N02155:46
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.
IT is a Lamentable Thing, that in a Place of so much Light, and Profession as This, it should be said unto a Self-Murdering Devil; — Thou shalt Persuade, and Prevail also! — That in such a Place, there should be any Need of insisting on such a Subject! — Yet there has been so; and there is! Above four Years ago, I saw Occasion to insist on a subject of this Importance, ⟨p. 14⟩because within the space of but Five Weeks, there had been Five Self-Murders! The Lord Knows how many others may be Tempted at This Time, unto the like. I am not without Apprehensions, That the Bloody Lion, who goes about seeking whom he may devour, may be let loose among the Flock; And therefore I thought it my Duty to withstand him, with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of GOD; Not knowing, but that I may by such means rescue Poor Creatures out of his hands!
IT is a Lamentable Thing, that in a Place of so much Light, and Profession as This, it should be said unto a Self-Murdering Devil; — Thou shalt Perswade, and Prevail also! — That in such a Place, there should be any Need of insisting on such a Subject! — Yet there has been so; and there is! Above four Years ago, I saw Occasion to insist on a subject of this Importance, ⟨p. 14⟩because within the space of but Five Weeks, there had been Five Self-Murders! The Lord Knows how many others may be Tempted at This Time, unto the like. I am not without Apprehensions, That the Bloody Lion, who goes about seeking whom he may devour, may be let loose among the Flock; And therefore I thought it my Duty to withstand him, with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of GOD; Not knowing, but that I may by such means rescue Poor Creatures out of his hands!
MY Advice on the Occasion is This.