N00683:39
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. 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.
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 Chearfully.
How Humbly ought we to Commit our Spirits into the Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ! With how much Loathing and Judging of our selves, and with what Shameful Reflections, on all our past Behaviours. We are bitterly to Acknowledge the Disorders, and Corruptions, of our […] Spirits, when we Commit them unto the Lord, and Acknowledge the numberless Errors, whereinto our Spirits have betrayed us. When we Lift up our Soul unto the Lord, Let it be in Terms like those, in Ezra 9.6. O my God, I am Ashamed, and blush to Lift up my Face to thee, my God! And therefore, what-ever Blessings we expect for our Souls, Let us with all possible Self-Abhorrence found our Expectations on the pure Mercy of God, in our Lord Jesus Christ. Most sweetly did our Dying Hooker, express the frame of Spirit, wherewith a Spirit, is to be Committed into the Hand of the Lord: When one that stood weeping by his Bed side, said unto him, Sir. You are going to Receive the Reward of all your ⟨p. 30⟩Labours, he replied, Brother, I am going to Receive Mercy! What shall I say? The Frame of Spirit, necessary in this Glorious Transaction, I cannot better paint out unto you, than by reciting the words, which I remember I once had, from an Eminent old Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, at my taking Leave of him: said he, Sir, I am every Day expecting my Death; but I desire to Die, like the Thief, crying to the Crucified Jesus for mercy. I am Nothing, I have Nothing, I can Do Nothing, except what is Unworthy My Eye, & Hope, and Faith, is to Christ on His Cross. I bring an Unworthiness, like that of the poo Dying Thief unto Him, and have no more to plead than he. Like the poor Thief, Crucified with Him, I am waiing to be Received, […] the Infinite Grace of my Lord, into His Kingdom. And, pray tell me, Did not Aged Paul mean something of This, when he said, I am Crucified with Christ?