Colonial Americans had many challenges facing them on a daily basis. Some were carving their very homes out of the preverbal wilderness. Others were seeking their success in the towns and cities. During the 1760s, tensions were on the rise with England and many felt that it was time for a new nation. But what kind of nation would it be?
In December of 1767, John Angier wrote a sermon for the ordination of Samuel Angier. The sermon was entitled “A Sower going forth to Sow the Seed of God’s Word.”[1] Angier based the sermon on Matthew 3 and the Parable of the Sower of the Seed. Angier admonishes that God’s word is the purest of seeds that must be tended to so that it may flourish. He writes that like “our Blessed Savior…. he has respect also, to the dispensation of it, by such as are authorized and sent out by him for that purpose.”[2] Ministers are to be like Jesus and be the sower of the Word of God.
Like when Jesus spoke the Parable of the Sower, Angier uses in his sermon to help the newly ordained minster to understand that not everyone will understand what he is saying but he must continue to spread God’s Word.
“So, God’s promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,
“These people will listen and listen, but never understand.
They will look and look, but never see.
All of them have stubborn minds!
Their ears are stopped up, and their eyes are covered.
They cannot see or hear or understand.
If they could, they would turn to me, and I would heal them.”
But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see, and your ears can hear! Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.”[3]
While ministers like John and Samuel Angier had their “eyes opened” to the Word of God. It was their duty to help spread the word. Sometimes it would fall on people who were like the road and it wouldn’t remain with them. Sometimes it would fall on people who were shallow and once trials happened, they would lose faith. But some would fall on those who were like the good soil and it would take root in their hearts and minds and soul. They would know how to turn away from sin and corruption because they were blessed with the Word. He writes that “ministers should make suitable remarks upon, and lead their people into adoring apprehensions of, the wisdom, and power, and the goodness of God, displayed therein: teaching them the wise, and the good use… that they may reap real benefit… in the service of God.”[4]
Angier was calling for Samuel, and all ministers, to be the ones who bring the light of God into all men’s hearts. There were many different denominations of Christianity in the Colonies. Puritan, Quaker, Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, and others. Then you add to that the native population whose own views on Christianity are limited. A good and faithful minister should go out and spread the word wide and far so as to gather as much of the flock to God. It is the old adage that we reap what is sown.
For ministers, pastors, and priests, the Colonies provided a new outlet for their holy work. This was a chance to move away from the persecution that was found in England and spread the Word among others. This idea of spreading the word is why Christianity was so important in the Colonies. It was a new land and new opportunities to do the work that God had given them. It was their chance to help bring people to the light and love of God.
He completes his sermon by saying “but then you must be doers of the Word, and not hearers only: for if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way. But whose looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”[5] He wanted that “good seed of God’s Word take deep root in our hearts.”[6]
Whether
deep in the troubled times of the Revolution or in today’s troubled times, his
words ring true no matter the denomination of Christianity. Each person has the opportunity to be a doer
of the Word and help to sow the seeds of the Word to all who would listen. Just as the prophet Jeremiah said “Then the
word of the LORD came unto me, saying before I formed thee in the belly I knew
thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I
ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”[7] We are called to be a sower of the good seed.
[1] Angier, John. 1768. A Sower Going Forth to Sow the Seed of Gods Word.: A Sermon Preached December 23d, 1767. At the Ordination of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Angier, to the Pastoral Care of the Third Church in Bridgwater. Colleague with His Father. Boston: Printed by William Malpine, about mid-way between the governors, and Dr. Gardiners, Marlborough-Street.
[2] Ibid, pg. 7.
[3] “BibleGateway.” 2019. Matthew 13 CEV – – Bible Gateway. 2019. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13&version=CEV.
[4] Angier, pg. 20.
[5] Ibid, pg. 22.
[6] Ibid, pg. 23.
[7] “BibleGateway.” n.d. Jeremiah 1 KJV – – Bible Gateway. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+1&version=KJV.
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