N00425:222
Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ...…
Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ... To which may be added, a short scriptural catechism, accommodated unto their capacities. / By Cotton Mather.
Boston: printed by R. Pierce for Nicholas Buttolph, 1690
THE LITTLE CHILDS LESSON. › DOCTRINE. › Proposition 2: Proposition II.
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.
First, They place on God, the Affection which is due unto a father. A father, is a Name all made up of love. As the fatherly love of God unto gracious little Children is very marvellous; for thus 'tis said in 1 Joh 3. 1. Behold, what manner of love, the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God! So the Filial Love of these Children unto God, is likewise, Behold, what manner of love! They love none so much as God, but tho' they love their fathers more than all Creatures, yet they love their God with greater out-goings of their little Souls.
First, They place on God, the Affection which is due unto a father. A father, is a Name all made up of love. As the fatherly love of God unto gracious little Children is very marvellous; for thus 'tis said in 1 Joh 3. 1. Behold, what manner of love, the Father has bestow'd upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God! So the Filial Love of these Children unto God, is likewise, Behold, what manner of love! They love none so much as God, but tho' they love their fathers more than all Creatures, yet they love their God with greater out-goings of their little Souls.
Secondly, They pay to God, the Reverence which is due unto a father. They dare not therefore […] rude, saucy, impudent, in the special presence ⟨p. 103⟩of the Lord; nor Talk, nor Sport, nor Sleep, when they should be worshipping of Him. 'Tis the voice of God in Mal. 1. 6. A son honoureth his father; if then I be a Father, where is my Honour? Gracious little Children give unto their God the Honour of a father; if they speak of God, it is in a most humble, serious, awful strain, they will not say, O God, or, O Lord, or say, God bless me, and, Lord bless me, with a frothy, carnal, heedless interjection; if they speak to God, it is with an exceeding veneration: while they are at prayer, they compose themselves unto a very diligent Attention and Intention of Soul; once more, if they hear from God, they set themselves as in the sight of him, who is greatly to be feared and had in Reverence; while they are in the Assemblies where the Word of God is Preached unto them, they would not use the least wildness for a thousand worlds.