N01545:114
Two discourses showing, I. That the Lords ears are open to the prayers of…Two discourses shewing, I. That the Lords ears are open to the prayers of…
Two discourses showing, I. That the Lords ears are open to the prayers of the righteous. II. The dignity & duty of aged servants of the Lord. : Also, a preface in which the Congregational discipline of the churches in New-England is vindicated, with the authors dying testimony there-unto. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]Two discourses shewing, I. That the Lords ears are open to the prayers of the righteous. II. The dignity & duty of aged servants of the Lord. : Also, a preface in which the Congregational discipline of the churches in New-England is vindicated, with the authors dying testimony there-unto. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]
printed by B. Green for Daniel Henchman, 1716
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.
4. Aged Servants of the Lord should be always ready and very willing to dye. Always ready: For many times Aged Persons are taken away by a sudden Death. It may be by the Palsy, or Apoplexy; or it may be they will dye in their Sleep. Some Eminent Servants of God, have gone well to bed at Night, and have been in Heaven before the Morning. O blessed Night! An Aged Man in a special manner should live by that rule, Never to do any thing that he would be afraid to do if he knew he should dye the next day. And make haste to do every thing, he would have to be done before his death. He should always keep a Will or Testament by him, as they that think they are dying use to do. And let them be very willing to dye & leave ⟨p. 130⟩this World. It is strange if they be […]. Men that are at Sea desire to get into a safe Harbour as soon as may be. And shall not Christians who are tossed in a tempestuous World long to be in their blessed Haven. Travellers long to be at Home. While in this World we are Travellers and Pilgrims. Not Earth but Heaven is our Home, and shall we not think the time long until we are there! A Soldier longs for a Victory, and is not easy until he has obtained it. And shall not Christians, especially such as have been long engaged in a difficult and dangerous Warfare, desire the day when they shall have a perfect Victory over all their Spiritual Enemies! Some Moralists among the Gentiles have thought that Aged Persons should be willing to leave the World. It is reported of the Emperor Adrian, that he said, He wondered that a Man who was above threescore would send for a Physician: ⟨p. 131⟩He thought that a Man of that Age must needs have had so much Experience of the undesirableness of this Evil World as to be weary of it, and willing to be gone out of it. But Christians have higher & more noble reasons to induce them to bid Death welcome, e. g. That so they may be perfectly and for ever delivered from Indwelling Sin, which is like the Leprosy in the house of the Israelite, which must be pulled down or it could not be cleansed. So must the house of his body be dissolved that he may become pure from Sin: Rom. 6.7. He that is dead is free from sin. When the blessed day of his death comes, the Believer on Christ will never Sin more in Word, Thought, or Deed. Who would not be willing to dye on that condition?