Contentious and that will soon render us a Wretched and a Ruin'd people A Divided and Quarrelsome People do even say to the Almighty Depart from us for He is the God of Peace But O What is our meaning then to make a full submission entire resignation of our selues to the Tyranny of our own Passions as we have too much done while we have been debating about the Measures of another Submission and Resignation in our various Revolutions I have read of a people with whom it was a Law That in a Fray where Swords were drawn If a Child did but cry PEACE they must End the Quarrel or else he dyed that strook the first blow after PEACE was named He that Considers the Feavourish Paroxysins which this Land is now raging in through meer Misunderstandings about the Means leading to the End wherein we are generally agreed and how ready we are to treat one another with fiery Animosities had need cry Peace Peace with a very speedy importunity For my own part I confess my self but a Child and among the meanest the smallest of your Children too but yet I am old enough to cry Peace and in the Name of God I do it Peace my dear Countrey-men Let there be Peace in all our Studies Peace in all our Actions and Peace notwithstanding all our Differences We cannot avoid having our Different Sentiments but Peace I say O let not our Dissents put us upon Hatred and Outrage and every evil work It has not a little surprised mee to read in a Greek Author who wrote Fifteen hundred years ago that in the times long praeceding his there was a Tradition among them that Europe and Asia and Africa were Islands encompassed by the Ocean without and beyond which was another as big as They in which other World were mighty and long-liv'd people inhabiting of great Cities the two greatest whereof were called one of them The Fighting City the other of them The Godly City Behold very Ancient Footsteps of the knowledge which the old World had of our America some Thousands of years ago But I pray which of them American Cities must new-New-England become Incorporate into Truly If we are a Fighting or a Disagreeing People we shall not be a Pious one We have hitherto professed our selves A Countrey of Puritans I beseech you then let us have the wisdom to be first pure then peaceable Every man should count himselfe liable to follies mistakes Misprisions not a few Are you so or are you not If you are not what do you here in this Lower World where you can find no more of your own Attainments If you are so then be patient and peaceable towards those who see not with your eyes Let us all condescend one unto another and let no man be in a foaming Rage if every Sheaf do not bow to hiâ— There is one ingenious way to unite this people if it were so heeded as it ought to be I remember an inquisitive person of old that he might know which was the Best Sect among all the Philosophers he asked one and another and every one still preferr'd the Sect which he was of himself But he then asked them successively Which do you reckon the next best and they all agreed that next to their own Plato 's was the Best upon which he chose That as indeed the Best of all Thus We all have our several Schemes of things and every man counts his own to be the Best but I would say to every man Suppose your Scheme laid aside What would you count the Next Best Doubtless we should be of One mind as to That And if we could act by the common measures of Christianity we should soon be united in it O that we could receive the Word of the Lord Jesus in 2. Cor. 13.11 Brethren live in peace and the the God of Love and Peace shall be with you Thirdly Let every man do his Part and his Best in this Matter That God may be with us Behold a work provided for all sorts of men Pardon me that I first offer it unto You that are or may be our Superiours It was said in Hos. 11.12 Iudah ruleth with God When Rulers are with God O happy Government Unto YOU much Honoured I would humbly address this Petition That Your first work may be to think on some considerable Expedient by which the Presence of God may be secured unto us A little Consultation may soon produce what all New-England may bless you for Yea t is very much in your Power to do what may have a Tendency to perpetuate the Presence of God unto the succeeding Generations I cannot forbear uttering the Wish of the great Chytraeus in this Honourable Audience Vt inam potentes rerum Domini majorem Ecclesiae et Scholarum curam susciperent May a godly and a learned Ministry be every where encouraged and no Plantations allowed to live without a good Minister in them May the Colledge be maintained and that River the wholsome streams whereof have made glad the City of God and blest us with a priviledge above the other Out-goings of our Nation be kept Running with Issues beyond those from the Seminaries of Canada or Mexico may Schools be countenanced and all good wayes to nourish them and support them in every Town be put in Execution you shall then probably leave the Presence of God as a blessed Legacy with such as may come after you I know not whether we do or can at this Day labour under an iller Symtom than the too general Want of Education in the Rising Generation which if not prevented will gradually but speedily dispose us to that sort of Criolian Degeneracy observed to deprave the Children of the most noble and worthy Europaeans when transplanted into America The Youth of this Countrey are very sharp and early ripe in their Capacities above most in the world and were the Benefits of a Religious and Ingenuous Education bestowed upon them they would soon prove an Admirable People and as we know that England afforded the first Discoverers of America in these latter Ages whatever the Spaniards may pretend unto the Contrary for it may be proved that both Britains and Saxons did inhabit here at least Three or Four hundred years before Columbus was born into the world which the Annals themselves of those times do plainly enough Declare So our little new-New-England may soon produce them that shall be Commanders of the greatest Glories that America can pretend unto But if our Youth be permitted to run wild in our Woods we shall soon be Forsaken by that God Whom our Fathers followed hither when it was a land not sown and Christianity which like the Sun hath moved still Westward unto these Goings down of the Sun will Return to the old World again leaving here not a New-Ierusalem as Doctor Twiss hoped but a Gog and Magog as Master Mede feared for the last of the Latter dayes Now may the God
after an excellent manner keeping all the World in a real Order notwithstanding all the seeming Distractions of it We may see him fulfilling of His promises and His Threaâ—nings and giving Recompences among the children of men We may see him frustrating and confounding of His Enemies and preserving his Church As a burning Bush not consumed We should pursue a distinct sight of these things and Bless the Lord. When we see that His is the Kingdome we should adde And thine is the Glory too My arrival to this part of our Discoursâ— puts me into a capacity to give you somâ— Recapitulations of the Excellent things which this Day of THANKSGIVING is more paâ—â—ticularly designed for My Brethren there are Excellent thing which our God has of late been doing iâ— the English World He that moves the foâ—â— Wheels of Providence through all the foâ—â— parts of the Earth has given the English Nation lately to see those Revolutions which the Histories of all Ages can hardly parallel And now let us this Day sing unto the Lord for He hath done excellent things I. The Late Revolutions in the Land oâ— our Fore-Fathers Graves afford unto us 〈◊〉 sight of Excellent Things which ought to bâ— had in Everlasting Remembrance And here The first and great and most comprehensive matter of our Praises is The Happy accession of their Maiesties King William and Queen Mary To the Throne of the Three Kingdoms This was a Thing in all the parts of so Circumstanced aâ— to make all men 〈◊〉 This is the Lords Doing and it is Marvellous in our Eyes It made a Second EIGHTY EIGHT out-shining that in the former Century For Consider the Season of it It was when the Protestant Religion was Lying at the Stake and forreign Popish Writers did not stick to tell the World in Print That there was a private League made between two of the most Potent Monarchs in Christendome which one of their own Ambassadors also did in a manner own for the Extirpation of Haeresy and that not only the subduing of Holland but also the Enslaving of England were steps to be taken in order thereunto It was when the Indefatigable Drudges of the Papacy who had more than Ten years before declared We have here a Mighty Work upon our Hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing a pestilent Heresy which has domiâ—â—eredâ—a long time over a great part of this Northern World whereof never such Hopes as now had now got all the Advantageous Posts of the Nation into their Hands and had so model'd all their Business that they counted themselves out of the Reach of chance for ever and were even ready like Haman to cast Lots for a Lucky Day to throw all their Vizards off It was when the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom were overturned and the Frogs of the Romistr Egypt were swarming in a mâ—in to take possession of the Glorious Holy Mountain between the Seas When things were thought hastening to that pass that every vacancy in the publick Employments would have made several Proselytes unto Popery when a great Creation would suddenly have given the Papists a majority in the House of Lords and New Charters with Bold Returns might quickly have given them a Majority in the House of Commons too a Condition of Affairs that was formidable to all that penetrate into the Tendencies of Popery THEN it was that the then Prince of ORANGE entred upon his Glorious Enterprize of Rescuing the Church of God from the Bloody Altar which it was now bound upon and the Protestant Princes Combining with him offered up their Vows to God for the prosperity of this Important Undertaking as counting that in the miscarriage of it All was Lost. There had been one or two Attempts made before but a wrong step taken in them onely brought a Ruine upon the unhappy people Engaged therein The Popish Party were then slash'd with their Successes and forgot of slâ—ghted the Dying Words of one whom they Burnt t is said for only Relieving Distrested Sufferer Though you are seemingly â—xed and using your Violence against those whom â—ou have got under you yet unless you can secure â—he Lord Iesus Christ and all His Holy Angels â—ou shall never do your Business but Vengeance â—ill be upon you before you are aware Consider also the Manner of it It was â—he Expectaâ—ion which the Late Earl of Arâ—le Expired withal That God would acâ—omplish His work Not by Might nor by â—ower but by His own most Holy Spirit And it has been done The Spirit of God incliâ—ed the Dutch to give their Great PRINCE 〈◊〉 the Assistence that could be given Whenâ—e Navy with such Wonderful Turns of 〈◊〉 Wind as argued a particular Care of God â—out it was come into its Harbour the Spiâ—â—â— of God strangely inclined persons of all â—egrees to an Agreement with the Princes â—â—claration it was a Touch of God upon â—â—eir Souls Whence though the Nation â—re Debauched on purpose to make Popery acâ—â—ptable to them yet many thousands that â—re of no Religion at all could not sâ—ow 〈◊〉 for that Religion The same Spirit â—t a Terror into the Great Oppressors of 〈◊〉 Nation so that though there was a vast my to oppose the Prince the very sound his Approach put them to Rout equal to one given by the clearest Victory and 〈◊〉 they had endeavoured by Shams to establishâ— themselves One piece of Paper which ' tiâ— said was a Sham had no little Hand in thâ— Defeat of those Daring Criminals nor waâ— any blood shed in all these Transactions buâ— of a Little and a desperate Party that seemâ—ed weary of their Lives or they might havâ— kept them Hence ensued by the unexemâ—pled and scarce accountable Desertion of thâ— Late King such a Dissolution of the Governâ—ment as never had been known and thâ— Throne becoming Vacant the Crown is unâ—avoidably placed upon those Illustriouâ— Heads which God grant Long to Reign And then Consider the Prospect of it Foâ— what may be now hoped for but a Protestâ—ant KING Iust and Ruling in the Fear 〈◊〉 God as a morning without Clouds unto thâ— Protestant World We now see upon thâ— British Throne A KING whose unparaâ—lel'd zeal for the Church of the Lord Jesâ—â— at the Lowest Ebb hath made Him the Phâ—â—nix of this Age A KING in whom Coâ—â—rage and Prudence make a Temper which 〈◊〉 to be no where seen but in the Greatest Hâ—â—roes A KING that scornfully rejected 〈◊〉 Soveraignty over his own Countrey whâ— he might have have had it by betraying 〈◊〉 A KING that uses to say That be can â—annot have so unworthy a Conception of God 〈◊〉 so base Thoughts of Mankind as to believe â—hat any one person should be designed by the Almighty King to trample and oppress a Society â—laced under him A KING that so abhors â—ll Persecution that when he accepted the Crown of Scotland he Explained a clause â—n the Coronation Oath
The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated PRAISES Bespoke for the God of Heaven In a Thanksgiving SERMON Delivered on Decemb. 19. 1689. Containing Just REFLECTIONS upon the Excellent Things done by the Great God more Generally in CREATION and REDEMPTION and in the GOVERNMENT of the World But more Particularly in the Remarkable Revolutions of Providence which are every where the matters of present Observation With a POSTSCRIPT giving an Account of some very stupendous Accidents which have lately happened in France BY COTTON MATHER To which is Added a SERMON Preached unto the CONVENTION of the Massachuset-Colony in NEW-ENGLAND With a short Narrative of several Prodigies which New-England hath of late had the Alarms of Heaven in Printed at Boston by S. Green Sold by Ioseph Browning at the corner of the Prison Lane and Benj. Harris at the London Coffee-House 1690 Copy AT THE CONVENTION of the Governour and Council and Representatives of the Colony of the Massachusets Bay IT having pleased the God of Heaven to mitigate His many frowns upon us in the Summer past with a mixture of some very signal Favours and in the midst of wrath so far to remember Mercy That our Indian Enemies have had a check put upon their Designs of Blood and Spoil That others have not sâ—en their Desires accomplished upon us And that we have such hopes of our God's adding yet more perfection to our Deliverances Inasmuch also as the great God hath of late raised up such a Defence to the Protestant Religion and Interest abroad in the World especially in the happy Accession of Their Majesties our Sovereigns KING William and QUEEN Mary to the Throne It is therefore Ordered that Thursday the nineteenth instant be kept as a Day of THANKSGIVING throughout this Colony And all Servile Labour Labour on said Day is hereby inhibited And the several Ministers and Assemblies are Exhorted to Observe the same by Celebrating the just Praises of the Almighty God Of whose tender Mercies it is that we are not Consumed By Order of the Convention Isaac Addington Secr. Boston Decemb. 3d. 1689 To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR T IS an obscure Pen among the Antipodes of that World in which you dwell which now waits upon you to let you understand That there is an England in America as well as One in Europe which the Name of ASHURST has been no less Dear than Known unto Upon that Expression in the Sacred Scripture Cast the Unprofitable Servant into Outer Darkness there is an Interpreter who imagines that the Regiones Exterae of America are the Tenebrae Exteriores which the unprofitable are there Condemned unto Doubtless The Authors of those Ecclesiastical Impositions and Severities which drove our Predecessors into this American Wilderness esteemed those old Puritans to be a very Unprofitable sort of Creatures and we their Children desire with much Humiliation to Confess and Lament our own Unprofitableness not without our wonder that any Party in our Nation should propound unto themselves any profit by Endeavouring our further Misery We nevertheless flatter our selves with Hopes that as while we sat under the shadows of our Charters we at least made the other parts of the English America to be profitable unto the Crown of our King so the Church of our God in the other Hemilâ—hâ—re will not Excommunicate us from their Fellowship and Affection when 't is considered that the Exercise of the Protestant Religion in the purest and fullest Reformation is That very Thing which this considerable Plantation was first built upon He that shall Travel over New-England will find a large Countrey fill'd with Churches which I may without vanity call Golden Candlesticks in this Outer Darkness and which are Illuminated with Able Faithful and Laborious Ministers among whom the person who now Addresses you is no more worthy to be Reckoned than the Seventh which appears not among the Pleiadâ—s is to be counted One of the Seven Stars These Churches in their Doctrine do profess and in their Worship do practise most intirely the Protestant Religion as our Confession of Faith with our Platform of Church Discipline has made notorious and though they want the Liturgies and Holydays and Ceremonies which were not Conceived before the Man of Sin was Born they do but approach thereby the nearer to that Primitive Christianity which will be our Glory while we continue in it It is in these Churches that we have long seen the Goings of God our King for the Regeneration and Edification of multitudes who after an Arrival to a pitch of Holiness equal to what any part of this Lower World affords have gone to the Spirits of Iust Men made perfect and though a Decay of Piety has accompanied an Inercase of People in the midst of us yet even among Vs of the Third Generation the God of our Fathers hath such a Number of Serious Gracious Fruitful Christians as encourages our Hopes that He still has Reserves of Mercy for us 'T is in these Churches however Degenerate that One may see Discipline managed Heresy subdued Prophaness conquered Communion maintained with a very beautiful subserviency to the Great Ends of the Gospel And if after all the Printed Books not only of our Cotton Shepard Hocker Bulkley Mather Davenport Cobbet Norton Newman Whiting Mitchel and the rest now Asleep of the former Generation but also of our Higginâ—on Fitch Morton Wigglesworth Allen Moodey Torrey Wilâ—ard Baily Stoddard not to mention my own Fathers both English and Latine Composures thro' the Favour of God yet Alive among us we must be judg'd unprofitable to the Church of God abroad yet the prodigious and Atlaean industry of the Reverend Eliâ—t and of those whom that Venerable Saint yet Lives to see succeeding him in cares for Evangelizing the poor Pagans here must be own'd profitable to those whose Outer Darkness we are sent into But the Right of these Churches to a good Reputation with all them that have any value for the Protestant Religion is not more palpable than the Wrong which has been sometimes Ignorantly and sometimes Maliciously done unto us by them that have baited us for the sake of the Bear-Skins which themselves have put upon us Never was any thing more wicked than the Calumny with Loads whereof our Enemies compelled our Fathers in the Infancy of this Plantation to do as divers of those whom they call The Fathers did of old even To write Apologies nor can any thing be more Slanderous and Romantic than the Accusations that some Ill Men have more Lately traduced witâ—al One may see the very Spirit of Persecution revived in them Nevertheless after all the Banter of our Adversaries as I would never desire an Easter Task than to prove That their Majesties have not in all their Dominions more Loyal Subjects than the People of New-England so 't is evident enough That where any Real Miscarriage has procured One our zeal for the Protestant Religion in the power of
it has procured more than Ten of the Complaints that have been made against us And therefore we not only challenge an Interest among the Reformed Churches in whose Comforts we cannot but Rejoice as we have most inquisitively and affectionately mourned in their Sorrows but we also expect the Friendship of all those particular persons who are well affected unto the stones of Zion and take pity on the Dust thereof As 't is a thing too observable to be denyed or concealed That tho' we are a very unworthy people yet the Haters of New-England stil find themselves pushing hard against the Great Stone so I believe none of those Noble Persons who have been sincerely concerned for our Wellfare will ever see cause to Repent of it but Goodness and Mercy shall follow them all their Days Blessed be the God of our Fathers that albeit we are as an Outcast yet it may not be said No man has cared for us There were Three Knights among our first Patentees it calls for our Extreamest Gratitude if there have been more of That or Another Quality willing to be our Patrons And Sir whereas you have been pleased your self to let the World know how much you are desirous to see new-New-England flourish you will pardon it if One born and bred in that Countrey and a Son of the Colledge there take the Liberty to acquaint you That we are not insensible That you are my Fathers Friend is a thing that Lays me under Obligations but your being New-Englands Friend is a thing which we would All Resent and though the Dedication of these two Little Sermons to your Name does not Take of the best Fruits of the Land as a Present for you yet I humbly ask your Acceptance of them as a part of our Acknowledgments Among the other Curiosities of New-England One is that of a mighty Rock on a perpendicular side whereof by a River which at High Tide covers part of it there are very deeply Engraved no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines near Ten Foot Long and a foot and half broad filled with strange Characters which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument whereof you shall see the first Line Transcribed here Sir I take leave to add That the English people here will study to have the Kindnesses of their Benefactors not less Durably hut more Intelligibly Recorded with them than what the Indian People have Engraved upon Rocks And therefore it is That you shall now publickly find your Person and Family mentioned in our prayers to the God of Heaven for your Enjoyment of all the Prosperity engaged unto them that Love Ierusalem The Voices that ascend from the Thrones of the Lord Jesus here are asking for you Grace and Glory and every good thing and among them there are my own Wishes That the Son and the Church of God may find you their KNIGHT which is to say in English an hearty Servant and that in the day when such a Word will be esteem'd above ten thousand Worlds you may hear a Well Done from the mouth of our Glorious Judge 'T is with these that I subscribe my self SIR Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant Cotton Mather PRAISES Bespoke for the GOD of Heaven In a Thanksgiving SERMON It is Written in Isai. XII 5 Sing unto the Lord for He hath done Excellent Things This is Known in all the Earth OUr Blessed Saviour being to Preach upon a Text fetcht out of that very Book from whence we have now taken ours began His Holy Sermon with sayings This Day is this Scripture fulfilled in your Ears 〈◊〉 is by an unhappy Encounter of Gods Mercies and your Desires that upon the Reading of the Text now before us I may in like manner close the Book and say This day is this Text fulfilled amongst us Truly t is known abroad that our God has done excellent things and for this cause we are with no less Grounded than Solemn THNKSGIVINGS endeavouring to Sing unto the Lord. Behold a Word of the day in its day here provided for you May our further considering and understanding of the Text but promote our fuller Conformiâ—y thereunto and more exactly imprint the shapes of this Heavenly Mould upon us As the Noble Prophet Isaiah is in the Books of the New-Testament quoted perhaps no less than threescore times thus the Dayes of the New-Testament are those which his Prophecies have their frequent and special References to Among other Employments of this Angelical and Evangelical Pen one was the preparing of Sacred Songs for the use of the Church in the circumstances which there had been predictions of and so besides the Psalms which common conjectures have ascribed unto this Prophet the composing of the forty-sixth particularly which in imitatâ—on of the great Luther we may at this day make the Anodyne of our cares we have two inspired Songs in this Chapter laid before us in the first of the Songs the Confessors of God endeavour themselves to celebrate the praises of that Eternal one in the next they endeavour to excite and engage others unto a consort with them in this glorious Exercise And here we have the Text which we are now to descant upon In that Day ye shall say But What day is That day we must be beholden unto the foregoing Chapter for an Answer thereunto We there find that there will a Day come when the Lord will set His Hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his People which will be when the Tribes of lost Israel are converted unto the Faith of the Lord Jesus when according to the Language of the New-Testament All Israel shall be saved There will a Day come when the Root of Iesse shall stand for an Ensign for the People which will be at the second coming of our Lord when according to the phrase taken by our Saviour from this very place the sign of the Son of man shall appear There will a Day come when the Lord shall with the Breath of His Lips slay the wicked which will be when Antichrist shall perish by the fiery approach of the Lord Jesus to take vengeance on His wickedest Enemy when according to the phrase taken by the Apostle also from this very place The Lord shall consume that wicked one with the breath of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightnesr of his coming T is that day which the Song now before us is peculiarly calculated for But certainly we that are only getting into the Dawnings of that day are not excluded from all medling with it no it is written for our Admonition In the Words to be now Handled we have two Things First The Doings of God are here mentioned It is said He hath done Excellent Things or as the Original imports Great Things and High Things or as it may likewise be rendred Magnificent and Illustrâ—ous Things
with this Proviso 〈◊〉 will not be obliged to be a Persecutor A KING that has twice had a Crown of Light appearing in the Heavens over his Principaâ—ity to signalize him unto the World With him we see A QUEEN whose Virtues â—ad long since Enthron'd her in the Hearts of the whole English Nation We do not now see a Romish Dalilah for the Philistins to Plough withal nor is our Solomon under â—he Temptations which the greatest Monarchs have sometimes fell before What can be hop'd for but that the Chains with which the Tyrannous and Treacherous Grand Segniour of France had Fetter'd Europe will now be broken and that the most monstrous Tygre in the world having the Forces of Three Kingdoms let loose upon him while he is Attack'd with such a General Storm on every side as was never seen before must quickly either perish or proclaim Liâ—erty for that Religion which he has out done all that ever Liv'd for the Perscution of 'T is an unaccountable Coincidence witâ— this That some hundreds of People iâ— France are lately fallen into prodâ—gious Exâ—tasies wherein being Dead asleep they botâ— speak of Things and speak with Tongues which before they had nothing of anâ— they agree to tell us The Late Revolutions England were to begin the Deliverance of thâ— Church of God These are some of the Exâ—cellent Things done by our God! Thus aâ— all the Affairs of Europe overturned But there is a further matter for our Praâ—ses which has followed hereupon and 〈◊〉 that are a Countrey of Nonconformists maâ— not pass it by unmentioned It is The Repeal of those Laws which the Protestant Dissenters werâ— long Harassed with It is well-known That those whose Coâ—â—sciences did not allow them to worship Goâ— in some Ways and Modes then by Law Eâ—stablished were not many years ago Perseâ—cuted with a violence to be abhorred by aâ— sober Men. It is well known that Five anâ— Twenty Hundred Faithful Ministers of thâ— Gospel were Silenced in one Black Day because they could not comply with somâ— things by themselves justly counted Sinful but by the Imposers confess'd Indifferent And it is affirmed That by a modest Calculation this Persecution procured the untimely Death of Three Thousand Nonconformists by Imprisonment in Noisome Goals and the Ruine of Threescore Thousand Famiâ—ies within five and twenty years As the Dissenters are far from charging their Sufferings upon all that the Church of England â—n its National Constitution acknowledges or her Sons for we have seen the most Learned and Worthy Members of that Church make their publick Pleas for the Nonconformists and Boldly beg for Moderatiâ—n to them and advance this Assertion That â—or every man to worship God according to his Conviction is an Essential Right of Humane Nature and we have Learnt That the late â—ersecutors were mostly a Knot of Ill men â—ho professed that they had rather be Paâ—â—sts than Presbyterians and that they would 〈◊〉 soon be Turks as Papists and who surâ—endred themselves as meer Tools to a Poâ—â—sh Party that thought to grow great upon 〈◊〉 Ruines of both the Paâ—ties whom they 〈◊〉 set together by the Ears So I hope the â—issenters will now forgive and forget the most inhumane Injuries that they have ever 〈◊〉 sustained The severity of that Persecution which at last had broke up the Conâ—gregations of them that had perfected the Testimony to the Kingly Office of thâ— Lord Jesus than Celebrating a Thanksgiâ—â—ing for it indeed caused the Dissenters 〈◊〉 Accept of Liberty tho' upon some Terâ— which they approved not You are not iâ—â—norant that we then told you There wouâ—â— quickly come an Earthquake that should caâ—â—ry on that Liberty to more perfection an behold it is now done in a Parliamentaâ— Way Blessed be God that Protestants aâ— come to a better understanding of the true Interest May the Apples of Strife â—â—mong them now be removed May all God men concur in pursuance of that Reformatiâ—â— which God now calls His Church unto and may the Reformers have Peace among themselves and as one speaks War wiâ—â— none but Hell and Rome But for 〈◊〉 Church of God in Scotland as their Calâ—â—mities exceeded what their Neighbours feâ—â— which I suppose the Martyrology they prâ—â—mise us will demonstrate so they have 〈◊〉 come behind them in Deliverances what has God wrought my Brethren looks as if God had begun the Resurrection His Dead People O Lord God Thou hast â—â—â—gun to shew thy Servants thy Greatness and mighty Hand for what God is there in Heavâ—â— or in Earth that can do according to thy works And if so 't is time for us to Lift up our Heads with at least some Examination whether we shall not shortly see the Vintage of the Papal Empire Whether Italy be not near a greater Earthquake than that which made hideous Desolations in above Thirty Cities Towns and Villages there a little while ago Whether the Blast of the Second Wo Trumpet be not just expiring and the Turkish Power be not within two or three years at least of that End which will make him incapable to Disturb Europe any more Yea Whether the Gospel of the Lord Jesus will not quickly have Liberty with an Efficacy not only in Popish Countâ—eys where it is Restrained but also in Pagan Countreys in One of which we hear of near two Hundred Thousand Heathen Converted unto true Christianity within these few years In a word Whether the Day is not at Hand when the Kingdoms of the World shall be the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Whether we shall not very quickly see those glorious Things which are spoken of thee O thou City of God! II. The late Revolutions among our selves have also been attended with some Excellent Things where of we may say The finger of God is here Indeed nothing in the World could more exactly imitate and resemble the late circumstances of our Mother England than the Revolutions here in all the steps thereof and this though we understood not one another This was from the Excellent operations of that God who turns a Wheel in a wheel And what shall we now say The Judgments of God have been upon us heretofore but this poor Land has cry'd unto the Lord and the Lord has heard and sav'd And the Enemies of New-England have still perished before the Rebukes of that God who is our King our Lord our Lawgiver It has been as dangerous to seek the Hurt of this poor Countrey as ever it was to annoy the Piccardines of old and they that have stretched out their long Arms to make us miserable have brought upon their own Heads the vengeance of the Temple But we were grown a worldly Sensual Factious People and then our God fulfill'd unto us that Word of His I will punish you yet seven times for your Iniquity Our Charters were taken from us and our Land Strangers devoured in our presence You have seen cause to Declare That there were deny'd unto us
the Common Rights which all English-men justly reckon themselves born unto and that all that was dear unto us was entirely given up to the Arbitrary disposals of four or five Men that beyond all measure hated us and made no stick to tell us We were but Slaves You have seen cause to Declare that we were now given to understand Our Lands were none of our own and that a Storm of unjust Violence was every day falling upon the more Honest and sober part of the Countrey while the wicked walked on every side and the vilest Men were exalted Our Churches also began to feel the kindness of those who had Sworn by the Living God to ruine them and all Debauchery was coming in among us like a mighty Flood All this while we were in a Sea of fire miserably scorched and scalded and yet it was mingled with Ice there were great cakes of Ice over our Heads there was no getting out That one person who now hazarded his All to obtain us Relief by carrying our Addresses for us was made sensible of this Remember O New-England how often that cry then went up from thee to the Lord Return we beseech thee O God of Hosts look down from Heaven and visit this Vine And now behold He is Returned Our Adversaries are what and where they are and we see so far Our Iudges as at the first and our Councellors at the Beginning And there are several Excellent Things that have been done for for us by our God while He has been effecting of our Deliverance We have cause to Praise the God of Heaven That in the Tumult of our Action there was not the loss of a Drop of Blood nor such Plunder and Outrage as would have been a Disgrace to our Profession We have cause to Praise Him that our Soveraign has Declared He took very well what we had done for Him and for our selves in the Revolution We have cause to Praise Him that we have been so comfortably carried through the Difficulties of a whole Summer while we could not say That any Law was of any Force with us Every Week erected a new Ebenezer for us We have cause to praise Him for putting it into the Heart of a Person well known unto you all to take a Voyage into England just before the late Overturnings there on purpose to be in the way of those Opportunities which his Faith was that he should have to serve the Churches of the Lord Jesus here by which means as our Friends there assure us it is that we have been preserved from being totally udome We have cause to praise Him for giving a check to those Indian Blood-Hounds which have been worrying of us in the East who having destroy'd several Plantations met with no full stop till they assaulted the first Place where a Gospel Ministry was maintained but there they found such a Bar in their Carrier that we now hear no more of them And may I not say it We have cause to Praise the Glorious God for some Excellent Things which as yet we know not of We gave Imperfect but with many probable Accounts of a Deliverance from a French Force that the possession of this Territory would have been a valuable Thing unto But this is indubitable If it had not been the Lord who was on our side may new-New-England now say they had swallowed us up quick Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their Teeth new-New-England Be humbly Thankful to thy God and exalt the God of thy Fathers God forbid there should be any Murmurers among us all A year or two ago we would have been Thankful for a small moâ—ety of what we now enjoy But if our Praises are not yet enough animated I pray then let us make a comparison of our Condition Compare our Condition with that of them in Hâ—ngary The Protestant Churches there have been made a Desolation and it would break an heart of Stone to Hear what both Pastors and People have endured Should you see one of the poor Confessors come out of an hideous Dungeon full of Tâ—â—ds and Snakes and Excremenâ—s with their very Throats putrified their Teeth fallen out and their Eyes gone into their Heads and their Flesh mangled in a thousand places you could not forbear preaching a Sermon on Thankfulness to God Imagine your selves under the continual Executions of the most witty Divels and all that shall but relieve you with a bit of Bread torn to pieces by the hand of an Hangman and you will see what has befallen the most venerable Ministers of that Kingdome until the Protestant Religion has been almost extirpated there and this after the Oathes of their Monarch to support it Compare our Condition with that of them in Germany The French King has there made even the Popish Provinces themselves a Stage of Blood and laid all in Ashes for many Leagues together He has given the Sun for his Device upon many of his Coines and by the Fiery Destructions which his Bombs have made he has given us cause to suspect whether he be not the Sâ—n in the fourth Vial that has power to Sâ—orch men with Fire Imagine that you were put under the French Contributions and not only Rob'd of all you have in the World but also driven like so many Cattle before their Slaughterers Imagine your Towns laid all in Heaps and your Persons obnoxious to all manner of Rapine and Murders from the worst of Hâ—rpyes this is what thousands are now feeling of Compare our Condition with that of them in France Except in the matter of our Sabbaths what are we better than the People of God in that rueful Countrey But all the Bloody Butcheries and Cruelties committed in the By-past Ages are meer Trifâ—les in comparison of what that People have of late endured and this after Faith given often â—nough unto the contrary After they â—ad gone thorough intolerable vexations â—n all those things that they had â—ny kindness for they have been at last â—iven up into the claws of the merciless â—ragoons and were all the Divels of Hell Inâ—arnate they could not invent more or worse â—ortures than these Dragons inflict upon â—ersons of all sorts till they have compelled â—â—em to abjure the Truth of God and thus all â—he Flocks of the Lord Jesus have been worâ—ed and Ruined there Imagine a Swarm of Lew'd Souldiers like Locusts quartered 〈◊〉 your Houses and there binding of you that they might abuse your nearest Relations before your eyes imagine them Hanging of you by the Hair of your Heads and then half Choaking of you with Smoke or half Roasting of you with Fire imagine them pricking of you with Knives and Bodâ—kins and with ten thousand lingring Tortures making you Desire while you may not enjoy such a priviledge as Death until at last you have been worried into an Abjuration which makes the wounds on your Consciences no less than those on your Bodies were before
of Heaven bless the Wisdome and Goodness of Your Endeavours for the continuance of His Presence with those that may rise up in your stead when you shall be gone to be forever with the Lord. Allow me to say unto the Fathers of this Countrey what was said unto the Iudges of old Deal courageously and the Lord shall be with the good And as for Vs that are and shall be Inferiors Let us also do what we can That our God may be still among us We ought all of us humbly to lay before our worthy Rulers that Encouragement in Ezr. 10 4. Arise for this matter belongs to thee we also will be with thee be of good courage do it Let there be a publick Spirit in us all for the good of the whole the Rarity Mortality whereof among us new-New-England bewails among the greatest of its Calamities Especially Let us Pray hard That God would not leave the Land It was a Publique Spirit which was in that Famous Prince of Orange who was the first Captain General of the Vnited Provinces an hundred years ago and the Ancestor of that Illustrious Person whose glorious Design and Service we have lately with so much Unanimity Declared for that when he was basely murthered by the Pistol of a papist His dying and only words were O my God take pitty of my soul and of this poor people When he had but one breath to draw in the world His poor people had half of it O Let this poor People have no less than Half our Cares half our Prayers Let no man say I am a sorry Creature of what account can my prayers be For You that can do little else but pray can yet be the instruments of saving this poor people by the Presence of the Lord. We find in Amos. 7.2 That a poor Hâ—rdsman and Huckster kept the great God from Leaving of the Land A poor Husbandman yea a poor Woman by lively prayers may do incredibly much towards the Keeping of our God yet among us And if God be With us then His Rod and Staffe His mighty Crook which horribly breaks the bones of all that it falls upon will crush and wound all that shall go to make this Wilderness A valley of the shadow of Death unto us and beat away all that may essay to do us any Harm So shall we be Led and Fed among the Sheep of our GOD He will Restore us and His Goodness and Mercy shall follow us all our Dayes MANTISSA THus have the Words of God been Calling upon us to beware of Loosing His gracious Presence Now the Presence of God will either go or stay with His Gospel and the Principal Danger of New-England lies in its giving an ill Entertainment unto that glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Let us then see wether the Works of God have not also been calling upon us to take heed of that Epidemical Evil and let what has befallen some of our Neighbours in our dayes be produced as a Warning unto us to avoid any Contempt of that Gospel which others have smarted for the Slighting of I would fill the Remaining pages of this sheet with a Discourse fetch 't from a Reserved Collection of MEMORABLE PROVIDENCES not improper to be produced on this Occasion MATTH X. 14.15 Whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your Words It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgement than for that City To Despise and Reject the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ is an Evil than which none is more evil and yet nothing is more ordinary than this extraordinarily sinful Sin which Vnbeleef may be accounted as Tertullian of old esteem'd Idolatry the Praecipuum â—rimen Humani generis the grand Crime of â—ankind Low thoughts about the Person â—nd the Office and the Beauty of the Lord â—esus contemtuous Apprehensions of His Truths â—nd His wayes and His Ordinances these â—re the Things which bring the most Signal â—ery Wrath of God upon the Children of unâ—erswadeableness The peculiar Controversy â—f God with man in the managing of which â—he most High God inflicts upon particular persons at once a Blasting on their Estates â—nd a Blindness on their Spirits here as the â—rologue to the Hottest Vengeance of Eternal â—re in the dismal vaults of Hell below is not â—o much on the score of all their other Profaâ—ity Iniquity as this one thing They sleight the Redeemer of their souls And this is that thing by which whole Nations Peoples bring â—wift Destruction upon themselves that thing â—or which all the Seals all the Trumpets all the Vials in the Apocalypse have brought in the direful plagues of the Almighty upon the Paegan and the Papal after the Ruine of the Iewish World They have maintained a vile Praejudice against the Saving and the Ruling Hands of a Gracious Mediator O that besides the other innumerable Rebukes of Heaven upon mankind for this Madness in their hearts the following Instances of Divine Displeasure may awaken us to Take heed of an evil heart of Vnbelief Exemple I. ¶ AMong all the Nations of wild Salvages by which the vast Territory of New-England was inhabited scarce any was more potent or populous than that of the Narragansetts Unto those miserable Heathen was the Gospel and a Gospel without charges too offered by some English preachers of it but they peremptorily with much affront contempt refused the Glad tidings of Salvation by Iesus Christ praeferring their own devillish Rites gods before the New Thing tendered unto them An holy man then famous throughout our Churches hereupon let fall a speech to this purpose I speak altogether without the Spirit of God if this nation be not speedily remarkably destroyed And so it happened This Nation much against the advice of the more aged men among them engaged in the late bloody armed Conspiracy with the other Indians in the Countrey to cut off the English in prosecution of which after they had done many Acts of Hostility the English Army took the just provocation in the depth of Winter to assault the strong Fort Swamp in which was their General Rendezvouz The Number of our Forces was much inferiour unto theirs but with a wonderful Valour memorable Success on our part the Day was carried against the tawny Infidelâ— Their City was laid in Ashes two and twenty of their Cheef Captains were kill'd with we know not how many Hundreds or Thousands of the common Indians after which mortal Sickness horrid Famin pursued the Remainders of them so that there are scarce any of them that we know of to be now seen upon the face of the Earth Exemple II. ¶ The Ringleader of the last Warr which the Indians afflicted the English in this Land withal was Philip the Prince of the Wompanâ—ags That gracious and laborious Apostle of the Indians the Reverend Iohn Eliot made a Tender of the Gospel to this Monster who after the Indian mode of
joining signs with words pulling off a Button on the good man's Coat told him He did not value what he said so much as that and he moreover hindred his subjects from embracing the Christian Religion through a fear which he expressed That it might obstruct something of their Civil absolute unlimited Obedience to him After his Invasion of the English with some unhappy Success the Hand of God so fell upon him as that after many Calamities one of his own Vassals upon a disgust at him for killing an Indian who had propounded an Expedient of Peace with the English ran away from him informing our Forces where he was and they came upon him in the Thicket just as he was telling his Counsellours of his Dream the night before that the English had taken him and while he endeavoured an Escape an Indian shott him thro' the heart whereof he dyed immediately nor are any considerable part of his people now to seen any where out of their own place Exem III. Some time since there were Sundry well disposed persons in Virginia upon whose affectionate Letters full of desires that they might enjoy the meanes of eternal Salvation diverse worthy Ministers were sent from hence unto them Mr. Thomson Mr. Knowles Mr. Iames who after a passage so tedious dangerous as made them almost suspect their Call at length arrived there where God gave them a blessed Success of their labours with a loving a liberal Entertainment in the Countrey Yet it was not long before the Rulers of the Plantation drove them away by an Order That all such as would not Conform to certain things which the consciences of these Gentlewere known to scruple should leave the Countrey by such a day Before that black day came the Indians who for some hundreds of Miles had entred into a Consoederacy to cut off all strangers made a dreadful massacre of the English 300 at least were suddenly kill'd by the natives there A grievous Mortality by Sickness did also accompany the said Massacre so that many removed from thence many of the Rest glorified magnified the justice of God thus avenging the Quarrel of His Refused Gospel Finis An APPENDIX Touching Prodigies In NEW-ENGLAND AS an Appendix to the Endeavours used in the foregoing Treatise to Commemorate the Wonderful Works of God and at the same time to awaken this Countrey unto such a Devotion and Repentance as the Works of God are calling for It ought to be seriously enquired Whether we have not been by any Prodigies Warned of the Evils near unto us tho' it must be confessed that our Hearts were Prâ—digiously obdurate and insensible if we needed any while we have Moses and the Prophets The written Word of God is that Firmament spread over the Spiritual which answers the Expansum in the Natural World and the Threatnings with the Histories therein shining and Thundering would giveÌ„ to aÌ„ sinful People as great a praemonition of impendinâ— Plagues as the most Portentous Armies in thâ— Air or Comets in the AEther of the Universe Yet even Insolit Accidents of Nature as well as Faithful Cautions of Scripture have been employ'd for our awakening in our late stupidity Indeed there are some from whom we might have expected a less unreasonable Scepticism who deride all Prodigies but these Gentlemen like Those who deny Original Sin do in their own Disputation confute themselves by Giving yea by Being an Instance of the very thing which they oppose Nay Let no more than the Authorities and Varieties recited by the Great Zuinger in his Elaborate Theatre upon the Head of Prodigies be faitly considered and I know not whether you will allow them to be called Gentlemen that shall be so Disingenuous as to make a Ridicule of all in this kind that has been hitherto Reported and Believed I acknowledge That there ought to be much Accuracy in the Observation of Prodigies and that those things ought not always to be accounted Prodigies which are Extraordinaries and that it is a simple thing to believe every word and since I have seen the Nonconformist Reproched for their minding of Prodigies by the loose Pens of certain Writers whom weighing well their Accomplishments by their own Rule we ought not to mind I have been desirous that we may so far take the Informations tho' we value not the Iudgments of their Malice as to be sufficiently critical in this important point yet we may not by profanity maintain our own Security Altho' that the Eternal God Hate Robbery for burnt offering and it is as Dangerous as 't is an officious thing To Ly for Him nevertheless those people I am sure were stigmatized for none of the wisest Who Regard not the Works of the Lord nor the Operation of his Hands and the Communion between Us and the Angels either good or bad which are Invisibly about us is more frequent and Upheld and Applied unto more purposes than Mankind is Happy enough to be well Aware I therefore pass on to say That New-England also seems to have had its Prodiges We have had inded One Omen which was rather a Prophesy than a Prodigy unto us I Remember that Leontius the Aged and Famous Minister of Antioch pointing to his own White Head said unto his people Brethren when this Bank of Snow falls I can tell you that you 'll have a dirty time on 't intimating the Troubles and Quarrels that should happen among them after his Decease Truly that sort of Snow fell so fast among us and the precious praying Excellent Old Disciples were so fast interr'd that we might well conceive as much of our Quiet would go away with them as there went of our Glory But I yet speak too figuratively to answer the Expectations of my Reader Let him then know That Just before our late Vexations we were terrified with an Earth-quake in the Southern Parts of the Countrey And if so base a man as Polydore Virgil could reckon an Earth-quake in England long since the Forerunner of a Bloody and Cruel French War We that knew what Neighbours wâ— had were not without ground of Conjectures that were none of the most Comfortable or Encouraging In the Summer of the Year 1688. just before the first eruption of our unhappy War we had growing in Boston a Cabbage Root out of which there sprouted three very wonderful Branches one of them exactly reâ—eâ—bling a 〈◊〉 another of them as exactly resembling a Rapier and a third extreamly like to the Club used by the Indians in their Barbarous Executions I was my self one among the Multitudes that visiâ—ed this Curiosâ—â—y with no little surprize at the odness of it and the Characters of it in my thoughts have grown more 〈◊〉 and Solemn since the 〈◊〉 of it have been so agreeable I 〈…〉 imagine my self herein impos'd upon as Lycosthenes who wrote of Prodigies was in the Business of his Bearded Grapes but it would be Cranibe his cocta for me to offer the Reader what Exemples parallel hereunto are mentioned by the exquisitely Learned and Curious Authors of the Renowned German Ephemerides Moreover it was credibly affirmed that in the Winter of the Year 1688 there fell a Red Snow which lay like Blood on a spot of Ground not many miles from Boston but the Dissolution of it by a Thaw which with in a few hours melted it made it not capable of lying under the contemplation of so many Witnesses as it might have been worthy of The Bloody Shower that went before the suffering of the ancient Britains from the Picts a sort of People that painted themselves like our Indians this Prodigy seem'd a second Edition of And in the opinion of the most Critical Observers throughout the Countrey they were prodigious or at least Uncommon SIGHTS and SOUNDS which on the first of October in the Year 1689. We were entertained withal and not unlike those which Pliny mentions as presages to the Cimbric Wars of old For on that Day in the Morning while the Sky was too clear to give us a suspicion of any thing like Thunder approaching there suddenly Blazed a Flameâ— in the fashion of a Sword which Blaze after a continuance far longer than that of an ordinary Lightning expired in a smoke that gave Terror unto the Beholders of it But hereunto succeeded immediately very terrible and Repeated Noises exactly like Volleys of small Shot not without Reports like those of Great Guns super added thereunto This was a Scaene which all the Colonies of this large Countrey and Thousands of People at once were Spectators of carrying in it something beyond the known Laws which ordinary Meteors are Conform'd unto And herein was indeed One Circumstance that gave Demonstration of something Rare and Great in this Occurrent That persons which were Distant from one another many scores of Miles above an Hundred yet at the same Time both Saw and Heard the whole of what is now related and though I know the Fancies of men applying themselves unto what is in the Clouds are Fruitful even to a Ridicule strong imagination being able to find even a Iuno in them and all that can be any where imagined the shapes of Clouds like the Clinks of Bells humoring the Thoughts of any one yet in This Accident no small Numbers of Gentlemen who do not use to be imposed upon but count no Trial severe enough to Examine Things of this Nature with were so surprised as with one mouth to say The Finger of God was here But with Him are left the Events of all And in the mean time we are not ignorant that Nunquam Futilibus Excandâ—it Ignibus AEther FINIS ERRATA PAge 1. l. Last Read Saying Page 9. Line 5. Read Iews Page 37. Line 1. dele Can. Page 44. Line 1. Read as at Page 44 Line last r. undone Page 45. Line 13. for gave r. have