N00213:138
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. I pray you in the Name of the Lord, that a speedy & Effectual Course may be taken, that the great things that God did for our Fathers, in planting these Heavens, and laying the Foundations of this Earth, be faithfully recorded, and transmitted to Posterity. This hath been thought of, and spoken of long enough, but why is it not done? If it be neglected till the present Generation be passed away, the next will be less capable of doing it. The Title of the Book wherein my Text is, leads me to Insist on this. Why is this Book called the Chronicles, but because it contains a Record and relation of the things which God did for his People in ancient time, yea, from time to time. The Hebrews have termed it, [dibre hajamin] words of days probably (as [r]some conceive) taken out of the royal Diaries of those times, by divine direction and Inspiration; this Book of Chronicles being an unerring [s]Epitome of those Chronicles mentioned in the Kings. The Truth is, that above half the old-Testament is a Chronicle of things done, by the Lord, for his People in the years of Ancient Generations. You have then Scripture Example abundantly to encourage, in promoting a work of this nature. Hence we read of the Book of Jasher, 2 Sam. 1. 18. and of the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and of Gad the Seer, 1 Chron. 29. 29. and of Abijah, the Shilonite, and of Shemaiah the Prophet, 2 Chron. 12. 15. and the Story of the Prophet Iddo, 2 Chron. 13. 22. There is also plain Scripture precept [t]as well as Example to move hereunto, see Psal. 78. 5, 6 For he established a Testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers, that they should make them known to their Children, that the Generations to come, might know these▪