N00499:53
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.
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 ⟨p. 36⟩occasion all Things to Go well in the places where they Live; and they do it, partly by stopping and checking the current of wickedness, which would else lay all open to the Indignation of God: partly by propagating of what is virtuous, and laudable, among those that are about them; but chiefly by their fervent Prayers, whereby they Intercede with God for their poor Neighbours, and say, I will not let thee go, except thou bless them.