The Bostonian Ebenezer. Some historical remarks, on the state of Boston, the chief town…

I. Let us Thankfully, and Agreeably, and Particularly, Acknowledge What Help we have Received from the God of Heaven, in the years that have Rolled over us• While the Blessed Apostle Paul, was, as it should seem, yet short of being Threescore years old, how affectionately did he set up an Ebenezer, with an Acknowledgement in Act. 26.22. Having obtained Help o• God, I continue to This Day! Our Tow• is now Threescore and Eight years old; an• certainly 'tis Time for us, with all possible affection, to set up our Ebenezer, saying Having obtained Help from God, the Town is continued, until almost the Age of man i• passed over it! The Town hath indeed Three Elder Sisters in this Colony; but i• hath Wonderfully Outgrown them all; an• ⟨p. 7⟩•er Mother, old Boston, in England also; •ea, within a Few years, after the first-settlement, it grew to be, The Metropolis of the whole English America. •ittle was This Expected, by them that First-Settled the Town, when, for a while, Boston, was proverbially called, Lost Town, for the mean and sad Circumstances of it. But, O Boston, it is because thou •ast Obtained Help from God; even from •he Lord Jesus Christ, who, for the sake of His Gospel, Preached and once prized •ere, undertook thy Patronage. When •he World and the Church of God, had •een Twenty six Generations, a Psalm was Composed, wherein that Note occurs with Twenty six Repetitions; His Mercy endu•eth for ever. Truly, there ha's not one year passed over this Town, Ab Urbe Condita, upon the Story whereof, we might not make that Note, our Ebenezer; His Mercy endureth for ever. It ha's been a Town of Great Experiences. There have been several years, wherein the Terrible Famine, hath Terribly Stared the Town in the Face: We have been brought sometimes unto the Last Meal in the Barrel;