N00355:160
A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached…
A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached at Boston in N.E. March 11th 1685[/]6. : (Together with the confession, last expressions & solemn warning of that murderer to all persons; especially to young men, to beware of those sins which brought him to his miserable end.) / By Increase Mather, teacher of church of Christ.
Boston: printed by R.P. i.e, 1687
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
1. See & be yet more affected with this deplorable condition, and let thy soul be afflicted at the thoughts of it, and especially at thy sin that has brought thee into it. I urge this again because thou canst not be too much concerned thereabout.
2. Look upon all thy life past: let this solemn hand of God upon thee bring all thy sins to Remembrance. Consider how thou hast walked is a Course of sin from step to step, and let all thy Actual sins lead thee back to the Sin of thy Nature, the evil Fountain from whence all these bitter streams have issued; and let all put together make thee vile in thine own eyes, and make thee to abhor thy self for the same.
2. Look upon all thy life past: let this solemn hand of God upon thee bring all thy sins to Remembrance. Consider how thou hast walked is a Course of sin from step to step, and let all thy Actual sins lead thee back to the Sin of thy Nature, the evil Fountain from whence all these bitter streams have issued; and let all put together make thoe vile in thine own eyes, and make thee to abhor thy self for the same.
3. Beg hard for a broken heart, that may unfeignedly mourn for sin, that being burdened with it thou mayst most bitterly weep, and sigh & groan […] it. Such sins as thou standest Convicted ⟨p. 97⟩of call for the deepest Humiliation & Contrition Its the bane of multitudes of Sinners in the world, that their Convictions of Sin were but weighty and their Humiliation superficial, and so their Conversion not real. God will prick thee to the heart, yea and break thy Heart all to pieces for thy sin if ever he pardon thee. Also bemoan thy self for all thy Profaneness, Looseness, Sensuality which has exposed thee to this great sin at last. Bewail all those evils which the holy God has to charge thee with; thy Rending His Sacred name by Curses & Oaths, wronging His Truth by Lying, Abusing his good Creatures to Excess, Making thy Belly thy god, and sacrificing the Lord's Blessings thereunto, which he sent thee for His own Use and Service; And especially for thy rejecting of his Gospel, of which great and horrible sin, thou art convicted out of thy own mouth, while thou wert profaning his Sabbaths, & neglecting to give thy Attendance on the public Worship, and so turning away thine Ear from Hearing the joyful sound by which thou mightst have been forever blessed.—