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
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 Stony Sun-burnt Arabia whom indeed I don't Remember David ever was among Accordingly a people have Three Things incumbent on them if they would enjoy the Presence of God First A People should be with God by Communion With Him This t is to be With Him There are Certain meanes of Communion between God and us and these we must be continually approaching to Him in We are With God while we are at Prayer before Him hence in our Context here it immediately follows If you seek the Lord He will be found of you While we do seek Him we are with Him The Psalmist was a man much in prayer and therefore he could say as in Psal. 73.23 I am continually with thee A people much in Prayer may say the same We are continually with the Lord. A people that will pray upon all occasions a people that will pray over all Businesses a peo that will retire into the Mount for Prayer and Fasting too at every turn that people is with the Lord. And the whole Worship of God must be diligently graciously faithfully frequented by a people that would be with Him We are with God when we are at His House A people should support esteem and use all the Ordinances of God among them The Church of God hath His very special Presence in it the Name of the Church is that in Ezek. 48.35 Iehovah Shammah the Lord is there We should all be there too and there give those Encouragements which are due to the Institutions of God So shall we be with the Lord. Secondly A people should be with God by Activity For Him To be For God is to be with God It was once the Summons given in Exod. 32.26 Who is on the Lords side And all the Sons of Levi gathered themselves they were with God in doing so T is a Summons given to the world in every Generation Who is on the Lords side They that obey the Summons are with the Lord. A people full of Contrivances for the Interest of God are with Him A people should set themselves to advance the Glory of God they should own His Truths and His Wayes and endeavour to draw all about them into the Acknowledgement of the same A people should propound the Glory of God as their cheef End and the main Scope of all that they do and they should think much of no Cost no Pains nor tho as a Martyr once expressed himself tho' every hair on their heads were a life should a Thousand Lives be dear unto them in the promoting of it Then are they with the Lord they are so when God can say of them as in Isa. 43.10 Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord and my servant Thirdly A people should be With God by Behaviour Like Him To be Like God is to be with God They that are with Him do not walk contrary to Him God and we should be One. A people should have the same Designs the same Desires which the Written Edicts of Heaven declare to be in the blessed God and not only so but the same Vertues too Is God Hâ—ly Thus a people should not bear with them that are evil Is God Righteous Thus a people should abhor all Injustice and Oppression Is God Merciful Thus a people should be disposed unto all fair acts of Pitty and Kindness Then they will be with the Lord and O that this people were so with Him This is the USE to be now made of what has been delivered Let us all now Be with God that God may Be with us I suppose whatever else we differ in we generally concur in that wish 1. King 8.27 The Lord our God be with us as He was with our Fathers let Him not leave us nor forsake us O that we might all as much concur in an endeavourous Resolution to be with God as our Fathers were with Him not to leave Him nor forsake him There is as much of New-England in this great Congregation as can well be reach'd by the voice of one Address t is indeed the best part of New-England that is at least Represented in this Assembly As the great Council at Ierusalem satt near the Temple thus the whole Convention of the Massachusets is here come into the House of God this day Wherefore I take the boldness to say Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin The Châ—ef Sinner and least Preacher among all your Sons now takes a Liberty to mind you That God will be with you while you are with Him Now that we may be all of us inspired with a Zeal for this great thing this Day Let us Consider First How Desirable How Necessary a Thing it is that we should have God with us Truly This is the Vnum Necessarium of New-England Nothing is more Desireable for us than the Presence of our God The Jews have a Fable of their Manna That whatever any man had a mind to tast he presently found in the Manna a Savour a Relish of it It is very true of this Blessed Presence all manner of Blessings are enwrapped in it There is a multitude of Blessings which we are desireous of but they are all contained in this comprehensive thing It will give every honest man all that he wants This will extricate us out of all our Labyrinths This will set all things to rights among us This will wonderfully carry on all the Salvations which have been begun for us by the God of our Salvations If Christ if God be aboard our little Vessel will not sink in the gaping roaring formidable Waves now tossing of it Well did the Apostle say in Rom. 8.31 If God be for us who can be against us Thus If God be with us we have All for us One GOD will weigh down more than ten Worlds If we have the Presence of that God Who made and moves the Universe by a Word if we have the Presence of that God Who can Command and Create our Deliverances O most Happy We We may then join in such Triumphant Acclamations as that in Psal. 118.6 The Lord is on my side I will not fear what can man do unto me We may then defie even the Gates of Hell it self for Cur metuat hominem homo in sinu Dei positus and tho' abroad at this day The earth is removing and the Waters roar and are troubled and the mountains are shaking splitting tumbling with the swelling thereof Tho' the great and the terrible God be at this Day coming out of His place to make all Europe a stage of blood and fire and make the Nations everywhere drink deep of the Cup that shall make them giddy with all manner of Confusion Astonishment Yet WE shall be helped right early for God is in the midst of us Add to this Nothing is more Necessary for us than the Presence of God We are undone thrice and four times Vndone if we have it not Methinks I hear the Almighty GOD with a
they live in Heaven upon Earth But as for Dayes of Thanksgiving observed in the Assemblies of good men all men have seen the wonderful successes of them New Englands Prosperity has more visibly followed upon its Thanksgivings than upon its Humiliations as in times both of War and of Sickness has been more than once perceived We have seen the fulfilment of that Word in 2 Chron. 20.22 When they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against their Enemies Praises thousands of high praises be to our God that we may have a Day to celebrate His praises But that our praises may be awakened and that no man may make a Iar in our Harmony Consider how Reasonable these praises are for us all O consider with our selves Who is God it is He that Humbles Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven Consider Who is Man a poor Worm yea a cursed Viper Now that this GOD should look upon this man Lord What is man that thou shouldest be mindful of him Yet the Eternal God has been doing of Excellent things which we not only behold but also enjoy There is not one of us all who has not excellent things to be this Day praising the Almighty for They whose case is never so bad yet have cause to carry on this Day of Thanksgiving with us in that it is no worse The most miserable person in all this Congregation may with an eye to his own condition say like him in Psal. 119.156 Many are thy mercies O Lord. If I could find out the most unhappy and the most complaining person among you all even to that person would I say God has done Excellent things for thee and some that never sinned so much yet suffer more than you Consider Likewise how profitable these Praises will be to us all Behold an Expedient for the obtaining of all the Blessings that can be wish'd for It was said in Psal. 67.5 6. Let the people praise thee then our God shall bless us If the Earth send Vapours up to Heaven Heaven will make Showers to descend on the Earth Let our praises be continually ascending from us and they will soon issue in those things that are called The Showers of Blessing When we have a Jealousie of a Leaky Vessel we try it by first putting of Water before we trust Better Liquors in it if we that have little more than Water to comfort us will yet not permit it to Leak without Praises from us then God has more Excellent Things to do for us To be always Begging and Craving as a Dog for his Morsels ad Spem futuri semper hians without multiplyed praises unto God this is a most vile Disingenuity 'T is no less than a Loss of yea no less than a Curse on all our Blessings which we incurr by not praising the giver of them But the praising Soul may fill himself with such a Ioyful Hope as that in Psal. 71.14 I will Hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more Those that are sollicitous least God should Loose any of His Praises are the persons for whom God will be concerned that they don't Loose any of His Blessings these are they that shall experimentally understand the Loving kindness of the Lord. Man wouldest thou have any Excellent Things done for thy self Then bring thy praises for what Excellent Things have been done in the world I suppose by this time we have generally got our Hallelujahs ready but you call for a Catalogue of those Excellent Things which they are to be fixed on 'T is a Feast that you are this Day to be treated at and before you go out of these Doors a Feast you shall have I shall set before you a short Account of some Excellent Things which I intend as a Feast for your praises and believe me though your praises had and O that they may have no less than an Eternity to be Feeding on those matters in they never would be glutted never cloyed First The Excellent Things done by God in the Works of CREATION call for our Praises It was once the out-cry of the Psalmist in a Rapture Praise the Lord from the Heavens praise the Lord from the Earth praise the Lord all ye His Armies Truly 'T is our Business to praise Him for the Heavens and for the Earth and for all those Armies which He has replenished the World withal We have a good pattern for us in Psal 104.24 33. says the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy Works in wisdom hast thou made them all Well and what is now incumbent upon us that have the view thereof It follows I will sing praise unto my God while I have any Being Methinks the Children of Men too much imitate the Spider when they Look after nothing but building a little House for themselves and concern themselves with nothing but the petty Affairs thereof We should remember that we are Citizens of the WORLD and as far as we can we should visit every Corner of it with our Praises to Him of whom and for whom is all I make no question but that we do in a blessed manner Antedate Heaven by doing so The Praises of God are Exhibited in every part of the World and we forfeit the priviledge of Reason if we do not put as many of them as we can into our Aâ—knowledgments There are above six Thousand Plants growing on that little Spot of the World which we Tread upon and yet a Learned Man has more than once found One Vegetable enough to make a Subject for a Treatise on it What might then be said upon the Hundred and fifty Quadrupeds the Hundred and fifty Volatils the five and Twenty Reptiles besides the vast multitudes of Aquatils added unto the rich variety of Gems and Minerals in our World Our own Bodies are to use the Phrase of the Psalmist So Fearfully and Wonderfully made that one of the Ancient Heathen at the sight thereof could not forbear breaking forth into an Hymn unto the praise of the great Creator 'T is impossible that any thing should be better shaped Indeed All the Things that we have every Day before our eyes have a most charming prospect in them and the very Deformities which the Flood has brought upon this Terraquecus Globe are made Beauties by the Disposals of the Lord that sat upon the Flood There is not a Fly but what may confute an Atheist And the Little things which our Naked Eyes cannot penetrate into have in them a Greatness not to be seen without Astonishment By the Assistence of Microscopes have I seen Animals of which many Hundreds would not AEqual a Grain of Sand. How Exquisite How stupendous must the Structure of them be The Wholes that are sometimes found more than an Hundred Foot in Length methinks those moving Islands are not such Wonders as these minute Fishes are But alas All this Globe is but as a Pins point if compared with the mighty Universe
pass through their mouths than that they should mock at the Word of God they had better swallow a Serpent with all its Poison If the Wicked said one of them had the same power over God that they have over you they would do the same to Him that they do to you but God will pronounce the Sentence of Malediction on them and will say Go into Eternal Fire Brethren said another of them Pray hard and then though we should meet an Army of Enemies at the Door God will place a million of Angels for your Guard Brethren said another of them We have alwayes apprehended more the Threats of Men than those of God else what happened to us would not have happened One of them said Your Riches have ruined you and your Prayers must Relieve you One of them said I am afraid the first Persecution will make you return to Mass again but O suffer your selves rather to be first cut in pâ—eâ—es Alas Iesus Christ has poured out all his Blood for us and we can't endure the prick of a pin for Him To the Apostates they generally so conclude their Warnings You have sinned against the Father you have sinned against the Son take heed of sinning against the Holy Ghost for God will then pardon you no more And when the Children are told They shall be Hang'd they are not at all afraid but answer That is but a little harm for a greater good But the other part of their Ministry is The Prediction of Things quickly to come to pass They do indeed foretell many Things of a more private concern they foretell a thousand Things that must happen to themselves and their Friends and the issue confirms the Prophesie One of them being thrown into a Dungeon said The man who sent her thither should within eight Dayes fetch her out and iâ— strangely was accomplished But the Things of a more publick Concern are chiefly those which they foretel The Gentlemen who give us the History tell us that they judge it not yet convenient to publish a large part of the Authentick and sufficient Collections which they have made of these Prophecies However they have given us a Taste In general The Subjects of this Enthusiasm all agree in foretelling A Speedy Deliverance to the Church of God and they declare The Late Revolutions in England to be the Beginning of that Deliverance Tho' all France was fill'd with a Rumour That the Late K. Iames had Defeated the â—hen Prince of Orange both by Land and Sea these then said The Authors of these Reports commit a great sin for the Prince of Orange has Chas'd and shall Chase the King out of England and that is the Beginning of the Deliverance of the Church They foretold a fresh Assault of Persecution in France and it had a very dreadful fulfilment for after it Ensued a Terrible Storm of Outrage upon the Relicks of Protâ—stantism in the Desolate Kingdom in one Article of which there was a Massacre of about four hundred people but they foretold within how many Days the Persecution should bâ— over and they give hopes of a Protestant King very quickly to be seen in France They proclaim The Divel is going to be shut up in the midst of Hell They say The Accomplishment of the Prophetical Months and Dayes is at Hand but it must be accompanied with very Terrible Wars and Plagues The whole is a Thing very unaccountable and when I consider the Fate of the famous German Prophets which made such a Noise in the World or when I consider that while the Iews were under their Infatuations about their false Messiah Sabatai Saevi some Hundreds of people fell into Extasies as 't is Reported wherein they Prophesied the speedy Deliverance of the Jews by that Impostor and Little Children that could not stammer a word yet repeated and pronounced the Name of this Deceiver with Happy Omens of Him but consider on the other side That not to Regard the Works of the Lord is a Destroying evil I dare not make any Reflections on it I dare not say what Authority or what Original is to be assigned unto these Inspirations but this I know the Comfort and Counsil of the Church is without such things now sufficiently provided for and our Lord Jesus having foretold the State of the Church until He come again hath so concluded His Predictions If any man shall add unto these things God shall add Plagues unto Him Nevertheless This also I shall take for granted That the Great God intends hereby to Awaken us unto a Consideration of what is before us That is a proper use of Miracles and when we are once Awakened there is provided for our Entertainment A more Sure Word of Prophecy which O that our God may help us to Give Heed unto Amen The Way to Prosperity A SERMON Preached to the HONOVRABLE CONVENTION Of the GOVERNOVR Council and Representatives of the Massachuset-Colony in New-England on May 23. 1689. By COTTON MATHER Jer. 23.28 He that hath My Word Let him speak speak My Word faithfully BOSTON Printed by R. Pierce for Ioseph Brunning Obadiah Gill and Iames Woode MDCXC A Prophesy in the Divine Herbert's Church-Militant REligion stands on Tip-toe in our Land Ready to pass to the American Strand When height of Malice and prodigious Lusts Impudent Sinning Witchcrafts and Distrusts The marks of future Bane shall fill our cup Unto the Brim and make our measure up Then shall Religion to America flee They have their Times of Gospel even as we Yet as the Church shall thither westward fly So Sin shall Trace and Dog her instantly The Preface THe Occasion which first produced the following Sermon cannot be expressed in better Terms than those which were used by the Worthy Gentlemen that were the Conservators of our peace in their humble Address to Their Majesties bearing Date May 20 th 1689. Wherein among other things they say Your three several Princely Declarations Encouraging the English Nation to cast off the Yoke of a Tyrannical and Arbitrary Power which at that time they were held under have occurred unto the View and Consideration of the people in this Countrey being themselves under alike if not worse evil and unhappy Circumstances with their Brethren in England First by being unrighteously deprived of their Charter-Government Priviledges without any Hearing or Tryal and under utter impossibilities of having Notice of any Writt served upon them and then followed with the Exercise of an illegal and Arbitrary power over them which had almost ruined a late flourishing Countrey and was become very grievous intolerable besides the growing miseries and daily fears of a total Subversion by enemies at home and invasion by forreign sorce the people thereby excited to imitate so noble and heroic an Exemple being strongly and unanimously spirited to intend their own safeguard and Defence resolved to sieze upon and secure some of the principal persons concerned and most active in the ill management
of the illegal and arbitrary Government set over them by Commission Accordingly upon the eighteenth day of April last past arose as one man siezed upon Sr. E. Ananos the late Governour and other of the evil instruments and have secured them for what Justice Order from your Majesties shall direct Thus that Address Vpon the late Revolutions thus described ensued various debates about the further Steps that were needful to be taken for the service of Their Majesties and this afflicted Countrey Which Debates quickly issued in the Return of our Government into the Hands of our Ancient Magistrates who with the Representatives or Deputies of the several Towns in the Colony made another Address unto Their Majesties bearing date Iune 6. 1689. in which Address there were these Words Finding an Absolute Necessity of Civil Government the People generally manifested their Desires and Importunity once and again That the Governour Deputy Governour and Assistants chosen and sworn in May 1686. according to Charter Court as then formed would assume the Government the said Governour Deputy-Governour and Assistents then Resident in the Colony did Consent to accept the present Care and Government of this people according to the Rules of the Charter for the preservation of the Peace and common safety and the putting forth further Acts of Authority upon Emergencies until by Direction from England there should be an orderly Settlement which we hope will Restore us to the full Exercise thereof as formerly notwithstanding we have for some time been most unrighteously and injuriously deprived of it That Royal Charter being the sole Inducement and Encouragement unto our Fathers and predecessors to come over into this Wilderness and to plant the same at their own Cost and Charge In Answer to this Address His Majesty in a most gracious Letter bearing Date the 12 th of August 1689. unto the Government here uses these Expressions Whereas you give Us to understand that you have taken upon you the present care of the Government until you should receive Our Order therein We do hereby Authorize and Empower you to Continue in Our Name your Care in the Administration thereof and Preservation of the Peace until We shall have taken such Resolutions and given such Directions for the more orderly Settlement of the said Government as shall most conduce to Our Service and the Security and Satisfaction of Our Subjects within that Our Colony It was in the time of our greatest Heats and Straits and at a time appointed for a General Assembly of this great Colony that the ensueing Sermon was expected from me Through the Grace of God the Sermon Then was not altogether unacceptable to some who desired the Publication of it But I gave not my full Consent unto their Desire until now they had an Opportunity with their Renewed Importunity to join it with another Discourse which they have obtained from me and tho' the little Differences which were among us when the Sermon was preached are now sâ— well Composed yet I flatter my self with an opinion that the things here insisted on will not should not be judg'd Unseasonable I confess it is a very Bold thing for one every way so mean as my self to Address the whole Countrey in such a manner as here I do but Si crimen erit crimen Amoris erit and if the general Dispositions of the year will not excuse a Breach of Order in me I have but one thing more to offer by way of Satisfaction for it There was once a people in the world with whom it was a Custome That when men would Conciliate the Favour of the Ruler they were to present his own Son before him as a Sight which would speak more than any Advocate Instead thereof that I may not want the Favour of my Countrey how blameable soever they may count my freedome with them I shall only present them with my own Father whose cheerful Encounter with an hazardous Voyage unto a strange Land and with innumerable Difficulties and Temptations there for no other Cause than that he might Speak FOR them has at least merited a Pardon for Mee with whom he has for near two years now left both his Church and Family if I have transgressed by taking a Liberty of Speaking TO them at the same time the things which may promote our Enjoyment of the Divine Presence with us Now may Salvation be nigh unto us and Glory dwell in our Land Cotton Mather The Way to PROSPERITY It is the Word of the Eternal GOD in II. Chron. XV. 2. Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin the Lord is with you while you are with Him IT is a Remarkable Occasion which has brought these Words to be the Subject of our present Meditations but it was much more a Remarkable Occasion which these Words were first uttered upon We find them in the Sacred Book of Chronicles which Chronicles are not the Civil Records in other parts of the Bible refer'd unto but an Inspired History of things that concerned the Line of Christ and the Church of God for five hundred more than Three Thousand years It seems as an Epitome of the Whole for so t is in Ierom's Language to be written as late as the Last of all the Books in the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bibles give it a place accordingly The Greeks choose to entitle it The Book of things else where passed by because as Lyra notes according to the Rule of our Saviour It gathers Fragments that nothing may be lost and if there were nothing else but the Story which affords our Text unto us to justifie that Appellation it were enough 't is a Story passed by in the Book of Kings but worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance The ready Pen of Ezra for him we conjecture to be the Scribe of the Holy Spirit here notwithstanding those few Clauses which may be judged to be added by another hand after his Decease I say the Pen of Ezra is here informing us That the people of God had newly been invaded by a vast Army of Cushites but we are yet at a loss who these Cushites were Far more Scholars in the World than there were Souldiers in that Army have hitherto been content with our Translation which renders them Ethiopians here But that learned French-man Bochaert by whose happy industry more than any man's the Treasures in the Bowels of the Scriptures have been delv'd into has with irrefragable Demonstration prov'd That noâ— Ethiopians but Arabians are the Cushites menâ—tioned in the Oracles of God These Araâ—bians tho they have not been called Saraceâ— as has been thought from their word Saâ—rak that signifies to Steal yet for their Fâ—â—racious Inclinations they well deserved sucâ— an Etymology they were a wild sort 〈◊〉 men that liv'd much upon the Rapin anâ— Ruin of their Neighbours and particularly a Million of them now designed Ierusalem foâ— a prey The blessed God gave His peoâ—ple a notable victory over
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-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-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
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-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