Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	misery_n	sin_n	6,420	5	4.5542	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66253	Preparation for death being a letter sent to a young gentlewoman in France, in a dangerous distemper of which she died.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1687 (1687)	Wing W253; ESTC R5512	22,586	170

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

removed and there shall be no more any death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain We have a full account of this Heb. 12. A place so satisfactory that I will transcribe only one passage to engage you to recur your self to the rest My son despise not thou the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth But Fourthly 6. Let us look into the Ages that have gone before us LET us consult our own experience in the present we shall find the observation of our Apostle ever to have been verified that the best men generally fall under the severest pressures Our Saviour Christ was our forerunner in this trial as well as in the reward that accompanies it He began as we ought to follow after and for the joy which was set before him endured the cross despising the shame Which of his holy Apostles escaped this trial What numbers of the Primitive Saints were under the perpetual persecution of the most malicious enemies that Hell could raise against them for many hundred Years They were stoned they were sawn as under were slain with the sword they wandred up and down in sheeps skins and Goats skins being destitute afflicted tormented and yet were these the Men of whom the world was not worthy whom we ought with comfort to look up unto and run with patience the race that is set before us 7. THESE considerations though I have as I ought proposed in general terms yet I am sure Madam you will not fail by a particular application to bring them home to your own concerns and for your easier performance I will go on if you please to make yet a reflection or two that may fortifie you in it 8. IN enquiring into the goods that you have lost or the evils you either fear or suffer I shall not trouble you with an Enumeration of that which I know you despise the flatteries the courtship the other vanities of the World The very loss of these is a happiness almost equal to what you undergo for it And though that Beauty which yet others I perswade my self valued too more highly than your self was a Blessing which you owed much to Heaven for yet the additional ornaments you have hereby the opportunity of making to your Soul will in the end give you a more solid satisfaction and as much chain to you the affections of the good and wise as the other attracted the eyes of the rest 9. FOR your present distemper it is God be thanked neither so troublesome for the present as to take you off from all satisfaction nor I am willing to perswade my self shall it prove so dangerous in its consequence as to deprive you of all hope of seeing your self again in your former health only disciplined and instructed not utterly cut off by sickness 10. HOWEVER let us suppose now as well as fear the worst Is there any thing particular in dying young Do not thousands every day do it And have you known none in health and vigour who have pitied your condition and behold they are themselves gone before you even since you fell into this Distemper And what is the harm then of this that you have fairer warning than others who are unexpectedly cut off and so have a better opportunity as well as greater engagements to cultivate your Soul and provide for your latter end To dye is no pain to leave this World is only to get quit of a troublesome place where you could never find any ease or quiet any solid satisfaction and comfort To go to Heaven is to be transferr'd to that Kingdom you have ever long'd for to enjoy all the glories of eternity to become company for Saints and Angels and behold the Blessed presence of God in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore 11. THE truth is the greatest part of your misfortune is founded on the opinion of the World we fools esteem these things evils and this makes others believe they really are so But the good Christian who considers them only as necessary passages to a glorious immortality that through this dark scene of fansied horror sees a Crown and a Throne and everlasting blessings prepared for him joyfully receives his Summons as he has long impatiently expected it goes off out of the World as contentedly as the Actor when the Play is ended leaves the Stage His only concern is whilst he appears upon it so to demean himself that he may have a Plaudite at last and then 't is all one whether his part ended in the Third Act or continues on to the very last Scene 12. SUCH Madam are your Obligations to this first Duty and the performance of them will especially engage you to these three things 1. Never despair either of Gods blessings here or of his reward hereafter but go on as you have begun fulfil your duty as he has commanded embrace his promises with Faith and assurance and for the rest leave it in his hands as in the hands of a most merciful Saviour who himself became Man and suffer'd Death upon the Cross for our sakes and by that stupendious act of Mercy has taught us ever to rely in all things upon his Goodness 2. Murmur not at your sickness for thereby you will sin against God's Providence and Government but submit with peace to what you suffer and pray for your deliverance I do not say you should affect a rude insensibility Sighs and Groans and mournful expressions this is the sick Mans proper language David roared for the disquietness of his soul our blessed Lord himself in his last and sharpest pang of sorrow cryed out with a loud voice before he gave up the ghost There is nothing in this but what is innocent and though too much of it may betray your weakness yet whilst you keep still a resignation to God's disposal it cannot be imputed to you for any sin 3. TAKE heed of that which is the general fault of sick persons and which a long disorder almost unavoidably brings with it and that is Peevishness This will but render you uneasie to your self and to those about you it troubles your repose without doing you any good and is equally to be avoided both for the folly and for the sin 13. I SHALL close this reflection with one necessary remark which I desire you to apply to all the following That in speaking thus to you I am so far from charging you as guilty in this matter that I can sincerely say I believe the exhortation wholly needless only it was my duty in so important a concern to omit nothing that might any way be thought necessary and it will be your satisfaction to see how far you are advanced in your duty and your engagement to pursue that very little which you may perhaps find to