N00683:23
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.
Our Blessed Apostle Paul, a mighty Student and Worker for Souls, was not fed with Fancies, when he took it for granted, in Phil. 1.21. That when he should be dissolved, He should be with Christ immediately. Do, Try, Thou Fool hardy Creature, to persuade thy self, That thou hast not an Immortal Soul: Thou canst not, for thy Soul, render thy self altogether, and evermore persuade ed of it: with very dreadful Suspicions, of its Immortality, will thy own Conscience, a certain Faculty of thy Soul, terrify thee, when God awakens it. I have known, a Sturdy Disputer against the Immortality of the Soul, go out of the World, with this Lamentable Out cry, Oh! my Soul, my Soul; what shall I do for my poor Soul! Sirs, Let this Principle Stand like the very Pillars of Heaven with every one of us, That we have Immortal Souls to be provided for. But if a man have an Immortal Soul within him, what will be the Natural Consequence of it? The consequence is plainly this; That since the Soul is Immortal, it should be very precious. It was infinitely Reasonable, for the Soul to be called, ⟨p. 12⟩as it was, in Psal. 22.20. My Soul, my Darling! Oh! There should be nothing so Dear to a man, as that Soul of his, that shall Endure, when all other Things are Changed: For, O my Soul, of thy years there shall be no End. The Interests of our spirits are to be much greater Things unto us, than the Interests of our Bodies. What will become of our Souls, That, That is a thing, that should Lie much nearer to our Hearts, than what will become of our Lives, our Names, our Estates. We should set an high value on our Spirits, and often meditate on the Text, which was once given to a Great man, for his daily meditation, in Mat. 16.26 What is a man profited, if he gain the whole World, and Lose his own Soul.
Our Blessed Apostle Paul, a mighty Student and Worker for Souls, was not fed with Fancies, when he took it for granted, in Phil. 1.21. That when he should be dissolved, He should be with Christ immediately. Do, Try, Thou Fool hardy Creature, to perswade thy self, That thou hast not an Immortal Soul: Thou canst not, for thy Soul, render thy self altogether, and evermore perswa ed of it: with very dreadful Suspicions, of its Immortality, will thy own Conscience, a certain Faculty of thy Soul, terrify thee, when God awakens it. I have known, a Sturdy Disputer against the Immortality of the Soul, go out of the World, with this Lamentable Out cry, Oh! my Soul, my Soul; what shall I do for my poor Soul! Syrs, Let this Principle Stand like the very Pillars of Heaven with every one of us, That we have Immortal Souls to be provided for. But if a man have an Immortal Soul within him, what will be the Natural Consequence of it? The consequence is plainly this; That since the Soul is Immortal, it should be very precious. It was infinitely Reasonable, for the Soul to be called,