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much her misemployed wealth and misguided zeal had formerly contributed to the miseries and confusions under which we laboured: and even they, whom a few years' plenty and prosperity had lulled into a forgetfulness of their guilt, began then to lay their hands upon their hearts, and with Joseph's brethren to say: Verily we are guilty concerning our prince; therefore is this destruction come upon us! Gen. xlii. 21.

There was still a more terrible judgment behind, which we were threatened with, and in some measure felt, though the providence of Gcd did not suffer it thoroughly to lay hold of us: I mean, the advances made by popery in a late reign toward establishing itself among us. And this also was the fruit of our former iniquities; for (to speak a plain truth, which, plain as it is, has been lately treated with scorn and derision by shameless writers) the attempt of introducing a foreign religion was but too natural a consequence of our forcing the royal family to take shelter in foreign countries; where they might be allured by the tempting appearances of a splendid worship, and a regular hierarchy, and by glorious but empty pretences to universality and infallibility, especially at a time, when the good frame of our ecclesiastical polity here at home was shattered and dissolved, and the honour of our Sion was laid low in the dust. Still therefore our punishment was from ourselves; nor was God a hard master in inflicting it; for we reaped only what we had sowed, and gathered what we had strawed, and the first subversion of our constitution involved us in all the confusions and miseries, in which we long afterwards laboured. But that storm also blew over, and times of liberty succeeded, wherein we promised ourselves the settled enjoyment of all manner of advantages and blessings. Can we say, that those hopes were not in great measure defeated by the spirit of irreligion and libertinism, which then, and ever since that time, notoriously prevailed; by those inteştine factions and discords, by which we have been torn; and that foreign war, under the weight of which

we for more than twenty years groaned? Till the vast expense of blood and treasure, which it occasioned, made us ready to cry out in the pathetic words of the prophet, O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put thyself up in thy scabbard; rest, and be still! Jer. xlvii. 6.

And when that sword rested in its scabbard, was not the manner of sheathing it as unwelcome to us, as even the havock it had occasioned, when naked and drawn! Was not the good queen (now with God) the subject of malicious, but groundless reproaches on that very account? Did we not murmur at the blessing, and bring ourselves at last, with great difficulty to relish and approve it?

But may we not now at length hope, that all is well with us, and that the ill consequences of spilling the royal blood of this day are ceased, the anger of God appeased, and our national guilt utterly pardoned? How can that be, until the nation itself hath manifestly repented? And the repentance of a nation for any sin, is best testified by its general abhorrence of the principles and practices that caused it. And are we able in this manner to purge ourselves of this day's transgression ? Do we, indeed, give evident proofs, that we heartily and universally detest it? If that be really our case, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in our ears, and this lowing of the oxen which we hear? 1 Sam. xv. 14. How comes it to pass, that these anniversary humiliations are so openly spoken against, ill-treated and derided? Why has the horrid guilt of the day been lessened in public discourses, and represented with all manner of alleviations and softenings? As if it were unpopular and imprudent, to paint such a villany to the life, or to speak of it in suitable terms of ignominy and reproach! Why have the doctrines, which paved the way to this bloody deed, been freely revived, embraced, and cherished; and those, for which the sufferers in the royal cause underwent all manner of persecutions, been discountenanced and exploded? Why has the spirit of

liberty been indulged to an outrageous degree of licentiousness; the reverence due to thrones shaken by mean and insolent pens; and contempt poured on the sacred character of princes, as though they had not been anointed with oil? 2 Sam. i. 21. Why have lectures, in such sacred places as these, been more than once read to the people, not only with permission, but applause, instructing them how near they might approach towards the sin of rebellion, without actually incurring the guilt of it? And why have impious wretches by their mock feasts ridiculed our solemn fasts, without being punished, or (which is yet a worse sign) even without being detected in order to punishment? Certainly, these are no good proofs of our abhorring the sin of the day; and why then should we flatter ourselves with the thought, that God hath left off to abhor, and will no longer continue to chastise us for the sake of it? Truly (to use our Saviour's words) ye bear witness, that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed the prophets, and ye build their sepulchres, Luke xi. 48; that is, ye pay some outward respect to their ashes, some ceremonious regard to their memories; but without renouncing the principles, and abominating the practices, that led to the spilling of that righteous blood, which, therefore, we have reason to fear, may be required even of this generation. When, and in what manner, God will require it, he alone knows. But if we consider the height of all sorts of wickedness, to which we are now arrived; the open contempt of religion, and scorn of sacred persons and things, that reigns among us; the intestine discords, by which we are torn at home; the dangers which have threatened us from abroad, and (however we may say, peace, peace, to ourselves) still do threaten us, we have just cause to apprehend, that the complete measure of our iniquity is almost filled up, and that the day of our visitation is not far off.

But do not thou, O Lord, to whom vengeance belongeth, do not thou deal with us according to our deserts; be not displeased at us for ever, neither stretch out thy wrath

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from one generation to another! Command thy destroying angel, when he goeth through the city (as the prophet Ezekiel speaks, chap. ix. 4.) to set a mark upon the forehead of all those that sigh, and that cry for the abomina tion, which hath been done in the midst thereof; and either to spare the whole for their sakes; or, at least not to smite the righteous together with the wicked! Make us deeply sensible of this, and all other our great enormities, and of thy wondrous lenity and forbearance! Teach us, even yet in this our day (if it be possible,) the things that belong to our peace, ere they be hid from our eyes! Luke xix. 42. Teach us, by a reflection on past calamities, to prevent new ones, and to avoid those rocks and shelves, on which our forefathers were shipwrecked!

Which God of his infinite mercy grant through the merits of that blood, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel!

To him, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as most due, all honour, adoration, and thanks, now, and for evermore. Amen.

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SERMON

PREACHED AT ST. JAMES'S CHAPEL, APRIL 26, 1713.

THE WICKED LIVES OF CHRISTIANS NO ARGUMENT AGAINST THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

--That the name of God, and his doctrine be not blasphemed.-1 TIM. vi. 1.

THE purity and perfection of the Christian morality, considering the meanness of the persons who published that doctrine, is a sure argument of its divine original and authority. But then the lives of many Christians, led in a way so little answerable to the precepts of Christ, are a mighty dishonour to our religion, and give occasion to those who seek occasion, to reproach and blaspheme it.

What signifies it, says the libertine, or indeed how can one be satisfied, that the Gospel is of heavenly extraction, when we see it hath no more efficacy and influence on the hearts and lives of those who profess it, than other religions that are of mere human contrivance; when there is as much impiety, and vice of all sorts among those that name the name of Christ, as amongst the Mahometans and heathens?

This popular objection St. Paul appears to have had much upon his thoughts, and doth therefore frequently press his new converts, in this and other epistles, to distinguish themselves by a becoming sanctity of life and manners; for this reason among others, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

If there were great occasion for such exhortations then, there is much greater now; when the manners of

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