which we profess even in those Colonies of English Men from whence the whole Kingdom has been so much Enrich'd as well the Gentleman by the Advance of his Rents as the Merchant by the Increase of his Stores and the Mechanick by the Vending of his Manufactures is truly an amasing as well as a melancholy Consideration to such as have any true Love to God or the Souls of Men. But alas how few are there amongst us who do in the least reflect upon or at all value the inestimable Advantages which above the rest of the World they enjoy by being Christians It is now an indifferent thing with many what Religion Mankind is of so that according to those Men the Son of God did in vain descend from Heaven and that grand Dispensation of the Gospel and that Mystery of our Redemption the Wisdom and Goodness of which the Blessed Angels do with Admiration adore was to little purpose and might have been as well spar'd for that the Heathens are in as good a Condition as we Nay Christ Crucify'd is now become as well as formerly to some a Stumbling-Block to many Foolishness even the Subject of their Ridicule and Raillery And these cannot but be look'd upon as Ominous presages of some heavy Judgments upon us for as an ingenious Person doth singularly well observe Whenever a Country loses that Reverence that is due to Religion and the Laws we may safely pronounce that its Ruine is not very distant And as Contempt of Religion and the Laws is a sure mark of a declining Nation so new Colonies and Societies of Men must soon fall to pieces Disc of the Trade of Eng. Part II. p. 265. and dwindle to nothing unless their Governours and Magistrates interpose to season betimes the Minds of such a new People with a sence of Religion and with good and vertuous Principles These are Sentiments I know quite different from the Politicks of some Men But those who heartily believe God and his Providence are firmly perswaded that the Happiness and Well-being of any People does advance or decline in proportion to the Supports that are given and the Regards that are paid to True Religion And I must with Gratitude acknowledge that some such I have met with in the Prosecution of this Design which I have engaged in for the Plantations or else the Expence as well as the Fateigue had been wholly insupportable But as what has been hitherto done does but let me into the View of so much more which is still wanting to Propagate and Maintain Christianity in those Parts so after that my Expectations of a more Publick Provision for this great Work have fail'd me I must again renew my Applications to such Pious Persons who have a just Value of the Worth of their own and others Souls And if the following Discourse upon the Nature and Excellency of this kind of Charity above all others shall contribute any thing to promote the Design I shall obtain an End to accomplish which I could be content to sacrifice my Life with the Remainder of my small Fortunes and those worthy Persons will doubtless find it upon their Accompt when to be found a good Steward to the Honour and Glory of God of the Talents which He has given will afford them those superlative Degrees of Joy which are beyond the Imagination of us here below to conceive and which therefore the following Discourse does not pretend so much as to shadow DAN XII 3. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever THIS and the two preceding Verses are a Prophecy of the future State of the Church at the two great Advents of our Saviour to it In the first Verse is foretold what dreadful Distresses and Difficulties it should struggle with In the second and third are declar'd what inexpressible Rewards will Crown the Labours of Christ's Faithful Servants especially of those who have been Instrumental in the Instruction and Conversion of Mankind They that be wise or Teachers or Instructers as some render it shall shine as the c. In my Enlargement upon which Words I shall do these four things First I will shew you what is meant by turning many to Righteousness Secondly Who they are that have whose Duty yet it is and who may still be said to turn many to Righteousness Thirdly That it will be found one Day the highest pitch of Wisdom to have been Instrumental in this blessed Work Because Fourthly and Lastly Such shall be the most gloriously Rewarded It is they that shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever And First I will shew what is meant by turning many to Righteousness Now Righteousness in the strictest sence of the Word does denote only one Vertue amongst the whole Train of Christian Graces namely Justice and Equity betwixt Man and Man But in its more comprehensive Acceptation and so it is generally to be understood throughout the Scriptures it does import no less than the whole of that Religion which will render us accepted by God and in which if we be found when we come to die God will pass a favourable Sentence upon us at the Day of Judgment And such a Righteousness as it is now fixt and stated under the Gospel consists in this that in the first place we Renounce the Devil and all his Works that is abandon the Service of that Arch-Rebel the Devil and detest and forsake all his Works of Sin He having himself most ungratefully Revolted from God has not only carry'd whole Legions of fallen Angels into a cursed Rebellion against their Creator but has drawn off the far greatest part of Mankind into the same wicked Apostacy with himself insomuch that divide the whole Earth into thirty Parts it is computed by skilful Geographers that nineteen of it are Inhabited by Idolaters that is Men ignorant of the true God and in effect worshippers of Devils Not to say what Idolatrous and other destructive Heresies he has brought into Christendom it self and even in those Churches of Christ where God is best known the Christian Faith the best understood and Christianity profess'd in its greatest Purity It is a sorrowful Consideration how much the Works of the Devil Magick Sorcery Lying Perjury Uncleanness Murder Rapine and Violence and indeed all manner of Wickedness are confidently and openly committed and avow'd And now a most considerable part of that Righteousness we are here upon consists in this That we abandon the wicked Party of Satan's Adherents either Foreign or Domestick and that being listed in the Service of the true God Father Son and Holy Ghost we give up our selves to his Government and Obedience And this is that so material a part of Righteousness call'd Repentance from dead Works Heb. vi 1. A second part of this Righteousness is Faith that is the Knowledge and Belief of God in his Nature and
Attributes and a firm practical Belief of Christ the only Begotten Son of God as the great Mediator betwixt God and Man who to that End having took upon him our Nature was Invested with the threefold Office of a Prophet to Instruct us in the way to be Reconciled to God of a Priest to satisfie his Justice for all our past Offences and of a King to Conduct and Govern us and finally to Reward us for all our Services This also is Life eternal or another part of that Righteousness for which we shall be Rewarded with Life Eternal Thus to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John xvii 3. A third is to Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the Days of our Life that is having abandon'd the Service of Satan and yielded our selves up to the Faith of Christ the Completion of our Righteousness will be this to live the remaining part of our Lives to the Honour of God by paying him a faithful Obedience to all his most Just and Righteous Commands And Blessed are they who do his Commandments for they only shall have right to the Tree of Life Rev. xxii 14. Thus in short you see the state of that Righteousness upon the account of which we shall be justify'd and sav'd And now it will be easie to understand what it is to Turn many to Righteousness And in the highest and most exalted sence of the Phrase it is to Reduce whole Provinces under the Obedience of God It is to rescue that unhappy part of Mankind which have for so many Ages past labour'd under the Tyranny of Satan it is to reduce them to the just and happy Government of their rightful Lord and Master Jesus Christ It is to Instruct those Dark Corners of the Earth in which the Light of the Gospel has not yet shone or but very dimly It is to enlighten them with a full and bright Knowledge of their Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier And it is lastly to render them obsequious Servants to a just and holy God whose Service is perfect freedom It is I say to divest them of that Inhumanity Savageness and Brutality whereby they are Beasts of Prey to each other and to stamp upon their Souls that lovely Image of God consisting in Knowledge Faith Love and Purity whereby they will become Angels nay God's one to another This is to Turn many to Righteousness in the highest Sence of the Phrase But in a Lower yet a very Noble Sence it is to be any ways Instrumental in the Instruction and Conversion of any Considerable number of Souls in any part of the World as well within the Christian Pale as elsewhere Within the Christian Pale I say where God knows there is still that Ignorance Profaneness and Immorality which loudly call for more Labourers into the Vineyard to carry on to Perfection the Information and Conversion of Christians And in both these Senses Secondly Who they are who have heretofore whose Duty yet it is and who may still be said to Turn many to Righteousness is the second thing I propos'd to shew you And here we are to consider that as the Apostacy of Mankind from God began soon after the Creation so God had his Ministers from the very beginning contesting with the Powers of Darkness and with all possible Application rescuing Mankind out of the Snares of the Devil as Abel Seth Enos and Noah before the Flood which last for his eminent and painful tho' unsuccessful Services in this great Work was call'd the Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. ii 5. Nor did either the Occasion for the like Preachers of Righteousness cease even after the dreadful Destruction by an universal Deluge nor was God afterwards wanting to his own Honour or the Good of Mankind in sending his Prophets and Priests to be Preachers of Righteousness to a wicked World It was but very few Centuries after the Flood that the whole Earth was again Revolted from God and overspread with Wickedness and it was not without a constant Succession of Priests and Prophets as well as of Mercies and Destructions that the Divine Providence did secure one only Nation the Jews in their Allegiance to him And yet even these his peculiar People This Holy Nation in process of Time had so corrupted themselves that their very Righteousness was as filthy Rags Isai lxiv. 6. And both their Principles and Morals were so far debas'd and the most demure and precise amongst them the Scribes and Pharisees so defective in both that our Saviour told his Disciples Except their Righteousness should exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. v. 20. And now when the Defection of Mankind from God was become so Universal that it was time for him either utterly to root out from the face of the Earth all the Inhabitants of it or he had no other way but by some Miracle of Mercy to Reform it Then did the Divine Goodness which always enclines him to the most Merciful part choose to send an Ambassador Extraordinary to propose Terms of Reconciliation and to invite Mankind home to God And accordingly God who at sundry Times and in divers Manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets did in these last Days or in the last great Age of the World speak unto us by his Son whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the World Heb. i. 1 2. And here how without Wonder and Astonishment can we behold with what prodigious Zeal Application and Industry the Blessed Jesus set upon the great Work of Reforming Mankind It was his Meat and Drink to do the Will of him that sent him and accordingly he continually went about doing Good both to the Bodies and Souls of Men. To their Bodies by Healing them of all those manifold and mighty Distempers that had then invaded them To their Souls by Curing them of those most fatal Maladies of all their Sins to rid them of which was so much the main and principal Design of his coming into the World that from hence he was denominated a Saviour to it And they shall call his Name Jesus for he shall heal his People from their Sins But the Original cause of all their Miseries both Bodily and Spiritual proceeding from the mischievous Enmity of Satan he did with the utmost diligence pursue that Rebel driving him out of the Bodies and Souls of Men both which he had so universally Usurp'd and did at that time so cruelly Tyrannize over And that he might at length be utterly dispossess'd of all his Dominion and that no Corner of the Earth might be left him to exercise his Tyranny upon when the Blessed Jesus was leaving the World himself in pursuance of that Power which was given unto him in Heaven and on Earth he Commission'd his Apostles
to prosecute the glorious Conquest over the Devil and all his Works which he had begun commanding them to go and disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them promising to be with them always even unto the end of the World Matt. xxviii 18 19 20. And so faithful were they in the Execution of their Trust that they soon dispers'd themselves into the utmost parts of the Universe so that not an Age had past till their Sound went into all the Earth and their Words unto the Ends of the World Rom. x. 18. And thus you see who they are that have heretofore Turn'd many to Righteousness But who those are whose Duty yet it is and who may still be said to do the same remains to be consider'd and may God enable us to find them out And First This is a Work incumbent upon every Christian Church and Nation but ought to be the Concern and Care of none more than ours and can never be more seasonably set upon than at such a juncture as this I say to consider and assist in the best Methods of Turning many to Righteousness ought to be the Care and Concern of every Christian Church and Nation and this out of a grateful Return for that Blessed Light of the Gospel which has shone amongst them by which Christians are or may be if they suffer themselves to be regulated by the Rules of Christianity which so directly tend to render both private Persons and publick Societies happy by which Christians may be I say so much distinguish'd from the deplorable State of those Barbarous and Savage Nations where Ignorance of the True God and Religion overspreads their Country Nothing more naturally diffuses its self than Light and how prodigiously ungrateful would it be for a People themselves enlighten'd not to spread that to all Mankind which was given them to shew others as well as themselves the Way to God and their Happiness But especially this is a Care and Concern incumbent upon such a Church and Nation as ours A Church so pure in its Doctrine and so Heavenly in its Worship as in that respect is the fittest in the World to be the Model to the New Acquisitions which shall be gain'd to the Church of Christ But alas that it should be ever said that another Church whose Religion is so sadly corrupted by Paganish Superstitions should yet be ten thousand times more Zealous in Banishing Infidelity and Paganism out of the World than ours is And it is a Work in Gratitude due from such a Nation as this A Nation so enrich'd by the Commerce and Commodities of so many Barbarous and Pagan Countries Surely since we have in so plentiful a manner been made partakers of their Carnal Things it is our Duty also to Minister to them in Spiritual things And such a Work surely can never be more Seasonably promoted by any Church or Nation than at such a juncture as this What has made up so great a part of our Devotions for some Years past as our Thanksgivings for the little less than Miraculous Deliverances we have receiv'd in the Preservation of our Religion and Liberties And when had this our Preservation so glorious a Completion as at this time and so solemn an Acknowledgment paid to Heaven for it as lately in this Place But what fulsome Hypocrisie would it be to thank God with such seeming Devotion for the Preservation of a Religion we do not in the least Value or How can we be thought to Value it at all if when it is in our Power to extend the Christian Pale so far as we may and to the bringing into it so many Thousand Souls over whom we have an absolute Dominion should we yet take no Care about it Secondly Those whose Duty it is in a more peculiar Manner than others to Turn many to Righteousness are the Ministers of Religion I say in a more peculiar Manner than others for we are not only ordained and separated for this Work but the Instructing Inlightning and Informing of the World which is the Foundation of all Righteousness is peculiarly the Pastors Province I do call the Instilling of Divine Knowledge into the Minds of Men the Foundation of all Religion For why Knowledge of the true Nature of God and of all the parts of that Religion which is to be paid him is a necessary Guide and Director to all Virtuous and Religious Practice it being the same thing to the Soul as the Eye is to the Body Nor is Divine Knowledge necessary to Mens living Vertuously only as it is a Guide and Director to us so to live but it is requisite also as it is the Principle and Reason whereon all virtuous and worthy Deeds are to be founded insomuch that a thing which is otherwise well done if it be not done knowingly but ignorantly will not be imputed by God nor Man as a vertuous and laudable Action Nay the chiefest of all Divine Graces if it be not acted out of a through Knowledge of the Nature of God and of true Religion will e'en become for want thereof the Blackest of all Sins as Zeal when not guided by Knowledge will easily be transported to Cruelty and Murther What shall I say The want of throughly understanding the true Nature of God and the Nature and Design of the Christian Religion is the only Cause of all that Superstition which is in the World of Superstition I say than which there is not a more grievous Malady that can possibly infect the Souls of Men so as to render them more troublesome to themselves more mischievous to the publick Good and Welfare of the Church and to act more dishonourably and provoking to God In short it is Ignorance which is the Natural Parent of that Atheism and Infidelity so rise amongst Men and indeed not only of that but of all other Vices and Wickednesses whatsoever And now it is the great Duty of the Ministers of Religion to remove from the Minds of Men that Ignorance of Divine things which is the cause of all their Miscarriages and to instill into them those Doctrines and Religious Principles which are the Fountain of all their farther Righteousness This we are to attend upon by Catechizing and Preaching and Conference and whatever Methods can be thought most successful and effectual in the Instruction of Mankind and those who shall best instruct their People shall most effectually Turn many to Righteousness And therefore Thirdly Those Persons will be reputed to have no small share in this Blessed Work who have put the Ministers of God in a Capacity of so Instructing his People by making a Provision for the Acquisition Maintenance and Propagation of Christian Knowledge Such are those who have been the Founders of Churches Schools Colleges and Libraries And not here to speak of the Excellency of such