Enemies raised the Siege And such plenty was left in their Camp that every one of the Besieged had wherewith not only to satisfy his hunger but to enrich himself Only that Nobleman that would not believe this when it was foretold by the Prophet did not live to tast of the Fruits of God Almighty's Victory being trodden to death in the Crowd II. But it is time to come to the second general point I observed from this Text viz. That the Happiness and Prosperity of Nations is to be attained the same way that any particular Man's happiness is that is to say by being sincerely virtuous and religious or as my Text expresses it by fearing God and keeping all his Commandments always This is a true Proposition both with respect to particular Persons and to Nations too but with this difference That if we take Happiness and Prosperity for that which the World accounts so that is to say the possession of a great many outward Blessings and the freedom from temporal evils and inconveniences the Proposition is not so universally true with reference to particular Persons as it is with reference to Nations and Kingdoms For every Man that fears God is not always blessed with happy outward Circumstances On the contrary some good Men are exposed to many and great Afflictions and Misfortunes and Sicknesses and Crosses all their lives long But it is certainly true of all Nations and Peoples whatsoever Every Nation or Society shall fare better or worse in this World exactly according as they fear God or despise and affront him exactly according to the degree they keep God's Commandments or break them Though it is not certain that every particular Man shall always do so And there is great reason that it should be thus For First We know that all God's ways are just and equal Now as to particular Persons there is a great room left for the dispensing this Justice and Equity to them For they being in their natures made to live for ever it is enough for the vindicating God's Justice that they be at any time hereafter either rewarded for their Piety and Virtue or punished for their Wickedness and abuse of God's Mercies So that wicked Men may be happy and prosperous here and good Men may suffer many afflictions and tribulations without any the least reflection on the Justice or Goodness of the great Governour of the World Because there is a farther day reserved for the adjusting all Mens Rewards according to their Works But now the consideration of publick Societies and Nations is quite different Nations are not made to be Immortal but end with this World No Society as a Society shall be called to a future account But all the Rewards and Punishments they are capable of as Societies must be adjudged and distributed to them in this present Life And therefore if we suppose God to be the Judge and Governour of the World and of all the Nations in it as well as he is the Judge and Governour of particular Persons We must likewise suppose that he administers all affairs so that Righteous and Religious Nations have in this World the reward of their Virtue in the blessings of Peace and Plenty and all manner of temporal Prosperity And on the other side impious and incorrigible Nations are likewise punished in this World for their wickedness either by severe Judgments or by a total destruction as God in his infinite Wisdom sees cause This now that I have offered is I think so reasonable that if there was no more to be said it ought to go a great way towards the making of the point I have in hand highly credible But in the second place there is a great deal more to be said The word of God doth all along bear testimony to the truth of this A multitude of Texts of Scripture there are that do most plainly give this account of God's dealing with Nations and Peoples that I have now mentioned There is no Judgment threatned to any Nation in the holy Scripture and abundance of Nations are there threatned but it is upon account of the sins and wickedness they were guilty of Which sins if they repented of so repented as to forsake them they might find mercy And accordingly we find in fact that God always dealt with Peoples and Nations according to these measures God had solemnly denounced destruction to the City of Ninive by his Prophet and that within forty days But upon the Repentance of the Ninevites and turning to God with all their hearts he reversed his Sentence though to the great discontent of the Prophet and gave them a further time On the other side he waited long for the Repentance of the Canaanites but would not destroy them because their sins though very hainous admitted a place for Repentance But when their iniquities were filled up to the measures according to which God proceeds in his destruction of Nations He then sent the Israelites to root them out and to take possession of their Land And thus was Nebuchadnezzar raised up by God to be a scourge to all the Nations about him for the punishment of their sins Nebuchadnezzar had indeed other things in his head That which he designed was the gratifying his own Ambition and enlarging his Dominions But these were not the ends which God had to serve by him God made use of him as his Instrument as his Servant and so he calls him for the rendring to the Nations that just recompence of vengeance which their sins called for I mention these things the rather because they are instances of God's dealing with Heathen Nations who were under no particular Covenant with God And I might have recourse likewise to the Histories of all Nations to shew the truth of this Name any Nation that was ever remarkable for Justice for Temperance and severity of Manners for Piety and Religion though it was in a wrong way that did not always thrive and grow great in the World and that did not always enjoy a plentiful portion of all those things which are accounted to make a Nation Happy and Flourishing And on the other side when that Nation has declined from its former Virtue and grown impious or dissolute in manners we appeal to Experience whether it has not likewise always proportionably sunk in its Success and good Fortunes I am sure any one that will be at the pains to read either the Greek or the Roman or even the Turkish History will meet with matter enough there to satisfy him of the truth of this observation But I confine my self to the Scripture and in that the History of the Iews is the most remarkable for indeed it makes up a great part of the Old Testament Now in that History it is worth our taking notice of That every degree of publick Vice and departure from God's Laws was always punished with publick Judgments And on the other side every degree of publick Repentance and
our Affairs Namely by having recourse to God Almighty who when we have done all that we can is the Governour of the World and will do what he pleaseth But yet will always do that which is best for Mankind and that too which is best for our Nation if we be capable objects of his Favour And to make our selves such if it be possible is our Business on this Day This is indeed a seasonable Business at all times but at this time it seems absolutely necessary Since we have reason to apprehend the Crisis of our Nation as to Happiness or Ruin to be upon the point of approaching The Judgments of God are now abroad in the World We have not only Rumours of Wars sounding in our Ears but all Europe is now in an actual War and a terrible one And what the Consequences will be we know not Some very great thing God certainly designs to bring to pass in these parts of the World and that very suddenly A Cup he has mingled for all the Nations to drink of Which to some undoubtedly will prove a bitter Potion a Cup of God's Wrath and Fury to others probably a Cup of Salvation But how it will prove to us is yet entirely in the Will of God However this is certain that we of this Nation shall have as much our share in it be it good or bad as any other in Christendome And now after the mention of this Can there be any need to call upon any one to weeping and fasting and mourning and crying mightily to the Lord that he would have mercy upon us and spare us and our Nation and not give his Heritage over to Confusion Why methinks the Circumstances we are in should put us upon so doing without any other Monitors Indeed we have no Humanity no Compassion for our selves or our Country if we do not We should all be of this mind if we did seriously consider how things stand with us We are not that Innocent Virtuous Pious People that may certainly reckon upon God's Favour and think our selves in all Cases sure of his Protection For if the Doctrine I have now been insisting on to you be true Doctrine then we of this Nation can but entertain very small hopes of being Happy and Prosperous Nay we cannot but apprehend Misery and Ruin and Desolation to our selves unless God be abundantly more merciful to us than we deserve And there can be no way to prevail with him to be so but an universal Humiliation and Repentance And this is the Application I desire to make of the Point I have been now treating of If the measure of God's dealing with Nations be always according to the Moral State of them If their good Fortunes be dealt out to them according to their Virtues and Iudgments be inflicted upon them according to their provoking God by their Sins as we have said Good Lord What a lamentable Prospect have we of this Kingdom of what may come upon us And what infinite reason have we thereupon immediately to try all the ways that are possible of making our Peace with God that so Iniquity may not be our ruin I beg leave to dwell a little upon this Point because it is the proper Argument of the day I do not say nor do I think that we of this Nation are worse than our Neighbours But this I say considering how long God hath spared us and how long we have enjoyed the Blessings of Peace and Plenty and all sorts of Prosperity though perhaps with many Fears and just Apprehensions of danger whilst most of our Neighbours have been harassed with Wars and exposed to all the Cruelties and Miseries of Persecutions and Devastations And considering the great Priviledges and Advantages we have for many years enjoyed of all the outward means of Grace that could be desired for the Eternal Salvation of our Souls and that above any other Nation under Heaven And withal how unprofitable we have been under these means how unthankful to God for them and what little effect they have had upon us for the bettering our Manners And lastly Considering how very wicked we generally are what a World of open gross Sins and Impieties do reign among us and what a lewd Profane Hypocritical Atheistical Spirit seems to have gone out into the Nation and to prevail upon it I say these things considered we cannot make any very comfortable Reflections on our own Condition So far from that that if as I said the measure of God's dealings with Nations be taken from their Behaviours and moral Qualities and be suited to their merits and deserts we have as little to hope for as most Nations under Heaven I take no delight in saying these things on the contrary it is very grievous But if ever one may be allowed to run out into a Declamation against the Vices of the Times it is upon such an occasion as this and before such an Audience as this that the liberty may be challenged For God's sake let us not deceive our selves nor think that we are the Favourites of Heaven meerly because we profess the Best Religion and are Members of the Best Church in the World For as good as our Church and Religion is and as zealous as we seem to be for them yet never did Vice and Iniquity of all sorts and indeed every thing that is contrary to our holy Religion more abound in this Nation than at this day Give me leave to speak out upon this occasion and to tell you of some of the Crying Sins that reign among us and that deserve Your Care to put a stop to and which if they be continued in will certainly bring down the Vengeance of God upon us Where was there ever more Atheism and Infidelity to be seen in a Country that professed the Religion of Jesus Christ than is among us at this day We do not perhaps meet with very many that do openly affirm There is no God For as bad as we are God be thanked we are not yet arrived to such Impudence That is such an affront to the Laws and to all good Manners that it is not to be born with But we may meet with several every day that do affirm the same thing by consequence asserting such Principles from whence it may be necessarily concluded For my part I account it much the same thing as to the ill effects of the Opinion to deny the Being of God as to deny the Being of Angels and Spirits and Immaterial Souls to deny the Being of particular Providence to deny the natural difference between good and evil to deny another Life after this wherein good Men shall be rewarded and wicked Men punished to deny the liberty of Humane Actions and to say that all things which we do we do by a fatal necessity and we cannot do otherwise And yet we may every day meet with Men of these Principles nay and that laugh at all those that maintain the
Reformation was always rewarded with publick Happiness and Prosperity So that any one that could make a right estimate of the Morals of that Nation and how it stood as to Virtue and Vice might constantly make a judgment likewise how it would fare with them as to their outward temporal affairs I must confess that generally speaking there is little force in those Arguments that are drawn from Examples But in the case I am now upon I think there is a great weight in them For though we cannot argue from God's dealing with one Person that he will just deal in the same manner with another Yet as to Nations and Kingdoms the case is otherwise as I before said For God's dispensations and Providences to them seem all to proceed upon one immutable Foundation which will be the same in all Ages and Countreys namely the expression and vindication of his Justice and Goodness in this World And for my part I have always been of this mind That there is no other difference between the History of God's dealings with his own People the Jews and that of other Nations but this That in other Nations the publick Events that happen'd whether good or bad though they were taken notice of yet they passed without any reflection on the true causes from whence they proceeded The Historians did indeed often lay their Fingers rightly upon the immediate visible outward occasions or means or instruments from whence their good or bad Fortune was derived to them But they searched no further They considered only second Causes and took no great notice of the first and principal Cause of all things God Almighty and his influencing humane affairs They left God in a great measure out of their Hypothesis and out of their History But now that the World might be awaken'd to a more hearty belief and sense of his Providence God took care to single out the Nation of the Jews and in them to give us a true Pattern or Platform of his dealings with all the Nations of the World And for that purpose he ordered that all the great strokes both of their departure from God and of their return to him And likewise both of the good or bad Fortune that did at any time befal that Nation should be faithfully Registred and the true Causes of them faithfully assigned That all Mankind might from thence receive Instruction how they ought to behave themselves towards God and what according to their different behaviours they were to expect To conclude this point By all that hath been said it appears That the State and Condition and Fortune of all Kingdoms and Nations is the very same with that of the Jews as it is represented by Achior the Ammonite in the advice he gave to Holofernes when he came up with an Army against that People You have the passage in Iudith 5.17 Whilst saith he these People sinned not before their God they prospered because the God that hateth iniquity was with them But when they departed from the way that he appointed them they were destroyed in many Battels after a wonderful sort and were led Captives into a land that was not theirs But now they are turned to their God and are come up from their Captivity and have again possessed Jerusalem Now therefore my Lord and Governour if there be any fault in this People so that they have sinned against their God let us consider that this shall be their ruin and let us go up that we may overcome them But if there be no iniquity in this People let my Lord pass by lest their Lord defend them and their God be for them and we become a reproach before all the World Thus it is and will be always with all States and Nations if they notoriously sin against their God this will be their ruin But if there be not found iniquity in them it is in vain for any Enemy to set upon them for God will be for them and their Lord will defend them If this which I have said be not sufficient to satisfy any one about the truth of this point I might bring other Proofs for it I might for instance in the third place insist upon this That Virtue and Piety do in their own nature tend to promote the wellfare and happiness of Peoples and Nations As on the other hand all Vice and Irreligion is destructive of humane Society And this without respect to any appointment or Decree of God that things should be managed in this way but purely in the very nature of the thing It is obvious That Virtue and Religion lay the surest Foundation for all those Blessings wherein the happiness of a Nation doth consist that is possible both by making Magistrates to govern well and by rendring the People easy to be governed And likewise by furnishing both the Governours and the governed with such kind of Principles and Habits as cannot fail with the Blessing of God to produce both Peace and Plenty and Victory and all other sorts of Prosperity in a Nation As on the other hand all Vice and Wickedness and Profaneness and Impiety do sow the worst Seeds in the World for the dissolving and breaking in pieces all Societies or at least for the so enfeebling them that they shall either be in a very low wretched condition among themselves if they have no Enemies or if they have any become an easy prey to the next Invader But I will not enter upon this Argument because I think the matter needs no further proof And I would spend the rest of my time in making some Application of what hath been said upon this point to the business of our present meeting on this day WE are here met together for the solemn Humiliation of our selves with Fasting and Prayer before Almighty God In order to the Supplicating his Divine Majesty for the Pardon of our Sins and the Sins of our Nation And the imploring his Blessing and Protection to the King and Kingdom by continuing those Mercies to us we do enjoy by averting those Judgments from us we have reason to fear and more particularly by giving a Happy Issue to that dangerous War in which his Majesty with the Kingdom is now engaged And very great reason there is that you the Representatives of the People of England should most seriously and solemnly join in this Religious Office since the Fortunes of the Nation you represent did never more lie at stake than at this present You have hitherto been acting and endeavouring for the Happiness and Security of your Nation by Humane Methods and we all put up our daily Prayers that what you have done and what you shall do may be for the Glory of God and the good of his Church and the Safety Honour and Wellfare of their Majesties and their Kingdoms And we hope all will so come to pass But now on this day both You and We are to think of other Methods for the procuring Success to