N01109:162
Meditations on death. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is showedMeditations on death. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is shewed
Meditations on death. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is showed; I. That some true believers on Christ are afraid of death, but that they have no just cause to be so. II. That good men as well as others may be taken out of the world by a sudden death. III. That not earth but heaven is the Christians home. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]Meditations on death. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is shewed; I. That some true believers on Christ are afraid of death, but that they have no just cause to be so. II. That good men as well as others may be taken out of the world by a sudden death. III. That not earth but heaven is the Christians home. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]
printed by Timothy Green, 1707
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Instruct. III. Here we see the Sin & F•l•y of those that demean themselves a• tho' they were not Sojourners on the Earth▪ As tho' they should continue in this world for ever: As indeed that is the inward wish and desi•• of the most of men. They can't say as Job did, Job 7.16. I would not live always. If God should say to them, You shall have your Choice, either to live for ever on this Earth, or to be with Me in Heaven, the greatest part of the Children of men would choose to be here always, rather than to go to the Heavenly world. They are not like the Holy Patriarchs, that tho' they lived in one of the best Lands in the world, yet they Desired the Heavenly Country▪ Heb. 11.16. And if we may judge of the inward Thoughts of men by their actions▪ we must then Conclude, that they think they are not Sojourners on Earth, but tha• they shall abide here for ever: Psal. 49 11.13. Their ⟨p. 155⟩inward thought is, that their Dwellings shall continue to all Generations: •his their way is their Folly, yet their •bsterity after them approve of it. •herefore we see that men make very ••eat Provision for this world; and it •ay be little or none at all for another World. This their way is •heir Folly. If a man that is a Tenant […] another, and his Lease almost out, ••ould now go to Building, would •ot the world wonder at his Folly? o is the Case here; Men are Tenants […] will, the world they live in is none […] their own: Yea, and their Lease is most out; What then need they ake such ado to get so much of this world? Man, the Lease of thy Life is most out; why then dost thou set […] Heart on the World as if thou […] to be here for ever?