N01484:100
A sorrowful spectacle. In two sermons, occasioned by a just sentence of death, on…
A sorrowful spectacle. In two sermons, occasioned by a just sentence of death, on a miserable woman, for the murder of a spurious offspring. : The one declaring, the evil of an heart hardened, under and against all means of good. : The other describing, the fearful case of such as in a suffering time, and much more such as in a dying hour, are found without the fear of God. : With some remarkable things, relating to the criminal; proper for all to be informed of. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S. ; [One line from Acts]
Boston: printed by T. Fleet & T. Crump for Samuel Gerrish, 1715
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.
First; The Presence of GOD, is Awful to a Man that Fears Him. The Fear of God will make a Man ⟨p. 53⟩Realize the Eye of God. One that Fears God, is under the Power of this Apprehension; O Lord, Thou art acquainted with all my ways: O Lord, There is not a Word in my Tongue, but thou knowest it: O Lord, Thou knowest my Thoughts afar off. This makes him afraid of every Sin; afraid of even the most Secret Sin. If a Sinful and Vicious or Foolish Thought break into his Mind, he is afraid of affording it a Lodging there. An Omnipresent GOD, is much Considered, much Reverenced, by the Man that, Fears Him. Such an one may say, I have set the Lord always before me. He Labours, he Watches, he Wishes, That he may behave himself always as before the Lord.
Again; The Judgment of GOD is Awful to such a Man. The Fear of God assures a Man of a Judgment to come; and it makes him Tremble at the Apprehension of being Pronounced, Guilty, in that Judgment, The time of the Dead, when they shall be Judged, is the Time, when a Reward ⟨p. 54⟩shall be given to them that Fear God. They that Fear God, have their Eye much on the Time, when the Dead shall be Raised and Judged, and on the Reward which is then to be given to the Children of Men. One that Fears God, is very Thoughtful of the Day, when we must every one stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ; the Day when God will bring every Work into Judgment. The Dread of this Day, is to such a Man, The Terror of the Lord. His great Study is, Oh! That in the Day of God, I may give up my Account with Joy, and not with Grief! Oh! That I may do nothing that may prove to my Disadvantage in the Day when I give up my Account unto God! The Fear of God is not in the Man, who is not so disposed, so affected. I am sure, in the Convert on the Cross, these things were very Visible.