to think, what good to be gott by it? What use to be made of it? That I would sometimes insist on that Enquiry, what do I that no Hypocrite ever did? And many more such things. Sic volvitur Annus. THE COURSE OF MY PUBLIC MINISTRY. 13 d. 12 m. [February.] 1708. I preached, in the Forenoon, (being suddenly putt upon it, and with scarce an Hour's Warning by my Father's Illness,) on 2. Thess. 3. 5. An Heart directed into the Love of God. In the Afternoon (in my Course of handling select Passages, in the first Epistle of John:) on 1. Joh. 4. 8. How God is Love. 20 d. 12 m. I preached, on Prov. 21. 25. The Desire of the Slothful. (Some having Desired a sermon on the Subject.) 24 d. 12 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Isa. 6. 5. The Methods of carrying on a Life of Repentance, as long as we live. 27 d. 12 m. I preached on 1. Joh. 4. 18. How Love brings ust into a fearless Condition. 6 d. 1 m. [March.] 1709. I preached on, 1. Joh. 4. 9. The Love of God in sending His only Son into the World that we may live. (And I administred the Eucharist.) 13 d. 1 m. I preached, on 1. Joh. 5. 3. The Commandments of God not grievous to the Children of God. 20 d. I m. I preached on Prov. 23. 34. The unregenerate Sleeping in a dangerous Condition, and not sensible of it. 24 d. 1 m. Thursday. A General Fast. I preached on Lam. 3. 25. The Goodness of God, unto them that seek Him, and wait for Him. 27 d. 1 m. I preached on, 1. Joh. 5. 4. Overcoming the World. and Inferences to be made, from our knowing ourselves. 10 d. 2 m. I preached, on, 1. Joh. 5. 14. A Beleever praying according to the Will of God, and finding the Answer of his Prayers. (When my Sermon was near three quarters finished, a Fire breaking forth in the Town, broke up the Assembly. When the Assembly returned, after the Fire was conquered, I went on, and preached another Sermon, an extemporaneous Essay, from Job. 20. 26. on that Case, what shall we do, that we may escape the Judgments of God, by Fire consuming our Habitations? Much Notice was taken of this latter Sermon.) 17 d. 2 m. I preached on 1. Joh. 5. 14. and went on, where I left off the last Lord's-day; and added a Discourse on five remarkable Cases, about our making Prayer, and God's Hearing it. 21 d. 2 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Job. 13. 6. That Men ought to hearken to Reason. Applying it unto certain Maxims of Piety. I 1 d. 3 m. [May.] I preached on, 1. Joh. 5. 6. Our Saviour coming under the Advantages, both of Water and of Blood. (And I administred the Eucharist.) 4 d. 3 m. Wednesday. I preached, on a Day of Prayer at Malden, on 1. Joh. 5. 14. And assisted the Flock, in Renewing their Cov enant. 8 d. 3 m. I preached, on Job. 5. 24. That Case, how a good Man should so visit his Habitation, as not to Sin. 15 d. 3 m. I preached, on, Jer. 30. 15. Sin, the Cause of Affliction. (A Time of much Affliction, especially by Sickness, in the Neighbourhood.) 18 d. 3 m. Wednesday. I preached, at the Ordination of a Pastor, in the Church at Malden; on Psal. 147. 2. The Lord Building up Jerusalem. 19 d. 3 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Hos. 6. 1. The Repentance necessary for a wounded People. And applied it unto the great Expedition, which is now forming, for Canada. 22 d. 3 m. I preached, on Ezek. 16. 21. My Children. The Lord owning the Children of His People, as His own Children. (And I baptised my Son, Nathanael.) 29 d. 3 m. in Wickedness. I preached on, 1. Joh. 5. 19. The whole World lying 5 d. 4 m. [June.] I preached, on Rev. 2. 19. Our Lord's knowing, who serves Him, and what Service they do for Him. (On the Death of my dear Friend, Mr. Pierpont, the Pastor of Reading.) 12 d. 4 m. I preached, on 1. Joh. 5. 21. The Idols that endanger us; the Spiritual Idolatry, from which we are to keep ourselves. 16 d. 4 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on, Heb. 1. 13. Our Saviour making His Enemies His Footstool. With relation to the great Expedition against the Idolaters of Canada. 19 d. 4 m. I preached on, Psal. 4. 4. The great Exercise of Communing with our own Hearts. 22 d. 4 m. Wednesday. I preached at Reading, on Rev. 2. 19. where a Fast was kept, for the Death of their Minister and about the Calling of another. 26 d. 4 m. I preached, on 1. Joh. 5. 7. The Testimony given by the three Persons in God, unto the Character, and Religion of our Saviour. (And I administred the Eucharist.) 3 d. 5 m. [July.] I preached, A. M. to the South-Church, on Job. 5. 24. P. M. to the North Church, on Prov. 23. 7. The Character of Men, fetch'd from the Thoughts, which their Hearts are fill'd withal. 10 d. 5 m. I preached on Prov. 1. 32. The Prosperity of ungodly People, thro' their own Foolishness destructive to them. 14 d. 5 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture on Jer. 4. 18. Sin the procuring Cause of Affliction; applying it, to our public Circumstances. 17 d. 5 m. I preached on, Isa. 24. 5. Violations of the everlasting Covenant. Proposing solemn Admonitions, to the many among us, who with too much Formality and Forgetfulness, enter into the Covenant. 24 d. 5 m. I preached, on Rev. 7. 16. The Time, when the People of God, shall not complain of any distressing Heat upon them. (It now being a very hott, faint, sultry Time.) 31 d. 5 m. I preached on, Psal. 25. 1. The main Business of every distressed one, with the Lord; and the main of his Business, to lift up a distressed Soul to the Lord. (Intending if God will, a Course of Sermons on the Psalm, in this Time of many Distresses.) 7 d. 6 m. [August.] I preached on, Jer. 13. 23. The Danger and Mischief, of evil Customes. I concluded with Warnings to our Ethiopians. II d. 6 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture on, 1. Sam. I. 15. 18. Pouring out the Soul to the Lord, the Cure of Sadness. 14 d. 6 m. I preached on, Psal. 25. 2. Acknowledging the Lord as our God, and then Trusting in Him. 21 d. 6 m. I preached on, 1. Joh. 5. 8. The three Witnesses on Earth, to the Truth of Christianity, (And I administred the Eucharist.) 28 d. 6 m. I preached on, Psal. 25. 2. Our being ashamed of Sin; but being delivered from the Shame of disappointed Hopes. 4 d. 7 m. [September.] I preached on Prov. 4. 27. The avoiding of Extremes and Errors on both hands. 8 d. 7 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Prov. 1. 24, 28. Sins retaliated in their Punishments; and the Lord's punishing our Deafness to His Calls, by His being as deaf to our Cries. (Præparatory to a General Fast, the next Week.) II d. 7 m. I preached, A. M. at the Old Church, on Luk. 24. 32. The warning Efficacy, which the Words of Christ may and should have on the Hearts of Men. And P. M. at the North Church, on Psal. 119. 176. The Description of a returning Sinner. 15 d. 7 m. Thursday. A General Fast. I preached on, Psal. 25. 2. The Calamity of being under the Triumphs of our Enemies; and the Way to be delivered from the Calamity, by getting into good Terms with Heaven. 18 d. 7 m. I preached on, Prov. 23. 17. That Sinners are to be (not envied, but) pittied. Several objects of Pitty among them specified. 25 d. 7 m. I preached at Bridgwater, A. M. on Luk. 24. 32. And, P. M. on Jer. 8. 6. 2 d. 8 m. [October.] I preached on Job. 14. 10. The State of Man, (where is he?) after he has given up the Ghost. Several Deaths having happened the last Week in my Neighbourhood. 6 d. 8 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Prov. 14. 14. Sinners (filled with their own Wayes,) having in their very Sins themselves, the Punishment of their Sins. (Occasion'd by strange Things befalling some Sinners among us.) 9 d. 8 m. I preached, on Luk. 24. 32. The warning Efficacy in the Words of our Saviour. 16 d. 8 m. I preached, 1. Joh. 5. 10. The Witness within; the Testimony to the Truth of Christianity, which we have in a work of Grace, within us. (And I administred the Eucharist.) 23 d. 8 m. I preached on, Psal. 25. 3. Prayer for others as well as ourselves; and a concern that others may not be discouraged in Piety by any thing in us; and the Enemies of good Men, without a Cause; and Sinners asham'd, because they are causelessly so. And who are Waiters on God. 30 d. 8 m. I preached on Act. 10. 44. The Holy Spirit falling on the Hearers of the Word, while they are Hearing of it. 3 d. 9 m. [November.] Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Rev. 21. 21. The Street of the City, pure Gold; against Corruptions in the Market-Place. (The General Assembly then sitting.) 6 d. 9 m. I preached on Psal. 25. 4. The Wayes of God; the Wayes that we shall not be ashamed of; and a Desire to be taught those Wayes. 13 d. 9 m. I preached on Gen. 20. 11. The Dangers of Places, in which there is not the Fear of God. 20 d. 9 m. I preached on Psal. 25. 5. Reiterated Prayers, and Knowledge in order to Practice; and the Necessity of being led by God; and the Christian Religion being the Truth of God, and pleading in praying; and Salvation turning on our keeping the Wayes of God; and waiting on Him, all the Day. 24 d. 9 m. Thursday. A public Thanksgiving for the Mercies of the Year. I preached on, I. Sam. 1. 7. She wept and did not eat. That a Sense of Affliction is often an Hindrance to the Work of Thanksgiving; but should not be so. (My Son Nathanael, dying about Noon, made the Discourse in the afternoon, seasonable and observeable.) 27 d. 9 m. I preached, on Ps. 25. 5. How God is the God of our Salvation. I d. 10 m. [December.] Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Jer. 18. 2. The Sovereignty of God; how tis to be acknowledged; particularly in the Condition of our Families. 4 d. 10 m. I preached, on Jam. 1. 27. The Offices of good Neighbourhood; labouring to inspire a Temper of Benignity into the Neighbourhood. The Time of the Year makes it a special Opportunity. II d. 10 m. I preached on Cant. 2. 16. The glorious Priviledge, of an Interest in the only Saviour. (And I administred the Eucharist.) 18 d. 10 m. I preached, on Tit. 2. 14. Our Saviour's giving Himself. 25 d. 10 m. I preached on Psal. 25. 6. The experienced, and everlasting Mercies and Bounties of God; how to be improved for our Encouragement. 29 d. 10 m. Thursday. I preached the Lecture, on Luk. 10. 29. The Duties of good Neighbourhood. 1 d. 11 m. [January.] I preached, on Luk. 13. 8. One Year more of Divine Patience, by Intercession obtained for the Unfruitful. Taking advantage from the Time, (New-Years Day,) to inculcate Instructions of Piety, which it is proper to begin the year withal. 8 d. 11 m. I preached on Tit. 2. 14. Our Saviour's Redeeming us from all Iniquity. 15 d. 11 m. I preached on Psal. 25. 7. The Sins of Youth, what to do, that they may be not remembred, but pardoned. 22 d. 11 m. I preached a second time, on Ps. 25. 7. The Lord gloriously helped me, to bear my Testimonies against the Sins of Youth, which threaten the young People in my Neighbourhood. A vast Assembly of young People, from all Parts of the Town, came |