N00683:30
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.
O Let that Hand of thine, Open this Blind Mind, and Subdue this Base Will, & Rectify all these Depraved Affections; and on all Accounts Renew a Right Spirit within me. Man, Commit thy Spirit into the Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, with such a Disposition; and then rest Assured, That Spirit shall never be Lost.
O Let that Hand of thine, Open this Blind Mind, and Subdue this Base Will, & Rectify all these Depraved Affections; and on all Acc•unts Renew a Right Spirit within me. Man, Commit thy Spirit into the Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, with such a Disposition; and then rest Assured, That Spirit shall never be Lost.
V. If you would successfully Commit your ⟨p. 20⟩Spirits into the Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you Die, you are to Do it for your Spirits before you Dy. Indeed, what should all our Life be, but a preparation for Death? And all of our Life truly is little enough. So thought our Devout Baily. It was the Counsel which he often gave to his Friends, Let not one day pass you, without an earnest prayer, that you may have a CHRIST, for to stand by you in a Dying Hour. And his own practice, was according to that Counsel, as is well known to them that Lived with him in his Family. Sirs, you are not sure, that when the Decretory Hour of Death overtakes you, you shall have one minute of an Hour allowed you, to Commit your Spirits into the Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is not a Sudden Death a Frequent Sight? There are very many so suddenly Snatched away, by the Whirlwind of the Vengeance of the Almighty, that they have not opportunity, so much as to say, Lord have mercy upon me! And, Let me tell you, That a Sudden Death is most likely to be the portion of those who most presumptuously put off to a Death bed, the work of Committing their Spirits, into the Hand, that can alone befriend them. I have Read, That of old, according to the Laws of Persia, a Malefactor had Liberty, for an Hour before his Execution, to ask what he would, & what he asked was granted him. One that was under Sentence of Death, being Admitted unto