N00441:21
Fair weather. Or Considerations to dispel the clouds, & allay the storms, of discontent
Fair weather. Or Considerations to dispel the clouds, & allay the storms, of discontent: in a discourse which with an entertaining variety, both of argument and history, lays open, the nature and evil of that pernicious vice, and offers diverse antidotes against it; / by Cotton Mather. ; Whereto there is prefixed a catalogue of sins against all the commandments, whereof all that would make thorough work of repentance, especially at this day when the God of heaven so loudly calls for it, should make their serious and sensible confessions before the Lord; with an humble and fervent address unto this whole people, there-about.Fair weather. Or Considerations to dispel the clouds, & allay the storms, of discontent: in a discourse which with an entertaining variety, both of argument and history, layes open, the nature and evil of that pernicious vice, and offers diverse antidotes against it; / by Cotton Mather. ; Whereto there is prefixed a catalogue of sins against all the commandments, whereof all that would make thorough work of repentance, especially at this day when the God of heaven so loudly calls for it, should make their serious and sensible confessions before the Lord; with an humble and fervent address unto this whole people, there-about.
Boston: printed by Bartholomew Green for Benjamin Harris, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Introduction: AN Humble and Faithful TESTIMONY For God, unto the Children of my People.
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.
Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neighbours Credit has not been kept inviolate. We have Suppressed or fore-born the Truth; and spoken Contrary thereunto. We have had Sinister Suspicions one of another, and either Made, or Spread, or too ⟨p. 8⟩Easily Received False Reports. Tale-bearing ha's been Cherished; & Innocence ha's not been Vigorously Vindicated: No, we have been, Full of Lies!
Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neighbours Credit has not been kept inviolate. We have Suppress'd or fore-born the Truth; and spoken Contrary thereunto. We have had Sinister Suspi•ions one of another, and either Made, or Spread, or too ⟨p. 8⟩Easily Received False Reports. Tale-bearing ha's been Cherished; & Innocence ha's not been Vigorously Vindicated: No, we have been, Full of Lies!
Hence 'tis, that we have been Discontent with our Condition; & harboured in our Hearts, a Roving and a Ranging Lust, after an undue Alteration of it. Nor have we presently Extinguished, those Vain Thoughts in our minds, which have been the First Motions towards the breaches of all the Commandments.
And unto all these Provocations, We have added this, which Exceeds them all, That we have despised the Offers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and although the Old Covenant now speaks to •ing but a miserable Death unto us, Yet we have refused the Gracious Offers of that New Covenant, wherein a Wonderful Provision is made for all the miseries of our Souls, by a Mediator, in whom there do's All Fullness dwell. We have permitted our Earthly Assas to keep us at a Distance from the Lord Redeemer, who ha's been waiting to give us, […] and Remission of Sins.