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
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-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-New-England stil find themselves pushing hard against the Great Stone so I believe none of those Noble Persons who have been sincerely concerned for our Wellfare will ever see cause to Repent of it but Goodness and Mercy shall follow them all their Days Blessed be the God of our Fathers that albeit we are as an Outcast yet it may not be said No man has cared for us There were Three Knights among our first Patentees it calls for our Extreamest Gratitude if there have been more of That or Another Quality willing to be our Patrons And Sir whereas you have been pleased your self to let the World know how much you are desirous to see New-England flourish you will pardon it if One born and bred in that Countrey and a Son of the Colledge there take the Liberty to acquaint you That we are not insensible That you are my Fathers Friend is a thing that Lays me under Obligations but your being New-Englands Friend is a thing which we would All Resent and though the Dedication of these two Little Sermons to your Name does not Take of the best Fruits of the Land as a Present for you yet I humbly ask your Acceptance of them as a part of our Acknowledgments Among the other Curiosities of New-England One is that of a mighty Rock on a perpendicular side whereof by a River which at High Tide covers part of it there are very deeply Engraved no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines near Ten Foot Long and a foot and half broad filled with strange Characters which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument whereof you shall see the first Line Transcribed here Sir I take leave to add That the English people here will study to have the Kindnesses of their Benefactors not less Durably hut more Intelligibly Recorded with them than what the Indian People have Engraved upon Rocks And therefore it is That you shall now publickly find your Person and Family mentioned in our prayers to the God of Heaven for your Enjoyment of all the Prosperity engaged unto them that Love Ierusalem The Voices that ascend from the Thrones of the Lord Jesus here are asking for you Grace and Glory and every good thing and among them there are my own Wishes That the Son and the Church of God may find you their KNIGHT which is to say in English an hearty Servant and that in the day when such a Word will be esteem'd above ten thousand Worlds you may hear a Well Done from the mouth of our Glorious Judge '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
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-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-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-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
To have done Compare our Condition with that of our English Brethren in woful Ireland especially the more Southern Counties of it Behold their Estates Confiscate the value of Four Millions was long since the Account of the Losses felt by only them who had Fled into England Behold their persons Confind having sharp Skeins ready for their Throats with just Fears day and nighâ— of a new Massacre What would you think if you were driven like Dogs into the Goals of Galloway if you were Enjoyâ—ed to carry your own Fathers Heads upon Poles in the Head of a Regiment or if yoâ— lay at the mercy of a Wild Irish Rabble Behold these things Behold them with Sympathy O New-England and be not â—canty in thy Praises to Him that has known thee above all the Families of the Earth Come and Sing unto the Lord for the Excellent Things which He has done But yet let us not put Him off with a Song 'T is a thing very pleasing to God that we have a Day of Thanksgiving to Praise Him in and if this Day he duely kept I doubt not but Good News will quickly put us upon the keeping of Another He that Inhabits the Praises â—f Israel will keep House among us if by Leaving off our Praises we turn Him not out of Doors It was a Remarkable thing that befel One of our Neighbours a while ago By a Shipwrack he was cast upon a desolate Island where he was left many months Alone After many a Day of Prayer for succour he at last kept a Day of Praise â—or the support which he had so long Enâ—oy'd and within a few Hours upon this â—here came a Vessel by that saved him New-England has been and yet is in so many Troubles that some have questioned whether a Day of Thanksgiving would be Seasonâ—ble O Yes most highly Seasonable Keep it well and it shall yet be said Also in New-England things went well But the principal Thing in our Thanksgivâ—â—g yet remains and that is a Thanks-Doing Let us all Repent and Reform and set up on the Lively Doing of the Good Thing which the Lord our God Requires The Aposâ—stle speaks pathetically I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God It is This I conclude withal I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that New England maâ— be as a Noble Person sometimes call'd uâ— The best people in the world and that no scaâ—â—dalous Things may be done here to offenâ— the God that has done Excellent Things for us I beseech you by the Mercies of God that as we profess the Protestant Religion with the most exalted Purity so we may practise it in such an Exemplary manner that Aâ— New-England man may be a Term of Honour in the world I beseech you by the Mercies of God that we may all sincerely intend thâ—â—ame Ends which brought our Predecessorâ— here even to propagate the Spiritual Kingâ—dom of our Lord Jesus Christ. May all due pains be taken that not only the Englisâ— may every where have the Knowledge oâ— God but that the Indians too may sharâ— with us in it for an Engagement whereunto God has given us to see as that a verâ— visible Blast has attended the Estates of theâ— who have grown Rich by Trading of Drinâ— with them so a visible Blessing has accoâ—â—panied them who have Laboured in Preachâ—â—ng of Truth to those poor Pagans and since â—t this day the most powerful Nation of â—hem namely the Mohawks ask for the â—ospel it cannot but be a piece of Policy as â—ell as Religâ—on in us to carry the Gospel unto â—â—em while they cannot be reconciled unto 〈◊〉 Superstitions of our French Neighbours â—â—at have been Tampering with them O â—â—at we might not forget the Errand of our â—ore-fathers hither We shall then Flourish â— spite of all that wish ill unto us Thus â—ill Salvation be nigh unto us and Glory shall well in our Land May our God sanctifie 〈◊〉 His Dispensations to us particularly those 〈◊〉 the Summer past as well the Terrible as 〈◊〉 Merciful 'T is a Metaphorical Earthâ—â—ake which has lately been among us and â—ere was a Literal one in some parts of the â—ountrey preceding of it May these Earthâ—â—akes produce better effects on us than those Lima in this our New-World America 〈◊〉 upon the people there a little while ago â—e are informed That an horrible Earthâ—â—ake after some Warnings of it shook that â—eat and Lewd City till with incredible â—oâ—se and Fury it sunk a large Part of it â—o the Earth and the Sea came hideously â—â—lling in upon it While the miserable â—â—â—niards were under Apprehensions of peâ—â—ing in speedy Ruines they that had been Enemies one to another immediately made Râ—â—conciliations they professed a Deep Repeâ—â—tance of their former Vices their fine Oâ—â—naments and other Vanities they burieâ— under ground and with consternation crâ—â—ed out Our Oppression our Injustice the Extâ—â—vagancies of our Cloathings and our Houses 〈◊〉 brought all this upon us We have newly beâ—â— passing thâ—o ' a Figurative Earth-quake whicâ— is not yet quite over with us God forbiâ— we should be Impaenitent after all and sinâ— I would End where I began God forbiâ— that we should be Unthankful for our preseâ—â—vations New-England is not used unto sucâ— Follies as Bonfires nor do we think Ringiâ—â— of Bells but Sinâ—â—ng of Psalms to be a Thanâ—â—â—giving Exercise Come then Sing unto 〈◊〉 Lord Sing the Praises which He may 〈◊〉 claim unto It was a no less wonderâ—â—â— than undoubted Thing which happened France a few months ago when upon 〈◊〉 Dissolution of the French Congregations aâ— a particular Interdict upon the Singing 〈◊〉 Psalms thro' the Kingdom there were thoâ—â—sands of persons in hundreds of places scores of Times that plainly heard 〈◊〉 Singing of Psalms after the manner of 〈◊〉 French Assemblies with a most Ravishiâ—â— Melody by Invisible Singers in the Air thing so notorious that the very Psalms we often Distinctly as well as Audibly enough â—ung to let the Hearers know what Psalms â—hey were such as the Fifth the Forty Seâ—ond the Hundred and Thirty Eighth particuâ—arly and even the Parliament of Pau made 〈◊〉 Decree that men should not go abroad to â—ear this unaccountable Singing under a forâ—eiture of Two Thousand Crowns upon which â—he Reflection of the incomparable Iurieu is This is a Reproach that the Providence of God â—akes unto us because you have not dared nâ—r â—een willing any more to Sing His Praises and â—ongs of Thanksgiving God has made mouths â—n the midst of the Air But behold an Happy Presage that God will not suffer your â—oices and your Songs to Dy the Angels have â—ezed on them Thus give me Leave to â—â—y That if we â—ill not Sing unto the Lord there are others â—hat will and we that will not never shall Yea our Silence may provoke the very â—ocks and Stones to loud Shouts in praising â—â—e Eternal God O come and Sing unto the Lord and â—ough we do
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-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-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
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-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