0 The 11/1fdont of Religion ju/1ified, in the Vol.II. of the contrary, to his infinite Trouble and Confufion, that there is a God, and another Life after this, and a terrible Pnni(hment to the Workersof Iniquity. And daily Experience confirms to us the Certainty and Truth of this Matter, and that, there is this Difference for the molt Part very vifible in the Temper and Carriage of good and bad Men, when they come to die. IL The Principlesof Religion andVirtue dominifter Comfort tous in the molt needful and deirable Times; and on the contrary, the Principles of Infidelity and Vice do not onlyfail us in this Day of Dif1refs, but give great Trouble to us at the molt unfeafonable Time. And this makes a mighty Difference between the Condition of thefe two Sorts of Perfons ; for when would a Man delire to be at Peace and Quietîn his Mind, but when his Body is reftlefs, and in Pain ? When would a Man wi(h for flrong Confolation andHope, that Anchor of the Soullure andfiedfafl, as the Apoftle to the Hebrews calls it, but in that laft and terrible Conflict of Nature, with the 141 of Enemies, which is Death ? And when would a Man dread Trouble and Angui Mind, but at fuck a Time, when he is hardly able to fuftain his Bodily Paine and Infirmities ? If it he true of every Day of our Lives, fo cient for the Day is the Evil thereof; much more of the Day of Death it is enough furely to have that one Enemy to encounter, at which Nature ftartles, and ourbelt Reafon can hardly furnilh us with Force enough for the Conflifl, even when the Sting of Death is taken away, I mean, the Guilt of an evil Confcience : But when all Evils affail a Man at once, Pains without, and Terrors within, a weak Body, and a wounded Spirit, an incurable Difeafe, and intolerable Delpair, Death `ready to affault us, and Hell following it; How unfeafonable is theConjunfture of fo many and fo great Evils ? Wife Men are wont to provide with great Care againft fuch a Time, that they may not be opprefs'd with too manyTroubles at once; and therefore, in the Time of their Health, they fettle their Worldly Concernments, and make their Wills, that when Sicknefs or Death comes, they may have no Care upon them, nothing to do but to die. This is a Time, when all the Force of our Reafon, and all the Comfort and Hope that Religion can give, will be lit- tle enough to give us a Quiet and undiftarbedPaffage out of this World into the other: And we (hall be very miferable, if the Terrors and Stings of a guilty Con- fcience, and the Pangs ofDeath, do feize upon us at once. And therefore a wife Man would make it the Bufinefs of his whole Life, to prevent this unhappy Con- currence of Evils, fo unfupportable to humane Nature; and to render Death, which is grievous and terrible enough of it Pelf, as comfortable and eafy as 'tis pollible. For if there were nothing beyond thisLife, yet it we're worth the while to provide for a quiet Death ; and if Men were fure to be poflefs'd of thefe Pallions of Hope and Fear, of Comfort and Defnair, which ufually attend good and bad Men when they come to die, there is no Man that calculatesThings wifely, would, for all the Pieafures of Sin, forfeit the Peace and Comfort of a righteous Soul, going out of the World full of the Hopes of a blefled Immortality ; and endure the Anguish and Torment of a guilty Confcience, and the amazingTerrors ofa defpairingand dying Sinner. This is a Condition fo fad and fearful, that a wife Man would avoid it upon any Terms. III. When Men are commonly more ferions, and fober, and impartial, and their Declarations and Words are thought to be of greateft Weight and Cre- dit, they give this Teftimony to Religion and Virtue, and againft Impiety and Vice. It is generally feen, when Men come to die, that the Manner of their Death is anfwerable to the Courfe of their Life ; that the Refleflionupon an holy and virtuous Life, is a great Eafe and Comfort toMens Minds : And on thecontrary, the Guilt of a wicked Life is apt to fly in their Faces, and todifturb their Minds, and fill them with Horror. And this is a critical Time, when the Confciences of Men are ufually awake, and apt topafs an impartial Judgment and Cenfure upon themfelves. And for this, the Infidel may believe oneof his own great Authors, I meanLacretites, who obferves, that when Men are in Diftrefs, and the Apprehen- fions of Death are upon them, Religion doth then thew its Force: Aeries
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