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A07666 A mappe of mans mortalitie Clearely manifesting the originall of death, with the nature, fruits, and effects thereof, both to the vnregenerate, and elect children of God. Diuided into three bookes; and published for the furtherance of the wise in practise, the humbling of the strong in conceit, and for the comfort and confirmation of weake Christians, against the combat of death, that they may wisely and seasonably be prepared against the same. Whereunto are annexed two consolatory sermons, for afflicted Christians, in their greatest conflicts. By Iohn Moore, minister of the word of God, at Shearsbie in Leicester-shire. Moore, John, d. 1619. 1617 (1617) STC 18057; ESTC S112851 257,806 358

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holy life heauenly conuersation chearefull death and blessed daparture of the faithfull redeemed by Christ section 1 GOds children now being redeemed from Sinne and Death and truely vnited to Christ by his spirit whom they apprehend by an vnfained faith cannot chuse but shew forth the fruits of this their high calling to the glory of him that hath chosen them And being partakers of the diuine nature they flye from the corruptions of the world and giue all diligence to ioyne vertue with their faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindenesse and with brotherly kindenesse loue and these things being among them and abounding will keepe them from being idle and vnfruitfull The grace of God to them appeareth not in vaine but teacheth them to denie all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts to liue soberly righteously godly in this present world c. and being risen with Christ from the graue of corruption they euery day more and more seeke those things which are aboue setting their affections where Christ sitteth and not on the things that are on the earth for they are dead to the world and their true life is hid with God in Christ therefore they labour to be holy as he that hath called them to his kingdome and glory is holy They daily imploy themselues in reading and meditating of the word of God in prayer and religious exercises of holy deuotion loathing still this world and sinfull life daily growing to be spirituall and heauenly hauing their affections and zeale inflamed with the loue of God They say with Augustine O Lord I delight to heare of thee to talke of thee to write of thee to deuise of thee and in my heart to print whatsoeuer I learne of thee So must wee walke in these holy paths with all Gods Saints Godly deuotion and holy meditations saith one are section 2 as brine and pickle to keepe and preserue this corruptible flesh of ours from the euill scent that breedeth in our nature by originall sinne They are as faggots and firebrands that enkindle and inflame the loue of God in our hearts And as the fish out of the water die forthwith and the drops of raine distilling from the clouds vpon the ground doe quickly dry and drench vp and the fire without fuell is soone extinguished So our faith and loue c. without these sanctified meanes doe suddenly decrease They are as precious perfumes burnt in a polluted house and sick-mans chamber The sweet incense of prayer and the sauory smell of that odorifferous balme of a liuely faith and effectuall knowledge of God purge and clense the corruption of our liues and vncleane desires God hath chosen vs to be his glorious temple in whom hee dwelleth by his spirit therefore wee must haue our hearts purified by faith and clense our selues from all filthinesse and vncleanenesse both of bodies and soules and so adorne the place of his presence and habitation with all vertue and holinesse Hee that destroyeth the Temple of God him will God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which you are Saint Peter willeth vs to gird vp the loynes of our mindes teaching vs that as they which weare long garments when they come in the foule wayes doe take and gird them vp lest they should tag in the way So we whose mindes and affections doe traile as it were vpon the earth trudging through this foule and filthy world must heaue them vp towards heauen lest they should touch the damnable filth of sinne and wickednesse It is in vaine to boast of iustification without the vnfained sanctification of Gods spirit For as there can be no fire section 3 without warmth and light so neither can God by his spirit be in vs of with any of vs but he will also purifie vs from vice and corruption therefore wee must follow peace and holinesse without the which no man can see the Lord. Christ hath crucified our old man and put to death our vice and corruption and shall wee reuiue the same Shall we maintaine our Sauiours enemies and giue life againe to these deadly poysons of our soules If wee will be Burgesses of heauen we must be strangers to the earth Where is the house of our Father but in heauen and there dwelleth our eldest brother Iesus Christ and all our christian friends and kindred Heauen then is our true Country and on earth we are but trauellers section 4 When Moses had conuersed with God but fortie daies vpon the Mount-Oliue at his comming downe his face shined and glistered with heauenly glory So must we beholding in a mirror the glory of our Lord Iesus Christ in his word and Gospell as it were with open face and not with a vaile as did Moses be changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. If I say but this short time while we liue we be conuersant in heauen by our most holy faith and fruits thereof in all holy affections thoughts words and meditations we shall in the end become heauenly and spirituall both in word and deede As wee see by experience when a country-man hath beene trayned vp sometime in the Court he forgetteth his clownish kinde of life and becommeth a Courtier Let vs therefore leaue the speaches habit fashions and manners of this wicked world wherein we liue and inure our selues with the customes and course of the court of Heauen Let all our thoughts words and communication testifie that in spirit wee are already there section 5 Christ Iesus whom all true Christians haue put on by baptisme as a garment is a most royall robe of grace holinesse and sanctification and shall we be so sloathfull to traile and trample him in the dyrt of filthinesse and sinne or putting him off to put on the vile and spotted garment of the flesh by following the lusts thereof When winter is once ouer the nearer that the Sunne draweth vnto vs the more doth the earth being warmed with the heate thereof fructifie and increase and the longer the daies are the more worke we may doe euen so the nearer the kingdome of heauen doth approach vnto vs by the comming of Iesus Christ the sonne of righteousnesse or the nearer we draw to death the more we should be inflamed in the loue of God and all good workes As the Sunne beames doe come to the earth and yet are in the region from whence they are sent so the mindes and soules of Gods children though conuersant in the earth are truely seated and setled with God in heauen from whence they came Let vaine-glorious worldlings who with the Camaelion section 6 liue by the ayre and therefore are alwaies found gaping and who haue with the Moone but a borrowed light in the world and no true light of
it But on the contrary such as want this good testimonie section 9 of the conscience purified by faith in the blood of Christ their case is very dangerous lying still in their sinnes which in the time of Gods visiting hand will sting them deadly and in this world if they be not awakened by repentance but lye snorting in the same till their dying day their conscience that hath furfeited of sinne in this life will vomit all in their faces when they come once to their reckoning For as a good conscience is a continuall feast and paradise to him that hath it so an euill one is a perpetuall plague and prison to the soule and like the raging sea that casts vp mire and durt A pure conscience saith one is as the sweetest sugar to delay the bitternesse of all afflictions it is as marrow in the bones and good blood in the veynes as sound health to the body fitting and inabling it to sustaine all blustering stormes and winter blasts It is as a watch-tower and Beacon on a hill to giue vs warning and word of all danger imminent to our life As a Trumpet to awaken vs from our sinnes It is as the match and tinder to kindle the fire and zeale of all holy deuotion faith and obedience still pricking vs forward to all vertue and godlinesse till wee end our daies in peace We may say of the conscience as Zeno the Philosopher of a Wife that shee is a continuall comfort or a perpetuall crosse A good conscience is an inuincible Tower it may be besieged but neuer battered and raced to the ground It will neither be borrowed nor bought nor sould yet if it should be set a sale few would buy it The bed of a good Conscience flourisheth alwayes as the greene borders in a Garden If our hearts be setled in loue and obedience to the section 10 Lord all the world besides cannot defile vs. Our heart is the safest Tower of defence that wee haue in all our life take heede therefore of thy heart for if it accuse thee it will kill thee If it be on thy side let the heauens fall yet the ruines thereof shall not affright thee let thy foes be what they will let their counsell be what it can and destruction that is conspired neuer so cruell yet if thy heart be faithfull to God thy enemies shall feare more then thou for Innocencie assisteth thee which is strengthened with the arme of God and cannot be conquered by any meanes of Man Death or Diuell Though nature be weake to raise vp it selfe and aduersities and temptations strong to cast it downe yet both troubles and temptations flye fast away before the face of our trust in God O Lord take from mee saith one if thou wilt my goods and riches my pleasures c. yea my life to so thou leaue mee my heart which way neuer cease to loue thee trust in thee and call vpon thy name Thou canst not be friends with thy selfe till thou be with God for thy Conscience like an honest seruant taketh his masters part against thee when thou hast sinned and will not countenance thee till thou be reconciled to God neyther dare it be kinde to thee and vnfaithfull to her Maker God doth commit men to their Conscience as vnto a Tutor which vigilantly attends vpon them and a man may better flye from any thing then from his owne heart And therefore this hath alwayes beene the ioy and reioycing of the faithfull to haue the witnesse of a good conscience that they haue simply and honestly walked with men in this world This is their Crowne and comfort to thinke how holily and vnblameably they haue behaued themselues that they haue fought a good fight and finished their course and kept the faith that they haue kept the profession of their hope without fainting still with a good Conscience making their request to God This oyle of gladnesse hath cheared their countenance and this pure wine of a good Conscience hath gladed their heart amidst all their griefe it hath sweetned their sorrowes hauing the loue of God shed in their hearts through the holy Ghost And therefore our greatest care must be to haue alwayes a cleare Conscience towards God and man which will greatly cheare vs against our death section 11 Christians must be daily practicioners of Faith and Repentance they must not onely by mortification of the flesh dye to sinne but being renewed in the spirit rise againe vnto righteousnesse and amendment of life They must hate euill and doe good pursue after peace and holinesse without the which no man can see God For as hee that hath a hope to liue againe when he is dead must dye while hee is aliue to sinne and wickednesse So hee that will escape the second death must be made pertaker of the first resurrection to newnesse of life And those that are deliuered from darknesse must be translated into the Kingdome of Christ and being dead in themselues must liue the life of Christ And this is the end why they are freed from their deadly foes to serue God in holinesse and righteousnesse all their dayes So shall they come to peace of Conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost section 12 Repentance and amendment of life serue vs as the Cannon shot to scatter the cruell bands of Death and Diuell and ioyning Faith with Repentance wee shall be sure to winne the field by the safe conduct of Christ our Captaine vnconquerable who as wee haue heard hath satisfied for our sinnes fulfilled the Law and foyled all our foes If the day of our death finde vs a sleepe in our sinne woe be vnto vs for then wee shall hardly awake The end of all things saith Saint Peter is at hand therefore be sober and watch in prayer Euery one in his death shall finde this end of all things when men are once dead and carryed out of dores all is at an end with them neyther hath their body any more then their length of ground One being demanded when it was time to repent answered section 13 One day before our death but when it was replyed that no man knew that day hee said Beginne then to day for feare of fayling and boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth It is a folly to dissemble our sores whilst they are cureable and after make them knowne when there is no remedie Many pretend to amend all in time and this time is so deferred from day to day vntill God in whose hands onely all times consist doth shut them out of all time and send them to paines eternall without time for that they abuse the speciall benefit of time in this world For custome groweth to another nature and old diseases are hardly cured Wilt thou goe to heauen liuing in sinne as thou dost It is impossible As soone thou maist driue God