N01905:39
A vision in the temple. The Lord of Hosts, adored
A vision in the temple. The Lord of Hosts, adored; and the King of Glory proclaimed; on a day of prayer kept (May 10. 1721) at the opening of the New Brick Meeting House in the north part of Boston, by the ministers of the city, with the Society which built it, & this day swarmed into it. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S. ; [Two lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed for Robert Starkey. And sold, 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.
We will not this Day Fast for, or with Strife & Debate: And therefore I will make no Remarks on the Disputed Occasion of their Coalition: I will not go to Dig up any Matters, that I wish, may be buried in perpetual Oblivion: buried with an Hope of never having any Resurrection. I will only Remark This; That they have been a People, not so well dealt withal as they might have been: And how far they might themselves have dealt better in the Days of Massah, and of Meribah, that have passed over them, I hope, ⟨p. 32⟩they will th•s Day Search and Judge themselves before the Lord. The sad and wrong Things that have Occurred in the Clash that has produced what we now have before us, and in what Introduced it, tho' Strangers, even they that are afar off, have been Scandalized at them, yet they should not b• construed as the Blemish of all our Churches; in which the Order of the Gospel has generally been Maintained, with some Decency and Cogency, from the Beginning to this Day. The Lord of Hosts has Hitherto, even Hitherto, Stepped in for the Help of His Churches, & they have generally Walked in the Fear of GOD, & Comfort of the Holy Spirit; & with a due Regard unto mutual Edification and Satisfaction to this Day. One may say, Generally, tho' there should be some Exception, 'Tis true, there appears now in several parts of the Country, a fearful Tendency to break in upon the Order of the Gospel, which has been Asserted and Enjoyed in these American Churches; And it has a Melancholy Aspect upon us, that the Corruptions of Men are grown so Head-strong, as ⟨p. 33⟩to render it not Easy to propose a Method for Cur•, in which the Remedy may not anon prove worse than the Malady. Alas, Through' the Wrath of the Lord of Hosts, how fast the Land is Darkening!
We will not this Day Fast for, or with Strife & Debate: And therefore I will make no Remarks on the Disputed Occasion of their Coalition: I will not go to Dig up any Matters, that I wish, may be buried in perpetual Oblivion: buried with an Hope of never having any Resurrection. I will only Remark This; That they have been a People, not so well dealt withal as they might have been: And how far they might themselves have dealt better in the Days of Massah, and of Meribah, that have passed over them, I hope,