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

and it becomes us much more to be Non Conformists unto such other Church Rites therein advised, as were not so much as conceived, until the Man of Sin was born▪ Could I speak with a voice as loud as the Last Trumpet, I should not feat to tell you, The God of our Fathers will blast that Worldly Wisdom which counts it a conveniency for us to Dissemble our Non Conformity to whatever vain Worship, has nothing but the Traditions of men, to be a Warrant for it.

But is there Nothing else to be Done for us? Yea, much more, than the Languishments and Anguishes, which a sharp Sickness has newly cast me unto, have left me strength enough to mention. And some Things to be Done for us, were perhaps not so fit to be mentioned by one, whose profession obliges him chiefly to the Silver Trumpets of the Gospel. Nor will I think, with Cato, That I may not make a Speech, without that Conclusion, Carthage est Delenda; or saying, A Neighbour Country must be subdued.

I shall therefore add no more, but what was required to be Done, in Isa. 37.4. This is a day of Trouble and Rebuke, wherefore Lift up thy prayer. O that the Spirit of Prayer were ⟨p. 55⟩mightily Awakened, in every corner of the Land! If our sinning (as one says) do not make us leave Praying, our praying will make us leave Sinning; and then All is well. We are in a Storm, wherein that call is justly given to us, O awake, and call upon thy God: May we then awake, and be sending up that cry continually, Awake, awake, O Arm of the Lord, for our Help. May our Closets, our Houses, our smaller Meetings, and our greater Congregations, be filled with all sorts of Prayer; and may we with most Ardent Supplications represent the whole case of this Land, unto Him that is the Hope of New-England, and the Saviour thereof in the Time of Trouble! These are the Things to be Done for us.