A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR AND aldermans Of the CITY of LONDON, AT THE Guildhall-Chappel, September XVII. 1682.  
By JOSHUA RICHARDSON, A.M. Chaplain to his Lordship.  
LONDON, Printed by A.G. and J.P. for W. Ketilby, at the Bishops-head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1682.   

MOOR MAYOR.  
Martis xxviᵒ die Septembris, 1682. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli Secundi, Angliae, etc. Tricesimo quarto.  
THIS Court doth desire Mr. Richardson to print his SERMON lately preached at the Guildhall-Chappel, before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City.  
Wagstaffe.   

To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN MOOR, Kt. Lord Mayor of the City of LONDON.  
My Lord,  
THE mean Opinion I had of this slight Composition when I preached it, removed me far from any Apprehensions of an Order to print it; but Your Lordship, and the Honourable Court, to whom it is habitual to over-value all the Performances of Your Servants, having required the printing of it; I present you with an honest, well-meant Sermon, and of which I should despise from any Man the Compliment of a higher Character. The Relation I stand in to Your Lordship, might put me under a temptation of taking this Opportunity to mention something that might look like Flattery; but Your Lordship's Virtue surmounts the Possibility of it. To say that the Memorable Lord Mayor of Eighty two, Sir JOHN MOOR, is a Person most exemplarily Devout and Pious, Wise and Prudent, Obliging and Affable, Valiant and Loyal, were no more than for which I should have all the honest World my Vouchers. May God Almighty bless Your Lordship, and grant that this City may always have such a Magistrate to fill the Chair. I am,  
My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient Servant and Chaplain, JOSHUA RICHARDSON.   

A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR.  PROV. XIV. 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation: but Sin is a reproach to any People. 
WHEN there is no Propensity more prevailing in Humane Nature, than the desire of Honour and Esteem, and there is scarce any thing which Men bear more Impatiently than the being rendered little and despicable; when a nice Resentment of any Diminution does not only affect some particular Persons, but spreads itself, like an Universal Genius, through whole Communities and Bodies Politic; insomuch that the several Individuals do not only agree to defray every one his share of the Charges, requisite to support the Dignity of the just Governments they live under, but are in some Constitutions known willingly to submit to many private Pressures for the promoting of the Grandeur of the whole: things standing thus, I say, it might appear strange and surprising that any society of Men should be generally vicious and debauched, when there is nothing more certain than that Virtue and Piety alone can render them great and considerable, and that by the same degrees that they degenerate from the practice of Religion, they must necessarily sink and dwindle into Contempt among all that are round about 'em, And yet, in an Age that has reconciled almost all Moral Contradictions, Experience does convince us, that, whether their Understandings are more infatuated, or their Wills more perverted, Men generally act in this matter by wrong Measures, and pursue their most desired End by false Means. Though Justice and Integrity, Agreement and Union, Fortitude and Magnanimity, Diligence and Industry, and the like Virtues, are the great Instruments of advancing the Reputation of a Kingdom or State, yet while Men retain a strong desire to This, they recklessly neglect the practice of Those, and seem to lie under the fatal Delusion of a deceitful hope that Vice and Infamy are not inseparable. Now this may arise either from a more confirmed Mistake concerning, or an actual Inadvertency to, the true State of the matter; and in order to remove Both, I shall endeavour in the following discourse to evince the everlasting Truth, and to prompt you to a present Consideration, of the Assertion of my Text: Righteousness exalteth a Nation: but sin is a reproach to any People.  
In treating of which words I shall do these two things:  
I. I shall consider two particular Notions of Righteousness contained in Scripture, which may be accommodated to our present purpose.  
II. Because both the Assertions of my Text, (after I shall have briefly given you an account of the Righteousness therein mentioned) are so plain and obvious that I need not vary them into any other Propositions, I shall endeavour to make out distinctly the truth of each of 'em as they lie before me.  
I. I am to consider two particular Notions of Righteousness contained in Scripture, which may be accommodated to our present purpose. Now Righteousness in Scripture, as it falls within the compass of our present Undertaking, may be considered either in a more strict and confined, or a more large and comprehensive sense.  
First, In a stricter and more confined sense, it is taken for that Equity which ought to be observed both in distributive and commutative Justice; in rendering to every one his Right with regard to more Public and Judicial proceed, and in doing as we would be done by in our mutual Deal and private Contracts with one another. With respect to the former, Leu. 19.15. the Jewish Magistrates have this Command given them: Ye shall do no unrighteousness in Judgement, thou shalt not respect the Person of the Poor, nor honour the Person of the Mighty, but in Righteousness shalt thou judge thy Neighbour. And with regard to the latter, Psal. 15. to the question, Who shall abide in thy Tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? the Answer is, he that walketh uprightly, and worketh Righteousness; and what Righteousness is there meant, appears by the several instances of it afterwards enumerated, viz. That speaketh the truth in his Heart, that backbiteth not with his Tongue, that does no evil to his Neighbour, that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not; that is, who is sincere and unreserved, Charitable and uncensorious, innocent and harmless, and so inflexibly just to any Promises he makes, however disadvantageous they may prove to his own Interest, that he continues honest and punctual to 'em though he be a loser thereby. Now according to this Acceptation of the word, the Righteous Man is he, who, if he be a Magistrate, has the Courage to stem a popular Current, and dares go through with his Duty, though opposed by a potent and restless Faction; who is even and steady in all his Actions, and suffers not himself to be biased either by Passion or Interest, but in all his Proceed acts without Partiality; who is neither to be bribed nor awed into or out of any thing, but is guided by the Rules of eternal Justice and Rectitude, Conscience and Equity: Or, if he be a private Man, he is one that is fair and open in all his Deal; that does to others as he may warrantably expect to receive from them; that makes good his Contracts, and performs his Oaths and Promises; that eschews all manner of Fraud and Trick, deceives and imposes upon and oppresses no Man, and does nothing but what he can honestly stand to, and justify, and modestly own without a Blush.  
Secondly, Righteousness is used in Scripture in a more large and comprehensive sense, as it takes in our whole Duty, and includes whatever we are obliged to perform towards God, our Neighbour, or ourselves; all Duty being properly Righteousness; and so it comprehends all manner of Virtue and Piety, Holiness and Sanctity. To this purpose, Deut. 9.4, 5. Moses dissuading the People from a vain Opinion of their own Merit, and the humour of attributing their Successes and Victories to any thing in themselves, words it after this manner, Speak not thou in thy heart, after the Lord thy God hath cast them (i. e. the Canaanites) out from before thee, saying, For my Righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess this Land. Not for thy Righteousness, or the Uprightness of thy Heart dost thou go to possess their Land, but for the Wickedness of these Nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Where the Righteousness which he forbids them to assume to themselves, must be supposed of an equal Latitude to the Wickedness with which he charges those Nations, which was not merely their Idolatry, or any particular sort of Vice, but Wickedness in general. And Rom. 6.13. the consecrating ourselves entirely to the service of God, and leading an holy and pious Life, is called, A yielding our Members Instruments of Righteousness. And again, Luke 1.6. Zacharias and Elizabeth having been said to be righteous before God, the meaning of that Character appears in the immediately subsequent words, viz. Walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless. And according to this Acceptation of the word, the righteous Man is he, that fears God, and keeps all his Commandments always; that is Devout and Religious, Holy and Virtuous, and doth herein exercise himself to have always a Conscience void of offence, both towards God and towards Men. Now though it be true, that Righteousness taken in the stricter sense (for the Exercise of Justice and Honesty) does highly contribute to, and is indeed a necessary Instrument of, the Maintenance and Support, the Benefit and Advantage of Civil Societies; yet because in the latter part of the Verse mention is made of Sin indefinitely and universally, that the Opposition may be entire, I presume the Righteousness set against it ought to be understood in the like Latitude. Having said thus much towards the Explication of the Righteousness here mentioned, and fixed that Notion of it, which I conceive most agreeable to the Design and Import of my Text, I proceed:  
II. To make out each of the Assertions contained therein; And,  
First, That Righteousness exalteth a Nation: Now so far forth as any thing tends to make a Nation prosperous and wealthy, and formidable, so far it likewise contributes to exalt their Honour and Renown; and that the exercise of an Universal Righteousness has a Tendency towards the former, will appear in the following Particulars.  
First, In that it entitles them to the particular and extraordinary Favour of God.  
Secondly, In that it preserves their Union and Agreement among themselves.  
Thirdly, In that it removes the Grounds and Occasions of Fears and Apprehensions of Danger from abroad.  
Fourthly, In that it comprehends the practice of all those things that have a Moral Efficiency towards the producing the Honour of a Nation.  
First, The exercise of Universal Righteousness, entitles a Nation to the particular and extraordinary Favour of God; and secures him on their side, as a Bulwark and Defence, a Patron and Benefactor to them. Holiness, and Justice, and Goodness and Truth, are the Perfections of the Deity, and by imitating these we become like to God himself, and are followers of him as dear Children, resembling their Parents in Feature and Disposition; we have the Similitude and Image of God renewed upon us, and are made Partakes of a Divine Nature: And being so, we have all the reason in the World to believe that God is very much delighted and pleased with us, and has a peculiar concern and regard for us, of which we may be assured to find the happy Effects. For likeness is the Cause and Ground of Love; and for the same reason that he loves himself, viz. because he is Holy and Righteous, Good and Beneficent, etc. he does certainly love those that imitate him in these Perfections. The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness, his Eyes will (with Complacency) behold the upright, Psal. 11.7. So long as a Nation continue to be his People, not only upon the unalienable Right of Dominion which he has over all his Creatures, but by a voluntary Resignation and Surrender of themselves to be governed by his Laws; so long they may hope upon good grounds that He will be Their God, and accordingly exercise an especial and particular Providence over them. They shall not only be partakers in common with the rest of Mankind of those Emanations of Divine Goodness that are diffused and scattered through all the World; but the Rays of it shall be contracted and fixed upon them; They shall live under the warmer Influences of his Bounty, and their Preservation be his more immediate Care. Indeed it cannot be expected that in a numerous Body of Men every one should prove virtuous; but when in a Society the honour of Religion is zealously maintained, the public Worship of God strictly kept up, Virtue encouraged and rewarded, and Vice discountenanced and punished, so that a general Vein of Piety runs through it; these things do mightily advance it in the Divine Favour, and the contrary as much depress it. Almighty God declares to the Jews, (and considering that he always loves wisely, and without any unaccountable Fondness, it will hold good of any other People,) 2 Chron. 15.2. The Lord is with you while you be with him, and if you seek him he will be found of you; but if you forsake him he will forsake you. And again (which though it be in a particular Case, yet may I suppose be without any Incongruity applied to a Community) 1 Sam. 2.30. Them that honour me I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly regarded. Now the Advantages that accrue to any Nation by having attained the Divine Favour, are apparent and visible in this, that he is to such as a Friend and Ally; he prospers their State and defends their Cause; he blesses and seconds their Endeavours, espouses their Interests, is a Friend to their Friends, and an Enemy to all their Enemies; he is their constant Patron and Benefactor, and their assured Guardian and Protector; he is always in the midst of them, and Encamps himself round about them; he increases their Basket and Store, and puts them into such a Condition that they may lend to many Nations, and need not borrow; and he discovers all the sly Plots and Machinations, and defeats all the unjust open Hostilities that may be attempted upon them, so that no Weapon formed against them shall prosper.  
Secondly, The practice of Universal Righteousness tends to exalt a Nation, in that it promotes Union and Agreement between its Members. Now Union is so indispensably necessary towards the making a People happy, much more towards the rendering them Great, that the want of it is enough to ruin the most flourishing Kingdom in the World. The adjusting of Supremacy and Subordination, a Power to Command and a Consent to obey, and Agreement to live together in Peace and Order, Love and Amity, those are essential to all Constitutions of Government; and without them any Society would soon degenerate into a promiscuous Herd of Savage Animals, continually employed in worrying and devouring each other. Dissension among a People, is like a latent Disease in an human Body, that secretly preys upon its Vitals, and from a State of Health and Vigour, reduces it by Degrees to a faint and languishing Condition, and is perpetually hastening its Dissolution. Now Pride, Ambition, Covetousness, Discontent, Self-conceit, and other the like deviations from universal Righteousness, do naturally separate Men in Mind and Affection, and make them uncharitable and censorious, ungovernable and Factious. But Religion is a strong and sure Ligament of Society; it cements men's Affections, Unites their Souls, and ties them together by the very Heartstrings; it mollifies their Natures and sweetens their Tempers, and takes away all that roughness which otherwise would make them unfit for Conversation. It is altogether inconsistent with the Rules of Righteousness for Men to Hate and Malign, to Slander and Reproach, to keep up Feuds and Animosities, and to fasten distinguishing and opprobious Names upon each other. Such Practices do directly tend to dissolve that Union which it is the great Design of Religion to settle and establish. The Laws of Christianity have provided for the Good of Societies by laying upon them the strictest Commands backed with the highest Sanctions, to Peace and Love, to Charity and good Will, to desire and rejoice in and endeavour to promote the good of each other; whereby they become a muttal Relief and Supply, Defence and Security, and every Member of a Society has a share in every one; and so are sure of all interchangeable Offices of Kindness and Friendship. Agreement and Unanimity are the Beauty and Strength of any Body Politic; and a Kingdom and a City by being divided forfeit them both. Now it is one great End of Christianity, to conserve Peace among Mankind; and whoever they be that do not what they can in order thereunto, whatever refined Names they may assume to themselves, I am sure it is by an odd Figure in Rhetoric that any wise Man will call them Christians. There is a general Complaint of the Divisions that are among us, and there is too much reason for it; now the Apostle Rom. 16.17. bids us to Mark them which cause Divisions, (an Exhortation which by Parity of Reason will reach as much to Factions in the State, as to Schisms in the Church) and to avoid such Men. Who they are will not easily be acknowledged, each Party being as forward to shift off the Gild, as they are to lament the Misfortune, and I shall not here enter into a strict Scrutiny of the Matter, being much more desirous that the thing itself were removed, than the Persons barely discovered. Only thus much I shall say, that whoever they be, who out of Pride or Self-conceit, Peevishness or Humour, Covetousness or Interest, Ill-nature or Uncharitableness can oppose and disturb a most excellently formed Government; or who talking very much of Religion, and Practising but little, can strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel, and rather than submit to an innocent Ceremony, separate from the Communion of the best established National Church in the World, and Sacrifice her Peace to little, imaginary, groundless Scruples; those are they, under what Denomination soever they fall, who are Causers of Divisions, and so come within the Apostles Caution, and do indeed contribute very highly to the depressing and diminishing any Society they are Members of.  
Thirdly, The Practice of Universal Righteousness tends to the exalting a Nation, as it prevents the Grounds and Occasions of any Fears or Apprehensions of Danger from abroad. Since the World is not governed by one Universal Monarch, but divided into several Kingdoms and Principalities and Republics, and since some ambitious Men will be always likely enough, without any just Pretensions, when Occasion offers, to endeavour the Enlargement of their own Dominions by the Accession of new Conquests; it is necessary to support the Dignity of any People that they be able to guard and defend themselves against any foreign Attemts, or hostile Incursions of their Neighbours. And this the Practice of Righteousness does highly contribute to, as by divers other Ways, so Particularly by giving a general Reputation to a People, and spreading their Fame wide through the World. Societies of Men are judged of by some common Genius that chief runs through the whole. For a People to be generally Industrious and Sober and Martial, this would gain them a settled Name and Credit. The Neighbouring Nations round about who observed them would say, surely this is a wise and an understanding People. And this 'tis manifest would very greatly advance them, and make others willing to keep up Commerce and enter into Leagues and Alliances with them; it would render them truly great and formidable, so that an Ambitious Neighbour should not think it safe to Invade them, nor cheap to Affront them. Whereas on the contrary Wickedness does slur and reproach a Nation; for a People to be for the most part vicious and debauched and effeminate, this makes them mean and contemptible, and solicits and invites foreign Attempts; and by adding Courage to their Enemies renders them half-conquered before they are engaged with.  
Fourthly, Universal Righteousness does imply the Practice of all those things that have a moral Efficiency towards the producing the Honour of the Nation. There are none of the Virtues which do not some way or other, more or less, contribute towards the Benefit of Society; but there are some which are more immediately necessary to the keeping up and Maintenance of its Grandeur; and the Disposition to, and Exercise and Habit of these, does depend upon the Practice of all the Others. I suppose it may be sufficient for me to instance only in two, viz. Wisdom and Courage; by the former of which I do not mean a certain slippery Craft and Wiliness, but a solid steady Prudence, nor by the latter a sort of rash and brutal and Valour, but a brave and generous Fortitude. Now it will, I think, be plain that neither of those can inhabit in the Breasts of vicious Men. For with reference to Prudence, Vice does infatuate their Minds, and craze their Understandings; and render them unfit to manage or deliberate of weighty and important Affairs. It renders them unable to discern, and unactive to prosecute their truest and greatest Interests. It makes them hot and fiery in their Debates, rash and precipitant in their Resolutions, and giddy and inconstant in their Actions. It misguides their Judgements, and exposes them to the danger of frequent fatal Mistakes; and thereby supplants that settled Prudence which is required to support the Dignity of a Nation. But so long as Men are steered by the Rules of Virtue, they are like to have clear and distinct Apprehensions of things, and to fix on proper Means to accomplish their honest Ends. Their sight is not deluded by Pride or Passion or Interest, but they see things as they are in themselves without the false shapes that those or the like Vices are wont to put upon them. They soon foresee Dangers and take the surest Course to obviate them; and quickly apprehend Inconveniences and make the wisest Provisions against them. In like manner with respect to Fortitude, Vice does emasculate the Spirits, and soften the Minds of Men and render them unfit for great and hazardous Erterprises. Intemperance and Debauchery, Luxury and Wantonness do tend to make Men Impotent and listless, cowardly and effeminate, and take off that Hardiness of Temper which is requisite to fit them for a Military state. The wicked flee when none pursue, their Folly and Gild expose them to the Terror and Affright of false and Imaginary Fears. But now a Man that keeps his Virtue and Innocence entire, is inspired with Bravery and Magnanimity, and dares meet and despise a Danger. Religion raises Men to an Heroic Constitution of Mind, and fills them with true Courage and Valour, and enspirits and animates them to do mighty things in defence of their Prince, their Country, or their Religion. And because these and other the like Virtues so immediately necessary to support the Honour of a Society, are all founded upon the Uniform Practice of Universal Righteousness, I think I need say no more towards the proof that Righteousness exalteth a Nation, which is the former Assertion of my Text. I proceed now to speak more briefly of the latter, viz.  
II. Sin is a Reproach to any People. In the Management of which I suppose I need not go about to show how sin is a Reproach to a People as taken complexly and making up a Body Politic; for that I have been doing in Effect, all the time I have been proving how much the Practice of Virtue tends to exalt the Honour and Happiness of a Nation; but I may take the Liberty to make out how Sin is a Reproach to human Nature itself, or to Men considered singly and individually, and especially to Christians. Now this will appear in the following Particulars: It is manifestly a Reproach to any Man:  
First, To act contrary to the Dignity of his Nature and the Obligations of his Profession.  
Secondly, To violate the Dictates of his own Conscience.  
Thirdly, To be employed in doing that which sometime or other he will certainly wish undone.  
Fourthly, To make that his choice which has no other tendency than to his Ruin.  
First, It is a Reproach to a Man to act contrary to the Dignity of his Nature and the Obligations of his Profession. If we consider ourselves in common but as Men, all Vice is below us; and had we that Reverence which we ought to have for ourselves, we should be raised above all tentations to it, and be able to despise and reject it as a base, unmanly thing. Sin does deform the native Beauty, and degrade the Excellency of Mankind; their Craft turns them into Foxes, their Fierceness and Rage into Tigers, and their Lust into Baboons; and it is little less shameful for us to have the same Dispositions, than it would be to exchange Shape and Figure with those Animals. But if we look upon a Man as he is a Christian, He is one that professes a most pure and holy Religion, and has agreed to be ruled and governed by the Laws of the Gospel, and solemnly vowed in his Baptism to renounce the Devil and all his Works, and obediently to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments, and continue Christ's faithful Servant to his lives end; now if our Religion does strictly forbid Men to be dissolute and intemporate, Lascivious and Wanton, Proud and Haughty, Censorious and Uncharitable, Turbulent and Seditious, etc. any Man who allows himself in the Practice of these Vices, and yet professes himself a Christian, is false to his Vow and Promise, and an Hypocrite to his Profession, and I suppose it will be granted that it must needs be a Reproach to be so.  
Secondly, It is a Reproach to a Man to violate the Dictates of his own Conscience. The Quiet and Peace of our Minds is so absolutely necessary to our Happiness, that he must undergo the Imputation of Folly, that does not take care to preserve them; but this no Man does who acts not according to the best Principles he has: Now the great of our Duty are so plain and visible that all Mankind cannot but discern them; and according as they keep up to, or deviate from them, stand either acquitted or condemned to themselves. But Christians above all others have so plain, and so full a Discovery made to them in the Gospel, that they are utterly destitute of any Plea of Ignorance, and have nothing left them but to act according to their Knowledge, and live up to the Precepts contained therein. And since the doing the contrary will make them stand self-condemned, be a perpetual Sting and Scorpion to their Souls, and continually gall and disease their Minds, and deprive them of that inward Pleasure and satisfaction with which the Performance of their Duty would always feast them, it must needs reflect disgrace upon them thus to defeat their own End, and to supplant and destroy their own Happiness, of which they have a strong desire rooted in their Natures.  
Thirdly, It is a Reproach to a Man to be employed in that which he will some time or other certainly wish undone. It was never accounted a part of Wisdom for a Man to exercise himself in such Employments as will turn to no account, nor compensate the time and cost and pains bestowed upon them; but it is downright Folly for him to do that which he is assured beforehand he must repent of. And yet this is the inconsiderate Sinners wretched state, he is busy at present in preparing himself sad future Work. If he continue impenitent till he be punished for his Wickedness in the other World, there he will with a fruitless and too late Remorse everlastingly Reproach himself for his Madness and Stupidity; or suppose the best of his Case, if he do in this Life betake himself to sober Purposes and make effectual Resolutions of Amendment, yet even then he must undergo the Agonies of a severe Repentance, which will be accompanied with that shame and sorrow, that Displeasure and Indignation against himself, which will be much more sharp and pungent, than ever the sins which produced it were pleasant and gratifying. Now what is more inconsistent with the honour of Reasonable Creatures, who are endued with faculties which enable them to foresee and decline a Danger, than wilfully to commit that which will end so fatally.  
Fourthly, It is a Reproach for a Man to make that his own Choice which has no other Tendency than to his Ruin. That all the Inconveniences and Miseries of this Life are the proper Consequences of sin., and all the Horrors and Tortures of the next will be the unavoidable Punishment of it, is so plain to all that either believe Holy Writ, or consider the Nature of things, that I need not stand to prove it. And what a Reflection is it upon our Credit to choose sin under all these Disadvantages? And yet this we do; the Devil himself can only tempt and allure, but cannot force-us to it; God has not left us under a Necessity of sinning, nor can any Temptations prove irresistible but through our own Fault; God will not withhold from us sufficient Grace; if we ask for it, and faithfully improve it. And if we may conquer Temtations if we will, (i. e. if we concur with the Grace of God which he is ready to afford us to that end) then if we are wicked, we make sin our own Choice, and must not only undergo the unavoidable Pressures of it, but suffer the Reproach of the unpitiable State of being miserable by our own Election, and merely because we would be so.  
I have now done with the Consideration of each of the Assertions of my Text, and I might here take occasion to infer that the Precepts of Virtue and Piety are enjoined us that it may go well with us; that God has not imposed any thing arbitrarily upon us, nor merely to exercise his Sovereignty over us; but has prescribed us only such things as are really for the Good and Benefit of all Mankind, either singly or in Society. But I shall conclude with the Exhortation of the Apostle, Phil. 4.8. Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any Virtue, and if there be any Praise, think on these things: And the God of Peace be with you. Amen.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
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