Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A07790
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A short treatise of death in sixe chapters Together with the ænigmatick description of old age and death written Ecclesiastes 12 chap. exponed and paraphrased in English meetre. Written by Mr. William Morray minister of Gods word.
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Morray, William.
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1631
(1631)
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STC 18167; ESTC S121485
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18,101
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56
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death As testifieth the Apostle saying CHRIST Hee also tooke part of the same flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him Hebr. 2 14.15 that had the power of death that is the Devill And deliver them who through feare of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage The feare of death that commeth of desperation of all sorts of feare of death is worst for there is no remedie against it if it bee totall And finall yea it is a haynous sinne for it denyeth both Gods power and mercie to saue a sinner and the trueth of his promises thereanent And it is a foolish feare for oft times men and women giving place to this feare for feare of death and Hell precipitate themselfe in both as the examples of Saul Achitophel Iudas and many others proue The fourth Chapter Remedies and comforts against the feare of naturall death ALbeit as I haue said in the former chapter there bee a sort of feare of death which may bee without sinne yet there is no sort of feare of death with out paine and trouble to the patient as witnesseth the Apostle Iohn 1 Iohn 4.18 saying indefinitly or generally of feare feare hath torment Therefore consolations and remedies are to bee sought against all sorts of feare of death Consolations and remedies against that feare of death which I called naturall wherevnto all mankynd haue beene or shall be subject CHRIST IESUS our LORD not excepted are these following The first and most soveraine remedie against the naturall feare of death is to haue faith and confidence in GODS loue mercie and trueth according to his promises Thus did David comfort himselfe against this sort of feare of death when hee said Though I should walke though the valey of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 I will feare no evill for thou art with mee thy rode and thy staffe they comfort mee So did Simeon comfort himselfe when hee said LORD now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2 29.30 according to thy word For mine eyes haue seene thy salvation So did CHRIST IESUS our LORD Luke 22 42 when hee said Not my will but thy will be done And Father in thy hands I commend my spirit which prayers of his the Apostle expoundeth thus In the dayes of his flesh he offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying teares vnto him Heb. 5 7 that was able to saue him from death and was also heard in that which hee feared The second comfort and remedie against the feare of death naturall is to meditate First That the day of death is better nor the day of birth as Salomon sayeth For by death sinne is abolished Eccles 7.10 and after it wee shall sinne no more But by birth wee enter into a sinfull life and by death the body is fred from all sense of miserie and is no more an instrument actiue or passiue of sinne but by birth our bodies are subject to the sense of many miseries and the members thereof made weapons of vnrighteousnesse to serue sin Rom. 6.13 By death our soule entereth vnto an happie and eternall life by birth it entereth vnto a miserable and mortall life therefore death not only is not to be feared by a Christian but in some respects is rather to bee wished and hoped for with joy for by death wee goe out of this pilgrimage home to our father in Heaven from banishment vnto a Kingdome from prison to a palace from darknesse to light from death to life from dangers vnto securitie from labour to rest from all manner of miserie to everlasting felicitie Next we should meditate that it is as great folly to feare death as to feare old age for as old age followeth after youth so death followeth after old age and the failed tabernacle of the bodie falleth therefore as they who dwell in ruinous houses studie not so much vpon the falling of the house as how with diligence to get out so we should be alwayes readie to die and not stand amazed with the feare of death If therefore we will feare death wee must ever feare it for there is nothing more certaine than that once wee shall die and nothing more vncertaine than how where or when we shall die so it is a great folly to vs to hold our selues in the continuall torment of the feare of death Things doubtfull are to be feared but things certaine as death to bee exspected Thirdly we should meditate that our life is like vnto a ship in voyage by sea wherein when wee haue outsailed our bairne-age our youth our old yeares and the best yeares of old age then the commoun end of all flesh beginneth to kyth which is death we take it to bee a rock to make shipwrack vpon wee are deceaved it is not so but a most quyet port harborough or haven therefore he that dyeth soonest hath no more cause to complaine then he who hath soone plyed his voyage yea he should rejoyce for hee dyeth young whom God loveth sayeth Meander and the Prophet sayeth 〈◊〉 57.1 Now consider that righteous men are taken away from the evill to come Fourthly wee should meditate that the day of death is the birth day of eternall life In our first birth our mother with great paine and preasing put vs foorth to this life and wee did cry and weepe no mervaile then though in this second birth of death we haue griefe and paine but feare we neede not more than wee did at our first birth Fiftlie we should meditate that death is commoun to all Heb. 9 2 It is appointed to all once to die and the Poet sayeth Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede Pauperum tabernas regumque turres That is to say With equall foote death knocks at doores Of poore mens shoppes and Princes towres Why then should wee grudge when death comes to our doore Why should wee seeke a priviledge to our selues that is granted to none Nay rather wee should consider that death after old age is the gathering of ripe fruite falling or ripe corne Iob 5.26 vnto the barne first and then to the girnall of God I goe out of this life as out of an Inne De senect saith Cicero not as out of my house for it was given me to abide in not to dwell in By death our soule goeth out of prison to liberty In epist sayeth Seneca and whatsoever we leaue behind vs after death is as the Pilgrims baggage left behind him when hee hasteneth home Finaly Wee should meditate vpon the resurrection of our bodies So did Iob comfort himselfe against the feare of death Iob. 19.26 when hee said Though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet shall I see GOD in my flesh And the Martyres were tormented Heb. 11 and would not bee delivered from death that they might obtaine a better resurrection Then shall wee sing that song of triumph O death where
second was to them a Sacrament or signe that so soone as they should transgresse GODS commandement they should die This is evident of GODS owne words to them which contained a command or permission when hee said Of every tree in the Garden you shall freely eate Genes 2 16.17 and an inhibition with a threatning when hee said But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shall not eate of it for in the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shall die Also the holy Apostle affirmeth sinne to bee the efficient cause of death Rom. 5.12 even that which provocked GOD to punish mankynd with death Materiall cause death hath none neither properly formall As no privation hath either matter or forme as darknesse is the privation or absence of light sicknesse the privation or absence of health so death is the privation or absence of lyfe from the bodie The finall causes of death are chiefly two The first is the manifestation of GODS justice and trueth His justice in punishing sinne His trueth in executing his owne threatning In the day thou eatest thereof to wit of the forbidden tree dying thou shalt die Now albeit this death in the same day when they eate of the fruite of the forbidden tree was not consummat yet that same very day it seased vpon them Therefore Seneca sayeth truely Epist 24 Wee part this same verie day of our life with death As the last drop spoiles not the running Glasse but that also which runne before so our last houre wherein wee cease to liue maketh not death alone but perfiteth it alone The other finall cause of death was to humble man and woman whose first principall sinne was pryde therefore GOD told them after they had waxed proude and rebellious Genes 3.19 Dust thou art and vnto dust shalt thou returne The consideration heereof made Abraham humble when hee said Gen 18 27 Shall dust and ashes speake to my LORD And Iob when hee said Iob. 17.14 I haue said to corruption thou art my father The consideration of death and of the causes thereof should teach vs first not to marvaile that death is fearefull to all flesh it being the separation of the soule from the bodie This made our LORD IESUS CHRIST naturally to feare death yet without sinne when he prayed 〈…〉 Father let this cuppe depart from mee But to vs death is the moâ—â— fearefull because in the owne nature of it it is the just punishment of sinne as testifieth the Apostle saying The wages of sinne is death Secondly Rom. 6.23 This consideration of death and of the causes thereof should teach vs not to murmure or grudge against GOD when our last houre commeth but meditate vpon GODS justice and trueth foresaid And say with David I was silent because thou did it Psal 39 9 which words that godly man Mr. Calvin had alwayes in his mouth Vide Calvini vitam in the extreame paines of sicknesse and death Thirdly this consideration of death and of the causes thereof should teach vs to abhorre pride and to bee humble following the example of Abraham Iob David Hezekiah and other holy men of GOD. Fourthly this consideration of death and the causes thereof should teach vs to follow the counsell of Salomon Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Eccles 12.1 whiles the evill dayes come not nor the yeares approch wherein thou shall say I haue no pleasure in them that is before sicknesse old age and death come vpon vs as afterwards hee expoundeth The third Chapter CHAP. 3. Of the feare of death THere is a twofold feare of death wherevnto wee are subject one naturall when wee abhorre the separation of the soule from the body and this feare of death may bee without sinne for our LORD IESUS CHRIST who knew no sinne was subject therevnto when hee prayed sundrie tymes and said Father let this cuppe depart from mee and hee prayed to him who was able to saue him from death 〈…〉 and was heard in that which he feared as the Apostle testifyeth Also when wee feare it as it is the punishment of sinne that feare is good that we may repent hope for mercie and be comforted This feare of death was in Paul when he said 〈…〉 O miserable man that I am Who shall delyver mee from this body of death Against which immediately hee was comforted by meditation of GODS mercie in CHRIST and said I thanke GOD through IESVS CHRIST our LORD c. We may also lawfully feare death because thereby we are depryved of comfort in Church or Common-wealth which living we our selfe had or did communicate to others Thus did David feare death Psal 6.5 when he said In death there is no rememberance of thee O Lord in the graue who shall giue thee thankes And in an other place Psal 30.9 What profite is there in my blood when I goe downe to the pit Shall the dust praise thee O LORD Shall it declare thy trueth This same feare of death was in Hezekiah when hee said Isa 38.11 I shall not see the LORD even the LORD in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world and this much of the lawfull feare of death There is an other kynd of feare of death which is vnlawfull and sinfull and therefore to be corrected striven against and resisted this feare of death proceedeth of ignorance infidelitie or of despaire Ignorance when a man thinking vpon death knoweth not what shall become of his soule departing from his bodie This feare of death was in Adrian the Empreour who a little before his death spake these verses Animula vagula blandula Hospes comesque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos That is to say Litle vaging merrie soule Body's companion and guest Now to what places shalt thou goe Pale alrish naked in this hast Neither shall any more Make sports as before The feare of death which commeth of infidelitie is when a man thinking vpon death or dying belieues not in GOD through IESUS CHRIST for remission of his sinnes and deliverance from the second death which is Hell To this feare the children of GOD may bee and haue beene subject yet it is an vnlawfull and sinfull feare and commeth by Sathan his tentation the conscience of sinne and weaknesse of faith This feare was in David Psal 22.1 when hee cryed out My GOD my GOD why hast thou forsaken mee And in Hezekiah when he said Isaiah 38 12.13 From day even to night will thou make an end of mee c. To this feare all those are subject who know there is a GOD a Heaven a Hell ever while they get the saving knowledge of CHRIST and belieue in him that hee died for them and rose againe to deliver them from the bondage of Sathan sinne and