N00941:78
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.
1. God men must see much Evil of Afflictions in this present evil World. Tis said, Psal 31. 19. Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous: and God is not unrighteous in ordaining and effecting that it shall be so. Although Righteousness does deliver from Death, namely from that which alone is ⟨p. 39⟩worthy to be called by the name of Death. Yet the Righteous are to dye, and to undergo the Advancements of Death in the Afflictions of Life. The Children of Abraham are also the Children of Israel; even of that Israel who says, Gen. 47. 9. Few and Evil have been the days of the years of my Pilgrimage. Good men are afflicted every way. Sometimes they are afflicted in Relations. Thus a Jacob has his Children, some Dead, and some almost worse than Dead, while they Live. Sometimes they are afflicted, in their Spirits. Thus an Heman cries out. While I suffer the terrors of God I am distracted, Sometimes they are afflicted in their Bodies. Thus a Timothy has his often infirmities to be complained of. Sometimes they are afflicted in their Estates. Thus a Naomi must say, I was full, but am become empty. Sometimes they are afflicted in their Names. Thus an Elijah must be called, A Troubler of Israel. Yea, sometimes one good man is afflicted in all these Instances! a David afflicted in all a Job in all, a Paul in all; yet they not the worse men for that. It is among the names put upon the People of God, Isa. 54. 11. O thou afflicted and tossed with Tempests When are we like to see ⟨p. 40⟩Rest? Never till we come to the Haven of Heaven: there is the only Rest that is to be looked for. As for this World, it will prove an Evil, troublesome, uneasy, World unto us. God will every day mind us, that […] is not our Rest We no sooner enter into Christianity, but we enter into Affliction. When the great Martyr Ignatius was Tormented he said, Now I begin to be a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the A. B. C. of Christianity; Matth. 16 24. If any man will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me. We are no sooner put to School unto the Lord Jesus Christ but here is the first Lesson; Look for Afflictions every way and every day. As our forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ: Which way did He get into his Rest? We read,