N00499:52
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.
FIRST, One General Assertion, which we may advance, as Preliminary to our more Particular Thoughts, that are to follow. 'Tis This;
Good Men are Good Things among any People; and Things will go well with a People, when Good Men abound among them. Good Men have much of God with them; 'tis to Them, that the God of Heaven says, I am with thee; so that if we have many such Men of God among us, the God of those men, will therein vouchsafe His own Presence unto us; now, the presence of God carries all sorts of Blessings with it. He says, Woe to them, if I depart from them; and we may say, It will be well with us, if God be with us; now, God our Father, will be where many of His Children are. It was said concerning a Sinful Nation, in Isai.6.13. ⟨p. 35⟩The Holy seed, shall be the substance thereof; that is, the Stock or Trunk of it. As the strength of a tree, is in the stock or trunk of it; so the strength of a people do's lie in a Number of Holy men among them; Holy Men, that have wholly Dedicated themselves unto the Service and Glory of God: Holy men that are afraid of defiling themselves with any Breaches of piety, or charity in their conversation: Holy men, to whom the character of Barnabas belongs, They are good men and full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost; of such men I may say, They are the chariots of a people, & the Horsemen thereof, we should be well-guarded, if there were good store of such good men among us. Good men are Gap-men, to keep off the Judgments of Heaven, from the people, which they belong unto. It is recorded of a good Moses, in Psal. 106. 23. He stood before the Lord, in the Breach, to turn away His wrath, Lest he should destroy them. Israel cannot be Ruined, until a good Josiah be gone; and Hippo cannot be taken, while a good Augustine is alive. It was a marvellous expression, which the Lord used unto Lot, in Gen. 19. 22. I cannot do any thing against Sodom, till thou be come to Zoar. Blessed Lord, Can one Righteous Man, thus ward off the Blows of thy Vengeance, from a sinful Neighbourhood! yea, so it is. Good men