Insanabilia. An essay upon incurables; handling that case, What shall people do under their…

First. Be sure, we have this Grief that cannot be cured; That our state in general, must be a state of Grief; a state liable to Grievous Things. There are many Grievous Things that are the unavoidable Portion of Mankind. It is our Portion, and there is no Avoiding, there is no Preventing, there is no Escaping of it. Come, let us do like the Wise Man, in Eccl. III. 10. See the Travel which God hath given unto the Sons of Men, to be Exercised in it. There are the Laws of our present state, which are less to be altered, ⟨p. 19⟩than the Laws of the Medes and Persians; Laws which oblige us to many. Humbling and Crippling Circumstances. And what art thou, O proud Worm, that thou shouldest propose for thy sake any Alteration of them? Shall the Earth be forsaken for thee, and shall the Rock be removed out of his Place? Vain Man, Rash Man, Tho' thou tear thy self in thine Anger, it shall not be done. A state of Grievous Things here, 'tis Unalterable, 'tis Unalterable! I shall speak very Comprehensively, when I say, Every Condition of Life, must have Temptations attending of it. There is no Condition free from its peculiar Temptations. Very much of our Work in the World, is to Watch against the Temptations in it. O our God, let them not be too hard for us! I go on; It is a Grief, that we must Labour under such Frailty, and such Meanness, and such Necessities, as the Constitution of our Bodies does bring upon us; A Grief; but there is no curing of it. It is a ⟨p. 20⟩Grief, that it is appointed for Men […] to Die; and after we have, like the Sparks, mounted up for a little while, we must anon sink, and fall down into the common Heap of Ashes: A Grief, But there is no Curing of it. It is a Grief, that we must be always liable to Grievous Things; The Wheel always upon the Turn; and no Man know a Day aforehand what a Day may bring forth. Say, This is my Grief; I am Feeble, and Mortal, and Jog on from Day to Day, Ignorant and Uncertain every Day what may come upon me, in the Day that is coming on; But it is Incurable: It cannot be otherwise. A state liable to Grievous Things, is called, 1 Cor. X. 13. What is common to Man. O Man, Be not so Impertinent as to Dream of Curing and shunning, what is common to Man. Among the Incurables of our present State, wonder not that I omit the Body of Death which will cleave to us till the Death of our Body;