II. IfDeathbeconrideredinitfelf,itis no more than

what all the living Creation here below undergo in common with our felves. And what is Dying? Icis a Ceafrng to Live after the manner we now do. It is a Removal, or rather, an Efcape, from a World of Mif- fortunes and Miferies ; of Sorrow and Difquiet; of Ma- lice andDeceit ;ofNoifeand Contention ; of Pains and Anguifli^ ofCrofTesand Difappointmentsj of Vanity and Vexation ; and,which is worft of all, of Tempta- tion and Sin. It is doing that once for all, which we have done in part a thoufand times already; by Sick- nefles andFaintings ^by the Decays and Infirmities of Nature; and by the lofsoftendereftRelations, who tore away our very Heart with them. In fhort, the prefent Life, even to the Profperous, will be found upon a juft Computation, to have made a very unequal Diftribu- tion. For even fuchhave a larger proportion of Trou- ble than of Happinefs. But to the generality of Man- kind, it is a rough tempeilucus Sea ,• and Death is the making theirPort,or at lealt retiring into theShelter of a Creek, where Storms can reach and annoy them no more. Thefe are not affected Strains of Philofophy, but weighed and meafured Truths ; fuch as every man is, or maybe, fadly convinced of, at his own Expence. The only Deceit arifes from our natural Fondnefs for Living; which God hath wifely infufcd, and woven into our Souls, that we might fuftain our prefent Ca- lamities the better. As on the other hand he hath made Faith of a Future State our Virtue, and ordained the
Mife^
40 ^tiitatiom an& ^taytts
Mileries of the Prefent Life as an Exercife for that Virtue ; that both together might be a Balance atleaft againft the Objeds of Senfe ,• draw off our AiFedi- ons from a Place^, which was never intended for our Reft ,• and raife our Defires up to thofe Better Things provided for us in another World. And furely, if this Matter were well weigh'd^ however timorous Nature may ftart and boggle at firft, yet it would be no hard matter to come clofe up to Death ; and, by the help of familiar Pradice , and prudent pious Meditation, to render not only the Thoughts of it_, but even the Thing it felf, very tolerable to us.