N01545:95
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.
God blessed the holy Patriarchs with long life. It is said of Abraham that when he died, he was an Old Man & full of years, Gen. 25.8. Some have observed that Abraham is the first Person who is in the Scriptures called an Old Man, notwithstanding there were many older Men than he that dyed before him. His Old Age was a reward of his singular Obedience to God. His Son Isaac also lived to be an Old Man: Gen. 27.2. He said, behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death; and yet he lived Forty Years after he spoke those words, that is, after he began to be an Old Man. And Jacob lived to be an Old Man. Before Joseph made himself known to his Brethren, he enquired with a real concern about his Aged Fathers welfare: Gen. 43.27. He asked them, is your Father well? The Old Man of whom you spake, is he yet alive. ⟨p. 94⟩Samuel lived to Old Age. And then the People unworthily slighted him after all the many Years Service he had done for them. They said to him, behold thou art Old, make us a King to Judge us, 1 Sam. 8.5. The Prophet Elisha was an Aged Servant of the Lord. For King Joash bewailed his death with the same words that he bewailed the departure of Elijah Fifty Years before that. Several of the Apostles notwithstanding their indefatigable Labours, & that the Devil & his instruments sought to take their lives from them, yet lived to Old Age. So did Peter: He was an Old Man when he suffered Martyrdom, as Christ did many years before signify to him. Joh. 21.18. When thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, h.e. thou shalt be Crucified and thy hands nailed to the Cross. The Apostle Paul was an Aged Servant of the Lord before he dyed, Philem. 9. Paul the aged. But ⟨p. 95⟩especially the Apostle John, who was the only one of all the Apostles that dyed a Natural Death, all the rest were Persecuted to death; Writers inform us that he lived to be an hundred Years old. It is reported concerning Simeon who was the Son of Cleophas, and therefore the Lords kinsman, that he was an hundred and twenty Years old when he was Crucified. Some Eminent Servants of God in these latter Ages have lived to a great Old Age. Robert Constantine who was Beza's great friend lived till he was an hundred and three Years old; his Senses of Body and Mind being perfect and his Memory strong. Now it is a Mercy when they that are in the way of righteousness live to Old Age.