Decennium luctuosum. An history of remarkable occurrences, in the long war, which New-England hath…

V. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whoso is Wise, may Observe, those Tragical Things undergone by many in Captivity, that are full of Admonition unto us, that have never felt the Tragedies of such a Captivity. Several Hundreds of our Neighbours, first and last, have been carried into Captivity, by the most Beastly and Bloody things that ever wore the Shape of men, in the World. New-England makes that moan, in Lam. 1.18. Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my Sorrow; my Virgins and my Young men are gone into Captivity. But Oh! the prodigious, and stupendous Things, that they have undergone in this Captivity! What weary Days and Nights have rolled over the miserable Captives, while they have not had a ⟨p. 224⟩Bit of Meat allowed 'em, Except what a Dog would hardly meddle with! While they have sometimes been pinched with the Bitter Frost, without Rags to cover their Nakedness, and sometimes been Parched with the Burning Heat, without any Cordial or Shelter to Refresh them: While they have seen their nearest Relations torn in pieces alive before their Eyes, and yet those Eyes afraid of dropping a Tear at the mournful Sight: Yea, while they have every Hour, looked when they should be themselves Roasted alive to make a Feast, and a Sport for the horrid Cannibals! Need I tell you, That those Devils Incarnate, have Tied their Captives unto Trees, and first cutting off their Ears, have made them to Eat their own Ears, and then have broiled their whole Bodies, with slow Fires, dancing the mean while about them, and cutting out Collops of their Flesh, till with lingering Tortures they have Martyred them to Death! Such Things have been done, by the Inhumane Salvages upon our Captives, that it is a sort of Inhumanity barely to mention them. Now, shall we be Wise, to Observe these things? The Observation must be made, with that Admonition, in Luk. 13.4, 5. Think ye, that these were Sinners above all men? I tell you, Nay; but Except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Wherefore, let us penitently Confess, That we have All deserved those Miserable Things, wherewith Some have been so marked out, by ⟨p. 225⟩the Sovereignty of Heaven In the Things that have been done to our Captives, the Great Lord of Hosts hath dealt with us as Generals use to do, upon the Sedition and Mutiny of Military Legions: