N00499:48
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.
My Text in general Terms, does give us an Account of the Circumstances which attended the Restoration of the Jews out of their Calamities. There was first, a Serious Humiliation, on mans part; there was then a Gracious, Reconciliation on Gods part; and upon this it follows, Things went well; or as it may be rendered, There were good Things among them. As there were the Good Things, which produced Good Terms between God and Them; the Good Things of Repentance, of Obedience, of Reformation; so there were the Good Things which were the effects of such Good Terms as those; namely, the Good Things, of Prosperity. Good Times are implied in the Good Things, that were now among the people of God. Things went well; the meaning is, They had not Needy, Hungry, Bloody, Strangers any more to Lord it over them; There were no Shishaks to squeeze hard Quitrents from them for what they had before possessed as their Free-holds Time out of mind; As to their Sacred Concerns, there was none to give them Disturbance in the Worship of God; As to their Civil Concerns, there was now no Law, and no Tax, imposed upon them, except what their own Acts concurred unto. Things went well, when the Times grew both Morally, and Peaceably Better than they were before.
My Text in general Terms, does give us an Account of the Circumstances which attended the Restoration of the Jews out of their Calamities. There was first, a Serious Humiliation, on mans part; there was then a Gracious, Reconciliation on Gods part; and upon this it follows, Things went well; or as it may be rendred, There were good Things among them. As there were the Good Things, which produced Good Terms between God and Them; the Good Things of Repentance, of Obedience, of Reformation; so there were the Good Things which were the effects of such Good Terms as those; namely, the Good Things, of Prosperity. Good Times are imply'd in the Good Things, that were now among the people of God. Things went well; the meaning is, They had not Needy, Hungry, Bloody, Strangers any more to Lord it over them; There were no Shishaks to squeez hard Quitrents from them for what they had before possess'd as their Free-holds Time out of mind; As to their Sacred Concerns, there was none to give them Disturbance in the Worship of God; As to their Civil Concerns, there was now no Law, and no Tax, imposed upon them, except what their own Acts concurr'd unto. Things went well, when the Times grew both Morally, and Peaceably Better than they were before.