N00683:38
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.
Do you Hearken to the Lord Jesus Christ, when He bids you to Receive Him, and when you Pray Him to Receive you. He will then Hearken to you. The Lord Jesus Christ, is often knocking at the Door of thy Soul: There would He Enter, with all His Gracious Influences: Open to the Lord, by Resigning up thy Soul to the Sweet Influences of His Grace: Reply, O come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without? So, when thy Last Sands are a running, thou mayst joyfully think, My Lord Jesus Christ will now Receive me, more heartily, than ever I Received Him: If I have had an Heart, alas, a vile Heart! for Him. I am sure He has an Heaven for me! Lord, I now Commit into thy Hand, a Spirit into which thou hast been Received, when thy wondrous ⟨p. 29⟩Grace demanded it for an Habitation: And thou wilt now Receive this unworthy Spirit of mine into a better Habitation. Think thus, and, Rejoice, with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory!
Do you Hearken to the Lord Jesus Christ, when He bids you to Receive Him, and when you Pray Him to Receive you. He will then Hearken to you. The Lord Jesus Christ, is often knocking at the Door of thy Soul: There would He Enter, with all His Gracious Influences: Open to the Lord, by Resigning up thy Soul to the Sweet Influences of His Grace: Reply, O come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without? So, when thy Last Sands are a running, thou mayst joyfully think, My Lord Jesus Christ will now Receive me, more heartily, than ever I Received Him: If I have had an Heart, alas, a vile Heart! for Him. I am sure He has an Heaven for me! Lord, I now Commit into thy Hand, a Spirit into which thou hast been Received, when thy wondrous ⟨p. 29⟩Grace demanded it for an Habitation: And thou wilt now Receive this unworthy Spirit of mine into a better Habitation. Think thus, and, Rejoyce, with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory!
VII. When we come to Commit our Spi•••• nto the Hand of our Lord Jesus Christ, at and for, our Last Resignation, Let us do it very Humbly, but very Wittingly, but very Cheerfully.