N00441:75
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.
A Sacred Exorcism, upon Sinful DISCONTENT. Uttered on December 24.… › II. The Evil of DISCONTENT.
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.
Indeed, it also Forfeits all those things, wherein we have been ready to take our Comfort. As the Lord said, Because ye did not serve the Lord with gladness of Heart, ye shall serve your Enemies with weariness: This is the Common Fate of Discontented Persons; Because they are not Content with that they have, God says, I'll take it all away! And when those Comforts are gone, our Discontent makes us, yet more unable to bear the going of them. As a man is a Fever, or a Bird in a Limet wig, the more he Tumbles and Flutters, the worse his matters are; so is it in Discontent. None of the Fetters which God lays upon us, would be half so Galling, so heavy, so irksome, if Discontent were not a sore first made upon us; 'tis by this that, The Iron Eats into our Soul. But now, being brought into our sorrowful Hours, our Discontent serves us, as the Jews did our Lord upon the Cross; Gall and Vinegar, is all the Cordial that it brings for the supporting of us; 'tis, As Vinegar to Nitre, one Sharp thing upon another unto us, when we are of an Heavy Heart.
Indeed, it also Forfeits all those things, wherein we have been ready to take our Comfort. As the Lord said, Because yee did not serve the Lord with gladness of Heart, yee shall serve your Enemies with weariness: This is the Common Fate of Discontented Persons; Because they are not Content with that they have, God says, I'l take it all away! And when those Comforts are gone, our Discontent makes us, yet more unable to bear the going of them. As a man is a Fever, or a Bird in a Limet wig, the more he Tumbles and Flutters, the worse his matters are; so is it in Discontent. None of the Fetters which God layes upon us, would be half so Galling, so heavy, so irksome, if Discontent were not a sore first made upon us; 'tis by this that, The Iron Eats into our Soul. But now, being brought into our sorrowful Hours, our Discontent serves us, as the Jewes did our Lord upon the Cross; Gall and Vinegar, is all the Cordial that it brings for the supporting of us; 'tis, As Vinegar to Nitre, one Sharp thing upon another unto us, when we are of an Heavy Heart.
In fine, Our Discontent, is upon all Accounts, as much without Reason, as the most Brutish thing in the World: For, Either we can Remedy our Affliction, or we Can••s If we can't, Levius […]; a contented Patience must be the Remedy. If we can, Go do it then, and the Content.