Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A66253
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Preparation for death being a letter sent to a young gentlewoman in France, in a dangerous distemper of which she died.
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Wake, William, 1657-1737.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing W253; ESTC R5512
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22,586
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170
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be still wanting CHAP. II. That you ought not to be amazed at the fear of Death THERE is nothing in the world more generally dreaded and yet less to be feared than Death Indeed for those unhappy Men whose hopes terminate in this life no wonder if the prospect of another seems terrible and amazing Hell is a place which the most resolute Soul cannot but tremble to think of how much more to enter into But for him who has lived well and who therefore relies on God's mercies for an eternal Salvation to shew this concern it betrays either much weakness or great doubt and either his faith or his hopes or both are less firm than they ought to be HE therefore that will not fear to dye must first be careful to live well 2. THE stroak of death is nothing Children endure it and the greatest Cowards find it no pain But when to this we shall add the certain apprehension of its being the gate to an eternal life then may we presume to say we have wholly conquer'd this King of terrours and sing the Epinikion of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly He must take off his Affections from this world 3. IT was the reflection of the Son of Sirach Ecclus 4. 1. O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a Man that liveth at rest in his possessions to the Man that hath nothing to vex him but hath prosperity in all things Whilst we please our selves with the vanities we enjoy here we cannot expect but that it must needs be a trouble to us to be divorced from them But let us only change the scene instead of these earthly transient goods let us raise our Souls to the Heavenly and Eternal then shall we begin to think the time long that we are divorced from them and wish for that end we before feared Tully tells us that Cleombrotus was so taken with this speculation that having only read in Plato the conjectures of that great Man concerning the state of the Soul after death he had not patience to tarry the tedious course of nature but by a violent death cut the thread himself that he might immediately enjoy what he so infinitely desired 4. NOR may we fortify our selves much less against the fear of death Thirdly From the Consideration of those evils it frees us from than of that happiness it transfers us to When the Great Emperor of Persia wept over his Army upon this Consideration that within the revolution of a single Age not a Man of all that innumerable confluence would be left alive Artabanus standing by improved his meditation by adding that yet all of them should meet with so many and great evils that every one should wish himself dead long before that It is the true character of our lives which Job once gave Man that is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of trouble It is the great blessing of Heaven that as our lives are very miserable so are they very short too and what we usually complain of as our misfortune we ought rather to congratulate as our happiness Had David died a little sooner How much trouble had he escaped which now he endured in the rebellion and death of his own Son and all the miseries of a Civil War that was raised against him Let any Man consult his own experience and say how many sorrows he had miss'd had God called him to his rest but a few years before and therefore whether the promise he has made to deliver the just from the evils to come ought not to be made our dayly prayer for its accomplishment rather than fill our Souls with terror at the apprehension But fourthly Death do's not only free us from misery but sin too 5. THE life of a Christian is a continual warfare full of dangerous conflicts and doubtful consequences Our lusts sollicit us the World encourages the Devil tempts us we fall often and are never secure But Death frees us from all danger sets us safely on Shore in our long-expected Canaan where there are no temptations no dangers no possibility of falling but eternal purity and immortal joys secure our happiness for evermore 6. THERE is yet an advice which may usefully be added here and it is this That since the time of our dying is uncertain we should every day expect what every hour may bring to us IT is our great unhappiness in this matter that though we live never so many years we are still surprized We put the evil day far from us and then it catches us at unawares and we tremble at the prospect But let us stand on our guard let us live like those who expect to dye and then we shall find these terrors very much lessen and that we fear'd Death only because we were unacquainted with it Philip King of Macedon had a Page constantly attending in his Chamber to tell him every morning as soon as he awaked Remember O King that thou art mortal 7. BUT to quit you wholly of this fear and that I may close this point too with something particular give me leave Madam to desire you instead of a thousand arguments to recur only to your own experience you have already lookt death in the face you are acquainted with it what have you found so terrible in it as to disturb the repose of a good Christian i.e. of such a one as your self I cannot without satisfaction remember the calm the quiet the peace you were then in when every hour seemed to tell you 't was your last Death is an enemy you have already met and already conquer'd you have pull'd out his sting by the preparation you have made for it and you know he has nothing now remaining that can injure or affright you Only maintain your conquest by securing your innocence and working out your Salvation and then you may with confidence undervalue that which so much terrifies the world and which yet all even those who the most dread it must in a little time meet whether they will or no. CHAP. III. That you ought to be careful to provide for another World. THIS is the great duty of our lives and ought to be the chief business of us all every day of them No Man knows what the next hour may bring forth and to put our Salvation and the hopes of eternity to so dangerous a hazard as we do when we procrastinate though never so little our working of it out with fear and trembling is to shew either a very unwarrantable presumption upon God's goodness or a very light esteem of our own Souls 2. OUR lives depend on so many curious parts and organs so many diseases assail them every moment so many accidents may take them from us that we can never say the