N00152:83
The wicked mans portion. Or A sermon (preached at the lecture in Boston in…
The wicked mans portion. Or A sermon (preached at the lecture in Boston in New-England the 18th day of the 1 month 1674. when two men were executed, who had murdered their master.) Wherein is showed that excess in wickedness doth bring untimely death. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a Church of Christ. ; [Six lines of quotations]The wicked mans portion. Or A sermon (preached at the lecture in Boston in New-England the 18th day of the 1 moneth 1674. when two men were executed, who had murthered their master.) Wherein is shewed that excesse in wickedness doth bring untimely death. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a Church of Christ. ; [Six lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by John Foster, 1675
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.
By way of Direction I shall speak two or three words.
1. Do what you can that God may have glory by you, that little Time that you have to live. Therefore see that you solemnly ⟨p. 24⟩wa•n others, (especially young ones) to take heed of those evils which your Consciences tell you, have made way for your destruction. And see that you be sincere and ingen•ous in making confession of your sin. The Scripture •aith if we confess our sins, that is with a Penitent broken heart, desirous never more to commit them, God is faithful to forgive them. And again, He that Confesseth and forsaketh shal• find mercy but he that hideth his sin shall not prosper. I charge you in the Name of God, as you will answer it by and by before his Judgments seat, that you do not deny or disown what you know is Truth. And I urge this the rather, because you have not been so ingenuous in confessing your evil, as God and men have expected from you. You accuse and impeach one another. The one of you •aith, that the other Killed his Master, and you only stood by and did not strike one blow, & so doth the other say. You accuse him and he accu•eth you. But deceive not your selves, if you deny what you know is Truth, though God be most merciful, yet God that made you will not have mercy on you; and though Christ be a Saviour for great sinners, He then will not save you. The devil hath brought your bodies to ruin and now his great design is to destroy your souls. He knoweth if he can Persuade you not to give glory to God by Confessing, he shall have your souls for ever. I tell you truly if you now disown the Truth, when once your souls are out of your bodies, they shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.
1. Doe what you can that God may have glory by you, that little Time that you have to live. Therefore see that you solemnly