N01310:117
Thoughts for the day of rain. In two essay's
Thoughts for the day of rain. In two essay's: I. The Gospel of the rainbow. In the meditations of piety, on the appearance of the bright clouds, with the bow of God upon them. II. The Saviour with his rainbow. And the covenant which God will remember to his people in the cloudy times that are passing over them. / By Cotton Mather., D.D. ; [Seven lines of quotations]
printed by B. Green, 1712
Title page typeset from the transcription.
The SAVIOUR with His Rainbow. At BOSTON-Lecture. 12. d. 5. m. 1711.
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.
The Servant of God had seen the Face of the ⟨p. 38⟩Roman Empire, down as Low as the conclusion of the Saracen Oppressions, and the Turkish Hostilities; the very Period unto which we are now certainly arrived. Then there appears unto him, a Mighty Angel, in so Stately and so Splendid a Pomp, that many Interpreters can hardly allow Him to be any less a Person than our Great Saviour Himself. He appears to Exhibit a New Scene of things Marvellous and very Amazing. And if this be the Period for the Appearance of such an Angel, I do a very Seasonable Thing this Day, in Showing Him among you. I dispute not, whether this Angel be our Saviour Himself, because He descends with a Glory too big and bright for any Creature; Or, whether He be a Created Angel; For, if He be so, yet He comes in the Name of our Saviour; and He comes with a Representation of that Glory, which belongs to none but our Saviour.
The Design of the Descent made by this Mighty Angel, is, to foretell, and bring on, a wonderful Reformation of the World. If he appears in a Cloud, this must not be wondered at. There is a Super-celestial Cloud, which from the Beginning has been Employed as a Symbol, and a Cover for the Majesty of our God, in His Appearance. Not only the Israelites, who were favoured sometimes with an actual view of something that belonged unto that vast Cloud; but even the Pagans also, and their Poets, had some Tradition of it.
The Design of the Descent made by this Mighty Angel, is, to foretel, and bring on, a wonderful Reformation of the World. If he appears in a Cloud, this must not be wondred at. There is a Super-celestial Cloud, which from the Beginning has been Employ'd as a Symbol, and a Cover for the Majesty of our God, in His Appearance. Not only the Israelites, who were favoured sometimes with an actual view of something that belong'd unto that vast Cloud; but even the Pagans also, and their Poets, had some Tradition of it.