A27048:52
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
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.
Could we but come to Heaven as easily as innocent Adam might have done if he had conquered, what wings would it add to our desires? Might we be translated as Enoch, or conveyed thither in the Chariot of Elijah, what Saint is there that would not long to see the face and glory of the Lord? Were it but to go to the top of a ⟨p. 18⟩Mountain, and there see Christ with Moses and Elijah, in a glimpse of Glory, as did the three Disciples, who would not make haste, and say, It is good for us to be here, Matth. 17.1, 4. But to travel so cheerfully with Abraham to the Mount of M•riah, to sacrifice an only Son, or with a Martyr to the flames, is a harder task. This is the principal enmity of death; it deterreth our desires and thoughts from heaven: and maketh it a far harder matter to us, to long after God, then otherwise it would be: Yea it causeth us to fly from him, even when we truly love him: And where Faith and Love do work so strongly as to overcome these fears, yet do they meet with them as an enemy, and must fight before they overcome.
Could we but come to Heaven as easily as innocent Adam might have done if he had conquered, what wings would it add to our desires? Might we be translated as Henoch, or conveyed thither in the Chariot of Elias, what Saint is there that would not long to see the face and glory of the Lord? Were it but to go to the top of a ⟨p. 18⟩Mountain, and there see Christ with Moses and Elias, in a glimpse of Glory, as did the three Disciples, who would not make haste, and say, It is good for us to be here, Matth. 17.1, 4. But to travell so chearfully with Abraham to the Mount of M•riah, to sacrifice an only Son, or with a Martyr to the flames, is a harder task. This is the principal enmity of death; it deterreth our desires and thoughts from heaven: and maketh it a far harder matter to us, to long after God, then otherwise it would be: Yea it causeth us to fly from him, even when we truly love him: And where Faith and Love do work so strongly as to overcome these fears, yet do they meet with them as an enemy, and must fight before they overcome.