N00570:40
The short history of New-England. A recapitulation of wonderful passages which have occurred, first…The short history of New-England. A recapitulation of wonderful passages which have occurr'd, first…
The short history of New-England. A recapitulation of wonderful passages which have occurred, first in the protections, and then in the afflictions, of New-England. : With a representation of certain matters calling for the singular attention of that country. Made at Boston-lecture, in the audience of the great and General Assembly of the province of the Massachusett-Bay, June 7. 1694. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Four lines from Samuel]The short history of New-England. A recapitulation of wonderful passages which have occurr'd, first in the protections, and then in the afflictions, of New-England. : With a representation of certain matters calling for the singular attention of that country. Made at Boston-lecture, in the audience of the great and General Assembly of the province of the Massachusett-Bay, June 7. 1694. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Four lines from Samuel]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1694
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; Is there any Unfinished, or Undesired part, yet left in this Hedge? To Prize what we have, is the way for us to Gain what we have not. Unthankfulness to God and the King, will but bring upon us the Fate of Hypocrites, To have, even what we seem to have, Taken away. If We shall reckon, that the maturest and liveliest Consultations, are too painful Things, to keep up such an Hedge, I shall take leave to say, I believe, There is not, besides Us, that People upon the face of the whole Earth, which would be of Our Opinion. But besides all of those Endeavours, our Anniversary Endeavours, for the Fixing of Good Stakes in such an Hedge, are also called for; Good Stakes, I say, for which we have this Encouraging Advantage, that when once in, they cannot without the concurrence of our own Hands, be plucked up.
Secondly, A Good Ministry, ha's been the H•dge of our Land. At and For our ⟨p. 20⟩[…] Settlement, there came over the […] Ocean, Seventy Seven Orthodox […], Able Ministers, in the Actual Service of the Churches; besides, Twice Seven more, Candidates in Divinity, who quickly after were thrust forth as Labourers, in the Harvest of the Lord: by which wonderful Secession, there were not known to be left so many Non-conformist Ministers in England, when the Dismal Civil Wars begun, as there were Counties in the Kingdom. And what an Hedge have we had in those Eminent Men of God? As they were the Chariots, and the Horse-men, so, they were the Hedge, of our Israel! It was especially by being Israels, or men who had Power in Wrestling with God, that they were so. It was foretold, and what was foretold was fulfilled, concerning some of them, That as long as they Lived, New-England should be preserved from any General Desolations. This Peerless Hedge, ha's been, all, saving two or three of the Second Lester Classis, taken away; the Hedge ha's been Transplanted into the upper Eden of God. And let some Shamefully Paganizing Villages in our Borders now intimate unto us, what woeful Inroads of Ignorance, of Wickedness, of Barbarity, had we now, Suffered, if ou• God, ⟨p. 21⟩