INasmuch as the Miscarriage of our First Parents, while they represented whole Mankind in the Covenant of God, is by a Divine Ordination and Im­putation most equally laid upon us all, it is but Righteous with God that the Chil­dren of such Parents, in their becoming so, be left without the Righteousness, with which His Image, now defaced by Theirs, would else have made them glorious; and the Absence of that Image, does as Reaso­nably, as Necessarily, infer the Presence of a Nature in us [...] with a Depraved Pre­judice against what is, Holy and Just, and Good.

[Page 2] Such a Corrupt Fountain will have Bit­ter, Woful, Deadly Streams; and w [...] may see [Lord, open our eyes!] a doleful pros­pect of them in our Hearts and our Wayes.

Hences 'tis, That we do not Acknowledg the True God, nor labour for an Acquain­tance with Him; nor Glorify Him, in Thinking of Him, Speaking for Him, Pray­ing to Him, Hearing from Him, Choosing Him, Loving Him, Trusting Him, & Serving Him; & Rejoycing in Him, when we have had nothing else to comfort us. Instead thereof, we Deny Him, we Forsake Him, we have mean Opinions of Him; we give to the World & the Flesh, & the Devil, the Homage which is due to Him alone; we let Crea­tures have the Affection, the Dependance, the Obedience, which he alone may lay claim unto; nor do we live as having him alwayes in our Eyes. We have also laid open our selves to Hea [...]csits about the Christian Faith; by a rush admission of Thoughts that overthrow the glorious Frame of Religion. Yea, there have been, at least Implicit Witchcrafts in some of our Usages.

Hence 'tis that we do not zealously wait upon God, in the serious and constant Ob­servation [Page 3] of all those Institutions, where [...] our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us to maintain our Communion with him. Church Fellowship is neglected; a Gospel Ministry is not supported; a Gospel Dis­cipline is not affected; the Baptism of the Lord is not Improved; and the Supper of the Lord is not Approached. Instead thereof, we are prone to the vanity of Hu­mane Inventions, and humanely Devised Sacraments and Holy-days, in the Worship of God; we have imitated the Pagans in many Religious Rites; that of Health­Drinking, in particular; and perhaps we have had un awful Pictures in the Honour of our Lord.

Hence 'tis that we do not make a Reve­rent Use of the Names, Words, Works, Attributes, and Ordinances, by which the Lord makes Himself known unto us. We have not had awful Apprehensions, of His Majesty, when we have been diav­ing near unto him. Our Oaths have not been only in Truth, Justice, and Judge­ment; our Vinces have not been wisely made, or truly [...] We have abused Lots in our [...] And the Creatures of God have been [...] Nou­rishment [Page 4] of our Pride, Gluttony, Drunkenness and Wantonness. In Pros­perity we have been unthankful, and im­patient in Adversity: the Dispensations of God have not awakened us.

Hence 'tis, that we have not Entertain­ed the Ordinary Sabbaths of God, with a due Preparation for them, Celebration of them, Satisfaction in them. We have been Idle, Worldly, Wicked on that Holy Day. And we have had an Indisposition to those Extraordinary Sabbaths, which Ex­traordinary Troubles of Extraordinary Mercies, have called, for. We have not Prayed and Fasted, we have not Praised and Feasted, with a suitable Solemnity, in the Seasons for our doing so.

Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neigh­bours Place, has not been preserved with us. Especially Family Government sinks most ominously! As for Superiours, they have not been sufficiently respected, and requited. Parents have been Griev [...]d by our Insolence, Wastfulness, Unrea [...]able­ness, and Incorrigibleness. Masters have been Grieved by our Eye-service, Unsub­jection, Slothfulness, and Surliness. Hus­bands have been treated with Disesteem, [Page 5] Frowardness, Jealousie, Imprionsness, and Ill-management. Magi [...] have met with Reproaches, and [...] and they have not been Assisted [...] our Interests. Ministers have been [...] standered, starved, and our unfruit­fulness has hastned them with sorrow to their Graves. As for Inferiours, they have not been so regarded, as they should have been. Wives have been Affronted with contempt, hatred, bitterness and unfaithfulness, Children have been Ruin­ed with Indulgence, or provoked, with Cruelty, and had little care taken about their Immortal Souls; nor have they had an Ingenuous Education. Servants have been Compelled or Invited unto un­lawful Things; and hindered in the Thing that is Good; and perhaps pinch­ed of their Food convenient. Subjects have either been Discountenanced in what in vertuous; or Encouraged unto what is vicious; and possibly their just Liberties and Properties, and universal Welfare, has not been so guarded as might have been. People have not been watch'd o­ver, with a Paternal Tenderness and Fer­vency; possibly Theirs may have been [Page 6] sought [...] than They; or, our Prayers, our [...] our unwearied Endeavours, [...] not been enough employ'd upon [...]. As for Equals, they have ambiti­ [...] affected a preheminence, over one another, and been full of Envy at the Greatness which they have seen God ad­vancing their Neighbours with. In all persons, a private Spirit has prevailed, and the Times have been made perillous, by mens concernment for none but their own Cabin, while the whole Vessel has been in a Storm.

Hence 'tis, that our own, and our Neighbours Life, has not been Preserved with us. We have Impair'd our Health by our Intemperanc [...]es; We have been Passionate, Revengeful, and Contentious, towards others; We may have [...] them, with needless and vexing [...] and it may be, we have Rashly St. [...] them.

Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neigh­bours Bed, [...] not been Preserved with us. Our [...] our, Desires our Glance, our Speeches, out [...] our Garments, have been such, that we may cry out Un­clean, Unclean! Perhaps, Promiscuous [Page 7] Dancings have been Countenanced. Or, However we have not Shut up all our Sen­ses against all the motions of all Unclean­ness, but it may be given as well as taken, Temptations of Lasciviousness, especially in making our selves the Companions of those Fools that are to be destroy'd.

Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neigh­bours Estate ha's not been Honestly dealt withal. We have been Sluggards is our Callings; the Poor have not had our Libe­ral Alms; We have not Pay'd our Debts. We have wrongfully taken or with held, what is not our own. When we should not have spent, we have been to Prodigal. when we should have spent, we have been too Niggardly. By Fraud we have Cheat­ed, or by Force we have Opprest, when we have had an Advantage in our Hands; and measured Right only by our Might; not have we made Restitution of what we have gotten by Dishonesty.

Hence 'tis, that our own and our Neigh­bours Credit has not been kept inviolate. We have Suppress'd or fore-born the Truth; and spoken Contrary thereunto. We have had Sinister Suspi [...]ions one of a­nother, and either Made, or Spread, or too [Page 8] Easily Received False Reports. Tale-bear­ing ha's been Cherished; & Innocence ha's not been Vigorously Vindicated: No, we have been, Full of Lies!

Hence 'tis, that we have been Discon­tent with our Condition; & harboured in our Hearts, a Roving and a Ranging Lust, after an undue Alteration of it. Nor have we presently Extinguished, those Vain Thoughts in our minds, which have been the First Motions towards the breaches of all the Commandments.

And unto all these Provocations, We have added this, which Exceeds them all, That we have despised the Offers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and although the Old Covenant now speaks to [...]ing but a mise­rable Death unto us, Yet we have refused the Gracious Offers of that New Covenant, wherein a Wonderful Provision is made for all the miseries of our Souls, by a Me­diator, in whom there do's All Fulness dwell. We have permitted our Earthly Assa [...]s to keep us at a Distance from the Lord Redeemer, who ha's been waiting to give us, [...] and Remission of Sins.

Alas! What a Sinful Thing is Fallen, Alas! In this Impartial Glass, if you look [Page 9] attentively, you may behold the Spots, for which every Penitent Soul, will Judge and Loath it self before the Lord; and O that many Repenting Sinners would in their separated Hours, of the deepest Humiliation and Supplication before God, Examines themselves by this Glass; and Confess, and Renounce all of these Abominable Things, with a Believing Reliance upon the Lord, Jesus Christ, for the bestowal both of Pardon and of Power against them all.

But will my dear COUNTREY now consider, that for the sake of these things the Wrath of God is came upon this Disobe­dient Land! Among THESE we shall find those Indictments upon which the Judge of all the Earth has proceeded, in visiting us with sure plagues and of long continuance. The Effects of it are too sensible and sor­rowful to leave it uncertain, That we have been many years weltring and wast­ing under the orea [...] Judgments of God. And the T [...]kers of our Gods Displeasure have not only been in some respects, up­on every one of our precious and pleasant Things, but they have grown upon us at such a terrible rate, as to punish us yet [Page 10] in one Assault after another, with a, Seven times more for our Iniquities. The Year before this last, was most Remarkably a Year of Rebukes upon us; 'twas a year, when besides the General Clog upon all our Affairs, we miscarried in a most Im­portant Expedition, like those Active E­phraimies, who before the Time Sallied from Goshe [...] against the Canaanites in the North, in hopes to be Enriched by the Plunder of those Injurious Adversaries; but came off Loosers, because, as the Psalmist says, They kept not the Covenant of God. It was a year, wherein we were not only Distressed and Consumed by the Calamities of War, but the Destr [...]y­ing Angel did with Sickness also make a­mong us a most lamentable Slaughter, Truly, The Slain of the Lord have been many. I suppose no less than as Thousand were in that [...] year, carried unto their Long Home, from one Town in this Colo­ny. And at the same time, very many scores of our poor Neighbours, especially of our young people, whose Concerns lay at Sea, have been carried as well to the Prisons in France, as to the Fevers in the Indies, where, [...]ske Sheep they have been [Page 11] laid in the Grave, Death has fed upon them. Nor are the black Tempests im­pending, blown over yet! No, The Lords Anger is not Turned away, but his Hand is still stretched out! so that it is a very dire­ful, stupid, fatal Dementation, which is upon us, if we do not now Enquire, What means the Heat of this Anger? To answer that Enquiry, we had a Great Voice out of the Temple, twelve years ago, a Sy [...]o [...], then distinctly laid before us, the provoking Evils that were the Grounds of the Controversy, then and since ma­naged against us by our God, G [...]a knows how little we thereupon studied every one, the Reformation of our Hearts and Lives. And we know, what Advances the Wrath of Heaven has been since making towards those Ruines, which threaten something like the Dissolution of these Plantations. Our Political Fathers in the GENERAL COURT, at the beginning of our late Mortal Tea [...], beholding how In [...]n [...]ably we [...]ined away in our Iniqui [...], Emitted a Proce [...]mation, again to advise, us That the Corruption of Manners a­mong us had [...] ought the Ax to be now more than [...]er laid unto the Root of our [Page 12] Tree; and Excite all Ranks of Men unto the doing of their part for the Amendment of our Ways; with a Solemn Admonition unto this whole people, that they every where give Demonstrations of a thorough Repen­tance, without which (as they expressed it) we have little Reason to hope for any Good success in our Affairs. Our Congregati­ons had this Admontion very faithfully by their several Watchmen set before them; and we did not want our Printed Advertisements thereupon, ‘That as it is related concerning the Sons of El [...]i, They hearkened not unto the voice of their Father, because the Lord, would [...] them; To, if men did now show themselves Re­fractory [...] their Provoking Evils, the is­sue would be this, They hearkened not un­to the voice of their Fathers, because the Lord would make a terrible Slaughter of them.’ That none of all these Means, have Recovered us out of our Apostasies is Confess'd by all sorts of Men; and ac­cordingly the continuing Vengeance of Heaven upon us, has been written in dis­mal and bloody Characters.

However, at the Intercession of our Dressers, we are spared yet one year more [Page 13] to see whether any good Fruit can at last be obtained from us. And therefore I do with an Importunity, which I wish may be Ungainsayable, beseech of all my Neighbours, That we may all as one man, consider the manifold Guiltiness which the Catalogue of our sins has now set in order before us, and most humbly apply our selves to God in Christ, for his Forgive­ness of our former Misbehaviours, and for his Assistance to a better Conversati­on. There is this one thing, l'le venture to do; I do boldly charge all Impenitent [and such are all Inconsiderate!] Sin­ners, as the most Real Troublers of our Land: If any Counsel though never so wise, though never so goods, have not prospered with us, we have been ready with a Turk [...]sh Fury, to fly upon the men that gave it, as the Authors of all the Disastrous Events that followed. But, as when the Roman Empero [...]r upbraided his General [...]erentius, for Loosing of a Battel, he Reply'd, Sir, I am to tell you, 'tis, you that lost the Day for us, by your open fighting against the God of Heaven, as you do! so would I say, to those among us, that Live not according to the Rules of [Page 14] Godliness, and Righteousness and Sobriety; 'Tis you that still undermine the best Coun­sels that can be given for our safety. Where­fore I take leave to add, Brethren, we shall not only save our own souls, but also do a service to the publick; if we may every one of us, be able to say, I thought on my ways, and I turned my Feet unto the Testimonies of the Lord.

But there are some that have a more peculiar opportunity to prosecute that Reformation, which would be, The Length­ning out of our Tranquillity. And I would pray that the Freedom of my Address may not be m [...]sn e [...]p [...]eted. Yea, I'le con­sent, Inveniar sane super [...]us, made [...] si­lentis non arguar. Our very Enemies can twit us with our Backsliding's: as particu­larly, a scandalous, and a slanderous Li­beller t'other day, in the midst of many Printed Faliboods, could Admonish us too truly of the Sins which attended our Hus­king Times, as what might make us fear that we should have the Blast quickly come upon our Indian, which has been on our other Grain. Had we the pious pru­dence of Austins Mother, in us, even such Insinuations in a way of Spite, given to us, [Page 15] would Put us upon correcting of our thus Notorious and Offensive Lewdnesses. How much more ought modest Representations in a way of Love made unto us, to be re­ceived, as, The Smil [...]ngs of the Righteous! But indeed, they are not Blows; [...] they are Balms, which I have now to make a Tender of.

I. I would then in the first place, hum­bly say; Why may not our Churches, e­ven every particular Church by it self, have their blee [...]ings, wherein after their Mighty Cries to Heaven, they may freely, fairly, with all Humility, and without all uncomely Reflections propound, what they judge to be any Evil growing upon them? And so far as they can comforta­bly Agree, in their Sentiments, why may not every such Evil be in a proper In­strument for that purpose, declared a thing against which they will be watchful, both in themselves, and in one another, as God shall enable them? Our Church­es are well formed with a most sacred Covenant, and that Covenant is but a Re­cognition of our Obligation to the Du­ties in the Covenant of Grace. Every Church-Mender when he says Amen, to [Page 16] the Church Covenant, professes himself to be in that Covenant which forbids all man­ner of Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin. How Inquisitive then should all Church­Members be after all [...]hose Evils against which their Covenant is to Arm them, that they may be Stoned before the Lord! Be­hold, a most Natural, Rational, Unexcep­ [...]onable way for our Churches to Purge themselves, and become, Terrible as an Army with Banners! The only Exception that I know against the practice of it, I shall remove, by saying, 'Tis not so mean a person as my self, that is the first pro­poser of this Thing. I suppose there are divers Churches among us, that have been looking this way. And, for their Encou­ragement I would say, That on [...] Church, yea, one Man, thus Reforming, may fill a [...] made Gap, in the way opened for the An­ger of God. Moreover, Holy Mr. Her­bert Palmer Produced a wonderful Refor­mation, in his Town of Canterbury, by prevailing with his people, to sign an Instrument, where in they declared their Detestation of sinner Evils grown com­mon among them, and Resolution with Gods Help, to take heed of such Evils [Page 17] for ever. Truly, a most Excellent Prece­dent! The Quakers in their late Pam­phlets presume to foretel, The utter Re­moving, Undoing [...] of all (our Churches, which they call) our Babylonish Buildings: and no doubt, the Devil will turn every stone to accomplish that Pre­diction. But some such courses as are now recommended, would procure us those Protections of Heaven, which would render those Adversaries, as great Lyars in their Prephecies, as they are in their Principles. I must confess that our Churches have some Omens upon them, which do sometimes give me Apprehensi­ons Blacker than the Ink I write with; nor can any thing but a Remarkable Recove­ry out of those Decays, which have been upon, The power of [...] among [...]s, alter those direful Omens. We do perhaps va­lue our selves upon the purity and privi­ledge, which we have in our Church­Administrations; but our God sa [...]s unto us concerning. These, as unto his people once about their Ornaments, Put them off, that I may know what to do unto you. That is, Believe that They will not save us, if we have not, The Fruits of Repentance. [Page 18] We may perhaps also promise our selves our shares in that Resurrection of the Wit­nesses, which I hope, the Operations of God are now upon. B [...] it may be, we do not, well weigh, of what sort, The Day of the Lord, will be, Believe me, 'twill be accompanied with such Earth­quakes of War, Death, and Uproar, as none of us are sure that we shall our-live the Ruines. O that our Churches would then vigorously set themselves upon some Extraordinary Methods of Self-Reforma­tion, which indeed are now the only Me­thods of Self-Preservation! I assert, That The Doing of something Extraordinary this way, is the work of THIS, Gloomy, Clou­dy, Stormy Day: and it is probable, that the man who is cold in this matter, will be cold, Formal, Sapleis, in all his Ordi­nary Duties. But that which makes me write the more prest [...]ngly about this mat­ter is, That Apostatized Churches have rarely yet been known, to Reform them­selves [...] have had their course, & Desolutions have Ensured. And now think, O New-England, what has particularly come upon the Churches of [...], Ephtsus has now a few Cottages but no Christians in [Page 19] it. Smyrna has much Traffick, but scarce any Gospel there. Pergamus has left in it, perhaps about a dozen Families, of Superstitious and Miserable Greeks. Thy­atira has bloody and bruitish Turks filling of it: Sardis, once a Metropolis, is now a Beggarly Village. Philadelphia is over­run with Slavery and Idolatry; and [...], is utterly Desolate. Or, if a La­ter and sadder Example will more affect us; What are we (except in our Sab­baths better than the Churches in France? Yet have they lately seen their Temples destroy'd, their Pastors Ban shed, and fell Drag [...]ons, like since Dragons, let Loose upon them. From these, no Es­cape has been allow'd unto them; by Land, they had Souldiers to watch the Palles; by Sea, they intented such Poisons, that if any lay had in unsearchable co [...]e [...]s of an Hold, yet they kill'd them with the Vapour. They have ever since been Tortured in the Hands of Devils Incar­nate, who have so treated them, that six years ago, there were Medals made, whereon 'twas brag'd, That the French King had already reduced no less than Twenty hundred thousand Calvinists, from [Page 20] the Protestant Religion. So horribly has he, who I doubt will one Day be called, Louis le Loup, ravaged upon the Flocks of the Lord Jesus O Tremendous Judgments of Heaven! But, suppose we that these were greater Sinners? Nay, except we Repent, we may all of us likewise Perish.

II. In the mean time, tis our Petition to God, that our Laborious Pastors may Cry aloud, and not spare, but lift up, their Voice like a Trumpet, against those Evils, which will not let our God become our Friend While they do like the Souldiers of G [...]deon ca [...]r, the Light of the Gospel (as Paul, speaks) in Earthen Vessels, they also at the same time carry Trumpets to oppose what is Contrary unto God. Qui Claves haben [...] Eccles [...] Ostia Suorum Lib [...]rum aperiant. The great God hath seen such Evils in our Camp, that He Demands, Who is on my side, against them all? It is to be hoped, that the Sons of Levi, will all appear for Him. Their Name is that of, A Reprover; and the Almighty God says unto them. as unto young Jeremiah, Arise, and Speak unto them all that I Command thee, been's dismay'd at their Faces. I know very well, that the Reprover who acquits himself with a good [Page 21] Fortitude and F [...]lelley, shall if not with John loose his own Head, yet loose the Heart of many an Exasperated [...]fendor; but, God will make it up! Very truly sayes the Excellent OWEN; He is a lost man in this World, who without Respect of Persons, will engage seriously in this Work; Every Day he shall find one or other Dis­pleased, if not Provoked. And yet even in this World, by the strange Interposition of Heaven, The Reprover often lives more Comfortably that the Flatterer. They Re­port of the Tygre, that the sound of a Trum­pet, will cast him into a Prodigious Rage. Truly, the World ha's many Tygres in it; if we Lift up our Voue like a Trumpet, against their misdemeanours, they will be mon­strousl. Enraged at it: but its no mat­ter; [...] we had been Dumb Dogs, instead of Shep [...]rde, the Tygres would have l [...]k [...]d us: Let us have the Last Trumpet continually Sounding in our Ears; and that's Enough to animate us and Encourage us. W [...] though our Athanasian Courage in bearing all sorts of Testimonies for our God, should so Ens [...]ame the Indignation of both Here­tuke, and [...], that for a man to Rail at Us, must be one of the first Shjbol [...]th [...] to [Page 22] discover a Person [...]ted unto all that the People of God count Valuable? There is no Damage, no, there is much Glory in it. I have from the Experiment made; You shall cast a [...]oad [...] Deadly Tor [...]e, if you threw a Grain of Salt upon him; Vo [...] Ester Sal Terroe & if we are our Lords Witnesses, the L [...]ts of men must Receive Torment from us. But the, Inward Conso­ [...]ations of the [...], in our Souls, will e­ven at the present abundantly Compensate, all our Suffering for our Faithfulness; be­sides the Recompences that we shall have at, The [...] of the Just. It is not Impr [...]b [...]ble, that Paul, Rapture into the Third Heaven, was at the very time when the People had been sto [...]g of him. Not shall we go without a particular [...] of God about us, in a [...] the Perils, to which we do this way become Obnox [...]ous. I have known the Divel in a possessed Person [...] Cruel Strokes, and Kicks against a Messen­ger of God, then Praying in the Room; and yet the Hand or F [...]o [...] of the Person Strangely R [...]coyl, when within perhaps an Inch of him, as if Rebounding against a Wall. Thus ha's our God promised us, I have made thee a Defenced [...], an Iron [Page 23] Pillar, and a Brazen Wall. The Angles will defend us, as their Pe [...]-Servants, & we shall dwell under Angelical Influences every day, if we undauntedly set our selves to bear down all the Sins, that keep up the Kingdom of the Divels.

III. And our Honourable Rulers will doubtless lend their Helping Hand; for the Redressing of every Evil, that hurts Hu­mane Society, whereof by the Constitution of God, They are the Officers. There is not so much as a Conservation of the Peace, where those [...]ces which disturb it, are not Chastised. We may Lift up our Voice like a Trumpet, but the Strong holds of Sin, are Stronger than those of Jericho: there must be Swords as well as Trumpets, to de­molish them; and we need not be told, of whom it is said, He beareth not the Sword in [...]. There are 'tis true some Spirit is [...] sins, which are not, Inquities to be Punished be the Judge; but when there is Disorderly Living, he is then to be, A Terror unto Evil [...]. Indeed Every time the Sword of [...] Justice is thrust under the Fifth R [...]b of our [...], there is as it were, [Page 24] with a Blessed Magick, a wound given unto all those Ill Persons, that seek to Trouble us. Yea, the whole Congregation fares the better, for every Ph [...]nehas, that Legally but Zealous [...], animadverts upon the Baseness committed in his Neighbour­hood The Good Lord then bless the World more and more, with such Vice­gerents of Himself, as our Lord Jesus will shortly, Empower with his Commissi­ons, when, His Kingdom comes; and when the Mountains will bring peace to the people, and the Little Hills by Righteousness. Ha­ving breathed out these Wishes, of a Soul, which trembles to think, what may be the Issue of our Delayes to make Tho­rough Work of Returning unto the God that Smites us; the conclusion that would best finish all, is that, Be strong, O Z [...] ­rubba [...]el, Be strong, O Joshua, Be strong, all [...] People of the Land, saith the Lord.

To have done, Among the many Accursed Things [...] the midst of us, the [...] comprehensive Mischief [...] shew mine Opinion [...] [Page 25] is our Aversation to, and Violation of, the Covenant of our God. Either people do shamefully forbear to put themselves un­der the Wings of that Convenant, or are afterwards most wofully forgetful of the [...] which that Covenant layes upon them. We do as it were throw by our Errand into the Wilderness; which was to wait upon God, in a true, pure, Evan­gelical Church-state, for all the sure mer­cies of his Everlasting Covenant. But, Who does hinder? Why, the False God, which has been too generally bow'd unto. Our Trade, our Cash, our Land, have been our Gods, until there has arose Wa [...] in our Gates. As a poor Indian once in the West-Indies, held out a piece of Gold, saying, This is the Christians God! so might I hold out a Turf of Earth, and say, Here is the God of many a poor New­England man! A Be [...]bul indeed! a fine [...], made of Dung! O how happy, how holy, how reform'd should we become, and how true to the Covenant of our God, if this Idol were more cast unto the Moles. Whereas, if our value for the World cause us to let the Church- [...] of Gods Cove­nant [Page 26] fink and fail in the midst of us, we shall certainly be vexed with all Adversity, until at last we perish utterly.

But next unto that of Convenant-Break­ing, methinks we have no Fault, more Contagious, or Pernicious, then that of Discontent; it is an Ep [...]cal Evil, and it insinuates it self into all our Concerns. For the cure of this Evil against which I would have a more particular Antipathy, there is a Composition here laid before my Readers; that so the Clouds & Storms in our Hearts, being abated by the Word of God blowing upon us, we may see, Fair Weather out of the North. An Au­thor that shall do what he can to pro­mote the C [...]ment of the World, ought certainly to be welcomed as, A Friend of Mankind; and on the score of my Design to make every man Comfor­t [...], to himself, I do now demand such a Welcome.

I am not Unsensible, that I have by the Importunity of some that have thought much too well of me, been prevailed [Page 27] with to Burden the PRESS, with too ma­ny of my little Composures; but they that understand what a Self-Denial 'tis unto any man of Sense, to become an Au­thor, will rather Pitty me, than Revile me, for the Temptations which must attend all such ways of being Serviceable. And perhaps I have been sometimes Rea­dy to Imbibe the Notion of some Lear­ned and Weighty Divines, That the Glory of the Saints in Heaven receives Additions daily, as their Treatises, or Examples, do, after they are De [...]d and Gone, bring forth fruit unto the praise of God, among these that are left b [...]ind them, Nor is it seldome that I have thought on that sweet word of our Saviour, Herein is my Father Glorify'd, if ye bring forth much Fruit. However, Let not a short Sermon upon the E­vil of DISCONTENT, cause any DIS­CONTENT, in the Minds of my Rea­ders; who will do themselves more Harm than me, I assure them if it should; and I suppose they will here­after see the PRESSES of New England otherwise Employ'd. I do sincerely rec­kon [Page 28] it a great Instance of New-England [...] being Brought very Low that one so very Low as I am, should be [...] any Numbers of my Neighbours counted worthy to be Read. But I hope, that my weary L [...]cu­brations have Earn'd me at least a Re­membrance in the Prayers of those few who have had their Edi [...]c [...]tion at all ser­ve [...] in them.