N00499:83
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.
If Contempt of Learning once become the prevailing Spirit of this Country, we are a People apace Running down in all sorts of Ruins unavoidable. May there be then placed the Marks of our singular Affection, upon that River, The Streams whereof have made Glad, the City of God! It is That upon which ⟨p. 67⟩depends the welfare of the next, as well as the present Generation; And,
If Contempt of Learning once become the prevailing Spirit of this Country, we are a People apace Running down in all sorts of Ruines unavoidable. May there be then placed the Marks of our singular Affection, upon that River, The Streams whereof have made Glad, the City of God! It is That upon which ⟨p. 67⟩depends the welfare of the next, as well as the present Generation; And,
Hac Casti maneant in Religione Nepotes.
Thirdly. Things will go well, when a people do neither want, nor chill, any Public Spirits among them. What is the first cause, why things do not go well in our days? Tis intimated in 2 Tim. 3. 1. 2. In the Last days perilous times shall come: Why so? First, Because men shall be lovers of their own Selves. That is, men shall so Love Themselves, as to love no body else. But when there is a plentiful set of men, that are sincerely desirous to Know what they may Do, and to Do what they shall Know, for the service of the Public; Such men will do much to make things go well where they come. They that have a single Eye at, The good of many, in such things as they propose and pursue; They with whom the old Heathenish virtue, Pietas in Patriam, is become a Christian Grace; and they whose chief Mark is not, They seek their own things, will cause Things to go well indeed! A Soldier in a Battle, having received his Deaths-wound, cried out, O that I had another life to lose for my Lord-Jesus Christ! They that are Blest