A brief history of the war with the Indians in New-England, from June 24, 1675 (when the first Englishman was murdered by the Indians) to August 12, 1676, when Philip, alias Metacomet, the principal author and beginner of the war, was slain wherein the grounds, beginning, and progress of the war is summarily expressed : together with a serious-exhortation to the inhabitants of that land / by Increase Mather.

October the 7th. This day of Humiliation appointed by the Council, was solemnly observed: Yet attended with awful testimonies of Divine displea∣sure. The very next day after this Fast was agreed upon by those in Civil Authority, was that dismal and fatal blow, when Captain Lothorp and his Company (in all near upon fourscore souls) were slaughtered, whereby the Heathen were wonderfully animated, some of them triumphing and saying, That so great slaughter was never known: And indeed in their Wars, one with another, the like hath rarely been heard of. And that very day when this Fast was kept, three Persons were killed by the Indians near Dover, one of them going from the publick Worship. Also that very day at the close of it, the sad tidings of Springfields Calamity came to us here in Boston. And

inasmuch as this news came at the conclusion of a day of Humiliation, sure∣ly the solemn voice of God to New-England is still as formerly, Praying without Reforming will not do. And now is the day come wherein the Lord is fulnl∣ling the word which himself hath spoken, saying, I will send wild Beasts a∣mong you, which shall rob you of your Children, and destroy your Cattle, and make you few in number, and if you will not be reform'd by these things, I will bring your Sanctuaries to Desolation, and I will not smell the sweet Savor of your Odours. The Providence of God is never to be forgotten, in that Churches have been signally spared for so long a time. Although some Planta∣tions wherein Churches have been settled were in most eminent danger, and the Enemy might easily have swallowed them up, yet God so ordered that they received little or no detriment, when other places were laid utterly waste, the Lord manifesting how loth he was to disgrace the Throne of his Glory, but now he begins with the Sanctuary. As for Springfields misery, it thus came to pass: Whereas there was a body of Indians that lived in a Fort near to that Town of Springfield, and professed nothing but Friendship towards the English; they treacherously brake in upon the Town, when a party of our Souldiers who had been there, were newly gone to Hadly. They killed several, amongst others their Lieutenant Cooper was most persi∣diously Murthered by them, without the least occasion or Provocation gi∣ven. They burnt down to the ground above thirty dwelling-houses; and above twenty out-houses: amongst others, Mr. Pelatiah Glover, Teacher of the Church there, is a great sufferer, his House, and Goods, and Books, and Writings being all consumed in one hour. Nevertheless there was a great mixture of mercy in this dark and dismal dispensation. For God so ordered, as that an Indian who knew what was designed the next day, ran away in the night, and acquainted the English therewith, whence they had time and opportunity to escape to an house that was Fortified; other∣wise in probability the Inhabitants had surely had their lives as well as their dwelling places cut off.