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chains. It heaps them together, shuts them in the same dungeon, and in the same mortar pounds them to powder.

There is no war, though ever so furious and bloody, but it is interrupted with some days, or at least some hours, of cessation or truce; nay, the most inhuman minds are at last tired with bloody conquests: but insatiable Death never saith, "It is enough." At every hour and moment it cuts down whole nations and kindreds. The flesh of all the animals that have lived and died since the creation of the world, hath not been able to glut this devouring monster.

All warfare is doubtful: he that wins the victory to-day, may soon after be put to flight. He that rides at present in a triumphant chariot, may become the footstool of his enemy. But Death is always victorious; it triumphs with an insufferable insolence over all the kings and nations of the earth; it never returns to its den but loaden with spoils, and glutted with blood. The strongest Samsons, and the most victorious Davids, who have torn in pieces and overcome lions and bears, and cut off the heads of giants, have at last yielded themselves, and been cut off by Death. The great Alexander, and the triumphant Cesars, who have made all the world to tremble before them, and conquered most part of the habitable earth, could never find any thing that might protect them from Death's power. When magnificent statues and stately trophies were raised to their honour, Death laughed at their vanity, and made sport with their persons. The rich marbles, where so many proud titles are engraved, cover nothing but a little rotten flesh, and a few bones which Death hath broken and reduced to ashes.

We read, in the revelation of the prophet Daniel, that king Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream a large statue of gold, both glorious and terrible; "its head was of pure gold, its

breast

breast and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, and its feet were partly of clay, and partly of iron." As the prince was beholding it with astonishment, a little stone cut out of a mountain, without hands, was rolled against the feet of this prodigious statue, and broke it all to pieces; not only the clay and iron were broken, but also the gold, the silver, and the brass; all became as the chaff, which the wind blows to and fro. This great image represents the four universal monarchies of the world: that of Babylon, of the Persians and Medes, of the Greeks, and that of the Romans. It represents also the vanity and inconstancy of all things under the sun: for what is the pomp, the glory, the strength, and dignities, of this world, but as a smoke driven with the wind, and a vapour that soon vanishes away? All is like a shadow, that flies from us: or like a dream, that disappears in an instant. Man, created in the image of God, at his first appearance seems to be very glorious for a while, and becomes terrible: but as soon as Death strikes at the earthly part, and begins to break his flesh and bones, all the glory, pomp, power, and magnificence, of the richest, of the most terrible and victorious monarchs, are changed into a loathsome smell, into contemptible dust, and reduced to nothing: "vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Since therefore Death is so impartial as to spare none, and its power so great that none can escape or resist it, it is no wonder if it is become so terrible, and fills with fear, grief, and despair, the minds of all mortals, who have not settled their faith and assurance on God. For there is no condemned prisoner but trembles when he beholds the scaffold erecting, upon which he is designed to be broken upon a wheel, or when he spies in the fire, irons with which he is to be pinched to death.

In the midst of a sumptuous feast, king Belshazzar saw the

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fingers

fingers of a man's hand writing these words upon the wallof his palace; “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin ;" which the prophet Daniel hath thus interpreted; "Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; Tekel, Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting; Perez, or Upharsin, Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." As soon as this great monarch had. cast his eyes upon this miraculous writing, it is said, that his countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote, one against another. Certainly the proud worldling has a greater cause to be dismayed in the midst of his glory and pleasures, when he may perceive Death writing upon every wall of his house in visible characters, and printing upon his forehead, that "God hath numbered his days," and this, in which he now breathes, shall be soon 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 soon divest him of all his glory and riches, to clothe 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 exasperated by their impieties? They may now perceive hell prepared to swallow them up, and the fiery chains of that doleful prison ready to embrace them. They may at present feel the hands of the executioner of divine justice, that seize upon them already, and see themselves before stretched and tortured in that place, where there shall be nothing but weeping and horrible gnashing of teeth. At present they may feel the fierce approaches of that fire and brimstone which is the second death; for it may be justly said of these wretched varlets, That hell comes to them before they go to hell; and that in this life they have a presension of the grievous pangs of their future torments; therefore some

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of

of them in despair offer violence to themselves, and commit an horrid murder upon their own persons, as if they were afraid not to die by a hand wicked enough. The expectation of Death to them, is more insufferable than Death itself; and they had rather cast themselves into the bottomles pit of hell, than endure the apprehensions and fears of hell in their guilty consciences; and to be delivered of the flashes of hell-fire, and mount up their souls in this life, they cast themselves in a brutish manner into that unquenchable burning.

That which is most terrible is, that the horrid and insufferable fears that seize upon the wicked, are not short and transitory; for as a criminal that knows there is a sentence of death pronounced against him, continually thinks upon those torments that are preparing for him; as soon as he hears the door unlocking, or a fly buzzing at his ears, he imagines that some are entering to drag him from his prison to execution. In some sense he desires what he apprehends, and hastens the approach of that which he wishes, but cannot avoid. Thus desperate 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 foresee the fearful image of Death, that disturbs their quiet; and, as St. Paul expresses himself, "through fear of Deaththey are all their life-time subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 15. That is, they are like so many wretched slaves, that tremble under the inhuman power of a merciless tyrant.

I know that there be some Atheists who talk of Death with contempt or scorn, and who make an open profession of braving Death without the least sense of fear; nevertheless, they feel in their souls some secret thorns, with which Death often galls them; some fears and apprehensions, with

which it tortures and disquiets them, when they dream least of it. It is true, they, for the most part, boast of not fearing the approaches of Death, and laugh at it, when they imagine that it is at a distance from them; but these are they who are most apt to tremble at the near and grim countenance of Death, and soonest discover their weakness and despair.

If there be any that seem to laugh at Death; their laughter is only an appearance upon the lips. They are like a child newly born, that seems to smile, when it is inwardly tormented in the bowels; or like those that eat of the famous herb mentioned by the herbalist, which causes a pleasant laughter to appear upon the lips of such, into whose noble parts it conveys a mortal poison that kills them.

There be some, I confess, that die without any concern; but these are either brutish or senseless persons, much like unto a sleeping drunkard, who may be cast down a precipice, without any knowledge or foresight of the danger; or they be pleasant mockers, who are like the foolish criminals, who go merrily to the gallows; or they be such as are full of rage and fury, whom I may well compare to an enraged wild boar, that runs himself in the huntsman's snare: such monsters of men deserve not to be reckoned among rational and understanding creatures.

CHAP. II.

That in all the Heathen Philosophers, there is no solid and true comfort against the fears and apprehensions of Death.

THE

HERE are certain empirics, that seem at the first discourse to be very well skilled in their art, that talk of diseases and of their causes most learnedly and acutely, and

nevertheless,