N00441:80
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.
Contentment! How shall we be masters of so rare a Jewel! Were this Jewel ours, we should be as the Apostle speaks, though, Having Nothing, yet, Possessing All things; it would produce a continual ⟨p. 60⟩Heaven, in our Souls, and it would place us in those Regions, Whither Storms do not reach, and where God and Rest is Enjoyed for ever. There ha's been much Talking about, and some Hunting after, a sort of a Powder, which they call, The Philosophers […]; I will not Expose my self so far as to […] my Opinion about the Attainableness of such a thing: But this I'll say, Tis Morally Attainable, If a man will drop a few Grains of, CONTENT upon his Pewter, his Iron, Yea, or the Wooden Vessels in his House, he'll turn them into Gold immediately; & on the other side, if a man have never so much Gold without Content, he would be but horribly famished in a Room full of Gold, as your Little Sons at School will tell you, who was of old. Or, to speak more Scripturally; Though the waters whereof you drink, be the waters of March, a little Sprig of Content, thrown into them, would presently take away all their Bitterness. What shall I say more?—But I will Preface nothing more, in the Commendation of Contentment; although you see, tis a Subject so Charming, that one shall rather be a little ⟨p. 61⟩Incoherent, than leave it, without any thing said upon it. I'll address my self to offer you an Antidote, against all your Discontent; and the Antidote shall be made up of Three Ingredients.
Contentment! How shall we be masters of so rare a Jewel! Were this Jewel ours, we should be as the Apostle speaks, though, Having Nothing, yet, Possessing All things; it would produce a continual ⟨p. 60⟩Heaven, in our Souls, and it would place us in those Regions, Whither Storms do not reach, and where God and Rest is Enjoy'd for ever. There ha's been much Talking about, and some Hunting after, a sort of a Powder, which they call, The Philosophers 〈…〉; I will not Expose my self so far as to 〈…〉 my Opinion about the Attaineableness of such a thing: But this I'le say, Tis Morally Attaineable, If a man will drop a few Grains of, CONTENT upon his Peuter, his Iron, Yea, or the Woodden Vessels in his House, he'l turn them into Gold immediately; & on the other side, if a man have never so much Gold without Content, he would be but horribly famished in a Room full of Gold, as your Little Sons at School will tell you, who was of old. Or, to speak more Scripturally; Though the waters whereof you drink, be the waters of March, a little Sprig of Content, thrown into them, would presently take away all their Bitterness. What shall I say more?—But I will Preface nothing more, in the Commendation of Contentment; although you see, tis a Subject so Charming, that one shall rather be a little