N00570:60
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.
Give me leave to become your Monitor, in and by This ONE Reflection. The Devil, is more desirous to Regain poor New England, than any one American Spot of Ground, whose Inhabitants have yet heard the Silver-Trumpets of the Gospel; he would have more of Triumph, and of Trophy, upon such a Victory! And you need not forget how Victorious the Devil sometimes ha's been, in Signalizing for his Revived worship, those very Places, which had been most notably Devoted unto the Servi•e of God. At Gilgal had been the Ark of God; but afterwards, All the Wickedness in Gilgal! At Bethel had been the House of God; but afterwards, Bethel is Bethaven! They say, where Dodanim the Grand-son of Japheth, Instructed People in the true Knowledge of God, There came to be all the Idolatries of Dod•na's Grove. I think, Jerome tell us, That in the place of our Lords Crucifixion, there came to be a Statue to Venus, and in the place of our Lords Resurrection, a Statue of Jupiter. What ha's befallen, the Renowned Churches of Asia, ha's been told in America, that we may Repent, lest we likewise Perish. And now, what ⟨p. 38⟩if in those parts of New England, where the Lord Jesus Christ ha's heretofore most Eminently Exhibited Himself unto the Souls of them that followed Him into a Wilde•ness, there should ere long be but, The Habitations of Owls and Dragons! I would Humbly Request my Neighbours, in Sober Sadness to Consider, Whether the most unaccountable and unparall•llable Descent of Devils, lately made, especially about the Centre of this Province, wherein so many poor Creatures have been Afflicted, with proposals of the most horrible Devil Worship, Spectrally tendered unto them, were not Intended for a most Ominous Prodigy, unto us. Consider, whether, we have not had, as it were in a Magical Glass, fore-shown unto us, what a Kingdom the Devils may yet again have, when the Sun of Righteousness leaves off to Shine, in these Goings down of the Sun! And as for those Particular Churches in the Land, who are under a Sensible Withdraw of their Ancient Glory from them, to them I will only repeat the Solemn words of a Famous Divine, unto Old Boston, in Lincolnshire, partly upon the Occasion of Mr. Cottons going from thence; words Printed about Forty years ago; I have, said he, Sometimes on purpose ⟨p. 39⟩