N01717:41
Concio ad populum. A distressed people entertained with proposals for the relief of their…
Concio ad populum. A distressed people entertained with proposals for the relief of their distresses. In a sermon at Boston; made in the audience of His Excellency the governor, and the General Assembly of the Massachusetts-Bay, New-England. 12 d. Im. 1719. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S. ; [Two lines from Isaiah]Concio ad populum. A distressed people entertained with proposals for the relief of their distresses. In a sermon at Boston; made in the audience of His Excellency the governour, and the General Assembly of the Massachusetts-Bay, New-England. 12 d. Im. 1719. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S. ; [Two lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Benj. Eliot, 1719
Title page typeset from the transcription.
The Valley of Vision IN The Valley of Achor. BOSTON 12 d. Im. 1719.
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.
AND now, in the Visions of GOD, I Lift up my Eyes, and Look, and behold, A Flying Roll! 'Tis, A Catalogue of Things Greatly to be Apprehended among the People of New-England; Things greatly to be Deprecated. I will tell you what I Read in the Catalogue.
ONE Thing to be Read, is this; It will have no good Aspect upon our People, if it should be so, that a Public Spirit, should be a Lost, and a Rare Thing among us; — that he who would make a Speech to the Men of a Public Spirit, must go into the Burying Places, and Speak among the Sepulchres. A sad Thing, if in all Consultations for the Public, every Man take all his Measures from his own Self, and nothing must be done Except this dear Self may be Served in it! A sad Thing, if when Things are Calculated for the Good of the whole, every Man will obstruct them, if he don't perceive his Personal Interest served in them! And much more A sad Thing, if Men to serve a Personal Interest will Do Things that shall be plainly for the Hurt of the whole! GOD Avert the Omens! — ⟨p. 18⟩I must confess, I have often heard Strangers, with abundance of Ill Nature, and Ill Breeding to make Reflections on the Country, in which they have been Hospitably treated. But, it would be a sad Thing, if it should be True, what I have heard spoken by some Eminent and more Impartial Strangers; That the Old and Vile Proverb, Every Man for himself, and GOD for us all, Seems to have been made for this Poor Country, as much as for most in the World! Indeed Men of a truly Public Spirit, usually meet with such Usages, as were enough to discourage any thing that shall not be very Gracious, very Generous. But still, Revive, O Public Spirit; Hold on, Hold out; Thy Reward is with thy GOD: If Thou fail, we Perish unavoidably.
ONE Thing to be Read, is this; It will have no good Aspect upon our People, if it should be so, that a Publick Spirit, should be a Lost, and a Rare Thing among us; — that he who would make a Speech to the Men of a Publick Spirit, must go into the Burying Places, and Speak among the Sepulchres. A sad Thing, if in all Consultations for the Publick, every Man take all his Measures from his own Self, and nothing must be done Except this dear Self may be Served in it! A sad Thing, if when Things are Calculated for the Good of the whole, every Man will obstruct them, if he don't perceive his Personal Interest served in them! And much more A sad Thing, if Men to serve a Personal Interest will Do Things that shall be plainly for the Hurt of the whole! GOD Avert the Omens! —