That they are continually flying off by insensible perspiration and other evacuations, and would soon come to a dissolution, if not nourished by the vegetable and animal productions.
That the bodies we had seven years ago, are totally dissolved by those evacuations; and from hence we have new flesh, new bones, new skin, new hair, new nails, &c. formed out of the four elements.
That the time we have lived, is past and gone; and, that the time we are to live is not yet come, so that we only live at the present time.
That death is only a change from this state to another,—as our bodies return again to the elements, and our spirits to Him that gave them: that the dead, being at rest, are totally free from the cares, troubles, and vexations of a mortal life. The king is not afraid of losing his kingdom, nor the beggar of perishing with hunger.
I beg leave to conclude this chapter with the following reflections, which will not, I hope, detract from their solemnity, because cast in a poetical mould.
Short is our passage thro' this nether world,
For soon by death we from the stage are hurl'd.
The tender infants in their lovely bloom,
Are often hurry'd to the silent tomb!
Adults grown up, nay some of ev'ry age,
By cruel death are taken from the stage;
The high, the low, the rich, the poor, the small,
By the great king of terrors soon must fall.
The richest man, (it cannot be deny'd)
Who with good things most amply is supply'd;
Soon, too, he feels th' impartial stroke of death,
Down falls his body, and off flies his breath:
But where it goes, or how far it doth fly,
No mortal man can tell below the sky.
The elements that in the body are,
Return to those from whence they taken were.
Thus, dust to dust, and air to air, we find,
And heat to heat, are soon again combin'd,
Water to water soon again doth flow,
And the whole mass to dissolution go!
Await, O man! thy doom; for 'tis the fate
Of ev'ry creature in this mortal state:
Yet shall th' immortal spark ascend on high,
Of righteous ones who in the LORD do die.
Thus whilst their bodies are behind at rest,
Their pious souls with happiness are blest.
---- Again.——
O happy state in which the dead are cast!
Their pain is gone and all their trouble's past.
When roaring winds bring up the thick'ned cloud,
And the deep thunder rumbles out aloud;
When the earth quakes, when lofty cities fall,
When places sink, and can't be found at all;
When inundations o'er the land arise,
And burning mountains burst towards the skies;
When famine and the pestilence doth rage,
And wicked nations in a war engage;
When blood and carnage greatly doth expand,
And desolation overspreads the land,
And boist'rous tempests rage upon the sea;
Then are the Dead from danger wholly free.
They're not afraid of being hurt, or slain,
Like wretched mortals who alive remain.
Let not the living then at Death repine,
Since it was made by God an act divine,
To raise the Just—the husband, child, and wife,
From scenes of trouble to a better life!