N00441:84
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.
Let us Think, It is the Blessed God, who appoints my Condition for me. Although never such Afflictive. Thing do Happen unto […] it is not by mere Hap that they come to pass. It is said in Job 5. 6. Affliction cometh not forth of the Dust, neither do's Trouble Spring out of the Ground. Possibly, we have parted with a Desirable piece of Dust; or, it may be our Delights have been said into the Ground; yet it is not from the Dust or from the Ground, that all these Afflictions come. No, 'tis [to use the Name which the Book of Esther ha's, for, GOD] from, Another PLACE, even from GOD Himself. There is no Affliction that so much gives Discontent unto us, as what ha's the Hand, and perhaps the Spite, of MAN, among the causes of it: when we can say, Such a man […] me, or, such a man ha's wronged me; But let us ⟨p. 63⟩make the Conclusion which David made in such a case, Tis God ha's bidden him! The worst Oppressor, is but an Axe, or a Staff, in the Hand of that God, whose Throne is in the Heavens. The sense of this, will make us apprehend, That nothing but what is Wise, and Just ha's come upon us; and then, What R•om for Discontent! It was a Blasphemy uttered by that Arrogant Prince of Aragon, That he could have mended the Creation of God. A BLASPHEMY as little Differing from That, as Providence is from Creation, would it be to say, That we can mend the Providence of God. If we see GOD, in all that Happens, it will terrify us from the Least Lisp of such a Blasphemy. They said concerning our Lord, in Mark. 7. 37. He ha's done all things well. Who dare say any other about the Works of that GOD, who is, Wise in Counsel, and Wonderful in Working! Truly, A Regenerate Soul ha's used often to say, I can take any thing well as the Hands of my God. The most Common, and believe me, not the least Sinful, Discontents of men, are spent upon the Little Accidents of Humane Life; ⟨p. 64⟩Cross Accidents of the Weather, or in a Journey, and the like, do every Day raise a Pe•, in the Minds of Men. But what? Can't you take such a Thing well, at the Hands of your God? I tell you, There is the Hand of God in every one of those little Accidents, and you know not but the End of God may be greater in them, than you are well aware.