Page:Great importance of a suitable preparation for death (1).pdf/11

( 11 ) Now, as for the firſt of theſe things obſerved, viz. That it is certain and moſt ſure that we ſhall once die, I hope there are none here who will deny; altho' I confeſs ſome few of you believe, what, was ſaid by the woman of Tekoah, 2 Samuel xiv. 14. “We muſt all die, and be like water ſpilt upon the ground, that cannot be gathered up again. God doth not except the perſon of any.” And Job xxx. 23. “I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the houſe appointed for all living. —And it is very clear, Eccleſ. viii. 8. “There is no man that hath power over the ſpirit, to retain the ſpirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no diſcharge in that war; neither ſhall wickedneſs deliver thoſe who are given to it.” —So that it is moſt clear that we muſt die.

I remember of one Philip, king of Macedonia, who had one ſubſtituted for this very end to cry at his oh chamber-door every morning Memento mori, Memento mori, Memento mori, Remember thou art to die. And, it is reported to have been the practice of the Nobles of Greece, on the day wherein their Emperor was crowned, that they preſented a marble-ſtone unto him, and he was required after what faſhion he would have his tomb-ſtone made? Which practice ſpeaks forth this unto us, that altho' theſe were moſt deſtitute of the light of the