N02155:35
A call to the tempted. A sermon on the horrid crime of self-murder, preached…
A call to the tempted. A sermon on the horrid crime of self-murder, preached on a remarkable occasion, / by the memorable Dr. Increase Mather. ; And now published from his notes, for a charitable stop to suicides. ; [Five lines of quotation in Latin]
Boston: printed by B. Green, 1723
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.
IV. LIFE is a great Mercy. Men should be cautioned against Despising, and wilfully casting away the Mercies of GOD. Life in this World, is an Invaluable Mercy: Because, whilst there is Life, there is Hope: Eccl. IX.4. To him who is joined unto all the Living, there is Hope. As long as Persons are Alive, there is an Hopeful Possibility, that they may Repent, and Turn, and Live unto GOD: — That they may obtain an assurance of an Interest in JESUS CHRIST; — That the Pardon of their Sins may be secured. But when Life is at an end, there is no Hope of Repentance, or of getting a Part in CHRIST, or of getting Sin to be forgiven. We are told, Heb. IX.27. After Death the Judgment. If those things be not made sure of, before the Soul of a Man is out of his Body, and his Probation-time is over, it will be too late for ever. So we read; Isa. XXXVIII.18. — They that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy Truth.
IV. LIFE is a great Mercy. Men should be cautioned against Despising, and wilfully casting away the Mercies of GOD. Life in this World, is an Invaluable Mercy: Because, whilst there is Life, there is Hope: Eccl. IX.4. To him who is joined unto all the Living, there is Hope. As long as Persons are Alive, there is an Hopeful Possibility, that they may Repent, and Turn, and Live unto GOD: — That they may obtain an assurance of an Interest in JESUS CHRIST; — That the Pardon of their Sins may be secured. But when Life is at an end, there is no Hope of Repentance, or of getting a Part in CHRIST, or of getting Sin to be forgiven. We are told, Heb. IX.27. After Death the Iudgment. If those things be not made sure of, before the Soul of a Man is out of his Body, and his Probation-time is over, it will be too late for ever. So we read; Isa. XXXVIII.18. — They that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy Truth.