"Sanctify the Congregation": Part 2

In my last posting, I shared the findings of The Synod of 1679 concerning "the evils that have provoked the Lord to bring His judgments on New England." This council, composed of elders and other church representatives, convened at the request of the General Court of the Massachusetts Colony. Imagine!

As I shared in "part one" of this article, the Synod came up with fourteen reasons as to why God had removed the sense of His presence and had brought His judgments on New England. The first seven reasons were shared in my last posting. Here are the final seven reasons:

8. There is much intemperance.... Temptations thereunto have become too common especially those of immodest apparel (Proverbs 7:10)..., sinful company-keeping with light and vain persons ..., an abundance of idleness which brought ruinous judgments on Sodom and much more upon Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:49) and doth sorely threaten New-England, unless effectual remedies are thoroughly and timely applied.

9. There is a great lack of truthfulness among men. Promise breaking is a common sin and for it New-England is spoken ill of in the world.

10. Inordinate affections to the world. Idolatry is a God-provoking judgment procuring sin. And covetousness is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5). There has been, in many professed Christians, an insatiable desire after land and worldly accommodations. This has even led to forsaking the church and its ordinances and to living like the heathen so that they might have enough elbowroom in the world. Farms and merchandising have been preferred before the things of God.

11. There has been opposition to the work of reformation. Although the Lord has been calling us ... that we should return to Him who has been smiting us, yet men will not return every one from his evil way.... Sin and sinners have many advocates. They that have been zealous in bearing witness against the sins of the times have been reproached and in other ways discouraged. This proves that there are hearts that are unwilling to reform.

12. A public spirit is greatly wanting in most men. There are few that are of Nehemiah’s spirit (Nehemiah 5:15). All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s (Philippians 2:21). They serve themselves even while pretending to serve Christ.... Matters pertaining to the kingdom of God are either not regarded at all or not in the first place.... A private, self-seeking spirit is one of those evils that renders the last times perilous (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

13. There are sins against the Gospel, whereby the Lord has been provoked. Christ is not prized and embraced in all His offices and ordinances as He ought to be.... Although the Gospel and the Covenant of Grace call upon men to repent, yet there are multitudes that refuse to repent, even when the Lord grants them time and means. No sins provoke the Lord more than impenitence and unbelief (Jeremiah 8:6; Zechariah 7:11-14; Hebrews 3:17; Revelation 2:21,22).

14. [The following answer is not so much another reason for the Lord’s judgments so much as a summary of all the above considerations, to prove that the evils mentioned are the chief causes for the Lord’s displeasure and discipline]: 1. They are sins of which, for the most part, a great many are guilty. 2. They are sins which have already been acknowledged... and yet not reformed. 3. They are sins which have not been punished (and some of them are not punishable) by men, therefore the Lord Himself punishes for them.

Certainly these findings give us a lot to think about. Also, let us remember that there can be no true reformation without regeneration. This is why it’s so important for us to live out the truth of the gospel, that we "may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom [we] shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life..." (Philippians 2:15-16a).