Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A66371
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A sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall, May the Xth. M.DC.XC.I by William Wake ...
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Wake, William, 1657-1737.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W268; ESTC R4902
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17,024
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40
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to raise up our Souls into some suitable Apprehensions of it So here it has pleased God to give such General Descriptions to us of the Glories of the Other World as may suffice to let us into some imperfect Knowledge of it and be more than enough both to raise our Desires and to quicken our Endeavours after it For 1st We are told that Heaven is a place free from all Trouble and Misery from all those Hopes and Fears those Dangers and Disappointments in a word from all those Evils and Calamities that continually disturb us here and render our highest Enjoyments very flat and insipid to us This is what our Apostle insinuates when he calls it by the name of a Rest Let us fear says he lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it And again Verse 19. There remaineth therefore a Rest for the people of God But St. John more expresly Revel xxi 4. where speaking of the New Jerusalem our City which is above He tells us that There God shall wipe away all Tears from our Eyes and there shall be no more any Death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Here we live in a Vale of Misery exposed to Tryals and encompassed with Troubles on every side He who is the most fortunate among us is yet forced to measure his Happiness rather by the frequent Intervals he enjoys of Comfort and Satisfaction than by any absolute Freedom from all Evil and Misery We come into the World with a Cry and go out of it with a Groan and the Time we pass from the one of these Periods to the other is for the most part fill'd up with little else than a melancholy Series of Sighs and Tears of Doubts and Uncertainties of Uneasiness at what is present and Fearful Apprehensions of what is to come So that were we to look no farther than the present Condition of mankind one might almost be tempted to ask with Job Ch. iii. 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in masery and life to the Bitter in Soul Which look for Death and it cometh not and dig for it more than for hid treasures Who rejoyce exceedingly and long when they can see the Grave There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the Voice of the Oppressor But when we come to Heaven there we shall find a perfect Deliverance out of all our Troubles No pains or Diseases no Weakness or Infirmity shall disturb our Bodies No Lusts or Passions no irregular Appetites or Desires shall discompose our Souls there shall be nothing to interrupt or lessen our Enjoyments Heaviness may endure for the Night of this World but when the Blessed Morning of Eternity shall spring forth then pure Joy and an un-mix'd Felicity shall spring up with it and nothing remain but the memory of our former Troubles the more to increase our Comfort and Satisfaction in that Absolute deliverance we shall then have obtain'd from them This is the first part of that Character which the Holy Scriptures have given us of our Future State It is a State free from all Evil and Misery And how considerable a Blessing this is if the sense of our present Evils be not sufficient to inform us I shall leave it to the Authority of St. John to tell you Revel xiv 13. where He makes use of this as an Argument to strengthen the Christians of those times in the enduring of any Tryals that could fall upon them for their Religion that they should in a little time be perfectly deliver'd from all their Miseries I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write from Henceforth Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord yea saith the Spirit for they Rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them But this is not yet all for 2dly When we come to Heaven we shall not only be set free from all other Evils but from that which is the great Source and Foundation of all our Miseries from Sin too And from all those Consequences of it which now fill our Souls with so many sad Reflections and make all our present Enjoyments a meer Dream and a Vision the appearances of Happiness rather than any real and solid Satisfaction viz. the Fear of Death and the Apprehension of Damnation Here we live in a continual State of War and Danger Difficulties and Temptations encompass us on every side and when we think we stand the most securely yet even then we cannot tell how soon or how dangerously we may fall The Flesh and the Spirit those contrary Principles of which we are composed still dividing us between our Desires and our Duty and forcing us often times when we the most stedfastly resolve and the most earnestly endeavour to live well yet to encounter no small difficulties in the doing of it And in the sense thereof to cry out with St. Paul Rom. vii 24. O Wretched Men that we are who shall deliver us from the Body of this Death But Heaven is a place Innocent as it is Glorious There all these Conflicts shall have an End No Lusts or Passions no Dangers or Temptations shall either draw us from our Piety or put us to the least pain for the fulfilling of it But it shall be our Meat and Drink the Desire and Bent of our Affections to live Innocently And what David once said of Himself be much more perfectly accomplish'd in all of us Psal. xl 8. Our delight is to do thy will O God! yea thy law is within our Hearts It is one great part of that account which St. John every where gives us of the Blessed in Heaven that they spend their whole Time in little else than a continued Exercise of Piety and Devotion In praising God and admiring his Perfections and celebrating his Goodness But especially in the most Elevated Returns of Love and Gratitude of Joy and Thanksgiving to Him for the great Work of our Redemption and for all those Miracles of Mercy by which they have been delivered from Sin and Hell and translated to such a blessed State of Happiness and Glory And indeed what wonder if this shall be the Great Business of our Lives there when as the same St. John tells us we our selves shall be made like unto him Pure and Holy Enemies to Sin and to all those Temptations that have heretofore been wont to lead us into Sin And being thus made like unto God in Holiness we shall become like him in Happiness too For then Death and Hell shall be destroy'd They shall be cast into the Lake of Fire Revel xx 14. And we shall sing for ever that triumphant Song of St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 55. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who hath given