N00619:22
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.
I am sure there are such Things as these to bespeak our Tears.
First, The Horrid Sins committed in the Land, yea, commonly committed, loudly call for our Tears. Alas, it may be said of us, That we have been Drinking in Iniquity like water. How much ought we then to, Drop it away in Tears, as I may say, when we p•ur out Water before the Lord! Bloody Crimes, like those, the Imputation whereof, made our Lord Jesus Christ, Sweat out His very Blood, have abounded among us; and will they not cause us to weep? Truly, Tears of Blood, were little enough to bewail our Bloody, Scarlet, Crimson Abominations. There is not one of all the Ten Commandments, in the Law, which our God has given us, but people are notoriously violating of it, from one end of the Land unto the other. While our Land is full of Unconverted, Unrenewed, Unsanctified Sinners, how should it be any other than full of all Ungodliness! And yet such is the vast multitude of Dead Souls among us, or of Souls which do not Live unto God, by virtue of Union with the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may with Horror say, There is hardly an House, in which there is not one ⟨p. 10⟩Dead: Nor may we wonder at it, if the Holy God in His Dispensations, treat our Land, as Unclean, when the Dead in all Societies are so very many. Truly, If we had a real kindness for the Holy and Just and Good Law of our God, or for our Neighbours, that Ruin themselves by sinning against that Law, we shall in some sort say with him, in Psal. 119.136. Rivers of waters […] down my Eyes, because they keep not thy Law. Oh! shall we not mourn, when we see, That the World is become the Idol, of almost all our little World, but the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Great Salvation very little considered? That the Institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ are shamefully neglected, and the Superstitions of a vain Conversation practised? That the Names, Words, Works and Ordinances, and Providences, of the Lord Jesus Christ, are most Irreverently & Unprofitably looked upon? And, That we have a Profane Indisposition to the Sabbaths of the Lord? Shall we not Mourn when we see the Disorder which confounds all Societies, and the Selfishness which depraves the most in all Societies? Our Hating & Vexing of one another? Our Unchastity in all sorts of Pollution? Our Injustice in our Dealings? Our manifold Falsehood in our Affairs? Our Discontent in every Station?