History of the War with Indian Savages, Part 8
VIII. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whoſo is Wiſe, may Obſerve the Compaſſions of God, wonderfully Exerciſed, and Manifeſted, and Magnified, in the midſt of our Confuſions. There was a Time, when a Buſh Burned with Fire, and yet the Buſh was not conſumed: whereupon ſaid Moſes, in Exod. 3.3. I will now Turn aſide and ſee this Great Sight! Sirs, I am now to call upon you, O Turn aſide, and ſee ſuch a Great Sight as that!
Indeed, in the midſt of all our Lamentations, we muſt own, with the Church, in Lam. 3:22. It is of the Lords Mercies, that we are not Conſumed, becauſe His Compaſſions fail not. But there are many Particular and Aſtoniſhing Articles of Mercy, which we have ſeen in this Tedious War. Sirs, Come now to Obſerve ſome of thoſe Things, with prepared Hallelujahs!
It was the Petition, in Hab. 3.2. O Lord, In Wrath Remember Mercy. New England, Thy God hath heard this Petition for thee, in very wonderful Inſtances!
For, Firſt, After a very Amazing manner ha's Mercy been Remembred in the midſt of Wrath, when we have been Reſcued by the Mercy of God, at the very point of our being elſe Ruined by His Wrath. Lord, Thou haſt ſhewed thy People hard Things, and made us Drink the Wine of Aſtoniſhment. But our Extremity hath been Gods Opportunity, to Relieve us. Several Times in the late years of our Affliction, we have been brought unto a diſmal Non-plus in our Affayrs, and we would ſcarce imagine it poſſible for us to ſubſiſt any longer. But juſt Then! the Bowels of our Compaſſionate God have been moved for us; He hath ſaid, How ſhall I give thee up, O New-England? How ſhall I give thee up, O Maſſachuſetts? And ſo, He would not Execute upon us the Fierceneſs of His Anger, but with ſome unexpected Succours from the Machin of Heaven He hath Relieved us. We have ſeveral times been, Like a Little Veſſel in a Storm; the Swelling Waves have Daſhed, & Raged, and Roared; the Rude Billows have been going over us, and we have been ready to Sink. But juſt Then! Our Compaſſionate Lord Jeſus Chriſt, hath Awaked for our Safety, and marvellouſly calmed our Circumſtances. O thou Land, ſtrangely Saved by the Lord, ſay now, as in Pſal. 136.23. O Give thanks unto the Lord, who Remembred us in our Low Eſtate, becauſe His Mercy Endureth for ever. When our Debts have become Inſupportable, God has then Remembred us in our Low Eſtate, becauſe His Mercy Endureth for ever, and ſtrangely Extricated us. When our Foes have been as an Overflowing Scourge, like to carry all before them, God has then Remembred us in our Low Eſtate, becauſe His Mercy Endureth for ever, and ſtrangely Lifted up a Standard againſt them. When fearful Diviſions have ariſen among us, and horrid Convulſions have been ready to pull all to pieces,—I don't care to Remember them, any farther than to ſay, God has then, Remembred us in our Low Estate, becauſe His Mercy Endureth fer ever, and ſtrangely healed thoſe Breaches, that ſet the Land a Trembling.
Moreover; It hath been a very Strange Thing, and a Wondrous Remembrance of Mercy in the midſt of Wrath; That the Indians have been …naccountably Reſtrained, from giving us, an Hundredth part of the Trouble, which they might have done, had they but known, or us'd their own Advantages. This One Thing, Whoſoever does wiſely Obſerve it, muſt needs aſcribe it unto a Special Operation of that God, who Forms the Spirit of man within him. It was the promiſe of God, unto His people, Exod. 34.24. No man ſhall Deſire thy Land, when thou ſhalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God. The Faithful God ſtrangely. Fulfilled this promiſe, for many Hundreds of years together; No Enemy deſired the Land of that people, at the Time of their going up to Worſhip the Lord in His Temple. And whereas, the Roman Enemy, did at length Deſire their Land, at the Time of their going up to the Paſſover, this one Thing, was enough to prove, that the Meſſiah was come, and the Paſſover no longer commanded. It ſhows, That there is a Strange Operation of God, upon the minds of men, to curb and check, and blind the Evil-minded. Well; We have had our Frontier Towns, in many of which, the Lord Jeſus Chriſt hath been Worſhipped, and Sought, and Serv'd continually. Had the Lurking Enemy done as they might have done, how eaſily might one dozen of them, have kept the Towns in ſuch perpetual and perplexing Alarms, as would have cauſed them, even to have broken up! And what unknown miſchiefs might a few more of 'em, have brought upon our Scattered Plantations! I do again, and again ſay, This is from the Strange Operation of God, upon the Minds of the Enemy, that they have no more Diſturbed our Land. For my own part, I will obſerve it, and Admire it, in ſuch Terms as Auſtin uſed upon a Remarkable Providence; Quiſquis non videt, Caecus; Quiſquis videt, nec Laudat, Ingratus; Quisquis Laudanti reluctatur, Inſanus: They are Blind, and Mad, that are Inſenſible of it!
Yet again, Have not our Engliſh Priſoners been favoured with ſuch a Remembrance of Mercy, in the midſt of Wrath, as ought never to be Forgotten? The Mercy of God, inclined the French to Buy 'em out of the Hands of the Indians, and uſe them with an Exemplary Humanity and Civility. The Mercy of God preſerved many of them alive, under prodigious and incredible Hardſhips, and at length Returned many ſcores of them Home. And may not our Engliſh Women, that were Priſoners, take Notice of one Singular Mercy ſhown by God unto them, in preſerving them from Violations by the Outrageous Luſts of the Salvages? This One Thing will be thought by ſome, almoſt as Great and Strange an Inſtance of an Immediate Interpoſition of the Angels of God, as the muzzling of the Lions in the Den of Daniel! O ye Redeemed of the Lord, you, whom He hath Redeemed from the Hand of the Enemy; Give Thanks, to the Lord, for He is Good? Charge your own Souls, That you never forget His Benefits; Ask your own Souls, What you ſhall render to the Lord for all His Benefits: and Remember that Admonition of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt unto you, Sin no more, Leſt a worſt thing do come unto thee.
Furthermore; Who could not ſee Mercy Remembred, in the midſt of Wrath, when God hath put it into the Hearts of His people in the Southern parts of the Countrey, to make Liberal Contributions of Money, and Corn, and Men, for the Relief of the Northern parts? More than once, has the Noble Charity, of our Brethren in Plymouth, and in Connecticut, as well as of this Town, been Expreſſed in ſuch Contributions. Their Alms are Gone up for a Memorial before the Lord! The Bleſſing of many that have been Ready to periſh, hath come upon you, O ye Merciful Children of God, and you ſhall obtain mercy from Him.
Once more: Was ever Mercy Remembred in the midſt of Wrath, more conſpicuouſly than when powerful Adverſaries Deſigning Inroads upon us, have been Diverted wonderfully. Advice hath been ſeaſonably Diſpatched unto us, of the Intentions in our Enemies to fall upon our Frontiers, and this Advice hath proved our Safety. Yea, ſometimes when we have had no Advice, a Strange Direction from Heaven has Led us to thoſe Actions, which have as much defeated the Intentions of our Enemies, as if we had Received the fulleſt Advice in the world: Beſides this, Boſton, and Salem, and Portſmouth eſpecially: Will they ever forget the Laſt year? It was a Year of Salvations; yea, It was a Year of Miracles! Never, Never ſuch a Year paſſed over us. The Almighty ſhow'd that Favour to His people of old, Zech. 9.8. I will Encamp about my Houſe, becauſe of the Army, becauſe of him that paſſeth by, and becauſe of him that Returneth. Alexander in an Expedition to the Southward did paſs by the Land of Iſrael, and he did Return again to the Northward, without Hurting that Land, that had the Houſe of God in it. Formidable French Squadrons, have more than once paſſed by, to the Southward, and have Returned again to the Northward, intending doubtleſs a Deſtroying Viſit into this Land by the way; but Our Lord Jeſus Chriſt hath Encamped about His Houſe here, becauſe of the Navy. Yea, once, O New-England, the Lord thy God, He that would be the Holy One of New-England, gave Carthagena for thy Ranſome, He gave men for thee, and Spaniards for thy Life. Another Time, when a Force likely enough to have carried all before them, were almoſt arrived unto us, we are adviſed, that God ſent ſuch a ſudden, and ſuch a waſting Sickneſs among them, as to make them for want of Hands, to deſiſt from their Attempt. Theſe were Illuſtrious Deliverances! And yet give me leave to ſay, We did the laſt year, ſee another Deliverance, that for ought I know, may be aequal to any of the reſt. There was an Engliſh Fleet of our Good Friends with a direful Plague aboard 'em, intending Hither. Had they Come, as they intended, what an horrible Deſolation had cut us off, Let the Deſolate places that ſome of you have ſeen in the Colonies of the South, declare unto us; And that they did not come, it was the Signal Hand of Heaven, by which the Goings of men are ordered.
In Fine; Becauſe God, being full of Compaſſion, would not Stir up all His Wrath, He hath Remembred Mercy to us, in the midſt of Wrath, by Raiſing us up Generous Benefactors, who have been able and willing to oblige us, with their Benefits. It muſt be with ſhame acknowledged, Our Uſage of our Publick Servants has commonly been ſuch, that for any Thinking man, to be willing at all to Serve the Publick, ſeems to be a Mark and Fruit of no little Generoſity. Nevertheleſs, we have had perſons of Exemplary Patience, and Prudence, and Self denial, Sitting at the Helm of our Government, all this while that the Horrible Tempeſt hath been enough to make any man living Sick of being there. We have had perſons, who have Disburſed and Expended of their Eſtates, and conſiderably Damnified their Intereſts for us, in our Diſtreſſes, when yet they foreknew what pay they ſhould have after all. Yea, we have had, and ſtill have, [I can at this moment faſten my Eye upon ſome of them, in the Aſſembly where I am now ſpeaking,] Brave men, who have Bravely Jeoparded their Lives in the High places of the Field, for our Defence. O Treat 'em not with vile Ingratitude, after all the Service they have done: Prefer them on all fit occaſions, while they Live, Embalm their Memories, and Requite their Families, when they are Dead. But while we are Thankful to Them, Let us much more give Thanks to God for Them, even, for ſuch Gifts of Heaven as we have Enjoyed in them.
Well; Will you Wiſely Obſerve theſe Things? Wiſely! That is to ſay, Thankfully, and Fruitfully. It may be, If more Diſtinct and Solemn THANKSGIVINGS, were made unto God our Saviour, for theſe things, the Reliques of our Enemies would quickly feel the Rebukes of God upon them; not unlike thoſe, in 2 Chron. 20.22. When they began to Sing and to Praiſe, the Lord ſet Ambuſhments againſt their Enemies, and they were Smitten.