N01536:14
Fair dealing between debtor and creditor. A very brief essay upon the caution to…
Fair dealing between debtor and creditor. A very brief essay upon the caution to be used, about coming in to debt, and getting out of it. Offered at Boston-lecture; 5. d. XI. m. 1715/16. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. & F.R.S. ; [Two lines of quotation]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Samuel Gerrish, 1716
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
To check the Errors too often committed by Contracting of Debts, and by Continuing in them, I now read unto you a Sentence of the Sacred Oracles, before which we ought all to tremble as before the Vibrations of a Thunderbolt. It is the Voice of the ETERNAL, that is now conveyed unto us, by the Pen of an Inspired Apostle. The God of Glory Thunders in it; May His Voice be so Powerful, as to produce an universal Compliance among us, an universal Obedience unto it.
To check the Errors too often committed by Contracting of Debts, and by Continuing in them, I now read unto you a Sentence of the Sacred Oracles, before which we ought all to tremble as before the Vibrations of a Thunderbolt. It is the Voice of the ETERNAL, that is now convey'd unto us, by the Pen of an Inspired Apostle. The God of Glory Thunders in it; May His Voice be so Powerful, as to produce an universal Compliance among us, an universal Obedience unto it.
The Spirit of God, who is a Righteous Lord, and Loves Righteousness, does first of all direct ⟨p. 4⟩us, to pay a Debt which People owe unto their Superiors; That they who serve the Public, and have their Thought and their Time taken up, in watching for the Safety of the People, may be handsomely Subsisted in their Station. A Debt this is, which is not always duly considered, nor so honestly paid as it ought to be! But then, the Direction goes on; That whatever Debt People may owe to one another, in the way of their Dealing with one another, be also duly answered. People must not be in Debt unto one another, any further than what is anovoidable. 'Tis true, there is One Debt, which tho' it should be ever Paying, yet it will be ever Owing. A Debt of Love to one another. Of this, as much as you please! But for any other Debt, even for that which is a proper Debt, Here you cannot be too Cautious. Let Christians come Slowly into it; and let them get Quickly out of it. Let Christians Exercise their Wisdom in coming in, and their Justice in getting out. Come into it, with the Pace of a Tortoise, and get out of it, with the Flight of an Eagle.