Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

§. 3. Of the fecond evil. A misunderstanding of. the nature of the gospel faith, and mistakes about it. §. 4. Of the third evil, viz. A debafing of the true value of morality under the pretence of higher things, mistaking the very end of Chrift's coming.

§. 5. Of the fourth evil, viz. preferring human authority above reason and truth.

§. 6. Of the fifth evil, propagation of faith by force. Of the nature, difference, and limits of civil and ecclefiaftical authority.

An appendix of the causes and cure of persecution,

AN

1

ΑΝ

ADDRESS

то

PROTESTANT S.

[ocr errors]

PART I.

SECT. I.

The INTRODUCTION.

My friends and countrymen,

F you believe that there is a God, and that he is holy, juft and good; that he made us; that we owe ourselves to him, and that he is not careless of us, but the constant obferver of our thoughts and actions; and that as he is the rewarder of them that fear, love, and obey him, fo he is the fevere punisher of all such as tranfgrefs his law, and break his righteous commandments; if, I fay, you believe thefe things, and not only that there is a final day of reckoning, but that God, even in this world, recompenfes his judgments upon the wicked, and vifits nations with his hot displeasure because of their impiety; which

hath

hath been the fenfible experience and free confeffion of all ages; then it belongs to us of these kingdoms to reflect upon ourselves, and take a true view of our actions; fince divine vengeance, for aught we see, is ftill at the door. And, for the Lord's fake, let us have a care in the doing of it, fince "God will not "be mocked;" and that our miscarriage in fuch an inquiry will be, as only our own infelicity, fo of infinite moment to us. I must needs be plain and earneft here; for if we miscarry in the fearch, we shall certainly miscarry in the cure. Sin gives the deadlieft of all wounds to mankind, but, with grief I fay it, for it is true, there is no wound fo flightly healed. We rather feek our ease, than our fecurity; like those fools, that love the pleasantest, not the fafeft potions. It is ill at all times to flatter a man's self; but it is most dangerous about repentance. Something men would keep, fomething men would hide; and yet they have to do with that "fearcher of hearts," from whom it is impoffible they fhould hide any thing, This folly increases our account, endangers our cure, and makes our condition defperate, if not irrecover

able.

d

" b

O England, my native country! Come to judgment! Bring thy deeds to the true light; fee whether they are "wrought in God or no." Put not off thyfelf with hay, straw, and stubble; for they will burn, and the fire is at the door, that will confume them. He is coming, whose reward is with him, and will give every one according to his works. Let us therefore examine ourselves, try ourselves, prove our ownfelves, whether Chrift be in us or not; if his fpirit, his nature, his meeknefs, his patience, his great felf-denial, dwell in us: if not, we are reprobates; yet under the reproofs of the Almighty, the charge and guilt of fin; and his witnefs in our own consciences fends up evidence to heaven against us every day;

* Gal. vi. 5, 6, 7.

e

b Jer. xvii. 10. • John iii. 21. d Rev. xxii.

с

12, 2 Cor. xiii, 5.

this I juftly fear and take to be our cafe. Let us therefore strictly look into our conversations, and with an impartial eye take a juft view of those fins, that most severely cry to the great judge against us.

And

they appear to me to be of two forts; the one relating more particularly to the state, and the other to the church, if I may without offence use that distinction; for my witness is with God, I intend not provocation to any, but the edification of all.

Those impieties that relate more particularly to the ftate to correct, are DRUNKENNESS; WHOREDOMS and FORNICATION; LUXURY or EXCESS, in APPAREL, in FURNITURE, and in LIVING; PROFUSE GAMING; and finally, ОATHS, BLASPHEMY and PROFANESS: these fwarm in our streets, these are a fcandal to our profeffion, and cry aloud to heaven, and provoke divine wrath against us.

D'

SECT. II.

Of the fin of drunkenness.

Runkenness, or excefs in drinking, is not only a violation of God's law, but of our own natures: it doth, of all other fins, rob us of our reason, deface the impreffions of virtue, and extinguish the remembrance of God's mercies and our own duty: it fits men for that which they would abhor, if fober. The incest, murder, robberies, fires, and other villanies, that have been done in drunken fits, make drunkenness a common enemy to human fociety. It renders men unfit for truft or business; it tells fecrets, betrays friendship, difpofes men to be trepanned and cheated: finally, it fpoils health, weakens human race, and, above all, provokes the juft God to anger, who cried thus of old against those that were guilty of it; "Wo to the "drunkards of Ephraim! the drunkards of Ephraim

f

f Ifa. xxviii. 1, 2, 3. Amos vi. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
B

VOL. IV.

"shall

« EdellinenJatka »