A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached…

Name: A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached…
Author: Increase Mather

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.

Increase Mather 1639–1723Boston: printed by R.P. i.e, 1687

[4], 124 p. ; 15 cm. (8vo) · 33k words · Evans 432 · Wing M1248

Title page typeset from the transcription.

Sermon

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.

[ Earlier:53–68 of 252

:53p. 33–35¶1

1. Be sure what you be sincere in your Repentance. Many times men under Fears, will seem very penitent▪ ⟨p. 34⟩whenas they do but •latter God with the […] mouths, and lye •nto him with their tongues. Thus it was with▪ Pharaoh, and with many a sinner, whose hard heart was never broken nor changed; we see often, that sinners on sick beds, when they behold Death & Eternity before their eyes, will confess their sins and promise Reformation▪ but if the Lord spare & restore them, they are the same that they were before. And we have known Instances among our selves, of men, that when they have bin Captive, and in Turkish Slavery, they have pretended to a sense of those sins which provoked the Most High to bring that misery upon them, and have written seemingly pious & penitent Letters to their Friends, but now God has delivered them they are as vain […] profane as ungodly as ever in their lives before nay, some of them worse. For the Truth is, i• men be not humbled and converted by such signal Dispensations, many times they are judicially […] everlastingly hardened: They never leave sinning until they have sinned themselves into […], past all hopes of Mercy or Recovery. To come nearer to you, I have known some, more tha• […] or 2 or 3, that have bin condemned to dye▪ and whilst they remained under that Sentence, they seemed very penitent, but they were pardoned (for they had not bin guilty of Murder, […] you have) and since that, have bin as wicked […] O then look to your self, that you do not▪ […] with GOD and Man, […] your […] ⟨p. 35⟩soul too. And let not the Fear of Punishment only, but the Sense of Mercy break your heart.

1. Be sure what you be sincere in your Repentance. Many times men under Fears, will seem very peintent▪

[ Earlier passages Later passages ]

A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached…

To the Reader.

The CALL of the GOSPEL, unto All the Ends of the Earth; Applied especially unto a poor man under the […] sentence of Death for the Crying Sin of MURDER.

The CALL of the GOSPEL, unto All the Ends of the Earth; Apply'd especially unto a poor man under the 〈…〉 •entence of Death for the Crying Sin of MURDER.

Reformers309

Puritans1,782

Westminster Assembly24

Evangelicals36

To the Reader.

The CALL of the GOSPEL, unto All the Ends of the Earth; Applied especially unto a poor man under the […] sentence of Death for the Crying Sin of MURDER.

The CALL of the GOSPEL, unto All the Ends of the Earth; Apply'd especially unto a poor man under the 〈…〉 •entence of Death for the Crying Sin of MURDER.