N00657:27
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.
He knew as much as any man, and yet he confesseth that he did not know whether the man that should come after him, and enjoy all that he had Laboured for, would be a wise man or a fool, Eccles. 2.18, 19. And he says, A man knows not that which shall be; for who can tell him when it shall be. Eccles. 8.7. He knows neither what nor when it shall be. And again he saith, A man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him who can tell him! Eccl. 10.14. This is to ⟨p. 17⟩be understood concerning Contingent Events. Such as the particular Afflictions which are to befall a man, or the Time, Place, or manner of his Death.
He knew as much as any man, and yet he confesseth that he did not know whether the man that should come after him, and enjoy all that he had Laboured for, would be a wise man or a fool, Eccles. 2.18, 19. And he sayes, A man knows not that which shall be; for who can tell him when it shall be. Eccles. 8.7. He knows neither what nor when it shall be. And again he saith, A man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him who can tell him! Eccl. 10.14. This is to ⟨p. 17⟩be understood concerning Contingent Events. Such as the particular Afflictions which are to befall a man, or the Time, Place, or manner of his Death.
2. The Times of men are ordered according to the Decree of God. There is nothing comes to pass in the Earth, but what was first determined by a wise decree in Heaven.