PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 ■'!■ 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICHL SEMINHRY 
 
 BY 
 
 |VIps. Alexander Proudfit. 
 
 
 ^g^1 
 

 SERMONS 
 
 O N 
 
 PUBLIC OCCASIONS, 
 
 By, The Rev. ISAAC HUNT, AM. 
 
 PREACHER AT 
 
 BENTINCK CHAPEL, St, MARY-LE-BONE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 Printed for R. FAtTLDER, No; 42, New Bond-Street, 
 
 7/[,BCC,I.XXXI, 
 
S p M E ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LAUDABLE INSTITUTION 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 SOCIETY OF ANTIGALLICANS. 
 
 N the beginning of the year 1745, when the 
 finances and commerce of France, were fo 
 far recovered from the ruinous flate, into which 
 they were plunged by the wars of Queen Anne, 
 as to enable it again to dlflurb the peace of Eu- 
 rope, and brave the Britifli Arms ; a number of 
 individuals, refiding in London, fired with the 
 juft indignation of Englifnmen, againft the infi- 
 dious arts as well as open infolence of the French 
 nation, entered into an allbciation to fupport and 
 diffufe, among their fellow citizens, the like fpi- 
 rit of patriotic refentment againft thofe perfidious 
 enemies to Britain, 
 
 To render their afibciation, alfo, the more effi- 
 cacious and interefting, it was judged proper to 
 a 2 difplay 
 
( iv ) 
 
 dlfplay that : cfcntment, in a method, that would 
 belli point at the caufes of the Infolcnt behaviour 
 of thofe enemies, and the means of reducin-^ them 
 to moderation. The foiirce of infult and injullice, 
 as well in nations as individuals, is the obvious 
 rcfult of immoderate fuccefs. The increafe of the 
 trade, and navigation of France, fince the peace 
 of Utrecht, was increafed t?D a degree almofi: in- 
 credible ; fo far, indeed, as to rival thofe of this 
 countrj', and even exceed them in many particu- 
 lar branches of arts and manufactures. — Nay, fo 
 firangely regardlefs of national intereft were even 
 thoufands of thoughtlefs individuals among us, 
 that they encouraged the importation of French 
 manufactures, and laviflily confumed French pro- 
 duce ; evei> at a time when French politics had 
 fomented a rebellion, and, by a pitiful ~ invafion, 
 had planted a dnggcr in the bofom of the mother- 
 country. 
 
 To diftingulfli themfelves, at fuch a time, by 
 fuch means, as v^ere moft charaderiiVic of En- 
 gliflimen,- loyal to their king, and true to their 
 country, was judged, therefore, a laudable m,o- 
 tive for the Aiibciation of Antigallicans ; the pro- 
 fefTed defign of which, was to difcourage by pre- 
 cept and example, the importation and confump- 
 
 tion 
 
( V ) 
 
 tlon of French produce and manufadlures, ar.d ta 
 eiicourage, on the contrary, the produce and 
 manufadures of Great Britain. 
 
 The inditution and defign of this fociety accor- 
 dingly became no fooner pubhckly known, than 
 a number of perfons of the moft refped:able cha- 
 rad:ers, as well as of the firft rank of diftindion, 
 were folicitous to become members of the afib- 
 elation* 
 
 In confequence of fo numerous an addition to 
 their body, the fociety had foon the fatisfadlion 
 of feeing its patriotic principles very generally 
 adopted. Among the ladies in particular, whofe 
 influence in refpcdt to the importation of French 
 manufadures is moft confiderable, [the example, 
 for a confiderable time, very generally prevailed. 
 In the late Prince of Wales's court, the wear of 
 French fabrics was for fome time fingularly dif-. 
 couraged ; in fo much that the Countefsof Mid- 
 dlefex, firfl lady of the bed chamber to the 
 Princefs, was eleded an honorary allbciate, as a 
 memorial (fays the record) of the fociety 's refped 
 for^a lady, who by encouraging the manufadures 
 of her own country, and a laudable difufe ofthofe 
 of France, has fet a Ihining example to thcprefcnt 
 
 age. 
 
( vi ) 
 
 age, and rendered herfelf an honour to her fex 
 and nation. This compliment was paid her in 
 form, by their then grand prefident Stephen The- 
 odore Janfen, Efq^ ; and was as politely received. 
 
 As the increafing reputation of the fociety ren- 
 dered it more numerous, and the firfl: place of 
 meeting, the Ship Tavern, RatcHff Crofs, made 
 it inconvenient for members refiding at a diftance, 
 to attend fo often as they wifhed ; applications 
 were made to the original fociety, to conftitute 
 particular lodges at different parts of the metropolis. 
 
 In confequence of fuch fucceHive applications, 
 permidion was given by the Grand Lodge, to 
 hold fubordinate lodges ; feveral of which were 
 accordingly conftituted and held in and near Lon- 
 dtjn, and on application from feveral of the inha- 
 bitants of Maffachufets Bay, another was inllitu- 
 ted at Cafco Bay, in that province in North 
 America. 
 
 It would be fuperfluous to notice an attempt in 
 the year 1 751, to new- model the fociety, by fe- 
 veral feceding members, who met at the Crovv^n 
 Tavern, behind the Royal Exchange, under the 
 title of a Committee of the whole body of Anti- 
 
 gallicans. 
 
( vli ) 
 
 gallicans, had not that felf-appolnted committee, 
 confifled of Ibme refpeftable charadters ; vvhofe 
 proceedings, however were difapproved of by 
 the original lodge, and their meetings difconti- 
 nued, on being thus difcountenanced. 
 
 That the original lodge, however, did not 
 oppofe the proceedings of the Crown Committee, 
 merely for the fake of maintaining a fuperiority, 
 or from a reludtance to contribute to meafures of 
 public utility, appears from the refolution of 
 the former, on their dlfapprobation of the pro- 
 ceedings [of the faid committee. The latter it 
 leems, had projedted feveral innovations on the 
 original conftitution, and particularly by offering 
 a premium for the making Englifh Lace, in imi- 
 tation of the French, for men's ruffles. This 
 meafure was reprobated by the original lodge, as 
 giving encouragement to a frivolous article ; it 
 being their intention to difcourage domeflic as 
 well as foreign luxury. They offered, therefore, 
 a premium more, worthy of their inflitution, for 
 the two buffes that could catch and cure the ereat- 
 eft number of Britifh herrings : the Britifh fifliery, 
 at that time, whyfoever fince negledted, being 
 looked upon as a purfuit of national confequence, 
 particularly as a nurfery for feamen. 
 
 In 
 
( viii ) 
 
 In the year following, the fociety offered a gold 
 medal to the Captain, and a premiuiii ;|; to the 
 crew, of the moll fuccefsful fhip in the Green- 
 land fifhery. 
 
 Charitable donations to fufferers by public ca- 
 lamity, as by the contagious diftemper among 
 the cattle ; and alfo to the poor in times of diibefs;, 
 from the feverity of the weather, have repeatedly 
 diftinguifiied the benevolent and public fpirit of 
 this laudable ailbciation. 
 
 During the peace fucceeding the treaty of Aix 
 la Chapelle, the fpirit of th^ fociety very naturally 
 fubfided. English generofity is as unrefentful of 
 paft 'enmity, as it is unfufpicious of profefled 
 amity. As the intereft of our own country, how- 
 ever, even in a time of peace, fliould be preferred 
 to that of others ; it is to be wifhed an Antigalli- 
 can fpirit of partiality for Englifh produce and 
 manufactures, fliould ever prevail againft the im- 
 portation of foreign ones, of all countries, in all 
 times and feafons. 
 
 X This premium was paid, with a douceur to the feajnen that 
 came to return the company thanks. 
 
 At 
 
( ix ) 
 
 At the breaking out of the lafl war, the fplrit, 
 and of courfe the public attention to the fociety, 
 were renewed. The affociation, accordingly fit- 
 ted out by fubfcription a private (hip of war ; 
 whofe fuccefs, however, was not equal to the 
 laudable defign with which flie was equipped. 
 About the fame time, they carried into execution, 
 a refolve to provide and cloathe a number of boys 
 to be fent on board his majefly 's fliips of war ; re- 
 viving and encouraging by their example, that 
 naiotnal fpirit, v^^hich had fo much fubfided, that 
 the eftimators of the times conceived it to bs ex- 
 tind: ; but which burll forth with fuch redou- 
 bled ardour, as to carry conqueft, to fprcad the 
 terror of the Britifh arms, throughout every part 
 of the habitable world ; raifing the name of 
 England to the pinnacle of human glory. 
 
 During the fubfequent peace, Antigallican ani- 
 mofity again fubfided, altho' that fliould hardly 
 be called a ftate of peace, in which a pretended 
 amity put it into the power of France to take ad- 
 vantage of our national difcontents and divifions, 
 to alienate the affcftions of our colonies, and fe- 
 duce them from their natural dependence and al- 
 legiance to' their mother country. 
 
 b When 
 
( X ) 
 
 When that perfidious nation, therefore, re- 
 cently threw off the maik, and acknowledged 
 them independent flates, the fpirit of the fociety, 
 had it not indeed been quite extinguifhed, could 
 not fail of taking frefh fire, and blazing forth 
 with its former ardour. The aflbciation hath ac- 
 cordingly refumed their refolution of the lail: war, 
 refpeding the fitting out a number of ftout lads 
 for the fea fervice ; propofing with a zeal and 
 alacrity becoming men who feci for their country, 
 to exert themfelves, as far as it is in the power of 
 a body compofed of a comparatively few indivi- 
 duals, and to fupport in others, every liberal, le- 
 gal, and lojal method, to refent the prefumption, 
 punifh the perfidy, and with the permiffion of 
 Providence, to humble the pvide of France, 
 
SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE 
 
 LAUDABLE ASSOCIATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ANTIGALLICANS, 
 
 AT THE PARISH CHURCH OF 
 
 St. GEORGE, MIDDLESEX, 
 
 IftN THEIR GENERAL ANNUAL MEETING, 
 
 On THURSDAY, the 23d. 01 APRIL, 1778, 
 
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 GEORGE Lord De F E R R A R S^ 
 
 LATE GRAND PRESIDENT, 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THOMAS Earl of E F F I N G H A iM, 
 
 THE PRESENT GRAND, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 THE VICE PRESIDENTS, OFFICERS, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 REST OF THE BRETHREN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LAUDABLE ASSOCIATION 
 
 O F 
 A N T I G A L L I C A N S, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE, 
 WITH THE PREFIXED ACCOUNT 
 OF THEIR INSTITUTION, 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY THEIR MOST HUMBLE SERVANT 
 AND FAITHFUL BROTHER, 
 
 ISAAC HUNT. 
 
[ 1 ] 
 
 SERMON 
 
 I. 
 
 PREACHED 
 
 BEFORE THE SOCIETY 
 
 O F 
 
 A N T I G A L L I C A N S, 
 
 On THURSDAY, the 23d. of APRIL, 1778, 
 
 PSALM, XL. V. 2. 5. 6. 
 
 Lo! the ivicked lend their bow., they ?nake ready their 
 
 arroiv upon thejlring \ that tkey may privily flioot at 
 
 the upright in heart. 
 But the Lord trieth the righteous ; while the wicked and 
 
 him that loveth violence his foul haieth. 
 Upon the wicked he Jhall ..i:eipt-fnares., fire and brimjloney 
 
 and an horrible tempejl: this fhali be the portion of 
 _ their cup. 
 
 AT a time when the happinefs, the 
 peace, the life itfelf of our parent- 
 ilate is in danger, — when flie appears ver- 
 ging on the crifis of her fate, from foreign 
 feuds and domeflic diffention 5— when the 
 A mother 
 
2 SERMON T. 
 
 mother-country beholds with a pitying eye 
 her darh'ng, though dillant, offspring bleed- 
 ing at every pore, yet waywardiy turning 
 from her with affe6led difdain, and feek- 
 ing relief from her ancient and unaherable 
 enemies; — at a time, when thofe enemies 
 exult in having infiduouily widened the 
 breach of natural affedlion between the pa- 
 rent and the child; — when they profeffedly 
 foment the difference, and^ inffead of enr 
 deavouring to clofe the wounds of recipro- 
 cal difcontent, provoke them to bleed with 
 frefh violence; it is with peculiar propriety 
 that the national fplrit, which iirff inilitu- 
 ted a foclety, formed to oppofe fuch infidu- 
 ous enemies, and to fupport the mutual in- 
 tcrefl of this country and its colonics, 
 fliould revive with frefli ardour, againft the 
 falfe friends and real enemies to both. 
 
 Do not we fee them " wickedly bend 
 their bow and make ready their arrow upon 
 the firing, that they may privily fhoot at 
 the upright in heart?"— Too upright in- 
 deed 
 
S E R M O N. L 3 
 
 deed, the heart of our gracious Sovereign, 
 to fufpedt the treachery by which the inte- 
 refts of the kingdom, and the dignity of 
 the crown have been ah'eady fecretly inju- 
 red. " But the Lord, faith the pfahnift, tri- 
 eth the righteous, whilft the wicked and 
 him that loveth violence his foul hateth,'* 
 
 It is with a truly patriotic zeal againft 
 fuch lovers of violence, (andfuch 1 pre- 
 fume, every one in this afiembly now re- 
 gards the French nation) that I could wiHi 
 to re-animate the breafl; of every jintigalli- 
 can, whofe philofophical philanthropy and 
 chriftian moderation have, during the in- 
 terval of peace, permitted its warmth to 
 fubfide; generouily harbouring no animcfity 
 againfl no apparent caufe of offence. 
 
 But the times appear to be changed. — 
 Offences are come : and woe, faith the 
 Scripture, be to him by Vv?hom the offence 
 Gometh, Like caufes fhouid produce like 
 eife(5l'^ : nor doth either Philofophy or Chri- 
 A 2 llianity 
 
4 ^ E R M O N I. 
 
 ftlanity oppofe the re-kindling of that hone {1 
 indignation, which naturally warms the 
 heart of an Engliihman againfl: Gallican 
 perfidy, infolence, and ingratitude. 
 
 In my endeavours to re-excite this fpirit, 
 however, I mean not to ufe the fhailow 
 artifice of vasfue and verbofe declamation. 
 The caufe is too good, too interefling, to 
 need fuch meretricious arts to recommend 
 it to your mofl: ferious, your moft folicitous 
 attention. It is the caufe of your Country, 
 your King, your God: — -For, in the natu- 
 ral difpenfations of Providence, individuals 
 are the necefTary inftriiments, by which 
 the perfidy of princes is brought to condign 
 punifl^ment : and to fuch punifhment, is 
 it fooner or later, infallibly fubje(?i:ed : for 
 *' the Lord's throne is in heaven, his eyes 
 behold, his eye -lids try the children of 
 men. Upon the wicked, therefore, he 
 raineth fnares, fire and brimftone, and an 
 horrible tempefl: ; this fhali be the portion 
 of their cup :" — a portion of v/hich that 
 
 proud 
 
SERMON I. ^ 
 
 proud and perfidious nation the French bit- 
 terly tafted, during the lafl war; and 
 which, under the vifitation of divine pro- 
 vidence it may poiTibly tafte again ; fhould 
 their pride and duplicity involve them in a 
 iimilar conteft. 
 
 For are not that deceitful people aptly 
 charadlerifed in the words of the Pfalmifl-, 
 when he fays of the wicked, " they fpeak 
 vanity every one with his neighbour : with 
 flattering lips and a double heart do they 
 fpeak." — But the Lord, continues the Di- 
 vine Lyrift, " fhall cut off all flattering lips, 
 and the tongue that fpeaketh proud things." 
 
 Leaving the flattery of elocution, there- 
 fore, I propofe, in a limple and unadorned 
 way of argument, as the mofi: fuitable both 
 to the fubjed: and occafion of this difcourfe, 
 to infift concifely on two points ; 
 
 Firft, on the loyalty and duty of patrio- 
 tic aiTociations in general, and on that of 
 
 the 
 
6 SERMON I. 
 
 the Antigallicans, this day afTembled, in 
 particular. 
 
 Secondly, on the propriety and utility of 
 the principal objedls of their ihflitution. 
 
 In regard to xhejirj^, much hath been 
 lately iniifted on, by pompous declaimers, 
 in favour of that fentimental benevolence, 
 which Is now fo generally affefled toward 
 all mankind ; as if the family, friends, and 
 countrymen of fuch cofmopolites were ob- 
 jects infufficient to engrofs all that milk of 
 human kindnefs, with which their fufcepti- 
 ble bofoms fo copioufly overflow. 
 
 With thefe an attachment to peculiar per-- 
 fons aad places, to particular communities 
 or countries, is reprobated as too narrow 
 and illiberal an affeAion, to fuit with 
 minds of fo comprehenfive, fo beneficent a 
 capacity ! 
 
 With thefe, patriotifm itfelf is defpifed as 
 a felfilli, p-rty fpirit, nor is any objedl 
 
 worthy 
 
SERMON T. 7 
 
 worthy o^ their dlffufive benevolence, whicli 
 doth not iryclude (fetting Heaven out ot the 
 queflion) at Icaft both terreflrial heml- 
 fpheres. 
 
 It hath been fhrewdly remarked, how- 
 ever, by an accurate obferver * of human 
 nature, that thefe unlverfal philanthrophifts 
 poffefs really lefs of that kindnefs, than ma- 
 ny of thofe, who are lefs liberal preten- 
 ders to it. It hath been fald, that they, 
 who boafl: fo much love for human kind in 
 general, have but little to beftow on any in- 
 dividual, and that the man who is not a 
 friend to himfelf is feldom really fo to any 
 of his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Splf-lpve is, indeed the firft principle In 
 our nature, and to this, properly under- 
 {l:pod and extended, is owing the love we 
 truly bear to the reft of mankind, 
 
 Confidering univerfal benevolence in the 
 light of a religious duty, we muft con- 
 
 fefs 
 
 * Pvoufleau 
 
g SERMON r. 
 
 fefs with the prophet, that we have all 
 one common Father. Created by the 
 fame God, who, in the words of 
 the Ap®ftle, hath made of one blood, all 
 nations of men, and is King over all the 
 earth; men of all nations fliould, there- 
 fore, live friends, as they are born brethe- 
 ren ; but in a moral and political view, the 
 univerfal adoption of this fentiment ap- 
 pears impra6licable. Nay, the love which, 
 in a partial and peculiar degree, every man 
 ihould feel for his native country, as dif- 
 tinguiflied from the reft of the v/orld, is fa 
 far from being forbidden in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, that it is there mofl llron^ly incul- 
 cated. 
 
 It were to enter too much into detail, ta 
 remark the ftrong exprelTions of St. Paul, 
 refpeding thofe who negledled the houfe- 
 hold and brotherhood of the Saints: let us 
 revert only to the admirable patriotifm of 
 Mofes; who, pleading in behalf of even 
 a ftubborn, ungrateful people, went fo far 
 
 as 
 
SERMON t ^ 
 
 zs to make their exculpation or forgivenefs, 
 the condition of his own acceptance with 
 God. " Mofes returned unto the Lord, 
 and faid, oh, this people have finned a 
 great fin, —they have made themfelves 
 Gods of gold!" — And here let me interrupt 
 the divine law giver for a moment, and 
 afk, " where, and who, are tLe people, 
 that have not made themfelves Gods of 
 gold?" 
 
 In the behalf of his nation, neverthelefs, 
 Mofes fiill urged his patriotic prayer — Yet, 
 " if thou wilt, — forgive their fins ; and if 
 ■not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book 
 of life, which thou haft written 1" 
 
 But Mofes, It may be profanely faid, was 
 a leader, and might be inflamed, if not 
 intoxicated, with popularity. This cannot 
 be faid of the mournful captives who hung 
 their filent harps on the willows of Baby- 
 lon. — " By the rivers of Babylon they fat 
 down, they wept while they remembered 
 Sion. " 
 
 B The 
 
10 SERMON t 
 
 The infulting victors required of them 
 mirth, faying — • " fing us one of the fongs 
 of Zion." — " How, repHed the vanquifhed 
 patriot, " can we fing the Lord's fong in a 
 ftrange land. — If I forget thee, O Jerufa- 
 leiTJ, let my right hand forget its cunning. 
 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth, yea, if I 
 prefer not Jerufalem above my chief joy.'* 
 
 Not to proceed to the fpirlt of retaliation, 
 which clofes the pfalm, we are fufficiently 
 authorifed by this example, to maintain the 
 religious, as well as the moral, propriety 
 of that partiahty for our native country, 
 which excites us to prefer its peace and 
 profperity before thofe of all others ; and, 
 of courfe, to promote its peculiar welfare. 
 
 It muft, neverthelefs, be candidly own- 
 ed, that national refledlions, ufually founded , 
 on national prejudices, are frequently un- 
 juft, when applied to individuals. This re- 
 flexion, however, by no means renders 
 them in general falfe or ill-founded. 
 
 Every 
 
S E R M ON I. fi 
 
 , Every nation hath undeniably fome fort 
 of charadler, and that founded on charac- 
 terlftics, if not altogether peculiar, in fome 
 degree, particularly applicable to Itfelf. 
 
 The fufpiclous cunning, and defigning 
 duplicity of the French, hath been fo often 
 experienced, that their national perfidy is 
 notorious : — the Gallica Fides, like the 
 Tunica Fides of old, is become prover- 
 bial, — a by-word among the nations. 
 
 On the other hand, the unfufpeding 
 probity, and undeligning limpllcity of 
 the Englifh, are equally known; In fo 
 much that the confidence they place on 
 thofe who have been guilty of repeated 
 deceptions, juftly impeaches their preten- 
 fions to that neceflary caution which is in- 
 feparable from national prudence and found 
 policy. 
 
 In proportion to that confidence, how- 
 ever, hath been the warmth of their re- 
 fentment agalnft the detected authors of 
 $ z impofitlon 
 
iz 
 
 S E R M O N L 
 
 iinpofitlon and deceit. This ardour of re- 
 fentment alio, hath been in fuch cafes 
 laudable and virtuous ; no lefs becoming" 
 them as patriots and citizens, than as men 
 and Chrlftians. 
 
 On a religloils account, we might infift 
 further on the necelTity of making a more 
 partial diftlndion between our Galilean 
 r.eighbours and our fellow-fubjeds ; but as 
 the fplrit of religious toleration has fo hap- 
 pily prevaded this nation, almoft through- 
 out ail ranks and degrees of people, and 
 even prevails, in fome degree, in mofii 
 parts of Chriftendom, let us be filent on fo 
 odious and obnoxious a fubjecR:, as religi- 
 ous Intolerancy ; hoping that we are the 
 lefs in danger, as we are iefs In fear of 
 thofe once juftly terrible objeds—popery 
 Sindi ilavery. 
 
 And yet If In a religious view, we have 
 little to fear from the errors of the Galilean 
 church, we have not the lefs to appre- 
 hend 
 
SERMON I. ij 
 
 hend from the intrigues of the French 
 ftate; and, therefore, conceiving that I 
 have fufficiently demonftrated the loyahy 
 and duty of patriotic affociations in gene- 
 ral, as well as of that particularly inflituted 
 to oppofe the French influence in this coun- 
 try, I proceed to the fecond head of my 
 difcourfe ; to enforce the utility of the 
 particular objedls of fuch inflitution. 
 
 One would imagine that in a country^ 
 complimented by oth^r nations as the pecu- 
 liar refidence of good fenfe and fober 
 thinking, there would be little danger of 
 its adopting the cuftoms, manners, and 
 drefs of its moft capricious, unthinking, 
 and frivolous neighbours ; and this more 
 efpecially in a country of manufa(5lurers and 
 commerce, in which fuch adoption is not 
 only inconliilent with the native difpolition 
 and genius of the inhabitants ; but is effen- 
 tially detrimental to their public as well as 
 private interefl:. Yet fo powerful is the 
 influence of that idol faihionj that we often 
 
 fee 
 
14 S E R Al O N L 
 
 fee even the gre;it and the good, the gen- 
 tie and the limple, almoft equally bound 
 in its chains; indulging themfelves in the 
 gratification of their tafte for foreign pro- 
 duce, or wearing the fantaftical badge of 
 foreign foppery. 
 
 Is it that the fruits of their vintage, the 
 labours of their loom, or the ingenuity of 
 their artifts or artifans excell thofe of En- 
 gland ? — By no means, — the ingenuity and 
 induftry of the inhabitants of this kingdom, 
 excell thole of any nation on the face of 
 the earth : fo far, indeed, have the arts 
 and fciences fubjedled even nature to their 
 controul in this happy iHand, that the 'ri- 
 gours of a northern climate, and the un- 
 wholfome influence of a changeful atmo- 
 iphere, are hardly permitted to exert their 
 baneful effedls. 
 
 To the fmiling fkies and fummer funs of 
 many other boafted countries, indolence and 
 ineptitude prefent the miferable fcene of 
 
 penury 
 
SERMON I. 15 
 
 nnry and diftrefs; uncultivated lands, un- 
 fhcltered Inhabitants, barrennefs and naked- 
 nefs, the conflant concomitants of dullnefs 
 and floth, reflcdling an ungrateful return 
 to the beneficent afpeft of the Heavens. 
 On the contrary, in England, fo happy, are 
 the effe(5ls of political liberty, and fo diffufed 
 are the conveniencies of life, that we look 
 up with even complacency at the lovv-ering 
 clouds, fecure, in a comfortable protedlion, 
 from their inclemency. 
 
 Covet we even the luxuries of life? — 
 Scarcely can the head devife, or the heart 
 defire a greater diverfity of unneceffary gra- 
 tifications, than the arts of luxury are daily 
 inventing for the ornament and amufement 
 of the opulent and the indolent of this king- 
 dom, without having recourfe to exotic frip- 
 pery. 
 
 Of almoft every ufeful and interefting im- 
 provement, of almoft every noble and grace- 
 ful ornament, is this country the unrivalled 
 author. Of this the unbounded eftimation, 
 in which our moft trifling manuflidlures are 
 
 held 
 
,6 SERMON I. 
 
 held thronghout Europe, Is an undeniable 
 proof. 
 
 And is it becoming, — decent, or pru- 
 dent, — nay, is it not to the higheft degree 
 abfurdj — to undervalue our own produdl- 
 ons, merely becaufc they are ours, and to 
 enhance the Imaginary value of thofe of 
 others, becaufe they are theirs^ 
 
 Is it poffible that even the mofl: gay and 
 volatile among the daughters of Britain, 
 whofe liniles at once Infpire the zeal of the 
 loyal, and reward the valour of the brave,, 
 fhould be infenfible of the impropriety of 
 encouraging the enemies to their king and 
 country, by promoting the confumption of 
 either the produce or productions of foreign 
 importation. Mufi: we continue ftlll to re- 
 probate the lovely rebels as manlfefl: traitors 
 to. the civil confhtutlon, or may- we hope for 
 their flattering reformation, by their rq- 
 lignlng the proverbial prerogative of their 
 fex, and their chearful acquiefcence with 
 
 the 
 
S E R M ON I. i-T 
 
 the laudable rule and example of the 
 Antigalllcan Society, in the voluntary pro- 
 hibition of the ufc of fuch Articles of luxur}-, 
 as are imported from France. Let irbe con- 
 iidered, that to do the latter is eventually 
 to weaken the arms of the wicked, and to 
 difable him from bendiQg the bow, and 
 making ready his arrow upon the firing, 
 to fhoot at the upright in heart* 
 
 Next to the encouragement of imported 
 fopperies, to the enriching of our national 
 enemies refiding abroad, is the evil of en- 
 couraging their too numerous migration into 
 this country 5 to deprive the induilrious na- 
 tive of his biith-right, and to vitiate the 
 liberal and manly principles of free-born 
 Britons, with the meannefs of fervility, and 
 the bafenefs of deceit. Voltaire, one of the 
 greatell: geniuffes of the French nation, 
 hath been pleafed to ftile the Englifh the Sa- 
 vages of Europe, May they flill remain ob- 
 noxious to that title, rather than exchange 
 their fkicerity and probity for the affe<5tation 
 C of 
 
i8 S E R M ON I. 
 
 of falfe delicacy and enervating refine- 
 ment! — ^Tnie polltenefs Is an Innate vlrtne^ 
 and does not confift in the mere poliili of 
 exterior ccremonv; of which, even if it did, 
 this national detractor betrays himfelf, even 
 in this very inftance, to be favagely deficient. 
 
 Should it be objec^led, that the imperti- 
 nence of an individual iliould not be charged 
 on a whole nation, the objedlion would b& 
 admitted, did not the fuperior genius of that 
 individual, with a fuperior degree of vanity, 
 congenial to that of his country, re-echa 
 only the voice of his nation. And are a peo- 
 ple, whoaffed: to regard us as Savages, who 
 hold us fo cheap as to think us undeferving 
 the natural confidence between man and 
 man; who have endeavoured to feduce our 
 fellow fubje£ts from their allegiance to their 
 King, and their love to their mother coun- 
 try.—Shall fiieh a pcopk continue to be re- 
 garded by us as civilized and polite? — For- 
 bid k Juftice !— Forbid it Decency !■— Forbid 
 it th-e fpiritof our Eritidi anceiiors! — That 
 
 fplrit 
 
SERMON I. 19 
 
 fpirlt which fnggefted, planned, and hath 
 hitherto preferved the prefent inftitution ! 
 
 Nor is the mere deteftation of the wicked, 
 when they have adually bent the bow, and 
 made ready their arrow on the Hiring, fiilTi- 
 cient. Juftiiiable as miy be fiient contempt 
 towards a difarm-jd and inactive enemy, the 
 cafe is otherwife, when he is a<5tually in 
 arms. — Self-defence, the firfl law of nature, 
 the love of our country, the firll: moral duty 
 in civil fociety, urge us to more adive re- 
 fentment. In conformity, accordingly, to 
 fuch fuggeftions, and in confequence of fuch 
 motives, I have a peculiar fatisfadtion in 
 announcing, from this place, the defign of 
 this laudable Society to ftrengthen the hands 
 of government, at this time, as it hath for- 
 merly done, by furnifhing, at its own ex- 
 pence, a number of lads for the fervice of 
 the navy, that natural bulwark of our 
 ifland, its befl defence againft hoftile in- 
 vaders, and one of the greateft fecurities of 
 its honour and independence among the 
 nations, C z ' To 
 
20 SERMON I. 
 
 To the conlideration of the national ad- 
 vantage arifing fromfo prudential and pub- 
 lic fpiritcd an expedient, may be added 
 the plcaling refledlion of the general bene- 
 fit which the community may eternally 
 reap, by the removal of a prefent nuifance 
 from the bofom of fociety, as well as the 
 particular one it may prove to the nowde- 
 flitute, and too probably difiblute, indivi- 
 duals, who are the immediate objefts of it. 
 While Chriftianity weeps, Humanity fhud- 
 ders at a furvey of the crouded flreets of 
 this metropolis. Mixed among the honell, 
 the bufy, and induftrious, how many 
 hundreds, (may I not fiy, how many thou- 
 fands) do we not fee of dillioncfl-, idle, and 
 diforderly youth : boys bred to no regular 
 occupation, trained to no flated labour, re- 
 trained by no mafter, fupported by no 
 friend, cherifhed by no parent ; fome, no 
 doubt, orphans, that never knew a parent; 
 forfaken foundlings thrown upon the mer- 
 cy of a mercilefs world, at their very en- 
 trance into life ! Of what ufe, either to 
 
 fociety 
 
SERMON I. 5t 
 
 foclety or themielves, can fuch unhappy 
 obje6ls be expe6led to prove? — To what 
 purpofc do they lire ?— And, in what 
 manner, i.s it to be feared, they may not 
 die ! Common humanity requires, and 
 civil policy demands, that fuch deflitute 
 youth fhould be provided for ; — that the 
 well difpofed (if wonderfully any fuch 
 iliould be found) ihould be cherifhed and 
 encouraged, and the diflblute, (to be fear- 
 ed the more numerous) if poffibie, be re- 
 claimed ; and both in any cafe employed, 
 in fuch a manner, as may beft prevent the 
 evils to be apprehended, both to thcm- 
 felves and fociety, from their abandoned^ 
 their forlorn iituation. — But in a time of 
 general and profound peace, where is fuch. 
 employment to be met with? — Modern 
 policy,-.- 'hotwithftanding the vigilance of 
 the magiflrate, and the multiplicity of our 
 penal laws, hath not as yet difcovered a re- 
 medy for this domeftic evil. Hence it is 
 that in the courfe of Divine Providence, 
 
 even the calamity of war becomes fo far 
 
 ufeiul 
 
It SERMON I. 
 
 nfeful, as to afford an opportunity of remo- 
 ving from the body politic, thofe dreadful 
 plagues to its inteftine ceconomy, " the 
 cankers of a calm world and a long peace.'* 
 — In obeying the didlates of humanity, and 
 difcharging the duties of Chriftianity, it is 
 thus not only becoming the wifdom, but 
 worthy the benevolence of fo laudable an 
 Aflbciation, to make their obedience to 
 thofe didlates and difcharge of fuch duties, 
 to coincide with the polidcal welfare of the 
 ftate. There is, indeed, .a fingular policy 
 in making the internal evils of fociety fub- 
 fervient to its external good; of making 
 the moft ufeful and hurtful of our own 
 countrymen the inftruments of chaflife- 
 nient to our foreign enemies. Confidered 
 in this light, therefore, the defign of the 
 Society cannot I trufl, in this inflance fail 
 to meet with the cordial approbation and 
 liberal fupport of every friend to humanity 
 and his country. 
 
 Hero 
 
SERMON I. 23 
 
 Here then might I clofe the prefent dif- 
 courfe, did not the avowed pnrpofe of this 
 Society's inftitution, fuggeft a fervent and 
 unfeigned wiili for the reconciliation of 
 the once happily united mother-country and 
 its colonies 5 againft the peace and profpe- 
 rity of both which, the French nation, like 
 the wicked ones of my text, have bent the 
 bow, and made ready their arrow upon the 
 firing. With what gladnefs of heart will 
 not every true Briton, whether European 
 or American, receive the joyful tidings of 
 fuch a reconciliation ? — And with what a 
 jufl: indignation might they not both unite, 
 in fuch circumflances to punifh their com- 
 mon enemy, the Court of France; — di- 
 redting the Britifh thunder to fulminate on 
 their perfidious heads ; — pouring down 
 that horrible tempell, which the Pfalmif!: 
 denounces againft the wicke*.', and them 
 that love violence. 
 
 A ftill fuperior motive to a reconciliation 
 with our American brethren, muft animate 
 
t4 S E R M ON L 
 
 tlic breafl: of the Chrijiian, and panlcuLir- 
 ly of every one, to whom is committed 
 the facred, the important, charge of difFu- 
 iing the blcliings of the gofpel, and of 
 preaching peace and good-will to men, 
 throughout the whole earth : the convcr- 
 fion of the heathen and the propogation 
 ofchriftian. knowledge, among the nntu-- 
 tored Indians, fo liberally promoted by the 
 clergy, and other piouily difpofed perfons 
 in. this country, cannot tail of receiving a 
 violent check from our prefcnt unhappy 
 difpute with America. 
 
 It were yet m vain to hope for concilia- 
 tion with our eft ranged and diftant bre- 
 thren, with the happy confequences attend- 
 ing it, if the bond of union be not firmly 
 knit among the brotherhood at home. — It 
 were in vain to hope for fuccefs againft an 
 infiduous foreign enemy, if diftra6led by 
 divilions, and embroiled by party-differ- 
 ences among domedic friends. A houfe 
 divided againft itfclf, cannot l^and. Let 
 me, therefore, cill upon every fubje(?l: of 
 
 Britain, 
 
S E R AI O N I. 25 
 
 Britain, upon ail thofe who have enjoyed 
 the ineftlmable privileges of Britifh liberty, 
 on this or the other fide of the Atlantic. — 
 Let me conjure them to lay afide the fplrit 
 of party and private intereft, to join in the 
 general aim for the public good ! — Be our 
 reciprocal offences, as Englifhmen, buri- 
 ed in oblivion, and our paCt errors forgot ; 
 by the whole Britifli Empire uniting hand 
 and heart as one man againfl the common 
 foe to its peace ! — The reftoration of 
 which, may the Divine Providence, in Its 
 own time, accord to our fervent prayers ; 
 bleffing and preferving the King and 
 Queen on the throne, and continuing the 
 fcepter in their illuflrious line to latefl 
 pofterity. 
 
 D 
 
SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THOMAS Earl of EFFINGHAM, 
 
 THE PRESENT GRAND, 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 GEORGE Lord De FERRARS, 
 
 LATE GRAND PRESIDENT, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE VICE PRESIDENTS, OFFICERS 
 
 AND THE 
 
 REST OF THE BRETHREN, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LAUDABLE ASSOCIATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ANTIGALLICANS, 
 
 AT THE PARISH CHURCH OF 
 
 A L D G A T E, 
 
 ON THEIR 
 
 GENERAL ANNUAL MEETING 
 On the 23d of A P R I L, '. 1779. 
 
PRAYER. 27 
 
 T O R D, Gud of Hofls ! in the tranfcendent 
 "^ majefty of whofe hands are the hearts of 
 kings and the tongues of the people, whofe voice 
 and will thou diredeft, whitherfoeVer thou j)leaf- 
 eil ! Taking fhame to ourfelves for want of re- 
 liance on thy proted:ing providence, permit us, 
 with the utmoft humility and contrition of heart, 
 to plead before thy throne, the only excufe, ag- 
 gravating as it is of our guilt, in alleviation of 
 fo great a crime ! — Our ingratitude, O Lord, for 
 thy fignal and manifold mercies, fo frequently 
 beftowed on us in times of danger and diftrefs, 
 imprelles oh iis fo deep a fenfe of our unworthi. 
 nefs, that nothing but the inexhauftible fund of 
 thy forgivenefs and favour, moH gracioufly offered 
 to repentant fmners, could encourage us flill to 
 hope in thymercy ! — Repeatedly as we have abu- 
 fed thy goiodnefs, in the protection of this forgetful 
 nation from the evils of foreign enmity and domef- 
 tic diflention we behold ourfelves ftill pofieffed of 
 thofe ineftimable privileges civil and religious, 
 which the natives of other countries ardently figli 
 after, and defpondently wifli for in vain! — Permit 
 us, O Lord, in this moment of fincere repentance 
 of our guilt, and returning fenfe of thefe thy iin'- 
 meritted bleffings, to pour out the heart-felt etfu- 
 lions ofconfcious gratitude before Thee; and, 
 in avowing our unfeigned repentance, to promife 
 amendment, in the conflant prefervation, as much 
 as the frailty of human nature will permit, of a 
 due fenfe of thofe manifold and inelVimable blefl- 
 ings we daily partake of, from thy goodnefs, as 
 well in our private capacity .as individuals, as in 
 our portirn of the public good, as members of 
 the community at large. — -That we may be en- 
 D 2 abled 
 
28 P R A Y E R. 
 
 abled alfo religioufly to perform this penitentiai 
 promifc, permit us to allv, through the merits 
 and mediation of our Lord and Saviour JeCus 
 Chrift, for the necelTary aid and ailiftance of thy 
 divine grace, without which fuch forgetful 1 and 
 fallible creatures as we are, mul\ ever be wanting 
 in the proper dllcharge of our duty both to God 
 and man ! 
 
 Blcfs and preferve, O Lord, our rightful! Sove- 
 reign King vjecrge, his royal Confort, and every 
 branch of his illullrious Ifne. Give to his coun- 
 fellors, wifdom and integrity, fagacity to plan and 
 magnaniraitv , to puriue the meafures of public 
 good — ^'r.vc fuccefs, O Lord, to our arms, both 
 by fe.i and land, and preferve among our com- . 
 manders that bravery of courage and integrity of 
 conduct, by which they are already fo eminently 
 dillinaT.h'hed.— Refliore, OLord, to our American 
 Cvjloiiies, that fpirit of conciliation, of sffcdtion 
 and duty to rheir Mother Country, from which 
 they have been fo long eilranged. Be it permitted 
 W3 alfo, O Lord, to pvay for the difappointment 
 and confufion of ihofe men of fraud and deceit, 
 _ wha have blown up the fire of difcontent, and 
 arc now fupponing thofe refradtory colonifls in 
 open war againil us. — 1 hou that biJdefl the rage af 
 the ocean be calm, and the tumults of the people 
 befliji! — Do thou, OLord, takirvgthe condudl 
 of our defence under thy Providential prore^flion, 
 bring in thy own due time, the prcfenr diil;refsfuU 
 national conflift to a happy iilue, to the reflorir- 
 tion of peace in all the borders of Zion, to the 
 completion of her bbffings in thy hearing of her 
 prayer^, and the exertion of her gratitude in her 
 iingmg thy praife.— -Hear us, O G<"^d, for the lake 
 of thy Son, our Lord Jefiis Chrift. in whole &^. 
 
[ '9 1 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE 
 
 LAUDABLE ASSOCIATION 
 
 O F 
 
 A N T I G A L L I C A N S, 
 On THE 23d OF APRIL, 1779, 
 
 PSALM, LV. V. 21. 23. 
 
 War was in his heart : his words were fofter than oil^ 
 
 yet were they drawn fwords. 
 But bloody and deceitful men flmll not live half their 
 
 days ! 
 
 IN the difconrf^, I was called upon to 
 deliver on the lafl: annlverfary of the 
 inftitiition of the Antigallican Society, I was 
 led equally by circumftance and occafion. 
 to expatiate, on the known perfidy of the 
 French nation, in general^ as well as the 
 
 particular 
 
p S E R M O N IL 
 
 particular reafon then afforded us to charge, 
 that treacherous people with having, like 
 the wicked, bent their bow, and made 
 ready their arrow on the ftring, privily to 
 ilioot at the upright in heart. 
 
 Corroborating: cireumftances, have lince 
 fo far confirmed the propriety of that 
 charge againft the French King, that we 
 may add with equal truth, in the words of 
 my prefent context, " he hath put forth his 
 hands againfl: fuch as were at peace with 
 him; he hath broken his covenant:" for 
 "war was in his heart, and though his 
 words were fmoother than oil, yet were 
 they drawn fwords." It is on this charac- 
 teriftic quality of our Callican neighbours. 
 On their detefted, their proverbial perfidi- 
 oufnefs, I mean to dwell, as being evi- 
 dently the great fource of thofe evils^ 
 under which the Britifh nation and her 
 American colonics are at prefent fo deeply 
 Involved. — Putting our might, however, 
 in God, as we are encouraged by the Pfalm- 
 
 ift. 
 
SERMON II. 3T 
 
 ift, implicitly relying on his facred promife, 
 that he will bring the deceitful to deftrudi- 
 pn ; let us take a retrofpedl only of the few 
 interefling events, which have happened du- 
 ring the fhort interval, fince we met lail: on 
 a like occafion, and we fhall find rcafon to 
 acknowledge that the Lord is indeed "a God 
 of truth, who abominates deceit ; that he is 
 not flack in performing his promife, but is 
 verily a buckler of defence, as well as a 
 Iword of defiance for ail that put their trufl 
 in hirn. — From the diitant regions, over 
 which the European dominion extends in 
 the eafl:, the tidings have flown on the 
 wangs of the yvi^d to proclaim Britifh vi6lo- 
 ry and Gallic defeat. — Defeat 1 did I fay ? 
 — An extirpation of the French power and 
 property from the continent of India. — In 
 the Weflern Indies, the news of their pi- 
 ratical furprife of one of our petty fettle- 
 ments had hardly arrived in Europe before 
 advices were received of the dreadful reta- 
 liation made on them at their own colony of 
 pt, Lucia : where againfl a force prodigi- 
 
 oufly 
 
p SERMON ir. 
 
 ouHy fuperlor, a gallant BritiHi Admiral, 
 not only defended and maintained his con- 
 queft, but obliged the defeated enemy to 
 retire, with fhame and confulion. — A vic- 
 tory this the moft fignally providential, and 
 affording a ftriking proof of the facred text -, 
 *' that the race is not to the fwlft, nor the 
 battle to the ftrong, but that, " in all cir- 
 cumflances, *Mhe battle is the Lord's." — 
 The relation, indeed, of the dreadful fire, 
 kept up by the Britlfh fhips agalnft the 
 Gallic Fleet and Army, in that glorious ac- 
 tion, recalls to mind, in the liveliefl: co- 
 lours of limllitude, the vv^ords of the Pfalm- 
 i{i in my former text ; when, in his de- 
 nunciation of the effedls of the Divine wrath 
 againfl the wicked, he faith, " he will 
 rain upon them fire and brlmflone, a hor- 
 rible tempefl, the portion of their cup." — 
 
 Of this portion, the deceivers have alrea- 
 dy tafled, and with the farther blefTmgs of 
 God on our arms, be it permitted us confi- 
 dently to hope, their cup will be juflly re- 
 
 plenlHied 
 
% 
 
 SERMON IT. 33 
 
 pleniflied till, like the cup of their Iniquity, 
 
 being full^ it runneth over. — For, we have 
 
 here the facred word of his promife ; that 
 
 the Lord will deftroy them that fpeak ka- 
 
 Jing ; for he abhors the bloody and deceit- 
 ful man, who fhall not live half his days. — 
 
 If, to inftances of the fuccefs of the Britifh 
 arms in adling offenfively againft this perfi- 
 dious enemy be added their defenlive 
 fuccefs in the protection of our commerce, 
 exhibiting at once the moft confummate 
 prudence, joined to the moft enterprifing 
 valour, we furely find reafon to found the 
 hope of better days than the gloom of de- 
 fpondency, for a time fo generally diffufed 
 o'er the land, prefented to view. 
 
 During the interval, when a temporary 
 cloud of inimical threatning hung over the 
 Weft India iflands, when the proprietors 
 of thofe valuable colonies were feized with 
 difmay at the danger they were fuppofed 
 to run from the force of the revolted pro- 
 
 E vinces 
 
34 S E R M O N IL 
 
 vinces on the American continent, nnna- 
 tiirally as unpolitically united with that of 
 oiir old and natural enemy ; even at the 
 time when the whole naval force of 
 France, infultingly braved the Britifh flag 
 on the Atlantic, did we not, even then, 
 (thanks to God, to the prudence as well as 
 valour of our naval chiefs) did we not fee 
 our mercantile fleets to a number unexam- 
 pled, fail fafely into our ports, as in time 
 of profound peace? — Did not, even then, 
 thofe late timorous, importunate, defpond- 
 irtg petitioners to the throne for protedion, 
 fecretly exulting, feel themfelves, like the 
 traders of Tyre and Sydon, that crowning 
 city; whofe merchants were princes, and 
 whofe traflickers were the honourable of 
 the earth? — 
 
 I give a flight ficetch of this retrofpedt, 
 
 in order to excite a grateful fcnfe, of the 
 
 benign difpenfations of Providence under 
 
 the prefent' generally calamitous ftate of 
 
 national circumltancc? ; and, at the fame 
 
 time., 
 
SERMON II. 3^- 
 
 ijme, to encourage a fpirit of hope and en- 
 terprife, which, I conceivCj may, not- 
 wlthftandlng part errors, or cjcn prefent 
 mlfcondndl, be juftly founded on reforma- • 
 tion and amendment, and on a firm reli- 
 ance on the promifes of Almighty God, 
 that he will not forfake or deceive thofe, 
 who fincerely put their trufl: in him. 
 
 The fincerity of this confidence muil be 
 made appear both by a moral and political 
 reformation ; by the pra6lice of private 
 virtue, as well as the exertion of public fpi- 
 rit; the joint coercions of which were 
 never more neceffary to redeem our nati- 
 onal credit, to re-ellablifli our interefts, 
 and to reftore domefllc peace than in the 
 prefent conjuncture. The cultivation of 
 private vlrtye is notj indeed, a topic to be 
 particularly infifted on, upon a public oc- 
 cafion, I fhall now content myfelf therefore 
 with recommending it, as every man's 
 bufinefs, home to his own bofom. — A pro- 
 per communion with his own heart will,. 
 E 2 under 
 
-6 S E R M O N IL 
 
 under the influence of Divine Grace, be 
 more efficacious, than any thing I could 
 with propriety at prefent enforce; and 
 equally refpeding the higheft as the loweft 
 individual, even were it addreffed to the 
 labourer in his cottage, or to the prince on 
 his throne : for the heart even of the King 
 is in the hand of the Lord, he turneth it 
 whitherfoever he will. — 
 
 Relying with humble boldnefs, there- 
 fore, on the all-wife difpenfations of that 
 gracious Providence, by whom kings reign 
 and princes decree juftice, I proceed to 
 enforce the propriety and neceillty of a vi- 
 gorous exertion of that national public fpirit, 
 w^hich, when properly exerted, hath hi- 
 therto, on all occalions expelled the vio- 
 lence and baffled the intrigues of thofe 
 blody and deceitful men, againfl whofe 
 wicked defigns, whether of fraud or force, 
 the Antigallican affociation was profelTedly 
 inftituted. 
 
 In 
 
SERMON II. 37 
 
 In urging the expediency of re-kindling 
 the ardour of national animofity, I might 
 aggravate, the meannefs, the bafenefs, if 
 fuch meannefs or bafenefs were capable of 
 aggravation, of deceit and impofitien. I 
 might paint, in the mofl: odious colours the 
 contemptible effedl it produces on the indi- 
 vidual : — I might rife in rhetorical declama- 
 tion on the ftillmore debaiing and deteilable 
 light it throws on kingdoms and ftates, on 
 political focieties and national communities ; 
 which being more dignified and majeftic 
 ought to be proportionably ingenious and 
 refpedable. I m.ight dwell, with peculiar 
 deteftation and horrour on that fanguinary 
 duplicity ot heart as well as tongue, which 
 induces this pretendedly polifhed and affect- 
 edly humane people to carry on even 
 avowed hoftilities by indirect and fmifler 
 means. — More than once have they been 
 known, as at the bloody fcene of Fontenoy, 
 to charge with unlawful materials of de- 
 ilrudion, in order to render wounds more 
 grievous, to fwell the carnage of death and 
 
 add 
 
3S S E R iM O N IJ. 
 
 add cruelty to flaiighter. — -And fhould we 
 impute to defperation, in the want of pro- 
 per ammiiition, the repeated a6ls of this 
 horrid nature, what fhall we fay to their 
 known and frequently avowed pradlice of 
 employing traiterous incendiaries to fire 
 dock-yards and unarmed inofFenfive com- 
 mercial towns? — Do not pra6lices like 
 thefe juftly denominate the abettors of them 
 bloody of heart, as well as deceitful of 
 tongue ? — I might, therefore, I fay parti 
 cularly enlarge on the juftice of applying to 
 the French nation the epithets of bloody and 
 deceitful^ and the defcriptive chara(5lerifticks 
 of impofture imputed to the wicked in my 
 text. — "Their words were fofter than oil, 
 iho' war was in their heart." — But the topic 
 is trite and hackney'd, the duplicity of 
 both tongue and heart in the French nation, 
 is infamous, as I have already obferved to 
 ^ proverb. And yet, notorious as it is to 
 the world, and fatally and frequently as 
 this country, in particular, hath experien- 
 ced it, ]\ow unaccountably are we flillmade 
 
 the 
 
S E R Al O N. IL 
 
 39 
 
 the dupes of the fame difingeniioiis artifice ! 
 As if, under the influence of a lovers infa- 
 tuation for an enemy formed for feduclion^ 
 we liften to the odious words that fail from 
 his lying lips, and, though repeatedly de- 
 ceived, are as ready as before to be deceived 
 again ! — 
 
 And doth not this unaccountable propen- 
 lity, in an ancient experienced nation, fo 
 often and fo fatally deceived, afford fome 
 excufe, among inexcufable errors, for our 
 deluded brethren of America. Revolted, 
 and refractory as they are, fallen from their 
 Allegiance to their King, and forgetful of 
 the duty they owe their political parent, the 
 mother country, furely they are fomewhat 
 excufable, amidft their high criminality, ia 
 that they be came, no doubt. In a great mea- 
 fure, thus forgetful, thus refradlory, thus 
 revolted and fallen, through the deceitful 
 arts of that inliduous enemy to their and 
 our profperity, — the court of France. If 
 the parcnt-ftate hath repeatedly fallen into 
 
 th« 
 
4a g E R M O N IL 
 
 the fnares cf Galilean perfidy, fhall flie 
 not look with fome compalTion on the fault, 
 the Jirjl fault, heinous as it is, and impaf- 
 fible to be forgiven, till it be repented of^ 
 into which the infant-flate—her political 
 child hath alfo fallen ?-^- 
 
 The perfonage and charadler of a French 
 jgotiator are emblematical e\ 
 father of lies and deceit himfelf. 
 
 negotiator are em.blematical even of the 
 
 Strikingly portrayed do we find fuch an 
 artful minirter of political intrigue in the 
 perfon of Belial, defcribed by the fublime 
 imagination of Milton. — ■ 
 
 In aclion graceful and humane. 
 He feemed for dignity compofed &; high exploit:^ 
 But all 'WOLS Jalfe and hollow — His tongue, ^ 
 T)roipp''d manna &: could make the u'or/f appear 
 The better rcafon to perplex and dafh 
 Maturejlcounje is— -for his thoughts were /azt', 
 To vice indujirious, but to nobler deeds 
 Timorous 3.ndJlothful, yet he pleafed the ear.-- 
 
 And through the ear, of courfe, found the 
 
 way 
 
S E R M O N II. 41 
 
 to the heart. Can the mother country then, 
 I fliy again, who hath herfelf been deceived 
 by the Galhc Belial, be implacable in her 
 refentment againll her young and unexpe- 
 rienced child, that hath fallen in the fame 
 fnare. Obilinate, indeed, is her retufal to 
 liften to offers of reconciliation : — aggrava- 
 ting her engagement into treaties 'offeniive 
 and defenfive againft her parent ftate with 
 her ancient and moll inveterate foe: — info- 
 lent the language. In which that foe is filled 
 her friend and protedor, and flill more 
 provoking that, in which the mother coun- 
 try her conftant protedlor and recent deli- 
 verer from that foe, is ftiled their common 
 enerhy. — Yet aggravating as are thefe cir- 
 cumftances, if w^e refledl on the arts of the 
 feducer and the inexperience of the fedu- 
 ced, perhaps fome mitigation of refentment 
 may be pleaded in favor of the latter. — In 
 the feverity of ftridl juftice, indeed, fo to- 
 tal a renunciation of a renewal of amity 
 may deprive the revolted Americans of a 
 right to terms, they have once refufed, 
 F fhould 
 
42 ' S E R M O N II. 
 
 fliould they hereafter be inclined to accept 
 them ; — ^bnt I fubmit it with deference to 
 our fuperiorsj would it not ill become 
 thofe, who have been repeatedly unable to 
 refifl: the fame fedudion to punifh fo fe* 
 verely, if they had It in their power, the 
 commiilion of the fame error.-— 
 
 Permit your Preacher, at leafl:, to in- 
 dulge his wifii, that the once peaceable and 
 fertile plains of the country, to which he is 
 attached bv the deareft and mofl: tender 
 ties, may be again reftored to the fame pri- 
 vileges of civil and religious liberty, which 
 they long enjoyed under the aufpices of 
 the Britifli Government; ere yet their delu- 
 ded inhabitants had made the.fatal exchange 
 of real for affe6led amity, not refledllng 
 that the Injiduous arts of a falfe friend are, 
 in effe6l, more fatal than the hoftile arms 
 of the iiercefl: foe. Attached to the Pro- 
 vince in which he was trained up from his 
 childhood, by the pleaiing recoliedlion of 
 the days of youthful expedation, when the 
 
 opening 
 
S E R M O N II. 43 
 
 opening |bud of life prefentcd the falref? 
 profpe^t of full-blown profperity, he ftill 
 cherifhes, after the cruelty of difappolnt- 
 ment, and the rudenefs of adverlity, a 
 fimllar affection for America, and from 
 fimilar motives, as did the exiled partriots 
 of Jerufalem, when carried away captive 
 to Babylon.— "= By the rivers of Babylon 
 they fat down, -yea they wept when they 
 remembered Zion" .- — ZIon, once the ha- 
 bitation of peace and the feat of plenty, 
 converted into a fcene of war and defo- 
 latlon.-— 
 
 Happy, indeed, Is It for the unfortnate 
 exiles from the revolted colonies, that they 
 were not driven into a Babylonifh Captivi- 
 ty. — They are not reduced to mourn their 
 misfortunes in lilence, to hang up their 
 harps on the willows, or to be infulted 
 with the taunts of the authors of their cap- 
 tivity, requiring of them to be merry, and 
 to fing the fongs of Zion In a ftrange land. 
 »— Thanks to the fupreme difpofer of human 
 F 2 events 
 
44 SERMON II. 
 
 events and to the humanity, the liberality 
 of Biitons; this Illand received us with 
 open arms, as our common mother coun- 
 try, enMing us with gratitude even t.o fing 
 the fongs of Zion in a diftant, though not a 
 ftrange land. The banks of the Thames 
 re-echo the grateful notes with a compla- 
 cency, that filences the voice of regret at 
 the dillance of our beloved foil and the once 
 rcfounding fhores of the Deleware. — Can 
 there, then, be an individual, who hath 
 experienced the effe6ls of this humanity, 
 this liberality, this beneficence, who che- 
 rifhes not, at the fame time, a wifli that 
 their influence fhould extend beyond the 
 Atlantic, and effedl that happy conciliation, 
 which would reflore their fellow-colonifts 
 to all thofc privileges, which their unhappy 
 defedion hath fatally forfeited ! — Or, can 
 there be 'an individual, at leafl, in this 
 congregation, whether a native, or an 
 adoDted fon of Great Britain, that is not 
 fired by the dillrefsful confequences, 
 
 with indignation, at the deceit and perfidy 
 
 of 
 
SERMON ir. 45 
 
 of a nation, agalnft whofe iniquitous and. 
 jnimical defigns, both open and concealed, 
 the members of the Antigallican afibciation 
 avowedly fet themfelves, as one man, to 
 counteradt and defeat ? 
 
 Among the many laudable purpofes of 
 this patriotic affociation, could there be one 
 more worthy of it, than a refolution to un- 
 deceive, ifpofTible, (at leafl: to attempt by 
 all poffible means) to undeceive our unhap- 
 pily-deluded colonics, as to their fatal con- 
 fidence, for fatal, in any cafe, mud prove 
 to them that confidence they place in their 
 prefent pretended allies. The French are 
 in. earneft to advife and even aflfifl: them 
 to refift the mother-country, while fuch 
 condu6l contributes to diflrefs her and de- 
 flroy them ; but no longer. What were 
 even the flattering promifes, the feeming 
 fupport that deceitful nation gave the adhe- 
 rents to the unfortunate Stewarts, in the 
 two Rebellions, they promoted even the 
 heart of this iiland, fince the acceffion of 
 
 the 
 
46 SERMON II. 
 
 the prefent family to the throne? — Were 
 fuch promifes and fupport of any farther 
 efficacy than to delude and betray thofe, 
 who confide in them, to their ruin ? — In- 
 fluenced by no motives, but thofe of felf- 
 intereft and felf-fufficiency they would rife 
 not their heft friend farther up than was ne- 
 ceffary, to make him an inftrument in 
 pulling fome enemy down : and, that once 
 effeded, the nextfep would be to reduce 
 that infrumental friend to his former or a 
 hiver level, — Indeed what motive fhould 
 induce France to befriend America? — Is 
 the Gallic nation, who are notorioufly, both 
 prince and people, the advocates for defpo- 
 tifm ; — the fubjedl as fubmliTive a flave as 
 the Sovereign an arbitrary monarch ; — can 
 fuch a nation, I fay, be really In earnefl to 
 emancipate the Americans from the yoke 
 of Britifli oppredlon? — Can they be in 
 earnefl to obtain for foreigners, their recent 
 foes, thofe bleilings which they themfelves 
 defpife ? — Is it for thofe, who are incon- 
 
 fclous of the valuable rights of civil and re- 
 ligious 
 
SERMON II. 47 
 
 liglous liberty themfelves, to fet np for 
 vindicators of thofe rights for others ? — 
 What more than political quixotifm is this ? 
 No. Be their preteniions, their promifes 
 what they may, their real defign and in- 
 tentions are of a different complexion. 
 Though peace be on their tongues, war is 
 in their hearts ; though their words be 
 fofter than oil, they will be found, even to 
 their new friends, drawn fwords. — -Should 
 the Americans even fucceed by the proffer- 
 ed affiftance of France, fo far as to efta- 
 blifh their political independence, dearly 
 muff they pay the price of Gallican per- 
 fidy. — Dearly, indeed, will they abide the 
 boaft fo vain of a French alliance. Or, 
 were it otherwife for a while, to ivhom 
 would America apply on the firft pretextj 
 (and pretexts a French court would foon 
 find) for difagreement. Would fuch no- 
 minal independents apply to Britain agalnft 
 a Gallican enemy ? And where elfe could 
 they apply to prevent their becoming on the 
 firft . rupture the conquered coloniff s of 
 
 France ? — 
 
45 SERMON IT, 
 
 France ? — If they prefer not, therefore th6 
 becoming flaves to popery and the arbitra- 
 ry power of a French King, to the being 
 fubjed to a proteftant prince and the limn 
 ted power of a Britlili Government, It is 
 an Infatuation In them amounting to little 
 lefs than Frenzy, to accept of fo fhort- 
 lived an independency from the power of 
 France. — On the other hand, fhould they 
 not fucceed in their foftered hopes of even 
 fuch flattering Independency, will It be ei- 
 ther In the will or power of that nation to 
 prevent the flightefl mortification, they 
 muft feel at being reduced to their former 
 dependence and obedience ?^ — No. Their 
 prefent abettors, will, like the grand fedu- 
 cer of mankind, be the firft to reproach 
 them with the fpirit of Rebellion, and to 
 point the finger of fcorn at their troubles^ 
 m the day of diftrefs. 
 
 Their prefent hope. Indeed, that this day 
 of fcorn and derifion may not come upon 
 them, are founded on the very arts of de- 
 ception 
 
SERMON II. 49 
 
 ceptlon by which they have thcmfelves 
 been deceived : fallacious hopes ! They 
 pofTefs themfelves ftrongly with the preju- 
 dice, that the fame powers of perfuafion 
 which prevailed in their councils, will pre- 
 vail on the court of Spain, to engage in a 
 caufe adopted by a power, with which it is 
 known to be in a clofe and moft intimate 
 political connexion. — To judge by the paft 
 efFe(5ls of Gallic perfuafion and perfidy, luch 
 an event is far from being placed beyond 
 the bounds of probability ; but, if Provi- 
 dence fo order it, let us refolutely meet 
 the deftined event. In this, alfo, to judge 
 of future events from the pafl:, the clr- 
 cumftance is not to be dreaded. Bri- 
 tain hath hardfy ever fuffered more, from 
 the arms of France and Spain united, 
 than fhe hath done from thofe-of either 
 alone. If the peril be greater, and there 
 be more enemies to encounter, vidory 
 hath more laurels, and more prizes to be- 
 llow on the conquerors. — At the fame 
 time, to meet fo formidable a force, as that 
 G of 
 
so 
 
 SERMON IL 
 
 oftwofuch boflile powers united, it is ex- 
 pedient that we ftiould be armed at ali 
 points, and prepared to repel it. To pro- 
 mote this prepartion, permit me to recom- 
 mend with the warmeftandiincereft zeal the 
 exertion of that patriotic and praife worthy 
 fpirit of national partiality and naval enter- 
 prize, which have on former occafions dif- 
 tinguifned, as v,'eli the Ailbciation of Anti- 
 gallicans, as many public fpirited individu- 
 als, who have liberally and largely rifked 
 their private fortunes for the general good. 
 — To the hojiour of the Ladies, and thofe 
 Ibmeofthe iiril: difiin6i.ion, I might here 
 make an eulogium on fuch as have contrr- 
 buted to the equipment of private fhips of 
 war, generoufly beftowing the reward of 
 their luccefs on thofe brave fons of the 
 waves w4io fo hardly earned, and courage- 
 oufly deferved k. 
 
 On one circumftance of a different na- 
 ture, the evil of v/hich is grown to an 
 alarming and enormous licighth, let me 
 
 dwell 
 
S E R AI O N II. 51 
 
 dwell for a moment. This Is the pra6llce 
 of defrauding the cufloms by a contraband 
 illicit trade ; a pradlice, which, however 
 iighdy it may hitherto have been confidered 
 under the vulgar term of fmuggling, is an 
 offence that, both in a moral and political 
 view, cannot but be confidered as highly cri- 
 minal in the offender, as it is prejudicial to 
 individuals and the public. Even our 
 American troubles, as well as the fuccefs of 
 French impofition and artifice may be impu- 
 ted, in a great degree to this corrupted 
 fource. It is a pra6lice, that carries with it, 
 at once, the bafenefs of fraud, the cruelty 
 of robbery, and the criminality of treafon. 
 For what but a cheat, a robber, and a tiai- 
 tor to his country. Is he, who, by evading 
 the payment of legal impoffs, underfells 
 the trader, and robs the public treafury of 
 the fair means of making war, or of obtain- 
 ing peace. — 
 
 Of the particular views and proceedings 
 
 of the Andgallican Affociation, 1 have, at 
 
 G a prefent 
 
52 SERMON IL 
 
 prefent little to add of the printed abflrad 
 of its rife and progrefs, annexed to my lafl 
 anniverfary difcourfe. — It may not be im- 
 proper to mention, however, that fince lafl 
 year meafures have been liiggefied by an 
 honourable and worthy Brother, whofe la-^ 
 hours of love for the promotion of the aflb- 
 ciation are too well known to require here 
 an enumeration, and thofe meafures adopt- 
 ed for the eftablifhment of a fund for the 
 relief of fuch induflrious members of the 
 afTociation, as have unfortunately come to 
 decay. The fociety hath alfo made provi- 
 fion for the fitting out of more that twice 
 their former number of lads, for the fea- 
 fervice. — This is, indeed, a favourite obje(5l 
 of the affociation, which they anxioufly 
 wifh to be enabled flill farther to extend^ 
 as being of a peculiar fervice to a maritime 
 and commercial country. — It is indeed an 
 obje(5l, which reverberates on my ear the 
 words of the prophet. — "^'Be thou afhamed, 
 P Zidon : for the fea hath fpoken, even 
 
 the 
 
SERMON II. ^3 
 
 the ftrength of the fea, faying, I travail 
 not, nor bring forth children, neither do I 
 nourifh up young men." — That this great 
 metropolis, likeZidon, the mart of nations, 
 may not merit the like reproach, but exert, 
 in every refpedl, that fpirit of loyalty and 
 public virtue, which is the duty of all, who 
 enjoy the bleflfmgs of providence, under 
 the prote(5lion of civil Government, — may 
 God of his infinite mercy grant, to whom 
 be^ &c. 
 
A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 PARISH CHURCH OF 
 
 St. ANN, L I M E H O U S E, 
 
 FOR THE BENEFIT (XW 
 
 POOR MARRIED WOMEN, 
 
 LYING-IN AT 
 
 THEIR OWN HOUSES. 
 
[ 57 ] 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 PREACHED fOR 
 
 THE BENEFIT OF 
 POOR MARRIED WOMEN, 
 
 Lying-in at their own Houfes. 
 
 GENISES XVI. V. ir. 
 
 And the Angel of the Lord faid unto her-, behold, thou art 
 with child, and Jlialt bear a fon, and jhalt call his iiatne 
 Jjlmiael 3 becaufe the Lord hath heard thy affli£iion^ 
 
 THOUGH patience and refignation 
 under the fufferance of thofe forrows, 
 which Divine Juftice denounced on the dif- 
 obedience of our firft parents, be the indif- 
 penfable duty of every daughter of Eve ; 
 it is no lefs incumbent on every daughter 
 and fon of Adam, to mitigate thofe forrows, 
 H as 
 
58 S E R M O N III. 
 
 as far as Divine Providence hath pm in their 
 power the means of alleviation. In that 
 portion of I^ly Scripture, now more im- 
 mediately before v.s, we have an early in- 
 ilance of the .peculiar interpofition of that 
 Providence in behalf of a poor outcafi ; an 
 Egyptian bond-woman of the houfehoid of 
 Abraham, — ofHagar, the handmaid of his 
 aged and barren confort, Sarah ; — who, for 
 the pious purpofe of railing children to that 
 highily favoured Patriarch, gave her after 
 the cuftom of thofe primitive ages, to her 
 hufbandAbrahamto wife. The confequence 
 of this indulgence on the part of the mif- 
 trefs naturally produced high thoughts and 
 imperious behaviour on that of the maid; 
 in whofe eyes, when fhe found flie had 
 conceived, her barren miftrefs became def- 
 picable. Then '' Sarai fald unto Abraham, 
 rny v/rong be upon thee; I have given my 
 maid into thy bofom ; and Vv'hen fhe faw 
 tha': file had conceived, I v/as defpifed In 
 her eyes : the Lord judge between me and 
 
 thee ; but Abraham, faid unto Sarah, behold, 
 
 thy 
 
S E R M ON II. S9 
 
 thy maid is in thy hand, do to her as It 
 plcafeth thee. And when Sarah dealt hard- 
 ly with her, JJje tied from her face." ^nd 
 yety under all thefe circumflances, even un- 
 der the complicated guilt of infolenceand in- 
 gratitude, the Angel of the Lord found 
 her by a fountain of water in the wilder- 
 nefs.— The Heaven-directed fleps of the 
 wandering fugitive were led to a fountain 
 of water; not only a fource of natural re- 
 frelliment, but typical of the well fpring of 
 living water, — rthe fountain of divine grace, 
 the fpirltual fource of cur falvatlon ; — nor 
 was this ail, an Angel w^as diredlly fent to 
 confole and advice her. " Return, faid he 
 to thy miilrefs, and fubmit thyfeif to her 
 hands; Intimating, that a favourable re- 
 ception w^as prepared for her, by forgive- 
 nefs and commlferation. Nor was fhe In- 
 confclous of the impropriety of her former 
 condudt, or unmindful of the prefent relief 
 providentially afforded her, for fhe called 
 the celeflial mefTenger, by the emphatic 
 
 name of — "Thou God feeftmxe", and fald^ 
 H 2 -—"Have 
 
6o SERMON III. 
 
 — " Have I here alfo looked after him that 
 fecth me." The event anfwered her ex- 
 pedatlons; for the Lord never dlfappoint' 
 eth them who put their truft in him. — She 
 returned, and according to the promife of 
 the Angel, became the mother of unnum- 
 bered multitudes. 
 
 From this paflage in facred hiftory we 
 may learn, not only how acceptable to 
 God is the fubmiiTion of the contrite, af- 
 flicted heart, but what an important objedl, 
 in the general difpenfations of Providence, 
 is the prefervation of women in their ftate 
 of pregnancy, and their delivery from 
 danger, in the hour of nature's forrow. 
 The propriety of recommending, therefore, 
 in the houfe of God, an inftitution, for- 
 med on fo truly benevolent a defign is, I 
 prefume, too univerfally obvious to need 
 illuftration. — Such an inftitudon is the Ly- 
 ing-in Charity that has been feveral years 
 eilablifhed in this metropolis, for deliver- 
 ing poor married women at their own habi^ 
 
 tations 
 
SERMON III. 6r 
 
 tations ; and to the fupport of which I am 
 called upon, in the difcharge of my duty, 
 at this time to diredl your attention. 
 
 To your feehngs as men, — to your under- 
 ilandings, as members offociety, and to your 
 fenfe of religion as Chrifiians, fhall I pro- 
 ceed accordingly to urge the more flriking 
 motives that fuggeft themfelves in it's be- 
 half. Thefe motives, I fhall difhnguiili 
 alfo, under three heads ; thoje of humanity^ 
 thofe of utility J and thofe oi piety. 
 
 By motives of humanity, I mean fuch as 
 lead us almofl: involuntarily to pity the fuf- 
 ferings of the affli6led ; and to afford relief 
 to the diflreffed, merely from an innate 
 principle of companion, without regard to 
 the merit of the fufferers, or refpecl to the 
 moral and religious duty we lie under to 
 relieve them. 
 
 It hath been frequently urged that felf- 
 
 love and focial are the fame. Their firfl 
 
 principles are, doubtlefs, derived, as their 
 
 final 
 
62 SERMON IIL 
 
 final confeqiiences tend, in the courfc of 
 providence, to anfwer the fame benevolent 
 purpofes ; but fo narrow are the views of 
 the human mind, and fo confined the affec- 
 tions of the human heart, that it has been 
 as plaufibly urged, that all benevolence is 
 centered infelf. 
 
 It is, fay the teachers of this felfifh 
 philofophy, with a view to reHeve ourfelves 
 that we relieve others ; — we either feel or 
 fear, fay they, for ourfelves in beholding 
 others in pain and diftrefs. Be it fo, — let 
 us even fdppofe that motives of mere huma- 
 nity are felfifh ; — is not a feeling for the 
 difl:refs ; — a fympathifing concern in the 
 affliction of a fellow creature one of the 
 mofi: amiable qualities, one of the moil noble 
 and diftinguifhing chara6^erifticks of human 
 nature ? — Even the brutes themfelves poffefs 
 a felloiv feeling for the fufferings of their 
 fpecies ; fo that an unfeeling man or wo- 
 man is a monjier in the creation. 
 
 Among 
 
SERMON III. 63 
 
 Among the viciilitude of cares, and va- 
 riety of forrows, to which our nature is li- 
 able, there is none fo nearly intereiling, 
 fo deeply affecting, as is the lituation of a 
 pregnant woman, on the approach of her 
 delivery. It is impoffible for perfons of 
 any fenfibility, not to be, in fome meafure, 
 touched with the danger, and anxious for 
 the fafety of every objedl in fo crkicald. cir- 
 cumftance ; — even when that objedl is in 
 affluence, and wants for no affiftance 
 which the nature of her cafe requires. We 
 cannot help being folicitous for her welfare, 
 notwithftandins: we have reafon to think 
 that with fuch, " though forrow lafl:eth for 
 a night, joy returneth in the morning." 
 But is this the cafe with the lower order, 
 the meaner ranks of focietyP-Chilled by the 
 cold hand of penury, fcarce capable of pro- 
 viding proper fuftenance for a numerous 
 family even in the full enjoyment of health, 
 how trying is the ftate of a parent called up- 
 on to make thofe other proviiions, fo necef- 
 
 fary to the very life of a woman in child- 
 bed 
 
64 S E R M O N III. 
 
 bed and her new born offspring ? — It were 
 eafy to paint a pathetic pi6lure of the dif-' 
 trefs of a poor family labouring under fuch 
 a weight of the moll affeding concerns, of 
 a- loving hufband and tender father, anxious 
 for the fafety of both, yet deftitute, per- 
 haps, at fo critical a juncflure, of the means 
 of exerting his accuftomed induflry for their 
 fupport, or, if happy enough to have thofe 
 means in his power, incapable neverthelefs 
 of procuring, from a conftant though labo- 
 rious employment, more than is neceffary 
 for the bare fubiiftence of the day. — It 
 were I fay eafy to defcribe ihefcene of woe 
 which poverty prefents to the compaffio- 
 nate in fuck cafes ; but I wifli not to move 
 your paflions, it is your reafon I addrefs. 
 In fa6l, liich fcenes of afflidlion need no ar- 
 tificial colouring, they are already drawn 
 by the hand of nature in every fufceptible 
 heart and thinking mind. Is there a huf- 
 band ; is there a wife in this affembly, to 
 whom the wants of fuch a family, in their 
 aggravation, do not fuggefl: themfelves? 
 
 If 
 
S E R M O N III. 6s 
 
 If there are, they mull: be happy enough not 
 to know what the. wretched feel, or fo mijera- 
 ble as to be themfehes totally unfeeling. 
 
 From motives of delicacy, 1 forbear to 
 urge thofe inducements, which peculiarly 
 intereft my female auditors on the prefcac 
 occcafion. 
 
 It were injurious to fuppofe them fo void 
 of the charadle'rlftic virtue of their fex, as 
 to be unfufceptible of pity, in regard to thai 
 diflrefs, which they themfehes moft poig- 
 nantly feel. It were uncharitable to fup- 
 pofe, that there can be one female heart or 
 hand not liberally open to relieve the indi- 
 gent mother from the great danger of child- 
 birth. 
 
 From motives of loyalty and refpe^i", 
 however, I am induced to point out to their 
 imitation the fhining example of the amiable 
 confort of our gracious Sovereign ; at whofe 
 maternal- inftance, this charity ftands ho- 
 noured with the immediate patronage of 
 I the 
 
66 SERMON IIT. 
 
 the heir apparent to the crown. — But if mo- 
 tives of mere humanity are fo trite and fa- 
 miliar as to need no farther recommendation 
 to this aflembly, thofe of 'public utility on 
 which this charity claims peculiar regard, 
 are not perhaps quite fo obvious. An infii- 
 tution, deftitute of the popular advantage 
 of thofe confpicuous and coflly edifices, 
 \-. ill. h attract the eye of pafTengers, and 
 ferve as a local memento, conflantly re- 
 minding the public of their exigence, 
 makes its ufefulnefs known but by flow de- 
 grees. This, like the hand of charity itfelf, 
 diiTufes It's bleflmgs in fecrecy and filence, 
 and may, therefore, pafs unnoticed and 
 unalTifl^ed by thofe, who are liberal only In 
 the eyes of men, and do good merely from 
 motives of oftentation. But, be it remem- 
 bered, that though true charity worketh 
 in fecret, it will be rewarded openly. Be 
 it alfo duly confidered, to which the pre- 
 ference fhould be given, the applaufe of 
 men, or the approbation of God ! — 
 
 The 
 
S E R iM O N III. 67 
 
 The utility of public hofpitals is more ftri- 
 kingly apparent from the circumftance of 
 the feveral objeds of their charity being 
 coUeded together ; fo that the benefits of 
 the whole eftablifliment are exhibited, as it 
 were, at one vlew^ This circumftance, I 
 fay, aggrandizes, if it does not fometimes 
 exaggerate the real ufefulnefs of fuch infti- 
 tutions. The prefent charity, on the other 
 hand, labours in point of notoriety under 
 the difadvantage of having it's feveral ob- 
 jects divided and feperately relieved 
 throughout the vafl: extent of fo wide and po- 
 pulous a metropolis, as the city and fu- 
 burbs of London. The fame reafons, there- 
 fore, ' that render it the more extenfively 
 ufeful, at the fame time render it's excel- 
 lence the lefs obvious. — We regard with 
 admiration objects of collected good or ac- 
 cumulated evil, while the feveral parts of 
 which they are compofed, are feperately 
 too inconliderable to engage our attention. 
 The number of poor women relieved laffc 
 year by this charity, according to the prin- 
 I -2, ted 
 
68 SERMON III. 
 
 ted account of It publifhed by the governors, 
 was no lefs than four thonfand eight hun- 
 dred arid iixty-two ; and from its firft efta- 
 bhfhment to this time fifty-four thoufand 
 have been relieved in the whole. What 
 a figure would not fuch a number of poor 
 people make within the walls and in the 
 annals of an hofpital ? — But how immenfe 
 muft be the expence of affording them re- 
 lief. — It m:.y be objected, indeed, by the 
 inconfiderate, that in the mode of the pre- 
 fent inftitution, relief is not furnifh'd to them 
 inxhtifame degree. — In the fame manner^ it 
 certainly is iiot ; but in an equal, if not a 
 greater degree, it moft certainly is; and a pro- 
 per attention to the circumftances of the cafe 
 will readily evince the truth of thisaffertion. 
 To enter on a pardcular detail of the necef- 
 fities of the labouring poor, and the me- 
 thods the moll efhcacious for their rehef, 
 would take up too much of your prefent 
 tim.e ; but there needs little refiedlion to be- 
 come fenfibie, that of all the bleiTmgs of 
 Providence, ^rom v/hatever fource deri- 
 ved 
 
SERMON. IIL 69 
 
 ved, there are none fo truly acceptable, fo 
 efficacioully bountiful, as thofe which are 
 brought home to our own houfe. The repara- 
 tion, indeed, of a hufband and wife from 
 each other or their family, cannot poffibly 
 ever be attended with fuch diftreffing in- 
 conveniences as at fuch a time and on fuch 
 occajion : domeflic relief is, therefore, of all 
 others the moft neceffary, — the moft effen- 
 tial. — The Angel of the Lord doth not^ 
 indeed, in this cafe, as in that of the fugitive 
 Hagar, find the objed of his care literally 
 in a wildernefs : yet in effect fhe is equally 
 deftitute, equally forlorn ; and it is a la- 
 mentable fad, that too mocleji to beg, too honeji 
 ' tojieal, the diftreffed woman, labouring 
 with child, may perifh for want in the 
 ftreets of this plentiful, this populous city, 
 as certainly as in the deferts of Arabia. 
 
 Will it be cruelly fuggefted that, were 
 fuch relief univerfally extended, it Vv^ould 
 encourage a remilTion of induftry, and a 
 negledl of ceconomy in the miferable cb- 
 
 jeds 
 
70 SERMON III. 
 
 jeds whofe caufe I plead. Alafs! the author 
 of fuch a fuggeftlon muft be flrangely unac- 
 quainted with the circumftances of the wor- 
 king poor of this great city. Iffamihes, in 
 the middle flation of life find the utmoll 
 circumfpedion necefTary in order to confine 
 their moderate and unavoidable expences 
 within their income, how much more dif- 
 ficult mufl: it be for the artizan and labour- 
 er, whofe wages amount not to a tenth 
 part of fuch a competency, to procure a 
 bare fubfifience. — That in fo jnultitudinous 
 a clafs of people as our labouring poor, 
 there are to be found numbers occalionajlly 
 indolent and idle, is not to be denied : it 
 were a miracle it fhould be otherwife ; but 
 this you will allow me to obferv^e is by no 
 means their general character. Tempe- 
 rance and labour, for the moil part, ren- 
 der them prolific ; and the decent provifion 
 they generally contrive to make for their 
 numerous families, from their little earn- 
 ings, is a fufficient proof of the induftry 
 
 and oeconomy that prevail among them. 
 
 Will 
 
SERMON III. 71 
 
 Will the relief, afforded them by this 
 charity be undervalued as too fmall and un- 
 worthy their acceptance? — The contrary 
 is daily experienced from the conftant ap- 
 pHcations made for relief and the gratitude 
 with which it is univerfally received. — But 
 paiTmg over the advantages derived from 
 this charity to individuals, let us coniider 
 its importance to the community at large. I,t 
 is an eftablifhed truth, a truth which the 
 great and wealthy cannot hear of too often 
 — that on the clafs of the labouring poor 
 depend the Jirength^ wealth and gran- 
 deur of a nation. They are allov/edly the 
 fupport of our fleets, our armies, and ma- 
 nufa6lories :— they are the linews of the 
 flatc, the very nerves on whofe organiza- 
 tion it's political happinefs depends. Can 
 there now, my brethren, be an obje6t of 
 greater public utility than the prcfervation 
 of life and health in the feverai individuals 
 of this clafs, and a provident care of their 
 population ? — Or, can any thing tend more 
 
 diredlly to anfwer thofe important purpofes 
 
 than 
 
72 SERMON III. 
 
 than the views of the prefent charitable in- 
 flitution ? — How expedient is it, that they 
 fhould meet with relief and fnpport, under 
 thofe difficuhies, which it is the intereft of 
 civil fociety, as well as the defigns of na- 
 ture and providence, they fhould occafio- 
 nally encounter. Jt is not only important 
 to fociety aifo, that the lower order of peo- 
 ple fhould be fuflained and encouraged in 
 lawful population ; but that the health of 
 the child as well as the mother be refpe6led. 
 How necefiary is it that they, who are 
 born to labour, fhould be robuft? — That 
 they fhould not be maimed or mutlldted in 
 the birth, or for want of proper fubfequent 
 care be crippled, or otherwife injured in 
 health or limb, fo as to render them a bur- 
 then to that community which they are 
 both naturally and politically born to fup- 
 port ? In the prevention of fuch unhappy 
 cafualties (too frequently among the labour- 
 ing poor, from the unfkilfulnefs of uninftruc- 
 ted midv/ives) the utility of the charitable 
 inftitution in queftion is abundantly confpi- 
 
 ous 
 
SERMON III. 73 
 
 ons ; and that not only In regard to the ob- 
 jedls immediately relieved under it's inflitu- 
 tion, but to all other poor women attend- 
 ed by the midvvives employed by this cha- 
 rit)^, who are properly inftru(5led by it's 
 regular phyficians, and conveniently fitua- 
 ted in every part of the town. 
 
 I might proceed to enumerate many 
 other coniiderations of utility, in behalf of 
 this inftitution, did I think any more were, 
 at this time neceflary, or in this place to be 
 urged with propriety. 
 
 The laft head of my difcourfe prefents 
 motives of fuperior confideration to thofe 
 of either common humanity or public uti- 
 lity. — Thefe are thofe of genuine piety. 
 The love of man, however laudable, is 
 infinitely inferior both in its nature and 
 confequences to the love of God. This is 
 that true fpi'rit of charity, which hideth a 
 multitude of fins; — that fpirit, without 
 which, though a man had faith to remove 
 K mountains. 
 
74 SERMON III. 
 
 mountains, though he fhould give all his 
 worldly goods to the poor, yea his own 
 body to be burned, it would avail him no- 
 thing. To the humane, who compaiTio- 
 nate the dlftreffed, to the prudent, who 
 fupport the ufeful, the approbation and ap- 
 plaufe of the wife and the good are undoubt- 
 edly due ; but the pious chriftian, who for 
 the love of God, and in imitation of the 
 bright example of our bleffed Lord and Sa- 
 viour Jefus Chriil:, doeth good unto all, and 
 under all circumftances, a 'more glorious 
 reward is referved; When the Son of man 
 fhall come in his glory, and all the Angels 
 with him ; then fhall he fit upon his throne, 
 and before him fhall be gathered all nations; 
 and he lliall fay to the righteous, come ye 
 bleffed of my father, inherit the kingdom, 
 prepared for 'you from the foundation of 
 the world. For I was an hungered, and 
 ye gave me meat, I was thirfty and ye 
 gave me drink ; I was a flranger, and ye 
 took me in : — Naked and ye cloathed me ; 
 I was iick and ye vifited me : I v^as in pri- 
 
 foflj 
 
SERMON III. 75 
 
 fon, and ye came unto me : at leaft, in 
 doing thefe things for the leaft of mine, ye 
 did it unto me— Come and enter into the 
 joy of thy Lord ! Let us conceive now 
 thefe feveral circumftances of hofpitaHty 
 and charity, heightened by the circum- 
 ftance of a mother labouring with the 
 throws of nature's forrow, and if there be 
 any degrees in the happinefs referved as 
 ihe reward of pious charity, fuperlative is 
 the premium of bhfs. Nor is the concep- 
 tion prefumptuous, if we be permitted reve- 
 rentially to plead the amazing humiliation of 
 our bleffed Lord, in condefcending to be 
 himfelf in the fame lowly circumflances. 
 The Son of man, even our Saviour, Chrifl: 
 tile Lord, when he took upon him our na- 
 ture, had not, when he came into the 
 world, a pillow, on which to lay his head 1 
 His mother Mary, the efpoufed wife of one 
 of the labouring poor of Nazareth, of Jo^ 
 feph a Carpenter was delivered of the hea- 
 venly babe even in the ftable of a common 
 inn J his cradle a manger !~-What an hum- 
 K z blQ 
 
76 SERMON III. 
 
 ble fituatlon for the Saviour of the world ! — 
 And how highly favoured of God both the 
 ignorant fhepherds, and the learned fages, 
 whom the Angel of the Lord, and the ftar 
 in the eaft providentially direded to Beth- 
 lehem ! — And yet, at a due diftance, and 
 in pious imitation of primitive righteoufnefs, 
 may even modern charity, arifing from the 
 fame Chriftian principle, prefume in hum- 
 ble boldnefs, to glory in the explicit con- 
 fl:ru6i:Ion of that divinely Infpiring promife 
 of our great aad glorious Redeemer— -In as 
 much as ye did it to one of the leaji of mine 
 ye did it unto me. 
 
 If, after paying attention, however, 
 to motives fo affeding, fo convincing, fo 
 encouraging as thofe of humanity, utility, 
 and piety, which I have mentioned, there 
 fhould be /lill wanting inducements to ex- 
 cite the liberality of my audience on the 
 prefent interefling occafion — T ceafe to per- 
 fuade — I addrefs not the unfeeling, — the 
 unthinking, or the uncharitable; — harfh 
 
 and 
 
SERMON III. 77 
 
 and ungrateful epithets ! — to which, that 
 not a fingle auditor in this aflembly may be 
 juftly obnoxious; but that everyone may 
 be animated, by that truly laudable and 
 pious fpirit of benevolence, not only be- 
 coming us as men, brethren, and chriilians, 
 but entitling us, through the merits of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrifl:, to that ex- 
 ceeding great reward, which he hath decla- 
 redly provided for the truly charitable ; 
 may God of his infinite mercy grant — • 
 
A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED FOR 
 
 THE BENEFIT OF 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARITY SCHOOL Sj 
 
 o £ 
 
 St, GILES IN THE FIELDS^ 
 
 A N £^ 
 
 fT* GEORGE, BLOOM SBURY; 
 
[ 8i ] 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 PREACHED FOR 
 
 THE BENEFIT OF 
 
 THE CHARITY SCHOOLS, 
 
 OF 
 
 St. GILES'S in the FIELDS, &c. 
 
 PSALM LXXn. V. 4. 
 
 He fhall judge the poar of the people, he /hall fave th& 
 children of the needy— 
 
 IN the prayer of the royal Pfalmiil:, a 
 portion of which I have taken for my 
 text, he prophetically defcribes at once 
 the glory of the reign of his fon Solomon, 
 and of that of which it was a type, the 
 kingdom of Chrift upon earth, or the blef- 
 lings of the Gofpel difpenfation., under the 
 L z eftablifh- 
 
'S2 SERMON IV. 
 
 eftabllfhment of Chriftianlty. In this de- 
 fcriptlon, one of the firft and principle ob- 
 je6ts, is the righteous judgment difpenfed 
 to the poor, and particularly the falvatlon 
 of the children of the needy. — The care 
 of the poor, indeed, hath been confidered, 
 by the facred penn^an, both under the dif- 
 penfation of the Law and the Gofpel, of 
 fo important and momentous a concern, 
 that they have, at all times, committed it 
 to the charge of the opulent and fiiccefsfull, 
 as one of the firft of religious and moral 
 „duties. Even before the inftitution of the 
 ceremonial feafts of the paflbver, of the 
 weeks or of the tabernacles, before a mul- 
 titude of inferior obligations, the following 
 command was repeatedly and religioufly 
 laid on God's chofen people,-Ifrael. If 
 there be among you a poor man, one of 
 thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in 
 the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee, thou fhalt not harden thy heart, nor 
 fhut thine hand from thy poor brother.— 
 Put thou fhalt open thine hand wide unto 
 
 him^ 
 
SERMON IV. S^ 
 
 J 
 
 him, and fhalt furely lend Kimfuffjcient for 
 his need — Thou fhah furely give him, and 
 thine heart fhall not be grieved when thou 
 giveft him, becaufs that' for this thing, the 
 Lord thy God fhall blefs thee in all thy 
 works, and in all things to which thoia 
 putteft thine hand," 
 
 Can there be a duty more exprefly com- 
 jnanded, or a reward more firmly promif- 
 ed for the difcharge of it ? — But alas ! fo 
 powerful is the perverfenefs of human na- 
 ture, and io flrangely averfe are many 
 grown to the difcharge of even the moll ra^ 
 tional of religious duties, that "the deftruc- 
 tion of the poor is flill their povertv," for 
 the poor man is hated even of his own- 
 neighbour/* And 'yet, " whofo mocketh 
 the poor, fays Solomon, reproacheth his 
 maker ; for the rich and the poor meet 
 together, and the Lord is the maker of 
 them all." Hence, faith that King of wif- 
 dom, " the righteous conjidereth the caufe 
 pf the poor, but the wicked regardeth nor 
 
 to 
 
^4 SERMON IV. 
 
 to know it." And wicked, Indeed, muft 
 
 be that man, who Is regardlefs of fuch a 
 caufe ; not only in his wllfiill negled. of 
 the duty enjoined him, but in his want of 
 faith and truft in the word of God, who, 
 in all ages, hath fo repeatedly and liberally 
 promifed to beftow his bleiTings on the dif- 
 charge of fuch duty. — Nor have fuch pro- 
 mifes been lefs liberally made or fuch duty 
 lefs zealoully enforced under the Gofpel 
 than they were under the Law. The 
 prediie6lion of our Saviour himfelf. In fa- 
 vour of the poor, of him, " who became 
 poor, that through his poverty, as the 
 Apoflle exprefles it, we fhould become rich,** 
 — Our Savour's regard, I fay, to the caufe of 
 the poor, was on every occafion remarkably 
 confpicuous.—His divine example was ac- 
 cordingly followed, by his immediate Dif- 
 ciples, and by the primitive Chriftians of 
 the earlieft ages. — We read in the a61s of 
 the Apoflles of the choice of deacons for the 
 admin iflration of proper fuftenance to poor 
 widows and others; and in the epiftle of 
 
 St. 
 
SERMON IV. 85 
 
 St. Paul to the Romans, of contributions 
 being raifed in Macedonia and Achaia, for 
 the poor at Jefufalem. — So early did Chri- 
 ftianity begin to prove the great Archetype 
 of the good and glorious reign of King Solo- 
 mon, defcribed in the grateful and exulting 
 declarations of his infpired Father the royal 
 Pfalmift. — Purfuing a line of conducS fo 
 conliftent with that univerfal benevolence, 
 which is the diflinguifhing mark of our 
 Holy Religion, the Chriftians of fucceding 
 ages continued to fupply the wants of their 
 neceffitous brethren ; encouraged by the 
 promife and fully confiding in the word, 
 of him, who hath declared, — " it is more 
 bleffed to give than to receive." In mofl 
 countries of Chriftendom, the fubliflence 
 of the poor ftill depends on this exercife of 
 religious charity : whence the poor houfes, 
 even in fome Proteftant countries are flili 
 fliled God's houfes, though in this nation, 
 the true fpirit of Chriftianity appears to 
 have, many years ago, loft fo fnuch of it's 
 influence, as to reduce the Legiflature to 
 
 the 
 
86 SERMON. IV. 
 
 the neceflity of exading, by the coercion 
 of parochial rates, fuch contributions as the 
 hard hand of 2LYa.rice, or the cold one of ir re- 
 ligion, withheld from the general ftock of 
 publick charity: — Well deligned, however, 
 and extenfive as fuch provllion is, in gene- 
 ral allowed to be, it falls far fhort of the 
 various occalions, in which the humane 
 and truly charitable might efTentlally fervc 
 the poor, to the prefervatlon of peace and 
 good order in fociety, and to the promo- 
 tion of true religion and line ere piety; ren- 
 dering them at once, ufeful to man, and 
 acceptable to God. — Among thefe occalions 
 may be ranked the ^charitable inflitution, 
 I am defired, at this time, particularly to 
 recommend to your attention; — that of fuf- 
 taihing fome, and cloathing, educating, and 
 apprenticeing a great number of children of 
 both fexes, the offspring of poor pariflilon- 
 ers, tmable to make fuch a parental pro* 
 viiion for them, as it is a pity, (not to fay 
 a difgrace to an opulent Chriftian commu- 
 nity,) the child of the poorefl and meanefl 
 
 indivi- 
 
SERMON IV. Sy 
 
 individual lliould want. * — An inftitntlorl 
 this, that leads me naturally to expatiate on 
 
 the fecond declaration of my text. — " He 
 
 niall 
 
 *By this charity, which is'fupported only by voluntary fubfcrip- 
 tions and colledlions at ferinons, (and not any other aillftance 
 from the parifh rates, as there is reafon to think too many perfons 
 imagine) one hundred and one boys and feventy girls, are annually 
 cloathed ; have fhoes and ftockings twice a year; are furnifhed 
 with books, (&c. and are inftrufted in the principles of the chri- 
 ftian religion according to the rites of the Church of England, 
 The boys are taught to read, write, and caft accompts ; the girls 
 to read, write, knit, and do plain houlhold work; and both, 
 when of age, are putout to fuitable trades, or fervices. With 
 every boy and girl apprenticed by the Tiuftees, are given two 
 pounds two Jbillings to dothe them, together with a ^/i^/t', common 
 prayer took, and the whde duty of 7vau. 
 
 The Truftees, being defirous ot making this charity more ufeful 
 to the public, intend (as foon as their fund will admit) to take the 
 girls wholly into the fchool-houfe, and maintain them at the ex- 
 pence of the truft. By this means the poor children will in a 
 great meafure be preferved from the influence of thofe bad examples 
 they would otherwife be too likely to meet with, both at home and 
 abroad, after their fchool-hours. 
 
 Sixteen of the girls, (moft of which are the children of poor 
 parifhioners legally fettled, preference always being given to them) 
 they have already taken entirely from their parents, and are 
 lodged, boarded, and inftrufted in allforts of houfhold-work, be- 
 fides the fchooling which they have in common with the reft of 
 thR children. 
 
 This laudable inftitution is moft earneftly recommended to the 
 confideration of every benevolent mind, for protection and aflift- 
 ance ; as thediftrefles of a laborious parent are thereby alleviated, 
 their helplefs infant refcued from want and mifery, taught true 
 humility and obedience to their fuperiors, and thereby rendered of 
 uit to the coramuuity in general, as honeft and ufeful fervants. 
 
 Any perfon fubfcribing one pound or upwards annually, is en- 
 titled to recommend children, which viill be admitted in their pro- 
 per turn, provided that the cirturaftances of fuch children be 
 agreeable to the rules of the fchool ; and a fubfcriber of two pounds 
 xtnnually, is a perpetual Truftee. 
 
 Since 
 
 M 
 
88 SERMON IV. 
 
 fhall Tave the children of the needy." — Of 
 King Solomon, this was fpoken, as an in- 
 ftance of his wifdom and piety; — of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrifl:, it was 
 fpoken as an inftance of that boundlefs ex- 
 tenfion of mercy and Divine Grace, which 
 was difplayed in his taking upon him 
 human nature, and effecting the profeffed 
 purpofe of his miffion, the great end of 
 Chriflianity, — the feeking and faving that 
 which was loft. — -L^, indeed, to all good 
 purpofes in this world, and probably to 
 thofe of the world to come, without the 
 particular and miraculous interpolition of 
 Divine Grace, muft be moft of the untuto- 
 red, uninftrudled, and therefore unprin- 
 cipled children of the unailifted' poor. — 
 That thefe truly pitiable objecfts, even in- 
 nocent as they may be fuppofed of the 
 
 adual 
 
 ^^ Since the inftitutioiis of thefe fthools, there have been 
 ^pp- enticed, I'/z. 
 
 In ail 1068 
 
 '1 o lab^rioiis trades, manr.faftories, &c. 1 ^ ^ u- 7 
 
 including 20 to the fca ftrvice • i ^ ^ r 
 
 To houfhold vvoik, fe'f. .... 445 girls J 
 
 Belides nearly as many more who hr.ve had education, &V. and 
 fcaveheen taiten out by relations or Itiends, or have bten other-. 
 w'iii hippily difpofed wf. 
 
S E R M O N IV. 89 
 
 adual corruptions of the world, are yet 
 included in the predicament of being lofl, 
 appears from the declaration of our bleffcd 
 Saviour himfelf. — " Take heed, that ye 
 defpife not one of thefe little ones ; for the 
 fon of man is come to fave that which was 
 hjiy From the difobedience and fall of 
 our firft parents, *till the coming of Chrlfl-, 
 the whole world lay under the guilt of fin. 
 The whole creation; fays the Apoflle 
 Paul was in the bondage of corruption : — ^ 
 it groaned and travailed, like a woman in 
 pain, 'till the time of it's deliverance and 
 refrefhing came." We are all by nature, 
 therefore, as born in fin, the children of 
 wrath, from whom, if the Gofpel of Chrift 
 be hid, it is, in the words of the Apoftle, 
 '■^hid to them that are hJlT — And in this 
 ilate were not only grown perfons and ac- 
 tual tranfgreffors of the moral law, who 
 were more particularly entitled to the ap- 
 pellation of finners, and flood foremoft in 
 the rank of fuch as were loft, but even 
 little children ; fuch as Chrift himfelf 
 M 2 pointed 
 
90 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 pointed out as emblems of humility ; whofe 
 refcmblance he required in every convert 
 to Chriftianity :-— even thefe, I fay, appear 
 evidently to be included in the general litu- 
 ation of thofe that were loft.-— 
 
 And if children of every denomination, 
 the children of wealthy, prudent, learned 
 and pious parents, wanting neither the 
 means nor the will of inftru61:ing them early 
 in the knowledge of moral and religious 
 obligations; — of parents, anxious to inflill 
 into their infant minds a fenfe of the infi- 
 nite importance of faith in Chrift, and what 
 a crucified Redeemer hath done for their 
 immortal fouls ;— if the children of fuch, 
 the beft of parents, are to be ranked among 
 the number of thofe which were, loft ; — of 
 thofe which the fon of man came exprefsly 
 to fave ; as how much more loft, may we 
 not look upon thofe unfortunate innocents, 
 the unhappy children of poor, imprudent, 
 ignorant, irreligious, and perhaps profli-» 
 gate parents, who want not only the means 
 
 and 
 
SERMON IV. 91 
 
 and abilities, but may want alfo the will 
 to give proper inftrudtion to their offspring! 
 — Need I obferve, that it is to fupply the 
 want of thefe means and abilities, natural 
 or habitual, in poor parents that parochial 
 charity fchools were, by voluntary contri- 
 butions, firfl: inftituted ? — Not very many 
 years are elapfed, iince the firft eflablifli- 
 ment of fchools of this kind; the parifh of 
 St. Giles's in the iields being one of the 
 iirfl to contribute to fo pious an inftitution. 
 - — In the days of their infancy, it is remark- 
 able, that, they flourifhed with great in- 
 creafe.— They became the pride and bcaft 
 of the times, the foundation of many being 
 laid widi great and genuine liberality. In 
 the prefent age, their fupport is, by no 
 means, proportional to the increaling po- 
 puloufnefs and opulence of this great metro- 
 polis.- — On the contrary, the contributions. 
 of moft fall off, and their funds drop daily 
 into decay.—What can be the meaning of 
 this?— "Are ye weary of well doing?" 
 ?^God forbid !■— -Or^ are there other infti- 
 
 tutions^ 
 
92 S E R iM O N IV. 
 
 tutlons, other charities, more novel and 
 attractive, more fafhiohable and popular ? 
 — Doubtlefs there are. The occafional 
 calls and claims on the humanity and piety 
 of well difpofed Chriftians, it muft be ad- 
 mitted, are fufficiently numerous and vari- 
 ous. — There are fuch claims, and thofe 
 laudable ones too, the contributors to which 
 may have their names, and even their 
 mite of charity oftentatioufly and repeatedly 
 advertifed at length in the daily news pa- 
 pers. Perhaps this circumftance may to 
 fome appear preferable to the doing good 
 in fecret 5 for how few blufh, like the good 
 man defcribed by the Poet, to find their 
 virtue — fame ! — Let it be recolledled, 
 however, that the exercife of fuch often- 
 tatious charity is reprehended, and even 
 reprobated in holy writ. — Take heed, fays 
 our Lord and Saviour, that ye do not your 
 alms before men, merely to be ^QQn of men: 
 otherwife ye have no reward of your father 
 which is In Heaven ; therefore, when thou 
 doeil: alms, do not found a trumpet before 
 
 thee 
 
SERMON IV. 93 
 
 thee, as the hypocrites do in the fyna- 
 gogues and in the ftreets, that they may 
 have glory of men : For verily, I fay imto 
 you, they have a reward." — But what is 
 their reward? — And how different from 
 that of the truly righteous! — To the one, 
 fhall thefon of man, when he cometh in 
 his glory, fay,—" Come, ye blefTed of 
 my father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for yoM from the foundation of the world :'* 
 — to the other, placed on his left hand ; — 
 " Depart from me, ye accurfed into ever- 
 lafting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 angels." — "And tJieJe fliall go away into 
 everlafting punifhment, but the righteous 
 to life eternal." — Not that our Saviour 
 meant, or that your preacher means, to 
 condemn the moft public 2.Sls of benefi- 
 cence, when performed out of a truly 
 Chriftian principle, and not merely from 
 oftentation with a view only to obtain glory 
 of men. For, " who lighteth a candle, 
 and hideth it under a bufhel, and not ra- 
 ther placeth it in a candleflick to ^tvQ light 
 
 to 
 
94 SERMON IV. 
 
 to all in the houfe.'* The fetting in public 
 a good example is repeatedly recommended 
 By our Saviour, — " Let your light fo iliine 
 before men that they, feeing your good 
 works, may glorify your father, which is 
 in Heaven." For, whofoever, faith he, 
 is afhamed of me and of doing good in my 
 name before men, of him will I be afha- 
 med before my father at the laft day." 
 
 Bnt whatever merit their may be in other 
 charities, and, however meritorious may 
 be the private or public contributors to 
 them, there can be no doubt of either the 
 moral or the pious ufe of that, I am now foli^ 
 citous to recommend. — For it is not merely 
 to the fupport or cloathing of the bodies of 
 thefe poor children^ the preventing of their 
 perifhing for want, or becoming a burthen 
 and even a nuifance to fociety, — from being 
 left naked and deftitute to beg or to fteal ; — * 
 it is alfo the falvation of their fouls,— to 
 prevent their moral corruption by a conta- 
 gious communication with the dregs of the 
 
 people 
 
SERMON IV. 95 
 
 people, with the wicked and diffokite, 
 with the already hardened in guilt, and 
 the abandoned to fliame. — It is to train 
 them up in the nurture and fear of the Lordj 
 fo that, by hearing of the word, and the 
 benefit of good example, they may grow 
 in grace, and become not only ufeful and 
 worthy members of fociety in this world, 
 but partakers of that eternal inheritance, 
 prepared by our father which is in Heaven, 
 before the foundation of the world, for all 
 ihofe that love and fear him; doing his 
 will, and putting their trufl in his holy 
 name.— 
 
 Our blefled Lord, not only rebuked the 
 Jews for preventing little children ap- 
 proaching him, faying, " fuffer them to 
 "come unto me," but he took a child, and 
 fet him in the midft of them, and when he 
 had taken him into his arms, he fald unto 
 them, — "whofoever fliall receive one of 
 fuch children in my name, receiveth me, 
 2nd whofoever receiveth me, receiveth alfo 
 N him 
 
96 S E R M O N. IV. 
 
 him that fent me." "Whofoever, continued 
 
 he, fhall give but a cup of cold water to 
 
 fuch, in my name, verily I, fay unto you, 
 
 he fhall not loofe his reward." Nor doth 
 
 our dear Redeemer hold out to us only the 
 
 promlfe of reward for cherlfliing thefe little 
 
 ones, he denounces his divine wrath agalnft 
 
 thofe who do otherwife, — '^ whofoever fliall 
 
 offend one of them that believe In me, it 
 
 is better for him that a mill ftone were 
 
 hanging about his neck, and he were caft 
 
 into the fea." Well might he caution 
 
 them, therefore, by faying — " take heed 
 
 how ye offend them." — ^W^Ill it, after this, 
 
 be faid, as It fometimes is, — " the churches 
 
 are open to the poor as well as to the rich, 
 
 who, if they are difpofed to hear,, may 
 
 rqually have the Gofpel preached to them? 
 
 — This is, indeed, the greaft boaft of Chri- 
 
 fbianity, and we are told in fcripture, that 
 
 in the earlieft ages of it, " the poor had 
 
 the Gofpel preached to them." But In 
 
 what fenfe is that applicable In the prefent 
 
 times ?— The churches are open!-— True, 
 
 ■ — and. 
 
S E R M O N IV. 97 
 
 — and, fo are the ale houfes, the beer-cel- 
 iars, the fields and the Hreets ! — And to 
 which, is it moft likely that the illiterate, 
 the ignorant, and the negle<Sed children 
 of the poor will refort? — Can it be to the 
 church? — Will not fuch children, inftead 
 of liftening with reverential awe and at- 
 tention to the Gofpel, as delivered by mi- 
 niflers, rather refemble the gracelefs chil- 
 dren of Bethel, and make a mock of the 
 man of God, as was done to the prophet 
 Elifha of old. — For alas ! what motive, 
 what allurement, what example have fuch 
 poor children to induce them to repair 
 to church ? — Without the previous inftruc- 
 tion, neceflary to enable them to compre- 
 hend what they heard there, they will, 
 indeed, underhand nothing, even could 
 w^e fuppofe, that mere curiofity alone might 
 induce them to pay it attention. The 
 voice of the preacher would be to them, 
 (as I fear it too often is, even to thofe, who 
 have had the benefit of fuch inftrucSion) as 
 Inefficacious as the founding brafs and the 
 N 2 tinkling 
 
98 SERMON IV. 
 
 tinkling cymbal. — They will be like the 
 Tews of old ; they will have ears to hear, 
 but will not underftand. — However liberal, 
 therefore, be the provifion made by the 
 fl:ate in fnpport of the church ; and, how- 
 . ever zealous might be the clergy in the 
 difcharge of their duty, as preachers of 
 the Gofpel j yet, I fay, without the poor 
 are intruded in the firft principles of moral 
 and religious obligation in their youth, it 
 is impoffible, that the preaching the Gofpel 
 in our churches, however public, how- 
 ever gratuitous, can be efficacious in the 
 fcriptural fenfe of the phrafe. — To render 
 it truly fo, and to make good the words of 
 the Gofpel, it is necelTary, that fuch means 
 of previous inftvu6lion fhould be taken ; 
 and, in doing this, the unlearned layman, 
 the well-difpofed Chriftlan of every deno- 
 mination, who contributes to the mainte- 
 nance and fupport of parochial charity- 
 fchools, a(5ls as pious and praife-worthy a 
 part as the mofl learned and zealous among 
 the clergy ; whofe preaching to the poor 
 
 would 
 
SERMON IV. 99 
 
 would elfe be in vain. I might urge many 
 moral and political motives, that would 
 convince the confiderate and humane, how 
 neceffary It Is for the good of the commu- 
 nity, and how much it is to the worldly 
 intereft of the wealthy individual, that the 
 children of the poor fhould be properly 
 fudained and intruded; but I will not 
 urge a lefs powerful motive, after I have 
 enforced a greater ; nor will I pay fo bad 
 a compliment to any of my auditors, as to 
 fuppofe they will do that out of mere policy, 
 which they would not do out of true piety. 
 
 To a more politic, moral, and pious pur- 
 pofe, than to this of giving a virtuous and 
 religious education to the children of the 
 poor, it muft be then admitted, that the abun- 
 dance of wealth, or the Increafing profits 
 of fuccefsful induftry cannot be applied. 
 
 But there are other obflacks, befide 
 other charities, to a liberal contribution In 
 fupport of thefe eftabllHiments. The 
 lukewarmnejs of negkdl, if not the coldnefs 
 
 of 
 
TOO SERMON IV. 
 
 o^ difgufl, with refpeft to the praftlce of 
 piety in general, is alas ! too prevalent in 
 the prefent diilipated, pleafure-loving age ; 
 and the plcafnres of the world, when made 
 the pride of life, are cofily and expen- 
 five.— Hence the dijirejjes of the indujirious, 
 the penurioufnefs of the great, and the caftial 
 -poverty of the wealthy : and hence that 
 fordid and felfiili excufe for withholding 
 from the poor what the Lord hath given to 
 be lent them, as a loan to himfelf. " Whofb 
 giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.'* 
 But charity, faith the covetous man, " be- 
 ginnetb at home." — It little matters, how- 
 ever, where charity begins, if it have not 
 the love of God, as well as the love of man, 
 for it's end. If you are charitable from po- 
 litical motives merely, if your love of God 
 and of man concentrate in felf-intereft, 
 well may ye fay, on every occafion, charity 
 begins at home. The man, who lives but 
 for himfelf, cares little how others live, or 
 whether or not, they live at all. The 
 wants oijuch men^ however rich, are fo nu- 
 merous 
 
SERMON IV. loi 
 
 merous and fo craving, that they will fel- 
 dom have any thing to fpare for the poor. 
 With them, the times 2lxq ever Jo hard, pro- 
 fit fo precarious, loffcs fo great, and 
 money fo difficuk to attain, that they will 
 never want for an exctife, for their wa?2t of 
 charity. — And yet, certain it is, that, well 
 founded as fuch excufes may be fuppofed 
 to be in the prefent Situation of public affairs, . 
 never were the private luxuries of the 
 great, or the indulgencies of the little more 
 fludied, or indeed more gratified than in 
 the prefent day. Not only do perfons of 
 rank and fortune live in the fplendour and 
 magnificence, but even thofe of a lower 
 rank in life, the adventurous merchant, 
 the bufy trader, the ingenious artifb, and 
 even the induftrious artifan enjoy the con- 
 veniencies, the elegancies, the fuperfiuities 
 of life, in a degree unknown to their frugal 
 . forefathers. — Should oeconomy, inftead of 
 charity, begin at home, charity might more 
 frequently walk abroad, to the honour and 
 advantage both of the rich and poor. — ' 
 
 But 
 
id2 S E R A4 O N IV. 
 
 But felf-denial, one of the firil; of Chrlftiari 
 virtues, feems to take little place in our 
 general condud. At the fame time, felf- 
 love is fo powerful that few can bear to 
 part with any thing, which they conceive 
 they can themfelves enjoy ; even though 
 fuch enjoyment fhould be the mbfi trifling 
 and tranlitory.- — But wherein, let me afk, 
 is the mighty merit of felf-denial, or even 
 the Inconvenience of giving to the foot\ 
 what we fhould otherwife throw away tipon 
 Qurf elves ? — 
 
 To the confcfTcdly wealthy, I fhall ufe 
 no farther argument, not doubting that, 
 on this occalion, they will demonftrate 
 their gratitude to the great giver of all good, 
 jlbnighty God, by following the examples 
 of the wifeft men and of the fon of man 
 and of God Chrill: Jefus, in " judging 
 juftly of the poor of the people," and in 
 contributing with a Chriftlan liberality " to 
 fave the children of the needy." — To the 
 lefs rich or the more parfimonlous, I will 
 beg leave to add a few words. The dif- 
 
 creethj 
 
S E R A'l O N IV. 103 
 
 creetly charitable, (yet God forbid I fhould 
 charge the moft liberal charity with real 
 indlfcretlon) have always in their eye, and 
 frequently on their lips the acceptablenefs 
 of the widow's mite. Her ftory, indeed, 
 is ftrlking, and particularly applicable to 
 the prefent occalion. " Now Jefus fat 
 over againft the treafury, and beheld how 
 the people caft money into the treafury: 
 and many that were rich caft in much. 
 And there came a certain poor widow, and 
 fhe threw in two mites, which make a 
 farthing : — And he called unto him his 
 difclples, and faith unto them, verily, I fay 
 unto you, that this poor widow hath caft 
 more in, than all they which have caft into 
 the treafury." " For all they did caft in of 
 their abundance : but fhe of her want did 
 caft in all fhe had, even all her living.'* 
 
 It is neither expelled nor defired, in 
 thefe latter -days, that any fhould give all 
 their living to the poor: 1 his would be to con- 
 vert piety into poverty ;-to make the giver 
 O one 
 
I04 SERMON IV. 
 
 one day, the receiver next. — It Is no more 
 required of the poor to relieve the poor, than 
 of the blind to lead the blind ; but it is, on 
 the other hand equally abfurd and irreligi- 
 ous for perfons of property, in order to 
 excufe their parfimony in not giving as 
 much a.s their circumflances afford and their 
 li tuation ought to warrant. — The widow's 
 two mites, tho' amounting to a farthing, 
 being her all, would, in thefe days, be 
 much too much to be given in charity ; and 
 yet too little for any but fuch a widow, then 
 herfelf totally dellitute. — Our Lord and 
 Saviour fpoke of the value, not of the gift, 
 but of the heart of the giver, and this, 
 though her hand was little worth, was wor- 
 thy indeed ! And here, let me recal to 
 your minds the pious liberality of another 
 poor widow recorded in holy writ. The 
 widow of Zarcpta, pofTeffed only of a 
 handful of meal, and a little oil In a crufe, 
 and that In a time of famine, put fo much 
 faith in the promife of the prophet of God, 
 that before fhe tafted herfelf or gave to her 
 
 only 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 10 
 
 only fon, fhe made firft a cake for the fa- 
 miflied Elifha. — And what was her re- 
 ward ? — Her barrel of meal did not waf^e, 
 neither did her crnfe of oil fail. What an 
 encouraging example, my brethren, in 
 confirmation of the precept, laid down in 
 the beginning of my difcourfe. Thou flialt 
 open thy hand 'wicle nnto the needy , becaufe 
 that, for this thing, the Lord thy Godfhall 
 blefs thee in all thy works and in all things 
 to which thou putteft thine hand.— A precept 
 given under the Law^ and enforced and con- 
 firmed under the Go/pel, particularly by the 
 apoftle Paul in his epiflle to the Corinthians: 
 to whom, in recommending a limilar con- 
 tribution, he recommends it as a matter of 
 bounty, and not as of covetoufnefs . For this 
 I fay, adds the apoftle, — "He which fow^- 
 eth fparingly fhall reap alfo fparingiy ; and 
 he which foweth bountifully fhall reap alfo 
 bountifully. Let every man, therefore, 
 give not grudgingly, for God loveth a 
 chearful giver. — May that God incline 
 your hearts, accordingly, to the difcharge 
 
 O 2 of 
 
io6 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 of your duty, on this occafion, In fiich a 
 manner, as may entitle you all to thofe 
 bleilings, which he hath gracioiilly and 
 repeatedly promlfed. — 
 
SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 MAGDALENE, 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE BENEFIT OF 
 
 THAT 
 
 C H A R I T Y. 
 
[ i°9 1 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 MAGDALENE. 
 
 St. MARK, c. XVI. V. 9. 
 
 Kotv when Jefus teas rifen, early on the firjl day of 
 the week, he appeared ^k^ to Mary Magdalene, out of 
 whom lu had caji feven devils. 
 
 O T unto Mary, the bleffed among 
 women ! Not to that Mary, who 
 refpe6lfully anointed him with ointment, 
 and affedionately wiped his feet with her 
 hair ! but to Mary Magdalene, out of 
 whom he had cafl itxtn devils, did our 
 Lord and Saviour vouchfafe^>>^ to appear 
 after his refurredion from the dead ! — Shall 
 we look upon this circumllance as merely 
 
 acciden- 
 
no S E R M O N V. 
 
 accidental, and die Gofpel relation of it as 
 trivial and unimportant ? — Or, mull we 
 not rather regard it, as a remarkable and 
 ftriking-.inilance of the difpenfations of 
 grace, and the facred record of it as directed 
 by divine infpiration, to convey to us one 
 of the moft important and interefting leffons 
 of fcriptural inftrudion ?— • 
 
 It teacheth us, firji^ that God is no re- 
 fpedler of perfons, difpenfing his favours 
 in conformity to worldly diil:in6li.ons : — 
 fecondly, that the mofl: abje6l and aban- 
 doned ftate of human life, is not excluded 
 from the participation of fuch favour; but 
 rather, on repentance and reformation, 
 entitled to it in a more eminent degree. — 
 
 Firft, that God is no refpe6ler of perfons, 
 or partial to human diftin6tions, is not only 
 evident from a general view of the difpen- 
 fations of Providence, in the diftribution of 
 fublunary enjoyments, but from the de- 
 claratory example of our Lord and Saviour, 
 
 when 
 
SERMON V. nr 
 
 T\'hen he took upon hiirx human nature, and 
 vifited the world in the perfon and charac- 
 ter of Jefus Chrift. — Being told, that his 
 mother and brethren flood without, and 
 de fired to fpeak with him. Who, faid 
 he, is my mother? — And who are my 
 brethren ? — Then, flretching forth his 
 hands towards his difciples, he faid, behold 
 my mother and my brethren : for whofo- 
 ever fhail do the will of my father which 
 is in Heaven, the fame is my brother, and 
 iifter and mother. — 
 
 Abafhed, then, be all temporal, abafh- 
 ed be all fpiritual pride !— — as in the fight 
 of God, no man living can be juflified,— 
 even in the fight of man our higheft boaft 
 is but vain glory. — 
 
 I premife this check to the prefumption 
 which, I fear, is too often prevalent in the 
 minds of the moft amiable and refpe6lable 
 part of the auditory, generally afTembled in 
 this place. Virtuous in their difpofitions,— 
 P fortU' 
 
112 S E R M ON V. 
 
 fortunate In their circumfl:ances,~and happy 
 in the care of that Providence, which hath 
 preferved, perhaps under powerful temp- 
 tations, both their innocency of heart and 
 purity of manners ; how grateful fhould 
 they be to the God of their falvation for fuch 
 a favour and protecflion ! — Grateful, I doubt 
 not, they are ; but is not their gratitude 
 mixed with an alloy of felf-fufficiency and 
 pride ? — Are they never apt to make invi- 
 dious comparifons, and fecretly to triumph 
 over the lefs virtuous, the lefs fortunate, 
 the lefs happy than themfelves ? Is not the 
 fervency of their prayer infe6led with the 
 leaven of the Pharifees ?~Do they not 
 thank God, with a perverted eye toward 
 the poor, finful publicans, congratulating 
 themfelves on their being more righteous 
 than they ? — 'But I fay unto you, that except 
 your righteoufnefs fhall exceed the righte- 
 oufnefs of the Scribes and Pharifees, ye 
 fhall in no cafe, enter into the kingdom 
 of Heaven. Be it remembered, alfo, that 
 the prayer of the humble, tho' fmful pub- 
 lican 
 
SERMON V. 113 
 
 Jlcan was heard, while that of the haughty,- 
 tho' righteous Pharifee, was rejedled. 
 
 As deplorable is the fall, and wretched 
 is the flate of ihe falktt, let thofe take heed, 
 who think they Hand, left, too confident 
 in their fecurity, ihcir fall be gj-eat indeed ; 
 for, however free from any peculiar fpecies 
 of guilt, " whoever fays he has no fin de- 
 ceiveth himfelf, and the truth is not in 
 him." — Nay, were it even pqfftbky that 
 perfed: innocence fhould be the lot of hu- 
 manity, yet, in the eye of God, would it 
 not be more refpedable than fallen inno- 
 cence, repentant and rellored to grace and 
 favour ; for, I fay unto you, in the words 
 of our Lord, " that joy fhall be in Heaven 
 over one finner that repenteth, more than 
 over ninety and nine jufl perfons that need 
 no repentance. — So earneft was our bleffed 
 Lord to enforce this affurance on the minds 
 of his hearers, that he illuftrates it with two 
 parables, to one and the fame import. 
 The concife and pertinent fimpliciiy of the 
 P % laft 
 
114 SERMON V. 
 
 Jafi:, particularly addreiTcd to his female 
 auditors, pleads for it's recital. " What 
 woman having ten pieces of filver, if flie 
 loofe one of them, doth not light a candle, 
 and fweep the houfe, and feek diligently 
 'till fhe find it ? And when fne hath found 
 it, file calieth her friends and her neigh- 
 bours together, fiying, rejoice with me, 
 for I have found the piece, which I had 
 loft. — " Like-mifc I fay unto you, there is 
 joy in the prefence of the angels of God 
 over one ilnner that repenteth." — A mo- 
 ment let me fl:op here to lament the very 
 different condu6l both of the men and 
 women of our day, with refpe6l to a lort 
 and fallen fiflea-. Is that lofs but once 
 known, fo far is the cruel, the unchriftian 
 cuflom of the age from anxioufly feeking 
 her recovery, and rejoicing in it, that flie is 
 aimofl: univerfaily given up as irrecoverably 
 loll. Nay, fi^iould fhe return ^ the door of 
 lelormation is unmercifully fhut againft 
 her J imploring in vain a refuge from 
 fliame and rem.orfe, 'till abandoned both 
 
 by 
 
S E R AI* O N V. 115 
 
 by friends and neighbours, fl"ie is driven to 
 hide her head among Grangers, and feek 
 relief from refledlion in die repetidon of 
 the crime, of which fhe was not permitted 
 to repent. Strange, that a contrition, 
 which excites joy in Heaven llior.id find fo 
 little favour on earth ! That a circnm- 
 flance which rejoiceth the angels of God 
 fhould be difresrarded bv the fons and 
 
 daughters of men ! But alas ! 
 
 man, proud man 
 plays fuch fantaflic tricks before high Hea- 
 ven, as make the angels v/eep. — 
 
 The tear of pitying angels, however, 
 mufl: fureJy be mixed with contempt, at the 
 want of compafiion for each other, in fuch 
 fallible beings as human creatures. Let him 
 who is perfect be inexorable, let her Vv'ho 
 is fpotlefs caft the firft flone. To beings, 
 who ftand much in need of forgivenefs 
 from God, to fliew the want of it in them- 
 fclves, is furely more criminal than any 
 other fault they can commit. But as pla- 
 cability 
 
1x6 S E R M O N V. 
 
 cability and compaffion are charadle riffle 
 of the good, fo is implacability and cruelty 
 the companions of the wicked ; whofe dif- 
 ferent difpofitions, are as clearly indicated 
 by the feverity -of their judgment in con- 
 demning the condudl of others, as diey are 
 by their own behaviour. — But judge not 
 ye, leaft ye be judged, for with that mea- 
 fure ye mete fhall It be meafured to you 
 again. It is not the quality of the crime fo 
 much as the quantity or henloufnefs of it's 
 guilt, that calls for condemnation from that 
 impartial judge, who is no refpedler of 
 perfons. — ^To come therefore to the fecond 
 part of the leffon, inculcated in my text ; 
 the fuperlor recommendation to divine 
 favour, which true repentance and amend- 
 ment have over mere unoffending inno- 
 cence ; it is to be noticed, that the expref- 
 fion of the Evangelift is particularly ftrong 
 and forcible. No fooner was the crucified 
 Jefus rifen from the dead, than early on 
 the firft day of the week, he appeared firfl: 
 to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had 
 
 call 
 
SERMON V. 117 
 
 caft feven devils. — He did not, I fay, make 
 hisjirfi appearance to the mojl beloved of 
 his twelve difciples,— he did not appear firfl: 
 to any near or dear relation according to 
 the fiefli ; but to the once fallen, and aban- 
 doned Mary Magdalene ; — to Mary Mag- 
 dalene, once fo forfaken of God and ab- 
 horred by man ; as to be poffeffed of feven 
 devils : of all which, that of unchafHty 
 was probably the leafl. — What confolation 
 this for thofe unhappy finners, in whom 
 that criminality is the worft ! — And how 
 happy fhould be your preacher, if through 
 the regenerating power of the divine 
 grace, he fhould be made inftrumental, on 
 this firfl: day of the week, to the re-appear- 
 ance of a rifen Jefus to the heart and mind 
 of fuch penitent magdalene. Not, but that 
 comfort is to be equally deduced from my 
 text by thofe, . who may have been the vl- 
 left and moft abandoned of finners, if the 
 lincerlty of their penitence and the depth 
 of their contrition be proportioned to their 
 guilt : for, though fin may abound, the 
 
 grace 
 
iiS SERMON V. 
 
 grace of onr Lord Jefus Chrift doth flill 
 more abound.— Nay, the more criminal 
 may hence reap a greater abundance of 
 comfort J yea, even of exultation; par- 
 taking, through profound humility, of that 
 joy, which we are affured, their repen- 
 tance creates in Heaven, and diffufes 
 among the angels of God. — And, here may 
 we ail exult, as with one voice, in afto- 
 nifhment, at the wonderful depth of the 
 riches of God's grace, in fending his only 
 fon into the world to feek and to fave thofe 
 which were loft.- 
 
 For all the fouls that are, were forfeit once;-^ 
 And he that might the vantage beft have took 
 Found out the remedy ! 
 
 It appears to have been, in humble imi- 
 tation of fo divine an example, that princi- 
 ples of humanity and piety fuggefted to 
 the founders and promoters of this charitable 
 inftitution, fo proper an afylum for friend- 
 iefs penitents. The fuccefs attending the 
 
 defigix 
 
S E R Al O N V. 119 
 
 ^cRgn alfo, by the blefTing of God feems 
 to have been equal to their moft fangulne 
 expedlatlons — -of thofe who been received 
 into the houfe, fince it's firft eftablifhment, 
 a proportionably confiderable number, 
 have reaped the intended benefit of their 
 admiffionj by a confirmed reformation 
 and amendment ; returning to the bofom 
 of their friends, and being reftored to 
 the blefUngs of fociety ; vv^hich, by their 
 former courfe of hfe they had unhappily 
 forfeited. — ' 
 
 Humanely, however, as this ufeful infli- 
 tution was, ^^fi'Ji taken up, and pioufly 
 as it hath fiice been fupported, the late 
 prodigious addition to the buildings of this 
 populous city and fuburbs, with the confe- 
 quent increafing influx of people from all 
 parts to refide in the metropolis ; thefe 
 circumftances, joined to a dilTolutenefs of 
 manners become peculiarly difgraceful to 
 the prefent age, have fo increafed the num- 
 ber of unhappy vi6iims to proftitution, that 
 Q^ the 
 
120 S E R M O N. V. 
 
 the funds of the chanty fall very fliort of 
 affording the means of contributing to the 
 relief and reformation of thofe, whofe pe- 
 nitence recommends, and whofe fituation 
 entitles them, to compaflion. — Permit me 
 earneftly, therefore, on thofe principles 
 of humanity and piety, which firfl: founded 
 and have hitherto fupported this laudable 
 eflablifhment, to enforce the continuation 
 and encreaf^ of the means of that fupport, 
 to render it not only permanent, but Aili 
 more ■ extenlively ufeful. 
 
 On confideratlons of hunmnity, I might 
 indulge declamation, and expatiate o'er a 
 wide field, fertile in motives to excite mo- 
 mentary pity : but I would not take advan- 
 tage of mere fenliblllty, or floop to the 
 meannefs of playing upon the tender jDalli- 
 ons. — Such is the meretricious art of thofe 
 wily feducers, by whom the unhappy ob- 
 jects of your follclted benevolence are ufu- 
 ally betrayed. God forbid they fhould not 
 owe the means of their recovery andrefor-' 
 
 mat ion 
 
SERMON IV. 121 
 
 iTtation to more liberal, more worthy 
 motives. — It is to protiftiited rehetoric, to 
 the glowing warmth, and pathetic elocution 
 of defigning and artful declaimers, both 
 public and private, that our brothels .owe 
 their increafing population. — Yet God for- 
 bid, I fay, that the Magdalene Hofpiial 
 be peopled by the fame means.— No !— to 
 the true and permanent feelings of your 
 humanity, to fuch only, whofe propriety is 
 confirmed by refle(5lion and experience,— 
 to thofe heart-felt emotions, which your 
 good fenfe only can approve, let me re-r 
 commend the fupport of this inftltution. — 
 On the ground of humanity merely, how 
 powerfully might I not plead in extenuation 
 of that guilt, which from the cruel cuftom 
 of a barbarous world, entails on it a pu- 
 nifhment fo greatly difproportionate to the 
 wilful! wickednefs of the offence.— How 
 critical the fituation of a young and unexpe- 
 rienced female juft riling into life,— urged 
 by folicitation, allured by flattery, and in- 
 toxicated by praife, how difTicult to wlth- 
 Q_2 ftand 
 
122 S E R M ON V. 
 
 ftand temptation ! Or, If deftitute of di- 
 re6lion, or deluded by bad example, how 
 much more difficult flill ! Efpecially, if we 
 take into the profpe<ft the odds of encoun- 
 ter. — On the one fide, the weaknefs of ig- 
 norance, and unfufpe(5iing fimplicity of in- 
 nocence ; — on the other, the united force of 
 knowledge and cunning, affifted by the 
 experienced artifices of habitual guilt. — I 
 fpeak not here of female frailty as affailed, 
 in common, with human weaknefs, by thofe 
 temptations of the world, the flefh or the 
 devil, agalnft which Divine Grace is a 
 powerful remedy ; but of feminine weak- 
 nefs, oppofed to that falfe friend — it*s na- 
 tural prote6lor — man. Of artificial man, 
 who, in the prefent difiblute ftate of focl- 
 ety, may be juftly compared, in his con- 
 du61-, toward the weaker fex, to the grand 
 deceiver and enemy of mankind ; — who is 
 faid to roam abroad, like a lion, feeking 
 whom he may devour. — Nay — man may 
 be compared to a fiill more dangerous, tho* 
 apparently lefs- formidable foe.— From the 
 
 terrific 
 
SERMON V. 123 
 
 terrific form of the lion, the affrighted ob- 
 je(ft may feek fafety by flight. But that 
 human monfter, the man of fedu(5liorl5 car- 
 ries the favage nature of the lion, under 
 the fleece of a lamb. How, then, fhouldthe 
 \]nfufpe6ling victim be apprifed of the dan- 
 ger, 'till too late to retreat. — If there be a 
 crime on earth of peculiar malignity, fays 
 a celebrated moralift, it is that of female 
 fedu(5tion ; it is even greater than that of 
 fatan, in feducing our common mother in 
 the garden of paradife. For fatan was her 
 avowed enemy, a foe to God and of all 
 the human race ; — he was not her natural 
 friend or protedlor, whatever he falfely 
 profefled in the beguiling form of that fer- 
 pent,— which the modern feducer floops, 
 in imitation of the devil, to affume, in order 
 to perpetrate a more horrid crime, than 
 even fatan ever committed againfl: man- 
 kind. — Is there in this congregation a lingle 
 auditor, who ever ftood, in any degree, 
 in this diabolical predicament, may I not 
 hope th2Lta.fenfe ofcompundlion, if he be 
 
 pofTef* 
 
124 SERMON V. 
 
 polTefTed of the leall: remaining fpark of hu- 
 manity, muft didlate to him how neceffary 
 are both repentance and atonement for fuch 
 henious criminality ? — Or, need I fuggeil 
 to him, that the contributing to the refto- 
 ration of the feduced, is the moft rational 
 of all modes of reparation.— Of female fe- 
 ducers of their own fex, I Ihudder in this 
 place to mention the name ; having too 
 much refpe61 for every daughter of Eve to 
 fuppofe the moft flagitious of that character 
 bold enough to intrude herfelf on this au- 
 dience.— To thofe of a totally oppofite cha- 
 lader, to the happily innocent, the chafte, 
 the fpotleft, the unfufpedled, let me yet 
 offer one remonftrance on the fide of hu^ 
 manity, in behalf of the unfortuate crimi- 
 nal. — Refledl, ye lovely innocents, whofe 
 difpoiitlons, if amiable as your hearts are 
 pure, render you, indeed, little lower 
 than the angels ! — Refiedl, I fay, on the 
 providential caufes of your happy inno- 
 cence ! — Think how few of you poffefs, 
 that envied purity and pre-eminence, in 
 
 confc' 
 
SERMON V. 125 
 
 confequence of yonr own merit ! — How 
 many of you to circumftance, to confl:!-' 
 tution, to accident !-— Narclffa, the once 
 amiable Narcifia, polTefled a heart as pure 
 as innocence, unfufpe6llng as fimpllcity,— 
 tender as pity, and liberal as benevolence 
 itfelf. — What a foundation of virtue, for 
 the fiend of fedudion to build the fuper- 
 flrudlure of vice ! — He fucceeded, it was 
 foon ereded} and as foon fell into ruins ! — 
 Different was the lot of her friend, who 
 looks difdainfuUy on her fall ! But on what 
 reafon is founded her difdain ? — Cold, cau- 
 tious, unfeehng, and felfifh, her very 
 want of virtue hath been her protection 
 againfi: vice. — So little have the beft to boaft 
 of in the point of moral merit, and even 
 that little to be , imputed often to fuch un- 
 meritorious circumftances, that, in every 
 cafe, even common humanity teacheth us 
 the greateft humility with regard to our 
 own virtues, and the greateft compaffion 
 toward the vices of others. — 
 
 Oa 
 
126 SERMON V. 
 
 On the footing of piety, fo much lefs 
 reafon have we to glory in our own merit, 
 or to triumph o'er the want of it in others, 
 that the higheft degree of human rlghte- 
 oufnefs lofes it's claim to worth in the eye 
 of a perfecfl ali-righteous God, and we 
 are, after all, compelled to confefs our- 
 felves unprofitable fervants. — ^If there be 
 any a6l of piety, however, that recom- 
 mends itfelf, above all odiers, to the notice 
 and attention of the Delty^ it is that of 
 charity, — Not, indeed, the mere aft of 
 giving alms: — This may be performed 
 without charity : — -We are even told, that 
 thou";h a man have faith to remove moun- 
 tains, though he giv^e all his goods to the 
 poor, and even his body to be burned, yet 
 he may be without charity, and all his 
 faith, his charitable deeds, and even his 
 martyrdom avail him nothing. — What, 
 then, you may afk, is charity ? — What is 
 the aft of piety, which lays a peculiar 
 claim to the notice of God, -for the fake 
 5.nd through the ^merits of our bleffed 
 
 Saviour^ 
 
S E R l\l O N V. 137 
 
 Saviour, who hath, as well hlmfcif^ as by 
 his Difciples, enjoined It.—I will anfwcr 
 you in the words of the apoftle James — 
 *' Know that he which converteth the fin- 
 ner from the error of his way, fhall fave 
 a foul from death, and fhall hide a multl- 
 tude of fins."— 
 
 It is in this refpedl, that the Alagdalene 
 charity claims a pre-eminence to mofl, if 
 not all others — To the honour of this opu- 
 lent and liberal metropolis, we have a 
 number of fchools, hofpitals, and afylums ; 
 in which the young and innocent are edu- 
 cated,— the poor fuflained, and the lick and 
 lame refiored to health. — The great obje6l 
 of this inftitiition is not the mere preferva- 
 tion of innocence, the fimple fupport of life, 
 or refloration only of bodily health. — Thefe 
 are all obje(5ls of humanity, civil policy, and 
 moral virtue ; and yet muil be owned to 
 fall fliort, in refped of piety, to that of the 
 eflablifliment, which I am called upon par- 
 titularh to recommend to your relisiious at- 
 R tcntion 
 
128 S E R M ON V. 
 
 tention. — The unhappy fubjedls admitted 
 into this afylum, having been dead in tref- 
 pafles and fins, feek afliftance in their reco- 
 very and refloration to a fpiritual life. It 
 is not merely from a temporal, but a fpiri- 
 tual death they foUicit a refuge. — As the 
 faving a foul from death, therefore, is an 
 objed: of fuperior concern to that of refto- 
 ring a limb or preferving the body in 
 health ; even, I fay, as the falvation of the 
 foul is of infinitely more moment than the 
 prefervation of health, or life of the body, 
 fo is the obje6t of this charity proportion- 
 ably more important that that of others. 
 
 To your pious liberality, therefore, let 
 me recommend it's fupport, in repeating 
 the words of the apoftle — " Know that he 
 which converteth the finner from the error 
 of his way — fhall fave a foul from death, 
 
 and hide a multitude of fins. May the 
 
 God of all mercies crown our labour of 
 love with fuccefs, through Jefus Chrift our 
 Lord — to whom be afcribed, as is mofl: 
 juftly due, all might, majefty, adoration, 
 and praiie, henceforth and for evermore. 
 
A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 BENTINCK CHAPEL, 
 
 MARY-LE-BONE, 
 
 On Wednesday the loth of February, 1779^ 
 
 BEING THE DAY APPOINTED 
 F K A 
 
 GENERAL FAST 
 
 A N D 
 
 HUMILIATION, 
 
[ '3' 1 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 BENTINCK CHAPEL, 
 
 O N A 
 
 GENERAL FAST, &c'. 
 
 JUDGES, c. XX. V. 23. 
 
 jfndthe Children cf Ifrael went up and wept before the 
 Lord until Even ^ and ajked Council of the Lord; fey in gy 
 jhall I go up again to Battle againji the Children of 
 Benjamin^ my Brother ? And the Lord faid. Go up 
 ogainjl him. 
 
 KE E N is the fword of flanghter in 
 the hands of hoftile ilrang-ers ; ter- 
 rible the claih of arms, and dreadful the 
 calamities of war between profeffed foes, 
 between aliens in name and blood, between 
 avowed enemies to every national, every 
 
 perfonal 
 
i-j- SERMON VI. 
 
 'j> 
 
 perfonal interefl: ! How much more dread- 
 ful, then, the horrors of civil difcord ; 
 when every man's hand is lifted againft his 
 brother ; the father againft the fon, and 
 the fon againft the father ! — Yet fuch, in 
 the myfterious difpenfations of Providence, 
 hath been frequendy the unhappy fate of 
 nauons ! 
 
 It was the ftate of God's chofen people 
 Ifrael, when they gathered together, as one 
 inan, even from Dan to Beerfheba, to go 
 up againft their brethren of the tribe of 
 Benjamin ; among whom, certain children 
 of Belial had committed wickednefs and 
 folly at Gibeah. 
 
 With the giving up of the delinquents, 
 fo that the evil might be put away from 
 Ifrael, would the injured nation have been 
 fatisfied ; but " the children of Benjamin 
 would not hearken to the voice of their 
 brethren, the children of Ifrael, but ga- 
 thered themfeives, in their turn, together, 
 
 out 
 
133 S E R M O M VI. 
 
 out of the cities, unto Gibeah, to go out 
 to battle againft the children of Ifrael." 
 
 Upon this defiance, the latter afked 
 counfel of God, who dlre(5led the tribe of 
 Judah to go up iirift againft Benjamin, and 
 yet it pleafed the Lord to fuffer ** the 
 children of Benjamin to deftroy down to ■ 
 the ground of the Ifraelites that day twenty 
 and two thoufand men : — Such was the 
 will of Heaven ! although by divine com- 
 mand, the deftroyed were exprefsly fent 
 up againft the deftroyers ! — 
 
 But were God's people difcouraged or 
 caft down, at this calamitous event ? — By 
 no means, " the men of Ifrael encouraged 
 themfelves, and fet their battle in array 
 again, in the very place, were they had 
 put themfelves in array before." — At the 
 command of the Lord they again went up, 
 and were again defeated ; " the children 
 of Benjamin deftroyingdown to the ground 
 gf the children of ifrael, the fecond day, 
 
 eigh- 
 
134 S E R Al O N VL 
 
 eighteen thoufand, that drew the fword.'* 
 
 What repeated flaughter ! And yet, 
 
 though dlfmayed, did not Ifrael defpair ; 
 but " all the people went up, and came 
 into the houfe of God, and went and fat 
 there before the Lord, and fafted that day 
 "^until even. And Phinehas the fon of Ele- 
 azar, the Ion of Aaron, flood before the 
 ark of the covenant of God, and enquired 
 of the Lord, faying, fhall I yet again go 
 out to battle againft the children of Benja- 
 min, my brother, or fhall I ceafe? And 
 the Lord faid go up ; for to-morrow I 
 will deliver them into thy hand." 
 
 Striking is the fimilitude between the 
 iituation of the tribes of Ifrael, and that 
 of the natives of Old England and the New ; 
 between the children of the Mother Coun- 
 try, and their brethren of the American 
 Colonies ; whofe lamented defed^ion, and 
 perfevering obftinacy, have involved both 
 in thofe calamities, which have occafioned 
 all the people this day to come together^ 
 
 like 
 
SERMON VI. 13^- 
 
 like the Ifraelites of old, into the houfe 
 of God, to folicit with fafting and prayer, 
 the counfel and affiflance of the God of 
 battles, in this time of general diflrefs. 
 
 Had not oar American brethren pro- 
 tected the perfons, and adopted the fenti- 
 ments of thofe fons of Belial, the fadtions 
 demagogues, who firft fowed the feeds of 
 difcontent, and planted the rank weed of 
 rebellion amongft them, both they and we 
 might have flili enjoyed the bleiUngs of 
 peace and plenty, eaph under his own vine 
 and fig tree ^ grateful to the hand of that 
 Providence, which had crowned our uni- 
 ted arms in the laft war, with the long- 
 willied for fuccefs, of expelling the com* 
 mon enemy from the American continent. 
 Fatal fuccefs ! fo weak is human fore fight, 
 as to find the completion of it's fondeft: 
 wiflies, frequently it's ruin ! — Dreadful re- 
 verfe of circumftances !— ^Egregious exam- 
 ple of the folly of human wifdom ! — -And 
 that within the lapfe of fo few years I 
 S Witbia 
 
136 SERMON VI 
 
 Within few, beyond the twentieth return 
 of the feafons, we have feen, (to Life no 
 harfher terms) thefe improvident, thefe im- 
 politic Colonies foliciting the protedion of 
 ihe parent-ftate aginft thofe, whom they 
 then painted in the mofl: odious colours, 
 not only as avowed enemies to civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, but as the mofl cruel and 
 inhuman tyrants, that ever popery and 
 flavery had infpired with diabolical 'malice, 
 to debafe and opprefs mankind ; — againfl: 
 thofe, whom they now embrace with open 
 arms, and on whofe lap they, with confi- 
 dence, place their future repofe. 
 
 A perverfe child m.ay, in a pevilh fit, 
 fly to it's greatefl: enemy for protection, 
 againft the chaflifement of an incenfdd pa- 
 rent ; but time and refleftion will moft 
 certainly convince it of it's folly : and fol- 
 ly, in the higheft degree, would it be 
 found, in thofe, who are really attached to 
 civil and religious freedom, to exchange 
 the feverity, even admitting it fuch, of a 
 
 proie- 
 
S E R M O N VI. 137 
 
 proteftant, limited monarch}', for that of 
 a defpotic, popifli prince. 
 
 Their fubj cation to a French, compared 
 to their fubmifTion to a Britijlo king, would 
 be, like the yoke of Rehoboam, compared 
 to that of his father Solomon. A Louis, 
 whatever he might foothingly fay, would 
 put in pradlice the words of that ill-advifed 
 young king of Ifrael. The little finger of 
 France would be thicker to the Colonies, 
 than the loins of Great Britain; and as 
 their natural parent only chaflifed th-em 
 with whips, their adopted mother would 
 chaftife them with fcorpions; And fhould 
 their refiftance fucceed, to fuch a fubjec- 
 tion mufl; it come. For, foolifh and 
 froward as they are, they cannot be fo fran- 
 tic, as to flatter themfelves, that France is 
 really in earneft to eftablifh republican 
 freedom and independency on the conti- 
 nent of America. 
 
 Such liberty in the New World, would 
 
 be a thorn too deeply planted in the 
 S z fides 
 
13S S E R M O N VI. 
 
 fides of defpotlfm in the Old. No — The 
 defigns of France, in fnpporting our re- 
 fractory brethren (for ftill let me plead for 
 the liberty of calling them fo) in lifting np 
 their hand againft their mother-country, 
 is evidently to involve them in that flavery, 
 of which they affe6l to be in fear from 
 Qreat Britain. 
 
 Is it not obvioiiily to load them with 
 that 3'oke, and to rivet thofe fetters, whofe 
 diftant appearance they were unable to 
 bear ? 
 
 Yet Heaven forbid, that a whole people 
 fhould be permitted to fufFer fo feverely for. 
 an error, which, though unhappily too 
 general among them, is far from being uni- 
 verfal : and, indeed, we have every thing 
 to hope from the juftice of divine Provi- 
 dence, that, in it's own time, the evil- 
 doers will be brought to fee the error of 
 their ways, to repent, and be faved from 
 impending deflruftion. 
 
 The 
 
SERMON VI. 139 
 
 The ways of providence are not only 
 myfterious in general, but peculiarly fo in 
 that forbearance and long fuffering, which 
 it fo frequently difplays toward obflinacy 
 and error. It often condefcends to pro- ■ 
 ceed through all the regular degrees of in- 
 fluence on moral agency, from perfuafion 
 to remonllrance, to reproof, to chafl:ife- 
 ment : but the time mufl: come, when the 
 meafure of their guilt will be full, and 
 into the ears, that are deaf to reproof, will 
 be thundered the voice of defolation. 
 
 It IS yet ftrange, but fuch is the effeS: of 
 difappointment on weak and inconfiderate 
 minds, that the ill fuccefs of the Britifh 
 arms in the redudion of the American 
 Rebellion, fhould have induced fo large a 
 fhare of defpondency among us. How 
 many are there who, even now, helitate 
 on the propriety of continuing hoftilities 
 againft thofe unnatural infurgents; doubting 
 like the Ifraelites, in refpedl to Benjamin, 
 whether h be not better to give up coer- 
 cive 
 
I40 SERMON VI. 
 
 cive meafures, and in the language of my 
 text, to ceafe going up againft them. 
 
 To ceafe ! — to indulge them in their 
 perverfenefs and folly, and permit them to 
 throw themfelves madly into the arms of 
 our common foe ; the foe to freedom, 
 civil and religious, to the rights of huma- 
 nity, and the common privileges of man- 
 kind ! — is it pofiible the deluded Americans 
 can have provoked the natives of this 
 country to become fo inveterately their 
 enemies ? 
 
 A natural, though juftly incenfed, parent, 
 willing as fhe might be to make a ftubborn 
 child fmart under the rod of her chaftife- 
 ment, would yet be anxious to preferve it 
 from deilru(5lion. Nay, the more defperate- 
 ly it fhould feem bent on it's own ruin, the 
 more refolutely would fuch a parent be 
 determined, at all hazards, if poiTible, to 
 prevent it. The fervour of her firfl: refent- 
 ment would begin to change into compaf- 
 
 fionj 
 
S E R M O N VI. 141 
 
 fion ; fhe would begin to look with an eye 
 of /pity on the obftinacy of her offspring; 
 not as a tranfitory foible to be eafily 
 corrected, but as a folly fomented into 
 frenzy, and requiring the fevereft difcipline, 
 and even defperate remedies to remove it. 
 
 It was a queftion, propofed in fpecula- 
 tion, by an eminent prelate of the protef- 
 tant church, "whether whole communi- 
 ties are not liable to be afflidled with frenzy, 
 as well as individuals." — Hiftory affords 
 inftances of paroxyfms in the body politic, 
 fimilar to that of the body natural. And, 
 indeed, what lefs than an infatuation, equal 
 to infanity, is that of protectant colo- 
 nies, or'^'nally peopled by men peculiarly 
 jealous 01 their religious rights, and zeal- 
 ous, even to enthufiafm, for liberty of con- 
 fcience ; what lefs, I fay, than madnefs is 
 it, in the immediate defcendants of thofe 
 men, to invite fuch perfecution by a volun- 
 tary compad with popery and defpotifm ; 
 from which their forefathers lied, and 
 
 which 
 
142 SERMON. VI. 
 
 which they themfelves have fo lately affec- 
 icd to regard with horror ? 
 
 It were needlefs to offer any argument 
 to prove the inconfiflency, the criminahty,, 
 of the Americans in throwing off their al- 
 legiance to their mother-country, and form- 
 ing alliances with her greateft enemies. 
 I will not urge a lingle plea to aggravate 
 the abfurdity of their folly, the enormity 
 of their guilt. — No — ^out of their own 
 mouth be they judged. By a few fhort ex* 
 tra6ls, from a fermon preached by the pro- 
 voft of the college of Philadelphia, on a 
 public faff, in the year 1756, my auditors 
 may learn what it might be otherwlfe 
 .deemed partiality, perhaps refentment, in 
 me to recite. 
 
 The preacher, after comparing the folly 
 and ingrautude of the Americans, to thofe 
 of the Jews of old, breaks into the follow- 
 ing reproach, as imagined to have come 
 from the father of natlonSj their divine and 
 
 provi-' 
 
SERMON VI. 143 
 
 providential protestor, who thus is fuppo- 
 fed to addrefs them. 
 
 " Britons and Proteftants! I brought 
 you forth into this remote country, as an 
 infant people, as a chofen feed ; purpo- 
 Ung, through you, to extend my kingdom 
 to the utmofl: parts of this American world; 
 You have heard with your ears, and your 
 fathers have told you the noble works that 
 I did in their days, and in the old time 
 before them. 
 
 " I protedled you through the dangers 
 of the ocean, and preferved you in a land 
 of defarts. I bade the folitary place be 
 glad through you, and the defert itfelf to 
 rejoice and bloffom as the rofe. When you 
 were but a weak and helplefs people, I 
 made the heathen your friends, who had 
 power to deftroy you. I gave you a plen- 
 tiful country, and bade you eat the fruits 
 thereof. — You then faw, that this was my 
 doing, and, in thofe early days, were not 
 T afhamed 
 
144 SERMON VL 
 
 alliamed to confefs, that the right hand of 
 the Lord had brought mighty things to 
 pafs. When you looked back on the dan- 
 gers you had efcaped, your grateful fouls 
 were lifted up in praifes to me, who fpoke 
 the fierce ocean into peace around you, and 
 made the gloomy wildernefs become the 
 chearful abode of men. When you faw 
 the bounteous earth bring forth her wil- 
 ling encreafe, you acknowledged, that 
 your lines had fallen in pleafant places ; 
 yea, that you had received a goodly 
 heritage. 
 
 '^ But you had not long entered in, before 
 you defiled my land, and made my heri- 
 tage an abornination, I gave you plenty ; 
 but plenty begat eafe ; and eafe begat lux- 
 ury ; and luxury introduced a fatal corrup- 
 tion of every good and virtuous principle ; 
 infomuch, that you forgot the very hand 
 
 from which you received all things.""^ 
 
 In 
 
 * See Dr. Smith's difcourfes on public occafions in 
 
 America, printed in London, in the year 1762. 
 
 Difcourfc Ill.pi 55, 
 
SERMON VI. i4_^ 
 
 In confequence of this avowed itate of 
 immorality and irreligion in thefe highly 
 favoured colonifts, the calamities and dif- 
 trefies in which they were, at that time^ 
 involved by the inroads of the French, and 
 the outrages of the Indians, are declared 
 by the preacher to be the vilitation of pro- 
 vidence for their ingratitude. 
 
 His defcription of fuch diftrefTes, in the 
 words of the facred text, is pathetic and 
 affedling — -" I have warned you once for 
 thefe things, and twice have I fpoken unto 
 you, faith tlte Lord ; but you have neither 
 kiffed my rod, nor humbled yourfelves un- 
 der my chaftifements. The fhowers have 
 been with-holden, and there hath been no 
 latter rain; yet you have refufed to be 
 afhamed. My judgments have been a- 
 broad upon the earth, but you have not 
 learned righteoufnefs. 
 
 " Wherefore, the young lions from the 
 
 foreft have roared upon you. They have 
 
 T 2 niade 
 
146 S E R iM O N VI. 
 
 made your land waAe, and your cliles are 
 burnt, without Inhabitant. The children 
 of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the 
 crown of your head. J I have let the fa- 
 vages of the woods loofe upon you. They 
 rage in all your borders. Your country is 
 depopulated, your villages burnt up ; and 
 thoufands of your miferable brethren tor- 
 tured, murdered, or carried into barbarous 
 captivity. Deilrudion upon deftrudlion is 
 cried, for the Vv'hole land is fpolled. The 
 voice of lamentation Is heard, as of a wo- 
 man in travail; even the voice of your 
 bleeding country, that bewaileth herfelf, 
 and fpreadeth forth her hands, faying, Woe 
 is me now, for my foul is wearied becaufe 
 of murderers.— I have fent a nation upon 
 you from afar, whofe language you know 
 not ; a mighty nation from the north coun- 
 try ; riling up from the fides of the earth ; 
 
 that 
 
 X This is otherwife rendered, ** feed on thy crown." But, 
 however it be underftood, the words and the whole defcription 
 that follows, are too remarkable not to bring to our mind all the 
 horrors of an Indian war, and the deteftable cuftom of fcaiping, 
 or cutting cff the ikin of the head, to te feld for a price. 
 
147 
 
 SERMON VL 
 
 that lay hold on the bow and the fpear, 
 whofe voices roar like the fea ; who are 
 cruel and have no mercy ; at whofe fame 
 your hands wax feeble, and one fays to 
 another, go not out into the field, nor 
 walk by the way, for the fword of the 
 enemy is on every fide, and whofoever 
 goeth out, fhall be torn to pieces." i 
 
 Such was then the lamentable circum- 
 ftances of our colonifts, and fuch then their 
 avowed opinion of the French, that mighty 
 nation, cruel, and without mercy, whofe 
 tendernefs is now their -pride, and whofe 
 humanity their boaft. 
 
 Indulge me, Britons of our mother- 
 country, if ye can have patience, once 
 
 again ! 
 
 J Smith, Difcour'e HI- page 63. It may be objedcd againft 
 this mode of evidence, that the voice of an individual is not to be 
 laken for that of a whole people. But, if we refleft on the perfon, 
 time, and circumftance, that this individual was a public preacher, 
 provoft of the college of Philadelphia; that he fiajids up in ihe 
 midft of the people, at a time when the effefts of their declared 
 mifconduft were notorloufly felt, and that a general acqiiiefcence, 
 in the truth of the accufation brought againfl them prevailed: On 
 this refltftion, 1 fay, the teftimosy of the piescher nii'.ll be adnait- 
 ted as valid and conclufiye. 
 
148 S E R A4 O N VI, 
 
 again ! hear the addrefs of the fame prea- 
 cher to the Brltiili forces, under the com- 
 mand of General Stainwix, in April, 1757, 
 before their march to the frontiers, in or- 
 der to protedl the colonies againft the In- 
 dians and the French. 
 
 " I will pronounce it, gentlemen, be- 
 fore heaven and earth, that from the days 
 of our Alfreds, our Edwards, and our 
 Henries downwards, the Britifh fword was 
 never unfheathed in a more glorious or 
 more divine caufe than at prefent ! — Look 
 round you! — behold a country, vaft in 
 extent, merciful in it's climate, exuberant 
 in it's foil, the feat of plenty, the garden 
 of the Lord [ behold it given to us and to 
 our pofterity, to propagate virtue, to cul- 
 tivate ufeful arts, and to fpread abroad the 
 pure evangelical religion of Jefus ! behold 
 colonies founded in it ! Proteftant Colonies! 
 Free Colonies ! Britifh Colonies ! Behold 
 them exulting in their liberty ; flourifhing 
 in commerce ; the arts and fciences planted 
 
 m 
 
SERMON VI. 149 
 
 in them ; the gofpel preached ; and in 
 fhort, the feeds of happinefs and glory 
 firmly rooted, and growing up among 
 them ! 
 
 *'Bnt, running from this profpe6l for a 
 moment, look to the other hand ; diredl 
 your eyes to the weft ward ; there behold 
 Popifh perfidy, French tyranny, and Savage 
 barbarity, leagued in triple combination, 
 advancing to deprive us of thofe exalted 
 bleflings, or to circumfcribe us in the pof- 
 fefHon of them, and make the land too 
 fmall for us, and the increafing multitude 
 of our poflerity 
 
 "Oh Britons!— Oh Chriftians !— What 
 a. profpedl is this ! — 'Tis odious to the 
 view, and horrible to relate. See, in the 
 van, a fet of fierce favages bounded forth 
 againfl us, from their dark lurking places ; 
 brandifhing their murderous knives ; fpa- 
 ring neither age nor fex ; neither the hoary 
 fire, nor the hopeful fon; neither the 
 
 tender 
 
150 SERMON VI. 
 
 tender virgin, nor the helplefs babe. Ten 
 thoufand furies follow behind and clofe np 
 the fcene ! — Grim fuperftition, lording it 
 over confcience ! Bloody perfecution fha- 
 kingher iron fconrge ! and gloomy error, 
 feducing the unwary fonl ! — While in the 
 midft, and all around, is heard the voice of 
 lamentation and mourning and woe ; Reli- 
 gion bleeding under her ftripes ! — Virtue 
 banifhed into a corner ! — Commerce bound 
 in chains, and Liberty in fetters of iron ! 
 
 '' But look again. Gentlemen, between 
 us and thofe evils, there is yet a fpace or 
 gap left ! — and in that gap among others 
 you iland a glorious phalanx ! a royal 
 corps formed by the beft of Kings for the 
 nobleft purpofes ! — formed to be the aven- 
 gers of liberty and protec^tors of juftice 
 in this new world." 
 
 This was the language of the Americans, 
 at a period but little diftant — A language 
 it may be thought too artificial to accord 
 
 with 
 
S E R iM O N Vr. 151 
 
 with the Jimplicity of truth. But, not to 
 anticipate the proofs of their hypocrify, let 
 us admit them to be fincere in their fear 
 at leaft, if not in their hate, of grim Siiper- 
 f}:ition, of bloody Perfecution, and of 
 gloomy Errour. Nay, let us admit them 
 iincere in their love of liberty, of Britain, 
 of Proteftants, and of the pure evangelical 
 religion of Jefus. And, on this fuppofi- 
 tion will my Auditors believe their ears, 
 fhould they hear thefe revolting paffages 
 repeated ? — Can I even believe my own 
 eyes on their re-perufal ? — Is it credible, 
 that w^e fhould fee thefe Frotejiant Co- 
 lonies ! — Thefe free Colonies! — Thefe Bri^ 
 ti/lj Colonies, fo lately trembling at the 
 cruelty and oppreffion of PopifJo Ferfdyy, 
 French Tyranny and Savage Barbarity f 
 
 Is it credible, let me alk again, that 
 
 we lliould in fo fhort a fpace of time as 
 
 twenty years, fee thefe fame Colonies, in 
 
 Open rebellion againft their King, at war 
 
 U with 
 
152 S E R M O N VI. 
 
 with their avowed Protecftors, and leagued 
 in triple combination with the very Popijlj 
 perfidy, the French tyranny^ the Savage bar- 
 barity, which they fo lately affeBed to hold 
 in fuch deteftation and horror? 
 
 Yet fo it is ; and what wonder that a 
 people fo confeffcdly unmindful of the 
 rnofl: fignal bleffings of Providence, fo un- 
 grateful for the goodnefs of their God, 
 iTiould be equally unmindful, equally un- 
 grateful for the kindnefs and protedion 
 of men ! 
 
 And {ball v/e not, under the diredion of 
 that Providence, go yet again up againft 
 thefe American Brethren ? — Vlay not yet 
 " the glorious Phalanx, the Royal Corps, 
 formed for the noblefl: purpofes," be the 
 avengers of liberty, and protedlors of juf- 
 tice in the new world ? — May we not hum^ 
 bly pray, that the Lord will ihfpire our 
 national councils, as he did, on the 
 
 third 
 
SERMON VI. 153 
 
 third •ffolicitation thofe of the Children of 
 Ifrael, with the confident hope, that he 
 will extricate our difobedient brethren from 
 the wiles of French perfidy, and deliver 
 them into our hands* 
 
 Will it be urged, that the condudl of 
 the children of Benjamin, in refpedt to the 
 tribes of Ifrael, was mor6 criminal than 
 that of the Americans againfl their bre- 
 thren of Great Britain ? It is a plea without 
 proof, and without propriety. The truth, 
 on the contrary, is, that their criminality 
 is proportionally as much greater, as is an 
 injury donQ to a whole fociety, and a 
 violence committed agalnft an individual. X 
 
 If ingratitude be, indeed, as the facred 
 text declares, worfe than the lin of witch- 
 craft ; if it include, as it proverbially does, 
 U 2 the 
 
 f This fermon was preached on the third faft day, appointed on 
 eccount of the American war. 
 
 J The original crime of the children of Benjamin refpefling 
 only the viol-nce committed on the perfon of a ifingle ftranger. 
 
r54 SERMON, VI. 
 
 the effence of all other crimes, X the Ame- 
 ricans are guilty in the higheft degree. — If 
 is known to the whole world, that the lad 
 expenlive, however fuccefsful war, a war 
 which added fuch an enormous load to the 
 public debt, that the nation hath ever iince 
 groaned, and now flaggers, under its 
 weight — It is known to the whole v/orld, 
 I fay, that this war was entered into folely 
 on the account, and for the protedlion of 
 thefe ungrateful colonies. It began upon 
 their ovv^n frontiers, in their back fettle- 
 ments, and was carried into the midfl of 
 their country. Nay, if we believe the 
 Americans themfelves, they even provoked 
 and gave rife to it by their own mifcondudl. 
 — For, hear again their own preacher, 
 ftanding up, at the very time, in the midfl 
 of them, and upbraiding them, in the 
 words of the Lord : " even,^* fays he— 
 " in the very fight of Sinai's burning 
 mount : in the midft of the moft compli- 
 cated mifericsj w^hen blood and defolation 
 
 • are 
 
 I Incrttun: fi dixeris omnia dixerif. 
 
S E R iM O N VI. 155 
 
 are all around, you have neither reformed 
 your lives, nor regarded the diftrefs of your 
 country. An evil fpirit of unbelief hath 
 gone forth among you, fetting every pre- 
 fent danger at a diftance. You have re* 
 fufed to play the man for the cities of your 
 God, or to defend that glorious plan of 
 public happinefs delivered down to yoil by 
 your fathers. Strifes, difcords, hatred, un- 
 charitablenefs, licentioufnefs, civil broils 
 calumnies' and contention about trifles, 
 have been uppermofl: in your thoughts; 
 while your moft valuable and effential in- 
 terefts have been made a fecondary concern, 
 or perhaps no concern at all, or the con- 
 cern only of thofe who wanted the power 
 to ferve them." i 
 
 Such was their avowed criminality at 
 the commencement of the war, which was 
 
 beguri 
 
 % Would fo hefilous a charge as this have teen acquiefced in, I 
 fay, if it were not juftly founded? And does it not clearly prove 
 that the coloiiifls have long been carelefs of their ewn concerns as a 
 people } repoJing entirely on the gratuitous proteftion of rht^r 
 ■jnother country i 
 
is6 S E R M O N VL 
 
 begun and carried on, at the expence of fo 
 much blood and treafure to this country, 
 for their rehef !— And when providence had 
 crowned our arms with fuccefs, and peace 
 had bellowed on them a fecurity beyond 
 their utmoft wifhes, what was the confe- 
 quence ? wanton in that fecurity, they 
 fpurned at the hand that raifed and fupport- 
 ed them, and infolently affumed to them- 
 felves the rights of independence. Requi- 
 red only to contribute to alleviate the bur- 
 then, which the coft of their protedlion had 
 laid on the mother-country, they deny the 
 obligation, and renounce their allegiance. X 
 
 In 
 
 % Making at the fame time, the moft carneft proteftations, 
 and urging the moft fpecious pretexts of their fubmiflion and loy- 
 alty. Wicuefs the fame political preacher, in a fermon preached by 
 bim in Philadelphia in the year 1775: wherein he prefumes to fhew, 
 if peradventure /!e might he permitted to vouch for his fellovj citi- 
 zens, fofaras he has been converfant among them, that the idea of 
 an independance upon the parent country, or the leaft licentious 
 oppofuion to it's juft interefts, is utterly foreign to their thoughts: 
 that they contend only for the fecurity of charters and laws, toge- 
 ther with the right of granting their own money ; and that our 
 rightful fovereign has no were more loyal fubjefts, or more zealouf- 
 ly attached to thofe principles of government, under which his fa- 
 mily inherits the throne." This preacher might well entertain fome 
 d^ubt whether //i' mi^ht he psrmlttedtQVOuchforhii j'dliw citizens. 
 
S E R xM O N VL 157 
 
 Is not this condud more criminal than 
 that of the children of Benjamin? — they 
 
 had, 
 
 in miking a declaration fo totally contradiftory to tliat which he 
 h;4d made fo few years before : efpecialiy as at the time the laft dif- 
 courfe was delivered, the preliminaries of the treaty of the 
 Congrefs with France muft have been brought on the carpet. It 
 is indeed curious to mark the change of ftile and fubjeift, between the 
 former and the latter difcourfes of this verfatlle preacher.- In the one, 
 the mifconduft of the colonies, and their difrcgard to their own pre- 
 fervation, is painted in ftriking colours ; in the other, the very co- 
 lonies are reprefented as the fuppori and even the proteclors of Great 
 Britain — compare the following extraft from the laft mentioned 
 ferinon, preached ifl 177 5, with thofe felefted above from the dif- 
 courfes delivered in 1756: " Uflcankered by jealoud}'', undepreffed 
 by fear, and cemented by mutual love and mutual benefits, we trod 
 the path of glory with our brethren for an hundred years and more 
 enjoying a length of felicity fcarce ever experienced by any other 
 people. — Mindful of the hands that protefied us in our youth and 
 fubmitting to every juft regulation for appropriating to them the be- 
 nefit of our trade, — our wealth was poured in upon them from ten 
 thoufand channels, widening as they flowed, andmaking their poor 
 to fing, and indufiry to fmile, through every corner of their land. 
 And as often as dangers threatened, and as the voice of the Britifh If- 
 rael called our brethren to the field, we left them not alone, but fha* 
 red their toils and fought by their fide, till there flood not a man of 
 all their enemies before them. Nay, they themfelves teftified on 
 our behalf; that in all things we not only did our part, but more 
 than our part for the common good, and they difmifled us home 
 loaded with filver and gold, in aecompence for our extraordinary 
 fervices." With what art, and, let me add, with what ingrati- 
 tude, is the liberality of the Britifh parliamentary reimburfements 
 hinted at, and converted into a reproach againft the generous do- 
 nors— —Surely ! Surely! if either party were to be recompenfed for 
 extraordinary fervices, it is the mother country, rather than the 
 American colonies, that demand a reafon:ible recompenfe, for extra- 
 ordinary fervices !«— But, no— .according to Dr. Smith, that people, 
 
 which 
 
158 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 had,, m excnfe, to plead the anarchy and 
 mlfmle of the times ; for we read, that in 
 thofe days " there was no king in Ifrael, 
 and every man did that which was right in 
 his own eves." 
 
 How dreadful the circnmfiances of a 
 people in fuch a ftate, the Americans to 
 
 their 
 
 is/lilch in the year 1736, were infected, with fo " fatal a corruption 
 ** from luxury, of every good and virtuous principle, infomuch. 
 " that they iieglecled their own prafervation, and forgot the very 
 " hand from which they received all things," are, in the year 
 ** '7 7?) a people whofe " morals are not far tainted by luxury, pro- 
 *' fufion, or diffipatiouj and are animated by every patriotic exertion '* 
 See fermon of 1775, page 27. — According to this refpeftable ora- 
 i07; ic was not the power and vaft refources of Great Britain that 
 protefted them, and totally freed themfromthe terrors of the French, 
 it was to the colonies that Great Britain owed her fuperiority and 
 ifvealth. It was i/wir vjealih poured in ^upoit her in ten thoufand 
 channels ! What a happy knack at perverfion hath thisPenfylvanian 
 divine. — But hear him agaitt fpeak the whole fenfe of the people of 
 America, in declaring the motive of their attempt at independency. 
 "For my part, I have long been poffeffed with a ftrong and even 
 enthufiaftic perfuafion, that Heaven has great and gracious purpofes 
 towards this Continent, which no human power or human device 
 ili.dl be able finally to fruftrate. Illiberal or miftaken plans of policy 
 in-iy diftiefs us for a while, and perhaps forely check our growth ; 
 hut if we maintain our own virtue. If we cultivate the fplrit of li- 
 berty among our children, if we guard againft the fnare of luxury, 
 venality and corruption, the genius of America will ftill rife trium- 
 phant; and that with a power at laft too mighty for oppofition. 
 This country will he free — nay, for ages to come, a chofen feat of 
 jreedom, arts, — and heavenly knowledge ; which are now either 
 ^Jrpo'pijig or dead In moft countries of the old world.'* 
 
S G R M O N VI. 1^9 
 
 their coft, experience ! And ihall we not 
 again go up agalnft them ? againfl thofe 
 refra6lory fplrits, who have brought the 
 native loyallfts, even of their own country, 
 into a fituation equally diftrefsful and ca- 
 lamitous with that which they once fo 
 loudly complained was brought on them 
 by Popijlj perfdy^ French tyranny^ and Sa- 
 vage barbarity ? 
 
 Have they not rifen agalnft the Roy- 
 alifts — perfecuted every faithful Abdiel to 
 fpollj to banlfhment, or to death ? 
 
 But let we dwell no longer on a iiilf- 
 condu(5l, in which I have myfelf been 
 fo nearly interefled, and by which I and 
 mine have fo cruelly fuffered. No, as an 
 individual, I moft lincerely forgive all my 
 enemies, with a forgivenefs truly chrifllan ; 
 but, as a member of an highly injured and 
 niiulted community, I enter my protefl 
 againll that pufillanlmous defpondency, 
 X which 
 
j6o sermon VL 
 
 which would deter us from going up again 
 againft her rebellious colonies. 
 
 As a minifter of the church of Chrift 
 alfo, I will boldly protefl in the words of 
 the prophet Jeremiah, againft every one, 
 " from the leaft even to the greateft, 
 from the prophet even unto the prieilj who 
 would heal the hurt of the daughter of the 
 people flightly, faying peace, peace, when 
 there is no peace/' 
 
 At the fame time, let us all, with the 
 mofl: profound humiliation for our own 
 offences, and under the deepeft contrition 
 for our manifold lins, continue to proftrate 
 ourfelves at the throne of grace, taking 
 counfel af the Lord, and refolving, under 
 the banner of his righteoufnefs, to go forth 
 yet again, " to play the man for the cities of 
 our God," putting our trufl in Providence, 
 that by fo doing our revolted brethren may 
 be recalled to their duty, both to God and 
 
 their 
 
SERMON VL i6r 
 
 their King ; and that we may yet fee the 
 proteftant religion flourifh, and the gofpel 
 of Chrifl be again propagated in evangelical 
 purity, throughout the American conti- 
 nent, even to the remotefl: parts of the 
 earth. 
 
 X ♦. 
 
A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 BENTINGK CHAPEL, 
 
 MARY-LE-BONE, 
 On Friday, the 4th of February, 1780, 
 
 BEING THE DAY APPOINTED 
 
 FO R A 
 
 GENERAL FAST 
 
 A N d; 
 
 HUMILIATION, 
 
105 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 BENTINCK CHAPEL, 
 
 O N A 
 
 GENERAL FAST, ^c, 
 JOSHUA, c. XXII. V. 22. 
 
 The Lord God of Gods — The Lord God of Gods — He 
 knouxeih and Ifrael he /hall know, if it be in Rebellion 
 or in Tranfgrejfion againji the ford — Save us not 
 this day ! 
 
 CRIPTURE opens to us a copi- 
 ous fountain, from whence we may 
 always derive individual and national In- 
 fl:ru(5lion. Abounding in the finefl: lefTons 
 of morality, the holy writings alfo furnifh 
 us with a lively pidure of great events, en- 
 tertaining in their narration, and exhibiting 
 
 to 
 
i66 SERMON VIL 
 
 to us, in their confequences, great exam- 
 ples, for the regulation of our private 
 condu(5l, and the government of kingdoms. 
 
 The hiftory of the Jews, from their 
 origin, through all the varieties of their 
 fortune is a fubjed of all others,— calcula- 
 ted to aroufe the mind,— fix the attention,— 
 and excite our admiration and refpeit. — 
 Reverend from it's antiquity, and as the 
 oldeft book extant ; — important from the 
 weighty matter it contains, it likewife be- 
 comes dignified from that noble fimplicity, 
 which is the peculiar charadleriflick of 
 truth. 
 
 The murmurings, the licentloufnefs, the 
 ingratitude of the Jews, are confiantly de- 
 picted in their native colours without 
 any vifible attempt to foften the afperity 
 and harllinefs of thele national features. 
 
 The text, which we have chofen as the 
 fubjed of the prefent difcourfe is a portion 
 
 of 
 
SERMON VII. 167 
 
 of the Jevvlfh hiilory, which is rendered 
 particularly interefling by the correfpon- 
 dence of fome of it's circumftances with the 
 extraordinary events, which have lately 
 paffed before our eyes. 
 
 The Ifraelites, having been condudled 
 by Jofliua the fucceffor of Mofes into the 
 land of Canaan, had particular territories 
 affigned to their refpedlive tribes. Separa- 
 ted in their polity, they w^ere united under 
 the Divine Being, who had condefccnded. 
 to be their ruler and guardian. This flate, 
 in which the Jews continued for many years 
 afterwards, has been called a Theocracy. 
 
 The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the 
 half tribe of ManalTeh had the country of 
 Gilead allotted for their refidence. After 
 receiving the bleffingof Jofhua, they depar- 
 ted with the accumulated fpcils of conquered 
 enemies to take poffeiTion of the land, 
 which Mofes and Jofhua had appointed for 
 them by the diredlion of God. 
 
 Y Oa 
 
i68 S E R M O N Vlf. 
 
 On their arrival upon the borders of Jor- 
 dan they built a great and exteniive altar. 
 
 This circumllance, having been commu- 
 nicated to the children of Ifrael, they deem- 
 ed it an a6l of difunion, — a delign to with- 
 draw themfelves from the divine govern- 
 ment, or theocracy, under which they had 
 y profpered, and been vidlorious over every 
 opponent ; and an acl of rebellion againft 
 the Lord their God. 
 
 Animated by this apparent injury, infla- 
 med by their feeming ingratitude, and 
 jealous for the glory of the divine being, 
 whom they held infulted by the defedlion 
 of thefe tribes from the true worfliip, the 
 facred hillory goes on to inform us, that 
 the Ifraelites prepared to make war againft 
 thofe fuppofeci rebellious tribes. 
 
 Biit before the defolation of war fKouId 
 be poured upon them, the Ifraelites refol- 
 Ved on fending a folemn embafiy to invef- 
 
 tigate 
 
SERMON VII. 169 
 
 tIgatQ the truth of the crime of which they 
 had been accufed. 
 
 The charge againft the tribes by the de- 
 puties from Ifrael, and the defence of the 
 Reubenltes and the half tribe of Manafiehj 
 produces us one of thofe grand, fpedaclcs 
 which the facred hiftory alone can furnifh. 
 
 There is a force and energy in this nati- 
 onal charge or accufation, which it is in vain 
 to imitate. In the name of the whole con- 
 gregation of the Lord, they are queftioned 
 refpeding the great offence committed 
 againft the God of Ifrael. They are in- 
 treated to look back upon the calamities^ 
 which former iniquities had occafioned. 
 They propofe to them, if the land they 
 inhabit is unclean to depart from it, and 
 return, and take polTeiTions amongft them, 
 where they may worlhip the one God. They 
 invoke them not to rebel aeainft their divine 
 
 o 
 
 ruler, nor againft them, by rearing an altar, 
 Y 2 in 
 
■yo S £ R U O N VII. 
 
 in oppofition to that one, where they had 
 engaged to offer their joint facrifices. 
 
 They reprefented, that their impiety 
 would bring down the Almighty anger, and 
 that divine wrath mJght not confine itfelf to 
 the punifhment of the guilty only, when 
 it came to take vengeance. 
 
 But very different had been the intention 
 of the accufed tribes, from that, which 
 had been fuggefted to the incenfed Ifrael- 
 ites. Inftead of cafiing off the worfhip of 
 the Lord, they manifefled the mofl fingu- 
 lar piety. Inflead of aiming at feperation 
 and independance, they had been endea- 
 vouring to cement and improve univerfal 
 union, harmony and affec5lion; 
 
 How fimple, but perfuafive is the voice 
 of injured innocence ? — After hearing the 
 charge made by the Ifraelites, they reply 
 in the words of our text, — " The Lord God 
 of Gods he knoweth, and Ifrael he fhall 
 
 know 
 
SERMON VII. 171 
 
 know, if it be in rebellion, or if in tranf- 
 greiTion againft the Lord — Save us not 
 this day. — 
 
 They then proceeded to ftate the titie 
 circumftances of their condud, and acquit- 
 ed themfelves before the Ifraelites from 
 every imputation, which had been fug- 
 gefled. 
 
 This extract from the facred hiftory con- 
 veys to us feveral important truths. Firft, 
 that ahhough the conduct of a diftind part 
 of a great community may be mifrepre- 
 fented, and it may be accufed falfely of a 
 difpofition to revolt, and no longer pay al- 
 legiance at the fame great altar of temporal 
 power, yet it's innocence will, on the 
 Ih'ghteft examination, difcover itfelf, and 
 overwhelm it's envious accufers with fliame 
 and confufion. Next, that wlien a part of 
 a community renounces it's allegiance and 
 duty to it's parent, or, as even in the pre« 
 fent cafcj it's fraternal ftate, it is warrant- 
 able 
 
173 S E R Af O N VII. 
 
 able to make war upon, and compel that 
 union, which is effential to the happinefs 
 cf the- whole. 
 
 The events of the prefent time have ex- 
 cited the aftonifhment of the world. Bri- 
 tain, condiviled by the hand of a prote(5ling 
 Providence, feerned at length to have^ 
 reached glory, and felicit)^ ; the terror of 
 her enemies, the ftrength and pillar of her 
 friends and the true religion, fhe com- 
 manded the refpedl and admiration of fur^ 
 rounding nations. 
 
 Like the Ifraelites, fhe fent for a portion 
 of her people to inhabit countries, difco- 
 vered by her naval fkill, or conquered by 
 her prowefs. Zealous and attentive to their 
 profperity, her opulence and her martial 
 flrength were exercifed to prote(5t and de- 
 fend thofe infant eflabhfhments. Settled 
 on a great conti/ieht, the extent of their 
 territory, and the increaling facility of fub- 
 fiftence gave a new and wonderful force to 
 their population. Aided alfo by the con- 
 tinual 
 
SERMON Vil. 173 
 
 tinnal emigration of the natives of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, this extenfive country 
 became engaged In an exteniive cultivation 
 of it's land, which promifed to make a 
 return to it's parent country for the nurture 
 and proteflion, which Ihe had unceallngly 
 afforded. 
 
 Whilft commerce and mutual intercourfe 
 were thus diffuling their benignant effedts^ 
 
 a foreign power, which has' always beheld 
 the felicity of her neighbours with a jaun- 
 diced eye, prepared to fubdue our then 
 weak and infant colonies. The iron red of 
 oppreflion impended over their heads, and 
 civil and religious liberty trembled for their 
 exigence. — At this fatal mioment, when 
 America found no refue;e in her own 
 ftrength, Britain generoully refolved to 
 engage her blood and treafure in the caufe 
 of her children. Heaven, at firfl", appeared 
 unfriendly to the britifh arms, and many 
 a widowed britifh mother mourned over 
 Braddock's defeat. But this libation of Eng- 
 
 hill 
 
174 S E R M O N VIL 
 
 lifh blood at the fhrine of parental affedlon 
 only ferved to ronze this country to new 
 and declfive exertions. It was the?i that 
 the valour of our intrepid countrymen 
 fonght but to conquer, and defpifcd life, if 
 it had not infured victory. 
 
 Triumph fpread her banners over an 
 aftonlfhed world. France bled in America 
 at every pore. — Defpotifm, which had, at 
 firfl, infiduoufly endeavoured to fleal upon 
 the Englifli fettlements, and afterv/ards 
 had thrown off her veil, was now obliged 
 to retreat from every quarter, and at length 
 britifh liberty to reign unmolefled in the 
 weflern world. Heroifm and difcretion 
 feemed to have united, as if they delired to 
 offer to this new formed people fome ilii- 
 ning models for their future imitation. It 
 was at this brilliant period, that a gallant 
 Wolfe perlilied, fighting for his country. 
 Immortal fpirit ! — With what grief wouldefl: 
 thou now behold the defe6lion and ingrati- 
 tude of that people, for whofe fafety thou 
 didil devote thy life ! ■ I lo^v 
 
S E R M O N VII. 175 
 
 How weak and imperfe(5l Is human fore- 
 fight ? — Thofe battles, which were the fub- 
 je6l of our applaufe and acclamation, — thofe 
 vidorles which we thought well earned even 
 at the expence of torrents of our befh 
 blood ; — thofe cities, which being captu- 
 red, caufed us to rend the air with the 
 voice of exultation, even thofe triumphs 
 were laying a foundation for rebellion and 
 ingratitude to ere(fl their mighty fabric 
 upon, — to excite the furprize of the prefent 
 age, and the wonder and deteflation of 
 pofterity. 
 
 Peace now once more refumes her hal- 
 cyon feat, whilil commerce fpreads her 
 fails and vllits every port and harbour of 
 this extenlive colonized, britlfh continent. 
 Exempt from britilh taxes upon their lands 
 or houfes, — free from tythes and eccleliaftl- 
 cal appropriations, they even fpurned at 
 the flighteft reftridlons upon their trade. — 
 Averfe to the dominion of this country, 
 they iirft mamjefied this difpofitlon, in an 
 Z open 
 
176 SERMON Vir. 
 
 open contempt and defiance of all impofls 
 and even of the navigation a6l itfeif. Pof- 
 feffed of the nnbounded advantages, 
 they became impatient under the molt 
 gentle and mild dominion, that had been 
 ever exercifed over any people. — 
 
 The conquefls of the late war had ex- 
 pelled the French from the back or interior 
 fettlements, and alfo from the northern. 
 Towards the fouth an exteniive country 
 was relinqulihed by the Spaniards to give 
 fecurity on that Jide, The great objecl of 
 all our vi6lories feemed to have been attain- 
 ed by enlarging and fecuring our empire in 
 America. For this purpofe our moft valu- 
 able conquefts in the Eafl; and Wefl: Indies 
 and in Africa, had been reflored to our 
 enemies.— 
 
 This greatnefs in America, which we 
 %^ainly thought was adding to the opulence, 
 the grandeur, the importance of the parent 
 country, by an inftance of treachery and 
 
 iiigra-'. 
 
SERMON VII. 177 
 
 I i 
 
 ingratitude, unexampled in the annals of 
 hiftory has been converted into the afpecfl 
 of deflrudion itfelf. 
 
 There is in every country where opu- 
 lence and it's companion luxury have efta- 
 blifhed themfelves, fome daring, inflam- 
 matory fpirits, \vho being either rulnel 
 by their vices or impelled by am.bition, con- 
 iider civil commotion, as fome violently 
 agitated fluid, in which the moft heavy and 
 gravitating bodies have a chance of being 
 lifted to the furface.~The minds of thefe 
 deluded, but unhappy fubjeds, were gradu- 
 ally mifled by pretended predi(fi:ions of 
 their advancing greatnefs. The extent of 
 their territory — the diflance from the mo- 
 ther country — and the difgrace for^^ exten- 
 Jive an empire to be held in dependance by 
 an IJland comparatively fmall, remotej 
 and unfufpicious, — v/ere held forth to their 
 view. Such were the fentiments, inllilled 
 by every artifice into the imaginations of 
 the Americans, by faclious natives and fo- 
 Z 2 -"^sig^ 
 
lyS S E R 1\1 O N VII. 
 
 reign emiffaries.— Regardlefs of every tie, 
 which gratitude for pafl: protedion and be- 
 nefit could infpire, they ventured publlckly 
 to predial and point out the moment, when 
 America would difclaim her allegiance and 
 filial duty, 
 
 Whilft expedatlon thus flood watchful 
 and -prompt to feize the thoughtlefs inadver- 
 tence of a generous confidence, an occafi- 
 on offered, which American incendiaries 
 beheld with triumph. — That mighty hoilile 
 fi^ruggle, in which the nation had been 
 lately engaged, and in which from the 
 natural ardour of vicitory, it had been 
 tempted to overflrain it's llrength, caufed 
 it to look for fome modicum ot fupport from 
 that people, in whofe defence this imbe- 
 ciility had been occafioned. As when 
 two men, one of whom <3// candid, gene- 
 rous and frank ; — the other^^^^r and refer- 
 ved, but ungrateful and infincere after a 
 long intimacy, in which the moll unbound- 
 ed friendfliip and munificence has been 
 
 excr- 
 
SERMON VII. 179 
 
 exercifed, — the frank and cj^en character 
 begins to feel that he has been improvident 
 and profnfe, and that his friend from his ' 
 riling affluence and importance, is become 
 able to reftore fome of thofe liberal advan- 
 ces, which had been made without referve 
 in his days of ftruggling adverfity — The 
 ingrate, but cunning friend, has not been 
 attentive to the declining profperity of his 
 benefador. He has long attended to it, 
 and fearful of the demands which juflice in 
 vain would call upon him to diicharge, he 
 has fighed for the moment, when fome 
 caprice or thoughtlefs breach of decorum, 
 may enable him to terminate a connexion, 
 which he ?20w beholds with difgufl. 
 
 Such was the condud of America to- 
 wards her parent and guardian. The 
 flamp acl feemed a fignal for fa6l:ion in that 
 country. They clamoured and protefled 
 againfl: that tax as burdenfome and repug- 
 nant to their conftitution.- — It was repealed. 
 But they manifefted no inclination to give a 
 
 proof 
 
iSo S E R M O N VIL 
 
 proof of zeal and gratitude to this country 
 for her late fervices, or her then compliance 
 with her requefts, by their impofing an im- 
 poftor dutyonthemfclves, asanequlvalent to 
 this country for what fhe had relinqulflied. 
 
 That tax might have been with more 
 juftice impofed than the inconfiderable one, 
 to which the prefent war is afcribed. Ela- 
 ted by the importance they had received 
 from the injudicious repeal of the ftamp 
 3.S:, nourlfhed by a party in this country, 
 they no longer preferved any meafures of 
 moderation or decency. In avowed defi- 
 ance of the legillative authority of Britain 
 they refufe to pay a tax of regulation of com- 
 merce upon an article of luxury, and not 
 content with this daring ftep, deftroy, with 
 unprovoked violence and contempt for 
 the Soveieignty of the kingdom, the unof- 
 fending property of individuals. — 
 
 Thus, agreeable to our context, thofe 
 tribeS;, whom we had fent forth at a great 
 
 and 
 
SERMON VII. iSi 
 
 and enormous expence, and afterwards 
 fnpported and defended even with our 
 deareft and moft valued blood, avowedly 
 eredled an independant altar. 
 
 The tranfa(5lions of thofe more enlight- 
 ened times are conveyed with certainty and 
 difpatch. It was not neceflary at this pe- 
 riod of refined civilization to fend meffen- 
 gers to learn, if our merchandize had been 
 refufed admiffion into their ports,— if they 
 liad been wantonly deflroyed — if our fel- 
 low fubje^ls were preparing ammunition 
 and military ftores, — if they had raifed ar- 
 mies—if they had fired upon, killed and 
 wounded our foldiers — if they had diffolv- 
 ed our governments, if they had eredted 
 a legiflature for themfelves, and if they 
 had excited and banifhed our governors 
 and Judges. Would to God thefe things 
 had been doubtful, and that it had been 
 neceflary to fend perfons folemnly deputed 
 to enquire with the Ifraelites,— have you 
 forfaken and difunited yourfelf from us?— - 
 
 Do 
 
1 82 3 E R i\I O N VII. 
 
 Do you no longer yield obedience to the 
 fame high authority with us ? — But if even 
 a poffibillty pf their virtue had been fo dear 
 t3 us, with what rapture fhould we have 
 heard them exclaim, "the Lord God of 
 Gods, the Lord God of Gods he knoweth 
 and Ifrael he fhall know, if it be in rebel- 
 lion, or if in tranfgreflion againft tlie 
 Lord-fave us not this day. — 
 
 It has been elegantly obferved, that na- 
 tions, and Individuals differ but in degree. 
 The virtues and vices, the affections and 
 refentments which fubiifl: between man and 
 man will be frequently found in aggregate 
 and coUedlive bodies. If America had been 
 fincere in her allegiance,— if fiie had not 
 feerctly refolved in rejecting all union 
 and legal connexion with her mother 
 country, with what affeciing impulfe would 
 the impetuous tide of returning friendfhip 
 have locked them, on the firft overtures 
 of reconciliation, in the warm embrace of 
 parental forgivenefs ? But alas ! This 
 
 delight- 
 
SERMON VII. 183 
 
 delightful fcene, which fancy may paint in 
 vain, has not been reahzed. — The refent- 
 ments of negleded friendiliip, and of pro- 
 fefled enmity on the part of America, has 
 awakened Britain to a condud, which her 
 fame and reputation required, and which 
 juftice demanded. 
 
 She was at length, compelled by a dire 
 neceffity to prepare, like the Ifraelites in 
 our text, to make war upon her apoftate 
 and difloyal brethren. She has been obli- 
 ged, but alas ! the refemblance no longer 
 continues, to meet her rebellious tribes in 
 bloody conteft. The lire brand of civil 
 commotion at length kindled the dreadful 
 flames of war and devaftation with all the 
 horrid train which attends tyrannical and 
 ufurped power, and now ftalking over a late 
 happy, but at prefent miferable country. 
 The fields of America have been ftained with 
 unrelenting effulions of human gore. Britifh 
 blood is now poured forth in melancholy 
 exertions to rellore a people to the rights 
 A a of 
 
1 84 S E R AI O N VII. 
 
 of peace, and of a juft and mild govern- 
 ment. Britain, in carrying on this lamen- 
 ted but neceflary war proceeded, at It's 
 commencement, with relu6lant and pain- 
 ful progrefs. She forefaw all the calamities, 
 which this fpirit of rebellion might produce. 
 She was not unconfcious of her ftrength, 
 nor of the power with which heaven had 
 been pleafed to arm her,— that enabled her 
 to curb and fupprefs the infolence of a delu- 
 ded people. But (he fondly hoped that 
 humanity would not be conftrued into 
 fear, — that patience and moderation would 
 not be perverted into inconiiftency and 
 ifrefolution. She delired not to deftroy, 
 but to correft. She would not give way 
 • to that infatiate vengeance, which involve 
 innocence, and guilt in one common fen- 
 tence. The van guard of her flrength 
 was deemed fuflicient to recall allegiance 
 to her proper llatlon; Friendfhip and 
 mercy were pourtrayed on our enfigns, 
 and military ardour ftood retrained by a 
 mournful rccolledion, that his enemy had 
 
 beefi 
 
SERMON VIL 185 
 
 been but yeflerday a ft;llow fubjed to the 
 fame gracious Sovereign. But it was foon 
 evinced, that the heart of ingratitude ran- 
 kles under obligation ;— -that the flame of ill 
 founded enmity acquires renewed violence 
 from the efforts which are made to ap- 
 peafe it. 
 
 It became expedient to enter into more 
 decilive operations. A force was colledled 
 in a fhort time, which for magnitude, and 
 the diftance to which it was tranfported is 
 unexampled in hiftory. The command of 
 this aftonifhing military exertion was in- 
 truded to a man, on whom fame had been 
 lavifliin her eulogiums. 
 
 Rebellion now mourned over her ap- 
 proaching diffolution. Loyalty raifed her 
 dejected head, whilil: virtue, which had 
 been fecluded, or repined in patient filence 
 under unmerited oppreiTion and reproach 
 now ventured to rejoice and congratulate 
 berfelf upon the delightful profped: of 
 A a 2 return- 
 
iS6 S E R M O N VII. 
 
 returning felicity. The daring afikflfins 
 and parricides of their country's happlnefs 
 anticipated their gloomy, but juflly meri- 
 ted fate. Such was the morning of that 
 day, which, riling in fplendor, promifed 
 to end in ferene and tranquil glory. The 
 career of the General feemed the path of 
 a comet, brilliant and illuming the Heavens. 
 He feemed to have enfured a name glorious 
 and immortal. 
 
 It is a painful and invidious tafk to trace 
 paft errors ; they are now covered by an 
 oblivious veil. If he nourlfhed the difper- 
 fed embers of dying rebellion into life, 
 inftead of fulfilling his duty to God, 
 his King and his fellow fubje61s — let his 
 own confcience be his moft fevere 
 accufer. 
 
 Well might the Ifraelites in difuading 
 their brethren tribes in the preceding verfes 
 of our text from the crime of rebellion 
 warn them of the anger of the Lord, and 
 
 declarCj 
 
B E R M O N VII. 1S7 
 
 declare, that If they rebelled to day, to- 
 morrow his wrath might be kindled agaihfl 
 the whole congregation. 
 
 The rebellion and defedlion of our 
 American brethren feem to have involved 
 us in their guilt. Leagued with the ancient 
 and inveterate enemies of the proteflant 
 religion and the britifh empire, they have 
 brought all the horrors of war upon Europe. 
 Our foes have triumphed in the vain ex- 
 pe(5lation of finding Britain herfelf, enfee- 
 bled by her exertions, an eafy and fecure 
 conquefl, 
 
 Whilfl Britain feemed fhook to her cen- 
 tre, and the laboured pile of her grandeur 
 tottering on the verge of ruin, yet that na- 
 tional fpirit, which had often adluated and 
 preferved ancient Rome was roufed at her 
 danger. — 
 
 ^t>' 
 
 The Almighty wrath was deprecated by 
 failing and humiliation. After a dark and 
 
 dreary 
 
1 88 SERMON VII. 
 
 dreary night, In which the Heavens and 
 Elements feemed to commix in dreadful 
 and unabating violence, the bark of the 
 fl:ate, long ftruggling with the horrors in 
 •which fhe had been engaged, hails the 
 returning day, bringing with it ferenity and 
 tranquil weather, together with the joyful 
 view of long expe6led land riling to the 
 fight in delightful groves and variegated 
 verdure. — The houfe of Bourbon begins to 
 feel the chaftifement, which innevitably 
 attends perfidy and injuftice. Britifh va- 
 lour, aided by prote(5ling Providence, 
 w^hich always preferves the injured, has at 
 length, tj^rned the fcale of victory and tri- 
 umph to the confulion and difmay of 
 our foes, 
 
 France has been driven from the eaftern 
 world, without a fettlement being left to 
 commemorate her eftablifhment. She has 
 been checked by the prowefsof our troops 
 in America, and ihame and difcomfiture 
 have covered the head of her vaunting 
 
 General. 
 
SERMON VII. 1S9 
 
 General. The mines of Peru and Mexico 
 feem to be dug by the haughty Spaniard, 
 in order to fupply our military fuccefs with 
 new means of exertion. Their captured 
 forts, — their fhips laden with the trea- 
 fure of the Indies, — their fhips of war the 
 convoy of their military llores, have fallen 
 into our hands, as if Heaven had by fome 
 fuperior influence defigned to blaft the ho- 
 iille defigns of our enemies. 
 
 Thus gracious and merciful has been the 
 divine being. In the hour of the moft im- 
 minent danger. Providence has raifed us 
 from difgrace, and the moft dreadful ap- 
 prehenfions, to fuccefs and triumph. But 
 whatever fuccefies we have lately experi- 
 enced; altho' the tempeft has abated it's 
 fury, it is not yet entirely fpent : the iky 
 yet appears red and troubled ; and we may 
 again be refigned up to encreafed calamity.- 
 A foreign and civil war are y^^;jrtZi*f/y evils 
 of immenfe magnitude, but conjoined, 
 they require our profoundeft humiliation at 
 
 the 
 
i9o SERMON VIL 
 
 the' throne of grace and dls-ine goodncfs. 
 
 It becomes us to faft in fackcloth and 
 aihes before the Lord, that he may revive 
 purity in our hearts, brotherly love, and 
 reflore us to peace and tranquility with all 
 the world. Let us then like the children 
 of Ifrael on a fimilar occalion, go up and 
 weep before the Lord, and afk counfel, 
 faying — " Shall we go up again to battle 
 againft our rebelliovis brethren." ? 
 
 Let us fupplicate the divine being on 
 this day of national fupplication, to infpire 
 us with a fenfe of his gracious will and plea- 
 fure, that we ma}^, under the banners of 
 of his righteoufnefs, and placing our truft 
 in the Lord God of Gods, go forth mighty 
 and invincible ag-ainft our combined ene^ 
 mies. 
 
 It is by virtue and unanimity, that we 
 mufl conquer or perifh. Armed with 
 thefe, rebellion would hide her head and 
 
 our 
 
SERMON VII. 191 
 
 and our foreign foes would entreat with 
 abjeCl fubmilTion for that mercy and for- 
 givenefs, agalnft which they have fo da- 
 ringly offended. Virtue would give us 
 ftrength and fortitude, religion would tem- 
 per and heal our differences, and thus 
 rendered unanimous, what fplendid tri- 
 umphs might adorn our arms. — Alas ! alas ! 
 when I mention unanimity, with what 
 concern and regret muff not the heart of a 
 good citizen be filled at the commotions 
 and diffentions which are nouriflied in this 
 kingdom. At a moment, when every 
 particle of our ftrength fhould be confolida- 
 ted for our defence and protecStion, how 
 alarming is our fituation, to find the very 
 finews of government attacked at home by 
 civil fadlion ! If affociation is become ne- 
 ceflary, let it be for the purpofes of offence 
 againfl the common enemy ! Let every 
 man's ability be exerted in flrengthening 
 the executive branch of the flate ! It is by 
 this condud, that he will truly merit the 
 B b honour- 
 
192 S E R 'M O N VII. 
 
 honourable appellation of the patriot and 
 virtuous citizen. 
 
 Should thefe unhappy diflentions give the 
 enemy fome fignal advantage ! — Should 
 they ftimulate their exertion and enfeeble our 
 defence — what will our afpiring patriots 
 fay for themfelves? — thefe fentiments of 
 grief and concern will then be converted 
 into indignation and refentment againft 
 thofe domeftic enemies, who have been 
 the authors of our calamity. But perhaps 
 thofe dreadful feelings may not be roufed 
 untill that fatal moment when one common 
 deftru^tion may involve the good and the 
 abandoned, the patriot and the traitor. 
 Ambition will thenperifh at the foot of that 
 altar where fhe has too fuccefsfuUy facri- 
 iiced the happinefs of her country. 
 
 X 
 
A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 PARISH CHURCH OF 
 
 St. DUNSTAN, STEPNEY, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ANNIVERSARY 
 
 O F A N 
 
 INSTITUTION, 
 
 SET ON FOOT BY A 
 
 SOCIETY OF GENTLEMEN 
 
 UPWARDS OF 
 
 AN HUNDRED YEARS AGO, 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 LAUDABLE PURPOSE 
 
 OF BINDING OUT 
 
 BOYS APPRENTICE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SEVERAL TRADES 
 
 CONCERNED IN 
 
 SHIP BUILDING. 
 
[ '95 1 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 PREACHED ON THE 
 
 ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF AN 
 
 INSTITUTION 
 
 FOR BINDING OUT 
 
 BOYS APPRENTICE 
 
 TO THE SEVERAL TRADES OF 
 
 SHIP BUILDING. 
 
 EZEKIEL, c. XXVII. v. 1.3.4. 
 
 77;^ word of the Lord came unto me^ faying — Say unto 
 Tyrus., O thou, that art fttuate at the entry of the Sea^ 
 xvhich art a merchant of the people for jnany IJles ! — 
 Thus faith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hafl faid^ 
 *'^ I am of perfect beauty.'^ — Thy borders aie in the 
 midft of the Seas, thy builders have perfected thy 
 beauty. 
 
 IT is obferved by St. Peter^ that no 
 prophecy of fcripture is of private inter- 
 pretation ; for prophecy, faith that apoftle, 
 came not, in old time, by the will of man ; 
 but holy men of God fpoke as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghofl. — Of the pro- 
 phecies. 
 
196 SERMON VIIL 
 
 phecies, therefore, it may be juftiy infer- 
 red, as St. Timothy fays of every other 
 part of fcripture, that they were given by 
 infpiration of God, and are profitable for 
 •do^rine, for reproof, for correSlion and for 
 inftrudlion in righteoufnefs. — Not confined 
 to the immediate occafion of time^ place, 
 or perfon, for which they were at firft de- 
 livered, they were entered on record, and 
 that record tranfmitted to fucceding ages, 
 as an ufeful leffon, to be applied at all 
 times, and on all occafions of fimilar cir- 
 cumttance. — Thus the apoftle Paul, (in 
 writing to the Corinthians concerning the 
 typical baptifm, of the Ifraelites unto 
 Mofes, in the red fea) fays, " thofe things 
 happened to them for enfamples^ and they 
 were written for our admonition, upon 
 whom the ends of the world are come." — 
 Thus authorifed to apply that portion of 
 the facred writ, which I have taken for my 
 text, to the prefent times and circumftances^ 
 iprefume, in humble imitation, as a mini- 
 ller of the word, to difcharge my duty, as 
 
 did 
 
SERMON VIII. 197 
 
 did the prophet Ezeklel, when the word 
 of the Lord came nnto him, faying, — ^^fon 
 of man, I have made thee a watchman to 
 my people, therefore hear the word at my 
 mouth, and give them warning from 
 me." — To the people of Tyrus, indeed, 
 the words of the prophet were not intended 
 as a warning : the cup of their iniquity was 
 full, and they were doomed to inevitable 
 deftrudion. Thou fon of man, faid the 
 Lord to Ezekiel, take up a lamentation for 
 Tyrus ; — it was the prophetic and dreadful 
 denunciation of the fall of that opulent, 
 maritime country, difplayed with all the 
 circumftances of it's commercial greatnefs.-— 
 It's naval fplendor and magnificence, he 
 particularlarizes with a minutenefs of expo- 
 fition, that ferves to aggravate the catairrophe 
 of it's deflrucflion.— " They have made all 
 thy lliip boards of fir trees of Senir : they 
 have taken cedars from Lebanon, to make 
 mails for thee. Of the oaks of Bafhan have 
 they made thine oars : the company of the 
 Afhurites have made thy benches of ivory, 
 
 brought 
 
195 S E R M O N VIII. 
 
 brought out of the Ifles of Chittlm.— Fine 
 linen with broidercd work from Egypt, 
 was that which thou fpreadeft forth to be 
 thy fail ; hkie and purple from the ifles of 
 Elifhay was that which covered thee." 
 '* The inhabitants of Zidon, and Arvad 
 were thy mariners : thy wife men, O 
 Tyrus, that were in thee, w^ere thy pilots. 
 The ancients of Gebal, and the wife men 
 thereof were in thee thy calkers : all the 
 fliips of the fca with their mariners were in 
 thee to occupy thy merchandife." In this 
 manner proceeds the prophet through the 
 chapter, to enumerate the naval and com- 
 mercial advantages of Tyrus, in being the 
 general emporium or market for the tra- 
 ders of all the nations of the then known 
 world ; concluding with the following de- 
 nunciation of it's general de{lru(5lion. — 
 " Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchan- 
 dife, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy 
 calkers and the occupiers of thy merchan- 
 dife, and all thy men of war that are in 
 thee and in all thy company, which is in 
 
 the 
 
SERMON VIIT. 199 
 
 the midft of thee, fhall fall into the midfl 
 of the feas, in the day of thy ruin." — A 
 dreadful and general denunciation indeed ! 
 — But why fo dreadful and general ? — 
 Was it on account of the common guilt, the 
 general iniquities of the people, their irre- 
 ligion, their immorality, or any of thofe 
 vices, to which human nature, from it's 
 imbecillity and depravity is fo univerfally 
 liable ? — No ! — It was on account of their 
 fcofling at Jerufalem, that holy city, the 
 emblem of true religion, and of the pecu- 
 liar pride and prefumption of Tyrus, in 
 looking upon it's wealth and greatnefs, as 
 obje(5ls of ii's own acquilition and merit, 
 forgetting the goodnefs of that divine Pro- 
 vidence, at whofe hands it received fo ma- 
 ny and fuch fignal blefllngs. For thus, 
 faid the Lord by his prophet, to the poli- 
 tical head or prince of the people, " Be- 
 caufe thine heart is lifted up and thou haft 
 faid, I am a God, I lit in the feat of God, in 
 the midft of the feas. — With thy wifdom 
 and with thine underftanding thou haft got- 
 C c - tea 
 
200 SERMON VIII. 
 
 ten thee riches. By thy traffick haft thou 
 increafed thy riches, and thine heart is lift- 
 ed up becaufe of thy wealth. Therefore 
 thus faith the Lord God — Behold I will 
 bpng upon thee the terrible of the nations ; 
 and they fhall draw their fwords againft 
 the beauty of thy wifdom, and they fhall 
 defile thy brightnefs." — Happy fhould /be, 
 if, conliftent with Sincerity and truth, I 
 could not apply too much of the irreligion, 
 of the pride and prefumption of Tyrus, to 
 the wealthy and powerful nation of Great 
 Britain, whofe borders are like hers, in the 
 midft of the feas, and whofe builders have 
 perfe6led her beauty. — When Britons boaft- 
 ingly vaunt, however truly, of being 
 lords ' of the ocean, and of giving laws to 
 thefea, are not their hearts, in fadl, lifted 
 up, like that of the prince of Tyrus ? — Do 
 they not, in effecl", repeat the words of Ty- 
 rian pride and prefumption, in faying, " I 
 am a God, I fit in the feat of God in the 
 'midft of the feas." This w^as the great 
 crime of which Tyrus was guilty, and this 
 
 the 
 
S E R M O N VIIL 201 
 
 the caiife of her prophefied ruin. And 
 was it not a caufe fnfficlent ? If pride of 
 every kind, is deftined, even proverbially 
 to fall, how great mufi he the fall^ of fuch 
 inordinate, fuch excellive, felf-exaltation ? 
 What vanity, what ingratitude, for the 
 creature to place himfeif in the feat of his 
 Creator ! — For a feeble, temporary, de- 
 pendent being to work himfeif up by felf- 
 conceit into the importance of his fupporter 
 and preferver, — an omnipotent, eternal, 
 and felf-exiftent God ! — 
 
 Criminal, however, as is fuch vanity, 
 fuch ingratitude, and juflly as it mufl: of- 
 fend our creator and preferver, it muft be 
 confefled that the temptations, leading to 
 fo great a fin, are but too powerful. It is 
 the effect of worldly wifdom and ingenuity 
 to puff up the poflelTor with a fond conceit 
 of fuperior abilities. The artifl and 
 the artizan, by whofe mental talents and 
 manual dexterity, even the hand of nature 
 is, in a manner, controuled and fubjecled 
 C c 2 to 
 
202 SERMON VIII. 
 
 to the laws of hiiman habit, are too apt to 
 fall into fi.ich temptation, and to be immo- 
 derately elated with arrogance and feif-fnf- 
 ficiency. Nor is it to be wondered at, that 
 the human heart, fo full of itfelf, and fo 
 apt to forget it's maker, fhould fwell with 
 pride, on many of thofe occaiions, in 
 which art appears to enjoy a momentary 
 triumph over nature, — 
 
 Of even more than human wifdom and 
 underflanding, feems the invention of the 
 w\:)nderful ftrudure— a ihip ; — by means 
 of which, that bold and enterpriling crea- 
 ture, man, — -fpurning, as it were, his pro- 
 per element, and forfaking his native land, 
 plunges into the ocean, and ploughs the 
 bofom of the bottomlefs • deep ; — bidding 
 defiance to adverfe winds, or converting 
 them by nautical artifice into prcfperous 
 gales, to convey him to the moll: diftant 
 parts of the earth. — Poffeffed of more than 
 human fortitude, and fcience, feem thofe 
 daring experimentarills, who defeat the 
 
 loudefl 
 
S E R M O N VIIL 205 
 
 loudeft threatnings of the thunder, and 
 difarmthe h'ghtningofit's power to hurt ! — 
 We have even feen them, as if poflciTed 
 of the power of working miracles, pour 
 oil into the fea, and behold it's waves fub- 
 iided and lay flill. Is it to be wondered ar^ 
 I fay, that weak man fhould be vain of 
 being put into poffefTion of a portion of 
 knowledge and power, that raifes him fo 
 much above all the other works of crea- 
 tion. — Is it to be wondered at, that, for- 
 getting the fource from whence they flow, 
 he fhould conceit himfelf to be a creator and 
 place himfelf, in imagination, like the 
 prince of Tyre, in the feat of God, in the 
 midfl: of the feas? — Seeing the effedls of 
 human art, in fubjeding the fea and lafid, 
 the feafons and climates to his controul, in 
 putting him in poffeffion as well of the na- 
 tural produce of the whole earth, as of the 
 artificial conveniences, comforts and lux- 
 uries of all nations, is it to be wondered at, 
 that fo fuperficial a fophifl: as man, fhould 
 be puffed up with vanity, and boaft of being, 
 
 poffef- 
 
204 SERMON VIII. 
 
 pofTefTed of perfecSt beauty. — It Is Aill lefs 
 fo, if we refledt, that however difpleafing 
 fuch inordinate vanity be to Almighty God, 
 and however true his alTurance, by the pro- 
 phet Ifaiah, that he will caufe the arrogancy 
 of the proud to ceafe, — the advantages enu- 
 merated, by which the pride of nations is 
 puffed up, really conftltute the political 
 beauty of a flate. It is In particular the 
 great advantage and glory of this country, 
 that It's Infular fituation, and it's improve- 
 ments in marine archltedlure and naviga- 
 tion refemble thofe of Tyrus of old, whofe 
 builders had perfected her beauty. 
 
 Certain It Is, that the luxury -and wealth, 
 arifing in every country from foreign com- 
 merce, are habitually produ6lIve of moral 
 corruption. In proportion to it's excefs, and 
 the indolence or Impotence of goverment, 
 civil and religious, to preferve the purity 
 of public manners. — From this conlidera- 
 tion however, fuperficial declalmers have 
 taken occaiion to inveigh againft the expe- 
 diency 
 
SERMON VIII. 205 
 
 diency of encouraging artiiiclal induftry, 
 of promoting fcientiiic ingenuity, and of ex- 
 tending and diffufing the channels of foreign 
 trade. — Obferving from the experience of 
 ages, that, as nations have grown fcientiiic 
 and weahhy, they have grown proportion- 
 ably luxurious and corrupt, and, of 
 courfe, have degenerated and come to de- 
 cay ; they impute their profperity to their 
 poverty, and their integrity to their igno- 
 rance ; inferring that the pohtical happinefs 
 and national glory of a people are inconfift- 
 ent with the moral virtue of individuals and 
 the good order of civil fociety. — If the fci- 
 ence of civil government, however, and 
 the powers of religious perfuafion had made 
 a progrefs in the world, equal to other 
 ufeful and polifhed arts, the futility of fuch 
 an inference would be evident. Let me add 
 to this conlideration, that it is incompatible 
 with the nature of fublunary things, that 
 the government of a great nation fhould be 
 carried on with the fame eafe and regularity 
 as that of a petty ftate, that the concerns of 
 
 Si 
 
2o6 S E R Ai O N Vlir. 
 
 a people wliofe pofTeflions and interefts are 
 fcattered over the face of the whole earth, 
 fliould be managed with as much decorum, 
 and with as little care, as thole of a fingle 
 province. — Hence the examples fo frequent- 
 ly adduced from facred and profane hiftory 
 of ancient flates, want a propriety of ap- 
 plication to the wide 'and unwieldy domi- 
 nions of modern times.— 
 
 Are there fome, that are mightily affe<5led 
 by the charms of that primitive purity and 
 limplicity of manners^ peculiar to a people, 
 juft emerging from a llate of barbarity ; do 
 they affedl to admire the domeftic arts of 
 agriculture as the only true fource of a nati- 
 on's power and political happinefs ? — Alas ! 
 the food of babes is not fit for grown men.— 
 In an infant, or a petty ftate, whofe fepa- 
 rate exifience depends on it's own infignifi- 
 cance, or the reciprocal jealoufy of it's 
 neighbours ; or in a colony politically in- 
 tended to fubfift in a natural dependence 
 on the mother country, the landed or do- 
 
 meftic 
 
SERMON VIII. 207 
 
 irieftic intereft ihould undoubtedly be the 
 principal, if not the fole intereft of the 
 flate. Thus, if inftead of encouraging, the 
 il:udy of the fciences, and the cultivation of 
 letters and the polite arts in North America, 
 by the building and endowing of Colleges, 
 Academies and Schools, the children of 
 the inhabitants had been publickly taught 
 the rudiments and pradice of huibandry, 
 with only fuch of the ufeful manual arts, 
 as might be neceflary to prepare the pro- 
 duce of the country for manufadlure ; had 
 our colony youth, I fay, been thus educa- 
 ted, and at the fame time intruded in the 
 falutary principles of political dependance 
 and loyalty, with regard to the mother 
 country ; in all human probality they would 
 have avoided the dreadful fcourge, that is 
 brought on them by the bloodfhed and de- 
 vaftion of a civil war. — 'The cafe, however, 
 is evidently different with the mother coun- 
 try itfelf. Effential as is the landed intereji 
 to this nation, it is already promoted fo far,, 
 that it Is become not only itfelf fubfervient 
 D d Wi 
 
2o8 SERMON VIII. 
 
 to, but dependent on, and infeparately con- 
 nedted with it's trade and navigation. Thar 
 in the former lies the great refource of na- 
 tional Jlrength^ is undeniable; national 
 fplencioin%, ^however, it^s relative glory, 
 it*s comparative figure and importance a- 
 mong the nations, it's political beauty, — 
 depend on the improvements of fcience, 
 the encouragements of the arts, and the 
 extenfion of commerce. —With a view to 
 contribute to thefe valuable ends, was form- 
 ed the laudable fociety, the anniverfary of 
 whofe inftitution we are this day folemniz- 
 ing. — Set on foot, upwards of an hundred 
 years ago, it's intention of binding out boys 
 apprentice to the feveral trades concerned 
 in fhip building, hath been interrupted only 
 two years, thofe of 1765 and 1766; — 
 Since when, having been re-eftabiifhed by 
 feveral worthy inhabitants of the parities 
 of Stepney and Limehoufe, it has gathered 
 frefti ftrength and met with new encourage- 
 ment ; the ftewards having had the pleafure 
 of apprenticeing annually a num.ber of boys 
 
 10 
 
S E R M O N VIII. 209 
 
 to the feveral trades intended, giving a pre- 
 mium of five pounds to the mailer with each 
 boy. — -To the fupport offo ufeful, impor- 
 tant, and public fpirited an inftitution, I 
 hope I need ufe no farther argument to in- 
 duce you to contribute, than the fimple ex- 
 pofition I have thus made of it's defign. — 
 None, I am confident, can be neceffary to 
 fuch of my auditors, who entertain a due 
 fenfe of the importance of fuch artificers, 
 and, at the fame time, feel that animating 
 zeal, which arifcs from a real love to their 
 native country. — It would be ftill more 
 needlefs to folicit the liberality of thofe, 
 who are interefted in the fuccefs of it's trade 
 and navigation, who are affedled by the 
 utility or fplendor of it's marine architedlure 
 and are fatisfied, that, in the words of the 
 prophet, " it's builders have perfeAed it's 
 beauty." — For be it remembered, that 
 however finful it be in man to glory before 
 God In the works of his hands, or the in- 
 ventions of his head, -or however powerful 
 the temptation to fuch vain glorious beings 
 D d2 s 
 
210 SERMON VIIL 
 
 as human creatures to fall into fuch fin, it 
 is by no means criminal, but, on the con- 
 trary, virtuous ami laudable, to exercife 
 thofe inventions or perform fuch works, to 
 the advantage of ourfelves, our friends, and 
 our country. Taking warning, therefore, 
 from the dreadful example of Tyrus, not to 
 be puffed up with pride, but paying due 
 thanks and afcribing due honour, to the 
 infpirer of all wifdom and the great giver of 
 all good gifts, for the talents, with which 
 he is pleafed to endow us, it is our incum- 
 bent duty to make the proper ufe of fuch 
 talents, by exerting our own powers, and 
 encouraging thofe of others, to the making 
 of difcoveries in fcience and improvements 
 in the arts. — It is not the modeft and inge- 
 nuous purfuit of the profoundeft, or moft 
 abftrufe ftudies, or the pra6tice of the poli- 
 teft or moft ingenious arts, that gives of- 
 fence to God, however difpleaiing be to 
 him the vain glorious boaft of the ftudent 
 and pra(5litioner, or the m.oral corruption 
 ^hat follows from their abufe. — Their ufe is 
 
 jnoft 
 
SERMON VIII. 211 
 
 moft evidently the defign and intention of 
 the great Creator, preferver and governor 
 of the world ; and the negleft of exerting 
 that ingenuity and induftry, for which he 
 hath given us talents, is ungratefully to 
 flight his bounty : It is to hide the talents 
 he hath lent us in the earth, inftead of 
 profiting by them, as Is required of us. — To 
 the good and induftrious fervant, who, re- 
 ceiving five talents at the hands of his Lord, 
 went and traded and made with them five 
 other talents, his mafter faid — " Well 
 done, thou fgood and faithful fervant, en- 
 ter thou into the joy of thy Lord." — 
 Whereas to the wicked and flothful fervant, 
 who hid his talent in the earth, reftoring it 
 unimproved to it's own owner, he faid, 
 " Caft ye this unprofitable fervant into outer 
 darknefs, where fhall be weeping and 
 gnafhing of teeth." — What an encourage- 
 ment this to enterprifing ingenuity and pro- 
 fitable induftry ! And what a reproach to 
 the indolence and inattention of thofe, who, 
 gmply provided with the good things of 
 
 this 
 
2iz SERMON VIII. 
 
 this world, content themfelves with enjoy- 
 ing at eafe their patrimony, without exert- 
 ing either their own talents, or encourag- 
 ing the exertion of the talents of others. — 
 Nor need we fear, that the greatefl: perfec- 
 tion, to which human art can arrive, 
 will ever give jufl: occafion for man to be 
 vain in the eyes of his maker. He who 
 knows the moft, and pradlices befl the arts 
 of man, finds the greateft reafon to revere 
 the power and admire the wifdom of God. 
 Vain as may be the philofopher or the artifl:, 
 when he compares himfelf to the brute cre- 
 ation, or to the untored favage of the de- 
 fart ; — proudly as he may contemplate the 
 fuperiority of his mental endowments or 
 naanual dexterity ; highly as he may rank 
 himfelf, in this point of view, in the fcale 
 of the creation, as being little lower than 
 the angels ; with what humiliation muft he 
 not view the other fide of the canvas ! — 
 With w^hat convidion of infinite fuperiority 
 both of wifdom and power mufi: he not 
 contemplate the works of God in the ope- 
 rations 
 
SERMON VIII. 213 
 
 rations of nature and the difpenfatlons of 
 Providence! — What contemptible mimickry 
 of the powers of nature is the utraoft effort 
 of the experimentahft ! — What pitiful imi- 
 tation of her handy-works is the moft ex- 
 quifite piece of workmanfliip of human 
 hands ! — Nor have any part of human-kind 
 more iignal opportunities of feeing and ad- 
 miring the wonderful works of God and 
 nature;— than they who are interefted or em- 
 ployed in the various branches of trade and 
 navigation ; — " they that go down to the 
 fea in fliips, that do buiinefs in great wa- 
 ters, thefe, fays the Pfalmiil:, fee the 
 works of the Lord, and his wonders in 
 the deep, for he comma ndeth, and raifeth 
 the ftormy wind, which lifteth up the 
 waves thereof. They mount up to the hea- 
 ven, they go down again to the depths^ 
 their foul is melted becaufe of trouble. 
 They reel to and fro, and ftagger like a 
 drunken man, and are at their wits end. 
 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trou- 
 ble, and he bringeth them out of their dif- 
 
 trefs. 
 
214 SERMON VIIL 
 
 trefs. He niaketh the florm a calm, fo 
 that the waves thereof are ftill. Then are 
 tliey glad becaufe they be quiet; fo he 
 bringeth them unto their defired haven:" — 
 Well might the divine lyrifl: add and repeat- 
 edly exclaim, — " Oh that men would praife 
 the Lord for his goodnefs, and for his won- 
 derful works to the children of men." 
 Well might he exclaim, — " Let them exalt 
 him in the congregation of the people, and 
 praife him in the affembly of the elders." — 
 Will the irreligious, caviller take occaiion 
 hence to obje(ft againfl: the exertions of hu- 
 man art and induftry ? — Will he fay, that 
 the littknefs of their effedi, compared with 
 the exertions of omnipotence, is next to 
 nothing, and therefore, not worth atten- 
 tion ? — True, indeed, it is, that " though 
 Paul may plant and Apollos water, it is 
 God alone, that giveth the increafe." True 
 it is, that " the race is not to the fwift nor 
 the battle to the ftrong, neither yet bread 
 to the wife, nor fa\'X)ur to men of fkill, nor 
 riches to men of underflanding, " but, as 
 
 the 
 
S E R M O N VIII. 21 s 
 
 the fuperintending hand of Providence di- 
 reifts die events of time and chance (to 
 fpcak after the manner of men) happen to 
 them ail. — But fliall we thence infer that to 
 be fwift, to be flrong, to be wife, to be 
 fkilful, or to be intelligent, is ufelefs? — 
 Abfurd the inference ! No. — Omnipotent 
 as is the Deity, coniidered as a Creator, 
 though at his -word, the world burft forth 
 from nothing, " Let there be light, faid 
 he, and there was light," — Yet, as the 
 preferver and governor of that, world he 
 created, he does nothing, in the ordinary 
 courfe of his Providence, but by natural 
 means. — As are tools in the hands of a 
 fkilful workman, fo are men in the hands 
 of God, the inftruments to execute the de- 
 iigns of his Providence.— The knowledge, 
 the ingenuity, the dexterity of the artifi- 
 cer, are to the Divine Artift, what the 
 pulley, the lever, and other mechanic pow- 
 ers are to the human artizan. — Do thefe in- 
 liruments perform the work ? — Alas ! no ! 
 and yet they are the neceffary means of 
 E e effc6l- 
 
2i6 SERMON VIIL 
 
 effecling it. Hence it is,, that, however 
 inefficacious onr greateft efforts would be, 
 if left to ourfelves, thofe efforts are requi- 
 red of us to fulfill the defigns of Providence. 
 ' — " Curfe ye, Meroz, faid the angel of 
 the Lord, curfe ye bitterly the inhabitants 
 thereof, — becaufe they came not to the 
 help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord 
 againff the mighty." — Is it to be fuppofed 
 that God ftoodin need of help to contend 
 with the mightiefl: of the mighty of human 
 powers ? By no means. But, though he 
 ftands not in need of our aid, he requires 
 it, as a proof of our good will. — Confcious 
 as was the wifeffof men, that the over ru- 
 ling Providence of an omnipotent Deity — < 
 alone gave efficacy to the adions of the 
 children of men, " whofe works, faith he, 
 are in the hand of God;"— he, by no means, 
 encourages their indolence or ina(5livity. 
 Whatfoever thy hand findeth to do (that is, 
 to whatever lawful vocation thou art called) 
 do it, faid he, with thy inight : for there 
 is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
 
 nor 
 
SERMON VIII. 217 
 
 nor wifdom in the grave, whither thpit 
 goeft." Plainly exhorting us^ that Induftry 
 is the portion of man in this life, and labour 
 the trueft enjoyment he taketh under the 
 fun. — Let us, therefore, ftrenuoufly and 
 humbly exert ourfelves, under God, in the 
 profecution of the proper purfuits of men, 
 the cultivation of the arts of human life ; for 
 there is no fuch work, device, knowledge 
 or wifdom in the grave whither thou goefl-. 
 — Let us work, I fay, therefore, while it 
 is yet day, for the night cometh in the 
 which no man can work." — Prefuming on 
 your convidlion of the truth of v.-hat I have 
 delivered, regarding the expediency of ex- 
 erting our beft efforts, in the ufe of thofe 
 talents God hath given us, altho' confider- 
 ed merely as inftruments in the hands of 
 God to effe6l his defigns in the creation 
 and government of the world, I wiii aik 
 leave, my brethren, of that great Creator 
 and Governor of the univerfe to difmifs 
 every one of you, contributors, I doubt 
 not, to the fupport of the prefent inftitution, 
 Ee 2 repeat- 
 
2i8 SERMON VIIL 
 
 repeating the words of the preacher, the 
 fon of David, King of Jerufalem, — '^'Go 
 thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink 
 thy wine with a merry heart : for God now 
 accepteth thy works." — And, may the Al- 
 mighty, of his infinite goodnefs, confirm 
 the benedicflion, for the fake of our Lord 
 Jefus Chrift, to whom, with the Holy 
 Ghoftbe&c. 
 
 A 
 
SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT 
 
 St. DUNSTAN'S 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PARISH OF STEPNEY, 
 
 FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE 
 
 CHARITY CHILDREN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HAMLET OF RATCLIFF, 
 
[ 221 ] 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 PREACHED AT 
 
 St. DUNSTAN'S 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PARISH OF STEPNEY, Sec. 
 EPHESIANS c. V. v. 14. 
 
 yjwake thou that Jleepejl, and arife from the dead, and 
 Chriji {hall give thee U^ht.— 
 
 IT is with a propriety equally moral and 
 religious, that a minifter of the Gofpel 
 takes upon him to direcfl the attention of 
 his auditors, by proper applications, and 
 pious allufions from natural fcenes and hu- 
 man inftitutions, to fpiritual objeds and 
 divine difpenfations, 
 
 Emer- 
 
222 SERMON IX. 
 
 . Emerging from that gloomy feafon, 
 when no6lurnal darknefs fo long prevails 
 as ahnoll: to blot out the day from the year, 
 we begin to anticipate the brightnefs of the 
 vernal months, in which the renovation of 
 nature prefentsnew beauty to, the eye, and 
 
 haimpny to the ear ; when the earth 
 
 fpreads anew her flowery carpet beneath 
 our feet, and the Heavens expand their 
 azure canopy above our heads; diffufing 
 the balmy breath of fpring, to chear the 
 {cnfe, and exhilerate the heart. How 
 lively a contrafl-, and how applicable to ■ 
 the deilgn gf that holy inltitution, by which 
 our church calls upon us, in a peculiar 
 rrianner, in this feafon of Lent, to repen- 
 tance and amendment; — to emerge from 
 the darknefs of delufion and fin, and to 
 walk in the way of truth and righteouf- 
 nefs. — For, may we not fay with the apo-: 
 file, "Ye wxre fometimes in darknefs;" — 
 and m.ay we not hope that, becoming by 
 divine grace " Light in the Lord, ye may 
 walk as children of light." — ^See then, thai; 
 
 ye 
 
S E R M O N IX. 21 - 
 
 J 
 
 ye walk circumfpe^tly, redeeming the time, 
 becaufe the days are evil." For to this 
 end, the Gofpel faith, — " Awake thou that 
 fleepeft, and arife from the dead, and 
 Chrift fhall give thee light.'* To compre- 
 hend more feelingly the propriety, with 
 which a fl^ate of fin and ignorance is compa- 
 red, in my text, to a flate of fleep, and 
 even of death, let us take a retrofpe(S of 
 the face of nature in winter ; when the 
 fields are difrobed of their ilowery verdure ; 
 when the vocal groves are mute, except 
 while the whiflling of the winds pierces 
 through the leallefs trees, or the howling 
 of the hurricane accompanies the defola- 
 tlon, that levels them with the 2:round, 
 and expofes their unburied roots to the kil- 
 llno; blafi:. Let us take a view of the ve2;e- 
 table creation, when the . earth is chained 
 by frofl-, and the waters arrefled in their 
 courfe, and bound in fetters of ice, Mc- 
 tionlefs and cold, — terreftial nature ap- 
 pears, in this cafe, not merely to fleep, but 
 to fleep the fleep of death. Such Is the 
 - F f iitua- 
 
224 S E R M ON IX. 
 
 fituatlon of the foul, in a ftate of fpliiiual 
 darknefs ; the {e3.{on of fin is the winter of 
 the foui ; and ignorance that gloom of hor- 
 ror, which is diiTipated, when the fon of 
 righteoiifnefs, arifes with healing on it'^ 
 wings; diffufing the glorious light, and 
 breathing the balniy breath of Gofpel rege- 
 neration. — And Hiail not the minifter of 
 Chrift " cry aloud, and fpare not, "to a- 
 waken thofe that fleep ; even nnto the 
 ileep of fpiritual death ; in order, that they 
 may partake the bleffing promifed to the 
 vigilant ; for whom the Gofpel hath brought 
 life and immortality to light. — For be it 
 obferved, my friends and brethren, that, 
 arl though this promifed light is a gift, a free 
 gift, on the part of the divine donor ; it is 
 not unconditional on the part of the receiv- 
 er, it is not forced upon him, in the way 
 of abfolute compuliion. If men obfl:inately 
 prefer darknefs to light, becaufe their 
 deeds are evil, the peril be on their own 
 heads, the preacher w^afheth his hands of 
 their fpiritual death : his duty is difcharged 
 
 in 
 
SERMON IX. 225 
 
 in the declaration of the conditions on 
 which they may live. — Awake, arife, and 
 though ftlll in darknefs, Chrift fhall give 
 thee light. Agreeably to this promife are 
 feveral others to be met with in the Gofpel, 
 " Afk, and it ihall given, — feek, and }e 
 Ihall find, — knock and it fhall be opened." 
 — " Come unto me all ye that are wearyj 
 and I will give you reft." Are not the 
 conditions fufficiently gratuitous and cafy?— 
 Are there any fo ignorant of the value of 
 the prize of this their high calling, as to 
 think it ihould be ftill more liberally be- 
 fl:owed ? — Is it poffible it fhould be fo ? — 
 And is eternal falvatlon not worth aiklng, 
 not worth feeking, not worth coming, not 
 worth watching ior ? 
 
 Ignorant and Indolent, indeed, muft be 
 the drouzy wretch, the llothful lluggard, 
 who prefers the dozing in darknefs unto 
 death, to the awakening, the enlivening 
 exerclfe of religion and morality. For it Is 
 to this exercife we are called upon to awake. 
 Ff 2 To 
 
226 S E R M O N IX. 
 
 To what pnrpofe elfe v/ould the promifed 
 light be given ? — If the Deeper, the virtu- 
 ally dead here called upon to awake, were 
 to remain inadlive and lifelefs as before, to 
 what end, I fay,' fiiould be ^given him the 
 promifed light in quefrion? A flate of 
 darknefs would be as well adapted to torpid 
 apathy, as a flate of light. — No, free and 
 liberal as is the gift of Divine grace, it is 
 not forced, or befio^ved as an ufelefs gift 
 upon any. It is not befiowed upon man- 
 kind to exempt them from their duty, but 
 to inftrudl them in the wav, to furnifh 
 them with the means, and animate them 
 with hope to the performance of it. By 
 ajking, by comelng^. by iscatchhgy is not 
 meant the mere attendance on divine wor- 
 fliip, the petition of either public or private 
 prayer. — ^Thefe, though a part of our duty, 
 are but a part, and mufi: be accompanied 
 with the afliduit)^ of enquiry into the know- 
 ledge and means of performing the reft, 
 with attention to the practical occafions of 
 fuch performance, and watchfulnefs to lay 
 
 hold 
 
S E R M O N IX. 227 
 
 hold of fuch occafions. For falvation, 
 though the gift of God, is to be worked out 
 by man ; the light of the Gofpel is, there- 
 fore, given to infpire him to execute the 
 tafk, and to work, while it is yet day, as 
 the night cometh wherein no man can work. 
 — Do I hear the benighted deeper, the 
 iinner llumbering beneath the darknefs 
 of the valley of the fhadow of death, — - 
 froze up the genial current of his foul, and 
 palfied over his paffion for exiftence ; — do 
 I hear fo defperate a wretch defpair of re-^ 
 lief, if the leafl: adivity or exercife of piety 
 or virtue be required of him» — Let no man 
 defpair ; for boundlefs are the riches of Di- 
 vine grace and infinite the extent of Divine 
 mercy. — No more is required than fhall, 
 in any cafe, be given, although where 
 much is given there fhail much be requi- 
 red. — And yet felfilli as we are, how little 
 is required by our Redeemer of us all ! 
 Little, indeed, I will prefume to fay of 
 moft of my prefent auditory, in proportion 
 to the means, which God hath gracioufly 
 
 given 
 
228 SERMON IX. 
 
 given us to work out that falvat'ion, which 
 is here offered us on the mofl liberal terms 
 of acceptance. What, indeed, are we re- 
 quired to do more than to attend to the pre- 
 cepts of the Gofpel ; in order to be inftrudl- 
 ed and enabled to do our duty ? For, be 
 afRired, that Gofpel gives us no Inftrudlons 
 to do, v/hat Divine Providence hat put ef- 
 fc(5lually out of our power. — Rigidly as it 
 requires us to perform what Is In our power, 
 it requires nothing beyond It. The dlf- 
 charge of the duties of religion and morality 
 is no Ifraellte bondage : God is no Egyp- 
 tian tafk-mafler. On the contrary his yoke 
 is eafy and his burthen Is light. But .were 
 it otherwife, were even his fervlce lahoriouSy 
 it IS falutary : And what would you fay to 
 a robuft and healthy Importer, who fliould 
 pretend to be blind ; who fhould chufe to 
 live in darknefs, to clofe his eyes and fliut 
 out day-light, never to view the chearful 
 ways of men, rather than undergo the mo- 
 derate and falutary exerclfe neceflary to 
 procure him a livelihood ? Would you not 
 
 execrate? 
 
S E- R M O N IX. 229 
 
 execrate the floth, the manner?, the bafe- 
 nefs of fo degenerate a wretch ? Yet fuch 
 a wretch, and that. In as much greater 
 a degree, as eternal Is fuperlor to mortal Hfe^ 
 is he, who wilfully refufes to awake and to 
 open his eyes, at the call of the Gofpel, to ^ 
 behold the light, which Chrlft hath pro- 
 mlfed to give to every one that Is obedient 
 to fuch call. — "Are there any in this affembly 
 under the deplorable, the doleful predica- 
 ment of this fleep of the foul ; this lleep fo 
 deep as to be compared to death ; — a lleep, 
 in which the moral and religious fentlments 
 of the heart and mind are fuppreffed by 
 luch a profound lethargy ; let me addrefs 
 myfelf to the vigilence of their intelled:ual 
 talents; — let me pique, if poffible, the 
 pride of their rational faculties; — -let me 
 addrefs them In the words of the Apoille, 
 following my text, — " Walk circumfpedlly, 
 not as fools, but as wife, underftanding 
 what the will of the Lord is." — For the 
 working the will of the Lord is wifdom, as 
 
 the working of wlckednefs- is folly. 
 
 To 
 
2Z0 S E R iM O N JX. 
 
 To conlider the exerclfc of our religious 
 5nd moral duties, even in an intereiled 
 view, and merely as they regard ourfelves 
 in this life, we fliould yet have ail the rea- 
 fon in the world, to fulfill rather than neg- 
 lecfl them. For, as corporeal exercife is 
 falmary and ufeful to the body, fo is fuch 
 fpiritual exercife equally falutary and ufeful 
 to the foul. Diiagreeable,- indeed, and 
 painful, at firil:, may be even the moderate 
 exercife abfoiuteiy neceflary to health, to 
 mQn, who have long indulged thcmfelves 
 in idle and ilothful habits 3 but what is the 
 confequence of fuch a conftant indulgence ? 
 What but loathefome indigeftion, a ftagna- 
 tion of the vital humours, lethargy and 
 death ?— On the other hand, what, in a little 
 time, is the confequence of an emancipa- 
 tion from the tyranny of fuch habits? 
 What, but activity of limbs, hiiiarity of 
 countenance, and chearfulncfs of heart? 
 The ^comparifon holds good In refped: to 
 the foul, whofe faculties acquire new vigour 
 and energy by chcrifliing the fentiments of 
 
 huma« 
 
SERMON IX. 231 
 
 humanity and piety, and cultivating thofe 
 emotions of the heart, which are as efCen- 
 tial to the heahh of the foul, as are the mo- 
 tion of the hmbs to the heahh of the body. 
 How deplorable is the condition of the man, 
 who, afflided with the paify, is incapable 
 of diverfifying his place ofa6lion, and en- 
 joying the various profpe(5ls of nature. 
 Doomed to vegetate on a iingle fpot, crea- 
 tion is to him a blank fpot, a barren fcene, 
 as deflitute of diverfity as delight. Still 
 more the. deplorable fituation of him, whofe 
 foul, lulled afleep within himfelf, is equal- 
 ly incapable of beholding the various beau- 
 ties of the moral world ; who is blind to 
 the beauty of virtue, who is deaf to the 
 voice of gratitude, who taftes not the de- 
 lightful pleafure of making others happy, 
 and is equally infenfible to the tear of joy 
 and diftrefs ! — Arife, awake thou, that 
 ileepeft, and be ye not as fools, but as 
 wife, difcerning even your prefent intereft 
 in the pradlice of religion and virtue.— 
 Doth the flill voice of reafon prevail over 
 G 2: the 
 
232 S E R M O N IX. 
 
 the lethargy of the dull, blunted fenfe of 
 moral fentiment ? Or is the fleeper deaf to 
 the voice of the charmer, though it charm 
 ever fo wifely ?: — No ! — The voice of rea- 
 fon prevails, the fleeper wakes, the blufli 
 of humanity glows on his cheek, bis bofom 
 beats with hope, -his heart expands wnth 
 benevolence, his hand opens with libera- 
 lity, and his tongue with pious accents 
 alks— What fhall I do to be faved ? 
 
 True piety lies, as I have already obfer- 
 ved, in adlion, and not in mere words. 
 It is not, what fhall I fay to be faved ? But 
 what fliall I do ? — For Chrift hath faid, 
 not every one, that faith. Lord, Lord, 
 fhall enter* into the kingdom of Heaven; 
 but he that doeth the will of my father 
 which is in Heaven. What, then, ex- 
 claims the truly awakened foul, fhall I do 
 to be faved ? — And is this made a queftion 
 in a feafon like this ?■ — Be it thus anfwered — 
 fafl and pray, and bring forth fruits meet 
 for repentance^— Now the iirft fruits of 
 
 piety 
 
S E R iM O N IX. 233 
 
 piety are charity : for the exercife of which 
 duty, an objeB prefents itfelf where, even 
 according to the maxims of worldly wif- 
 dom, charity fhould begin at home. The 
 contributions coUeded, and funds eflablifli- 
 ed, for the maintenance of the Orphan and 
 other poor children of this parlfh, are, as 
 I am requefted to reprefent, in fo reduced 
 a ftate as to be inadequate to the humane 
 and pious purpofes, for which they were 
 raifed and intended. — You will never, 
 therefore, find a more proper, a more 
 prelling opportunity for the difcharge of 
 the duty you owe both to God and man, 
 in comforting the fatherlefs, in fupporting 
 the helplefs, and in relieving the poor and 
 dlftreffed, than by demonilrating your- 
 felves awake to the exercife of your religi- 
 ous and moral duty, in contributing ploufly 
 and liberally your charitable donations. — 
 I fhall to this end, make ufe of no trite 
 and hackneyed means of perfuafion ; being 
 myfelf perfuaded, that my awakened audi- 
 tors will, to their utmoft abilities, open 
 Gg2 
 
234 SERMON IX. 
 
 both their hearts and hands on this intereft-^ 
 ing occafion. One circumftance, however, 
 I will beg leave to urge, as a motive more 
 urgent refpedting the poor children of this 
 diftrid:. The poor boys of this parifh are, 
 from it's lituation and locul connections, 
 deftined, probably, to the fervice of their 
 country either in the mercantile or military 
 line, by fea. — They are among thofe, who 
 are deftined to behold the wonders of the 
 Lord in the deep, to ride on die bdfom of 
 the mighty waters, and to fpread the bri- 
 tifli name and commerce to the ^farthcrmofi 
 p4rts of the earth. In furniihing fubfiftence 
 and affording Inftruciions loJuchobjeBs, we 
 are, therefore performing, not only an a6l 
 of private charity but public virtue. It is 
 not merely a bountv bellowed on the indi- 
 vidual, but an a<5lual fervice to fociety m 
 general: for, in a particular manner may 
 the manners of this country be regarded as 
 the protec^tors of that peace, and proveditors 
 ot that plenty, which diftinguifh this happy 
 rfland from every other nation on the face 
 ■■ ' ' of 
 
SERMON IX. ^35 
 
 of the globe. — Nay, it is not impoiTible, 
 it is not even improbable, that in the courfe 
 of human events, and in the regular gra- 
 dations of public fervice, even fame ofthefe 
 WW friendlefs and dejiitute lads may rife to 
 the higher ranks of naval promotion ; may 
 become a part of fome future phalanx of 
 brave and intrepid commanders, like that, 
 which fo recently diftinguifhed itfelf on a 
 mofl popular occafion, by a fenfe of honour 
 and probity, that excited univerfal admira- 
 tion and applaufe. — What would an honeft 
 heart and a liberal mind give for the fmal- 
 left profpe6l, for the moft diftant hope of 
 contributing by a moral education, to the 
 formation of one fuch chara6ler as thofe of 
 the men, we have thus feen ftem the tor- 
 rent of corruption in fo venal an age, and,^ 
 baffling the arts of deceit and chicanery j. 
 fland forth the undaunted, the inflexible 
 champions of perfonal merit, and the in- 
 corruptible guardians of the honour of Old 
 
 England. And furely, if the intention 
 
 be taken for the deed, (as is, undoubtedly 
 
 every 
 
236 SERMON LY. 
 
 every pious, every virfuons intention 
 by that Being, who readeth the hearts 
 of the chidren of men) fublime muft be 
 the fatisfa^tion of reflecting, on the cha- 
 ritable deed, excited by fo pious, fo praifx^- 
 worthy a defign. For be the confequence 
 as it eventually may, under the over-ruling 
 and all-wife difpenfations of Provid-ence, be 
 affured, that as the labourer is worthy of 
 his hire, fo is the liberal mind with intereft, 
 
 of his bounty. We may rely. Indeed, on 
 
 the affurance of him, who hath prornifed in 
 his facred word, to accept every thing, done 
 for the poor and needy, as done for him- 
 felf; of him, who faith, whofoever fliall 
 give to one of thefe little ones even a cup of 
 cold water, he fhall in no wife loofe his 
 reward, wx may reft affured, I fay, that 
 a Being fo divinely bountiful, will not fuf- 
 fer our utmoft liberality to go uncompenfa- 
 ted, but will crown it here or hereafter with 
 an exceeding great reward : of which, that 
 we may all be partakers, on our obedience 
 to his divine commands, may God of his 
 infinite mercy grant, tkrough the merits of 
 kfus Chriil our Lord, 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 7 Line 6 for philanthrophifls read pKilantliropIfts 
 
 8 for Bretheren 
 
 Brethren 
 
 1 2 1 1 for prevaded pervaded 
 
 propagation 
 ingenuous 
 patriots 
 Delaware 
 
 24 
 37 
 43 
 44 
 45 
 SO 
 51 
 
 7 for propogation 
 1 3 for ingenious 
 
 6 for partriots 
 10 forDeleware 
 22 In is omitted 
 
 4 for prepartion 
 
 I , ■' --preparation 
 
 ^ 19 and 20 the epithet fair ihould precede 
 
 trader' and not the word means 
 3 for oitment 
 1 7 for were 
 1 3 for feperation 
 3 dele the 
 1 7 dele the 2d 1 in the word particularize 
 
 109 
 133 
 170 
 176 
 
 '79 
 
 read ointment 
 —— where 
 • feparation 
 
a 
 
mm 
 
 "iM