3. We have now greatly departed from God, and are gone far from him. The land in great measure is departed from that purity in its principles and doctrines, and there appears in multitudes a great hankering after Arminian doctrines, which are such principles as do exceedingly tend to eat out the heart and destroy the life of religion.
The sacred order of the ministry in the country is much infected with these principles, as is too notorious to be denied. And the public schools of learning, the nurseries whence the churches throughout the land are supplied with teachers, are considerably tainted with them; so that this disease is seated much in the head, and infects those that are set to be lights and guides to others, and have the place of the eye in the body. And how great our calamity in such a case is, we may learn from that saying of Christ, Matthew 6:22–23, "The light of the body is the eye." And the contrary truths, which are those doctrines of Christianity that do especially concern the power of religion, are very much neglected. There are multitudes of the pulpits in the country from whence there is nothing of 'em to be heard.
Many of those that don't expressly deny 'em, yet seem to look upon 'em of no great importance, and that 'tis best to let them alone, and not to meddle with them in the pulpit, as if the public preaching of them would be an hurtful tendency.
And the work of conversion and experimental piety is very much neglected in the ministry in most of the pulpits, insomuch that things of this nature are grown to be strange things, and any talk about 'em seems strange and unintelligible to great parts of the land. What is chiefly insisted on in most pulpits is morality and things that appertain to natural religion, neglecting those things by which that glorious gospel is chiefly distinguished from heathen philosophy. And of late also there has appeared a great hankering after ceremonies of human invention in the Word of God. Men, growing weary of the pure worship of God as he left it by his
own institution, they must needs go about to mend it by their own adorning. They dislike the altar of whole stones as God has formed, and therefore lift up their own tools upon it to pollute it.
And there has been for a long time but very little appearance of a work of conversion being carried on in the bigger part of the land. In most places nothing is said or heard about it, either in public or private.
And such things are grown exceeding strange. And religion is become in most places nothing but a mere form, just to keep an old custom of going to meeting and the like; when there is a notorious appearance of an exceeding coldness and deadness towards God, and Christ, and heavenly things, and a great neglect of them, while men's hearts are all engaged on the world.
And innumerable vicious practices have overspread the country in most parts of it, as drunkenness, profane swearing, lasciviousness, huckling,1 chatting,2 and all manner of debauchery.
Now in many towns in the country, profane oaths and curses are common things daily heard in the taverns, streets, and in private companies; whereas in the first times of the country, if a man had been heard to swear a profane oath, great notice would have been taken of [it] as a dreadful thing, an horrid and strange piece of wickedness that had appeared.
And the land has long been exceedingly overspread with a spirit of contention and strife, both in civil and ecclesiastical matters, and the spirit of love that formerly prevailed in the country has in a great measure ceased. And we have for a long time been gradually growing more and more corrupt. Our days of fasting have been a mere mockery. [We] continue still: we justify ourselves in it. Thus have we in this land heretofore cast a reflection on God, {as though we had found some iniquity in him}. And thus we do still. But let us now, in the
Second place,3 consider how unreasonably we cast this reflection on God. For as it was said to the children of Israel, so may it be said unto us, "What iniquity have you found in God that you are gone far away?" There has been a mutual covenant between God and this land, wherein both have been obliged in mutual engagements. And wherein has God failed on his part? In what respect has he been unjust or unfaithful to us? Wherein has he broken covenant with us that we have departed from him, and have so broke
the yoke and burst the bonds? What is that that God has done towards us that should put us out of conceit of him, that we should not cleave to him, and manifest as high an esteem of him now as heretofore? Wherein has God been hard in his dealings with the land? If we consider God's dealings with the land, we have no cause to complain, but must say that God has been very faithful, and very good and gracious to us, from our first beginnings to this time. As God said of old of Israel, "I have not been a wilderness to Israel" (Jeremiah 2:31), so may he say of us. God was very good to us in our first times, and by a series of many remarkable and wonderful providences protected and defended the land against the Indian natives that then surrounded them, and vastly exceeded them in number, though God had before greatly diminished them to make way. This in some measure may be applied to us (Psalms 105:11 ff.). When they were few in number and strangers, [he] protected us from enemies to our civil and religious privileges, gave us great liberty and great privileges, and continued them to us.
And though the land was long afflicted with wars with the Indians and suffered many great calamities, yet God has caused them gradually to decrease and dwindle. [The] land gradually emptied of 'em, [and] this sore calamity more and more removed. God has removed them to make room for us, taken them away by a strong hand of heaven against them, and by a secret blast, that we might possess their land and enjoy it peaceably.
And so God hath done, till now at length he has given us the whole land for our possession.
And now, of a long time, we have been free from the calamities of war with [the Indians, and] long enjoyed the great blessings of peace; and have set down "everyone under his own vine and under his fig tree," [and] slept in quiet; and have gone to and fro without fear of "the sword of the wilderness," [and] han't got "our bread with the peril of our lives."
And that, though we have dealt very unfaithfully with God in our behavior towards them. It was part of our pretense and covenant, when we came into the land {that was not sown}, to instruct (the Indians). This our pretended design [was] very little done, in comparison of what ought to have been {done for them}. Instead of Christianizing them, we have debauched 'em with strong drink; instead of communicating the glorious gospel that their souls might be saved, we have given 'em that which was poison to both their souls and bodies, and continue still so to do. God might justly have punished us long ago for this by causing them to grow and increase upon us, and wax stronger and stronger to extirpate [us]. But yet so has God's mercy triumphed that {we have been free from the calamities of war, and long enjoyed the great blessings of peace}.
We have long been growing worse and worse, and have greatly abused the great and distinguishing mercies {God bestowed upon us}. But yet so wonderful has God's goodness and long suffering caused to grow, [that we have] become a great people [and have] increased greatly in wealth and comfortableness of our outward circumstances.
Though [God has] afflicted us, it has been far less than our iniquity {to him}. {God has been} very gentle. [He has] continued our religious privileges and civil so far, that we are distinguished from most people on the face of the earth for {our zeal for religion}.
[We have] deserved to have [been] long ago utterly destroyed. [We] have been very obstinate. [We] often have mocked God with pretenses of humiliation and repentance. [We have] deserved to have all our privileges taken away.
And God hath of late poured out his Spirit wonderfully on this so degenerate and provoking a people.
Thus has God not only been just and faithful in his dealings with us, but abundantly good and gracious, so far have we been from finding any iniquity in God. How aggravated therefore is our behavior towards him in casting so vile a reflection on God.
No comments:
Post a Comment