w Chap. 2i: An Fzpó;Stior. aap,n 'the Pookof ,j o E. Vert... 13. 679 dilatory or lingring way ofd4ying. lob to fltew the happinefs ofwicked men in death, tells-us, they dye in a moment, they flip out of the world they know not how, or before they are a ware ofit. Sudden death ù alerayes evil, butfpeedy death isgood. The Mori co crude- ft wrft death is the muff craefl death. Tyrants kill men by peke- tiorquolegnier, mcale; theywill have therm takenotice that theyare dying,they will not di(patch them at a blow,buc let them die limbby limb. Di,nyfiur the tyrant is Paid to have envieda beat} whófe throat he Taw cut, becaufe he dyed fo Toone. Cafar reading in Zeno- Mori jurrrnda phon, what care cira-s Cooke in his life forhis funerali, learned ruj;u rotapra- him for it; wifhing he might dye fpeedily.That's a good death Ce11it exPeEiatio tonature which is neither feared nor'expe&ed, yet that is the au: metes. belt death which hath been longe& expefted and prepared for. A,d hence. Some may fay, It werebetter wicked men íhould have force (Mayes indeath, for then poffibly they might repent. I aniwer ; fir&, fob fpeakes not to the fpiritua l or eternal! Bate ofwicked men ;and as to their temporal! flare, a fpeedy death is better then a lingring death ; I may anfwer Secondly, Sick ed repentance r ufuallya veryfckrepentance. We fet no limits to the mercy and grace of God, but we fpeak what is ufuall among men. Thirdly, They that negleff repentance in health feldome minde it in fickneffe ; force have made fad complaints of the mifery of their friends becaufe fo fuddenl'y taken away by one &roake without any time to repent. But they might re- member that many have heen flint up chofe prifoners in their chambers, an l chained down to their bedsfor divers moneths, whonever thought ofre pencing , and turning to God. Death is never fuddaine to them who live well, and they who live il! feldome mend when they die, though they are long a dying. Thus 7oh hath oppofed the experience ofmany to the opinion _ ofhis friends, about the prefect &ate ofwicked men, andGods dealing with them both in life and death. In the following words he (hews us how their profperitiewrought with them, how they took occafion from thele outward bieffings in which they abounded., to arme, and encourage themfelves w their re- hellion againft the Lord, whopowred out chafe benefits and earthly
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