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
A SERMON Preach'd before the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners IN DUBLIN July the 18th 1700. By Daniel Williams Published at the Desire of the said Societies DVBLIN Printed by Andrew Crook Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty for Matth. Gunne at the Sign of the Bible and Crown in Essex-street M DCC TO THE Societies for Reformation THIS Title wherewith you are adorned is so Divine Beneficent and truly Catholick that your Request Obliged my compliance in Preaching the following Sermon under all the Disadvantages of a Traveler Yet had I Conferred with Flesh and Blood those many accurate Discourses you have on this Subject must have rendred my hurry of business and want of Books an insuperable Argument against the Publication of it But being perswaded the Bible is not only the fittest Book to justifie the Truth of the Duty insisted on but attended with greatest Authority to inforce it on the Conscience the Censures of the Polite for my want of other Ornaments cannot deter me from exposing what you think Serviceable to your good Design as that which I am sure is not only according to Gods Word but undertaken in Obedience to it I am not ashamed the World should know how my Love for Ireland Exalts my Joy at your Attempts to Suppress that Wickedness which alone can Ruin it and to promote Practical Religion which must cause its Flourishing against all Assaults They who less affect you ought to be thankful for your good Success herein and ascribe the sudden prosperity of this Land to Gods Approbation of your vigorous Endeavours to Reform it The Argument whereby I urge all to Assist in your Blessed Work is too evident to be resisted by any who account Service to God either a Priviledge or a Duty and next in force to that I Published on the same occasion in London viz. That they who promote National Reformation are on Christ's side and they who neglect it are of the Devil's Party in the Contest managed by them as the Heads of their respective opposite Kingdoms The Consequence of your Undertaking may Excuse my Importunity because I am under Conviction that when you become remiss or altogether Unsuccessful this Nation will be under more than a Probable Presage of sudden Desolation and much severer than any that hath befallen it heretofore If any think me too Close and Plain Faithfulness to my Lord whom you serve and a peculiar regard for this Land which you would Save must afford the only Apology I dare make As the Enterprize you are Inspired to Engage in is too fully Authorized by Divine and Human Laws to be thought Unjust and too plainly Commanded and Important in its Effects to be esteemed Indifferent so it s too contrary to Satans Interest and the degenerate Inclinations of Mankind to be Executed without great Fortitude Vigor Wisdom Self-denial and Union or to keep your Hearts by these in a fixed Disposition to persue it without rich supplies of Grace and great Care and Labour with your own Spirits whence all remains of Sin are not yet expelled Many do joyn with you in Prayer that your fitness may improve by your work your Resolution by your Difficulties your Union by ill Designs to break it your Success by Opposition and the Purity and Sedateness of your own Spirits by all your Endeavours to Reform others which among the rest is heartily desired by Your Servant in the Work of the Lord Daniel Williams Proverbs 28. ver 4. They that forsake the Law praise the Wicked but such as keep the Law contend with them THE Text includes so full a distribution of Mankind that none of us can be Exempted one part forsakes the Law others keep it some Praise the Wicked others Contend with them some are Wicked others are Godly The Contrariety of what they are distinguished by is Extream one Renounceth that Rule which the other Sacredly observes viz. the Divine Law the one Approves and Commends those whom the other Reproves and Punisheth viz. the Wicked And no doubt the Difference extends equally to what 's implied tho' not expressed i. e. The Good man renounceth those Lusts and Customs which the Wicked submit to as their Governing Law and praiseth the Righteous with whom the Ungodly do contend It might seem an unaccountable Wonder that men should thus greatly differ in their Rules Behaviour Favourites and Adversaries were the Springs of this Contrariety altogether unknown But that Wonder will cease when we consider that these distinguished persons have Spirits Tempers Leaders and Supream Ends and Designs more contrary than their very Behaviour is Nay were it not for the Unhealed remains of Sin in the Godly and some Operations of the Holy Ghost on the Wicked the difference between these men would be as great as between Esâ—ablished Angels and Apostate Devils and when I have said this can any of you forbear to cry out Oh how necessary is Regeneration And how great a Work must that be which so changeth a man from what himself once was as well as others The last part of the Text I shall insist on because it most properly answers the present occasion Such as keep the Law contend with them i. e. with the Wicked The words give us 1. The Character of a Good man 2. An Instance whereby the Sincerity of that Character is made good I. The Character of a Good man He keeps the Law that which others forsake he sets before him as his directing Light Psal. 119. 105. and a determining Rule Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path. What this injoyneth he sets himself to observe what it forbids he is watchful to avoid He acknowledgeth the obliging force of the Will of God whether it be signified to him by the Light of Nature or positive Precepts and Institutions He is subject to every part as well as to any Psal 18. I have put away none of thy Statutes from me He observes it at all times as well as some and in Secret as well as Publick To this he adheres against all Discouragements as well as when most Countenanced he 'l keep it tho' all others should forsake it Psal. 119. 51. yea declineth it not tho the Proud have him greatly in derision for Obeying it This Divine Law effectually prescribeth to him what he will Believe and Profess it Formeth his inward Temper Regulates his Thoughts Words and Behaviour hereby he frameth his Desires Designs and Resolves Obedience thereto is with him a sufficient Reason for his Undertakings and that which his chief respect is to in whatever he deliberately performs To examplifie this in his Inclinations Affections and Carriage is his chief endeavour and aim he Prays Strives and industriously Contriveth and Watcheth to be compleat in the whole will of God Col. 4 12. Luke 1. 6. and walketh in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Finally wherein he is defective or offends he seriously blameth
punishments are Enacted against those Crimes which your reproof is unavailable to Reform In such a Sodom as allows the forementioned enormities you must be satisfied with Lot to intreat Gen. 19. 7. I pray you Brethren do not so wickedly the despised reprover must not Usurp the Sword of the Magistrate but grieve at the abominations he wants Authority to punish the Case is the same as to all such Offences the Law of the Land takes no Cognizance of when other Crimes be punishable by its Institutions 2. Answ. But verbal reproof will not be sufficient where unreformed Crimes are punishable by the Law If words will reclaim it s well but where these reclaim not you are obliged to endeavour to reform transgressors by legal Severities and inforce despised reproof by such punishments as they will more regard Prov. 17. 11. An evil man seeketh only Rebellion therefore a cruel Messenger shall be sent against him and this private persons should do by complaints to such as are Authorized to Judge and inflict the penalties Enacted Informing in such Cases is the necessary work of some for if there be none to convict Offenders the punishment is Enacted in vain against the Crimes they are Guilty of seeing it cannot be executed Deut. 17. 5. therefore as the declaring of mens Faults to the Magistrates is supposed to judicial censures so the very Parent was obliged to inform against that debauched Son Deut. 21. 20. whom his own Correction would not restrain nay several think that very Text Prov. 9. 8. Reprove not a Scorner excuseth from verbal reproof only by exposing him to punishments more severe which private persons cannot otherwise do than by Information neither should any esteem this a reproach for it was not accounted a work to mean for Princes to be employed in Ezr. 9. 1. Having made it plain that such as keep the Law is a Periphrasis of the Servants and Subjects of the living God and that the Wicked here are such as are found committing gross Crimes also that contending includeth severe penalties as well as reproof by words I am sure the Text is a sufficient ground for this Observation Doct. Such as would approve themselves the Subjects and Servants of the living God ought nay will by just severities as well as reproof endeavour the Reformation of notorious Offenders This Doctrine enlarged and altered into other words is the same as to say He whose heart is right with God will in this Nation where good Laws are Enacted against wickedness not only Reprove but duly Convict and bring to Legal punishment such as he finds to be Cursers Swearers Profaners of the Lords-day Whore-mongers Drunkards c. he will not forbear this for fear of shame let who will reproach him he 'l do it tho' his Trade be in danger and his Person threatned and exposed The Text as before explained is a sufficient proof of the Doctrine but sad experience acquainting us how much harder it is to prevail with people to do what is their Duty than to prove it to be so I shall not only add some further Evidence for this Duty from the Argument included in the Doctrine but endeavour to plead that Argument with your Consciences that if possible I may bring such to attempt the Reformation of others who have hitherto neglected it and invigorate the hearts of those who have therein so laudably engaged Can any Argument be likelier than this to perswade all Men to use due ways to reform Offenders you cannot appear the real Servants of Christ if you omit it Will any thing so compel such to this Work who think they are his Servants as a demonstration that you have not the temper nor Spirit of his Servants but are meer Hypocritical Pretenders if you neglect it And how can such who are his faithful Servants be so excited to Zeal for this Work as by convincing Evidence that if you be remiss you so far offer violence to the Instincts of your renewed Nature you disregard the Honour and Interests of your Blessed Lord you frustrate the design of that Relation to which you are admitted you counter-act the Genuine Dispositions of all who are sincerely devoted to God's Service you desert the Party to which you are united you favour Satan and his Cause whom you have renounced and neglect that real Felicity which you are determined to persue Now if such considerations remove not your Indifferency and secure you not against Fear and Idleness in this great Design what will All these Motives will occur but the great Argument I shall more directly insist on is that which the Doctrine presents to us viz. That none approve themselves the Faithful Servants of God who do not endeavour the Reformation of notorious Offenders As for the other Point viz. that this Endeavour must be by Severities as well as by Reproof or milder ways I think already proved and therefore shall less enlarge on that Now my well-beloved Friends would not you be found among the Loyal Subjects and Faithful Servants of your Creator and Redeemer Yea do not all of you profess to be so Now God's Challenge as to this forementioned Case as well as others is strict If I be a Master where is my Fear if I be a Father mhere is my Honour Mal. 1. 6. If I be your Master shew it by pleading my Cause against Transgressors by that Service shew I am indeed your Lord and you my Servants the time is hastening when all disguises will be taken off and God shall make an apparent Difference between such as serve him in Reality Mal. 3. 18. and such as put him off with meer pretence therefore be now willing to endure such Convictions from his Word as he will fasten by his Sentence when he comes to Judge your State by this as the Rule of Judgment Let no Soul guilty as to this very matter of reforming others vainly support his pretence to God's Service for if you live in a stated neglect of resisting Sin and endeavours to reform the Wicked you are not a Servant of God's If you omit this whatever you call your selves you do want the great Essentials which constitute the Temper Disposition and Behaviour of those who are God's Servants in reality This will appear if you consider 1. You have not a true Zeal for God's Honour Can any of you doubt whether a Man can be God's Servant who hath no Zeal for his Glory whereas if you know any thing of Religion you must acknowledge that the Glory of God is the Chief End of every good Man and to that it 's impossible to be indifferent I must have a Zeal for my Chief End and when that 's exposed I cannot but resent it and endeavour its Vindication and Security with great concernedness of mind Now wherein is God more dishonoured than By open flagitious Crimes His Sacred Name is despised by common Oaths his Vengeance plaid with by
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
way of Service we shall be happy and if ever we be happy it must be by serving him who is Glorified in our Happiness I think its needless to spend words to prove that you cannot serve God acceptably unless you love your selves nor that you love not your selves if you disregard your own happiness the thing most likely to be doubted by rational Creatures is that you despise your own Happiness if you neglect National Reformation yet this you must be convinced of when you lay to heart 1. That you contract much Guilt by your neglect to Reprove and Rebuke great Sinners in order to their Reformation This is part of that Divine Law which the Servants of God are obliged to keep He hath set this upon your Consciences as part of your Duty Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not suffer Sin on thy Brother but thou shalt rebuke him And we are enjoyned to reprove the unfruitful Works of Darkness Eph. 5. 11. Must not Guilt lie on that Man who lives in the Stated Omission hereof Moreover if thy Grace be true thou dost not only violate plain Precepts but Guilt is aggravated because thou offerest violence to the Instincts of a regenerate Nature for that prompts thee to testifie against Sin from a Divine Antipathy and excites thee to make Men better from those Holy Propensions which render Goodness amiable and delightful wherever it may be found Guilt thus aggravated attending the neglect of National Reformation where is he that truly serves the Lord who dares contract it and make himself partaker of other Mens Crimes by sinful Connivance Or can a Man of that Character sit easie under this Guilt from day to day Is it a small thing to have God to charge you with a disregard to his Interest and to say concerning you Here 's one who professeth himself of my Army but will not strike a stroak for me He prays Thy Name be Hallowed Mat. â— but dares not contend with open Blasphemers Thy Kingdom come yet suffereth Satan to Empire it without Controul Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven and yet allows my Laws to be openly trampled on without so much as a Complaint against the most hainous Transgressor Great Rebukes from Heaven may well be expected against such as this Accusation belongs to nor could you arraign God's Justice if you and your Children should be given up to be Infected with those Abominations you will not reprove Yea must not you and your Families eepxct a deep share in those Miseries you refused to prevent Nay should God make the Land happy upon its Reformation by other Instruments may not you fear that neither you nor your Families should be Sharers in that Blessedness 2. You loose great Benefits for your selves and Posterity which endeavoured Reformation would Entail If Desolation comes on this unreformed Land Ez. 9. 41. Gen. 6. notwithstanding thy lost Labour thou mayest hope to be Marked for Deliverance for we see Noah who strove to reform the old World saved from the Common Deluge with his Family and grieved Lot with his Children escaped the Flames of Sodom Neither will it be a light matter if Sin should still abound and Judgments ensue that these quieting thoughts will possess thy mind Could I have reformed and saved this People I would have done it my Conscience bears me witness that I to my utmost have endeavoured to put a stop to those Impieties that procured these Woes which now so distress my Country But if Virtue should spring up and Wickedness hide the head how happy wilt thou find thy self in having contributed thereto Psal. 119. 136. those Tears which streamed at the view of heinous Sins will be turned into the truest Joy and Gladness Gladness to see Sabbaths Sanctified which used to be Prophaned the Name of God Hallowed by a Sacred Reverence instead of Oaths or Blasphemy and Sobriety and Temperance obtaining in the room of Debauchery and Excesses How will it revive thy years to see the Blessed Effect of this change of things when Peace Prosperity Love Health the Success of the Ministry and a Harmony among all sorts and degrees of Men shall joyntly witness God's Approbation of a Reformed People Thy own Graces will improve by the good Examples such a state of things affords and those pourings out of the Spirit which it supposeth thou wilt be free from the Dread of Impending Judgments and instead thereof live in the chearful expectance of publick Good nay how comfortable will it be when thou diest to behold an Entail of Helps to the Holiness and Happiness of thy Posterity These things may well convince us that such as neglect National Reformation disregard their own Happiness I think I need insist on no other Mediums to prove that none keep the Law who contend not with the Wicked or which is the Sence of that None are the true Servants of God who oppose not Sin and endeavour not the Reformation of notorious Sinners This you must allow to be beyond dispute unless you can think him a faithful Servant of God who hath no true Zeal for God's Honour no real Compassion or Love to Souls no due Concern for the Community nor true Regard to his own Happiness or to that of his Posterity It follows therefore that you must Renounce that name or engage your selves in resisting Sin and promoting the Reformation of others by all just means and know that your assuming that Name unjustly will no more avail you than if it were renounced and if you are not the Servants of God in Reality the Priviledges of such belong not to you nay you are the Slaves of the Devil and the Servants of the Flesh and oh how miserable will the Portion of such be found at last I shall apply this truth 1. Particularly to the Societies for Reformation 2. More generally to all who hear me 1. To such as are Members of the Societies for Reformation or any way engaged in this great Work You deserve Encouragement nor may a word of Advice be altogether needless What I judge proper to you will be comprehended under two Heads 1. Make light of the discouragements which attend the Work of National Reformation What you have heard may vindicate you from Reproach and Steel you against Fears Can that be called busie meddling by which you approve your selves the Servants of the Living God and fill up your place as such for God's Glory and a Common Good or should any call you severe when you stop Men from destroying themselves and Nation Can any wonder that reproachful Lies pursue you in this Enterprize or be so imprudent as not allow for it when you thus disturb the Kingdom of the Devil stem a Tide of Wickedness to which Nature is so prone and contend with a Multitude who by long custom have become too licentious to scruple either what they say or do Need you fear your Opposers when you see what their