N00941:267
Meat out of the eater. Or, Funeral-discourses occasioned by the death of several relatives.…
Meat out of the eater. Or, Funeral-discourses occasioned by the death of several relatives. Work accommodated unto the service of all that are in any affliction; but very particularly such as are afflicted with the loss of their consorts or children. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Four lines from I Corinthians]
Boston: printed by B. Green & J. Allen for Benjamin Eliot, 1703
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.
Hearken to our Expostulations.
First; Most certainly, you want a Redeemer: Though none more than they that least feel it, or think it! By our Fall from God, we are fallen into the Hands of Divine Justice; even into those Hands of the Living God, which it is a Fearful Thing to fall into Starting from our Obedience to the Law of our Creation, we ⟨p. 169⟩are fallen under the Curse of the Law. We are Dead in Law, on and for our Transgression of it. We are Children of Death, and by the voice of the Law, nothing but a dreadful Death belongs unto us. And now, whither wilt thou flee, poor Sinner, from the Hands of Divine Justice; where wilt thou flee from the presence of the Lord, and from the power of His Justice? No Mountains can hide thee; no Rocks can cover thee. Oh! Tis impossible for us to Redeem our selves from the Bonds of Death which Lie upon us. Yea, Sin and Lust also hold us Captives; we are under the oppressing and enslaving, and captivating influences of our Sins; our Lusts are so many Cords of Hell upon our Souls. A principle of Corruption and Concupiscence hath seized us; we are held in Captivity to Corruption. Our Sinful Disposition to Sin hath got the upper-hand of us. And God, being provoked at us, for our putting our selves under the Dominion of such a Disposition, hath with a most u••ported Holiness, doomed us to be confirmed in this Captivity. It is impossible for an Unregenerate man to Redeem himself out of this Vassalage, or to grapple with the Sin, ⟨p. 170⟩that holds him in the Bond of Iniquity. The violated Law of God says of the Sinner, Take him, O Sin, bind him hand and foot, rule over him, and make him grind for thee, as long as he Lives! Oh! Better be a Slave in Barbary, than be a Slave to Iniquity; And we are Captives of Satan too. Man, If the Lord Jesus Christ be not thy Redeemer, the Devil is thy God. The Lord Redeemer has told us, [for the words are His, and thus they are to be read,] Psal. 49. 12