1. Those sins which have provoked the Lord to remove His Glory from us are not •eformed, nor like to be. Our Iniquities Testify against us to our Faces, and our ⟨p. 76⟩Backslidings are many. That there is a General defection in New-England from Primitive Purity and Piety in many respects, is so plain as that it cannot be denied. All Good men mourn for it, and have often bewailed it on days of Humiliation before the Lord. But wherein is there is a General Reformation in any one Particular? There is not, nor (which is a very sad word to be spoken, and I wish I might forbear expressing it, but I dare not) is there like to be for ought that yet appears. For alas! We seem to be incorrigible. May not the Lord say of us as of His Vineyard of Old. Isa. 5.4. What could have been done more to my Vineyard, that I have not done in it? Has not the Lord brought Lesser Judgments upon us and after that Greater? Has He not withholden the Rain from us, when there was yet Three months to be Harvest, and caused it to Rain upon one Town, and caused it not to Rain upon another? Has he not smitten us with Blasting and with Mildew? And yet we have not returned unto Him! And when these Lesser Judgments would not Reform us, has not the ⟨p. 77⟩Lord been whetting His glittering Sword, and his Hand has taken hold on Greater Judgments? Has he not brought a Sword on New-England, to avenge the Quarrel of His Covenant? Has he not more then once Diminished our ordinary Food? And did he not once, Deliver us to the will of them that hated us, Ezek. 16.27.? And has not God tried in with signal Mercies, that so His Goodness might lead us to Repentance? What Deliverances has He wrought for us? What a gracious Respite has he favoured with? But have we known the things that concern our Peace, i• This our day? Has not the Lord stirred up the hearts of his Messengers, rising early and sending them, who have been lifting up their Voice like a Trumpet, Crying aloud, and not sparing to show unto this People their Transgression, and to New-England their Sins, when they have been met together in respect of the Representative Body of them? And was there not One and Twenty Years ago a Synod, Convened to enquire what are the Evils which have provoked the Lord to write his Displeasure against ⟨p. 78⟩us in Fiery and Bloody Characters, and to propose Expedients for Reformation?
1. Those sins which have provoked the Lord to remove His Glory from us are not •eformed, nor like to be. Our Iniquites Testify against us to our Faces, and our ⟨p. 76⟩Backslidings are many. That there is a General defection in New-England from Primitive Purity and Piety in many respects, is so plain as that it cannot be denied. All Good men mourn for it, and have often bewailed it on dayes of Humiliation before the Lord. But wherein is there is a General Reformation in any one Particular? There is not, nor (which is a very sad word to be spoken, and I wish I might forbear expressing it, but I dare not) is there like to be for ought that yet appears. For alas! We seem to be incorrigible. May not the Lord say of us as of His Vineyard of Old. Isa. 5.4. What could have been done more to my Vineyard, that I have not done in it? Has not the Lord brought Lesser Judgments upon us and after that Greater? Has He not witholden the Rain from us, when there was yet Three months to be Harvest, and caused it to Rain upon one Town, and caused it not to Rain upon another? Has he not smitten us with Blasting and with Mildew? And yet we have not returned unto Him! And when these Lesser Judgments would not Reform us, has not the ⟨p. 77⟩Lord been whetting His glittering Sword, and his Hand has taken hold on Greater Judgments? Has he not brought a Sword on New-England, to avenge the Quarrel of His Covenant? Has he not more then once Diminished our ordinary Food? And did he not once, Deliver us to the will of them that hated us, Ezek. 16.27.? And has not God tried in with signal Mercies, that so His Goodness might lead us to Repentance? What Deliverances has He wrought for us? What a gracious Respite has he favoured with? But have we known the things that concern our Peace, i• This our day? Has not the Lord stirred up the hearts of his Messengers, rising early and sending them, who have been lifting up their Voice like a Trumpet, Crying aloud, and not sparing to shew unto this People their Transgression, and to New-England their Sins, when they have been met together in respect of the Representative Body of them? And was there not One and Twenty Years ago a Synod, Convened to enquire what are the Evils which have provoked the Lord to write his Displeasure against ⟨p. 78⟩us in Fiery and Bloody Characters, and to propose Expedients for Reformation?
