N01015:33
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.
Thus are we to be Faithful. But, How Long must we be so?
Secondly. A Faithful Christian must maintain his Faithfulness as long as he Lives: He must never suffer his Faithfulness to fail.
Faithfulness unto Death, implies, That we must be Faithful unto the Lord Jesus Christ, until the very End of our Lives. As the Faithful man said, Psal. 119.112. I have inclined my heart, to perform thy Statutes always, even unto the End; Thus, We must be Faithful unto the Lord, and the Statutes of the Lord, Always, even unto the End. A Christian is the perpetual Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ; He has his Ear bored for Him: He must be Faithful unto his Lord, until he Dies. It was proposed; Psal. 146.2. While I Live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any Being. Even so; While we Live, we must be Faithful unto the Lord, & Serve Him Faithfully while we have any Being. How Resolute was he? Job 27.3, 4. All the while my Breath is in me, & the Spirit of God is in my Nostrils; my Lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my Tongue utter Deceit. Thus, While our Breath is in us, & the Spirit which God gives us is in our Nostrils, there must be with us, nothing but Faithfulness; we must never deal Deceitfully with the Lord. Our Song must be that; We will Serve our Lord in Holiness and Righteousness and Faithfulness before Him, all the Days of our Life. I do not know, but that the famous Polycarp, [the Angel of the Church in Smyrna,] might have in his mind, this very word, Be thou Faithful unto Death, when he so answered those that pressed him to Renounce Jesus Christ: I have Served my JESUS, till I am now Fourscore & six years old; & ⟨p. 10⟩