N01015:119
A faithful man, described and rewarded. Some observable & serviceable passages in the life…
A faithful man, described and rewarded. Some observable & serviceable passages in the life and death of Mr. Michael Wigglesworth. Late Pastor of Maldon [i.e., Malden]; who rested from his labours, on the Lords-Day, June 10th. 1705. In the seventy fourth year of his age. : And memorials of piety, left behind him among his written experiences. : With a funeral-sermon preached (for him) at Maldon; June 24. 1705. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two lines of quotation in Latin]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benj. Eliot, 1705
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.
XXVII. What if I have a False and Deceitful Heart; bent to Apostatize from God? Shall I therefore utterly turn away from Him? No. God forbid. I will seek unto Him, to give me Truth in my Inward Parts. I have an Heart over-powered with Sin. My Corruptions are too hard for me. And this is the Grief of my Heart, that I cannot be Sufficiently Humbled for them. This is my Burden of Burdens. And, whither should I go, but unto Christ, to ease me? The Bruised Reed He will not break, and the Smoking Flax He will not quench. He has bid me Hope in His Word, and Wait on Him. He has reached out His Hand to me, and by that Hand I will hold, and never let Him go, never give Him Rest until He make me see His Salvation. If I perish, Let me perish waiting on Him!
XXVII. What if I have a False and Deceitful Heart; bent to Apostatize from God? Shall I therefore utterly turn away from Him? No. God forbid. I will seek unto Him, to give me Truth in my Inward Parts. I have an Heart over-powered with Sin. My Corruptions are too hard for me. And this is the Grief of my Heart, that I cannot be Sufficiently Humbled for them. This is my Burthen of Burthens. And, whither should I go, but unto Christ, to ease me? The Bruised Reed He will not break, and the Smoaking Flax He will not quench. He has bid me Hope in His Word, and Wait on Him. He has reached out His Hand to me, and by that Hand I will hold, and never let Him go, never give Him Rest until He make me see His Salvation. If I perish, Let me perish waiting on Him!
XXVIII. I have found such vile and blasphemous Injections of Satan into my mind, and such carnal Conceptions, and bodily Apprehensions of God, even in my Drawings near unto Him, and I had no power to Resist them, they were so sudden; that they did even make my Flesh to Tremble, and drive me almost to desperate Thoughts sometimes, that these could never be cured so long as Lived in this World, and made me fear lest I should Live long here, to be ever and anon Stared in ⟨p. 37⟩the face, by such horrible abominations. I sought God earnestly for help against these; and found some help. Could I ask in Faith without Wavering, there is Redeeming Mercy with God, and He will Redeem such as hope in Him.