withdrawing our hearts from it or by an Heart-apostacy from God Religion always dyes by the People's Heart-apostacy They set not their Heart aright Their Heart was not right with Him Psal 78.8 37. Their Heart was removed far from Him Isa 29.13 Hence God complains so much every where of their evil Heart their hard impenitent unbelieving stubborn rebellious backsliding revolting whorish Heart whereby they had quite destroyed the life of their Religion Again that we do not desert Religion by slighting neglecting and exposing the visible external Interest and Concernments of it and so not only withdrawing our hearts but our heads and hands also I mean our labours and endeavours in whatsoever ought and is absolutely necessary to be done and performed for the support upholding and maintaining of the visible Interest of Religion Thus the People of old in their Apostacy forsook the Temple and the visible Worship of God and suffered all to fall into a ruine and desolation They deserted the whole Interest of Religion and so destroyed it How much the Spirit the Sins and the Temptations of the Times do incline unto such a deserting or forsaking of Religion we may consider and lay to heart with deep Humiliation For the more close Application of this Admonition let it be considered 1. That when Religion is once decaying and dying is near death even at the point or ready to dye as Rev. 3.2 It is then high time for Professors and a professing People to take heed to themselves that they be no further Accessory to the death of it When the Interest of the World riseth higher and higher all the Sins of the Times grow stronger and stronger and Religion is growing weaker and weaker is already grown so weak that it hath not life strength or power enough left to recover it self It is a fearful question to such a People whether Religion be not gone past hope of Recovery at least in the ordinary way of the improvement of Means Whether ever that Church of Sardis and those other declined Churches were recovered or no by a resurrection of Religion is more uncertain Sure we are they afterward dyed and were buried together with their Religion in their own ruines 2. When Religion dyes all dyes with such a People The death of Religion destroys all kind of Life both the Spiritual and Political Life It destroys Church-constitution Order Administrations yea it destroys the being and standing of a People before God under his Covenant When Religion dyes then Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah are born then God saith Ye are not my People and I will not be your God And He will no more have mercy but that He will utterly take away Hose 1.6 8. Thus that People destroyed themselves by destroying of their Religion and remain dead and buried in their Graves unto this day Ezek. 37.1 14. If we should destroy our Religion we should destroy all our Publique Weal all that wherein we have been peculiarly happy as the People of God If once Religion dye there will be nothing but Death Death in our Hearts Death in all our ways of Converse we shall be a dead People Sin and Death do always reign when and where Religion dyes and is destroyed 3. When a People destroy themselves by destroying Religion they perish inevitably utterly most miserably When God doth leave a People to destroy Religion then He hath no Salvation for them By destroying Religion a People do put away Salvation from them and render themselves utterly uncapable thereof If God lot such a Peope alone and execute no outward temporal Judgement upon them they will soon make a miserable end of themselves for they will abuse all their Peace Prosperity Means Mercyes Interests Injoyments unto their own Ruin and incurre all kind of destroying Evils make themselves a Shame a Reproach a Taunt a Curse an Execration and an Astonishment to all People So did that People of old Jer. 24.9 Jer. 25.18 And so they continue to be unto this day No such vile refuse People under heaven as they who have destroyed Religion Such a People must needs perish most hopelessly Ezek. 33.10 If our Transgressions and our Sins be upon us and we pine away in them how should we then live Observe Religion being dead and gone they cast away all hope of Salvation and give up themselves desperately unto Destruction saying How should we then live It is hard to produce an Instance of any People recovered when they have destroyed Religion by a general and total Apostacy from it For it is the utmost height of all Sin Transgression and Provocation which moveth the Wrath of God to arise 2 Chron. 36.16 Vntill the Wrath of the Lord arose against his People till there was no Remedy or no Healing By destroying of Religion a People do fill up their Sin alway till Wrath cometh upon them to the utmost 1 Thes 2.16 To fill up their Sins alway for the Wrath is come upon them to the uttermost Furthermore to destroy Religion it is a sin most directly against our Lord Jesus Christ because Religion it is more peculiarly His His Work His Cause and Interest Therefore to destroy it is a sin which doth expose a People more directly to the dreadfull Wrath and Displeasure of Christ It is the greatest Injury that can be offer'd or done to Him and therefore He will avenge it We know it was the Lord Jesus who did denounce so dreadfully against all the Churches Rev. 2.5 Else will I come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick V. 16. Else will I come unto thee quickly and will fight against them V. 23. I will kill her Children with death and all the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works The condition of a People or Churches is become unspeakably woful and lamentable when Christ who is the only Mediator and Intercessor with God to procure all both temporal and eternal Deliverance and Salvation is turned against them and become their Enemie for He is the most dreadful Enemie concerning whom it is written Exod. 23.21 Beware of Him and obey his Voice provoke Him not for He will not pardon Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way when his Wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their Trust in Him Well then may any People or Churches who have any care or concernment for their own Salvation be surprized with Astonishment unto some degree of Horror under an apprehension of any danger of the death of Religion It is the Infinite Mercy of God to New-England that althô Religion doth languish yet if we be admonished and take warning there is still hope that it may Revive and Live Hence the III. VSE Wherein the Doctrine is to be improved and applied in a way of Exhortation If Religion be our life and if there
A PLEA For the Life of Dying Religion from the Word of the Lord IN A SERMON Preached to the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the COLONY of the MASSACHVSETS at Boston in New-England May 16. 1683. Being the Day of ELECTION there By Mr. Samuel Torrey Pastor of the Church of Christ at Waymouth Rev. 3.1 I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead 2. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain which are ready to dye Deut. 30.19 I call heaven and earth to Record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy seed may live 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave to him for he is thy life Hosea 6.1 Come let us return to the Lord. 2 After two dayes he will revive us and in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight BOSTON IN NEW-ENGLAND Printed by Samuel Green for Samuel Sewall 1683. TO THE READER IT was the Importunate Solicitation of many and more especially of them whose Request caused the Sermon emitted herewith to be Preached that prevailed with the Reverend and Worthy Author so far to gratifie their desires as to let others have a Copy of what he delivered on so Solemn an Occasion leaving it with them to dispose of as they should see cause I have perused it with great satisfaction finding it to be not only an affectionate and awakening but a rational and judicious Discourse and than which nothing can be more seasonable It hath often been affirmed and truly that the distinguishing Character whereby New-England is differenced from other Out-goings of the English Nation is in that the great motive inducing the first Planters to remove themselves and theirs into a wast and howling Wilderness was like that of the Children of Israel of old the Interest of Religion which their Souls were concerned for And whilest Men continued faithful to that blessed design as the Prophet said to Jehojakim it was well with them They that sought first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness had other things added to them which they never thought nor could in reason hope to enjoy Nor did any Weapon formed against us in those dayes prosper The Lord hath caused us and all the World about us to see that Religion is our life That this Interest without which we our selves cannot live hath been for many years languishing and dying is the observation of all men that have their hearts exercised in discerning things of this nature The complaint is that N-England is not to be found in N-England but we are become like the rest of the Nations being grown into the same conformity to the World with other Plantations whose Interest and profession never was as ours hath been There is a woful decay as to externals and the Form of Religion amongst the Professors of it Hearing the Word as to the publick dispensation thereof Prayer with Fasting and other religious Exercises which reach no further than the Form of Godliness are not so frequent as in former dayes and that is a most certain sign that the power of Godliness is much more in a bleeding and dying state It is not then to be wondered at if the tenour of divine Dispensation hath of later times been changed towards us The hand of God hath been heavy upon many places in the Land he hath smitten us with a deadly destruction The killing Sword a mortal Contagion and other judgements have threatned life it self And since we have let Religion die we have been in greater danger than ever of being deprived both of our Political and Ecclesiastical life Let us not be high-minded but fear If we do not in this our Day know the things of our peace so as to recover the life of Religion the consideration of Gods holy severity towards others may cause trembling of heart lest at last the Lord do unto us as he hath done unto them Are we better than Shiloh where the House of God continued almost four hundred Years Are we better than Jerusalem the perfection of Beauty and Joy of the whole Earth Are we better than the Churches in Asia planted by the Apostles themselves and amongst whom there was once a gracious and glorious presence of the Son of God But those Candlesticks are long ago removed out of their Places not so much as one of them remaining Because they have lost their Religion they have lost their lives and beings A late Historian who about twelve years ago was in those parts saith that horrour took hold upon him as he was viewing the doleful Ruins of those once Glorious Churches fearing lest the sins of other places which as yet enjoy the Gospel might in time expose them to the like miseries He saith that in Ephesus there are now only a few Cottages and not so much as one Christian dwelling there Smyrna is at this day a considerable place in respect of Trade but no settled Inhabitants there to uphold so much as the Name of Christians excepting a few Superstitious Greeks In Pergamus there are but fifteen Families of Christians and those in a state most miserable both as to Spirituals and Temporals In Thyarira the Turks have eight Mosches but very few Christians now residing there Sardis which was once the Metropolis of Lydia is now a beggerly Village Earthquakes and Wars having brought that famous City under horrid desolations There is nothing like a Church there In Philadelphia there is a greater number of Men calling themselves Christians than in any of those Asiatick Churches excepting Smyrna For in that City are two hundred Families of those who are called Christians but they are Idolaters and in miserable slavery to the cruel Turks As for Laodicea which was once a rich and populous place and the Buildings in it exceeding magnificent it is now utterly desolated not so much as one Inhabitant there excepting Wolves and doleful Creatures Thus did all these famous Places and Churches by losing Religion lose their own Lives and Beings Time was when in Africa there were many thousands of Churches but the true Religion being gone out of that vast Continent thrice as big as Europe what but Death is to be seen there Let us look nearer home In the Land of our Fathers Sepulchres there were Churches amongst the antient Britains but when those sins of Pride Drunkenness Contention Worldliness notwithstanding Gildas and other faithful Ministers did zealously testifie against them became common and prevailing Evils God first sent a sweeping Plague amongst them and when that Besom af Destruction could not Reform them the Lord brought the Saxons upon them who rooted them out of their Land And if we consider the dispensations of God since the Reformation successfully begun by the Ministry of Luther Zuinglius Calvin and other great Champions for the Truth
confounding shame and scandal unto this Generation of New-England Christians before the World If having had Religion transmitted to us by our Fathers who through the grace of God upheld it in so much of the power and purity of it while they lived and being still priviledged with all Religious interests and injoyments as the highest advantages and incouragements to preserve the life of Religion we should notwithstanding through our carelessness slothfulness unfaithfulness suffer to decay languish and dye away yea and by our own declensions therein give it a mortal wound Surely if Religion die Christians will in this respect be more inexcusably guilty of the death of it than others O let this be considered and laid to heart The general Exhortation speaks also to Churches as such Religion in the most proper sence of the Text and Doctrine is most properly the life of Churches it is that which gives them being and which is the great end of their being God hath constituted Churches both by Religion and for Religion therefore it is the great design and ought to be the great work of Churches to propagate and preserve the life of it that is recovering and maintaining Holiness Purity in Ecclesiastical constitution union communion administrations both of Doctrine and Worship by religious fear reverence sincerity and solemnity in all Religious Assemblies Attendancies Performances and Churches transactions in the Name of Christ by Zeal Courage Faithfulness in the whole work of Christ and in the management of all the Affairs and the whole interest of Religion Let him that hath an ear hear what the spirit saith to the Churches The Exhortation speaketh also unto Families Parents Masters Heads of Families to move you to keep Religion alive in your Families by being truly Religious your selves in all your Family converses by training up your Children and Servants Religiously unto and for Religion by exercising and upholding the Worship of God in all the wayes of it and in the Life Spirit and Power of it in your Families hereby Religion shall live in Families Thus Abram Gen. 18 19. I know him that he will command his Children and Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. The Exhortation speaketh to all who are the Children of the Covenant and of the Promise though you may at present have no saving Knowledge and Experience of or Interest in Religion and therefore no hearts ingagement to it or hearty care or concernment for it but are in your present state and way Enemies unto it Yet O Remember that Religion is your life also you have been born and bred up under the visible dispensation of the Covenant and Kingdom of God in the House of God for Beligion and therefore if you have any care of your Souls or hope of Salvation if you would not be cast off for ever as a Reprobate Generation a Generation of Gods wrath O apply your selves to Religion approve your selves Religions labour by all means to make Religion your own in a saving work of Conversion prepare your selves to undertake and uphold a pure and sincere Profession and Practice of it that you may not only keep it your selves but transmit it to succeeding Generations then Religion shall be your life also Then the Lord your God will be with you as he was with your Fathers he will not leave you nor forsake you 1 King 8.57 And now O that all who do understand and believe any thing either concerning God or their own Souls concerning good or evil life or death Heaven or Hell may at lest so far take notice of and bare this Exhortation as to suffer themselves to be moved thereby no more to slight or set light by Religion but to have high and appreciating thoughts of Religion most seriously and solemnly to consider of the eternal concernment of your own immortal Souls therein in the Being Life and Continuance of it as that whereby you may live spiritually live eternally and without which you will most certainly perish inevitably utterly and everlastingly May we not ought we not all in the conclusion to reinforce this Exhortation upon our Souls by that vehement contestation whereby Moses doth in a most solemn and awful manner as it were conjure that People unto Faith and Obedience Deut. 30.19 I call Heaven and Earth to Record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy Seed may live that thou love the Lord thy God and obey his voice and cleave to him for he is thy life When God doth thus set life and death before his Covenant People and put them to their full Trial as to final choice O then it is their most important Duty and Interest to chuse life that both they and their Seed may live May we not with fear and trembling apprehend our selves even these Churches and this whole People New-England as it were standing before God upon our great Trial for Life and Death O that we understood that the great case of Life and Death is now depending between God and New-England what reason have we to take heed as for our lives how we approve our selves upon this great trial that God hath set Life and Death before us all the World is witness Heaven Earth may be called to record against us that he hath done it God hath set Life before us by setting the whole way of Life before us his Law his Gospel his Covenant his Kingdom all both Temporal Spiritual and Eternal good he hath set Religion before us and exhibited himself unto us through his Son as our life God hath also set Death and Cursing before us by setting all our whole way of Sin and Apostasie before us the whole way of Death and Destruction which we have been walking in as also by setting both Temporal and Eternal Judgement before us in those Threatnings which have been denounced against us This proposal of Life and Death hath been made in an extraordinary way and manner by the concurrent voice and cry of the Ministry more especially by such of the Servants of God whom he had made eminently able and faithful who have finished their Testimony and are removed God hath also made this Discovery and Proposal of Life and Death general to all Sorts Orders and Degrees to all the Churches to all the People in all the Congregations and God continueth thus to set Life and Death before us by all seasons and opportunities but more plainly expresly fully and generally upon such occasions and in such General Assemblies as these and that with extraordinary Solemnity It hath been Gods great work of late to set Life and Death Blessing and Cursing before us by the Ministry of his Word and he is so doing unto this day wherein God is yet in infinite Mercy crying unto us Chuse life that both you and your Seed may live By this Word God is once more calling