N00657:48
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of…
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard College. / By Increase Mather, president of that college. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard Colledge. / By Increase Mather, praesident of that colledge. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]
printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1697
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.
Consider. 2. When Time is ended Eternity begins. Time ends with Death. Then as the Angel says concerning the Fourth Monarchy, Time shall be no longer. Rev. 10.6. When Time shall be no longer, Eternity begins. After Dives was dead and his Soul in Hell, Abraham told him, that there was a great Gulf fixed, that they that would go from Hell could not do it. Eternity is a great Gulf. When once a mans Soul is out of his body, he is got into a Gulf of Eternity: he is fixed where he must be forever. Rocks shall sooner move out of their places, than he shall stir from the place where he is. If a man die, shall he live again? No, he shall never live again in this World as formerly. Suppose Death should come upon a man and find him wholly unprepared; i• he could come into the World again to mend his ⟨p. 32⟩Error that were another Case: but this shall never be. Job 7.9, 10. He that goes down to the Grave, shall come up no more, he shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place kn•w him any more. Though a man would be willing to give never so much to live again, it shall not be granted to him. I have heard of one that when dying, said, If I had Ten Thousand Worlds I would give them all that I might live one day longer. Without doubt it is so, with the Souls in Hell. If they had Ten Thousand Worlds to give, they would gladly part with them all, that they might live but one day longer on the Earth, to Repent and Pray in, and earnestly endeavour that their peace might be made with God through Jesus Christ.
Consider. 2. When Time is ended Eternity begins. Time ends with Death. Then as the Angel sayes concerning the Fourth Monarchy, Time shall be no longer. Rev. 10.6. When Time shall be no longer, Eternity begins. After Dives was dead and his Soul in Hell, Abraham told him, that there was a great Gulf fixed, that they that would go from Hell could not do it. Eternity is a great Gulf. When once a mans Soul is out of his body, he is got into a Gulf of Eternity: he is fixed where he must be forever. Rocks shall sooner move out of their places, than he shall stir from the place where he is. If a man dy, shall he live again? No, he shall never live again in this World as formerly. Suppose Death should come upon a man and find him wholly unprepared; i he could come into the World again to mend his