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fince they were not able to make their Lives Eternal, they would stick at nothing to make their Names fo; and fecure all that from the Wreck, which was capable of being fecur'd. Let us put the best Face upon the Matter we can, content our felves with not speaking all we think, and hope more from a happy Conftitution, than all the feeble Reasonings, that gull us with a fancy that we can approach it without concern. The Glory of Dying gallantly, the Hope of being Lamented when we are gone, the defire of leaving a good Name behind us, the Affurance of being fet free from the Miseries of the prefent Life, and of depending no longer upon a fickle and humourfom Fortune, are Remedies not altogether to be rejected, though they be far from being Sovereign. They help no more to put us in Heart, than a poor Hedge in an Engagement contributes to encourage the Soldiers that are to march near, where the Enemy is firing; it appears a good Shelter at a distance, but proves a very thin Defence at clofe view. We do vainly flatter our felves to think that Death will be the fame when near, as we fancy it to be when remote; and that our Reasonings, which in Truth are Weakness it felf, will prove of fo harden'd a Temper as to hold out proof, and not yield to the fevereft of all Tryals: Befides, it fhews .we are but little acquainted with Self-Love, when we imagine, that it will do us any Service toward the looking upon that very thing as a Trifle, which muft unavoidably caufe its utter Ruin; and Reafon, from which we expect fo many Supplies, is then too weak to perfwade us what we wifh to be true: Nay, Reafon it felf generally betrays us upon this occafion, and instead of animating us with a Contempt of Death, gives us a

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more lively Reprefentation of its Terrors and Gaftliness: All it is able to do in our behalf, is only to advise us to turn our Heads another way, and divert the Thought by fixing our Eyes upon some other Objects. Cato and Brutus chose Noble Ones. A Lackey, not long ago, fatisfied himself with dancing upon the Scaffold, whither he was brought to be broke upon the Wheel. And thus, though the Motives be different, they produce ftill the fame Effects. So true it is, that after all the difproportion between Great Men and the Vulgar, People of both forts do often meet Death, with the fame Face and Difpofition: But till with this difference, that in the Contempt of Death, which Great Men exprefs, the Defire and Love of Honour is the thing that keeps Death from their fight; and in the Vulgar, 'tis Ignorance and Stupidity that leaves them at liberty to think upon fomething elfe, and keeps them from feeing the greatnefs of the Evil they are to fuffer.

Every thing in this Life is Accidental, even our Birth, that brings us into it: Death is the only thing we can be fure of; and yet we behave our felves juft as if all the reft were certain, and Death, alone accidental.

* We are apt to pick Quarrels with the World for every little Foolery, or every trivial Crofs: But our Tongues run quite to another Tune, when we come once to parting with it in earnest.

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*Nothing but the Confcience of a Virtuous Life can make Death cafie to us: Wherefore there's no trufting to a Death-bed Repentance. When Men come to that laft Extremity once by Langor, Pain or Sickness, and to lye Agonizing

Agonizing betwixt Heaven and Hell, under the ftroke, either of a Divine Judgment, or of Hu mane Frailty, they are not commonly fo fenfible of their Wickedness, or fo effectually touch'd with the remorfe of a true Repentance, as they are distracted with the Terrors of Death, and the dark Visionary Apprehenfions of what's to come. People in that Condition, do but difcharge themselves of burdenfom Reflections, as they do of the Cargo of a Ship at Sea, that has fprung a Leak: Every thing is done in a Hurry, and Men only part with their Sins in the one Cafe, as they do with their Goods in the other; to fish them up again fo foon as the Storm is over. Grace must be very ftrong in thofe Conflicts, wholly to vanquish the Weakneffes of diftreffed Nature. That certainly is none of the Time to make choice of for the great Work of reconciling our felves to Heaven, when we are divided and confounded betwixt an Anguifh of Body and Mind: And that Man is worfe then Mad, that ventures his Salvation upon that defperate Iffue.

There is not any thing that Men are fo prodigal, and at the fame time, fo fond of, as their Lives.

Death happens but once; but the Senfe of it renews in all the Moments of our Lives; and the fear we have of it, is ten times worfe than the fubmitting to it.

That part of Death which is certain, is much alleviated by that which is uncertain.

We hope to grow Old, and yet we fear Old Age; that is to fay, we love Life, and decline Death..

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Nature generally makes a long Sickness, intermediate betwixt Life and Death, with defign, it feems, to make Death it felf a kind of Release, both to him that Dies, and thofe that Survive him.

That Death which prevents a crazy Old Age, comes in better time, than that which terminates it.

There are but three great Events for us Men, Birth, Life and Death: We are not fenfible of our Birth; we fuffer in Dying, and forget to Live.

Moft Men spend the first part of their Lives. in rendring the other miferable.

* Men fear Death, as Children fear to go in the Dark; and as that natural Fear is encreafed in Children with Tales, fo is the other. Certainly the Stoicks beftowed too much coft upon Death, and by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little Infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.

It is obfervable, that there is no Paffion in the Mind of Man, but it Masters the Fear of Death: And therefore Death is no fuch terrible Enemy, when a Man has fo many Friends about him, that can gain him the Victory. Revenge Triumphs over Death; Love flights it; Honour afpires to it; Grief flies to it; Fear procures it. Nay, we read, that Pity it felf, which is the Tendereft of all Affections, has provok'd many to die out of meer Compaffion. Nay, Seneca adds Nicenefs and Sariety; A Man (fays he) would die, though he were neither Valiant nor Miferable, only upon a Weariness to do the fame thing fo oft over and over.

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We are apt to pick Quarrels with the World for every little Foolery, or every Critical Crofs; but our Tongues run quite to another Tune, when we come once to parting with it in earnest.

The Point of Death if once abstracted from. the Pomp and Terror of the Ideas, is nothing more than a pure Natural Action: Now he that dreads the Courfe of Nature is 3 Child.

Suppofe, you were to live Three thoufand, or if you pleafe, Three millions of years, yet you are to remember that no Man can lofe any other Life than that which he Lives by. From whence it follows, that the longest Life, as we commonly fpeak, and the shortest, come all to the fame reckoning. The Proof lies thus: The Prefent is of the fame Duration every where, and of the fame Extent to all People; every Bodies lofs therefore is of the fame bignefs, and reaches no farther than to a point of Time. For to fpeak strictly, no Man is capable of lofing either the Paft or the Future; For how can any one be deprived of what he has not? So that from this Reflection we may gather these two important Notions; One is, that a little while is enough to view the World in; for Things are repeated and come over again apace: Nature treads in a Circle, and has much the fame Face through the whole Courfe of Eternity. The other Hint is, that when the longest and fhortest lived Perfons come to die, their lofs is equal: for as I obferve, the Prefent is their All, and they can fuffer no far. ther.

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