Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A60150
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Serious reflections on time and eternity with some other subjects, moral and divine : to which is prefix'd an introduction concerning the first day of the year, how observed by the Jews, and may best be employed by a serious Christian / by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing S3687; ESTC R38915
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108,085
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277
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New Heaven and a New Earth in this However I rejoyce in Hope and pray incessantly for the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the rebuilding of Sion and the more plentiful effusion of the H. Spirit the great comprehensive Promise of the later Times to effect a glorious Kingdom for Christ on Earth and my Faith assures me I shall hereafter see the Son of God revealed from Heaven cloathed with Majesty sitting on a Cloud leading the Heavenly Host raising the Dead by his powerful Voice summoning all the World to appear to Judgment gathering his Elect and finally destroying Death and him that had the Power of it the Devil condemning the wicked to Everlasting Destruction but acquitting honouring and rewarding his poor Members with infinite and Eternal Blessedness XV. Of Dying in a Foreign Country and of Dying Young. Considerations proper to Reconcile the Mind to both I May not live to the end of this Year God in his Providence having called me abroad I may never see my Native Country more Let me still remember O my Soul that wherever I am I am travelling towards the Grave and passing to another World that I may live in all Places as a Pilgrim and Stranger here on Earth with Affections suited to my condition becoming one who is travelling in a Strange Land. Let me bear the Inconveniences I may meet with in this World as Strangers in their Travels are wont to do Let me not repine at the ill accomodations of an Inn where I am to lodge but a night or two but encourage my self with the assurance of better Entertainment at home when my Pilgrimage is ended and my Journey over One of my dearest Holy Friends and Fellow Travellers whose memory will be ever precious (g) Mr. Thomas Bent who dyed at Geneva May 10. 1683. with those who knew him quickly arrived to his Journeys end and is entred into Rest betimes Which of his Companions shall next follow we know not or how soon Lord make me apprehend the nearness of my change in every place and if I am prepared for dying no matter where it be There is no one Country farther from the Presence of God than another The whole World may be considered as one Great House and the several Kingdoms and Countries of it but as different Apartments in the same House and they who tarry at home are no more exempt from Death than they who travel abroad The Earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof I can go no where to be out of his Territories I shall still tread upon my Fathers's Ground I had rather be an Israelite in a Wilderness with the Presence of God than a Courtier in Idolatrous Aegypt Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the friend of God was banished from his own Country and should I never set foot again on my native Soyl there is no reason of murmuring against my God who hath dealt thus with many of his Favourites And while I have been in a strange Land he hath not suffered me to feel the wants and necessities and heart of a Stranger Among a People of a strange Language he can and doth provide for me all things richly to enjoy I may set up my Ebenezer Hitherto hath God supplied all my wants The Presence of my Gracious Father is every where the same in some measure Blessed be my God I have hitherto found it so And may I not rejoice in God in a Desert though all the World should forsake me though all the World should be against me Should I have no other Friend or Helper is not God an infinite God Enough and without his Favour and Presence what can all this World do for me If I am sick and in danger of Death among my Relations and Friends if the comforts of the Almighty do not refresh and delight my Soul they cannot and if I want not these in my last Agonies no matter in what part or corner of the Earth I breath my last If the word and promise of God be my Foundation an holy Hope my Anchor Christ my Pilot and Heaven my Country I shall not fail of being landed there at last Suffer me not to forsake thee O Heavenly Father while I live and do not thou forsake me in my last Hour and let it come when and where thou wilt If my blessed Saviour will receive my departing Soul at Death I am not sollicitous in what Country or part of the Earth it be And that I may not be unwilling in the flower of my Age and Time in Youth and Strength to leave this World let me think often that no one age or part of Life is more priviledged against the stroke of Death than another If I have done my work betimes as my deceased Fellow Traveller had is it not better to receive the Blessed Recompence than to tarry longer in a World of Sin and Suffering absent from the Lord Shall I not thereby escape a multitude of Temptations Sins and Sorrows which others by living longer are exposed to If my Peace be made with God what should make me willing to live at this distance from him What should render this World so desirable where God is so dishonoured where I am so often tempted to displease him and so often yield to such Temptations And may I not fear lest I should fall into such scandalous and grievous sins that may bring a publick reproach on the Gospel of Christ and sadden the Hearts of all my Acquaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity By dying early I shall contract less guilt and commit less Sin and see and feel less Sorrow than others who live longer And tho' I should maintain my Integrity yet in this World my highest love and obedience to God and my sweetest Communion with him is but imperfect How many impediments and Diversions do I daily meet with that deaden my Heart to Heavenly Contemplations and Affections What disappointments and sorrowful disasters to convince me that this is not the place of Rest and Happiness What smart afflictions may some of my Relations prove What dangerous Snares may attend me in the remaining Portion of my Time What Opposition and Hatred from Men may the stedfast professing of the Truth and fidelity to God expose me to What publick national Calamities may I have my share in c. But if I consider old Age it self which we do desire to reach what and how many are the Infirmities and Griefs and troublesome Circumstances which attend that State which dying young will prevent Are not most Men who reach a very great old Age helpless objects of Pity A Burthen to themselves and to all about them And which commonly happens may I not then be as unwilling to dye as at present As loth then to leave the World as now tho' in a manner it will have left me For how many old Men past the relish of sensual Pleasures are yet inordinately fond of a longer Life Have
our Time and discharge the Duty of our particular places and prepare us for all the Events of the following Year and so effectually Teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto true Wisdom lest we be surprized by an Vnexpected Death before the period of another Year And lastly to pray for our Relations and Friends Families and Neighbours and our Enemies too and plead with God on the behalf of Sion and the afflicted and deformed state of the Protestant Churches To some of these and the like Purposes I hope what is here offered may be subservient if considered with Seriousness and Application after humble Invocation of the Blessing of God and the aids of his Spirit composing our Minds and Thoughts as in his most awful and holy Presence I have only this to request That if any shall find any real Benefit in this kind he would so far requite my charitable Assistance of him that when his Heart is most serious his Spirit most composed and devout and his Affections most vigorous and lively he would not forget to put up one Prayer to Heaven for me for Greater Holiness and Abilities to Honour God and persevering Faithfulness to his Truth and Interest what ever Temptations to desert it may be imployed by the World the Flesh and the Devil the three Great Enemies of thine and my Salvation DEVOUT REFLECTIONS ON TIME AND ETERNITY This World and the Next I. Of the changeable State and short Duration of Earthly Things especially of Man how little is is considered and believed how necessary it should be WHen I consider that yesterday was the conclusion of the last year and that I now am entred on another 't is seasonable to reflect on the mutable Condition and short Duration of all Thing in this World which are measured by Time. That as they have their Beginning so they have their End And that the distance or space of Time between the one and the other is very little Let me not then O my Soul Rejoyce and please my self too much in New Injoyments remembring a Change may be at hand and the End is certain Many who were Rich and Flourishing the last year may be reduced to Poverty and deep distress before the end of this who are now in a capacity to relieve others within a few months or a shorter space may be objects of other Mens charity The thing which hath been is that which may be and that which hath been seen in one year may happen in another so easily so quickly may a Change be made Riches may unexpectedly change their Owners and borrow wings of a thousand Accidents wherewith to fly to Heaven for a new Disposal (a) 1 Cor. 7.29 They therefore who possess should be as if they possessed not for the Fashion of this world passeth away Innumerable casualties may effect that change which no human Art or Skill can possibly foresee or hinder Afflictive unexpected evils attend us every where we cannot promise our selves Tranquility for a Day much less one Year to come They lay in wait for us on every side enter at every crevice and commonly overtake us when we are least apprehensive of their approach * Job 9.25 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of Trouble He cometh up as a flower and is cut down fleeth as a shadow and continueth not What then are Riches Beauty Strength and Honor the accidents of this Substance which is it self but a Shadow How false is the Hope of Man and how frail is all his glory One day can make an end of all his Riches and Honours And yet what solicitude care and labour to get what we desire of these things though often we do not need 'em and then to keep what we have gotten and then to encrease it and then to defend it and at last to enjoy it and in a moment it is snatcht from us or we from it His Life is but a vapour on which they all depend then how much less are they To how speedy an alteration are they subject What numberless Instances of this doth one years experience furnish What sadning Disappointments and unexpected Calamities have befallen many since this Day Twelve-month and multitudes who are now at ease and think their mountains too strong to be removed shall meet with sharper Tryals before the end of this year Alas how few consider or believe it till they find it so All men should count upon trouble and disappointment suffering and sorrow in this world and he that hath the least share is reckoned the most prosperous man and yet he knows not how soon his Portion may be doubled We reckon our Joys by the absence of some degrees of Sorrow and Calamity that others meet with and before the end of this year our condition may be as disconsolate as theirs O my Soul though I know this to be true though I cannot I dare not deny it yet how difficult is it to conquer the Love of this World and of this Body to that degree I ought to undervalue the interest of a short a mutable uncertain and troublesom Life in comparison of the permanent possession of an everlasting Good Though I know that what is earthly and temporal must needs be thus changeable and fading and that it is as true of Man himself as of any thing under the Sun yet how do I forget what Man is not only mutable in his State his Body and his Life but in his Mind too so as to love and hate to chuse and neglect to delight in and abhor such things at one time as he did not before He doth not pass the same Judgment nor retain the same Affections at one time as at another How do I live as if all this were as certainly false as it is unquestionably true admire love fear trust in Man as if he were the direct Contrary to what he is and seek for Immortality upon Earth and act as if I were assured of it and were not lyable to any Change though I acknowledge and know the contrary Though the last years Experience and the observation of every day doth convince me of it though all History and all the Records of the Grave attest it though all Mankind in every Age have found it so though it be a manifest notorious Truth legible in the various changes and calamities but especially in the dust and ashes of all who have lived before us our Graves being often made of our Predecessors Dust and the Earth we bury in having once been living yet how little is it believed how seldom considered The Confirmation of it which one year gives us hath little influence on our hearts or lives with respect to the next We ought therefore to accustom our selves to these thoughts before such changes happen to which our Final change shall e'er long succeed They will be less efficacious if never admitted till our minds