Decennium luctuosum An history of remarkable occurrences, in the long war, which New-England hath…

III. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whose is Wise, may observe, That the very Objects, of our Sins, have been made the very Engines of our Plagues. It is a thing Extraordinarily Observable, though it ordinarily happens; That, In quo quis peccat, in eo punitur; Men are Plagued by those very Things, with which they have Sinn'd. If an Eli omit his Duty towards his Children, it follows, in 1 Sam. 2.33. Those very Children, shall consume thine Eyes, and grieve thine Heart. I am very much mistaken, if our Eyes have not been consumed, and if our Hearts not grieved, by those, to whom we have omitted our Duty Exceedingly. ⟨p. 215⟩The Grand crime of the Jews, was in relation to the Romans, and God made the Romans the Destroyers of the Jews. You will now demand of me, Whether I think, that we are chargeable, with any Crime, relating to the Indians, which have been so bloodily Destroying of us. I must freely tell you, I Think, we are, The old Britons, did not what they should have done, to Convert the Saxons unto Christianity; and when the Britons were afterwards fearfully Destroyed by the Saxons, their famous Countryman Gildas told them, This is the Vengeance of God upon you, because you did no more, for the Conversion of those Miserable Heathen. And I admire, that the English Protestants in Ireland, after such Massacres from the Irish Papists, do no more Effectually make this Reflection. But that which I am now to Reflect upon, is This: Had we done, but half so much as the French Papists have done, to Proselyte the Indians of our East, unto the Christian Faith, instead of being, Snares and Traps unto us, and Scourges in our Sides, and Thorns in our Eyes they would have been, A wall unto us, both by Night and Day. What a Sting was there in those words, which the Indians have used unto some of our Captives, Had the English been as careful to Instruct us, as the French, we had been of your Religion! Indeed, it can Scarce, without an harsh Catechresis, be called, The Christian Faith, which the French Papists have made the ⟨p. 216⟩Salvages to Swallow: But it the Salvages had been Enlightened with The Christian Faith, from us, the French Papists could never have instilled into them those French Poisons, that have made such Raging Devils of them.

III. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whose is Wise, may observe, That the very Objects, of our Sins, have been made the very Engines of our Plagues. It is a thing Extraordinarily Observable, though it ordinarily happens; That, In quo quis peccat, in eo punitur; Men are Plagu'd by those very Things, with which they have Sinn'd. If an Eli omit his Duty towards his Children, it follows, in