The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated, Sermon 2

The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated · Sermon 2

The Way to PROSPERITY

It is the Word of the Eternal GOD in II. Chron. XV. 2.

Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah, and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him.

IT is a Remarkable Occasion which has brought these Words to be the Subject of our present Meditations; but it was much more a Remarkable Occasion which these Words were first uttered upon. We find them in the Sacred Book of Chronicles, which Chronicles are not the Civil Records, in other parts of the Bible refer'd unto; but an Inspired History of things that concerned the Line of Christ and the Church of God for five hundred more than Three Thousand p. 2years. It seems as an Epitome of the Whole, (for so tis in Ierom's Language) to be written as late as the Last of all the Books in the Old Testament; and the Hebrew Bibles give it a place accordingly. The Greeks choose to entitle it, The Book of things (else where) passed by; because, as Lyra notes, according to the Rule of our Saviour, It gathers Fragments that nothing may be lost; and if there were nothing else but the Story which affords our Text unto us, to justifie that Appellation, it were enough: 'tis a Story passed by in the Book of Kings; but worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance.

The ready Pen of Ezra (for him we conjecture to be the Scribe of the Holy Spirit here, notwithstanding those few Clauses which may be judged to be added by another hand after his Decease, I say the Pen of Ezra) is here informing us, That the people of God had newly been invaded by a vast Army of Cushites; but we are yet at a loss who these Cushites were? Far more Scholars in the World, than there were Souldiers in that Army have hitherto been content with our Translation, which renders them Ethiopians here. But that learned French-man Bochaert, by whose happy industry, more than any man's, the Treasures in the Bowels of the Scriptures have been delv'd into, has with p. 3irrefragable Demonstration prov'd, That no… Ethiopians but Arabians are the Cushites men…tioned in the Oracles of God. These Ara…bians, tho they have not been called Sarace… (as has been thought) from their word Sa…rak, that signifies, to Steal; yet for their F…racious Inclinations, they well deserved suc… an Etymology; they were a wild sort … men, that liv'd much upon the Rapin an… Ruin of their Neighbours; and particularly a Million of them now designed Ierusalem fo… a prey. The blessed God gave His peo…ple a notable victory over these Invaders▪ and they were now returning from Gerar (… place between thirty and forty miles off) un…to Ierusalem. The Holy Spirit of God exci…ted and inclined a Prophet whose Name wa… Azariah, to entertain them with a faithful & solid Sermon hereupon; and in my Te… you have the Sum and Substance of it.

We may observe,

First, The Praeface of it; and that i… very awful and earnest: Hear ye me Asa, an… all Judah, and Benjamin. As he was proba…bly none of the greatest, so tis like he wa… none of the oldest men; for it seems by th… eighth verse, that his Father was yet alive, … present at this time. Yet being to speak … the Name of the great and eternal God, … expects, he demands the attention of … p. 4whole Army to him.

Secondly, the Design of it; and that is, to …ecclare both the Rise and Vse of their late Prosperity. The Lord is with you, while you …ou are with Him; or as the Vulgar Latin has …t, Inasmuch as you have been with him. What …ollows, is but an Explication, and Ampli…ication of this. He saw they were taken up with various Businesses and Contrivances; they had their Enemies under Hatches, and …heir minds were full of Thoughts and Cares, What to do next? But he calls them off to acknowledge the Presence of God, as the cause of …heir coming off so well in their late Action, and above all things to obtain & secure the presence of God, that they might come off as well, in in their future Enterprises.

I am therefore to call for your Attention …nto this Faithful Saying.

DOCT. That The GOD of Heaven will be with a people while they are with Him.

'Tis by the ensuing Propositions, that the Explication of this Truth shall be endeavoured.

PROPOSITION. I.

It is the Interest, and should be the Desire, of Every people to have the God of Heaven With them. But we are to enquire,

What is implied in that presence of GOD, which we are to be solicitous about?

p. 5For Answer to this; There is a Threefol… Presence of God, mentioned in the Scriptur… of Truth.

First, God is Naturally present with all Creatures. He is an Immense Being, and no Creature can be without him. The Apostle that argued in the Court at Athens, in Act, 1… 27. God is not far from every one of us. No… He is near us all, He is with us all. And Pai… could have had the Gentiles themselves confessing it; for besides what their Seneca di… own, One of their own Poets had said, Iovis omnia plena. It is the Speech of our God, in Ier. 23.24. Do not I fill Heaven and Earth, saith the Lord? Yea, That He do's. The Jews call God by the Name of Makom, or of Place, because all things are in Him; this is His Name in the Book of Esther, if I mistake it not. Whether we may count it proper and physical to speak of an Imaginary, Infinite space, beyond the utmost Selvige of the world, replenished with our God alone; yet we are sure that the Heaven of Heavens gives no limits unto His Being; and the Ancients were not mistaken when they said, Deus Ipse Sibi, et Mundus et Locus et Omnia. We cannot so well say, That God is in the World as we may say, The whole World is in God; & we may say with the Psalmist, in Psal. 139.7. Whither shall I flee from thy presence?

Secondly, God is Gloriously present with the Inhabitants of the Third Heaven. The Heaven of Heavens hath in it most intimate and marvellous manifestations of God. It is the Place, of which we may say, as tis said of that State, in Rev. 21.23. The glory of God doth lighten it. There the blessed ones have God with them, so that they Alwayes behold His face; and they are satisfied with His likeness for ever. When we come to Heaven, then as in 1. Thes. 4.17. We shall ever be with the Lord. So the Lord will be with us for ever. Heaven is the Throne of the Most High; He is there as a Prince in his Throne; the Great KING is in a manner very ineffable residing there. To be there, is called in 2. Cor. 5.4. A being present with the Lord. Hence unto the Heaven, and not unto a Bible, are we directed to make our Corporal Applications in our Prayers, or our Oathes before the Lord.

But Thirdly, God is Graciously present with His people, by being Favourable unto them. And this Gracious presence of God is that which a people ought to be concerned for. It lies in The Engagement of Divine Providence for the Welfare of such a people. God is with us when God is for us.

To particularize,

First, God is with a people by Directing p. 7of them. When Israel was to pass thro' the Wilderness, they had that encouragement in Exod. 22.15. The presence of God going with them. What was that? Why, They had a cloudy fiery Pillar miraculously Leading o… them every step of the way; There was … wonderful Pillar which was a Cloud by day and a Fire by night; the Lower part of which rested on the Tabernacle, while the Vppo… part was to be seen by the whole Congregation: the Motions of this being managed by the Ministry of Angels, now God was with them, and He led them forth by the right way. A people are often brought into a Wilderness of Difficulties and Emergencies: but if God be with them, He guides them to a good Issue of them all. The Presence of God appears in His Directing and Inclining of a people to such Actions, as may be for His Honour and their Safety, and such Methods, a… may extricate them out of all Distresses. When God is with a people, He shapes their Counsels for them, and he disposes them to the Things that should be done. He supplie… them with Apprehensions beyond the Reach and Verge of their own Wisdome, and He layes before them Invitations, and Provocations, which as it were push them into the way wherein they should go. When the Jews were …pon a … Assumption of the desireable thing p. 8which the Babylonians had deprived 'em of, they took a Right Way to dissappoint all that were desirous to interrupt them in it. We find in Neh. 4.13. That while those Exercises continued, they waited in a posture agreeable thereunto; and when the danger was over, then they returned every one to his work. How came this to pass? 'Twas because GOD was with them.

Secondly, God is with a People, by Protecting of them. 'Twas the promise of God unto His people, in Isa. 43.2. When thou passest thro' the Waters, I will be with thee, and thro' the Rivers, they shall not overflow thee. On which Text, blessed Bilney after his Condemnation so sweetly paraphrased, that his Friends caused the whole Sentence to be fairly written on their Tables. A people may be ready to be swallow'd up, by a stormy, gaping Ocean of Troubles, but if God be with them, they shall escape clear of all. The Presence of God is a Defence, a Refuge to the people that are partakers of it. It was said unto David in 2. Sam. 7.9. I was with thee, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight. When God is with a people, He distracts and confounds their enemies, and He troubles those who trouble them. A people who have God with them, are too strong for all the Malice and Power of their enemies; no Adversary, p. 9no Desolation, shall make such a people miserable; they are the Iacob, unto whom in Gen. 28.15. Behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee, saith the Lord.

Thirdly, God is with a people by His Assisting and Succeeding of them. When Ioshua had a vast Undertaking in hand, it was said unto him in Cap. 1.9. Be of good Courage, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whither soever thou goest. q. d. God will Assist thee, and succeed thee, in thy undertakings. The Presence of God will carry a people comfortably through all that they take in hand. If they have Canaanites to subdue; if they have Enjoyments to obtain or preserve, the Presence of God will prosper them in doing all. It was said unto Solomon, in 1. Chron. 22.11. My son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God. Thus, if the Lord be with a people, they shall prosper in all their Affairs; in every Expedition, they shall come off with Satisfaction; and they shall not miscarry in any of their Applications. This is the Presence of the Lord.

Proposition. II.

The Presence of God with a people in Hi… Outward Providence, has a diverse Foundation and Continuance from His Presence with H… People, in the Covenant of Grace. As tis … p. 10observed by the great Owen, in a Discourse unto the Parliament, These two are to be carefully distinguished. We must not reflect on the Stability of the New-Covenant, for what Variety and Soveraignty we may see in providential Dispensations, toward this and that people in the world. This matter seems determined by David, in 2. Sam. 23.5. Tho' my house be not so with God, yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure. David had promises for the prosperity of his House; He had also the sure mercies of the Covenant made over to him in the promises of God. These promises had now a different Establishment; The Sure mercies of the Covenant, were unto him more Absolute and Immutable; but the prosperity of his House, we find under another Law, and subject unto a dreadful Alteration.

To bring these things into the case before us.

God has in the Covenant of Grace, promised, That He will be with His people. This we read in Heb. 13.5. He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The Alsufficient God, who is HEE that answers our Necessities, Let them be what they will; the Vnchangeable God, who is HE still, whatever He was to the Saints of old; this God hath said [and how much better is this Au…os …ireken than the best Ipse dixit in the world! p. 11He hath said it, and this] with multipli… Negatives, in the Original, heaped one upo… another, I will not, I will not leave thee, I wi… not, I will not, I will not … sake thee. Wel… but God is not with a people in His outward Pro…vidence just after the manner there in observed▪

This Two-fold Presence of God;

First, It has a Diverse Foundation. Whe… we look on the Covenant of Grace, there t… Sins of one are expiated by the Sufferings o… another; and so, God comes to be with Hi… people, for whom the A…onement is thus Procured. Thus tis said in 2. Cor. 5.25 Christ was made sin [or a Sin-offering] for us, tha… we might become the Righ…eousness of God i… Him. Now come to outward Providence, an… there you see other measures taken. Her God is with a people, according to thos… Terms, in Ezek. 18.20. The Soul that sinnet… IT shall dye; one shall not bear the Iniquity ….

Again, It hath a Diverse Continuance When we look on the Covenant of Grace, then God hath bound Himself to be with His people for ever; yea, to see that they shall therefore for ever be with Him. He there saies … in Jer. 32.40. I will not turn away from them … do them good, but I will put My fear in th… hearts, that they shall not depart from M… Now come to outward Providence, and the… p. 12you see tis otherwise. God is with a people for a while; and upon their misbehaviours and provocations, He changes the Tenour of His Dispensations to them. Tis with them, as it was with that family, in 1. Sam. 2.30. I said indeed, that thy house should walk before me forever; But now the Lord saies, that be far from me.

The sense of these things will prepare your Thoughts for one Conclusion more, which is,

Proposition. III.

A People must be with God, or God will not be with them. And here also, to prevent Mistakes, Let that one Text be alwaies carried in our Minds; Neh. 9.18. Being merciful, thou for sookest them not; there is Mercy in the Whole of this matter. Let it be noted, That tho' this Condition seems to be imposed upon us; yet it is Grace, pure Grace, rich Grace that helps us, when we are helped unto the performance of it. When a people have so been with God, as that He has been with them, they are to shout, Grace, Grace! concerning all. It is also to be noted, that this Benefit dos not depend upon that Condition, as an Effect upon the real and proper Cause of it. When a people has been with God, this does not merit, and so procure that God should be with them; but that is barely the Antecedent unto which, this is the Consequent

p. 13Having praemsed this I must now affirm, God is with you, while you are with Him. We need only reflect on the People of Israel, for an Instance of it. That whole History, which almost fills the Bible, proclames nothing more than this; it loudly declares. That while a people are with God, God will be with them; but that He will be very Terrible in His providential Dispensations towards such a people as do for sake Him.

But, What is it for a people to be With God? In short,

Our being With God, implies the Whole of our Obedience to Him. Our Duty to God must be attended▪ that we may have the Presence of God. The Whloe of this Duty is comprised in that Expression of our being with the Lord. Particularly the Hebrew Particle [Gnim] in our Text, admits of three Significations; it signifies, With, and For, & Like, [which last Signification I make the more free withal, because a little Philology will acquaint us with many Exemples of it: for instance, When David saith in Psal. 120, 5. I dwell in (Gnim Hebr.) the tents of Kedar; a very great Interpreter translates it so, I dwell As the tents of Kedar. i. e. Like the inhabitants of the Stony Sun-burnt Arabia; whom indeed I don't Remember David ever was among.] Accordingly, a people have Three p. 14Things incumbent on them, if they would enjoy the Presence of God.

First, A People should be with God, by Communion [With] Him. This tis to be With Him; There are Certain meanes of Communion between God and us; and these we must be continually approaching to Him in. We are With God, while we are at Prayer before Him; hence in our Context here, it immediately follows, If you seek the Lord, He will be found of you. While we do seek Him, we are with Him. The Psalmist was a man much in prayer, and therefore he could say as in Psal. 73.23. I am continually with thee. A people much in Prayer may say the same, We are continually with the Lord. A people that will pray upon all occasions, a people that will pray over all Businesses, a peo- that will retire into the Mount for Prayer (and Fasting too) at every turn; that people is with the Lord. And the whole Worship of God must be, diligently, graciously, faithfully frequented by a people that would be with Him. We are with God, when we are at His House. A people should support & esteem, and use all the Ordinances of God among them. The Church of God hath His very special Presence in it; the Name of the Church is that in Ezek. 48.35. Iehovah Shammah, the Lord is there. We should all be there p. 15too, and there give those Encouragements which are due to the Institutions of God; So shall we be with the Lord.

Secondly, A people should be with God by Activity [For] Him. To be For God is to be with God. It was once the Summons given in Exod. 32.26. Who is on the Lords side? And all the Sons of Levi gathered themselves; they were with God in doing so. Tis a Summons given to the world in every Generation, Who is on the Lords side? They that obey the Summons are with the Lord. A people full of Contrivances for the Interest of God, are with Him. A people should set themselves to advance the Glory of God; they should own His Truths, and His Wayes; and endeavour to draw all about them into the Acknowledgement of the same. A people should propound the Glory of God as their cheef End and the main Scope of all that they do; and they should think much of no Cost, no Pains, nor (tho, as a Martyr once expressed himself, tho' every hair on their heads were a life) should a Thousand Lives be dear unto them, in the promoting of it. Then are they with the Lord; they are so, when God can say of them, as in Isa. 43.10. Ye are my Witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant.

Thirdly, A people should be With God, by p. 16Behaviour [Like] Him. To be Like God is to be with God. They that are with Him, do not walk contrary to Him. God and we should be One. A people should have the same Designs, the same Desires, which the Written Edicts of Heaven declare to be in the blessed God; and not only so, but the same Vertues too. Is God H…ly? Thus a people should not bear with them that are evil. Is God Righteous? Thus a people should abhor all Injustice and Oppression. Is God Merciful? Thus a people should be disposed unto all fair acts of Pitty and Kindness. Then they will be with the Lord; and, O that this people were so with Him!

This is the

USE

to be now made of what has been delivered.

Let us all now, Be with God, that God may Be with us. I suppose, whatever else we differ in, we generally concur in that wish, 1. King. 8.27. The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our Fathers, let Him not leave us nor forsake us. O that we might all as much concur in an endeavourous Resolution, to be with God, as our Fathers were with Him; not to leave Him, nor forsake him. There is as much of New-England in this great Congregation as can well be reach'd by the voice of one Address; tis indeed, the best part of p. 17New-England, that is, at least Represented in this Assembly. As the great Council at Ierusalem satt near the Temple, thus the whole Convention of the Massachusets, is here come into the House of God this day: Wherefore I take the boldness to say, Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah, and Benjamin. The Ch…ef Sinner and least Preacher among all your Sons, now takes a Liberty to mind you, That God will be with you while you are with Him. Now that we may be all of us inspired with a Zeal for this great thing this Day,

Let us Consider, First,

How Desirable, How Necessary a Thing it is, that we should have God with us. Truly, This is the Vnum Necessarium of New-England!

Nothing is more Desireable, for us, than the Presence of our God. The Jews have a Fable of their Manna, That whatever any man had a mind to tast, he presently found in the Manna a Savour & a Relish of it. It is very true of this Blessed Presence; all manner of Blessings are enwrapped in it. There is a multitude of Blessings which we are desireous of; but they are all contained in this comprehensive thing: It will give every honest man, all that he wants. This will extricate us out of all our Labyrinths; This will set all things to rights among us; This will p. 18wonderfully carry on all the Salvations which have been begun for us, by the God of our Salvations. If Christ, if God be aboard, our little Vessel will not sink in the gaping, roaring, formidable Waves now tossing of it. Well did the Apostle say, in Rom. 8.31. If God be for us, who can be against us? Thus, If God be with us, we have All for us. One GOD will weigh down more than ten Worlds. If we have the Presence of that God, Who made and moves the Universe by a Word; if we have the Presence of that God, Who can Command and Create our Deliverances, O most Happy We! We may then join in such Triumphant Acclamations as that in Psal. 118.6. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear; what can man do unto me? We may then defie, even the Gates of Hell it self, for, Cur metuat hominem homo in sinu Dei positus? and tho' abroad at this day, The earth is removing, and the Waters roar, and are troubled, and the mountains are shaking, splitting, tumbling, with the swelling thereof; Tho' the great and the terrible God be at this Day, coming out of His place, to make all Europe a stage of blood and fire, and make the Nations everywhere drink deep of the Cup that shall make them giddy with all manner of Confusion & Astonishment; Yet WE shall be helped right early, for God is in the midst of us.

p. 19Add to this; Nothing is more Necessary for us, than the Presence of God. We are undone, thrice, and four times Vndone, if we have it not. Methinks I hear the Almighty GOD with a voice more awful than that of the loudest Thunder, saying over us, as in Hos. 9.12. Wo to them when I depart from them. And Wo to us indeed; we are in a most woful estate, if it come to that! How can we endure the mention of it, without our most importunate Deprecations, O our God, leave us not! We can have a prospect of nothing but horrible Disorders, Agonies and Vexations, if we lose the Presence of our Lord: We ly open to no less than a fearful Dissipation, and more than all our late Oppressors would rejoice to see brought upon us. We have lately been complaining of Burdens, that were grievous to us; but I may warn you of our danger to feel one Burden more, which will infinitely exceed them all; tis that in Jer. 23.33. What Burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. Behold a Burden that will sink us into a bottomless Abiss of Calamities! The Presence of GOD, This is no less than the very Soul of New-England; We are dead and gone, if that withdraw. When Israel was nimbly enough possessing themselves of the promised Land, which God had given them such a CHARTER p. 20for, they perished in the Attempt; for in Deut, 1.42. The Lord said, go not up, for I am not among you. Alas, if we don't in the first place look to this, That God be among us, we cannot avoid all manner of Dissappointments, Desolations.

Let us Consider, Secondly:

What uncomfortable Symptomes we have had of God's not being with us. It seems as if God had fulfilled that sad Word on this poor Land, in Deut. 31.17. I will forsake them, and many evils shall befal them, so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because God is not among us? There is a vast number of Calamities, which have given us lamentable cause to fear, That God has forsaken us. Why have we suffered such a Blast, both on our Trade, and on our Corn, that the Husband-man complaines, I looked for much, and lo, it came to little! and the Mariner complains, I went out full, & came home empty! Tis Because our God is not among us. Why have we had Fire after Fire, laying our Treasures in Ashes? What means the hear of this Anger, that Boston, the most noble, and vital Bowel of the Territory, hath with a twice repeted Conflagration suffered such a Loss of that which in the Body politic answers to Blood in the Body natural? Tis Because p. 21our God is not among us. Why have we had War after War, made upon us by a Foolish Nation? Why have the worst of the Heathen had renewed advantages to disturb our Peace? And why have so many of our Brethren and Neighbours been made a prey to the most Savage Murderers in the world? It is Because our God is not among us. Give me leave to say, as in Judg. 6.12. If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? But we may find Humiliation enough to convince us of this deplorable thing, from what we have endured upon the Loss of our Government. She of old said unto our Lord Jesus, in I-h. 11.21. Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not dyed. So, If the Lord had been here, tis possible we had not Died. If the Lord had been with us, would he have made our Wall so feeble, that (as they said of Ierusalem) the going up of a poor FOX upon it, should break it down? If the Lord had been with us, had all the wild Creatures that passed by this Vineyard, found such Opportunities to be plucking at it? No, Our God would have kept us, as A vineyard of red Wine; and lest any should have hurt us, He, (the Lord) would have kept it, night and day. If the Lord had been with us, had you ever thought you had seen cause to Declare, as you have lately & justly done, That a Company of abject strangers had made a meer Booty of us? Had p. 22Had we ever felt the sore grievances of an illegal & arbitrary Government? No; The God of Heaven was not with that oppress'd people, to whom He said in Isa. 1.7. Your Countrey is desolate; your land, Strangers devour it.

What shall I say? It was an Appeal made in Ioel, 1.2. Hear this, ye old men,; hath this been in your dayes? Even so, I may say to the old men within the hearing of it; My Fathers, You Remember how we were, when God was with us; pray, was it so in your dayes, as it has been in ours? Were you visited with Plague after Plague, in a long Series of heavy Judgements, as We your poor Children are? Surely, They will tell us; God is not with us, as He was with them.

In all these matters, our Case may at least have some Correspondence with that in Luc. 23.28. He made as though He would have gone; but they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us!

Let us Consider Thirdly;

If we are not With God, we shall be guilty of an Apostasie, and that under very shameful, very direful Aggravations too.

We shall be Apostates, and O let us not be so, lest our God say, My soul can have no pleasure in them. But if we are so, we shall be of all Apostates the most inexcusable Let us Consider, what Fathers we have had; they were with God. I may say of'em as in hos. 9.8. They were with my God: & they are gone to be so forever, p. 23What an unaccountable thing will it be for us, to have that Character, which we have been so much cautioned against, There arose another generation which knew not the Lord? What? Shall the Grandchildren of Moses turn Idolaters? and shall the Children of Samuel become the Children of Belial? Shall we forget the Hope of our Fathers, or forsake our Fathers Friend? The very Graves of those blessed men, every Post, every Stone upon their Graves, is a Witness against us, if we do. With dismal Accents, Methinks, their very Ghosts, will groan unto us, Alas, Is our posterity come to this! Nay, Abraham would be Ignorant of us, and Israel would not acknowledge us, if we should be so degenerate as to lose the Presence of the Lord.

Let us also consider, what Warnings we have had. It may be said unto us, as in Jer. 25.4. The Lord hath sent unto you all His Servants the prophets. This Countrey has been blessed with a most faithful Ministry, by which, I suppose, every Assembly in this Territory, has been called upon, to Be with God, and to keep with Him. Especially the Sermons which our ELECTIONS have put the Embassadours of God upon Preaching and Printing of; these have been so many loud Warnings unto us, That we leave Him not. p. 24In them we have been faithfully warned, That our true interest is Not to Lye unto God. We have been Warned, That the latter end of our Misbehaviours will be Destruction from the Lord. We have been Warned, That We must Repent and do our first Works, or have the Candlestick of the Lord Iesus removed from us. In a word, We have been warned from Heaven, That If we forsake our God, He will cast us off for ever. O miserable We, if we do it after all.

These Considerations, will not have their due Force, unless they expire in a Threefold Request, which I must now lay before you; and I may justly assert concerning the Things contained therein, They are not Vain Things, they are Our Life. Wherefore, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah, & Benjamin; Hear ye these things, all ye people of the Massachusetts!

First, Let us Return to the Lord. We must Come to Him, if we would Be with Him. We have marvellously backslide… from our God, but He calls after us, Return ye backsliding Children, and I will heal your Backslidings. O that we may all as one man Reply what is in Jer. 3.22. Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. If we ask that Question, in Mal. 2.7. Wherein p. 25shall we return? Methinks, t'were an harder Quaestion, Wherin should we not? But, Behold, We have had a great voice out of the Temple in answer thereunto. We have had the Elders and Messengers of our Churches, convend in a SYNOD, solemnly informing of us, Wherein we shall Return. God forbid the Advice of that Synod, should only serve to Convict us and Condemn us, in the Day when He shall take vengeance on us for our Contemning of it. That were dreadful indeed! But in Compliance with it, Let every man seriously now enquire of himself, What have I done? Mark what I say, That man who does not suspect himself, of having a share in the Sins which have driven away from us the Presence of our God; That man, I may safely affirm it, is one of the principal Troublers of this Israel; I do without any Scruple say it, Thou art the man. Let us all then Examine our selves, and set upon the Reforming of our own Hearts and Lives, and the Renewing of our Covenants with the Lord.

Indeed, both the Objects in which, and the Authors from whom we have endured our Calamities, those are enough to indigitate what Sins they are that have exposed us thereunto. Let me in two or three instances use a plain dealing with you, agreeable to my p. 26station here this day.

What have been the Objects in which we have been afflicted? Our Fruits have been blasted; & were they not abused in the excesses of Sensuality? Our Lands have been threat'ned; and were not They the Idols, for the sake of which we have offended GOD, and almost Renounced all that was Holy, and Iust and Good? The most happy and easy Government in the world, was changed with us, into what has by the most impartial men been confessed to have become Intolerable; Why, Did not men despise the Best of Governments, and procure other things to be set over them, because they endeavoured to make Loggs of what they before enjoyed? To pass on, Were we not in the late unreasonable Extortions of the Law, invited to consider, Whether our needless Multiplications of Litigious Contentious Law-Suits formerly amongst us, were not a Scandal thus chastised? Were we not in the late unsufferable Injuries, Abuses, and Exactions of them, that under the pretence of the Excise carried on very outragious Villanies, put upon Considering, Whether the Multitude or Quality of Drinking-Houses, in the midst of …, had not once been a Stumbling-block of our …iquity!

p. 27Again, What have been the Authors from whom we have been afflicted? Our Molestations have risen very much from Indian Hands. And Alas, have we not very much Injured the Indians? I do not mean, by taking from them Their Land; For it was Hardly possible they should be more fairly dealt withal than they have been in that particular; but by Teaching of them, Our Vice. We that should have learn'd them to Pray, have learn'd them to Sin. Endeavors for their Conversion have by many people been blown upon; but there have been wicked English, who have taught them to drink, yea, and to curse, and swear; things which they knew not the meaning of, till they came to School unto such White Pagans as some that wear the Christian-Livery among our selves. And have not we also Followed the Indians? The Indians are Infamous, especially for Three Scandalous Qualities: They are Lazy Drones, and love Idleness Exceedingly! They are also most impudent Lyars, and will invent Reports and Stories at a strange and monstrous rate; and they are out of measure Indulgent unto their Children, there is no Family-Government among them. But, O how much do our people Indianize in every one of those Abominable things! We must repent of these our miscarriages, or else our p. 28God will take up that Resolution concerning us, I will even forsake them, saith the Lord.

Secondly, Let not Sin be With us, and God will be so. Tis the purpose of our God, in Josh. 7.12. I will not be with you except ye destroy the Accursed Thing, from among you, Let us then Destroy that Accursed thing.

Especially, Let us take heed of the Sins, which at this Time, we have a peculiar Disposition to. It was complain'd in Hos. 7.1. When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered. It has bin thus, but God will not be With us, if it still be thus among our selves. Our good God, the Lord our Healer, is now Healing of us: O let us not now be impatient patients, lest that our blessed Physitian deal hardly and roughly with us. Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit Medicum. Let us now no more discover Revengefulness against them that have deserved Ill of us. Let the Law, and not the Sword measure out their due unto them. No more discover an Unthankfulness unto them that have deserved Well of us. Requite them not with Censure and Haired for their unwearied pains to preserve our Peace. No more discover a Contempt of the Ministers, who set themselves faithfully to Declare the p. 29whole Counsil of God, and to Lift up their voice like a Trumpet in shewing us our sins. They are all agreed (I hope) as one man to live and dye studying of your Well-fare; but if they are unjustly ill-treated with you, the great God, whose Messengers they are, will take notice of it, and say, Ye have despised Me!

And O let us no more Discover such a Spirit of Lying as we have made our selves worthy to be reproved for. We find mention of an Evil Spirit, that said in 1. King. 22.22. I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets. Doubt-the-same Devil has been suing for a License to go forth and be a Lying Spirit in the mouth of near all the people here: I would to God, this Devil were in a Shorter Chain! I beseech you Let not this Land have that Character, A Countrey full of Lies.

But of all our Errors, There is none of such dangerous and threatning Consequence as the Contention which we are too prone to break forth into. We are too much a Contentious, and that will soon render us a Wretched and a Ruin'd people. A Divided and Quarrelsome People, do even say to the Almighty, Depart from us; for He is the God of Peace. But O, What is our meaning then, to make a full submission & entire resignation p. 38of our selues to the Tyranny of our own Passions, as we have too much done, while we have been debating about the Measures of another Submission and Resignation in our various Revolutions! I have read of a people with whom it was a Law, That in a Fray, where Swords were drawn, If a Child did but cry PEACE, they must End the Quarrel, or else he dyed that strook the first blow after PEACE was named. He that Considers the Feavourish Paroxysins which this Land is now raging in, through meer Misunderstandings about the Means leading to the End wherein we are generally agreed, and how ready we are to treat one another with fiery Animosities, had need cry, Peace, Peace! with a very speedy importunity. For my own part, I confess my self but a Child, and among the meanest, the smallest of your Children too; but yet I am old enough to cry Peace! and in the Name of God I do it. Peace! my dear Countrey-men; Let there be Peace in all our Studies, Peace in all our Actions, and Peace notwithstanding all our Differences. We cannot avoid having our Different Sentiments; but Peace! I say; O let not our Dissents put us upon Hatred and Outrage, and every evil work. It has not a little surprised mee to read in a Greek Author, who wrote Fifteen hundred p. 22years ago; that in the times long praeceding his, there was a Tradition among them, that Europe, and Asia, and Africa, were Islands, encompassed by the Ocean, without and beyond which was another as big as They: in which other World, were mighty and long-liv'd people, inhabiting of great Cities; the two greatest whereof were called, one of them, The Fighting City; the other of them, The Godly City. Behold very Ancient Footsteps of the knowledge which the old World had of our America, some Thousands of years ago. But I pray, which of them American Cities, must New-England become Incorporate into? Truly, If we are a Fighting, or a Disagreeing People, we shall not be a Pious one. We have hitherto, professed our selves, A Countrey of Puritans; I beseech you then let us have the wisdom to be first pure, then peaceable. Every man should count himselfe liable to follies, & mistakes, & Misprisions not a few. Are you so, or are you not? If you are not, what do you here in this Lower World, where you can find no more of your own Attainments? If you are so, then be patient and peaceable towards those who see not with your eyes! Let us all condescend one unto another; and let no man be in a foaming Rage, if every Sheaf do not bow to hi…. There is one ingenious p. 32way to unite this people, if it were so heeded as it ought to be. I remember, an inquisitive person of old, that he might know which was the Best Sect among all the Philosophers, he asked one and another, and every one still preferr'd the Sect which he was of himself: But he then asked them, successively, Which do you reckon the next best? and they all agreed, that next to their own, Plato's was the Best: upon which, he chose That, as indeed the Best of all. Thus, We all have our several Schemes of things, and every man counts his own to be the Best; but I would say to every man, Suppose your Scheme laid aside, What would you count the Next Best? Doubtless we should be of One mind as to That: And if we could act by the common measures of Christianity, we should soon be united in it. O that we could receive the Word of the Lord Jesus, in 2. Cor. 13.11. Brethren, live in peace, and the the God of Love and Peace shall be with you.

Thirdly. Let every man do his Part, and his Best in this Matter, That God may be with us.

Behold, a work provided for all sorts of men.

Pardon me, that I first offer it unto You, that are or may be our Superiours. It was said in Hos. 11.12. Iudah ruleth with God. When Rulers are with God, O happy Government! Unto YOU, much Honoured, p. 33I would humbly address this Petition, That Your first work may be to think on some considerable Expedient, by which the Presence of God may be secured unto us. A little Consultation may soon produce, what all New-England may bless you for. Yea, tis very much in your Power to do what may have a Tendency to perpetuate the Presence of God unto the succeeding Generations. I cannot forbear uttering the Wish of the great Chytraeus in this Honourable Audience, Vt inam potentes rerum Domini majorem Ecclesiae et Scholarum curam susciperent! May a godly and a learned Ministry be every where encouraged: and no Plantations allowed to live without a good Minister in them. May the Colledge be maintained, and that River the wholsome streams whereof have made glad the City of God, and blest us with a priviledge above the other Out-goings of our Nation, be kept Running, with Issues beyond those from the Seminaries of Canada or Mexico; may Schools be countenanced, and all good wayes to nourish them and support them in every Town, be put in Execution; you shall then probably leave the Presence of God, as a blessed Legacy with such as may come after you. I know not whether we do, or can at this Day, labour under an iller Symtom, than the too general Want of Education in the Rising Generation; p. 34which, if not prevented, will gradually, but speedily, dispose us, to that sort of Criolian Degeneracy, observed to deprave the Children of the most noble and worthy Europaeans, when transplanted into America. The Youth of this Countrey, are very sharp, and early ripe in their Capacities, above most in the world; and were the Benefits of a Religious and Ingenuous Education bestowed upon them, they would soon prove an Admirable People; and as we know that England afforded the first Discoverers of America in these latter Ages, whatever the Spaniards may pretend unto the Contrary; for it may be proved that both Britains and Saxons, did inhabit here, at least Three or Four hundred years before Columbus was born into the world, which the Annals themselves of those times do plainly enough Declare; So our little New-England may soon produce them that shall be Commanders of the greatest Glories that America can pretend unto. But if our Youth be permitted to run wild in our Woods, we shall soon be Forsaken by that God, Whom our Fathers followed hither, when it was a land not sown; and Christianity, which like the Sun, hath moved still Westward, unto these Goings down of the Sun, will Return to the old World again, leaving here, not a New-Ierusalem, as Doctor Twiss hoped, p. 35but a Gog and Magog, as Master Mede feared; for the last of the Latter dayes. Now may the God of Heaven, bless the Wisdome and Goodness of Your Endeavours, for the continuance of His Presence, with those that may rise up in your stead, when you shall be gone to be forever with the Lord. Allow me to say, unto the Fathers of this Countrey, what was said unto the Iudges of old, Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.

And as for VsUs, that are and shall be Inferiors, Let us also do what we can, That our God may be still among us. We ought all of us humbly to lay before our worthy Rulers that Encouragement in Ezr. 10 4. Arise, for this matter belongs to thee, we also will be with thee, be of good courage & do it. Let there be a publick Spirit in us all, for the good of the whole; the Rarity & Mortality whereof among us, New-England bewails among the greatest of its Calamities. Especially, Let us Pray hard, That God would not leave the Land. It was a Publique Spirit which was in that Famous Prince of Orange, who was the first Captain General of the Vnited Provinces an hundred years ago; and the Ancestor of that Illustrious Person, whose glorious Design and Service, we have lately with so much Unanimity Declared for; that when he was basely murthered by the Pistol of a papist, His dying and only words were, O p. 26my God, take pitty of my soul, and of this poor people. When he had but one breath to draw in the world His poor people had half of it! O Let this poor People have no less than Half our Cares, half our Prayers. Let no man say, I am a sorry Creature, of what account can my prayers be? For You that can do little else but pray, can yet be the instruments of saving this poor people, by the Presence of the Lord. We find in Amos. 7.2. That a poor H…rdsman and Huckster, kept the great God from Leaving of the Land. A poor Husbandman, yea a poor Woman, by lively prayers, may do incredibly much towards the Keeping of our God yet among us.

And if God be With us, then His Rod, and Staffe, His mighty Crook, which horribly breaks the bones of all that it falls upon, will crush and wound all that shall go to make this Wilderness, A valley of the shadow of Death unto us; and beat away all that may essay to do us any Harm. So shall we be Led and Fed among the Sheep of our GOD; He will Restore us, and His Goodness and Mercy shall follow us all our Dayes.

MANTISSA.

THus have the Words of God been Calling upon us, to beware of Loosing His gracious Presence. Now the Presence of God, will either go or stay with His Gospel; and the Principal Danger of New-England lies in its giving an ill Entertainment unto that glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus. Let us then see wether the Works of God, have not also been calling upon us to take heed of that Epidemical Evil; and let what has befallen some of our Neighbours, in our dayes be produced as a Warning unto us to avoid any Contempt of that Gospel, which others have smarted for the Slighting of.

I would fill the Remaining pages of this sheet with a Discourse fetch't from a Reserved Collection of MEMORABLE PROVIDENCES, not improper to be produced on this Occasion.

MATTH. X.14.15.

Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your Words, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgement, than for that City.

To Despise and Reject the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, is an Evil, than which none is more evil; and yet nothing is more ordinary than this extraordinarily sinful Sin; which Vnbeleef may be accounted, as Tertullian of old esteem'd Idolatry, the Praecipuum …rimen Humani generis, the grand Crime of p. 2…ankind. Low thoughts about the Person, …nd the Office, and the Beauty of the Lord …esus; contemtuous Apprehensions of His Truths …nd His wayes, and His Ordinances; these …re the Things which bring the most Signal …ery Wrath of God upon the Children of un…erswadeableness. The peculiar Controversy …f God with man, in the managing of which …he most High God inflicts upon particular persons, at once a Blasting on their Estates, …nd a Blindness on their Spirits here, as the …rologue to the Hottest Vengeance of Eternal …re in the dismal vaults of Hell below, is not …o much on the score of all their other Profa…ity & Iniquity, as this one thing, They sleight the Redeemer of their souls. And this is that thing, by which whole Nations & Peoples bring …wift Destruction upon themselves; that thing …or which all the Seals, all the Trumpets, all the Vials in the Apocalypse, have brought in the direful plagues of the Almighty upon the Paegan and the Papal, after the Ruine of the Iewish World. They have maintained a vile Praejudice against the Saving and the Ruling, Hands of a Gracious Mediator. O that, besides the other innumerable Rebukes of Heaven upon mankind for this Madness in their hearts, the following Instances of Divine Displeasure may awaken us to Take heed of an evil heart of Vnbelief.

p. 3Exemple I.

¶ AMong all the Nations of wild Salvages by which the vast Territory of New-England was inhabited, scarce any was more potent or populous than that of the Narragansetts. Unto those miserable Heathen was the Gospel, and a Gospel without charges too, offered by some English preachers of it, but they peremptorily with much affront & contempt refused the Glad tidings of Salvation by Iesus Christ, praeferring their own devillish Rites & gods before the New Thing tendered unto them. An holy man, then famous throughout our Churches, hereupon let fall a speech to this purpose, I speak altogether without the Spirit of God, if this nation be not speedily & remarkably destroyed. And so it happened. This Nation, much against the advice of the more aged men among them, engaged in the late bloody armed Conspiracy with the other Indians in the Countrey to cut off the English: in prosecution of which, after they had done many Acts of Hostility, the English Army took the just provocation in the depth of Winter to assault the strong Fort & Swamp in which was their General Rendezvouz. The Number of our Forces was much inferiour unto theirs, but with a wonderful Valour, & memorable Success, on our part, the Day was carried against the tawny Infidel… ▪ Their City was laid in Ashes, two and twenty p. 4of their Cheef Captains were kill'd, with we know not how many Hundreds or Thousands of the common Indians; after which, mortal Sickness & horrid Famin pursued the Remainders of them; so that there are scarce any of them that we know of, to be now seen upon the face of the Earth.

Exemple. II.

¶ The Ringleader of the last Warr which the Indians afflicted the English in this Land withal, was Philip the Prince of the Wompan…ags. That gracious and laborious Apostle of the Indians, the Reverend Iohn Eliot, made a Tender of the Gospel to this Monster, who after the Indian mode of joining signs with words, pulling off a Button on the good man's Coat, told him, He did not value what he said so much as that: and he moreover hindred his subjects from embracing the Christian Religion through a fear which he expressed, That it might obstruct something of their Civil absolute unlimited Obedience to him. After his Invasion of the English with some unhappy Success, the Hand of God so fell upon him, as that after many Calamities, one of his own Vassals upon a disgust at him, for killing an Indian who had propounded an Expedient of Peace with the English, ran away from him, informing our Forces where he was; and they came upon him in the Thicket, just as he was telling his Counsellours of his Dream the night p. 5before, that the English had taken him, and while he endeavoured an Escape an Indian shott him thro' the heart, whereof he dyed immediately, nor are any considerable part of his people now to seen any where out of their own place.

Exem. III. Some time since there were Sundry well disposed persons in Virginia, upon whose affectionate Letters, full of desires, that they might enjoy the meanes of eternal Salvation, diverse worthy Ministers were sent from hence unto them, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Knowles, & Mr. Iames; who after a passage so tedious & dangerous as made them almost suspect their Call, at length arrived there, where God gave them a blessed Success of their labours, with a loving & a liberal Entertainment in the Countrey: Yet it was not long before the Rulers of the Plantation drove them away by an Order, That all such as would not Conform to certain things, which the consciences of these Gentlewere known to scruple, should leave the Countrey by such a day. Before that black day came, the Indians, who for some hundreds of Miles had entred into a Consoederacy to cut off all strangers, made a dreadful massacre of the English, & 300 at least were suddenly kill'd by the natives there: A grievous Mortality by Sickness did also accompany the said Massacre, so that many removed from thence, & many of the Rest glorified & magnified the justice of God, thus avenging the Quarrel of His Refused Gospel. Finis.