N01360:22
The best way of living; which is to die daily: very briefly described and…
The best way of living; which is to die daily: very briefly described and commended in a plain discourse, made at a time, when the author had newly seen repeated strokes of death, on his own family. And the publisher had his family also struck with a sudden death upon a vital part of it. : 22. d. IX. m. 1713. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. ; [One line from 2 Corinthians]
Boston: printed by J. Allen, 1713
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.
IV. To Die Daily, is to Do Daily those Things, which must be done, by every one that would Hope to Die Safely. Dying Daily, is Living in a Daily preparation for Death. It is demanded of us; Mat. XXIV. 44. Be ye Ready. We prepare for Death, and so for the Coming of our Saviour to Raise us from the Dead, by Doing those Things, of which the Divine Oracle tells us, They are the things that accompany Salvation. To Do such Things Daily, that so our Death whenever it comes may find us prepared for it, this is to Die Daily. My Hearers, I now demand of you, the greatest Attention, that ever you gave to any thing in the World▪ Oh! Hearken to me, that God may hearken to you another Day.
There must be first, an Habitual preparation for Death. And one who Die Daily, is one who is Daily doing of something towards this preparation: Daily giving some Good Strokes at the Work which must be done, by all that would ⟨p. 12⟩propose to Die in Good Terms with Heaven. You shall have it set before you. One Thing is this. He that would be prepared for Death, must be Righteous. We read, Prov. XIV. 32. It is the Righteous who has Hope in his Death. At our Death, we are in an Hopeless, Undone, Forlorn plight, if we are not furnished with a perfect and spotless Righteousness, wherein we may stand before the Judgment Seat of God. We cannot obtain such a Righteousness, but by Accepting of, and Relying on, that Righteousness, which our Saviour has in His Obedience as our Surety unto God, provided for us. Well then; We must by faith make our Daily Flight unto the Righteousness of God. It must be our Daily course, Thankfully, Joyfully, Heartily to Receive the Righteousness of the Blessed Jesus, as the Free Gift of God, that we may lead it as our Title to Everlasting Happiness. It must be our Daily care that we do not continue under the Guilt of Sin, & the Cause of God, but present before God, the Sacrifice of our Blessed Jesus, for our […]. Thus it is to Die Daily. Another Thing is this. He that would be