N00499:35
Optanda. Good men described, and good things propounded. A serious consideration of two very…
Optanda. Good men described, and good things propounded. A serious consideration of two very important cases. I. What should be our spirits, and II. What should be our studies, that so all things may go well among us. / By Cotton Mather. ; In two sermons; whereof one, was preached unto the governor, and General Court, of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England; at their first session: June 9. 1692. ; Published by authority[.]Optanda. Good men described, and good things propounded. A serious consideration of two very important cases. I. What should be our spirits, and II. What should be our studies, that so all things may go well among us. / By Cotton Mather. ; In two sermons; whereof one, was preached unto the governour, and General Court, of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England; at their first session: June 9. 1692. ; Published by authority[.]
Boston: printed by 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.
and instead of any Unscriptural and Ill Computed Conclusions about the precise Time of it, if the man would now vigorously prosecute such Frames and such Works, as we should wish our Lord at His Coming would find us in; it would make the man to be of an Excellent Spirit. ⟨p. 23⟩There is a wonderful Charm, in modest, humble, well-regulated Studies upon the Kingdom of our Lord, which is to Come, When His Will shall be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven; they give a man a certain prelibation of the Glory that shall be in that Kingdom; and they Transfigure him till he become, An Excellent Man. A little before the First Coming of our Lord, there were some that like Simeon and Anna, had cast up Daniels weeks, and finding that they could not be far from the Time of our Lords Coming, they were daily fitting themselves for the Appearance of the Consolation of Israel. Now these were the Excellent Spirits of those Days; and the like Dispositions now, towards the Second Coming of our Lord, would render men the Excellent Ones of ours. When Ezekiel had in a Vision once accurately Looked upon, The Son of Man, from that very Time, the Name of, Son of Man, came to be put upon himself. This I say, Let us be duly concerned about the Coming of the Son of Man, and that Son of Man, will gloriously impart unto us, of His own Excellent Spirit.
and instead of any Unscriptural and Ill Computed Conclusions about the precise Time of it, if the man would now vigorously prosecute such Frames and such Works, as we should wish our Lord at His Coming would find us in; it would make the man to be of an Excellent Spirit. ⟨p. 23⟩There is a wonderful Charm, in modest, humble, well-regulated Studies upon the Kingdom of our Lord, which is to Come, When His Will shall be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven; they give a man a certain prelibation of the Glory that shall be in that Kingdom; and they Transfigure him till he become, An Excellent Man. A little before the First Coming of our Lord, there were some that like Simeon and Anna, had cast up Daniels weeks, and finding that they could not be far from the Time of our Lords Coming, they were daily fitting themselves for the Appearance of the Consolation of Israel. Now these were the Excellent Spirits of those Dayes; and the like Dispositions now, towards the Second Coming of our Lord, would render men the Excellent Ones of ours. When Ezekiel had in a Vision once accurately Look'd upon, The Son of Man, from that very Time, the Name of, Son of Man, came to be put upon himself. This I say, Let us be duly concerned about the Coming of the Son of Man, and that Son of Man, will gloriously impart unto us, of His own Excellent Spirit.