N01270:26
A discourse concerning the death of the righteous. Occasioned by the deaths of the…
A discourse concerning the death of the righteous. Occasioned by the deaths of the Honourable, John Foster Esqr. who dyed at Boston in New-England Feb. 9th. 1710,11. And his pious consort, Mrs. Abigail Foster. Who departed soon after him, viz. on the 5th. of March. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines from Revelation]
Boston: printed by B. Green, 1711
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.
When Parents put their Children to bed, it is because a dark Night is at hand. When God puts his Children to bed in the Grave, it is many Times Portentous of a dark and dismal Night approaching. There are two Reasons why the Lord takes away his faithful and dear Servants.
When Parents put their Children to bed, it is because a dark Night is at hand. When God puts his Children to bed in the Grave, it is many Times Protentous of a dark and dismal Night approaching. There are two Reasons why the Lord takes away his faithful and dear Servants.
1. He does it in Mercy to themselves. He that has determined in Heaven that Evil shall come, has also determined that his Servants whose Death is precious in his sight, shall be taken out of the way before that Evil comes. So it is sometimes as to particular Families. If some Tragical thing is to befall the Children, their good Father must be taken away first. As for the man that is dead and gone to another World, his Sons are brought low and ⟨p. 14⟩he perceiveth it not of them, Job 14.21. Ecclesiastes says, that the Dead know not any thing. They know not any thing of our particular Affairs in this World, and therefore if Affliction befalls us they are not grieved or at all concerned for it. Thus also, when there are Public Calamities hastening on the World, God takes away his Servants before those Evils come. We have an instance for this in Josiah: The Lord said to him, I will gather thee to thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy Grave in Peace, neither shall thy Eyes see all the Evil that I will bring on this Place, and upon the Inhabitants of the same, 2 Chron. 34.28. Notwithstanding Josiah dyed in War, yet was he gathered to his Grave in Peace, for not only did he die in Peace with God, and his Soul entered into Everlasting Peace, but there was Public Peace and Tranquillity in the Kingdom until his death. But had Josiah lived so long as according to the ordinary course of Nature he might have done, had he lived to have been but a little above Threescore years, what doleful things must his Eyes have seen? He must have seen Jerusalem destroyed,