N00524:91
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.
I Reply, Secondly; We have Hopes ⟨p. 69⟩in the Hastening Time of Reformation, which our God will Hasten in his Time. If the Man of Sin Entered his Last Half Time! or his last Hundred and Eighty Years, as no doubt he did, at the Reformation, which Commenced about the Year 1517. We may then have a Lively Hope, that we are within a very few years, of a Reformation, more Heavenly, more Extensive, more Glorious, than the Church of God has ever yet been favoured with. But shall we be forgotten in this Time? We may presume that neither God, nor the King, will then forget us.
I Reply, Secondly; We have Hopes ⟨p. 69⟩in the Hastning Time of Reformation, which our God will Hasten in his Time. If the Man of Sin Entred his Last Half Time! or his last Hundred and Eighty Years, as no doubt he did, at the Reformation, which Commenced about the Year 1517. We may then have a Lively Hope, that we are within a very few years, of a Reformation, more Heavenly, more Extensive, more Glorious, than the Church of God has ever yet been favoured with. But shall we be forgotten in this Time? We may presume that neither God, nor the King, will then forget us.
I Reply, Thirdly; We have Hopes in the Yearly and Holy Fruits of our College; that Blessed Nursery of our Israel. The Lord may say unto us, I have Raised up of your Sons for Prophets; for which that man among us, who is not now greatly Thankful to God, is not worthy the Name of, A New-Englandman. There is a most Hopeful produce of Scholars arising out of that Society; Young men, admirably Accomplished in all parts of Literature; Young men of most Enlarged Souls; and, which is better still, Young Men, full of Piety; no Strangers to the New-Birth; nor unacquainted with High ⟨p. 70⟩Experiments in practical Religion; such as know what it is to be continually Fasting as well as Praying for the Blessing of God, not upon themselves alone, but upon all concerned in them. Destroy not that People; saith our God; is there not a Blessing among them? And as for You, Brethren, that are thus coming on; Be Encouraged and Know, That the God of your Fathers has a greater work for you to do for Him, than what He has yet Employed your Fathers in.