N01367:40
Nepenthes evangelicum. A brief essay, upon a soul at ease; in what piety will…
Nepenthes evangelicum. A brief essay, upon a soul at ease; in what piety will bring both parents and children to. : A sermon occasioned by the death of a religious matron, Mrs. Mary Rock. Who having entered the eighty first year of her age, withdrew from us. 30d. 7m. 1713. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. ; [One line from Matthew]Nepenthes evangelicum. A brief essay, upon a soul at ease; in what piety will bring both parents and children to. : A sermon occasion'd by the death of a religious matron, Mrs. Mary Rock. Who having entred the eighty first year of her age, withdrew from us. 30d. 7m. 1713. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. ; [One line from Matthew]
Boston: printed by Thomas Fleet for Daniel Henchman, 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.
Another thing you have to do, is this; Don't listen to Temptations that would give causeless Disturbance to the Ease of your Souls. A busy Tempter, who seeks Rest and finds none, is he who breaks yours as much as he can. But as you Read; Psal. XI. 1. In the Lord I put my Trust. How say ye to my Soul, Flee as a Bird unto your Mountain? Thus Repel them who Trouble you: How say ye to my Soul, Thy Sins are too many, too heinous, to be Forgiven? I put my Trust in the Blood of the Son of God, which cleanseth from all Sin? How say ye to my Soul, The Spirit of God is utterly departed from ⟨p. 35⟩thee? I put my Trust, That I have the Spirit of God at Work upon me, even in my Fears of His Departure? How say ye to my Soul, Thou hast such an hard Heart, as carries the Mark of one Rejected of God? My Trust is, That my Heart begins to Soften, inasmuch as I begin to feel the hardness of it.
A third Thing you have to do is this; Lye down upon a Pillow stuffed with the Promises. A Soul supplied with, and applying of the Promises, may soon come to this Easiness? Psal. IV. 8. I will lay me down in Peace, and Sleep; for O Lord, thou alone makest me Dwell in Safety. In the Poetical Antiquity and Mythology, there was a Celebrated Nepenthes, [or No-Grief] an admirable Remedy, which put an end unto all Sorrow and Anger, and caused People to forget all their Exercises. No Man could Weep (said the Poets) in the Day that he tasted it, tho' he had lost the Dearest Friend in the World. The Philosophers try to have the Properties of it answered in Opium. No, Sirs, 'Tis nothing but our Glorious Gospel, that will after all, afford the true Nepenthes. In the Promises of ⟨p. 36⟩our Glorious Gospel alone it is, that we have a genuine Cure for all that brings any of our Uneasiness upon us. My Brethren, There are Promises that will suit all your Occasions of Uneasiness. Are you Uneasy, because you see Poverty coming in like an Armed Man upon you? Take that Promise, and make a Living upon it;