N00231:41
Returning unto God the great concernment of a covenant people. Or A sermon preached…
Returning unto God the great concernment of a covenant people. Or A sermon preached to the Second Church in Boston in New-England, March 17. 1679.80. when that church did solemnly and explicitly renew their covenant with God, and one with another. By Increase Mather teacher of that church. ; [Ten lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by John Foster, 1680
Returning unto God the great Concernment of a Covenant People.
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.
And O Congregation, hear the Word of the Lord. We in this Congregation, in a more peculiar manner, have been under solemn and awakening calls from Heaven. When the Vessel was blown up in the harbour five years ago, and several desirable persons lost their lives, what a solemn blow was that. The Lord hath made awful breaches upon us. One of this Church †and a most desirable and useful man, that dyed by the Sword of the Heathen: and some by †the late mortal Contagion, and divers, that by other providences have been taken away from us. God hath thinned our glory. And do we not remember the dismal Fire that was in this part of the Town above three years ago, when this house was most desolate; the house wherein we have been wont to praise the Lord, was burnt with fire; and this Candlestick was then under awful shakings. Some observe, (k)that God useth to move the Candlestick, before he doth quite remove it. Truly, God hath been moving this Candlestick, and I must needs solemnly declare, that it looketh like an ominous sign, that the Lord doth intend at last, to remove and break this Candlestick, if there be not a returning to him. Let us not be high minded, but fear. God can bring it to pass in one day, by one fatal stroke. O then, what cause have we, to say after the Lords people, come, let us Return unto the Lord, he hath torn, He hath smitten. Hos. 6. 1.
And O Congregation, hear the Word of the Lord. We in this Congregation, in a more peculiar manner, have been under solemn and awakening calls from Heaven. When the Vessel was blown up in the harbonr five years agoe, and several desireable persons lost their lives, what a solemn blow was that. The Lord hath made aweful breaches upon us. One of this Church †and a most desireable and useful man, that dyed by the Sword of the Heathen: and some by †the late mortal Contagion, and divers, that by other providences have been taken away from us. God hath thinned our glory. And do we not remember the dismal Fire that was in this part of the Town above three years agoe, when this house was most desolate; the house wherein we have been wont to praise the Lord, was burnt with fire; and this Candlestick was then under aweful shakings. Some observe,