yet springs from this root of pride Some entertain such an opinion concerning themselves as they conceive nothing can be well done if they have not an hand therein whereas Paul is content and rejoyceth that Christ is preached though himself be shut up in prison that the truth is at liberty though himself be in bonds This spirit of pride maintains that office of Lying which was complained of not long since in this place detracting from or defrauding of others Hence also is that Self-willedness that spirit of revenge whereby some cannot bear to be opposed but must be chief and will have their wills though they turn evrey stone Tantaene animis coelestibus irae But with too many as he said t is true mors mihi pro regno This spirit of willfull Revenge was it that brought that sore scourge of God upon some parts of the Christian world for it made some that could not as the Poet speaks flectere Superos Acharonta movere that they might be revenged on those from whom they might have received some lesser injury for it called the Saracens and Moors into Spain from whence it could never be recovered again in seven hundred years This opened the Gates of Buda that impregnable Bulwark of Hungary to let in the Turks that some might have their wills of their Christian neighbours and friends to revenge a private injury with a publick and perpetual mischief Thus this pride of mens hearts will make them turn Indians that they may be revenged of their Brethren Abram will rather recede from his right then contend with his Brother when the Cananite and Perizzire was then in the land O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assemblyes be not thou united mine honour for in their anger they slew a man and in their self-will they digged down a wall Gen. 49.6 This is the first of the two grand evills amongst us as it is to be feared 2. The second is like unto this as to its secret and prevailing nature and alike odious in the sight of God sc That spirit of Covetousness and inordinate love of the world that is so inconsistent with the love of the Father This sin lyes as a Barr of seperation betwixt God and his people ye cannot serve God and Mammon This is a lust that will drown mens Souls in perdition 1. Tim. 6. much more their Bodyes and estates This is apt to choak the fruit of the most hopefull Soyl direct Idolatry and Apostacy no wonder therefore it is called the root of all evill Yet doth this sin slily insinuate it self into the heart of the forwardest Professors and is ready to speak to them as the Serpent did to Eve hath God indeed said you may not meddle with this or that desirable fruit of the world This is a sin apt to ly in wait for and easily ensnare a Reforming people This will not be the first time that it hath been ready to bane Reformation as may be seen Hag. 1.5 for it may stand with the highest outward form of Religion Church membership pure Worship and the strictest kind of discipline witness the Pharises that were so strict observers of the Law as touching the righteousness thereof blameless And Judas that carried the Bag yet was a pentioner of Satan though outwardly in the visible Kingdome of Christ yea in his Family yet as little suspected as any of the rest What complaints have been made against this sin in the Church and Lawes made against it in the Commonwealth yet still it lives and hides it self as if there were no coming at it It lyes secretly lurking in the hearts of Professors and is brooded by pretence of one thing or other Necessity Frugality Sobriety c. Saul can put a specious pretence not only of civill prudence but of Religion also upon his covetous practice way expresly contradicting the Command of God The Ballances of deceit were in the hand of Ephraim with a secret love to oppress in his Marchandize yet who can find any Iniquity in his Dealings that were sin Hos 12.8 How are mens desires apt to be enlarged after the world as hell their hearts unsatisfied as the grave that makes them able to devour widdows houses yet never say it is enough They that first came over hither for the Gospel could not well tell what to doe with more Land then a smal number of acres yet now men more easily swallow down so many hundreds and are not satisfied If they be but never so little streightned they must remove where they may have room enough that can part with a good neighbourhood and the the beautifull heritage of Church communion or Gospel Worship to pitch with Lot in the Confines of Sodom There was a sad curse laid upon Jerecho the city of the Moon an emblem of this lower world which reformed churches should trample under their feet that whoever should build it again should lay the foundation thereof in his first-born and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son which it is well if some mens hearts doe not misgive them as if the hand of God that hath been writing bitter things against us hath not amongst others written some such thing as this Is not this to set up new Gods Is it a wonder then that we find war in our gates God is knocking the hands of New-England people off from the world and from new Plantations till they get them new hearts resolved to reform this great evill These things may seem harsh yet when the Lord is crying aloud in his providence who can forbear speaking in this kind The Lyon hath roared who will not fear the Lord hath spoken who can but prophesie Aâ— 3.8 Nivard in Burgundy once told his fellow brethren Bernard Guido who had newly renounced the world and entred into Monasteryes telling their other brother that they had left him all their earthly possâ—ssions that they had made noâ— equal division taking heaven for themselves and leaving him what was here below It may be God hath observed some of his children here doing the contrary too ready to exchange the Kingdome of heaven for earthly possessions and therefore sayes he will undoe that bargain as we use to doe the molish bargains of our Children If this be the guize of New England or that there appears any disposition that way It is no wonder if God our great Land-lord layes his arrest upon our tillage and straines for his glory as our divine Astronomer tells us in the prognostick of this present year Thus honoured and respected in the Lord you that are the Heads and Leaders of our Tribes I have endeavoured to set before you the two great Evills that I humbly conceive may most probably be lookt upon not as the least of the procuring causes of these chastisements in letting loose the rage of the Heathen against us so far as any deserving cause may be found in us God tells his
people of old that he will move them to jealousie by them that are no people and provoke them by a foolish nation i. e. by those whom they despised and most contemned Deut. 32.21 How have we been too apt to speak contemptibly of the Indians as if one of us could drive hundreds of them It may be it hath been so in former times when God put the dread of us upon them that were round about us Sampson after his Delilah enchantments thought to have done as at other times but he wist not that God was departed from him There is a great deal of odds when God is with his people and when he is against them Providences have seemed strangely to work against us but it may be to humble us and prove us that he may doe us good in the latter end God may have other ends also that he aims at in these solemn Dsspensations that doe not yet appear and when he hath performed his whnle work upon our Zion he will punish the stout heart of our enemies as we trust One other end that God may have may be to teach us Warre as was said Jud. 3.2 at least those that knew nothing of it before which in a Sence is true of most of us The knowledge of any thing that is gotten by experience is quite another kind from that which is acquired by other meanes We knew nothing of the practick of warr we should never have learnt by all our Trainings and Artilleryes in former times and it is well if they have not taught us something else which God is now unteaching us We see now plainly that it is one thing to drill a Company in a plain Champagne and another to drive an enemy through the desert woods Yet Gods Israel need not be discouraged God may be in the midst of us though we doe not yet so manifestly discern him as we wish for and is going up with a shout Psa 45.7 He uses to sit as a Refiner over his fire And when he hath prepared the Soyle by ploughing and harrowing he will cast in the precious Seed Light is sown for the righteous joy for the upright in heart They that sow in tears shall reap in Joy God doth not at any time willingly afflict the Children of men but at no time over afflict them If you enquire what remedy may be prescribed against the two forementioned evils feared to be too far grown or growing upon us I shall at present advise but to this one Catholick remedy and that is Christian charity there is a medicament which they call Vnguentum Apostolorum so named from the number of the ingredients this I now mentioned may more properly be so called but rather the example and authority then the number of the Apostles who in their writings as well as their Lord and Master in his Doctrine did so much insist upon it Above all these put on charity Col. 3.14 Charity is the fulfilling of the Law so as if that had been duely attended in our hearts and lives as well as in our professions it would have at first prevented the miscarriages of our Churches and may on that ground be the most likely means to heal us and revive things amongst us to their primitive state of purity and perfection for when did iniquity abound but when the love of many began to wax cold When a learned man in the former age once read some part of the Gospel he suddenly broke forth into these words aut hoc non est evangelium aut nos non sumus evangeliâ—i so may one say of our times when he reads 1 Cor. 13. aut hac non est charitas aut nos non sumus charitate imbuti The genuine race of this heavenly plant is almost worne out of knowledge in the world Paul complains in his time that all men sought their own things and none the things of Jesus Christ what would that holy Apostle say that had the care of all the Churches still lying upon his heart if he were alive and present amongst us in this generation If I had the tongue of Men and Angels and but one hours time to speak unto you I could not better improve it then by pressing upon you a conscientious care and endeavour to exercise and practise this excellent grace this most christian virtue which might be thought a superfluous thing thus to press as one not long since expressed did we only know the Gospel and not the lives of them that profess it And I seriously affirm I know no way else to advance the name of Christianity to its pristine glory in the world The flourishing beauty of this heavenly grace was that which did so strangely metamorphose the visage and face of things at first in the world when was fulfilled that of Isaiah that the wolf and the lamb should dwell together and the leopard lye down with the kid It was the verdant lustre of this divine grace that turned the rough and barren wilderness of the world into a fruitful Carmel or fragrant Sharon When the Christian World had first put on this precious attire of Charity the smell of its Garments were like Lebanon as a field which the Lord had blessed This spirit turned Shevir and Hermon those Lions dens and mountains of Leopards into the holy and peaceable mountain of the Lord where was found nothing that should hurt or destroy But alas when this terras astraea reliquit when this spirit of love began to decay then did iniquity and unrighteousness break in upon the Christian world like a torrent that carried all before it Then did the Churches Sharon return back into the wilderness again and then the excellency of Carmel began to shake off its fruits Then did they nothing but hurt and destroy in all Gods holy Mountains then was the Temple of God become a den of Thieves a cage of ravenous and unclean birds and so hath continued ever since and so is like still to remain till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled and the years of Antichrist be run out unless a mighty spirit of Grace be poured upon the World For ever since the fatal feuds and dissentions paganized and degenerated Christendome as one not unaptly tells them are become the scandal of the Mahometans in the East and we the pretended reforming Protestants of Europe the divided sects of Luther and Calvin are become if not the scorn of yet less tremendous to those at Rome And we may have great cause to fear that the decay of this Grace in New-England hath in a great measure been the procuring cause that hath brought this black Cloud upon the beautiful face of our Sion in these ends of the Earth Paul complained in his time of a great decay of Charity even where other gifts abounded he tells the Corinthians they were carnal and walked as men not for want of other gifts of knowledge which puffed up but for want of charity which
they were the greater Kingdome for ever after David was forced to yield to as much as that came to if not something more when he complains the sons of Zâ—viah are too hard for him rather then to make a breach between himself his men of warr in that difficult time when himself was yet weak and the Kingdome not firmly or fully setled in his hand David was wise as an Angel of God to know what he had to doe and doth not connive at their sin although he doth for that time forbear to execute the punishment leaving things to a more convenient season Jerusalem sayes the Psalmist is builded as a city that is compact together when the parts of a building are so artificially framed one into another that they are as it were cemented and knit together by a vital spirit of love the more weight is laid upon them the firmer and stronger they grow but where they are disjoynted one part helps to weaken and overthrow the other Cyrus is said to have overthrown the impregnable city of Babylon by drawing the great channel of Euphrates into several small rivulets which had they continued in one main stream he could never have done It is not the storms and tempests though never so boisterous while they are on the outside or upon the surface of the earth that make any commotion therein but the vapors that are insensibly gotten into its bowels that make it quake and tremble It is not the outward force and violence that ruines a commonwealth so much as a spirit of division and contention arising from jealousies prejudices animosityes from within themselves which doth most dangerously threaten and most certainly foretell its destruction as our Saviour himself speaks an An house or Kingdome divided against it self cannot stand The swift ships that are driven by the fierce winds or carryed with the raging waves of the sea yet so long as they who sit at their helmes are united in their counsels and endeavours most commonly do avoid the danger of ship-wrack being turned this or that way upon occasion at the will of the governour but if they who are to manage them cannot agree amongst themselves they may easily be emersed and whole navies of them become but ludibrium Ventorum Unity of Counsell is one of the chief foundations of civill Polity But if the foundations be dissolved what can the righteous doe but mourn in secret when they foresee but cannot prevent the miseryes that are coming upon a factious divided and self-destroying people It was a sad time in Israel when one half of the people followed Tibâ—i the son of Ginath the other half followed Omâ—i whence might necessarily be inferred the destruction of one side or of the other as soon after came to pass in that people Or else may endanger the ruine of the whole as too often hath been seen in the world that when lesser societyes have been divided amongst themselves they have but the sooner become a prey to a stronger power Which if it had not been experienced in most of the states and societyes of the Christian world and in all the latter as well as antient revolutions of the nations where any order of Goverment either civill or ecclesiastical hath been established might have been exemplifyed by particular instances Faelix quem faciunt c. happy are they that can take warning by the harms they have observed in preceeding times Such divisions especially in the Church of God are in a great measure to be ascribed to the policy of Satan who endeavours by all wayes and meanes to foment divisions amongst those of the Church by that course to ruine them while in the mean time he provides for the quiet of his own Kingdome the world God also may be said to do it being provoked by the pride and tyranny with other wickedness of the sons of men judicially to mingle a perverse spirit in the midst of a nation suffering their princes to be deceived and to deceive their people as the prophet speaks of Egypt Isa 19.13 14. Causing them to erre in every work thereof as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit But the meritorious and procuring cause of those ruinous and destructive counsells arises from the weakness or wickedness of a people themselves It being observed as one of the blessings God was pleased to cast in to some heathen states as a reward of their wisdome and prudence with other moral virtues viz. their long peace and flourishing prosperity upon the earth It is much to consider that all Asia can agree together in the worship of a Diana and the Image that fell down from Jupiter while one single Church in the city of Corinth cannot long hold together in the worship of the true God nor retain the rites of his worship and the regular use of the sacred bodyes of love and unity without such shamefull divisions and scandalous breaches as they are sharply rebuked for by the Apostle in both his Epistles to that Church imputing the root of those divisions to the lusts of the flesh Are ye not carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 3.3 But this being a matter of so great concernment for the good and welfare of Societyes whither Christian or civill it may not be amiss to enquire into the true grounds and reasons of such Unity or the way how it may be brought about The first and principal is a clear discovery of the right way of their peace and prosperity it being taken for granted that this is or ought to be the end that all Societyes generally ayme at sc a quiet possession of what they already have with enlargement of their prosperity if attainable But if there be no agreement in the meanes that seem most directly to tend to that end but that apprehensions are divided about that they may be as much divided for ever For at this time and a little before the Israelites were taken with a fond desire of a Kingly Goverment yet not being at an agreement amongst themselves about the person or the manner of his Goverment they were divided into factions till their minds by sad experience came to be convinced that David was the person not only called but qualified of God for that great service which Amasa expresses in the name of the rest of the Tribes Thine are we David and on thy side thou son of Jesse so that nothing can be supposed more directly to tend to the creating and maintaining unity in the counsells and affections of a people then cleer convincing light and a demonstrative evidence that what is propounded is â—he direct and proper meanes to bring about the end generally aymed at othewise it will be said Scinaitur incertum studia in contraria vulgus The poor man by his wisdome saith Solomon delivered the city And the wise woman of Abel saved the city by propounding so meet an expedient as gained acceptance in all apprehensions Otherwise it may fall
to play an after game And wise men aâ—â—uâ— it the best way to put as little as may be to peradventure A man of understanding saith Solomon Prov. 12.27 is of an excellent Spirit the Hebrew word is of a cool Spirit Sedatus animo slow deliberate composed not hot which makes men quick and sudden in their resolves Theodosius that famous Christian Emperour noted for great wisdome also did that on the sudden in a passion that he had cause to repent of ever after To be flow to wrath argues great understanding in the wise mans account Prov. 14.29 It is reported of Heraclius the Treasurer of the said Theodosius that giving so far way to his passion as when the Saracens who were hired by the Emperour for the war came to demand their pay he refused payment and instead thereof passionately called them Arabick Dogs which so incensed them that they immediately set up their own Bâ—nnets which gave occasion to those infernal Locusts that came first out of the bottomless pit to overspread the face of the Christian World miserably tormenting the Inhabitants thereof for an hundred and fifty years where by the way may be noted hard words are the worst kind of pay can be made to such as venture their lives for the service of the common-wealth The same befell Rehoboam whose hard proud and haughty words were answered by a shower of as hard stones that fell heavy on the bones of his officers But to return much deliberation in publick affairs specially if the case be about matters of moment is rarely found a disadvantage As was said of that old Roman Fabius Maximus Cunct ando restituit rem he repaired that by deliberation and prudent delaying of matters which some others had almost ruined by their precipetant and heady adventures The like deliberation is of use in the enacting as well as in the executing of all civill Constitutions and Decrees Therefore wise Lawyers have been alwayes wont to account Lawes of difficult Tearms and doubtfull event had need be deliberately thought upon before they be enacted or put in execution Israels best venison was that which was longest in preparing 2. The second branch of the Application may respect those honoured persons who are like now or hereafter may be called unto or continued by this dayes Election in the place of Goverment as Leaders of this our Tribe I shall crave leave to suggest thus much unto you from the words of the text what God doth and man may justly expect from you sc That you be found such as have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to doe The title here given is a sufficient intimation thereof The rest of your Brethren here present are but inferiour Members of that body of which you are the Head instruments subservient to your direction and guidance The foot moves not the hand is not lifted up without the order and command of the head You are the pins on whom hangs all the glory of the house of Israel therefore it behoves you to think of the charge that lies upon you We look upon you in this your capacity like the four and twenty Elders casting their Crowns at the feet of him that sits upon the Throne and ready to receive them only by his appointment as intending only to honour him therewith and not your selves They were wont to say amongst the Senators of Rome viderint Consules ne quid detrimenti capiat Respublica i. e. it is the care of the Consuls who had the executing part of the power of the People put into their hands to see that the Common-wealth receive no detriment I may yea must add this further to your selves ne quid detrimenti capiat Ecclesia i. e. you are as well to see that the Church under your charge and care receive no damage or disadvantage Consider the extent of your Commission this day to be sealed unto you both by God and his people Know therefore The concernments belonging unto you in reference to Israel are either Ecclesiastical or Political the latter are Civil Military so that as you see they are threefold Sacred Civil and Military I shall briefly as the matter will allow touch upon all three in their order 1. The sacred or Religious concernments of Israel are under your care and conduct Imperativè as they say though not Elicitivè I need not take up time it were not to spend but mispend it in proving that civil Rulers have to do in matters of Religion That Text alone Mat. 22.37 were enough to prove it Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy might c. Love is ready to summon in all the powers and faculties within its reach to attend the will of him whom it loves as its last end it was said by the Prophet the Merchandize of Tyre shall be holiness to the Lord may it not as well be said that the Magistracy of Rome as the Merchandize of Tyre was to be Holiness to the Lord. The Scepter of the Man childe by virtue of his subordination to the Lord Jesus was to rule all Nations with the Rod of iron as t is said Rev. 12. If any should say the Lord Jesus doth not need the help of the Civil Magistrate to carry on his Kingdome I answer although he doth not need it for he did carry on the work of his Kingdome when all the civil Magistrates of the world were combined against it that will not excuse Magistrates for non-performance of their duty when ever they are impowred thereunto To all such it may be said as Mordecai said to Esther who knows but thou art come to the Kingdome for such a time as this but if any desire further satisfaction in this point they may consult the learned discourses of all Protestant Writers upon this Subject whether Lutheran or Calvinist Gerhard Grotius sundry Episcopal learned Divines of our own Nation as well as those of our own place and perswasion treating of this Subject specially Mr. Nye his learned Defence of the lawfulness of the Oath of Supremacy and power of the Civil Magistrate in Ecclesiastical Affairs and subordination of Churches thereunto whom I the rather chuse to instance in because he hath extracted the quintescence and marrow of all our modern Divines whether of the Episcopal or other perswasions and one also never suspected of or condemned for deviating declining or receding from former principles by him self taken up which it may be others as innocent are yet not altogether to free from the suspition of that so it may appear that all sober Divines do joyntly agree in this conclusion Nor is this Doctrine any new upstart invention but a Truth owned by the Doctors and Fathers of the Church as they are called in Constantines time That first and famous Christian Emperour was wont to say of himself that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as others were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
supply the place of heads in Israel 3. The third and last respects the people in general or who ever are as Subjects under the care and conduct of the heads in Israel to all of whom I may say in the words of our Sauiour Luk. 10.37 go do you likewise Here is a compleat patern in the Text. Do you all say as Hush 〈◊〉 said His and theirs will we be whom God and his people by this dayes Election shall continue in or call unto the place of Government in this our Tribe God in his Providence hath in a way of subordination cast you under the charge of such heads as have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do the inference is both very cogent very natural be you at their command You are called to do not dispute the lawful commands of them who are over you in the Lord and that by your own choice A notable General once going out of Rome and making a speech to the people as the manner then was before his departure out of the city among other things told them that if any of them thought themselves wise enough to manage the warre they should goe along with him to assist him by their counsel or else rule their tongues at home for he should manage things not it may be to their expectation but as he saw occasion It is observed in the history of the flourishing Commonwealth of the Romanes that much of their success could be ascribed to nothing more under the overruling hand of divine providence then the strict discipline and observation of order amongst them both civill in the Common-wealth in time of peace and military abroad in the time of warre One reports of a Souldier under Augustus that in the prosecution of a battle being about to slay one of his enemies that then was in his power hearing a retreat sounded forbore using these words malem obedire Duci quà m occidere Hostem accounting the glory of obedience to his Commander greater then that of victory over his enemy Here were a large field to expatiate in if time and other occasions would give leave to let the discourse run on that subject but considering in regard of the present distress of the war that hath lyen so long upon us that something may be expected from me on that account either to search after the cause why all this great evill is come upon us or by propounding something by way of remedy I shall in the next place apply my self to speak something as God shall assist that way The time was not long since that we in New-England might have said with Job the eye that saw us whither of friends or foes was ready to bless us or envy our prosperity and might be ready to say as Balam sometimes did when his eyes were opened as the beholding of the tabernacle of God amongst us in the midst of the Standards of our four united Colonyes encamping round about How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Surely there is no divination against Jacob nor enchantment against Israel When the Candle of God shined upon our head by whose light we walked through darkness We washed our steps with butter and the rock poured us out rivers of oyl as Job speaks When God first brought this vine out of another land where it might be much over shadowed he cast out the heathen and planted it he caused it to take deep root and it was ready to fill the land the hills began to be covered with the shadow of it its boughs began to look like goodly cedars it might have been said in some sence that we sent our boughs to the Seas and our branches to the rivers But now we may take up the Lamentation following Why are our hedges broken down and the wild boar out of the wood doth waste it and the wild beast out of the field doth devour it It is burnt with fire it is cut down we perish at the rebuke of his countenance yet is he the Almighty we have looked up to him to behold and visit this vine but he seems not as yet willing to look down upon us he seems only to look on not willing to engage in our quarrels as a way-faring man that turns aside for a night as a mighty man that cannot save May we not expostulate further with the Psalmist The heathen are come into thine inheritance O God The dead bodyes of thy Servants some of them have they given to be meat to the fowles of heaven the flesh of thy servants to the beasts of the earth Their bloud have they shed like water and there is none to bury them How long Lord wilt thou be angry for ever shall thy jealousie burn like fire before thou pour thy wrath upon the heathen that have not and will not know thee nor call upon thy Name How hath the Lord covered our Sion with a cloud in his anger how many men and women here present may say we are the men and the women the persons that have seen affliction by the rod of his wrath Here is one like old Jacob ready to say his gray hairs will be brought down with sorrow to the grave and that he shall go mourning thither after the children of his old age There is another with Rachel weeping and will not be comforted because her children are not they are gone into captivity never to return or removed into the other world by the sword of the enemy Doth not many an one sit solitary in widdowhood that before might take much content in the husband of her youth that now of the children which they brought into the world have none to take them by the hand Surely affliction doth not spring out of the dust nor doth trouble arise out of the ground Doubtless there is some root of bitterness whence this Gall wormwood of affliction hath proceeded After this and that time of seeking God we looked for deliverance and behold trouble came Many sad troubles have befaln us in former years and now one of the sorest is come upon us the Sword and that of a cruel enemy which uses not to be drawn upon Gods owne people till lesser chastisements have proved ineffectual But some may say for what great evill is it that God hath thus changed his hand toward us and what may be the cause of this great Anger I shall offer my thoughts in a few words 1. In the first place I can presume none reflect upon the constitution of our Goverment either in Church or State Wise Master-builders have laid the foundation of the Building a better who can desire to be laid either for the liberty of the people or just power of them that rule Were not our foundations laid with Saphyres and our stones with fair colours Was not the patern in the mount the rule that was attended in the laying of our platform of Order Was there
any Temptation upon the minds of them that were concerned in that work to swerve there from to the right hand or to the left Or if any disposition or the least inclination had been discerned that way had you not power to have laid those aside placed others in their room and stead Much might be said here if there were need 2. If you enquire into the succession of our Leaders and succenturiation of the persons called to supply the room of them that having served their generation are now fallen asleep in the Lord. Have they not acted according to former principles and shewed the same spirit of Faith and Holiness Zeal for Gods glory and purity of worship the same love to God and his wayes Have they built hay or stubble upon the Foundation formerly laid It hath alwayes been the humour of those that follow to be ready to complain of the present age wherein they live which Solomon checks as proceeding from want of judgment Eccless 7.10 Thou enquirest not wisely concerning this matter Every age doth not yield a David nor a Solomon Yet it is observed things went well in Judah in Rehoboams time 2 Chron. 12.12 so long as the ordinances were duly observed about Gods worship good judgment and justice executed and in many of the Princes and people good things were found Much more was this to be acknowledged in the reign of Asa and Jehosaphat though of them it might be said non nulla desiderantur yet they aimed at the best patern in Sincerity Their hearts were perfect with the Lord their God as was the heart of David their father Possibly some upon every Check and frown of providence against us may be ready with Saul to call for the Lot to be cast and will be too forward without a perfect Lot to say the cause is in Saul or in Jonathnn or in the people Or else adde there is some Achan in the camp and Jonas in the Ship that must immediately be made a sacrifice to divine Justice as they may misconceive We must not lye for God and need be carefull we doe not entitle divine Providence to the mistakes of our minds and make God speak that by his providence which never entred into his heart Of many outward changes it is most certain that we can know neither love nor hatred thereby Some men may be ready to say there is too much indulgence towards men of corrupt mindes and it is to be feared in some of our Rulers too It is two to one if some doe not say the contrary For we know what animadversions have been made by men of other perswasions none had need give any occasion to such misconstructions of Gods hand by an ungrounded suiting of times with events Were it not a more probable way for us to know our own duty that is the surest way to know the mind of God concerning our selves and engage to doe it letting alone those things wherein possibly we may not be all of one minde Forgetting therefore those things that are behind as the Apostle speaks let us set upon those things that are before us wherein we are all agreed upon our duty leaving the other to the decision of further light and after times Deus et dies revelabit A divided language hindred the building of Babel and forced the undertakers to desist as the Poet expresses it one sayes make that rope fast the other lets it fly How then can we conceive it should tend to build up Sion No doubt but an unguided and indiscreet zeal in many to promote or profess their opinions in the most publick manner hath done much miâ—chief in the world And possibly a like errour to suppress them by undue meanes hath done some Let no mans good be evill spoken of Peradventure some men might have let fall their opinions or errors as the Traveller did his cloake if they had not been too boisterously and rudely set upon by their opposites If we find cor bonum honestum as one said of Swenkfeld though there want caput regulatum Calvini we should not cast away the gold because of the dross mingled with it Although they are in a great error that out of love to the wine swallow down the dregs after it yet they are in a greater that refuse the good liquor because of the Lees in the bottome The best wheat hath its chaff God may reveal more of his mind to those that differ from us as well as to our selves could we but have patience to wait his leisure And we should the rather commiserate the infirmityes of other mens understandings because our own are not as yet arrived at perfection So much modesty becomes every Christian as not to condemn all he doth not understand so neither to call for fire from heaven against any that may differ from him Nor is every one to be taxed as a party in the case that is not so forward as another to call for a civill sword to end the controversie Possibly some in the world have already experienced the verification of our Saviours words in this sense they that take up the sword shall perish with the sword Paul tells us Rom. 14.5.6 he that keepeth or regardeth the day regardeth it to the Lord He that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it All mans Consciences are not enlightened in the same degree Were it not better to debate the cause with our neighbours with those we dissent from and not so peâ—emptorily to entitle Gods truth to the private apprehensions of our selves or our owne party in such cases where possibly the whole truth is not revealed such proceedings it may be doe but embolden disengaged slanders by to complain of both as befell Beza Erastus in their contest about Lay-Elders 4. It cannot be denied but that these corruptions have too too many abounded amongst us that usually are concomitant with long peace and outward prosperity Standing waters are more apt to corrupt and grow putrid The best tempered blades are apt to abate of their edge by disuse or to be eaten with rust But are not all scandalous evils been witnessed against by Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical by executing wholsome Laws and Church censures are not evil doers removed that all Israel may hear and fear to run into presumptuous evils and are there not many hopeful buds springing up amongst the rising Generation on whom that blessed promise Isai 44.3 begins to take place I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thy off spring Is there not sound in them a great readiness to give up themselves to the work and service of their Generation Such as have offered themselves willingly and have not loved their lives to the death You have had Presidents of your Colonies and Colledges that have been bred or brought up in the Country Hath not God in a great measure been ready to make good what he hath spoken
only edifies in those times he found but few Timothies that cared for the good of others but many Demasses that fought their own good and many Diotrephers that sought their own exaltation and preâ—erment with the under valuing and contempt of others could Christians but be perswaded to put off this private selfish worldly Spirit and put on humility and charity and man fest a publick Spirit how would it again revive the glory of New-England Churches We have many complaints amongst us could we but get our hearts stored with this Christian virtue it would prove as a Balm out of Gilead a sovereign remedy against all our troubles This Grace of charity in the compleat and perfect exercise thereof would heal all our divisions reform all our vices root out all our disorders make up all our breaches This would cure all the morellianisme and libertinisme in the Brethren of New-England Churches and it would cure also all the Prelacy and Presbyterianisme in the Elders of the said Churches we should presently then have better thoughts one of another for love thinketh no harm So for other Maladies and Distempers in our minds or distresses in our outward Estates Charity would be like the Widows Oyle that would never cease running till it had filled all the vessels This would pay all our debts and defray all our publick charges This would relieve all our distressed friends it would answer all the necessities of Church and State This would feed all our poor and clothe all our naked Brethren and support all our Widows and Fatherless ones It would maintain all our Ministers so that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and this would at a more honourable rate and without repining afford the bread of the Governour In a word what would not charity do of this kinde publick Faith hath in several ages been bankrupt but publick charity never was yet The Churches Treasury of the primitive times that was supplied only with this spring of charity was never drawn dry Yea although the primitive christians were to encounter with all kinde of adversity they conflicted with Famine and Nakedness with all kind of wants yet was their Treasury never wasted All the powers of the Earth were combined against them and of Hell too yet it never failed I tell you if we could set up such a Bank of Christian Charity in New-England it would prove a richer Store-house then all the Spanish Mines or Banks of Venice or Amsterdam This would make such an equal distribution of the things of this life through the whole Camp of Israel that he who gathered much should have nothing over and they that gathered little should havo no lack for this with contentment would make godliness the greatest gains to all that traded therein Then would one Christian Brother Neighbour and Friend assist and strengthen each other and all endeavours would be firmly engaged to promote the common good Thus Honoured Reverend much respected and beloved in the Lord I have endeavoured to commend something to your consideration from these words speaking first unto you all in your several and distinct capacities and at the last have attempted to bind you up all together in one bundle with the Bond of Charity that bond of perfectness could all the heads and Leaders of our Tribes be twisted together by the Spirit of love it would make a threefold Cord that could not easily be broken it would make our Forces how weak soever in themselves become an host like the host of God though not in numbers yet in virtue and power against which our Enemies should not be able to stand up Were our Jerusalem thus compacted together the Gates of Hell with all their instruments would never be able to undermine it or prevail against it Sed hic labor hoc opus est It must be from him who hath the seven Spirits in his right hand whence this Spirit must be expected The time and the work of the Day commands me to have done and indeed I have but little more to add which is only thus much It was the observation of a wise Statesman in the former age concerning that famous and flourishing Common-wealth of the Romanes of old In republicâ Romanâ cives erant utilissimi optimé compositi qui aut consules populo favebant aut tribuni in partes senatus inclinabant i e. The Common-wealth of Rome never flourisht so well as when those in the highest place of Authority were wont to favour the interest of the Peoples Delegates and on the other hand when the delegates of the people were most apt to incline to the Rulers to maintain the dignity and authority of all such By proportion I may add it would tend not a little to the advancing a Christian state where Elders of Churches are very tender of the liberty of the Brethren and the Brethren likewise are regardful of the office power of their Elders where the elder people do encourage the younger with their gentle and courteous behaviour as well as with their grave Examples and prudent Counsels and the younger sort of people are ready to reverence the aged not behaving themselves proudly against the ancient where the rich are liberal bountiful and compassionate to the poor and the poor are likewise thankful and respective to the other and alwayes will when they meet be ready to bless each other in the name of the Lord as Boaz and his Reapers in the field When those of Zebulun have cause to rejoyce in their going out and the Children of Issachar dwell quietly and live comfortably together in their Tents at home calling the people to the mountains to offer the Sacrifice of Righteousness When one doth joyfully gather the fruits of the Earth as the other shall suck the abundance of the Seas and of the treasure hid in the Sands How good and how pleasant would it be for any one to see the Heads and Brethren of each of our Tribes thus to dwell together in Unity doubtless it would be as the precious oyntment on the head of Aaron our high Priest as the dew of Hermon and that which descended on the mountains of Sion when the Lord commanded his Blessing even Life for evermore FINIS