upon it without Intermiffion. In vain do ye banish out of your Minds the Thoughts of Death; if ye will not call it to your Remembrance, it will not fail to mind and remember you. The more ye fly from it, the more it follows and pursues you at the Heels; and when ye imagine Death to be fartheft off from you, it is nearest to you.

As the Cancer when it infects and enters into the Breast, devours the Flesh without Interruption, fo Time confumes and devours us continually. The Meat that we swallow, and nourishes us, brings us by degrees into the Embraces of Death, as the Oyl that causeth a Lamp to burn; brings it to an end; or as when a Torch is lighted, it begins to decay, as foon as it begins to buru; thus I may fay without Miftake, that the very first Moment of this Animal Life is the first Moment of our Death: And as we fay of all fublunary Bodies, that the Generation of the one is the Destruction of the other; fo it is with Time, the Birth of one Hour, of a Day, of a Week, of a Month, of a Year, is the End of that which precedes. It is like a Wheel that mounts to no other End but to fall down again.

Since therefore our Life is nothing else but a continued Death in proper Terms, we are mistaken to name only the Moment of the Separation of the Soul and Body, the Hour of Death. For as when many Cannon Shot are charged against a Caftle to open a Breach, we do not say that the laft hath done the Work: Or as when a hard Stone is cut with a Chiffel and Hammer, or infenfibly carved and undermined with Water, the last Blow or Drop don't carry away alone the Glory of the Performance: Thus when our Bodies decay and crumble away to Duft, we must not only confider the laft Strugglings against Death, or the last Attempt of this Enemy. Of a Ladder where we afcend and defcend, we view every Step from the Top to the Bottom; of an Hour-glafs we look to every Grain of Sand; of a Journey, we reckon the firft League as well as the laft; and in a Race, we take Notice of the first

Step

Step that we go out as well as that when we stopped: Thus we must reckon our Death to begin from the first Moment that we draw our Breath, until the last when we yield up the Ghost.

Befides what happens every Moment to this poor and defpicable Nature, an infinite Number of ftrange, unlucky, and unexpected Accidents ftop and fhorten our Race. The Taper is not always confumed by its own Flame, many unkind Blafts and Showers extinguifh it. If our Life is fhort, it is no lefs weak and uncertain. The Body in which we lead a languishing Life, is like Jonas's Gourd: For if it be but moved with a contrary and unwholfome Wind, or touched by an unhappy Worm, it withers upon a sudden, Job iv. This was the Thought of Eliphaz, when he said, We dwell in Houfes of Clay, our Foundation is in the Duft, we are crushed before the Moth, Job iv. When God intends to destroy Mankind in his Wrath, and kill Multitudes in his Displeasure, he doth not always commiffion an Angel as his Agent, as in the Cafe of the Firstborn of Egypt; as when he ftretched forth the Sword of his Vengeance upon Jerufalem, and as when he cut off Sennacherib's Army in one Night, One hundred fourscore and five thousand Men. He doth not always let loose the wicked Spirits, as when he gave them leave to raise a furious Tempeft, which caft to the Ground the House where Job's Children were buried in the Ruins, Job i. He opens not always the Fountains of Heaven, as when he washed away the first wicked World with a fearful Deluge, Gen. vii. He causeth not always Fire and Brimftone to rain from Heaven, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah, upon Admah and Zeboim. He works not always Miracles in the Waters, as when he drowned Pharaoh and his Egyptian Hoft in the Waters of the Red-Sea. He prepares not always Whales to devour us, as he did Jonas. He fends not always burning Serpents, as to the murmurring Generation of the Ifraelites in the Defarts. He commands not always the Earth to open and swallow us up, as he did Corah, Dathan

and Abiram. He fends not always from above great Hailftones, as when he knocked down the Amorites. He deftroys not always by Flames that proceed from his Prefence, as he did Nadab and Abibu, who offered unhallowed Fire upon his Altar. He commands not always the Lions and Bears of the Foreft to iffue out and devour us, as he did when the rebellious Prophet was killed, and when the ill-tutored Children of Bethel mocked Elifba. In fhort, God employs not always the Plagues and Judgments of Peftilence, of War, and of Famine; the unpleafant Smell of a fuming Snuff, a flying Vapour of a malignant Smoak, is able to choak us, or kill us in a Moment; a Fly, the Kernel of an Apple, the Hair of the Head, or the Seed of a Grape, or Afhes or Sand, or fome other Atom, may ftop the Breath of our Life. Therefore God advifeth us by the Prophet Ifaiah, Ceafe ye from Man whofe Breath is in his Noftril, for wherein is he to be accounted of? Ifa. ii.

It is to be confidered, that these Contingencies happen very frequently, and in every Place Death lays for us his Snares, as well as in the Bofom of our tenderhearted Parents, and in the Embraces of our dearest Friends, as amongst our moft mortal Enemies. Its invifible Darts fly every where, and as the Pfalmist informs us, The Peftilence walketh in Darkness, and Deftruation wafteth at Noon day, Pfal. xci. Death is bufy on the folemn Festivals, as well as on the Working-days; it drags us as eafily from the Table where we take our Delights, as from the Bed of Sorrow, where we figh and groan. There is no fecret Retreat where me may find a Refuge; it hath no more Regard of the Temples dedicated to God's Service, than of the common Houfes. All the Riches of America, and the Power of the greatest Monarch, are not able to protect us from its Purfuit; it requires a prefent Payment of the Debts that we owe, and it is not poffible to appear by Deputy at the Summons that it fends to us.

Death

Death claps his Summons on the Pofts of the Door, it trufts them not in the Hands of Meffengers, or Lacquies; there is no Warning, but it may write down upon it thefe Words, Speaking to him in Prifon.. It furprizes us at home and abroad, in our Closets and in the Streets, in our Beds, in our Sedans, in the midst of our Feasts, and all our Pomp. It offers Violence to the facred Perfon of the greatest Kings in their moft fumptuous Palaces, in their most flourishing Cities, in their strongest Fortifications, in the midst of their most faithful Subjects, and most victorious Armies, upon their Thrones, and in their triumphant Chariots. As King Ahab when he was going to take Poffeffion of Naboth's Vineyard, told the Prophet Elijab in a Rage, Haft thou found me, mine Enemy? 1 Kin. xxi. Thus when the profane Wordlings dream of nothing but of the pleasant Enjoyment of their unjust Poffeffions, and fwimming in the Blood and Sweat of the meanner People, they meet unexpected Death, which they curfe in their Hearts; and if it did not ftop their Mouths, they would fay also in a Rage, Haft thou found me out, mine Enemy?

This holy Meditation caused the best King upon Earth to tell us, Man knoweth not his time; as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net, and as the Birds that are caught in a Snare, fo are the Sons of Men fnared in an evil time, when it falls fuddenly upon them, Ecclef. ix. 12. This fame Confideration caufed this excellent Sentence to be written in the Book of Job, in a Moment fhall they die, and the People fhall be troubled at Midnight, and pass away, and the Mighty fhall be taken without Hand, Job xxxiv. that is, that to destroy Kingdoms and whole Nations, and to carry away the most lufty and mighty Men, Death has no need of any other Affiftance but its own Arm.

Do you defire Chriftian Reader, to understand the Refult of this Difcourfe; Let me tell you, that fince Death is certain, and not to be avoided, and that there is nothing fo uncertain as the Hour of its Arrival, we ought fo to live, as if we were to breathe forth the

laft

laft Gafp at every Moment. We fhould behave ourfelves, as if we had always our Souls upon our Lips, ready to yield them into the Hands of our great Creator, and to fpeak in Job's Language, Having our Flesh between our Teeth, and our Souls in our Hands, Job xiii. In Regard we know not at what Time, nor in what Place Death intends to come upon us, let us expect it at every Moment, and in every Place, and as we lodge in this earthly Tabernacle, without any Term prefixed, let us be ready to depart at the first Warning. For it will be far better for us to go out willingly, than to be dragged out against our Will. It is not convenient that Death fhould carry us away in the fame manner as the Sea beats and toffes a dead Corps upon its Waves. But we must on this Occafion imitate the discreet Mariner, that trims his Sails, and helps by his Art the Winds and the Tide to carry him to his defired Haven. We should not follow Death as the Malefactor follows the Executioner who drags him to fuffer; but as the Child follows his Father who conducts him to a Feaft. We fhould not engage in a Combat with Death by Constraint, as the ancient Slaves with the wild Beasts in the Roman Amphitheatres; but we should imitate David's Courage, who, of his own Accord, marched out of the Campof Ifrael to fight with Goliah: It is better for us to attack and feize upon Death, than to be furprized and devoured by it unawares.

Come when thou wilt, O Death! Thou shalt never furpize me; for I wait for thee at every Moment, with my Weapons ready in my Hand. Thou shalt never drag me forcibly, for I will follow thee willingly and joyfully. Tho' thou art my Enemy, yet will I fpeak to thee in the Language of the Spoufe in the Canticles to her Beloved, Draw me and I will run after thee. Nay, I will meet thee in the Way, and receive thee with hearty Embraces; for inftead of dreading thy coming, I defire it paffionately, and hope for it. For at the firft Arrival, as foon as I have seen thee, I fhall overcome thee, O bleffed and happy Day, that promifeth me fuch a glorious Victory, and fuch an eternal Triumph!

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