N00570:84
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.
Pray! Said I? Yea, Let us Fast as well as Pray. The Prophet speaking not only or chiefly about the Weekly Sabbath, but about a Fasting Sabbath, saith to them who are much in the Exact Celebration of it, as in Isa. 58.52. Thou shalt be called, the Repairer of the Breach. Sometimes One man, that ha's been much in such Extraordinary Devotions, ha's be•• Openly Rewarded by the God who sees in Secre••, with a more than Ordinary Figure in Repairing the Hedges of His Israel. Ponder the Example of that Gre•• Man, who in the Account which he himself Published, of his Negotiation at the Cou•t of Persia for his People, tells us, Neh. 1.3, 4. They said […] me, The Wall of Jer•••lem is […]!—When I heard these […] and Mourned […] and Prayed before the […] ▪ Give m• your Attention! When a People are Insensible of the Impairments ⟨p. 62⟩befalling their Hedges and their Interests, and perhaps, as tis commonly done, do themselves confound their own Hedges and Interests, I conceive, there is a more proper Enchantment therein, than men are well aware of: We need not at this time Explain this Conception any further, than by using words near to the Apostles, They are a Foolish People, and something ha's bewitched them. While a People are thus under Enchantment, it is a Vain thing, to Advise them, to Exhort them, to Warn them; till they are Unbewitched, things will take their course, as if they were under a sort of Irresistible Fatality, and men will be so Exceeding Fierce, that no man may cross them in their way. Now, if a man have, The Right Skill of Encountering Enchantments, he may do great things for the People of God; he may be a Glorious Instrument of bringing things to rights. And shall I tell you, what is that Skill? Wherein lies the Strength of the Sampson, that shall do such a Thing? I'll tell you at Once; Tis in Fasting and Prayer before that God, who formeth the Spirit of man within him.
Pray! Said I? Yea, Let us Fast as well as Pray. The Prophet speaking not only or chiefly about the Weekly Sabbath, but about a Fasting Sabbath, saith to them who are much in the Exact Celebration of it, as in Isa. 58.52. Thou shalt be called, the Repairer of the Breach. Sometimes One man, that ha's been much in such Extraordinary Devotions, ha's be Openly Rewarded by the God who sees in Secre, with a more than Ordinary Figure in Repairing the Hedges of His Israel. Ponder the Example of that Gre Man, who in the Account which he himself Published, of his Negotiation at the Cout of Persi for his People, tells us,