N00619:28
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.
Those things, which have been our Glory, they are gradually Removing from us. Oh! with Tears, do our Ancient ⟨p. 17⟩men cry out, Where is the Glory of the Ancient Things! And shall I say it? As the Grand-child of Moses, 'tis judged, became an Idolater: So, There are very many Families, of Everlasting Renown throughout New-England, wherein some or other of the Grand-children, are become either foolish, or wicked, and it may be notorious Children of the Devil: the first and great Apostate. Those Things, which their Grand fathers would sooner have died, than have Done, these Degenerous Creatures, do them every Day.—At non ille Satum, quo te menti•is. Wretch, If thy Grandfather had imagined, that ever thou wouldest have become, such a pitiful Thing, he would have swum in his own Tears, unto his Grave upon it. Yea, our people, have for many years been going on in a course of long Apostasy. I will not Enquire, Whether the Principles of Church-Reformation, upon which we were at first Established, begin to be Deserted among us? I won't so much as Enquire, Whether we are Loosing that Principle, That no party of men whatsoever, have any just Authority to appoint any parts or means of Divine Worship, which the Lord Jesus Christ has not in the Scriptures Instituted? I won't so much as Enquire, Whether we are Loosing that Principle, That a probable, and a credible, and a tried Profession of a Saving Faith is to be expected from all that we Admit unto the ⟨p. 18⟩Table of the Lord? For us to Loose those Principles, already, would be too quick a Degeneracy, to be imagined. I know very well, that Apostasy has been sometimes unreasonably charged among us: Those things that were Incontestably, The First Principles of New-England, when asserted and practised, have been called, an Apostasy. The Principles of Morellianism, and Separation, were none of our First Principles: Nevertheless, the Principles of a Scriptural Purity in our Whole Worship, were so much our First Principles, that the Lord Jesus Christ, I am verily persuaded, will abhor us, and forsake us, upon our Abandoning thereof. But, I will Enquire, Whether our First Love to the Lord Jesus Christ, and his Evangelical Appointments be not almost I oft? And, whether we have not almost Lost the old Power of Godliness, in our Conversations?
Those things, which have been our Glory, they are gradually Removing from us. Oh! with Tears, do our Ancient