Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ...…

He knew that no better a Man than one of the Moral Heathens propounded a Nocturnal Self-Examination, as a part and cause of no little Wisdom, and that much more a sober Christian should endeavour to maintain a good understanding of himself, by such Nightly Recollections. Wherefore before the Slumbers of the Evening, this Young Man would put three General Questions to himself, with divers particular ones that were subordinate thereunto. The Questions were,

Question 1. What has God's Mercy to me been this day? Here he considered what favours God had newly smiled upon his inward, or his outward man withal. Question 2. What has my Carriage to God been this day? Here he considered what frames, and words and works, and what snares and sins he had newly been concerned with. Question 3. If I dye this night, is my Immortal Spirit safe? ⟨p. 46⟩Of this he judged by his Closure wit• God, as his best good, and last end, and wit• Christ as his Prophet, and his Priest, an• his King, and by his Resolution alway• to be a Witness for the Lord, and an En• my to every Sin: Though sometimes he would with a more large and long Attention Examine his own Hopes of Eternal Happiness, for which purpose he had in writing by him, his Bundles of Marks and Signs, which testify a Man to be born o• God. When he had thought on thes• things, he was able to lay himself down […] peace and sleep; but this was a way to keep a Soul Awake.

Question 1. What has God's Mercy to me been this day? Here he considered what favours God had newly smil'd upon his inward, or his outward man withal. Question 2. What has my Carriage to God been this day? Here he considered what frames, and words and works, and what snares and sins he had newly been concerned with. Question 3. If I dye this night, is my Immortal Spirit safe?