N00619:13
Things for a distressed people to think upon. Offered in the sermon to the…Things for a distress'd people to think upon. Offered in the sermon to the…
Things for a distressed people to think upon. Offered in the sermon to the General Assembly of the province, of the Massachusetts Bay, at the anniversary election. May, 27. 1696. Wherein, I. the condition of the future, as well as the former times, in which we are concerned, is considered. II. A narrative of the late wonderful deliverance, of the King, and the three kingdoms, & all the English dominions, is endeavoured. III. A relation, of no less than seven miracles, within this little while wrought by the Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, for the confirmation of our hopes, that some glorious works, for the welfare of his church, are quickly to be done, is annexed. / By Cotton Mather.Things for a distress'd people to think upon. Offered in the sermon to the General Assembly of the province, of the Massachusetts Bay, at the anniversary election. May, 27. 1696. Wherein, I. the condition of the future, as well as the former times, in which we are concerned, is considered. II. A narrative of the late wonderful deliverance, of the King, and the three kingdoms, & all the English dominions, is endeavoured. III. A relation, of no less than seven miracles, within this little while wrought by the Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, for the confirmation of our hopes, that some glorious works, for the welfare of his church, are quickly to be done, is annexed. / By Cotton Mather.
printed by B. Green for Duncan Campbel, 1696
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.
We have Three Things here done, by a General Assembly of Israel.
First, The Drew Water, and poured it out […] the Lord. This passage puts Interpreters, as •he Dead Body of Asahel did the Travellers, and Spectators, unto a Stand; they almost content themselves with saying, Mirabilis hic locus, ac Difficilis; 'Tis too hard for us to Interpret it. But, if the Exposition, which we have already guessed, will not hit, there are several other Conjectures to be made upon the Literal Sense of this passage, which we will at present wave; that we may in the room thereof substitute that Figurative Sense, which has no less Authority, than that of the Chaldee Paraphrase to support it; Hauserunt Aquas e puteo cordis sui, et abunde Lacrymati sunt coram Domino. And indeed, Expositors do mostly go this way; Expounding it of the plentiful Years which they shed in such abundance, as if, to use the the words of the Weeping Prophet elsewhere, Their Heads had been Waters, and their Eyes a Fountain of Tears. However, Let us take what ⟨p. 6⟩Sense we will, of all that the Commentators have ordinarily offered us, the words will still have some Sense of Humiliation in them. The other two passages, are more Intelligible.
First, The Drew Water, and poured it out 〈…〉 the Lord. This passage puts Interpreters, as •he Dead Body of Asahel did the Travellers, and Spectators, unto a Stand; they almost content themselves with saying, Mirabilis hic locus, ac Difficilis; 'Tis too hard for us to Interpret it. But, if the Exposition, which we have already guess'd, will not hitt, there are several other Conjectures to be made upon the Literal Sense of this passage, which we will at present wave; that we may in the room thereof substitute that Figurative Sense, which has no less Authority, than that of the Chaldee Paraphrase to support it; Hauserunt Aquas e puteo cordis sui, et abunde Lacrymati sunt coram Domino. And indeed, Expositors do mostly go this way; Expounding it of the plentiful Years which they shed in such abundance, as if, to use the the words of the Weeping Prophet elsewhere, Their Heads had been Waters, and their Eyes a Fountain of Tears. However, Let us take what