What returns did Israel make to the Lord for all these benefits? The history of their conduct is little more than the recital of a long series of ungrateful murmurings, disobedience, and rebellion. They resisted his will, broke his commandments, mingled with the Heathens, and learned their ways. They repeatedly forsook the Lord God of their fathers, worshipped dumb idols, and practised all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast ont before them. Their sins often brought calamities upon them. The Lord gave them up into the hands of their enemies they suffered by the sword, by pestilence, and by famine. When he slew them, then they sought him ;* and when they sought him, he was entreated of them. He delivered them out of their afflictions; but they soon forgot his goodness, and returned to their evil ways. He sent many of his servants, in succession, to admonish and warn them; but they despised his words, they mocked his messengers, and misused his prophets.f

;

Can we wonder, if justice demanded the utter extirpation and ruin of a people so highly favoured, so well instructed, so often chastised and delivered, and yet so incorrigibly ungrateful, daring, and obstinate? Is it not rather wonderful to hear the Lord expressing a reluctance to execute the sentence so justly deserved, and saying of such a people, "How shall I give thee up?"

But can we read the history of Israel, without remarking how strongly it resembles our own? Have we not been equally distinguished from the nations around us, by spiritual and temporal blessings, and by our gross misimprovement of them? We are assembled this day to join in public thanksgivings for public mercies, but we have great cause for public humiliation likewise, We have much reason to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord; but we have reason to temper our joy with trembling, when we compare the state of things around us with that of Ephraim and Judah in the days of the prophet Hosea.

While too many persons lose their time and temper in political and party disputes, and refer all the calamities we either feel or fear to instruments and second causes, let us acknowledge that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Let us consider sin as the procuring cause of all our troubles. Let us recognize his hand in them, and confess that, in all the distress he has brought upon us, he has not dealt with us as our iniquities deserve. May our hearts be suitably affected, while I attempt a brief sketch of the abounding evils and abominations prevalent amongst us, which might justly provoke the Lord to sweep this land, so long the land of peace and liberty, with the besom of destruction: and

*Psalm lxxviii. 34. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. Psalm ii. 11. Rev. xix. 6. VOL. III.

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then we shall be prepared to praise him for those merciful and signal interpositions of his providence, which afford us some ground to hope, that notwithstanding all our provocations, he will not yet give us up.

1. Offences of the same kind may be heightened and aggravated by circumstances. Thus an insult offered to a benefactor, a parent, or a king, is deemed more grievous than if the person offending was in all respects an equal. In this sense, I fear the sins of Great Britain are of a deeper dye than those of any nation in Europe; because they are committed against greater advantages and privileges than any other people have enjoyed. May not the Lord appeal to ourselves, as to Israel of old, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done?"* After the black night of Popish darkness, in which Christendom had been for ages involved, Wickliffe, the morningstar and harbinger of the Reformation, arose in our borders. From his time, we have been favoured with a succession of preachers of the Gospel, and of witnesses to its truth and power. Not a few of these sealed their profession with their blood; and a much greater number suffered in the same cause, by fines, stripes, banishment, and imprisonment. But since the Revolution, and especially since the accession of king George I. to the throne, the spirit of persecution has been greatly repressed and chained up. We are not now called to resist unto blood. Nor is there any Protestant country where religious liberty is so universally enjoyed, and with so little restraint as in the dominions of Great Britain.

O fortunati nimium, sau si bona norint!

Our constitution, the basis and bulwark of our civil liberty, is the admiration or envy of our surrounding neighbours. It cost our forefathers many struggles to bring forward and establish this national blessing; but we have enjoyed it so long, and so quietly, that we seem almost to forget its value, how it was obtained, or how only it can be preserved. Wo be to us, if God should succeed the desires and endeavours of those who are disposed to exchange it for licentiousness? Add to this our public prosperity. While we have been principals in many wars, which have spread devastation and misery far and wide abroad, we have had uninterrupted peace at home; and know so little of the calamities of war, that were it not for the increase of taxes, it is probable we should not be soon weary of hearing of battles, and the

* Isa. v. 4.

slaughter of thousands, provided victory declared on our side. Our arms and our commerce have almost, like the ocean, encompassed the habitable globe, and we are become the grand mart and emporium of the earth.

But what have been our returns to the Lord for all his goodness? May he not say of us, as of Israel, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me ?”* I attempt not to explain the unfulfilled prophecies in the Apocalypse; but, the first, second, and third chapters of the Prophecy of Isaiah are so obviously applicable to the present state of these kingdoms, that we need look no further to perceive both our sin and our danger. May the Lord soften our hearts for our own sins, the sins of professors of the Gospel, and those national sins which strongly mark our character as a people!

The true Christian sees much cause of humiliation in himself. Though he cannot but take sorrowful notice of what passes around him, he is more ready to scrutinize and blame his own misconduct, than that of other men. He confesses that his best is defective and defiled. Though he exercises himself to maintain a conscience void of offence, and dares appeal to the Lord for the sincerity of his aims, he owns that in every thing he comes short. His obligations to the Redeemer are immense, and his sensations of gratitude, and exertions in service, are vastly disproportionate to them yet having accepted the atonement, and resting his hope of salvation upon Jesus, though his imperfections humble him, they do not discourage him. But he acknowledges, that if justice were strict to mark what is amiss, his own sins are so many and so great, that he could have no right to complain, though he had a large share of the heaviest calamities incident to this mortal life. They who are thus minded, are the chariots and horsemen of the land in which they live. They sigh and mourn for their own sins, and the evils which they cannot prevent. They have little thanks from the blind, careless, ungodly many around them. They are rather scorned and despised for their singularity, and unfashionable preciseness; but if this nation be spared from destruction, it will be for their sakes, and for the attention with which God regards their prayers. If we had no such persons amongst us, our fleets and armies would prove but a poor and precarious defence. But I trust their number is not small. They are dispersed up and down throughout the kingdom, and are the salt of the earth, which preserves us from total putrefaction.

2. By professors, we mean those who assent to the leading doctrines of the Gospel, and usually attend where it is preached.

* Isa. 1. 2.

I know this distinction is deemed invidious. We are sometimes asked-Why do you appropriate the term Gospel to yourselves? Do not all ministers preach the Gospel? Most certainly not. The doctrines from many pulpits are contrary, yea, contradictory. They cannot be all right. Yea, the doctrines from too many pulpits in our established church contradict the Articles and the Liturgy, which the preachers have solemnly subscribed. The Articles and Liturgy bear express testimony to the universal and total depravity of human nature, the Deity and atonement of the Saviour, the necessity of regeneration, a new birth, and a new life of sanctification, and of the abiding influence of the Holy Spirit of God to awaken sinners, to produce faith, and to instruct, comfort, and establish those who believe. These points are essential to the scheme of the Gospel, as it is set before us by the evangelists and the apostles. They who espouse them are called professors -a title which includes all those whom I have already mentioned, but is extended to many more, or at least is assumed by them. Happy, indeed, would it be, if all who seem to agree in principles, were united in love among themselves, and exhibited in the sight of men, in their tempers, practice, and pursuits, a conversation becoming the Gospel they profess. But in the days of the apostles there were those who, while they professed to believe in God, denied him by their works, who were enemies to the cross of Christ,* and caused the good way to be evil spoken of. We lament, more than wonder, that it should be so now : for human nature is the same in all ages; and even among those of whom we hope better-contentions, divisions, the heat of party zeal, the coldness of brotherly love, and a blameable conformity to the spirit and customs of the world, are but too visible. The sins of professors alone, if duly considered, might make us apprehensive that Judgement is even at the door.

3. There are likewise sins so generally prevalent, so familiar and habitual in every rank of life, that they may properly be called national; because either by their nature, or their frequency, they mark and distinguish our public morals. To enumerate these, would be a painful and arduous task; but my subject requires me to notice some of the most prominent and notorious.

First, Infidelity. Though the sophistry and machinations of the philosophers in France, and of those who style themselves the Illuminati in Germany, have more or less infected the whole of Christendom with their sceptical and dangerous sentiments, so that we hold them in common with many other nations; and though we have not, like the unhappy French, openly and avow

*Phil. iii. 18. Titus, i. 16.

edly renounced the government of God; yet I fear that the worst kind of infidelity (which is still rapidly spreading through the land) is already become one of our national sins. Formerly, most of our free-thinkers assumed the more modest name of deists; and though they rejected the Scriptures, they professed a regard to what they called natural religion: they wrote likewise chiefly for men like themselves, of a speculative and inquisitive turn, and did not feel much concerned to preselyte the common people. They seemed to allow that the principles of Christianity, though not necessary to persons of their sagacity, might be useful to preserve the peace and order of society, and to keep the vulgar within some bounds of good government and subordination. I have myself known those who, upon this ground, regularly, or at least frequently attended public worship, not that they desired or expected any benefit from it, but to set a good example to their wives, children, and servants, whom they thought not competent to understand their more sublime discoveries, or not fit to be intrusted with them. These champions likewise went forth singly to the combat; but now there is a strong compacted confederacy against all religion, both name and thing. Neither the mortal nor the immortal deists are much thought of at present. Philosophers have pushed their inquiries far beyond the narrow views of the deists, and proclaim themselves to be atheists. They tell us, that either there is no God, or that he does not take cognizance of human affairs. To relieve the consciences of men from those foreboding fears of a future judgment which are not easily separable from guilt, they boldly affirm death to be an eternal sleep. Though these, and similar dreadful tenets, have not obtained the publicity and authority with us which they have in France, they have spread like a contagion through the kingdom: Multitudes in every degree of life, from the noble to the peasant, have adopted them.

Not that I ascribe the progress of infidelity chiefly to Thomas Paine, or to writers of a superior class in the same line; but they have brought it more into view. Long before the modern philosophers were born, "the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."* Infidelity is congenial to human nature. Infidel writings, like the touch of Ithuriel's spear, have disclosed what for a time was hidden or disguised: the spirits of many were prepared. They were infidels before, though for want of attention they scarcely knew it, or for want of boldness, were afraid to own it. The effects are evident. With many people of fashion, infidelity is fashionable. Their dependants and servants imbibe their sen

*Psalm xiv. 1.