N00592:25
Durable riches. Two brief discourses, occasioned by the impoverishing blast of heaven, which the…
Durable riches. Two brief discourses, occasioned by the impoverishing blast of heaven, which the undertakings of men, both by sea and land, have met withal. : The one, handling, the true cause of loosing; the other, giving, the true way of thriving. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Four lines of quotations in Latin]
Boston: printed by John Allen for Vavasour Harris, 1695
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.
Secondly, When we have met with Losses, we are to Consider the Ground for which those Losses com•. The God of Heaven sent one Wasting Plague▪ ⟨p. 7⟩after another upon the poor Jews, till at last they Lost all they had in the World; but then said He, in Ezek. 14.23. Ye shall know that I have not without a Cause, done all that I have done in it, saith the Lord. Our Losses are usually the fruit and sign of Gods Quarrels. Ordinarily our God is managing of some Controversy with us when He causes us to Loose those things that were Comfortable to us. [We may allude unto Ezra 7.26.] It would be a Profitable thing for us to Loose what is Comfortable, if we might be brought thereby to Mourn for, and to Turn from our Sins, and to Humble our selves before God, with a deep Repentance. It becomes us then under our Losses, to Consider, What is the Cause of such Dispensations, and to Supplicate, as in Job. 10.2. Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. In our Text, the Lord makes a, Why? upon the Losses of the People. Truly, it becomes us also to use a, Why? upon our Losses. Put the Question, Why am I thus? Why will not God permit me to Enjoy what he has bestowed upon me? We are here informed, That our Ways are to be considered, when our Losses come in upon us; it seems, that in the sinfulness of our ⟨p. 8⟩own Ways, we are to Look for the Reasons of our Losses. Particularly, To begin with what lies before us;
Secondly, VVhen we have met with Losses, we are to Consider the Ground for which those Losses com•. The God of Heaven sent one VVasting Plague▪ ⟨p. 7⟩after another upon the poor Jews, till at last they Lost all they had in the VVorld; but then said He, in