B09511:41
The Bostonian Ebenezer. Some historical remarks, on the state of Boston, the chief town…
The Bostonian Ebenezer. Some historical remarks, on the state of Boston, the chief town of New England, and of English America. With some, agreeable methods, for preserving and promoting, the good state of that, as well as any other town, in the like circumstances. / Humbly offered, by a native of Boston.
Boston: printed by B. Green & J. Allen for Samuel Phillips, 1698
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
We are a very Unpardonable Town, if after all the Help which our God ha's given us, we do not ingenuously Enquire, What shall we Render to the Lord, for all His Benefits? Render! Oh! Let us our selves thus answer the Enquiry; Lord, we will Render all possible, and Filial Obedience unto thee, because Hitherto thou hast Helped us: Only do thou also Help us, to Render that Obedience! Mark what I say; If there be so much as one Prayerless House in such a Town as this, 'tis Inexcusable! How Inexcusable then, will be all Flagitious Outrages? There was a Town, ['Twas the Town of Sodom!] that had been wonderfully Saved out of the Hands of their Enemies. But after the Help that God sent unto them, the Town went on to Sin against God, in very prodigious Instances. At last, a provoked God sent a Fire upon the Town, that made it an Eternal Desolation. Ah, Boston, Beware, Beware, left the Sins of Sodom get Footing in thee! And what were the Sins of Sodom? We find in Ezek. 16.49. Behold, This was the Iniquity of Sodom; Pride, Fullness of Bread, and Abundance of Idleness was in her; Neither did she Strengthen the ⟨p. 30⟩Hand of the Poor and the Needy; There was much Oppression there. If you know of any Scandalous Disorders in the Town, do all you can, to Suppress them, and Redress them: And let not those that send their Sons hither from other parts of the world, for to be improved in Virtue, have cause to Complain, That after they came to Boston, they lost, what little Virtue was before Budding in them: That in Boston they grew more Debauched & more Malignant than ever they were before! It was noted concerning the famous Town of Port Royal in Jamaica, which you know, was t'other Day Swallowed up, in a Stupendous Earthquake, that just before the Earthquake the People were Violently and Scandalously set upon going to Fortune-Tellers upon all Occasions: much Notice was taken of this Impiety, generally prevailing among the People: but none of those Wretched Fortune-Tellers could Foresee, or Forestall the direful Catastrophe. I have heard, That there are Fortune-Tellers in this Town, sometimes consulted by some of the Sinful Inhabitants. I wish the Town could be made too Hot for these Dangerous Transgressors. I am sure, the ⟨p. 31⟩preservation of the Town, from horrendous Earthquakes, is one thing that bespeaks, our, Ebenezers; 'Tis from the Merciful Help of our God unto us.