N00213:137
A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherein…A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherin…
A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherein is showed, I. That the children of godly parents are under special advantages and encouragements to seek the Lord. : II. The exceeding danger of apostasy, especially as to those that are the children and posterity of such as have been eminent for God in their generation. : III. That young men ought to remember God their creator. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Nine lines of quotations]A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherin is shewed, I. That the children of godly parents are under special advantages and encouragements to seek the Lord. : II. The exceeding danger of apostasie, especially as to those that are the children and posterity of such as have been eminent for God in their generation. : III. That young men ought to remember God their creator. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Nine lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by John Foster, 1679
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.
1. Let me apply my Speech unto Zerubbabels, h. e. Rulers in the Common-Wealth. Honoured and much esteemed, the welfare or ill fare of the present, yea, and following Generation doth much depend upon you, Magistrates are in the Scripture compared to Corner stones, because where there is a Common-Wealth erected, the safety of the whole building (under God) depends much upon them. Hence are they also termed Foundations, Psal. 11. 3. If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do? If David had perished, Foundations had been destroyed, and the good People of the Land would have dearly felt the loss of him. And when in Sauls time there were corrupt Judges and Magistrates, it is therefore said, that the Foundations of the Earth were out of Course, Psal. 82. 5. And the Prophet Micah speaking to the Rulers in the Common-wealth of Israel saith, hear ye Foundations of the Earth, Mic. 6. 2. It is with you (by the help of Christ) to lay such Foundations as shall make Posterity either happy or miserable. David improved the power which God in his Providence entrusted him with, to serve his Generation according to the will of God, Acts 13. 36. And therefore was an eminent blessing to all that Generation wherein he lived. If the sins of the People under your care and charge should ever provoke the Lord, to leave you in an hour of Temptation, you cannot possibly turn aside from God alone, but many others will do so too. Regis ad Exemplum, People are apt to follow the Examples of those in place. you know it is mentioned concerning Rehoboam, that he within few years after his coming to the Government did forsake the Lord, and all Israel with him, 2 Chron. 11. 1. Let me then with all due respect to your places, and to your worth, and yet with that freedom and faithfulness which becometh a Messenger of the ⟨p. 70⟩Lord of Hosts, propound some things to you, which concern the welfare of this, and after Generations in New-England.