Love to God any Charity to Man any Concern for their Country or Regard to their Posterity to engage them in it consider that we have herein the Laws of God and the Nation the Commands of the King the Concurrence of a late Representative Body of the Nation the Prayers of good Men the Pretences of those that carry but a Form and Profession of Religion and the Consciences that are not hardned even of bad Men on our side and moreover the great Success that hath already attended these Attempts to animate and encourage our Zeal and Diligence in it So that if we acquit our selves herein like Men and Christians if God is on our side we know there is as Solomon says no Wisdom nor Vnderstanding Prov. 21. 30. nor Counsel against him we need not much fear the Strength or Policy of the World or the Powers of Darkness we may with God's Blessing see Prophaneness and Debauchery every day more and more fly into dark Corners as Idolatry of old did at the appearance of Christianity Vice be branded and confounded Virtue embraced Religion prevail England flourish and give such an Example as may provoke succeeding Ages and other Nations to an Imitation and give perhaps Occasion to reform Christendom and Mankind But what Triumph of Soul which neither Riches nor Honours nor the Flesh can give such happy Souls may Living or Dying have who have undergone Shame and Sufferings in the faithfull Discharge of their Duty and for the Cause of God who have been his Instruments in bringing about such blessed Effects nay in discharging their Duty herein and in other respects sincerely tho' Success which is not in our Power and will not be required of us should not attend it And on the contrary what severe Reflections they may hereafter make on their Behaviour who after this Matter is plainly laid before them and a publick Reformation of Manners seems to be put as it were into their hands will either openly oppose or secretly undermine the just Endeavours of it or that will not be prevail'd upon either to concur in the Methods that are already laid or to engage in any other that they can suppose may be more effectual for the carrying on a National Reformation that can contentedly look on and see their Fellow-Christians suffer in any kind by their brave Opposition to the declared Enemies of God and the Devil's Kingdom the Cause of Religion to be injured and depressed and their Country so much endangered for want of their giving their seasonable and zealous Assistance to it I will not undertake to describe I will only add That if the Attempts of Reformation which were began with so great Disadvantage have born up under so many Difficulties which are carried on by the united Endeavours of such Bodies of Men in the several Parts of this City are spreading through the Cities and Corporations of the Kingdom and are propagating in those of Ireland who have a Communication with one another are governed by Methods that have been approved by Persons of great Wisdom and consummated Judgment and which have been so highly successfull should be defeated by the Industry and Power the Number and Interest of its Enemies If I say we should suffer Debauchery and Prophaneness to regain their ground and to carry the Victory after the Advances that are thus made towards the Suppressing of them and the Encouragements and Advantages we have for the Carrying of them on to so glorious an Issue have we not very great reason to fear that we may never again have such an Opportunity put into our Hands Can it be thought easie humanely speaking to bring the Body of Men together that are now engaged in it to rally and reassume a Baffled Cause wherein they may perhaps be apt to think they may have made a full and dismal experiment of the desperate Aversion and Opposition of this Generation to Reformation have if they have acted therein and in other parts of their Duty sincerely kept the Guilt of publick Wickedness from lying on them and may have delivered their own Souls Or is there any probability that this Cause will be revived and successfully retrieved by those whom no Arguments will now prevail on to concur in the present Methods or to give any other zealous Assistance to it And who is there that believes that there is a Righteous God that governs the World that will not fear how sanguine soever some Men may be upon the firmness of our present Peace and Settlement that notwithstanding our Councils and Confederacies we shall feel the Effects of the high Displeasure of Almighty God upon whose Blessing the Stability of our present Peace and outward Prosperity does depend that He will be avenged on such a Nation as this And if Jer. 6. 9. this should prove to be our dismal Case might it not then be said over us O ungratefull and rebellious Nation that wouldest so provoke infinite Patience and Forbearance wouldest obstinately refuse so many gracious Offers contemn such various Methods of Mercy as if thou had'st been desperately resolved upon Destruction O England England To what Misery have thy Sins brought thee But the Cause of Reformation is God's Cause His Providence hath seemed to me to favour the poor Endeavours of it which are represented in these Papers and therefore I hope they will with his Blessing so prosper and prevail that such a National Reformation may be effected as may prevent His heavy Judgments falling upon us And may Almighty God who is pleased to magnifie his Power in Weakness for this end mercifully direct and support those who are sincerely engaged in this Glorious Work give what is said herein agreeable to his Will some Success in the furthering of it and graciously pardon any thing in it that may not be acceptable to Him for the Lord Jesus Christ's Sake All Glory to God ERRATA Pag. 5. lin 23. for evil read wicked p. 21. l. 3. for Interest r. Interests p. 26. l. 6. dele and. p. 41. l. 6. for know r. knew p. ibid. l. 26. for hath r. have p. 47. at the end of the Marginal Note dele p. 66 67. p. 57. l. 5. for do r. doth p. 5â— l. 4. for hath r. have p. 84. l. 2. for seems r. seem p. 98. l. 15. for pervented r. prevented p. 113. l. 16. for hath r. have p. 115. l. 7. for have r. hath Advertisement ABstracts of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery Blank Warrants against prophane Swearing and Cursing Drunkenness and Prophanation of the Lord's-day by Tipling in Publick Houses and Exercising of Trade Blank Registers of such Warrants for the Magistrates calling of Constables Church-Wardens Overseers of the Poor c. to account at the Sessions or otherwise for the Execution of them and the application of the Mony thereby levied to the use of the Poor Prudential Rules for the giving of Informations to Magistrates in these cases Printed for the ease of
are not obliged for the removing the load of Guilt that is upon them the obtaining Forgiveness from God a well-grounded Peace in their own Minds and Esteem from Men sincerely to endeavour to repair the Injuries they have done Religion their Neighbours or their Country by their future Care and Diligence And till they do give the World some proof of this they will not take it amiss if we do not think that their late Representatives in Parliament have put them under too heavy a Charge and if we say that this is so very Great that tho' we are sure that the Christian Religion is the best Religion in the World yet it so much condemns such Practices that such as are guilty of them are a dishonour to their Profession that we reckon honest Heathens are not the worst sort of Men or rather that there are few if any worse than corrupt and unfaithful Magistrates And therefore methinks tho' such Magistrates were deaf to all Counsel were so given over to a Spirit of Slumber that no Motives that have been offered them from Religion will make any such Impression upon them as to awaken them to a sense of their Sin and Danger if they have yet any thing of the Modesty of Men remaining Shame might oblige them to a better Behaviour that they should not be able to look a Man in the Face that hath a Love to God and his Country but more especially that they should be in the greatest Confusion to hear in our Churches if they should come there the King's Proclamation Four times in the Year charging them with being the great Cause of the Increase of Prophaneness and Vice in the Nation It hath been generally thought an Indication of a good and generous Mind to desire an honest Reputation among Men and on the contrary a sign of a base Soul wholly to despise it on which Consideration Solon might well presume in the Laws he gave the Athenians That he that hath no Value for his Reputation will have little or no Regard to the publick Interest For how can it be reasonably imagined that he should have a tender sense of the Honour or Interest of his Country who hath no sense of his own Honour and greatest Interest but that he will sacrifice them upon Occasion Indeed he that hath neither regard to Conscience nor sense of Shame seems not only in great danger of not being reduced to Virtue by any common Methods but to be lost to almost all good Purposes to be unfit for common Intercourses with Men but much more unfit to be honoured and entrusted with the Care of the Execution and Maintenance of the Laws wherein the Religion * Inter omnia quae Rempublicam ejusque felicitatem conservant quid utilius quid praestantius quam viros ad Magistratus gerendcs eligere summa prudentia virtute praeditos quique ad honores obtinendos non ambitione non largitionibus sed virtute modestia sibi parent aditum the Honour and Prosperity of the Nation is so highly concerned And therefore I submit it to the Judgment of those who are more especially concerned to consider of these important Matters whether it is not highly to be wished that effectual Care may be taken for the preventing the fatal Consequences of such Mens obtaining in any future Reign Commissions of this kind particularly by disabling any to hold them after they are convicted a certain number of times of the Violations of the Laws which they are entrusted to execute For if we enquire into the Reasons of the Happiness of most if not all of those Nations who have arrived at the greatest pitch of Glory and Prosperity we shall I believe have a general Consent That the Diligence and Faithfulness of Magistrates have been one of the greatest Causes of it unquestionably far more instrumental therein than good †Verè dici potest Magistratum legem esse loquentem legem autem mutum esse Magistratum Magistratibus igitur opus est sine quorum prudentia diligentia civitas non potest stare Cic. de Leg. p. 232. Laws which we know are but dead Letters without the Magistrates Execution of them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato de Legibus Lib. 12. fol 951. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lb. f 959. And therefore Plato in his Common-Wealth appointed that the Conservators of the Laws whose chief Care was to promote Virtue should be such Men as were Eminent for Virtue and †Cum leges omnes vel optimae absque probatissimis Magistratibus mortuae sint Magistratus autem optimi vel absque legibus scriptis ipsi sunt divae leges merito Plato non in condendis Legibus sed formandis Magistratibus omni diligentia elaboravit more apply'd himself to the Forming of Magistrates than Laws And accordingly 't was wisely observed by Cicero That if Magistrates keep the Laws themselves they had little more to wish for And by the Famous Athenian Law-giver That Magistrates ought to Obey the Laws as well as the People the Magistrates that a Government may be lasting Indeed we cannot easily conceive how any Nation can be long happy without good Magistrates So that 't is with great Reason that our Church directs us to pray That all that are put in Authority may truly and indifferently minister Justice to the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the Maintenance of God's true Religion and Virtue and that we esteem those that thus discharge their Duty as great Blessings to their Country and may praise God for them and on the contrary that we think that those unhappy Men who under the Obligations of Oaths and Trusts have neglected or opposed the Execution of the Laws for the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice and Maintenance of Religion do deservedly lie under the dreadful Imputation of having been a great Cause of the Prophaneness and Debauchery of the Nation and the fatal Enemies of it since we may look on that Nation whether it be our own or any other to be in a very languishing Condition and in manifest danger of Ruine where the Magistrates and the Generality of Men of greater Ranks who have by their being placed in higher Stations as Stars in higher Orbs so many Advantages to conduct the lower Ranks of Men by the shining Examples of virtuous Lives to support the Reputation and Interest of Virtue do by the Abuse of their Authority or by their vicious Behaviour scatter a pestilential Infection where-ever they come basely make use of the Advantages they have above others to the Dishonour of God by whose Permission they enjoy them * Nam licet videre si velis replicare memoriam temporum qualescunque summi Civitatis fuerint talem Civitatem fuisse Idque haud paulò est verius quam quod Platoni nostro placet qui Musicorum cantibus ait mutatis mutari Civitatum status ego autem Nobilium vita victuque mutato mores mutari
Speech to both Houses of Parliament that He esteems it one of the greatest Advantages of Peace that he is now at Leisure to apply himself to the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immoralities and hath thereby given us some reason to hope that he may think it a far greater Glory of his Reign to be an Instrument in God's Hand of delivering us from the Slavery of our Vices of making us a virtuous and by consequence a happy People than in procuring us any other present and secular Felicities and Advantages and at last leaving us deluged in such Impieties as Infidels abhor and which may make God our Enemy and draw down his Vengeance upon us That they would for this purpose consider the Influence of their Authority their Interest their Fortunes and their Example and Employ which they cannot without high Ingratitude omit these and the other Advantages they have above Men of lower Ranks for the Glory of that God by whose Permission they have them for the Noble purposes of Opposing and Suppressing Debauchery and Prophaneness the retrieving the Reputation of Virtue the furthering the Interests of Religion and the saving of their Country which hath seemed to have declared in favour of Vice and Ruine and thereby approve themselves to the King as He hath now assured them they will to the Wise and Virtuous part of the Nation to their own Consciences to their Posterity and above all to the most High God To the Reverend the CLERGY That they who are looked upon as the Ambassadours of the Great God of Heaven and Earth and sent upon the most important Business of Reconciling Men to God and Watching for their 2 Cor. 5. 18 20. Heb. 13. 17. Souls and have as I conceive their Honour their Dignities and their Revenues given them without the common Incumbrances of other Men in regard to their Sacred Office and that they may attend without Worldly Cares and with the greatest Advantage to their Spiritual Employment would consider whether they have not a more favourable Opportunity for the Work of their Ministry and a National Reformation at this time than they have had for many years past They cannot I humbly presume but be sensible of the most deplorable Degeneracy of this Nation that the great Decay of Religion and the Leprosie of Vice and Prophaneness with which it is almost overspread does threaten its Ruine and that they have great reason to take to heart the no greater Success of their Endeavours for the Reforming of us that their Discipline which if it had been in force might have proved a Bank against the Flood of Wickedness that is broken in upon us is now so lost that it is of little use to them for this purpose that there appears too great ground to fear that the Tide of Wickedness will not be stopped whilst Religion is openly dishonoured Virtue despised and Vice and Prophaneness are so daring and triumphant that Men commit them not only with Impunity but Glory in them so as to esteem it an Act of Gallantry to ridicule their Sacred Office to contemn things Sacred and an Ornament of Style to imprecate Damnation upon themselves Is not this a Time for them that are Spiritual Watchmen and Overseers of the Flock of Christ Isa 52. 8. 56. 10. Acts 20. 28. as they have a Concern for God's Honour and would prevent his Judgments falling upon us as they would consult the Honour and Interest of their sacred Order and their own Reputation to concur with His Majesty's pious Declarations for this purpose and cheerfully to embrace the Assistance of the Civil Power for the Vindicating of the Honour of God's Laws the Stopping the Avenues to notorious Enormities the breaking the hellish Confederacies and the taking out of publick View the contagious Examples of bad Men and by these Methods to prepare Men the better for the Restoration of godly Discipline for the greater Influence of their Doctrine and good Examples upon their Minds Is not this a Time for them to favour the successfull Endeavours of the Societies of Reformation which are levell'd at the strong holds of Debauchery and the Religious Societies that are now spreading through the Kingdom that seem so directly to tend to the Promoting the Power of Religion so far as they carry on those great Ends wherein we may I think appeal to the whole Christian World whether they do not do it and readily to accept of the Assistance that is now or hereafter may be given them by Christians of any Denomination in the common Cause of Christianity And if they can think of any other or better Measures than those that are recommended in these Papers that may promote the Glory of God and the Good of Souls for whom Christ died and their own comfortable Account of themselves to Him that will judge the Quick and Dead to engage in them 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. without delay with united Counsels and Endeavours with double Diligence and Zeal and in Conjunction with all the various Works of their Ministry among which their going from House to House for the enquiring into the Acts 20. 20 21. Spiritual State of the Souls of those that are committed to their Charge and the applying proper Directions and Encouragements accordingly in the Judgment of the most pious Divines I have had the Honour to know is thought to be a very usefull Method is what one of the most * Dr. Stillingfleet the late Bishop of Worcester's Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess p. 25. Learned Prelates of this Age and Nation hath in his printed Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess put them in mind of and which †The Bishop of Salisbury's Pastoral Care p. 207. another of our Learned Bishops hath told this Sacred Order in his Pastoral Care published by the particular Approbation of the late Great Primate Arch-Bishop Tillotson is to be lookt on as the Foundation an Exemplary Life being supposed on which all the other parts of the Ministerial Office may be well managed and which he says will seem no hard matter to such as have a right sense of their Ordination Vows of the Dignity of their Function or the Value of Souls To the MAGISTRATES of all kinds That they would make just Reflections upon that terrible and lasting Imputation that they do now lie under by His Majesty ' s Proclamation which is to be read Four times a Year in all Churches through the Nation and the Address of the late Honourable House of Commons to the King of their being so great a Cause of the Debauchery and Prophaneness of the Kingdom by their ill Example and Negligence in their Office That they would consider as hath been observed how many Nations have been ruined and Cities brought to a heap of Rubbish for their Immoralities which the Magistrates Vigilance might have prevented That their Power comes from God the Fountain of all Power and that they are supposed to be
own Diligence and Conduct considering that the Zeal we have for God's Honour and the Success of it is from Him that our best Endeavours herein as well as our other Performances will have a great mixture of Humane Frailty and that after all we shall do we shall be but unprofitable Servants Luk. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they thus go on with Sincerity with Prudence with Courage with Humility and trust in God they may I think face all the World we may soon see what Courage Vice hath whether Prophaneness and Debauchery will be able to hold up their heads with their Supporters which they have too long had within our Memory as Religion hath often done without them and when the Powers of the World have been against it No Sin is of the Nature of the Devil its Author cowardly and sneaking and will with God's Blessing give way when thus opposed which those concerned in the Transactions I have given an Account of have experimented and who have had so great Success as makes it very evident that a general Concurrence of good Men may with God's Blessing effect a general Reformation but if the Concurrence of Men of Religion should not prove so universal as is hoped it will or if our Endeavours should not succeed to a National Reformation as is proposed we may however hope to do a great deal of good we shall bear our Testimony to Religion against the Corruptions of the Age and we cannot I think fail of giving a great Check to publick Wickedness and though we should not after all by our Prayers and Endeavours prevent the Deluge of Calamities that threaten us an Ark may mercifully be provided for us we may deliver our own Souls and it will then be known who they are that are to be thanked that a thorough Reformation was not effected and the Misery of the Nation prevented not only those who by desperately discouraging and opposing pious and proper Endeavours for Promoting a Reformation seem to be of the Number of those that may be said in some sense to fight against Acts ch 5. v. 39. God but those likewise that despised the Warnings we gave them of their Danger all the Persuasions with which we pressed them to set about it and would not be prevailed with to give any hearty Assistance to the Work Supposing then that we are to prepare in the Prosecution of this Enterprize for evil Surmisings and reproachfull Words for Storms of Malice and ill Will which the Enemy of all Goodness and the Passions of Men may be expected to raise this I conceive may now the Tide is turning be generally the greatest Opposition of the infatuated and senseless Slaves of Vice for in Reverence to our common Nature I must presume that there are few that will be declared Agents for the Devil that are so abandoned of all sense of Honour all Concern for their Reputation as to enter publickly the Lists and venture their Lives for his Service And as wicked Men have therein the worst Cause they have I think no settled and steady Principles to act upon but little true Courage and not much Faith among them they will often betray one another when Occasion offers and therefore we may conclude that they will never make a firm stand against the united Body of good Men if they acquit themselves as they ought in so glorious an Undertaking To the Men of Religion and Virtue of all Ranks Orders and Denominations without distinction I ask leave therefore in this common Cause of Religion humbly to apply my self Your Religion is avowedly attacqued by the desperate Rebels of Christianity and Enemies to Virtue your God is publickly dishonoured yea sometimes 't is still to be feared Blasphemed for the Entertainment of Persons of all Degrees all Ages and both Sexes His Laws are trampled on his Servants despis'd the Notions of Good and Evil are endeavoured to be confounded and your Country is in imminent danger of being lost if in the present Contest between Religion and Debauchery Religion does not prevail You are all confessedly by your Baptismal Engagement listed Soldiers for God's Service against the Devil's Kingdom And as God hath an undoubted Title to your Service the King by publickly declaring for a vigorous Execution of the Laws against publick Wickedness and the Cause of Religion hath given you an happy Opportunity of discharging your Fidelity and Zeal for your Great Lord and Master and your Fellow-Christians who are already successfully engaged in a publick Opposition to Vice and Prophaneness to these Rebels to Religion and Enemies to your Country seem to call on you to enter into their pious Confederacy as Moses heretofore did on the Israelites when he slood in the Gate of Exod. 32. 20. the Camp Who is on the Lord's side let him come unto me Or as Holy David of P◠94. 16. old Who will rise up for me against the Evil doers Who will stand up for me against the Workers of Iniquity Now then is the Time to make one general and brave Effort for the Interest of Religion and for the Welfare of the English Nation And will you any longer defer your Declaring and Engaging in this Glorious Work now it seems so apparent that this Cloud that appeared so little to you at first is like to overspread our whole Horizon that one of the most plausible and uncomfortable Objections which was made to this Undertaking of its being impracticable which we have too much reason to suspect to be upon other like Occasions a frequent Excuse for Fear Laziness or want of good Principles is taken off by the great Success that hath attended it that the Heat of the Day the fiercest Opposition to these Attempts seems much over and that you have so very great reason to conclude that the Virtuous part of the Nation of all Parties will fall in and give their Assistance in it when more particular Methods shall be laid before them that if we point our united Batteries against the strong holds of Debauchery and Prophaneness if we prosecute this Religious War with Conduct and Resolution which is so successfully begun with so unequal a humane force we have Victory in view we may with God's Blessing see a Reformation throughly essected and put upon such a firm Foundation as that it may not be easily in the Power of a viciuos Court or of a degenerate Nobility or Gentry in a succeeding Reign to overturn it again to debauch the Nation and bring it in such danger of Ruine But is it not enough that you that have had an early Knowledge of these Transactions have not sooner engaged in a Cause which you could not well be supposed without great Inconsideration or Prejudice but secretly to approve of under all its Disadvantages when it was in it self the same as it is now with its Success and meerly perhaps because you thought the Service might be too hot for you and therefore you left it