Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A45346
|
A sermon preach'd before Her Majesty the Queen Dowager in her chappel at Somerset-House, upon the fifth Sunday after Easter, May 9, 1686 / by William Hall.
|
Hall, William, d. 1718?
|
1686
(1686)
|
Wing H447; ESTC R30723
|
19,128
|
42
|
into Heaven and prepare us to entertain that supreme Author of all Sanctity and Grace the Third Person of the ever Blessed Trinity who descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues and will come to enflame our Souls with the fire of Love but during also the series or continuance of your Days to the end that by addicting your selves to an Employment as necessary as advantageous to a Christian your joy may be full Vt gaudium vestrum sit plenum To this purpose I design God willing this day to set before you in the First Part of my Discourse the Excellency of Prayer together with the Advantages you may reap from it In the Second the absolute Necessity of Prayer with a short Method how to Pray as we ought Amen Amen si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis c. Amen Amen I say to you if you shall ask the Father any thing in my Name he will give it you Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full But that God may bless and crown my Endeavours that he may seal this solemn Promise of granting what we ask and make it good in My behalf I must desire you to joyn your Prayers with mine that what I shall say may be to his Honour and Glory to the good of all our Souls And to this end let us with our best Devotion implore his Divine Assistance by the Intercession of the most Holy Virgin-Mother AVE MARIA c. I Am throughly persuaded D.A. that there cannot be given a more elevated Idea of the Excellency of Prayer then by shewing 1. That it came from Heaven 2. That it conducts us to Heaven 3. That it makes us find Heaven upon Earth 1. It came from Heaven where it was even before the Heavens before those material Orbs that now rowl over us were call'd from the dark and profound Abyss of unessential Nothing Before the Angels were establish'd in Glory God himself was taken up with Prayer not as the word commonly signifies with us Petition or Impetration in as much as that Supreme and Independent Being could neither Pray in this Sense to others or make such Addresses to it self His Prayer was the Contemplation of his own Divine Essence His Prayer was that Expression or Consubstantial Word which from all Eternity as an Eternal Coeternal Beam shone from the Father His Prayer was and is a Reflection upon his own unlimited Perfections in that compleat Resemblance of himself his Son When this Word descended from the Bosom of his Eternal Father without either Change or Separation to cloath himself with our Flesh in the chast Womb of the Virgin-Mother I find he came among us to teach us what he put in practice himself the holy Exercise of Prayer It is written of his House that it is to be Consecrated to Divine Service or Prayer Domus mea Domus Orationis vocabitur And which was his first House but the Womb of his Virgin-Mother where he dwelt nine Months in that divine Employment The first Chapter of his Prayer-Book or first Lesson he read was to comply with the sacred Decrees with the holy Will of his Eternal Father as the Royal Prophet says of him Psal 40.10 In capite Libri scriptum est de me c. In the beginning of the Book it is written of me that I should do thy will I 'le follow thy Orders my God I 'le engrave thy Law in the middle of my Heart When he came into the World at the appointed time he employ'd in that holy Exercise of Prayer the space of Thirty Years This Light of the World shed not a Beam upon benighted Man he broke not from the sacred Cloud whereinto he had retir'd Nubes latibulum ejus till the Revolution of that time was ended And as if he thought it not enough to spend whole Thirty Years under the Roof of Mary he repairs to a Desert a lonely and melancholly Desert where for Forty Days and Forty Nights not granting his Body the satisfaction of the least Repast free from the noise and bustle of the World he is totally addicted to Contemplation Our B. Saviour was as well God as Man he needed not by consequence a private House or Desert to become more recollected more retir'd 't was to give us an Example to teach us where we ought to Pray that he chose those solitary Places 't was to encourage us to an imitation of his holy Life to render our Prayers more efficacious more meritorious he selected such Conveniences as might be an help to our Prayers Methinks he acquaints us with his divine Intentions from the Desert with an Exemplum dedi vobis I have given you an Example that you do as I have done Ah! my Lord 't is too much honour for such poor Creatures as we are to be permitted to address our Prayers to thee but what a happiness is it to be invited to Pray in Company with our God When he left the Desert he left not the practice of Prayer he quitted not this sacred Employment in the midst of the most pressing Concerns of his Mission And altho' he equally Pray'd in all Places and at all Times the Evangelists have taken a particular care to acquaint us that after he had labour'd and toyl'd all the Day in Preaching Teaching and inviting Sinners to a sincere Repentance he employ'd the most part of the Night in the Practice of Prayer Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei As he liv'd in a continual Exercise of Prayer he expir'd upon the Cross as we may say in the Arms of Prayer he consecrated to that purpose the three last hours of his Life he drew the Curtains of the Night upon the face of this World he shrowded it with darkness more seasonable more proper for Prayer Ah what comfort must a serious Meditation upon those three last mysterious Hours our B. Saviour was dying in upon the Cross bring to the Soul of a repenting Sinner He made there an Application of his most bitter Passion of his most dolorous Crucifixion of his most painful Death to the Distempers of our diseased Hearts He Prayed then that as the whole Series of his Life was spun out for our Good for our Instruction so his Death for our sakes might conduce to the entire Remission of our Sins He offer'd the infinite Price of his inestimable Blood for the Redemption of Mankind He begg'd of his Eternal Father to cancel the Debts we had contracted to blot out of his remembrance our Transgressions at the same time that he interceded at the Throne of his Mercy for the blind and ungrateful Jews Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt Nor may we doubt but as he pour'd forth his Soul in Prayer with his last Breath saying to his Eternal Father Into thy hands I commend my spirit so he bequeathed the Spirit of Prayer as a Legacy to us both to
us if they notwithstanding are at the same time bless'd with the beatifical Vision if they see God enjoy Heaven upon Earth certainly there is some proportion between Souls in Prayer and Spirits upon Duty betwixt Souls rais'd above themselves upon the Wings of Devotion and Spirits below themselves upon Matters of Obedience if we have regard to the Concern they are engag'd in their Heaven must be upon Earth If we look upon the Soul as confin'd to the Body she has at least an Antipast of that Bliss these Spirits are perfectly possess'd with since she commences here an Exercise that must never end She beholds the face of God by Prayer who is to be the Object of her Happiness for all Eternity Do not we thus enjoy Heaven upon Earth do not we thus partake of the Happiness of Angels Prayer comes from Heaven Prayer leads to Heaven Prayer makes us happy with Heaven upon Earth O quam suavis est Domine Spiritus tuus in nobis O my Lord and Saviour Christ how sweet is thy Spirit How beneficial is the Spirit thou hast left us the Spirit of Prayer which thou hast recommended to us From the Excellency of Prayer and the Advantages we reap by it 't were easie to conclude the Obligation incumbent on us as we tender our eternal Welfare of having a constant recourse to so Religious an Employment But because among variety of Motives it may so fall out by the Order of Providence that some of them at least may conduce as well to stir up those that will not yet grant themselves so much leisure even as to think of future Happiness as to encourage those that are already bent upon the Inquiry I shall now proceed to shew the Necessity we have and the Manner how we are to Pray which is the Subject of my Second Part. Saint John Damascen defines Prayer to be an Elevation of the Mind to God in which we either beg to be deliver'd from Evil or invoke his assistance upon our selves or Neighbours to embrace what 's Good or pay to him our Homage as our Supreme Lord our Sovereign King 'T is evident from the First Part of the Discourse that the Mind is elevated to God by Prayer the Explication therefore of the Sequel of this Definition shall be a pregnant proof of the Necessity we are in of making such Addresses to him as that we may alleviate the Burden of our Troubles in this World we may invite the celestial Influence of his Grace upon our selves and Neighbours we may acknowledge him as we ought as we are oblig'd to be our chief Good our ultimate or last End We are not I am fully persuaded unacquainted with the Miseries we as mortal Men are liable or subject to Homo brevi vivens tempore repletur multis miseriis said Job who had found the truth of his Assertion by experience Man living but a short time is full of many miseries We know there are Miseries that oppress the Soul Miseries that afflict and torment the Body The Miseries of the Soul are many She is blind erroneous ignorant in the Operations of her Understanding she is deprav'd in her Will which is bent upon Evil which is obstinate perverse malicious at the best more prone to acquiesce to the Suggestions of Sin then comply with the previous Motions of Grace She is corrupted in her Judgment decay'd in her Memory she is weak and feeble in all her Faculties Add to these domestick Evils these in-born Miseries those she suffers from abroad those she suffers from the World from the Allurements of the Flesh from the Suggestions of the Devil She is betray'd to the World by the Concupiscence of the Eyes she is a Slave to Sensuality by the Concupiscence of the Flesh The Devil Lords it over her by engaging her through his Wiles into Pride of Life What must she do to be deliver'd from this intolerable Oppression Whose assistance must she call upon Whose help She is closely besieg'd by her Enemies without she is treacherously betray'd by her Domesticks within Inimici hominis domestici ejus To whom shall she have recourse for Succour or Relief To whom but to the King her Supreme Lord her Sovereign her God To whom shall she send her devout Sighs her penitential Tears her assiduous and fervent Prayers The Almighty gave her Orders to call upon him in the day of Affliction He promis'd her his Aid and Assistance upon Condition she would attribute to him the Glory of the Victory she would return him her Acknowledgments and Homage Invoca me in die tribulationis eruam te Honorificabis me The Apostle grievously infested with an intestine War from the Concupiscence of the Flesh cries out for help to crush the Rebel Infaelix homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus Unhappy unfortunate Man what Friend will deliver me from the Body of this Death He do's not desire here as in another place a separation betwixt Body and Soul he begs to be freed from the vicious Inclination of a deprav'd Appetite which he calls Corpus peccati the Body of Sin from whence as from a noxious and pernicious Root spring up so many destructive Branches of inordinate Desires Quis me liberabit Who is it that will destroy this Body this Body of Sin Corpus peccati He calls to mind the Promise of his Lord and expects relief from the Grace of Jesus Gratia Domini Jesu Christi Invoke his Assistance therefore beg he would extinguish the Rebellion of the Flesh Ter Dominum rogavi I have Petition'd thrice replies the afflicted Soul Vt auferretur a me stimulus carnis meoe Neither were his Petitions unregarded the Grace he receiv'd at the Instance of his Prayers enabled him couragiously to withstand all Assaults repel all Temptations to triumph over the Enemies that aim'd at his Ruine Sufficit tibi Paule gratia mea If Prayer prove so necessary to the relief of the Soul in the midst of Troubles incompass'd or rather oppress'd with the intolerable weight of Miseries and Afflictions 't is as absolutely requisite against the Miseries that fall upon the Body the Miseries of the Body being as grievous as afflicting in some proportion as those of the Soul I need not call upon any other Witness then our own Experience to manifest the truth of this Assertion Since that Sin that was unfortunately hatch'd in the Garden of Eden Man that was before Lord of this Universe the Master of the World has now the Universe the whole World against him Nature shook him off as no longer her Darling when once he had revolted from the Allegiance due to her Sovereign and Creator The Heavens ever since have prov'd his Bane in their malignant Influence The Elements that jarr and wrangle with one another meet in the Composition of disloyal Man not to end but to continue their Quarrel that they like Samson may draw after their own the Ruine