Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730–1805: In Two Volumes

1. Government the Pillar of the Earth [1730]

- - 1 - GOVERNMENT THE PILLAR OF THE EARTH Benjamin Colman BOSTON I 7 3 0 BENJAMIN COLMAN (1673-1747). One of the prominent clergymen of his day, Colman became in 1699 the first pastor of Boston's Brattle Street Church, where he found himself at odds with Increase and Cotton Mather because of certain of his views that deviated from strict Congregationalism. His B.A. and A.M. degrees were from Harvard, and he was awarded an S.T.D. by the University of Glasgow . In 1724 he declined the presidency of Harvard, but he served as one of its trustees (1717-28) and remained an overseer, in addition to his ministry at Brattle Street Church, until his death. A prolific author with more than ninety published titles to his credit, he was a supporter of the evangelical movement stirred by the Great Awakening and was a commissioner of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and for Parts Adjacent. Thrice married, Colman was survived by his third wife, Mary Frost. The sermon reprinted here was preached at the Thursday Lecture in Boston on August q, 1730. 8 GOVERNMENT the Pillar Dfthe Earth. A SERMON Preached at the Lecl:ure in .B 0 8 1"0 N, Before His Ex c 1t r. L Ui c y JoNATHAN BELCHER, Ef1; Captain General andCommander in Chief, & c. Attgu.ft 13th 1 7 3 o. By Benjamin Colman. lfai. xxxiii. 6. WifJom 1mJ KHowleJLe jball be th1 Stability of thy Times, and jlrength ofSaJvatiotJ. B 0 8 :10 N, in New-England lrinted for '1: Hancock, at the Bible and Three Crowns near the Town-Dock. I 7 3 O, ~For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the World upon them. &.1 Sam. ii. 8. . he words are part of a raptrous and heavenly song, utter'd by a devout, inspir'd and transported mother in Israel, upon a great and joyful occasion. If the Divine Eternal Spirit please to inspire and speak by a gracious woman, it is the same thing to us, and requires our reverend attention as much, as if he raise up a Moses or an Elias, or make his revelations by a Paul or John. Samuel, the rare and wonderful son of inspir'd Hannah, never outspake his lovely mother in any of his prayers or acts of praise. Eli would have sat at her feet, and laid himself in the dust, at the hearing of this flowing torrent of fervent devotion from her beauteous lips; and saints thro' all ages hang on the heavenly music of her tongue. Great things are here said of GOD, and of his government, in the families and kingdoms of men; and such wise and just observations are made, as are worthy of deep contemplation by the greatest and best of men. Had she like Deborah been the princess of the tribes of Israel, she could not have spoken with more loftiness and majesty, with more authority and command; nor better have address'd the nobles and rulers, the captains and the mighty men; to humble and lay 'em low before GoD. "She celebrates the Lord GoD of Israel,* his unspotted purity, his almighty power, his unsearchable wisdom, and his unerring justice": In the praises of these she joys and triumphs, her heart was exalted and her mouth enlarged. "She adores the divine sovereignty in its disposals of the affairs of the children of men; in the strange and sudden turns given to them; in the rise & fall of persons, families & countries. "She observes how the strong are soon weakned, and the weak are soon strengthned, when GoD pleases: How the rich are soon impoverish'd, and the poor inriched on a sudden: How empty families are replenish'd, and numerous families diminished["]: All this is of the Lord; * Henry in Joe. II 12 BENJAMIN COLMAN He maketh poor and maketh rich, He bringeth low and lifteth up: He raiseth up the poor out of Dust, and lifteth up the Beggar from the Dunghill; to set them among Princes, and make them inherit the Throne of Glory; For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the World upon them. Thus my text is introduced as a reason for those dispensations of GOD towards a...