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"gels, in a preternatural and in an unparalleled manner, being "let loose among us, God cast upon us the fierceness of His "anger, and wrath, and indignation, and trouble, for our apos"tasy, the very sin of the evil spirits. The God of heaven

a while ago turned in the armies of hell upon us; and in that "matchless dispensation of God we underwent a bitter destruc"tion from the poison of the serpents of the dust. But there are "other points not a few, wherein the great God hath heaped mis"chiefs upon us, and fulfilled unto us that holy commination, "Ezek. vii. 26, Mischief shall come upon mischief.' What shall I "say, while the Lord of hosts hath been against us? The hosts "of the Lord have been so too; all the elements have, as it were, "been up in arms against us."

Chap. i., page 113.-" Again you may observe, that the har"vest hath once and again grievously failed in these years, and "we have been struck through with the terrible famine. The very "course of nature hath been altered among us; a lamentable cry "for bread, bread, hath been heard in our streets; the towns, "that formerly supplied other places with grain, had now been "famished if other places had not sent in a supply to them, and "had a black prospect of being famished notwithstanding that supply. Once more, you may observe that the sea hath, in "these years, been swallowing up our neighbours and their "" estates, far more than the sword of the wilderness. No part of "the English nation hath been more frequently or sensibly preyed "upon by the French, than what hath gone out of New England

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ever since the war began. I say, Has this been enough? No, "the wrath of God said, 'This is not enough.' I appeal to you "that have been owners of vessels, or sailors in them, whether "horrible shipwrecks have not been multiplied since the war began. Ah, Lord! how many of us have shed rivers of tears over "our dead friends that have been buried in the ocean! More"over, you may observe, that in these years those very things which "were intended for our defence* have oftentimes been so much

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But that which should be for their defence turned to their damage, as it was with the Jews.

"improved for our damage, that it was hard for us to say which "was the greater, the defence or the damage which we had from "them. It was a lamentable time with the Jews when that curse 66 came upon them:-That which should have been for their "welfare, let it become a trap, and pour out Thine indignation "upon them.' Truly the indignation of God hath been poured "out upon us in this fruit of the curse, no less frequently than "sensibly. Finally, you may observe what untimely ends, and "what surprising fates, have come upon our sons in these 'years "of the wrath of the right hand of the Most High."" Chap. ii., "Truly, sirs, our time of war has in various ways of mortality "been embittered with this remark, The fathers have been bury"ing their sons all the country over;' many of us have had our sons, even those very sons of whom we said, 'This same shall "comfort us,' we have had them violently snatched away from us, "and cropped in the very flower of their youth, and they have "left us deploring, 'Oh, my son! with all my heart could I have "died for thee! My son, my son !'

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"Thus in our long war we have seen those changes on all hands, "and in all kinds, which have witnessed against us the dreadful "indignation of God. And a wise observation of these things "will cause you to see that the war which hath been upon us "hath been a war of God.' The Indians have been but a small "part of those armies which the great God hath been bringing "out against us for ten years together; and we may conclude that "all the land have been more or less concerned in those crimes "for which the Almighty God hath been with these armies man"aging his controversy with us.

Chap. i., page 114.-"Ah! New England, thy Father hath been "spitting in thy face with most humbling dispensations! God "hath been bringing of thee down to sit in the dust; when the "war commenced, New England might say, My God will humble me. Should a child of yours be refractory,* and you, sir, should "bid a negro, or an Indian slave, in your house, 'Go, take that

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You have been very rebellious children, to rise up against the Son, and kill his servants.

"child, and scourge him till you fetch blood of him?' surely "this would be to 'humble him unto the uttermost.' Thus doth "thy God humble thee, O New England! by putting thee over "into the vile hands of those which are not a people, but a "foolish nation. Again, who are they, by whose means we are "now crying out, We are brought very low? Jer. xxxvii. 10. "Truly we had smitten the whole army of the Indians that fought "against us, three-and-twenty years ago,* from one end of the "land unto the other, only there were left a few wounded men "among them in the East; and now they have 'risen up, every "man,' and have set the whole country on fire; certainly a more humbling matter cannot be related. Moreover is it not a very humbling thing, that when about an hundred Indians durst "begin a war upon all these populous colonies, an army of ȧ "thousand English raised must not kill one of them all; but "instead thereof, more of our soldiers perished by sickness and "hardship, than we had enemies in the world. Our God has "humbled us.

"Is it not a very humbling thing, that when the number of our "enemies afterwards increased, yet an handful of them should, "for so many Summers together, continue our unconquered "spoilers, and put us to such vast charges, that if we could have "bought them for an hundred pound an head, we should have "made a saving bargain of it? Our God has humbled us. Is it "not a very humbling thing, that we should have had several fair "opportunities to have brought this war unto a final period, but we "should still, by some fatal oversight, let slip those opportunities? "Our God has humbled us." Chap. ii., "Is it not a very "humbling thing, that whatever expeditions we have undertaken, "for the most part we have come off losers, and indeed but "plunged ourselves into deeper straits by our undertakings? "Our God has humbled us.

"Is it not a very humbling thing, that we should have evil "pursuing of us at such a rate, that in other lands afar off, and *They had smitten the Indians long ago, had they not been reserved for a further scourge.

"on the Exchange in London, strangers have made this reflection, "Doubtless New England is a country in ill terms with heaven?' "But so our God has humbled us.

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"What shall I say? Is it not a very humbling thing, that when peace is restored unto the whole English nation, and when "peace is enjoyed by all America, poor New England should be "the only land still embroiled in war? But thus, our God, "Thou hast humbled us, and shown us great and sore troubles, "and brought us down into the depths of the earth. But if you "will wisely observe these things,' you will now 'get up, and "sanctify yourselves, and put away the accursed thing from

among you,' O New English Israel! After such humbling "things as have befallen us, God forbid that it should be said of "us, as in Jer. xliv. 10, 'They are not humbled, even unto "this day."" As it is much to be doubted they are not, by their persisting in their abuses and revilings against the people of God, to the uttermost of their power, to this very day, as appears by his History, and other scurrilous books that he and others have written of late times, against the Truth and its friends, whom they still make the people of their indignation, which is no sign of any true repentance of their murders and persecutions.

Now the query that naturally arises from all these premises, is, Why New England should be so afflicted and punished, as they have been, more than other countries, if they had not provoked the Lord in a greater manner than many other countries have done, in respect of persecution? Let them not think to excuse themselves by that in Luke xiii. 2, for that will not serve their turn, inasmuch as it is plain, they have been greater sinners in that respect than most; yea, than any called Protestants, that I know of. Let them look upon all the English plantations round about them, and see if they can find any comparison as to persecution, or the judgments that have followed; I say, that New England above all others should be a land of judgment, and not of mercy, must needs argue that there is a cause for it, more than ordinary. I doubt not, but most other countries are guilty of

other sins as well as them, except hypocrisy and persecution, to that degree as they are, and yet they have not been punished in so eminent a manner as New England; which shows that persecution is a capital sin; and that though Cotton Mather hath confessed largely their other sins, as well as their judgments, and also, in pretence, pressed an inquiry into the cause of it, as if there might be some further cause of their affliction than they have yet found out, yet it is plain they have not yet pitched on the right, or confessed the chief sins of it, viz., their persecutions and murders; "and that the accursed thing," as he says, "still remains among them." "These," as Sir Walter Raleigh says, "were the lovers of other men's miseries; and misery found them out."

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And I cannot but observe, that most of those judgments that have come upon them, have been since they put our Friends to death; as any may see, if they will peruse Increase Mather's History of Remarkable Providences, and this Cotton's History of New England, wherein the reader will find very few, if any, before the year 1659, the time of the putting the first of our Friends to death, or at least before the beginning of their persecution; which still renders it and them the more criminal by the judgments that have followed; of which the loss of their Charter, having forfeited it by denying of appeals to England in case of life and trials by juries, &c., according to it, is none of the least; of the consequences of which, he gives such a dismal prospect, Book II., page 19, 20, which is the more to be taken notice of, in that they could never obtain the restoration of it even in the reign of King William, though so many others were restored; and so they must come to submit to the fate of other persecutors, to be ruled over by others in their turns, for persecution and tyranny is commonly short-lived, who would have ruled and tyrannized over others; which, with all the other judgments that have followed them above recited, makes up a scene of tragedies, that I have hardly read of the like in any story but that of the Jews, for

* In his incomparable preface to his History of the World, last edition, page 13.

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