The serviceable man. A discourse made unto the General Court of the Massachusetts colony,…

New-England has had, and still has its Friends, that have laid us under Everlasting obligations; and now God forbid that we should be Ingrateful to any of those worthy ⟨p. 42⟩persons, that have been Exposed for us. Tis Folly as well as Baseness in us, to Discourage any of our Public Servants, by the Ill Treats of Ill Thoughts concerning them. The Services that have been done for this people, by those worthy men that are now Dead and Gone, ought for ever to Live in our Thankful memories. Posterity should know, Who those were that laid the Foundations of our Heaven and our Earth; Who those were that most contributed unto the Good settlement of these Colonies▪ and who those were that have born the Brunt of our Day; but alas, we are so much worse than the old Pharisees, that we even suffer the monuments over their Graves to moulder away without any Reparations; I pray, go find if you can, the Tomb-stones of some Venerable persons to whom New-England owes an Everlasting Remembrance! Even The Families of men that have deserved well should still be Reaping with us, an Harvest of Respect and Kindness, out of all the Service that they did for us in the former Generation▪ David could say concerning a Deserving man, in 2▪ Sam. 9.1▪ Is there yet any left, that I may show him kindness for his Fathers sake? Tis particularly uncomfortable to see how meanly the Families of Deceased Ministers are provided for; ⟨p. 43⟩many an Excellent Minister has been wonderfully Serviceable to a people all his Days; and yet their poor Widows and Orphans are ••st into a more shiftless condition than any of their Neighbours▪ and far from being considered, as once the Excellent Dr. Twisses were; •id not that God, whose Household they peculiarly belong unto, very strangely look after them, they would be Extremely miserable. A Disingenuity which renders us worse than many parts of the Christian world abroad. But if those that are Departed, must be Forgotten, however let not the Public Spirits that are yet Alive among us be Damped by our Ingratitude. Are there any persons whose continual Thoughts are how to make us Good; let us continually have Good Thoughts for Them; even a Pagan Ptolemy, would bestow a more than common Respect upon those, by whose Interpretations the Law of God was conveyed unto him. Are there any men so Generous, as to stand in the Gps of New-England?