N00524:13
The day, & the work of the day. A brief discourse, on what fears…
The day, & the work of the day. A brief discourse, on what fears we may have at this time to quicken us; what hopes there are at this time to comfort us: and what prayers would be likely to turn our prayers into hopes. With reflections upon time and state, now come upon the Church of God, and collections of certain prophecies relating to the present circumstances of New-England. Uttered on a fast, kept in Boston, July 6th. 1693. / By Cotton Mather.
Boston: printed by B. Harris, 1693
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.
Well then, To Quicken both our Godly Fear, and our Fervent Prayer, I have now Read you a Text, which cannot be unseasonable.
One of Jobs Comforters, is here managing a Disputation against that Afflicted Saint, wherein, methinks, he deals but roughly with him; thereunto Instigated, no doubt, by misunderstanding certain passages in the Discourse of Job. It is the Lot of many a good man, to have many an Ill Charge injuriously made upon him. Defamations, the fruit of misconstructions, are among the most usual Trials of the Innocent. Holy Job is here charged, first, with Speaking unwisely, then, with Acting wickedly. As to the Latter, in our ⟨p. 8⟩Text, he is Indicted, for Neglecting both the Inward and the Outward Worship of God. Fear, is by a Synecdoche put for all the Inward, and Prayer, by a like Synecdoche put for all the Outward. The style of our Text, is indeed so Oriental, that we might as lawfully as usefully, illustrate it, with a very various Paraphrase. But we shall confine our selves to the sense most obvious in our own Translation.
The first Article of the Charge is, Thou Castest off Fear. By that Fear is meant Eminently, The Fear of God. When we say, The Word, we use to mean, The Word of God; as if there were no Word but Gods; for indeed there is none so considerable as that Word. Thus, The Fear, here spoken of, may note, The Fear of God; inasmuch as there is no Fear to be like that, wherewith we are to Fear Him who can Cast both Body and Soul into Hell.