N01899:217
India Christiana. A discourse, delivered unto the Commissioners, for the Propagation of the Gospel…
India Christiana. A discourse, delivered unto the Commissioners, for the Propagation of the Gospel among the American Indians : which is accompanied with several instruments relating to the glorious design of propagating our holy religion, in the Eastern as well as the Western, Indies. : An entertainment which they that are waiting for the kingdom of God will receive as good news from a far country. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S.
printed by B. Green, 1721
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.
(d) Inculcamus, quod illi tantum, qui hac in vita per Christum in Gratiae statum vera ⟨p. 81⟩mentis immutatione transierunt, et ad fin•musque in fide permanent, soli participes sint spe• haereditatis illius fidelibus in luce olim manifestandae, quae aeterna existit beatitas.
Hunc ordinem salutis ubique observamus, ita ut non modo in lingua Damul•ca, quando ad Damulos loquimur, sed etiam in lingua Lusitanica, quando ex origine Lusitanorum ortis, aut mancipiis Christianos Dominos habentibus, imo ipsis Europaeis in lingua Germanico Verbum DEI proponimas, hano nobis legem ita tractandi usque praescribamus. Quapropter quae nobiscum hic aguntur et in praedicando, et in docendo, et in examinando et in colloquendo privatissime, omnia eo prorsus collimant, ut homines ad veram paenitentiam, ad fidem vivam, ad Pietatem haud fucatam admoneamus, excitemas atque exstimulemus: DEUM ardentissimis invocantes precibus, ut tales Missionarios extrudere velit, quorum haec cura sit maxima quomodo oves ad optimum pascuum JESU CHRISTI deducantur, et ex fonte Israelis purissimo reficiantur unice.
Quotidiana experientia nos hactenus docuit, quod beneficio Catech•tarum non modo ⟨p. 82⟩apud ipsa Ecclesiae membra, sed etiam apud cos qui adhuc extra eam vivunt, multum utilitatis efficere possimus. Ea propter hoc observantes, omni studio in id incumbimus, ut per verbum Veritatis tales Catechetas nobis praeparemus, qui in cognitione JESU CHRISTI bene sint fundati et Spiritualem experientiam nanciscantur, aptique hinc fiant iterum alios doctrinam JESU CHRISTI docendi atque ad vivum damonstrandi. Ejusmodi Catechetas habemus septem, cum quibus Collegium Biblicum, Exegeticum et Theologicum tractamus.