I see now â—â—â—nd before the Lord in this Assemâ—â—â—â—e Subjects of such a Wonderful De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ce from your Captivity a Deliverâ—â—â—â— â—hich hath been Signalized with such Unusual Circumstances Words that are spoken in an Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ carry with them a peculiar Efficacy and Authority The Lord Jesus Christ hath by a Surprising Providence of His brought you this Day to wait upon Him in that Great Ordinance which is His Power for the Salvation of our Souls Hear a Servant of the Lord JESUS CHRIST in His Name now Publickly Solemnly calling upon you to make a Right use of the Deliverance wherewith He ha's Highly favoured you The Use which you are to make of it is To Humble your selves before the Lord Exceedingly As you have had the Extraordinary Judgments of God upon you to Humble you so Except His Extraordinary Mercies do likewise Humble you you do but Exceedingly Abuse them The Rich Goodness of God unto you is to Lead you unto Repentance When you were Carried into Captivity We did not say That you were greater Sinners than the rest that yet Escape it You are now Resened from Captivity and must not think That they are greater Sinners who are Left behind in the most barbarous Hands imaginable No you that have been under the Mighty Hand of God are to Humble your selves under that Hand But it you do indeed so I know what you will do You will seriously consider What you shall render to the Lord for all His Benefits And you will sincerely Render your very Selves unto the Lord You are not now the Slaves of Indians as you were a few Dayes ago but if you continue Unhumbled in your Sins you will be the Slaves of Devils and Let me tell you A Slavery to Devils to be in Their Hands is worse than to be in the Hands of Indians I beseech you then by the Mercies of God that you present your selves unto the Lord Jesus Christ Become the sincere Servants of that Lord who by His Blood has brought you out of the Dungeon wherein you were lately Languiâ—â—ing Oh! Deny not the Lord who has thus Bought you out of your Captivity I tell you truly The Lord Expects great Returns of Humiliation of Thankfulness and of Obedience from you and I therefore Leave with you one Sentence of Scripture to be often thought upon 'T is That in Ezra 9.13 14. After all that is come upon us for our Evil Deeds seeing thou our God hast given us such Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst Consumed us Now Let all Consider what hath been said and the Lord give us Understanding â—n all things APPENDIX A NARRATIVE of Hannah Swarton Containing Wonderful Passages relating to her Captivity and her Deliverance I Was taken by the Indians when Casco Fort was taken May 1690. My Husband being slain and Four Children taken with me The Eldest of my Sons they killed about two Months after I was taken and the rest Scattered from me I was now left a Widow and as Bereaved of my Children though I had them alive yet it was very seldome that I could see them and I had not Liberty to Discourse with them without Danger either of my own Life or theirs for our Condoling each others Condition and shewing Natural Affection was so displeasing to our Indian Rulers unto whose Share we fell that they would threaten to kill us if we cryed each to other or discoursed much together So that my Condition was like what the Lord threatned the Jews in Ezek. 24.22 23. We durst not Mourn or Weep in the sight of our Enemies lest we lost our own Lives For the first Times while the Enemy feasted on our English Provisions I might have had some with them but then I was so filled with Sorrow and Tears that I had little Stomach to Eat and when my Stomach was come our English Feed was spent and the Indians wanted themselves and we more So that then I was pined with want We had no Corn or Bread but sometimes Groundnuts Acâ—rns Purslâ—in Hogweel Weeds Roots and sometimes Dogs Flesh but not sufficient to saâ—iâ—â—y Hunger with these having but little at a Time We had no success at Hunâ—ing save that one Bear was killed which I had part of and a very small part of a Tittle I had another time and once an Indian gave me a piece of a Mooses Liver which was a sweet Morsel to me and Fish if we could catch it Thus I continued with them hurried up and down the Wilderness from May 20. till the middle of February Carrying continually a Great Burden in our Travels and I must go their pace or else be killed presently and yet was pinched with Cold for want of Cloathing being put by them into an Indian Dress with a sleight Blanket no Stockings and but one pair of Indian-Shoes and of their Leather Stockings for the Winter My Feet were pricked with sharp Stones and prickly Bushes sometimes and other times Pinched with Snow Cold and Ice that I travelled upon ready to be frozen and faint for want of Food so that many times I thought I could go no further but must ly down and if they would kill me let them kill me Yet then the Lord did so Renew my Strength that I went on still further as my Master would have me and held out with them Though many English were taken and I was brought to some of them at times while we were about Casco Bay and Kennebeck River yet at Norridgawock we were Separated and no English were in our Company but one John York and my self who were both almost Starved foâ— want and yet told that if we could not hold up to travel with them they would kill us And accordingly John York growing Weak by his wants they killed him and threatened me with the like One time my Indian Mistress and I were left alone while the rest went to look for Eeles and they left us no Food from Sabbath day Morning till the next Sature-day save that we had a Bladder of Moose I think which was well filled with Maggots and we boiled it and drank the Broth but the Bladder was so tough we could not eat it On the Saturday I was sent by my Mistress to that part of the Island most likely to see some Canoo and there to make Fire and Smoke to invite some Indians if I could spy any to come to Relieve us and I espied a Canoo and by Signs invited them to come to the Shore It proved to be some Squaw's who understanding our wants one of them gave me a Roasted Eel which I eat and it seemed unto me the most Savoury Food I ever tasted before Sometimes we lived on Wortle burrâ—es sâ—metimes on a kind of Wild Cherry which grew on Bushes which I was sent to gather once in so bitter a Cold season that I was not
Humiliations follow'd with Deliverances A Brief Discourse On the MATTER and METHOD Of that HUMILIATION which would be an Hopeful Symptom of our Deliverance from Calamity Accompanied and Accommodated WITH A NARRATIVE Of a Notable Deliverance lately Received by some English Captives From the Hands of Cruel Indians And some Improvement of that Narrative Whereto is added A Narrative of Hannah Swarton containing a great many wonderful passages relating to her Captivity and Deliverance Boston in N. E. Printed by B Green J. Allen for Samuel Phillips at the Brick Shop 1697. Humiliations follow'd with Deliverances At Bostâ—n Lectuâ—e 6 d. 3. m. 1697. The Week before a General FAST 2 Chron XII 7. When the Lord saw that they Humbled themselves the Word of the Lord came unto Shemajah saying They have Humbled themselves I will not Destroy them but I will grant them some Deliverance WHen the Punishment of Sâ—â—rging was used upon a Criminal in Israel it was the O der and Usage that while the Executioner was Laying on his Thirteen and therein Forty save one Blowes with an Instrument every sâ—â—oke whereof gave Three Lashes to the Delinqâ—â—nt there were still present Three Judges whereof while one did Number the Blowes and another kept crying out Smite him a Third Read Three Scriptures during the Time of the Scourging and the Scourging Ended with the Reading of them The first Scripture was That in Deut. 28.58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that be written in this Book that thou mayst Fear this Glorious and â—earful Name THE LORD THY GOD then the Lord will make thy Plagues wonderful The second Scripture was That in Deut. 29 9. Keep therefore the words of this Covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that ye do The last Scripture was That in Psal 78 38. But He being full of Compassion forgave their Iniquity and destroy'd them not This was done partly for the Admonitiâ—n partly for the Consolation of the Chastised Criminal Christians We are all sensible That the Scourges of Heaven have long been Employ'd upon us for our Crimes against the Holy and Just and Good Laws of the Lord our God Alas our Plagues have been wonderful We have been sorely Lashed with one Blow after another for our Delinquencies Who is there to Number the Blowes Yea The Anger of God is not for all this Turned away but His Hand stretched out still It is but proper while we are thus under our Punishment for us to have a Text of the Sacred Oracles agreeable unto our present State Read unto us Behold an Agreeable Text now singled out for our Entertainment I do the rather single it out because the next Week a General HUMILIATION is to be attended among us for which I cannot easily do a more Useful Thing than to give you a Praeparative while I am speaking unto the Christians of many Churches here come together in One Great Assembly In our Context we sind the People of God beginning to Forsake the Law of the Lord They many wayes Transgressed against Him Sad Calamity overtook them for this their Iniquity and Apostasy But God blessed the Preaching of His Prophet Shemajah unto them under this Calamity to produce a Notable Humiliaiion in them The Clauses now before us represent a blessed Effect of that Humiliation a gracious Promise of some Deliverance from Destruction was by that Prophet of the Lord when they Humbled themselves brought from the Lord unto them The Truth which Lies plainly before us is That when a Sinful People Humble themselves before the Almighty God it is an Hopeful and an Happy Symptom that He will not utterly Destroy such a People Now The CASE which this Encouraging Truth does at this Time Encourage us to speak unto is After what manner is the Self-Humiliation of a Peâ—ple that would â—scape a Sore Destruction to be Expressed and Excited Which to speak yet more pertinently and profitably is to say After what manner are we our selves O our Dear People to Humble our selves before the Lord Give your Attention I. When we Paenitently Confess our Sins and much more when we vigorously ficform our Sins we Then do to good purpose Humble our selves before the God against whom we have Sinned More distinctly First A Paenitent Confession of Sin is that Self Humiliation which our God expects from such a people as our selves Thus in Luk. 18.13 14. He that said God be merciful to me a Sinner is He that Humbleth himself Thus Lev. 26.40 41. They that Confess their iniquity and the Iniquity of their Fathers have their Uncircumcised Hearts Humbled in their doing so Accordingly First In our Humiliations we ought seriously to Confess out Provocations to the Most Holy God and the Iniquities that we have done before Him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquities But what a sad Catalogue of Provocations have we to bâ—ing forth before the Lord. When we Humble our selves I. Let us Humbly Confess That thâ— People of this Land in a growing Apostasy from that Religious Disposition that Signalized the first Planting of these Colonies have with multiplied Rebellions against the Almighty Sinned exceedingly II. Let us Humbly Confess That the Spirit of this World hath brought an Epidemical Death upon the Spirit and Power of Godliness III. Let us Humbly Confess That the Glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ here Enjoy'd with much Plenty as well as Purity hath not been Thankfully and Fruitfully Entertained by those that have been Blessed with the Joyful Sound IV. Let us Humbly Confess That the Covenant of Grace Recognized in our Churches hath been by multitudes not submitted unto and of them that have submitted unto it multitudes have not walked according to the Sacred Obligations thereof V. Let us Humbly Confess That the Unreasonable Vices of Rash and Vain Swearing with Hellish Cursing in the Mouths of many have rendred them Guilty Sinners VI. Let us Humbly Confess That a Flood of Excessive Drinking hath begun to Drown much of Christianity yea and of Civility it self in many places among us VII Let us Humbly Confess That some English by Selling of Strong Drink unto the Indians have not only prejudiced among them the Successes of the Word of Life but also been the Faulty Bloody Occasions of Death unto them VIII Let us Humbly Confess That a Vanity of Apparrel hath been affected by many persons who have been so vain as to Glory in their Shame IX Let us Humbly Confess That wicked Sorceries have been practised in the Land and yet in the Troubles from the Devils thereby brought in among us those Errors on both Hands were committed which Who can understand X. Let us Humbly Confess That the Dayes of Sacred Rest among us have been disturbed with so many Profanationâ—â— that we may not wonder if we See no Rest. XI Let us Humbly Confess That the woful Decay of good Family Discipline hath opened the Flood Gates for
New-England Humble thy self Lest a fiercer Anger of the Lord yet come upon thee Oh! Let not that be written on our Doors in Jer 44.10 They are not Humbled unto this Day Sirs We are every Day Coming down most wonderfully But let us then Fall down most Humbly in the Consideration thereof and let our Lamentation be That in Lam. 3.19 20. Remembring my Affliction and my Misery my Soul has them still in Remembrance and is Humbled in me IV. What will our Humiliation Signify if it carry us not unto our Lord Iesus Christ Wherefore when we Humble our selves Let us Humbly Rely on our Lord Iesus Christ alone for our Acceptance with God So are we Diâ—ected in Jam. 4.10 Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord That is to say With an Eye to the Lord Jesus Christ in all you do That the Humiliations of men are of no Account with God while the Lord Iesus Christ is not therein referred unto the poor Jewish Nation have given to us a doleful Experiment related in a Book Translated by one Paul Isaiah a Jew by that among other motives converted unto the Faith of our Blessed Iesus After many former Humiliations that the End of their Captivity might be Revealed unto them they did in the year 1502. make a Publick Repentance thro' all their Habitations all over the face of the whole World and both old and young men women and children spent almost a year together in such marvellous Devotions as were never heard of in the world before But all signified nothing why Because they do as the Prophet Isaiah foretold that they would they still Reject our Lord Jesus Christ through whom alone it is that any of our Humiliations have Acceptance with the God of Heaven The Great God has promised That He will be favourable unto that Nation in Lev. 26 41. When their Uncircumcised Hearts be Humbled and they then Accept the punishment of their Iniquity The Sacrifice upon whom the punishment of our Iniquity does fall Isa 53.6 and 2 Cor. 5.21 is that of the Messiah and the Messiah therefore is by that Name intended When the Jewes come to leave off their Thoughts and Hopes of any other Sacrifice or their Dreams of making Satisfaction by bearing the punishment of their own Iniquity but Accept the Messiah as the only Help of their Souls against all the Guilt of their Sins THEN God will Remember His Covenant O That they would at Last and at Least come to such Thoughts as were in the famous Rabbi Samuel Marochianus who upon that Prophecy of Amos where the Lord threatens to punish Israel for Selling the Righteous for Silver has these Memorable words The Prophet Amos Expresly declares the Wickedness for which we are in our Captivity It manifestly appears to me that we are justly punished for that Sin of Selling the Righteous A thousand years and more are spent in all which Time our condition among the Gentiles is not minded nor have we any Hopes of mending it O My God I am afraid I am afraid Lest the IESVS whom the Christians Worship should be the Righteous One whom we have Sold for Silver In the mean time Let us that own our selves Christians now prove our selves to be so by our Humbling our selves before God but Looking for the Success of it only from and thro' our Lord Iesus Christ our only Mediator Let the Humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ be our Meditation and our Consolation Of Him 't is said in Psal 2.8 He Humbled Himself And let it provoke our Humiliation when we meditate on what our Lord Jesus Christ suffered when God Laid no Him the Iniquity of us all But when we have Humbled our selves never so much Let us count that we have cause to be Humbled over again for the defects of our own Humiliation As he of old said Lava meas Lachrymas Domine Lord My very Tears want washing So let us be sensible There is enough in our best Humiliations to call for more Humiliations Fly then to the Lord Jesus Christ whose Prayers were alwayes perfect and whose Fasts were ever Faultless and whose Blood being Sprinkled upon our Humiliations is that which alone can render such Defective Things Acceptable unto the Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Put all into the Hands of the Great Angel of the Covenant His Incense persuming of them they will Ascend before God with glorious Effects following thereupon Among some of the Americans 't is reported they have a strange Usage when they are Humbling themselves before their Gods to bring their Sheep into their Assemblies that by the Bleats and Cries of their Sheep they may move the compassion of their Gods We are better taught than so when we are Humbling our selves we are to bring before our God that Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the world Syrs There was a Sacrifice for the Congregation which was on a Day of Humiliation of old Commemorated Our Lord Iesus Christ is to be on our Day of Humiliation Look'd unto as the Sacrifice for our whole Congregation Our Faith is to Argue it That God has had more Honour from the Sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ than if all our whole Congregation were destroy'd for ever Our Faith is to Resolve it That whatever Salvation is vouchsafed unto all our whole Congregation the Sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ shall have the Honour and the Merit of it all ascribed thereunto Now who can tell how far one Humble Soul may prevail that shall put in Suit the Sacrifice for the Congregation The Faith of one Moses of one Samuel yea of one Amos one poor obscure honest Husbandman Oh! how far may it go to obtain this Answer from the Great God They have Humbled themselves I will not destroy them but grant them some Deliverance ¶ AND I suppose there happens to be at this very Time in this Assembly an Example full of Encouragement unto those Humiliations which have been thus called for In our Solemn Humiliations before the Lord we have with a very particular Fervency besought His Mercy for our poor Captives that were become the Prey of the Terrible Yea we have done it with some Assurance that the Glorious Hearer of Prayer would Vouchsafe of His Mercy to some of those Miserables Now I think I see among you at this Hour Three Persons namely Two Women and one Youth who have just now Received a Deliverance from a Captivity in the Hands of houid Indians with some very Singular Circumstances And therefore Let it not seem an Unsuitable or Unseasonable Digression it I Conclude this Discourse with making this unexpected occurrence to be Subservient unto the main Intention thereof A Narrative of a Notable Deliverance from Captivity ON the fifteenth Day of the Last March Hannah Dustan of Haverhil having Lain in about a Week attended with her Nurse Mary Neff a Widow a Body or Teâ—â—iâ—le Indians drew near unto the House where she lay with
Express it Then came to mind the History of the Transfiguring of Christ and Peters saying Math. 17.4 Lord It is Good for us to be here I thought it was Good for me to be here and I was so full of Comfort and Joy I even Wished I could be so alwayes and never sleep or else Dy in that Rapture of Joy and never Live to Sin any more against the Lord. Now I thought God was my God and my Sins were pardoned in Christ and now I thought I could Suffer for Christ yea Dye for Christ or do any thing for Him My Sins had been a Burden to me I desired to see all my Sins and to Repent of them all with all my Heart and of that Sin which had been especially a Burden to me namely That I Left the Publick Worship and Ordinances of God to go to Live in a Remote Place without the Publick Ministry depriving our selves our Children of so great a Benefit for our Souls and all this for Worldly advantages I found an Heart to Repent of them all and to lay hold of the Blood of Christ to cleanse me from them all I found much Comfort while I was among the French by the Opportunities I had sometimes to Read the Scriptures and other Good Books and Pray to the Lord in Secret and the Conference that some of us Captives had together about things of God and Prayer together sometimes especially with one that was in the same House with me Margaret Stilson Then was the Word of God precious to us and they that feared the LORD spake one to another of it as we had Opportunity And Coloned Tyng and Mr. Alden as they were permitted did speak to us to Confâ—â—m and Strengthen us in the wayes of the Lord. At length the French debatr'd our coming together for Religious Conference or other Duties And Word was sent us by Mr. Alden That this was one kind of Persecution that we must suffer for Christ These are some of the Scriptures which have been my Support and Comfort in the Affliction of my Captivity among the Papists That in Ezek. 16.6 8. I applyed unto my self and I desired to Enter into Covenant with God and to be His And I Prayed to the Lord and Hoped the Lord would Return me to my Country again That I might Enter into Covenant with Him among His People and Enjoy Communion with Him in His Churches and Publick Ordinances Which Prayers the Lord hath now heard and graciously Answered Praised be His Name The Lord Enable me to Live suitably unto His Mercy and to those Publick and Precious Priviledges which I now Enjoy So That in Ezek 11.16 17. was a Great Comfort unto me in my Captivity Although I have cast them far off among the Heathen yet will I be a little Sanctuary to them I will gather you from the People where you have been Scattered I found that God was a Little Sanctuary to me there and hoped that the Lord would bring me to the Country from whence I had been Scattered And the Lord hath heard the Prayer of the Destitute and not despised my Prayer but granted me the Desire of my Soul in bringing me to His House and my Relations again I often thought on the History of the man Born Blind of whom Christ when His Disciples asked Whether this man had Sinned or his Parents answered Neither this man nor his Parents but this was that the works of God might be made manifest in him So tho' I had deserved all this yet I knew not but one Reason of Gods bringing all these Afflictions and Miseries upon me and then Enabling me to bear them was That the Works of God might be made manifest And in my Great Distress I was Revived by that in Psal 118.17 18. I shall not Dy but Live and Declare the works of the Lord The Lord hath chasten'd 〈◊〉 sore but He hath not given me over to Death I had very often a secret perswasion That I should Live to Declare the Works of the Lord. And 2 Chron. 6.36 37 38 39. was a precious Scripture to me in the Day of Evil. We have Read over and Pray'd over this Scripture together and Talk'd together of this Scripture Margaret and I How the Lord hath Promised Though they were Scattered for their Sins yet there should be a Return if they did Bethink themselves and Turn and Pray So we did Bethink our selves in the Land where we were Garried Captive did Turn did Pray and Endeavour to Return to God with all our Hearts And as they were to Pray towards the Temple I took it that I should Pray towards Christ and accordingly did so and hoped the Lord would Hear and He hath Heard from Heaven His Dwelling Place my Prayer and Supplication and mentained my Cause and not Rejected me but Returned me And Oh! how affectionate was my Reading of the Eighty Fourth Psalm in this Condition The means of my Deliverance were by reason of Letters that had passâ—d between the Governments of New-England and of Canada Mr. Cary was sent with a Vessel to fetch Captives from Quebeck and when he came I among others with my youngest Son had our Liberty to come away And by Gods Blessing upon us we Arrived in Safety at Boston in November 1695. our Desired Haven And I desire to Praise the Lord for His Goodness and for His Wonderful Works to me Yet still I have left behind Two Children a Daughter of Twenty Years old at Mont Royal whom I had not seen in Two years before I came away and a Son of Nineteen years old whom I never saw since we parted the next morning after we were taken I earnestly Request the Prayers of my Christian Friends that the Lord will deliver them What shall I render to the Lord for all His Benefits FINIS
'l be favourable to us Thus Let us present our selves before the Eternal King of Heaven on our Fast with His Only Begotten His Dearly Beloved Son in the Arms of our Faith and plead Oh! for the Sake of this thy Son do Good unto us But then Secondly There is the External Humiliation of our Fast when we Humble our selves in a Fast we are to Abstain from all our Secular Pleasures and Affayrs that we may the better go thorough our Duties Like Silly Children we know not when to Feed and when to Forbear Feeding But our Good God in His Word has taught us We are Taught that we must sometimes have a Day for Fasting which must be a Day of Restraint upon us and this Restraint must Extend unto the Dimensions of a Sabbath Of a Fast it is prescribed in Lev. 23.32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest and ye shall Afflict your Souls from Evening unto Evening shall ye Celebrate your Sabbath The Design of the Abstinence thus to be used on a Fast is not only that we may be more free for the several Spiritual Employments which are then incumbent on us our Lord like a wife Falconer will by keeping of us a little Sharp fit us for the Highest Flights in our Prayers but also to Show and Speak the Humiliation of our Souls in those Employments T is a Ceremony of Gods Appointment a Symbolical Ceremony which God Himself hath appointed and a part of Worship whereby we are to Signify That we 〈◊〉 our selves utterly unworthy of all those Blessings which we now Deny unto our selves and therefore of all other Blessings whatsoeever And the First Sin of man which Lay in Eating is to be considered as very particularly herein referred unto Now First A Fast is to be kept with an Abstinence from the Pleasures of this Life Our usual Diet must on a Fast be Abstained from It was therefore said in Esth 4.16 Fast and neither Eat nor Drink The very Term of a Fast implies thus much and it hath been of old said They that will not so Fast with the Children of God must Eat and Drink of the Furious Wrath of God with the Wicked There are indeed Cases of Necessity wherein our merciful God call for Mercy rather than Sacrifice and in those Cases doubtless the Abstinence may be somewhat Abated and Relaxed Some cannot Encounter a severe and a total Abstinence it would utterly Disable them for the Service of the Day the Severity may then be mitigated Yet our Abstinence must be such as to produce our Affliction Of a Fast it is said in Isa 58.5 It is a Day for a man to Afflict his Soul and it is said in Lev. 23.29 Whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be Afflicted in that same Day he shall be cut off from among his people We may not Eat or Drink so much nor may we Eat or Drink so well on such a Day as at another Time In the Fast of a Daniel we have this Abstinence observed ch 10.3 late no pleasant Bread neither came Flesh nor Wine into my mouth neither did I anoint my self at all And in Tertullians Time they had their Xerophagiae a Dry sort of Repast for such as found that a Rigid Fast was too hard for them But by consequence all other Delights of the Senses are then also to be avoided If you read Joel 2.16 and 〈◊〉 Cor. 7.5 You 'l find a particular prohibition of this Importance Hence likewise our Sleep is then to be Retrenched If we are inclinable to Sleep so long on a Fast as we do on another Day we are to Awakeâ— our selves with such a Call from God as that What meanest thou O Sleeper Arise and Caâ—l upon thy God! And it is not improper here to be noted That our Alms are to be one Concomitant of our Fasts It was said in Isa 58 7. Is 〈◊〉 this the Fast that I have Chosen Is it 〈◊〉 to deal thy Bread to the Hungry When we come to seek Mercy of God we should in Thankfulness for our Hope to find what we seek show Mercy to men In our Fasting we Deny to our selves our usual Nourishments and we should then Bestow on others at least as much as we Deny to our serves in Token of our Sense That we are more Undeserving of the Divine Bounty than any that we know in our Neighbourhood Our Alms are to go up with our Prayers as a Memorial we Remember who 's did so before God But there is yet one thing more to be added Fine Cloathes must in a Fast be Abstained from If there were no Scripture for this why might not meer Nature teach it unto us as well as unto the Ninivites But we have Scripture for it in Exod 33.4 The people mourned and no man did put on him his Ornaments I have seeâ— a Fault in this place and My Neighbours 'T is utterly a Fault among you That on a Fast many people will come to the Worship of God in as Gay Cloaths as if they were going to a Feast Methinks I hear the Holy Angels of God thus uttering their Indignation against such Offenders What will those vain people never have any sign of an Abased and an Afflicted Soul upâ—n them Truly to be arrayed in Gorgeous Apparrel on a Fast is very offensive unto God Rags are fitter than Robes for the Children of men therein to appear as Malefactors before God the Judge of all They that come to the Assembly in a splendid and flanting Attire on such a Day do but Affront the God whom they profess to Humble themselves before Would you Speed in a Fast Then be able to say if not with him in Psal 35.13 My Cloathing was Sackcloth when I Humbled my Soul with Fasting yet My Cloathing is Sober Modest Proper and very Humble And Secondly A Fast is to be kept with an Abstinence from the Affayrs of this Life The Works of our particular Vocations are to be laid aside when a Fast is Indicted and All Servile Labour on the said Day is Inhibited A Fast is to be kept with the strictness of a Sabbath It is Enjoined in Lev. 23.28 30 32. Ye shall do no work in that same Day for it is a Day of Atonement Whatsoever Soul it be that doth any work in that same Day the same Soul will I destroy from among his people It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest from Evening to Evening shall ye Celebrate it When the Services of the Congregation are over we are not presently at Liberty to do what we will Those persons do but help to Debauch the Land who take such a Liberty The Edicts of Heaven run so in Joel 2 14. Sanctify a Fast The whole Day of the Fast is to be Sanctified or set apart for Communion with God When we keep a Day we must keep it unto the Lord. The Expectation of our God is intimated unto us in Isa 58.13 Turn away thy Foot from
the Sabbath take no long Journeys on it from doing thy pleasure on my Holy Day Honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Indeed the Weekly Sabbath lays a claim to all the things here spoken of nevertheless I suspect that a Fasting Sabbath is here more peculiarly intended A Fast is no less than twice in one verse Lev. 23.32 called a Sabbath and why may not that be the Sabbath more especially meant throughout the whole fifty eighth Chapter of Isaiah An Expression twice used in the verse newly quoted namely Doiâ—â—â— thy pleasure and Finding thy own pleasure on the Sabbath occurs in the third verse In the Day of your Fast you find pleasure which finding of pleasure is opposed unto the Affliction both of Spirit and of Body wherein we are to Judge our selves on such a Solemnity Because we do not Fast with a due conformity to the Edicts of Heaven therefore as of old Pompey Siezed the Jewish Temple on their Fast-Day and Sosius on their Fast-Day took the City so we in this Land have on oâ— near our Fast-Dayes often felt such Rebukes of Heaven that it has become the just Astonishment of many that have wisely observed it and it should be the Humiliation of us all But now conform to this Expectation of Heaven on your Fast Then shalt thou Delight thy self in the Lord for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it III. That our Humiliation may bâ— Quickeneâ— Let us Humbly Awfully and Mournâ—â—ily Consider the most Humbling Circumstances which the Mighty Hand of God hath brought us into Iâ— was the Counsel in 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the Mighty Hand of God Wicked and Hurtful men have been called The Hand of God see Psal 17.14 It may be Nero a Mighty man Raised by God for the Vexation of mankind may be more particularly designed in that passage The Mighty Hand of God And by a French Nero have we also been so vexed that we have cause to Humble our selves under what we have Endured from that Mighty Hand But indeed there is the Mighty Hand of God in all Afflictive Dispensations of His Providence and now O Let us Humble our selves by Considering how much the Dispensations of His Mighty Hand have Humbled us The Circumstances of Affliction are Humbling Circumstances It was said of the Afflicted in Psal 107.39 They are brought Low through Affliction It was said by the Afflicted in Psal 39 8. We are brought very Lâ—w. An Afflicted people may say as the Afflicted Paul said My God Humbles me Afflictions keep under our Aspiring Spiâ—its and make us feel and own our own wretchedness But Oh! what Afflictions has this poor people been Humbled withal It was a Prophecy concerning The Daughter of Zion in Isa 3.26 She being Desolate shall sit upon the Ground When Zion was Desolate by the Roman Conquest unto which this Prophecy might Extend there were Coins made in Commemoration of that Conquest and on those Coins there was a Remarkable Exposition of this Prophecy On the Reverse of those Medals which are to be seen unto this Day there is A Silent Woman sitting upon the Ground and leaning against a Palm-tree with this Inscription IUDAEA CAPTA Nor was any Conquered City or Countrey before this of Judaea ever thus drawn upon Medals as A Woman sitting upon the Ground Alas If poor New-England were to be shown upon her old Coin we might show her Leaning against her Thunder-struck Pine tree Desolate sitting upon the Ground Ah! New England Upon how many Accounts mayst thou say with her in Ruth 1 13. The Hand of the Lord is gone out against me An Excellent Minister who dyed among us a Young Man Considerably more than Twenty years ago It was Mr. John Eliot the younger when he lay on his Death-bed and was Drawing his Presagious Breath had these Memorable Expressions My Lord Jesus Christ hath been a Great while preparing a Mansion which is now ready for me He will quickly take me as He did John by the Right Hand and present me unto the Father who has Loved me with an Everlasting Love As for New England I believe that God will not Unchurch it but He will make a Poor and Afflicted People in it Boston and the Massachuset Colony is Coming Down Coming Down Coming Down a pace Expect sad and sore Afflictions but Oh! Get an Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ and you may Live on That all the World over So spoke an Eminent Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was just Entring into the Joy of His Lord. Now this Praediction we have seen very terribly Accomplished It has been Strangely and Sadly Accomplished ever since the Time that it was uttered And in almost all our Concerns our Story hath been that in Judg. 2.15 Whithersoever they went out the Hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said and they were greatly Distressed We have been Humbled with an Annual Blast upon our Daily Bread until at last the very Staff of the Countrey ha's been broken for Two years together and an horrible Cry for Bread Bread hath been heard in our Streets We have been Humbled with such Losses by Sea Land that Strangers afar off take notice of it Concluding Surely Almighty God is in ill Terms with that Country We have been Humbled by the Angels of Death shooting the Arrows of Death with direful Repetitions of Mortality in the midst of us We have been Humbled by a Barbarous Adversary once and again let loose to Wolve it upon us and an unequal Contest with such as are not a People but a Foolish Natiâ—n We have been Humbled by all Adversity vexing us in our Going out our Coming in and in the Constant Miscarriages of our most Likely Expeditions We have been Humbled by the Wrath of the Lord of Hosts Darkning our Land when Evil Angels broke in among us to do those Amazing Things of which no Former Ages give a parallel We have been Humbled by the Ireful and the Direful Rebukes of Heaven upon all our Precious and Pleasant Things But above all by Spiritual Plagues whereto we are abandoned The Plagues of a Blind Mind and an Hard Heart and an Astonishing Unfruitfulness under all the Means of Grace and a Stupid Insensibility of the Causes for which the Manners in which the Almighty God is Contending with us have Siezed upon us Some of our Seers have a mist before their Eyes Some of our Churches fall asleep till they are stript of their Garments under the Sharpest Chastisements of Heaven we grow worse and worse with such a Swift Apostasy that if we Degenerate the Next Ten Years as the most Impartial observers do say that we have done the Last God be Merciful unto us What a Swift Destruction are we likely to be overwhelmed withal Now there is a Loud Voice in all these things the Voice of them is Be Humbled O