matters I would seriously minde you of and that is a piece of seasonable and sound Advice which some-where I meet with unto this purpose for the substance That where differences of Apprehension and Opinion do happen amongst godly Reformers in their Enquiries after the Will and Way of God It be thorowly laboured that such Points of Difference be accurately stated and unto the utmost that may be possible narrowed and some Rules of Practice for the preservation of Order and Peace muâ—ually fixed and a Probatum est set upon the Experience of them during the life time of thâ—se who have been first in such matters of Debate and Controversie for otherwise if this should be neglected and they being dead and gone others spring up after them to inherit a diversity of Names from them the business of Reconciliation and Composure would be in a farre more difficult posture and rather go backward then forward as sad Experience in the Christian world hath already Testified But I may not hold you longer upon these things In a word do all the Lords work in your publick Capacities faithfully and vigorously Execute Justice impartially Be a Terrour to evil doers Encourage all them that are faithful Put new life into all publick Work that languisheth Look to Out-scattered unformed places in your Jurisdiction and that enjoy not setled publick Worship and Teaching And as the sum of all Fall not off from any thing upon any pretence whatsoever which adhering unto God hath hitherto saved you and this People for this would be to Lie unto God yea to make him a Liar in the voice and testimony of all his former Providences I have but a few words of Direction in all plainness to leave with You also Honoured and much Esteemed and so shall finish this Use 1. Wait upon God in your Places for discovery of Light and Truth that you may understand the way of this people Prov. 14. 8. and the Lords way with us and in the world too at this day that so your Wisdome and Knowledge may be the stability of our Isa 33 6. times God will not be unwilling to communicate Light to you in his own way Eccles 8. 5. Every lesser Star as one speaketh hath light enough for it self but no less then a Sun can give light to the World Rulers had need to be full of light Let your eye upon all occasions be upward unto the Father of Psal 34. 5. 32. 8. Lights and so shall his eye be fix'd upon yours and this eye of his shall guide you 2. Secure your hearts and spirits as to sincerity before the Lord and for that end seek the honour that cometh from God Jâ—h 5. 44. Pâ—al 25. 21. 78. 72. Prov. 11. â— onely Integrity and uprightness shall preserve and guide you An unbyaâ—â—â—d Magistracy shall never want Assistance Watch against private narrow Self-ends that if in an hour of trial and temptation some proffer of a private good or to save your own particular state should be strongly managed by Satan to draw you off from the Publick and Common Interest yet you may abide resolved and constant thereunto It was the Resolution of an Heathen Nâ— Immortalitatem quidem contra Rempubâ—icam acciperem Moses his Refusal and the Apostle Paul's wish are Heb. 11. 24 2â— Exod. â—2 10. 11. Rom. â— 3. known to you Say you should do much of Gods work but not with a sincere aim at Gods ends this would be to Lie unto him Thus Jehu was a Lie in all he did Let there be no variation of the Compass with you as to sincere and upright aims and ends God will make large allowance to weaknesses but then there must be sincerity 3. Study Vnity among your selves and in your own Counsels that our first wheels may move with the sweetness and undisturbedness of a Coelestial divine Harmony 4. Drink deep of the love of God in Christ who shed his Blood to save his Church that your love to the Wayes and Ordinances Eph. 5. 25. 1 Joh. 3 16. and Churches and People of God may have its rise and nourishment from this fountain It is such a love alone that will constrain you and remain unquench'd though in the midst of many waters 5. Arm your selves with Courage if you will be good Magistrates you must be such as dare to act your Consciences and Arm your selves also with Patience I will joyn them both together for the burthen of the people must be born Get from under the influence of carnal fears these will make you to lie Isa 57. 11. You have been taught by Experience to expect Oppositions Trials Exacerbations wickedness will procced from the wicked there will be a tumultuating of the passions and lusts of men yea and of the corruptions of good men too under the strict exercise of Government when the Reins of Authority are held straight Without a good measure of holy Patience and Courage you will not hold our You must have so much Courage as to seek out that labour which belongs to your Office and Honour so much Courage that it may not be dreadful to you to be so hemm'd in with duty on every side as to see no way of Retreat 6. Look upon Faith to be the way to Fidelity if 〈…〉 not believe you shall not be established Faith undertakes all upon the 〈…〉 9. engagement of God Faith bottoms the Soul upon the promise and builds it up in a way of supplications Know it that if you will be found faithful with God at this day in the work of Rulers you must be neither Lower nor Miâ—dle but Vpper-Râ—gim men and there is nothing but Faith and the constant lively exercise thereof that can carry you so high Suâ—h as live upon futura contingentia they will be miserably uncertain up and down now here and now there but Faith the eye and design the hope and the heart of Faith fix wholly upon things that are â—â—â—hangeable Secure your hearts therefore in a single dependance upâ—n and sole trust in God Coâ—mit your way to the Lord at all times and do nâ—â— consume away in your own fears and cares and contrivances 7 When you have behaved your selves with the greatest siâ—cerity and iâ—â—â—grity in your places and have been able to do most for God still look Gen. 6. 8 9. Neh. 13. 22. for your Acceptance with God and your Reward from him as of Free-grace only This is to be upright in the upshot of all Finally have you not often received encouragements from the promises hath not the Lord been present with you in difficulties have you not been oft refreshed with the testimony of a good Conscience that in siâ—pliâ—ity and godly siâ—cerity you have managed what hath been in your hand 2 Cor. 1. 12. have you not been a Government enquiring after the mind and will of God given to prayer and to advise with the Word of God and the faithful
multitude of us such as keep not the Covenant of our God that refuse to walk in his wayes that flatter him with our mouthes and lie unto him with our tongues because our heart is not right with him nor are we stedfast in his Covenant Psal 78. 10 36 37. When ever the Lord proves a people He is most critical in observing the discoveries that are made of them we can in no wise lye hid under Divine Probation Hence saith the Lord Jer. 2. 21. How art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine VNTO ME that is not unto me as an Omniscient God that know all things before they actually come to pass but unto me upon Probation and trial made It is a solemn thought for us to think and a solemn enquiry for us to make this day what are we unto the Lord our God under all his trials of us And it is a solemn Conviction and Charge against us to have it spoken as it must be spoken in the Name of the Lord this day O New-England thy God did expect better things from thee and thy Children not Worldliness and an insatiable desire after perishing things not Whoredomes and Fornications not Revellings and Drunkenness not Oaths false Swearings not Exactions and Oppressions not Slanderings and Backbitings not Rudeness and Incivility a degeneracy from the good Manners of the Christian world not Formality and Profaneness to loath Manna to despise holy things to grow Sermon-proof and Ordinance-proof not Contentions and Disorders not an Itching after new things and wayes not a rigid Pharisaical Spirit not a Contempt of Superiours not Unthankfulness and disrespect to Instruments of choice Service not a growing weary of Government and a drawing loose in the Yoke of God Not these things but better things O New England hath thy God expected from thee But what hath the Lord found Do not you who are our Fathers in the Cowmon-wealth know or cannot those Watchmen of the Lord tell us whom he hath set for a Tower and a Fortress amongst us to know and try the way of this people Certainly all these false and evil things and that not by secret search onely but openly and in the view of the world hath the Lord found Alas how is New-England in danger this day to be lost even in New-England to be buried in iâ—s own Ruines How sadly may we lament it that All are not Israel that are now of Israel How is the good grain diminished and the chaff increased The first generation have been ripened time after time and the most of them gathered in as shocks of corn in their season But we who rise up to tread out the footsteps of them that are gone before us alas what are we It is a sad name to be styled Children that are corrupters but are we not indeed many Isâ— 1. 4. of us corrupted and which is far worse Corrupters How is our wine mixed with water what coolings and abatements are there to be charged upon us in the things that are good and that have been our glory We have abated in our esteem of Ordinances in our hungâ—ing and thirsting after the rich provisions of the House of God in our good stomacks to all that which is set before us upon the Table of the Gospel We have abated in our Love and Zeal in our wise tender and faithful manageâ—ent of that great duty of mutual watchfulness and reproof There are many among us that have even suffered many things in vain many that having begun in the spirit do now walk as if they were to be made perfect by the flesh many that are gone off from God in point of dependance looking out to secure some other friends and hiding-places to themselves besides the Lord against those changes of times that may come many as we may justly fear that would but too soon and too easily in a day of trial entertain a Lie in the Worship of God and return to the â—nyâ—ns and garlick of Egypt again How hath that evil work of Strife and Division sprung up almost every where amongst us in which it is solemnly to be noted that there is ever a mixture of sin and punishment going together In this thing certainly we have failed the Lords Expectâ—â—ion for he hath said Surely in a Wilderness under the eye of Observers under such Leaders and the free liberty of all those wayes of Order which Christ hath appointed to build up the Peace and Communion of his people they will certainly be of one heart and soul keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and whereto they have attained walk by the same rule and minde the same thing Strict and impartial Examination would yield large matter of uncontrolable Conviction as to such things as these Alas what way of God with us is there that hath not issued in the discovery of the Lie amongst us The Answers of Prayer that we have so often and so eminently received these have discovered our Lie for we have as often returned again to folly Our Afflictions removed these also have discovered the Lie for with Hezekiah we have not returned according to the benefit done unto us The Death and Removal of the Lords eminent Servants in one Rank and in another this also hath manifested the Lie in many of us Whilest they lived their Piety and Zeal their Light and Life their Counsels and Authority their Examples and Awe kept us right and drew us on in the good wayes of God to profess and practise the best things but now that they are dead and gone Ah how doth the unsoundness the rottenness and hypocrisie of too many amongst us make it self known as it was with Joash after the death of Jehojadah In a word we that stand before the Lord this day we have gone less with God then we did at first engage and bid him for all his kinâ—ness and then we began at first to yield him for all the Mercies Priviledges and Liberties of this Place You that have tender and gracious hearts suffer these things to affect and afflict them day by day Verily if the load of them be not taken up and born by a considerable number amongst us in such a way there is great fear lest it crack and sink us without remedy Vse 3. Of Exhortation As we would have the Lord to be and to continue to be our Saviour so let us set our selves to answer the Lords Expectations Let New-England answer the Lords Expectations of New-England that the Lord Jehovah may be as he hath been New-Englands Saviour Men Brethren and Fathers We are all bound in a Covenant of Truth to and with the God of Truth There is an unworthy Messenger sent to you this day to put you in minde of your Obligations and solemnly to call upon you to be True men to God New-England men should be True men let not the contrary hereunto be our reproach either with God
In the further pressing of this Exhortation let me a little more particularly direct my self 1. To the Remainders of the Ancient Stock amongst us 2. To the present Generation 3. To our Honoured Leaders and Rulers First Vnto those who are yet abiding with us of the first generation of the Lords faithful Servants those Plants of Renown wherewith God set his Garden here at the first Let me speak a few words unto you Fathers because you have known that which was from the beginning you may take up the Apostle John's expressions and say That which was from the beginning which we 1 Joh 1. 1 3 have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Cause and â—nterest of God in this Wilderness You have had a long and large Experience of things you have seen all the great works which the Lord hath done for this people you have been long rooted and satiated in the House of the Lord As you ought to be and are so we esteem of you and account you to be as a Crown and an Honour in the midst of us Trials you have seen and trials you may yet further see but your Triumph is now at hand You have by this time parted with the most and the choicest of your Contemporaries your Companions in the foundations of the work of Christ here And your eyes behold this day that another Generation is risen up and begin to stand thick upon the Stage and that even of them there is one to whose lot it falls to speak to you in the Name of the Lord this day Now what is the sum of your desires and would be the chief and top of your joyes as to those you must shortly leave behinde you Is it not that your children after you may be found walking in the truth 2. Joh. 4. 3 Joh. 4. owning the Covenant of God maintaining and upholding the same Interest of Holiness and Reformation wherein you have been engaged before us Then suffer the word of Exhortation in a few words And the Lord help you to consider the season Your season who have not long to be Examples and as the Salt in the midst of us and our season who have not long to enjoy you O believe much and pray much for your Successors in the Cause and work of God shew forth and declare all the works Exod. 10. 2. Ps 78. 4 5 6 7. of God unto your Children Charge and adjure them to keep the Covenant of the Lord their God forewarn them of such wayes and courses and persons as you know upon sufficient experience to be destructive to the peace and beauty of our Zion As long as you are in this Tabernacle stir them up by putting them 2 Pet. 1. 13. in remembrance that they may be established in all those truths and practices which to own and abide in hath been New-Englands glory and must be its preservatian and safety in whatever times are coming upon us You know what Examples unto this purpose you have in Moses and Joshua and David The Deut. 29 c Josh 23 24 1 Kings 2â— 1 Chron. 28. Lord plant in you the same love and zeal and care for the Name of God and the welfare of your Posterity before you go hence and be seen no more Secondly Vnto those who are the Generation risen and rising up in the midst of us Suffer me my Brethren and Companions who am one of you to direct this word of the Lord unto you also this day It is we that begin now to be the Body and Bulk of this people every where and to stand up in the room of those that are gone before us How well we do or shall fill the same the Searcher of all hearts he knows This is sure that the work of God and his Name and his Expectations of great things do this day descend upon us even of us hath the Lord also spoken it Surely These are my people too children that will not lie for his Covenant is commanded unto many Generations It is high time then for Psal 10â— â— us to be thorowly awakened It is high time for us to stand up solemnly to receive the charge and blessing of the Lord our God and of his faithful Servants that are departing from us It is high time for us to prepare the shoulder in good earnest and to give our necks to the yoke of God that we may not be a fruitless a faithless a perverse Generation It is true indeed that Mat. 17. 17. Deut. 32. 5 20. there are through grace some first Ripe Grapes to be found amongst us though of such the Lord hath been snatching away some as of late clusters in which the new wine was found and Isa 65. 8. much of the blessing of our Vine contained but why should we frustrate the Lord of that full vintage which he justly expects from our Generation My Brethren we are the Seed of such as are and have been the friends of God we are the Children of the Covenant and of the Kingdome O that all that see us might acknowledge that indeed we are the seed which the Lord hath blessed Isa 61. 9. O that we might be as that seed spoken of and promised Isa 44. 3 4 5. upon which the Lord will pour his Spirit and they shall spring up among the grass as willows by the water-courses One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel O inexcusable we if it be not thus Were our fathers as a noble vine and shall we be as the degenerate plant of a strange vine shall our vine be of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah were they as the best and choicest wine cheering God and man and shall we be as the sowrest vinegar shall our wine be as the poison of dragons Shall Deut. 32. 32 33 all those precious things of God in this Wilderness which were so savoury and sweet unto our fathers and for the enjoyment of which they made their bargain with God and gave up their All elswhere shall these be unto us their Children as sapless savourless Psal 106 13. Exod 32. 8. Judg 2. 17. husky things so quickly shall we so soon say of them What good shall this Birthright do us Shall the world and lusts and sins and vain liberties and new notions be more sweet unto us and thirsted after then Christ and Word and Ordinances then strict and godly Government then the wings of Gods Covenant then the labour and service of the House of God God forbid When God first began to keep House in this Wilderness it was furnished with the choicest Houshold-stuff He had much Plate and Jewels and other such precious things Vessels of Gold and of
Gods forsaking of a people Jer. 2. 17. 2 Chron. 15. 2. 3. Hence there is a Probation-time belonging to the Covenant-state of a people The Lord will make a triall whether they will keep and be stedfast in his Covenant yea or no. He will not fail on his part but he will be that unto a people which he hath engaged himself â—â— be by Covenant He will nourish and cherish He will instruct and teach He will save and shine upon a people and keep the path of a gracious Covenant without turning aside from the same and in such a course and way as this he will make a full proof and trial of them He will afflict in mercy whilest his hopes of them continue He will bring many special hours of temptation upon them one way or another He will nourish and keep up his hopes and expectations as long as may be untill he hath a full proof of them and now if they fail him there is a critical season of altering and changing the course and way of his Providences towards them From such an hour or day or year is such a person or people forsaken of God Probation-time ceaseth and blinding hardning ruining time comes in the room of it Luk. 19. 42. O that thou hadst known but now they are hid from thine eyes Jer. 6. 27 28 29 30. Reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them Thirdly The third thing is the Reason which shall be onely this one Because in such a way as this the Lord doth wonderfully glorifie the wisdome and sweetness and righteousness of his Administration and Government The Cords of such a dispensation are the cords of a man Hos 11. 4. The Lord acts towards us in a sutable way as we are intelligent creatures made after the image of God capable of judging and discerning the Reason and Equity of things and of arguing one thing from another and choosing and preferring one thing before another As to his Elâ—ct the Lord reacheth their Souls with effectual grace in this way As to others the Wisdome and Justice and Holiness of God shine forth in their hardning and preparation before-hand to destruction This is a way wherein there can be no exception laid against the Lord by any but he alone shall overcome in judgement When the Lord shall triumph most in the utâ—er ruine of a gainsaying backsliding despising people yet he shall also retain the name and glory of a gracious and mercifull God because He often would have gathered Jerusalem Matth. 23. 37. and there was nothing more to be done to his vineyard which he did not do Isa 5. 4. II. Observ The Lords great Expectation of his people and the promise which he makes to himself concerning them is principalâ—y this That they will be children that will not lie and so he becomes their Saviour That which the Lord doth chiefly desire and require in and from his people that he doth chiefly expect and promise to himself That which he most abhors and abominates he least of all expects from them that are his Now Truth is that which the Lord desires Psal 51. 6. but the Lie is that which he hates Prov. 6. 17 12. 22. Isa 30. 8 9. Quest 2 What is it to be children that will not lie Answ The general meaning of this expression hath been already given Such as are lying children they are also styled corrupters Isa 1. 4. unstedfast ones flatterers whose hearts are not right who keep not the Lords Covenant Psal 78. 10 36 37. Treacherous dealers Hos 6. 7. A deceitful bow Turners back c. Psal 78. 57. Hos 7. 16. By the contrary unto these we may know what it is not to Lie Thus we reade of faithful children Tit. 1. 6. the Generation of the just or Righteous Psal 14. 5. such whose hearts are not turned back and whose stâ—ps do not decline Ps 44. 18. More particularly there are these six things that the Lord requires from a Covenanting people that this Lie may not be charged upon them 1. Purity of Doctrine and Worship Mixtures and corruptions in these are expresly called a Lie in Scripture-phrase Hos 11. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with Lies i. e. with false Worship Antichristianism is therefore called a Lie 2 Thess 2. 11. because it is a mixture of false Doctrines and false Worship There are the lies of Errour and Heresie and the lies of Superstition and Idolatry the Lord in his Covenant engageth his people against both There is no Errour in Doctrine or in Worship and Ordinances but it tends some way or other to alter pervert and corrupt the Lords Covenant with his people By this we are to judge of the danger of Errours and erroneous practices and answerably to watch against the infection of them 2. Inward heart sincerity or Covenant truth within Psa 51. 6. Rom. 2. 29. Prov. 3. 1 3. This the Lord hath promised Deut. 30. 6. Jer. 31. 33. and calls for Deut. 10. 16. Jer. 4. 4. and bitterly complains for the want of Isa 29. 13. Hypocrisie is a Lie yea a fountain of Lies A company of formal custome-born Christians what are they but an heap of Lies in the sight and esteem of God Now this inward heart sincerity it consists in Right principles 1 Tim. 1. 5. Right aims and ends Mat. 6. 22. and a Right dependance or trust Isa 26. 3 4. as a mans trust dependance and shelter is so is his uprightness and sincerity Such as have lying Refuges are lying children 3. A conversation flowing from and suiting with truth and sincerity within That the power and life of practical godliness should be entertained into the whole of our course and way before the Lord. To fail in this is to lie loudly 1 Joh. 2. 4. 4. 20. 4. A visible and open profession and holding forth of and witness-bearing to the truths wayes of God before the world Rom. 10. 10. David did not onely hide the word in his heart but saith he with my lips have I declared all the judgements of thy mouth Psal 119. 11 13. The Lord Jesus witnessed a good confession 1 Tim. 6. 13. and herein we must also follow him that we may be true and faithful unto God The danger in this matter will not excuse us from the duty There were an hundred forty and four thousand Rev. 14. 1. that had the Fathers name written in their foreheads they did not conceal nor hide themselves Hence Gods faithful ones during the whole reign of Antichrist are styled the Lords witnesses They are such as have their Banner of witness displayed â—evel 11. 3. notwithstanding all the bloody rage of Antichrist To deny the name of Christ or to wave the publick owning of truths and wayes which the Lord Jesus owns and contends for this is to be Lying children and dreadful will be the issue if the word of Christ be true Mat. 10. 32 33. Mar. 8. 38. Many cases
or man What the Lord expects from us hath been laid down before I shall not enlarge upon those several Particulars again That which I have in my aim is not any thing of doubtful disputation not meerly Civils or Prudentials but the sure and certain the often acknowledged and stated common Interest of the people of God and of you the Lords People in special The Interest of Practical Piety and Holiness so much reproached at this day The Interest of unmixed spiritual gospel-Gospel-worship and of the sincere and open profession and owning of the truths and wayes of Christ though persecuted and trampled on at this day in the world The Interest of Unity and Peace in the wayes of Reformation and of expecting and waiting for the issue of all those great and Astonishing Providences that are working every where The Interest of these things and of just and Righteous Liberties in order hereunto is all that which I intend The times are come and hastning more and more wherein faithfulness to God in all these things will be the most glorious Crown that can be worn upon Earth A Crown upon which it shall be graven Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints This then Rev. 13. 1â— 14 1â— is the word of the Lord unto his New-England Churches and People this day Let no man take this your Crown from you No Temptations no Corruptions no Insinuations no Threatnings no Fears no Adversaries If God had betrusted us here but with a little yet he that is Luk 16 1â— Mat. 25 21. 23. unfaithful in a little would be so in much and he that is faithful in a little shall be made ruler over much But the Lord hath betrusted us with much with a very choice and considerable part of the Interest of his Name and Glory and that too in the view of the world and upon manifold Advantages in our upholding and cleaving to the same God hath thrust down his people from their Advantages in other places we have sinned against ours but the Lord yet continues them as the Liberty and Priviledge of this day doth testifie aloud to us New-England hath yet its Advantages as well as its Engagements in this great matter of Owning the Cause of God and standing their ground for God and Christ and the Gospel And this we must know that this is the time wherein he that is not with Christ is against Mâ—â— 12. â—â— him the reason is because the Controversie comes now to be stated more openly and to be avouched more professedly in the world Antichrist is now displaying his Colours setting up his Standard and so is the Lord Jesus Christ the Anointed King and Priest and Prophet the Fathers Heir of all things The field is large whereinto the Forces on both sides are drawing but the fight will be very close and the quarrel in the issue finally decided there can be no neutralizing therefore in this day He that gathereth not with Christ scattereth abroad we must declare for whom we are and choose our side there will be no other Remedy We indeed of these ends of the Earth have long since made our choice we have given up our selves to the Lord Jesus as to our Spiritual King and Law-giver to be his portion and inheritance Now that which the Lord expects is that we stick to this our choice that we give not back a whit so as to become Liars unto that God who unto us hath not been as waters that fail A poor man saith Solomon is better then a liar Prov. 19. 22. to be called Poor New-England this may seem to be a Reproach but in truth is not for he that mocketh the poor reproacheth Pâ—â—v 1â— â— his maker but to be called False and lying New-England this shall be a blot and a reproach never to be wiped away As Satan said concerning Job when God boasted as it were to him of his integrity Chap. 1. 11. Put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face and so again Chap. 2. 5. So it may be Satan and his Instruments may be tempting and saying concerning us Let that people of so much Profession in the Wilderness be but thus or thus proved and tried let but this or that happen to them this or that Affrightment this or that Allurement Let but such and such be once removed by death or otherwayes and then it shall be seen what they will come to It will then appear how they will entertain the wayes of the world and give up Gospel and Ordinances and Liberties as well as others selling their Birthright-even for a mess of pottage But shall it ever be thus indeed God forbid We have been listed in the number of those followers of the Lamb who are called and chosen and faithful let us in the fear Rev. 1â— 14. of God continue still to be of them Special marks of favour the Lord hath been pleased from time to time to set upon those faithful undertakings of his Servants in this Wilderness wherein keeping close to God in matters Civil and Ecclesiastical hath been the design in truth and in sincerity now the Lord evermore keep us from bringing the marks of infamy upon our selves in any contrary way of walking If the Lord hath named us his Witnesses and hath produced us as such unto the world we should be now sinfully silent or withdraw or alter our Testimony as to any truth or way or work of his O what a provocation would this be It is a day wherein the Lord hath been Riding Circuit and making proof of all Ranks and degrees of men and he hath found them Liars Mean men have been vanity Psal 62. 9. and men of high degree a lie they have professed for Reformation and to be for the interest of Holiness and Gospel-worship and for the just Liberties of the Lords people but in an hour of temptation he hath found them Liars Now what doth New-England say Will ye also go away Let such a question tend to establish your hearts the more as it was the issue thereof upon the Disciples Joh. 6. 67 68 69. It will be a woful day indeed when the Lord shall take up those words of witness against us Isa 1. 2 3. It will be a doleful thing to be of a broken credit with God and for the Lord to pronounce us Bâ—nkrupts If we frustrate the Lords Expectations he will cut off ours The one contains in it the greatest aggravations of sin and the other of punishment We cannot make God miserable by the one for of these stones he can raise up children unto Abraham but we shall be miserable with a witness in the execution of the other upon us It hath been the glory and the glorying of the Lords people that they have made no defection from him no not in the saddest times Psal 44. 17 18 19. Let the same thing be our glory and our glorying
Silver shall we now rise up to fill his House with meer Lumber worthless cumbersome sorry stuff that will by no one be look'd after in a day of burning nor by any one lamented though consumed in the fire Shall not we bid as much as any in the world for an Interest in the Lord God of our fathers for such an Interest in him as our fathers had in God Shall not this be more to us then this whole Wilderness yea then the whole World can give to us beside for the Lords sake let us not be of any other frame Let not the words of this Exhortation rise up as a Testimony against any of you And that they may not but that we may be found Children that will not lie there are these Directions omitting sundry others that might have been given 1. Make conscience not onely of being rightly informed in that cause of God which we are here wrapt up in and in adhering whereunto the Lord hath hitherto preserved and blessed his Churches and people but also of getting a sight and view of the divine beauty and glory thereof There is nothing short of true and real glory divine spiritual glory that can chain fast our Souls to the Cause of God so as to own and cleave to it in sincerity at this day When God carried out Abraham into another Land he appeared to him as a God of glory Acts 7. 2. so did God appear unto our fathers in the way wherein he led them hither and in the Cause for which Thus must he appear to us also if ever we abide stedfast with him in that Cause It is therefore a most sweet Petition that the Church makes Psal 90. 16 17. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy Glory unto their children Babylon paints her face anew at this day Antichrist hath varnished his Interest so that there are many who are allured and taken with the beauty of that Harlot O let us beg of God that we may behold the beauty and the glory of His Cause Interest amongst us And truly as to this Cause and Interest of God there can be no other foundations laid then those which have been laid N-Englands true main Interest the Cause of Christ in his Churches here It is a fixed unalterable thing It is not now to be found out by any New Light But alas how many of us grow up and never get one real view of the glory of it of whom that complaint may be taken up Deut. 29. 4. We have not unto this day had an heart to perceive or eyes to see or ears to hear no not unto this day Let us take heed of enquiring of or listning in this matter unto the determinations and glosses of such as have had no standing in the wayes of God here but have been grafted in upon By-Accounts or move in the Excentrick Orb of some Private Interest distinct from that of the whole And let us also lay down this as a Rule That whatsoever it is that hath been unanimously Rejected and Condemned in its claims by the Acknowledged Eminentest Reformers in each Age since the Apostacy of Antichrist prevailed This can never in these our dayes justifie its Title to that Cause of Christ that is to be maintained and contended for Jer. 6. 16. 2. Let us stand feelingly under the weight of all those Engagements that lye upon us to be an upright Generation unto God The Lord hath laid all manner of Engagements upon us By his Covenant into the bond whereof we are brought By all his Messengers and Servants whom he hath sent rising up early and sending them By his Providences from the beginning Ours are All the Salvations the Experiences the Miracles of Mercy and of Preservation that have been bestowed upon this people and the Cause of God here at any time yea though we were not then born Hos 12. 4 5. And we have laid Engagements upon our selves we have said that we would be the Lords and O what a God is it that we have engaged our selves so solemnly unto A God All sufficient Surely our Fathers have not inherited lies or vanity and things wherein there is no profit in inheriting that God for their portion unto whom we as their Children have Covenanted our selves 3. Take heed of thinking it an casie matter to serve the Lord God of our Fathers and to answer his Expectations of us To have such a vain thought lodging in us would be to us a foundation of Ruine The God of New-England the God of pure Ordinances and Churches and Worship is a Consuming fire The Angel of the Lords Presence with us will not pardon our iniquities Exod. 23. 21. Joshua puts the Rising generation in minde of this solemn truth Josh 24. 19 20. Those that have gone before us in the Cause of God here who and what were they Certainly choice and pick'd ones whom he eminently prepared and trained up and qualified for this Service They were Worthies men of singular Accomplishments and of long and great Experience yet did they walk with fear and trembling before the Lord in the sense of their own nothingness and insufficiency for the Work here to be done But we poor we alas what are we we want many seasonings which our Fathers had we are poor raw things we want those eminent Conversions those Schools of Experience those Opportunities and Advantages of gaining Knowledge c. which they had 4. Look after the Root of the matter in your Souls There are many empty outside Custom born Christians now adayes A day of temptation will discover what such as these will come to when they are catcht in Satans snares and become the Reproach of the Gospel and of a good Cause O let us get good sound Principles for want whereof the Profession of so many hath run it self out of breath and broke its neck in these dayes It hath been said that a loose Protestant is fit to become a strict Papist A formal ungrounded Professor he will be fit for Satans turn in these dayes O get to be sincere in your Principles that your Repentance may be thorow Repentance your Humiliation deep your Faith of the operation of God your Love to God and his wayes and people a fruit of Gods love in Christ unto your souls It must be such a generation that must save New-Englands All. Don't boast it of being Abrahams Children do not challenge Matth. 3. 9. lay claim to the distinguishing Priviledges of the House of God in the pride and unhumbledness of your hearts Take heed of moving on in the wayes of God upon the strength of bare convictions and external motives only whilest indeed such wayes are most unsuitable unto your unrenewed frame within and to your spirits as yet unsubdued to the yoke of Christ by any Gospel power making of them willing in the day thereof If you have a name only to live you will in the issue fall down
among the slain of the Lord I mean slain under spiritual Judgements who shall be many in these dayes wherein we live 5. Take heed of and watch against all the various steps degrees methods whereby men come to forsake and turn off from the Lord and his wayes 1. Men use the Ordinance of God slightly and carelesly 2 King 10. 31. they dwell in Zion but are strangers to the well-springs that are there Under the fulness of Ordinances they look not after that which their souls may eat drink and be spiritually satiated with Church-watch fellowship discipline does them no real inward good 2. Now meâ— grow secretly weary of all these things as of a garment that warms not and bread that strengthens not they are not tyed by the heart-strings to pure Ordinances and Worship and to a godly Government 3. Now men begin to question the ground and warrant of things 4. Now they hearken after Objections and what may be cavill'd against the Wayes and Institutions of God 5. Now they are imposed upon by deceitful workers they greedily listen unto what may be said for the wayes and institutions courses and customes of men 6. Now they take offence at persons and things and suffer their spirits to be imbittered 7. Now being given up by God they fall quite off Men gather them they are joyned in with the Instruments of Satan and turn Vnderminers at least if not open Persecutors O take heed and watch against all these things Enquire after all the first warpings of your hearts and spirits be not ignorant of Satans devices 2. Cor. 2. 11. 6. Maintain a Reverend and High Esteem of godly Leaders Civil and Spiritual Guides and be subject to them in the Lord. Account regular subjection to be an excellent thing and that a pliableness and yieldableness in this carries an excellency of spirit along with it There is not only excellent Humility but excellent Wisdome also in such a course The Order of God both in Civils and Ecclesiasticals duely Acknowledged Reverenced submitted unto in the Lord will bring so great a blessing with it of peace gracious guidance a happy issue in difficult cases and settlement as too too often we have too much self and carnal wisdome and too little faith to believe 7. Plead and improve the Lords Covenant with you and in special your Baptism the first Seal of that Covenant that you may be established and made faithful with the Lord therein If we forget and neglect the Lord in that wherein he begins with us and first visibly takes hold of us no wonder if we make no progress but sit loose from God all our dayes These are the Directions that I would leave with you in the name and fear of the great God to be thought of and put in practice There is a Consideration or two whereby I would yet further back this Branch of the Exhortation unto you of the Present Generation that are now listning unto this solemn word of God and so I shall pass on with as much speed as may be in that which remains 1. The present work of God in these Churches it must stand or fall in our hands for it is now devolved upon us of the present Generation It is true indeed God can cut us off and graft in others He can fill his House though we were shut all of us out of doors He can uphold his own name and glory though we were swept to the dunghill But that individual work which hath been begun and hitherto carried on in this place it must stand and fall with us Now shall the enemy blaspheme because of us shall Satan triumph as a conquerour in us 2. What will become of us if we fail the Lord of his Expectations O what good shall we lose what evil shall we bring upon our selves whither shall we cause our shame to go will God care for a degenerate Race when the overflowing scourge shall pass will there be any Sanctuary for us with the God of Truth What did it profit the Israelites in the Wilderness that they had all things according to the Pattern but they themselves were a rebellious and hard hearted generation if we be transgressors we shall utterly perish Enemies and evils of all sorts shall have a bargain of us Deut. 32. 30. Except their Rock had sold them Judg. 2. 14. 3. It is not long before the Lord will finish his great works in the world Antichrist shall be destroyed Israel shall be saved Zion shall be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousness Isa 1. 27. Luke 18. 7 8. though the Lord bear long with his Elect yet he will avenge them speedily That he bears long hath been already fulfilled what remains therefore to be accomplished but only that now he avenge them speedily shall we take this season then wherein to fail the Lord shall we be among the last Apostates for whom the sorest vengeance is laid up in store Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Blessed are they that wait for and can abide the day of his coming Shall we lose our share in those times of Refreshment which are so near to come 4. Consider and remember alwayes that the Books that shall be opened at the last day will contain Genealogies in them There shall then be brought forth a Register of the Genealogies of New-Englands sons and daughters How shall we many of us hold up our faces then when there shall be a solemn rehearsal of our descent as well as of our degeneracies To have it published whose Child thou art will be cutting unto thy soul as well as to have the Crimes reckoned up that thou art guilty of Thirdly In the third and last place This Exhortation is directed unto you who are in place of Government respectively and that may be this day our Established Leaders and Rulers Honoured and much Esteemed The Lord hath measured out an Inheritance for a precious Remnant of his people in this Wilderness we may with all humility acknowledge that we are his flock and the sheep of his pasture And here there is a solemn Trust that is invested in You who are Rulers committed unto you by God and by men your Mothers Children though not in anger do make you the Keepers of the Vineyard so that Gods Expectations and his Peoples are upon you in a special manner Do You also answer these Expectations that as in your publick capacities you are more peculiarly the Children of Psal 82. 6. the Most High so you may be also Children that will not lie If you be true to God to his Truths to your Trust according to your Abilities and Opportunities of doing for God his Interest and People then know that whatever may for a time become of that Cause and those precious Concernments which are upon your hearts to save though with your lives if called thereunto yet you your selves shall be
sure to enjoy the Salvation of God Be you fixed therefore in your Orb and not as those Stars that now adayes fall from Heaven that you may continue to be in the midst of us as the light of the morning a morning without clouds and as the clear shining after rain The 2 Sam 23. 4. Foundations of your Government have been Righteousness of this there is a Record on High and the Lord hath added Peace hitherto Now your Power and Authority doth lye professedly and by fundamental Constitution in a direct subserviency to the Interest Power and Kingdome of the Lord Jesus Christ and the welfare of his Saints This you acknowledge and own and it is your glory And herein is required your Fidelity and Constancy that you may continue Ruling with God and faithful with his Saints This is that which God Hâ—s 11 12. expects and promiseth to himself that you Rule and Govern this People for him And that you lay out your selves in all regular wayes to the utmost to preserve us from Apostacy and from being lying Children or false with the Lord in his Covenant You who are our Judah our Ruling Tribe you are the Bow This People are as the Arrows that I may allude to what we finde Zech. 9. 13. if you be but Bent right and have Strength and Steadiness we shall hope through mercy to be shot directly forward and in some good measure to reach the Mark aimed at We know that your care and sollicitude is lest the Ruine of any thing that is of God should be under your hand And indeed the Lord hath set you for the defence of all that which is His in this remote corner of Christs Inheritance You are the Keepers of our Walls and therefore for Zions sake even for our own sakes we do in the Name of the Lord solemnly wish you this day and at all times Prosperity we wish you Wisdome Spirit Fidelity we wish you an Healthful Countenance and Constitution of Affairs we wish you the Counsels of Truth and Peace There be many at this day The Brood of Antichrist that are Travailing with Mischief and the hope of some of them is to have a good Lying-in of it even here amongst us but they shall All of them bring forth a Lie But be you Exhorted to travail with the designs Psal 7. 14. Job 15 35. and work of God plotting how to Exalt the Kingdome of our Lord Jesus the Righteousness Holiness and Peace thereof more and more that so you may be as the Mountains that bring forth peace and the Hills that bring forth Righteousness Psal 72. 3. unto the Lords people You know how your Style runs in the language of the Holy Ghost you are called Gods and we do Pâ—al 82. 6. therefore account you Worshipfull Now to be a God as one in this case speaks is to be above all Fears all Hopes all Temptations to be immutable and not to appear so much as in the shadow of a change Thus it must be with you in your measure And therefore as you are called Gods minde this your Glory But yet though you be Gods we must not think to finde you without Infirmities your Deity is such that a multitude of Infirmities is compatible therewith onely there may be Infirmities where there is not the Lie Weakness and Falseness are vastly different ask this grace that the latter may never be charged upon you And so the Lord in remembring you for good according to all that you have done for this people and for his Name shall spare you also according to the multitude of his mercies I cannot insist here upon all those particulars wherein the Expectations of God and of his people are placed upon you your first wayes have engaged you deeply Magistrates and Rulers they are not only Foundation-stones and so Supporters of the Common wealth but they must be also Corner-stones Zech. 10. 4. Isa 3. 7. in the Foundation to Couple and Vnite They must be Healers And the good Lord guide you and prosper you as to this part of your work that such a mercy Vniting and Healing mercy may be called after your name When the unfeigned friends and sincere promoters of Reformation on the one side and those that hate Reformation on the other side make up the two Parties now as is observed the fire of Contention is natural Homogeneous things are congregated and Heterogeneous are segregated But when both the Sides do grow up from the former sort and they themselves become divided the fire of this Contention because of the quite contrary effâ—ct is unnatural The Lord pour out the Blood of Christ upon the last spark of this fire for its utter extinguishing Many Knots and Intricacies there may be and Clouds of darkness upon some matters in disquisition which none but a gracious God can dissolve in these things the Lords people are to exercise mutual for bearance Circumstantial Differences ought not to breed Substantial Divisions that would be a Monstrous and Gigantine birth It is wrong done to the Christian name so much as to question Whether that diversity of Apprehension in lesser and dubious matters amongst the Lords people ought to be born withall which can and doth suffer a Regulation in order to the Unity and Peace of the whole But yet the true Christian Gospel-Liberty was never unto this day a Womb big with Licentiousness And here there is one Position that me-thinks can never be denied by any that have but the common Principles of Reason intire viz. That no Perswasion or Practice can ever in the Conscience of the contrary-minded have a good right to publick Liberty and Countenance which being thorowly attended to doth indeed tend to the undermining and so in the issue to the overthrow of the state of these Churches in that wherein it is of God and hath been largely and plentifully owned by him And of this case and the application thereof thâ—se who are in Authority may and ought to judge And further Who can therefore think it much if such Opinions as are not onely in themselves but even in the mindes of those that hold them un-Churching to so many precious Societies of Christ I mean as to their visible Church-state be very harsh and unpleasant and the uncontrolled scope of them much more distastful Certainly a weaker Body cannot ought not to do that or suffer that upon it self or in it self upon the account of Charity to another which a stronger Body may and in some cases may be bound to do or suffer All regular Charity caeteris paribus begins first at home There are the Peculiar Constitutions and different Capacities of places to be considered according as God in his infinite Wisdome doth order and suffer matters to be circumstanced Men truely Conscientious ought to make Conscience here what they venture upon or what they demand and ask of Authority There is but one thing more that in these