A26786:175
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in…
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in several discourses / by William Bates.
London: printed for Brabazon Aylmer, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
When Jacob saw his beloved Son's Coat rent and stained with Blood, he abandoned himself to desperate Sorrow, and continued mourning for his Death, when Joseph was advanced in Authority and Dignity next to Pharaoh in the Kingdom of Egypt. Thus when we see the Garment of Mortality rent by Diseases, we mourn for departed Saints, as if Death had absolutely destroyed them, when their Souls are reigning in Glory. This immoderate Sorrow is an Heathenish Passion, suitable to their ignorance of the future happy State, but very unbecoming the plenary Assurance the Gospel affords us of it. Indeed for the Wicked to die with fears and palpitations of heart, to be surrounded with impendent horrors, when such a precipice and depth of Misery is before them, is very just and reasonable; but for the Saints to die uncomfortably under inordinate Fears, is a disparagement to the Blessed Hope established upon the Revelation of Life and Immortality by the Gospel.
When Jacob saw his beloved Son's Coat rent and stain'd with Blood, he abandoned himself to desperate Sorrow, and continued mourning for his Death, when Joseph was advanc'd in Authority and Dignity next to Pharaoh in the Kingdom of Egypt. Thus when we see the Garment of Mortality rent by Diseases, we mourn for departed Saints, as if Death had absolutely destroyed them, when their Souls are reigning in Glory. This immoderate Sorrow is an Heathenish Passion, suitable to their ignorance of the future happy State, but very unbecoming the plenary Assurance the Gospel affords us of it. Indeed for the Wicked to die with fears and palpitations of heart, to be surrounded with impendent horrours, when such a precipice and depth of Misery is before them, is very just and reasonable; but for the Saints to die uncomfortably under inordinate Fears, is a disparagement to the Blessed Hope establish'd upon the Revelation of Life and Immortality by the Gospel.
Now in three things I shall propound the Duty of dying Christians.