History of the War with Indian Savages, Part 6
VI. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whoſo is wiſe, may obſerve, a Work, a Strange Work of Heaven, as it were Deviſing of wayes, very ſtrangely to Diſtreſs all ſorts of people, in all ſorts of Intereſts. Truly the very Character of our Calamity, hath all along been This; The Great God has written ſtill upon it, we may Read upon it in a very Legible Character, thoſe words, in Jer. 18.11. Thus ſaith the Lord, Behold, I Frame Evil against you, I deviſe a Device againſt you. It hath been, as if wayes had been deliberately, and exquiſitely Studied, and as if with much Contrivance plotted for to bring us all within the Reach of the general Calamity. We have now Languiſhed thro' Ten Years, which have been the Saddeſt, and the Darkeſt, and the Stormiest Years, that ever we ſaw. If the History of theſe Ten Years were to be written, I am thinking, What ſhould be the Title; Truly, It might be Entituled, as Ezekiels Roll was, Lamentation, and Mourning, and Wo. Yea, you ſhall now have the History of theſe Ten Years written for you; I'l give it you, in as Expreſſive words as can be; even in thoſe words, 2 Chron. 15.5, 6. In thoſe Times, there was no peace to him that went out, nor him that came in, but great Vexations were upon all the Inhabita… of the Countreys, for God did vex them with an Adverſity. There is a Variety of Adverſity, with which the tedious War it ſelf hath vexed us. The General Fate of the War, hath involved Numberleſs Families in ſeveral circumſtances of Adverſity; and the Expenſive part of the War hath been an heavy Scourge of Adverſity upon thoſe that could not be reach'd by the Deſtructive part of it, You could not but Obſerve theſe things: But then, have you not obſerved, what a further variety of Adverſity hath been Contemporary with this Vexatious War. Alas, There hath been ſuch a Complication of other Diſtreſſes added unto the War, in the Time of it,, that no-body, No, I ſay, No-body hath been left free from thoſe Dolorous Ejulations, I am one that hath been Afflicted by the Rod of the Wrath of God.
A Great King of Perſia, having by Death loſt the neareſt Relation he had in the world, and being too paſſionate a Mourner for his Loſs, an Ingenious man undertook, to Raiſe the Dead Relation, unto Life again, if the King would but furniſh him in one point, that he apprehended neceſſary; It was demanded, What that was? and it was replied, Furniſh me but with the Names of Three perſons, who have never met with any Sadneſs and Sorrow, and by Writing thoſe Names on the Monument of the Dead, I'l bring the Dead perſon to Life. Truly, The Ten Years of our War have ſet many Ten Hundreds of perſons a Mourning over their Dead Friends; we have ſeen every where, The Mourners go about the Streets: Now, I durſt make you this offer; that if you can find Three perſons, who have met with no matter of Sadneſs and Sorrow in theſe Ten Years, with the Names of them, we'l fetch your Dead, Friends to Life again. It 'twas ſaid, in Job 21.17. God Diſtributeth Sorrows in His Anger. You may Obſerve a marvellous Distribution of Sorrows made among us, by the Anger of God.
And here, firſt, I ſay nothing of that Amazing Time, when the Evil Angels in a praeternatural and in an unparallel'd manner being Let Looſe among us; God cast upon us the Fierceneſs of His Anger, & Wrath and Indignation and Trouble. It was the Threatning of God againſt a people, which He had call'd His Children; in Deut. 32.23, 24. I will Heap Miſchiefs upon them, I will Spend my Arrows upon them, they ſhall be Devoured with a Bitter Deſtruction; What was the Bitter Deſtruction thus Threatned unto an Apoſtatizing People? I remember, the famous Jew Onkelos renders it, They ſhall be vexed with Evil Spirits; and indeed, that Senſe well agrees with what follows, I will ſend upon them the poiſon of the Serpents of the Duſt. Syrs, For our Apoſtaſy (which is 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 Deſtruction, from the poiſon of the Serpents of the Duſt.
But there are other points, not a few, wherein the Great God hath Heaped Miſchiefs upon us; and fulfill'd unto us that Holy Commination, Ezek. 7.26. Miſchief ſhall come upon miſchief. What ſhall I ſay? While the Lord of Hoſts hath been againſt us, the Hoſts of Lord have been ſo too; All the Elements have as it were been up in Arms againſt us.
Particularly; You may Obſerve, That Epidemical Sickneſſes, have in theſe years, been once and again upon us; wherein the Angels of Death, have Shot the Arrows of Death, into ſuch as could not be reached by the Bullets of the Indian Enemy. This one Town, did in one year, looſe, I ſuppoſe, at leaſt Six or Seven Hundred of its People, by one contagious Mortality. And tho' of about Three and Twenty Hundred men, that we Employ'd in one Action, we did, in that Action, looſe hardly Thirty men, yet how many Hundreds did afterwards miſerably periſh?
Again; You may Obſerve, That the Harveſt, hath once and again grievouſly failed in theſe years; and we have been Struck thro' with the Terrible Famine, almoſt as much as if the Indian Enemy had been all the while Skulking about our Fields. 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 Supplyed 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. Alas, The Devouring Diſpleaſure of God, hath ſaid concerning us, Though they go to hide themſelves from my Sight afar off upon the Sea, Thence will I command the Serpent, and he ſhall bite them. And here, hath it been Enough, that our Veſſels, enough to make an huge Fleet, have been taken by the French Enemy? A certain Writer hath computed it, That in only the Firſt Two or Three years of the War, the Engliſh Nation loſt unto the French, more than Fifteen Millions of Pounds Sterling. But no part of the Engliſh Nation hath been more frequently or ſenſibly prey'd upon, by the French, than what hath gone out of New England, ever ſince the War began. I ſay, Ha's 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 Shipwracks have not been multiplied ſince the War began, very much more than ever they were before? Ah, Lord! How many of us, have Shed Rivers of Tears, over our dear Friends that have been Buried in the Ocean!
Moreover; You may Obſerve, That in theſe years, thoſe very Things which were intended for our Defence, have oftentimes been ſo much 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 Jewes, when that Curſe came upon them, That which ſhould have been for their Welfare, Let it become a Trap, & 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 then ſenſibly, that ſome things which ſhould have been for our Welfare, have at the ſame time, ſerved alſo to Entrap the Perſons, and Intereſts of many people, into ſore Inconveniencies. There is no need of Explaining this Article; They that have been under this Indignation of God, know the Explaining of it!
Finally, You may Obſerve, What Untimely Ends, and what Surprizing Fates, have come upon our Sons, in theſe Years of the Wrath of the Right-Hand of the Moſt High. When Craeſus was in War taken by Cyrus, this Captive made unto the Conqueror, this Remark upon the Difference between Peace and War; O Syr, I ſee, that in a time of Peace, the Sons Bury their Fathers, but in a Time of War, the Fathers Bury their Sons, Truly, Sirs, our Time of War has in Various Wayes of Mortality, been Embittered with this Remark, The Fathers have been Burying their Sons, all the Countrey 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 ſnatch'd away from us, and Cropt in the very Flower of their Youth; and they have Left us deploring, Oh, my Son, with all my Heart could I have Dyed for thee, my Son, my Son! But in the midſt of theſe Deplorable Things, God hath given up ſeveral of our Sons, into the Hands of the Fierce Monſters of Africa. Mahometan Turks and Moors, and Devils, are at this Day oppreſſing many of our Sons, with a Slavery, wherein they Wiſh for Death, and cannot find it; a Slavery, from whence they cry and write unto us, It had been Good for us, that we had never been Born.
—Quis talia fando
Temperet a Lacrymis?—
Thus, as Job ſometimes complained, Chap. 10.17. Thou Reneweſt thy Witneſſes againſt me, and increaſeſt thine Indignation upon me; Changes and War are againſt me: 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. God Threatned His people, (ſo I read it,) Amos 2.13. Behold, I will preſs your place as a full Cart preſſes the Sheaf: ['Tis an Alluſion to the old way of Threſhing the Corn, by drawing a Loaden Cart with Wheels, over the Corn. 9. d. You ſhall undergo Tribulation.] Ah, New-England, Thou haſt been under ſuch a Tribulation.
Syrs, Have you not Obſerved theſe things? But you muſt wiſely Obſerve them. 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 managing His Controveſy with us: Our Confeſſion muſt be, Peccavimus omnes; We have all gone aſtray! But ſhall we not upon this Obſervation, take up ſome Reſolution? If we are Wiſe, we fhall thus Reſolve; 'Tis Time, 'Tis Time, 'Tis High-Time for us, to make our Peaee with God, Oh, Let us not go on to Harden our ſelves againſt God; we are not Stronger than He: But let us all Fly to the Lord Jeſus Coriſt, who is our Peace, and ſo lay down the Arms of Rebellion, that God may be Reconciled unto us.