44 Days Appointed of us when we go from hence, for there is no deprecating one of Agar's Extreams : the weight of glory, it isan exceeding weight, and the burthen of wrath, it is a burthen too heavy for us to bear. Herethe righteoustall of the Joys cf the Holy Ghofl, but it is only as Jonathandid Hony in the Wilderness, a little thereof ai the end of aRod : Here thewicked may bechaflifed by Gods Anger, but it is only as the Ten Tribeswereby feroboam,with Rods and not wich Scorpions : but in the other life,bothmercy and fury will be in their Zcnith,and have no reflraint,but only thecapacity oftheObjeEts they arelet out upon: Laftly, A change it is, in refpeEt of our continuation. We are here bat foratime, an appointed time : But wherefoever we go after Death it is for Eternity. Whether we arc placed among the Sheepor the Goats ; whether we are to be crowned or burned, it is tobe for ever; TheJoy is an everlaflingJoy, and the puaifhment is everlafling Punishment : TheKingdom is an everlafling Kingdom, and the Fire is everlafling Fire : TheLife is everlastingLife, and the Deftruéfiori is an everlafting DeftruEtion.The Ancients did use toreprefent this foinetimesby theHieroglyphickof a round Ring that hath no end in it : Sometimesof aboundlefsOcean that hash no Shores to it Sometimesof a Hydra's Head thatgroweth as faft as it is cut : Some- times of a runningFountain that ipringeth asfail as it floweth ; but all theft come flrangely (bort of it. Arithmetick hathher Figures to caftup the Sums ofnumbers, Aflronomy her Inflruments to take the heighth of Scars, Mariners their Plumets to found the depth of the Seas ; But what Invention can reach the heighth and depth and length and breadthof anunlimited Eternity ? We may here take up the Words ofZophar in another cafe ; It isas high as Heaven,wbat canfithan do i' Deeper than Hell, what canf? thou ¡now ? The meafare thereof is longer than the Earth, and broaderthan the Sea. O eternity! Eternity! the Line of our fancy is tooshort to reach thee ! We can imagin nothing to which we can refemble thee! A thousand, thonfand, thaafand Years are in thy fight but ai Teferdaywhen it ispall, and asa Watch in the Night! And into this Eternity doevery one ofus launch our, as loon as we (hoot the Gulphof Death. Now it being (ucha change, fo long a one, fo importanta one, fo irremediable a one, fo ilrange a one, whichweall muff undergo, had we not need to provide and preparefor it ; and this isthe Last Particular, our Duty and Employmentin order to ir, to fit and make our (elves ready for it ; All oar days to wait till it come: All the days of my appointed time will I wait : And here you have three Thingscouched in the Expre(fion. Firll, Here is his piousMeditation of it, fo the Vulgar readeth ir, expeliaba, he doth not put it farfrom him, butcloth expe& and lookfor it. Machiavel in his Prince relateth of Ceefar Borgia, whole Design was to make himself Lord of Italy, that he toldThem who were about him inhis last sickness, how hehadcontrived all his Affairs in order to it: He had fubjugatedRomania, won over the Chief of both Faubions the Vrfrn and theCotonoie to behis Creatures, hehadcut offcMefer Ramiro's Head, made Alliancewith the Spaniard, and in Ihort foreseen and prevent. ed all theIirconveniencies that could lie in his way, but onlyDeath; which he (aid he never dreamed or imagined would have come fo loonon him. Sure there is no overfight among men more common than this, to fuppofe Death farther off frem them than indeed it is. Ifour forgetting Death would make Death forget us, we might pretend fame Policy for it; but feeing it is a change, a change where the time is as uncertain, as the thing isunavoidable, what greater Folly! You that would avoid the Horrorsof Death when itcometh, familiarize itto your thoughts befor it cometh; fo cloth Holy fob here, and that is a first thing implyed inhis waitingt his awful Meditation of it. , Secondly, It fpeaketh his comfortable Apprehenfions ofir. Waiting it is acheat- ful Word,and argueth facisfaustion in, and want ofthe thing we wait for. Aquila Theod. er Sym. read itéaatm`' Iwillhope. Death like the Planet Mercury, it bath its Influence according as it is in Conjun&ion : Although upon evil men is bath a Malignant one, is being a Trae doorwhereby they fall into irrecoverable Misery; yet upon them that aregood, it hatha benign one; it is a Golden Gate, through which they enter into Glory. LikeSt. jamsunimaginable Fountain, it fendeth forth
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