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OF THE

Rev. John Mason, A. M.

LATE RECTOR OF WATER-STRATFORD, IN THE
COUNTY OF BUCKS.

WITH

A PREFACE,

GIVING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR.

RECOMMENDED BY THE LATE

REVEREND ISAAC WATTS, D.D

NEW-YORK:

G. & C. CARVILL; E. BLISS & E. WHITE; JOHN
P. HAVEN, AND COLLINS & HANNAY.

H. C. Sleight, Printer, Jamaica.

PREFACE.

THE author of the Select Remains, was a person of as eminent a character in the religious world as most ages have produced. He was, by principle, a Conformist to the Church of England, and died at Water-Stratford, in the county of Bucks, A. D. 1694, having been Rector of that place twenty years. He was father to him who wrote the Treatise on SelfKnowledge, a book which has been of great use to many souls.

Several who were his cotemporaries have left some account of the author of the Select Remains, and in particular, his successor to the Rectory of Water-Stratford.

Mr. Hemmet gives this testimony to his character:

My acquaintance with Mr. Mason I have esteemed one of the greatest mercies I ever received. His learning and piety

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were great, and his humility deep. Divers souls in the neighbourhood wherein he lived were seals of his ministry. His affections were so fervent and his zeal so great, that as they were the comfort, so they were the admiration of those that feared God and lived near him. So great was his love to Christ, that he had a value for any one that spoke a savory word of him.

Mr. Baxter said, he was the glory of the Church of England.

The frame of his spirit was so heavenly, his deportment so humble and obliging, his discourse of spiritual things (and little else could we hear from him) so weighty, with such apt words and delightful air, that it charmed all who had any spiritual relish.

And another writer observes-If ever man made religion his greatest business and pleasure, he did. How much he was in his element at prayer, appears from the frequent discharge of that duty, viz: six times every day, as long as he was able,twice by himself, twice with his wife, and

twice with his family. The first posture. he was in every morning as soon as he was out of bed was upon his knees, and the same as soon as returned from a journey. His religious converse was neither forced nor affected, but accompanied with an easy and cheerful address; which made it agreeable and entertaining.

Such are the testimonies which are given to this excellent man, whose evangelical and select sentences are here offered to the public; they cannot be opened without offering a divine morsel to a hungry soul, a soul united to a precious Christ, or is sincerely seeking so to be. It will be a sweet pocket companion when on a journey, as well as in the parlour, the kitchen, or the work-shop. Reader, labour to obtain all the experience which is in this little manual.

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