zealously embrace it 2. I shall in the next place apply myself to Ministers and humbly recommend to their Consideration the present State of the Church of Christ among us my Brethren the Souls of the Nation are committed to our Charge and tho' the Credit of the Ministry is grown so low thro' the Iniquity of the Times and the unhappy Divisions that have been in the Kingdom that we have not so great an Advantage as Ministers generally have in other Nations to perswade People to be Religious either by our Lives or Exhortations yet if a general Care were taken among us to do what we can it would certainly produce considerable Effects in reforming our People And what so glorious a Work can we ever be employ'd in as a sincere and constant Endeavour to win Souls to God and exalt the Nation in that Righteousness which will exalt it in all other respects We have often had Debates amongst ourselves and with Ministers of other Churches about the uniting all good Protestants among us into one National Church a Blessing which one would think a good Christian should not only part with a few indifferent things in the outward Constitution of a Church but with his own Blood also to purchase if that would do it The Atheism Prophaneness Envy Strife Hatred and other horrid Sins that are very much occasion'd and shelter'd by our Divisions should provoke the Zeal of all good Men in every Party to offer what they can towards an Union But this is chiefly the Concern of Ministers and as our Superiours appear well dispos'd to so good a Work I desire we may contribute what is in our Power also towards it And if I mistake not there is a means to be used by us which will mightily facilitate the matter and do it more to the Advantage of our Church then any thing that has been ordinarily propos'd and that is a sincere Reformation of of our own Lives and a zealous Discharge of our Ministry I speak not this as a Reproach to any for I heartily bless God for many holy learned and able Ministers that are amongst us but because we might still be much better and if we would all seriously endeavour it this would speak more loudly and effectually for us then the most learned Books that have been written in our Cause and cast such a Lustre upon the Church as would attract the Affections of the best Men in every Party and cause them upon reasonable Terms to Unite with us And in the use of other good Means let us not cease to pray that God would give us the Blessing of good Success in so glorious a Work 3. Having now spoken to publick Persons both Magistrates and Ministers I shall next address to the Gentry and together with them all Persons of Interest and Estates in what Rank or Order soever And you are so great a part of the Nation and have such a commanding Influence on all below you that one would think a general Consent and Endeavour among you would turn almost the whole Nation which way you please And indeed there is hardly any Corner of the Kingdom but looks like an Earnest of it for where-ever Religion is zealously practis'd and countenanc'd by the Gentry we see such Effects of it upon others that almost every one in that Parish or Neighbourhood is a good Christian or would seem to be so But on the contrary where Loosness or Irreligion is seen in any of that Rank how strangely does it corrupt the Minds and Practices of their Inferiors If your Power therefore be so great with others you can never use it so well as in promoting Righteousness for this is to do God and your Country the greatest Service and get your selves a lasting Name and Honour in the World The very Heathens of old had so great an Affection for their Country that they accounted it a brave and desirable thing to die for it when a fit Occasion was offer'd And your Ancestors have on all occasions signa iz'd themselves by hazarding their Lives in the same Cause and I believe many amongst you would willingly have done so in the War we are now engag'd in against a potent Enemy but perhaps your Presence at Home for good reasons was thought necessary However without detracting any thing from our Commanders and Armies abroad whose Valour and Conduct deserve very great Praise I may affirm you have as glorious a part to act in order to our Victories as they yea I would say more if I did not consider many of them as righteous and devout Christians as well as Souldiers and that is to reform your Persons and Families so far as this is wanting and encourage Righteousness amongst your Neighbours This would prevail with God still to fight our Battels and bless us with Victories and Triumphs till all our Enemies should be subdued under us And I pray consider how much God expects this from you Can any be so gross as to think that he is born to a larger Estate a better Education and a greater Power and Interest in his Country for no higher end then to live as he pleases The very Law of Nature would teach us it the Scriptures were silent that our Persons our Estates and whatever other Advantages we have are God's and are therefore to be employ'd in his Service And by consequence the more any has receiv'd from God the greater Returns of Piety and Obedience he is to make to him as our Saviour also has plainly told us Luke 12.48 And this does much aggravate all the Sins of such Men and make them more heinous then those of meaner Persons And I cannot but add farther That the Generosity which seems natural to Men of your Rank should make you grateful to God for his Mercies and zealous in his Service If you receive a Kindness from any Man you think it a mean and unworthy thing not to make a proportionable Return to him or at least do what you can towards it How much more then should you consider the Author of your Beings and of all your Blessings to return all possible Acknowledgements of his Goodness to so great a Benefactor Now if any think it would expose them to many malicious Censures Reproaches and Oppositions to attempt a Reformation of Mens Manners in an Age wherein Sin so much abounds in all Orders of Men these little Discouragements are not to be regarded when the Honour of God the Good of the Country and the Eternal Happiness of your own Souls are so much concern'd It is a small matter to bear the Contradictions of ill Men while we have the Applauses of all that are good and which is a thousand times more the Favour of God himself with true Peace and Satisfaction in our own Consciences And indeed the greater Difficulties any Man meets with in the way of his Duty the more it recommends his Piety Courage and Holy Resolution in doing it To dare to
hard to find a Nation that has not been an Instance of the truth of it God has at all times blessed a People and made them prosperous so long as they continued faithful to him in those main Duties of Piety Justice and Temperance as they are taught by the Law of Nature where they had no better a Light to guide them and on the contrary when they degenerated from these Vertues and sunk into a State of Impiety Idleness and Luxury they have been conquer'd and ruin'd by a more sober and vertuous Nation whom God had rais'd up to execute his Vengeance upon them This has been so common a case in the World that whosoever looks into History will easily see that from these Causes have been all the great Revolutions of Empires and Kingdoms even to this day But I shall content myself with instancing particularly in the Case of the Jews whose History deserves the greatest Regard from us not only as it is very remarkable in itself but in that it is convey'd to us in Records of unquestionable Authority we see therefore in the sacred History of that Nation while they serv'd God in the days of Joshua and of the Elders that out-liv'd him they were blessed with constant Victories over their Enemies and enjoy'd the Fruits and Delights of a most fertile Country But when after this they tell from the Service of God he gave them up to serve their Enemies that cruelly oppressed them And tho' he still deliver'd them upon their Repentance yet as often as they revolted from him again he reduc'd them to the same Misery so that they endur'd many a long and severe Bondage under several neighbouring Princes and People as we read in the Book of Judges And afterwards so long as they were any thing mindful of their Duty to God and obey'd his Laws he blessed them more then any People their Tribes were multiplied to a Miracle and tho' the Land of their Residence was very small and unfit one would think to sustain so great a Multitude yet they abounded continually with all manner of Provisions notwithstanding every seventh Year they received not any Fruits from the Earth And God inspired them with such Courage and gave them such Successes in their Wars that they became a Terrour to all Nations about them But when they forget God their Saviour who had done such great things for them and fell into the practice of many foul Sins they receiv'd from his hand one heavy Judgment after another and several times became a Prey to their Enemies who led them into Captivity first one part and then another and at length when to all their former Sins they had added the Crucifying of the Lord of Life and Persecuting his Disciples they were soon destroyed from being a Nation and those small Remains that survived so great a Slaughter as was every-where made of them by the Romans were scatter'd into many remote Parts of the World and are every-where a By-word and a Reproach unto this day All which fell out exactly according to what God had in many Ages foretold them by his Prophets and at last by our Blessed Saviour and is also related by Josephus in his excellent History who to the Story of that People in the Scriptures has added a full and exact Account of their final Destruction which in those sacred Writings was only foretold I proceed now to draw such Inferences from these Words as are most necessary which in the general are but two the former relating to the latter part of my Text and the other to both under which I shall speak to several particulars 1. If Sin be a Reproach to any People then especially to such as have been best inform'd of their Duty and receiv'd the greatest Motives to be Righteous Now of all Nations in the World God has most abounded to us in both these Advantages The Gospel is most plainly and fully preached among us and besides the Holy Scriptures which are every-where to be read in our own Language there so many excellent Practical Discourses for the explaining and applying those Sacred Oracles that none who can either read or hear can pretend Ignorance of their Duty And as to our Motives to be Righteous to say nothing of the natural Advantages of our Country which are very great I must put you in mind of the great Deliverance of this Nation from the Darkness and Oppressions of Popery and from all the Attempts made to bring it back upon us for above Eighty Years together with a constant Peace within our Borders and a Prosperity that was envied by our Neighbours during all that time But when this would not make us fear God and love one another as became good Christians our private Animosities were punished with a most Unnatural Intestine War and many Miseries that attended and follow'd it And when after many Years God had restored us to a flourishing State and obliged us by new Favours to be faithful to him seeing these had not those good Effects upon us as might be expected he visited us with a dreadful Plague that very much depopulated the chief City of our Nation and destroyed many thousands in other places and soon after it with a devouring Fire that laid the Glory of that City in Ashes together with so many other Fires in the Kingdom within a few Years as perhaps had not been seen any where before in a time of Peace And about the same time God suffer'd us to be drawn into a War once and again that was never like to be much for our Credit or Advantage And during that Reign especially Men were given up to so strange an Infatuation as to suffer themselves to be exasperated one against another upon very small Grounds by the treacherous Insinuations of such Men as knew well enough what Advantages to expect from our Divisions But yet the Lord did not bring upon us the Desert of those Sins nor deliver us into the Hands of those cruel Men that were for dividing us only that they might destroy us but their Plots and Designs against us were discover'd and prevented from time to time and tho' they gather'd Strength and Interest nothwithstanding thro' the Easiness of some amongst us and the Impotency of others till at last they seem'd to have Power enough in their Hands to do their Business by open Force and we saw ourselves with all our dearest Interests at the Brink of Ruine and which might strike coldest to us of any thing we could see nothing in all this but the Natural or at least the Moral Effects of our own Doings yet even at this time when our Enemies were so confident of finishing their Work and we had even given up ourselves for lost as Men without Hope our gracious God would not give us up too tho' we had so much provoked him As if he had the same Relentings for us as for Israel of old when he thus speaks by his Prophet
practice Righteousness and encourage it in a licentious Age when too many live as if they were born only for Ease and Luxury is indeed to undergo a lesser Martyrdom and to stand at least in the place of a Confessor But this should rather provoke the Emulation then move the Fears of all good Men for to contribute their Power and Interest towards the Reforming a Nation is a greater Service then to hazard their Lives in its Defence for they that do this can save it only from the Cruelties of Men while the other so far as they succeed in their pious Attempts rescue it from the Malice of Devils and by a Conquest over those most formidable Enemies preserve it from eternal Destruction These Considerations I hope are of weight with you and I desire it may be remember'd as a father Motive to you that the Power of those two Orders of Men I before spake to lies especially in you Magistrates are chosen from among you and depend greatly on your Assistance in doing their Duty and indeed without it there is but little comparatively can be expected from them Ministers besides the relation they ordinarily have to your Families have very many of them their Preferments from you and all of them do much want your Help and Encouragement in order to the Success of their Labours I beseech you therefore to consider the Power God has given you not only among yourselves but all other Orders of Men in the Kingdom Magistrates Ministers and the common People and to use it zealously in the Cause of God and his Church and you need not doubt of that Success which the Lord delights to give unto such holy Endeavours This would make us happy at Home and victorious Abroad and secure very great Blessings to yourselves and your Posterity 2. I would say something also to all Persons in the general and desire you that every one would do his part towards the exalting of the Nation by repenting of your Sins and doing Righteousness It is our Country I am pleading for that dear Concern to which we owe a thousand times more regard than to our own Lives these we should willingly offer up when the necessity of our Country requires it and shall we grudge to part with our Sins for it Shall we not embrace true Religion when it appears to be so necessary to save the Kingdom and when the Goodness of God does so much oblige us to it It is on this Condition that Victory over Enemies as well as other Blessings are promis'd and therefore without it we cannot expect God should continue them to us for tho' he was pleas'd to turn our Captivity and has hitherto prevented us with his Goodness he can as easily turn our Victories and with one breath of his Displeasure blast all that Prosperity he has lately restor'd to us and I know nothing but a Reformation amongst us that can prevent it It puzzles many serious and considering Men to see so many strange Acts of Providence for the delivering and setling a Nation which they fear'd had fill'd up all the measures of their Sins and were therefore fitted for an unavoidable Destruction But if all there great Effects of God's Goodness which we have lately receiv'd added to the former will not bring us to Repentance as our Destruction when it comes will be the greater on the account of them so we cannot reasonably expect it should be long defer'd And indeed if we do not seriously apply ourselves now to the great Duties of Religion what a Reproach will it be to us that we have always with so much Heat contended for a Form of Godliness Insomuch that I dare affirm if half that Zeal had been spent for Religion itself as has been for the little Appendages of it or at the most for the outside of a Church we had been long e're now the best and happiest Nation in the World It is time therefore that we correct our former Mistakes and set ourselves to the practice of that pure and undefiled Religion we profess that we may contribute what lies in us to the Safety and Prosperity of the Kingdom And at this time it becomes all good Men to deny themselves more then ordinarily out of a generous Sympathy m our Fleets and Armies abroad It was a brave and noble Resolution of Vriah when David had sent for him from the Army that he would not take the Comforts of his own House but chose rather to lie at the King's Gate while the Ark and Israel and Judah abode in Tents and his Lord Joab and the Servants of the King were encamp'd in the open Fields And are not our Israel and Judah some of them in Tents too and others floating upon the Ocean And besides them several brave Armies of the Confederates And have we not many Joabs great and worthy Commanders encamp'd in the Field and which is more is not our David also with them And have we not something in danger there that is greater then the Ark For our Religion is very much bound up in the Safety of our Prince and his Armies It becomes us therefore to have a real sence of these things and exercise that Self-denial and Devotion which will best express it and will also prevail with God for the Continuance and Increase of Publick Blessings to us 3. I shall say something very briefly concerning the Business of the present Time in this Place wherein some it may be of all Orders of Men here are concern'd and put you in mind of the Righteousness that is necessary for you to exercise in it And as to those who are Plaintiffs I would have them consider it does not become Christians to go to Law for small matters Why do ye not rather take wrong says the Apostle why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded 1 Cor. 6.7 Neither should they for greater matters if the Difference may be well determin'd without it And when the Difficulty of the Case requires it the contending Parties are bound to preserve Charity towards one another notwithstanding and each of them should desire that Justice may be done rather then he should gain the Cause For Justice is God's and therefore to be prefer'd before our own Interest And as to Witnesses I advise them by all means to keep a good Conscience and neither for Love or Hatred for the hopes of Gain or fear of any Man's Displeasure to depart from the Truth For lying lips are abomination to the Lord Prov. 12.22 And Lies in this case are dreadful Perjuries which contain in them so many horrid Sins against God and our Neighbour that a Man must be extreamly hardned in Wickedness before he can deliberately forswear himself For in this kind of Perjury there is a most impudent Profanation of the Name of God a Violation of the Truth a perverting of Justice a Treachery to the King and the Laws a bold Affront to the whole Court that are deceiv'd and misguided by it and an Abuse to the Country Besides if a Neighbour's good Name be expos'd by it it is a base Slander it his Goods it is Theft if his Life it is Murder Therefore it is no wonder God has threaten'd That a false Witness shall not be unpunish'd and he that speaketh lies shall perish Prov. 19.9 And that the curse of God shall enter into the House of him that sweareth falsly Zach. 5.4 And as to Pleaders I desire they would always as I hope many do have a greater Respect to Truth and Justice then to any private Advantages and tho' it be their Duty to defend a good Cause and I think none will blame them to make the best of one that is doubtful yet their Business in both these Cases must be ever managed with that Decency and Gravity which becomes their Profession and with that Fairness to Witnesses which the Law of Justice does require But when a Cause appears to be bad to plead this is to be an Advocate against Truth and Justice and consequently against God himself And then what can be expected by such Men but the Effects of that Threatning Is 5.20 23. Wo unto them that call evil good and good evil Which justifie the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him And I hope they will believe the wise Man when he tells us He that justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just even they both are abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 In a word let those that are to be Jurors consider what shall be before them with all Sincerity and determin according to their Consciences upon good Deliberation and not suffer themselves to be biass'd by any Consideration whatsoever And let them with all others that have any Business in Courts of Judicature remember always that excellent Rule of Justice deliver'd by our Blessed Saviour Mat. 7.12 Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them And now my Lords my Discourse would turn to you if I had not said so much already to Magistrates in general of which notwithstanding I believe your Lordships needed very little or nothing either to put you in mind of your great Duty or to quicken you in it And I think both myself and others have great reason to bless God that he has graciously restor'd to us Judges as at the first and Counsellors as at the beginning from whom we may expect an Execution of our Laws according to the true Intention of them and by whose means we hope Judgment will run every-where amongst us as the Waters and Righteousness as a mighty stream of Water and refresh all the Corners of the Land And as I question not but your Lordships will use that Power and Interest you have to promote Righteousness in general so I do again desire all Orders of Men here as my last Request to them to do their parts also towards it remembring that the same Righteousness which exalts a Nation will at length exalt us also to the Kingdom of Heaven where for all the Service we do and the Self-denial and Sufferings we endure in the Cause of God and his Church here we shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The END