A27048:121
A treatise of death, the last enemy to be destroyed showing wherein its enmity…A treatise of death, the last enemy to be destroyed shewing wherein its enmity…
A treatise of death, the last enemy to be destroyed showing wherein its enmity consisteth and how it is destroyed : part of it was preached at the funerals [sic] of Elizabeth, the late wife of Mr. Joseph Baker ... / by Rich. Baxter ; with some few passages of the life of the said Mrs. Baker observed.A treatise of death, the last enemy to be destroyed shewing wherein its enmity consisteth and how it is destroyed : part of it was preached at the funerals [sic] of Elizabeth, the late wife of Mr. Joseph Baker ... / by Rich. Baxter ; with some few passages of the life of the said Mrs. Baker observed.
London: printed by R.W. for Nev. Simmons, 1660
Sermon › Section 9 › Application 7: Use 7.Sermon › Section 9 › Application 7: Ʋse 7.
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.
Use 7.
Ʋse 7.
Moreover from the Enmity of Death, we may be directed which way to bend our cares; and seeing where our difficulty most lieth, we may see which way our most diligent preparations must be turned. Death cannot be prevented: but the malignant influence of it on our souls may be much abated. If you let it work without an Antidote, it will make you live like unbelieving worldlings: It will deter your hearts from heaven, and dull your love to God himself, and make your meditations of him, and of your Everlasting Rest, to be seldom and ungrateful to you; And it will make you say, Its good to be here; and have sweeter thoughts ⟨p. 111⟩of this present life, then of your inheritance. It will rob you of much of your heavenly delights, and fill you with slavish fears of death, and subject you unto bondage all your lives, and make you die with agony and horror, so that your lives and deaths will be dishonourable to your holy faith, and to your Lord. If it were merely our own suffering by fears and horrors; or merely our loss of spiritual delights, the matter were (great, but) not so great: But it is more then this. For when our joys are overwhelmed with the fears of death, and turned into sorrows, our love to God will be abated, and we shall deny him the thanks and cheerful praises, which should be much of the employment of our lives: and we shall be much discomposed and unfitted for his service, and shall much dishonour him in the ⟨p. 112⟩world, and shall strengthen our temptations to the overvaluing of earthly things. Think it not therefore a small or an indifferent matter, to fortify your souls against these malignant fears of death. Make this your daily care and work; your peace, your safety; your innocency, and usefulness, and the honour of God, do much lie on it. And it is a work of such exceeding difficulty, that it requireth the best of your skill and diligence; and when all is done, it must be the illuminating quickening beams of grace, and the shining face of the Eternal Love, that must do the work; though yet your diligence is necessary, to attend the spirit, and use the means, in subserviency to grace, and in expectation of these celestial rays.