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Dyer William Concerning Death Dyer, William – Considerations on Death is a single chapter article by Puritan Dyer.
Containing several reasons why men fear death—and opposite reasons, by way of answer, why they should not fear it. William Dyer.
Dyer, William – Considerations on Death is a single chapter article by Puritan writer William Dyer.
Excerpts from Dyer Concerning Death
Objection 1. First, Because thereby we are deprived of the exercise of all our senses, so that whatever delights either our taste, smell, hearing, sight, or feeling has afforded us—we shall enjoy the same no more, while, perhaps, many generations after us shall have the fruition thereof!
Answer.
As the exercises of our senses afford the opportunity of delight—so are they capable of annoying and grieving us. As the taste—by bitterness and sharpness; the smell—by noisome pollution, corruption; the hearing—by terrible and hideous noise, and evil tidings; the sight—by loathsome affrighting and miserable appearances; the feeling—by tedious pains, etc.
Again, we have had the benefit of surviving former generations, who were liable to what we are; and so shall those who shall follow us.
Objection 2. But that which aggravates the evil thereof is a man’s being cut off in the flower or strength of his age; whereas, if he lived the common age of man, he would the more contentedly leave this life.
Answer 1. Why, what is a man? Is he not as transient as the flower, and as the grass, and the wind? And are they not cut off in their best states? And may not God, when he walks in, or views his garden of human flowers, have as much liberty to crop them as men have of theirs? Surely, yes—for all are his!
Secondly, And though God permits some men to live as long as any ordinary course of nature ought, be it seventy years, (which is judged the most common) or more; yet he has not promised them so long life.
Thirdly, And though some live so long—yet considering the wars and plagues, and other diseases among men, it is not without reason that there are many more that die who have not lived according to the course of nature.
Fourthly, As we conclude that no person better, or so well as the gardener, or such as sowed, planted, dressed, and frequently practiced about the flowers and plants, knows when, and for what reason, to gather and pluck up—so no person knows better, nor so well as God knows when to cut or pluck up what he has planted in the world. He does all his actions upon good and weighty reasons, even greater and better than any gardener or other person has, for what he does in his world.
William Dyer
WILLIAM DYER was born in England in 1632. During his earlier ministry, he was a pastor with the Church of England at Chesham and Cholesbury. He and many other pastors were known as “Puritans” because of their desire to purify and reform the state church. However, in 1662, Dyer and over two thousand other Puritans pastors were ejected from their parishes because of a lack of compliance with the new policies of the church. In the year following his dismissal from the church, he wrote two of his most enduring books, A Cabinet of Jewels and Christ’s Famous Titles. In his later life, he worked alongside the Quakers because of their zeal for Christ and passion for souls. He was buried among them in Southwark, England in April of 1696. From his writings, he is seen to have been a man of great character, earnest to win men to the Lord, and eager to build up the saints in the love and confidence of Christ.
Works of William Dyer
- Believer's Golden Chain (1663)
- His Name
- Follow the Lamb
- Christ's Famous Titles
- Watch and Pray
theWord modules by William Dyer
From an article about the Believer’s Golden Chains
William Dyer (1632-1696) was a godly pastor in London, who was expelled from his church in the ‘Great Ejection’ of 1662. He is described as a man of great piety, and a serious fervent preacher.
Christ’s Famous Titles by William Dyer 1663This work is a translation of William Dyer’s work ‘Christ’s famous titles’ first published in 1663 which ran through seveal editions through into the nineteenth century. Dyer, who died in 1696, was a Non-Conformist minister with Quaker sympathies, who was minister at Chesham and Cholesbury, Buckinghamshire. The text was first translated by C. Maclauruinn for a Glasgow 1817 edition. It was clearly a popular work – five Gaelic editions were also published in Edinburgh between 1845 and 1894. Maclauruinn in his English preface opines that ‘it is neither a popular nor an elegant publication … but an evangelical one’. Dyer examines various famous titles for Christ. An excellent work!
“To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.”
~ William Dyer
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The Companion Bible Appendices
Bullinger Companion Bible Notes Appendices Graphics These excellent mini studies are from the back of the Companion Bible. They are a treasure trove of information.