N01015:47
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.
Lastly. The Crown of Life, which is to be the Reward of our Faithfulness, will be the Gift of our Lord JESUS CHRIST unto us.
Our Crown comes to us as a Gift. There is no Desert in our Faithfulness. We cannot by our Faithfulness ever Deserve a Crown. We never earned a Crumb and much less can we earn a Crown. After all our Faithfulness and our Fruitfulness, we must confess, Lord, we have been unprofitable Servants. We read, Rom. 8.18. I reckon, that the Sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be Revealed. And upon a due Reckoning we shall find, that there is no proportion between our Faithfulness, under all our Sufferings in this present time, and the Glory in the Crown of Life that shall be conferred. Tho' Death be the Wages of our Sinfulness; Yet Eternal Life is not the Wages of our Faithfulness: No; Tis the Gift of God. One of the Best men that ever New-England saw; [Our famous Hooker] Lying on his Death-Bed, unto one that said unto him, Sir, You are going to Receive the Reward of all your Faithful Services, made this fit Reply, Brother, I am going to Receive Mercy! 'Tis Mercy that gives the Crown unto the Faithful; The Crown of Justice is a Crown of Mercy too.
Our Crown comes to us as a Gift. There is no Desert in our Faithfulness. We cannot by our Faithfulness ever Deserve a Crown. We never earn'd a Crumb and much less can we earn a Crown. After all our Faithfulness and our Fruitfulness, we must confess, Lord, we have been unprofitable Servants. We read, Rom. 8.18. I reckon, that the Sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be Revealed. And upon a due Reckoning we shall find, that there is no proportion between our Faithfulness, under all our Sufferings in this present time, and the Glory in the Crown of Life that shall be conferred. Tho' Death be the Wages of our Sinfulness; Yet Eternal Life is not the Wages of our Faithfulnss: No; Tis the Gift of God. One of the Best men that ever New-England saw; [Our famous Hooker] Lying on his Death-Bed, unto one that said unto him, Sir, You are going to Receive the Reward of all your Faithful Services, made this fit Reply, Brother, I am going to Receive Mercy! 'Tis Mercy that gives the Crown unto the Faithful; The Crown of Justice is a Crown of Mercy too.