N01015:21
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.
There are two very Noble Subjects now to be discoursed on; Subjects that call for our most Serious Meditations, our most Rapturous Contemplations. The One is; What our Lord Jesus Christ Requires of us. the Other is, What our Lord Jesus Christ Reserves for us.
I. That which our Lord Jesus Christ has Required ⟨p. 4⟩of us; 'Tis, That we be Faithful unto Him, and unto His Interests, and this, as long as we Live in this World.
Now, First; Faith in the Lord JESUS CHRIST, is presupposed in them that Walk in the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. It is to be presupposed, That we Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, & Rely on Him, for Wisdom, & Righteousness, & Holiness, & Redemption. Our Lord Jesus Christ commands this; Joh. 20.27. Be not Faithless, but Believing. 'Tis for this cause, that the People of God, are so often styled, The Faithful, in the Scriptures of God. The Spirit of God has wrought in them, the Faith to Receive the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and His Great Salvation, as tendered in the Gospel. But Then, there is a Faithfulness to the Lord JESUS CHRIST, which must attend and assert our Faith in Him. This Faithfulness, is not so much Faith, as Obedience. 'Tis not our Trust in Him; 'Tis our Trustiness to Him. 'Tis what the Word of God calls, Good Fidelity. Allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Perseverance in our Allegiance, is called for, in this call; Be thou Faithful unto Death.