in Infancy and the erroneousness and ficleness of Youth to that Consternation and fright which seises â—he Soul at the instant when she is â—hrown down from her Orb of light â—nto this Vale of misery this dark â—ncooth Dungeon of the World and â—he Body Again what if he knew â—hat the most lightsome and pleasant part of his Life was most subject to â—ears and that the flower of his age must wither in perpetual vexation â—hat he must always live in a slavish dread of the Rod and have his most â—iery jubilees sour'd and allaid with â—he awe of a Schoole-master Again what if he knew that that part of Life which is most desired is most Calamiâ—ous Multa senem fragilis vexant incoÌ„moda carnis Nam macie turpi tabescunt languida membra Tunc Genuum juctura riget venasque per omnes â—llius in toto frigescit Corpore Sanguis Sic bacculo nitens artus sustentat Inermes Quid tristes memoreeÌ„ geÌ„itus quid taedia mentiâ— Somnus abest oculis Add to this the train of disease which then troop in togather Foâ— old age is the Sink of Life Here is a Stagnation of all filth The Autumn of our Life is the Spring of our Infirmitys Well may the Old man stoop when his burthen is so great But 〈◊〉 think Nature deals kindly with us iâ— this that she banishes all pleasure from Old age and summons in grief of all
who by dying lived well Who divested himself of more then Death can Who has already drained all its force Will he who all his Life time endeavored to Sequester himself from his Bodie draw back when he is just about compleatly to enjoy his Wish No Man will be troubled if what he hath a long time been labouring in vain to effect be at last done by another Nature finishes that by Death which vertue had begun in Life The affinity between Death and Vertue may be farther illustrated from the exhibition of honour For as vertue becomes Majestick from the resemblance it has of Death so it commands reverance to be given to others as Death does What can be more venerable then that for whose sake the most Wicked are not evi◠spoken off For as ill Men for the very awe and honour of Vertue will not own them selves so assuming to themselves some imaginarie excellencie so for the reverence of Death we spare those that have been evil nay scarce ever name them without some commendation So venerable is Death that it procures respect to the most contemptible We are apt to praise him when dead whom we envied when a live according to that of Minermus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Envy stops short of this side of the Grave Every one speaks honorably of the dead And what do you think is the ground of this esteem 'T is the current Philosophie even among the Vulgar to take them for happy which are exempted from the calamities of this Life And all happiness is honorable Neither is this honour given to the Soul only but also to the Bodie tho now under the most vile circumstances How awful is the sight of a Coffin With what Majestie does it ly What lectures of Morality does it suggest We are not so composed in the presence of a King as at the Sight of a Corps Nay 't is not only Venerable but Sacred The Honour of Burial is become a part of Religion Another reason of the Goodness of Death may be taken from the wholsome influence it has on our Lives The Death of others profits us who see it and our own profits them that Celebrate it And certainly the best Philosophie is to season our whole Lives with the meditation of Death And therefore to this end Nature supplies us every Moment with Emblems of Death The Cheifest of which is Respiration We live by little Essays of Death and Retain our Spirit by continual emissions of it Nay that which most of all displeases us in Death the certainty of the thing and the uncertainty of time and manner is of great use to us I take this mixture of certainty and uncertainty to be one of the most ingenious Stratagems I may so speak of divine providence for the goverment of Man kind God would have us alwaies good and consequently alwaies uncertain of certain Death So that hereby Care is taken that the lateness of Death may not be an inducement to security nor the suddainness to despair of reformation But that the possibility of each may make Men careful but not desperate The possibility of a speedy Death allievates the labours of Life and prevents the delayes of vertue For if a Man would be troubled if he knew he had but one Month more to live how dares he laugh and neglect his duty who knows not whether there remains a day an hour The World was never more vitious then when Men were longest lived Then 't was that nature required an expiation by Waters And therefore I think Theophrastus was very unreasonable to complain of nature because she had granted to some Brutes a lease of Life for above Five Hundred years whereas the Life of man the most excellent of all her works was so brittle and short He erred both in his desire and in his judgment 1 For wishing for so many years and 2 For thinking that Life whose measure is action and not daies was to be reckoned by them The time and manner of our Birth have some certainty but there is no set manner of dying 'T was a Favour to set open more passages for a flight from then for an entrance into evils 'T is therefore possible you may die at all times that should live well at all times that you should not live in that State which you wou'd be affraid to die in The easiness or frequent contingency of Death is no small commendation of it Our Body and Soul are ill match'd they are so easily divorc'd There is no creature of so frail a constitution as man He falls by the least accident and shakes off his ill-suted Body Fabius was choaked with an Hair Anacreon with a Grape-stone Baptista Mirandulous died of the very fancy of a Wound Honour kill'd Clidemus exultation of Spirit Diagoras Laughter Philemon Life is so frail a possession there is no need of violence the very blandishments are enough to shake it We receive our Life through difficulties enjoy it with difficulty and keep it precariosly Any one may deprive us of Life but no body can keep Death from us That 's as free to a Slave as to a Prince The Emperor Leo imposed a Tax upon Births but never was such a Burthen put upon Death The Infant was tax'd at his entrance into the world but 't was ever free to die Do you lament the unseasonableness of Death All Death is seasonable to every age It rescues Old age from misery Youth from vice and Infancy from both It gathers old men as ripe turns the Blossom of youth into Fruit and compendiously ripens infancy If thy Death could be put off a little longer what advantage will it be in thy accounts of nature or happiness They that 3000 years agon died unwillingly and stopped Death Two daies or a Week what is their gain Where is that Week And yet poor spirited Mortals use arts of protraction like the miserable Sinners at Noab's Flood The waters drove them out of their lower Rooms then they crept up to the Roof having lasted half a day longer they knew not how to get down Some crept up to the top branch of a Tree some climb'd up to a Mountain and linger'd it may be Three daies longer But all that while they endured a worse torment then Death They lived with amazement distracted with the ruines of mankind and the horrour of their own approaching Death Another thing which commends Death is that it cannot be repeated Tho some think that an unhappiness hoping to mend that in the second Death which went amiss in the first All other afflictions are not so civil and courteous They are importunate in their visits come and go a Thousand times over Death will not be troublesom comes but once But why would you have it repeated To know by experience what 't is to dy Neither do you want that conveniency The fates are ingeniously contrived Tho Death comes but once yet it does not come all at once It insinuates it self by degrees makes several preliminary Essays Childhood Death of Infancy Youth the Death of Childhood Manhood of youth old age of manhood The last Moment is but the consummation of what the first began You may know Death by her retinue shedding of Teeth trembling of Joynts grey Hair baldness c. You cannot live a day without the tast of it All succession of time all the changes in nature all varieties of light and darkness every creature does preach our Funeral Sermon and calls us to look and see how the old Sexton time throws up the Earth and digs a Grave where we must lay our sins or our sorrows Sleep which is the Image of Death we daily experiment Wee desire it we are refresh'd by it 't is the end of our labours the deposition of our cares the reparation of the man Now the Image is never so excellent as the Prototype If we love the shadow why do we hate the substance Nature intended Death as the comfort and support of Life and therefore least the delay of so great a good should make us impatient has left us its image to solace our selves withall for the persent But suppose after all this that all Death were evil and dreadful Why then do we not care for that which we profess we fear Why do we neglect that which we do not contemn If it be evil why don't we prepare for it We make provision against other dangers tho contingent we arm our selves against Casualties Why do we not make preparation against that which we know to be necessary There is a great difference betwixt contempt and neglect of Death None provide more against it then those who contemn it none fear it more then those who neglect it and what is more strange don't only therefore fear it because they have neglected it but neglect it even while they fear it Who would think it possible that Men could be guilty of such incomparable Sottishness who know that the only Security of Life is the assurance of an happy death and that the only assurance of an happy Death is the testimonie of a good Life FINIS