N01545:117
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.
5. Let Aged Servants of the Lord be content to live longer if God will have it so. There are but few that need this Exhortation. Too many are like that great Man among the Romans, who said he would be content to live in any Misery, provided he might be assured that he should never dye; so terribly was he afraid of Death. So loth are the most of Men to leave the Earth, that it would be very superfluous to persuade them to be willing to stay here. There was (says one) a Parliament, concerning which it was Enacted that they should not be Dissolved ⟨p. 137⟩until they themselves pleased. If God should say so to Men, Heaven (says he) would be very Empty, and there would be more Men here below than the Earth could contain. Nevertheless, there are some that are too impatient of their continuance here. Was not the Prophet Elijah so, when he was feign to fly his Country, and hide in a Wilderness: 1 King. 19.4 He requested for himself that he might die, and said it is enough. I am like to do no more Service for God, on which account I have lived long enough, and therefore Now O Lord take away my life. And Jonah in too much pet and passion Prayed, Now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to dye than to live, Jon. 4 3. Nay, and the Meek Moses discovered humane frailty when he said to God, Kill me I pray thee out of hand, if I have found savour in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness, Numb. 11, […] ⟨p. 138⟩How much good did Moses do in the World after that, which if God had granted that request would not have been done. The truth is, that if a Man is subject to some very exercising Affliction, and Meditates much on Heaven, and is assured of his Interest there, he is apt to be too earnest and impatient to be gone. But we must leave as the way and manner, so the time of our departure out of this World, with the wise and faithful Providence of God, waiting all the days of our appointed time until our change shall come. It becomes a Christian both to endeavour that his last days may be his best days, and to desire to dye, yet to be content to live, especially if he is not so decayed, but that he is capable of doing some Service for Christ among His People. Thus it was with the holy Apostle: