The Present State of New-England. Considered in a DISCOURSE On the Necessities and Advantages of a Public Spirit In every MAN; Especially, At such a time as this. Made at the LECTURE in Boston 20. d. 1. m. 1690. Upon the News of an Invasion by bloody INDIANS and FRENCH-MEN, begun upon Us. By Cotton Mathex.
BOSTON Printed by Samuel Green. 1690.
These Reflections on our Present State, Ravished, first from my Thoughts by the Necessities of All; & now from my Hands, by the Importunities of Many; are Most Humbly Dedicated, by Their Sincere Servant,
A Publick Spirit Recommended unto the Inhabitants of NEW-ENGLAND In A SERMON At Boston Lecture. March 20. 1690.
If thou altogether hold thy peace at this time, Thou and thy Fathers House shall be destroyed.
TIS well known, that the late Methods of this weekly and ancient LECTURE, have been, to insist first on the Affairs of a sincere CONVERSION, and then on the Duties of a pious CONVERSATION. Having dispatched the former, we are now entertaining [Page 2] you with our our Discourses and Directions on the latter. And you must Indulge me this Digression, that the fresh News of our Distress and Danger which within this four and twenty Hours arrived unto us, have diverted my Thoughts to That which you may behold this Text pointing at.
I could not altogether hold my peace at this time, without obse ving, that we have as many Duties as we have Objects to be concerned with. But as one of the Objects which we often have before us, is, The People of God placed in very terrible Distress, and Danger; thus among the Duties then expected from us, none of the least Remarkable and Considerable is, The venturing of our All, in the service of that holy People. Such was the Object, and such the Duty which our Text refers unto. The people of God, had their All now just going to be gone, and a great person is here called upon to venture All, for the service of this People that were thus Expiring.
The words now read, are a message sent by a Renowned Mordecai, to the Empress of the World. The whole Book of Esther is a commentary upon one Verse in the seventeenth of Exodus; and that part of it which we are now upon, claims a particular share of the Exposition. But we must Praeface our Discourse upon it, with a few, and but a few, [Page 3] Remarks upon the blessed Mordecai, that we may feel whereabouts we are. Know then that Mordecai was a Famous, an Aged, and an Holy Jew. He had been carried into Captivity, with Jeconiah, above seventy years before. And he Returned to, and Resided at Jerusalem, till the work of the Temple received its unhappy interruption: but then he Retired that he might serve his People in the Court of Ahashuerus (who was also called Artaxerxes) there: A very laudable Example! 'twas the effect and effort of a most noble generosity, in a worthy Man, when his opportunities to Do good were shut up at home, thus to expose himself unto all the Temptations of a Princes Court, that he might there be service, able to the People of God.
But our Mordecai gives a great affront unto one Haman, a Minion in the Court of Persia. That Haman by his Brigues, had obtained from the Persian Emperour, a Commission and Priviledg to require a more than common Reverence from the Courtiers then about the Palace. But this good man found it against his Conscience to take such a notice of such a Miscreant. The scruple arose in him, either from This; That Haman was an Amalekite he was among the Children of that Agog, wh [...] Samuel slew; and so of a Generation both accursed by God, and no less justly that [Page 4] greatly Abhorred by Israel; or which I rather Think, from This, That it was a Divine and Sacred Respect, which Haman did now require. Such was the respect which the haughty and impious Kings of Persia, would sometimes arrogate unto themselves; and they would sometimes impart the same unto their Parasites and Favourites. Had it been a meer civil respect which was here demanded, it would have been very superfluous and well nigh ridiculous to have given express command unto all the Kings Servants that were in the Court concerning it; good manners were doubtless enough used there. Now that a godly Jew should refuse to render such an Honour to a sorry Potsheard of the Earth, is not at to be wondred at, when we call to mind, That even the prudent, but pagan Grecians did refuse it, in their Address to the Persian Monarchs; and the Athenians put one Timocrates to death, for adoring of Darius in such a manner. Such a check was given to the pride of Haman! Now the bloody Revenge of this Hellish Monster prompted him to pursue no meaner a satisfaction for this indignity, than the utter Desolation and Extirpation, of the whole Nation which Mordecai was of: one Lark will not fill the belly of such a Vulture. Besides he saw the whole Nation was of such Principles and Perswasions in Religion, [Page 5] as gave a reproof to his wicked practices; an intolerable Nation was it that would know no God, but the Lord Jehovah, and with whom Creature-Worship was now grown into Detestation: and therefore he procures an order for the total Destruction of all the Jews, to be executed, according to the advice which he sought of the Divel for it, about this time of the year; and I suppose Anno mundi 3485.
Perhaps, the Jews were before this, grown a little too secure and careless: it might fill them with many promises of none but Good Times for them, when they saw one of their own Religion sitting on the Throne. Moreover, The Jews had every where offended the God of Heaven, by neglecting of His Ordinances for the sake of their own Secular Accommodations. But we now all of the sudden see them that were the only people of God in the world, involved in most Awakening and Horrible Calamities; and they have a prospect of Nothing but a Speedy, a present Ruine before their Eyes. 'Twas by something bigger than a Wonder, that the People of God were now preserved!
A Strange Providence had exalted a Kinswoman of Mordecai's, whose Name was Esther, to be the Queen of the Persian Empire; and she must be the Instrument of the preservation. [Page 6] In order hereunto, we find in our Context, a very solemn Message of her Uncle to her; in which we may Contemplate,
First, a Duty. The Duty pressed is, To venture All for the Rescue of them that were the Afflicted People of God. The Thing Enjoined upon Esther was, Go in unto the King, and make Supplication for thy people. This was the only step that could be taken for saving the People of God: but it was one very desperate and perillous. There was a cursed and a crabbed Law among them, which made it capital for any uncalled person to come into the presence of the King, unless it should please His powerful and Soveraign Majesty to Extend His Golden Scepter, as a Token of a Pardon for that presumption. Wherefore now to push into the presence of the King, was to rush more evidently upon the point of a Sharp Sword, than of a Golden Scepter; it was to hazard the Loss of All; not only a Crown, but a Life too must be ventured in it. And the late Carriages of the Emperour unto Esther, could not but increase her Suspicions and Jealousies that his Affections began to be Alienated from her; whi [...]h made the Undertaking yet more Dubious, Dangerous, and Formidable. However, still this was the Charge of the good Mordecai, If All must be ventured, then venture All; when the People of [Page 7] God are perishing, All that we have, is too little to be ventured for their Help.
Secondly, A Reason The Reason is, like a good Sawce made up of Sowre and Sweet. It is made up of Discords, and there is a notable Musick in it.
First, We have Necessity for this venture mentioned. Says Mordecai to his Neece, Think not that thou shalt escape. He speaks to her, as to a Passenger Embark'd in the same Vessel. Says he, Don't think that you shall not share with, and fare like, the rest of the people of God, that are now ready to be swallowed up It was more probable, that the Queen would suffer for being a Jew, than that the Jew should escape for being a Queen. Being a Queen, has been found not enough to put a person beyond the Reach of Malice and Envy; as the Queen of Dioclesian, and the Queen of Navarre, besides nearer instances, have assured us. A Lively venture for the People of God, was once, it seems, the only way to defend a Royal person from every fatal mischief.
But Secondly, We have Encouragement for this Venture tendered Says Mordecai with a Magnanimous Faith. If thou altogether hold thy peace at this time, there shall Enlargement and Deliverance arise from another place. Here was that Faith, by which, as the Apostle notes, the Believers of old, Escaped the Edge of the Sword.
From another place. There are Jewish Rabbins who look upon Place, here to be the Name of God. It has been admired, that the Name of GOD, is no where to be seen in the Book of Esther; and the Jews have a profane and foolish Custome thereupon. But indeed, as the Greeks would write [...].
[...], upon their Books, much more may we see God in every verse, God in every line of this Memorable Book. If the Name of Makom, or, Place be here put upon our God, it is not without a cause: For, All things are in God; He is Immense and Boundless in His Being; we cannot so well say, That God is in the World, as, That the World is in Him; and whether it be proper or no, to say, That God is even in the Imaginary Space beyond the utmost Selvidge of the World, this I am sure of, That the Utmost Selvedge of the World does not limit and confine this infinite God, and the Heaven of Heavens cannot Contain Him. 'Tis therefore suggested here, That when the People of God can have no place of Safety, but are in every place obnoxious to dreadful Persecutions, yet then, in their GOD they will have a place to repair unto. 'Tis possible, That this Glorious PLACE may keep the worst of all their Enemies from coming at them?
But what is the Duty then incumbent upon [Page] our selves. You have heard it in the Text and you shall again hear it, in our Doctrine, thereupon; which is briefly This.
It had been both presumptuous and Injurious to have Exhorted Estther unto doing so, if it had not been a Duty altogether indispensable. The Blessed God, for most wise and great Ends, permits Times of Distress and Danger to come upon His people. That His Attributes may be Magnified, and that both His and Their Adversaries may be prepared for the Vengeance, which belongs unto them, Therefore 'tis that the most High brings His People sometimes into most amazing Exigencies; 'tis for these causes, that they not rarely fall into such Times of Distress and Danger, that like them in the Days of Esther, they Ly mourning and weeping and wailing in Sackcloth and Ashes, before the Lord; and they see themselves no where but upon the prodigious [Page 10] praecipices of Rumes hardly to be avoided.
In such a condition of Affairs (which is too much our own Condition) something must be done; Attempts must be made for the Relief and Rescue, of the People so likely to be cut off. Tho' it becomes us to, Stand still, and see the Salvation of God, I do not know that we are to sit still, without the use of Means under our Discouragements. But these Attempts can't be made without Ventures in them. 'Tis as possible they may miscarry, as that they may be successful. However, we must yet venture hard, and Venture far, yea, and Venture All, to serve the People of God, in their Distress and Danger. If at THIS TIME thou altogether forbear, and refrain, the doing of what may be serviceable to the Distressed People of God, behold with an Holy Terror, the Doom upon that Omission, Thou and thy House shall be destroyed.
We have two Questions before us, to be a little Reflected on.
First, What, And
Secondly, Why, we must Venture for the Distressed People of God.
The first of our Questions, is,
What Ventures are we to make for the People of God, when Distress or Danger calls?
I must make short work of it, and in One Word comprise what is to be said. I say then,
We are to Venture every Thing in the world, but a precious and immortal Soul. So did Esther our Pattern. There is no Jewel, but that one of a never dying Soul, too valuable to be ventured, when God and His People is to be served. The first Lesson, the A. B. C. of Christianity, is that in Mat. 16.24. Let a man Deny himself. We are so to Deny out selves, as to Venture our selves, and All that we Are, and All that we Have, to serve the People of the Saints of the Most High. But because you Look to see some particulars in the Bill of Charges which the Distress & Danger of Gods People, may put upon you, Let me say;
First, We must venture our Quiet, for the People of God. It was the Speech of a Gallant Man, in 2 Sam. 11.11. The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents, and my Lord Joab, and the Servants of my Lord are Encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to Eat and to Drink—I will not do this thing, Well said, thou brave Hero! May we in like manner scorn to Consult the Delights and Pleasures of our own Repose, when the Service of God and His People shall call us forth. Many Pains, many Toyls, and all the uncomfortable Fatigues of Business, must be Encountred, without Reluctancies, when the People of God are to be served; and we should forsake [Page 12] our soft Beds, our full Tables, and our Fine Houses, for the sake thereof. We should engage in the Service of our Generation, tho' there should be two Hankerchiefs which we are thereby necessitated unto the continual wearing of; One to wipe off the Sweat of Labour and another to wipe off the Dirt of Reproach. We may not, for the Love of Ease, decline the doing of what is to be done for the Interest of God, and of His People.
Again, We must venture our Estate for the People of God. It is Recorded for the everlasting Reputation of those well-disposed men, in 2 Cor. 8.2 Their deep Poverty, abounded unto the Riches of Liberali?y, or Simplicity, as it may be rendred. Many persons can do nothing in a way of Service for the People of God, because they say, They are poor. Nay, but our extreamest Poverty should not hinder our Liberality, When God and His People are to be served with what we have: Whatever Simplicity the Wity and Crafty and Gripple Hold-fasts of the World, may imagine in it. We should not grumble at any Expences which the Service of God and His People is to be maintained with; and tho' we have no more than Two Mites to give, we should part with more than One of them, rather than his Interest should meet [Page 12] with any prejudice.
Furthermore, we must venture our Honour for the People of God. It was an Act for which Moses is for ever Honourable, in Heb 11.24, 25. He Refused to be called, The Son of Pharaohs Daughter, choosing rather to suffer Affliction, with the People of God: Tho' we may arise to never so much Grandeur, Dignity, and Preferment, by overlooking the Service of God and His People, we should think Little of the Grandeur, and rather trample upon such Dignity and Preferment. Tho' our Titles may be, Reverend, or Worshipful, or Honourable, and perhaps Rightly so too; nevertheless we should think it no Humiliation to us, that the People of God must be served by us. We are swoln with the vainest Air, if we count our selves too Bigg to do what is bespoke for the Interest of those that we should be Benefactors unto, if we would not unworthily pretend to be Superiours over them.
Moreover, we must venture our Friends for the people of God. The Lord General of Israel had a dear and a kind Brother, to whom nevertheless he said, as in 2 Sam. 10, 11, 12. Be of good Courage, let us play the men for our People: and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good. Tho it be a Brother, yea, and somewhat nearer than a Brother that we must [Page 14] part withal, for the Service of God and His People, yet we must be willing to take our leave of such Rela ions. It was a very commendable Bravery in that Father, who having had six lovely and loving Sons kill'd in the Service of the Public, brought out a seventh, even the Staff of his old Age, unto the Press-Masters, and said Here I have one Son more; take him too; this cause is worth them all. Suppose we have a Benjamin with us, which we dote so much upon, that our Gray hairs do with sad hearts tremble at his departure from us: yet Benjamin too mu t go, if the service of our Joseph, our Jesus have occasion for him. There are many persons, who have brought very bitter, woful, doleful Miseries upon their Children, by detaining them from the Service of Gods People, when some hazard has appeared in it. Let us count the very best of our Friends, never better bestowed, than in such a Service as may be reputed a Friendship to the Interest of God.
All that I have hitherto asked for, is but a Small Venture; there is One more that we are to make.
Finally then, We are to venture our very LIVES for the People of God, when they can't be brought out of Distress and Danger without the venture of our Lives. 'Tis what we are summoned unto in 1 John 3. [Page 15] 16. We ought to lay down our Lives for the Brethren. If an Heathen Pylades and Orestes could not think their Lives too large a price for each others Peace, what Life should be too much to be Sacrificed for the Peace of a People which God counts His own? The Apostle Paul tells us, For a good man one would even dare to Dy and hee saw it when an Aquila and Priscilla were so ready to Dy for him. If a good Person be so valuable, What can then bee too much for a Good People of the Lord? When Adron, when David, beheld a Destroying Evil breaking in upon the People of God, they carried their Lives to keep it off. We are to do what we can for such a People, tho it be with The Jeopardy of our Lives. If we have a call to Ride into the very Bowels of the Earth, for the Service of the Public, we should as He of old, with all Spur and Speed be there. The Service of God and His People should make us to say, as the Martyr once, If every Hair of my Head were a Man, they should all be Sacrificed in this Glorious cause.
These are Ventures that we should none of us be Backward unto. But our Second Question then Enquires.
Briefly, We ow our All unto the People of God. A Minister of God said once unto another, Philem. 19. Thou owest unto me, even thine own self. How much more may the People of God say this unto us all, Thou owest us thy self and thy All; The People of God may call for our All And
First, The Order of God Empowers the People of God, to call for it. We are His by Creation. He has made us and not we our selves. We are His by Redemption. He has Bought us and not for our selves. Our God says unto us, as in 1 Cor. 6.19. Ye are not your own. That which He has done for us, obliges us to say unto Him devoutly what the Prince of old foolishly said unto another, I am thine, and all that I have. Shall I not add, That we are His by Profession too? I pray, which of you dare to say, I have something that God is not the Owner of? We Profess that all we can Style our own, shall be, For Him and not for another; otherwise we ly in our dayly Protestations. We have our All from God. It is, In Him that we Live and Move and have our Being. And shall not our All be For Him too? Well, The God of Heaven has made His People, the Receivers of His Rents, His Dues. They have a Letter of Atturney for it; and you shall see me produce it, before I stirr. It is in Matth. 25.40. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto [Page 17] the least of these my Brethren, (Blessed Lord, Condescendest thou to Style thy poor People so? and shall we count any thing too dear to be Ventured for them!) Ye have done it unto me.
Secondly, The Design of God likewise Empowers them to call for it. All Things are Ordained and Intended by our Good God, for the use of His People; He says in 1 Cor. 3.21. All is yours. And shall we defraud them as to any part of that All? What is it that God allowes us our Life and all the Refreshments and Enjoyments of it for? Tis not that we may have a Tast of a few Sensual Delights; God has not that Regard unto our Sensuality. No, Tis that the People of God may be the better for it; therefore tis that we are made Stewards of our little All. Why, the whole World stands on this very Ground, That the People of God may be Provided for; if there were none of them to be Served the Eternal God, would with swift Lightenings and Hot Thunderbolts, immediately set fire to the Universe. How comes the Greatest King to set upon a Chair of State? It is affirmed of Cyrus, a Puissant Emperour, in Isa. 45.4 For Jacob my Servants sake, and for Israel mine Elect, I have called thee. Much more ought we Little Folks to imagine, that when we have arrived unto any thing of the World, the Almighty God [Page 18] says unto us, Tis for the Sake and the Service of my Israel, that I have Blessed thee. Shall I utter a word beyond any that has yet passed from me? We are then to be Sensible of what we read about our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in Eph. 1.22. God hath put all things under His Feet: What for? It followes, And gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church What a thing is here? It seems that our Lord Jesus is made Heir of all things, and has the Government of the whole World put into His Hands, (in part) that so the People of God may thereby be Served & Saved forever more, And what shall you and I, Little Creatures, then think of all the Advantages which God has put into our Hands! Whom, I pray, Whom are they to be Serviceable to?
Thirdly, The Glory of God, gives them a Concernment in our All. 'Tis the Name worn by the People of God in Isa. 46.13. Israel, my Glory. The Lord our God has more glory from His People, than from all the Visible World besides. Indeed all the Sincere and Active Returns of glory which from the face of the Earth go up unto Him, are among such as these. The Great God is greatly Glorify'd by the prosperity of His People, They Know Him, They Love Him, They Praise Him, while Prosperity gives them Opportunity so to do; and as 'tis said in Psal, [Page 19] 102.16. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His Glory. The Glory of God is promoted, when the Zion of God is Defended, Enlarged, Served. And what should we Dedicate and Consecrate our All unto, but the Glory of Him that is God over All? 'Tis said, Eat and Drink unto the Glory of God; every Bit of Meat, every Drop of Drink, that we have; and whatever is reckoned in our All, may be devoted unto the Glory of God. If so, it must go to the Service of His People too.
Lastly, The Wrong we have done to the People of God, Enables them to Demand our All. What is it that brings Distress or Danger upon the People of God? It is, Our Sin. We, by our Sins have had an Hand in all the Inconveniencies, which put the People of God upon calling for our Help? How shall we then repair this Wrong, but by profering our All, to bring them out of their Distressed Plight? Hence came that carriage of David, in 2 Sam 24.17. He said, [...] have sinned; but these Sheep, what have they done? Let thy Hand, I pray thee, be against m. Even so should an holy Ingenuity prompt us to think with our selves; 'Tis we th [...] [...] sinned, and for our Sins, there are Storms [...] [...]es now threatning the People of God; O let them all be spared, and let my All go towards the Redeeming [Page 20] of them. This was that which poured Oyl into the Flame of that Zeal which Paul was once inspired with; He could say, I was once Injurious! and this made him with a scarce imitable Diligence and Faithfulness, now lay out His All, to serve the People of God, who had heretofore been worse for his Misdemeanours.
But the Improvement of these things remains. And it shall be in these Deductions.
Deduction I.
Hence, a private Spirit, especially at a Time of much Distress and Danger with the People of God, is an evil much to be Rebuked. For us to see the People of God gasping, bleeding, dying under Difficulties, and yet, At this Time altogether to hold our peace! O 'tis a most unaccountable Baseness; and the mouth of our God hath stigmatized it with the characters of most horrible Woes; as in Amos 6.6. Wo to them, that are not grieved for the Affil [...] ction of Joseph! I lay down these two Assertions.
First, At All Times we should Employ our All for the People of God It should be our Ambition to be as the Blessed Bradford was, Always doing of Good with Tongues, or Pen, or Purse, or some other way. Most amiable was the Meditation, which David was treating himself withal, in 2 Sam. 7:2. He sits down [Page 21] in his House, and thinks. What shall I do for the House of my God? That Enquiry, What Service may I do for the Church of God? should often be Rolled in our Minds; and it will be so, if we do not too much countenance a Spiritual Barrenness in our Lives. The Church of God, is well worth our Serving; next unto the Man Christ Jesus, it is the Noblest Creature that ever was formed by the powerful and Curious Hand of the Great God that formed all things. There is not an Angel in Heaven, but what would g adly wait upon the smallest and poorest Member in the Church-Mystical; even so, the Little Ones have their Angels. Yea, our Mighty Saviour Himself, counted the very Blood of God, and Life of God a fit Ransome for the Salvation of of the Church; and shall not we then reckon the Church and People of God a fit subject for the best of our sorry Services? But I pass on to say,
Secondly, In Times of much Distress and Danger with the People of God, we are then especially to Venture our All on their behalf. We are at this Time to speak yea, and Act for them, Let the Venture Look never so big and black upon us.
Indeed, This is not the Spirit of every man; Too, too many are of a private, Selfish, Narrow Spirit, and are scandalously Little in their [Page 22] Inclinations. 'Tis pitty but some Odious Comparison should be excogitated for them. Will they Venture All? No, they study for nothing but to Save One: And if God have Raised up some Extraordinary Person, to Venture His All, for the Deliverance of His Afflicted Countrey, perhaps all the Thanks that they give him is, Who bid him do it? Will they Venture All? No, They Refuse All, or at least they Begrutch All, that should go from them, for the publick Weal. They Complain of All, and Murmur at All, tho' it be a wretched Little, which they are Compell'd unto, for the common Safety. Will they Venture All? No, They use all their Wits and all their Thoughts to Contrive, how to Do nothing at all; and tho' they can spend many Pounds in a year upon a pernicious Lust, yet a Summe not capable of so High a Denomination exacted by a Reasonable Tax, is with them an Oppression which (because they are far from Wise) does make them Mad. What would they be at? They would not care tho' the Houses of their Neighbours were Burnt, if their own Apples might be Roasted at the Flame. What would they have? They subordinate their All, to this mighty Thing, that they may sleep like the Toad, (I have now found a comparison for them!) with Claws full of the Dust which [Page 23] is in the Belly of the Earth. There is this Detestable Neutrality in multitudes of men; that Let the People of God sink, or swim, 'tis all one to them, Modo hic sit bene, (as he said) if their own Earthly Pleasures be not thereby Abated.
Alas, For this Private Spirit! It is this that has a more Dismal Aspect upon our own Land, than all the other things that Bode ill unto us. We read in 2 Tim. 3.1, 2. In tho last Days Perillous Times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves. I krow a Countrey in the World, that can afford many Effectual Expositors upon that memorable Text. God grant that the last Dayes of New-England may not now be Running; tis too Evident, that we have most Perillous Times, and, I wish it were not as Evident, that men are too generally Lovers of their own selves.
To Sharpen the Rebukes that are due to such an Evel Spirit.
Consider. 1.
By a Private Spirit no man proves a Real Gainer in the end. Men think to Save by such a Self Consultation; but they Loose Egregiously and very Miserably: as tis said in Math 16.24. Whosoever will save his Life shall loose it. The men of a Private Spirit are loosers, even in this World. The allwise God has uncountable wayes to Deprive and Bereave [Page 24] men of those very things, which a Private Spirit was resolved upon the Retaining of. The men of Succoth and Penuel, would do nothing for Supporting the Army that was going against the Midianites. No, said they Let such and such Towns bear all the Charges, if they will: But you forget not the Destruction that soon overtook them for it. The Citizens of Constantinople were so Coveteous, that they would not maintain a Watch on the Walls of their City when it was besieged; the beseigers by that Def ct soon became the Possessors of their wealth and found Vast-Coffers of it, hoarded up. This Private Spirit renders men Obnoxious to the te rible Displeasure of an Holy and an Angry God; and what Security can they have against the Desolating strokes of That? When 'twas Judged that some of the Provinces in Israel were breaking off from the Rest, and setting up for themselves, and intending no more to bear the Name of The united Colonies; What said the man of God unto them, in Numb. 32 23. Behold, yee have Sinned against the Lord; and be sure your Sin will find you out. It was a Note in a great Song, Judg. 5.23. Curse yee Meroz, said the Angel of the Lord, Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof. Why, what had they done, that the Bitter waters of Jealousy and Consumption must in this large Quantity [Page 25] be got ready for them? How many Men had they kill'd? and how many Towns had they burn'd? Alas, There is nothing of all th [...], their Fault was this, Because they came not unto the Help of the Lord, against the Mighty. If all the Angels in the Heaven, can make a private Spirit prove a cursed One, and inflict a Blast upon those whom 'tis prevailing in, it shall be done!
Yea, and they shall in the other World be Losers too. Who are those that shall perish for ever? Why, They are the Men that can't Venture. We find, in Rev. 21.8. The Fearful, to be the First in the Roll of them that shall go into the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone; they that were for bringing up the Rear in all Services here, must Lead the Van in the Sufferings of the Pit below. Our Everlasting Recompences will be very much adjusted, by the Regards which we had for the Flocks of the Lord Jesus here. 'Tis an awful Scripture, in Isa. 60.12. The Nation and Kingdom, that will not serve thee (the people of God) shall perish. If a Nation, a Kingdom, How much more must the Unserviceable Person Look to be served so?
Consider 2.
A private Spirit, is very far from a Christian Spirit. It was the great Rule of the Primitive Christianity, in 1 Cor. 10.24. Let no [Page 26] man seek his own, but every man Anothers Wealth. It was the Spirit of Christ, in 2 Cor. [...] 9 Tho' he was Rich, yet for your sakes, He became Poor. But of what Spirit then are they, that cannot part with any Riches for the Benefit of their Neighbourhood? It was the Spirit of Paul, in Rom. 9.3. I could wish that my self were Accursed from Christ, for my Brethren. What Spirit are they then of, that cannot bear to see themselves a jot the poorer or the Meaner for their Brethren? In the Primitive Jerusal [...]m, they had, All things in Common. And a Readiness to Communicate is but agreeable to all the Children of that First Christian Church, which was, The Mother of us all. Are we Members of that Body, which the People of God make up, or no? If we are, we shall be, Concerned for the whole. A Good Man will say, as he in Ps. 1 [...]2.8. For my Brethren and Companions sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee. When he Looks upon the People of God, he thinks, These are my Brethren, they and I have the same Father; He also thinks, These are my Companions, I hope to dwell with them throughout Eternal Ages. Hereupon, he can do any thing for them, and feels his Heart within him knit unto them, as Davids was to Jonathan. This is indeed the Mark, the Sign, which a true Child of God may be known withal; [Page 27] as in 1 John 3.14. We know that we have passed from Death unto Life, because we Lo [...] the Brethren. We are yet in a state of De [...], if we count any thing too much for the Service of God and of His People.
Deduction. II.
How Sinful, How Woful, How Wicked then are They, that will not forego, what is worse then Nothing, to Serve the people of God! If we are to Venture All, what are they who will not Forego Sin, which is worse than Nothing that the people of God may not thereby be Ruined? If we are to Venture a Life, Surely, we are much more to give up a Lust, when the Service of Gods people call us thereunto. We are then, to do, as in Math. 5.29. Pluck out a Right eye, and Cut off a Right Hand which has been Anathematiz'd by the word of God. Let this word reach all the Lewd and Wild Sinners, which it belongs unto. To you be this now declared; The best Service that you can do for the People of God, is, To Forsake your Wicked wayes, and your Unjust Thoughts, and Return unto the Lord. Most Obdurate, Wretched, Bloody Sinners are you, if you had rather see this Whole People destroyed, than that a Mortification should befal one of your Delicate and Beloved Sins. I am to tell you, That this is the Language of your [Page 28] Impenitency, and Blush you not? When the Roman Emperour uppraided his General Terrentius, for the Loosing of a Battel, he reply'd Sir, I must tell you, that it is you that lost the Day for us, by your open Fighting against the God of Heaven as you do. This may duely be cast in the Teeth of all the Bad Livers in this Place. You that Live without the fear of God, You that Live after a Prayerless and Careless and Profane rate, not haveing the Fear of God before your Eyes: You are those that every Day do the things, For which the Wrath of God comes. This people of God is now in such Distress and Danger as it never saw before; and I ask not your leave to tell you, That you are the Authors of it all. Tis You, that bring whole Armyes of Indians and Gallic Blood Hounds in upon us; tis you that clog all our Councels with such Delay and Slowness, as terrifies us in our most Rational Expectations. You are perhaps the most Querimonious, and Outragious of all People, in your Discontents, Why, but your unsubdued Sins are those which breed all our Discontents. These, They are the Accursed Things, which make you the Achans of the whole Congregation. You often ask, What Newes? and long to hear of, All Peace. But I say, What Peace as long as your Notorious and allowed Abominations are Continued? Let Them go, [Page 29] and All will be Peace in a Little while.
I use the m [...]re freedome in this Reprehension, as being able to back it, with a great Authority. The Honourable General Chart of this Colony, have newly Published a very Serious and Solemn Proclamation, warning all Offendors against the Lawes of Sobriety, to mend their manners, and all Officers to Prosecute such offendors, as the principal Troublers of their Countrey; and, Advertising us, that if a Reformation be not Endeavoured, the Righteous God will Punish us yet seven Times for our Iniqu ties. O Happy, thrice and four times Happy New-England that is under the Protection of such a Government. Well, Now take this Warning, ye Sinners in Zion; be Warned into a true Repentance. To Slight such a Warning from the meanest person in the World, were a Dangerous Unreproveableness; but when such a Warnsng is given by a Father, it has a particular Stamp of God upon it, and Wo to those that shall be Disobedient thereunto. It is related concerning the Sons of Eli, They hearkened not to the Voice of their Father, because the Lord would slay them.
Behold the Fathers of this Country, have been Warning all Bad-livers, That if They don't Repent, We must perish: if you now show your selves Refractory in your provoking [Page 30] Evils, what will the Issue be, but this, They hearkened not unto the voice of their Fathers because God would make a terrible Slaughter of Them, and of all their unhappy Neighbours? The Word of our God unto us all, is, that in Jer. 18.11. Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a Device against you; Return Ye Now every one from his Evil Way. O that this Counsel of God might be Acceptable to us. I would a little alter the Terms of my Text, and say, If thou altogether hold thy Sin, at this Time, thou shalt be destroyed for it.
Deduction III.
But how lamentable then is the Condition of Them, that venture their All, against the People of God! Such Fools there are in the World; malicious and prodigious Fools indeed! Such an One was that Fool-hardy Monarch, the King of Egypt, that would Venture His All, into the very bottom of the Red-sea, rather than leave the people of God unpursued. How many are there, that will venture their very All, for the Disturbing and Oppressing of them, concerning whom the God of Heaven said, Long ago, Touch them not; Do them no Harm! But what get they by this Bargain, this Phrensy? It was the Speech of God, in Zech. 12.2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a Cup of Trembling. [Page 31] Truly, Every Drop of Blood, yea; or of Tear Squeezed from the Abused people of God, proves a Cup of Trembling, that is, a Cup of Poison, to the procurers of it; It makes them at Length to Vomit, their very Bowels up. To hurt the people of God, what is it, but, A Pushing hard against a great Stone? it gives Rubs and Wounds and an horrible Death to the Invaders. All the Four Monarchies of the World, have Tumbled into Confusion, for their Enmity, to that People, who are yet to make the Fifth. To seek the Harm of this people, is to make an Impotent Assault and Batt'ry upon the Omnipotent God Himself: but, Wo did ever harden himself against God and prosper? Poor, Unworthy, Unthankful New-England, has long had Experience of such Disappointments befalling of its Venturesome Enemies. It was noted about the Piccardines of old, that Reforming people of God, If a man be Weary of his Life, let him become an Enemy to the Piccardines. This has been the Fate attending those whome the people of God, (and This people) have been an Ey-sore unto. The great God has taken them in hand and made them find the Risque of their very Lives in their Serpentine Enmity.
Deduction. IV.
For a close; May such a Public Spirit then be Awakened in us All for the people of God, in the [Page 32] Distress and Danger which is now upon us.
The last Evening fill'd us with new Alarms of an Attack from New France upon this poor land; which was before involved in Calamities that astonish'd us. I ask your pardon, that the Sudden Impression of those Newes upon me, has been so violent, as to force my (tis possible, Too Rash) Thoughts thus to another Theme than that which I had been preparing for you. But, as the most of those places which the Devastations of the last year fell upon, were the more Pagan Skirts of New-England, where no Minister of God was countenanced; and that very place which is just now Assaulted and Consumed, has had upon it the Infamy of a most Heathenish Disrespect unto a Ministry; so, on the other side, I cannot speak in any Assembly, where a Preacher of the Gospel may hope for a more Candid and Courteous Acceptance, than in the Numerous Auditory now before me.
Wherefore, I take leave to mind you, of what, I suppose every man can Tell me; That is, That we may all sit and Sigh this Day, th [...] clause in Neh. 9.37. We are in great Distress. And, as the Orator once could say, Non est civis Romanus, qui in hac Tempestate Ridere potest; He is no Roman, that can be merry at such a Time as this. Thus may I truly say, He is no New-Englander (not [Page 33] worthy of the Name) who at such a Time as this, will not Venture his All, for this Afflicted people of God. God forbid, that the Description of the New-Englandmen, should at any Time, and much more at This, be That in Phil. 2.21. All seek their own. We have at this Time, a great Service to be done for their Majesties: K. William, and Q. Mary, whome God grant long to Reign; and this, not only by Securing their Interest in this large Territory, and Consequently in all America, but also by making a brisk Salley forth upon the French Territories, which must else be a Perpetual obstacle to the Thriving of these Plantations. The Service of their Majesties in the former of these was the cause of the Revolutions here almost a year a goe; we are now invited unto their Service in the latter of them, notwithstanding that the Dissensions that have been sown among us by the Reliques of our late Oppressors have so much enfeebled us. But that which will make my Application unto you at this time, yet more Pungent, is, That we are undone if we do not now venture our All.
Consider 1.
We are Precipitated into such Destress and Danger, as we have never seen before; Nothing so Exquisite has hitherto befallen us. Our cause indeed is That, in Math. 3.10. [Page 34] The Ax is laid unto the Roots of the Trees. The Knife of our God ha's been heretofore cutting and Pruning of us, but either Ill Fruit, or No Fruit is the Best Fruit which we have hitherto yielded unto that glorious Husband-man. Wherefore He is now come forth against us, with an Ax, a French ax, accompanied with Indian Hatchets; and our very Root is like to receive the strokes thereof. Tis wonderful if the Sentence upon the Barren Fig-tree, be not pass'd upon us, Cut them down! with an eye to the Execution of that Sentence upon the Jewes, we find mentioned, in Isai. 66 6. A Voice from the City, a Voice from the Temple, a Voice of the Lord. Even so, at this Time, there is a Voice coming from almost every side of us; there is a Voice from the North, a Voice from the East, a Voice from the West; a Voice, as Loud as that in the Heavens, which gave Terrour to all this Land a few Months ago. What says this Voice, but this, They are going to be Cut down for ever. This is the Voice of the Combinations, which our Adversaries have made against us; this is the Voice of the strange Distractions and Divisions which the Quarrel-some among our selves do infest us withall; and this is the Voice of all our Fears. Every thing looks Black. For my own part, I freely confess, what issue my own Thoughts are come unto: Tis, That if [Page 35] the Blessed God intend that the Divel shall keep America during the Happy Chiliad which His Church is now very quickly Entring into, (I say, very quickly, for tis now past Question with me, That the Second Wo is past; and the Third you know then Cometh quickly) then our Lord Jesus will within a few Months break up House among us, and we go for our Lodging either to Heaven or to Europe in a very little while. But if our God will wrest America out of the Hands of its old Land-Lord, Satan, and give these utmost ends of the Earth to our Lord Jesus, than our present conflicts will shortly be blown over, and something better than, A Golden Age, will arrive to this place, and this perhaps before all of our First Planters are fallen a sleep. Now, Tis a dismal Uncertainty and Ambiguity that we see ourselves placed in. Briefly, such is our case, That something must be done out of hand. And indeed, our All is at the Stake; we are beset with a Thousand Perplexities and Entanglements. The Question which we have now before us, in short is This, Whether we will venture All, with an Hope to Preserve All, or Whether we will keep All, with an Assurance to Loose All, by doing so.
Consider 2.
Tis a Precious People of God, which the [Page 36] present Exigencies press us to the Serving of. The people which has a Little while possessed this Land may say before the Lord, as they in Isa. 63.19. Lord We are thine. A Venture of your All, is bespoke for a people that are in Covenant with God, and under a Comfortable Relation to Him. Tis for a People that the God of Heaven has heretofore miraculously appeared for: A People which have proportionably more of God among them than any part of mankind beside. A People who concur in, and Suffer for, that Protestation, The Lord is our King, our Lord, our Law-giver. Who would not Serve such at People? It was an Expression used once by a most hearty Servant of New-England, (the Honourable William Stoughton) to a very gerat Assembly, God Sifted Three Nations, that He might bring choice Grain into this Wilderness. The Product of that choice Grain, is that which now calls for our Adventures. If New-England miscarry, there will then fall some Thousands of People that Love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity, and that are affectionately Acknowledging of Him in all their ways. But if Things go well with New-England, there will Myriads of Praises be continually going up from hence unto the God of our Fathers. Our God will be Praised here, for our Deliverances, yea, [Page 37] shall I say it? He will be Praised for it in the Third Heaven too. as it was said, in Rev. 18.20. Rejoyce over her, thou Heaven. If Heaven will Rejoice at the Destruction of Antichrist, it will also Rejoice at the Deliverance of New-England, which tho it be in the same Latitude with Italy, is yet among the Sincerest of its Antipodes. In the Day when poor New-England shall be delivered from its present Extremities, Then, Rejoyce over her, thou Heaven. Doubtless, There will Tidings be carried unto Heaven of it; and it may be particularly notify'd unto those good old men that went from hence to those Blessed Regions. Our Predecessors which are gone to the Spirits of just men made perfect, may hear what a Deliverance God has wrought for their poor Children here; and Heaven will then Ring with Triumphant Praises to the great Saviour of New-England, who can withold his All from the Service of such a People? Me thinks, I should say as the Martyr once, A loss, That I have but one Life to loose! Tis Immanuels Land that we Venture for. The Almost only Garden which our Lord Jesus has in the vast continent of America, has the wild Boars of the Wilderness trying to get into it; and That is it which now calls for our Venture of our All.
The Psalmist could say, in Psal. 122. [...]. Because of the House of the Lord our God, I will seek thy Good. Why, There is among us, The House of the Lord our God. And this is indeed the Real Cause, of our having been so maligned, hated, vexed, as we have been. The Devils are stark mad, that the House of the Lord our God, is come into these Remote corners of the World; and they fume, they fret prodigiously, That some of their old Vassals and Bondslaves here, begin to pray unto the Almighty God. Hence, 'tis, that we were not only of late got into the clutches of Rulers, That swore by the Living God, they would Ruine our Churches; but upon our Deliverance from Them, there is now falling upon us an Armed Force, which arm at our total Extirpation. The Controversy between Us and Them is now brought unto that Narrow, in Exod. 32.26. Who is on the Lords side? Even so, Who is for Jesus, against Satan, and, who is for the true Christian, Protestant Religion, against Popery and Paganism? You must now venture for one of those. Take your choice my dear Country, men; but there is no room to be Indifferent.
Consider 3.
How Much is ventured by how Many, Against the People of God? This was That which the Psalmist was not a little quickned [Page 39] with; in Psal. 119.139. My zeal hath consumed me, because my Enemies have forgotten thy words. Look upon our Enemies; they endure all sorts of Travel and Hardship; they venture their All, that they may do a misehief to us; and shall we venture Nothing on the other side? If an Haman can disburse, above eighteen hundred thousand pounds, if I miscount it not, that he might bring an horrid Rout upon the People of God; and shall an Esther now, altogether hold her peace? Or shall we hug our Dust so fast as to let go none of it for the Deliverance of this people? There are Tumultuous and Obstreperous persons (such Haman signifies in English) who stick at nothing for the mischief of this people; & shall we stick at any thing for their Service? Men will Expose themselves to Beggary, to Discredit, to untimely Death, and to Eternal Damnation, that they may compass their Mischievous Devices; very shameful will be our Crime, if we out-do them not in Studies for the Good of our Israel.
I have no more now to do, but only to make you these five proposals.
The first Proposal.
Let us be One and All, that we may the more chearfully and Readily Venture our All. Alas, For the Divisions of New-England, we have great Searchings of Heart!
The Great Austin would sometimes address his Hearers in such pathetical Terms as those, per tromendum Dei Judicium vos Adjuro' Thus would I say; and tho' I have no Commission from them for it, yet I would speak it in the Name of all the Sensible persons in the Land; O our Brethren, We Adjure you by the Tremendous Judgments of God, that you immediately Abate and Compose all your Differences. Every Globule of the Blood shed by the French among the Contentious Albanians t'other day, makes a loud cry unto us; and methinks, I hear that cry like the Groans of Deadly wounded Men, passing over the Woods unto us, O do not quarrel any more; but unite immediately against your more united Enemies. May this people become, Like a Bundle of Arrows bound a little too fast and close, for the strongest Arm to break us; and may our God say of New-England, as in Cant. 6.9. My Dove, my Undefiled, is but One. What a sickly, yea, what a Rotten Body have we, if our Flesh Rankle and Fester for a meer scratch of a Pin? We have been giving our little scratches to one another, while we have been managing the Debates, that the unsettlement of our Government has furnished us withal; but what? Shall they turn into Gangrenes with us? It is an awful Intimation and Admonition, in Job. 19.29. Wrath brings the punishments [Page 41] of the Sword. Are we not now Languishing under the Fulfilments of that word? we have had wrath among us; all our Affairs have been Enflamed by wrath one against another; and because of this, Behold, a Sword, a Sword is furbished for the Slaughter. Have done then, with all this wrath. Methinks, the Bell Rings very loud, that calls upon us, to put out all our Fires! When the poor Spanards at Lima t'other day, felt the beginnings of an hideous Earthquake round about them, one of the first things in their agonies was, To make Reconciliations. May our Heart quake at this Day, put us upon doing so. Let us, in short, sacrifice all but Conscience, to peace among our selves Even, the Law it self, notwithstanding the Exact Regard which ought to be had unto it, I say, the Law it self in some Circumstances and Punctilio's, gives way to the publick safety, which is the supream Law of all It was against Law, for Esther to venture upon what she did: but it could not be avoided, or Omitted. How much more, must our Will, and Humour, and Passion give way to the Good of the whole? My Brethren, The Canaanite and the Perizzite, is coming into the Land; and therefore I accost you in those words of Abraham, Gen. 13.8. Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between Me, and Thee; for we are Brethren.
The Second Proposal.
Let Mordecai have the Dispose of Us & our All. Our God has blessed this People with Prudent, Patient, Pious RULERS, to whom there belongs that Character of Mordecai in Esther 10.3. Seeking the Welfare of his Brethren and speaking peace to all his Seed. It is pu [...]ely thro' our Fault, if the Rest of His Character be not Theirs also, Accepted of the Multitude of his Brethren. Let These be so acknowledged, Obeyed, as they ought to be. The Disrespect cast upon Government, has been the thing that has made naked those parts of the Country which most of our Disasters have Light upon and those Troublesome and Implacable persons that seek to Enfeeble the Authority into an incapacity of Action at such a time as this, are to be stigmatized as Men far from seeking the Welfare of the Children of Israel. Nor can any thing be more Ill-boding to Ʋs & our All, than the cursed Murmurings, which the Almighty God hears in our Tents from Day to Day. Instead of praying to God for the Direction of our Government, at this Extraordinary time, we spend our time in Fretting and Railing at them; Nothing they do can please.
And tho' I believe there is not such a well intending nor a better deserving Government in this world, than that which New-England [Page 43] now sits under the shadow of, nevertheless, what is the whole business of many people, but a making (I cannot say, finding) faults in their administrations: 'tis not at all admirable to me, I tell you truly, I do not at all admire at it; that the Fiery Scorpions of Canada, are now stinging of a Congregation thus Distempered.
But I pray, Are we not all in a Storm? And have not our own Votes placed at the Helm, those worthy persons, that are in this Juncture at it? What? would Every man think to Steer the Vessel? I can tell you, That you would soon bee weary of it. Nothing but a measure of Grace, which I doubt you are not furnish'd with, would Enable you to undergo the Fatigues of so great a Slavery. Pray, mind the Business of your own Station; Pull the Ropes, Ply the Oars, and the Sails, as you are Commanded; but leave the Helm, where tis managed by those that can have no other Interest, but what is yours.
I know not whether we have never been too like Issachar, for any other Quality; but I would we were like Issachar for that in 1 Chron. 12.22. they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; and All their Brethren were at their commandment. It the Members fall out [Page 44] with the Vitals, the old Romans story tells you, the unhappy issue of it.
The Third Proposal.
Let our All in this World, be very Little in our opinion of it. The World, The World, it is truly a most Bewitching thing; and the Love of it, will be a Root of all Evil to us But, is not the Spell over, is not the Charm broken yet? Methinks, the Enchantment should be Dissolved by the other Devils, that are coming to take This away. May we become Like Strangers in the World? We shall be as ready to dispose well of our All, as the Psalmist was, who could say, in Psal 39 6, 12, They are disquieted in vain, who heap up Riches, and know not who shall gather them. Why, how came Riches to be so Little regarded with him? It follows, I am a Stranger with thee, and a Sojourner. When we Look upon our Earthly All, think we, I shall quickly be gone from it All, and think, I can do well enough without it All; this will encline us to make Right Ventures of our All. The Dutch have a saying, which ought to find a Room with us, He that hath Lost his Mony, hath Lost Nothing; He that hath lost his Credit, has lost Half; but he only that hath lost his Soul, hath lost All. O make sure of a better, an Higher, a Nobler All, than what our Earth affords; We shall then be Like those, of whom 'twas said in Heb 10 34. Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your Goods, knowing in your selves, that you in Heaven have a better and an Enduring Substance. If we venture all our Goods, yet still we shall have Heaven Left: Heaven is, The good part which cannot be taken away. Make sure of Heaven, and you may stand upon the Ruines of the World, with such Expressions as the Minister of Nola had, when he was Rifled of All he had; Lord, I am not concerned about these things, for thou knowest (said he, pointing to the Heavens) that my All is there! Souls get into Christ, and the Romish Eagles will do us no Hurt; [Page 45] when we are gathered into the shadow of His Blessed and Saving Wings
The Fourth Proposal.
Let us not Lose our Time, that we may not Lose our All, when we venture All We may say, with a speci [...] [...]gard unto This Time, as in Eph. 5 15. Redeem the [...] because the Days are Evil. Every thing loudly calls upon us, Make haste. It was a wonder, that All was [...] Lost; when, as in Judg. 5.16, 17. Some Abode a [...]ng the Sheep-folde, and others were intent upon Trading and Shipping, tho' the Canaanites were upon their Backs. Common prudence now calls for Expedition; & all things concur in that Advice unto us, Be up and be doing. Shall we be drawing Circles in the Earth, when the City is just falling into the Hands of its Enemies. O That every Town in the Country, were so Nimble, in offering the Service of their Quota, for the work of this Day, as they ought to be!
The Last Proposal.
Finally, Venture to speak for the People of God Let us make Esthers Venture in our Prayers; and resolve, as in Isa 62 1 For Zions sake, I will not hold my peace. Indeed we run something of a Venture in it, if our prayers become so Frequent, and so Fervent, as that the Omnipotent God should be put upon saying, Let me Alone! For then, if God have determined the Consuming of this place, He will first kill them that He shall find so standing in the Gap. But O that I may Dy standing there! perhaps, it may Cost some of us our Lives, that God may, Make a way for his Anger; but it will cost us our Souls, if by our Negligence, we Leave a way for that Anger. Come then, Betake your selves to zealous Prayers in every place, Those of you that never yet made one Hearty Prayer, for Goos sake; now Begin. Craesus had a Dumb Son, who tho' he never spoke before; yet seeing a man go to kill his Father, his Agonies made him speak and shriek, O don't kill my [Page 46] Father! poor people, if it could never hitherto be said of you, Behold they pray! yet I beseech you, Be Now found upon your knees, and beg, Lord, Let not all be lost. Even the Pagan Mohawks upon the late Calamities at Albany, have that Sentence in their Propositions, We must now look up to the Heavens! O the [...] let us Christians be Looking there. May the Wheel of Prayer be set a going in all parts of the land; may our publick Lectures, and our private Meetings in all places be turned into Days of Prayer. A successful Battel once Commenced with that Watch-word, Now for the Fruit of prayer! Now for the Fruit of prayer! Why let us be plowing and planting every Day for such Fruit. Even those who can do little or nothing else but pray, may do much by their prayers. We find Esther and her Maidens at it. The Devout Women may this way obtain the Favour of the Almighty for us. Melancthon hoped the Reformation would be carried on, Because godly Women would meet and pray for that Mercy. Our preservation may in like manner be promoted Yea, and Serious Children too, may make us all beholden to them. God spared Ninive, because of the Children in it; You Children that shall pray, and cry, and call, as well as you can unto the Lord, may have a great Influence upon the sparing of New-England.
Let me conclude my SERMON, as the Martyr his Letter, pray, pray, pray, Never more need than NOW.
BY The GOVERNOUR and GENERAL COURT the COLONY of the Massachusetts Bay; In New-England.
IT having been a thing too sensible and obvious to escape the Observation of all who are not wholly strangers in our Israel; that this poor Land has laboured under a long Series of Afflictions and Calamities, whereby we have suffered successively in our precious and pleasant Things, and have seen the anger of the righteous God against us, expressed in Characters, which ought to be as terrible as they must needs be visible unto us; it having also, both by the Testimonies of those, that after the most humble and exact Enquiries into the mind of God, have discovered the same unto us, and by their own general and repeated Confessions, become undeniable; that a corruption [Page 48] of Manners attended with inexcusable Degeneracies and Apostasies, found in too many of this People, is the cause of that Controversie, which the God of our Fathers has, for many years maintaini [...] with us: It being likewise at this da [...] such a Probation time with all New-England as this Countrey has never before seen from the first foundation of it, and the judgments of that Holy God, who hath beheld how incorrigible we have hitherto been under all His Dispensations, now arriving to such an extremity. That the Ax is laid to the Root of the Trees, and we are in imminent danger of perishing, if a speedy REFORMATION of our Provoking Evils prevent it not:
This COURT have therefore thought it needful to praeface their other Endeavours for the Publick Welfare, with a very solemn Admonition unto this whole People, that they every where give Demonstrations of a thorough Repentance, without which we have little reason to hope for any good succese in our Affairs.
Wherefore it is Ordered, that the Laws [Page 49] of this Colony against Vice, and all sorts of Debauchery and Prophaneness (which Laws have too much lost their edg by the late Interruption of the Government) be now faithfully and vigorously put in Execution; Particularly the LAWS against Blasphemy, Cursing, Prophane Swearing Lying, unlawful Gaming, Sabbath breaking, Idleness, Drunkenness, Ʋncleanness, and all the Enticements and Nurseries of such Impieties. Together with all other the wholsome Laws and Orders agreeable to the present Circumstances of the Countrey; by the Execution whereof, we may approve our selves a peculiar People, zealous of good works.
And as all Persons are hereby warned to avoid those Vices which these Laws are designed for the Prevention and Chastisement of (the Lovers of, and Pleaders for, such Iniquities, being among the principal Troublers of their Countrey) So all inferiour Officers are enjoyn'd to perform their Duty in finding and bringing out Offenders against the aforesaid Laws, and withal to give notice to such [Page 50] Offenders that they must expect the Justice of an Exemplary Punishment.
And that no attempt towards Reformation, may want that Assistance which all good men will be willing to give thereunto, 'tis hoped that the Ministers of God will to the publick Reading of this Proclamation, adjoyn their own fervent Labours, not only for the Rebukeing and Suppressing of those Provoking Evils, which are marked for common Hatred: but also to witness against the more Spiritual Sins, which fall not so much under the cognizance of Humane Laws, namely, such as Ʋnbelief, Worldliness, Heresy, Pride, Wrath, Strife, Envy, and the Neglect of communion with God, in both Natural and Instituted Worship, and the Contempt of the everlasting Gospel, with a shameful want of due Family-Instruction, which are the Roots of Bitterness in the midst of us.
Moreover, after the Example of Pious Rulers commended in Sacred Writ; the Churches every where are hereby advised to give utmost Encouragement unto the [Page 51] Faithful and Watchful Pastors of their Souls; to seek (where they lack) a full Settlement and Enjoyment of such Officers, as the Lord Jesus Christ has appointed for their Edification; to reflect seriously and frequently on their Covenants, to sharpen their Discipline against those that walk disorderly; and immediately to compose their Differences and Contentions (if such there be) whereby any of them may be distempered and enfeebled, that so they may become Terrible as an Army with Banners.
Furthermore it is Expected that the several Towns within this Jurisdiction do speedily furnish themselves with all fit means for the good Education of Youth, and take special care to avoid Factions & Quarrels in their other Town Affairs; and all Plantations are strictly forbidden to continue without the Advantages of having the Word of God constantly preacht unto them, or without a Sincere and Active Industry, to obtain the Presence of the Lord Christ in all His blessed Ordinances.
And Finally, this whole People are hereby advertised, that if these Essayes for an universal Reformation, shall be obstructed (as those in the dayes of the Reforming Josiah were) by Mens being settled on their Lees, and hating to be Reformed, they can reasonably look for no other issue than this, that the jealous God will punish them yet seven times more for their iniquities: But, that if the God of Heaven shall grant unto them the Grace to Remember whence they are fallen, and Repent and do the first Works, it will give a greater Prospect of Prosperity, than can arise from the best Counsels, and biggest Armies.
The Work of Reformation thus endeavoured, is now recommended unto the blessing of the Almighty, with whom alone it is, to Recover a Backsliding people; perswading our selves, that the Event thereof would be Salvation nigh unto us, and Glory dwelling in our Land.