N00592:28
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, Under our Losses, we may do well to Consider, Whether we never made Idols of those things, whereof we now undergo the Losses. When the Jews were guilty of nefandous Idolatries, this was the Judgment of God upon them for those Idolatries, in Ezek. 16 27. Behold, I have stretched out my Hand over thee, and I have diminished thine Ordinary Food. As for us, 'tis chiefly one sort of Idolatry which we are most prone unto; even that whereof the Apostle speaks, Covetousness, which is Idolatry. When our Hearts come to be Inordinately ⟨p. 12⟩set upon things here below, then 'tis that by one Loss after another, those things are Diminished unto us. To Love any of these things extremely, is the way to Loose that thing certainly and speedily. Let any Gourd, be overvalued, and it won't be long before that Gourd shall be withered. A miserable Indian at Mexico once very solemnly held up a piece of Gold, saying, Behold, this is the Spaniards God! Even so it may be said about the Cash, or Shop, or House, or Ship, or Field of many a man; There […] the God of that man. The man does more depend upon those things, for a Subsistence, than upon the Almighty God Himself; The man will forget God, and all the Works and Laws of Religion, rather than abate of his raging pursuit after these things. This 'tis to make Idols of them▪ Well then, says the Blessed God, Since this man will make Idols of these things, they shall be Idols indeed! Now an Idol you know is Nothing at all. So, we Loose all, till all come to Nothing. It was said in Prov. 23.5. Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not? For Riches certainly make themselves Wings. Riches are a Fine, Gay, Speckled Bird; but it is a Bird in the Bush, not a Bird in the Hand; ⟨p. 13⟩and it is our setting our Eyes too much upon it, that causes its Flight from us, that is, our Loss of it.
Secondly, Under our Losses, we may do well to Consider, Whether we never made Idols of those things, whereof we now undergo the Losses. VVhen the Jews were guilty of nefandous Idolatries, this was the Judgment of God upon them for those Idolatries, in