Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B00818
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A discourse of eternitie collected and composed for the common good, by W.T.
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Tipping, William, 1598-1649.
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1633
(1633)
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STC 24473.3; ESTC S95621
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42,794
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75
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condition of our times how short doe wee fall euen of the perfection of Heathens what man is there amongst vs that casteth forth so much as a thought vpon Eternity wee liue here as if there were no life hereafter Our Earth is our Heauen and our pleasures our Paradice we crowne our heads with rose buds wee eate of the fat and drinke of the sweet and say in our hearts no euill shall happen to vs yet when we haue done all Omnes humanae consolationes sunt desolationes Hearts ease will not growe in this earthly garden the true rest will not be found but in the true place the eternall Hierusalem sound and entire contentment hath no rooting in this world For as one hath it excellently * Dispone ordina omnia secundum tuum velle videre non invenies nisi semper a liquid pati debere autsponte aut invite ita crucem semper invenies dispose marshall all things to thine own hearts desire yet shalt thou doe what thou canst still meet with some crosse or presure in the way Since it is so let vs not then determinate our affections in these earthly things which are of no continuance but let vs send our hearts before vs to those heavenly mansions where they shall be crowned with fulnesse of happinesse and shall swimme in streames of pleasures for evermore Certainely there is no true rest but that which is eternall the sweetest refreshment our soules can finde in this world consists in the serious meditation of the ioyes to come in devoting our selues and all we haue to his seruice from whom wee haue them in trusting to him and relying on him for out of God the soule findes no resting place to set her foot on but every where stormes and waues death hell abide her when we haue improued our contentments to the very height of our desires when we haue attained as much happinesse as the world can giue vs yet then may we be cut off perchance in the midst of our daies when our breasts are full of milke and our bones full of marrow or suppose we spinne the thred of our life to a longer day and God crowne vs here with the blessings of his left hand the comforts of this life and length of yeares yea though all things favour our longer continuance in this world yet in the end time and age will ruine vs. Wee shall bring our yeares to an end like a tale that is told and shall vanish away like a shadow though we liue many yeares and in them all we reioice yet in the end we shall remember the daies of darknesse saith Solomon and the time shall come that the eye which saw vs shall see vs no more Soles occidere redire possunt nobis cum occidet semel brevis lux nox est perpetuo vna dormienda Cat. The Sunne sets and riseth againe but we alas when our glasse is runne and the short gleame of our sommers day is spent shall neuer returne till our last summons when the dead shall heare the voice of the sonne of God and they that heare it shall liue and come forth of their graues they that haue done good to the resurrection of life and they that haue done evill to the resurrection of condemnation both to Eternitie and then shall follow that large day that shall never shut in that infinite continuation of time that shall neuer end that vnlimited Eternitie which ever hath beene and is and will be the same for euer when the Sunne shall no more yeeld her light by day nor the Moone her brightnesse by night but God shall be our light and the Lord our glory But oh the vnhappy condition of our age who is there that ponders these things with a digested meditation that lookes into the state of his soule with a serious eye that examines his conscience vnvaileth his heart and considereth his waies That endeauours to lay a good foundation for the time to come wee stand at the doore of Eternitie and while we liue we are euery day entring into it it 's but a stroake of death we are gone even in a moment and whether from our short and fading delights to an endlesse easelesse gulfe where our worme shall never die nor our fire shall neuer out Now let all those who swim in the streames of their voluptuousnesse putting far from them the evill day who labour to expell from their hearts and to stifle in the bud the sad consideration of their approaching infelicities let them I say knowe that they may fall into this vast gulfe of Eternitie when they least suspect it into which when once they haue vnhappily plunged themselues they may desire redemption but shall not finde it Postqaum istinc excessū fuerit nullus poenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis effectus Cyp. It shall be one of their torments to know they shall never be out of torment All the gold of Opher cannot purchase them one minute of reliefe from their vnexpressible miseries But now euen now is the jubile now is the accepted time now is the promulgation of pardon there remaines nothing for our parts but to sue it forth we need not many hundred of yeares or number of daies to redeeme our mispent time and to wash out our contracted pollutions no one day may through Gods gratious favour and loving indulgence procure more mercy here then Eternitie of time may obtaine hereafter one sigh from a true sorrowfull heart here shall prevaile to discharge more debts then infinite ages shall acquit or satisfie for hereafter Here God with patience expects our repentance but if we abuse his forbearance and come not in hereafter with trembling wee shall abide his judgement Let vs therefore be wise in time and remember our creator in the daies of our youth before the evill daies come and the yeares approach wherein wee shall say we haue no pleasure in them before our dust returne into the wombe from whence it came and our lungs be locked vp into the brestlesse earth before that black and gloomy day the day of death and dissolution appeare to vs the which if our timely repentance here prevent not our doome will seale vp our soules to eternall darknesse Let vs consider that wheresoeuer we are whatsoeuer wee goe about wee stand euery minute of our time in the glorious presence of an Immanifestus omnia autem manifestans per omnia apparet in omnibus incomprehensible maiestie whose bright and most piercing eye is ten thousand times clearer then the Sunne who knows all hearts sees all actions vnderstands all councells viewes all persons there 's not a word in the tongue not a thought in the heart not a sparke of lust in the flesh though neuer so softly blowne and secretly kindled but he beholds it altogether he is all eare to heare all hand to punish when and where he please all power to
doth more grieue their hearts and wound their afflicted soules then all their bodily torments Thus wee see the vnhappy estate and condition of the damned in the other world and how the highest linke in all this chaine of sorrowes wherewith they are enuironed is the miserable perpetuitie of their torments when their restlesse thoughts haue carefully runne through many thousands of yeares yet will they not then enioy one day one little houre one minute of rest and respiration Everlasting darknesse is their portion they beginne and end alike with weeping and gnashing of teeth Now since this is certainely true is it possible that man should be so forgetfull of God and himselfe Can he so farre degenerate into a beast and indurate into a stone as to read these things and not beleeue them or beleeue these things and not to tremble Can the knowledge of these things swim in our braine without a serious and sound digestion of them into our hearts when we see and knowe and beleeue that inexplicable eternall endlesse easelesse horrors without true and vnfained repentance abide vs hereafter and on the other side we knowe not nor can possibly discerne with how speedy and swift a foot our end approacheth nor how suddenly wee shall be summoned to giue the world our euerlasting farwell How can so sad and important a consideration as this possesse our thoughts and not torment them or how can this chuse but imbitter our dearest pleasures crosse our indulgence to our sensuall affections Did we but reason a while with our soules and euery one of vs in a particular application say within himselfe I am here floating like a ship in the sea of this world ballased on every side with the cares and disquietings pressures of this life and I sayle on with full course towards the hauen of Eternity one little blast of death is able to plunge me irrecouerably into this bottomelesse gulfe where one houres torment will infinitely exceed for the paine of it an hundred yeares bitter repentance And shall I now thus standing vpon the very battlements of hell melt in my delights cheere vp my selfe in the dayes of my youth shall I tyre out my spirits trifle out my pretious time rob mine eyes of their beloued sleepe for such things to the which the time will come when I must bid an euerlasting farewell Me thinks the thorough meditation of our future state should euen strangle our sensuall ioyes in vs withdrawe our hearts from the embracements of this world especially when wee shall to our endlesse sorrow vnderstand our dearest contents must close at the last in death and confusion and all our precedent pleasures shall yeeld vs no other fruit but their bitter remembrance to augment our sorrowes CAP. 6. Wherein the question is answered wherefore a finite sinne is recompensed with an infinite punishment wherein also is farther shewed that the severity of Gods iustice therein doth no waie diminish the greatnesse of his mercy NOW here ariseth a question to bee resolved how comes it to passe that our mercifull and gratious God who is so infinite in his goodnesse and so abundant in his loue whose praises the Prophet David amplifies in his 136. psalme twenty seauen times together with this conclusion for his mercy endureth for ever how can it stande that this our God whose mercy is thus exalted aboue all his workes should be thus infinitely mercifull and yet so infinitely iust too as to inflict vpon a finite sinne an infinite punishment that he should continue millions of yeares yea to everlastingnesse in the avengement of those sinnes which were committed as it were in a moment of time so that hee who hath offended but temporally should bee bound to suffer paines eternally I answere wee shall sufficiently vindicate and cleare Gods righteous dealing towards vs herein if wee measure his iustice but by our owne rules Scelus non temporis longitudine sed iniquitatis magnitudine metiendum est Aug. de Civitat Des lib. 21 cap. 11. for doth any law proportion out the time of punishment to the time only in which the offence is commited and so measure the continuance of the pennalty by the time of the fault Shall the prisoner lye no longer in the Goale then he is committing his villanie Doe not wee here amongst vs often see some offences which were suddenly thought of and as soone executed yet punished with endlesse datelesse banishments which in comparison to this life beare a proportion with eternity Now if the wisdome of man doth follow this rule in proportioning of punishments weighing offences by the fowlenes of the fact Shall wee denie God the righteous Iudge of all the world the same liberty over the workes of his owne hands Againe if this will not satisfie our inquisitiue mindes let vs but take our owne hearts to taske and sifte them to the bottome and impartially weigh what a world of pollution and deceipte and perversenesse is lodged in them and then certainely wee shall finde matter enough against our selues without farther inquiry for our endlesse condemnation our owne consciences will testify to the confusion of our faces that iust is the Lord and iust are his Iudgements that all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Nec iniusta eius gratia nec crudelis potest esse iustitia Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 21. c. 11. that his grace is not vniust nor his Iustice cruell Adde herevnto that the fault of its owne nature is infinite because it is a sinne against an infinite maiesty Gods Iustice being infinite the violation thereof by sinne must needs contract an infinite debt because in sinning we rob God of his glory which wee must needs repaie him againe Now the satisfaction of an infinite debt must needs bee infinite either in respect of time or measure And because a finite vessell is not able to hold or comprehend an infinite wrath forasmuch as wee cannot beare Gods indignation propter immensitatem doloris wee must of necessity satisfie his Iustice duratione temporis the long continuance of our sufferings must supply what is wanting in the weight of our punishments Againe he that dies in his sinne without repentance offends as much as if he had sinned eternally quia omnis peccator est in aeternum si in aeternum vixisset in aeternum peccasset i.e. had hee liued eternally his sinne had extended to the length of his daies Peccandi voluntatem non amisit sed vitam Greg. for a man sooner ceaseth to liue then to loue his sinne and therefore God may iustly after many thousand yeares torments in Hell iterate their torments to the damned because if they had longer abode in their sinfull fiesh they would still haue perpetuated their sinfull transgressions Oh let not then sinfull flesh contend with its maker let not vs prye into the heavens nor curiously search into the secrets of Gods will to finde a reason of the