so strong of injustice cruelty and oppression he is ready to pull up the hedge of his Protection and lay them wast or leave them to final extirpation T was said the cry of the sins of Sodom ascended up to heaven and it was so loud a cry that they pierced the very seat of the Almighty and pulled down vengeance from Heaven and what were their sins Pride which is the mother of Contention and Cruelty marches in the van the filthy Lusts of intemperance bring up the Rear so as righteous Lot and his Family are almost crushed between them as between two Mill-stones Gibea and Benjamin are ripe for judgment when they will go about to maintain iniquity by a Law instead of seeing Gods Salvation they and all their Confederates shall feel his indignation and know that the righteous Lord loveth righteousness As before when in the dayes of the old World the Earth was fill'd with violence viviter ex rapto their unrighteousness opened the Flood-gates of Divine vengeance which carried them all away with a Flood And not long after when in the dayes of Nimrod the great Grandchild of Noah the Inhabitants of Shinar proclaims War with the Almighty and bid defiance against Heaven God blasts their vain enterprizes and makes them see their own confusion instead of his Salvation 4. The next Branch of a well ordered conversation is that which concerns our selves viz. Sobriety and Temperance which according to the assertion of the Apostle Paul is part of that Doctrine which brings Salvation along with it wherever it is put in practice As we find it expressed Tit. 2.12 And here lies the greatest danger of a professing People Open unrighteousness is restrained by the severe Laws and Edicts of civil Nations where Intemperance and Prophaneness may appear with open face upon the stage Injustice in civil affairs as it is obvious to humane and common observation so is it more apt to be restrained and punished as standing in direct opposition to the commerce and traffick of Nations every one will be ready to bring a stone to fling at an Oppressor Thief or Robber but now the Lusts of Intemperance are more secretly and silently carried on undermining those Banks that seem to keep it in and insensibly by degrees like the Ivy sucking out the heart and life of the Religion of those whom it seems to compass about and embrace These Lusts of the Flesh secretly eat out the life of holiness and damps the heat of our zeal They are also the more apt to prevail upon the minds of the uncautelous because they are seated in such things as for the matter of them are not unlawful yea are both natural and accessary which made one sadly complain In licitis perimus omnes When Israel could neither be enchanted by Sorcery nor corrupted by Idolatry yet they may be charmed by the Syren of sensual delights for when the people had committed carnal Fornication with the Midianitish Women they are easily led on to commit spiritual Adultery with their Idols Solomon might speak it by experience as well as by observation of the strange Women that strong men have fallen down wounded by her When the Devil came to assault our Saviour he found nothing in him to fasten his Temptations upon there was no combustible matter for his fiery Darts to sieze upon but when he comes to David though never so holy a man he finds something to fix upon especially when he lay at an open Guard having ungirt himself and laid aside the Armour of light A chast conversation coupled with fear is the best security against those Lusts of the Flesh that war against our Souls The seeds of Piety and vertue are in as much danger of being choaked with these Weeds of Intemperance as by the Thorns of Covetousness and other Lusts of like nature 5. There are other Branches of a well ordered Conversation very necessary to bring about this Salvation of God Sometimes Prophaneness and Impiety may get such an head in places that it is not possible to suppress or bear them down without an eminent degree of zeal God was so provoked with the sensual lusts of Israel at Baal-peor that if it had not been for the zeal of Phinehas that Generation as commendable as they were had seen but little of the salvation of God it was his zeal that stayed the Plague from consuming the People If our zeal be not as hot as fire it will easily be quenched by these Fleshly Lusts Eli did not want a principle of holiness and the fear of God but he wanted the holy passion of zeal to actuate and exert it No man had ever more experience of seeing the Salvation of God than David and what man did ever declare more zeal against sin and for the Glory of God and casting off the works of iniquity doth he not engage that a vile person shall not tarry in his sight and him that telleth lies he would cut off If such be suffered saith Solomon by the Ruler all his Servants will be mislead Then farewel Gods Salvation The Church of Laodicea lost her dignity for want of zeal and is severely threatned for this defect Be zealous and repent or else I will spue thee out of my mouth Rev. 4.16 a cold dull un-active luke-warm spirit will in a little time lose the very life of godliness when in the primitive Church the love of many began to wax cold it was a presage of their Desolation which soon after came to pass But here we must look to our zeal that it be not mingled with too much wild-fire for the wrath of man will never work the righteousness of God The Lord Jesus was as became the Lamb of God meek and lowly of heart yet was admirably zealous against Hypocrisie and secret iniquity T is good to be zealously affected in a good matter sayes the Apostle And so also in a good manner The Disciples were zealously affected against them that did not follow them this was not in a good matter nor was their zeal to be commended that forbad them bringing little Children to the Lord Jesus And if the Angel that contended with the Devil about the body of Moses had brought raiâ—ing accusations there had been a defect in the manner Zeal is an holy affection and will thrive best in a meek and quiet spirit No man so meek upon the face of the Earth as Moses and yet no man was found so zealous as Moses in reforming the Idolatry of the People when he set every man against his fellow that was gulty of the fact and at last grinding the Idol to powder that they might drink it down that so eagerly had drunk down that cursed Worship The zeal of Moses was far more acceptable to God than that of Jonah or Jehu It is not the hot fiery curst tempers in a place that will maintain and keep up the purity of Religion and good order so well as that which proceeds
Faith else it may justly be returned upon us in any of our duties of Religious Worship as God saith to the wicked What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee And therefore we shall find it alwayes prescribed by God and practised by his People in any time of distress and danger when they needed Gods Salvation to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly to make their peace with God by Repentance of sins that were past and by entring into a new engagement by renewing their Covenant for their good abearing for the time to come 2. The right ordering our Conversation as to what is future consists in new obedience Attending on the duties of Religion and Righteousness To frame their doings so as to turn to their God from whom afore time they have fallen by their iniquity yet now they must come up to a resolution to do so no more The wrath of God which is revealed from Heaven is against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and therefore the way to enjoy the Salvation of God and avoid the wrath which is to come requires us in the first place to live godly in the present World of which there are two Branches 1. A religious observance of all the duties of Gods Worship God expects to be worshipped after a due manner by all those that desire to see his Salvation That God who is the Creator of the ends of the Earth alwayes required homage from the Inhabitants thereof and those Families are destined to his Curse and Vengeance that live in the neglect thereof as the Prophet Jeremy speaks Chap. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Such therefore as restrain Prayer and call not on the Name of the Lord are so far from seeing his Salvation that they may justly fear they shall feel his Indignation Abraham was called the Friend of God for whose sake he reproved Kings giving them in special charge not to work him any harm where ever he came to sojourn The first thing you hear of him is his building an Altar and calling on the Name of the Lord as may be seen in the first part of his Pilgrimage Gen. 12.7 8. 13.4 18. Nor was Abram the first who was noted for this Religious care of Gods Worship For we read that Noah as soon as ever he came out of the Ark built an Altar and offered Sacrifices thereon out of those few clean Beasts that were left alive after the great Deluge Probably he might conceive that it was in great part for the neglect thereof that a Deluge of Water was brought upon the World For ever since the dayes of Seth when first there were found People enough to make publick Assemblies they began to call upon the Name of the Lord and so continued till the degenerate Off-spring of the succeeding Generation had through their great Impiety in a manner wholy laid aside In like manner was it observed as most commendable in David that as soon as ever he was settled in his Kingdom the first publick design he takes in hand is the bringing home the Ark of God to the Tent which he had prepared for it at Jerusalem as well knowing that his establishing the Worship of God would be the directest means to establish the Kingdom in his possession for the work of God had been sadly neglected or but slightly managed ever since Saul was called to the Kingdom Jeroboam that had so large a promise for settling of the Kingdom in his prosperity yet lays the Foundation of his and their ruin in his Idolatry and false Worship which proved in like manner a fatal stumbling block in the way of all the succeeding Kings though in many things else never so hopeful and commendable in themselves It was the neglect of the Worship of God that lost Jehu and his Family the Kingdom and which at last cost the ten Tribes their Countrey For how zealous soever Jehu was in abolishing the Worship of Baal he was as remiss as the rest in setting up the Worship of the Lord. For t is said He took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord it must in a special manner be understood as to the Idolatry of the golden Calves for in other things he was careful very exactly to fulfil that will of the Lord as in punishing the house of Ahab as the Lord had commanded him Thus was it foretold by the Prophet Joel That whosoever called on the Name of the Lord should be saved What was it that ruined the Gospel Church but Idolatry and false Worship The suffering of false Worship as to â—he Object and will-worship as to the manner of their Devotion hath alwayes proved fatal to Christian Families and Churches This was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mr. Mede calls it in the Church of Rome Then if you would your selves or desire that yours should see the salvation of God look to maintain and carry on the Worship of God in your Assemblies Families and in your own hearts and closets The Worship of God was ordered aright in David's and Solomon's time and in the first part of Rehoboam's Reign And so long things went well but when Reheboam and his People forsook the Law of the Lord God forsook them and left them in the hand of their Enemies nor did any of the following Kings ever see the Salvation of God longer than they were careful to maintain and carry on the true Worship of God as may be seen in the History of Asa Jehosaphat Hezechiah and Josiah Kings of Judah For by the Idolatry and false Worship of the other Kings their Kingdoms became low and broken till at last they were broken to pieces were carried Captive to Babylon and were never restored to the honour of a Kingdom afterward 2. The second part of our Religious care must be to maintain Purity and Holiness in heart and life that the Holy God not only be Worshipped but that he be worshipped in an holy manner Reverend and Holy is his Name and he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him else he will sanctifie himself upon them and they shall by that means be far from seeing the Salvation of God as was the case of them that offered strange fire upon Gods Altar Thus the Prophet Haggai tells them and convinces them out of the Law that the impurity of their hearts and lives rendred all they did as to the external part of Gods Worship unclean For where the mind and conscience is defiled and unclean all the service that such perform must needs be defiled thereby It is the lifting up of clean hands that must obtain Gods Salvation he threatens to hide his eyes from beholding those hands that are defiled with blood or any other wickedness for which-out sincerity in our worship and
Salvation of God When a People so walk as that they can approve themselves to God himself as Abraham I know Abraham that he will not only himself keep the way of the Lord but command his houshold after him to keep the same It may then be expected that God will bring upon them the good which he hath spoken Reas 3. From the consideration of others in the World If such a People that order their wayes aright in their daily walking with God or that so frame their doings as to turn unto the Lord their God if at any time they should humble themselves before him and yet should not see the salvation of God what would the wicked and ungodly of the World say but that it is in vain to serve God And what advantage is there in circumcision and keeping the whole Law of God if they are like to be plagued as other men it will be in vain to alter their course and live otherwayes than formerly they did This were certainly to sin against the generation of the just in the midst of whom God is alwayes wont to be found God will therefore have it known in the world that there is great recompence of reward in keeping the Law of the Lord and that though the righteous scarcely are saved yet saved they shall be whatever become of others Let Balak and Balaam conspire together to enchant the Tents of Israel and lay stumbling blocks before their Feet yet some shall be found in the midst of them so to order their wayes as that they shall be able to save the rest They may else plead with God as Joshuah once did in such an exigent when Israel did not see the salvation of God in a Military expedition And what wilt thou do for thy great Name Josh 7.9 But Joshuah is bidden not to be discouraged let God alone to look after the glory of his own if his People do but look after themselves and order their way aright God will make all the rest of the Nations to behold the glory of his Salvation God is able to exalt the valleys and make the rough places plain The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all Flesh shall see it together Obj. But notwithstanding all these great and glorious things that are spoken of the City of God there lies this great stumbling block in the way of natural men that they never can get over yea which the Saints themselves are oft times at a great set before they can see through it they observe that though those who are called the people of God order their wayes never so right yet they see the salvation of God no more than other men They hear them complain with Asaph Psal 73. Though they cleansed their hearts and washed their hands yet all is in vain they are yet plagued like other men all the day long and chastened every morning And with the Church in Psal 44. We are counted but as sheep for the slaughter yet is not our heart turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way c. and for thy sake are we filled c. Sol. Those that take up Asaphs objection should take along Asaphs and the Churches answer Asaph acknowledges it was his folly and ignorance so to speak Nevertheless I am continually with the thou hast holden me by my right hand thoâ— shalt guid me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory It is the end of matter that is the ground of a right judgment thereof Finis coronat opus Joâ— ordered his way aright yet was harrowed with much affliction so may the Church and Poople of God but it is only to prepare the soyle for the receiving the seed of everlasting joy and comfort The People of God are never nearer Salvation than when they are exercised with the greatest sufferings so the eye of sense seems furthest from it so it was with Israel in Egypt they never were more grievously oppressed nor served with more rigor than a little before their deliverance In like manner the sufferings of the Church under Antichrist when they come to the greatest extremity in the three dayes and an half that strages or slaughter immediately proceeds their exaltation into Heaven and that in the sight of their Enemies So immediately after the three â—ayes Pestilence in Davids time the Lord ends out an Inhibition to the Angel that destroyed the People For now David â—nd the people are sufficiently humbled therefore God is willing to be reconciled accept them into terms of favour again and doth also then signally discover the place he had chosen for his Name to reside in It may certainly be said unto every humbled penitent believing person as Christ said to his Disciples they shall see the Kingdom of God and obtain his salvation and if they do not live to see a temporal salvation in this world they shall be sure not to miss of eternal salvation at the last Now let every one chuse what he would have to be saved from the wrath that is to come that shall destroy the world of the ungodly at last or to be saved from trouble and danger here and perish eternally at last But the full answer to all objections of this nature is that according to Gods ordinary providential dispensations God is with his People while they are with him which is a truth confirmed by the experience of all ages and all People for some have observed that the long continued success and prosperity of their heathen Empire of Rome was a reward of their justice temperance and industry So was it in the dayes of David Solomon and other good Kings of Judah But if God should see cause for a time out of his infinite wisdom and soveraignty to change the hands of providence and lay the left hand of favour and prosperity upon the younger less deserving he is a soveraign Ruler and may do what he will with his own he may afflict his people in this life and prosper the wicked for a time for ends best known to himself yet all this while he is near unto his people in all they call upon him for to uphold and preserve them in and carry them through all their sufferings and make them see his eternal salvation at last None of these things sc outward tribulations and crosses moved the Apostle Paul so he might finish his course with joy They need 〈◊〉 not much trouble themselves whatever become of their bodies if they can say with respect to their souls as a Monk said stroking his paunch Modo hic sit bene Or what were a man the better if he could gain the whole world and miss of the salvation of his soul at last If the body be lost destroyed by the elements returned to its first principles or reduced into the minutest Atomes yet all shall be gathered together again and raised up in a state of greater Glory and beauty than ever it was
present Generation of New-England upon the enquiry if they be such as order their way aright It is now a day of rebuke a time of Jacobs troubles he is brought very low by whom shall he arise It is Gods Salvation alone that we must expect and who are they that shall be assured to see that They are only such as order their Conversation aright Our fore-Fathers did approve themselves as such and accordingly they were made to see Gods Salvation they had as many Enemies met with as many dangers encountred with as many difficulties yet God delivered saved them out of all Do we that are yet surviving and coming on so order our way that we may say or hope we shall be made to see the salvation of God We were at the first planted a righteous Generation and noble Vine do we so continue Of all the Reformations that ever yet began in the World there have been but a very few observed to continue above an hundred years in that splendor and brightness with which they were at the first set forward Take for instance those of antient time before or since the Gospel began That of David and Solomon Asa and Jehosaphat Hezekiah and Josiah lasted but their time That of the Maccabees did not out-live their time at least in the beauty of it That of the Primitive Church was not so much a reforming as a new planting of the Church in Gospel Order when the night of Heathenish darkness and Jewish Ceremonies was quite spent and the day of the Gospel was at hand But the Reformation of Constantines time scarce continued in its primitive lustre and glory a full hundred years before a great degree of Apostasie appeared for t is said The Woman fled into the Wilderness after the birth of her Man-child that was to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron She hasted into the Wilderness where she was to continue 1260 dayes prophetical dayes which are so many Julian Political years It is to be supposed that the Church was some considerable time going before she was quite gone into the Wilderness The day of this last Reformation began first to break out in the time of Wickcliffe but it was not perfect day till Luther's time from whose dayes to the present time who ever takes a view may easily determine whether in the Nations that first embraced the Protestant Religion there be the same measure of Piety Zeal Holiness as was at the first In what integrity Geneva hath stood since Calvin's time is not unknown to many of them who are carrying on the Work of the present Generation As for our selves here in New-England we were or might have been set in the right way having no prejudicate Opinion or practice to forestal our Judgments but had the help of all the former ages and other Nations as well as our own Godly and Learned Divines in them to take pattern and example from in the laying our first Foundation both of Religion and Righteousness Doctrine and Discipline Church and Common-wealth Our first Rulers and Leaders in both were careful to order all things according to the pattern in that Mount Children that would not lye so God became their Saviour saving them from forreign and intestine Foes If we that are their posterity be found Children that will lie deny our first principles either in Faith or manners how can we expect that God should be our Saviour Now compare things 1. In the first place They sought first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and waited upon God for addition of such other things as he judged necessary They came not hither for the World or for Land or Traffick but for Religion and for liberty of Conscience in the Worship of God which was their only design and accordingly God blessed them and gave them the desire of their hearts they had the priviledges of God's Kingdom to their great content and satisfaction he added outward things above what was or could be expected in a Wilderness and when the first way of supply began to be stopped up God in his merciful providence opened another by turning us into a way of Trade and Commerce to further our more comfortable subsistence So God was pleased to bless our Issachar in his Tents and our Zebulun in their goings out who still called the People to the mountain and offered Sacrifices of Righteousness while they did thus like Solomon that sent his Ships to Ophir which brought in that which was of necessary and of substantial use God blessed them and made them see his salvation but when men could not content themselves in such a way of dealing but Traded only for Apes and Peacocks as was said by Mr. C. that is brought in nothing but Sack and Sugar Commodities to make fuel for Lust and called young people not to the mountain of the Lords house but to our own private recesses to offer Sacrifice to Bacchus and Venus and burns Incense to the evil Fiend hath not God broken our Ships at Ezion Geber and is he not now laying the Axe to the root of our Religion as well as Civil Rights and Liberties and begins to cut us short every way Hath not God called to contend by Fire and by Water by Famine and by Blasting Mildew Sword and Pestilence and is not his hand stretched out still Our Estates and Persons are spoiled by Murderers and barbarous Mahometans and it is to be feared the Lords controversie is not yet ended The Daughters of our Sion walks with stretched out necks c. And may we not find an Inventory of our Virgins Wardrobes in the third Chapter of Isaiah The Ensignes of Pride are exalted in our high places and all the produce in a manner of the whole Countrey is converted to maintain a commerce of superfluous vanities God threatens not to save but severely punish the Minister and Schollar the Mistriss and her Hand-maid for such thing as these yea to cut off the Tabernacles Jacob for such things as these 2. That Generation were zealous for the Worship of God they would by no means admit of any mixture of humane Inventions with divine Institutions in the matter of Gods Worship When they came over hither they were as Rasa Tabula fit to receive any Impression from the spirit of truth either as to Doctrine or Worship It might have been said of them in way of commendation that they could not bear them which were evil and seducers from the way of truth and that they tried them which said they were Apostles and were not and did find them Liars They also hated the deeds of the Nicholaitans which were also hateful to the spirit of the Lord Jesus They kept the word of Christs patience they were also kept from the hour of Temptation None were suffered among them to wear a rough Garment to deceive but they were ready to shew the wounds which they received in the house of their Friends none were