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
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
there are in this matter not here to be touched upon but if we be the Lords and he have any delight in us we shall not fail in the main of this duty The Church of Christ hath ever had this visibility of a witness in her confession of the truths of Christ and opposition unto the lies of Antichrist 1 Tim. 3. 15. 5. Special fidelity answerable unto special trust committed As the Lord Jesus is the one great Steward whom the Father hath set up and appointed over all so there are many inferiour subservient Stewards under him Some are Stewards in higher some in inferiour Ranks and capacities There are diversities of gifts which are dispensed unto some eminency of parts and natural abilities unto some the wealth of this world unto some a large and swaying interest in the Many unto some Authority and Office Now all these gifts they are Talents as well as Gifts Gifts as freely bestowed and received Talents in respect of the end wherefore they are bestowed viz. that they may be improved and an account given of them To betray a mans trust or not to improve his Talent is to lie and deal falsly for of a Steward it is required that he be faithful 1 Cor. 4. 2. As every one hath received the gift so we are to minister the same as good stewards of the manifold grace of God 1 Pet. 4. 10. All the Lords people are to be faithful in whatsoever trust is committed unto them and in special Magistrates and Rulers and so also Ministers that are Stewards in the House of God 1 Cor. 4. 1. Luke 12. 42 43 44. 6. Stedfastness and constancy perseverence and holding out and that in a way of fellowship and Communion with the people of God Heb. 10. 23 24 25. Backsliding children are lying children To begin well but not to hold out not to maintain our integrity purity fellowship faithfulness unto the death this is breach of Covenant and to belie the Lord and his wayes Jer. 2. 5. Gal. 5. 7 8 9. Coloss 2. 6 7. 2 Pet. 3. 17 18. Quest 2 How is it said in the Doctrine That so the Lord is or becomes the Saviour of his people Answ 1. There is nothing of Merit implied in it 2. There is no barre put unto the Lords proceeding sometime with his people upon terms of Soveraignty and Prerogative in the dispensations of his grace and mercy as Isa 57 17 18 19. 3. It is to be understood of the Lords ordinary way of dealing with his people It would be horrible presumption in us to expect and promise to our selves Salvation in any contrary way but in this way of fidelity and faithfulness it would be a sinfull despondency not to hope and expect it upon terms of free-grace Reas 1. Because our fidelity and uprightness doth now exactly answer the fidelity and uprightness of God in the Covenant Our truth doth fitly answer Gods truth and Covenant-All-sufficiency Gen. 17. 1. Reas 2. Because when the Lords people prove thus Children that will not lie now they are his peculiar Glory The Lord may and doth in this case make his boast of and glory in his people Job 1. 8. If those who have Covenanted with God deal falsly in his Covenant and prove Liars unto him now they stain the glory of God reproach and pollute his Name but if they maintain their integrity continue faithful and upright now they are a Name and a Praise to him and for Israel his glory will the Lord place salvation in Zion Isa 46. 13. Vpon all the glory there shall be a defence Isa 4. 5. With the upright the Lord will shew himself upright 2 Sam. 22. 26. Reas 3. Because this is the Aim and shall be the final Issue of all the providential dispensations of God towards his people to make them to be such children as will not lie The Lord will never cease working afflicting sifting purging till he bring his people to be of this frame although there be but a Remnant that wiâ—l endure and hold out thereunto Zeph. 3. 13. Jer. 31. 23. Isa 1. 25 26 27. Rev. 21. 27. The Application And here I shall consider that the words of the Text are spoken concerning a People even the Body of a Nation and so my endeavour shall be to apply the Truths delivered unto this present Assembly standing before the Lord this day as the Body of this People Such in several respects is the Capacity of this solemn Congregation and unto you as such my desire is to speak in the Name of the Lord. For many a day and year even from our first beginnings hath this word of the Lord been verified concerning us in this Wilderness The Lord hath said of New-England Surely they are my People Children that will not lie so hath he been our Saviour Upon this Basis have all the Saviourly Vndertakings of the Lord been founded in the midst of us and upon this bottom do we unto this day abide The solemn work of this day is Foundation-work not to lay a new Foundation but to continue and strengthen and beautifie and build upon that which hath been laid Give me leave therefore Honoured and Beloved to awaken and call upon you in the Name of him who sends me with reference unto those Foundations that are held forth to us in the Text for if these should be out of course what could the Righteous do If we should so frustrate and deceive the Lords Expectations that his Covenant-interest in us and the Workings of his Salvation be made to cease then All were lost indeed Ruine upon Ruine Destruction upon Destruction would come until one stone were not left upon another Let the Uses be these four Vse 1. Of Information to let New-England know what that gracious infinitely wise holy and awful dispensation of divine Providence is under which the Lord hath set us and continued us unto this day We must look upon our selves as under a solemn divine Probation It hath been and it is a Probation-time even to this whole People Under great hopes and singular eminent Expectations hath the Lord our God been trying of us and is yet trying us in the wayes of his Salvation There is this one voice of all his Providences towards us they call aloud unto us in this language of a Probation-time To day if this my people will hear my voice To day if they will come up to the Lords Expectations and answer his promises To day that is whilest it is a day of Salvation whilest the Lord is yet so wonderfully preserving of us displaying his Banner over us holding underneath the Everlasting Arms and making us to taste so much of his loving kindness and tender mercies every way Divine Expectations frustrated will issue dreadfully when the Lord shall make us know his breach of promise Numb 14. 34. This we must know that the Lords promises and expectations of great things have singled out Now-England and all sorts and
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
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
dispensers of the same Now then go on even this year also in this your might Being and Doing All for God And He that is indeed the great Shepherd and Stone of Israel shall be in the midst of you The mighty Counsellor The Prince of Peace upon whose shoulder the Government is and shall be Vse 4. Of Encouragement and Assurance â—o all the Lords people here in this Wiâ—derâ—ess Let us but prove Children that will not lie and we shall not want Salvation If we lie not the vision shall not he Nothing but our own Lie can shut us out from the Salvation of God Our great work lyes in this to keep from being lving children we may now confidently leave the work of saving us with God Yea out Eâ—emies in this way shall be fouâ—d Deut. 33. 29. Liars unto us Achitophel shall die in Child-bed not being able to give life and birth to his mischievors Conceptions Balaam may set up his Altars and offer his Sacrifices â—nd seek Inchaâ—tâ—â—rts once and again â—ut withouâ— success when the Lord beholds â—ot this iâ—iquity in Jacob noâ— sees this pervâ—rseâ—â—ss Numb 23 21. Exod. 19 4. 5 6 Isa 26. 1 2. in Israel If the Lord preserve unâ—â— us a faithful Peoplâ— a faithful Miniâ—tâ—â— a faithfâ—l Magistrace He will then Appâ—â—â—t Salvatiâ—n for Walls and Bâ—â—wâ—â—ks to us Iâ— is New-Eâ—glands â—ie that must open the door unto New-â—â—glands Râ—ine which he Lord for ever preserve uâ— from and set a double Loâ—k of faithfulness upon all our Souls that we may be both faithful to God and also faiâ—hful wiâ—h hâ—s Saints I will but briefly note unto you a few particulars out of Psal 125. and so shut up all â—irst We have a time aâ—d seasoâ— of sore trial and exercise supposâ—d by reason of the building and blossoming â—f the Rod of wickâ—d men and its lyiâ—g â—pon the Lot of thâ— Riâ—â—teous for a â—ime vâ—r 3. Secondly We have the dâ—fferenâ— and conâ—rary behaviour of persons under suâ—h an hour of tempâ—atiâ—â— Some are Children that will not liâ— they are good in such 〈◊〉 times they are upright in their hearts v. 4 and they trust in God v. 1. Oâ—hers thâ—y pâ—â—ve Liars they turâ— aside into crookâ—d wayes they shâ—ink and prevaâ—lâ— are with God and waâ—p off â—â—om â—he straitness of the Rule and â—he upâ—â—ghâ—nâ—ss â—f the Causâ— of Gâ—d v 5. Thiâ—â—lâ— We have the 〈…〉 which the Lâ—rd mâ—kes with these 〈◊〉 persâ—â—s 1. Those 〈…〉 asiâ—â— into crookâ—d 〈◊〉 aâ—d sâ— prove Liâ—rs to God Hâ— lâ—ads thâ—m forth with thâ— workers oâ— iniquity they are not men that do at the first openly pass over into the Tents of wickedness but in such a day of triâ—l they are unsound with God and have their By-wayes of sinful latitude and compliance playing fast and loose with a good Cause under corrupt byasses and fair preterces such as these whoever they be even the best of them the Lord shall make them to go with workers of iniquity 1 Workers of iniquity are of a vile low esteem both with God and his Saints so these turners aside shall be cast out of the heart esteem of Christ and of his Saints if ever they had any repute they shall lose it 2 Workers of iniquity proceed on and grow worse and worse 2 Tim. 3 13. so it is the curse of Heb. 10. 38. God upon crooked wayes that they are ever headlong down-hill wayes Men think they will go but thus far or so far in treacherous false wayes and remain hid all the while under some fair cloak but they shall proceed untill they be known Prov. 10 4. 3 Workers of iniquity are ever cut short of their designs Psal 21. 11. so it shall be with these 4 Workers of iniquity stumble in and dash themselves against all the Righteous wayes of God and so shall â—hese warpers Hos 14 9. 5 Workers of iniquity are snared in their own way so shall these that so turn aside they shall be intangled and hang in the bushes and thickets of their own contrivances Psal 5. 9 10. Prov. 14. 14. 7. 14 15 16. 6 Workers of iniquity shall be turned into Hell and so shall those that choose crooked wayes Prov. 1. 32. The turning away of the simple shall slay them There are but two bundles at the last day that great Harvest-day the bundle of life and of the workers of iniquity Dâ—vid prayes that he may not be sound in this bundle Psal 26. 9. but into this shall all that turn aside be gathered They shall go to their Companions in the issue whatever they would be thought to be here yet they shall inherit Hell and Damnation at the last under this very Title of Workers of iniquity Mat. 7. 23. But 2. with the Vpright and such as continue Trusting in God in the hour of Tempration the Lord deals after another manner unto these Chilâ—ren that will not lie he becomes a Saviour 1 They shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abideth for ever Ungodly ones like chaff are blown away but Mount Zion Abideth for ever ver 1. 2 The Lord will be Psal 1. 4. round about them for ever v. 2. they need not fear then the siege the encamping the assaults of enemies though they be Round about the Lord is both the Center and Circumference too in the safety and security of his upright ones for as here he is said to be round about them so Psal 46. â— He is said to be in the midst of them also 3 The Lord will do them good v. r. 4. The goodness of the Lord is a Cordial sufficient against all faâ—nâ—ing Psal 27. 13. there is all Salvation contained in iâ— Zech. 9. 16 17. 4 The Lord will give them Peace ver â—ast Peace shall be upon Israel i. e. upon Israel walking uprightly According to Rule and not crookedly Gal. 6. 16. Those are the true and faithful saâ—ings of God They are and ought to be for our encouragement that we through patient continuaâ—â—â— in well-doing and the comfort of such Scriptures might have hope Let come what will come if we Answer what the Lord hath said of us That Surely we are his People Children that will not lie He will then most Assuredly and most Seasonably Become New-Englands Saviour Isa 51. 7 8. 26. 1 2. FINIS Errata p. 5. l. 3. for persons read reasons p. 31. l. 4 read Ordinances The rest are liâ—eral