The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated, Title page 1 – Dedication
The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated.
PRAISES Bespoke for the God of Heaven, In a Thanksgiving SERMON; Delivered on Decemb. 19. 1689.
Containing Just REFLECTIONS upon the Excellent Things done by the Great God, more Generally in CREATION and REDEMPTION, and in the GOVERNMENT, of the World; But more Particularly in the Remarkable Revolutions of Providence which are every where the matters of present Observation.
With a POSTSCRIPT giving an Account of some very stupendous Accidents, which have lately happened in France.
BY COTTON MATHER.
To which is Added a SERMON Preached unto the CONVENTION of the Massachuset-Colony in NEW-ENGLAND.
With a short Narrative of several Prodigies, which New-England hath of late had the Alarms of Heaven in.
Printed at Boston by S. Green. & Sold by Ioseph Browning at the corner of the Prison Lane, and Benj. Harris at the London Coffee-House. 1690
Copy AT THE CONVENTION of the Governour and Council, and Representatives of the Colony of the Massachusets Bay.
IT having pleased the God of Heaven to mitigate His many frowns upon us in the Summer past, with a mixture of some very signal Favours, and in the midst of wrath so far to remember Mercy; That our Indian Enemies have had a check put upon their Designs of Blood and Spoil; That others have not s…en their Desires accomplished upon us; And that we have such hopes of our God's adding yet more perfection to our Deliverances: Inasmuch also, as the great God hath of late raised up such a Defence to the Protestant Religion and Interest abroad in the World, especially in the happy Accession of Their Majesties our Sovereigns, KING William and QUEEN Mary to the Throne.
It is therefore Ordered, that Thursday the nineteenth instant, be kept as a Day of THANKSGIVING throughout this Colony; And all Servile Labour Labour on said Day is hereby inhibited: And the several Ministers and Assemblies are Exhorted to Observe the same, by Celebrating the just Praises of the Almighty God, Of whose tender Mercies it is that we are not Consumed.
By Order of the Convention, Isaac Addington Secr. Boston Decemb. 3d. 1689:
To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashurst, Baronet.
SIR,
TIS an obscure Pen, among the Antipodes of that World in which you dwell, which now waits upon you, to let you understand, That there is an England in America, as well as One in Europe, which the Name of ASHURST has been no less Dear, than Known, unto. Upon that Expression in the Sacred Scripture, Cast the Unprofitable Servant into Outer Darkness, there is an Interpreter who imagines that the Regiones Exterae of America are the Tenebrae Exteriores, which the unprofitable are there Condemned unto. Doubtless The Authors of those Ecclesiastical Impositions and Severities, which drove our Predecessors into this American Wilderness, esteemed those old Puritans to be a very Unprofitable sort of Creatures; and we their Children, desire with much Humiliation to Confess and Lament our own Unprofitableness; not without our wonder, that any Party in our Nation, should propound unto themselves any profit, by Endeavouring our further Misery. We nevertheless flatter our selves with Hopes, that as while we sat under the shadows of our Charters we at least made the other parts of the English America to be profitable unto the Crown of our King, so the Church of our God in the other Hemil…h…re, will not Excommunicate us from their Fellowship and Affection, when 'tis considered, that the Exercise of the Protestant Religion in the purest and fullest Reformation, is That very Thing which this considerable Plantation was first built upon. He that shall Travel over New-England, will find a large Countrey fill'd with Churches, which I may without vanity call Golden Candlesticks, in this Outer Darkness, and which are Illuminated with Able, Faithful and Laborious Ministers, among whom the person who now Addresses you, is no more worthy to be Reckoned, than the Seventh which appears not among the Pleiad…s, is to be counted One of the Seven Stars. These Churches, in their Doctrine, do profess, and in their Worship, do practise, most intirely the Protestant Religion, as our Confession of Faith, with our Platform of Church Discipline, has made notorious; and though they want the Liturgies and Holydays and Ceremonies, which were not Conceived before the Man of Sin was Born, they do but approach thereby the nearer to that Primitive Christianity, which will be our Glory, while we continue in it. It is in these Churches that we have long seen the Goings of God our King, for the Regeneration, and Edification of multitudes, who after an Arrival to a pitch of Holiness equal to what any part of this Lower World affords, have gone to the Spirits of Iust Men made perfect; and though a Decay of Piety has accompanied an Inercase of People in the midst of us, yet even among VsUs of the Third Generation, the God of our Fathers, hath such a Number of Serious, Gracious, Fruitful Christians, as encourages our Hopes, that He still has Reserves of Mercy for us. 'Tis in these Churches (however Degenerate) that One may see Discipline managed, Heresy subdued, Prophaness conquered, & Communion maintained, with a very beautiful subserviency to the Great Ends of the Gospel. And if after all the Printed Books, not only of our Cotton, Shepard, Hocker, Bulkley, Mather, Davenport, Cobbet, Norton, Newman, Whiting, Mitchel, and the rest now Asleep of the former Generation, but also of our Higgin…on, Fitch, Morton, Wigglesworth, Allen, Moodey, Torrey, Wil…ard, Baily, Stoddard, (not to mention my own Fathers both English and Latine Composures) thro' the Favour of God, yet Alive among us, we must be judg'd unprofitable to the Church of God abroad, yet the prodigious and Atlaean industry of the Reverend Eli…t and of those whom that Venerable Saint yet Lives to see succeeding him in cares for Evangelizing the poor Pagans here, must be own'd profitable to those, whose Outer Darkness we are sent into.
But the Right of these Churches, to a good Reputation with all them, that have any value for the Protestant Religion, is not more palpable, than the Wrong which has been sometimes Ignorantly, and sometimes Maliciously done unto us, by them that have baited us for the sake of the Bear-Skins, which themselves have put upon us. Never was any thing more wicked than the Calumny, with Loads whereof our Enemies compelled our Fathers in the Infancy of this Plantation, to do as divers of those, whom they call, The Fathers, did of old, even, To write Apologies; nor can any thing be more Slanderous and Romantic, than the Accusations that some Ill Men have more Lately traduced wit…al; One may see the very Spirit of Persecution revived in them! Nevertheless, after all the Banter of our Adversaries, as I would never desire an Easter Task, than to prove, That their Majesties have not in all their Dominions, more Loyal Subjects than the People of New-England, so 'tis evident enough, That where any Real Miscarriage has procured One, our zeal for the Protestant Religion in the power of it▪ has procured more than Ten of the Complaints that have been made against us. And therefore, we not only challenge an Interest among the Reformed Churches, in whose Comforts we cannot but Rejoice, as we have most inquisitively and affectionately mourned in their Sorrows; but we also expect the Friendship of all those particular persons who are well affected unto the stones of Zion, and take pity on the Dust thereof. As 'tis a thing too observable to be denyed, or concealed, That tho' we are a very unworthy people, yet the Haters of New-England stil find themselves pushing hard against the Great Stone, so I believe none of those Noble Persons who have been sincerely concerned for our Wellfare, will ever see cause to Repent of it; but Goodness and Mercy shall follow them all their Days. Blessed be the God of our Fathers, that albeit we are as an Outcast, yet it may not be said, No man has cared for us! There were Three Knights among our first Patentees; it calls for our Extreamest Gratitude if there have been more of That, or Another Quality willing to be our Patrons.
And Sir, whereas you have been pleased your self to let the World know, how much you are desirous to see New-England flourish, you will pardon it if One born and bred in that Countrey, and a Son of the Colledge there, take the Liberty to acquaint you, That we are not insensible. That you are, my Fathers Friend, is a thing that Lays me under Obligations; but your being New-Englands Friend, is a thing which we would All Resent; and though the Dedication of these two Little Sermons to your Name, does not, Take of the best Fruits of the Land, as a Present for you, yet I humbly ask your Acceptance of them, as a part of our Acknowledgments. Among the other Curiosities of New-England, One is that of a mighty Rock on a perpendicular side whereof by a River, which at High Tide covers part of it, there are very deeply Engraved, no man alive knows How or When, about half a score Lines, near Ten Foot Long, and a foot and half broad, filled with strange Characters; which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us, as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument; whereof you shall see, the first Line Transcribed here.
Sir, I take leave to add, That the English people here will study to have the Kindnesses of their Benefactors, not less Durably, hut more Intelligibly Recorded with them, than what the Indian People have Engraved upon Rocks; And therefore it is, That you shall now publickly find your Person and Family mentioned in our prayers to the God of Heaven, for your Enjoyment of all the Prosperity engaged unto them that Love Ierusalem. The Voices that ascend from the Thrones of the Lord Jesus here are asking for you, Grace and Glory and every good thing: and among them, there are my own Wishes, That the Son▪ and the Church of God may find you their KNIGHT which is to say (in English) an hearty Servant, and that in the day when such a Word will be esteem'd above ten thousand Worlds, you may hear a Well Done! from the mouth of our Glorious Judge. 'Tis with these, that I subscribe my self.
SIR, Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant Cotton Mather.