'Tis not, therefore, without good Caufe, that the Preacher acquaints us, That the Day of Death is far better than the Day of our Birth; for our Birth caufeth us to weep, and Death wipes off all Tears from our Eyes. Our Birth discovers that large Theatre upon which all worldly Tragedies are acted; Death draws the Curtain, puts a Period to all fuch bloody Scenes. Our Birth cafts us into the Fire and Water of divers Afflictions; and Death draws us out of thofe Flames and Bitterness. Finally, fince our Life is but a Chain of Mifery, and that Death breaks in Pieces the laft Link; fince our Life is but a continual Fighting, and that Death alone is the Victory; 'tis most certain, that this Death is not to be feared as an Evil, and an Enemy, but rather to be defired as a good Friend, and a Bleffmg. Tis reported of the Thracians, that they buried their Dead with Expreffions of Joy; and the Inhabitants of the fortunate Iflands fang and danced at the Funerals of their dearest Friends. I don't commend these foolish Examples of extravagant and barbarous People, who were without Hope, and without God in the World. Such cannot fear Death too much; for, if it freed them from fome prefent and light Evils, it caft them into an Abyss of exceffive Torments. Death is an Happiness, it brings with it a folid Comfort and Joy, but 'tis when we die in God's Favour, and in the Faith of our Lord Jefus. God hath fufficiently declared the Happinefs and Pleasure of his Children's Death; for he often abridges the Days of thofe whom he favours and esteems. Because he had feen fome good Thing in the Person of Abijah, the eldeft Son of Jeroboam, King of Ifrael, he took him away in the Flower of his Age, 1 Kings 14. He granted the fame Favour to Jofas, King of Judah, one of the moft Religious Princes of the World, for he had declared to him by Hulda the Prophetefs, Bebold, I will gather thee unto thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in Peace, and thine Eyes fhall not fee all the Evil which I will bring upon this Place, 2 Kings 22. 'Tis not to be doubted, but that fuch are

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moft happy as die in the Lord, and reft from their Labours; but I judge them happy in a two-fold Manner, that die, or rather ceafe from dying in fuch miferable Times, fo full of Confufion and Disorder.

Would you not laugh at a Workman, that should grieve when his Task is ended, and his Labour finished? Or, at a Way-faring Man, that fhould lament to fee the End of his painful Journey thro' Prickles and Thorns, and the fcorching Heat of the Sun, or the unfufferable Cold of the Winter? Or, would you not wonder at one that should vex himfelf when he is fafely arrived in the Haven, efcaped the Waves of a tempeftuous Sea, and in a Shelter from the Storms? Wretched Man! Thou art far more foolish and extravagant than thofe of whom we fpeak for the most painful Labours of a Workman, the moft grievous Weariness of a tedious Journey, and the fwelling Waves of a troubled Sea, are nothing, in Comparison of the Labours, Mifery, and Troubles of this languifhing Life. You would, doubtlefs, esteem it a very great Folly and Madnefs in a Prifoner, to be forry for being delivered out of his noifom Dungeon; or in a Galley-Slave, to be angry when he is to be loos'd from his Chains; or in an Offender, to vex when he is freed from his Torments. What think ye? Is there lefs Madnefs and Extravagancy in you, when ye are grieved to fee Death freeing your Souls from this miferable Body, where 'tis imprifon'd, withdrawing it from the painful Employments of this unhappy Age, more grievous and intolerable than that of the GalleySlaves, and difcharging you from the Troubles of the Soul, far more painful than the most infufferable Tortures of the Body? No, no, Death that thou dreadeft fo much, is not the Death of the Faithful, but the End of his Miferies, and the last Period of all his Torments, Gen: 8. Noah, when he went out of the Ark that ftopped upon Mount Ararat, had never fo much Caufe to praife God, and to offer to him the Sacrifice of Thankfgiving, as we have, when he is pleased to caufe us to fee the End of the Inundation of fo many Evils and Calamities,

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famities, and to make this floating Life, or this living Death to stop upon Mount Sion.

The Children of Ifrael fang Songs of Thanksgiving when they came out of Egypt, and faw themselves defiver'd out of a bitter and painful Bondage; where they had been employ'd in gathering of Stubble, and burning Brick. But we have much more Cause to rejoice, and to fing Songs of Praife, when Death takes us out of the World where we fuffer a Kind of Bondage, la bouring in vain, and enduring the fcorching Heat of many Afflictions that confume us. Thou findeft Fault with fome of that inconftant People who murmured to return again into Egypt, when they were upon the Borders of the promised Land; but rather find Fault with thine own filthy Flefh, if it offers to murmur and revolt, when thou art at the Entrance of thy celeftial Canaan. Jofeph rejoiced when the King of Egypt fent for him out of Prifon, Gen. 14. And have we not Caufe to be joyful, when God ferids for our Souls out of the World, and caufeth them to go out of their Bodies, which to them is a Kind of a Dungeon?

If therefore we can fpeak without impatient Murmuring, I conceive we have as good Reafon as Jonas, to fay, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my Life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live, Jonas 4 Or, as the Prophet Elias, It is enough, Lord, take away my Life, 1 Kings 19. Such a Soul may, in a holy Tranfport, fafely fpeak in the Language of David, the Man after God's own Heart, Bring my Soul out of Prifon, that I may praife thy Name. The Righteous fhall compass me about, for thou Shalt deal bountifully with me, Pf. 141.

A PRAYER

A PRAYER and MEDITATION for a Chriftian, who comforts himself with the Confideration, that Death delivers us from temporal Evils without Number, which fo often affault us.

Glarions Prince of my Salvation! Thou hast hitherto Strengthened me against all Fears of Death; but now I heartily befeech thee to afford me fuch Grace, that Death may not terrific nor afflict me, but fill me full of Foy and Comfort. Suffer me not to follow the Example of the Ifraelites, who, forgetting the Hardships of their former Bondage, and minding only the Pleasures and Plenty of Egypt, mutiny'd to return back from the Borders of Canaan. Let not the DeLights of this World, nor the fleshly Luft, poffefs my Soul; but grant that I may fo mind the Labours and Mileries of this prefent State, that as a Workman, contended to fee Night put en End to his Toil, or as a Traveller either by Sea or Lands willingly enters the Haven or the Inn, where he is to reft, I may look upon Death in the fame favourable Manner; and the rather, because of the terrible Confufions, the Calamities, Streams of Blood, and Mischiefs of War, of Fire and Sword, that threaten and devour us. The lamentable State of thy dif treffed Church chiefly affects me; tis like a fmall Boat in the midst of roaring and fwelling Waves, ready to fink were it not for thy powerful Protection, who commandeft the boiftrous Element; or like a Daniel in the Lions Den, in Danger to be devour'd, didst thou not defend it from the furious Beafts. I am weary to behold fo many bloody Tragedies acted, to continue fo long in a World of Wickedness, and to be an Eye-Witnefs of the Sufferings, and to hear the Complaints of thy chofen People. O heavenly Father, I am contented to be freed from this Chain of Mifery, from this Life where fo mary Calamities opprefs and afflict me; Calamities of Sickness and Ditempers that torment my Body, and of other Afflictions, of which I am fenfible. When wilt thou release me, O my God, from this Prifon and dark Dungeon, that thy bleffed Angel may

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convey my Soul to a better State out of the Reach of the Devil's Malice and Power. When thou wilt fend for me to introduce me into thy celeftial Jerufalem, where I shall with the rest of thy Chofen, glorify thee my God, and forget all my former Sorrows, that shall be swallowed up in everlasting Foys, where no Pain nor Grief fhall ever come near us; but we shall be fecured by thy divine Prefence, from the Senfe and Apprehenfion of all Evil, and be put in Poffeffion of an everlasting Happiness. Amen.

CHAP. XXI.

The Ninth Confolation: Death shall deliver us from Sin, which we may fee reigning in the World, and from the Remains of our Corruption.

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HEN God fent Angels from Heaven to fetch Lot out of Sodom, and fecure him from the Flames with which he intended to deftroy that abominable City, this good Man's Wife could not forbear looking back; but he was, in that very Moment, fufficiently punished, by being turned into a Pillar of Salt, the Emblem of that holy Prudence, that this Example recommends to Pofterity. That which made this unhappy Woman break the Angel's exprefs Command, was her Affection for the Riches, Plenty, and Pleasures of that Country, which she had left; not thinking upon the Bafenefs, Filth, and abominable Vices that brought God's Wrath and Vengeance upon the unworthy Inhabitants. Likewife, when God intends to take us out of the World, and to fecure us from the Senfe of his dreadful Judgments; that which caufeth us to look back, and hinders us from following the Angels that God fends to us, to lead us up to the Mountain of our Salvation is, that we think upon nothing but the Riches, Honours, and Pleafures of this wretched World,