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The works of the ever memorable John Hales of Eaton
The works of the ever memorable John Hales of Eaton Author:John Hales Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE DANGER OF RECEIVING OUR GOOD THINGS THIS LIFE. Preached at Shrove.tide at Eaton-College. Luke xvi. 2 5. Sin, remember that thou in thy l... more »ife-time received/t thy good things. FIRST SERMON ON THE TEIT THAT man of mifery, whofe woful end oc- cafioned this difcourfe in St. Luke, whence I have chofen out thefe few words as my fubjecl to treat of at this time, much defires that one The Author eatitlis this fermon, ' The Rich Man's Rcce- pifti;' and conftantly ufts tie -word in the Vulgate recepifli,' thou ' hajl received,' as a noun. Sucb modes of ffttcb .were common in the age of the author, tut no.ill thcy appear uncouth and pe- Itntic. Tie editor tlerefore bas frefumed to vary the pbrafe. from the dead might be fent unto his brethren, to give them warning that they come not into that place of torment in which himfelf was. May I not at this time juftly feem to be that meflenger ? For methinks I come into the pulpit, as young Po- lydore, in the tragedy, enters the ftage, and may fpeak unto you as he did unto his auditors in another language, ' I come from the pit of the dead, from ' the gates of utter darknefs, where the devil hath ' his manfion far removed from God .' Firft, the fadnefs of the meflage with which I come might eafily tempt you to think fo, as being very unwelcome to the ears of flefh and blood ; for, where death is not reft, where fhall we find reft ? in what /hall we joy, if the good things of our life deceive us ? Certainly fo difconfolate a piece of news could never come, but from fome place of extreme fadnefs. Secondly, the unfitnefs of the time might help on well to this conceit: there is, faith Abraham in this fcripture, ' there is a great gulph be- ' twixt you and us.' Beloved, the difference betwixt thofe two places here ment...« less