History of the War with Indian Savages, Part 9
IX. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whoſo is Wiſe, may Obſerve thoſe things, that may Mightily Encourage our Prayer, and our Faith, for a Total Ruine, to be haſtened on the Remainders of our Enemies.
There yet Remains a Knot of our Enemies, in thoſe Inacceſſible Thickets, where we Deſpair ever to Find 'em out; but I will Read their Doom, from Pſal. 21.8, 9, 10 Thine Hand, O Lord, ſhall Find out all thine Enemies, Thy Right Hand ſhall Find out th…ſe that Hate thee; The Lord ſhall Swallow them up in His Wrath, and the Fire ſhall Devour them; Their Fruit ſhalt thou Deſtroy from the Earth, and their Seed from among the Children of men. What Remains for Us, is, That we do by Prayer and Faith, put our Enemies over, into thoſe Omnipotent Hands, that can Find them out, and cut them off. Oh! Let us keep our Hands Lifted up in Prayer, for a Total Diſſipation of thoſe Amalekites, which have thus long and thus far prevailed againſt us! We have already had many Notable Anſwers of Prayer, in this our War: Every one of our Deliverances have been very Notably Such! We cannot ſay, How many particular Perſons, have Received Anſwers of Prayer, in the particular Troubles, which this Evil Time hath Enſnared them withal. Doubtleſs, many a Christian, ha's in this Time, had opportunity to ſay, This poor man cryed, and the Lord Heard him, and Saved him out of all his Troubles! And ſeveral Towns, that have had a Remarkable Protection of God upon them, in this long Time of Danger, they have had a Praying People in them, and that Praying People have been the Chariots and the Horſe men thereof. Why elſe does Deerfield Stand? How ſhould our Prayer be Quickened by ſuch Experiences! But there is this further Quickening for it, That with the Cry of our Prayer, there will go up unto the Lord, the Cry of Blood; much Innocent, & Righteous, & Precious Blood, Cryes to Heaven, from the Ground againſt thoſe Bloody and Crafty men, that have Treacherouſly ſhed it. Certainly, They muſt not Live out all their Dayes! And we have this prevailing plea againſt them, in the Court of Heaven! That they have moſt Falſely Broken their Covenants, in their Outrages. We may venture, to preſent our Memorials, in the Court of Heaven, againſt theſe Covenant Breakers, who are Implacable and Unmerciful; and we may uſe the words of Jephtah, againſt his Heathen Adverſaries, The Lord the Judge, be Judge between us and them! We may uſe the words of Jehoſhaphat againſt his Heathen Adverſaries, O our God, wilt thou not Judge them? Vladiſlaus, the King of Hungary, Scandalouſly breaking his League, with Amurath the Turkiſh Emperour, brought an Army into the Field againſt him. The Turkiſh Army being horribly Broke, and Slain, and almoſt Vanquiſhed by the Hungarian, Amurath in his Anguiſh, took out of his Boſome, the written League, that Vladi ſlaus had made with him, and holding it up in his Hands, with his Eyes to Heaven, he Cryed out, Behold, O Crucified Chriſt, the League which thy Chriſtians in thy Name have made with me, and now without cauſe do Violate; If thou be a God, Revenge the Wrong that is now done unto thy Name, and ſhew thy power upon a Perjurious People, who in their Deeds Deny their God! Immediately the Courſe of the Battel turn'd; and Perjurious King was kill'd; and the Turks w…n a moſt unexpected Victory. Truly we may in like manner now take the Inſtrument of the Submiſſion and Agreement of the Eaſtern Indians, which Thirteen of their Chief Commanders did Sign more than Five years ago; and Holding it up to Heaven, we may Cry out, Ah, Lord God of Truth, wilt thou not be Revenged upon the Falſe Wretches that have broken this League! Doubtleſs, our God will Execute a dreadful Vengeance upon them, if we Humbly make our Suit unto Him for it; and He ha's wayes for His Vengeance to come at them, which We cannot Imagine. 'Tis affirmed, That ſeveral Times in this War, our Enemies, have in the Woods met with Parties of Indians, which were their own Friends, but by a miſtake apprehending each to be Enemies unto each other, they have hotly fallen upon one another, and many have been kill'd oh both Sides before the miſtake was diſcovered. Yea, 'Tis affirmed, that not a few of the Chief Murderers among our Enemies, have accidentally killed themſelves; the moſt Murderous Indians, have in a little while been their own Executioners. Who can tell, what Strange Wayes, the God unto whom Vengeance belongeth, hath to inflict it, on a Generation of His Curſe?
Only, Let us Remember to plead the Sacrifice of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, in our Prayer, with our Faith, for the Perfection of our Deliverance. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, hath been a Sin-Offering for the Congregation, and a Sacrifice pleadeable, not only for Perſons, but alſo for Peoples that belong unto Him. We read in 1 Sam. 7.9, 10. Samuel Offered a Burnt-Offering wholly unto the Lord, and Samuel Cryed unto the Lord of Iſrael, and the Lord heard him; and the Lord Thundred with a Great Thunder on that Day upon the Philiſtines, and diſcomfited them. When we Cry to the Lord, Let us plead the Burnt-Offering of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, & plead, That God ha's more Glorifyed His Juſtice in the Sufferings of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, than if our Houſes were all Fill'd with the Cryes of our People Maſſacred by Indian Salvages. Then will our God Thunder with a Great Thunder of His Conſuming Wrath upon our Indian Philiſtines! That Note, which the Great Calvin ha's above an Hundred Times over, in his Commentaries on the Pſalms, Nunquam Irritas fore preces, Or, Prayers will never be loſt! Prayers will never he loſt! It will much oftner be Repeated in our Bleſſed Experience, if our Prayers do preſent before God that Bleſſed Sacrifice, of which He ſayes, 'Tis a Sweet odour to Me!