N00683:68
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.
What is Holiness, but a Dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ? This Holy man was often breathing in himself, and pressing on others, that Great point, of Dedicating every thing to the Service of the Lord. Thus, in his Diary there frequently occur, such Strains as these. Oh! that I may Glorify God, with all I am, or have; even with all the faculties of my Soul, all the members of my Body, and in all the Places and Relations that I Stand in, as Man, Master, Minister, ⟨p. 42⟩Husband, Kinsman, & Neighbour. Oh! I stand in need both of a Justifying Christ, and a Sanctifying Christ. When shall I sensibly find a Christ, Swaying his Sceptre in my Soul! Thus, whatever House he came to Live in, it came under a Dedication; and once upon a Remove, he wrote this passage in his Diary. I could not but Leave my Old House, with a Prayer in every Room of it, for pardoning mercy.
What is Holiness, but a Dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ? This Holy man was often breathing in himself, and pressing on others, that Great point, of Dedicating every thing to the Service of the Lord. Thus, in his Diary there frequently occur, such Strains as these. Oh! that I may Glorify God, with all I am, or have; even with all the faculties of my Soul, all the members of my Body, and in all the Places and Relations that I Stand in, as Man, Master, Minister, ⟨p. 42⟩Husband, Kinsman, & Neighbour. Oh! I stand in need both of a Justifying Christ, and a Sanctifying Christ. When shall I sensibly find a Christ, Swaying his Scepter in my Soul! Thus, whatever House he came to Live in, it came under a Dedication; and once upon a Remove, he wrote this passage in his Diary. I could not but Leave my Old House, with a Prayer in every Room of it, for pardoning mercy.
But it was particularly Expressed, when one of his Children was to be Baptised. He thus wrote upon it. I spent some Time, in Offering up my self, and my Child unto the Lord, and in taking hold of the Covenant for my self and him. It is Actually to be done to morrow, [in Baptism.] I prayed hard this day, all this day, that I might be able in much Faith, and Love, and New-Covenant-Obedience, to do it to morrow. It is not Easy, tho' Common, to offer a Child unto God in Baptism. Oh! that's a sweet word, I will be a God to Thee, and thy Seed after thee. No marvel Abraham fell on his Face at the hearing of it!