N00429:23
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.
Well, if we now pass on to our Text, we shall have there, both a Petition, and an Argument.
For the Petition, it is here with an Expostulation too. Tis, Why dost thou not Pardon my Transgression, and take • way my Iniquity? As before, Why dost Thou? was as much as to say, O do it not; so here, Why dost thou not? is equivalent unto saying, O do it. And it seems to follow upon the Title newly put upon the Great God, O thou Preserver of Men; q. d. Lord, since thou art the Preserver and the Pardoner of so many Sinners in the World, why should not I share in thy Mercies among the rest?
For the Argument: the force of the plea for a Pardon here, seems to lie in this, It will else quickly be too late! The terms of it are, For now shall I sleep in the Dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be; which in short is, I shall quickly be dead and gone! To Not be, is a Scripture-Sacred Phrase for Dying: denoting not a total Annihilation but a vast Alteration coming upon us by Mortality, which is ⟨p. 6⟩also here styled Sleeping, with respect unto the condition of the Body in the Grave. And whereas we read of the Morning, in this place, it may be an Allusion to the Morning Sacrifices usual among the people of God; and it may carry this Import with it, q. d. Lord, if a Morning or two hence, thou shouldest Look to find me on my knees as I am now before thee, it will be too late; I shall be departed into that State, where in, I can make no Prayer to thee, and have no Pardon from thee, World without End.
For the Argument: the force of the plea for a Pardon here, seems to ly in this, It will else quickly be too late! The terms of it are, For now shall I sleep in the Dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be; which in short is, I shall quickly be dead and gone! To Not be, is a Scripture-SacredPhrase for Dying: denoting not a total Annthilation but a vast Alteration comeing upon us by Mortality, which is