N00428:83
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.
Of those Disorders, there is none more fatal, than that so many of them, have Lived without the Ordinances of God among them. 'Tis probable, that a large part of the Americans are the Posterity of those Canaanites, who after the Wars of Canaan, did ⟨p. 51⟩set up their Pillars in Africa, with that Inscription on them, We are of those that Fled from the Face of Joshua the Robber. But alas, there are found among us that are newly become Americans, Those of whom it may be said, They Fly from the Face of Jesus the Saviour; for they take pains to get where they can Enjoy Nothing of Him. God from Heaven has lately witnessed against this wickedness, by destroying those Plantations, that had not His Defence, because they had not his Glory with them; and we are immeasurably sinful, and absurd, if the Warnings affect us not. But is it not also possible to Settle and Endow Schools in all our Plantations; and therefore to Compact them from time to time into closer Cohabitations? Doubtless, men of ingenuity, might instruct us how at once we may Advance our Husbandry, and yet Forbear our Dispersion; and moreover at the same time fill the Country with a Liberal Education; the want of which, has a more Threatening Aspect on us, than the worst of our other circumstances. What more Desirable Thing is there to be done for us, than This? That our people may be, all Taught of God. And while we are thus Doing for our selves, may we not leave Undone ⟨p. 52⟩the work of Christianity among the poor naked woeful Indians, that remain in our Neighbourhood; nor forget in the first place to Civilize them, that so we may the better Christianize them. A no less Honourable than Profitable Thing will be Done for us, if we suffer not that work to Die, with the Late Reverend Apostle of it; and I therefore beg, That a Committee may immediately be Ordered to inspect and direct and report that Affair.
Of those Disorders, there is none more fatal, than that so many of them, have Lived without the Ordinances of God among them. 'Tis probable, that a large part of the Americans are the Posterity of those Canaanites, who after the Wars of Canaan, did ⟨p. 51⟩set up their Pillars in Africa, with that Inscription on them, We are of those that Fled from the Face of Joshua the Robber. But alas, there are found among us that are newly become Americans, Those of whom it may be said, They Fly from the Face of Jesus the Saviour; for they take pains to get where they can Enjoy Nothing of Him. God from Heaven has lately witnessed against this wickedness, by destroying those Plantations, that had not His Defence, because they had not his Glory with them; and we are immeasurably sinful, and absurd, if the Warnings affect us not. But is it not also possible to Settle and Endow Schools in all our Plantations; and therefore to Compact them from time to time into closer Cohabitations? Doubtless, men of ingenuity, might instruct us how at once we may Advance our Husbandry, and yet Forbear our Dispersion; and moreover at the same time fill the Countrey with a Liberal Education; the want of which, has a more Threatning Aspect on us, than the worst of our other circumstances. What more Desirable Thing is there to be done for us, than This? That our people may be, all Taught of God. And while we are thus Doing for our selves, may we not leave Undone