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

This Year did not roll about, before he had in a manner very solemn entered in to Covenant with God. This weighty and awful thing was not rashly done by him, or in a sudden Flash and Pang of Devotion: He Thought, he Read, he Wrote, and he Prayed not a little before this Glorious Transaction between God and him, and upon Mature Deliberation, he judged it most advisable for him to make his Covenant with God as Explicit as Writing and Signing could render it; that so it might leave the more Impression upon his Heart and Life, and be an Evidence likewise, which in Temptation or Desertion he might have recourse unto: Wherefore he set apart a Time for (I think) secret Fasting and Prayer before the Lord, and then behold how this Young Man counting it high time for him to be bound out unto some Service, took a course for it: He subscribed an holy Covenant, of which this was the Matter, this the Form.

This Year did not roll about, before he had in a manner very solemn entred in to Covenant with God. This weighty and awful thing was not rashly done by him, or in a sudden Flash and Pang of Devotion: He Thought, he Read, he Wrote, and he Prayed not a little before this Glorious Transaction between God and him, and upon Mature Deliberation, he judged it most adviseable for him to make his Covenant with God as Explicit as Writing and Signing could render it; that so it might leave the more Impression upon his Heart and Life, and be an Evidence likewise, which in Temptation or Desertion he might have recourse unto: Wherefore he set apart a Time for (I think) secret Fasting and Prayer before the Lord, and then behold how this Young Man counting it high time for him to be bound out unto some Service, took a course for it: He subscribed an holy Covenant, of which this was the Matter, this the Form.

The Covenrnt between God and my ⟨p. 15⟩Soul, renewed; confirmed, and signed, Nov. 22. 1683. Whereas not only the Commands of God, [who hath often called upon me, by his Word Preached, to give up my self, both Body and Soul, to be at his Disposal, which calls by the public Ministry, were enough to engage me unto this] but also the Christian Religion which I profess, and my Baptism in which I took the Lord to be my God, and promised to Renounce the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and to dedicate my self unto the Service, Work, and Will of God, do bind me hereunto; In that God is such a God as deserves this, yea infinitely more than this, at my hands; my Creator, the Fountain of my Being; my Preserver, my Benefactor, my Lord, my Sovereign, my Judge; He in whose Hands my Life, my Breath, and all my concerns are; He that doth protect me from all Dangers, and supply me in all wants, support me under all Burdens, and direct me in all straits; He alone that can make me happy or miserable; He alone that can save me or damn me; He alone that can give inward Peace and Joy, that is my Friend, my God; In that, Self-Dedication