As the production of the metal proveth the work of the alchymist, so is death the test of our lives, the essay which sheweth the standard of all our actions.
Wouldst thou judge of a life, examine the period of it: the end crowneth the attempt; and where dissimulation is no more, there truth appeareth.
He hath not spent his life ill who knoweth to die well; neither can he have lost all his time, who employeth the last portion of it to his honour.
He was not born in vain, who dieth as he ought; neither hath he lived unprofitably, who dieth happily.
He that considereth he is to die, is content while he liveth: he who striveth to forget it, hath no pleasure in any thing; his joy appeareth to him a jewel, which he expecteth every moment he shall lose.
Wouldest thou learn to die nobly, let thy vices die before thee. Happy is he who endeth the business of his life before his death; who, when the hour of it cometh, hath nothing to do but to die; who wisheth not delay, because he hath no longer use for time.
Avoid not death, for it is a weakness; fear it not, for thou understandest not what it is; all that thou certainly knowest is this, that it putteth and end to thy sorrows.
Think not the longest life the happiest; that which is best employed, doth man the most honour; himself shall rejoice after death in the advantages of it.
This is the complete ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE.
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