Selected quad for the lemma: master_n
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A60128
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Death a deliverance, or, A funeral discourse, preach'd (in part) on the decease of Mrs. Mary Doolittle, (late wife of Mr. Thomas Doolittle, minister of the Gospel in London) who departed this life the 16th of Decemb. 1692 by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S3661; ESTC R184223
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53,028
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143
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to a Prison than to their God and had rather be Panished to a Land of Strangers than sent to Heaven O Lord must I that am called thy Child and an Heir of Heaven and a Co heir with Christ have no more Acquaintance with my Glorified Lord and no more Love to thee who art my Portion before I go hence and come to thee Must I go hence so like a Stranger to my home O what do I beg for so frequently and so earnestly for the sake of my Redeemer as the Spirit of Life and Consolation that may shew me the pleased face of God and unite all my Affections to my glorified Head and draw up this dark and drowsie Soul to love and long to be with thee O God forbid that this sinful Flesh should be more powerful to draw me downward than Faith and Hope and Love to carry my Desires up to God O thou that freely gavest me thy Grace maintain it to the last against its Enemies and make it finally Victorious It came from thee it hath been preserved by thee it is on thy side and wholly for thee O let it not now fail and be conquer'd by blind and base Carnality or by the Temptations of a Hellish conquered Enemy It is thine Image which thou lovest it is a Divine Nature and Heavenly Beam VVhat will a Soul be without it but a Dungeon of Darkness a Devil for Malignity and dead to Holiness and Heaness O rather deny me the Light of the Sun than the Light of thy Countenance Less miserable had I been without Light or Being than without thy Grace O forsake not a Sinner in his extremity who consents to thy Covenant and would not forsake thee My God I have often sinned against thee but yet thou knowest I would fain be thine I have not served thee with that Resolution Fidelity and Delight as such a Master should have been served But yet I would not forsake thy Service nor change my Master or my Work I can say with thy Servant Paul Act. 27.23 That thou art the God whose I am and whom I serve And O that I could serve thee better For to serve thee is but to receive thy Grace and use it for my own and others good and so to glorifie thee and please thy Will which being Love it self it pleased best when we receive it and do most good Nothing in this World is more my Grief than that I love thee no more Forsake not then a Sinner that would not forsake thee that looks towards thee that feels it as his trouble to be so dark and strange unto thee that groaneth and gaspeth after thee feeling to his greatest sorrow that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord. My Lord I have nothing to do in this World but to seek and serve thee O pardon all my Carnal Thoughts and all my Unthankful Neglects of thy precious Grace and Love and let the fuller Communications of thy forfeited Grace now tell me by experience that thou dost forgive me When I have said VVill the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more My Conscience has replyed That this is mine Infirmity I never wanted Comfort because thou ever wantedst Mercy but because I wanted Faith and Fitness to receive it and perceive it But hast thou not Mercy also to give me even that Fitness and that Faith My God all is of thee and through thee and all is to thee and when I have the Felicity the Glory of all for ever will be thine If I can live and dye in trusting in thee surely I shall not be confounded * See a more full Example of the Acting of Holy Desires towards the Blessed Change in the Close of his Saints Everlasting Rest These be some of the Dying Thoughts of that Excellent Person SECT II. And yet my Friends mistake me not I say not that all are Graceless that are afraid of Death For Nature desires Life even under Sufferings that are but tolerable rather than dye And this is from meer natural necessary Inclination which Free-will hath not full Power against Death as the Dissolution of our frame as the Separation of Soul and Body cannot for it self be loved The putrifying of this Body in the Grave the greatness of the Change of Death the darkness of our Minds and the weakness of our Grace the remaining Sense of Sin with the dreadful Majesty of that God before whom we must appear joined with our Natural Averseness to Dye may make us shrink and tremble But the Faith of the Invisible VVorld the Love of God and Christ and a desire to enjoy him and please him and be with him should do much to overcome these Fears and make us willing Though some remaining Fear be consistent with Vprightness yet remember that not to desire and long for this Blessed State though mix'd with a Fear of intervening Death is highly criminal and faulty For the Love of God and Christ and earnest Desires to be like him and to be with him seems to be the better half of all Religion 2 Tim. 4.8 2 Tit. 13. 2 Pet. 3.12 Not to desire this Blessed Change is directly a sin against the Gospel whereby we are * 2 Thes 2 12 1 Pet. 1.12 called to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ VVithout such Desires we comply not with the Design and VVill of God who hath called us to his eternal Glory by Christ Jesus For how can his Call be answered without an Inclination of Heart to such a State and a Desire after it For a real Member of Christ and Heir of Heaven to be only Content to see the Lord to be Content to be for ever in his Blessed Presence and perfectly holy and freed from Sin is a very hard and harsh expression Men are covetous eager and ambitious after earthly good And shall a Christian's Desire be less earnest after the Heavenly Glory I grant some remaining Fear of Death may consist with Integrity when it is not God and Heaven we are averse to but Death that stands in the way or when it is because of our Doubts of God's Acceptance of us For I question not but most upright Christians would rather dye than live might they but hope to be with Christ and enjoy the Divine Presence As others would be glad of a Removal might it be without Dying because they fear the Pains and Terrors of a dying Hour Might they not be uncloathed but cloathed upon by an immediate Translation they care not how soon it were For there be many such who desire the Second Coming of Christ unfeignedly and the Blessed Consequences of it to whom all the parts of the Heavenly State and Life are sweet and grateful who live and walk in their Integrity before God though their Grace prevail not against this Fear of death VVhereas you ought to consider that the Throes and Pangs of Travelling VVomen in