N00429:112
Speedy repentance urged. A sermon preached at Boston, Decemb. 29. 1689. In the hearing,…
Speedy repentance urged. A sermon preached at Boston, Decemb. 29. 1689. In the hearing, and at the request of one Hugh Stone, a miserable man under a just sentence of death, for a tragical and horrible murder. : Together with some account concerning the character, carriage, and execution of that unhappy malefactor. : To which are added, certain memorable providences relating to some other murders; & some great instances of repentance which have been seen among us. / By Cotton Mather Pastor of the Gospel in Boston.
Boston: printed by Samuel Green, 1690
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.
What shall I say, that may stimulate the Christ ward motions of your Fettered Soul!
I am to tell you, First, That your Sin is very Great. The Sin, for which you now stand Condemned, is, a sin of a […] & bloody Dye, Murder is the […] Barbarous and Devilish, a••• •ll the Crimes that are Iniqui•• […] punished by the Judge. Will […] ••f kill a Wolf? no, and the very Bears agree among themselves. But shall a Man than be worse than a Wolf, unto a Man? If, He that loves ⟨p. 58⟩another fulfils the Law, 'tis easy to tell what he does, that Murders another. The most Wretched Pagans have observed of the Murderer, That Vengeance will not suffer him to Live. But your Murder is one hardly to be paralleled in an Age! 'Tis said, No Man (if he have but the Heart of a MAN in him) ever hated his own Flesh. What then are you, that have Murdered yours? Find a Name for yourself, if you think it possible! You have Murdered Her whom you should have Loved above all the world; Her whom you should have Cherished with all the Kindness and Goodness of an Holy Conversation; Her whom you should have been willing even your self to have Dy• for the preservation of. And with Her 'tis said, you have Murdered a infant, which never saw the Light. This is your Sin. And Doubtless, they were not few or small Sins, for which God left you unto This. You ⟨p. 59⟩had long before, been guilty of those Impious both Omissions and Commissions, which gave the Devil at last a very entire Possession of you. O Consider of them all; and especially Trouble your own Soul, for your Unbelief in Rejecting the Saviour of it. You have sat long under the Gospel; but you have Refused, yea you have Crucified the blessed Redeemer, who therein besought you to be Reconciled unto God. How should the Remembrance of this be to you, as the Wormwood and the Gall, and cause your Soul to be Humbled in you.