406 RUIN AND RECOVERY, &C. death : I say, upon a complete survey of all these hardships which the wisest and best of men cannot escape, I hardly think there is one spirit in heaven, or one man of equal wisdom, if such were found on earth, that would accept of this life in its common circumstances, or even its most favourable appearances, if his existence were to terminate at death, and he had no re- spect ar reference to a better life to come. Solomon, that wise prince and philosoper, seems to bemuch of this mind, when, after a survey of the whole scheme of human life in its variety of scenes, without the views of hereafter, he declares that he praised the dead which werealready dead, snore than the living which are yet alive: Yea, saith he, better is he than both they, even he who Math not been, and hath not seen the .evil work that is done under the sun; :Ec. iv. 2, 3*. And upon the comparison of things, I must confess myself of Solomon's mind; for it appears to me, that the calamities and miseries of life are so numerous, as to over- balanceall its real comforts, and sufficiently shew that mankind, in its present state, is not its Maker's favourite, but lies under evident marks of his displea, sure, on the account of some great' and universal degeneracy from the innocence of that state wherein man was first created. Having drawn this inference from all the foregoing views of human life and circumstances, I would propose here, in their fullest light, the three strongest objections I ever met with, or that I could ever think of, against all these reasonings, and then endeavour to answer them. SECT. IIl.--llnswers to Objections against this llrgument. I. The first objection is this : Can mankind in general be called miserable creatures, when there is not one in a hundred of them but uses all his art and skill to preserve himself in this life, and continue his situation ? Do net all mankind strive to secure their lives, and maintain their abode in this state, with all the supposed miseries of it? Now, must not every man judge for himself, whether he is happy or no? Surely he would not Seek to continue his 'existence in misery : And therefore if the real sorrows of life were greater than the pleasures and satisfac- tions of it, everyman would be glad to be rid of his life, which makes him capable of these sorrows ? I answer, in the firstplace, I. That wheresoever any thing of a future state of rewards and punishmentsis known and believed, it is no wonder men are unwilling to die ; for they being generally conscious of so much sin and guilt, cannot think themselves to have a certain claim to C That great man of antiquity Cicero, is much of Solomon's opinion, when he asserts humanare conditionem soli, perse miseram esse, in his discourse of conso lotion; and, in the same, he adds also, non ngsci lunge optimum, nee in ho¡ ,tupelos nitçe insidesc.
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