Connecticut but Advice being dispatch'd unto the Towns upon Connecticut-River a party immediately Salley'd out after the Spoilers and leaving their Horses at the Entrance of a Swamp whither by their Track they had followed them they come upon the Secure Adversary and kill'd the most of them and Recovered the Captives with their Plunder and Returning home had some Reward for so brisk an Action But now the Indians in the East probably Disheartened by the Forts Erecting that were like to prove a sore Annoyance to them in their Enterprizes and by the Fear of wanting Ammunition with other Provisions which the French were not so Able just now to dispence unto them and by a presumption that an Arrâ—y of Maqua's part of those Terrible Cannibals to the West-ward whereof 't is affirm'd by those who have published the Stories of their Travels among them That they have destroy'd no less than Two Million Salvages of other Nations about them through their being Supplyed with Fire-Arms before Hundreds of other Nations lying between them the River Meschasippi was come into their Country because they found some of their Squa's killed upon a Whortle berry Plain and all the Charms of the French Fryar then Resident among them could not hinder them from Suing to the English for Peace And the English being so involved in Debts that they Scarce knew how to prosecute the War any further took some Notice of their Suit Accordingly a Peace was made upon the Ensuing Articles Province of the Massachusetts Bay in new-New-England The Submission and Agreement of the Eastern Indians at Fort William Henry in Pemmaquid the 11th day of August in the Fifth year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord and Lady William and Mary by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King and Queen Defenders of the Faith c. 1693. WHereas a Bloody War ha's for some years now past been made and carryed on by the Indians within the Eastern parts of the said Province against Their Majesties Subjects the English through the Instigation and Influences of the French and being sensible of the Miseries which we and our People are reduced unto by adhearing to their ill Council We whose names are hereunto Subscribed being Sagamores and Chief Captains of all the Indians belonging to the several Rivers of Penobscote and Kennebeck Amanascogin and Saco parts of the said Province of the Massachusetts Bay within Their said Majesties Soveraignty Having made Application unto his Excellency Sir William Phipps Captain General Governour in Chief in and over the said Province that the War may be put to an end Do lay down our Arms and cast our selves upon Their said Majesties Grace and Favour And each of us respectively for our selves and in the Name with the free consent of all the Indians belonging unto the several Rivers aforesaid and of all other Indians within the said Province of and from Merrimack River unto the most Easterly Bounds of the said Province hereby acknowledging our hearty Subjection and Obedience unto the Crown of England and do solemnly Covenant Pâ—omise and Agree to and wiâ—h the said Sir William Phipps and his Successors in the place of Captain General and Governour in Chief of the aforesaid Province or Territory on Their said Majesties behalf in manner following viz. That at all time and times for ever from and after the date of these Presents we will cease and forbear all acts of Hostility towards the Subjects of the Crown of England and not offer the least hurt or violence to them or any of them in their Persons or Estate But will henceforward hold and maintain a firm and constant Amity and Friendship with all the English Item We abandon and forsake the French Interest will not in any wise adhere to joyn with aid or assist them in their Wars or Designs against the English nor countenance succour or conceal any of the Enemy Indians of Canada or other places that shall happen to come to any of our Plantations within the English Territory but secure them if in our power and deliver them up unto the English That all English Captives in the hands or power of any of the Indians within the Limits aforesaid shall with all possible speed be set at liberty and returned home without any Ransome or Payment to be made or given for them or any of them That Their Majesties Subjects the English shall and may peaceably and quietly enter upon improve and for ever enjoy all and singular their Rights of Lands and former Settlements and possessions within the Eastern parts of the said Province of the Massachusetts-Bay without any pretentions or claims by us or any other Indianâ— and be in no wise molested interrupted or disturbed therein That all Trade and Commerce which hereafter may be allowed between the English and Indians shall be under such Management and Regulation as may be stated by an Act of the General Assembly or as the Governour of the said Province for the time being with the Advice and Consent of the Council shall see cause to Direct and Limit If any controversy or difference at any time hereafter happen to arise between any of the English and Indians for any â—eal or supposed wrong or injury done on one side or the other no private Revenge shall be taken by the Indians for the same but proper Application be made to Their Majesties Government upon the place for Remedy thereof in a due course of Justice we hereby submitting our selves to be ruled and governed by Their Majesties Laws and desire to have the benefit of the same For the more full manifestation of our sincerity and integrity in all that which we have herein before Covenanted and Promised we do deliver unto Sir William Phipps Their Majesties Governour as aforesaid Ahassombamett Brother to Edgeremett Wenong ahewitt Cousin to Madockawando and Edgeremett and Bagatawawongon also Sheepscoat John to abide and remain in the Custody of the English where the Governour shall direct as Hostages or Pledges for our Fidelity and true performance of all and every the foregoing Articles reserving Liberty to exchange them in some reasonable time for a like number to the acceptance of the Governour and Council of the said Province so they be persons of as good account and esteem amongst the Indians as those which are to be exchanged In Testimony whereof we have hereunto set our several Marks and Seals the Day and Year first above written The above written Instrument was deliberately read over and the several Articles and Clauses thereof Interpreted unto the Indians who said they well understood and consented thereto and was then Signed Sealed Delivered in the Presence of us John Wing Nicholas Manning Benjamin Jackson Egeremeâ—t Madockawando Wessambomett of Navidgwock Wenohson of Teconnet in behalf of Moxis Ketterramogis of Narridgwock Ahanquit of Penobscot Bomaseen Nitamemet Webenes Awansomeck Robin Doney Madaumbis Paquaharet alias Nathaniel Inrerpreters John Hornybrook John
September 1689. Such were the Obscure Measures taken at that Time of Day that the Rise of this War hath been as dark as that of the River Nilus only the Generality of Thinking People through the Country can Remember When and Why every one did foretel A War If any Wild English for there are such as well as of another Nation did then Begin to Provoke and Affront the Indians yet those Indians had a fairer way to come by Right than that of Blood shed nothing worthy of or calling for any Such Revenge was done unto them The most Injured of them all if there were any Such were afterwards dismissed by the English with Favours that were then Admirable even to Our selves and These too instead of Surrendring the Persons did increase the Numbers of the Murderers But upon the REVOLUTION of the Government April 1689. the State of the War became wholly New and we are more arrived unto Righteousness as the Light and Justice as the Noon day A great Sachim of the East we then immediately Applied our selves unto and with no small Expences to our selves we Engaged Him to Employ his Interest for a Good Understanding between us the party of Indians then in Hostility against us This was the Likely the Only way of coming at those Wandring Salvages But That very Sachim now treacherously of an Embassador became a Traitor and annexed himself with his People to the Heard of our Enemies which have since been Ravaging Pillaging and Murdering at a rate which we ought to count Intolerable The Penacook Indians of whom we were Jealous we likewise Treated with and while we were by our Kindnesses and Courtesies Endeavouring to render them utterly Inexcusable if ever they sought our Harm Even Then did These also by some Evil Instigation the Devils no doubt quickly Surprize a Plantation where they had been Civilly treated a Day or Two before Commit at once more Plunder and Murder than can be heard with any patience Reader Having so placed these Three Accounts as to defend my Teeth I think I may safely proceed with our Story But because Tacitus teaches us to distinguish between the meer Occasions and the real Causes of a War it may be some will go a little Higher up in their Enquiries They will Enquire whether no body Seized a parcel of Wines that were Landed at a French Plantation to the East ward Whether an Order were not obtained from the King of England at the Instance of the French Embassador to Restore these Wines Whether upon the Vexation of this Order we none of us ran a New Line for the Bounds of the Province Whether we did not contrive our New Line so as to take in the Country of Monsieur St. Casteen Whether Monsieur St. Casteen flying from our Encroachments we did not Seize upon his Arms and Goods and bring them away to Pemmaquid And Who were the We which did these things And whether the Indians who were Extremely under the Influence of St. Casteen that had Married a Sagamores Daughter among them did not from this very Moment begin to be obstreperous And whether all the Sober English in the Country did not from this very Moment foretel a War But for any Answer to all these Enquiries I will be my self a Tacitus ARTICLE II. The first Acts of Hostility between the Indians and the English WHen one Capt. Sargeant had Seized some of the principal Indians about Saco by order of Justice Blackman presently the Indians fell to Seizing as many of the English as they could catch Capt. Rowden with many more in one place and Capt. Gendal with sundry more in another place particularly fell into the Hands of these desperate Man catchers Rowden with many of his Folks never got out of their Cruel Hands but Gendal with his got a Release one can scarce tell How upon the Return of those which had been detain'd in Boston Hitherto there was no Spilling of Blood But some Time in September following this Capt. Gendal went up with Souldiers and others to a place above Casco called North Yarmouth having Orders to build Stockado's on both sides the River for Defence of the place in case of any Sudden Invasion While they were at work an English Captive came to 'em with Information that Seventy or Eighty of the Enemy were just coming upon 'em and he advised 'em To yeeld quietly that they might Save their Lives The Souldiers that went thither from the Southward being terrifyed at this Report Ran with an Hasty Terror to get over the River but with more Hast than Good Speed for they ran directly into the Hands of the Indians The Indians dragging along these their Prisoners with 'em came up towards the Casconians who having but a very Little Time to Consult yet in this Time Resolved First That they would not be Seized by the Salvages Next That they would free their Friends out of the Hands of the Salvages if it were possible Thirdly That if it were possible they would use all other Force upon the Salvages without coming to down right Fight Accordingly They laid hold on their Neighbours whom the Salvages had Seized and this with so much Dexterity that they cleared them all Except one or Two whereof the whole Number was about a Dozen But in the Scuffle one Sturdy and Surly Indian held his prey so fast that one Benedict Pulcifer gave the Mastiff a Blow with the Edge of his Broad Ax upon the Shoulder upon which they fell to 't with a Vengeance and Fired their Guns on both sides till some on both sides were Slain These were as one may call them The Scower-pit of a long War to follow At last the English Victoriously chased away the Salvageâ— and Returned safely unto the other side of the River And Thus was the Vein of New England first opened that afterwards Bled for Ten years together The Skirmish being over Capt. Gendal in the Evening passed over the River in a Canoo with none but a Servant but Landing where the Enemy lay hid in the Bushes they were both Slain immediately And the same Evening one Ryal with another man fell unawares into the Hands of the Enemy Ryal was afterwards Ransomed by Monsieur St. Casteen but the other man was barbarously Butchered Soon after this the Enemy went Eastward unto a place call'd Merry-Meeting from the Concourse of diverse Rivers there where several English had a Sad Meeting with them for they were killed several of them even in Cold Blood after the Indians had Seized upon their Houses their Persons And about this Time the Town call'd Sheepscote was entred by these Rapacious Wolves who burnt all the Houses of the Town save Two or Three The People saved themselves by getting into the Fort all but one Man who going out of the Fort for to Treat with 'em was Treacherously Assassinated Thus the place which was counted The Garden of the East was infested by Serpents and a Sword Expell'd the
poor Inhabitants Little more Spoil was done by the Salvages before Winter Except only that at a place called Kennebunk near Winter harbour they cut off Two Families to wit Barrows and Bussies but Winter coming on the Serpents retired into their Holes When Summer comes Reader look for Tornadoes enough to over-set a greater Vessel than little New-England ARTICLE III. The First Expedition of the English against the Indians WHen the Keeper of the Wild Beasts at Florence ha's entertain'd the Spectators with their Encounters on the Stage he ha's this Device to make 'em Retire into the several Dens of their Seraglio He ha's a fearful Machin of Wood made like a Greâ—t Green Dragon which a man within it roules upon Wheels and holding out a Couple of Lighted Torches at the Eyes of it frights the fiercest Beast of them all into the Cell that belongs unto him Sir Edmond Andros the Governour of New-England that he might Express his Resolutions to force the Wild Beasts of the East into order in the Winter now comeing on turned upon them as Effectual a Machin as the Green Dragon of Florence that is to say An Army of near a Thousand men With this Army he marched himself in Person into the Caucasaean Regions where he built a Fort at Pemmaquid and another Fort at Pechypscot Falls besides the Fort at Sheepscote He and his Army underwent no little Hard ship thus in the Depth of Winter to Expose themselves unto the Circumstances of a Campaign in all the Bleak Winds and Thick Snows of that Northern Country But it was Hop'd That Good Forts being thus Garrison'd with Stout Hearts in several Convenient places â—he Indians might be kept from their usual Retreats both for Planting and for Fishing and lye open also to perpetual Incursions from the English in the fittest seasons thereof And it was Thought by the most sensible this method would in a little while compel the Enemy to Submit unto any Terms albeit others considering the Vast Woods of the Wilderness and the French on the back of these Woods fancied that this was but a project to Hedge in the Cuckow However partly the Army and partly the Winter frighted the Salvages into their Inaccessible Dens yet not one of the Indians was killed but Sickness Service kill'd it may be more of our English than there were Indians then in Hostility against them The News of matters approaching towards a REVOLUTION in England caused the Governour to Return unto Boston in the Spring upon his Return there fell out several odd Events with Rumours whereof I have now nothing to say but That I love my Eyes too well to mention them Some of the Souldiers took Advantage from the Absence of the Governour to desert their Stations in the Army and tho' this Action was by Good men generally condemned as an Evil Action yet their Friends began to gather together here and there in Little Bodies to protect them from the Governour concerning whom abundance of odd Stories then buzz'd about the Country made 'em to imagine that he had carried 'em out only to Sacrifice ' em Some of the principal Gentlemen in Boston consulting what was to be done in this Extraordinary Juncture They Agreed that altho' New-England had as much to Justify a Revolution as old yet they would if it were possible extinguish all Essayes in the people towards an Insurrection in daily hopes of Orders from England for our Safety but that if the Country people by any unrestrainable Violences pushed the business on so far as to make a Revolution unavoidable Then to prevent the Shedding of Blood by an ungoverned Mobile some of the Gentlemen present should appear at the Head of it with a Declaration accordingly prepared He that Reads the Narrative of Grievances under the Male Administrations of the Government then Tyrannizing Written and Signed by the Chief Gentlemen of the Governours Council will not wonder at it that a Revolution was now rendred indeed unavoidable It was a Government whereof Ned Randolph a Bird of their own Feather confess'd as we find in one of his published Letters That they were as Arbitrary as the Great Turk And for such a Government a better Similitude cannot perhaps be thought on than that of Monsr Souligne 'T is like the Condition of persons possessed with Evil Spirits which will go an Hundred Leagues in less time than others can Ten but at the Journies End find themselves to be so Bruised that they never can Recover it The Revolution and ye Tories a Just one was accordingly Made on the Eighteenth of April which Their Majesties then happily Seated on the British Throne kindly Accepted and Approved The Governour and Magistrates of the Massachusetts Colony which were in power Three years and Half before a period often observed did some Time after this Resume their places and apply themselves to such Acts of Government as Emergencies made necessary for them Fortifyed with a Letter from the King to Authorize and Empower them in their Administrations Thus they waited for further Directions from the Authority of England and such a Settlement as would most Conduce which were the words of the Kings Letter bearing Date Aug. 12 1689. to the Security and Satisfaction of the Subjects in that Colony ARTICLE IV. A Flame Spreading upon the best Endeavours to Quench it IT was hop'd the War would now come to an Immediate End but the Great God who Creates that Evil had further Intentions to Chastise a Sinful People by those who are not a People The Government sent Capt. Greenleaf to treat with the Indians at Penacook who answered him with fair pretences and Promises of Amity They procured an Interview with some of the more Eastern Sagamores who not only promised Friendship themselves but also undertook to make our Enemies become our Friends They sent unto the Souldiers yet remaining at Pemmaquid for to keep their Post Engaging to them that they should not want their Pay But all this care was defeated by Methods of Mischiefs too deep for our present penetration The Salvages began to Renew their Hostilities at Saco Falls in the Beginning of April on a Lords day morning some while before the Revolution The Penacook Indians were all this while peaceably Conversant at Quochecho and so long as that Conversation continued the Inhabitants were very Secure of any Danger not only from those Cut-throats but also from their Brethren Happy had it been for those Honest People if their Fear had made so much Hast as my Pen ha's done to call 'em Cut throats For the Penacookian joining with the Saconian Indians hovered about Quochecho where one Mesandowit a Sagamore being that Night kindly Entertained by Major Richard Waldein horribly betray'd his kind Host with the Neighbours into the hands of Murderers Above an Hundred some say Five Hundred of the Indians about break of Day having Surprized the Secure and Silent English they particularly rushed into the Garrison of the
Deerfield in the Night they presently Dispatched away Twelve men to way lay the Enemy coming up the River having first Look'd up unto the Lord Jesus Christ that they might find the Enemy and harm none but the Enemy and Rescue the Children which the Enemy had Seized upon After a Travel of near Twenty Miles they perceived the Indians in their Canooes coming up the River but on the other side of it within a Rod or Two of the opposite Shore Whereupon they so Shot as to Hitt one of the Indians and then they all Jump't out of the Canooes and one of the Boyes with them The wounded Salvage crawled unto the Shoar where his back being broken he lay in great Angush often Endeavouring with his Hatchet for to knock out his own Brains and tear open his own Breast but could not and another Indian seeing the Two Boyes getting one to another design'd 'em a Shot but his Gun would not go off Whereupon he followed 'em with his Hatchet for to have knock'd 'em on the Head but just as he come at 'em one of our men sent a Shot into him that Spoilt his Enterprize and so the Boyes getting together into one Canooe brought it over to the Friends thus concerned for them These good men seeing their Exploit performed thus far Two Indians destroy'd and Two Children delivered they fell to Praising of God and one young man particularly kept thus Expressing himself Surely T is God and not we that have wrought this Deliverance But as we have sometimes been told That even in the Beating of a Pulse the Dilating of the Heart by a Diastole of Delight may be turned into a contracting of it with a Systole of Sorrow In the Beating of a few Pulse after this they sent five or six men with the Canooe to fetch the other which was lodged at an Island not far off that they might pursue the other Indians when those two Indians having hid themselves in the High-grass unhappily Shot a quick Death into the young man whose Expressions were but now recited This Hopeful young mans Brother-in-Law was intending to have gone out upon this Action but the young man himself importuned his Mother to let him go which because he was an only Son she denyed but then fearing she did not well to withold her Son from the Service of the Publick she gave him leave saying See that you do now and as you go along Resign and give up your self unto the Lord and I desire to Resign you to Him So he goes and so he dies And may he be the last that falls in a Long and Sad War with Indian Salvages ARTICLE XXVIII The Epilogue of a Long Tragaedy FOr the present then the Indians have Done Murdering They 'l Do so no more till next Time Let us then have done Writing when we have a little informed our selves what is become of the chief Murderers among those Wretches for whom if we would find a Name of a Length like one of their own Indian Long-winded words it might be Bombardo-gladio-fun-hasti-flammi-loquentes Major Convers and Captain Alden in pursuance of Instructions Received from the Lieut. Governour and Council arriving at Penobscet on Oct. 14. 1698. were there informed That Madockawando the noted Sagamore with several other Sachims of the East were lately Dead And six days after this the chief Sachims now Living with a great Body of Indians Entertained them with a Friendly Discourse wherein they said That the Earl of Frontenac had sent them word there was a Peace concluded between the Kings of France and England and that one of the Articles in the Peace was for Prisoners on both sides to be Returned and they were Resolved to obey the Earl of Frontenac as their Father and accordingly such Prisoners of ours as they had now at hand might immediately Return if we could perswade them for They would not Compel them When our English Messengers argued with them upon the perfidiousness of their making a New War after their Submission the Indians replied That they were Instigated by the Erench to do what they did against their own Inclinations adding That there were two Jesuites one toward Amonoscoggin the other at Narridgaway both of which they desired the Earl of Bellomont and the Earl of Frontenac to procure to be Removed otherwise it could not be expected that any Peace would continue long The Indians also and the English Prisoners gave them to understand that the last Winter many both Indians and English Prisoners were Starved to Death and particularly Nine Indians in one company went a Hunting but met with such hard circumstances that after they had Eat up their Dogs and their Coats they Dyed horribly Famished And since the last Winter a grievous and unknown Disease is got among them which consumed them wonderfully The Sagamore Saquadock further told them That the Kennebeck Indians would fain have gone to War again this last Summer but the other Refused whereupon they likewise Desisted And they Resolved now to Fight no more but if any Ill Accident or Action should happen on either side he did in the Name of the Indians Desire That we would not presently make a War upon it but in a more amicable way compose the Differences That the Indian Affayrs might come to be yet more exactly understood the General Assembly of the Province Employ'd Colonel John Phillips and Major Convers to Settle them These Gentlemen took a Difficult and a Dangerous Voyage in the Depth or Winter unto the Eastern parts in the Province-Galley then under the Command of Captain Cyprian Southack and the principal Sagamores of the Indians there coming to them did again Renew and Subscribe the Submission which they had formerly made in the year 1693. With this Addition unto it And whereas notwithstanding the aforesaid Submission and Agreement the said Indians belonging to the Rivers aforesaid or some of them thro' the ill counsel and instigation of the French have perpetrated sundry Hostilities against His Majesties Subjects the English and have not Delivered and Returned home several English Captives in their Hands as in the said Submission they Covenanted Wherefore we whose Names are hereunto Subscribed Sagamores Captains and principal men of the Indians belonging unto the Rivers of Kennebeck Ammonoscoggin and Saco and parts adjacent being sensible of our great Offence and Folly in not complying with the aforesaid Submission and Agreement and also of the Sufferings and Mischiefs that we have hereby exposed our selves unto Do in all Humble and most Submissive manner cast our selves upon His Majesties Mercy for the pardon of all our Rebellions Hostilities and Violations of our promises praying to be Received into His Majesties Grace and protection And for and on behalf of our selves and of all other the Indians belonging to the several Rivers and places aforesaid within the Soveraignty of His Majesty of Great Britain do again acknowledge and profess our Hearty and Sincere Obedience unto the Crown of
The Day following Mr. Sadler went abroad And this Day there accidentally met at his House and so Dined with him first the Lord Steel who had been Lord Chancellour of Ireland and now returning from thence in his way to London came to see Mr. Sadler Secondly Monsieur de la Marsh a French Minister from Guernsey and Lastly his Brother Bingham Mr. Bound and Gray within Three Days after this made Affidavit of it before Colonel Giles Strangewayes and Colonel Cocker who is yet alive Mr. Daniel Sadler and Mr. John Sadler the Sons of this old Mr. Sadler very serious and worthy Christians are at this Time Living in Rotterdam one of them is His Majesties Agent for Transportation Mr. Daniel Sadler making his Applications to Mr Bound for his Testimony about this matter the said Old Mr. Bound in a Letter dated Warmwell Aug. 30th O. S. 1697. asserts the matter at large â—nto him and Subscribes This I shall testify before the King himself if occasion be when he comes into England Yours Cuthbert bound yet Minister of Warmwell Mr. Daniel Sadler ha's this Testimony further fortifyed by a Letter from One Mr. Robert Loder telling him That he had met with an Old Copy of the Depositions aforesaid which accordingly he transcribes for him and several yet living in Dorchester affirm'd unto him the Truth of the Story The Copies of these Letters are now in Boston in New-England Mr. John Sadler adds his Testimony That his Father told unto his Mother and himself That he had been told of Remarkable Things to come to pass particularly the Burning of London and Pauls But that they were not acquainted with all the matters he foretold unto Mr. Bound and Gray Only he Remembers well They Two were with him in his Chamber alone and his Father went abroad within a day or two and that according to the Sign he had given to them the Three Persons aforesaid visited him He adds That his Father spoke of leaving in Writing the things that had been Shown to him and that a litle after he saw once a Thin Octavo Manuscript in his Fathers Study which he believed had those things in it but after that he could never find it This Testimony is Dated in October 1697. A Worthy and a Godly Gentleman at this Time Living in Roterdam and well-acquainted with both Mr. Daniel and Mr. John Sadler Sends this to Mr. Increase Mather in New-England with a Letter Dated 26. March 1698. REader I am not Ignorant that many Cheats and Shams have been Imposed upon the World under the Notion of Communications from the Invisible World and I hope I am not becoming a Visionary But Fancies and Juggles have their Foundation laid in Realities there would never have been Impostures of Apparitions and of Communications from the Invisible World if there never had been Really some such things to be Counterfeited and Imitated Wise men therefore will count it a Folly in its Exaltation and Extremity to Dâ—ride all Instances of Strange Things arriving to us from the Invisible World because that Some Things have been Delusions No 't is a Wisdom that is pleasing to God and useful to the World for a due Notice to be taken of Rare Things wherein we have Incontestable Proofs of an Invisible World and of the Interest it hath in Humane Affayrs The Narrative of Mr. Sadler is advantaged with such Incontestable Proofs and contains in it such Notable passages that I believe I do well to lay it before Serious Men and I believe no Serious Men will play the Buffoon upon it By no means pretend I to pass any Judgment upon this Remarkable Narrative by no means do I presume to tell what I think it any more than this that it is Remarkable Nevertheless for the Caution of unwary Readers I will annex the words of an Excellent Writer upon Divine Providence Watch against an Unmortified Itch after Excentrical or Extraordinary Dispensations of Providence Luther said The Martyrs without the Apparition of Angels being confirmed by the word of God alone dyed for the Name of Christ and why should not we acquiesce And he observeth how the Devil hath greatly deluded parties who have been gaping after Visions Nor will it be unprofitable to Recite the words of another Author whom I must quote as R. David Kimchi did use to quote R. Joseph Kimchi under the Title of Adoni Avi Evil Angels do now appear more often than Good Ones 'T is an unwarrantable and a very Dangerous Thing for men to wish that they might see Angels and converse with them Some have done so and God hath been provoked with them for their Curiosity and Presumption and hath permitted Devils to come unto them whereby they have been Deceived and Undone More Particular Prognostications upon the Future State of NEW-ENGLAND BUt Oh my dear NEW-ENGLAND Give one of thy Friends Leave to utter the Fears of thy best Friends concerning thee and consider what Fearful cause there may be for thee to expect sad Things to Come If every Wise man be a Prophet there are some yet in thee that can Prophesy Praedictions may be form'd out of these ¶ Reasonable Expectations I. Where Schools are not Vigorously and Honourably Encouraged whole Colonies will sink apace into a Degenerate and Contemptible Condition and at last become horribly Barbarous And the first Instance of their Barbarity will tâ—â— that they will be undone for want of Men but not see and own what it was that undid them II. Where Faithful Ministers are Cheated and Grieved by the Sacriledge of people that Rebel against the Express Word of Christ Let him that is Taught in the Word Communicate unto him that Teacheth in all Good Things the Righteous Judgments of God will Impoverish that people The Gospel will be made Lamentably Unsuccesâ—ful unto the Souls of such a people The Ministers will either be fetch'd away to Heaven oâ— have their Ministry made wofully Insipid by their Encumbrances on Earth III. Where the Pastors of Churches in a Vicinity despise or neglect Formed Associations for mutual Assistence in their Evangelical Services Wo to him that is alone 'T is a sign either that some of the Pastors want Love to one another or that others may be conscious to some Fault which may dispose them to avoid Inspection but fatal to the Churches will be the Tendency of either IV. Where Churches have some Hundreds oâ— Souls under their Discipline but the single Pastors are not strengthened with Consistories oâ— Elders or an Agreeable Number of wise and good and grave men chosen to join with thâ— Pastor as their Praesident in that part of hiâ— Work which concerns the Well Ruling of the Flock there Discipline will by Degrees be utterly Lost The Grossest Offenders will by degrees and thro' parties be scarce to be dealt withal V. Where Pastors do not Quicken Orderly Private Meetings of both Elder and Younger Christians for Exercises of Religion in their Neighbourhood the Power of