Practical Discourses Volume 1, Discourse 2

Practical Discourses Volume 1 · Discourse 2

p. 77EZEKIEL XVIII. 30.

Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions, so Iniquity shall not be your Ruin.

THE great Design of this Chapter is to answer an Objection which the Iews were wont to make against the Righteousness of God's Procedure with them; viz. That he punished them not only for their own, but for their Fathers Sins. Which Objection, tho it did not at all impeach the Righteousness of God, it being no Injustice in Him to inflict temporal Evils upon the Children for their Fathers Sins; yet that they might urge it no more as a Pretence of Gods unrighteous dealing with them, God assures them by his Prophet that from thenceforth he would remit that Right he had to make them smart for their Fathers Iniquities, and inflict no other Punishment upon them than what was due for their own personal Faults; that if they did well, they should fare well, notwithstanding the Sins of their Parents; and that if they did wickedly, they should surely smart for it, how well soever their Parents behaved themselves. Nay, says he, your p. 78Fathers Merit or Demerit shall henceforth be so far from excusing you from, or exposing you to Punishment, that you shall not suffer for your own past Wickedness, if you repent of it, nor yet escape for your past Righteousness if you revolt from it. This is the Sum of the whole Chapter to the 24th Verse: and yet, says he, the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? Can any method of rewarding and punishing be more equal than this which I now propose? or can any Accusation be more injurious than this of yours against me? but know, 'tis not your unjust reproaches shall make me desist from this my most righteous procedure. Therefore, says he Verse the 30th, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways; how much soever you reproach and calumniate me, I will strictly insist upon this method of rewarding and Punishing you according as you repent of, or persevere in your Iniquities; and to let you see that I will be as ready to reward you upon the former, as to punish you upon the latter, do but for once make a tryal of me, repent and turn your selves from all your trangressions, and you shall surely find that your past iniquity shall not be your ruine. The sense of which Words resolves into two Propositions:

p. 791. That the Iniquity of any People or Nation tends directly to their Ruine.

2. That true Repentance and Amendment is the certain way to prevent the Ruine which Iniquity tends to.

I begin with the first, that the Iniquity of any People or Nation tends directly to their Ruine: So it shall not—intimating that if they did not repent their Iniquity would certainly end in their Ruine. And of the Truth of this the constant Experience of all Ages is a sufficient Testimony; for if you consult either sacred or prophane History, you will find that Iniquity, like the Worm at the root of Ionah's gourd, hath many times blasted the most flourishing Kingdoms, pulled down their Banks, and laid them open to such Inundations of Misery, as have finally overwhelm'd and destroy'd them. And those that have made the strictest Enquiries into humane Affairs have constantly observed that the Rise and Fall of Nations hath been more owing to their Virtue and Vice than to any other Cause, and that upon these two Hinges generally the Fates of Empires turn; that the Foundations of their Rise were laid in vertuous, brave, and generous Actions, and that by Wickedness and Corruption of Manners they were undermined, and sunk into a final Ruine. But the Truth of this will yet more fully appear by considering p. 80how many ways Vice doth contribute to the Ruine and Destruction of a Kingdom; all which I shall reduce to these eight Heads:

1. It doth it by depriving Kingdoms and Nations of the Favour and Protection of God.

2. By inflicting positive Plagues and Punishments upon them.

3. By corrupting and infatuating their Counsels.

4. By melting and emasculating their Courage.

5. By breaking and disturbing their Order.

6. By dissolving their Unity and Concord.

7. By consuming their Wealth and Substance.

8. By debasing their Esteem and Reputation.

1. Wickedness directly tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations, as it deprives them of the Divine Favour and Protection. For if we acknowledge God to be the Almighty Lord and Soveraign of the World, we cannot but confess that the Strength and Establishment of Kingdoms is founded in His Favour and Protection; that his Goodness, Wisdom, and Power are the Pillars upon which those vast and mighty Structures lean; p. 81and consequently that if he withdraw from them those necessary Supports, they cannot stand, but must inevitably sink under their own Weight into irreparable Ruines. For nothing can subsist without God, and much less Kingdoms and Nations which have so many Principles of Corruption lurking within their own Bowels, and in which there are compounded so many boisterous Passions, repugnant Humors, inconsistent Designs and contesting Interests; all which like the contrary Qualities of our Bodies do by their mutual jarring with one another continually tend to the Dissolution of the whole. So that did not the wise and Almighty Providence of God continually superintend these contrary Principles, and by its skilful mingling them with one another, preserve them in a just and due Temper, those great and unweildy Bodies in which they do reside, would be every moment in danger of being diseased, corrupted and destroyed by them. But now the Sins of Nations do mightily contribute to the depriving them of this Benefit of Gods Providence and Protection; for how can any Kingdom or Nation expect that God will continue to protect them in their Rebellions against Himself? that he who is so implacable an Enemy of wickedness, and so zealous an Assertor of his own Honour and Authority, will employ his Power to p. 82patronize them in the one, and take their part against the other: and if he withdraw his upholding Providence from a Nation, he needs do no more; for now it must sink of its own accord, and like a falling House, when its prop is removed, its Weight will bear it down and quickly crush it into Ruines.

2. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations not only by engaging God to withdraw his Protection from, but also to inflict positive Plagues and Punishments upon them. For God being the supreme Soveraign of the World, and especially of this World of Men who are so extreamly prone to contemn and violate the Laws of his Government, it is necessary that since our Hopes and Fears are the mastersprings of all our Motions, he should take especial Care, as on the one hand to allure us to our Duty by the Hope of Reward, so on the other to awe us into it by the Fear of Punishment; and if he should not, there would be no confining such extravagant Creatures, as we are, within any Rule or Compass. Now as for particular Offenders, the great Scene of God's Rewarding and Punishing them is the future State, where every Man must answer for himself and receive the just Retributions of his own Actions; but as for sinful and vertuous Nations, p. 83they are capable only of being rewarded and punished in this Life; there being no such thing as particular Nations and Kingdoms in the Life to come; where Heaven and Hell are the two Nations into which the Spirits of Men are distributed; so that if wicked Nations were not punished here as such, they could never be punished at all. And if there were no such Punishments set up like Banks and Shores to break the Insolence and check the overflowing Wickedness of Sinners, the whole World would soon become a Sink and Deluge of Iniquity: and therefore tho' here God many times spares particular Offenders, there being a future State in which he can reckon with them and call them to a strict account for all their Affronts and Provocations; yet 'tis very rare, if ever, that he suffers wicked Nations to go unpunished here; because if he should, as such they would escape for ever. And how would it weaken the Government of the World, if when God sees a People confederate against him, blow the Trumpets of Rebellion and gather into Armies to urge war against him, he should sit still with his hands in his bosom and take no notice of it? for tho' among Men the Multitude of Offenders be many times the Cause of their Impunity, because of the Weakness of Humane Governments which are glad to spare, where p. 84they are not strong enough to punish; yet in the Government of God things are quite otherwise: no Combination of Sinners is too hard for Him, and the greater and more numerous the Offenders are, the more his Iustice is concerned to vindicate the Affront. However therefore God may pass by single Sinners in this world, yet when a Nation combines against him, when hand joins in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.

3. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations as it contributes to the corrupting and infatuating of their Counsels. For Vice and Wickedness doth very much depress the Minds, and weaken the Understandings of Men; it doth so warp their Judgments, and cast such mists of Prejudice around their Reason, that they are not able to discern the Issues and Consequents of things; for when they are overpowered by their Lusts, their Affections will mislead their Minds, and impose upon them for Truth and Realities their own unreasonable Wishes and Desires: And when we advise in the midst of a Company of head-strong Passions and Appetites, we are like Rehoboam amongst his young and hair-brain'd Counsellors, who represented things to him not as they were in themselves, but according to his own Desires and Inclinations. And when the Counsels of a Nation are steered by its own vicious Affections, p. 85that will most commonly seem best which is most unreasonable, and so Storms will many times be mistaken for Calms, and Rocks for safe and quiet Harbours. No Man is fit to counsel for a publick Good but he that is led by simple and unbiassed Reason, because he only will attend impartially to the Reasons of things, and accommodate his Advices to the publick Necessities and Exigencies of Affairs; but when the Man himself is governed by any unreasonable Appetite or Affection, that will ever and anon intermingle with this Judgment and biass his counsels towards its own unreasonable Desires and Inclinations. And when such blind Affections as Pride and Ambition, Covetousness and Revenge sit at the stern, and are the Pilots and Steer-men of a Kingdom; how can it be expected but that in the midst of so many Rocks and Quick-sands that surround it, it should run a ground, or be split in pieces?

4. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations as it contributes to melt and emasculate their Courage. For tho' it cannot be denied, but that the Valour and Courage of Nations is very much owing to the temper of the Climes in which they are situate, yet 'tis evident that as People of the most effeminate Climes have by Vertue been improved into heroick and magnanimous, as the p. 86Romans and Persians for instance; so those of the most hardy and courageous Climes have many times by their dissolute Manners been broken and dispirited into the most wretched Cowards and Poultroons; as the English for instance, who tho' they have been ever remarked for a People of a daring and undaunted Genius, yet have sometimes been so melted by their own Softness and Luxury, as that they became Preys to every Dog that hunted them. And indeed Softness, Luxury, and Wantonness, are Vices that will effeminate the Spirits and spoil the strain of the most valorous Nation; for as Vertues are increased by Exercise, so they shrink and decay by Inactivity, and there is no State of Life that doth so fetter our Courage and restrain its Vigour and Activity, as that of Idleness and Luxury; in which after it hath stewed and dissolved a while it will convert into the greatest Baseness and Pusillanimity: for an intemperate Bowl, a Bed of Sloth and a Dalilah's Lap are Charms sufficient to effeminate a Heroe, and bewitch a Lyon into a timorous Hare. And as these particular Vices do naturally discourage a Nation, so Vice in general hath the same Effect; for it naturally impresses a sense of Guilt upon the Mind, which fills it with such Tears and Herrors as cannot but weaken and …pirit the hardiest and most daring Courage. p. 87For how can a Man be courageous that is continually stung with the Remorses, and haunted with the restless Furies of his own guilty Mind; that carries a Hell within his own Bosom, and hath a thousand Guilts, like so many grim and ghastly Devils, continually staring him in the Face? Certainly such an One must either lay by his Reason or his Courage, and become a Coward or cease to be a Man. Hence it is said, The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth, but the righteous is bold as a Lyon, Prov. 28. 1. And when a Nation is thus dispirited by their own Lusts and Guilts, then are they ripe for Ruine, and fit to be made a prey for every Nimrod that will hunt and invade them.

5. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations, as it breaks and dissolves their Union. For as true Religion knits mens Hearts together by the indissoluble Ligaments of mutual Love and Charity, as it heals their Spirits, and corrects their Passions, and inspires their Natures with all those obliging Graces upon which the Peace and Concord of Society is founded; so on the contrary, Vice and Wickedness tends and divides the hearts of men, sows seeds of Discord in their Natures, frets and inflames their Spirits against one another, and impregnates them with such rude and barbarous Passions as do naturally render them unfociable to p. 88each other; such as are Pride and Ambition, Envy and Malice, Covetousness and Revenge, which naturally tend to the Dissolution of Society, and the cutting in sunder all the cords of Friendship and good Neighbourhood. Hence is that of St. Iames, Chap. iv. 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members. Yea doubtless this is the Cause of all those Discords that spoil the Harmony of this Moral World, the Pandora's Box out of which have swarmed all those Strifes and Contentions, Broils, and Confusions that have destroyed and ruined many flourishing Kingdoms. For tho' the most turbulent Factions are usually faced with zeal for God, yet if you look beyond the Outside, you will always find that most of the Broils that have been conducted under the display'd Banners of Religion have been raised and led on by the Devilish Passions of those who have been the most zealous Sticklers for and Fomentors of them. Thus Vice, you see, doth naturally divide a Nation; and teares the Members of it in sunder; and our Saviour assures us that when a Kingdom is divided against it self, it is soon brought to desolation, Matthew xii. 25. For those Divisions do mightily impair the strength of a Kingdom, which like an impetuous Stream being parted into several p. 89Currents runs with far less force, and is much more easily forded. And when once a Nation is torn and separated into Factions, it is at best but like a Confederate Army, which tho' it be united into one Body hath several contrary Interests and Designs which divides their counsels and makes them suspitious of one another, and so less able to withstand the force of an united Enemy; and in these circumstances what can be expected but that either they should fall out among themselves and sheath their swords in one anothers bowels, or be made an easie prey to the power and rapine of their common Adversary?

6. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations, as it disturbs them in their Order and regular Administration. For as Religion lays the Foundations of all good Order in a Kingdom, as it obliges the Governours to all those regular vertues that make them publick Bessings, to Iustice and Liberality, to Truth and Mercy, to Constancy and Magnanimity; as it binds the subordinate Instruments and Ministers of State to Fidelity and Diligence as it ingages the Subjects to honour and reverence, to obey and submit to their Governours; so on the contrary, Vice and Wickedness when it hath insinuated it self into a Nation, subverts the whole Order of it, and miserably confounds the Course of p. 90its Administration: it introduces into the Government Opposition and Tyranny, Fraud and Cruelty, Cowardize and Inconstancy; it perverts the Ministers of it into Traytors and Robbers, and turns its Courts of Iustice into dens of Thieves; it alienates the Subjects from their Duty and Allegiance, makes them heady and high-minded, rude and pragmatical, factious and ungovernable; and in a word, spreads such a poisonous Contagion over all the vital Parts of a Nation, as, without a speedy Cure, must necessarily end in the Ruine and Desolation of the whole. For such universal Disorders are as the Symptoms of Death upon a Nation, and like those gentler Convulsions within the Bowels of the Earth do portend the Approach of some dreadful Earthquake. And as when the whole mass of Blood and Humors is corrupted, the Body is sick unto Death, and will putrefy apace into a Carkass; thus when a Kingdom is thus universally disordered, when as the Prophet expresses it, the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint, when from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no Soundness in it, but all is covered with wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; what can be expected but a speedy and a fatal Period?

7. Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations, as it consumes their Wealth and Substance. Whilst Vertue and p. 91Religion do bear sway in a Nation; to besure it is of a frugal and industrious Genius, the People will attend to their own Business and not be intermedling pragmatically in anothers Diocese; They will enjoy themselves within the Bounds of Modesty and Sobriety, and make a conscience of out-spending their Fortunes, and living above their proper Ranks and Degrees in the World. And whilst every Member thus acts within its proper Sphere, the Nation cannot but thrive and prosper, each one by his honest Frugality and Industry being enabled upon all occasions to contribute to the Defence and Support of the Publick. But when once Vice and Wickedness have thrust out Vertue and overspread the Nation, it introduces in its room so many costly, chargeable, and prodigal Lusts, as will soon exhaust its Wealth, and suck the Blood out of its Veins. Then in comes Idleness, and like a Drone lives upon the acquests of Industry: Then Pride begins to spread her Peacocks train, and flaunt out what Frugality had saved, in gorgeous Apparel and sumptuous Furniture. Then Drunkenness and Gluttony begin to call out for Meat and Drink offerings to their God, the Belly; and Lust and Wantnoness to crave Provisions to feed and pamper their insatiate Appetites: in a word, then comes in such a Pack of greedy Hell-hounds to devour the Fruits of p. 92our past Frugality and Industry, as are sufficient to drain and exhaust the Indies. And when there are so many Locusts swarming in every corner of the Land, what can be expected but that at last they should eat up every green Thing, and devour the Fruits of every Tree? For we may maintain whole Fleets and Armies at a cheaper rate than a few extravagant Lusts, and let but Pride and Idleness, Intemperance and Wantonness be let loose, and allowed to spunge a while upon a Nation, and in a little time they shall more impoverish and consume its Substance, than a long and wasting War. And when the Wealth of a Nation which is the vital Blood that runs and circulates about its Veins and Arteries, is thus continually sucked by these insatiate Daughters of the Horseleech that still cry out Give, Give; its Life must necessarily ebb by degrees, and at the last it must faint away and expire.

8. And lastly, Wickedness tends to the Ruine of Kingdoms and Nations, as it impairs and debases their Esteem and Reputation. Righteousness exalteth a Nation, saith the Wise Man, but Sin is the reproach of any people, Prov. xiv. 34. for Vice hath such a natural Baseness and Uncomeliness in it, that whenever it appears in its own Colours, it creates a mighty Disesteem of it self in the Minds of all that behold it, and whereever p. 93it goes, it carries an infamous Character along with it; it blasts the Reputation of its own Votaries, covers their Heads with Shame and Dishonour, causes them to rot above ground, and to stink alive, and when they are dead, writes a black and inglorious Memory on their Graves. When therefore this foul and noisome Leprosy hath spread it self over the Face of a Nation, it must necessarily render it a horrid and monstrous Spectacle unto all that behold it; and tho' the Universality of Sin may give it some Reputation where its Throne and Empire is seated, and render it genteel and fashionable among its own Slaves and Vassals; yet 'tis such a Reputation as hath no bottom to support it. For unless my Honour be founded in some real Excellency, it is not in me, but in the Conceit of him that honours me; his Fancy is the Mint where all my Reputation is coined, and 'tis at his pleasure to stamp me an Angel or a Devil. So that tho' Vice may sometimes be in Vogue where it is universally spread and propagated, yet it being a Vogue without Foundation, all the Credit it gives is only a fantastick Being, a thing that is only the Sport and Dalliance of vulgar Breath and popular Noise; but whilst its own blind Votaries sing Hosanna's to it, and strew its way with Palms, all the World besides exclaim against and cry unanimously Crucify p. 94it, Crucify it. So that while it is honored at home, it is vilified abroad, and tho' we may be sometimes so besotted as to reckon it our Glory, yet to be sure all wise and indifferent Iudges will upbraid it to us as our Shame. For what wicked Nation is there that hath ever escaped the Reproaches and Infamy of Mankind, that hath abandoned it self to Fraud and Treachery, to Softness and Effeminacy, to Oppression and Cruelty; and hath not thereupon drawn upon it self the Scorn and Hissing of all the Nations round about it? And when a People are grown cheap and despicable in their Neighbours eyes, when their Faith is suspected, their Truth branded, and their Virtue stained and blemished, what Support or friendly Intercourse can they expect from them? Who will trust to their Leagues or Confederacies, or enter into Commerce with them, who have neither Truth nor Iustice to secure them? for so much Reputation as a Nation loses, so much Strength it loses; for 'tis a mighty Strength to a People to be feared and lov'd by their neighbouring Nations, neither of which they can expect to be when once they have sunk their Reputation; for who will dread an effeminate People softned with Luxury and Voluptuousness? or who will love a profligate People distained with Cruelty and Falshood? And when a People hath not p. 95Credit enough to make them either fear'd or lov'd, if then they are not ruin'd and destroy'd, it is because their Enemies either think it not worth the while, or are not at leisure to attempt it.

And thus you see, how many ways Wickedness contributes to the Ruine of a Nation. So that when Wickedness hath overspread a People, and is become their Epidemical disease, it doth not only bode their approaching fate, but hastens it, and pulls it headlong down upon them; and without a Miracle they must reform, or sink or perish. For unless God alters the natural Course of things and hinders necessary Causes from producing their Effects, it will be as impossible to hinder the Ruine of a Kingdom that is overwhelmed with Wickedness, and obstinately continues so, as it is to save a House from burning that is wrapt and compassed round with Flames; because the burning of a House is not a more necessary Effect of the Flames that surround it, than the Ruine of a Nation is of the Sins that overspread it. One way therefore there is left, and only one, for such a Nation to save it self, and that is by Repentance; which brings me to the next Proposition in the Text, That true Repentance and Amendment is the certain way to prevent that Ruine which our Iniquities threaten. Repent and turn p. 96your selves from all your trangressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. But before I enter upon this Proposition, I shall draw a few practical Inferences from what hath been said.

1. From hence I infer what plagues and nuisances wicked Men are to a Kingdom, since the Tendency of Sin in so many particulars is so very destructive to its Welfare and Interest. These are the grand disturbers of Israel the wretched Incendiaries, that set all in Flames and Combustions about them; their Sins are the Trains that do give Fire to those Mines of Ruine that sink and tear up Kingdoms, and their Breasts are the Seminaries and Harbourers of those Traitors that do conspire against and undermine our Peace and Happiness. For as for those Traytors without, tho' they were a thousand times if possible more crafty and restless and malicious than they are, we might defy their hellish Plots and Intreagues, and smile at their vain Attempts did not our Sins contribute to make us miserable; but when we by our own Wickedness will joyn hands with their restless Craft and Malice, assist them against our selves and co-operate with them to our own destruction, what remedy is there for us? when the sins of our Friends are conspiring our ruine together with the malice of our Enemies, how can we hope either, p. 97wholly to escape, or much longer to defer it? for if ever that destruction come upon us which hath been so long designing and is now hanging over us, this Epitaph will very well fit our Tombs, Here lies a miserable Nation, whose Ruine is owing more to their own Sins than to all the Designs and Powers of their Enemies. Consider this therefore, O you Sinners in this our Sion; you are, tho you know it not, in a strict confederacy with the Priests and Iesuits against your native Country, against the Protestant Religion, and against the Liberties and Properties of English Men; you are accessary to all those Treasons which they have contrived, and are still contriving against the Religion and Laws and Government of the Nation; and if ever they thrive and take effect (which the God of Heaven avert) we may thank you for prospering and succeding them; who by your pride and sensuality, your fraud and faction, your covetousness and oppression do what in you lyes to ripen and give a prosperous birth to the treasonous designs of our common Adversaries. And therefore if yet you have any regard either for this sinking Kingdom whose Womb bore you, or to this bleeding Church whose Paps gave you suck (both which in the most sorrowful postures that a Church and Kingdom can be well reduced to, are now crying out unto you, O p. 98you our cruel and unnatural Children, have pity upon us! have pity upon us!) if, I say, you have any regard either for the one or the other, O be now at last perswaded to commiserate their deplorable Condition, to take off those loud-mouthed Sins you have set upon them, and are now like a Pack of Hounds tearing and worrying them in pieces.

2. From hence I infer what is the true Cause of those many national Evils which we feel and justly fear. For since Iniquity doth so directly tend to the Ruine of a Nation, to what other Cause may we more truly attribute either those present or those future Evils that have, or shall befal us? When any Calamity befals us we are apt to ascribe it all, either to false or else to partial Causes, and if we reckon Sin among the Causes, to be sure we skip and overlook our own. 'Tis the Carelesness or ill Design of this or t'other Minister of State crys one; 'tis the Peevishness and Faction of such a Gang and Party, crys another; 'tis the Rigour and Severity of those who comply with and contend for the legal Establishment, crys a third; when these at most are but a partial Cause, and the main Spring, God knows, of all our Mischiefs lyes within our own bosom…. And tho' many of us are sensible, as we cannot well be otherwise, that Sin hath a great hand in all our Sufferings and Calamities, yet alas how p. 99few are there that reckon their own Sins into the tale: They are the sins of the Court crys the City, and the sins of the City crys the Country; they are the sins of the Church crys the Separatist, and the sins of the Clergy crys the Laity, and the sins of the Gentry crys the Commonalty. Thus every one washes his own hands, and like the Whore in the Proverbs, wipes his mouth, and crys I have done no wickedness; so that tho' none are guiltless and every one stands accused by his Antagonist, yet if all may be believed, none are guilty: and so the Iudgments of God are posted from Tithing to Tithing, from one Party of Men to another, and no body will own them tho' they call us all Father; which is just as if a company of People in a dreadful Conflagration should fall a contending with one another at whose House the fire began, and in the mean time permit it quietly to burn on till it had consumed all before it. Whereas if we would put a stop to the Iudgments that begin to flame about our ears, we should every one reflect upon our selves, and bring our Buckets of penitential Tears to extinguish that part of them which our own sins have kindled; and if we would but do thus, if every Man would smite upon his own Thigh and cry, Lord what have I done? then we might hope to see that growing Flame put out and p. 100quenched that now waves its curled Head, and threatens universal Ruine: but till once we are brought to a sorrowful sense of our own Sins, and of the share they contribute to the publick Mischiefs, we are not so much as in the way of Recovery. For since the Cause of the Kingdoms Sickness lies, God knows, in all our Breasts, how is it possible we should conspire to remove the whole till we are every Man sensible of his own part? Let us therefore search and examine our own hearts what we have contributed to the publick Disease, and every one purge out his own particular share of it; and then to be sure all will soon be well again, and this poor Kingdom that hath so many years been languishing under the Sins of its Natives, and is now reduced almost to its last gasp, will yet recover, and once more flourish in perfect health and vigour.

3. From hence I infer what is the just Character of those Men who by their Principles and Practices contribute to the Ruine of Kingdoms. For since Iniquity so directly tends to a publick Ruine, we may be sure that those Principles and Practices that naturally tend to the same end are Principles and Practices of Iniquity; and yet good God! how many such are there that under the fair disguises of Christian Doctrines and godly Zeal, and with their demure Looks and religious p. 101Countenances do many times seduce and cajole weak and well-disposed Minds into such seditious Gangs, mutinous Practices and treasonous Conspiracies as do too often end either in their own Ruine, or their native Countreys. Thus in the Church of Rome, what horrid and barbarous Practices have there been occasioned by those Antichristian Doctrines of the lawfulness of destroying Hereticks, deposing and murdering of Kings? How many Kings and Emperors have there been excommunicated, butchered and destroyed by them? How many flourishing Kingdoms have there been depopulated, wasted and imbrewed in blood by them? How many millions of Men, Women and Children have there been sacrificed to the demands of those inhumane and bloodthirsty Principles? Insomuch that it may be justly questioned, whether for 600 Years together, these Pretences of Christianity did not destroy more Lives than Christianity it self hath sav'd Souls. And would to God that these destroying Principles had been for ever confined within the Pale of that degenerate Church! Then might our Reformation have boldly challenged to it self the Spirit of Peace and Meekness, of unbounded Charity, unstained Loyalty and firm Allegiance, and without a blush in its face have upbraided that Mother of Harlots with being p. 102the only Patroness of Treasons, and Rebellions, and Confusions. But alas, those that have turned the World upside down are come hither also, and have sown their mischievous Principles in our fruitful Fields, where they have sprung up many an ill Weed; and these, God knows, have grown apace. For not to touch upon the old Sores, which for our own Credit sake and our Religions, O would to God were lost in perpetual Oblivion; how many are there this day among us that out of a pretence of Zeal for God and Religion, make it their business to divide and tear, rend and distract the Kingdom? who by starting Jealousies and ill Surmises, fetching and carrying Tales and scandalous Reports against the Government, suggesting miscarriages of State that never were, and blackning and aggravating those that are, do what in them lyes to blow up the Discontents of the Kingdom into an intestine Flame, and, whilst the common Enemy is boring a Hole in the bottom of the Ship, do set the Mariners together by the ears, that so while they are scuffling within they may neglect the danger from without, till one common Ruine involves them all, and sinks them together with their Swords in one anothers Bowels. And tho' it is notorious to all the World what a mighty Bulwark this Church p. 103hath always been to the Reformed Religion, how much it hath been the Dread and Envy of Rome, and the Mark of her Power and Malice; how all her Agents have constantly conspired to fight neither against small nor great, but against the Church of England, in hope that if once this Master-fort were dismantled, they should quickly force the lesser Garisons and Citadels to surrender; yet how many Parties have we among our selves, who yet pretend great Zeal to the Reformation, that industriously set themselves to batter down its Sanctuary about its ears; that join their Throats in one common Cry with the Priests and Iesuits, Down with her, down with her even to the ground; and all this to gratify their prejudice againg a few innocent and indifferent Rites, which as private Communicants they are very little, if at all, concerned in. I do not charge these Men with a Popish Design, tho' I am sure they charge us with it upon far less Reason; but this I say and will maintain it, that whilst they thus industriously set themselves to tear open the Wounds of our Church, and widen them into incurable Schisms, they take a most effectual course to open a gap for Popery, which stands at the door and only waits till the Breach is wide enough for it to enter.

p. 104To conclude all therefore, seeing it is the Sin and Wickedness of People and Nations that is the main Spring of their Ruine and Destruction, let us, as we would escape that dismal Ruine, which for several years hath hung over our Heads, and hath been pouring it self upon the Heads of several neighbouring Countreys and Nations, betake our selves to a deep Humiliation for, and hearty Repentance of our Sins, which threaten us more than all the Powers of our most powerful Enemies. We are now ingaged in a War against a great Prince, who hath not only by a most salvage and barbarous Persecution of his own Subjects proclaimed himself a mortal Enemy to our Religion, but also by his perfidious Violations of the Laws of Nations, his Infractions of the most sacred Ties and Obligations, and his unparallel'd Cruelties towards all that have fall'n within the Reach of his Power, hath rendred himself the common Enemy of Mankind, and seems to have been raised up on purpose by God to be the Plague and Scourge of a wicked World; his Power having for several years hung over all Christendom like a dismal Cloud charged with Thunder and Lightning, and having discharged it self upon several Countries and Nations in such prodigrous Showers of Blood, and Tempests of Ruine and Devastation, as scarce any History p. 105can paralel: against this mischievous Power that glories in nothing but Outrage, and triumphs upon the Ruines of Mankind, we are now engaged in conjunction with almost all the Christian World in a common Defence, there being no remedy left us but either to repel and vanquish it or to lie at its feet, and tamely submit our selves to be trampled into Destruction by it: nor is there any Nation under the Cope of Heaven that hath greater advantages of curbing it in its Career than our own, if our own Sins and intestine Divisions do not spoil all. Wherefore as we hope to succeed in this our necessary Defence of our Religion and our native Country, let us every one in our places indeavour by laying aside all our Malice and Revenge, our Pride and Faction, to cement those unhappy Breaches that are among our selves, and all betake our selves to a serious and hearty Repentance for our own Sins, that thereby we may reconcile our selves to God and engage his Almighty Power to fight for us.

And thus I have done with the first Proposition contain'd in these Words, [Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions, so Iniquity shall not be your ruine] That the Iniquity of any People or Nation tends directly to their Ruine. And shall now proceed to the second; viz.

p. 106That true Repentance and Amendment is the most effectual way to prevent that Ruine which our Iniquities do so naturally bring upon us.

This it is upon a twofold Influence it hath,

1. Upon God.

2. Upon our Selves.

1. It hath a powerful Influence upon God, who is the Soveraign Arbitrator of the Fate of Nations, and doth dispose of their Ruine and Happiness as he pleases. For he being the soveraign Lord of the World, and supream Moderator of all Issues and Events, there is no particular Kingdom or Nation that is exempt from his Iurisdiction and Disposal, and 'tis in his Power alone to determine of every one of them whether they shall be happy or miserable. It is the Lord that killeth and that maketh alive; that bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up; the Lord that maketh poor and maketh rich, that bringeth low and lifteth up, 1 Sam. ii. 6, 7. And as he thus disposes of the Fate of particular Persons, so he doth much more of the Fate of particular Nations: for 'tis he that encreaseth the Nations, and destroyeth them; he that enlargeth the Nations, and streightneth them, Iob xii. 23. And Dan. iv. 17. it is said, that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men, p. 107and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And in 2 Kings xix. 15. Hezekiah thus addresses to him, Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the Kingdoms of the earth. And if the Government and Disposal of Nations be in Gods hand as you see it is, then whatsoever hath an Influence upon God, to oblige and indear him to a Nation, must needs effectually conduce to its Recovery and Welfare; because it makes Him its Friend, who alone can make it happy and miserable: and that which indears God to us, who alone hath Power to rescue and recover us, must needs effectually conduce to our Recovery. Now that Repentance hath such an Influence upon God, will evidently appear, whether we consider it,

1. As an Act of natural Iustice and Rectitude; or,

2. As the primary End and Design of Punishment; or,

3. As the best Reparation we can make him for our Rebellions against him; or,

4. As the Condition upon which he hath voluntarily obliged himself to be reconciled unto us.

1. Consider it as an Act of natural Iustice and Rectitude; and as such it must needs have a powerful Influence upon God: for p. 108Iustice or Rectitude of Choice and Action are everlastingly founded in the Nature of God, to whom it is as natural to govern himself and all his Actions by the best and purest Reason, as it is to exist or live. So that whatsoever hath natural Rectitude in it, and is squared and regulated by right Reason, must needs be harmonious to the Nature of God, and consequently doth as naturally please and gratify Him as a musical Note doth a musical Ear: for every Nature hath a delightful Gust and Relish of that which is agreeable to it self; and therefore since it is natural to God himself to act according to the eternal Reasons of things, to see others act so too, must needs be grateful to his Nature; but to repent is the most reasonable Action that sinful Creatures can perform. For if it be best and most reasonable not to do amiss at all, then doubtless when we have done amiss, the next most reasonable is to resolve to do so no more, there being the same Reason why he that hath sinned should sin no more, as why he that hath not, should not sin at all. And therefore I cannot but wonder at the wild Assertion of some of our Philosophical Sinners, that to. repent is an Argument of Meanness of Spirit; and discovers in us a weak and irresolute Mind; as if, because I have plaid the Fool, I must resolve to be a Fool for ever, for fear of p. 109being accounted weak and irresolute; as if to change a mean and base Resolution were a piece of Meanness and Baseness. Indeed to enter into base Resolutions argues a base or inconsiderate Spirit, but to revoke them is so far from being base or mean, that it is highly rational and generous; there being the same Reason for the revoking a bad Resolution as there is against the making it; and next to not yielding to an unreasonable Motion, the highest Bravery in a reasonable Nature is not to persist in it. For if we are reasonable Beings, our Strength and Bravery must consist in being constant to our Reason; but to be constant against it, is to be constant Fools, or constant Knaves, or both; and if this be the Character of a bravely resolute Mind, much good may it do those heroick Sinners that count it a Reproach to repent. For the main of Repentance consists in the changing of unreasonable for wise and reasonable Resolutions, than which no Change can be more agreeable to the eternal Laws of Reason; and these Laws being founded in the Nature of God, this Change must be infinitely agreeable to him, and have a most powerful Influence upon him. For since to repent is the most reasonable Action that a Sinner can do, by what can we sinful Creatures more effectually indear our selves to p. 110God; who being most reasonable himself, must needs be most affected with that which is most reasonable in us.

2. Consider Repentance as the primary End and Design of Punishment, and as such it must needs have a powerful Influence upon God. For there being no such thing as a blind unreasonable Vengeance in the Nature of God, he cannot be supposed to punish for Punishment sake, since that would be to inflict Misery on others meerly to sport and recreate his own Revenge, that being the only Passion in Nature which a pure Mischief can gratify or please. Since therefore there is no such Affection in the Nature of God, we may be sure he doth not punish to please Himself, but to reform and amend his criminal Creatures, and that it is for the Good that Punishment doth us, and not for any Good that it doth Him that he chooses and inflicts it upon us: for he needs not our Misery to make him happy, being most compleatly happy already in the immense Perfection of his own Nature; and it is nothing but the Want of Happiness in it self that makes any Being desire or design anothers Misery. Since therefore God cannot be suppos'd to design our Punishment under the Notion of a pure Misery, it hence necessarily follows, that if he designs any thing, as to be sure he doth, it must be to p. 111do us or others Good by it, and consequently, that since it is for the sake of this Good that he inflicts it, he will most readily dispence with it, if that be but answered and obtained without it. But now our Repentance doth in a great measure answer and supply the End of our Punishment, which is either to reform us when we have done amiss, or to warn others by our Example not to tread in our Footsteps; both which Ends are in an high degree obtained in our unfeigned Repentance. For if we heartily repent of our past Iniquities, we shall be sure to amend them for the future; and it is impossible that Repentance should be true, which doth not upon the first Opportunity commence into an actual Reformation: and so if it be true also, it will render us exemplary Warnings unto others; for it will inflict upon us such bitter Sorrows, such deep Remorses and stinging Reflections as will render us almost as great and eminent Examples of the Evil and Folly of our Sins, as the Punishments that were intended against them: and those of our Brethren in Iniquity that will take no warning by us, when they see the Throbs and Agonies of our Repentance, how it Pierces, Wounds, and Mortifies our Souls; in all probability would be as little affected should they instead of that see the hand of God upon us, chastizing and correcting us p. 112for our Follies. For he that heartily repents; makes almost as woful an Experiment of the Folly and Evil of his Sin, as he that hath felt the Punishment of it; and next to a bleeding punished Criminal, there is no such Example of the Madness of Sin as a weeping, mournful, and dejected Penitent. Since therefore in both these respects Repentance doth so effectually supply the Designs of our Punishment, we may be sure the merciful God who doth always punish in order to those Designs, will be very much influenced by it. For every Agent is satisfied, when it hath its End, and therefore since our Repentance will supply those Ends which God designs in our Punishment, we may besure it will highly please and gratify him; for in our Repentance he hath what he aimed at, when he designed to punish us, and to be sure a good God will never be so fond of the Miseries of his Creatures as to punish them to no purpose.

3. Consider Repentance as the best Reparation we can make for our past Sins and Rebellions, and as such also it must needs have a mighty Influence upon God. 'Tis true for Sinners to make a full Reparation to God for the Affronts and Dishonors they have cast upon him, is impossible; because what they have done they can no more undo, than make what is past never to have been. p. 113But yet he that heartily repents of his former Sins, for as much as he hates and laments them and wisnes from his Soul that he had never done them, doth hereby morally cancel and rovoke them; for this universal Act of Nolition extending to all his past bad Choices, tho' it cannot so undo as to cause them not to have been, yet it doth so unwill and unchoose them, as that if they were not, they should never be. 'Tis true, God being our supream Lord and Lawgiver, the only compleat Satisfaction we can personally render him is perfect unsinning obedience to his Laws, of which when we have once fail'd there is no after-Act of our own can make him a perfect Reparation; because if our after-Act be an Act of Obedience (as all good and vertuous ones are) God hath the same Right to it, as he had to that wherein we failed, and 'tis impossible that by satisfying one Debt we should make a full Repayment of another. But of all our afterReparations there is none approaches so near to Innocence and unsinning Obedience, as this of unfeigned Repentance; for all the difference between an innocent Person and a true Penitent is only this, that the former never chose to Sin, and the latter hath unchosen all his sinful Choices; the one did not Sin when it was in his power to do it, the other would not have sinned, if it were in his power not to do it. So that tho' Repentance p. 114is by no means equivalent to Innocence, yet because of all the after-Acts of a nocent Person it makes the nearest approach to it, it necessarily follows that it is the best and highest Reparation that any sinful Cretture can make to an offended God. What better Reparation can I make for the Delight and Pleasure I have taken in offending him than to submit my self to the Pains and Anguish of a bitter and severe Repentance for it? How can I more effectually repair the many Dishonours I have done him by my base and impious Actions, the shameless Affronts I have put upon him, then by laying my stubborn Will at his feet, putting on Shame and Confusion of Face, and abhorring my self in Dust and Ashes before him. This being therefore the best Satisfaction that such a sinful People as we are can make to our offended but most merciful God, we may justly hope, that if we render him this, it will have an auspicious Influence upon him to incline him towards us and avert his just Displeasure from us. When he shall sec us prostrate at his Feet, acknowledging with sorrowful Hearts the infinite Injuries we have done him, offering him all the poor Amends we can make him, and grieving that we can offer him no more; such a moving Spectacle cannot but kindle in him a Relenting towards us, and cause his propitions Bowels to resound with Eccho's of Mercy.

p. 1154. And lastly, consider Repentance as the Condition upon which God hath voluntarily engaged himself to be reconciled unto us, and as such also it must needs have a powerful Influence upon him. So in the Text you see he hath obliged himself, upon the Repentance of wicked People, to interpose between their Sin and Ruine, So iniquity shall not be your ruine. So also Iob xxxvi. 8, 9, 10, 11. you have an excellent Account of Gods Readiness to relieve a repenting People, In their Adversity if they be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction, then he sheweth them their work and their trangression wherein they have exceeded. He openeth also their ears to discipline and commandeth that they return from their iniquity. If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure. But this prehaps you will say is only a Relation of what God usually doth, and not a Promise by which he obliges himself always to do so well, but it supposes such a Promise on Gods part; else there could have been no sure Foundation for Elihu to have promised it. But then Isai. i. 16, 17, 18. you have Gods own word for it, Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well. Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord, tho' your sins be as Scarlet, they shall be p. 116white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the Land. So also Hosea. xiv. 1, 2. 4. O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words and turn to the Lord, say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we render thee the calves of our lips. To which in the 4th Verse God returns this answer of mercy, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as a lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. But these Promises perhaps you will say, respect Israel only, and consequently ought not to be extended unto other Nations; well then let us see in the last place what he hath said to Nations in general Ierem. xviii. 7, 8, At what time I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. So that what he had promised before to Israel his People here extends to all Nations, viz. that upon their Repentance he will be favourable to them, and repent of the Evil he intended against them; which gives us as great a Certainty of the good Influence of our Repentance upon him p. 117as we can have of his eternal Truth which is the Foundation of all Certainty. So that if to have God for our Friend can contribute any thing to the saving us from an impending Ruine, then must our Repentance which makes him our Friend be so far the Means of our Salvation.

2. As Repentance hath a great Influence upon God to move and incline him to rescue us from Ruine, so it hath also a mighty Influence upon us towards the preventing and obviating our Ruine; so that tho' there were no such thing as a God for it to work upon and engage in our Defence and Protection, or tho' that God should wholly withdraw himself from Action, and absolutely refuse to intermeddle in our Affairs; yet would our Repentance it self by its own natural and necessary Influence most effectually operate towards the Prevention of that Publick Ruine; and that these four ways:

1. As it will throughly awaken us into a due sense of our Danger.

2. As it will animate and encourage us with the Hope of Success upon the Use of due and proper Means.

3. As it will take us off from those mischievous Actions which do so necessarily contribute to our Ruine.

4. As it will put us upon such a regular Course of Action as doth naturally tend p. 118to the Publick Good. In all which respects, as I shall shew you, it would be an effectual Means of our Recovery.

1. True Repentance naturally awakens us into a due and serious Sense of our Danger. For a vicious Life doth naturally lull men into a Sottish and Senseless Security; it makes them stupid and reckless, and bereaves them of their natural Foresight and Sagacity; for besides that it takes off their Minds from the exercise of Reason, and infatuates them with weak and phantastick Prejudices it renders them so soft and indulgent to their own luxurious and effeminate Genius, that they cannot indure any sad or serious thoughts should intermingle with their Iovial Airs. So that if Danger stands at any distance from them, they wilfully wink at it, and are afraid to look it in the face, lest it should suggest such thoughts to them as would disturb the Scenes of their Mirth, and dash their Draughts of sinful▪ Pleasures with Wormwood. Hence Amos vi. 1. 3. it is made the Character of the wicked Israelites that lived at ease in Zion, that they put far from them the evil day, that is, they would not entertain a thought of the Nearness of their Danger, lest it should prove a Thorn in their Pillows, and disturb their soft and beloved ease. So also Hosea xi. 9. Strangers have devoured his strength, (saith p. 119he speaking of that wicked People) and he knoweth it not, yea gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he perceiveth it not; that is, tho' they were exceedingly wasted already and had all the Symptoms of an approaching Ruine upon them, yet they were so intent upon their Lusts, and so besotted by them, that they took no notice of it. And if Men will be so stupid as to neglect their Danger, and never think of retreating till they have run themselves into the Iaws of it, what Remedy is there for them? how can they escape that will sleep on securely upon the Brinks of a Precipice, and will not regard their Danger till they are dropping headlong into it, and are fallen beyond Prevention or Recovery? But when once Men betake themselves to a course of serious Repentance, they will soon recover out of this their Lethargick temper. For Repentance will not only chase away all those effeminate Lusts which barr'd their Understanding against all Apprehensions of Danger, and rendred them so supine and regardless, but it will make them deeply sensible of the Desert of their Sin, and what fearful Effects are to be expected from it; so that now they will be so far from thrusting from them the Thoughts of their Danger, that they will reckon it among the numberless Miracles of Gods Goodness that they were not p. 120long ago swallowed up and consumed by it: and besides those visible Dangers that attend them in the common Course of Things, they will discern a black Cloud arising out of their own Guilts, and gathering into storms of Vengeance, and look upon their past Wickedness as the dire Omens of an approaching Judgment; and being thus awaken'd into a Sense of the Danger that threatens them, they are so far on their way towards an happy Recovery.

2. True Repentance will also animate and incourage a People with the Hope of Success upon the use of due and proper Means. It is the natural Property of a wicked Life to render Men secure when Danger is at a distance, and desperate when it is near at hand; when it is remote they are afraid to mind it lest it should interrupt their Pleasures, and mingle Discords with their Harmony; but when by reason of their Fear they are forced to mind it, the sudden unexpected Alarm it gives them raises such an Uproar in their Thoughts that they can neither find nor force an Escape from it. For the opposite Affections of Humane Nature succeed one another in the same Degree. Thus when we hate those whom we lov'd we usually hate them in the same degree that we lov'd them; and when two contrary Passions follow one another, they are generally p. 121both extream, and by how much the foregoer exceeded the just medium of one way, by so much will the follower exceed the other; just like the vibrations of a Pendulum, the which the farther you swing it this way, the farther it will return the other; and consequently the more we exceed in Security whilst Danger is pursuing us, the more we shall exceed in Fear when it hath overtaken us. So that when out of an extravagant Indulgence to their sinful Pleasures Men shut their Eyes against approaching Danger, and will not open them till it is just upon them and stares them in the Face, the gastly and surprizing Spectacle will presently transport them out of one Extream into another, out of a deep Security into a dead Dispair; especially considering how naturally the Sense of Danger awakens in guilty Minds their natural Dread of God, and fills them with fearful Expectations from Him: and when a Man awakes upon the brinks of a Precipice and all on a suddain sees an apparent Destruction before him, and by this Sight is at the same time roused into a dismal Apprehension of an Almighty Vengeance behind him stretching forth its arm to thrust him head-long down, how must it needs appale and astonish him, and disarm him of all Hope and Power of escaping. So that out of a secure Impenitence, p. 122you see, there is but one remove into an heartless Desperation: and when Men are desperate in the midst of Danger, and are reduced to their wits end; when they have neither Prudence to forecast, nor Courage to execute any method of Recovery, without a Miracle their Ruine is unavoidable. Of this you have an eminent Example in the wicked Israelites, who when their Danger was afar off were most unreasonably secure and regardless of it, but when Senacheribs Army had invested their City, and they saw themselves surrounded with Ruine on every side, then their Security immedately converts into the most frightful and horrid Apprehensions; for so the Prophet describes it Isaiah xxxiii. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrites: who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Whilst the Power of that haughty Monarch was at a distance from them, they laughed at and despised it; but now it is at their doors they are so frightned at it, that they had no softer Words to express it by than devouring fire and everlasting burnings: So that if God had not rescued them by a Miracle, their unmanly Fears had so disarmed them, that they would have never been able to defend themselves. But now by our Repentance we do most certainly prevent being p. 123reduced to this woful Extremity: for that will open our Eyes to all approaching Dangers, and remove those effeminate Lusts out of our way which interrupted our Prospect of them; so that we shall see them afar off, and having a free Sight and Expectance of them, shall not be surpriz'd by them when they draw nearer, and are ready to fasten upon us; by which means we shall have Time to arm and fortify our selves against them, and to prepare to receive them with Courage and Conduct. And when they are come, our Repentance will also animate us with the Hopes of a timely Relief and Succour from above, and encourage us to hold out to the last Extremity in Expectance of God's appearing in the Mount, and a timely Interposure between us and Ruine. For this being the Condition upon which God hath promised us his Favour and Friendship, there is no Reason why we should be desperate, so long as we live in the Performance of it. So that the Sense of our unfeigned Repentance will inspire us with joyful Hope that God is for us; and what Danger can dishearten us under this glorious Hope that infinite Wisdom and Power is on our side?

3. True Repentance doth also abolish those mischievous Actions which do naturally contribute to the Ruine of a People. How much a wicked Course of Life tends to a Nations p. 124Ruine, is notorious enough to any Man that hath been an Observer of the Effects and Consequences of humane Actions; how it infatuates their Counsels, weakens their Courage, rends their Unity and Concord; how it disorders them in all their natural Respects and Dependencies, consumes their Wealth, and prostitutes their Reputation; and how by all these mischievous Effects it gradually wastes and consumes them, and lays the Foundation of their inevitable Ruine. So that whilst Vice and Wickedness prevail in a Nation, 'tis like a lingering Consumption in our Bodies that sooths us into an Opinion that we are well and in Health, or flatters us with fair Hopes of Recovery; but in the mean time is undermining the Fort of our Life, and preying upon our Vitals. But it is the most wretched piece of Deceit in the World for a Nation to think it self well while it is wicked; for so many Vices as it hath growing in it, so many Diseases it hath ingendring in its Bowels, which tho' it may struggle with a while by the natural Strength and Vigour of its Constitution, will by degrees inevitably weaken it, and without a speedy and effectual Purgation finally consume and destroy it; and if it were the best constituted Nation in the World, it would be impossible for it not to decay and languish under the malignant Influence of an Epidemical Wickedness. That therefore p. 125which purges away this corrupt Humor out of which all National Diseases spring, must needs be the most effectual Means of a dying Nations Recovery, and that, and that only, is Repentance, one essential Part whereof consists in putting off the Body of Sin, ceasing to do Evil and denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. And if once this bad Cause were removed, all the mischievous Effects of it would immediately cease, and thereupon the sick and declining Kingdom that groans and languishes under them would immediately mend, and in a little time recover its native Health and Vigour. For what should hinder it from growing well, when the malignant Cause of all its Distempers is removed? when that which befools its Counsels, Dissolves, its Courage disorder its Harmony, breaks its Unity, lavishes out its Wealth and Reputation is utterly abolish'd; what should hinder it from growing up again into a wise and a valiant, an orderly and unanimous, a wealthy and renowned Nation?

4. And lastly, true Repentance doth also put us upon such a Course of Action as doth naturally tend to the Publick Good. For Repentance doth not only consist in ceasing to do Evil, but in learning to do Well, in putting on the new Man as well as putting off the old, that is, it is an intire Submission p. 126of our souls to God, to do what he commands, as well as to forbear what he forbids, and the Matter of his Commands is such as all of it tends to the publick Good: and if the several Ranks and Orders of Men whereof a Nation is composed would but unanimously conspire in that Course of Action which God hath enjoyned, it would doubtless more contribute to the Weal and Prosperity of such a Nation, than the wisest Counsels or most puissant Forces without it. If those that sit at the Helm would but once resolve to stear by those excellent Rules of honest Prudence, impartial Iustice, discreet Mercy, wise Liberality, advised Constancy and Magnanimity, it would doubtless render their Government far more safe and easy, more useful, and prosperous, than all the crafty Tricks, dark Intreagues, and wiley Subterfuges of wicked Policy, which instead of promoting the Government do generally lead it into a perplexed Maze, and leave it there miserably bewildred and intangled. Again, if those that are Subjects would but learn to govern themselves by those Laws of Candor and Modesty, of Meekness and Fidelity, of Submission and Loyalty, which God hath enjoyned them; with what Peace and Quiet, Safety and Contentment might they enjoy themselves under the Shadow of Government. In a word, if the Rich would be p. 127but as courteous and charitable, the Poor as thankful and industrious, and all as just and honest, as kind, and gentle, as ready to assist, forbear and forgive one another as God requires, what a most glorious and happy Society would there spring out of such a regular Course of Action? doubtless for Peace and Contentment, for Bliss and Happiness, next to Heaven it self, there is no Place comparable to a vertuous Nation, and were I in quest of a terrestrial Paradise, I should sooner expect it in a barren Wilderness inhabited with a vertuous People, than in the most fruitful and delicious Canaan peopled with wicked and degenerous Natives. Since therefore a virtuous Course of Action hath so direct a Tendency to the publick Good, it hence necessarily follows that Repentance, which is the Entrance and Introduction to it, must needs very much contribute to the Safety and Recovery of a Nation; because it puts the several parts of it into such a Course of Life and Conversation as mutually conduces to the Peace and Happiness and Preservation of the Whole: so that whether we consider the powerful Influence it hath upon God, or the good Effect it hath upon us, you see 'tis a most efficacious Instrument of publick Happiness and Salvation. Wherefore if the Consideration of our own private Interest, and everlasting fate in another World be not sufficient p. 128to move us to a serious Repentance, let us add to this the Consideration of our temporal Concerns, which are all involved in the fate of the Nation. For the publick Good is a common Bank in which every Member hath a share, and consequently whatsoever Damage that suffers, we must expect to bear our Part of it. And yet, God help us! if we impartially view the Designs and Behaviour of the Generality, we would hardly think that they did seriously believe there were any such thing as a Common Weal among us, every one almost endeavouring to advance his own Interest though it be upon the publick Ruine, and all our Pretences to the Publick being little else but a contrasting of Parties running a Tilt at one another, whilst the Common Good lyes between them, and is equally trampled on by both sides. Wherefore as we would not betray our Common Interest, and bury our selves in the publick Ruine, let us be persuaded to consider our ways before it be too late, and turn to the Lord by a deep and hearty Repentance. And to move you hereunto I shall desire you to consider these few things.

1. What imminent Danger we are in.

2. How much we have all contributed to it.

3. How possible it is to prevent it by our timely Repentance.

p. 1294. How much our personal Repentance will avail us tho' we should not prevent it.

5. How dearly we shall repent when it is too late, if we do not endeavour the Prevention of it by repenting now.

1. Consider the imminent Danger we are in. For if we consider our present Circumstances, how many visible Causes there are conspiring to effect our Ruine, how we lye open to the common Adversary that doth so vigorously pursue our Destruction, and like an unwalled Vineyard, are surrounded with wild Boars without, and over-run with little Foxes within, which, tho' they are of different Kinds, agree in the same Ends, and concur to waste and to destroy; how whilst these little Foxes are pulling down the Vine above, the wild Boars are waiting underneath to seize and to devour both; how the restless and indefatigable Malice of our Romish Adversaries without is assisted with the furious Zeal of our hair-brain'd Factions within, who tho' they cannot be insensible how much their Divisions weaken and expose us, yet seem resolved rather to venture all than not to be uppermost; how our Counsels puzzl'd and entangled, and our Procedures clogg'd and incumbred; how our Choices are poiz'd and suspended between contrary Evils that seem so equally great, that we can hardly determine which is the least; in a p. 130word, how our Mischiefs are chain'd and link'd to one another, so that we cannot remove one without drawing on another in the room of it, and the suspicion of future makes us afraid to provide against present Mischiefs: if, I say, we consider all these things, we cannot but be sensible how great and near our Danger is, and how earnestly it calls upon us for a speedy and effectual Remedy. And when we are encompast with so many Dangers on every side, it is not prodigious Sottishness for us to stand gazing on them with our Hands in our Bosoms, making Speeches about them, and telling frightful Stories of them to one another, whilst like a spreading Gangreen they are growing upon us, and creeping insensibly to our Hearts, whilst the proper Remedy of them is in our own hands, and by a timely Application we may quickly cure and prevent them. When we see our selves upon the Borders of Ruine, is it a time to stand chattering at the Wind, spending our Breath in fruitless Complaints, impotent Invectives, and factious Murmurings? When if, instead of finding fault with our Superiors, arraigning the Government, and quarrelling at the publick Management and Conduct, we would at least resolve to find Fault with our selves, arraign our own Vices at the Bar of an impartial Conscience, and make a through Inquisition into the ill p. 131Conduct of our own Lives and Manners, we might cure the Evils and prevent the Dangers which we talk and complain of to no purpose? Certainly if ever Dangers call'd for a speedy Repentance, ours do; but if we will be deaf to their Cries we desperately abandon our selves to the dismal and pitiless Desert of our own Folly and Madness.

2. Consider how much we have all contributed to the Dangers that are pressing upon us. I doubt if we impartially survey our selves and take a severe Account of our own Doings, there be very few, if any, that will be able to acquit themselves of having some hand in those publick Mischiefs that hang over us; that in all Particulars have behaved themselves so soberly and circumspectly as to contribute nothing towards the filling up the Kingdoms Iniquities. Tho' many of us indeed have not been carried away with the impetuous Current of open Profaneness and Debauchery, yet perhaps we have suffered our selves to be born down with the contrary Stream of Faction, Schism, or demure Hypocrisy; by which we have not only scandaliz'd our Religion, and weaken'd the Interest of it, imbrolled our Government, and disturbed the methods of our Happiness; but also highly incens'd against us the God of Peace and Truth, and Order. And tho▪ p. 132others of us have neither been profane nor factious, yet it may be we have been remiss and lukewarm in Religion, or extreamly unfruitful under those rich Manurings and growing Showers which it continually affords us; by which we have mightily provok'd our God to remove our Candlestick, and leave us in the dark; to cut us down like fruitless Trees that are good for nothing, but only to burthen and cumber the ground: and if one way or 'tother we have contributed to those publick Calamities that threaten us, we have no other way to repair the Injury we have done our Country, but by our timely and serious Repentance: this is the only Balsam by which we can hope to heal those Wounds we have given her; and if when we have wounded we refuse to cure her, 'tho the Means are in our own hands, we are doubly guilty of her Blood, and shall be doubly charg'd with it whenever an Inquisition is made for it. So that Repentance is a Debt we owe the Nation for the Mischiefs which our Sins have done to it, and which we can no otherwise repair but by repenting of those Sins before it is too late, lest we leave such a Reckoning behind us as will ruine the Kingdom, and undo succeeding Generations to discharge it.

3. Consider how possible it is yet to prevent our Danger by a timely Repentance. p. 133Tho' our Condition be full of Hazard, yet, God be praised, it is not altogether desperate; tho' we are inter pontem & fontem descending between the Bridge and River, yet there are a thousand Accidents may intervene, and catch us in our Fall and set us safe a shore again; and that Almighty Providence which orders and disposes the Issues and Events of Things, hath infinite ways, which we foresee not, to change the confused Scene of our Affairs, and reduce our Chaos into Order. And how willing and ready he is to do it, is visible enough by his Long-suffering towards us, and his patient Endurance of our Provocations, in expectation that at length his Goodness may lead us to Repentance. How careful and industrious hath he been to discover our Danger to us? to draw the Curtain from before the dark Designs of our Enemies, and to unmask their intended Mischiefs in despite of all their Arts of Concealment? And considering thro' how many Difficulties the Providence of God hath pressed in carrying on the happy Discovery, how strangely he hath forced it on, and scattered the Clouds before it, we have abundant Reason to acknowledge his Readiness to succour and relieve us, to prevent our being surprized with an unexpected Ruine, and swallowed up by it before we were aware. For what should his Aim be in p. 134shewing us our Danger, but only to awake us to Repentance, that so by that powerful Motive he might be induced to rescue and deliver us; Why should he warn us so long before hand of the Blow that is falling upon us, but only to give us Space and Opportunity to prevent it by our timely Repentance? So that ever since the Discovery of our Danger, Deliverance hath been waiting upon us, expecting that happy moment when we would open the door of our Repentance to it, and invite it in, and make it welcome. But hitherto, alas! we have shut the door against it, and made it wait in vain: for several Months the willing Child hath been strugling for Birth in the Womb of Providence, and yet it is unborn; and still it struggles, but all in vain, for want of our Repentance to open the Womb to it, and promote its travail to a happy Birth. And do we yet stand still as Persons unconcern'd, when ours, our Country's, and our Childrens Fate depends upon the Issue of it? When we may yet be safe, if by abandoning our Wickedness we will but assist to our Deliverance, shall we stand looking on with our Hands in our Bosoms, and see it stifled in the Womb?

4. Consider how much our personal Repentance will avail us tho' we should not prevent our present Danger by it. For I p. 135know it will be objected, To what purpose should we repent, if others still go on in their Wickedness? Can it be hoped that our personal Amendment should have such a mighty Influence as to disperse that mighty Cloud of Iudgments that hangs over the whole Nation? To which, in the first place, I answer, that perhaps it may. It may be there is not yet a sufficient Number of rightous Persons among us to move the holy God to be propitious to this sinful Nation; and if for the sake of five righteous Persons God would have saved a Sodom, why may not you hope that by adding your selves to the far greater number of righteous Persons among us, you may yet prevail with God to save the whole Nation; and for the possible Hope of being Saviours to our native Country, who would not make such a cheap and easie Experiment? But suppose it should not produce this happy Effect, that notwithstanding our personal Repentance the Cloud should break, and discharge a bloody Storm upon the Kingdom; yet I dare secure you, you shall never have Cause to repent of your Repentance; for God will either call you into his Chambers, shut his door upon you, and hide you for a little moment till the Indignation is overpast, or he will turn it into such an inestimable Blessing that you shall be sure to reap from it unspeakably p. 136more Good than Prejudice; and whilst impenitent Wretches shall be lashed at the same time both by God and their own Consciences, whilst they shall be surrounded with Darkness and Horror on every side, and not be able to discover any glimps of day either within, or without, or above them; whilst Heaven and Earth, and their own Consciences are storming together about their Ears, so that which way soever they turn themselves, they are miserable; whilst God disowns them, their own Consciences reproach them, and the World will no longer help or succour them; you, being reconciled by your Repentance both to your God and your Conscience, will have a safe Retreat within your own Bosoms, whereinto you may retire, and be merry in spight of Fortune; and being there entertained with the ravishing sense of your Fathers Love, with the soft Harmonies of a quiet Conscience, and the glorious Hopes of a blessed Immortality hereafter, you will not only be inabled to support your share of the publick Calamity, but also to rejoyce and triumph under it. So that would you be but persuaded to repent, I durst assure you, you shall find the Benefit of it either in the Removal of the Iudgments you fear, or in the Assistance it would give you to undergo them bravely.

p. 1375. And lastly, Consider how dearly we shall repent when it is too late; if we do not endeavour to prevent our Danger by repenting now when we are groveling under those dreadful Iudgments that hang lowering over us. When our Religion, Liberties and Properties are seized, and become a prey to our insulting Enemies; when our Country is spoiled or imbrewed in Blood by intestine Broils or Forein Invasions, and all is involved in Ruines and Confusions round about us; then we shall remember with the Tears in our Eyes that we had once an Opportunity to be happy; that if we would have been contended to part with a few base Lusts that did unman and prostitute our Natures, we might have been still a blessed and prosperous People; that if we would have been so wise as to have sacrificed to Gods approaching Iudgments our Sensuality and Profaneness, our Faction, Oppression and Hypocrisy, they would then have fairly retreated and left us in the quiet Enjoyment of all our spiritual and temporal Blessings we enjoy'd; whereas now being incensed and drawn on by our desperate Obstinacy, they have made a dismal Spoil of all, and left us nothing but our Sins and Guilts to bear us company in our Miseries. When we shall see our desolate Country that was heretofore the Queen of Nations sitting like a mournful p. 138Widow in the dust, with her Head uncrowned, her Garments torn, her Breast wounded, and all her Parts besmeared with Blood; when we shall see our Church unpaled and all her fences trodden down by wild Beasts; her Beauty defaced, her Sun extinguished, or overcast with Darkness and Confusion; how will it cut our Hearts to think that all this is the Product of our own Follies, and that if we would have been persuaded betime to abandon our Lusts and listen to sober Counsels, all these dismal Ruines and Desolations might have easily been prevented. O then we shall lament our Follies and wring our woful hands, and wish a thousand and a thousand times that we had been wiser before it was too late! Seeing therefore it is not yet too late, let us for once resolve to make a tryal what good our Repentance can do to the Publick; and O would to God we would once conspire to make this blessed Experiment! and if upon our making it, a Cure doth not yet follow, if we do not sensibly perceive our Grievances abate, our Dangers vanish, our Enemies weakened and disheartned, and our broken Counsels retrieved and united in the publick Good, I will be contented to undergo Cassandra's Fate never to be believed in my Affirmations more. For this I am sure of, Repentance cannot fail of a good Effect, and that besides p. 139all the Good it would do us by its own natural and necessary Influence, it would reconcile Him to us that hath the disposal of our Fate, and then all would go well, and God even our own God would give us his blessing. Which he of his infinite Mercy grant, to whom with his eternal Son and Spirit be ascribed of us and all the World all Honour and Glory and Power from this time forth and for evermore.

Amen.