Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A19123
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Of death a true description and against it a good preparation: together with a sweet consolation, for the suruiung mourners. By Iames Cole merchant.
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Cole, James.; Hoste, Dierick.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 5533; ESTC S105012
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59,139
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225
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And follow thus through death his fore-runne trace Then shall our end be happy for they will Direct vs through this dale to Sions bill Vt terror Mortis tibi sit victoria larvam Aspicias intus Moâ—s fera vita placens Abr. Bush Art Mag. A DESCRIPTION OF DEATH TO euery thing there is a set time Eccle. 3.1 a time to bee borne and a time to die saith Salomon And betweene the time of birth and of death there passed in the first ages sixe eight or perhaps ten hundreth yeares But since the time that mans sinne drew the deluge ouer the whole world Man borne of a woman hath but a short time saith Iob. Iob 14.1 Iacob said that his dayes were an hundreth and thirty yeares Gen. 47.9 and that hee had not attained to the dayes of his Fathers But our dayes saith Moses comming after him Psal 90.10 are but threescore yeares and tenne and at the highest fourescore Yet not one among fourescore times fourescore attaine vnto that age 2 Sam. 12.18 Dauids beloued childe neuer saw the eight day yea the life of some is ended before they bee borne But how well so euer we are deliuered out of our mothers wombe yet hauing taken shipping in this world we still sayle towards our end And whether wee be fewe or many dayes by the way death is our last port vnto it we are all bound and at it must euery one arriue Now what man doth euer commit himselfe to Sea and doth not first furnish himselfe with necessary prouision against all vnexpected tempests How much the more then ought we to furnish our selues against the stormes of death which euery one of vs must certainly looke for hee that intends but a iourney by land enquires for the most commodious way And doe wee thinke to performe our iourney from Heauen to earth without any trouble or forecast at all This is a lamentable carelesnesse For whosoeuer doth then first goe about to prepare himselfe to dye well when he feeles sicknesse vpon him or seeth death before his eyes is like to a Souldier that beginneth then to forge his weapons when hee beholds his enemies on the wall Wee ought to spend the whole course of our life on the meditation of death for hee certainly hath liued well who hath learned well to dye Prouident Ioseph gathered in the seauen yeares of plenty that which fed him and those that were with him in the seauen yeares of famine Gen. 41.43 In like manner ought wee in our youth and health to make prouision of that Spirituall foode that may cherish vs towards our end when wee may chance to bee weake both in body and in minde Hee that is Lord of life and death open the eyes of our vnderstandings and endue vs with his Holy Spirit that hee may lighten and conduct our soules in and thorow the darknesse of death Hee I say that hath by dying ouercome death graunt that we may know it throughly to withstand it valiantly and hereafter as Souldiers vnder his banner happily vanquish it To treate hereof orderly The originall of Death we are first to know that God created not death Hee created the first man immortall in soule and body Zanch de Var. qual 4.1 so that hee might haue liued eternally had hee but obserued the will of his Creator Yet neuerthelesse hee also created him mortall so that hee might dye whensoeuer hee should transgresse the law of his Creator This appeares vnto vs by the words wherein GOD threatneth him on this manner In the day that thou eatest thereof Gen. 2.17 thou shalt surely die speaking of the forbidden tree of knowledge Wherefore Iesus the sonne of Sirach sayes that God himselfe made man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his owne counsell Eccl. 1â— 14.17 He set before him life and death sayes he and which hee liketh shall bee giuen him Now when Adam through the Serpents subtilty slighted this diuine warning hee straightwayes became lyable to death both in respect of his body which was dust Gen. 3.19 and shall returne to dust againe as also of his soule for through this sinne was hee adiudged to condemnation Rom. 5.16 And not hee onely but also all his posterity who all died in Adam 1 Cor. 15.22 as the Apostle teacheth So then this death as we may say was begot of the deuill brought into the world by sinne borne in Paradise the Mid-wife Eue the Nurse Adam It hath an abominable mother that mainely doth resist God It is lamentable of it selfe in respect that it is the fruit of our transgression It is ignominious because it is vnto vs as a brand of Gods wrath Yet is it not so abominable as the mother of it sinne it selfe because it doth execute Gods iust iudgement on vs slaying vs three manner of wayes whence it also may bee termed three-fold Death threefold First it killeth the body in separating the same from the spirit which is the life of it for the body without the spirit is dead saith Iames. This kinde of death is common vnto all men It assailes vs out of our owne nature or may be inflicted on vs by others And from this shall all men be freed at the generall resurrection Secondly it slayeth the soule by with-drawing the same from God her Creator Psal 36.9 who is the fountaine of life and from God her Redeemer Pro. 3.22 who is the life of our soule and the word of life This manner of death is also common vnto all those that walke as yet in Vanity and Blindnesse of heart Ioh. 1.11 It befalleth vs by meanes of our sinnes and trespasses Ephes 4.17 Ephes 2.1 And from this in this present life as many are freed Col. 2.13 as Christ hath quickned together with him and hath forgiuen them all their trespasses as the Apostle speaketh And this it is that Saint Iohn termes the first resurrection Thirdly it kills soule and body both together by excluding them both from the blisse of eternall life And of this kinde of death Christ saith If a man keepe my saying Ioh. 8.31 hee shall neuer see death Whereby the contrary is proued to wit that vnto them that do reiect the word of God this death shall befall and will come vpon them by the iust sentence which at the last day God shall pronounce against them Nor shall any of those whom it befalleth euer be released neither in this nor in the world to come These three sorts of dying are all comprehended by Christ in a speech of his where he saith Feare not them which kill the body Iohn 10.28 but are not able to kill the soule but feare him rather who is able to destroy both soule and body in hell Death twofold This hell Saint Iohn in his Reuelation at the last sees throwne into a lake of fire Reu. 20.15 and calls it
sowed whether it be corruption Gal. 6.7 or euerlasting life If so be then that any one feares that heauenly Iudge by whom the dead are Iudged according to their workes Apoc. 2â— 1â— what is this to death To sowe and to worke are properties of life not of death and therefore ought euery one to tremble at his life not at his death Yet may some say it is naturall with Adam in Paradise for a man to hide himselfe so long as he can from Gods voyce It may be naturall but it is not auaileable For first we cannot by running so out-runne death but that it will ouer-take vs. Secondly though wee could here on earth prolong our life some fourty or fifty yeares yet it were but to small purpose Though a man liue sayes Syrachs sonne a hundred yeares Ecclus. 18.6 it is but as a drop of water vnto the sea and a grauell stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand yeares to the day of eternity Therefore Iacob called his dayes of a hundred and thirty yeares Gen. 47. fewe and euill Thirdly the longer a worldling who chiefly dreads death with vexation shunnes it he doth not onely the longer liue here in paine but the more also he encreaseth the number of his sins and consequently drawes on him the fearefuller Iudgement Yea the burthen of dayly sinnes doth so graciously ouer-load the consciences of godly men that it euen makes them weary of this life and causeth them with St. Paul to cry out Miserable man that I am Rom. 7.14 who shall release me of this body of death But if any man shunne death and feareth the Iudgement as desirous of further time to amend his life hereafter let such an one know that he that deferres his amendment may as well growe worse aâ— better The first world obtain'd of God a hundred and twenty yeares toward their conuersion yet it nothing auayled them they were almost all drowned in the floud Gen. 6.3 Yea Enoch in the meane while he walked before God Gen. 5.24 God tooke him and hee was seene no more saith Moses lest that wickednesse should alter his vnderstanding or deceit beguile his soule sayes the booke of Wisedome So that the taking away of Enoch out of this world was a more certaine way for him to auoyde the fiercenesse of Gods Iudgement then if he had liued longer in danger of being misled Thus wee see then that death cannot be any hinderance vnto vs at the day of Iudgement and that in that respect wee haue no reason to feare it Seeing then that death is naturall and generall Conclusion and according to the will of God seeing that of its owne nature it can hurt vs neither in soule nor in body nor will suffer vs to long after terrestriall things nor shall be any hinderance vnto vs at the day of Iudgement We suppose that it is hereby sufficiently demonstrated that by nature it is not euill nor can any way preiudice vs. Therefore ought wee more to shunne the feare of death then death it selfe For once more and for the last to vse the words of a Philosopher commonly when we feare the death of the body and by all meanes shunne the same wee neglect altogether the death of the soule I conclude therefore with the fore-named words of Christ our Sauiour Feare not those that kill the body How our time is ordained by God and accomplished by man With which couragious speech we would faine here conclude but being that death doth assaile vs diuers manner of wayes and that it is a question ready almost in euery mans mouth whether a man can shorten his life or dye before his time wee will touch this in a word or two as an addition vnto our former discourse We say then with Iob Man hath his appointed time Iob 14.5 the number of his moneths is with God He hath set a limit that he must attaine and that he must not passe This diuine decree and immutable will is hid from mens eyes yet remaines constant and comes to passe at his due time Sometimes publiquely by the reuealed hand of GOD. Whereby he prolonged Lots Gen. 16.19 and his daughters liues by withdrawing them out of the Citie which he meant to consume with fire Sometimes by that which wee call chance though the hand of God be in it too For thus an arrowe shot at a uenture by a Syrian 1 Reg. 22.34 lighted betweene the ioynts of his harnesse and shortned the life of that King Of whom GOD had fore-told that hee should not returne home aliue Commonly through mans nature that causeth the weake in their youth to dye by sicknesse 2 Sam. 22.15 and sustaines the life of the strong till like a sheafe of corne they come into the barne in their season Iob 5.26 And likewise by diuers other meanes Sometimes God doth effect his secret decree by a publique prolonging or else a contracting of time When he granted time to the corrupt men of the first world which he would bring to naught of an hundred and twenty yeares Gen. 6.3 then this prolonging of time brought them to the vniuersall flood as it was before appointed by God Againe if for the Elects sake the dayes shall be shortned as many doe conceiue then shall this shortning bring the world to the vniuersall fire appointed by God Math. 24.22 And according to this reckoning of time man himselfe may sometimes be the meanes of prolonging his life Doth not God speake by Moses and to Salomon also Deut. 5.23 If you walke in my wayes so that you keepe my commandement 1 Reg 3.14 I will giue you long life Yea God puts the meanes of prolonging our life in our owne hands This was apparent in the wildernesse by the fierie Serpents whereas they were only saued and healed of their venomous bites that beheld the brazen Serpent The King Ezekias likewise obtained by his prayers and teares Numb 21.8 that God added vnto his dayes fifteene yeares 2 Reg. 20.6 Was not then his last day certainly preordained of God Yea but it was also his immutable good pleasure that the King should euen thus entreat and begge of him these last fifteene yeares And now also whosoeuer he be that through prayers Physick is releas'd of any sore disease hee ought not foolishly to boast that he should haue liued out his time that was appointed for him though he had not vsed the meanes but he ought rather freely to acknowledge that by these meanes his life hath beene prâ—serued Secondly man is sometimes also occasion of the shortning his dayes Hence it is that the Kingly Prophet said Bloudie and deceitfull men shall not liue out halfe their dayes Psal 55.23 And who will not say Sam. 31.4 that Saul and his Armour-bearer who stabbed themselues were an occasion of shortning their owne liues As also that whosoeuer after Moses had