Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.

Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.

Table of contents

Title page

To the Right Worshipful Sir JOHN HARTOP, Knight and Baronet.

TO THE READER.

THE Introduction

Winter-Meditations.

[Page]

Winter-Meditations.

It is Written in, JOB XXXVII. VI, VII.

He saith to the Snow, be thou upon the Earth; likewise to the Small Rain, & to the great Rain of His Strength.

He Sealeth up the Hand of every Man, that all Men may know his Work.

THat most Laborious and most Imitable Minister of the Gospel, the Apostle Paul, after he had been Travelling on the Designs of the Gospel all the Summer long, had some affairs of the Gospel to manage in the Winter too. Speaking about a City of Thrace, he said, in Tit. 3. 12. I have determined there to winter: and accordingly in the Acts of the Apostles, we find this famous Doctor of the Gentiles once abode three months in Greece, after he had given much Exhortation to the People as he went along. It seems the Service of the Lord Jesus [Page] Christ, and of His Gospel, was not in the Three Months of the Winter, to be laid aside.

As for Us, we are now getting into our Winter-Quarters, and we ought not only to [...] our Cares about Religion, & Salvation and all the Works of▪ the Gospel, all the Winter long; but there are some singular Lessons of the Gospel to be in these Winter Months inculcated and entertained. Indeed, there is not One-Day in the Year, whereon we should not be, In the [...]ear of the Lord all the Day long; but there are diverse Months in the Year, wherein the Fear of God is to single out some special wa [...]s of Exercise:

That there are Special Duties of Christianity, belonging to the winter, is intimated, in the words now Read unto us; and it is also intimated, what those Christian Duties are. Tis Pitty that the winter should advance any further upon us, before we have had some discourse of these Duties: To be minding one another of these things, would be more Significant, and more Profitable, than our impertinent expence of time, in telling one another That it is very Cold.

Tis [...] that your Devotions here in this winter-season, put you upon some Trial of your Patience. But I have an occasion here to tell you; You have heard [...] the Patience of JOB. He was a Person of Quality, who dwelt in Arabia the Desart, and yet that Arabia could not [...]ut be the Happy while it enjoyed the Presence of such a Ruler. But what a manifold Unhappiness overtook this Excellent person, an Unhappiness wherein he fell at once [Page] from great Wealth and Health into Miseries that have made a Proverb, all Ages have since heard, with wonderment. In these his Miseries, he was visited by some of his Comfortable Neighbours, who yet proved but Miserable Comforters. Among these Visitants there were Three more Aged Men of God, which Venerable Saints, all took their Turns, in dealing with him, about his Condition before the Lord; but at length it came to the Turn of a Fourth, who tho' he were a Younger Person, yet stood something longer than the rest in the Disputation.

This Elihu, for That was his Name, is in our Context▪ proving, That as there is a most Inscrutable and Unblemished Wisdom, in all the Works of God, so in the Afflictions which the Lord had now sent upon Job, there was nothing to be at all complained of. Whatever is done by our Great God, either in the Great World, or to the Little World, we have cause to say, He hath done ALL Things WELL: and there is no Work of God, whereof, all Circumstances considered, we have not cause to own, His Work is perfect. Nothing in the World could be more Arrogant than the Speech uttered by the King of Arrag [...]n, That be could have contrived a better shaped World; nor more worthy to be Rebuked with such [...]urning Thunderbolts as the Spanish Annals tell us, brought that haughty Monarch unto Repentance. But among those Excellent Works, of the God who is, Excellent in working, such Works as are every Winter [Page] to be seen, have a Remark most particularly here set upon them.

In our Text, First, We have some Accidents of the Winter. He saith to the Snow, Be thou on the Earth; Likewise to the Small Rain, and is the Great Rain of [...]is Strength. In the Winter, we have plenty of Snow and Rain; and those Notable Productions of the M [...]e [...]reus Kingdom, as they come from the Word, so they shew forth the Strength of our God. Not only such Snows as those that fall upon Caucasus, whereof such is the Quantity, that Strabo tells us, whole Regiments of Men have perished, therein overwhelmed: but the ordinary Snows of every Winter; Not only such Rains as these that fall near Mexico, whereof Johnston reports, that sometimes the Drops are so big and fierce as to kill the very people with their fury; but the ordinary Rains of every Winter; these have much of God, appearing in them. And one thing therein done by our God, is this:

[He seals up the Hand of every man] That is, By h [...]d Weather he binds up their Hands, from doing any Work abroad. But indeed, there are more than those who work [...] with their Hands, that feel these Obstructions of the Winter. Wherefore the French Version, so carrys it, Al [...]s fait que chacun se Renferme; that is, Then he makes every man shut himself up; and it is very Expressive.

There is an Impious Interpretation that some have made of these words; as if being, In manu[Page]Omnium Hominum signa posuit, they countenanced, Chir [...]mancy; a foolish and absurd Science, which pretends from the Lines in our Hands, to read the Fates of our Lives. As for that curious Vanity, I shall say but thus much of it; The Lines in our Hands, are mostly formed, by the Accidental Uses and Motions of our Hands; and may accordingly, by the like means be altered. Opinions about our future Circumstances and Contingencies, cannot be drawn to any purpose from these Lines, unless they be done meerly by Impulse; and the Impulse, which has often darted many true Predictions into the Minds of Ungodly Fortune tellers, when they have been poring on the Hands of others, is ordinarily from some of the Demons, who are at Hand always to Encourage such Impieties; and of the Predictions which the Demons have thus perhaps Litt upon, but as probable Conjectures, they immediately Employ all their Interest, which in This world is very great, for the Accomplishment. Of the Divine Vengeance, leaving such wretched Fortune tellers unto the more than ordinary power of the Devil, we have in our own Land, lately seen most horrid Instances. Away then, with all such Diabolical Communions! Let us with a Christian Resignation, wait upon God, in a willing and a wholsome Ignorance of, The Secret Things which belong unto the Lord.

But then, Secondly, we have some Employments for the Winter. Men are Sc [...]d, from their work [...]hen the Winter comes. But what? Have they [Page] no work then to mind? Yes; All men are then to know his work. To Know that work, is, according to the Import and Fulness of the Hebrew Phrase to Learn the work, to Love the work, to Do the Work. Why? The work is Gods work; the Work that God would have to be known, and therefore most worthy to be known.

Well; There is an Important CASE, wherewith I would hence take occasion to give you some WINTER-ENTERTAINMENTS. It is The CASE.

What Special Works for the Glory of God, may and should be Attended by the Children of Men, when by the hard weather of the Winter, He shuts them up, or Hinders them from their Ordinary Businesses?

They are not only Commoda, or Profitable Things, but also Accommoda, or Seasonable Things which are to be Preached among you. Our Winter is our Liesure, and as it will be a Profitable, so 'tis but a Seasonable Undertaking, to Lay before you, How the Liesure of the Winter may be most Improved for the Glory of God.

Now, without any further Preface, First, that we may speak more Negatively, it is to be asserted, That the Liesure of the Winter must not be Abused, as if it were a Liesure to work Abominations, or as if it were a Liesure for any Superstitious or Prohibited Sensualities. 'Tis not in the Slothful and [Page] Frothy Diversions of Bad Company, nor in things which will wrong our Souls, that our Winter is to be Sweeled away. I am sure, The Abominable Works of Sin, are none of those works, which we are to mind, when God shuts up our Hands; No, we should keep our own Hands for ever shut up from such works as those. Indeed, we spend the Nights of our Winter as a Tale that is told; but we should not spend them in such Idle Things, as the Telling of Tales; nor should we give cause for a poor Tale to be told, about our way of spending them. Tho' our Winter-Days have not so much Light as Darkness in them, yet we should all the Winter long behave our selves as the Children of Light, and have no Fellowship with the Unfruitful Works of Darkness. 'Tis the Advice of the Apostle, in Rom. 13. 12,13,14. The Night is far spent, the Day is at Hand; Let us walk Honestly, as in the Day; not in Dancing and Drunkenness; not in Chambering and Wantonness; not in Strife and Envying. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not Provision for the Flesh. Even thus, when the Nights come to be Longer than the Days; we should still do nothing but what the Day Light of the Gospel Justifies; 'tis not the Fire of Lust, or of Wrath, where with we are then to keep our selves in an Hez [...]; whatever Winter-Garments we get, we must not forget to Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, to have such a Conversation as that every one who sees us, may therein behold an Imitation of the Lord Jesus Christ; whatever Winter-Provisions we Lay in, there must be no [Page] Provisions for the Flesh, of Gratifications of our sinful Appetites, among them all. Briefly, what is Honestly Gain'd in the Summer, must be but Soberly Spent in the Winter.

There was one Winter Month in the Year which was call'd Mensis Genialis, or the Frolick some and Voluptuous Month, among the Ancient Pagans; it was the Month of DECEMBER wherein the Heathen had their Saturnalian Jolli [...]ies. Then 'twas that they sent their Presents one unto another, which our Primitive Authors call by the Name of Saturnalitia, and by the Name of Saturnalium Sportuloe, but they also had monstrous Revels among them, whereto Horace refers, when he says, Age Libertate Decembri. None shall take Offence at me, for my giving of my own Judgment upon this matter; but I hope, I may without offence Report the Sentiments of the Great Hospnian, who says, He did believe, that they who observed the Feast of our Lords Nativity, in the latter end of December, did it not as thinking that our Lord was Born in that Month; but because the Saturnalia were then kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidayes Metamorphosed into Christian. And I hope, 'twill [...] no offence for me to recite the Expressions of Tertullian, who in his Book against Idolatry, thu [...] Expresseth himself; Shall we Christians, who hav [...] nothing to do with the Festivals of the Jews, which were once of Divine Institution, Embrace the Saturnalia and the Januaria of the Heathen? How are we shamed by the Gentiles, who are more true to then Religion,[Page]than we are to ours? None of them will observe the Lords-Day, Lest they should be Christians; and shall not we then, by observing their Festivalls, fear lest we be made Ethnicks! Nor will I enter into any dispute, Whether the Birth of Our Lord were in December; tho' they that are versed in Antiquity, do understand how divided the Ancients were about it; and how late, yea, how many Hundreds of Years, it was e're the December Festival could obtain: and how much more probability there is, that it rather fell out, about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, about the conclusion of September, or the beginning of October. But I will venture to say thus much, That it is well if the World be mended, since the famous and pious Bishop made his Complaint That men dishonour the Lord Jesus Christ more in the Twelve Days of CHRISTMAS, than in all the Twelve Months of the Year beside. And I will venture to say this more, That when the Corinthians pray'd the Apostle, to answer that Question, Whether they might so be with, as to do like, the Pagans in those Idolatrous Festivities: He plainly told them, No! Deterring of them, with the Example of Israel in the Wilderness, who would keep a Feast in Honour of the true God, but yet follow'd the Egyptians, who in Commemoration of Joseph, saving them from Death by Expounding a Dream of Kine, had a sort of Ox-Worship among them: It is said, The People sat down to Eat and Drink, and Rose up to play; and all the World has heard, what the Reckening was!

But if the mispence of the Winter in Excesses [Page] of Eating and of Drinking, do deserve a Caution, why should not the Mispence of the Winter in GAMING, do so too? Especially the Games of pure Lot, whereof thus much at least may be mentained, That [...]t is best for all Christians to abstain from them. Altho' moderate Recreations in the Winter, are more than a little Healthful and Useful, yet there are some Recreations too much used in the Winter, which in Truth are never convenient; such are the Games of CARDS, & DICE, and those which have nothing but CHANCE to manage them. A Lot is a solemn Appeal unto the God of Heaven; and hence to play with it, seems to break the Third Commandment in the Laws of our God. Lus [...]ry Lots are by Great and Grave Divines Esteemed Unlawful, on the same Score that, as our worthy Morton, in his Rebuke to the Gaming Humour well Expresses it, It would be an Abomination unto any Christian, to see a Pulpit, a Communion-Table, a Font, Exposed on a Stage, or the Gestures of Worship Aped by Players. In every Lot, an Affair is wholly committed unto a Superiour Cause than either Natur [...] or Art, & Skill; and this is a Thing to be done rather Prayerfully than Sportfully; even the Rudest Gentiles have counted a Lot, A Sacred Thing. The Papists themselves, will not allow of these Games in Ecclesiastical Persons; and the Fathers Reproved them with a vehement Zeal, in all manner of persons. When the Roman Empire became Christian, severe Edicts were made against these Games; and what Christians are we then that [Page] practise them. Our Protestant Reformers have branded these Games with an Infamous Character; yea, Tully the Orator himself, could produce it, as a Reproach unto some Ill men, that they were given to these Games. For which cause He that will follow, Whatsoever Things are of Good Report, will not meddle with such Infamous Things as these. In every Indenture for an Apprentice these words are usual, At Cards, Dice, or any other Unlawful and Prohibited Games, he shall not Play. And shall we that are by Covenant, the Bound Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, offer to Play at Games, that have been so Stigmatized? This however, you may be sure of; There is a Truth in that Observation, That all the money got by these Games, is Like the Goods of them which Dy of the Plague, which commonly bring a Post with them. Nor is it altogether unworthy to be considered, That the more special Success of your younger Gamesters. (Whereupon even some of Themselves do sometimes p [...]os [...]ely say, The Devil will make a Gamester of that Young Man!) do very terribly intimate a peculiar [...] of the Devil in Ruling the Chance of these Games; his an Observation which my most Honoured Friend, the Venerable [...], has made in the close of his Book, about, The Worlds of Spirits. Pray then, have a care!

And if men may Sin by Some sorts of Gaming in the Winter, mayn't they do it in some kinds of READING too? Not only Books of Debauching Jests and Songs, are very unworthy to be [Page] our WINTER-ENTERTAINMENTS, but the most of Romances too will then but create a Wast of Time, to be Repented of. And here also, that I may not Impose my own Opinion, I shall give you the Judgment of two Writers, whom the World have not accounted Inconsiderable. The One is, The Author of, The whole Duty of Man; who Dehorting of Young Women from the Reading of Romances, has these words, 'Tis very difficult to Imagine what vast mischief is done to the World by the false Notions and Images of things, particularly of Love and Honour, those Nobler Concerns of Humane Life, represented in those Mirrours. The other is, the Incomparable Dr. Tuch [...]ey; [...] likewise disswading of young Students from the Reading of Romances, has these words, Make this Trial, whether when you have been Greedy in Reading such Books, you have thereby any great mind to Read the Bible. I am sure that when you have been Reading That, you will have as little Delight is Reading them, as Paul had in the Thorn in his Flesh, when he had been before caught up to Paradise.

All that I shall add, is, That when the Rules of Sobriety and Righteousness and Godliness are Transgressed, Men instead of Knowing the Works of God, are Doing the Works of Gods Great Enemy; And I am sure, The Winter is not a Liesure, for such Odious Works.

But then, Secondly; we may speak more POSITIVELY; and it is to be now affirmed, That the Liesure of the Winter is to be Employ'd, in such Things, as may be called, A WISE REDEEMING [Page] OF THE TIME. It is Enjoyned upon us, in Eph. 5. 15,16. Walk circumspectly, not as Fools, but as Wise, Redeeming the Time, because the Days are Evil. Thus about the Winter, Because the Days are now short and sharp, therefore Let us now be so wise as to Redeem our Time in these Days. When we have Least to do, we should then be Best Employ'd. About the Liesure of the Winter, we must own, Deus nobis boec Otia fecit; it is God that has made this Liesure for us; and therefore it becomes us to Employ this Liesure for God. We never have a Liesure-Day befalling us, but we should Eye the Hand and End of God, in ordering such a Day; and think with our selves; Why did my God send me this Day? What would He have one to do this Day? We are not Wise, if on our Winter-Days, all such Thoughts as these Ly Frozen in our Minds.

But, How it Winter-Time to be Redeemed?

We will particularize.

1. In the Winter we have Liesure, to Reflect upon OUR OWN WORKS; and the God of Heaven does then Expect that we should so Reflect. There are some, who take my Text in that sense; He Seals up the Hand of every man, that every man may know his own work. We have Liesure in the Winter to settle our Temporal Affairs, and we may then see whereabout our Work Lies; what progress, what success, we have success, we have had in our Work; and what further steps we are to take about our works The Winter time should accordingly be a [Page] Time of much Contrivance with us, and a Time to State our whole Business, for all the Year about. But more than so; our Spiritual and Eternal Affairs are those which the Winter gives us the best Liesure for; and we should now settle those by Reflecting upon our work. It was complained in Jer. 8. 6. No man Repented him, saying, what have I done? In the Winter we have Little to Do; well but now 'tis a Time, for us to Reflect, What have I been doing ever since I came into the World? The great work of Self-Examination is Gods Work; 'tis the Work whereto our God has called us. We have a Precept for it, in Hag. 1. 5. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your Ways. We have a Pattern for it, in Psal. 119. 59. I thought on my Ways, and I turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies. We do the Work of God, when we thus Try what our own Works have been. When the Winter then has driven us into Retirements, Let us take Time for this Work; even to See, and Know, what Work we have been doing since our God first set us to work among the Living on the Earth. 'Tis now a Time for us to Enquire, How have I answered the End, which I came into the World upon? God has Required us, to work out our own Salvation; well, but what strokes, have we struck at that work all this while? Ask our selves, How have I done the works Agreeable to Repentance? and, How have I done the works of Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ? And herewithal bring we all our works to such an Examination, as may discover [Page] the Errors, and Follies of our Works, in order to our thorough Humiliation for them.

Why should not a Winter day be sometimes made a PRAYING-DAY, yea, and a FASTING-DAY, before the Lord? No man will arrive to very high Attainments in the Grace of God, who does not sometimes, devote whole days unto a secret Communion with him. Now, let us have many such Dayes every Winter, to Pray, and Fast, and Humble our Souls, before the God of Heaven. But on such a Day, one very proper exercise would be for us, to call over the Works of our lives, and finding the Obliquity of our Works by Comparing them with the Holy, & Just, & Good Commanements of our God, Let us then, [...] ourselves that we may not be Judged of the Lord.

Behold a Catalogue of sins, against the [...] mandments of God; Reflect now [...] & exactly upon your works, and find out, whether you have not had such sins in your works.

Demand of Yourselves

QUAESTION 1.

‘Have not I grievously forgotten the God that made me! And have not I given to the Wall, the Flesh, and the Devil, the Homage which is due to God alone? O, have I not let Creatures have the Affection, and Obedience, which God alone may lay claim unto?’

Quest 2.‘Have I not Sh [...]m [...]t [...]dly Neglected the Institutions wherein the Lord Jesus Christ has taught me to mentain a Fellowship with my God? And [Page] have I not humoured the Superstitions of a Vain Conversation?’

Quest. 3. ‘I Have I not Irreverently treated the Names, Attributes, Words, Works, and Ordinances, whereby God makes Himself known unto us? and have I not been without awful Apprehensions of His Majesty, under His various Dispensations?’

Quest. 4. ‘Have I not been Carnal, Careless, Weary in the Ordinary Sabbath of God? and have I not been Indisposed unto the Extraordinary Ones?’

Quest. 5. ‘Have I not been Perverse and Haughty towards my Superiours? Unkind and Foolish towards my Inferiours? Envious towards my Equals? and miserably Selfish in my conduct of my self?’

Quest. 6. ‘Have I not Impaired my own Health by Intemperancies? or, been towards others, Passionate, Revengeful, and Contentious?’

Quest. 7. ‘Have I not been Unchast in my Acts, my Thoughts, my Words? Or, been a Companion of the Fools that are so?’

Quest. 8. ‘Have I not by Fraud nor Force wronged my Neighbour? Or, been too Prodigal, when I should not have spent; but when I should have spent, then too Niggardly?’

Quest. 9. ‘Have I not uttered, not fomented what has been contrary unto Truth? or given Countenance unto a False Report?’

Quest. 10. ‘Have I not been Discontent with [Page] my own Condition? Or, harboured in my Heart a Roving and a Craving Lust, after an undue Alteration of it?’

Quest. 11. ‘Have not I Despised the Offers of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New-Covenant, and the wonderful provision therein made for unhappy Sinners? And have not I permitted my Earthly Affairs to keep me at a Distance from the Lord-Redeemer, who has been waiting to give me, Repentance and Remission of Sins?’

Quest. 12. ‘Is not the Fountain of all these bitter and cursed Streams, the Corrupt Nature, which I have Derived from my [...] Parents? A Nature deprived of the Divine Image, depraved with abominable Inclinations?’

Upon these Articles, Let us Interrogate our selves, concerning our Works; and thus in a Winter-Assizes let us pass a due judgment upon our selves, for our own miscarriages; that so we may in the End of the Year, make ready for the Judgment which is to come in the End of the World.

II. The Great God requires our Contemplation to observe ALL HIS WORKS, and the Liesure of the Winter should very much go to that Contemplation. We should now Know the Work of God, and Study as far as we can, every one of His Works. There has been that Invitation unto us, in Psal. 46. 8. Come, Behold the Works of the Lord, what Desolasions He hath made in the Earth. Truly, there are in every Winter, many Desolations made upon the product of the Earth; but we should then Behold All, as well as Those works of God. We [Page] are Endued with Rational Faculties, capable of Beholding the Works of our God; and He made us Alter all His other works, on purpose that we might he the Beholders of all the Rest. Now, particularly

First, There is an Humble Acknowledgment of God, wherewith we are to behold his works of CREATION, and the winter may be our liesure for it. The Psalmist having mentioned the Evening, when men lay by their labour, he presently adds, in Psal 104. 24. O Lord how manifold are thy Works! in wisdom hast Then made them all. As if then were a liesure for such a meditation! Truly thus in the winter, when we throw up our other Labour; we should then, Behold these manifold works of God. We should not in the winter become such Recluses as to forget that we are, The Citizens of the world; but then take a Range about the works of our God in the World. The very name of The World, in the Language of the Bible signifies Beautiful, and [...] in the winter it looses much of is Beauty, yet we are then more at Liesure to behold its Beauty. It was the Demand of the Psalmist, in Psal. 148. 7.8. Praise the Lord, ye Hall, Snous, and Vapour, and Stormy wind: fulfilling his word. Why, The Snow, and Vapour and stormy wind, and the rest of the Winter, do demand of us, to Praise the Lord, for what of, The Lord, is to be seen in them, and not in them alone, but in all other Creatures. It is a most Glorious Variety of Objects, which we have to behold on this little Terraqueous Globe, We are at present sojourners. [Page] There, to pass over the Numberless Fossils in the Bowels of the Globe, which probably contains above Ten Thousand Millions of Cubic German Leagues, with how many Animate Bodies are we Entertained? Of Beasts, including Serpents, we may reckon about an Hundred and Fifty Species. The Volatils, of Birds, have been reckoned about Five Hundred; The Aquatils, or Fish, have also been reckoned about Five Hundred. The Shells Fish more than as many more. The Vegetables or Plants, of our Universe have been counted about Six Thousand; and the Insects, both Terrestrial and Aquatil, more than Ten Thousand. But there are many other Animals to be also Beheld by us, which never could have been Beheld, until fit Instruments were Invented for the doing of it. The Whales, those moving Islands of more than an Hundred Foot in Length, are not of a Structure so Exquisite, so Stupendous, as those Animals, whereof our Microscopes infallibly assure us, that many Thousands together would not equal the least Grain of our common Sand. But yet our Erect Figure, instructs us to Raise our Looks, unto the Stars, among which, if we were Lodged we should quite Loose our Sight of this Globe; tho' it be above Twenty Six Thousand [...] Miles, in the compass of it. We have the fairest and fullest view of the Stars in the Winter: (even the Cloud in Cancer, has been sometimes then seen, full of little Stars:) but what are those few, for they are not many more than a Thousand, of the Stars, which we see without a Telescope, compared [Page] unto the Innumerable Missions, Wherewith from That, we justly suppose the AEther to be replenished? The Wandring Stars, the Fixed Stars, and the Satellites of each, how inexplicably circumstanced are they? How Regular to the Hundredth part of a Minute, are they in their Motions? and how more Bulky than our Earth, an hundred times over, in their Dimensions? If at last we Descend into the Sun, that vast Fiery Globe, which is the Counter, and the Support, of the whole Visible World besides; The Philosopher thought himself Made and Born for nothing so much, as to Behold this. Heavenly Fire ball: 'tis by the Ancient, and Soberest Computation, at least an hundred & sixty times bigger than That Planet, whereof we are the Inhabitants: whereas indeed such more Accurate Astronomers, as the Incomparable Heveli [...]s, have asserted the Sun to be three thousand, four hundred, and sixty two times bigger than this Earth, which is given to the Children of Men; but how much does it then, Declare the Glory of God, and shew forth His Handy work? Let the Winter, when we see least of him, give us Liesure to be most Apprehensive of it.

The Jews have a Fancy among them, That when the Almighty first bespangled the Heavens which Stars, He left a Spot near the North Pole unfinished, and unfurnished, that so, if in after Ages any other should be set up for a GOD, he might have this Trial made of them, Go, fill up if you can that part of Heaven which is yet left Imperfect! But indeed, Without any such Suppositions, we may [Page] see enough in the Heavens, to proclaim this unto us, Lift up your Eyes on High, and Behold, who has Created these things? None but an Infinitely Glorious God, could be the Creator of them.

Secondly. There is a profound Adoration of God, wherewith we are to Behold His Works of REDEMPTION; and for this likewise we have the Liesure of the Winter. When our Lord was undergoing some of His Last Agonies, for the Redemption of Lost Man, 'tis said in Joh. 19. 18. They made a Fire of Coals, for it was Cold, and they warmed themselves. Accordingly, when we have a cold Winter upon us, Let us Warm our Souls, by thinking on what our Lord Endured in the latter end of the Winter for us. When we are in our Warm Houses, O Behold, that Hot Love of our Lord unto our Souls, which tho' He Lay in a Winter night groveling on the cold Ground, yet made Him Sweat, yea, to Sweat Clotters or Globules of Blood, more terrible to Behold, than those Bloody Sweats, which Diodorus Siculus tells us, besel the people of the East, when their Serpents had bitten them. When we are in our Warm Garments, O then Behold the Heat of our Lords Love, wherein He Hung Naked on the Cross, in the Cold Air, for Six Hours together of a Winter-Day. The Unfathomable Mysteries of Redemption are the Raptures of the Angels, all the Year about; it is said of those Cherubims conversant about the Mercy-Seat, in 1 pet. 1. 12. These Things they Desire to Look into. Let us make the same Things our Study, especially in that part of [Page] the Year, the Winter, when we have most of Liesure for the Study. We find in Eccl. 11. 7. Truly the Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun. Tho in our Winter we have less Light than at other Times, yet we may then have more Time to Behold the Sun of Righteousness; and How pleasant a Task should we Esteem it! Let us now take a Time to Behold the Matchless Glories of our Lord Redeemer; and hear that Call of God, Behold, the Lamb of God! There is a bright Constellation of Miracles that Unite in our Blessed Mediator, and glitter wonderfully; Let us now, Behold those Miracles of God manifest in the Flesh, and of that Child Born to us, that Son given to us, who is the Everlasting Father, that Man who is the Mighty God, and whose Name is therefore Wonderful. But now also let us take a Time to Behold the Glorious Methods of our Salvation by this Lord Redeemer. Behold the most admirable Contrivance of our Salvation, in the New-Covenant! It is wonderful, that God should so Love the World as to give His only Begotten Son, that whosoever Believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life. It is wonderful, that the Only Begotten Son of God should ever take on Him the Form of a Servant, that we might become the Children of God. It is wonderful, that He who knew no Sin, should be made Sin for us, that we might be made the the Righteousness of God in Him. The Wayes of the Holy Spirit in Applying the Redemption thus obtained for us, are yet further WONDERFUL. The MYSTICAL BODY of our Lord Jesus [Page] Christ, with regard unto the manner and effect, of our being brought into an Union with Him we are told, It is fearfully and wonderfully made. Well, we should now, Behold these Winders, and continue to do so, till we have no more Winter, yea, till we have no more Spirit Left.

Thirdly, There is an Hearty Admiration of God, wherewith we are to behold this works of PROVIDENCE; and for this also we have the Liesure of the winter. It is noted concerning the Wheels of Providence, in Ezek. 10. 12. The wheels were full of Eyes. When the winter comes about, in the wheel on the year, we should have our eyes open, and be full of eyes, to behold the motion of those wondrous wheels. The Governed of the World is maintained in the winter, as [...] as all the rest of the year about; but we have in the Winter, more of Liesure, to behold the Spotless and Exact Administration of that Government. We behold many storms in the Winter; but it is then also a time to behold the Power and; Wisdom and Goodness of God, in managing all the Storms wherewithal the world is Ruffled, and causing them all to be subservient unto his own Designs and Interests. It is said in Psal. 107.43. Who so is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the Loving kindness of the Lord. There are Illustrious Dispensations, wherein the Almighty God acts as a Rewarder unto the children of men; and we shall be very well Rewarded for all the Confinements of the Winter, if we take our Liesure now to acquaint [Page] our selves with such Dispensations: Our Confinement will become our Liberty! There are the Dispensations, of the Most High towards His People; His Protecting them, His Directing them, His Increasing them. When the Church of God, was Represented unto Moses, as a Burning Bush, it is said, He drew near to Behold the Sight. And when we are by our Fire-side in the Winter, we may have Liberty to Behold that Burning Bush. There are also the Dispensations of the Most High, towards His Enemies; His Confounding of them, His Destroying of them. The Winter was hardly out, when Israel Beheld the Great Work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: And we may then also Behold, how terribly Egyptians are punished by the Hand of God. When our Lord had been Talking with His Disciples, about those performances of Providence, wherein the Scriptures had Received their Accomplishment, they could say, in Luk. 24.32. Did not our Hearts then Burn within us? Why, when we are e'en ready to Freeze with the Vapours of the Winter, the Disciples of our Lord should then be Talking together, about His Doings in the World; The News of Great Occurrents are then to be Enquired after, not as by Athenians, having only an Itch of Novelty to prompt those Enquiries, but as by Disciples inquisitive after the Fulfilments of the Scriptures. and after the Illustrations of the Divine Attributes, in those Fulfilments. Thus are we to Talk till our Hearts Burn within us. And hence also, Church-History is a very suitable Study for the Winter; [Page] Martyrologies, and the Lives of Eminent Persons, and the Stories of Eminent Reformations, Difficulties, and Deliverances attending the Church of God, are now very fitly Studied.

Finally. As it was said, in Job 37. 14. Stand still, and Consider the Wondrous works of God: When the Winter comes, we can't Go out as at other times; Well, since we must Sit still, now let us more than ever, Consider the Wondrous Works of God.

III. In the very CONSTITUTION OF THE WINTER it self. There are very sensible Works of God, and our God requires us to be very sensible of those Notable Works. Almighty God now Seals up our Hands, that we may Know His Work. What Work? Why, that very Work of Sealing up our Hands; and that Work of sending Snow, and Rain, and Winter upon the Earth.

Well then, when the Winter comes, we must Acknowledge that it is from God. It is as we read, Psal. 147.17. Gods Cold, and for that cause we may not call it Cruel Cold; at least it must be a cruel Catechresis, by which we call it so? nothing done by God, should be Esteemed Cruel. Even so, 'tis Gods Winter, the Almighty God is to be Reverenced as the Orderer of it all.

Is the Winter now Rolled about? Then Know, That God is the MAKER of the Winter. 'Tis Enqulred, in Job. 38.28,29. Hath the Rain a Father? Out of [...] came the Ice? and the[Page]Hoary Frost of Heaven, who hath Gendred it? So, when the Winter is upon us, we may Enquire, whence comes this Cold, and snow, and Rain, and all the rest? But we see them all fall from Heaven; & unto the God of Heaven should we ascribe the making of all. As the Winter is of Gods Promise; Whether the Antediluvian World had any proper winter or no, yet the Lord presently after the Flood, engaged concerning our present World, Summer & Winter shall not cease: Thus, the Winter is of Gods Making too. The Numberless Number of Saline Particles, from whence at least some circumstances of the Winter do arise, do all of them say, Tis the Lord that has made us, and not we ourselves. There seems to be a [...] store of Corpuscles a little akin to Nitre, exhaled from the Terrestrial Globe, and roving about in sundry parts of the Atmosphere (of the Figure which Philoponus tells us, Democritus assign'd unto Frigorific Atoms) and these may not a little contribute unto many things that we feel in our cold. But still, who made them all? And thus, not only those mighty Rands of Ice (that Magnum Duramen Aquarum, as Lucretius Calleth it,) Encountred by such, Navigators as Janus Munckius, who saw these Icy-Islands floating Twenty Fathom above Water; or as Baffin, who round some above Water, between two & three Hundred foot High; or those that sometimes occur in the River of Canada, where Icy-Islands have been seen, computed Fourscore Leagues in Length; but every little Ice-Cycle is the Workmanship of God.

[Page] Again, Know, That God is the SENDER of the Winter. 'Tis affirmed, in Job 37.9.10. Cold comes out of the North; by the Breath of God, [...]rest is given, and the Breadth of the Waters is straitned. When a Northern Winter is nipping of us, 'tis from an Edict of God, giving order for such a Season. It is God that sends Rain (and the Rest) upon the Earth. The Winterish Winds blow our Winter about our Ears; yea, but it is the Breath of God, that is the First Mover of all. There is much Dispute, what is the Primum Frigidum; whether Air, or Water, or Earth, or Nitre, or what? And some will Dispute whether there be any such Thing at all, or no. For if the Coldness of any thing signifie no more, than its not having its Insensible Parts agitated so much as those of our Sensories by which we judge of Tactile Qualities; then to make a thing become cold, there needs no more than that the Sun or Fire, or some other Agent, that more vehemently Agitated its parts before, do now cease to do it. But he Cold a positive Quality, (which I encline to think) or a privative, still 'tis the Breath of God that gives Rise unto it. What the Centurion said about the Servants under His Command, I say to one, Come, and he comes; thus the Winter; 'tis our Great Soveraign who says to it, Come; and so the Winter comes.

Once more, Knew, That God is the RULER of the Winter. This is intimated in Psal. 74.17. Thou hast set all the Borders of the Earth, thou hast made Summer and Winter. So, It is God, Who sets [Page] Borders to the Winter upon the Earth. It is God who says to the Winter, Keep off till such a Month. It is God, who says to the Winter, Go off at such a Month. The Unlimitable Holy One of Israel, is He that Limits our Winter for us. The winds that Rise in the winter are in His [...], and as to the waves that are so often Crusted in the winter, so to the winter it self, He faith, Hitherto shalt then go, and no further.

Let me add, The Obedience of the winter unto our God, should be considered by us, to shame our Disobedience. If God say to the Snow, and the Rain, and the Like, Be thou upon the Earth, straightway they are so. What Wretches then are we, that when this God shall say to us, Be thou upon thy Knees, or, Let thy Heart be in Heaven, we slight what He faith! We read in Psal. 147.15. He sendeth forth his Commandment upon Earth, His Word Runneth very swiftly: and then comes, the Snow, the Frost, the Ice, and the Cold. Well, but it follows, He showed His Word unto Jacob. And now, does Jacob yield as much Obedience unto the Word of God, as the winter does? Alas, How Disobedient are we! In the winter, the Work of God is done by the winter it self; but the Word of God then prescribes a further work unto us; and can it be said, We run very swiftly about that work? No truly; our will to our work, seems Congeled as it were by an Eternal winter. Said the Psalmist, in Psal. 119.91. All are thy Servants. What a sad world is this! Every thing Obeys the Great God, without any Contradiction, but only [Page] MAN, and the DEVIL? methinks we should be ashamed of our Company in our Disobedience!

But that our Obedience unto God may be furthered, by the very Constitution of the winter, we should do well, upon the several Things therein occurring, to make our Occasional Reflections. We may Spiritualize the winter, and we may have such Thoughts thereby Raised in our Minds, and such Lessons, and such Wishes, as may bring unto us the life and Peace, which the Spiritually minded have in their being to. We will Exemplifie a few of those innumerable Devout Thoughts, wherein the winter sometimes hath provoked a serious Man, to address the God that made the winter: and I will confine my self to the Scripture in them all.

The first among all the Meteors of the winter, that uses to be considered, is that of, The WIND, which Plato [...] as well as any since, to be, The motion of the Air about the Earth.

Asper ab Axe ruit Boreas, fur [...]t Eurus ab ortu,

Auster amat medium sol [...]m, Zephyrusq [...]e cadentem.

But, Whatever Point of the Compass, the Wind blows upon, Let it blow some Good Thoughts into our Minds, and it will be no Ill Wind unto us. Now let these be the Wishes of your Souls; Let this now be the still voice of your Souls, and the Lord will be in the Wind.

[Ezek. 37.19.] Lord, Let the Breath come from the four winds, and breathe upon thy slain people every where, that they may Live.

[Dan. 7.2.] Lord, Let the strivings of the [Page]Wind upon the Sea, in the Tumults of the Nations, produce the Accomplishment of thy Glorious Prophecies.

[Isa. 49.36.] Lord, bring not the four winds from the four Quarters of Heaven, to scatter any part of thy Church toward all those winds.

[Zech. 6.5.] Lord, Let me have many Heavenly Kindnesses done for me, by thine Angels, whom thou callest, The Winds of the Heaven.

[Isa. 27.8.] Lord, Let not thy Anger overthrow me, but stay thy Rough wind in the Day of the East wind.

[Isa. 41.16. Isa. 64.6] Lord, Let me not be found among those, whom the Wind of thy Displeasure shall carry away, and the Whirlwind scatter them; and let it not be said of me, My Iniquities, Like the Wind, have taken me away.

[Job 20.15.] Lord, Let not thy Terrors, in fore Calamities be turned upon me; Let them not pursue my Soul as the wind.

[Isa. 32.2. Psal. 55.8.] Lord, Let the Blessed JESUS, be unto me, As an Hiding Place from the wind, and a Covert from the Tempest; Unto Him, Thorough Him, Let me hasten my Escape, from the windy Storm and Tempest.

[Matth. 7.25.] Lord, Let me be a Wise Builder, the House of whose Faith and Hope shall be so Founded on the Rock, as to stand, when the Winds blow and best upon it.

[Hos. 13.15.] Lord, Let no Adversary like an East wind, come, and as the wind of the Lord, come up, against thy People.

[Page] [John 3.8] Lord, As the Wind bloweth where it Listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so let me be Born of thy Holy Spirit.

[Eccl 11.4] Lord, Let me not so observe the wind, as to neglect any Opportunities of Sowing, in Acts of Liberality.

[Math 8.27] Lord, The Winds obey thy Christ; O Let me do so too!

[Psal. 18.10] Lord, Unto the Saving and Helping of all thy people, do thou Fly upon the Wings of the Wind; and let me do so, in the Swiftness of my Obedience unto thy Majesty.

[Gen. 8.1.] Lord, Let that Wind pass over Earth, which may carry off the Flood of Ignorance, Wickedness and Misery, that has Long Overwhelmed it.

[Jon. 4.8.] Lord, Expose me not unto any such vehement East-Wind of Calamity as may cause my Soul to faint.

[Act 27.7.] Lord, Let me not have cause to complain, concerning my Voyage to Glory, The Wind would not suffer me

[Psal. 107.25,29.] Lord, Let not a Stormywind be Raised in my Soul, but do thou make the Storm a Calm.

[Eph. 4.14] Lord, Let me not be like a Child in Religion, Tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of Doctrine.

[Jam. 1.6.] Lord, Let me alwayes Pray in Faith, not wavering like a Wave of the Sea, driven with the Wind.

[Page] [Jam. 3.4.] Lord, Let me well manage the Helm of my Tongue, when the fiercest winds are driving of me.

[Job. [...].7.] Lord, cause me duely to Remember, that my life is wind; so Transitory, and Evanescent! I am as the Wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

[Isa 45.29] Lord, Leave me not unto a Dotage upon those Idols, which are but Wind and Confusion.

[Hos 8.7] Lord, Let me not fall into those Iniquities, wherein I shall only Saw the Wind, and Reap the Wh [...]l [...]iad.

[Job 15.2. [...] 16.3.] Lord, Let me not pursue that vain knowledge, which does but fill the Bel [...] with the East-wind: nor let me use Words of Wind.

[Jer 5.1 [...] & 22.22. Eccl 5.5.16.] Lord, Let not my Expectations become wind; and let not the wind Eat up my Comforts: Nor let me in my Undertakings, Labour for the wind.

[Prov. 25.14] Lord, Let me not be a proud Boaster of a False Gift, like Clouds and Wind without Rain.

[Isa. 7.2.] Lord, Let me not be overcome with such Fears, that my Heart shall be moved, as the Trees of the Wood, are moved with the Wind.

[So I Read, Cant. 4.16.] Depart O Northwind, and Come, thou South; blow upon my Garden, that the Spices thereof may flow out.

The other Meteors that most abound in the [Page] Winter, are the Aqueous ones, rather than the Ignite. The whole Air seems to be a Great Vaporary, or Alembic for the Generating of them; their Origin is that in Psal 1 [...]5.7. and Jer. 10.13 God causes the Vapour to Ascend from the Ends of the Earth. Well then, Of these. When the RAIN falls upon us by a Resolution of Raised Vapours into drops of Water; Let our wishes be of this Import, and we shall have Showers of Blessing indeed; both in Summer and in Winter too.

[Psal. 11.6. Gen. 19.24] Lord, Let me be none of the Wicked, upon whom thou wilt Rain Snares, Fire and Brimstone, and an Horrible Tempest, as thou didst of old upon wicked Sodom.

[Jer. 17.6.] Lord, Let not my Soul be, Like the Heath in the Desart, that sees not when Good Rain cometh.

[Acts 14.17.] Lord, Let me humbly Acknowledge the Witness, which thou givest of thy Power and Goodness, in thy Giving us Rain from Heaven.

[Lev. 26 4 Deut 11.14. and 28.12 1 King 8.36. Psal. 68.9. and 65.11] Lord, Evermore fulfil thy Promise to thy People, I will give you Rain in due Season; and when they ask for it, Then Teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give Rain upon thy Land; and, Send plentiful Rains to confirm thine Inheritance when it shall be weary. So, Let thy Paths, the Clouds Drop Fatness upon us.

[Jer. 14: 22. see Zech: 10.1] Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles, that can [Page]cause Rain! Or, can the Heavens give showers? Art not thou He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait upon thee; for thou hast made all of these things.

[Amos 4.7.] Lord, I would own, That it is Thou who causest it to Rain upon as City, and causest is not to Rain upon another City.

[Mic 5.7.] Lord, Let the Accomplishments of thy Word, unto thy Church, come, like the showers upon the Grass, which tarries not for man nor waits for the Sons of men.

[Math: 5.45.] Lord, As Thou sendest Rain upon the Just, and the Unjust, So let me do good unto all men, even unto my Foes, as well as unto my Friends.

[Zech. 14.17. Isa. 5.6.] Lord, Let me not have a Soul, without the Rain of Grace, or Joy, as they have, that come not into thy Church, to Worship the King, the Lord of Hosts: Nor let thy Vineyard so offend thee, that thou shalt Command the Clouds to Rain no Rain upon it.

[Deut. 32.2] Lord, Let thy Word in the Dispensations of the Gospel, Drop as the Rain upon my Soul.

[Psal. 72.6] Lord, Let the Influences of thy Son the Lord Jesus Christ, Come down upon the World, and upon Me, in the World, Like Rain upon the Mown Grass, as the showers that water the Earth.

[Heb. 6.7.8.] Lord, Let me not be Like the Earth, which Drinks in the Rain that comes oft [Page]upon it, but bears Thorns and Briars, and is Rejected, and is [...]igh unto Cursing.

[Hos. 10.12.] Lord, It is Time for me to seek thee, that thou wouldest Rain down Righteousness upon me.

[Isa. 44.3.] Lord, pour Floods of Celestial Water upon my Thirsty Soul; pour and shower thy Spirit upon me.

[Ezek. 22.24] Lord, Let not our Land, be a Land not Rained upon, in the Day of Indignation.

[Job. 5.9,10] Lord, Thou dost Marvellous Things without Number, when thou givest Rain upon the Earth:

[Isa. 4.6.] Lord, give me in thy self a Place of Refuge and of Covert, from Storm, and from Rain.

[Psal 84.6,7] Lord, Tho' the Rain fill the [...], yet let me chearfully go thro' Wet and Dry, to wait upon thee in the Assemblies of thy Zion.

[Gen 7.2] Lord, Rescue me and the World, from the Sins, that once provoked thee, to make it Rain upon the Earth, Forty Days and Forty Nights, till a Desolating Flood came upon the World.

[Ezr 10.9] Lord, Let a great Rain cause me to Tremble at thy greater Judgments.

[Prov 27.15] Lord, Send not upon me, an Affliction which may be as a continual Dropping in a very Rainy Day.

[Prov 16.15] Lord, Let thy Favour in the Favour of my Rulers be to me, As a Cloud of the Latter Rain.

[Hos 6.3] Lord, come unto me, [...] a way [Page] of mercy, As the Rain, as the latter and the former Rain upon the Earth.

[Jer. 5.24.] Finally Let me now fear the Lord my God, that giveth Rain.

Thus for the Rain.

But when the SNOW, which is Frothed Rain, lies about us, our Wishes may be thus Formed.

[Isa. 55.10.11] Lord, As the Snow comes down from Heaven, & returns not thither, but waters the Earth, & makes it bring forth & bud, So let thy, Word accomplish my being made fruitful before thee.

[Prov. 25.13.] Lord, As the Cold of Snow, (or drink Snow-Cold) in the time of Harvest, is very acceptable, so let my Fidelity render Me to all that are concerned in me.

[Job 19.30.] Lord, help me to Consider, that tho' I should wash my self with Snow-Water, & make my hands never so clean, yet much Filthiness would cleave unto me, whereby I deserve to be Abhorred.

[Lam 4.7.] Lord, let a Work of real Sanctification upon me, render me like the Nazarites purer than Snow.

[ Numbers 12.10] Lord, make me penitently sensible of the Lep [...]dy, upon my soul, which is a Distemper worse than that Bodily one wherein, person, have become Leprous, White as the Snow.

[Isa. I. 18. Psal. 51.7.] Lord, let my sins, [Page] that have been like Scarlet, become White like Snow, by thy Free and Full pardon of them all. O wash me in thy Blood of Sprinkling, and I shall be whiter than Snow.

[Dan. 7.9. Rev. 1.14] Lord, prepare me for, and hasten on the World, the coming of that Ancient of Days, whose Garments are white as the snow, and whose Hairs are white as Wool, as white as Snow.

[Prov. 26.1] Lord, let me not be like one of those Fo [...]ls, for whom Honour would be unseemly like the Snow in Sum her.

[Psal 14.16 18.] Lord, when thou hast given Snow like [...] thou send [...]t out thy word and meit [...]st it, and wnt not thou melt this heart of mine by thy word, into the Resolutions of Repentance.

[Jer 18.14,1 [...]] [...] a man leave the Snow of Lebanon, which conet [...] Would a Thirsty [...] of pure water, slight it [...] thee, O my God.

This for, the Snow; But when the HAIL which is Frozen Rain, visits us, it may Awaken these Wishes in us.

[Hag. 2.17] Lord, It was thy Complaint, I Smote you with Hail, yet ye turned not unto me; Let not my Obstinacy in Sin, give cause for that Complaint.

[Rev. 16.21.] Lord, Hasten upon the Antichristian Babylon, that Great Hail out of Heaven, whereof every Stone shall be about the weight of a Talent.

[Page] [Isa. 28. 2] Lord, Let not thy people be Invaded by any Enemy, which as a Tempest of Hail, and a Destroying Storm, shall cast them down to the Earth.

[Ezek. 13 13. Isa. 28.17 Psal. 18.12.] Lord, Let not my Refuges, be such, as there shall be an Overflowing Shower in thine Anger, and Great Hailstones in thy Fury to consume them; Let them not be, Refuges of Lies, which the Hail shall sweep away. Fit me for the Day when I shall see the Descending Jesus Alarum the World with Brightness, Hailstones, and Coals of Fire.

[Isa 30.30] Lord, Let me Tremble at thy Threatnings as they did in the Day, when thou didst cause thy Glorious Voice to be heard, and Show the Lighting down of thy Arm, with Seattering, and Tempest, and Hailstones.

[Josh 10.11] Blessed be God, That He does not cast down such great Stones from Heaven upon us, as to make us Dy with the Hailstones.

[Exod. 9.20] The Egyptians being warned of a great Hail, such as Feared the Word of the Lord, fled into Houses for their Safety. Lord, Let me so Fear the Hailstorm of thy Judgments, as to seek for Safety in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But it were Endless to Enumerate the Ejaculations of a Devout Mind, on these Occasions. Thus, When 'tis FAIR, Clear, Bright WEATHER, how Agreeable were it for us to wish; Lord, may the Light of thy Countenance be uplifted on my Soul! and, May, I walk in that Light all the Day Long: So, when 'tis Cloudy Weather, how Agreeable to wish, [Page] Lord, When shall the Son of Man come in the Clouds of Heaven! and, O let it not be with my Soul, a Day of Clouds and of thick Darkness.

The shooting of such Arrows up to Heaven, is an Incomparable Exercise for a Soul, that Looks to Eternal Invisibles, to Invisible Eternals, on a Winter-Day; and of the man, that on a Winter Day so Employs himself, I say, Blessed is the man, that has a Quiver full of such Arrows.

IV. The Merciful Works of God, which provides for our NECESSITIES IN THE WINTER are very manifold, and it becomes us to take a most Thankful Notice of those many Mercies. When our God Seals up our Hands, in the Winter, He Opens His own Hand, in our Liberal Supplies for the Winter; and we should so Know those Works of God, as to be Thankfully Affected with them.

The Winter it self, That is not without much of Mercy in it. It is our Winter particularly, which for divers Months in the Year, is a better Defence unto us against Foreign Invasions, than all the Sconces and Castles wherewith we could be Fortify'd. Doubtless the Polanders thought their Cold was a kindness unto them, when in an Army of seventy Thousand Turks Invading them, Forty Thousand suddenly perished, by the Severity of the Cold, tho' it were but the Month of November with them. Truly, in the Month of November the Cold begins none of the least preservatives also for us New-Englanders! And who [Page] can say, How many Epidemical Diseases have by our Winter been Extinguished? Our Cold precipitates the Vapours which would else Thicken and Poison our Air, and by Freezing the Surface of the Earth, it keeps in many malignant Steams, that otherwise would thence arise to Suffocate us It is called for, in Psal 148.8 Praise the Lord ye Hail and Snow, and Vapour, and Stormy [...]. It seems, they that have much, of the Hail, the Snow, the Vapour, may find something in them, for which they should Praise the Lord. The Psalmist says, God giveth Snow like Wool; the Snow, is as a goodly white Robe on the body of the Earth, where by his cherished, with a Nitrous Impregnation, for Fruitfulness in the Year Ensuing. Thaa [...]ns tells us, That sometimes it has Rained Corn; and indeed, what Corn should we have, if all Rain were denyed unto us? It was Miraculous, when God after a sort Rained first Bread and then Flesh, for Israel of old; He does it in Effect for us continually.

But as the Winter brings much of MERCY to us, it brings much of Hardship too? Pliny calls the Snow, and the Ice, the Punishments of the Mountains. We who dwell in a plain Region, as well as they who dwell upon the Rigid and Ragged Edges of such Mountains, would be sorely Punished, by the Hardship of the Winter, if the Mercy of our God should not Relieve us. It was said, in Job 38.22,23. Hast thou Entred into the Treasures of the Snow? Or, hast thou seen the Treasures of the Hail? which I have Reserved against the Time of Trouble. Truly, the Time of Snow, and the [Page] Time of Hail, would be a sore Time of Trouble unto us, if God should not from the other Treasures of his Bounty, therein make a Comfortable Provision for us. This I would say; The Common Mercies of God are a Ground, and call for more than Common Praises to God. May we from this Time, Resolve to be more than ordinarily Thankful for our Common Mercies, and we have to Extraordinary Good Purpose now Spent the Time of this present Exercise.

We may be Thankful, that the Winter it self is not so Hard, either as it might be, if God should make it so, or as it is now in some other Lands, yea, or as it has been heretofore among our selves. The Psalmist saw cause to say, in Psal.147.17. Who can stand before His Cold? If God should carry on the Cold unto a little further Extremity upon us, there could be no Standing before it. Or, if the Cold which in its Extremity carries usually but Three Days among us, were Extended for Three Months, instead of any Standing, there could be no Living for us. But, in the midst of the Cold, God Remembers Mercy. And Our Winters indeed are not so fiercely cold, as those of some other Countreys. We are not, as Livy speaks of the Alps, Eternis Damnati Nivibus, Doom'd unto Eternal Snowes! 'Tis not with us, as Olearius tells us, tis in Muscovia, where, Their Spittle will freeze e're it reach the Ground; and so violent is the Cold, that no Furs can hinder it, but sometimes mens Noses, Ears, Hands, and Feet, will be Frozen, and all fall off; And, as the Great Fletcher [Page] has reported, not only they who Travel abroad, but many in the very Markets of their Towns are mortally pinch'd, so that you shall see many drop down in the Streets; & many Travellers brought home Dead and stiff in their Sleds. Which is a Report that Sigi [...]mundus ab Herberstein has also given us Nor is it wich us, as Capt. James found it, in some of his Northern Coasting, where, when he and his Companions were a little while parted, they had their Faces, Hair, and Cloaths, frozen over that they could not know each other, by their Habits, no, nor by their Voices: Nor, as where Gerat de Ueer was, when their shoes Froze as hard as Horns upon their Feet; nor were they able to wear them; Nor, as where Beauplan tells us, that without Good Precautions, the cold produces those Cancers, which in a few Hours destroy the parts they sieze upon.

Yea, and our own Winters are, as observably as Comfortably Moderated since the Land has been Peopled, and Opened, of Later Years. Our Snows are not so Deep, and Long, since the Progress that has been made, in the Clearing of our Woods; and our Winds blow not such Rasours, as in the Days of our Fathers, when the Hands of the Good Men would freeze unto the Bread upon their Tables, and the strongest Wine there would in a few minutes be hardly to be swallowed for its Congelation: yea, Water cast up into the Air, would be Turned into Ice e're it came unto the Ground. I wish, That all Wise Men would make the Reflection of Petronius upon [Page] such a matter; says he, Incultis Asteriso; Regenibus diutius Nives herent: ast who Aratro Domefacts, Tellus nitet, dum Loqueris Levis Pr [...]ma dilebitur similiter in pectoribus in a Considit, For [...]s quidem mentos obsidet, Erudit as [...]. In short English: As our Land grows better Caltivated, we shall have less Winter and less Anger too among us

But then, Let our Thankful Thoughts proceed unto the more particular Provisions, wherewith our kind God, furnishes us against the Assaults of a Needy Winter. Be thankful that we do not undergo the Torments of Cold, in such starving Circumstances, as Ecclesiastical History tells us, the Martyrdom of Mums was attended with.

Let us be Thankful for our CLOATHING. It is a stroke in the picture of the wise Woman, She is not Afraid of the Snow for her Houshold, for all her Houshold are Clothed with [...] Garments. 'Tis well for us, that we have such Garments by Night as well as by Day, to keep off the Cold, which would otherwise [...] digiously mortify is. A poor Naked Beggar of Russia, being in the Depth of Winter asked by a Person of Quality, covered with his hick Furrs, How be ocud so then clud, bear the Cold? He reply'd, My Lord, should you do, as I do, you would fe [...]l as Little Cold as I! but being asked, How it that? He answered, Why, As I do, For us all the Clothes you've got. But indeed, in we were almost Naked, in the Cold of our Winter, [Page] it would be but a cold Comfort unto us to think, These few Thread-bare Clothes are all we have to Cover us. Be Thankful; and at the same time let us Entreat of our God, That He would bestow upon us the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Garment of our Souls, and Adorn us wich the Fine Linnen, which is The [...] of the Saints.

Let us also be Thankful for our FUEL. There have been Pagans that have sometimes worshipped the Fire as a God. But it would well became Christians, to Worship the True God with manifold Praises for the Advantages which we have against our Cold by the Fire. Our Indians have thought the Fire must needs be a God; because when a poor man is ready to perish with Cold in the Winter, one Spark of it, will in a few minutes blaze out so comfortably as to save the Life of him. Instead of so Rude a Fancy, it beseems us to-say, There is much of God in the Fire: His Greatness, and His Bounty may be seen Sparkling in it. Be Thankful; and at the same time, Let us Entreat of our God, That we may be Baptised with the Fire of His Holy Spirit, which will make us, Fervent in Spirit Serving the Lord.

Let us be thankful for Our HOUSES too. We are not left now to lodge abroad in the Cold, with none but the Ground for our Bed, the Snow for our Coverlid, and the Sky for our Canopy: nor are we obliged unto such Wretched Wigwams as were the best Habitations of the Barbarous Natives [Page] that were here before us. How well are we lodged in the Winter; and neither by Burnings nor by Earthquakes, forced out of Doors? Be thankful; and at the same time let us entreat of our God, that we have a Mansion in our Heavenly Fathers house forever. The Keenest Winters in the world, have been made very tolerable by peoples making some Rooms of their Houses under the Earth, and keeping themselves in such subterraneous Rooms. But let the Winters which call us to give thanks, for our warm Houses on the Earth, cause us to be Concerned for, An house Eternal in the Heavens.

And let us be Thankful for our TABLES. How many Warm Dishes, have we to cherish us, whereby we are strengthened against the Cold of the winter? And how many Refreshing Draughts to Refocillate our Enfeebled Spirits? Be thankful, & entreat of God, that we may be admitted unto His Feast of Fat things full of Marrow, and of Waves on the Lees, well-Refined, the feast whereat, There will be no taking away.

We have a Glorious Benefactor in the Heavens by whose Benignity upon Earth, we live well all the Winter long: and all the Expressions of that Benignity, are to be Received with a most hearty Thankfulness.

I pray, let us not be condemned, by the very Jewes themselves, with whom it has been customary, still to make use of their Daily comforts, with a Boruk Adonai, or, Blessed be the Lord.

[Page] When Job was looking back upon the Good days which he had seen, he said, in Job, 29, 2. 4. O that I were as in months past, as in the Days when God preserved me; as I was in the dayes of my [...]! Some render it so, As I was in the days of [...] Quarters. Why, when the Great Commander of the Universe, does Command us into our Winter Quarters; He do's then preserve us, and by his Light we walk thro' the Darkness of the winter. And I would now say, O that we were so thankful, as we should be for such merciful months!

V. The Works which, God has FORMERLY DONE TOWARDS OURSELVES, ought always to be Remembred with us; and the Winter is a very proper Season for that Remembrance.

Here is the work of God, which we are to know when by the winter He seals up our Hand; even the whole Work of God, in the whole course of our Life.

There have been SMITING Works of [...]d, which ought seriously to be Remembred with us; As it is said, in Lam. 3. 19. 20. Remembring my Affliction and my [...]work [...], the wormwood and the Gall, [...] soul hath them still in Remembrance, and is burn [...]d in me. Behold a fit work for the winter! Have we not sometimes been in a winter of adversity, wherein this and that Storm of Affliction and [...]ery, has been hard upon us? Now in the winter, let it be part of our work, to recount every such work of God. Now b [...]ing to Remembrance all that Warmwood, and G [...]l; but what for? [Page] Truly, to see whether you have been such Gainers by all those Chastisements as you should have been; and whether the weeds of the Corruptions in your Hearts, and of the Disorders in your Lives, have been duely Nipt by the Frost of such a Winter.

But there have also been SMILING Works of God, which ought carefully to be Remembred with us. It was the Language of a David, in P [...]l.103. 2. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his Benefits. To Bless God, is not the least of the Duties, which the Ever Blessed God requires of man: and all true Davids or men Belov'd by God, evermore Love to be Blessing of God. If this is to be done, At all times, as the Psalmist elswhere speaks, I am sure it may eminently be done in Winter-times. But God is not Really Bless'd or Serv'd, if not Heartily; and in our Blessing of God, the thing is Done to Halves, if the whole Soul, or all the Powers of the Soul, be not engaged in it. Indeed such is our Backwardness, to the Blessing of God, that we had need earnestly to stir, and spur, and rouse ourselves unto the Doing of it. Let us then stir up ourselves, till we have got ourselves into an heat, at this work, in our Winter, and know that a Commemoration of Gods Benefits to us, is to be one Main Ingredient of Our Thanksgivings to Him.

Well then, Let this be one considerable Stroke of our Winter-work; even, To run over the Stories of our LIVES, by reckoning up the Benefits of God, and reflecting on that Goodness and Mercy, wherewith we have been followed all our [Page] Lives. What if you should now and then spend whole DAYS OF THANKSGIVING, not only when the Authority does usually once in a Winter call the whole Province to observe such a Day; but also in secret places before God, by yourselves alone? Some Children of God, have doubtless Enjoyed, An Heaven upon Earth, by De [...] themselves unto such an Heavenly and [...] Exercise; and a Day so Devoted, has [...] been followed with some observable Mercy of G [...] However, Let us every Winter Set apart our Time, to Commemorate the many Benefits of God, unto us, in our Lives, and utter our Just H [...]llelujahs upon every Article in that Commemoration.

Particularly; The FIRST Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Protection which attended our FIRST PRODUCTION: Our Formation in the Womb, and Reception from the Womb. About our being Shaped in our Mothers, we may say, Lord; I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully Made. And about our being Taken from our Mothers, we may say, Lord, Thou art He, who took me out of the Womb. As for our Bodies, 'tis impossible for any thing to be better contrived, than they are in the whole Make of them. What a sad thing would it have been, if these had been monstrously Deformed, or Defective in any One of all their Members? Truly, There are Thousands of Mercies and Wonders, in one perfect Child! And then, as for our Spirits, They are certainly the most Noble [Page] Things that inhabit this Lower World. How doleful had been our plight, if these had Lost any of their Faculties; were we Fools, or Mad? But indeed, we have Souls capable of a very vast Improvement, in the Honouring & Enjoying of our God! What shall I say? That we are Arriv'd Alive among the Living on the Earth, is a Thing full of Marvels, if not of Miracles. What if we had Expired Embryo's, whereby all our Opportunities to Glorify God, had been Lost for ever; yea, and this, after our being Animated, but perhaps, before our being any way given unto God in the New-Covenant, by our Parents; who 'tis possible were themselves, At that Time Strangers from the Covenant of Promise, and so Having no Hope, for their miserable Offspring? O think on what thou Art, and what thou mightest have been! But,

The SECOND Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the PLACE of our NATIVITY, or at least of our HABITATION. Where do we Dwell! 'Tis in [...]Land, Enriched with all sorts of Temporal Conveniencies. 'Tis not where we must have Endured, The Want of all Things; not in the Dark Places of the Earth, which are filled with Cruelty. We Dwell, where we have a plenty of Meat, of Drink, of Apparel, and of the Best; and it is plain, that the Poor do not in any Countrey Live so well as they do in Ours. We Dwell where we have the Right of ENGLISH-MEN for our Birthrigh [...]: which is an Inheritance of [Page] more consequence than what any other Nation upon Earth is favoured with: yea, and we have Additional Priviledges, as we are NEW-ENGLANDERS, whereof we may say, as the Jewish Rabbi did of Liberty, If the Heavens were Parchment, and the Seas were Ink, all would be too Little to write the Praises due unto our God upon that account. We Dwell where Civility abounds; where Knowledge and Learning, with Schools and other means for it, are promoted; where Vice is by wholesome Laws restrained; where Humane Society is made Easie and Pleasant by the Orders of it; and where Industry is Encouraged. But this is not all; Mul [...]o Majora Canan [...]us. 'Tis in a Land, Exalted with all sorts of Spiritual Advantages; 'Tis not, where the People perish, because they have no Vision. I pray mark it, If the world at this Day be Divided into One and Thirty parts, about Nineteen of them are Heathen Idolaters; about Seven of them are Mahometans; hardly Five of them are so much as called Christians. And of what has been styled Christendom, how small a Moyetie, is rescued either from that Superstition, or Persecution, which destroys all Real Christianity? Yea, but you and I have, The Lines fallen to us in such a pleasant Place! We Dwell in a Goshen, in a Protestant, and a Puritan Soyl; and where a Power to persecute is by a Royal Charter, for ever kept from coming into the Hauds of any that might hereafter incline to use it on us. And, in what Age? Had we been Born a few Ages ago, it must have been in a Pagan, or in a Popish Age; [Page] and before PRINTING was Invented, when a Bible must have cost a man an incredible Sum of money, if he could have got it so; and perhaps Hanging or Burning into the Bargain. Alas, Brethren, There is not one of us, but what are Descended from the [...]oyns of many, that are now Roaring in the Place of Dragons! But as for us, we are Born in an Age of Light. Yea, 'Tis in the very Dawns of our Lords Coming to Destroy the Wicked One. I am verily perswaded, There are some already Born, who shall see the most Glorious Revolutions that ever happened in any former Ages; even, The Glorious Things that are spoken of Thee, O thou City of God! It is a priviledge, To be Born so low, so far down in the Line of Time. To pass on,

The THIRD Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the FAMILY, which has given us our ORIGINAL, and our EDUCATION. What Parents have we had? perhaps we are not of the House of the Wicked, which has the Curse of God upon it; but in the Habitation of the Just, which is, Blessed by the Lord. We have had Parents, who have Pray'd for us, before they had us; as Abraham, as Hannah, did for theirs. Yea, perhaps upon their first Apprehensions of our Conception, they did solemnly Give us up to God, that we might be for ever possessed by His Holy Spirit as the Everlasting Vessels of His Glory. But how much then have the Prayers of these our Parents been since concerned for us? And how Rich a Portion [Page] have we had, in that Stock of Prayers? Little do Children think, what an Invaluable Blessing 'tis, to have Parents, that as Job, Sacrificed for his, according to the Number of them all, do pray for every one of them, and that by Name, every Day! But more than so; we have had Parents, that have Restrained us, when our Corrupt Natures would have been Exorbitant; not leaving us to be Children of Be [...]ial, with an Indulgence like that of Eli's. We have had Parents, that have Instructed us, and caused us to become well Catechised in the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ; with a Diligence, like that of David and Bathsheba, for their Solomon. We have had Parents, that have even, Travelled for us in Birth again, that Christ might be Formed in us. And what a Favour of Heaven, have we had in the Heavenly Exam pl [...]t of such Parents! They have shown us, The Path of Life, by their own Walking in that Path before our Eyes. Let us Imitate their Seriousness, their Prayerfulness, their Fruitfulness, their Holiness, their Watchfulness, and we shall at last, Arrive to [...]li [...]s, being therein Gathered unto our Fa thers. Whereas, most of the Children in the World, have Parents, by whose Influence they, Go to the Generation of their Fathers, where they shal never see [...]ight Yea, 'tis possible, that we have had Parents, who have Liberally brought us up by their Cost and Care, we have been Educated in the S [...]ces, whereby we may be made singularly Serviceable to Mankind, singularly Honourable among our Neighbours. And I may add, That [Page] some of us, who in our Childhood Lost our Parents, have yet found, that our God is the Father of the Fatherless: God has graciously stirr'd up others to do the part of Parents for us, when we were shiftless Orphans To proceed,

The FOURTH Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the PROVISION which Divine Providence has made for us and ours. Our Lord said once unto some of His Ministers, When, I sent you without Purse, Lacked ye any thing! And they said, Nothing. Even we, whole Maintainance hath been Left unto the Arbitrary and Alterable Humours of a Fickle Multitude, and who perhaps have never made any Agreement with that Multitude about our Maintenance, yet have hitherto been strangely Supply'd in all our Straits. Many of our Neighbours, have but Impoverished Themselves, by not Communicating unto their Teachers in all good Things; and if Devils, who are the Rulers of this Dark World, could have had their Wills, we must have been Beggared, been Famished. Yet we have seen, that we have Served a Good Lord: He has, as for the Tribe of Levi, Blessed our Substance; and He has been a Shepherd that would [...] suffer [...]s His Under Shepherds to Want. But have not all our Faithful People also, had the like Experiences? Agurs Wish, has been granted us; even, Food convenient for us. Yea, how many of us may say, That we never did properly Want, one good Meal, ever since we drew our first Breath? Speaking of our God, we may say with our Father Jacob, He [Page]is the God, that has fed me all my Life Long, unto this Day. And what has been our Meat? our Drink? our Lodging? Have we not had for Delight, and Splendor, as well as for Necessity? It may be some of us, once had but very Little in the World: nevertheless as Jacob said, Once, I had no more than my Staff in my Hands, and now I am become two Bands; thus, when we began the World, we were hardly worth so much as the Heads of the Canes which we now carry in our Hands; whereas we are now Risen to, how much of Grandeur! Thus have we been Supported. And, How Assiduously? We may say, The Lords Mercies are New every Morning. How Seasonally? We have seen, When being Poor and Need▪ we have sought Water, the Lord has given i [...]. Indeed, our God has from Day to Day, carried us along as He did His Israel in the Wilderness. We could scarce foresee sometimes one Day aforehand, how we should be Relieved for the Next; but our Heavenly Father has as well Answered, as Understood, our Exigencies.

To Go on,

The FIFTH Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the FRIENDS, by the Bestow [...] whereof, God Almighty has befriended us. When men have been annoy'd by Adversaries, it has been said, God, Raised them no those Adversaries. And shall not we that have such Friends as we have, Acknowledge that they are of Gods Raising for us? But there are especially our Friends of two Ranks, wherein we have been [Page] marvelously favoured by the God who Sets the Solitary in Families. First, Our Consorts. Have we not had such WIVES, as may be truly called Good things, wherein we have obtained Favour from the Lord? 'Tis possible, we did in the Solemnest manner, like Isaac, Ask, them of God, before we had them; and now tho' t'other Day, they were meet strangers unto us, we do, as we have cause, value them above all the Relations that we have in the world besides; and we do every Day that we live in the world, give our particular thanks to Heaven for our being so happily Accommodated. We have Consorts, whose Good nature, whose Discretion, Doubles all our joys, and Halves all our Sorrows: Consorts, who Live with us as the Heirs of Life, and give us a fit help, in out pursuing of that Inheritance; Consorts, who are not a continual Dropping to us, as Jobs was to him, or as Abigails was to her. We had been the Undonnest of men, if we had been so mated, as we have seen some, who have been thus undone, and could not undo what had in this thing been once done. And then Our Children. It is said, Lo, Children are an Heritage of the Lord. And how, Rich, have some of us, been in our Heritage! Children we have had, that have been comely, that have been witty, that have been Well Disposed. We have had Children, and God has not fulfilled His threatning upon us, Tho' they bring up Children, yet will I bereave them. Ibzan the Judge of Israel, had thirty Sons, and thirty Daughters; and the Jews have a Tradition that he Buried them all, before he Died [Page] himself: We have not been so Bereaved. We have had Children, and they have not been like Esau's, A Grief of Mind unto us, but our Support, and our Glory. We may produce them, as the Roman Lady did Hers, for the most valuable of all our Jewels. To add,

The SIXTH Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Earthly VOCATIONS and EMPLOYMENTS, which Heaven has cast upon us. 'Tis a Blessing to have a Calling. Tho' our Sweat be mentioned in our Curse, yet our Curse, would be far greater than it is, if it were not for our Sweat. 'Tis many wayes Advantageous, both for our inward and our outward Man, that we should, with Quietness work, & Eat our own Bread. Let it be enquired of us, as it was of the Sons of Jacob, of what Occupation are you? We have an Occupation; and Blessed be God, it is not only a Lawful but a Gamful Occupation. It was the Benediction upon the Tribe of Judah, Let his Hands be sufficient for him. Since we are of this Tribe, let us indeed be found in the Tribe of Judah, or of Praising ones. But more than this; we have an Agreeable Occupation. 'Tis no little kindness of our God unto us, when we come to love, to like, to choose our daily Business; when our Business is made our pleasure, and we do not come to it, as the Bear unto the stake. The Lord said, Behold, I have created the Smith, who blows the Coats in the Fire, and bringeth forth an Instrument for his Work. Thus 'tis God [...]at Spirits one man for this Work, and [Page] another man for that work; and when a mans Lot falls to him in that Work, whereto he has been particularly Spirited, this is the kind work of God And that which Augments this kindness of God, is, that we can so follow the work of our calling, as to mentain ourselves, and yet we have Time to mind the affairs of our Souls too; we can without pinching, allow one whole Day in a week, for soul-work; and be at Lectures & Meetings every week, for more of that work: & every Day in our Houses, and Closets, do something further at that work; and so, Work out our own salvation. Yea, some of us, have an Honourable Vocation also: We have either in the Government, or in the Ministry, such a station that many thousands may fare the better for us! These are thing that call for the most grateful Resentments of our Souls. But then.

The SEVENTH Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Marvellous PRESERVATIONS which have been afforded us, by the Glorious Preserver of men. Have not our Lives been fill'd with Preservations, by Him that is, The Keeper of Israel? Yea, We have been preserved from Sin What if we had been Left unto our selves? [...] should soon have been so many Devils Incarnate. When the Holy Bradford heard of any Wickedness committed in the Neighbourhood, he would say, Alas, In this Heart of mine, there is that which would cause me to commit the Like Wickedness, if God should give me up to my own Heart. Thus, we may see prodigies [Page] of Wickedness in the world; but we must ascribe it unto the pure Grace of our God, that we also are not such Ruined and Rueful Creatures. Especially, considering what Furious Assaults of Temptation have been made upon us: For it is indeed probable, that most of us, have at some times undergone more violent Assaults of Temptation, whereof we may say, My Feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipt. Had not the Good God strangely and strongly, kept us back, at those Times, we had undoubtedly cast our selves over the most Irrecoverable Precipices; but here was the Goodness of God, who would not Suffer us to be Tempted above what we are Able: 'tis He that may now Remind us, I witheld thee from sinning against me. And we have been preserved from Sorrow too. We have had that word fulfilled unto us, The Lord shall preserve thee from all Evil, the Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in. Pause here, a little, I beseech you; How many Sicknesses have we Escaped? Either the Diseases never touch'd us, or, like Hezekiah, and Epaphroditus, we have been Restored from them. How many Casualties, have we also Evaded? Let the Traveller, Let the Marriner, Let the Souldier now Enumerate his Deliverances. One that Received a great Fall from an Horse, but Received no Hunt by the Full, said of it, I never had such a Deliverance in my Life; but one well Reply'd, Yea, Sir, you have, as often as you Rode without Falling at all. This I say, Our Deliverances have been far from Inconsiderable, even then, [Page] when we have not had Sensible and Imminent Hazards to signalize them unto our Consideration. In a word, we have been surrounded with Evil Angels on every side of us, every day; and those Divels have always been Watching, Willing, Snatching, to Devour us. But our God has muzzled those Hungry Lions; and has granted us a guard of Good Angels, whose Ministry has been useful to us, in many Thousands of Good Offices, whereof we shall never be exactly advized, until we are Translated into their I [...]merable Company And yet this is not all!

The EIGHTH Article in our Commemoration may be the Benefits of God, re [...]ting to the Evident ANSWERS of our PRAYERS, by the Merciful Hearer of Prayer. May not you and I make this Relation, This poor man has cry'd unto the Lord, & the Lord has heard and sav'd! Cannot we look upon one enjoyment, and thy, This is a Naphtali, I wrestled with my God for this, and so I obtained it! Can we not look upon another enjoyment, and say, This is a Samuel, I asked it of my God, and so I bad it! When Distresses have been upon our selves, we have gone to our God, and having Offered up our Prayers and Supplications, we have been Heard in what we feared. And when distresses have been upon others, perhaps we have like Abraham, like Moses, like Samuel, and like David, and like Isaiah, prevailed for the Remo [...]al of them. A Minister of the Gospel, 'tis probable may see the Faces of some Scores in his Congregation, of whom he may say, God gave that Soul from death [Page]to my poor unworthy prayers! Yea, 'tis possible the very Divels have not been able to stand before our Prayers; our Prayers have perhaps more than thrice dispossessed the Devils, who had s [...]zed upon some of our Afflicted Neighbours. Let m [...] tell you; Psalms to bring unto Remembrance, are to keep us from forgetting the Returns of our Prayers! But further yet;

The NINTH Article in our Commemoration may be, The Benefits of God, relating to the Means of our SANCTIFICATION, and the Success of those Means. Let us now Declare unto ourselves, and so make ourselves Ready to Declare unto others, What the Lord has done for our Souls. That we have the Means of Grace, is a thing that lavs us under Adamantine Obligations unto Thankfulness. Have we, The Word, the Statutes, the Judgments, of God shown unto us? What should follow, but Praise ye the Lord! For indeed, He hath not so dealt with every Nation. Yea, But has Grace it self also been convey'd unto us, by these means? This does make our Obligations unto Thankfulness to [...] truly Infinite. Has the Great God gi [...]en his Own Son to us, and for us, and with him Freely given all things? Are we Invited unto a [...], who saves his People from their sins? A [...], who delivers from the [...]? A Christ, in whom there does all [...]? O our Hallelujahs, where are you? Indeed, we could never have come unto this Jesus without the Drawing of the Father▪ But has he drawn us? Has the Spirit of God made [Page] it a Day of his Power with us, and have we been made willing, in that memorable Day? We were Dead in Trespasses and Sins; Has the Spirit of God quickened us? We were Going astray in the greatness of our Folly; Has the Spirit of God Reduced us? We have been Pining away in our Iniquities; Have we been Recovered by the Sanctifying, the Strengthening, the Com [...]o [...]ting Spirit of our God? O the Matchless loving kindness! And, pray what are the Means which God has devised, [...]or the bringing back of our Souls, which have been Banished from His Paradise? We have not only had the Ordinances of God, made useful unto us for the changing of us into His Image, from Glory to Glory; but His Providences too. Even those very Afflictions which have happened unto [...], have not come only by Hap; there has been the Good Hand, and the Good End, of our God in all; and tho' we had been ready to say, All these things are against me, we now see, That all things have wrought together for our Good. We shall have cause to magnify the Name of our God forever, for the Restraints which he has laid upon us, by our Afflictions, and for the Right Thoughts, which our Sad hours have Raised in us. 'Tis by these Means, that we are now brought into the Covenant of Grace. And now, O most Highly Priviledged we! The Great God is become our God. God the Father, is become our Father; God the Son, is become our Saviour; God the Spirit, is become our Strengthener; All the Perfections of this God, are now concerned for our Welfare. We have now [Page] a Title to all the Promises of God; we may have a continual Recourse to them, as unto our Heritage, and the Rejoycing of our Heart; we may from them assure our salves of Grace, of Glory, of Every Good Thing. Our Spiritual Enemies will all be Disappointed; we have an Omnipotent Undertaker for our bring made Conquerours and more than Conquerours over them And whither are we now a going? Our Heavenly Shepherd is daily Leading of us in the Paths of Righteousness; but whither? Truly, to another and a better World; Every Day we are one Day nearer to the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. We shall shortly, be with our Lord Jesus Christ, Where He is, that we may Behold His Glory! But, O my God, How Long! How Long!

Now, Are not here Articles of Commemoration enough to fill the Thoughts of one Winter Day? And yet, that the Musick may not be Impair'd by our missing of any Note that may belong unto it, annex a TENTH Article to all the Rest. Let That be, upon the Benefits of God, relating to the good Circumstances of the Countrey, whereof we are Inhabitants. Let the Health, the Growth, the Peace, the Plenty and the Protection of our Countrey, procure our Acknowledgments unto our God.

And so coming to the Close of a short Winter-Day, spent in such Devotions, as will a little Resemble and Antedate the Heavenly Exercises of our Long Eternity, Let us break off with a few Ingenuous Thoughts upon that Enquiry of a Thankful Soul. What shall I Render to the Lord for all His Benefits? Or, What Special Service is [Page]there that I may Do for the God, whose Goodness and Mercy has followed me all my Dayes? Contrive, Resolve, and Execute accordingly. Behold, A Winter-Day well spent.

VI. However it may be, as to the Works of our Particular Calling, yet as to the Works of our GENERAL CALLING, we should not let the Winter be our Hindrance. Altho' we have a Seal'd Hand, as to our Temporal Affairs in the Winter, yet let us not then Deal with a slack Hand, as to our Spiritual. There is a Work that we have to do, in the Winter as well as in the Summer; and it is the Work of God. Salvation-work, is to be no small share of our Winter [...]work. Our Winter Prayers must not be, our Coldest ones, tho' 'tis in a Cold Air that we make them. Our Cares to make our Vocation and Election sure, are not excused by the Winter; That must not cool them. Tho' the work of Laying in for the Winter, be over with us; yet the work of Laying in for Eternity is not over; that is to be done all the Winter Long. The Word of God, that is to be Read, and to be Heard, as well as Obey'd, now no Less than formerly. The Psalmist has joyned those things, The Lord gives the Snow, the Frost, the Ice, and, Hee shewed His Word unto Jacob. Truly, the Snow, the Frost, the Ice, may not hinder us from the minding of that Word. There is the work of Watching and Fighting against our Invisible Adversaries; and this is to be done as much in the Winter, as at any Time whatever. Other Wars are ordinarily intermitted in the Winter, [Page] by the Armies then retiring to their Winter Quarters. But the Winter gives no Intermission unto these Wars of the Lord. In one of the Psalms, we read, The Dragons, joyned with the Hail, and the Snow, and the Vapour whereof these are composed. Why, when the Vapours of the Winter are about our Ears, we shall still have, The Dragons, also to conflict withal. Tho' our other Snakes do all the Winter Ly Idle in their Holes, yet the Old Serpent, is as busy then as ever: and we should then be as vigilant against the Spirits, who go about Seeking whom they may Devour. God make us, like the Valiant Benajah, who slew a Lion in a Pit in a Snowy Day!

Here is our work. But now for the Obstruction of this work in the Winter, there is a frequent Abuse of that Scripture, in Mat. 9. 1 [...]. I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice. The Deceitful Hearts of Men pretend the Duties of Mercy, to Plunge themselves into the most horrible Instances of Cruelty; I mean, they make themselves a Sacrifice to the terrible Justice and Vengeance of God. But I say, Go ye, and Learn what that meaneth! It is true, That Mercy to our selves, may adjust the CIRCUMSTANCES of our Duties, or, the Exteriours, in the AFFIRMATIVES of Religion. It is not pleasing to God, that we should be really Cruel to our selves. Gods Commands do not commonly oblige us to overthrow the Health of our own Bodies. We cannot be Righteous at all, except we Deny our selves; but when we come to Destroy our selves, by Excesses in the Manner of Doing, what must be Done, tho [Page] we should be Destroy'd for it, then we become Righteous Overmuch.

However, First, Let us keep close to this Direction; Tho' positive Commandments may be sometimes Invaded for the sake of Mercy, yet Negative Commandments may never be so. When we may do Less of that which is Good, yet we may do Nothing of what is Ill. And then, Let us [...] is Distinction; There is a Difference between Ungrateful Abatements, and Well-pleasing Omissions of our Devotions on the score of Mercy pretended for. 'Tis one thing for us, to be compelled against our Choice, unto the Diminution of our Desired and Usual Measure, in our pious Performances; and another, our Gladly accepting of an Occasion, that we hope, will set us at Liberty, from doing any thing at all.

It is complained, in Prov. 20. 4. The Sluggard will not Plough by reason of the C [...]ld; or, of the Winter. Cods Cold is oftentimes made an Excuse for our Sin. Even so, The sluggish Hearts of men, will neglect those Exercises of Piety, wherein we Plough for our Everlasting Welfare. Why so? Truly, 'tis the Cold of the Winter that hinders them. We read concerning Peter, that he was by the Cold hurried into the way of Temptation: It is said, in Joh. 18. 18. They made a Fire of Coals, for it was Cold; and Peter stood and warmed himself: and you know what follow'd! Now, 'tis by the Cold that we are often hurried into the way of Transgression too. As he Deny'd his Lord [...] partly thro' the Snares of the Cold; so [Page] we often Forget our Lord, because the Cold makes us be where we should not be. They are not only those wh [...] fly to the Tavern in the Winter, and who there do poyson their Sou's with Drin [...]ing, with Bad Company, with Foolish Talking, by the Fire-side, that Sin by reason of the Cold; but it is also the fault of those, who by reason of the Cold, will not visit their own Closets, or the Assemblies of Good Men, or the Worship of God, as much as they can. If you think it enough, to stay at Home, on a Winter Day, and, as you say, Read a Chapter in Job, I pray, Let it be that Chapter, where Job is told, That the Messengers o [...] God, the Interpreters o [...] His Word, must be duely considered and consulted by those that would be delivered from going down to the [...] it.

Well, But now, Let us by a sacred Antiperis [...]esis take more pains for the Serving of God, in the Winter, than we did in the more Tolerable Seasons of the Year. Yea, and Let us do it with an Expectation, That the more Pains we take to attend the Service of God, the more will He Requite our Pains with such Incomes of Grace and perhaps of Joy, into our Souls, as will be better than the Merchandise of Silver, or the Gain of the finest Gold. The Apostle speaking of what he had Endured in Serving of God, says in 2 Cor. 11. 27. I have been in Cold, and Nakedness. It is Likely that he refers, to what is Reported, in Acts 28. 2. That they were Shipwrack'd upon Malta, and there, The Barbarous People shew'd them no Little[Page]Kindness, and kindled a Fire, and Received them, because of the Cold. Yea, but our God, ordinarily calls none of us to Endure a Cold, so extreamly circumstanced. We are to know, That we are now in a State of Probation, as to our Bodies: if we now put our Bodies to necessary Trouble, in the Serving of God, and if now in our Bodies, we Endure Hardness, as Good Souldiers of Jesus Christ, we shall be Rewarded in the Glory of these Bodies, at the Resurrection of the Just. For every pinch of Cold, whereto we have Exposed our Bodies, in the Serving of God, all the Winter Long, we shall be Recompenced in our Glorify'd Bodies, when, The Times of a Refreshing Coolness shall come, by the Presence of the Lord. Wherefore, now Let us do the more Works of PIETY, rather than the Fewer, for the Cold of our Winter. It is noted concerning the Time of our Lords Coming up to the House of God, in Joh. 10. 22, 23. It was the Feast of the Dedication, and it was Winter; And Jesus walked in the Temple. It may be that you have never yet given up your selves unto the Blessed God, with so Explicit a Dedication, as would be a no less Comfortable, than Reasonable Service. Then do it this Winter; while you have so much Time to Dedicate unto such a Service. But having so done, Be sure to come up unto the Temple, in the Winter, as much as ever you can. Possibly, you have never yet come into any Evangelical CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP, according to the Precept of the Holy JESUS; No, you are so far from Walking with Him, in the Temple, that you never yet Entred [Page] into His Temple, of Believers Associated for the Designs of the Gospel. I say then, LET THIS WORK BE DONE BEFORE THIS WINTER BE OUT. Having first Given your selves unto God in Christ, with Full purpose, To be for Him, and not for another, then Give your selves unto some Holy Society of His People, that Worship Him according to the Order of the Gospel. I pray, Let the Lord this winter, see you in His TEMPLE.

Yea, Whatever work we have to do for our Souls, Let not the Winter give any Supersedeas, to our Working out of our own Salvation. Jocob thro the Love of Rachel, could Encounter more than a Little Winter, for more than one Seven Years together; said he, in Gen. 31. 40. In the Day the Drought, and the Frost by Night consumed me. The sudden Changes from Heat unto Cold, like those in our own Countrey, it seems did sometime bring Burning Feavers and Agues upon the Patriarch! But shall not we be willing to do as much for our own Souls? O patiently undergo a Little Frost, for the sake of their Deliverance, from the Outer Darkness, where there is Gnashing of Teeth; for ever! Ecclesiastical History, has Embalmed the Memory of several Martyrs, who chose the Fiery Anguish of being Frozen unto Death, rather than they would Sin against God, and incur the Fire of Damnation. Methinks, 'twould Fire the Coldest Heart imaginable, to read the Elegant Orations of the Eloquent Ancients, in the Commendation of those Renowned Martyrs! And [Page] shall we then think much sometimes to feel our selves a little Winterish, while we are doing the Things that must be done, for our Getting out of our Sins, and for our Communion with that Lord who Saves His People from their Sins.

In fine, Let us Get into our Hearts, an Heat of Love to God, that will carry us easily thro' all the Cold of the Winter in the Serving of God. Of Love, 'tis said, in Cant. 8. 7. Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it. Of this Love, I may say, Many Winters cannot starve it, neither can the Frost Nip it. Said the Apostle, The Love of Christ constraineth us. Altho' they that would suitably Serve God in the winter, must meet with many Difficulties; yet if we had this Love in us, that would Constrain us, to Go Freely through them all.

VII. There are many works of CHARITY, whereto the Rigours and Horrors of a sharp winter, may sharpen our Inclinations; and we should then effectually Demonstrate our being thereto Inclined. There are those which are Emphatically called, GOOD WORKS; altho' we have a Seal'd Hand in the winter, yet we should not then have a close Fist, for such works as those. To Relieve and Support the Po [...]r, is the work of God; and Let us now Know, what it is to Do, as much as we can of that work. The charitable Job, could say, in chap. 30. 24. Was not my [Page] Soul griev'd for the Poor? Why, Altho' we have an bundance of all things about us, yet our winters are very pinching and piercing Things unto us: well, but now Let us think on the Poor, that sit shivering over a Windows Fire! that are but thin clad, and worse [...], and have those two Powerful Things, Winter and Poverty, at once falling, like Armed men upon them. O think on these Poor Ones, till our Souls are duely Grieved for them. Let not our Charity be as Cold as the winter; and Let none of us contribute unto the fulfilling of that Prophecy, in Mat, 24. 12. The Love of many shall wax cold. Yea, suppose our Charity were as cold as the water, yet Let it be like the water for this one thing more; the water in the winter will Expend and Extend it self unto almost an Eighth part of the Space it possessed before; and this with such a Force, as to Burst the very Substance of even Metalline Vessels, which would have kept it in. May nothing now Obstruct such a Spread of our Charity!

It is mentioned, as the Lamentable Condition of some, in Job 1 [...] [...] They have no Covering in the Cold. I beseech you, Let our Liberality Cover those that are so miserable: and therefore Let us Devise Liberal Things. But now I speak of such Devising, there is one charitable proposal, which you shall permit me to urge upon you. 'Tis this, When winter is coming on, & our winter-stock of Necessaries is Laying in, Let us then seriously consider with our selves, Who of my Neighbours are there that want my Charity? & Let us LIBERALLY divide among [Page]them fit Proportions of the same Stores, that me Lay up for our selves; or otherwise Enable them to Lay up something of the Like Stores for their Sucour in the Necessities of the Advancing Winter.

This I am sure of; that all our Accommodations all the winter long, will be very much the Sweeter, if not also the Surer, unto us, for our having first Liberally Imparted a Share unto out Honest Neighbours, that were altogether Destitute of such Accommodations. We read, in a certain place, concerning, The Treasures of Snow. One of the Ancients does expound those Treasures to be, Worldly Riches which the next Shower of Calamity will wash away, like a Snow-Drift, and leave only some dirt, behind in the owners heart. Why, if we would not have our Treasures, to milt, and wast, like those of the Snow, employ those Treasures for the Consolation, of the miserable, whose miseries are encreased by the Snow.

CHRISTIANS, If you answer your Worthy Name, both the Word of CHRIST and the Day of CHRIST, find awful Resentments with you. Well then; You are in that Word Informed, and Assured, with what Glories in that Day, all your GOOD WORKS will be acknowledged. This Winter, feed a Starving Neighbour, and a sensible Jesus will then say, I am feasted. And the effect of it will be, that he will invite you to the Fat things of His House, yea, to the Delicious Feast, which he has in His Eternal Mountain. Again, This Winter Lodge an Harbourless Neighbour, and a sensible Jesus will say, I am entertained. You will not only, [Page] like some, Entertain Angels unawares, but, The Lord of Angels, Himself. Further, This Winter [...]othe a Naked Neighbour, and a sensible Jesus will say, I have Robes put upon me. 'Twil be as if you had Adorned the Temples of God. Moreover, This Winter Comfort a Sick Neighbour, and a sensible Jesus will say, 'Tis I that am Refreshed. So, you that have Considered the Poor shall have your own Beds turned by the Lord for you, in your own Sickness. Finally, This Winter, come to a Neighbour in Prison, and you'l come to a sensible Jesus there. What you do for the Redemption of Captives, will be done to the Great Lord-Redeemer. They are the worst of Misers, whom such Motives, will not perswade unto somewhat of Liberality! But behold, the Winter it self also comes in as one of our Motives. The wise man said in Eccl. 11 2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not, what evil shall be upon the Earth. Yea, but now the winter, is coming, we do know much of the Evil that will then be upon the Earth, and let us therefore give a portion of our Supplies unto as many as we can.

It would be a sad thing, if we should in the winter be driven out of our Habitations. Our Lord has allow'd us to deprecate very heartily, A flight from our Houses in the winter: and for the same cause, A fire on our houses in the winter, deserves as warm a Deprecation. Well, the way for us to preserve our Houses, is to make Bethesd [...]'s of them, that is Houses of Mercy to the poor. [Page] Let our Houses, he Alms-Houses, and we may hope, that inasmuch as we thus Fear God, He will neither Cut off our dwellings, nor Cut off us from our dwelings. Olaus Magnus admires the Lake, near the Metropolis of Norway, whose veins of Sulphur under it, keep it from any Congelation in the Coldest Winter of that Northern Climate: may the wonders of that Lake, be emulated, by the perpetual warmth of our Charity.

VIII. And now to have done; Let the Cold of the winter, very powerfully warm our hearts to shake of that SINFUL COLD, which has gained upon our Hearts. To Recover any Frozen part of the Body with safety, the way is to Rub it with Snow. Give me leave now to rub somewhat of the winter upon you, for the Recovery of your Frozen Souls. Indeed, There is a Coolness of Spirit, which would be the wisdom of the man that has it. So we read in Prov. 17. 27. A man of understanding i [...] of an Excellent Spirit: some read it, Of a Cool Spirit. It would indeed render us, The excellent in the earth, to have a Spirit free from those Heats which the most of men, are by provocations thrown into. A Cool Spirit, is a meek Spirit; and we should Labour for such a Spirit, not only under Afflictions from the Hand of God, but under Injuries from the Hand of Man also. Of such a Cool Spirit, was the Great Moses generally under all the Murmurings, the Reproaches, and the Froward Humours of his Congregation; and of such a Spirit, I am to tell you, Tis in the sight of God, of great Price. But then, There is a Coldness of Spirit, [Page] against which we should be always Awake; and particularly, in the Cold of the winter be Awakened.

FIRST, There is the Cold of our FORMALITY, against which we should now fortify our Souls. Formality, lies in much Cold mixed with some Warmth; it lies in some Kindness for the Thing that Good is, over born with predominant Regards unto the world. This Lukewarmness, is that Abominable Indifferency about, The Kingdom of Heaven, whereat our Lord says of them that have it, I will spu [...] the [...] out of my mouth. But it is Required in Rom. 12. 11. Be Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord: It may be rendred, Be Boiling Hot, in it. There are some Wells that Boil all the year about, and that seem rather Hotter in the winter than in the rest of the year. Even so should it be with us, as to that principle within us▪ which is, A well of water springing up to Everlasting Life. There is a Zeal, wherewith we should pursue all our Everlasting Interests; and as the Fire burns fiercest in the winter, so the Cold of the winter should be but adding fire unto our Zeal. Our other Occupations are interrupted by the winter; yea, but let us now, be more Lively than ever, in our Spiritual Husbandry, and in Ploughing up the [...] allow Ground of our Hearts. Let us now be more Lively than ever, in our Spiritual Merchandise, and in Bartering for the Pearl of Great Price. Let us now, be more lively than ever, in our Spritual Building; even, in Building up ourselves, & one another▪ in our most Holy Faith.

[Page] 'Tis true, we have Hearts, that are as Cold as a Stone, when they should be concerned about the Things of another World; yet there is a way to help it: Let us Cry to our God, who says, in Ezek 36. 26, 27. I will take away the Heart of Stone; yet for this I will be Enquired of, to do it.

But then, SECONDLY, There is the Cold of our UNREGENERACY to be rescued wherefrom, the Desires, the Wishes of our Souls are to be exceeding Ardent. In the Travels of Israel, we read much about, The Wilderness of Sin; which is in English, The Wilderness of Cold. Why, to speak nothing but English, All you that are in, The Wilderness of Sin, are in a Cold Wilderness indeed; a Wilderness of Deadly, yea, of Damning, and Alas! for you, that you don't yet count it, Insufferable Cold! It was the Gladsome Song, in C [...]n, 2. 11. Lo, The Winter is past, the Rain is over [...] gone. What is that Winter? It has been Interpreted for the, Tempus proecedens V [...]cationein; the Time while we are yet in our Unregeneracy. O that all you, with whom it is yet such a Time, of Winter, might before this winter be out, be able to Sing, The Winter of my Unbelief is past, my Sin is over and gone! The Excellent Bartholinus hath remarked it; That the Bodies of them who are kill'd in the Winter, use to be found, in just the same Features, and Postures, that were upon them, when they Received their mortal Wounds: they are found Gaping, Staring, Frowning, and with their Hands Extended, just as they were in their fatal Fall. Truly, so, if you Dy in this Winter of your Unregeneracy, [Page] those Impressions of Sin upon your Spirits, wherein you Dy, will become Eternally Indelible and Unalterable. You'l be as it were Irrecoverably Congeled into such an Ungodly Temper, as that wherein you do Expire; Incurable will be your Antipathy to God, and your Prejudice against, all that is Holy, and Just and Good. So, Interminable Torments and Regrets, will become in some sort Essential to your forsaken Souls; and you will be Confirmed in the Natural Consequents of Enmity to God, world without End; where the Almighty—

Cohibet, mirabi [...]e dictu,

AEternam siamn [...]is Glaciem, AEternoque Rig [...]re

Ardentes horrent Scopuli.

[What Silius writes about the Top of Burning Aetn [...].] Would it not be a most Irksome Thing to have a perpetual Winter upon us? But let all Unregenerates know, That it is always winter with them. Consider Sirs, Consider whether you have no [...] the signs of the worst winter, in the World upon you. The Cold of the winter does make things to become Un [...]ctive. As [...] and the like Instruments will not Go in the winter; even the very Moral o [...] them sometimes is thereby distended so that their Teeth lose their Congruity; thus the Owners are sufficiently Listless too. And are not you [...]? You can't Come, no, nor so much as Look, to the Lord Jesus Christ, for Life, tho' the Life of your Souls depend upon it. You can't Walk with God, or Move with any Activity, much less, can you [...] with an Enlarged Heart in the Way of His Commandments. Again, The Cold of [Page] the winter does make things to become Insensible. They who Dy of the Cold, after their Hands and Feet are throughly siezed, often grow past feeling; and fall into a Lethargic Drowsiness, wherein and whereof they are like to Dy Irrecoverably. And are not you so? You don't Hear, the Calls of the Gospel, tho' the Loudest Thunders, are not so loud as the voice of that Silver-Trumpet. You don't See the Beauty of your Saviour, tho' He be Altogether Lovely You don't feel the L [...]ad of your Sins, tho' that infinite L [...]ad, be heavier than Talents, and Mountains of L [...]ad upon your Souls: Is there not a Dead Sleep upon you? Once more, The Cold of the winter brings Putrefaction with it. Tho' whilst Bodies continue Frozen, the Cold by arresting those [...] articles, [...]om whose Tumultuary Motions Corruption uses to proceed, may keep the. Ill Operations of the Cold upon the violated Textures of Bodies, from appearing; so Dead Bodies in Greenland have been preserved thirty years entire from Rottenness; yet when once that is removed, they commonly and speedily discover how much their Texture had been vitiated by the Cold. And, are you Free from That? Why then have you such Rotten Communications? and such Rotten Imaginations? Why are you so much like Open Sepulchres? And now what mean you, ye Unregenerates, that you are not yet weary of this wretched winter? Even solid Marbles have sometimes bin broken by the Cold; O let it break thy Rocky Heart, when thou thinkest of the Cold, wherein it is Bewintered.

[Page] It was the Occasional Reflection of a Young Disciple, in a bitter cold Morning.

[See the Life of my Brother, N [...]th▪ Mather, P. 40]

‘Jan. 8. Being about to Rise, I felt the Cold in a manner Extraordinary; which inclined [...]me to seek more warmth in my Bed,, before I Rose: But so extream was the Cold, that this was not feasible, whereupon I Resolved to Dress my self without any more [...], and so going to the Fire in my Clothes, I soon became warm enough. Turn this, O my Soul, into an useful Meditation. There is a Necessity of my Rising out of my Bed, the Bed of Security, which I am under the power of; and to Live unto Christ, and walk in the Light. In order hereunto, I must put on my Soul, the Garments, which are to be had from the Lord Jesus. Now, to Awaken me out of my Sleep, & my Security, I am to set before me the Sun; the Gospel of, The Sun of Righteousness, doth Enlighten my mind, and tell me, that I was before, mufled up in Darkness, and that if I continued therein, I should starve and perish. I am also taught, That when men are Convinced of their miserable Condition, they will rather Endeavour to Ease and Comfort and Cherish themselves, by something in Themselves, than put on the Spiritual Garments, which the Lord Jesus Christ has provided for them. An Evil to be, by me Avoided!’

O that all our Young Ones, would argue at such a [...]ate You think o [...] putting off your Conversion, till Old Age. Fond Souls: Besides the horrible [Page] Danger, wherein you are, of being like those Who Dy in Youth, because their Life is among the Unclean: This were just as if you should put off, all the Business of the Summer, until the Depth of Winter. Say now, in the midst of winter, say, vain Youths, whether you could subsist, if you had no Bread,, but what this Winter were now to be Sow'd or Planted; and no Money, but what were now to be Laboured for? It must be nothing but, A Madness in the Heart, that can encourage you, to Delay your Conversion, till the Winter of Old Age do overtake you. O do not so play the Gras [...]pper; but hear Counsil, and, Go to the Ant thou Sluggard! For persons to be Cold, Key cold, yea, Death cold, about the matters of their Souls, while they are in their Youth, and think that they will use more warm Endeavours about those matters in their Age; This truly, is a far odder thing than the Quality of that Fountain of Debris.

Frigore qui noctis fervet Calefactus & Umbris,

At Solis friget Radijs Glacialis et Igni.

'Tis Cold at High Noon, & Warm at Midnight.

And then, sure they that are already come to Old Age, had need make sure of Conversion, before it become altogether too late, hopeless, helpless, & unattainable. My Fathers, you are now got into the winter of your Lives; Old Age begins to Snow upon your heads; & your whole face, is that of the earth in winter. The Jews generally inter'd their Dead under an Oak: see 1 Sam. 21. 1 [...].] pleased perhaps with some such parallel as this; that as the Tree seemingly dead in the winter, had every Spring an Annual [Page] and Notable Resurrection, so the Dry Bones of men, shall have a new Sap of Life infused into them, at the Day of Judgment. Indeed, you that are under the Decays of Age, are like the Tree casting of its Leaves in Autumn, every thing is now apace dying with you every day; you [...] wither, till your being sunk into the ground make it a perfect winter with you, You shall have a Resurrection; but O tis high Time for you, to gain a good Assurance, that it shall be, The Resurrection of Life, and not, The Resurrection of Damnation; in a word, That nothing may succed but An Eternal Spring. The Philosopher said, Before Old Age, my care was to L [...]ve well; but now under Old Age, my care is to Dy well Truly, Now winter is come, you have nothing else to take any Care about. If you have not in all this while, Secured a Saving Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, or if you are not yet Purged from your old Sins, most horrid and monstrous has been your Impenitency! And yet I am to tell you a very Glorious Thing; That Interest may still be Secured. There was once a pretty Old man in some Distress, and it is said, in Joh. 5 6. Jesus knew he had been a Long Time Ill, and said unto him, [...] thou be made Whole? Even so, The Lord Jesus Christ comes this Day, to you, Old men, that have been a Long Time in your Sins, and says▪ Old man, shall I yet be the Saviour of thy Soul? O then with Conquered and Consenting Souls, now give your selves unto that Glorious Lord. But [...], That if you do it not, before the winter of This [...], as well as of Your Age, be out, it will probably never be done at all. And then, [Page] alas, you will Expire, Accursed like a Sinner of an Hundred Years Old.

Unto All, I say, God forbid, this winter should pass before you have made your Peace with Him. And, To Excite you hereunto; As in some Wintry Countreys, the Carpenters must Thaw their Wood, before they can Cut it; Let me assay to Thaw your Hearts, in order to a better shaping and squaring of them. I say then, Consider that FIRE, as well as that Cold, which the Almighty God has to punish the Disobedient. It has been said, Who can stand before His Cold? But it has also been said, Who can stand before His Fire? Thus, in Isa. 33. 14. Who among us can dwell with the Devo [...] ing Fire? who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings? We wonder at the strength of the [...] when we see a piece of it, near three inches broad and a quarter of an inch thick, laid over a frame three inches distant, bear a weight of near twenty pounds, for a long while together: as Mr Boyl Experienced: or when we read Olaus Magnus affirming, That their Septentrional Ice, is of such a Tenacity, that when 'tis two or three fingers thick it will bear an Armed man upon it; & when three or four Hands thick, vast Armies will venture over it, for their Winter-Wars. But thy Heart, O man, is prodigiously harder than a piece of Ice, if besides the weight of Sin upon it, it can bear the Thought of the Fire that never shall be quenched. Remember, The Wrath of God, like a Formidable Fire, will at last, with Exquisite Agonies, and Anguishes, Torture the Souls of them, that shall Dy in their [Page] Unregeneracy One that felt some flashes of that Fire, in the Troubles of his Conscience, hearing of some speaking about, Burning to Death, cry'd out, O That is but a Metaphor to what I Endure! And another that was broiling in the Fire of such Troubles, Roared in this manner, O might I have this mit [...]gation of my Torments, to ly as a Backlog in the Fire on the Hearth, for a thousand Ages! I urge this: when you are by the Fire-side, this Winter, think seriously with your selves, Could I bear to R [...]ast in this Fire? A [...]as, This is but a painted Fire, to that wherein God will take vengeance on them that Know Him not, and that Obey not His Gospel? And if [...] bear the Metaphor, no, not so much as for a [...] then shall I bear to remain under the Wrath of God in H [...]ll [...] infinitely more millions of Ages, than all the Fires on Earth, have made Ashes in the world! And O Let your Hearts be Thawed by such Considerations, this winter immediately to [...] for, and turn from all your Sins, and Give your selves to God in Christ, by a Covenant never to be Forgotten. It is a work of God▪ that is done After the winter is over, whereof there is mention, in Psal: 104. 30. Thou sendest-forth [...] Spirit, and thou Renewest the Face of the Earth. O that such a work as this may be done upon you, while this winter i [...] running; Send forth thy Spirit, O most Glorious Lord, and now Renew the Hearts of them that have hitherto continued. Unregenerates!

In fine, know Leave these my poor Labours, in the Hands of that Eternal Spirit, with my Humblest Supplications, That these my Endeavours, may be made Profitable and Acceptable unto His People, and assist my Neighbours in their Travels to that Countrey, where the Winter shall for ever Cease from Troubling, and the Weary be at Rest.

FINIS.

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

Winter-Meditations DIRECTIONS How to employ the Liesure of the WINTER For the Glory of God.

Accompanied with Reflections, as well Historical, as Theological, not only upon the Circumstances of the Winter,

But also, upon the Notable Works of GOD, Both in, Creation, and Providence:

Especially those, which more immediately Concern every Particular Man, in the whole course of his Life:

And upon the Religious Works, wherewith every Man should acknowledge GOD, in and from the Accidents of the WINTER.

By Cotton Mather.

With a Preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.

Boston Printed and Sold by Benj. Harris, gainst the Old-Meeting-House.

To the Right Worshipful Sir JOHN HARTOP, Knight and Baronet.

[Page]

SIR,

WHen the Sons of the Patriarch, were Travelling into that Country which was the Garden of the World, he ordered them, To take of the best of the Fruits of the Land, and carry a present unto a Great Person there. 'Tis into the Paradise of the European World, that [...] Little Book is now Travelling over the Atlantic Ocean;

Hei mibi, quod Domino, non li [...]et ire suo! And tho' it carry not of the best of the Fruits of the Land; for it may without wrong to Me, be told you, that many parts of the Land afford far better; yet the Fruits which it carries, have this Rarity to Recommend them, That they grew in the [...] of the barren Winter; but considering with my self, to whom I should make a present of these Fruits, the Character which YOU have among the Reformed Churches of God, a thousand Leagues distant from the Island of your Abode, presently determined this DEDICATION.

Might we in this American Wilderness, more enjoy the Presence, as I hope we cannot but enjoy [Page] the Good Will of persons, like You, Accomplished, [...] should have a Compensation made us, for all the desperate Hardships of our Winters: but in the mean time we will Invite you to partake with us in our WINTER MEDITATIONS, when we cannot have you to partake with us in our Winter Difficulties.

Altho' the Lines are fallen to You, in the Pleasant Places, of a more Temperate Climate, yet the White Mantle of Snow at some Times covering that Happy Island also, bespeaks for it the old Name of, Albion; and if at such Times, the Lessons which then we have here had at our Fingers Ends, may give You as Acceptable an Entertainment as they would a Seasonable One, my Satisfactions will even make me forget the Time of the Year.

A most Excellent Pen, long since did publickly describe You, as a Person, who were by Your Faith In Cacumine Olympi constitutus, supra Ventes et Precell [...]s; above the Blasts and Storms of this Unquiet World. But, I perswade my self, that a Treatise produced in the Months, that are full of Natural Blasts and Storms, will have in it nothing Disagreeable to that Serenity of Soul, wherein Your Faith has placed You.

The Day comes on apace, when the World which was once Drowned, propter Arderem Libidints, will now be Burned, propter Teporem Charitatis. I have here made for a few of my Friends, an Essay, To fetch out one Cold by another; and albeit it would not be easie for to find Any that should Less Need the Admonitions of this [Page] Essay than You, yet, I believe, that Few will Receive it with so much Candor, Goodness, and Kind Resentment.

A Renowned Person once got himself an Immortal Sirname, only by an Invention, to come fairly at a Common Enemy, over and thorough Interposing Snow-drifts. I am here endeavouring to help my Neighbours with an Invention how they may Encounter their Spiritual Enemies, the Flesh, the World, and the Devil, not only In, but even By, the circumstances, when God, Says to the Snow, Be thou upon upon the Earth. By this Undertaking, I have neither Pursued, nor Deserved, any further Name for my self; and yet I am upon this Occasion ambitious, to Earn and Wear that Name of,

Sir,

Your most Sincere and Very Humble Servant, COTTON MATHER.

TO THE READER.

[Page]

IT is one of the Heavenly Counsels of Aged Paul to Young Timothy, which reacheth to all Ministers and Christians in all Ages.

[1 Tim. 4. 7.] Exercise thy self unto Godliness. Now that is done by a frequent practice of those Duties, which have a Tendency to the promoting of the Power of Godliness, in our selves and others; and which through the Blessing of God, will not fail to attain that End: amongst which there are none more useful than Meditation, self-Examinations and [...] Prayer: These are not only Enjoyned by the Word, but Confirmed by the Experience of all the Saints, bearing witness to this great Truth, that there is no maintaining the Life and Power of Godliness without a diligent practice and frequent Exercise of the fore-named Holy Duties; and therefore any Contribution of help towards any of these, and in particular that of Meditation, deserveth a thankful acceptance from all the People of God.

The Object of Meditation [God revealing himself in his Work and Works] is of a large Extent; the particularizing of some of the Works of God in Creation and Providence, considered [Page] with the adjunct of Time wherein they do Exist, and Expressing what the Word says of those Works in their Times and Seasons, is of singular use to fix the Volatile and Voluble Mind of Man unto profitable Meditations with Application to ourselves: as a Godly Man once said, Shew me any Creature, and I will sh [...]w thee God.

The Works of God in their general Nature, and special kinds, and the proper Subject of Natural Philosophy; for for [...] Ars bene Naturandi; Natura est res nata [...]: Principium est Materiale & Formale; i. e. the Material and Formal Causes do constitute the Nature, and make up the Essence of every Creature of God in it self considered: but the same Creatures & Works considered in relation to the Supream Efficient and Final Cause, as they are from God as their First Cause, and for God▪ as their Lust End, so they belong to Theology, and so the Holy Scripture doth abundantly treat of them, shewing Gods Efficiency running through, and influencing all Second and Subordinate Causes, and entring into every Essect: and then the same Efficiency preserving the Being and Power of Working in all the Creatures, & directing all their Motions thorough all & above all their next Inferior Ends, to God himself as the last End of all; Hence every Creature hath its Existence and Operations, as it is Ens a primo ad Primum; and thus the Holy Scriptures do every where proclaim God as the First and the Last, Isa. 44. 1. Rev. 1. in relation to all the Creatures; for of him, and through him, and to him [Page]are all things, unto whom be Glory for ever, Amen. Rom. 11. 36.

It is further observable, the Scripture doth not only treat of the Works of God themselves, but of the Circumstance of Time; not meerly as Time is Fluxus Nunc, or duratio rerum, but as its under a Divine Predetermination of the Seasons of Time wherein every Creature doth Exist, and every Event shall come to pass; and therefore it informs us, Acts 17. 26. That, God hath determined the Times appointed before, and that, Eccles. 3. 1. To every thing there is a Season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven; and the Psalmist speaking to God, says, Psal. 74. 16,17. Thou hast made the Summer and the Winter, the Day is thine and the night also is thine: and Moses the Man of God tells us that Seed time, and Harvest, Summer and Winter, and Day and Night shall not cease, until the end of the World, Gen. 8. last. In all which Expressions we are to understand, the Works of God that are done, and the Events of Providence that come to pass in the Appointed Times and Seasons of the Year; as now, In the Winter-time, Job 37. 6,7. God seals up the hand of every man, that all men may know his Work. In the Spring time he Renews the Face of the Earth, Psal. 104. 30. and revives all the Creatures. In the Summer time he Cloaths the Earth in its best Array, and gives the Fruitful Seasons; Mat. 6. 30. Acts 14. 17. and then in the Autumn he Crowns the Year with his Goodness, Psal. 65. 11. and brings in the Joy of the Harvest, Isa. 9. 3. Nay the Psalmist further informs us, that [Page] Day unto Day uttereth Speech, and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge, Psal. 19. 2. implying the various passages of Providence in every day and night of all the Seasons of the Year, are such as give Instruction to us in the Knowledg of that God who Made all, and Rules all, and will Judge us all at the Last Day, when all the Works of Creation & Providence shall come to an end, & when Time (that was Concreated with them) shall be no more: then God himself shall be all in all, 1 Cor. 15. 28. World without End.

Now in all the forementioned respects, this present pious and ingenious Treatise doth recommend it self to every Intelligent Reader, as a singular & seasonable help to Improve the time of the Winter Season in such an Exercise of Godliness, as directeth us how to observe the Works of God therein, & to acknowledge God in them, & by comparing the Word and Works of God together to have suitable (either sett or occasional) Meditations on the Wisdom & Power, the Greatness & Goodness of God, and this with Application to our selves, and our own Duties, so as to raise our hearts and affections to the Fear and Love & Service of that God, who is God over all blessed for evermore. Upon which Ground I cannot forbear wishing that the Reverend Author of this, would do the like in relation to the other three Seasons of the Year; being assured that the Holy Scriptures are as rich in furnishing Materials for Spiritual Meditations on the Works of God proper to the Spring, the Summer and the Autumn, as well as to the Wintertime.

[Page] And truly, I cannot but give thanks to God, and Congratulate our New-England, that He hath Raised up such a Learned, Pious, and Ingenuous Person amongst the Ministers of our Third Generation, and hath poured out his Spirit upon him, and hath Enabled him not only to an Exemplary Diligence in the Work of the Ministry both publickly and privately amongst his Own People with great Success; but also to Write so many Useful Treatises on several Subjects, relating to the great Concernments of the Souls of all men, and of the State of Religion amongst us at this day; which I doubt not but they have been, are and will be acceptable and profitable to the good people of this Generation, and those that shall succeed.

Finally, my hearts desire and Prayer to God is; that he would graciously preserve the Life and Health of this his Laborious and Faithful Servant, and give him to be Strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus, and Enable him to Write many more such Useful Treatises as he hath done already, for the Glory of God and good of the Souls of men, and that the Blessing of Heaven may go along with this present Work, and make it Effectual to attain the good Ends thereof.

Salem October 5. 1693.

John Higginson

THE Introduction

[Page]

IT is the Description, which Martinius in that Noble and Learned piece of Geography, which he calls Atlas Chinensis, gives concerning the Air in that part of the Eastern World, Majus in hac Provincia Frigus est, quam illius poscat Polt Altitudo: Says he, The Cold in China, is greater than the Elevation of the Pole there would seem to allow: for the Country lies in little more than Forty Degrees of Latitude, and yet for four Months together in the Year, the Rivers there are so Frozen, that the Ice will bear the passage not only of Men, but of Horses and Coaches too, upon it. Yea, and the Ships are so shut up in their Harbours, that unto the beginning of March, there is hardly any stirring out; and there is more Froze in one day than there can be Thaw'd in many. I almost Thought that I read the Description of our Winters in this part of our Western World, in those words of the Geographer: for tho' the Latitude of the principal Town in this Province be but Forty Two Degrees, Twenty Seven Minutes, yet our Cold is by many Degrees more Fierce and Hard, however more clear, pleasant and wholsome than [Page] that of many places that [...]y beyond Fifty: and when it shall be told unto Strangers, that we have had Frosts both in June and in August, they will also conclude, That our Winters must needs be as Long, as they are Cold. Now, the pinches of such a New-English B [...]nter, Awakened me to Consider, How so Cold and so [...] a Time of Diversion from very much of our other Business, might be best Employ'd for the Glory of that God, who Made both the Summer and the Winter? As, 'Twas the manner of an Ingenious Person, when in the Morning there was a prospect of a Fair Day, to say, 'Tis pitty such a Fair Day should be Lost: so, The most of our Winter Days are Fair ones: not such Dirty, Slappy, Lowring Things, as fill the Winters, in some other Lands; and methoughts, 'Twas pitty any of them should be Lost, as too many of them are. I am sufficiently dissatisfyed at the ordinary Definition, which the Schools have given of the Cold, A Quality that Congregates Things both a like, and an unlike Nature. Yet I have been far more dissatisfy'd, at the too usual way of spending our Dayes, when the Cold almost consines us from our Christian Congregations. But, what seem'd the best way of Redeeming these Dayes? Truly, I was willing to T [...]y, not only whether there could not be found many pious Works to be attended with a singular convenience in the Winter, but also, whether the Accidents of the Winter it self, might not afford something to Assist us, and Quicken us, in those Works. There are certain Plants, which keep Green, all the Winter[Page]Long; and thought I, why should not I endeavour that the Exercises of Devotion, might so do, both in my self and others, who desire to be, As Green Olive- [...]rees in the House of our God? The Winter has been sometimes called, Hyems Iners, the Sluggish Winter; but, I would contribute what I can, that it may be, Hyems Sancta, the Pious Winter, the Holy Winter, the Useful Winter; a Winter devoted unto the Works of the God of Heaven. To Sleep all Winter, more befits a Bear, than a Man, and much more than a Saint. It is very certain, That there is more Time contained in a Natural Day of the Winter, than there is in a Natural Day of the Summer: for, the Sun in its Annual Motion from the West unto the East, thro' the Zodiac, passes equal Arches in unequal Times: the Winter Half Year of the Suns passing from Libra to Aries is but an Hundred and Seventy Eight Days, whereas the Summer Half Year of his passing from Aries to Libra, is no less than Hundred and Eighty Seven Days: the [...] Nine Days more in passing through the Semi-Ecliptick of the Summer, than he is thro' that of the Winter; and accordingly an Hour upon the Sun- [...], when the Sun is inclining to the WinterTropick, is longer than an Hour upon the Dial, when he is advancing near the Summer Tropick. Hereupon, I could not but make that Reflection, If there be more, tho' it scarce be sensibly more, Time in a Day now, than at other Times in the Year, why should I do less work for God, for Christ, for His [...] now, than at other Times? and as an effect of [Page] that Reflection, Behold, Reader, some of my WINTER-MEDITATIONS.

'Tis, as I remember, Polydore Virgil who relates, that when Math [...]dis was, during the Depth of Winter, [...], in Oxford, She arrayed her self and her followers all in white, the colour of the Snow upon the Ground, and by the Advantage of that Colour escaped thro' the Besiegers unto a place of Safety. That which I desire, is, a free passage for the Truths, and the Ways, and the Works of God, into the minds of my Neighbours; and I have therefore taken the Advantage of putting a Winter Complexion upon them; I have Clothed them in the Colours of the Winter. And in this ESSAY, I have after a sort Moralized the Fable of Antiphanes, That there is in a certain Scythian Region such a Frost, that the Words uttered in the Winter there Congele so as to be not heard until the Summer following shall dissolve them: for 'twas at Boston-Lecture, in the Month of December last, that the Heads of these Winter-Meditations, were first Preached; and it is now in the Month of November following that they are Printed, on the same Designs of Religion, that gave them their Original.

When the Excellent Barthelinus, published his Book, De Usu Nivis, it was accompany'd with an Epigram, something to this purpose,

Libros Authoris, quieun (que) recenset et Annos,

Annos quot poterit, tot Numerare Libros.

[Page] 'Tis possible, that now I am Composing my Book about, The [...] of the Winter, I may find my self obliged to confess unto the World, as a Great Fault, what was indeed counted None at all in that incomparable Person! I do confess, That I have written too many Book [...], for one of my small Attainments; and I would say to my Reader, whom I now suppose by the Fire side, [...] this of any Book of mine, [...] man from [...] themselves with the [...] that Book of God. I wish, as Luther in that case did about his own Books, That they were all thrown into the Fire. But I hope, it will be otherwise; whereto I would also add, That all that Weariness of the Flesh, as well as the various and humbling Temptation otherwise, which I have undergone, in the Study of, Writing many Books, has been abundantly Recompenced, by the comfort of thinking, That the Free Grace of my Good God, will Accept of my poor Thoughts, to be Serviceable unto the Interests of His Kingdom in the World. And now I am Appendicing unto all the rest, one Book upon the Winter, I will not sa [...] as my newly mentioned Bartholinus did in the Preface of [...], Ego quidem ex hoc Niveo Labore, preter Atram In [...]idiam nihil Expecto, Or, That I expect nothing, but only to be Frost-bitten with Envy for what I do. 'Tis true, There is a Froward Generation in every place, whose Calumnies must Persecute all that Serve the Publick; and I have had the Experience of both my Fathers as well as my own, to convince me, that this place has of those Frowards in it. It this People [Page] could have had Greater, which I know not, yet all mankind will shortly know, That it was impossible for any People to have Truer, Juster, and more Indefatigable Servants, than some with whom I have the Honour to be well acquainted, have been to This: but the monstrous Detrectations that have attended Them, have Taught Me, That I also must, Bene Agere, et Male Audire, Hear Ill, if I will Do Well; and it will indeed be a [...] last found, that unto all Activity in well disposed persons for the Publick Weal, the Spirit of N [...]re it self, is not a greater Freezer, than such [...]ngrateful Usages. Nevertheless, I am so charitable as to think, That this is the Spirit of but a Few; or at least, That there are multitudes among us, who when any Service is done for them, do heartily give Thanks to God for it, and who kindly Resent the Zeal with which they may see Almighty God inspiring of any to be Labouring for their Good. For the sake of such, none of our Thoughts, none of our Cares, none of our weary Studies, are too much; and it is unto such, That These of Mine are now humbly offered.

Information about this book

Title statement

Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson.

Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2006-06.

ID [DLPS]

N00528

ID [TCP]

N00528

ID [STC]

Evans 656

ID [STC]

Wing M1170

ID [NOTIS]

APX8026

ID [IMAGE-SET]

656

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99024925

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 656.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N00528)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 656)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 656)

Source

— Winter-meditations directions how to employ the liesure [sic] of the winter for the glory of God. : Accompanied with reflections, as well historical, as theological, not only upon the circumstances of the winter, but also, upon the notable works of God, both in, creation, and providence: especially those, which more immediately concern every particular man, in the whole course of his life: and upon the religious works, wherewith every man should acknowledge God, in and from the accidents of the winter. / By Cotton Mather. ; With a preface of the Reverend, Mr. John Higginson., Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728., Hartopp, John, Sir, 1637?-1722., Higginson, John, 1616-1708..

Extent

[16], 82 p. ; 15 cm. (8vo)

Printed and sold by Benjamin Harris over-against the Old-Meeting-House.,. Boston :: 1693.. (Dedicated to John Hartop.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.