Blessed Unions, Title page – Dedication
Blessed ƲNIONS.
An UNION With the SON of God by FAITH, And, an UNION In the CHURCH of God by LOVE, Importunately Pressed; in a DISCOURSE Which makes Divers Offers, for those Ʋnions; Together wi…h A COPY of those Articles, where-upon a most Happy UNION, ha's been lately made between those two Eminent Parties in England, which have now Changed th… Names of PRESBYTERIANS, and CONGREGATIONALS, for that of UNITED BRETHREN.
By COTTON MATHER.
How long did our Fathers Sow in Tears for this Harv…st? God hath Reserved the Reaping-Time for us their Children: and therefore let us Joy before Him, according to the Joy in Harvest. Mr. M…ads Excellent Sermon, on, The Two Sticks made One. Pag. 19.
BOSTON, Printed by B. Green, & J. Allen for Samuel Phillips. 1692.
To the Brethren Of the Church in the North Part of BOSTON.
IT was in a Weekl… C…u…se of Sermons on the Seventeenth Chapter of John, that You were Entertained wi h …uch Though…s, as I do now again (but not without the Concurrent Encouragement of more than One, or two, Reverend Persons in the Neighbourhood) more Publickly and more Durably lay before You. And that I now send these Though…s abroad, is not with a Design of so much B…ldness, as to Address all the Neighbour Churches wi h my own Apprehensions about their Interests; I leave That unto Greater and Wiser P…rsons, which all of them are furnish'd wi…h; but it is more immediately to serve Your Edification. I shall shortly give up my Account of my Stewardship wi…h more [and O that I may do it with much Peace and Joy, if I may say before my Glorious Master, That While I was wi…h the Expence of all my Talents, to that end, Engaging You to accept the Duties and M rcies of the New Covenant, I was also c…r…f…l to Establish you in the Principles and Practices of such a Church-state as may maintain Your Ʋ…ion, with other Parts of our Lords V sible Kingdom in the World; and may Obtain for you the Singular Protection of God, in this Day of those Earthquakes which will Shake all things, to make way for those which Cannot be shaken. This, do I Endeavour, in the following Trea…ise, and by this Endeavour I woul'd ap…rove my self,
Your Sollicitous Pastor, and Servant, Mather.
To the Very Reverend MATTHEW MEAD, JOHN HOW, AND INCREASE MATHER; Of whose Pious and Prudent Endeavours; (among others) the God of Heaven has made a very particular Ʋse, in producing a most Blessed ƲNION among His People.
Much Honoured,
IT was a Conjecture, which I had almost called a Prophecy, in the Sermon Preached by One of You, on the THANKSGIVING Lately Celebrated by The Ʋnited Brethren, for the Signal Mercy and Presence of God, that has appear'd in their becoming; Two Sticks Made One, You have done That in this Agreement that promises great Advantage unto our Brethren abroad; it is like the Beams of the Sun, which D…ffuse Light and Heat unto Thousands at once. I may humbly presume now to inform All of You, That there are I suppose Thousands of Saints no less than Thousands of Miles distant from you, who are like to Rejoyce in the Sacred Light and Heat, with which this Blessed Agreement of yours inspires them. When that Noble and Equally well Tim'd and well Fram'd Work of Accommodation, wherein You have so much Laboured, was once Prosecuted unto that Effect, which your eyes have seen, doubtless the Angels in the Caelestial Regions, were making their Joyful Acclamations thereupon; the Angels I say of whose Intimate Acquaintance with what is done among the People of God, we do not want Assurances; the News quickly Reach'd Heaven, and the Shouts upon it were, Glory to God in the Highest, because there is on Earth Peace, and Good Will among men. But let me also suggest this further Joy unto, The Counsellers of This Peace, That the Christians in the American Regions, who dwell in such an Haemisphaete that some think the Apostle means Ʋs by, Things under the Earth, do now send back the loud and long Echo's of your UNION. As he that heard a Story of two very Faithful Friends, most passionately Exclaimed, Ʋtinam Tertius ess…m! so the Churches of New-England are ambitious of a Room in all that Friendship into which they who are Studious of, A Reformation according to the Word of God, are by the Perfect Bond of Charity now Cemen…ing of themselves. But that which raises this Desire of these Churches into a sort of Demand, is, Their having now so long Professed and Practised Those very Principles upon which our Europaean Brethren do now Ʋni…e, and Exhibited a standing Instance of that Ʋnion after which Your most Evangelical Souls have been Aspiring. Not only have those of the Scotch and the French Communions, been admitted unto a Transient Communion in these Churches, when they have come with due Testimonials for it; but also in our Stated Communion, the Name of PRESBYTERIAN and CONGREGATIONAL [Yea, and EPISCOPAL too when Piety is otherwise visible] and I may add, the Name of, ANTIPEDO-BAPTIST, likewise, is of no Consideration; both, yea all together do, As one man carry on the Affairs of our Lords Ecclesiastical Kingdom; and the Substantials of Religion (perhaps Critically sometimes Nam'd only become the Terms of Sacred Fellowship. From the Constitution of a Little Zion, here, which has more than a little of Heaven in it, you have had that Invitation, Come up hither! and now that God is causing you, To come out of your Graves, (a thing that's doing when, The Two Sticks become One in the Hand of God.) I do most ardently sollicit for your Prayers and Cares before the Lord, that we may not by any Effects of our Degeneracies, be put into Ours, or be made indeed, Things under the Earth. While the Authority of England has (and may it ever have) Reason to acknowledge the New-Englanders among the most Loyal Subjects in the World; I hope You will not forget that here is a Country in a manner wholly consisting of your most Hearty Brethren; I know you cannot. It may be some Recommendation for us, That your Names and your Books are precious even to the furthest Nooks of these Colonies; We Read you, Prize you, Bless God for you; and with Yours, the Venerable Names of ADAMS, ALSOP, ANNESLY BARKER, BATES, BAXTER, BURGESS, COLE, COLLINGES, CRADOCK, DOLITTLE, GILPIN, GRIFITH, HAMMOND, HURST, LEE, MAYO, SLATER STEEL, SYLVESTER, VEAL, VINCENT, WILLIAMS, WOODCOCK; WOODE, and others, …et Surviving Men of God, besides ma…y others now Asl…ep in the Lord, are …mong us, all of them, As an Oyntment cured f…r…h. When any of those Pilars in the Temple of God, happen to fall …y the Stroke of Death, even the Ground … America shakes at the Fall: So did it Lately at the Translation of the most Excellent FLAVEL, who, as we hear Stole from you, that Week, that he had been Moderator in a General Meeting of Ministers at Exeter, where Solemn Thanks were directed unto You, as Three of those Worthies, who not by War but by Peace had signalized your selves unto the English Israel. But it will more powerfully plead with you for us, if we let you understand, which I now do, That New-England is in a large part but just the very same that you would have your own particular Flocks to be, and that whoever attempts the Ruine of these Churches, intends the very same for every one of yours. I… was a severe Persecution, that a while since drove the fi…st Planters of this Territory into the most Horrid and Squalid of all Desarts, which with a vast Expence of their own Treasure, Sweat and Blood, is now become somewhat Habitable. It can scarce enter into our…, or indeed into any Honest or Humane Heart, that any should now thro' the Sea, go to follow the poor Children of those First Planters here, with a Persecution for their Non-Conformity to such things as the Errand hither was a peaceable Secession from. Nevertheless I do again see cause to be your Petitioner, that you would not let this little Outcast, be cast out of your most useful Thoughts at the Throne of Grace. Tho' No man care, for us, Yet (Y…e blessed Sons of Peace!) You do; and One of you by a tedious Absence from your Interests among us, to attend an Agency, in the Courts of two KINGS now Successively on our behalf; have given a Memorable Demonstration of it. May, My God think upon all of you according to all that you have done for this People.
But while I thus ask the Favour of your Intercessions for my Country, you will permit me to ask your Bless ng on my self; inasmuch as you that are, The Chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof, are all of you Fathers unto me. One of you is Naturally so, and I reckon it among the choicest of my Advantages; the other. Two of you, are Spiritually so; for if ever I have g… beyond, The Almost Christian, or if… ver… I have Try'd, The Good of Ear… Obedience; if ever I was inflam'd fo… The Blessedness of the Righteousness, or ever I Learn d the Art of, Delighti… in God; your Invaluable Writings ha… had their Influences thereupon.
Wherefore, MY FATHERS, havi… here withal brought you, some of… V…nison ['tis Plain, Mean, poor Ne… England Venison] I pray you, Th… your Souls may Bless me;
Who am in all Duty Your Son and Servant, COTTON MATHE…
Blessed ƲNIONS.
Recommended, from John XVII. 21.
That they all may be ONE, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, That they also may be ONE in Ʋs.