N00592:26
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.
First, Under our Losses we may do well to Consider, Whether it be not Because of mine House that is wast, saith the Lord of Hosts; and ye run every man unto his own House. The Neglect of the Ordinances Administered in the House of God, is here assigned as the Rile of those Losses which befell the Jews of old. God would not fill Their Houses, because they would not Replenish His. They would not Build Gods House, & therefore God would not have Theirs to flourish. They reckoned every thing too Much for the House of God, and so God said every thing was too Good for theirs. There is then a twofold miscarriage, after which we should by our Losses be made Inquisitive. We should Consider, whether we have duly Attended the Ordinances in the House of God. It was Engaged, in Exod. 23.24. Thrice a year, shall all your M•n Children appear before the Lord God; Th•n shall no men desire thy Land. […] we Loose the Profits of our Land, pray, •et us then Enquire, Do we go up so much as once a Year, to the Gospel-Festivals of our Lord Jesus Christ? The first Planters of this ⟨p. 9⟩Country, had a glorious Experiment of it; That as long as men were mostly Concerned about a Room in the House of God, and about Preparing for, and Approaching to the Ordinances of that House, they prospered wonderfully in their Undertakings; but since that Church-Work has been so shamefully cast off by, A Generation of sinful men Risen up in our Fathers stead; and since that instead of Desiring this one thing, to dwell in the House of the Lord the chief Cry has been after Worldly Accommodations; Men do but Loose on all hands, and miserably go down the wind almost all the Country over. It has been said by our Lord, Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. You then that find All these things Taken from you, may do well to Consider, Have I duly sought the Kingdom of God, by joining my self in a Sacred Fellowship, with the People of that Kingdom? God makes us to Loose the Things that were to furnish our Tables; why? Because the Dainties Exhibited upon His TABLE are despised with us. Again, we should Consider, whether we have duly Supported the Ordinances in the House of God. What notable Assurances did ⟨p. 10⟩