N00499:58
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.
To speak yet more particularly.
First. Things will go well, when Magistrates are themselves great instances of what is Holy, and Just, and Good. Every Magistrate, when he do's Well, or Ill, is a sort of Briareus; it is with, An hundred hands, that he do's what he does. I might say to them Ita Nati estis, ut Bona, Malaque Vestra ad Rempublicam pertineant. The wise man has told us, in Eccl. 10. 17. Blessed art thou, O Land when thy Princes eat in due season, for Strength, and not for Drunkenness; that is, when Magistrates are Sober, Temperate, Moderate men. Even so, I say; Tis a Blessed Land, whose Magistrates are Men that have Renounced the Flesh, the World, and the Devil; and entirely consecrated themselves to God in Christ, according to his Eternal Covenant. ⟨p. 41⟩Blessed is the Land, whose Magistrates, have hearts that prefer the Interest of God, above all secular Considerations whatsoever. Blessed is the Land, whose Magistrates keep up a Constant Communion with God, in all the methods of Devotion every Day: & can heartily speak those memorable words of that Noble Italian Marquess, That mans money may, for all me, perish with him, who counts all the riches of the Indies, worth one Days communion with God. Magistrates will make a Blessed Land when they do, as it was reported of a great Emperour, Soepius cum Deo, quam cum Hominibus loqui, converse more with God than Men. It is for this cause that New-England has been a Bliss-Land hitherto; and may it still continue so! Such Magistrates, when they carry their Own Souls, to the most High God, for his Blessing on them, they obtain the like Blessing for their People too; and in all the concerns of their people, they visit the Wonderful Counsellor. Nor can it easily be expressed, how powerfully their Examples will diffuse the Fear of God into all that are about or under them. Regis ad Exemplum, and, Magnates Magnets. Holiness, and virtue, grow into Fashion, when such men become exemplary for it. The great Ridley said once of our last King Edward, As he was the Highest ⟨p. 42⟩