The Day and the Work of the Day, Title page
The Day, & the Work of the Day▪
A Brief DISCOURSE, ON What Fears, we may have at THIS TIME to quicken us; What Hopes there are for us at THIS TIME to comfort us:
AND What Prayers would be Likely to turn our FEARS into HOPES.
WITH Reflections upon Time and State, now come upon the Church OF GOD, And Collections of certain Prophesies relating to the present Circumstances of New-England.
Uttered on a FAST, kept in Boston, July 6th. 1693.
By COTTON MATHER.
Boston Printed by B. Harris, for Samuel Phillips. 1693.
The Day, and the Work of the Day.
Discours'd on a Day of Prayer kept in the Old-Meeting-House, at Boston, the 6th day of the 5 m. 1693.
It is written in Job. XV. 4.
Thou Castest off Fear and Restrainest Prayer before God.
IN the Dismal and the Cloudy Dayes, which are now come upon us, there are especially two things exceeding Seasonable; namely, Fear and Prayer.
I. The Frame of all the most a…eeable to this Awful Day, is FEAR. As Fear is the peculiar Plague of th… Unhappy Times that are now rolling over us; for we are fallen into those Times whereof it was long sinc… foretold, in Luc. 21.26. Mens heart will fail them for Fear, and for Looking after those things which are coming o… the Earth: So, Fear, 'tis to be the peculiar Grace of these Times: thes… are the Times, wherein every one that would be safe, must follow the pattern of him, concerning whom we are informed, in Heb. 11.7. Being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with Fear, he prepare… an Ark, to the Saving of his House. There are, and one of the Ancients, tho' he saw not all things, could yet see that there ever were, four sorts of people in the world. There are some who, neither Hope nor Fear: Such are Atheistical Transgressors, to whom neither the Favour of God is Comfortable, nor His Anger Formidable. There are some who, Fear but Hope not; such are Despairing Transgressors; to whom the Dreadful Thundrings of Mount Sinai, arrive without the Joyf… Tidings of Mount Sion. There are some who, Hope but Fear not; Such are Presuming Transgressors, who as the Heathen usually Endued their Gods with Vices like their own, so these may have it spoken by God unto them, Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self. But there are some who both Hope and Fear: because God is Good, therefore He is their Hope, and because He is Just, therefore He is their Fear … yea, They Fear the Lord and Hi… Goodness; and, They Hope that bein… a God of Righteousness, He will Hear them. Such all people should be, and all pious people will be; especially Now at a Time, when every David would see more than ordinary cause to say, as in Psa. 119 120. Lord, my Flesh Trembles for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Judgments.
II. And what then should be the Work most agre…able to this Crying Day, but PRAYER? It is the Intercalar verse of that Psalm, which runs over the chief Concernments of Humane Life, Psal. 107.6, 13, 19, 28. Then they cried unto the Lord in their Trouble, and He delivered them out of their Distresses. Truly all our Concernments do at all Times call for such Intercalations; but especially at these Times, when we may say, with the Dying Martyr, Pray, Pray, Pray, never more need than Now! The Great God, is now doing of those things, whereof He says unto us, as in Amos 4.12. Because I will do this, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel: But in what posture dare we meet our God, unless in Prayer upon our Knees? There are several Keys of our Welfare; I do not mention the Jewish Enumeration of them, for there are more than Four of those Keys, which the God of Heaven still keeps in His own Hands. We have extraordinary occasions for the Turning of those Keys; but it is Prayer that must Jog the Infinite Hand, which has the Turning of them. Briefly, we are in a Time, of Difficulties, wherein we can have none but Refuges of Lies, except we do in Truth come unto, that Experience, in Psal. 34.6. This poor man cry'd, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his Troubles.
Well then, To Quicken both our Godly Fear, and our Fervent Prayer, I have now Read you a Text, which cannot be unseasonable.
One of Jobs Comforters, is here managing a Disputation against that Afflicted Saint, wherein, methinks, he deals but roughly with him; thereunto Instigated, no doubt, by misunderstanding certain passages in the Discourse of Job. It is the Lot of many a good man, to have many an Ill Charge injuriously made upon him. Defamations, the fruit of misconstructions, are among the most usual Trials of the Innocent. Holy Job is here charged, first, with Speaking unwisely, then, with Acting wickedly. As to the Latter, in our Text, he is Indicted, for Neglecting both the Inward and the Outward Worship of God. Fear, is by a Synecdoche put for all the Inward, and Prayer, by a like Synecdoche put for all the Outward. The style of our Text, is indeed so Oriental, that we might as lawfully as usefully, illustrate it, with a very various Paraphrase. But we shall confine our selves to the sense most obvious in our own Translation.
The first Article of the Charge is, Thou Castest off Fear. By that Fear is meant Eminently, The Fear of God. When we say, The VVord, we use to mean, The Word of God; as if there were no Word but Gods; for indeed there is none so considerable as that Word. Thus, The Fear, here spoken of, may note, The Fear of God; inasmuch as there is no Fear to be like that, wherewith we are to Fear Him who can Cast both Body and Soul into Hell.
…ut in the mean time, what ground for this Charge? I answer, The Charge seems grounded on those Expressions, of Job, wherein he complains, That the Righteous are destroyed with the Wicked, and, That the Tabernacles of Robbers prosper. Or, on those, wherein his Challenges made unto the most High God, have a sort of peremptoriness, not agreeing to that Lowliness of mind, with which the Fear of God would cause us to speak of all His Managements. Wherefore some of the Ancient and Eastern Versions carry it, as if it were here intimated that Job had been speaking to God, without the Modesty that became a poor Worm of the Dust!
The Second Article of the Charge is, Thou Restrainest Prayer before God. What is here Translated Prayer, is promiscuously to be Englished, either Meditation, or Supplication; and indeed, those are such Twins that the same Name would well befit both of them; one of them would still be Insignificant without the other; I may say of them, They are Lovely and Pleasant in their Lives, and in their Deaths they are not Divided.
But again, What ground for this Charge? I answer, The Writers among the Jews tell us, That the Charge is grounded on those Expressions of Job, that seemed a Denial of Providence. To Deny Providence, is to Extinguish Prayer, for ever. Men will not be the Diligent seekers of God, except they Believe that God is a Rewarder of them who diligently seek him. Men will soon Leave off the seeking of God, if they don't Believe that God will cut off them that seek Him not. Now Jobs Assertions, as taken, yea, mistaken, would yield such Consequences, as this, That Prayer is to be Restrained, that is, Withdrawn, and Lessened, before God.
But let all issue then in this Lesson That Prayer may not be Restrained, Fear must not be Rejected.
When was it that Jacob set himself to Wrestle with the mighty God of Jacob? It was when, as we read, in Gen. 32.7. He was greatly Afraid and Distressed. When was it that Jehoshaphat not only called upon the God of Judah himself, but called upon all Judah to do so too? We read in 2 Chron. 20.3. He Feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a Fast. It is written of Hezekiah, in Jer. 26.19. Did he not Fear the Lord, and Besought the Face of the Lord? It is the Fear of God, which is to put men upon seeking the Face of God; for which, there are two Propositions which now demand a room in your Considerations.