AMEDITATIO 0 F DEATH ACCO to the former Rules. DING aNd now, my foule, that thou hall thoughtoftheend, what can fit thee better then to thinke ofrhe way! And though the forepart of the way to Heaven be a good life, the larrer and more immediateis death : Shall I call it theway, orthe gate oflife! Sure I am, rbar by ir one!y we paffe inro that bleffedneffe, whereof we have fo thought; that we l.Jave found it cannot be thought ofenough. What then is this death, bur the ~a king downe of rhefe ftickes, whereofrhis earrhly Tent is compofcd ~ The feparation oftwo great and old friends rill they meet againe! The Gaole.delivery ofa prifoner! Our journey imo that other world, for which we, and this thorowwere made! Our payment ofour firftdebtto Nature; the l!ecpe of the body, and the awakingof the foule ! Bur left thou lhouldell feeme to flatter him, whofe name and face bath ever fecmed terrible to others, remember that there are more deaths then one: if the firft death be oor fo fcarefull as he is made,(his horrourlying more in the conceit of the beholder, then in hisowne afpect) furdy,the fecond is not made fo fcarefull as he is, No living eye can behold the rerrours rherc0f: it is as impoffible, to fee rhem,as to feele them,and live.Nothing but aname is common to both i The firft harh men,cofualries, difeafes,fot his executioners :the fecond Devils.The power ofthe firll is in the grave:the fecond in heli.Tbe worft ofthe firll,is fenflefneffc;therafiell ofthe lecond, is,a perperuall fi:nfe ofall the paine that can make a man exquifirely miferable. Thou lhalr have no bufiodfe, 0 my foule,witb the fecond dearh: Tby firll RcfurreeHon hatb fccurcd thee : Tbanke him that bath redeemed thee, for thy faf<ry. And how can I rhankethee enough, 0 my Saviour, which hall fo mercifully bought off my torment, with thy owne; and hall: drunk< off that bitter porion ofthy Fathers wrath, whereofthe very talle had beene our death·! Yea, fuch is thy mercy, 0 thou Redeemer ofmen, that t hou hall not onely fubdued the fecond death, bur reconciled the firft;fu as thy children raftenor at all of the fecond,andfind the firll fo lweerned to themby thee, that they complaine ofbitterneffe.It was nor thou, 0 God, rhar maolclldcarh; our handsare they that 'vere guilry ofrhis evil!. Thou fawell all thy worke rharir was good; we brought forth fin, and fin brought furth death. To the d1fcharge ofthy }ullice and Mercy, weacknowledgerhis m1fcrable conception; and needs mull that child be ugly, that harh fuch parenrs. Certainly, ifBeingand Good be( as theyare)of :Ill equall exrenr, then the diffolurion of our Being mull needs in it felfe be evi!I. How full of d01 koeffe and horrourthen isrhe privation ofthis vitall light ! efpecially lince thy wifdome intended it to the revenge of finne, which is no leffe then the violation of an infinite Jullice ! it was thy jull pleafure to TheEncr:mcc:. The DcCcrip· tion, The-lfivifion,
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