N00657:26
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of…
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard College. / By Increase Mather, president of that college. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard Colledge. / By Increase Mather, praesident of that colledge. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]
printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1697
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.
Answ. 1 It is evident, In that all future Contingencies are known to God only. Hence Christ said to the Disciples, It is not for you to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father has put in his own power. Act 1.7. Future Times and Contingent Events, the knowledge & disposal of them has God reserved to himself. There are future things which happen necessarily, that a man may know them long before they come to pass: God has appointed Lights in the Heaven to be for Signs and Seasons. Gen. 1.14. These move regularly and unfailably according to that Order which the Creator has established. Therefore a man may know infallibly how many hours or minutes such a day or night will be long before the Time comes: He may know when there will be an Eclipse of the Sun or of the Moon, twenty, or an hundred years before it comes to pass: but for Contingent Things, which hav• no necessary dependence on the constituted Order of Nature, but upon the mere Pleasure and Providence of God, they are not known except unto God, or to them unto whom he shall reveal them. The Lord challengeth this as his Prerogative. The Idols whom the Heathen worshipped, could not make known future Contingencies. Isa 41.22, 23. Let them show us what shall happen, or declare us things for to come, show the ⟨p. 16⟩things that are to come hereafter, that we may know they are Gods. To do this was past their skill. The Devil knows many future things which men are ignorant of; He could foretell Sauls ruin, and Davids coming to the Kingdom. Nevertheless, there are many future Events which he has no knowledge of. Therefore he often deludes those that Enquire of him with deceitful and uncertain Answers. But as for men they are ignorant of future things, which most nearly concern themselves, or their own Families. No man knows so much as who shall be his Heir, or Enjoy the Estate which he has laboured for. Psal. 39.6. Surely every man walks in a vain show, he heapeth up riches, and knows not who shall gather them. He knows not whether one of his Relations, or a mere stranger shall possess that Estate which he has taken so much pains, and disquieted himself so much for the obtaining of it. This meditation made Solomon out of Love with this World.
Answ. 1 It is evident, In that all future Contingencies are known to God only. Hence Crist said to the Disciples, It is not for you to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father has put in his own power. Act 1.7. Future Times and Contingent Events, the knowledge & disposal of them has God reserved to himself. There are future things which happen necessarily, that a man may know them long before they come to pass: God has appointed Lights in the Heaven to be for Signs and Seasons.