N01484:235
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.
BUT let me tell you what GOD will bring you to if ever He give you Repentance unto Life. He will make Sin infinitely odious to thy Soul and very bitter. He will make thee very vile and loathsome in thy own ⟨p. 43⟩Eyes. He will fill thy Soul with bitter Sorrow and Mourning for thy Sins; and with deep Humiliation and Abasement before Him and in the sight of all Men as not worthy of the least Mercy from Him, but of Wrath unto the uttermost: He will fill thy Mouth with agreeable Confessions against thy self, unto the Glory and Honour of His Justice and Holiness, and to thy own shame and confusion of Face; which justly belongs to thee. Instead of vain Excusings of thy self, and hard Reflecting upon others, GOD will bring thee if He shows thee Mercy to own and fear His Justice, and to lay thy hand upon thy own heart and smite there, and say, GOD be merciful to me a vile Criminal, that deserve no Mercy! O wilt thou not thus fear GOD, being under His Condemnation, and that most justly!
BUT let me tell you what GOD will bring you to if ever He give you Repentance unto Life. He will make Sin infinitly odious to thy Soul and very bitter. He will make thee very vile and loathsome in thy own ⟨p. 43⟩Eyes. He will fill thy Soul with bitter Sorrow and Mourning for thy Sins; and with deep Humiliation and Abasement before Him and in the sight of all Men as not worthy of the least Mercy from Him, but of Wrath unto the uttermost: He will fill thy Mouth with agreeable Confessions against thy self, unto the Glory and Honour of His Justice and Holiness, and to thy own shame and confusion of Face; which justly belongs to thee. Instead of vain Excusings of thy self, and hard Reflecting upon others, GOD will bring thee if He shews thee Mercy to own and fear His Justice, and to lay thy hand upon thy own heart and smite there, and say, GOD be merciful to me a vile Criminal, that deserve no Mercy! O wilt thou not thus fear GOD, being under His Condemnation, and that most justly!
AND after GOD has shown thee the Cursed Nature and Demerit of Sin, and thy own great Sinfulness, and wrought thee into the bitterest Mourning and deepest Humiliation