N00657:43
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.
Let the Last USE be for EXHORTATION.
Be we Prepared for a Change of Times, especially for the great Change of DEATH which will ⟨p. 28⟩come upon us, we know not how soon, nor how suddenly. Who can say what Changes may come upon us? It was said of Moab, Jer. 48.11. Moab has been at ease from his Youth, and he has settled on his Lees, and has not been emptied from Vessel to Vessel. It cannot be said so of New-England. Although we are too much settled on our Lees, yet we have not been always at Ease, but we have been emptied from Vessel to Vessel. God has Racked this Land: One Change after another has come upon us, and some very awful ones. We have seen Changes of Government in our Civil State: And some of them very sad ones; when we were delivered into the hands of some that hated us, and when we could call nothing our own, but our Civil Liberties were gone, and our Sacred Liberties in utmost danger of being taken from us also. Changes and War have been against us. We had […] Peace for many years together, but now the sound of the Trumpet and the Alarm of War, and how long shall we hear it! A long War has afflicted us now for eight years together. Our Land has been changed from Plenty to Scarcity; we were wont to supply other Plantations, but these two last years we stood in need of supplies from other places. What the Lord will do with us for the future we know not: According to Humane Judgment, either there is to be a Peace among the Nations, or we shall fall into the Hands of a formidable Enemy, before ⟨p. 29⟩the next year is Expired; but God has ways which we know not of, to prevent what our Sins deserve, and what we may rationally fear. There are awful symptoms upon us: And in special the multiplied sudden Deaths which have been of late. The last week two desirable young Scholars were Drowned here in Cambridge. The Week before that, seven persons were Drowned in another place, and two the week before that. And do you not hear of a very sad Accident, a young Child eight years old happened to kill his Brother not above two years old; besides some other awful Providences. Is there not a voice of Heaven in these things! The words of Christ should be considered by us.