N00619:51
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.
Thus are we to Pray without ceasing, and we are to interweave Prayer, into all the Affairs of our Ministry. Our Sermons especially, oh! if we did but Pray much over them, how much would the Spirit of Christ adjoin Himself unto them! 'Tis very sure, Bene Orasse, est bene Studuisse. But shall we not Fast, as well as ⟨p. 40⟩Pray? Our Excellent Hooker would say, That Prayer was a principal part of a Ministers work; 'twas by this, that he was to carry on all the rest: He would also say, That such an Extraordinary Favour as the Life of Religion, and the Power of Godliness, must be preserved by the frequent use of such extraordinary means, as Fasting with Prayer: and accordingly, he did himself still Devote one Day in a Month unto a secret Fast before the Lord. Thus, our Excellent Mitchel, would once in two months, keep such a Fast, wherein he would make a Catalogue of all the Afflictive Things that he saw, not only in himself, but in all our Three Colonies, and in the Nations of Europe also, and he would spread them all before the Lord, with the matters of his own Everlasting Welfare. Yea, I suppose, there hath been hardly one very famous man, in the Churches of New-England, but what has familiarized himself to such Exercises; and these were the Exercises that Ripened, & Enlarged their Souls, and rescued them from Enchantments, and fitted them to become so famous: And they that have hereto Exercised themselves, have left this Observation to us, I soon Loose that serious, that gracious, that generous, and that watchful and useful Disposition of mind, that I gain by these Devotions, if I do for many days together intermit them. I remember, There are three persons Renowned in the Scripture, ⟨p. 41⟩for their Fasting; and every one of those persons, was Honoured, with the Doing of Miraculous Things, in Feeding the People of God. And I Remember a Golden Passage of Chrysostom, That the very Angels themselves cannot but Honour the man, whom they see familiarly and frequently, admitted unto the Audience, and as […] were Discourse, with the Divine Majesty.
Thus are we to Pray without ceasing, and we are to interweave Prayer, into all the Affairs of our Ministry. Our Sermons especially, oh! if we did but Pray much over them, how much would the Spirit of Christ adjoyn Himself unto them! 'Tis very sure, Bene Orasse, est bene Studuisse. But shall we not Fast, as well as ⟨p. 40⟩