A50175:187
Winter meditations directions how to employ the leisure of the winter for the glory…
Winter meditations directions how to employ the leisure of the winter for the glory of God : accompanied with reflections as well historical as theological, not only upon the circumstances of winter, but also upon the notable works of God, both in creation and Providence ... / by Cotton Mather ; with a preface of John Higginson.
Boston: printed by Benj. Harris, 1693
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.
Particularly; The FIRST Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Protection which attended our FIRST PRODUCTION: Our Formation in the Womb, and Reception from the Womb. About our being Shaped in our Mothers, we may say, Lord, I wi•• praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully Made. And about our being Taken from our Mothers, we may say, Lord, Thou art He, who took me cut of the Womb. As for our Bodies, 'tis impossible for any thing to be better contrived, than they are in the whole Make of them. What a sad thing would it have been, if these had been monstrously Deformed, or Defective in any One of all their Members? Truly, There are Thousands of Mercies and Wonders, in one perfect Child! And then, as for our Spirits, They are certainly the most Noble ⟨p. 49⟩Things that inhabit this Lower World. How doleful had been our plight, if these had Lost any of their Faculties; were we Fools, or Mad? But indeed, we have Souls capable of a very vast Improvement, in the Honouring & Enjoying of our God! What shall I say? That we are Arrived Alive among the Living on the Earth, is a Thing full of Marvels, if not of Miracles. What if we had Expired Embryo's, whereby all our Opportunities to Glorify God, had been Lost for ever; yea, and this, after our being Animated, but perhaps, before our being any way given unto God in the New-Covenant, by our Parents; who 'tis possible were themselves, At that Time Strangers from the Covenant of Promise, and so Having no Hope, for their miserable Offspring? O think on what thou Art, and what thou mightest have been! But,
Particularly; The FIRST Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Protection which attended our FIRST PRODUCTION: Our Formation in the Womb, and Reception from the Womb. About our being Shaped in our Mothers, we may say, Lord, I wi•• praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully Made. And about our being Taken from our Mothers, we may say, Lord, Thou art He, who took me cut of the Womb. As for our Bodies, 'tis impossible for any thing to be better contrived, than they are in the whole Make of them. What a sid thing would it have been, if these had been monstrously Deformed, or Defective in any One of all their Members? Truly, There are Thousands of Mercies and Wonders, in one perfect Child! And then, as for our Spirits, They are certainly the most Noble ⟨p. 49⟩