All things (saith he) are by certain order and appointment. And what if the elements only.
It will suffice to remember, that all things in general are by certain order and appointment: or if it be but few.
And as concerning death, that either dispersion, or the atoms, or annihilation, or extinction, or translation will ensue.
And as concerning pain, that which is intolerable is soon ended by death;
And that which holds long must needs be tolerable;
And that the mind in the meantime (which is all in all) may by way of interclusion, or interception, by stopping all manner of commerce and sympathy with the body, still retain its own tranquility.
Thy understanding is not made worse by it. As for those parts that suffer, let them, if they can, declare their grief themselves.
As for praise and commendation, view their mind and understanding, what estate they are in; what kind of things they fly, and what things they seek after:
And that as in the seaside, whatsoever was before to be seen, is by the continual succession of new heaps of sand cast up one upon another, soon hid and covered; so in this life, all former things by those which immediately succeed.