N00570:42
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; Would we have this Hedge maintained? It is a Quick-set Hedge; and it must not be Sapped, it must not be Starved, there must not be withheld from it, more than is meet; nor may we think, that it can maintain it self. Would we not have all […] of Soul destroyers to become rampant ⟨p. 22⟩[…] among us? This is the Hedge that must keep them out! If we would have our, Little Flocks guarded against grievous Wolves, they are not severe Laws against Heretical Pravities, but it it a Learned, an Holy, and a Countenanced Ministry that must be our Hedge. And of this matter I speak the more anxiously, because as I have heretofore most Publicly declared, even when things were more quiet this way, than it seems, they now begin to be, within a few Miles of us, I am verily persuaded, That when-ever we shall come to have a Little more of Rest, from those mischiefs of War, and Fear, which now Embroil us, we shall have some Storm of Heresies terribly threatening to sink our most Holy Faith. Methinks, I feel the Breeding, I see the Gathering, of such a Storm, in some things not now to be insisted on. Remember, I beseech you, the Humble Praemonitions, which have this Day, been given unto you, That upon a Moral Prognostication, poor New-England will much of it be Swallowed up in Heresy, and much in Atheism, within a little while, if we are not in good Earnest about Sufficiently Supporting, a Sufficient Ministry, as our Hedge, when the Blast of the Terrible One, is as a Storm against the Wall.
Well; Would we have this Hedge mentained? It is a Quick-sett Hedge; and it must not be Sapped, it must not be Starved, there must not be witheld from it, more than is meet; nor may we think, that it can mentain it self. Would we not have all 〈…〉 of Soul destroyers to become rampant ⟨p. 22⟩〈…〉 among us? This is the Hedge that must keep them out! If we would have our, Little Flocks guarded against grievous Wolves, they are not severe Laws against Haeretical Pravities, but it it a Learned, an Holy, and a Countenanced Ministry that must be our Hedge. And of this matter I speak the more anxiously, because as I have heretofore most Publickly declared, even when things were more quiet this way, than it seems, they now begin to be, within a few Miles of us, I am verily perswaded, That when-ever we shall come to have a Little more of Rest, from those mischiefs of War, and Fear, which now Embroil us, we shall have some Storm of Heresies terribly threatning to sink our most Holy Faith. Methinks, I feel the Breeding, I see the Gathering, of such a Storm, in some things not now to be insisted on. Remember, I beseech you, the Humble Praemonitions, which have this Day, been given unto you, That upon a Moral Prognostication, poor New-England will much of it be Swallowed up in Haeresy, and much in Atheism, within a little while, if we are not in good Earnest about Sufficiently Supporting, a Sufficient Ministry, as our Hedge, when the Blast of the Terrible One, is as a Storm against the Wall.