N00428:46
The serviceable man. A discourse made unto the General Court of the Massachusetts colony,…
The serviceable man. A discourse made unto the General Court of the Massachusetts colony, New-England, at the anniversary election 28d. 3m. 1690. / By Cotton Mather Minister of the Gospel. ; [Two lines of Latin quotation]
Boston: printed by Samuel Green for Joseph Browning, 1690
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.
Application.
But it is the Transferring of this Doctrine into the state of New-England, that is the Province at this time to be served by me; the State of the Country is to be as much my Text, as any Verse in the Fifth Chapter of Nehemiah. I behold a Representation of this Country within these Walls this day, with their Invitation, to speak unto them, in the Name of Him, that we own for our King, our Lord, our Law-Giver. But never had any man more cause to suspect his own Ability of speaking unto such an Assembly on such an occasion as is now before me, than that Son of yours by whom you are now Addressed. Alas I may make the complaint of the Prophet, in Jer. 1.6. Behold, I cannot speak; and add his Reason for it too, with a thousand more: But if I am a Child, you know that the little Stammerings and Chatterings of your Children are not heard without your satisfaction in them· Nor while I am thus pressing ⟨p. 27⟩others to be serviceable, do I dare omit what Service may be done by my Speaking here: But, O Lord God of my Master, I pray thee send me good speed this Day!
But it is the Transferring of this Doctrine into the state of New-England, that is the Province at this time to be served by me; the State of the Countrey is to be as much my Text, as any Verse in the Fifth Chapter of Nehemiah. I behold a Representation of this Countrey within these Walls this day, with their Invitation, to speak unto them, in the Name of Him, that we own for our King, our Lord, our Law-Giver. But never had any man more cause to suspect his own Ability of speaking unto such an Assembly on such an occasion as is now before me, than that Son of yours by whom you are now Addressed. Alas I may make the complaint of the Prophet, in Jer. 1.6. Behold, I cannot speak; and add his Reason for it too, with a thousand more: But if I am a Child, you know that the little Stamerings and Chatterings of your Children are not heard without your satisfaction in them· Nor while I am thus pressing