N00528:179
Winter-meditations directions how to employ the leisure [sic] of the winter for the glory…Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory…
Winter-meditations directions how to employ the leisure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.
Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris over-against the Old-Meeting-House, 1693
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.
We may be Thankful, that the Winter it self is not so Hard, either as it might be, if God should make it so, or as it is now in some other Lands, yea, or as it has been heretofore among our selves. The Psalmist saw cause to say, in Psal.147.17. Who can stand before His Cold? If God should carry on the Cold unto a little further Extremity upon us, there could be no Standing before it. Or, if the Cold which in its Extremity carries usually but Three Days among us, were Extended for Three Months, instead of any Standing, there could be no Living for us. But, in the midst of the Cold, God Remembers Mercy. And Our Winters indeed are not so fiercely cold, as those of some other Countries. We are not, as Livy speaks of the Alps, Eternis Damnati Nivibus, Doomed unto Eternal Snows! 'Tis not with us, as Olearius tells us, tis in Muscovia, where, Their Spittle will freeze ere it reach the Ground; and so violent is the Cold, that no Furs can hinder it, but sometimes mens Noses, Ears, Hands, and Feet, will be Frozen, and all fall off; And, as the Great Fletcher ⟨p. 42⟩has reported, not only they who Travel abroad, but many in the very Markets of their Towns are mortally pinched, so that you shall see many drop down in the Streets; & many Travellers brought home Dead and stiff in their Sleds. Which is a Report that Sigi•mundus ab Herberstein has also given us Nor is it with us, as Capt. James found it, in some of his Northern Coasting, where, when he and his Companions were a little while parted, they had their Faces, Hair, and Clothes, frozen over that they could not know each other, by their Habits, no, nor by their Voices: Nor, as where Gerat de Ueer was, when their shoes Froze as hard as Horns upon their Feet; nor were they able to wear them; Nor, as where Beauplan tells us, that without Good Precautions, the cold produces those Cancers, which in a few Hours destroy the parts they seize upon.
We may be Thankful, that the Winter it self is not so Hard, either as it might be, if God should make it so, or as it is now in some other Lands, yea, or as it has been heretofore among our selves. The Psalmist saw cause to say, in Psal.147.17. Who can stand before His Cold? If God should carry on the Cold unto a little further Extremity upon us, there could be no Standing before it. Or, if the Cold which in its Extremity carries usually but Three Days among us, were Extended for Three Months, instead of any Standing, there could be no Living for us. But, in the midst of the Cold, God Remembers Mercy. And Our Winters indeed are not so fiercely cold, as those of some other Countreys. We are not, as Livy speaks of the Alps, Eternis Damnati Nivibus, Doom'd unto Eternal Snowes! 'Tis not with us, as Olearius tells us, tis in Muscovia, where, Their Spittle will freeze e're it reach the Ground; and so violent is the Cold, that no Furs can hinder it, but sometimes mens Noses, Ears, Hands, and Feet, will be Frozen, and all fall off; And, as the Great Fletcher