Early Piety Exemplified, Part 3 – Title page 2
III. His DEATH.
Too ſoon and too ſad a thing for me to mention without Sighing, Ah my Brother, in my Lamentation over it. He had contracted an univerſal Ill Habit of Body; which was attended with a particular generation of Ill Humours, where the Os Ileon and Os Sacrum joyn; from whence it fell into his Thigh, until there was a very large collection of it there.
There was an Inciſion, with mature Advice made into the Tumour, about a Month before his Expiration, which gave good hopes of his Recovery into a capacity of ſerving the Church of God; but the Circulation, which was now given unto the putrid Juices which his Blood, through his continual and ſedentary Studies, had been annoyed withal, ſoon enkinded a Fever, which burnt aſunder the thread of this pious Life.
One might ſuppoſe, that ſuch a Walk with God as the Reader has newly had Pourtrayed before him, ſhould End in Raptures, and Extaſies of Aſſurance; but I am to tell him, That this young Perſon had them not. And there wanted not Reaſon for it. For his Natural Diſtemper diſpoſed him to what is contrary to Joy; but his Deep Humility had a greater ſhare in the Jealouſies and Suſpicions which he would ſtill cheriſh of himſelf. He was indeed ſo afraid of being an Hypocrite, that he would ſcarce allow himſelf to be called a Chriſtian, and he did not care ſo much as to tell any of his own Experiences, no, nor his Inclinations, unleſs to one or two Divines, who kindly refreſhed him with their daily Viſits; and with them too he would uphold his Diſcourſe only in Latin, if any one elſe were by.
Never did I ſee more Caution againſt Hypocriſie, than what was in him; and a certain Self-abhorrence accompanying of it, cauſed to proceed from him no Expreſſions, but thoſe of an Abaſed Soul. When his Brother having recited the Terms of the Goſpel to him, with a deſign to obtain from him a Renewal of his Explicit Conſent thereunto, asked him, Whether he did not judge himſelf Sincere in that Conſent? He only replied, I ſhould think ſo, if it were not for the Seventeenth of Jeremiah, and the Ninth.
He was Dejected, yet not Deſpairing; and he diſcôvered a wonderfully Gracious, when he had not a Joyful Frame. He was all made up of Longings and Breathings after all the fulneſs of God, when he could not or would not pretend unto any Confidence of his Acceptance with the Lord.
In the time of his Health, he had not been without the comfortable Perſwaſions for which he follow'd hard after God. In one place, I find him ſaying (on ſuch a day) I had Fears leſt I did not love the Bleſſed God; but yet I was ſure I deſired to keep his Commandments. Another time ſo; For Three quarters of an Hour, I pleaded earneſtly for aſſurance of the Love of God unto me, and I ſaid, As many as received Chriſt Jeſus, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God; And I did receive Jeſus Chriſt, as the Free Gift of God; and received him to ſave me on his own Terms: I choſe him to be my Prieſt, and Prophet, and King. Now I begg'd of him that he would manifeſt his Acceptance of me, and give me the Spirit of Adoption: I had then, I hope, ſome Aſſurance. But when Sickneſs came, he was loth to own a clear Title to the Reſt of God: Yet before he died, he ſuffered ſome ſober Intimations of his hopes to fall from him. There was a good Man in this Land, whoſe laſt words yet were, It had been good for me that I had never been born. The words of this humble Self-loathing Young-Man, were of another ſtrain. In the laſt Night, that we had him with us, he would have his Watcher to read, The Song of Simeon, unto him, Now letteſt thou thy Servant depart in Peace: And in the Morning after, he ſaid, I have now been with Jeſus Chriſt! which, from ſuch a little Speaker as he, we could not have his Explication of.
In one of his laſt Minutes, a faithful Miniſter ſaid unto him, Find you not Comfort in the Lord Jeſus Chriſt? To which he made only this diſcreet and humble Anſwer, I Endeavour to do thoſe things which will iſſue in Comfort; and then he quickly ſurrendred up his Redeemed and Renewed Soul unto him who had loved him, and waſhed away his ſins in his own blood.
Thus he went away to the heavenly Society, where he is beholding the Face of God in Righteouſneſs, and ſolacing himſelf in the Company not only of his bleſſed Grandfathers, and Ʋncles, and all the Spirits of the Juſt; but of the amiable Jeſus himſelf, which is by far the beſt of all. His Tears are all dried up, his Fears vaniſhed away, and his Hopes more than anſwered in Joys unſpeakable, and full of glory.
His Elder Brother having thus written of him, now ſatisfies himſelf in the Duty therein done to God and Man; and would keep waiting for his own Change, until, Thy Free Grace, O my God, ſhall give unto the moſt miſerable Sinner in the World, an admiſſion into Emanuel's Land.
Cotton Mather. Finiſhed Octob. 29. 1688.
One that had an Acquaintance with him, did him the Juſtice of weeping over his Grave ſuch an Epitaph as this.
INcloſed in this ſable Cheſt,
The Hoſt once of an heavenly Gueſt
Here lyes: Ʋpright Nathanael,
True Off-ſpring of God's Iſrael.
Him Dead, how term we, from his Birth,
Who liv'd in Heaven whilſt on Earth?
His Head had Learnings Magazine,
His Heart the Altar, whence Divine
Whole Hecatombs, which Love had fir'd,
Of high Praiſe, and warm Pray'r aſpir'd:
His Life, the Decalogue unfolded;
A Meat-off'ring, his Speech well moulded;
His rare Devotion, ſuch now ſeen,
A ſign of Ninety at Nineteen.
Years but in Bloom, Grace at full growth;
Angels, you Know and Think his Worth.
Thus Time, Youth's Glaſs, Turn'd e're 'twas Run,
And Ages too, before begun.
Reſt, glorious Duſt, and let thy perfum'd Name
Sound in the Trumpets of Immortal Fame.
For thô Times Teeth Mauſolaean Monuments deface,
They'll never gnaw thy Name which with the Stars has place.
Poſ uit, R. Hale
FINIS.
SEVERAL SERMONS CONCERNING WALKING WITH GOD, AND THAT In the Dayes of Youth: PREACHED At Boſton in New-England. By Cotton Mather, Paſtor of a Church there.
1 King. 18. 12.
—But I thy Servant fear the Lord from my Youth.
1 Chron. 34. 3.
—While he was yet young, he began to ſeek after the God of David his Father.
LONDON, Printed by J. Aſtwood for I. Dunton, at the Black Raven in the Poultrey, over againſt the Compter. 1689.