N00429:75
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.
Assertion 2.
But infinite and Horrible Woes must be the Portion of those whom Death find; Unpardoned. As the Prophet said, Woe unto the Wicked, even so I say, Woe unto the Unpardoned, it shall be ill with him, if Death find him so. It is testified unto us, in Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is Death. Our Sins are every Day crying in the Ears of the Lord of Hosts, pay us our wages, pay us our wages! When Death arrives unto an Unpardoned Man, then pay-day comes, and the Wages of Death and Hell for ever, are paid unto the Sinner, whom 'tis due unto. That Good Man took it for granted, If I be Wicked, woe unto me! So may a man upon the Brinks of Death [and ONE of you is very certainly so] assure himself, Woe unto me, if I now be found Unpardoned! Then He that made me ⟨p. 33⟩will not have mercy on me, and He that formed, me will show me no Favour. Where Sin is the Needle, there Destruction is the Thread; if a pardon have not cut it off, before the Thread of our Lives be broken, Woe to us! Nothing will then remain for an Unpardoned Sinner, but A Fearful Expectation of a Fiery Indignation to devour him; Nothing will remain, but Everlasting Fire with the Devil and his Angels; Nothing will remain, but, The Worm which Dyeth, not and the Fire which never shall be Quenched. But no Tongue may Express or Heart conceive, the Dolour, the Torment, and Anguish of that Estate, which after Death is reserved for the Unpardoned. By the Help of an Exalted Fancy, a man may represent unto himself, Racks, and Boots, and Fires, and Rivers of Ardent Brimstone and Running Be• metal, to cruciate a Malefactor in, but all of them are little things in comparison of, That which is the portion of ⟨p. 34⟩the Unpardoned, and the Heritage appointed unto Him by God. As One in Trouble of Conscience for Sin, hearing some Discourse about Burning to Death, cried out, This is but a Metaphor to what I feel! Truly, the most hideous Tortures in the world, are but Metaphors unto the terrible Blows and Wounds, which with immediate Impressions of Divine Indignation will in the other world, be inflicted upon the Unpardoned World without End. Indeed, as a Painter being asked to draw unto the Life, the Horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, only besmeared his Table with Blood, intimating that the Thing was too Bloody to be otherwise Described.