t i o ThegoodMansEpitaph, or, ccicf.9; 4 Job 2.4: lob6. 3; Pfal. 119.175. Pfa1.39. 13' tfa.;8.15,19. fob 7. If. Numb.u. t S. 1 Iling.19.4. lonab 4. ;. Ior to.' And, lay they, at u a terible enemy, It is very true, and of ail terrible things the molt terrible: yea, and nature abhorreth it exceedingly. See it in anycreature that liveth : Mark ifevery creature wouldnot ufe ]eggs, wings, hoofs, horns, tusks, beaks, or whatfoever thing it is wherewith God andnature hacharmed ir, to pre- ferve life. Solomon faith it ( but he faith it in the perfon of a carnal man, as he Both many things by Metaphors in his book ofEcelefiaftes,) That a living dog, is better than a dead lion. Sathan is a lyar, and the father of lies, but yet notwichfianding that word of his was a truth, Skinfor skin; yea, all 441.4 man bath will hegive for his lift, Vita damfuperef?, bene eft, faidMecenas, when he lay grievously lick of the Gout, So long as fife remains, it ie well enough. You have one man that liveth in extream poverty, eateth no bread, but the breadof aflillion, yet he would live. Youhave another man that carrieth about him a difeafed body, the arrows of Godf?icking fa)? in him, and thevenome of them drinking up hisfpirits, by fome ficknefs3 yet ht would live. You have another man, that bath a rotten name that (linkswhile he liveth, yethewould liveRill. Yea, and not only wicked men, domakemanybare shifts tolive (they have their portion in this life; no wonder therefore they do it ) but even Gods bell children, that lookfor a better like than this, when this ended, are not wiling to partwitl. this life if they could keep it : Do you not remember how Davidpleaded for life Ob let me 1ive,that I maypraife thyName : ohfpare me a littlebefore Igohence, and be no more ? Hezekiah turnethhisface to the wall and wtpt, oh(hall thegrave givethanks unto thee ? or(hall the deadcelebrate thy praife ? No, Yivens, vrvens, it is the living, it is the living that muff praife thee, as Ido this: day. I know indeed that fometime you shall find forceof Gods children, wishing fen death, fo6, Myfoal bath eholenf?rangling,asoddeatb,ratber than my Pelf. Lord Ipray thee ( faith Mo4es) kill me out ofhand, and letme not fee my wretchedne¡s Elijah, when he fled from jezebelfor his life, Lord (quothhe) takeaway my life, for f am not better than xey fathers. He was not wiling that J'ezabel should take away his life, but he would have God to take it away. You know fonah his pettish mood that he was in, when hewould needs think to know what was better for him, than God himfelfBoth; Lord,taleeI defetchtbee,mylife frommee; forit it better for me to die,tban to live. Theft men of God, they were fons of mer, they had their paffions as other men Have ; and paffion was never good judge between lifeand death. I know again, that there is quef ion made by fob r wherefore is light given to a manthat is in mifery,and life to the bitter infoal? Such a man, I confers, that bath bitternefs offoul, hemay happily leek for death,asfortreafuees,and be gladwhen be bathfound thegrave. Bit let God be but pleated a little to allay that bitternefs, let him but lay up that Sitter pill in fugar a little, and then he will like life well enough, Why do we all this while go from myText? Surely there be fo many vot:ces up. on earth again( ie,thae if there were not a voicefrom heaven to fay, Bleßed are the, dead,thatdie in the Lord,weshould farce believe it. But then if the dead be bleffed, why do we not die, that we may be bief fed ? There is fech a like Queflion ofScipio in that fame book ofTollies;SomniumSci. pions. Scipioasked his Father, when his father had told him ofchofe glories that the soul enjoyed in itpmortality:Wky(faithhe) do I tarry thus long upon theeartb?,vhydo not t ha3ten to die ? The Ichollers of Eugefius, when they heard thineÌvlafler dif- pute of the immortality of the foul, wentand laid violent hands upon themfelves, that theymightgo to that immortality. And fo Cato llticenlis after he readPlatees books of the Immortality of the Soul ; made away himfelf. Many fuch examples there have been : And I find often-times in your bills many that have laidviolent hands upon themfelves, fomethat cut their own throats, and forre that hang them- ' felves. I praygiveme leave a little to fpcak upon this. Saint
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