N01237:30
A discourse concerning the grace of courage, wherein the nature, beneficialness, and necessity of…
A discourse concerning the grace of courage, wherein the nature, beneficialness, and necessity of that virtue for all Christians, is described. Delivered in a sermon preached at Boston in New-England. June 5th. 1710. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Two lines from I Corinthians]A discourse concerning the grace of courage, wherein the nature, beneficialness, and necessity of that vertue for all Christians, is described. Delivered in a sermon preached at Boston in New-England. June 5th. 1710. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Two lines from I Corinthians]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1710
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.
3. The Servants of God are many times Exercised with very Great Sufferings in this present evil World. They must wade through' a Sea of Troubles, as the Children of Israel passed through' the Red Sea in their way to Canaan: Act. 14. 22. We must through' much Tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. Then we have need of much Fortitude and Courage, that so our Spirits may not sink under our Burdens; which if we have but a small measure of this Grace we shall be apt to do: Prov. 24. 10. If thou Faint in the Day of Adversity thy Strength is small. So if thy Strength is small, thou wilt Faint in the Day of Adversity. Very great Afflictions are oftentimes the Portion of very good Men. David says, Thou hast showed me great and sore Troubles, Psal. 71, 20. And in Psal. 119. 107. I ⟨p. 14⟩am Afflicted very much. How shall such an one bear up without much Strength and Courage? The Servants of God are subject unto all sorts of Afflictions: They may suffer from the more immediate Hand of God: They may be under Divine Desertion: The Comforter which should relieve their Souls may be far from them. Satan may be let loose upon them with his fiery Darts. Horrid Injections, Blasphemous Thoughts: Temptations to Atheism and Infidelity. Terribilia de Deo, Horribilia de Fide; as an experienced Divine speaks. Satan (if God shall see cause to permit him) will shoot Poisoned Arrows, which will set the Soul on Fire. And which is the saddest Affliction in the world, Iniquities may prevail against them, the Corruptions of their own Hearts may be let loose upon them, & that will make them weary of their Life. No Affliction in the world is like that to an holy man. One of the Ancients says truly, Difficilius est Luctari cum Libidine quam cum Cruce: It is a sadder Affliction than to be Crucified: worse than any Cross. They are also subject unto sufferings from Men: Persecuted they shall be; 2 Tim. 3. 12. All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution. At least they shall suffer the Persecution of the Tongue: Men will Revile them, and speak all manner of Evil of them. The better a man is, and the more good he does in the world, the more shall he be Reviled, and Evil spoken of by the Enemies of Truth and