contest is for even Vices reproved by the Light of Nature 1. Joh. 3. 8. and Works the Lord Jesus came to destroy And who they are that contend with you even no other than the Wicked who make God their Enemy by breaking his Laws who espouse the Cause of Satan against that of Christ's and when awaken'd will Condemn their own Follies and approve of your Restraints Ought you to despond as if too seeble to carry on this Work When you have Christ and all Men of true publick Spirits on your side when your Attempts are sustained by good Laws when you are blessed already with so considerable Success and the Cause is God's in whose Power are the Hearts of all Men. Dare you be so impressed by Discouragements as to cease this Divine Work when it is so Noble in it self so peculiarly the Care of the Almighty so certain of Success at last so Glorious in its Rewards and your time so short to labour or suffer before you wear the Crown I joyn with my Brethren in bidding you be of good Courage Isa. 41. 6. and to depend on God's Protection which hath hitherto so interposed that as yet you have not resisted unto Blood Heb. 12. 4. striving against Sin 2. Manage this Reforming Work as will most tend to its Success To this end keep far from the Evils you do rebuke in others Convince by good Examples such as you inforce by Penalties Watch your Temper and Words that you give no cause of stumbling to those with whom you contend Let your Contests be with Men as Wicked and not from By-respects let it be without Partiality with all whom you find obstinately Wicked Use Prudence as well as Conscience in all your Undertakings therefore never exceed the Laws neither accuse any whom you cannot fully convict Make it appear to the Criminal that it's sence of Duty and not a meddling Temper it 's a design of Reforming Sinners and not Enmity Cruelty or Selfish Ends which encline you to get them punished Finally be Humble Modest and Watchful fairhfully Reform to the utmost of your Power and back all your Attempts with fervent Prayer to God for his Conduct Success and Blessing 2. I shall now address my self more Generally to all who hear me and contract the Improvement of this Truth to two Heads 1. Love and readily submit to Reforming Means Am. 5. 10. I wish too many are not guilty of hating him who reproveth whereas such a Man is your best Friend for he exposeth himself to pluck you as a Brand out of the Burning Jude 23. He spends his time and adventures your Indignation to keep you from destroying your self and others It 's great folly to embrace the Flatterer who serves his own turn and to abhor a Reformer who is intent on your truest Interest Be also willing to amend your ways and doings Jer. 7. 5. Tremble lest you be in their number who hate and refuse to be Reformed How sad is it to be fond of your ugliest Blemishes and unwilling to be delivered from your Mortal Disease Whatever mistaken Conceits possess you it 's your Shame you glory in it 's Self-ruin you are so resolved on Phil. 3. 19. and your obstinate Adherence to your vitious Courses is no other than desperate Madness the Considerate do now esteem it so Pro. 1. 28. and in a while it will be confessed such by your selves God is now essaying your Amendment by exciting his Servants to reprove and punish your Villanies for this you will be accountable as well as for all his other Methods of Conversion Whiles he strives there 's hope of thy reclaiming but know he numbers the days of his Patience and the means by which he would cleanse thee and if thou still resist he will give thee up to thy Lusts and soon destroy thee as incorrigible because I have Purged thee Ezek. 24. 13. and thou wast not Purged thou shalt not be Purged any more from thy Filthiness until I have caused my Fury to rest upon thee Oh then that you would strive to obey all the ways whereby God instructs you Engage your minds to serious Consideration that so things may be represented in a true Light and with that pressing Weight as to affect you suitably to their Nature then it may be expected that you will be willing to part with the Abominations which you dare not justifie on a Death-bed I charge you in the Name of that God who is your Owner and will be your Iudge that you love not what he abhors that you venture not on what he so plainly seriously and oft forbids and that you be not such Fools as to make a mock at those Sins which will render you infinitely more miserable Prov. 14. 9. than all the Punishments of God or Man in this Life can make you In a word blush that your Lusts should ever be so loved as to make you content to suffer any thing upon their Account and now apply your selves to Christ for liberty from that Thraldom wherein your Vice restrains you that so the good Laws of Men may not be a Terror nor God an Enemy 2. Let your Reformation extend beyond those Sins the Laws of the Land take Cognizance of The Law of God is the only adequate Rule of Reformation 1 John 3. 4. whatever is a Transgression of this is Sin though Humane Laws should command it or think it too trivial to be forbidden Therefore study God's Law in the Extent and Spirituality of it and frame your Lives by no lower a Rule Watch against inward Sins which the Eyes of Man discern not Rom. 2. 16. for God will judge the Secrets of the Heart and Eternally punish many Civil Persons for their Heart Unbelief Malignity and Impenitency Amend also those outward Faults of which Magistrates take no notice they restrain gross Affronts to the Divine Being and such things as disturb Human Societies But be you convinced that God's Penal Sanctions extend to whatever himself hath forbidden and it 's at thy utmost Peril if thou repent not of thy Lies thy neglect of God's Worship in thy Family and Closet thy covetous Griping thy concealed Knaveries thy Levity and Backbiting thy waste of time thy inordinate Passions and the like My Brethren God will reprove all these as well as those Crimes which the Laws of the Land do punish therefore these must be Conscientiously forsaken as ever you desire a saving Interest in God's Covenant or would avoid Eternal Destruction from the presence of the Lord. Take therefore your measure from God's Statute-Book the Bible and not only from Man's Oh live and be what that appoints for God will vindicate his own Authority and be sincerely regarded in whatever he hath made to be the Duty of his Creatures Finally be not content to abstain from the Sins forbidden by the Divine Law but strive to obtain and exercise the opposite Graces and Virtues
Curses his Day polluted by prophaning the Sabbath the Authority of our Almighty God and of his Laws are trampled on by these and other open Sins When Men dare declare their Sins as Sodom Isa. 3. 9. they bid defiance to his Government they slight his threatnings they condemn his Precepts as unjust they contemn his promised Rewards as Trifles they openly avow the Empire of the Devil they justifie Man's Apostacy in the view of the World and to their power they rase out the Divine Image and shut out the Spirit 's Operations which would if complied with produce in the Soul those Impresses of God's Perfections wherein he is most properly Glorified And can any one who serves and loves his God forbear to oppose this Must not the Zeal of all such kindle as Phineas Num. 22. â—0 Will not he take hold of all opportunities to vindicate the Laws and assert the Government of his Redeemer Benefactor and Ruler 2. If you neglect the reforming of others you shew no true compassion or love to the Souls of Sinners Mat. 22. 30. Love to our Neighbour is one half of God's Law our Neighbour's Soul is his better part and therefore its benefit is to be most attended as an Evidence of the Sincerity of that Love to him which our Lord requires in his Servants Moreover Love to Men is an Essential part of Godliness for wherein are we like God who is Love if Love be a Stranger to us Nor can any thing be a grosser contradiction than to pretend Subjection to Christ and yet renounce Love to our Neighbour And no less irreconcilable would it be to love Men and yet suffer them to destroy themselves if we are capable to prevent it by stopping their self-ruining course and forcing them to consider When persons openly commit their horrid Villanies their Sins go before hand to Judgment 1 Tim. 5. 24. And can you with any face profess to love such Men whiles you tamely endure them to proceed for want of a Warning by Reproof or fixing that Warning by Punishment when Reproof is ineffectual In which last case Ah be thou reformed without Penal Restraint is no more an Evidence of hearty Love than Ah be thou Cloathed when Garments are denied It 's no light matter to be accessary to the Damnation of Souls and be sure there is a secret Enmity in you against them whose case requires your utmost pity and yet it will not move you to do what you can towards their Salvation no not to assist the Magistrate to inflict those Penalties which may bring Offenders to themselves 3. If you neglect Reformation-work you have not a just Concern for the Welfare of the Community A Man truly Devoted to God will serve his Generation Acts 13. 36. a publick Spirit inspires him and a common Good is dearer to him than his own particular Affairs Psal. 137. 6. David is their Pattern when he saith If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chiefest Joy let my Right Hand forget her Cunning. The Servant of God is so far under the power of Self-Denial as to esteem the Welfare of the Body of his People in it self preferrable to his own and less than this cannot be inferred as the meaning of the words of Moses and Paul Exod. 32. 32. to whatever Transport you assign their Wishes Rom. 9. 3. Now it 's impossible to have a publick Spirit and not strive to reform the Wicked because a general Mischief is much promoted by unsubdued Vices and the publick Good greatly depends upon Reformation This will appear if you consider how far 1. Uncontrouled Vices do corrupt a People 2. Unreformed Vices expose a Nation to Judgments 1. Uncontrouled Vices do corrupt a People Evil Examples infect and ensnare and where Sin goes unpunished it spreads the faster because it appears so innocent a thing as not to deserve Correction How violently will Men be drawn into those Crimes whereto degenerate Nature inclineth when they find all seem to approve of them because none call the most notorious Offenders to account The Torrent of Impiety must rise in that place where many allure and none rebuke it But surely the best Men in such a Region must be base selfish and cowardly it can never agree with a publick Spirit to fit still when you see the Plague to spread a Plague which so defileth enslaveth debaseth disordereth and perverts your Countrymen and Fellow Citizens All which is fulfilled by the Immoralities which are unrepelled by Punishments 2. Unreformed Vices expose a Nation to Judgments Gross Transgressions are called Crying Sins because they cry aloud to Heaven for desolating Punishments where these abound the Lord will avenge This righteous Governour of the World will not suffer Proclaimed Wickedness to go unpunished no not where his Worship is frequented yea he is surer to visit his professing people than any other for their Abominations Am. 3. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities Calamities hang over that place where Rebellion is committed against God and certainly he whose Quiver is so full of destructive Arrows cannot be at a loss how to visit fit all Ranks of Men with Judgments of which they shall be sensible and against which they cannot preserve themselves But can any of you imagine that you are concerned for the good of your Nation and not divert its Misery by opposing those Sins which do procure it All care for the Community is extinct when you do as good as say I will not be at the least pains or trouble to make them a Holy and a Happy People I 'll not cast in my Mite to prevent their Defilement or Destruction Such Gallios are unnatural as well as Unchristian Pretend not Inability for each of you may do something at least you are able to complain against obstinate Sinners and if you can do no more towards saving the Land this will acquit you and be accepted whereas if you omit this little you can do you would not advance Reformation had you the greatest Power for that selfish base careless cowardly Spirit would then restrain you from this good Work as well as now I might have added the greatness of those Benefits which Reformation secures to a Land every one whereof makes thy neglect in promoting that Reformation a great instance of thy Unconcernedness for the Publick But I proceed 4. If you neglect National Reformation you have not that true regard to your own Happiness which rational Self-love directs Carnal Self-love destroys Mankind but Rational Self-love is that Principle by which God governs this World and on which he grafteth Grace it self This God owneth himself the Author of and never separates his Service from our aim at our own Happiness but requires the pursuit of both these together Nor indeed can we attain the one without the other for if we truly glorifie God in a
which it commandeth for negative Goodness will not suffice to save any person capable of Obedience in what the Statutes of God enjoyn as our Endowment and Employ Therefore let your Habitual Frame and constant Exercise discover that the Affirmative Precepts do as effectually direct your Temper and Practice as the Negative Precepts do restrain them Isa. 1. 17 Learn to do well as carefully as you cease to do evil I shall conclude with a few Motives to excite you both to reform your selves and to endeavour the Reformation of others 1. Remember your late Troubles and retain their Voice Can you forget what you so lately felt as the effect of your former Sins What Poverty accompanied such as fled what Frights Losses and Anguish poffessed them as staid behind You felt much and were in the highest danger of undergoing more Oh! will you not Reform those Immoralities which provoked a Merciful God to disarm you and leave you naked in your Enemies Hands Were their Insults and Threatnings so agreeable as to leave no Impression Had your Dangers no Voice because they are past Know you not that it was owing to Providential Restraints and not to your Power or the good Will of many of your Foes that you were not Butchered and your Infants toffed on Pikes as formerly And can you be so stupid as to think God called you not to Reformation when he exposed you to the Brink of Ruine for former Sins or that your past Calamities do not remain a lively Caution against persisting in those Sins Must not you be Infatuated if you reassume the Crimes you were so lately convinced of and be horridly ungrateful if you repeat them because your dangers are removed by his goodness whom you had provoked Isa. 27. 9. He is profane who acknowledgeth not Gods design by all you felt or feared was to take away your Sin Therefore be so regardful of God and so wise for your selves as to say Ezr. 9. 13. 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil Deeds c. Should we again break thy Commandments wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hast consumed us so that there should be no Remnant or Escaping Resolve then we will not commit those Evils nor suffer others to repeat those Abominations against which God so plainly testified in the Distresses we lately suffered 2. Consider the Signal Deliverances God hath wrought and the amazing Prosperity to which you are so soon arrived he is blind and base Spirited who owns not that Ireland was saved by the Lord Deut. 33. 29. Review the strength of the Enemy and Disadvantages of your Friends Was it of man that Distressed Feeble exposed London-derry was preserved against so formidable an Host Or that such a multitude of well Equipped Souldiers were Routed by a few undisciplin'd Enniskillen men Was not God seen in the amazing Retreat of those Weak Ill provided Diseased Forces with Duke Schomberg Was it not the Lord 's doing that our King fell not by that Cannon Ball which wounded his Shoulder And that he obtained a Victory under such great disadvantages at the Boyn Was it not our God that Saved this City from being Burnt by the enraged Enemy at his Return How near was all to be lost again at Athlone if God had not Infatuated the Enemy to leave the Works of that Town undemolished and so afford a Defence for our Forces that had passed the River who must otherwise have been cut off by that far superior Strength which the Enemy brought down upon them Who can deny God the Honour of Guiding that Bullet which cut off St. Ruth when he was directing the Guarding of that Advantagious Pass where our Forces without a Miracle must have been destroyed All must see the Arm of God was made bare for your help Isa 52. 10. he dispirited Divided and Infatuated the Enemy and this apparently and often And can you be so vile as to think God did all this that you might commit Abominations that you might return to you Vomit and commence a new Rebellion against himself Moreover you sudden healing is as signally the Lord's doing as your very safety who could imagin you should in so few years be so fully peopled your Stocks so Increased your Houses Built your Trade Revive your Rents Advanced the Ordinances of God Restored and all things flourish so as to make you the Objects of Envy How can you persist in provoking a God so great and sinning against a God so merciful and kind Hath he done all this to make you capable of Offending him more or to oblige you in Gratitude to Reform Sure Rom. 2. 4. his goodness leads to Repentance therefore Magistrates should resolve and all Assist them to do as 2 Chron. 34. 33. Josiah took away all the Abominations out of all the Countries and made all that were present to serve the Lord their God 3. You may Humbly and Mournfully Confess there 's much to be Reformed notwithstanding all the evil you have suffered and the good you receive God might well expect that a people so Smitten and strangely Saved should be very peculiar in their Walk and Devout in their inward Frame But alas is it not far from this with many with most How much open Profaness which the Laws discountenance doth still abound Oaths may be heard and Drunkenness seen in your Streets the Strand and other places witness how Sabbaths are Unsanctified stupid is he that cannot wonder to behold such a return to Sin after such Shakes Desolations Terrors and Deliverances But were Provocations confined to the Mockers at serious Religion the Aggravation were less But alas many who profess strictness and expect Eternal Happiness in Gods Service are corrupted and forsake the Law of our God many such are drowned in the World as if Heaven had not room in your Hearts you Match your Children without regard to Grace as if you cared not tho' the Devil had their Souls you neglect God's Worship in your Families as if your despised the Curse that hangeth over such Jer. 10. 25. You are Proud and Vain as if you would vye with the world in its fashion you are Extravagant as if you had never wanted any thing or were never in danger of loosing all nay as if this were not enough I hear some Professors and Church-Members are grown so loose as to frequent and plead for those Nurseries and Schools of Wickedness the Play-houses places the Devil claimeth as his own by his own account when he was dispossessed of one he entred into there saying What had she to do on my Ground places the Visible Saints of all Sects account scandalous and Ministers of all Professions wrote against What have many ascribed your Debaucheries and Ruin to more than these and can you Encourage such by your presence when your awakened Consciences must tell you at least on your Sick Beds Wretched I that time was unredeemed which I spent there