N02155:5
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.
THE Occasion of the Publication.
AMONG the Remarkables in the Life of the Memorable Dr Increase Mather; there is this Passage. p. 217.
THE Doctor felt once upon his Mind, a strong Impression, to Preach a Sermon about the Crime of Self-Murder; but he resisted, he declined, he laid it aside. He then wrote in his Diary: This Day my former Thoughts about Preaching on the Evil of Self-Murder, returning upon me again; I looked up to GOD, and as I was lifting up my Heart to him, then walking in my Garden, I was most strangely moved and melted. I could not speak a word for some time. Tears gushed from my Eyes. And it seemed as if it were said unto me, Preach on that Subject, & thou shalt Save Bodies & Souls from Death. The Lion is among thy Flock; Resist him with the Sword of the Spirit, and the Sheep Committed unto thy Charge shall be rescued out of his Bloody Hands! What the meaning of this is, I know not; but wonder at it. There may be something of Heaven in it, more than I am aware of. The next Lords-Day, he Preached the Sermon [On, Act. XVI.27, 28.] And Behold, soon after it, there came such to him, as informed him, That at that very Time, the Temptations to Self-Murder were impelling of them with an Horrible ⟨p. II⟩Violence; But GOD had Blessed that Happy Sermon for their Deliverance! They afterwards joined to his Church. —
THE Doctor felt once upon his Mind, a strong Impression, to Preach a Sermon about the Crime of Self-Murder; but he resisted, he declined, he laid it aside. He then wrote in his Diary: This Day my former Thoughts about Preaching on the Evil of Self-Murder, returning upon me again; I look'd up to GOD, and as I was lifting up my Heart to him, then walking in my Garden, I was most strangly moved and melted. I could not speak a word for some time. Tears gushed from my Eyes. And it seemed as if it were said unto me, Preach on that Subject, & thou shalt Save Bodies & Souls from Death. The Lion is among thy Flock; Resist him with the Sword of the Spirit, and the Sheep Committed unto thy Charge shall be rescued out of his Bloody Hands! What the meaning of this is, I know not; but wonder at it. There may be something of Heaven in it, more than I am aware of. The next Lords-Day, he Preached the Sermon [On,