N00570:87
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.
To Conclude; Wh•t the Prophet Samuel said unto the General Assembly of Israel, I must say to You this Day. Stand still, that I may Reason with You, before the Lord, of all the Righteous Acts, which He did unto You, and unto Your Fathers!
A CHARTER being once granted unto the Governor and Company of the Massachusett-Bay, the Persecuted Puritans in the English Nation seeing that Ice broken, which had kept them in a Sea of Fire, began to accept the American Offers, of a Retreat for the Pure Worshippers of our Lord into a Wilderness. Many Gentlemen of Ancient, and Worshipful Families; Many Ministers of the Gospel, then of Great Fame at Home; and Merchants, Husbandmen, Artificers, to the Number of some thousands, did then Remove into these Regions; though 'twas indeed a Banishment, rather than a Removal which was undergone, by this glorious Generation, Sufficiently Afflictive to men of Estate, Breeding, and Conversation. And, as the Hazard which they ran in this undertaking, was of such Extraordinariness, that nothing less than a Strange and Strong Impression from Heaven could have thereunto moved such Persons as were in it; so the Expense, with which they carried on the ⟨p. 65⟩Undertaking, for Twelve years together▪ was truly Extraordinary. By a Compute tion, which I have seen; There was vastly more than Two Hundred Thousand Pounds laid out, for the first Settlement of the Plantation; and there were then Employed about an Hundred and Ninety Eight Ships, in passing the Perils of the Seas, to accomplish this Renowned Settlement, whereof by the way, but One miscarried in those Perils. Briefly, The God of Heaven, as it were Served a Summons upon the Spirits of His People, in the English Nation; Stirring up the Spirits of Thousands, who never saw the Faces of each other, with a most Unanimous Inclination, to leave all the Pleasant Accommodations of their Native Country, and Go over a Terrible Ocean, into a more Terrible Desert; and all this, for; The Pure Enjoyment of all His Ordinances. How many Thousands of Pounds, and which is more Considerable, How many Thousands of Lives, have since gone, to keep up the Hedges about this Vineyard of God, I leave to Your own Enquiries All that is now called for, is, That we Consider with our selves, Whether the Loss of such a Country, in Barbarous Confusions, for the want of Looking well after its Hedges,