Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
death_n bring_v end_n life_n 4,533 5 4.4285 4 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
B06083 A copy of Arch-Bishop Tillotson's letter to his friend Tillotson, John, 1630-1694. 1691 (1691) Wing T1188A; ESTC R185135 2,291 1

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

A COPY of Arch-Bishop TILLOTSON's LETTER to His FRIEND SIR I Am sorry to understand by Mr. Janeways Letter to my Son that your Distemper grows upon you and that you seem to decline so fast I am very sensible how much eaiser it is to give Advice against trouble in the case of another then to take it in our own It hath pleased God to Exercise me of late with a very sore Tryal in the loss of my Dear and Only Child in which I do perfectly submit to his good Pleasure firmly believing that he does always what is best and yet tho' Reason be satisfied our Passion is not so soon Appeased and when Nature hath received a Wound time must be allowed for the Healing of it Since that God hath thought fit to give me a nearer Summons and a closer of my Mortality in the danger of an Apoplexy which yet I thank God hath occasioned no very Melancholy Reflections but this perhaps is more owing to natural Temper than to Philosophy and wise Considerations Your Case I know is very different who are of a Temper naturally Melancholy and under a Distemper apt to increase it for both which great Allowances are to be made And yet methinks both Reason and Religion do offer to us Considerations of that Solidity and Strength as may very well support our Spirits under all the Infirmities and Frailties of the Flesh such as these that God is perfect Love and Goodness that we are not only his Creatures but his Children and as dear to him as to our selves that he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men and that all Evils and Afflictions which shall befall us are intended for the Cure and Preventions of greater Evils of Sin and Punishment And therefore we ought not only to submit to them with Patience as being deserved by us but to receive them with thankfulness as being designed by him to do us that good and to bring us to that sence of him and our selves which perhaps nothing else would have done that the Sufferings of this present time are but short and slight with that extream and endless Misery which we have deserved and with that exceeding and eternal weight of Glory which we hope for in the other World That if we be careful to make the best Preparation we can for Death and Eternity whatever brings us nearer to our End brings us nearer to Happiness and how rugged soever the Way be the Comfort is that it leads to our Fathers House where we shall want nothing that we can wish When we labour under a Distemper that threatens our Life what would we not be content to bear in order to a perfect Recovery could we but be assured of it And shou'd we not be willing to endure much more in order to Happiness and that Eternal Life which God that cannot Lye hath promised Nature I know is fond of Life and apt to be still Lingering after a longer Continuance here and yet a long Life with the usual Burdens and Infirmities of it is seldom desirable it is but the same thing over again or worse So many more Days and Nights Summers and Winters a repetition of the same Pleasure but with less Pleasure and Relish every day a return of the same or greater Painsor Trouble but with less Patience and Strength to bear them These and the like Considerations I use to Entertain my self withall not only with Contentment but with Comfort though with great inequality of Temper at several times and with much mixture of Humane Frailty which will always stick to us while we are in this World However by these kind of Thoughts Death becomes more familiar with us and we shall be able by Degrees to bring our minds close up to it without starting at it The greatest tenderness I find with my self is with regard to some near Relations especially the dear and constant Companions of my Life which I must confess doth very sensibly touch me but then I consider and so I hope will they also that this Seperation will be but for a little while and that though I leave them in a bad World yet under the care of a good God who can be more and better to them then all other Relations and will certainly be so to those that Love him and Hope in his Mercy I shall not need to advise you what to do and what use to make of this time of your Visitation I have reason to beleive that you have been careful in the time of your Health to prepare for this Evil Day and have been conversant in those Books which give the best Directions to this purpose and have not as too many do put of the great Work of your Life to the End of it And then you have nothing now to do but as well as you can under your present Weakness and Pains to renew your Repentance for all the Errors and Miscarriages of your Life and●ses of God and the Hope of tha● Happiness which you are ready to enter into and in the mean time to Exercise Faith and Patience for a little while be of good Courage since you see Land the Storm you are in will quickly be over and then it will be as if it had never been or rather the Remembrance of it will be a Pleasure I do not use to write such long Letters but I do heartily Compassionate your Case and should be glad if I could suggest any thing that might help to mitigate your Troubles and make that sharp and rough Way through which you are to pass into a better World more smooth and easie I Pray God fit us both for that great Change which we must once undergoe and if we be but in any good Measure fit for it sooner or later makes no great difference I commend you to the Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolation beseeching him to increase your Faith and Patience and to stand by you in the last and great Conflict that when you walk through the Valley of the Shaddow of Death you may fear no Evil and when your Heart fails and Strength fails you may find him the Strength of your Heart and your Portion for ever Farwel my good Friend and while we are here let us Pray for one another that We may have a Joyful meeting in another World I rest Your truly Affectionate Friend and Servant JOHN TlLLOTSON