David's Dying Charge to the Rulers and People of Israel

At a COUNCIL held in the Council Chamber in Boston, on Monday, June 3 d. 1723.

J. WILLARD, Secr.

p. iTo the HONOURABLE, William Dummer Esq Lieutenant GOVERNOUR and Commander in Chief, in & over His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. And to the HONOURABLE, His MAJESTY's COUNCIL and the GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

THE following Sermon is a serious & humble Address to Your Honours on the behalf of Posterity laying before You the Charge and Commandment of the Great GOD by Whom You rule, That You piously and faithfully use your best Endeavours, under His Blessing and by the Favour of our Gracious King, to leave those Civil & Religious Priviledges which we now enjoy for an Inheritance to our Children after us.

THE short and compendious way to this, is here laid before You from the Word of GOD, namely, A religious seeking for and keeping all his Commandments.

IF GOD favour us it shall go well with us, the Royal Favour of our King to us being from HIM, and so all the Wisdom & Success of Your Counsels. It is with GOD also to make all our Enemies (secret p. iior open) to be at peace with us, or to turn their mischeivous Counsels into foolishness.

PIETY is big with Blessings to the Publick, and also to every Person. But especially are pious Rulers a singular Benefit and Glory to any People. They are an Image of CHRIST in his Offices & Government; the Prophet and Prince are united in them; and Men shall be blessed in them, all People shall call them blessed.

THE Fathers of this Province came hither to seek for and to keep all the Commandments of God, and (by His will and grace) to leave these into their Children after them, for ever. So the General Court in effect told King Charles the Second, in their Address to him in the Year 1661.

We supplicate Your Majesty (said they [• ee the H • story of New-England; by the Reverend Mr. Ne • . p. 332.] ) for Your gracious Protection of us, in the Continuance both of our Civil and Religious Liberties, according to the Grantees known End of suing for the Patent, conferr'd upon this Plantation by your Royal Father. Our Liberty to walk in the way of the Gospel, with all good Consciences according to the Order of the Gospel, was the Cause of our transporting our selves with our Wives, our little ones and our substance, from that pleasant Land, over the Atlantick Ocean, into the vast Wilderness, chusing rather the pure Scripture Worship with a good Conscience in this remote Wilderness, than the pleasures of England with Submission, to the Impositions of the then so disposed, and so far prevailing Hierarchy, which we p. iiicould not do without an evil Conscience.— We are not seditious, as to the Interest of Caesar; nor schismatical, as to matters of Religion. We distinguish between Churches and their Impurities.— We could not live without the Publick Worship of GOD nor be permitted the Publick Worship without such a Yoke of Subscription & Conformity, as we could not consent unto without Sin. That we might therefore enjoy Divine Worship without human Mi◊tures, without offence to God, Man and our own Consciences, we with Leave, but not without Tears departed from our Country, Kindred and Fathershouses, into this Patmos.

p. iiiSO dearly did our Fathers purchase, and thus highly did they prise, those Charter Privileges, and Religious Liberties, which some among us are too ready now to make light of. Let us, my Fathers, as zealously affect the Preservation of them, as they did the Acquisition of them; That so our Posterity may be in some manner beholden to us as we are to our Ancestors; and that Your Names may live in the Annals of these Churches, as Theirs do, after a peaceful and happy Death.

IT is a master of great Thankfulness to GOD, and ough◊ to be observed unto his Glory, that we see the Body of our Rulers, and so many of the Men of Estate among us, so well principled and establish'd in the Cause of God among us. It is a singular Mercy to us, our Ornament and Defence, that we see so many laudable Examples of Sobriety and Temperance, Frugality and Diligence, Charity, Humility and Devotion, in the Houses of our Superiour People. And here p. ivalso we shall find some of the best Instances of strict Family-Government, and a careful Institution of their Children in the Principles and ways of our Fathers. You cannot better express a faithful Love to GOD, your Country, your Children, and your own Souls, than in so doing

AND now that I am speaking of this good Spirit for the Publick and for Futurity, as the singular Duty and Ornament of the Rulers of a People; give me leave to add—That it was this which built our College even in the Infancy of the Colony, and which has supported and endow'd it to this day. GOD has from time to time rais'd up kind Friends and generous Benefactors to that Society, both from among our selves, and also from abroad. We have our living Benefactors with us, and we see the Children of Those that are deceased. We hope that Posterity will not forget the Kindness of God which they have shewn; and we trust that GOD will remember it for good to Them and theirs.

BUT I owe unto GOD and to my Country a very particular and most grateful mention of the late bounties of the Worthy & Pious Mr. THOMAS HOLLIS of London unto our College; to ask the Praises of my People to the Blessed GOD, whose the Marvellous Work is; and to ask their Prayers to GOD for so great a Benefactor to Us and to our Children. GOD has put it into his heart to lay a great Foundation this last Year for the Glory of CHRIST, and the good of our Posterity, even for ever; if it please the Divine Providence to crown his Design and Desires with a Blessing. Ten of our Sons, the poorer and the more prompt and p. vpious, are to receive 〈…〉 T◊n Pounds each, towards their Education for ◊◊e Service of CHRIST in the Work of the Ministry among us. And moreover the LORD has enlarg'd his heart to give us no less than Eighty pounds per Annum for the Maintenance of a Professor of Divinity in the College; where a very worthy One is Establish'd, who is reading Lectures to the S◊udents every week, in publick and in private; to their great Spiritual Advantage (we trust) & for their Improvement in sacred knowledge.