N00524:68
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.
First. As for Prayer in your Retirements, Let Fear drive you to it. If the Angels of God, that are Invisibly present at this Instant here, might become Audible to the whole Assembly, could they not point out incredibly many, one after another ⟨p. 41⟩of us, and say, 'Tis a good part of a week at least since those persons, were upon their Knees Retired for Secret Prayer before the Lord! How few Solomons are there, in Retirements, plying the Throne of Grace, for Divine Wisdom and Knowledge to be vouchsafed unto them! How few Nehemiahs are there, in Retirements, Beseeching the God of Heaven to Bless all their Undertakings! How few Jacobs are there, in Retirements, Crying to God, that neither they, nor their Children, may miscarry! And how few Nathanaels! Nathanael knew what it was to be alone under a Fig tree, conversing with God; and our Lord said, of him, in Joh. 1. 47. Behold, An Israelite indeed, in whom is no Gu••e. But you that have no such a Retired Conversation with God, may then Fear, that you are not Israelites, that you are but Hypocrites, before Him. What saith our Lord? Pray to thy Father which is in Secret. So then, you that go without Secret Prayer from Day to Day, ⟨p. 42⟩may Fear, whether God be your Father or no; but if God be not thy Father, man, what a Black Father hast thou? You are worse than Balaam himself, of whom 'tis reported, That he went alone, to meet the Lord: and you may then Fear, that you shall never have Balaam's wish, To Die the Death of the Righteous. Yea, on the Day, when you go abroad without Secret Prayer, you may Fear what the Righteous God may Leave you to; to what Sins, what Plagues, the Justice of God may Leave you in that Cloudy Day. Such a Day to poor Origen, became the Day of his Lamentable Fall, at which all Ages have been since Amazed. That your Fear may be the more sti••r'd, •'l Report unto you, That an Ancient Professor belonging to this ••ery Church, in whose House we are now together, after many years of good Repute with good people became a […], for which he was from this Holy Society Excommunicated. ⟨p. 43⟩