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kingdom_n	church_n	member_n	visible_a	4,197	5	9.3868	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53265	New-England pleaded with, and pressed to consider the things which concern her peace at least in this her day, or, A seasonable and serious word of faithful advice to the churches and people of God, primarily those in the Massachusets Colony, musingly to ponder, and bethink themselves, what is the tendency, and what will cetainly be the sad issue, of sundry unchristian and crooked wayes which too too [sic] many have been turning aside unto, if persisted and gone on in delivered in a sermon preached at Boston in New-England, May 7, 1673, being the day of election there / by Urian Oakes ...	Oakes, Urian, 1631-1681.	1673 (1673)	Wing O21; ESTC W23179	65,078	72

every thing though it is their place to be ruled and nothing is well done if they be not at one end of it Factious men are Proud men Self admiring men they look on themselves through their own magnifying Glass and admire that every body doth not admire them and wonder that all the World doth not wonder after them as it is said They did after the Beast when his Deadly VVound was healed Rev. ●3●3 and that all the Sheaves in the F●●●d about them do not fall down and make ob●ysance to their Sheaves Such men are in their own apprehension good enough to rule and too good to obey and can pick holes and find as many faults with our Rulers in the management of Civil and Ecclesiastical affairs as the mutinous Israelites with Moses and Aaron or proud Absolom with his Father David in his Government Hence men are rebellious against the Word of God and the voice of his Messengers The proud men would not hea●ken to the Prophet Ier. 43.2 Hence also Men are stiffe in their Opinions and confident in their perswasions even about things of doubtful Disputation to such a degree that they cannot bear with any that do not comport with them in their Apprehensions And if they have imbibed this or that Heterodox Opinion that is never so much against the sense of the generality of Gods People Wise and Judicious yet they hold in 〈…〉 will not let it go but will rather separate from Churches part with the communion of Saints lose their interest in Ordinances yea 〈…〉 all Order and hu●l●● into a disturbance and confusion then lay down the Darling notions they have taken up Hence men carry it as though they were infallible they cannot be in an errou●● and impeccable too They cannot be in a fault Hence mens hearts rise and swell against faithful Admonitors and they must not be reproved or contradicted Hence men contend eagerly for disputable things so as to impose their belief on other men and make their Apprehensions the Measure and standard of theirs and conformity to them therein the condition of their Communion with them whereas Humility would teach Placid● ferro contra sentient●● 〈◊〉 Moderation and Forbearance in such cases without which there will be justling and endless contention Only by pri●e comes contention Pro. 13 1● There are many occasions of Contentions But Prias if there were nothing else would occasion and produce Variance and Contentions And what will the latter end be Why Pride goeth before destruction and dishaughty Spirit before a fall Prov. 16.18 If this be the general sin of this Country we may well fear that destruction is coming and that we are in a tottering ruinous falling Condition Pride hath budded the Rod hath Blossomed Ezek. 7.10 Unless this Pride be nipped in the Bud it will certainly thrustforth the Blossome of a Rod. God hath smart Rods for the back of a proud People 5. Consider what will be the latter End of those bitter Contentions and unchristian Distances and Divisions among us All sober and considerate wise men have great thoughts of Heart about them Sad it is if there should be Contentions and Divisions sides and parties and factions in Courts and Churches and almost all Societies amongst us This is very much unbecoming a people in our circumstances Embarked in and ex●●es for the same cause and interest in this wilderness And that which renders it more sad is that the Contentions which are among us are not meerly sudden exacerbations or ebullitions of anger and passion occasioned by these or those emergencies but that there seems to be a Froward perverse spirit mingled among us which was the judgment of God upon the Egyptians before their destruction Isa. 19.14 May not the Lord charge us as he did the Israelites Deut. 32.5 20. that we have too much of the spirit of that crooked and perverse Generation even in this respect Hence good Counsels are defeated all manner of Good almost obstructed in the●e those Societies And these contentions are not only as a paroxism and fit of a Fever that spends it self and goes off in a little time but like a Chronical distemper they are perpetuated and drawn out from year to year and there is no end of them Either they refuse healing and are the more Exasperated by the best means that can be administred by the ablest hands or admit only of a palliative cure that doth not eradicate the disease but give some check to it and yeild present relief and leave the patient in continuall danger of R●cla●vation or relapsing with lost hope of recovery into the same Distemper again We abhorr and punish that justly Adultery Witchcraft Murders and such like abominations but do we not make too little conscience of Hatred Variance Wrath Strif● Emulutions Seditions or Siding ● which are ●l works of the flesh also and to be abandoned Gal. ● 19 20. It is a lamentable thing that w●● should be thus 〈…〉 our selves when Herod and P●late can make themselves friends in order to the crucifying of Christ in his Interest and Members and the enemies of the Church of God though of very different Interests and Apprehensions in many things can cement and unite and combine to subvert the visible Kingdom of Christ upon Earth When Ge●●● and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the Inhabitants of Tyre can consult together with one consent and are confederate against the Church of God when the League and Combination of the Anti Christian party in the World against the Interest of Christ is so evident their Advantages so great their Successes so notorious their Rage such as reacheth up unto Heaven Then for a professing people to be contending and quarrelling biting and devouring one another is most unseasonable most unreasonable Your differences will make way for those that will make no difference between Synodists and Antisynodists Old or New-Church men Tros Tyriusve illis nullo diserimine agetur The Hatred of your Adversaries is not derived upon you as you are thus thus distinguished and diversified among your selves but upon one common account The Enmity of the seed of the Serpent is against One and All of the seed of the Woman of what Complexion soever they are and their Hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole Race and Generation of Religions and Reforming professors among us These Divisions will open a wide door to your Adversaries Those that let out these waters of strife and fill their streames with bitterness that kindle these flames and encrease them or hinder the quenching of them do thereby gratifie them exceedingly that wish ill to our Sion Hoc Ithacus velit magno merceniur Atrida And indeed it would be very strange if the Industrious and indefatigable ●esuites that compass Sea and Land to do mischief and other sly and subtile and malignant Enemies should not Improve and Graffe upon the Stock of our Divisions Our Conten●ious render us

their transgression and the house of Iacob their sins have they not in the feare of the Lord conscientiously declined and abhorred to palliate dawbe and flatter and upon the account of a carnall interest to couple in and comply with men of corrupt principles and designes May they not with some measure of holy boldness and good conscience say as that great Apostle Acts 20.26 27. that brow beatings censures reproaches calumnies and contempts notwithstanding they have not shunned to declare all the counsel of God if denyed the Pulpits and seats of our houses of publick worship will attest it and New-England what ever the issue be of the contest between her and Christs Embassadours to her shall know that there have been Prophets among them The Eminent faithfulness of the judicious Author which is his praise in our gates in his thorow and home-plain dealing in this Sermon or Treatise as we believe it acceptable to God so we are perswaded it will procure it a friendly reception and entertainment in all humble hearts For such as are otherwise affected let them have thy pitty and prayers Now the good Lord ●ouchsafe so to Assist and Bless his poor Builders and Watchmen that they may not build and watch in vain and so spare and save his people that they may be kept from falling and be presented faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding joy Which is the hearts desire and prayer of us Who are Thine in him who is both Lord and Christ. Iohn Sherman Thomas Shepard DEUTERONOMIE 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end BLessed Moses that Renowned Servant of the Lord and King in Ieshurun having served his own Generation by the Will of God and performed his high and honourable Undertaking in Leading and conducting that untractable rebellious People of Israel to the borders of Canaan and after many Temptations and Exercises in the Wast and Howling Desart brought them to a fair view and near prospect of that long promised and much desired Land was just now ready to deliver up his trust and resigne the weighty charge of that great Congregation unto Ioshua his servant and successor on whom it was devolved by the immediate order and disposal of the Lord. You have in this Chapter his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Swan like Song or his Farewell Sermon as I may not ineptly call it dictated to him by the Spirit of God and delivered by him to that people at his departure from them into another World And it is a very precious and a stately portion of Scripture The Hebrews say of this Song of Moses that it is a Summary of the whole Law wherein mention is made of Gods Magnificence the Creation of the World the One true God that is to be Worshipped t●● Generation of the Flood the Division of Languages and Lands the E●●●ction and Separation of the Children of Israel for the peculiar Treasure 〈◊〉 Inheritance of the Lord the benefits conferred upon them in the Wild●●ness the future Resurrection of the dead with many other things of gr●●● importance and concernment You may well call it a Song of Degre●● as David doth some of his Psalme in respect of the superlative excellency of it It is certainly a Prophetical Song wherein we have a prediction or Prophetical Declaration of what the Lord the God of their Fathers would do for that people of Israel in that good Land of Canaan and of the manner of their demeanour and deportment of themselves there Moses by the spirit of Prophesie gives us in this Chapter as in a true Glas● the feature of that People as it look'd in after-times He begins the 〈◊〉 with a Rhetorical pathetical Apostrophe wherein there is a most 〈◊〉 and weighty contestation or appeal to Heaven and Earth importing the deafness and stupidity of his hearers that he had as good apply his speech to sensless and inanimate Creatures as to them and the great concernment of what he had to speak as fit and worthy that Heaven and Earth and all the World should hearken to it After his Exordium Proem or Preface wherein he labours to procure Benevolence Attention and Docility You have 1. A Narrative wherein he commemorates the great benefits which had been and were to be conferred on that people from ver 4. to 15. The Lord took special care in the first division of the habitable parts of the World that there might be an Inheritance laid out for the Children of Israel and assigned the Land of Canaan to them ver 8. He singled them out for his peculiar people ver 9. he conducted them graciously in the Wilderness ver 10. and afforded them not only safe conduct in the way but also wholsome Instructions in his Laws and Commandments ibid. He granted them protection from the many dangers they were exposed unto and was as tender and careful of them as a man is of the Apple of his Eye or the Eagle of her young ones ver 10 11. He made comfortable provision for them in their Journey introduced them into that Land flowing with Milk and Honey confirmed and settled them in Possession and Fruition of the good things of it ver 13 14. Moses mentions and records in this Song which was appointed of the Lord to be written and taught the Children of Israel that it might be a Song of Witness for the Lord against them Deut. 31.19 these and other loving kindnesses of the Lord. 2. A Prediction of the Apostacy Idolatry and horrible Ingratitude of ●●rael from v. r. 15. to 19. They would be so far from rendring again unto the Lord according to the benefits done unto them in that good Land that 〈◊〉 would requite him evil for good and load him with their sins Amos 〈…〉 as he loaded them with his benefits All those Cords of a Man 〈◊〉 Bands of Love with which the Lord drew them to himself would not hold them or bind them fast unto him but they quickly snapt all a●●nder and broke loose from all engagements and rushed on prodigiously and desperately in wayes of Provocation and Rebellion 3. A severe Commination of deserved Chastisements and Punishments from ver 19 to 36. 4. A Word of Consolation Administred unto them from ver 36 to ●● When they should have sinned themselves into a deplorable condition so that all Humane helps and hopes failed and their case in appearance and to the eye of reason was desperate God would then awake and arise and plead their cause against insolent and injurious Adversaries and glorifie himself in their deliverance He would certainly preserve alive an Holy Seed a Remnant in the worst times and shew himself faithful and bountiful even to an undeserving people 5. The Conclusion of the song wherein he predicts the multiplication of the Church and enlargment of the Kingdom of Christ and exhorts the remnant of Israel to praise God for their deliverance from

those mean that speak of the Rule and Government of the Church ves●ed in the Brethren of the Governing Vote of the Brethren of a Moderator to be set up by the Brethren when the Elders that are Recti in For● are unsatisfied to put this or that to Vote of allowing the Officer his single Vote and no more what means that disgust that some men have against the very Name of Rule and Authority truly so called in the Eldership against Councils and Synods and the decisive power thereof as it hath been stated by the Leaders of the Congregational-way both in Old and New-England I will be bold to say and indeed there is no great haza●d in the Assertion that these notions are as opposite to the Principles of our Congregational Worthies as darkness is to Light Yea they are the Reproach of the way of these Churches which our Divines have industriously rolled off it Those that laid our Foundations were directed of God to sta●● a middle course between Rigid P●esbyterianism and Levelling Brownism There is a sweet Temperament in the Congregational way that the Liberties of the people may not be overlaid and oppressed as in the Classical way nor the Rule and Authority of the Elders rendred an insignificant thing and trampled under Foot as in the way of the Brownists but that there may be a Reconciliation or due Concurrence and a Ballancing of the one justly with the other And herein the wisdom of our Lord Iesus in the Frame of Church Government for it is not any politick and prudential Contr●vance of man but modelled by the great Law-giver the Lord Iesus is greatly to be admired by us and those that have not seen acknowledged this never yet beheld the beauty and glory of the Congregational way 〈◊〉 P●esbyterianism in the Rigour of it should obtain among us there will be an Oppression of the liberties of the people If Brownisme be introduced there will be a rising up rebellion of the people against the Authority of Christ conferred on Church-Officers Whether the Oppression of Church Guides or Rebellion of Church-Members be the greater Evil I shall not concern my selfe to enquire I beg that we may keep the Kings High way the way that Christ himself hath cast up for us and that ou● worthy Predecessors have travelled in before us the way that hath been Stated not in the private modells of some fancyfull and conceited men but in the Platform of Church Discipline O that it were more generally recived and attended and in the writings of our Ablest and most judicious Divines The truest understanding of these things is from the Platform deduced out of the word of God and the Polemical writings of our Blessed worthies For men generally speak warily and accurately when they have to do with Adversaries and know they are like to answer and account with them for every expression that falls from them whereas those very men in practise are apt to take more Liberty and are sometimes driven by ●cessity and for peace sake to comply fu●ther then they would As there are necessities of State that Politicians are forced to comply with for avoiding of publick inconveniencie● So there are also Church necessities which Officers must concede unto for peace sake I would much rather judge what is the true Congregational way in the judgment of our Divines from their writings then by what was practised by them in this or that Congregation where they might be necessitated to give way and comply and that in Christian prudence with respect to peace and edification to such Things as did not in every respect satisfie them There were Sons of Zerviah that were too hard for wise and just and holy David 2 Sam. 3.39 And if he let them take their course sometimes and things went not so well in the Government on that account It argues Davids desire of peace and Davids necessity not his judgement or Principles In like manner it comes to pass through the H●adiness and Wilfulness of some people that cannot be contradicted in practise without hazard of peace or the weakness of others who cannot bear what is every way right that must be tendred and da●dl●d dealt gently with that Church Officers cannot in the course of their practise alwayes come up to their Principles The unpreparedness of this or that people for a full Scriptural Reformation many times is a great Clog and R●mora to pious Rulers and Ministers that are vigorously pursuing it 2 Chron. ● 33 Labour therefore to inform your selves aright in this matter and Consider what will be the sad end that will attend and follow a Revolt from the established way of Church-Government among us 8. Consider what will be the Latter-End of Contempt of weariness under or Disaffection to the Civil Government established among us whether as to the Constitution or Administration thereof When God hath so graciously settled us upon to good Foundation● now to kick and spurn at our Corner Stones to be given to Change ready for Innovations and Alterations is great Ingratitude to God and a very irreligious thing For here according to the Design of our Founders and the Frame of things laid by them the Interest of Righteousness in the Common wealth and Holiness in the Churches are inseparable The prosperity of Church and Common wealth are twisted together Break one Cord you weaken and break the other also They are like Hippocrates his Gemelli that do ridere simul flere simul They that are weary of and disaffected to this Government that God hath established among us and shall betray and give up the Civil Interest of New-England will have more to answer for then they are aware of He is a mad man that will hope for the Continuance of our Spiritual Liberties If the Wall of our Civil Government be once broken down Those Beasts that break down the Hedge of our Civil Government do not d●sign or do it meerly because they are angry with the Hedge but because they would break in and devour all that is precious and dear to us The change of our Government will inevitably introduce a sad change in our Churches To divide what God hath conjoyned viz Civil and Ecclesiastical Liberties to deliver up Civil and yet hope to keep Spiritual Liberties is folly in its Exaltation I look upon this as a little model of the Glorious Kingdome of Christ on Earth Christ Reigns among us in the Common wealth as well as in the Church and hath his glorious Interest involved and wrapt up in the good of both Societies respectively He that shall be Tre●cherous and False to the Civil Government as he is injurious highly to the present and succeeding Generations So he is guilty of High Treason against the Lord Jesus and will be proceeded against as a rebel and Traitor to the King of Kings when he shall hold his great Assizes at the End of the world And if there be any such Iudas●s