more freely tendered, or more basely despised, among any People under the whole Cope of Heaven, than in this N. E. Seems it at all marvellous unto us, that the Devil should get such footing in our Country? Why, 'tis because the Saviour has been slighted here, perhaps more than any where. The Blessed Lord Jesus Christ has been profering to us, Grace, and Glory, and every good thing, and been alluring of us to Accept of Him, with such Terms as these, Undone Sinner, I am All; Art thou willing that I should be thy All? But, as a proof of that Contempt which this Unbelief has cast upon these proffers, I would seriously ask of the so many Hundreds above a Thousand People within these Walls; which of you all, O how few of you, can indeed say, Christ is mine, and I am his, and he is the Beloved of my Soul? I would only say thus much: When the precious and glorious Jesus, is Entreating of us to Receive Him, in all His Offices, with all His Benefits; the Devil minds what Respect we pay unto that Heavenly Lord; if we Refuse Him that speaks from Heaven, then he that, Comes from Hell, does with a sort of claim set in, and cry out, Lord, since this Wretch is not willing that thou shouldst have him, I pray, let me have him. And thus, by the just vengeance of Heaven, the Devil becomes a Master, a Prince, a God, unto the miserable Unbelievers: but O what are many of them then hurried unto! All of these Evil Things, do I now set before you, as Branded with the Mark of the Devil upon them.
V. With Great Regard, with Great Pity, should we Lay to Heart the Condition of those, who are cast into Affliction, by the Great Wrath of the Devil. There is a Number of our Good Neighbours, and some of them very particularly noted for Goodness and Vertue, of whom we may say, Lord, They are vexed with Devils. Their Tortures being primarily Inflicted on their Spirits, may indeed cause the Impressions thereof upon their Bodies to be the less Durable, tho' rather the more Sensible: but they Endure Horrible Things, and many have been actually Murdered. Hard Censures now bestow'd upon these poor Sufferers, cannot but be very Displeasing unto our Lord, who, as He said, about some that had been Butchered by a Pilate, in Luc. 13.2, 3. Think ye that these were Sinners above others, because they suffered such Things? I tell you No, But except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise Perish: Even so, he now says, Think ye that they who now suffer by the Devil, have been greater Sinners than their Neighbours? No, Do you Repent of your own Sins, Lest the Devil come to fall foul of you, as he has done to them. And if this be so, How Rash a thing would it be, if such of the poor Sufferers, as carry it with a Becoming Piety, Seriousness, and Humiliation under their present Suffering, should be unjustly Censured; or have their very Calamity imputed unto them as a Crime? It is an easie thing, for us to fall into the Fault of, Adding Affliction to the Afflicted, and of, Talking to the Grief of those that are already wounded. Nor can it be wisdom to slight the Dangers of such a Fault. In the mean time, We have no Bowels in us, if we do not Compassionate the Distressed County of Essex, now crying to all these Colonies, Have pity on me, O ye my Friends, Have pity on me, for the Hand of the Lord has Touched me, and the Wrath of the Devil has been therewithal turned upon me. But indeed, if an hearty pity be due to any, I am sure, the Difficulties which attend our Honourable Judges, do demand no Inconsiderable share in that Pity. What a Difficult, what an Arduous Task, have those Worthy Personages now upon their Hands? To carry the Knife so exactly, that on the one side, there may be no Innocent Blood Shed, by too unseeing a Zeal for the Children of Israel; and that on the other side, there may be no Shelter given to those Diabolical Works of Darkness, without the Removal whereof we never shall have Peace; or to those Furies whereof several have kill'd more people perhaps than would serve to make a Village: Hic Labor, Hoc Opus est! O what need have we, to be concerned, that the Sins of our Israel, may not provoke the God of Heaven to leave his Davids, unto a wrong Step, in a matter of such Consequence, as is now before them! Our Disingenuous, Uncharitable, Unchristian Reproaching of such Faithful Men, after all, The Prayers and Supplications, with strong Crying and Tears, with which we are daily plying the Throne of Grace, that they may be kept, from what They Fear, is none of the way for our preventing of what We Fear. Nor all this while, ought our Pity to forget such Accused ones, as call for indeed our most Compassionate Pity, till there be fuller Evidences that they are less worthy of it. If Satan have any where maliciously brought upon the Stage, those that have hitherto had a just and good stock of Reputation, for their just and good Living, among us; If the Evil One have obtained a permission to Appear, in the Figure of such as we have cause to think, have hitherto Abstained, even from the Appearance of Evil: It is in Truth, such an Invasion upon Mankind, as may well Raise an Horror in us all: But, O what Compassions are due to such as may come under such Misrepresentations, of the Great Accuser! Who of us can say, what may be shewn in the Glasses of the Great Lying Spirit? Altho' the Usual Providence of God (we praise Him!) keeps us from such a Mishap; yet where have we an Absolute Promise, that we shall every one always be kept from it? As long as Charity is bound to Think no Evil, it will not Hurt us that are Private Persons, to forbear the Judgment which belongs not unto us. Let it rather be our Wish, May the Lord help them to Learn the Lessons, for which they are now put unto so hard a School.
VI. With a Great Zeal, we should lay hold on the Covenant of God, that we may secure Us and Ours, from the Great Wrath, with which the Devil Rages. Let us come into the Covenant of Grace, and then we shall not be hook'd into a Covenant with the Devil, nor be altogether unfurnished with Armour, against the Wretches that are in that Covenant. The way to come under the Saving Influences of the New Covenant, is, to close with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the All-sufficient Mediator of it: Let us therefore do, that, by Resigning up our selves unto the Saving, Teaching, and Ruling Hands of this Blessed Mediator. Then we shall be, what we read in Jude 1. Preserved in Christ Jesus: That is, as the Destroying Angel, could not meddle with such as had been distinguished, by the Blood of the Passeover on their Houses: Thus the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Sprinkled on our Souls, will Preserve us from the Devil. The Birds of prey (and indeed the Devils most literally in the shape of great Birds!) are flying about. Would we find a Covert from these Vultures? Let us then Hear our Lord Jesus from Heaven Clocquing unto us, O that you would be gathered under my wings! Well; When this is done, Then let us own the Covenant, which we are now come into, by joining our selves to a Particular Church, walking in the Order of the Gospel; at the doing whereof, according to that Covenant of God, We give up Our selves unto the Lord, and in Him unto One Another. While others have had their Names Entred in the Devils Book; let our Names be found in the Church Book, and let us be Written among the Living in Jerusalem. By no means let, Church work sink and fail in the midst of us; but let the Tragical Accidents which now happen, exceedingly Quicken that work. So many of the Rising Generation, utterly forgetting the Errand of our Fathers to build Churches in this Wilderness, and so many of our Cottages being allow'd to Live, where they do not, and perhaps cannot, wait upon God with the Churches of His People; 'tis as likely as any one thing to procure the swarmings of Witch crafts among us. But it becomes us, with a like Ardour, to bring our poor Children with us, as we shall do, when we come our selves, into the Covenant of God. It would break an heart of Stone, to have seen, what I have lately seen; Even poor Children of several Ages, even from seven to twenty, more or less, Confessing their Familiarity with Devils; but at the same time, in Doleful bitter Lamentations, that made a little Pourtraiture of Hell it self, Expostulating with their execrable Parents, for Devoting them to the Devil in their Infancy, and so Entailing of Devillism upon them! Now, as the Psalmist could say, My Zeal hath consumed me, because my Enemies have forgotten thy words: Even so, let the Nefarious wickedness of those that have Explicitly dedicated their Children to the Devil, even with Devilish Symbols, of such a Dedication, Provoke our Zeal to have our Children, Sincerely, Signally, and openly Consecrated unto God; with an Education afterwards assuring and confirming that Consecration.
VII. Let our Prayer go up with great Faith, against the Devil, that comes down in great
