N00619:24
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 could, in a Synod of our Churches, near Seventeen years ago, charge our selves with Epidemical Breaches of all the Rules ⟨p. 11⟩of Love, to God, and man. And verily, t'would be a brave Sponge to Dry up our Tears, if we could say, that we are mended since the Admonitions of that faithful Synod, But besides the more common Violations of the Divine Law among us, there are more Special out-breakings of Sin, in the midst of us, for which, no Tears are enough. We may say, but Oh! not without our Tears, as in Jer. 5.30. A wonderful & Horrible Thing is committed in the Land. The Land was fearfully Defiled, by the Impieties of the Indians, which were the first Inhabitants. Now, is it not A Wonderful & an Horrible Thing, for so many English that have Succeeded them, to Indianize, and by the Indian Vices of Lying, and Idleness, and Sorcery, and a notorious want of all Family-Discipline, to become obnoxious unto the old Score, and Store of wrath due unto the Land? Is it not a Wonderful & an Horrible thing, that the Sins of Sodom, should so much prevail in a Land, which was once a Land of Uprightness? For, this was the Iniquity of our Sister Sodom, Pride, Fullness of Bread, and Abundance of Idleness; neither did she strengthen the Hand of the Poor & Needy: The whole Spirit of all their Dealings, was, it seems, a General contrivance to Oppress, one another. Is it not a Wonderful & an Horrible Thing, that in such a Land as this, there should be the Sins that made the Old Land of Canaan, Vomit out ⟨p. 12⟩her Inhabitants? For so did those Infandous, & Confounded, Mixtures, that have openly shown their Heads among our selves. There was a Time, when one Returning from hence to England, could in a Sermon to a very Honourable Auditory, give this Report concerning us, I have been Seven years in a Country, where I never beheld one common Beggar, I never saw one man Drunk; I never heard one Profane Oath, for all the Time of my being there. But is it not a Wonderful & an Horrible Thing, that the Vices of Drinking & Swearing, are now every Day, the objects of our Observation; I pray, let it be a Sorrowful Observation? And is it not a Wonderful & an Horrible Thing ▪ that it should be a Complaint made about New England, Righteousness once Lodged in it, but now Murderers? I do speak it, with a Great concern of Soul;