N00441:86
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.
Again, Let us think, The worst Condition that befalls me, may be better for me, than I am aware. To silence our Discontent, our Lord says unto us in the midst o• all our Affliction, as in Joh 13.7. What I do, thou knowest not Now, but thou shalt know Hereafter. Do but look upon the divers. Interpretation, made by Jacob and Joseph, of the very same Affliction. While it was [Now] says Jacob, All these things are against ⟨p. 66⟩me; but when [Hereafter] came, then says Joseph, God meant it unto Good! The Affliction which causes your Discontent, may be your Physic; and it may come to that upshot, Hereby Iniquity is purged. Or, it may be your Ballast; you might soon Overset into some lamentable miscarriages of Soul; and therefore, If need be, you are in Heaviness. Yours Spiritual and Everlasting Welfare may be more than a little promoted, by those things which you are now discontented at Your Sickness and Weakness, may be to save you from, Leanness in your Soul. Your Disasters in your Trades or your E••ds, may be to make you, Rich in Faith. The Reproaches cast upon you, may be to procure your Testimony from the Lord, […] done, Good and Faithful Servant. In a word, Your Afflictions, in themselves, they are but, Light and for a Moment; and besides, they work for you, that is, they work you for, A far more Exceeding and Eternal Wright of Glory. Moreover, they may promote your Temporal Welfare too. How ordinary is it, for mens disappointments to be their deliverances! that they may say, […], Or, I had been undone, if God ⟨p. 67⟩had not kept me from a thing which my mind was extremely set upon! We cannot say, when we Run too Fast, or Creep too Slow; pray then, let us not be discontent, when our Goings are Ordered of the Lord. Said the Psalmist, in Psal. 119.75. Thou in Faithfulness has Afflicted me. You may think that you are going to be Stabbed at Heart; but such may be the Faithfulness of God, that the Sword may only open an Ulcer, which would otherwise have been a Mort•• one. Have you never heard of […] •••ing? Think thus, and be Content!