ducements to perfwade and allure them to the Practice of it; fo that by one Confideration or other he might take hold of all Capacities and Tempers of Men. But this will much better appear by a carefu! perufal of the Difcourfes themselves, than by any laboured Commendation of them.

J. TILLOTSON.

Nów let us view this Good Man in a Scene of Friendship. In the Year 1687, his intimate Acquaintance, Mr. NICHO LAS HUNT of Canterbury, lay dangeroufly ill of a Cancer, and when Dr. TILLOTSON was informed that he was paft Recovery, he fent him the following excellent Letter of Confolation, to comfort and fupport him under the preffure of his lingring Indifpofition.

I

SIR,

AM forry to understand by Mr. JANEWAY's Letter to my Son, that your Di ftemper grows upon you; and that you feem to decline fo faft; I am very fenfible how much eafter it is to give Advice against Trouble in the Cafe of another, than to take it in our

own.

It hath pleafed God to exercise me of late with a very fore Trial, in the Lofs of my dear and only Child, in which I do perfectly fubmit

to

to his good Pleasure: firmly believing that he always does that which is beft; and yet, though Reafon be fatisfied, our Paffion is not fo foon appeas'd; and when Nature has received a Wound, Time must be allowed for the Healing of it. Since that, God hath thought fit to give me a nearer Summons of a clofer Warning of my own Mortality, in the Danger of an Apoplexy; which yet, I thank God for it, hath occafioned no very Melancholy Reflections; but this perhaps is more owing to Natural Tem per, than Philofophy and wife Confiderations.

Your Cafe, I know, is very different, who are of a Temper naturally melancholy, and under a Distemper apt to increase it; for both which great Allowances ought to be made: And jet methinks, bath Reafon and Religion do offer us Confiderations of that Solidity and Strength, as may very well fupport our Spirits under all Frailties and Infirmities of the Flesh; fuch as thefe :

• That God is perfect Love and Goodness; that we are not only his Creatures, but his Children, and are as dear to him as to our felves; that he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the Children of Men; and that all Evils of Afflictions which befal us, are intended for the Cure and Prevention of greater Evils of Sin and Punishment; and therefore we ought not only to fubmit to them with Patience, as being deferved by us, but to receive them with Thankfulness, as being defign'd by him to do

us that good, and to bring us to that Senfe of him and our felves which nothing else perhaps.. would have done. That the Sufferings of this prefent Life are but short and light, compared with thofe extreme and endless Miferies which we have deferved; and with that exceeding Weight of Glory which we hope for in the other World, if we be careful to make the best Preparations for Death and Eternity. Whatever brings us nearer our End, brings us nearer to our Happiness; and how rugged foever the, Way be, the Comfort is, that it leads us to our Father's House, where we shall want nothing we can wish for. Now we labour under a dangerous Diffemper, which threatens our Life; what would we not be contented to bear, in order to a perfect Recovery, could we but be affured of it? and should we not be willing to endure much more, in order to Happiness, and that eternal Life which God that cannot lie hath promifed? Nature, I know, is fond of Life, and apt to be still lingring after a longer Continuance here; and yet a long Life, with the ufual Burthens and Infirmities of it, is feldom defirable; it is but the fame things over again, or worse: So many more Nights and Days, Summers. and Winters, a Repetition of the fame Pleasures, but with lefs Pleafure and Relish; every Day a Return of the fame, and greater Pains and Trouble; but with lefs Strength and Patience to bear them. Thefe and the like Confiderations I use to en

tertain

tertain my felf withal, not only with Contentment but Comfort, though with great Ine quality of Temper at feveral Times, and with much Mixture of Human Frailties, which will always stick to us, while we are in this World: However, by thefe kind of Thoughts Death feems more familiar to us, and we shall be able by Degrees to bring our Minds close up to it, without starting at it. The greatest Ten derness I find in my felf is with regard to fome Relations; efpecially the dear and conftant Companion of my Life, which I confefs doth very fenfibly touch me: But then I confider, and fo, I hope, will they also, that this feparation will be but a very little while; and that though I shall leave them in a bad World, yet under the Care of a good God, who can be more and better to them than all other Relations, and will certainly be fo to thofe that love him, and hope in his Mercy.

I fhall not need to advise you what to do, and what Use to make of this Time of your Visitation. I have Reafon to believe, that you have been careful in the Time of your Health to prepare for the evil Day; and have been converfant in thofe Books which give the best Diretions to this Purpose: And have not, as too many do, put off the great Work of your Life to the End of it: And then you have nothing to do, but as well as you can, under your prefent Weakness and Pains, to renew your Repentance for all the Errors and Miscarriages of

your

your Life; and earnestly to beg God's Pardon and Forgiveness of them, for his fake who is the Propitiation for our Sins: In comforting your felf in the Goodness and the Promifes of God, and the Hopes of that Happiness you are ready to enter into; and in the mean time to exercife Faith and Patience for a little while ; and be of good Courage, fince you fee Land the Storm which you are in will foon be over, and then it will be as if it had never been; or rather the Remembrance of it will be a Plea fure.

I do not ufe to write fuch long Letters, but I do heartily compaffionate your Cafe, and fhould be glad if I could fuggeft any thing that might help to mitigate your Trouble, and make the sharp and rugged Way through which you are to pass into a better World, a little more fmooth and eafy:

I pray God to fit is both for that great Change which we must once undergo; and if we be but in any good Measure fit, fooner or later makes no great Difference:

I commend you to the Father of Mercies, and the God of all Confolation; beseeching him to increase your Faith and Patience; and to stand by you in your last and great Conflict; that when you walk through the Valley of the Sha dow of Death, you may fear no Evil ; and when your Heart fails, and your Strength fails you find him the Strength of your Heart, and your Portion for ever.

Farewells