N00619:9
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.
1 Samuel VII.6, 10. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and they drew water and poured it out before the Lord; and they Fasted on that Day; and they said there, We have Sinned against the Lord. [Unto which, if we duly Attend, we shall be ready for the following passages;] And Samuel Judged the Children of Israel; But the Lord Thundered with a great Thunder upon the Philistines, and discomfited them.
1 Samuel VII.6, 10. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and they drew water and poured it out before the Lord; and they Fasted on that Day; and they said there, We have Sinned against the Lord. [Unto which, if we duely Attend, we shall be ready for the following passages;] And Samuel Judged the Children of Israel; But the Lord Thundered with a great Thunder upon the Philistines, and discomfited them.
I Confess, that I now Entertain you with a Text very proper, for a Day of Humiliation: but it is for this very cause that I pitch upon this Text, as a very Agreeable Entertainment for us: inasmuch as we are generally agreed, That we are in most Humbling Circumstances.
'Tis possible, that it was an Anniversary Solemnity of a Sacred Importance with the People of Israel, when the memorable Actions here mentioned were performed. Jewish and Ancient Records have told us, that at the Feast of Tabernacles, they did every Day fetch a silver Flagon of Water, and pour it out at the Altar, with the Wine, for the Drink Offering; to signify ⟨p. 3⟩the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, after the Coming of the Messiah, who indeed, was afterwards Born at the very Time of that September Festival For this Custom, we find no Institution; but the countenance which our Lord Jesus Christ gave unto it, when He thence formed a Reflection upon the Living Waters of the Holy Spirit which He has to give, would make one think, whether it were not first Instituted by the Inspired Samuel, in that History which is now before us. But we have a further Assurance, that five days before the Feast of Tabernacles, namely, on the Tenth Day of the Seventh Month, a Fast was kept for a Day of Expiation: Even on the same Day that Moses having Thrice Fasted forty days together, came down to his people, with the News of the Lords being Reconciled unto them. I know not whether the Prophet Samuel, might not, a little divert some Actions of that Great Solemnity, unto the Designs of Repentance, which the extraordinary Calamities upon his people did now require. But still, our Anniversary Solemnity of a Civil Importance, this Day recurring, will be the better accommodated by our proposing those Actions to ou present Imitation.