meditation is presented; that as fire is the symboll of life; water (that is its contrary) and extinguisheth it, must be of consequence the symboll of death; water naturally tending downwards, and fire upwards, wherein consisteth life. _Strabo_ to this purpose in his 15. Book, speaking of the _Brachmans_, sets down, that which we call death, to be renewing of life, and that this temporall is but a conception as it were, and a _carriage_ which comes about the end of its term, to bring forth to death, to passe from thence to eternall life. Which _Seneca_ imitates in the 103 Epistle. The day that we fear so much, as the last of our life, is a renascence of an eternall day; let us then chearfully leave behind that which serves for nothing but a tedious charge. Why do we so much turn our backs, as if we had not been before this first frail body, in which we remain included and hid? we struggle and temporize therein, to the best of our power, and not without cause, for we have been forced out by a endeavour of our mother in bearing us; and we weep and lament when we arrive to this, which we think to be the last day, but to complaine, cry, and weep, are they not marks and tokens of one that is to be borne? And a little more Christian-like, although a little before; I will lay down this body where I have found it, and clothed it, and will render my self above to the immortall Gods, although I am not without them at this present, but whilest I am detained here within this grievous masse of earth, in the low abode of mortality, my sensuality will fight and combat against this other better and longer life. Now as we have been for nine or ten months, shut up within our mothers belly, not to prepare therein for it selfe, but at last, to come to this place, whither we ought to be sent, when we should be perfectly accomplished and made fit to breath, and remain openly out of this closet, where we were formed. In like manner during the space that we have run through from our infancy to old age, we dye to go whither another originall attends us, and a new state of things. All this doth in nothing derogate from the Traditions of our Church, who celebrated for the nativity of Martyrs the day of their death and martyrdom.