Agricola. Or, The religious husbandman: the main intentions of religion, served in the business…

II. All the Children of Men are liable to the Stroke of Death; Every Leaf of this Grass must be cut down by the Sith of Death: No Remedy nor Escaping! It is an old Question, and every Man may from the Experience of all Mankind, give a plain and a short Answer to it: Psal. LXXXIX. 48. What […] is he that liveth, and shall not see Death? ⟨p. 136⟩'Tis in the Quality of a Mower, with an Irresistible Sith in his Hand, that the King of Terrors appears unto him. 'Tis he, who may truly challenge the Title of, The Catholic King. And as David once dealt with the Geshurites, He smote the Land, and left neither Man nor Woman alive; so does this Mower deal with all Mankind; He smites the Land; He carries his Mortal Sith over the Face of it. He cuts down all before him, until not one spire of Grass is left standing in the Field. The Matter, and the Reason of the Matter, has by the Holy SPIRIT of GOD been thus declared unto us; Rom. V. 12. By one Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin; and so Death passed upon all Men, for that all have sinned. Sin, Sin, put the Sith into the Hand of the Mower; and has given the Edge unto the Sith: Hence, 'tis now come to pass, Death as one may say, like Caesar, taxes all the World, and will not spare even Caesar himself. As no Poverty will shelter the meanest, so no Dignity will protect the Highest, from the cutting, stroke of the Sith. Of the Heap fallen before the Sith, we read; Job. III. 19. The Small and Great are there. A Lazarus feels the stroke; and so does a Nebuchadnezzar. We read, Psal. XLIX. 10. Wise Men Die, and so does the Fool. A Solomon feels the stroke; and so does a Rehoboam. In the most Populous and Splendid City of Europe, and, I suppose, of the World, there are by Computation, almost a Million, of those whom we take leave to call, Spires of Grass. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass; Not one of them left standing in the World. In the English Nation, there are by Computation, almost Eight ⟨p. 137⟩Millions of these poor Spires of Grass. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass; not one of them left standing in the World. But must not the Grass all over the World, be used like the English Grass? They Compute for near Five Hundred Millions of these frail Spires of Grass appearing on the whole Globe at this time. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass;