N01015:83
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.
A Faithful Man Described & Rewarded. A SERMON Preached at MALDON, o… › APPLICATION.
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.
From his Exemplary Life, I will single out one thing, to be peculiarly inculcated. That one thing is, His Early Religion. Oh! That the Young Ones of the Flock, would but follow their Aged Pastor, in this amiable and admirable Excellency! His Early Religion. I have known it a Temptation, buzzed by Satan into the minds of Children; That if they feared God, and sought Christ, & zealously made sure of Heaven betimes, they should not Live Long upon Earth. If it were so! —Certainly, Heaven is better than Earth. But it is a Foolish Temptation. Our Wigglesworth was a Godly Child; and he held on Living to God & Christ, until the Seventy Fourth Year of his Age. When ⟨p. 27⟩he then lay a Dying, Some spoke to him, about his having Secured, his Interest in the Favour of Heaven, and his Assurance of that Interest. He replied, [methoughts, like my Polycarp:] I bless God, I began that work betimes; And ere I was Twenty years old, I had made thorough work of it. Ever since then, I have been pressing after the Power of Godliness, the Power of Godliness! For more than Fifty, years together, I have been Labouring to uphold a Life of Communion with God; and I thank the Lord, I now find the Comfort of it! Words, that contain in them, An History of a Life, more valuable than I have seen a Volume in Folio.
From his Exemplary Life, I will single out one thing, to be peculiarly inculcated. That one thing is, His Early Religion. Oh! That the Young Ones of the Flock, would but follow their Aged Pastor, in this amiable and admirable Excellency! His Early Religion. I have known it a Temptation, buzz'd by Satan into the minds of Children; That if they feared God, and sought Christ, & zealously made sure of Heaven betimes, they should not Live Long upon Earth. If it were so! —Certainly, Heaven is better than Earth. But it is a Foolish Temptation. Our Wigglesworth was a Godly Child; and he held on Living to God & Christ, until the Seventy Fourth Year of his Age. When ⟨p. 27⟩he then lay a Dying, Some spoke to him, about his having Secured, his Interest in the Favour of Heaven, and his Assurance of that Interest. He replyed, [methoughts, like my Polycarp:] I bless God, I began that work betimes; And e're I was Twenty years old, I had made thorough work of it. Ever since then, I have been pressing after the Power of Godliness, the Power of Godliness! For more than Fifty, years together, I have been Labouring to uphold a Life of Communion with God; and I thank the Lord, I now find the Comfort of it! Words, that contain in them, An History of a Life, more valuable than I have seen a Volumn in Folio.