"Now, 'tis not my Design to lay the Scene of my Discourse, as far off as _Bethcar_, the place where Samuel set up his Ebenezer. I am immediately to Transfer it into the heart of _Boston_, a place where the _Remarkable Help Received from Heaven_, by the People, does loudly call for an Ebenezer. And I do not ask you, to change the Name of the Town, into that of =Help stone=, as there is a Town in _England_ of that Name, which may seem the English of =Ebenezer=; but my _Sermon_ shall be this Day your _Ebenezer_, if you will with a Favorable and Profitable Attention Entertain it. May the Lord Jesus Christ, accept me, and assist me now to _Glorify Him_, in the _Town_, where I drew my First Sinful Breath. A _Town_, whereto I am under Great Obligations, for the Precious Opportunities to _Glorify Him_, which I have quietly enjoy'd therein, for NEAR EIGHTEEN years together. _O my Lord God, Remember me, I pray thee_, and _strengthen me this once, to speak from thee_, unto thy People. "And now, Sirs, That I may set up an EBENEZER among you, there are these Things to be inculcated." "1. Let us Thankfully, and Agreeably, and Particularly, acknowledge what Help we have received from the God of Heaven, in the years that have rolled over us. While the Blessed Apostle Paul, was as it should seem, yet short of being _Threescore_ years old, how affectionately did he set an _Ebenezer_ with the Acknowledgment in Acts 26, 22. _Having obtained Help of God, I continue to this day._ Our Town is now _Threescore and Eight_ years old: and certainly 'tis Time for us, with all possible affection to set up our _Ebenezer_, saying, Having obtained Help from God, the Town is continued, until almost the Age of Man is passed over it. The Town hath indeed Three Elder Sisters in this Colony; but it hath wonderfully outgrown them all; and her Mother, old Boston, in England also; Yea, within a Few Years, after the first settlement it grew to be, _the Metropolis of the whole English America_. Little was _this_ expected, by them that first settled the town, when, for a while, Boston was proverbially called _Lost Town_, for the mean and sad circumstances of it. But, O Boston, it is because thou hast _Obtained help from God_." "There have been several years wherein the Terrible Famine hath Terribly Stared the Town in the Face. We have been brought sometimes unto the Last Meal in the Barrel! But the fear'd Famine has always been kept off." The preacher proceeds,-- "A formidable French squadron hath not shot one Bomb into the midst of Thee;" our Streets have not run Blood and Gore; devouring-flames have not raged. "Boston, 'Tis a marvellous Thing, a Plague has not laid desolate!" "Boston, Thou hast been lifted up to Heaven; there is not a Town upon Earth, which, on some accounts, has more to answer for."