Davids Dying Charge, Half title – Dedication
Mr. Colman's Election Sermon, May 29th, 1723.
David's dying Charge to the Rulers and People of Iſrael.
A SERMON Preached before the Honourable The Lieutenant GOVERNOUR, the COUNCIL and GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the PROVINCE of the Maſſachuſetts-Bay in New-England.
May 29th. 1723. Being the Day for the Annual Election OF HIS MAJESTY's Council.
By Benjamin Colman, Paſtor of a Church in Boſton.
BOSTON in N. E. Printed by B. Green, Printer to His Honour the Lieut. GOVERNOUR and COUNCIL, 1723.
At a COUNCIL held in the Council Chamber in Boſton, on Monday, June 3 d. 1723.
Ordered, THat PENN TOWNSEND & JOHN APPLETON, Eſqrs; give the Thanks of the Board to the Reverend Mr. BENJAMIN COLMAN for his SERMON preached on the Day of Election of COUNCELLORS, and deſire a Copy thereof in order to its being Printed.
J. WILLARD, Secr.
To the HONOURABLE, William Dummer Eſq Lieutenant GOVERNOUR and Commander in Chief, in & over His Majeſty's Province of the Maſſachuſetts-Bay in New-England. And to the HONOURABLE, His MAJESTY's COUNCIL and the GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
THE following Sermon is a ſerious & humble Addreſs to Your Honours on the behalf of Poſterity laying before You the Charge and Commandment of the Great GOD by Whom You rule, That You piouſly and faithfully uſe your beſt Endeavours, under His Bleſſing and by the Favour of our Gracious King, to leave thoſe Civil & Religious Priviledges which we now enjoy for an Inheritance to our Children after us.
THE ſhort and compendious way to this, is here laid before You from the Word of GOD, namely, A religious ſeeking for and keeping all his Commandments.
IF GOD favour us it ſhall go well with us, the Royal Favour of our King to us being from HIM, and ſo all the Wiſdom & Succeſs of Your Counſels. It is with GOD alſo to make all our Enemies (ſecret or open) to be at peace with us, or to turn their miſcheivous Counſels into fooliſhneſs.
PIETY is big with Bleſſings to the Publick, and alſo to every Perſon. But eſpecially are pious Rulers a ſingular Benefit and Glory to any People. They are an Image of CHRIST in his Offices & Government; the Prophet and Prince are united in them; and Men ſhall be bleſſed in them, all People ſhall call them bleſſed.
THE Fathers of this Province came hither to ſeek for and to keep all the Commandments of God, and (by His will and grace) to leave theſe into their Children after them, for ever. So the General Court in effect told King Charles the Second, in their Addreſs to him in the Year 1661. We ſupplicate Your Majeſty (ſaid they ‖…ee the H…ſtory of New-England; by the Reverend Mr. Ne…. p. 332.) for Your gracious Protection of us, in the Continuance both of our Civil and Religious Liberties, according to the Grantees known End of ſuing for the Patent, conferr'd upon this Plantation by your Royal Father. Our Liberty to walk in the way of the Goſpel, with all good Conſciences according to the Order of the Goſpel, was the Cauſe of our tranſporting our ſelves with our Wives, our little ones and our ſubſtance, from that pleaſant Land, over the Atlantick Ocean, into the vaſt Wilderneſs, chuſing rather the pure Scripture Worſhip with a good Conſcience in this remote Wilderneſs, than the pleaſures of England with Submiſſion, to the Impoſitions of the then ſo diſpoſed, and ſo far prevailing Hierarchy, which we could not do without an evil Conſcience.— We are not ſeditious, as to the Intereſt of Caeſar; nor ſchiſmatical, as to matters of Religion. We diſtinguiſh between Churches and their Impurities.— We could not live without the Publick Worſhip of GOD nor be permitted the Publick Worſhip without ſuch a Yoke of Subſcription & Conformity, as we could not conſent unto without Sin. That we might therefore enjoy Divine Worſhip without human Mi…tures, without offence to God, Man and our own Conſciences, we with Leave, but not without Tears departed from our Country, Kindred and Fathershouſes, into this Patmos.
SO dearly did our Fathers purchaſe, and thus highly did they priſe, thoſe Charter Privileges, and Religious Liberties, which ſome among us are too ready now to make light of. Let us, my Fathers, as zealouſly affect the Preſervation of them, as they did the Acquiſition of them; That ſo our Poſterity may be in ſome manner beholden to us as we are to our Anceſtors; and that Your Names may live in the Annals of theſe Churches, as Theirs do, after a peaceful and happy Death.
IT is a maſter of great Thankfulneſs to GOD, and ough… to be obſerved unto his Glory, that we ſee the Body of our Rulers, and ſo many of the Men of Eſtate among us, ſo well principled and eſtabliſh'd in the Cauſe of God among us. It is a ſingular Mercy to us, our Ornament and Defence, that we ſee ſo many laudable Examples of Sobriety and Temperance, Frugality and Diligence, Charity, Humility and Devotion, in the Houſes of our Superiour People. And here alſo we ſhall find ſome of the beſt Inſtances of ſtrict Family-Government, and a careful Inſtitution of their Children in the Principles and ways of our Fathers. You cannot better expreſs a faithful Love to GOD, your Country, your Children, and your own Souls, than in ſo doing
AND now that I am ſpeaking of this good Spirit for the Publick and for Futurity, as the ſingular Duty and Ornament of the Rulers of a People; give me leave to add—That it was this which built our College even in the Infancy of the Colony, and which has ſupported and endow'd it to this day. GOD has from time to time rais'd up kind Friends and generous Benefactors to that Society, both from among our ſelves, and alſo from abroad. We have our living Benefactors with us, and we ſee the Children of Thoſe that are deceaſed. We hope that Poſterity will not forget the Kindneſs of God which they have ſhewn; and we truſt that GOD will remember it for good to Them and theirs.
BUT I owe unto GOD and to my Country a very particular and moſt grateful mention of the late bounties of the Worthy & Pious Mr. THOMAS HOLLIS of London unto our College; to ask the Praiſes of my People to the Bleſſed GOD, whoſe the Marvellous Work is; and to ask their Prayers to GOD for ſo great a Benefactor to Us and to our Children. GOD has put it into his heart to lay a great Foundation this laſt Year for the Glory of CHRIST, and the good of our Poſterity, even for ever; if it pleaſe the Divine Providence to crown his Deſign and Deſires with a Bleſſing. Ten of our Sons, the poorer and the more prompt and pious, are to receive … T…n Pounds each, towards their Education for …e Service of CHRIST in the Work of the Miniſtry among us. And moreover the LORD has enlarg'd his heart to give us no leſs than Eighty pounds per Annum for the Maintenance of a Profeſſor of Divinity in the College; where a very worthy One is Eſtabliſh'd, who is reading Lectures to the S…udents every week, in publick and in private; to their great Spiritual Advantage (we truſt) & for their Improvement in ſacred knowledge.
THE Sons of New-England muſt for ever acknowledge Mr. HOLLIS for a Father to them; and I truſt that GOD means to give Him in many of them a better Name than of Sons & of Daughters; beſides that Everlaſting Name among the Children of GOD that ſhall never be cut off. Yea the Churches of New-England will gratefully own Mr. HOLLIS to be made by GOD a Nurſing Father to them, while His Profeſſor ſhall (by the will of GOD) from Generation to Generation be feeding our Sons with the Sincere Milk of the Word, and they theſe Flocks of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt with the ſame.
THUS it pleaſes GOD to be ſpeaking in His gracious Providence concerning our Poſterity, concerning the College and theſe Churches, for times to come; if we will be ſeeking for & keeping all His Commandments; which is the thing that our pious Friend & Benefactor has at heart in all this Bounty to us.
AT the ſame time GOD has pleas…d to inſpire ſeveral very Reverend Miniſters in London, with a natural & earneſt Care for our Intereſt, Civil and Religious, even as if They had been born of us, or we of Them. Such is the fervent & tender Sollicitude, which they expreſs for the weal & flouriſhing of our Country, our College, & our Churches; and leſt we or our Poſterity ſhould loſe our precicious Liberties. They know us not, nor can have any Benefit by us; but they are known to CHRIST, and are His Servants, and ſeek His glory; and for JESUS ſake they wiſh our Good, Temporal & Spiritual: Becauſe of the Houſe of the Lord our GOD they ſeek our Good. Now while GOD moves thus the Hearts of diſtant Friends, who never ſaw us, to ſeek the Preſervation & Propagation of Religion & Learning to our Poſterity; ſhall not we our ſelves much more feel this Concern for our ſelves? to keep thoſe good things committed to us, and to leave them for an Inheritance unto our Children after us, for ever?
I have thus caſt into a new Form, and by way of Preface ſaid, ſome of thoſe things which I omitted, when the Time & my Strength fail'd me in the Delivery of the following Sermon: Which that it may be accompanied with the Divine Bleſſing to them that read it, is the Prayer of
May it pleaſe Your HONOURS, Your moſt Obedient Humble Servant, Benjamin Colman.