N00683:179
A good man making a good end. The life and death, of the Reverend…
A good man making a good end. The life and death, of the Reverend Mr. John Baily [i.e., Bailey], comprised and expressed in a sermon, on the day of his funeral. Thursday. 16.d. 10.m. 1697. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two line epigram in Latin]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1698
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.
VII. A CHRISTIAN is one that is willing to s•ffer any Cross, that the Lord, who Died upon the Cross, may please to lay upon him It hath been truly said Omnis Christianus est Crucianus; Every Christian is a Cross-bearer. Sirs, To deal plainly; You cannot be Christians upon easier Terms than those in Mat. 16.24. Then said Jesus to His Disciples, [Mark it, you cannot be Disciples, except this Hard Saying be complied withal.] If any man will come after me, Let him deny himself, and take up his Cross. Except we can Deny •ur selves, we shall Deny our Christ; and then, what Christians are we! A Christian is one, who does not propound unto himself a Freedom from afflictions in this Life; but with a profound submission he Leaves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the ordering of all those Afflictions, with which there may be Need for him to be kept in Heaviness. Our Lord Jesus Christ hath Reserved a most Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory for us, in another World. Now, 'tis inseparable from a Christian, to submit unto those Afflictions, by which our Lord Jesus Christ will in this World, prepare us ⟨p. 85⟩for that Glory. 'Tis a solemn & an awful word, but it is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ; That if there be any one thing, that we are not willing to forego, at the Call of Christ, and for the Sake of Christ, we are not through Christians to this Hour. He that has the Heart of a Christian, has in some Degree the Heart of a Martyr too! Whatever Comfort of Life our Lord Jesus Christ shall call us to part withal, yea, tho' it be Life it self, the Christian will say, Well, if my Lord Jesus Christ will have me to part with This, I have done with it, Let it go! We are told, in Heb. 2.10. The Captain of our Salvation, was made perfect through Sufferings. The Christian is one Lifted under that Captain; and he says, I'll follow my Captain! Our Lord Jesus Christ might complain, That He had not where to Lay his Head. Then says the Christian, Shall not I be willing to be poor, if my Lord Jesus Christ will have me to be so? Our Lord Jesus Christ, might complain, That Reproach had broken His Heart. Then says the Chri•••an, Shall not I be willing to be under Disgrace, if my Lord Jesus Christ, will have me so to be? Our Lord Jesus Christ, was forsaken by all His Friends; They all Forsook Him.