N00657:54
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.
1. Let every one of you be able to give a good Answer to this Enquiry: What am I? Am I a true Believer, yea or no? Am I a Regenerate Person: it may be I am a Civil, Moral young man, but what's that without Faith and Regeneration? If any man is in Christ, he is a new ⟨p. 37⟩Creature, Am I so? The Apostle says that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor Uncircumcision, but a new Creature. Gal. 6.15. So it is not material to a mans Salvation whether he be a Learned or an Unlearned man, but whether he is in Christ and a new Creature. Tho' you should attain unto an Hundred Times more Learning than what you have, you may perish Eternally notwithstanding that, if you be not in Christ, or if you are not new Creatures. As Austin speaks, Surgunt indocti et rapiunt Coelum, at nos cum omni doctrina nostra Mergimur in gehennam. All your Parts and Learning will but aggravate your Misery at last, if you have not Christ and Grace in your Souls. If a man is Cast away with Bags of Gold about him, he will sink the faster and the deeper for it; so they that have Golden parts, but ungodly hearts and lives, will of all Persons sink the deepest into Hell. Grotius, who was one of the Learnedest men that this age has produced, professed, that he would willingly part with all his Learning, for the Piety of a poor Godly Country man, who was wont to spend his Time every day▪ after this manner: Eight hours of the day he followed his Calling with diligence, he allowed himself eight hours for sleep; the other eight hours he spent in Reading the Scriptures, and in Prayer, Meditation & Communion with God. Then let your chief care be about matters wherein your Souls & Eternal Estates are concerned. Let every one of you think often ⟨p. 38⟩with himself, If I should die this day, is my Soul safe? He that knows not whether he is in Christ, and as an effect thereof, a Sanctified Person, knows not what will become of his Soul to all Eternity. And how dare any of you live at peradventures about a matter of such Infinite Moment, one day to an end? It is related in the Life of that Eminent Saint, Mr. Ignatius Jurdain, that if he met any Scholar, & such an one especially as applied himself to the Study of Divinity (as there are some Scores belonging to this Academy, who are designed for the work of the Ministry) his usual question to such was, What Evidence have you for Heaven?