Short History of New England
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A88931.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
The Short History of New-England.
A RECAPITULATION OF Wonderful Passages Which have Occurr'd, First in the PROTECTIONS, and then in the AFFLICTIONS, of NEW-ENGLAND.
With A REPRESENTATION.
Of Certain Matters calling for the Singular Attention of that Country.
Made at Boston- Lecture, in the Audience of the Great and General Assembly of the Province of the Massachusett-Bay, JUNE 7. 1694.
By COTTON MATHER.
1 SAM. 12. 7.
Stand Still, That I may Reason with You, before the Lord; of all the Righteous Acts of the Lord, which he did unto You, and unto your Fathers.
Boston. Printed by B. Green, for Samuel Phillips, at the Brick Shop, at the West End of the Exchange, 1694.
Memorable Passages, relating to NEW-ENGLAND.
It is Written,
In EZEK. XXII. 30.— I Sought for a MAN among them, that should make up the HEDGE, and stand in the GAP, before me, for the Land, that I should not Destroy it.
The Rest of what is Written in the Verse, I will not Now Read unto you, as Wishing and Hoping, that it may Never be fulfilled in our Eyes!
IT was upon the Death of a Great Man among the Ancients, that a Famous and Well-spok • n Orator, Addressed a General Assembly of the Neighbourhood, with an Exclamation to this purpose, What shall we do, O Citizens? Our Walls are fallen down? Indeed, th •… whole World seems at This Day, under the Accomplishment of that Commination, in Isai. 2. 15. The Day of the Lord of Hosts, i •… shall be upon every Fenced Wall. But such a Dark and such a Black Day, is mos •… particularly come upon Our selves. The Death, which we have seen upon our First Generation, Administers unto us, who are Another, and well if not upon all Accounts Another, Generation, a Mournful Occasion for that Lamentation, Our Walls are Fallen down! The Death which we have therewithal seen Gradually Siezing upon our Precious and Pleasant Things, Administers unto us yet further Occasion for that Lamentation, Our Walls are fallen down! Yea, that our Walls are broken down, we have seen in the doleful and woeful Effects of our own Experience, a most Effectual Demonstration.
If our Walls had not been broken down, had the Wasting Fevers of the more Southern Indies broke in upon us, as they have done of late years, to render us as like the other West-Indian Plantations, for our Natural Distempers, as we become like them for our Moral ones? If our Walls had not been broken down, had worse things than Fevers, even Indians, broke in upon us, as they have newly done, to lay whole Counties desolate, and barbarously Butcher more than a Thousand of our Inhabitants? If our Walls had not been broken down, had worse things than Indians, even Devils, broke in upon us, as they have sadly done, to Confound us with such Praeternatural Operations, as have been the just Astonishment of the World? Worse yet! If our Walls had not been broken down, had worse things things than Devils, even Vices, broke in upon us, as they do a pace, to Complete our horrible Defection from our First Loves, and our First Ways, and make us, as the Degenerate Plant of a Strange Vine before the Lord? In Truth, We may over our Country utter that Sigh, in Psal. 89. 10. Lord, Thou hast broken down all its Hedges.
And, What shall we now do? The Word of God, by His Prophet Ezekiel, shall Direct and Assist our Meditations upon that Important Question; and unto that word, I now call for your Earnest Heed.
The Name of EZEKIEL, Signifies, The Fortitude of God; A Name well beseeming an Ambassador of Heaven; and, As was his Name, so was He, for his becoming Fortitude, in his Witnessing for God against an Apostatizing People. One of the Ancients has told us, That, he was Martyred and Murdered, for his Reproving of an uncontrouleable Sin, in some of the Rulers: And another of the Ancients ha's told us How? He was Dragg'd upon the Stones, till his Brains were dashed out. A Proportion of such usage must be Expected by all that will contend for God, with a due Fortitude, and Fidelity.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel were contempotaries in several Countrys; and such was their work, that both of them needed the Encouragement of a Contemporary Prophet. Indeed, That a Testimony for God, may be Effectually Delivered and Entertained, there had need be more than One, concurring to the Testimony. But now Ezekiel seems to be, both more Glorious in his Visions, and more Terrible in his Threatenings, than Jeremiah; and both of those, as well Terrible Threatenings, as Glorious Visions, do notably Occur, in the Chapter now before us.
I Remember, Nazianzen calls our Ezekiel, A Beholder of Great things; but methinks, he is in our Context here, A Beholder of Sad things. For Burning Dross in a Furnace, is here made the Type of the Consuming and Fiery Desolations, that were coming upon a Professing People of God. Referring hereunto, behold an Horrid Mirrour here set before us.
First, A Catalogue of their Sins, is offered. The Ordinances of God were despised among them, and the Sabbaths of God profaned. They were a very Vngoverned sort of People, and much given to Oppressing of one another. Bloodguiltiness lay upon the Land; Adulterous and Incestuous, and most Abominable Vncleannesses were Committed in it.
Secondly, A Destruction for their Sins, is denounced. God would send Fire, and Sword, and many Wasting Afflictions upon them. They should be Scattered as wretched Captives in other Countries. Fearful Derision and Inf • my, should from abroad be heaped upon them. And the Lord would withhold from them the Rains of His Word and Grace, in the Day of His Indi •• ation.
Thi • dly, The Aggravations attending their Sins, are declared. And what were they?
One Aggravation of their Sins, was, The Universal Prevalency of them. All ranks of men, were sunk into the Corruption of Manners, now prevailing. In the Church, there were Officers more concerned for their Livings, than for the Salvation of Souls; and the Institutions of God were p • ostituted unto the Lusts of men, in Promiscuous Administations, which put no Difference between the Holy and the Profane. In the State, there were Officers who made a mere Prey of the Inhabitants, and had fetched Blood in wrongful Executions; and Self was all they Served. Among the People of the Land, there was nothing to be seen but Injury and Vexation Passing from one unto another. When, All Flesh had thus Corrupted their way, in pleasing of the Flesh, was high time for an Overwhelming Inundation of Calamities!
Another Aggravation of their Sins, was, The Insensible Security in them. That men were very Secure under a most Perillous Condition of Affairs, is intimated in the Text now read unto us. Wherein,
First, We have the Peoples Enjoyment. That was, An Hedge. The Hebrew word here notes, A Wall, made either of Stone or Wood. The Metaphor Signifies, The Protection of God, about our Comforts; with a Defense and Shelter from Innumerable Mischiefs, whereunto, we should, without that Protection be Obnoxious, in this Present Evil World.
Next, We have the Peoples Misery. That was, A Gap. The Hebrew word here notes, A Breach, at which Destroying Enemies may make their Entrance. The Metaphor Signifies, An Obnoxiousness to wretched circumstances, by Sin forfeiting the Protection of God; with a Loss of those things wherein we have that Protection.
Lastly, We have the Expectation of our God concerning such a People. He says, I Sought for a man, that should make up the Hedge, and stand in the Gap. It intimates, Not only that Some One at least, ought then to have Appeared, by his Pious Interpositions to have diverced the Wrath of God, but also that the Appearance of One might have done Something towards the Diversion of that Wrath.
So then, there is a most Solemn and Weighty CASE; indeed, the more Solemn and Weighty, because it is, OUR OWN, Case: where-with I am now to Entertain you.
The CASE.
What is to be done, when the Sins of a People, have made a Ga • in their Hedge, and caused them to Loose the Protecting Presence of God?
Or,
What is to be done, to keep off Ruines, from a People, that by their Sins, have brought themselves into Dangers to be Ruined?
That is,
What have WE to do at this Day, for the Retrieving of OUR OWN Unhappinesses?
Having advised You, That our Hedg •… lies in those things, wherein we have th •… Protecting Presence of God; and that ou •… Gap lies in our Bereavement of those thing •… wherein we have that Protecting Presence; I hope it will be no, Untempered Morta •… daubed upon a Broken Wall, if I lay Five Councils this Day before you.
I. What is to be done? Let Every man most penitently Enquire and Bewayl, what he Hath done, towards making a Gap in our Hedge? When the People had laid 〈2 pages missing〉 of Heaven, to give some Singular Embarassment unto our Affairs; whereby our Lusts have been Excited and Exerted, and our Minds have been thrown into the Disorder from whence comes Every evil Work.
What a Day of Temptation, was it, when a Flood of Antin • mian and Familistical Opinions, cast out by the Dragon, had like to have Swallowed up the Church Fled into this Desert, in its Infancy: and a Factions Distinction made between, Men under a Covenant of Works, and Men under a Covenant of Grace, as it were by some Enchantment, insinuated itself into all our Concernments, to the producing of Works wherein there was little enough of Grace discovered?
What a Day of Temptation, was it, when the Controversy about the Extent of Baptism, and of Church Watch, was in its warmest Agitation; and Scandalous Divisions thereupon arose between Synodalians and Antisynodists: Wherein we hav • been too like, and it may be too unlike Ch •• dren, while we have been contending abo •• the Covenant of our Children?
What a Day [shall I say, or Night] o • Temptation, have we seen, when the Evil Angels were let loose upon us, dreadfully to Annoy our Neighbourhood, not only 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 with Tormenting Afflictions, but als •… with unheard of Delusions; and cause u •… to buffet one another in as Dark a Time as that which once Distressed Egypt for three •… Days together?
Have we not had our Successive Daye •… of Tempration, relating to the posture o •… things in the Common Wealth? Sometimes, The contestations about the Negative, have made us too nigh the Denying o •… Reason to one another. Sometimes th •… measures of Compliance with Demand •… from the other side of the Water, have O •… casioned those Heats among us, which w •… cannot justify. The Vnsettlements th •… we have had since the Revolution, have the •… not rendered us, like the Sea, which cann •… rest, whose Waters cast up Mire & Mud? An •… how many Days of Temptation hav •… been Successively in this and that Plantati •… of our Wilderness? One while, the Rebuil •… ing and Removing of Meeting-house •… ha's unfitted the Neighbors, for Lifting 〈…〉 pure Hands without Wrath together in though •… Houses. One while the Enclosing of Co •… mons, hath made Neighbors, that should •… have been like Sheep, to Bite and devour o •… another. One while, the Disposal of litt •… matters, in our Militia, ha's made us e' •… ready to fall upon one another with Force of Arms. I might add; There Scarce ever was any One Great Man Engaged much in the Service of this People, but the People have at some time or other, made it an Extraordinary Day of Temptation for that man. And sometimes, little Piques between some Leading men in a place, have mislead all the Neighbors far and near into most unaccountable Party-making. Alas, How many Massahs, and Meribahs, have we had in our Wilderness!
But, Little do we think, how much these Days of Temptation, have been Days of Provocation, before the Lord. They have been Days, wherein all sorts of men, have too much abandoned the conduct of that Good Spirit, which would Lead us into the Land of Uprightness, and Gratify'd that Evil Spirit, which is all for Envying, for Slandering, for all the Expressions of Uncharitableness. Who can thoroughly understand the Errors, which he ha's committed, when he ha's been Devil-driven? Or, which is all one, when he ha's been Passion-driven, been Malice driven; Yea, or Self-driven, or, indeed, but left unto Himself? Let us all then Reflect upon our own Behaviours in such Days of our Fiery Trials; in such bitter burning Parexysms; and let us everywhere Abase ourselves before God and Man, for the wrongs we have done to our Hedge in those Evil Days.
When a man ha's ventured upon the Doing of anything, that is not according to the Known Rules of Piety, and of Ch •• rity, it may be said of him, as in Eccl. 1 • . • . He break 〈…〉 an Hedge, and a Serpent shall Bite him. 'It is by breaking the Hedge of God's Commandments, that we lay ourselves open, for Serpents, to come in, and Crawl and Coyl about us, and for many Troubles to fasten their direful Stings upon us. We have All done so; and therefore, if we would not ourselves retain too much of the Serpent in us, Let us take that Council, in Lam. 3. 40. Let us Search and Try our Ways, and Turn again unto the Lord. Oh! What an Humbling Thought should this be, to any man of Ingenuity, I am the man, that have done Harm to the Hedge of my Country: my Sins have had their Shares in laying open my Country to the Displeasure of God! And there is this to be said for the Enforcing of this Humbling Thought; If any man do Imagine that none of his Transgressions have done anything towards the Incommoding of the Common Hedge, I do, in the Name of the Great God, Arrest That man, for one of the Principal, in the Trespass, which ha's been Committed; I say, THOU art the man!
II. If we do not make much of our Hedge, we shall do Nothing to make up any 〈◊〉 in our Hedge: Werefore let us have a Great Concern, and an High Val •• for those things, which Cover us from Invasions. As •… here are Thousands of Saints in this Coun •… ry, who have such an Angelical Guard, a •… out them, that what we find spoken of Job, is to be spoken of Them, in Job 1. 10. Hast thou not made an Hedge about him? So •… he whole Country itself ha's been under •… hose Dispensations of God, which have, made that Account proper to be given of us, •… n Math. 21. 33. There was a certain Housholder, which Planted a Vineyard, and Hedged it round •… bout. Unto what Ruines had we lain o •… en, if our God had not Hedged us, with at •… east, a Treble Muniment? Now that which I say is, Let us count this Three-fold Hedge, worth our Thanks, worth our Cares, worth our most Expensive Reparations!
First, A Good Government, ha's been •… he Hedge of our Land. No Persecutions •… id Incommode our Civil, or our Sacred En •… yments, while we had a Royal CHARTER, 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 to be an Hedge about those Enjo •… ments: and we could Successively, in th •… one Colony Elect no less than Seven Governors, and our Brethren of the Elde Colony now Incorporated with us coul •… Elect no less than Four such Governors, which were so many Nehemiah's, Men seeking the Welfare of the Children of New-England; with choice Numbers of Assistants annually chosen to be, The Shields of our Earth. Whe •… that Hedge was broken down, we hav •… so far seen it made up again, as it is thi •… Day. Though Indefatigable Intercession with Heaven and Earth, and some years o •… Sisyphaean Labor, Employ'd by such a •… have arrived unto us with ample Testimonials of having Acted for us, with An Inv •… • late Integrity, an Excellent Prudence, and a •… unfainting Industry, have not procured us ou •… Former Hedge, in all things, just as it was yet you happily see what is obtained, in another CHARTER for us: An Hedge whereby all Christian Liberties, and all English Liberties, are Secured unto us; A •… Hedge, whereby our Titles to our property •… and possessions, once questioned, are at onc •… Confirmed, beyond the Reach of all Intr •… ders; An Hedge, through which n •… Judges, no Councellou • s, no Justices, or Sh •… riffs, can be Arbitrarily Imposed upon us and in this our Hedge, we have a Negative upon our Governors, beyond the rest of our Nation abroad. There is in these things yet, an Hedge about us, in respect whereof, we are Known above all the Families of the Earth.
Well; Is there any Unfinished, or Undesired part, yet left in this Hedge? To Prize what we have, is the way for us to Gain what we have not. Unthankfulness to God and the King, will but bring upon us the Fate of Hypocrites, To have, even what we seem to have, Taken away. If We shall reckon, that the maturest and liveliest Consultations, are too painful Things, to keep up such an Hedge, I shall take leave to say, I believe, There is not, besides Us, that People upon the face of the whole Earth, which would be of Our Opinion. But besides all of those Endeavors, our Anniversary Endeavors, for the Fixing of Good Stakes in such an Hedge, are also called for; Good Stakes, I say, for which we have this Encouraging Advantage, that when once in, they cannot without the concurrence of our own Hands, be plucked up.
Secondly, A Good Ministry, ha's been the Hedge of our Land. At and For our first Settlement, there came over the Atlantic Ocean, Seventy Seven Orthodox, Pious, Able Ministers, in the Actual Service of the Churches; besides, Twice Seven more, Candidates in Divinity, who quickly after were thrust forth as Laborers, in the Harvest of the Lord: by which wonderful Secession, there were not known to be left so many Non-conformist Ministers in England, when the Dismal Civil Wars begun, as there were Counties in the Kingdom. And what an Hedge have we had in those Eminent Men of God? As they were the Chariots, and the Horse-men, so, they were the Hedge, of our Israel! It was especially by being Israel's, or men who had Power in Wrestling with God, that they were so. It was foretold, and what was foretold was fulfilled, concerning some of them, That a •… long as they Lived, New-England should b •… preserved from any General Desolations. Thi •… Peerless Hedge, ha's been, all, saving two or three of the Second Lesser Classis, taken away; the Hedge ha's been Transplante •… into the upper Eden of God. And let some •… Shamefully Paganizing Villages in our Bo •… ders now intimate unto us, what woeful I •… roads of Ignorance, of Wickedness, of Ba •… barity, had we now Suffered, if our God had not supplied us, with a Blessed Nursery • or the Renovation of our Hedge? We have a Well Governed COLLEDGE, from whence there have issued, it may be, upwards of Two-Hundred Preachers, to make Glad the City of God: Yea, many Plants of Renown have been raised in this our Hedge. And whereas there are Perhaps, about an Hundred and Ten Christian Congregations in this Wilderness, there is hardly One Score of them, that are not at this Day Instructed, by Teachers, which this College ha's afforded unto them. Unhappy, and Unhedged We, if at last, we should have no Pastors any better than sorry Hedge-Priests, to Entrust with the care of our Souls! Or, if we should come to say, To what purpose is this Wast? upon all that should go to keep alive the Schools of New-England, while our Neighbors in Virginia are using their Laudable and Liberal Essays to Erect an University!
Well; Would we have this Hedge mentained? It is a Quick-set Hedge; and it must not be Sapped, it must not be Starved, there must not be withheld from it, more than is meet; nor may we think, that it can mentain itself. Would we not have all sorts of Soul destroyers to become rampant among us? This is the Hedge tha •… must keep them out! If we would hav •… our, Little Flocks guarded against grievo •… Wolves, they are not severe Laws agains •… Haeretical Pravities, but it it a Learned, a •… Holy, and a Countenanced Ministry tha •… must be our Hedge. And of this matter 〈…〉 speak the more anxiously, because as I hav •… heretofore most Publicly declared, eve •… when things were more quiet this way, tha •… it seems, they now begin to be, within 〈…〉 few Miles of us, I am verily persuaded That whenever we shall come to have Little more of Rest, from those mischief of War, and Fear, which now Embroil us we shall have some Storm of Heresies terribly threatening to sink our most Holy Faith Methinks, I feel the Breeding, I see th •… Gathering, of such a Storm, in something not now to be insisted on. Remember, 〈…〉 beseech you, the Humble Praemonitions, which have this Day, been given unto you, Tha •… upon a Moral Prognostication, poor New England will much of it be Swallowed up i •… Haeresy, and much in Atheism, within a littl •… while, if we are not in good Earnest abou •… Sufficiently Supporting, a Sufficient Ministry as our Hedge, when the Blast of the Terribl •… One, is as a Storm against the Wall.
Thirdly; A Good Church-Discipline, is an Hedge of our God about us. It is the Compellation of the Catholic Church, in Cant. 8. 13. Thou which dwellest in the Gardens. Particular Churches are those Gardens of the Lord. And hence the French-Pro •… estants when they have been going to their Church-Meetings, have sometimes very agreeably used that Form of Speech, Let us go to Paradise. We have a Country full of Gardens; but, what Hedge, I Pray, about them? Our Discipline is our Hedge; a Discipline, Detaining, Debarring, Secluding from Ec •… lesiastical Privileges, those who in Works Deny God, though in words they may Profess •… hat they know Him; a Discipline which in •… way of Just Proceeding, shall either Keep out, or Throw out, the Roots of Bitterness, whereby many would be defiled. All that ha's a Tendency to make our Churches, no •… onger, the Actual and Lively Pourtraitures •… f Heaven, Representing to the World, Who shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His Holy Place forever; it •… a's a Tendency to pull down our Hedge. Wisdom itself, ha's branded the Folly of •… hem that Pull down their House with their •… wn Hands: for us to part with our Church Discipline, would be with our own Hands, to Pull down an Hedge, which cost our Fath ••• What a Toylsome Husbandry! We ha • long since, by our Ascended Lord, been favored, with a Plat-form of such a Discipline; whereof those Reverend Persons, of the Presbyterian Perswasion, who Published their Jus Divinum, about Forty years ago, do say, That they Agreed with the Things of the greatest Concernment in it; and that those things wherein they differed from it, were of lesser Consequence; whereof their Debates were not (Contentiones) Contentions, but (Collationes) Conferences. A Discipline, Securing the Rights of Particular Churches, as to the power of Self Reformation; A Discipline, allowing a just Regard unto Councils upon Difficult Emergencies; A Discipline, Admitting no Visible Unregenerates, unto those Tremendous Mysteries, our Sacraments; This is that Hedge, which will be our Glory; and as long as we have this Glory, we shall have a Defense on, as well as in, the Glory.
Behold, Another Hedge, which we should Esteem too Considerable to be Deserted 〈…〉 Indeed, I am far from Imagining, That our Works are perfect before God; I am far from Imagining, That being Increased in Good Things, we have Need of Nothing. Doubtless, we have our Deficiencies, in sundry points, that want either to be Corrected or Improved. Nevertheless, I am glad, That before my Stepping over into that World, which I am •… ow waiting for, I have this Opportunity, •… o declare among you; If our Scriptural Church-Discipline, or the Essentials and Substantials of our Church-Discipline, once •… ome to be Sacrificed unto the Corruptions of This World, our Hedge is gone; we may •… igh, Ichabod, Where is the Glory? Whatever Wall shall be left unto us, will be, A Wall with a Leprosy in it; and a Leprosy, like that, which ha's been so rivetted into the Walls of the Europaean Christendom, that our Eternal High Priest, will see it needful to take • •… ll down, e're it be quite gotten out!
This is our Hedge, and this to be the Regard of our Hedge.
III. What shall we do, when a Gap is made in our Hedge? Mind, See, Shun the Things, that make the Gap; When •… hose things are Understood and Avoided, our Hedge, will still be Flourishing.
But what things are they, that lay us o •… en to many Ruines? In one Word, our Sins; our Sins against our Heavenly Keeper. It is our not keeping within His Hedge, that is chastised with His not keeping up of Ours. What things are they tha •… compose our Hedge? Not our Castles, no our Frigats, not our Numbers; 'tis said, i •… Prov. 18. 11. The Rich man's Wealth is 〈…〉 H • gh Wall in his own Conceit; and it is b •… in Conceit! No 'tis the Favor of Go •… which gives us, as our Shield, so our Hedg •… So then, our Hedge is demolished, by an •… thing, by everything, that shall with dra •… from us, the Favor of our God: and the •… is no such mischievous Thing, but our S •… against Him. We are sometimes ready t •… Expostulate with our God, as in Psal 80. 1 •… Why hast Thou broken down our Hedges? B •… He may Reply upon us, as in Jer. 2. 17. Ha •… thou not procured This unto thyself, in th •… thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God? Or 〈…〉 in Jer. 4. 18. Thy way and thy Doings have pr •… cured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness.
There are Some Sins that Naturally an •… Necessarily prejudice our Hedge; those are the Ill Vsages of them, that God ha •… most eminently placed there. We fin •… concerning our Days, in 2 Tim. 3. 1, 2. P •… rillous Times shall come, and men shall wa •… Good Hedges about them, to keep off Destroying Injuries; why so? For, Men sha •… be Unthankful. Ingratitude unto useful Ga •… men, leaves a People, Friendless, and that is to be Hedge-less within a little while. The Benefactors of an Ungrateful and Reprochful Generation, do at last frequently grow weary of Serving their Generation, and Resolve, I will not be an Healer, or an Hedger to such a People! Such a People will at •… ength see, that the Vengeance of God, will deprive them of almost all their Accomplished men, in all orders; and as for the Few that shall be left, either by some Enchantment there shall be an Incureable Alienation between Them and their People; or else they will be under Invincible Discouragements to do anymore for a People, who when they have done their best, will but Revile them for it. What if there should anywhere be a Country of professed Chris •… ians, among whom, not only Neglect but Cruel Hatred and Slander shall be the certain Country-Pay, of every Public Servant; and among whom it shall be observed, That no man, though the Holiest and Exactest Liver in the World, shall preserve a Good Name, after he ha's been a Public Servant! I beseech you, what censure would the true Spirit of Christianity pas, upon such a Country? It is by the Pagans themselves, mentioned as the Brand upon Old Egypt, It was, Loquax et Ingeniosa, in Contumeliam Prefectorum provincia; si quis forte vitave •… culpam, Contumeliam non effugit: In plain •… New-English, It was a Province out of me •… sure Talkative and Ingenious, for the Vilif •… ing of its Public Servants; let a man be n •… ver so free from Fault, he should not sca •… free of Blame, among them. I now d •… mand, what Men, that were not more tha •… Men, would offer to stand in the Hedge, • •… such a Nation? And yet if our Hedge 〈…〉 not made of Men, we have none at all. O •… what were like to become of a Peopl •… when once there are those Complaints daily made, in the Ears, of the Lord God of S •… baoth, against them, from one Person, I hav •… Exposed my Life in the High Places of the Fiel •… for this People, but they injuriously Defraud 〈…〉 of my wages! From another Person, I hav •… almost undone my Family to Serve this People 〈…〉 home and abroad, but they take little notice 〈…〉 it! From a Third Person, Day and Nigh •… have seen, Heaven and Earth have known, ho •… faithfully I have Laboured many years to d •… this People Good, and yet they do nothing b •… Stone me for it! Never did a Congregation in a Wilderness, abuse their Moses's, bu •… they direfully broke their Hedges by doin •… of it.
But All Sins do this Damage, Morally and Meritoriously. Our Sins are those Accursed Things, which by producing of Breaches in our Hedge, do prove the Troublers of our Land. Would we have our Wall undisturbed? There are then certain Heads, I mean Hearts, to be thrown over our Wall; briefly, Forego, and Cast off our Sins which do Separate, as with an High-Wall between God and us.
Especially, those things which do more grossly Pollute the Land, most greatly Expose it. Mark it, I pray; when the Good Spirit of God, goes away from a People, so as to Influence them no more by His Holy Motions, but Abandon them to the ways of their own Hearts, He makes a Broad Gap in the Hedge, at His Going. Now this Harm is done, by more Intolerable Defilements indulged among a People; They drive the Good Spirit of God away from among them, who says, Woe to them, when I depart from them!
I am sure that Sorceries familiarly practiced among a People will wound their Hedge inexpressibly. It ha's been Enquired, How so many People came to be Possessed by the Devil, about the Time of our Lord's Incarnation? Truly, 'twas not merely because an A ping Satan would be more manifest in the Flesh, when there was going to be God manifest in the Flesh; but Learned men have told us, that horrid Sorceries usually practiced among the Jews, were the Things that broke the Hedge about them, and let in the Devils to Worry them amazingly. Monstrous the Stories, in the Talmuds hereabout! I will not now recite them; only say, If Idle Fortune-tellers, and they that by unlawful Arts, do seek after the Forbidden Knowledge of Secret and Future things, are countenanced among a People, or Impious Almanacs come to be therefore of more Credit perhaps, than the Infallible Praedictions of the Scriptures among them: The Grieved Spirit of God will soon leave the Hedge for Evil Spirits to get in, as they please, upon them.
It is also particularly noted, concerning Incestuous Abominations, in Lev. 18. 25. The Land is thereby Defiled, and it Vomits out her Inhabitants; you may be sure, Through some formidable Gap! There are Bruitish men in these days, who object, What are we concerned in the Restraints. of Marriage, by the Laws of Leviticus? I Answer, We are obliged by those Laws, to mentain the Good Order which God ha's Established in Human Society by those Laws; and the Light of Nature, in mankind, as now Increased, abundantly testifies thereunto: By the same Token, That the Violation of those Laws, is declared one of those things for which the Ancient Canaanites were spewed out of the Land. Wherefore, when Adultery, yea, when Polygamy, shall show its face in a Land, and there be no Exemplary punishments ordered for the filthy Malefactors; and yet more, when wicked men shall Unite themselves unto the Sisters of their Deceased Wives, or unto the Daughters of those Sisters; and when men shall venture to Espouse, within those Degrees of Consanguinity to their Departed Wives, and so, of Affinity to themselves, wherein they would be afraid of Touching their own Consanguines; but most of all, when men shall be so forsaken of Humanity, as openly to Plead for such Enormities; fearfully Defiled is that Land. There is no other Hedge, when men will not be Hedged up from such Defilements.
Again, Upon a Sinful Return to Dain Customs, from whence God ha's Required and Begun a Separation, 'tis noted, in Exod. 32. 25. A Church in a Wilderness were made Naked, unto their Shame, amongst their Enemies; there was a Gap, through which their Enemies might come at them. Suppose that God ha's been by Great Wonders bringing a People into a Wilderness, that so He might Reform them, and Reclame them from all the Ill Effects of a Superstitious Education: He then says of Them, This People have I formed for myself! and if they Show forth His Praise, they shall also be Fenced by Himself; He says of them, Thes •… are to be a Peculiar People! and if they be Zealous of Good Works, He will be so long Zealous for their Welfare. But if once they go back to those Unwarrantable Superstitions, which they had formerly escaped, you see, they become Naked presently. They shall be no longer Hedged, by the Distinguishing Tutelage of Heaven, when the Hedge, of Loyalty to the pure Institutions of the Blessed Jesus, which distinguished them from others, is laid aside.
Shall I say further! An Hedge may be Washed away. May not all the Banks of a Country, be washed away, by a Flood of Strong Drink? Yea, And some think, it will be well, if many of ours ere long be not so. The way of Tipling at the Tavern, begins to overturn all sorts of Good Order, in many Towns among us; and to Drown both Religion, and Civility. A Flood of Impiety, both among English and Indians, yea, and of Bloodguiltiness too, ha's been let in upon us, through this way of Sinning. Shall I say more? Twould be ill indeed if the Rhum-Bottle, should come to render any that are in a Public Capacity, uncapable of Acting with a due Application for the Public: or if ever any Sons of God, in our Hedge, be drowned by this Flood! Stop it, I Intreat you; lest the Breach in our Hedge, come to that pass, in Lam. 2. 13. The Breach is great like the Sea; who can heal thee? But it cannot be Stop'd, unless by severe Laws, framed, in spite of any Worldly Interest unto the contrary, without such Ambiguities of Expression, as may become a Snare to Officers, and a Scorn to Offendors; for the Enacting of which Laws I make myself this Day, Your Humble Petitioner.
What need I say more? But that the Hedge is ruined by all Vnfruitfulness. When a Vineyard of our God, brings forth Wild Grapes; What follows? In Isa. 5. 5. I will take away the Hedge thereof, and it shall be Eaten up; I will break down the Wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. Better Fruits, than those yielded by the Wild Heathen, are Expected from them, who have an Hedge of God about them. Is there among us, that Unrighteousness, that Fraudulence, that False-speaking, that Contempt of Superiors, that want of Good Nurture, that Sleight of them that have the Cure of Souls, which the very Heathen have accounted Criminal? Nay, If there be not among us, an abundance of those Fruits, which are to the Praise of God; Then as David said once, In Vai •… have I kept all that this Fellow hath in th •… Wilderness; even so, our God will say, I •… Vain have I made an Hedge, about such a People in a Wilderness; what will signify an Hedg •… about such a Barren Soyl?
In a word; It was said, in Zech. 2. 5 •… The Lord will be to her, a Wall of Fire roun •… about, and will be the Glory in the midst o •… her. An Hedge, all Fire, is one which n •… Wild-Beasts will dare to break thorough but if once we come no longer to pursu •… this as our chief Glory, Our Devotion to God and our Enjoyment of God, in His Ordinances if we are for no other Glory, than what th •… Sons of old Farmer Laban accounted so even, The Riches of this World; the Fiery Wa •… will soon be put out, and every Wild Bea •… will find us lying open to their bloody D •… predations.
IV. What shall we do for our Hedge Note Every Gap made in the Hedge, as fast as it is made, and observe Diligently the Gradual Decayes of our Hedge. When a People are laid open to Ruines, 'tis done, for the most part Progressively and Insensibly. The Gradual Removes of the Glory were strictly Observed in the Tenth Chapter of Ezekiel; and so should be the Gradual Decayes of a Glorious Hedge. It was predicted in Isa. 17. 4. The Glory of Jacob shall be made Thin; tis done, when the Hedge becomes Thinner than it was; and when such a thing is inflicted, we should Exactly observe the Thinnings of the Glory. Observe, what Advantages, our worst Enemies gain, to break in upon us; and Which way, and How far, they Gain those Advantages. Observe, How those things are Lessened among us, whereby the Anger of God might be kept off, and so, There is a way made for His Anger; Observe, How those things are Increased among us, that Increase our Confusions, and that make us every way truly Little. I say, Whoso is Wise, will Observe these things; but if we would Observe Wisely, we must make Prevention the end of our Observation.
ONE THING I would ask in the Fear of God! Is there no Hazard, that Religion may come to be Lost, in these American Regions? It is an old Saying, What hath been, May be; and what hath been, I will now inform you. In the Days of the Great CALVIN, under the Influences of that Admirable Hero and Martyr, Colign •… the French Admiral, a Noble Knight began to Attempt the Settlement of some French Colonies in America, for the Propagation o •… the Protestant Religion. Arriving at Brazil, they hoped they had found Quiet-Seats where the Reformed Churches, might b •… Erected, Multiplied, and forever sheltere •… from the Annoyances, whereto they wer •… in Europe liable. Geneva sent over 〈…〉 Number of Excellent Pastors for th •… Churches now setting up in those desolat •… Corners of the Earth, very little differen •… from ours; but it was not long before there •… happened among them, some unhappy Co •… troversies, which drove their principal Pasto •… home again, and as for the People tha •… staid behind, no other can be learnt, bu •… that they are utterly lost, either in Pag •… nism, or in Disaster. Truly, if that Glor •… ous RE-REFORMATION, which is mo •… certainly and now speedily, to be effect •… in the Church of God, should not Reliev •… our Degeneracies, the • e would because 〈…〉 suspect, whether this French Story, mig •… not be Translated into English before we are aware.
Give me leave to become your Monitor, in and by This ONE Reflection. The Devil, is more desirous to Regain poor New England, than any one American Spot of Ground, whose Inhabitants have yet heard the Silver-Trumpets of the Gospel; he would have more of Triumph, and of Trophy, upon such a Victory! And you need not forget how Victorious the Devil sometimes ha's been, in Signalizing for his Revived worship, those very Places, which had been most notably Devoted unto the Service of God. At Gilgal had been the Ark of God; but afterwards, All the Wickedness in Gilgal! At Bethel had been the House of God; but afterwards, Bethel is Bethaven! They say, where Dodanim the Grand-son of Japheth, Instructed People in the true Knowledge of God, There came to be all the Idolatries of Dodona's Grove. I think, Jerome tell us, That in the place of our Lord's, Crucifixion, there came to be a Statue to Venus, and in the place of our Lord's Resurrection, a Statue of Jupiter. What ha's befallen, the Renowned Churches of Asia, ha's been told in America, that we may Repent, lest we likewise Perish. And now, what if in those parts of New-England, where the Lord Jesus Christ ha's heretofore most Eminently Exhibited Himself unto the Souls of them that followed Him into a Wilderness, there should ere long be but, The Habitations of Owls and Dragons! I would Humbly Request my Neighbors, in Sober Sadness to Consider, Whether the most unaccountable and unparallellable Descent of Devils, lately made, especially about the Center of this Province, wherein so many poor Creatures have been Afflicted, with proposals of the most horrible Devil-Worship, Spectrally tendered unto them, were not Intended for a most Ominous Prodigy, unto us. Consider, whether, we have not had, as it were in a Magical Glass, fore-shown unto us, what a Kingdom the Devils may yet again have, when the Sun of Righteousness leaves off to Shine, in these Goings down of the Sun! And as for those Particular Churches in the Land, who are under a Sensible Withdraw of their Ancient Glory from them, to them I will only repeat the Solemn words of a Famous Divine, unto Old Boston, in Lincolnshire, partly upon the Occasion of Mr. Cottons going from thence; words Printed about Forty years ago; I have, said he, Sometimes on purpose Visited some places, where God had before planted His Church, and a Faithful Ministry; to see, if I could discern any Foot-steps, and Remembrances, of such a Mercy; and, Lo, they were all grown over with Thorns, and Nettles had Covered the Face thereof, and the Stone-Wall thereof is broken down. And, which is more sad! In some of them Never, in others very hardly built up again. As God Removeth the Candlestick, when we Play or Fight, by the Light of the Candle set up in it, so He is very Hardly Induced to Light it again, in that place, where it hath once been Wantonly, or Frowardly put out. The Ark never did Return, to the same place, from which it was in a way of Judgment Removed!
THIS is the Sum of what I would now say hereupon. I pray you, For the Lord's sake, I pray you, To Observe all Tendencies towards that Forlorn State, where-to our Sins are apace carrying of us. It is a most miserable Thing, when a Sickly and Cloudy Lassitude of Spirit, shall indispose a People to take Notice, of what may be signified unto them in their own Alterations; and when a People shall Jog on, in a Sottish, a Stupid, an heedless Lethargy of Soul, until they Dy. This Dementation, is the Blackest Mark upon a People cut out for Desolation. In all States, let us look whereabouts we are. In our Civil State, have we such a Variety of Prudent and Virtuous Men, to Employ for all Services as formerly, or, to supply our Vacancies? In our Military State, have not our Artillery Exercises even dwindled away to Nothing, and many other Training Days become little other than Drinking Days? As to our whole Political State, let the Face and Course of Things in General Assemblies, be compared with, What was from the Beginning; though here I cannot so particularly say, What would be the Result of that Comparison. In our Ecclesiastical State, though our Inhabitants are more than they were many years ago, yet are not our Communicants rather fewer, in many Towns? And, albeit the Generality of our Ministers are of this Judgment,
But, Oh! do not permit all things thus In Pejus ruere, et retro Sublapsa referri; Go to Ruin, without any Bodies Minding how matters go. It may be that we Young Men, like those that saw the Foundations of the Second Temple, may be ready to Rejoice tha •… things are so well with us, as they are; an •… indeed, Blessed be God that they are no worse But let us Enquire of our Old Men, for 〈…〉 Truer View of our Decayes. As it was said in Joel 1. 2. Hear this, ye Old Men; Ha's th •… been in your Days? Thus, my Fathers; Pray, Do You, tell us; Is the Hedge of God about Us, as it was in Your Days? Doubtless An uncomfortable Story, they have to tell u •…
Minding, did I say? But that must b •… with a Disposition to Mending, of what is thus Decaying in our Hedge. I remember a Proverb, in Prov. 15. 19. The way of the Slothful is as an Hedge of Thorns. Many times, when we should set ourselves to Consider the Condition of our Hedge, we are disheartened by the Thorns which are to be Encountred in it! The Fear of being Scratched with Reproaches, or Scratched with Expences, makes us too Slothful to meddle with it.
But I Renew my Addresses to You, for this piece of Discretion; Let us keep a Watchful Eye, upon Every Spreading Breach, in our Hedge. I remember, a notable Passage, reported in a Jewish History: That a Famous King of Portugal finding himself unable to Sleep in the Night, went and walked on the Top of his Palace; from whence he saw a couple of Wretches throw a Dead Corpse into the House of a poor Jew not far off. The next morning those Wretches, made a clamour about the City, that the Jew had Murdered the man who was missing; and the whole People of Jews in the City, had been Massacred, in the Tumult raised on this Occasion, if they had not been rescued by the Justice of the King, who had been an Ey-Witness, how the Plot was managed. The King then asked the Chief Rabbi's of the Jews, how they translated, the Fourth Verse of the Hundred & Twenty First Psalm. They Answered, He that keepeth Israel shall neither Slumber, nor Sleep: He Reply'd, Nay, I translate it so, He will not Slumber, nor will He Suffer to Sleep, the Keeper of Israel; which (he added) you have seen fulfilled, in your Deliverance by means of my Wakefulness. That I say hereupon is this; The Keepers of our Walls, are at this Time to be spoken unto; Well, but May the Lor •… now not suffer you to Sleep. The safety of our Walls do's depend upon your being duly, Watchful, Wakeful, Heedful upon them.
And, if you would have a Rule or two more particularly given, for the Directin •… of this Watchfulness, you shall have it.
One Rule is this. Observe Goings ou •… as well as Breakings in, if you would se •… where the Hedge is Deficient. Those thing •… are joined, in Psal. 144. 14. That there be 〈…〉 Breaking in, or Going out. For instance then Do our Young People, any of them Go ou •… in such a manner as to bring perhaps a Blemish upon their whole Nation, and give Scandal unto all mankind; and proclam •… Themselves Lost unto all Good Intents an •… Purposes? You may be sure, The Hedge 〈…〉 not whole, if such things cannot be obstructed. Here then, Think, What is to be done? It was a most rueful Sight, when in 2 King. 3. 27. The King of Moab, took his Eldest Son, and offered him, for a Burnt-offering upon the Wall. But, Ah! Lord! Is there no way for us to hinder our Sons, from Going out at our Wall, that they may among, I know not what Cursed Crues, Offer themselves a Burnt-offering unto the Devil? God put us into a way. Again, Do our Old People, any of them Go out from the Institutions of God, Swarming into New Settlements, where they and their Untaught Families are like to Perish for Lack of Vision? They that have done so, heretofore, have to their Cost found, that they were got unto the Wrong side of the Hedge, in their doing so. Think, here, Should this be done anymore? We read of Balaam, in Num. 22. 23. He was to his Damage, driven to the Wall, when he would needs make an unlawful Salley forth after the Gain of this World, with a Secret Reserve, as it seems, in his own Breast, of accommodating himself to his Worldly Interest, contrary to the charge that God had given him. Why, when men, for the sake of Earthly Gain, will be Going out into the Warm Sun, they drive Through the Wall, and the Angel of the Lord becomes their Enemy.
Shall I add one thing more? I say then, Observe the Inclinations of Good and Great Men to be Gone. When the Hedge about the People of the Jews was just breaking down, there was a Marvelous Cry which Mortal men overheard audibly uttered among the Angels in the Invisible World, Migrenius hine, or, Let us be gone. Sometimes a People have among them such men, as the Bible calls Angels; Yea, such men as are Angels in Flesh: men that are Disposed like the Angels, Employ'd like the Angels, the special Darlings of the Angels. Well, it should be observed, Whether there be that Uneasiness in the Minds of such men, which makes them in their more Deliberate and more Supplicating Frames before the God of Heaven, to Wish, Oh! That I had Wings like a Dove, to flee away! When ever such Angels come to be upon the Wing, I tell you, the Hedge is failing horribly. Regard what I say; The Body is an Hedge to the Soul; but when the Soul comes to talk much of Going, of Removing, of Departing, which is the usual Talk of Dying men, 'tis a shrow'd Symptom, that the Hedge ha's a Dissolution just Siezing upon it. There are Men, that are the very Soul, and Salt, of their People; and when these men shall have their Thoughts all upon Going, the Hedge is mouldering away, you may be sure of it!
I will touch upon one thing more; Observe Whether a People are willing to be at Necessary Charges for the Succouring of their Hedge; or, Whether to save Charges, they do not grow almost careless what becomes of it. We are told, That Coveteousness, is the Root of all Evil (A destructive Root in a Wall!) and therefore we may be Foretold, that the Hedge will be open, for all kind of Evil to Rush in, upon a People that shall be under the Dominion of such a Penurious, Niggardly, Sordid, Principle. I remember, 'tis the speech of the Golden-Mouth'd Ancient, The Coveteous, are as a City without Walls. I am certain, They soon make themselves to be so. The Miserable Greeks would not be at the charge, to pay the Watchmen upon their Beseiged Wall, and by that wicked Coveteousness of theirs, their Wall was quickly Scaled by their Adversaries, who then found that they had a Wealthy City thus fallen into their Hands. How many a fair Wall ha's been foolishly Betrayed by the Coveteousness of those, that yet in Loosing of the Wall, have Lost an Hundred Times more than would have been enough to have kept it up! When God sees, that men will Subordinate everything to a Parsimonious Humour, He delights in crossing them, with such a Multiplication of Breaches in their Hedge, as will make them Spend, it may be Ten Times more than they hoped to Spare: it may be, more than Four-score thousand Pounds, when less than Fourteen, would once have done their matters. To give one Instance; God may make Nations of Pagans to be sometimes an Hedge about His People; and their Lively Attempts to Christianize and Civilize these Pagans, might render the Hedge forever Immarcescible. Well, Throw by such a costly undertaking, and you shall see, that God will turn this Hedge into Briars and Thorns, which will tear us to Pieces with Wars, Forty Times as costly as all those means, which might have made them, The Lord's, and Our own, forever. It is for some such causes, as this that whether, the rest of my Discourse have been Applicable to my own Country, or no, I must so far Apply This Article of it, as to Pray, that when you find it accomplished, you will Remember, that you once had this Advice; If any part of New England's Peace, L •• e • ty, Religion, be lost, i • will be by Saving; a Coveteous Disposition to Save a Little, will Occasion the Loss of all.
Might we not have added, yet another Symptom of a Broken Hedge? The inspired Wise man allows any Wise man, to reckon his Good Name, among his dearest Interests▪ But what an Unhedged place will that be, where a man's Good Name can have no Security? It was the hard measure which the Great Athanasius had from his Arian Adversaries; that, Caedes, Adulteria, Furta, quicquid Atrox Confingi Poterat, Sancto Viro Objiciebantur; this Great Saint had all manner of Devillism laid unto his charge, by a Diabolical Generation: and he had no Hedge to Fend off their Calumnies! The Hedge of Judea was gone, when a Prophet of the Lord, could complain, in Jer. 20. 10. I heard the Defaming of many,—Report, say they, and we will Report it. Where a man ha's in a most unspotted Conversation, been Serving of God, and His People, 'tis all the Reason in the World, that his Virtuous Life should be a Durable Hedge, about him, to preserve him the Reputation, of A Witness for God in the World. But what? Shall every filthy Jealously, bred of the Corruptions in every Malicious and Invidious Brain, become immediately a Credible Report through a Country? Shall the most Well deserving Servants of mankind, have the just Repute, which recommends them to Service among the People of God, lie at the Mercy of every Passionate and Reprochful Detractor? Or, shall the most Circumspect Walkers, at once loose all the Stock of Credit with which a course of long Piety ha's Enriched them, merely upon some sort of Spectral Exhibitions, which cannot be accounted for? Our Hedges are under a most unhappy Dissipation, if ever it come to this. It may be that some who have been convicted of maintaining a Trade of Secret Wickedness, under the Cloak of a Splendid and Glorious Profession, for many years together, may have given dreadful Wounds, unto the Good Names, of all the best Christians, that may happen to be spoken against; None of our Exact Living all our Days will now be such a Vindicating Hedge about us as once it was, because of some that have been found Ill men after they had long Enjoy'd Good Names in the Church of God. All that I shall now say of it, is; Woe to the World, because of the Offences which have been given by these Wretched Hedge-breakers: but Oh! Where is the Tongue that can Express, where the Heart that can conceive, the Woes that belong unto them that have given those Ossences.
V. But it is Time to come unto the Conclution of the matter. And That shall be This: What shall be done? Every man is to Do Something, and All are to join as One man, in the Doing of Every Thing, that Every Gap, in our Hedge may be repaired. As when the Sons of Jacob, had upon them, that which will Break Through Stone Walls, it was then said, Why stand ye Looking one upon another? So, When Sins are breaking down our Walls, we may be Expostulated, Why do you stand Looking one upon another? To work, All Hands! Every man ha's his Work to do about our Hedge.
Three Things I will say; and then I shall have said.
First; One man may do very much towards the Restoration and the Preservation of our Impaired Hedge. It is here said, I Sought for a man among them, that should make up the Hedge. What? can One man then signify anything? Yes; Very much. It is a very Discouraging Adage, Unus Vir, Nullus Vir; that is, One man is as No man. But the best is; It is not always True.
As in the Weakening of an Hedge; How much Ill may be done by One man? It is said in Eccl. 9. 18. One Sinner destroyeth much Good; So, One Sinner often Occasions much Hurt. Achan was but One man, and yet the whole Host fared the worse for him. Jonah was but One man, and yet the whole Ship had like to have been Sunk by him. Thus, In Strengthening of our Hedge; How much Good may be done by One man? Ten men would have Hedged a Sodom; and it may happen so, that One man may Hedge a Zion. It was proffered, by the Patience of Heaven, in Jer. 5. 1. Run ye to and fro through the Streets of Jerusalem, & see now, & know, & in the Broad places thereof, if ye can find a Man; if there be any that Executeth Judgment, and that seeketh the Truth, & I will Pardon it. You know how the Language of Thou and Thee, was first changed into YOU, in speaking to a Single Person When the Roman Common Wealth became a Monarchy, and the Power of Many came into One man's Hand, it grew common to treat Persons of Quality, in the Plural Number, with YOU, and so by Degrees, it is descended unto all particular men. Truly, there are many within these Walls at this Time, whereof each One ha's the Power of Many in his hands, for the Helping of all our Walls; and unto each One of those I would say, Consider, I request YOU, Consider what YOU may do.
What may be done for an Impaired Hedge, by One GOVERNOUR? Moses was but One man; and yet Read Psal. 106. 23. He said, That He would Destroy them, had not Moses His chosen, stood before Him, in the Breach; to turn away His Wrath, lest He should destroy them. Such an one, by Countenancing those things that are True, Honest, Just, Pure, Lovely, & of Good Report, in His whole Government, and by being Exemplary for all Self Government, and Godliness and Righteousness in His own Conversation, How much may He do to make all but malignant Murmurers acknowledge, Sir. By YOU we Enjoy great Quietness, & Worthy Deeds are done for this People by Your Providence? The Wall of Jerusalem, was well defended, when there was, A Nehemiah upon the Wall: who instead of having all Good Acts dearly Bought from him, was readier to do Good Acts for his Country-men, than they were to Ask them. And all the unkindnesses, that had been done to Jephthah, by his Countrymen, would not make him Abate, his doing the part of an Indefatigable Captain-General, to fortify their Hedge, against their Eastern Invaders. When we appear shortly before the Judgment Seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be an Abundant Recompence for all the Fatigues of Action for the Public, undergone by such an one, to hear Thousands of Saints Confessing to the Glory of God, Lord, we thank thee, for the Conveniencies to Serve thee without Fear, which by the Care of such a Servant of thine, were prolong'd unto us!
What may be done for an Impaired Hedge, by One MAGISTRATE? Phinehas was but One man; and yet Read, Num 25 11. Phinehas has turned away my Wrath, from the Childen of Israel, while he was Zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousy. Among our Primitive Counselors, our Honorable Judges, our Worshipful Justices, may not One man, by a well-tempered and a well placed Zeal, do much that our Hedge may be mentained? When the Oracle intimated, That the wrath of Heaven could not be turned away, Except some One man would so make himself a Sacrifice, the noble Curtius bravely Rode up into the Chasm of the Earth, where he perished Is there a Chasm in our Hedge? Truly, One man courageously carrying the Sword of Justice thither in his Hand, may do a Generous Thing to make all Secure. Venture thus upon the Wall, to beat off its cursedest underminers! Israel ha's been sometimes called Jeshurun; and I doubt the Etymology is from Shor, an Ox, rather than from, Jashar, To be Righteous. Indeed, such an Ox-like People, as even an Israel itself often is, in their Wanton and Kicking Humours, will be pushing through the Hedge that ha's been made about them. Yea, But One man among those that are, The Rulers in Jeshurun, by the Vigorous, Impartial, and Conscientious Execution of wholesome Laws may befriend the Hedge, How Considerably!
What may be done for an Impaired Hedge, by One MINISTER? Aaron was but One man; yet we find in Num. 16. 48. He stood between the Living & the Dead, & the Plague was stai'd. The Tribe of Levi, is the Joining Tribe; you note the Signification of the Name. Is our Hedge divuls'd? It belongs unto us to Join what ha's been parted, and Labor for Good Terms, both with God and one with another. In Tertullian's Days the Church-Vessels had Engraven upon them, the figure of a Shepherd carrying a Sheep upon his Back; in allusion to a Well-known Parable. In our Days, the Church-Members are too like unto Sheep, that violate the Hedge of God by their Excursions; but it is our Work, to bring in and keep in our Sheep. Our God said unto one of our Predecessors, If thou take forth the Precious from the Vile, I will make thee unto this People a Fenced Brasen Wall. May We, by the Fidelity, the Sedulity, the Watchfulness of our Ministry, become a Wall, not Against, but Unto our People! But by our Prayerfulness most of all. Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ ha's Commanded us, to bring not only Our selves, but also all that is Ours unto Himself, with Expectations of His bestowing His Blessings thereupon. I have now thought, Will the Lord Accept, & Bless & Heal & Save my People, as well as my own Soul, if I bring All these unto Him? This very question I have seen Started in the Diary which one of our Greatest Persons, long since gone to Glory, left in Manuscript behind him; and his own Answer to it, was written in these words, Here I saw the great Privilege of it & the Wisdom of God, in Committing some men's Souls, to the care of One Godly man, of a Public Spirit; because He, like Moses, Commends them, Gives them, Returns them all to the Lord again; and so a World of Good is Communicated for His sake.
It might have been added; Among the Representatives, how much may One man do, to prepare and propose those things, which may be of Good Consequence to all our Hedge? But I rather hasten to say,
Secondly: If we were All as One man for the Restoration and the Preservation of our Hedge, it would no longer be Impaired. It is here said, I Sought for a MAN among them. Indeed, if all among us were as One man, the Lord would have what He Seeks for. The Wall of Jerusalem went on Comfortably, when in Neh. 4. 6. All the Wall was joined together, for the People had a Mind to Work. But when People have a Mind rather to Rail, and Hate, and Squeeze one another, and are not for Joining on the Wall, then all goes on Calamitously. In Truth, we have been too much as One man, where we should not have been so. It was Reprehended, in Hos. 6. 7. They like Adam, have Transgressed the Covenant. I have met with a Christianized Jew, who ha's given me that sense of it; They as One man, have Transgressed the Covenant. So Unanimous have we been in our Offences against the Institutions of our God! Yea, but now let us become as One man, in Returning to the God, against whom we have Transgressed, and in helping one another to Return. We All have something to do for our Hedge; but O Let it not be said of our Treating, and our Hindring one another, as in Mic. 7. 4. The best of them is as a Briar, the most. Upright is Sharper than a Thorn-Hedge. If Divisions, Prejudices, Alienations and Animosities, get into our Heart, we shall soon have them, and the ill fruits of them, in our Hedge. We have been called upon, Mark those who cause Divisions; what Mark shall we set upon them? Why, This: They are Hedge-breakers! It is remarkably Expressed, in Prov. 25. 28. He that hath no Rule over his own Spirit, is like a City that is broken down, and without Walls. Even so, An Angry, an Hasty, a Perverse People; what are they? But such as have their Walls broken down? I may say of all the Disasters, which have pressed in, through our Broken Hedge, upon us, It is because we have not been Brethren dwelling together in Unity, that we have not had the Blessing. But especially, They that are in and of the Hedge itself, will accept of this Admonition. Distances and Estrangements, and Misunderstandings, between those that are in High place, are of all, most out of place; and they will be Fatal Things indeed! What shall be said of such things, but that in Isa 30. 13. This Iniquity shall be to You, as a Breach ready to fall, Swelling out in an High Wall? It was Threatned among the sorest of Judgments, I will kindle a Fire in the Wall. I am very desirous we should Enjoy a Wall of Fire; Yea, that we may be well Surrounded with the Stones of Fire; but yet God grant, there may never be any Fire in our Wall! Briefly, Let all ranks of men among us wear that Motto; the Motto once of the Low Countries, may now very well befit a Country every way Low; Si Collidimur, Frangimur: If we Clash, we Break.
Lastly. For the Restoration and Preservation of our Impaired Hedge, I hope, there is not One man, but what can Lift up a Prayer unto the Lord! It is here said, I Sought for a MAN among them. Why, a man truly Seeking of Him, would be That Man. Wherefore, in our Hedge-broken Condition, Let it not be said of us, as in Isa. 59. 16. He saw that there was No man, and wondered that there was no Intercessor. No; God forbid, it should be so said; But let it be said, as in Isa. 62 6. I have set Watchmen upon thy Walls, that shall never hold their Peace, Day nor Night. It is a Passage concerning a Great Gap-man, in Psal. 106 34. He stood up—and the Plague was stai'd. Some Jewish Interpreters, quote that Scripture, (and that in Gen. 19. 17.) to prove that Rule, Stare, nihil aliud Significat, quam Orare. It is as much as to say, He Pray'd; Standing in Prayer was a Posture so usual, that it is become a Phrase for it. Well; It is by so Standing, that we are to Stand in the Gap. Say then: What can, even the Poorest and meanest Person of us all, bring, for the Relief of our Wasting Hedge? I answer, A Life, if it be called for; but however, A Prayer; That is called for. A Personal Hedge, is by daily Prayer, kept in Good Repair; When the Devils are beleaguring of us, they find our daily Prayer, do's cause us to become Invulnerable. Well, Those very means of Daily Prayer will also do for a General Hedge; Impenetrable the Blessedness of a People, from and for which daily Prayer is going. I say then; Let it be our Daily Prayer, That We may not be left unto Incurable Backslidings from the Hope of our Fathers; That we may not by our Barrenness Provoke the God of Heaven to deprive us of all our Blessings; That we may not be bereaved of such Well-accomplished Men in all orders, as we have heretofore unthankfully Enjoy'd; [Ah, Lord; Say not that New-England shall be unworth •… to have a MAN in it!] And that we may not be so forsaken by the Good Spirit of God, as to become, a Low-Spirited, a Degenerous, a Ridiculous, and at last, a Ruinated People. Is our Hedge anywhere Lying open? O fall in there, and fall down, upon our Knees there; but let us ever do it with an Exercise of Strong Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Mediator. We speed not, in our Supplications, That the Lord of Hosts, would Visit the Vineyard, whose Hedges are Broken down, Except we plead His Regard unto, The Man of His Right Hand, and the Son of Man, whom He hath made strong for Himself. After this manner, even they that make no Noise, or Show in the World, and not only One man, but also One Praying, Devout, Gracious Woman; One Widow, who Trusteth in the Lord, and Continueth in Supplications and Prayers, Night and Day, May be a Repairer of a Broken Hedge; not only the Cedars of Lebanon, but even the poor little Hyssop that Springs out of the Wall, may do the Wall a Kindness.
Pray! Said I? Yea, Let us Fast as well as Pray. The Prophet speaking not only or chiefly about the Weekly Sabbath, but about a Fasting Sabbath, saith to them who are much in the Exact Celebration of it, as in Isa. 58. 52. Thou shalt be called, the Repairer of the Breach. Sometimes One man, that ha's been much in such Extraordinary Devotions, ha's been Openly Rewarded by the God who sees in Secret, with a more than Ordinary Figure in Repairing the Hedges of His Israel. Ponder the Example of that Great Man, who in the Account which he himself Published, of his Negotiation at the Court of Persia for his People, tells us, Neh. 1. 3, 4. They said unto me, The Wall of Jerusalem is broken down!—When I heard these Words, I sat down, and Wept and Mourned certain Days, and Fasted and Prayed before the God of Heaven. Give me your Attention! When a People are Insensible of the Impairments befalling their Hedges and their Interests, and perhaps, as tis commonly done, do themselves confound their own Hedges and Interests, I conceive, there is a more proper Enchantment therein, than men are well aware of: We need not at this time Explain this Conception any further, than by using words near to the Apostles, They are a Foolish People, and something ha's bewitched them. While a People are thus under Enchantment, it is a Vain thing, to Advise them, to Exhort them, to Warn them; till they are Unbewitched, things will take their course, as if they were under a sort of Irresistible Fatality, and men will be so Exceeding Fierce, that no man may cross them in their way. Now, if a man have, The Right Skill of Encountring Enchantments, he may do great things for the People of God; he may be a Glorious Instrument of bringing things to rights. And shall I tell you, what is that Skill? Wherein lies the Strength of the Sampson, that shall do such a Thing? I will tell you at Once; It is in Fasting and Prayer before that God, who formeth the Spirit of man within him.
There is Especially One Thing, wherein much Fasting and Prayer, would be of Singular Significancy to Repair us. All our Breaches would be Repaired, if the Rising Generation among us, were more generally Converted unto God. I beseech you, in the fear of God, Consider, what I say! The Impiety and Impenitence of the Young People throughout our Land, is, that Wound of all our Hedges, which hath, of all, the dismallest Aspect upon us. It would give us a New Prospect of Comfort, in all our Concerns, if we did in Good Earnest prosecute, an Expedient, which ha's been sometimes Proposed and Received among the Ministers of God.
Consider of these things, and God give you understanding!
To Conclude; What the Prophet Samuel said unto the General Assembly of Israel, I must say to You this Day. Stand still, that I may Reason with You, before the Lord, of all the Righteous Acts, which He did unto You, and unto Your Fathers!
A CHARTER being once granted unto the Governor and Company of the Massachusett-Bay, the Persecuted Puritans in the English Nation seeing that Ice broken, which had kept them in a Sea of Fire, began to accept the American Offers, of a Retreat for the Pure Worshippers of our Lord into a Wilderness. Many Gentlemen of Ancient, and Worshipful Families; Many Ministers of the Gospel, then of Great Fame at Home; and Merchants, Husbandmen, Artificers, to the Number of some thousands, did then Remove into these Regions; though 'twas indeed a Banishment, rather than a Removal which was undergone, by this glorious Generation, Sufficiently Afflictive to men of Estate, Breeding, and Conversation. And, as the Hazard which they ran in this undertaking, was of such Extraordinariness, that nothing less than a Strange and Strong Impression from Heaven could have thereunto moved such Persons as were in it; so the Expence, with which they carried on the Undertaking, for Twelve years together, was truly Extraordinary. By a Computation, which I have seen; There was vastly more than Two Hundred Thousand Pounds •… aid out, for the first Settlement of the •… lantation; and there were then Employ'd •… bout an Hundred and Ninety Eight Ships, in •… assing the Perils of the Seas, to accom •… lish this Renowned Settlement, whereof •… y the way, but One miscarried in those •… erils. Briefly, The God of Heaven, as it •… ere Served a Summons upon the Spirits of His People, in the English Nation; Stirring •… p the Spirits of Thousands, who never •… awe the Faces of each other, with a most Unanimous Inclination, to leave all the •… leasant Accommodations of their Native Country, and Go over a Terrible Ocean, •… to a more Terrible Desert; and all this, •… r; The Pure Enjoyment of all His Ordinances. How many Thousands of •… ounds, and which is more Considerable, •… ow many Thousands of Lives, have since •… one, to keep up the Hedges about this •… ineyard of God, I leave to Your own En •… uiries! All that is now called for, is, That •… e Consider with ourselves, Whether the •… oss of such a Country, in Barbarous Confusions, •… r the want of Looking well after its Hedges, will be found Excusable, in the Day when th •… Great God shall Plead with us, about the Interests where-with He ha's betrusted us?
That Parcel of Evil Figs which is now grown in our Land; Even, Those men, by whose Worldliness, by whose Frowardness, b •… whose Littleness, by whose Unthankfulness, b •… whose Disregard for Learning, and for 〈…〉 Learned Ministry, by whose Forgetfulness 〈…〉 the Errand into the Wilderness, and by who Prodigious over sight of the only Season a •… Method for the Obtaining of those thin •… to Pass, which may Lengthen out our Tr •… quillity, before we come to a Way Hedged with Thorns, our Hedges are fearfully La •… guishing! These will doubtless be Enrag •… at what Needful Advice ha's this Day be •… given you; and unspeakable will be 〈…〉 Satisfaction of My Soul, in my having S •… a Testimony, That I am a Servant of the m •… Glorious Lord! But as for the Good Fig •… Even those men, whom I continually h •… most Sollicitously Saying, What will become •… this People? What will they bring themse •… unto? Who are continually trembling, lest 〈…〉 Golden Candlestick be Removed; who are c •… tinually Mourning for all our Declensions f •… the Things that are Holy and Just and G •… And may we not hope that we have 〈…〉 some Thousands of People thus disposed? People, for the sake of whom, no Service, no Travail, no Self-denial is too much! These I am Sure, will be Glad that a Serious Advice ha's been laid before You; and they will join with me, in this ardent Supplication, O Our Lord, Let there yet be those Men among us, that shall make up Our Hedge, and Stand in the Gap before thee, for the Land; and so let it not be Destroy'd!
Errata.
Page 16. l. 1. r. Paroxysms. p. 42. l. 4. which r. with. p. 44. l. 11. r. Keepers.