The serviceable man. A discourse made unto the General Court of the Massachusetts colony,…

We are told in 2 Chron. 21.12. There came a Writing to Jehoram from Elijah the Prophet; saying, Thou hast not walked in the ways of thy Father. It ha's been by all Interpreters Commonly Judged, That Elijah was now in Heaven when this Letter came from him; and I was my self of that Opinion, till the old Greek [Greek or Hebrew], written, I suppose, by ⟨p. 57⟩Eusebius, ha's Inclined me to the Contrary· But, if our Fathers were to write unto us from that Heaven, unto which they are gone, I am thinking, What they would say? Would they not write in very Disgracing Terms unto us, and say, Alas, you don't walk in our ways: we left in your Hands, a work to be done for the People of God; but you have thrown by that work, & found something else to be concerned about. We hoped that you would have trod in our Steps, & that we should have shortly congratulated your Arrival to the Glorious place, which we are Triumphing in; But we now fear, That we have dropped you and lost you forever: and that we shall never see you more, till we behold you wringing your Hands and Gnashing your Teeth among the Goats at the Left Hand of the Lord. Jesus in the Day of His Appearing.

We are told in 2 Chron. 21.12. There came a Writing to Jehoram from Elijah the Prophet; saying, Thou hast not walked in the ways of thy Father. It ha's been by all Interpreters Commonly Judged, That Elijah was now in Heaven when this Letter came from him; and I was my self of that Opinion, till the old Greek 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, written, I suppose, by ⟨p. 57⟩Eusebius, ha's Inclined me to the Contrary· But, if our Fathers were to write unto us from that Heaven, unto which they are gone, I am thinking, What they would say? Would they not write in very Disgracing Terms unto us, and say, Alas, you don't walk in our wayes: we left in your Hands, a work to be done for the People of God; but you have thrown by that work, & found something else to be concern'd about. We hop'd that you would have trod in our Steps, & that we should have shortly congratulated your Arrival to the Glorious place, which we are Triumphing in; But we now fear, That we have dropt you and lost you forever: and that we shall never see you more, till we behold you wringing your Hands and Gnashing your Teeth among the Goats at the Left Hand of the Lord. Jesus in the Day of His Appearing.