N01435:53
A sermon concerning obedience & resignation to the will of God in every thing.…
A sermon concerning obedience & resignation to the will of God in every thing. Occasioned by the death of that pious gentlewoman, Mrs. Mariah Mather, late consort of Increase Mather, D.D. Who entered into her everlasting rest, on the Lords Day, April.4. 1714. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]A sermon concerning obedience & resignation to the will of God in every thing. Occasion'd by the death of that pious gentlewoman, Mrs. Mariah Mather, late consort of Increase Mather, D.D. Who entered into her everlasting rest, on the Lords Day, April.4. 1714. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by T. Green, 1714
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.
USE III. Let us Endeavour after a Perfect Conformity to the Will of God. It is true (as before was said) whilst in this world, we cannot attain to that Perfection: Only in Desire we may, tho' not in Performance Rom 7.18. To Will is present with me; but how to Perform that which is good, I find not. Although' we can not attain it, we should endeavour after it. The Apostle could not as long as in this world attain unto that Perfection which Saints in the Resurrection World, & so in Heaven for ever, shall be blessed with; nevertheless, he endeavoured after ⟨p. 36⟩it. Phil. 3.12. Not as tho' I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which I am apprehended by Christ Jesus. Passive Obedience is the most difficult. If the Lord will take from us our Estates, and bring us to Penury; or if the Lord will take from us our Health, & afflict us with painful Diseases, to say, The Will of the Lord be done; is an hard Lesson. If the Lord will bereave us of our dearest Relations & Enjoyments, to Acquiesce in his Will, to take up the Cross, is one of the hard Lessons in the School of Christ. Yet this Grace Old Jacob had attained unto: He said, If I be Bereaved, I am Bereaved, Gen. 43.14. The Lord (says he) has taken away Two of my dear Children, & if he will bereave me of more, I submit to his Will. Yea, and if the Lord will call for our Lives, we must willingly Sacrifice them to his Pleasure. I have often thought of that holy man of God, and Mr. Eliot: whom many of you […] cannot but remember: Once, […] with several other worthy ⟨p. 37⟩Persons, in a small Boat, to one of the Islands hard by; there came a bigger Vessel under full Sail, running directly on them; the Boat was over-set, & they all thrown into the Sea, the Good Old Man, when he thought he should not speak one word more, lifted up his Hands to Heaven and said, The Will of the Lord be done. On this Resignation to the Divine Will, he & all the rest were wonderfully Preserved from being Drowned.
USE III. Let us Endeavour after a Perfect Conformity to the Will of God. It is true (as before was said) whilest in this world, we cannot attain to that Perfection: Only in Desire we may, tho' not in Performance Rom 7.18. To Will is present with me; but how to Perform that which is good, I find not. Altho' we can not attain it, we should endeavour after it. The Apostle could not as long as in this world attain unto that Perfection which Saints in the Resurrection World, & so in Heaven for ever, shall be blessed with; nevertheless, he endeavoured after