N00441:57
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.
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.
To Describe the Sin of Discontent, I need only say;
To Discribe the Sin of Discontent, I need only say;
First, In Discontent, there is, A Dislike ⟨p. 39⟩of that Condition which God would have us to be Well-pleased with. Every part of our Condition is Ordered by that God, who ha's formed all things, and whose Kingdom Ruleth over all. We are told, in Psal. 75 6, 7. Promotion comes neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the De•art. [which lay both North and South of Canaan] But God is the Judge; He puts down one, and sets up another. Be our Condition High or Low, 'tis God that makes it so. And such is the Bounty, such the Mercy of our God unto us, that, He would have our minds Approve of that Condition which He ha's carved for u•. A sweet Acquiescence of Soul, in the Divine Dispensations towards us, i• as much our Duty, as it would be our Comfort; and it is as Necessary, as it would be Profitable for us Briefly, When our Condition ha's been so Circumstanced, that nothing but a LUST in the Heart, would wish it otherwise; and there is no way of God for the Mutation of it, we are then to be Satisfied in that Condition. So was that Excellent man, who could say in Phil 4. 11. I have Learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content. ⟨p. 40⟩But now, Discontent, is a Vice which disturbs the Mind, at the View of something or other in our Condition, which God ha's not put us in a way for the Retrieving of. Would you see a Picture of Discontent? Let Angry Jonah give it you. In Discontent a man is Angry, that God ha's not furnished him with such or such a Gourd, as he thinks would give a Comfortable Shadow to him. Something there is in the Circumstances of his Place, his Life, his Bed, his Estate, and his Esteem, which he do's not Like, and which yet he cannot, or may not Help. Discontent is a Dissatisfaction, at the want of such Pleasures and Profits, & Honours, as God ha's denied unto us; and He ha's Denied whatever we cannot Regularly seek to Obtain; Whatever will not advance His Glories and Praises in the World. Would you hear what is the Discontent, which the Tenth Commandment is the Disallowance of? We are told, in Joh 2. 6. The Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eye, and the Pride of Life. When a mans Carnal Appes unto the Delights and Grandness of the World, ast him into such a qetment of Soul,