Mr. Woodward's SERMON before the Lord-Mayor, On the Fastday, June the 19 th', 1695.   

Lane Mayor. Jovis 20 die Junij, 1695. Annoque Dom. Reg. Gulielmi tertij Ang. etc. Septimo.  
THis Court doth desire Mr. Woodward to Print his Sermon Preached yesterday at the Parish-Church of St. Marry Le Bow, before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermans, and Citizens of this City.  
Goodfellow.   

A SERMON Preached before The Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor, AND ALDERMEN OF THE City of London, At St. Mary Le BOW; On Wednesday the 19th of June, 1695. A Day appointed for a Solemn Fast, for Supplicating Almighty God for the Pardon of our Sins; and imploring his Protection of His majesty's Person, and the Prosperity of His Arms by Sea and Land. By Order of the Lords Justices.  
By Josiah Woodward, Minister of Poplar.  
LONDON, Printed for Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1695.   

TO THE Right Honourable Sir Thomas Lane, Lord Mayor of the City of London, AND THE Court of ALDERMEN.  
My Lord,  
SINCE nothing in the following Discourse can be supposed to have recommended it to the Hearers, but those serious and seasonable Truths, whereby it recommends itself to every Man's Conscience. It must be looked on as a Specimen of your Lordship's and your Worshipful Brethren's Integrity towards God, and Fidelity to the present Government (in a time when some so easily shake hands with both together) That you desire to review what was humbly offered upon our late Fastday, on those two Topics (of Duty to God and the King;) which the Nature of the Things, and the Duty of the Day entwisted together. And may these Heavenborn Twins never be divided upon Earth: For indeed, they are but half-Friends (if we may not call them Enemies) to any Civil Government, who are impatient of the Government of God; by whose Blessing alone Kingdom's Flourish. The sins of such Persons hurt the side they take, more than their Assistance helps it.  
And therefore, when all is done; unfeigned Holiness (how lightly soever esteemed in these filthy dregs of time) is surely the most Honourable and useful accomplishment of Humane Nature. The real Servant of God is the true Person of Quality, being one of the Household of God. And till any Empire can be found equal to that of God; no Title or Employment can be of equivalent Honour to that of belonging to the Court of Heaven.  
Yet we see, the World laughs at this. And according to the Notions of some, there is Glory in the service of the Devil. And the most like him in Pride, Falsehood, Revenge, and Blasphemy are the finest Men. But, are not these very horrible and very perverse Sentiments? Has Bedlam itself any such reverse to common sense, as this? And will not insupportable shame succeed this Frenzy, when once they come to see things in a true light? And this they will see to the purpose, within a little while, either in their Conversion or Condemnation. God Almighty grant it them in the first Method, not in the last.  
It is not more evident that the Sun guilds and cheers this lower World, than that Religion is the Light, Glory, and Advancement of the Intellectual part of it. Happy are its Votaries, yea blessed are its very Martyrs. It is a very light thing to bear the mockery and Affronts of this World, if we do but pass on directly to the Glory of the other. Those that are blind will be apt to jostle those they meet in the streets: But it is the Duty of such as see, to endeavour to put them into the right way.  
And therefore, there is no Post beneath the Clouds so honourable, as that of a Person in great Power, employing it to reclaim and reform the Community to which it belongs. It is like the Good Angels leading Lot and his Family out of the reach of the descending Flames. The comforts of which here is almost as inexpressible as its Reward hereafter.  
Upon the whole, if there be any such Great and Blessed Man (or set of Men) upon Earth: by whose Piety, Prudence, and Power (under God) Christianity is to retrieve its Credit, and God his Honour in the World. Blessed is He (or They) above the common rate of Mortals! All the sober part of Mankind will kiss their feet, and the most remote Posterity will bless their Memory.  
I confide, My Lord, That your just indignation to the wretched Atheism of this profane Age will incline your Lordship to excuse the Prolixity of this Address to you; to which shall now put a speedy Period, so soon as I have implored this one mercy of God, viz. That your Lordship and your Worshipful Brethren, may by your pious and prudent Conduct, establish the Peace, restore the Piety, and advance the Prosperity and Renown of this Great and Famous City: And hereby ascertain to yourselves abiding Mansions in that City which has Divine Foundations: which is the unfeigned Desire of  
My Lord, your Lordship's very Respectful Humble Servant, Joshiah Woodward.   
Deut. IX. 26. I Prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy People, and thine Inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness: which thou hast brought forth of Egypt with a mighty hand. 
THE Solemn Duty of every Soul of us this Day (but more especially of all Public Persons) is the same with that of Moses in the Text; viz: Humbly to importune our offended God, for mercy to a sinful People. And this, in the method of Fasting and Prayer, as Moses here did Yea, the Parallel runs further in that about this time the Armies of Israel were to Attack their Enemies in their Entrenchments and Fenced Cities, as we read at the beginning of this Chapter. Hear, O Israel, thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess Nations greater and mightier than thyself: Cities great and fenced up to Heaven, v. 1. i. e. Very strongly Fortified, so as to be impregnable by any Forces but such as were led on by the Lord of Hosts. And therefore he takes this occasion to show them the absolute necessity of making their peace with God, and securing his powerful Alliance. And may we (in a like juncture) prudently take the Hint.  
But here the Parallel discontinues; viz. In that Moses here had but one single Enormity of Israel (tho' a very great one) to lament before God: and that too, was happily nipped in the bud, by an impartial execution of Justice on the known Offenders, Exod. 32. 27. But our Sins, alas! are prodigiously many as well as great: And these too are fatally ripened by long indulgence and impunity. So that our Breach is very wide, and we need many such as Moses to stand in the Gap and fill it up, which I pray God raise up to us in this important Juncture, in which the very Being of our Church and Nation lies at stake. May the good God pour out a Spirit of Contrition and Supplication on us, that every Soul this day may put itself out to the utmost in the proper work of it: i. e. Humiliation and Prayer. And blessed be God who giveth us this day another season of intercession for mercy, before the final execution of his vengeance. For, it is infinite mercy alone that has suspended our Destruction thus long, when our sins have so long and so loudly cried for it. And surely this suspension of God's wrath gives us room to hope, that it is the waiting of his Goodness to be gracious to us. We trust that the door of Divine Mercy is not yet nailed up against us, by such a severe Decree as that which is thrice mentioned (Ezek. 14. v. 14, 18, 20.) that tho' those three Favourites Heaven, Noah, Daniel, and Job stood up in the behalf of that People, they could not turn away God's wrath from them.  
Let us therefore cry mightily to God this Day, humbly pouring out our melted Souls before him, according to the Example of Moses in the Text. And God Almighty grant that our Prayers may find the same acceptance as that of Moses did. To this end, let us pray with his Fervency, and Integrity; and say, O Lord God, destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth of Egypt with a mighty hand.  
This Book of Deuteronomy is a brief Rehearsal of the most Memorable Passages which occurred to the People of Israel under the Conduct of Moses; with very suitable and serious applications all along.  
The Text touches upon their great Transgression in the matter of the Golden Calf, a Sin of very great provocation, and had been of as dismal Consequence, had not Moses with the deepest humiliation, and earnestness, like that of Wrestling Jacob, cried and interceded for them, as in the Text, I Prayed therefore unto the Lord, etc.  
In which words, these two Observations are obvious to every considerate Mind, viz.  
I. That times of great provocation should be to all the Faithful Servants of God, a season of earnest and extraordinary intercession with him. Israel falls to Idolatry and Profaneness: and Moses throws himself down before the Lord, to assuage his Wrath, and solicit his mercy. I prayed therefore unto the Lord, etc.  
II. That a People's profession of the true Religion, and being those which God has signally delivered and defended in times past, may make an humble Plea with God for farther Deliverance. Destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, etc.  
1. In the first place, let us take notice; That times of great wickedness and provocation should be a season for good People's earnest and assiduous Intercession with God. The greater the sin of Israel was, the longer and the more earnestly did Moses cry to God for Mercy towards them.  
A People are not in the last extremity, whilst they have a Moses left among them. A Righteous and Zealous Intercessor stands a People in great stead in time of Wrath. Insomuch that when God fully determines to destroy any People, he first stops the mouths of Intercessors. As (Jer. 7. 16.) Pray not thou for this People, neither lift up Cry nor Prayer for them, neither make intercession for them, for I will not hear thee. And in this very case of the Golden Calf, tho' at the first there seemed little hope of obtaining mercy with God, when he said in his anger to Moses, Let me alone that I may consume them, Exod. 32. 10. Yet after Moses' humble and earnest Prayer in the Text, it had this effect: That the Lord repent of the evil which he thought to do unto his People, Exod. 32. 14. Yet they were not to come off clear, without many a blow of Correction for this Fault, as they were told, (v. 34.) Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. When God took up the Rod to lash them on other occasions, he gave them a blow or two the more for this, which the Jews knew very well; insomuch that in most of their Sufferings afterwards, they used to say, that there was a hair of the Golden Calf in them. But still it was the Surgeons Lance, not the Executioner's Ax. And this was happily procured by means of Moses' Intercession: And that in this method.  

1. He falls down before the Lord.  
2. He Fasts Forty days and Forty nights.  
3. He Prays with great Fervour, and a sort of undeniable urgency for the Public Good.   
First, He falls down before the Lord. This is twice mentioned in the verse before the Text, v. 25. By which must be meant, either that he fell down on his Knees, or more probably on his Face before the Lord: as he did (Numb. 16. 22.) And as our blessed Saviour himself did (Mat. 26. 39) Which shows us, that reverence of bodily gesture is very requisite in the solemn Worship of God. Methinks I cannot imagine how any sober Person can think otherwise, or choose to do otherwise. Our Bodies are an Essential part of ourselves, and we expect to be glorified in them as well as in our Souls; and therefore we ought to glorify God in our Souls and in our Bodies which are his, 1 Cor. 6. 20. We must indeed first and principally look to the Composure and Frame of our Hearts: And then (where no impediment prevents us) we ought to dispose our Bodies too into a very reverend and humble posture, that one part of us may not seem to disallow and undo that which the other is doing.  
2. Moses Fasts Forty Days and Forty Nights, being miraculously supported; for he kept a very strict Fast, as he describes it (v. 18.) I did neither eat bread nor drink water, being earnestly intent on the work in hand. Now, tho' we cannot imitate this for so many days, yet methinks such as are healthy may well bear it for one day. Not that there is any Spiritual Holiness in the bare Act of Fasting any more than in Eating; but that it better conduces to the proper work of a day of Humiliation, and is indeed a natural expression of self-abhorrency, and of the inward bitterness and affliction of the Soul. If we have lost a dear Relation, we forget to eat our bread, and all our usual refreshments are insipid to us: And surely it cannot be otherwise, when we are duly convinced, that by our wickedness we are like to sin away our God, our Mercies, our Eternal Bliss. The Prophet speaking of the sorrow of Penitents, says, They shall mourn as one that mourneth for his only Son: and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn, Zech. 12. 10.  
This, this, my Brethren, is our proper Behaviour this day. We are to lament crying Sins, and departing Mercies, yea, I fear, a departing God. Let this engage our hearts in a more conscientious discharge of the duties of this day than is usual. As for such as give their minds to business or vanity in the Mornings of our Fast-days, and after this come coldly and unaffectedly to the public Service of God, and thence return to their usual meals, and spend the rest of the day as impertinently (shall I say? or rather as provokingly) as this; I cannot but ask them in the words of the Prophet (Isa. 58. 5.) Is this the Fast which God has chosen? Wilt thou call such idleness as this an acceptable day to the Lord? Alas! what wretched notions hast thou of the Great God? if thou thinkest him pleased with the skin of a Sacrifice? What sense of his Glorious Majesty? His Spiritual and Holy Nature? His Infinite Glory and Ubiquity? If thou settest so light by his Service and Presence?  
If any one had greatly offended you, and came to you to ask your pardon, and to lament his fault; should he now come fleering and laughing into your presence, and presently set him down on his Seat, and talk of something else, and do nothing but toy and trifle whilst he is with you; would you not say, this Fellow came hither on purpose to mock me and defy me? I am more offended by his sham-repentance, than by his first fault. But, alas! what is a slight done to us poor sinful Dust, if compared to mockery done to the Almighty God? Ah, Sirs! be not deceived, God will not (cannot) be mocked, Gal. 6. 7. Our formal and ineffectual Fasts do rather kindle God's wrath than incline his mercy. Fasts, did I say? the common observance of these days by some People deserves not that name. There's not so much as the likeness and outward appearance of a Fast in many places. The same concourse in the Streets, the same throng in Public Houses, and diversion in the Fields; the same Ornaments, and Meals, and Mirth as on other days; and the same idleness and indevotion. Oh! that I could awaken the drowsy Consciences of these People, or at least their care of decency; for the common abuses of these Solemn Days are to be abhorred and hissed at, by all that have any sense of Religion, or indeed any due regard to Civil decorum. The Fasts of Jews and Turks are grave, severe, and devout Solemnities, and shall the Fasts of Christians be trifling, vain, and unsincere? God forbidden.  
Let us then seek the Lord this day with all our Soul, and this in a serious, contrite, and self-abasing manner: which leads me to the third thing remarkable in the behaviour of Moses on this occasion, viz.  
3. He Prays with great fervour, and with a sort of undeniable urgency for the public good, I Prayed therefore unto the Lord and said, Oh Lord God, destroy not thy People, and thine Inheritance, etc. As if he said, let not thy wrath, good God, consume that People which has the Divine honour to be called thine, and to bear thy Name. They are thy peculiar People, for whose sake thou hast wrought such glorious Miracles; such as no People but they were ever favoured withal. This is that People which thy goodness redeemed from the slavery of Egypt, in which Deliverance thou didst make bare thine Almighty Arm▪ And now, O Lord, shall thy vengeance cut down those whom thy mercy has so lately raised up? Wilt thou destroy those in the Wilderness, for whom thou show'dst such tenderness in Egypt? Will not the Heathen blaspheme thy name, and the Egyptians triumph, when they shall hear of this? and say, that thou destroyedst this People because thou couldst not perform thy Promises made to them. Permit, O Mighty Jehovah, I pray thee, permit a poor sinful worm to lay this humble Expostulation at the Footstool of thy Mercy Seat: Not to instruct my Maker (who knoweth all things) but to express my earnest zeal for the glory of thy Name, and the good of thy People.  
This is the Scope of this Pious Man's Prayer in the Text, which was not put up in vain: For it averted imminent wrath, and obtained seasonable Mercy. Now as the Example of Elijah's Prayer (by which the Heavens were opened and shut) is proposed to us for our encouragement by the Holy Ghost (Jam. 5. 17.) so may we here enliven both our Affections and our Hopes from the Example of praying and prevailing Moses in the Text. Days of Fasting aught to be days of extraordinary Prayer and Intercession. A real Christian cannot do otherwise, his concern for the honour of God is mightily roused up by the perfidiousness and Apostasy of others. And on this occasion, Zeal for God, Compassion to Men, and Indignation against Sin, will make him put himself out to the utmost. As when a Valiant Heroic General sees some of his Troops quitting their station, and fleeing in Battle: He bravely opposes the retiring Crowd, throws himself into the chiefest place of danger, and valiantly defends that ground which others had basely quitted. And thus sometimes the single valour of one brave Commander wins the day.  
Thus seasonably did Moses step in to the succour of the People of Israel, when otherwise the breach of their integrity (like a breach made in the ranks of an Army) had opened a passage to the consuming wrath of God amongst them. And by this Moses is said to stand up in the breach, without which they had been destroyed, Psal 106. 23. and this Moses did very often. For,  
When Corah and his Accomplices had generaly misled the People into an execrable Sedition. And for this, God had kindled a dreadful Plague among them: With what earnestness did this good man direct Aaron to make a speedy atonement for them! Take a Censer (says he) and put fire therein from off the Altar, and put on Incense, and go quickly into the Congregation, and make atonement for them, for the Plague is begun Numb. 16. 46. And this Aaron did (whilst Moses lay on his face v. 22.) seeking mercy for them and so these two pious Intercessors stood as a Bulwark betwixt the dead and the living, and stopped the progress of God's wrath for that time also. But this powerful intercession of Moses never was so clearly seen as in the Battle with Amalek, Exod. 17. 11. where Moses no sooner sunk his devout hands, but the Victory of Israel declined, with them, and fell to the other side, as if the Victory and power of Israel had been chained to his arm; by which it pleased God to give them a demonstration of what importance the prayers of this one eminent Servant of his was to them.  
Thus did Joshua and the Elders of Israel, when their Forces had been discomfited before the People of Ai. They rend their , and fell on their faces to the earth, and put dust upon their heads, and prayed earnestly to the Lord, and obtained favour in his sight, Josh. 2. 6. Thus did Abraham, Samuel, Jehosaphat, Josiah, Ezra, Daniel, and all the eminent Servants of God in all Ages, whose devout prayers have frequently scattered those black Clouds which the common guilt had raised, which otherwise had fallen in a dreadful storm upon their heads.  
Oh! that this throng of Holy Precedents might be effectual to excite our most elevated Devotions this day. Let us indeed afflict our Souls before the Allseeing God; lest our mock-Fasts make work for real ones; and lest we hasten that wrath which we seem to deprecate. Let us indeed do the needful work of Intercessors with God; and that we may not want Arguments to plead for mercy, the latter part of my Text will suggest something apposite to our Case, which is summed up in my second observation, viz.  
That a People's profession of the true Religion, and being those whom God had signally delivered and defended in times past, may be humbly pleaded with God as an argument for further Deliverance. For thus Moses prays and pleads in the Text. O Lord, destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy Greatness, which thou hast brought forth of the Land of Egypt with a mighty hand. In which he seems to argue thus. Oh Lord, may it please thee to make the procedure of thy Providence towards this People suitable to what it has been hitherto. Thou hast hitherto preserved and defended them by astonishing dispensations. We can never forget that dreadful succession of miraculous Plagues which thou broughtest upon our Enemies the Egyptians: How grossly thou didst infatuate them, and how eminently thou didst inspirit us, and by what a wonderful Revolution thou wast pleased to free us from their slavery. Oh Let us not now perish by that powerful hand by which we were so lately delivered. 'Tis true, we are guilty of great provocations, but thy mercy is greater than our perverseness. Oh spare a very sinful People for thine infinite mercy sake. Lest when the Egyptians hear of our destruction, they triumph in our ruin in the Wilderness as much as we did in the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Yea, lest they think thy power oftener displayed in Judgement than in Mercy.  
This is the purport of the Plea in my Text, which may be reduced to these four Particulars.  
1. He pleads for mercy for them, on the account of their relation to God, as they were his People; Destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance.  
They were a peculiar People by a very singular and selecting love of God, Deut. 4. 43. Hath God essayed to go and take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation, by Signs, Wonders, and by a mighty hand, as the Lord your God did you, etc. So that now the honour of God seemed to be concerned for their preservation.  
Now, all that profess the incorrupt Religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, may form an Argument somewhat like this, and say, Lord, we are Christians, we cleave to the Doctrine of thy Beloved Son, for his sake, whose Name we bear, and for the honour of thy visible Church on Farth, destroy us not. And, tho' (alas!) too too few of us are duly influenced by our holy Faith, yet we generally avow thee, thee alone to be our God, in opposition to Idols and other Gods.  
Oh that we could say we are Christians in opposition to Hypocrisy and Profaneness too, than our plea would be irresistible.  
II. There may be a further plea inferred from Moses his Prayer thus, viz. For as much as there is seldom the profession of the true Religion without some hearty and entire embracers of it. So that an Argument may be made like that of Abraham's, Gen. 18. 24. If there be Fifty, or Forty, or but Ten Righteous Persons, wilt thou not spare the corrupt generality for the sake of this little sound part? This, we have great hope, may be pleaded in the behalf of this Nation, yea of this City. Even in a far greater Number than that which Abraham began his Plea with. But truly the number of the Good is too too small: And indeed, except the Lord had left unto us, this small Remnant, we had been altogether as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah, Isa. 1. 9 But we trust we shall far the better for the sake of these.  
III. Another part of Moses' Plea is grounded on the past Mercies which God had vouchsafed to this People. This is the People (says he) which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, and brought out of Egypt with thy mighty hand.  
In this respect also some Plea may be made for England. It is a Land which God has by a Series of Wonders freed from the Slavery and Corruptions of Popery. An infinite Blessing which we have now enjoyed for almost two Centuries of Years. And tho' there have been many Combinations and restless Plottings against us; yet, blessed be God, they have hitherto proved abortive: And we are at this day (through infinite mercy) a Free People, enjoying the blessed Beams of the Gospel, and the Just and Ancient Rights of our Mother-Country.  
O! may that Bountiful God who has hitherto thus seasonably, thus marvellously appeared for us, still be our Guardian. May his infinite Goodness never leave us, but flow down with the same exuberant Streams on us, and our Posterity to the latest Generations. So that we may here say as Solomon; The Lord our God be with us as He was with our Fathers; let him not leave us nor forsake us, 1 Kings 8. 57  
iv Another part of Moses his Plea is taken from the Insolence of the Enemy, ver. 28. Lest the Land whence thou broughtest us out, say; Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the Land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the Wilderness. The World is apt to judge of the goodness of the Cause by its success, and to make very wild Interpretations of the Language of Providence. Wicked men are apt to conclude that God is on their side, when their Mischievous Designs take effect. So that on this account also we may form a Plea for Mercy: For, if Protestants be consumed, the Papists will be sure to glory in their Ruin, as in the Fall of Miscreant Heretics: Especially, since their Cardinal Champion makes outward Prosperity and Victory the mark of his splendid Church 
* Ultima Nota est faelicitas temporalis, Divinitùs ijs collata qui Ecclesiam defenderunt. Bellarmin de Notis Ecclesiae, cap. 18.  Which, by his leave, would better have fitted the mouth of a Turk than a Christian. For, Mahomet proposed to propagate his Faith by the Sword, which our Blessed Saviour never did, but the very contrary.  
Now therefore, since the French Papists have so glutted themselves already with the groans and blood of the Protestants in their own Country; should their bloody Designs against us prosper too, how would they blaspheme the Reformed Religion, and triumph in their own Delusions? May the Lord of Armies therefore enfeeble the Power, and blast the Designs of those Massacring Legions. And if our sins are so ripe, that Infinite Justice can spare us no longer, nor infinite patience any longer suspend our punishment, may we fall into the hands of God rather than Men. Rather the Pestilence, or Scarcity, or any earthly Plague; 2 Sam. 24. 14. (as David once chose) than fall into the hands of bloody  Papists, their very mercies are bitterly cruel, like Belzebub himself, they mock while they torment. For, whilst they are racking our Bodies with exquisite tortures, they pretend it to be a high piece of Charity to our Souls. 'Tis this makes the French say, that they have treated their Countrymen of the Reformed Religion with great kindness, and that there has been no Persecution amongst them: tho' they have exercised them with all the trying and tedious methods of Cruelty that their Dragoons (assisted by infernal malice) could invent, or execute.  
Should the Friends of the French Interest here but taste a few drops of this bitter Cup (after which they seem to long; and could they drink it alone, none would grudge it them) it would soon cool their unreasonable passion for it. For, till Popery can entirely destroy our Reason, and bewitch our senses (as it pretends to do) we cannot but account Romish Darkness and Romish Slavery the very quintessence of the Egyptian Plagues, and the most comprehensive miseries above Hell. For they contain most of the Plagues of this Life, both Temporal and Spiritual, with an execrable tendency to the remediless Torments of the Life to come.  
Now therefore, as the Jews met with many Deliverances, merely to keep their Adversaries from vaunting, may it please God to vouchsafe us the same mercy on the same account.  
But still I desire you to take notice, that tho' these four Pleas now mentioned, are Arguments against our utter destruction, yet they are no Pleas against our temporal Correction and Calamities. But rather indeed, the abuses of our singular Mercies and Privileges, do not only plead but cry for our punishment, even before others, as 'tis said, Amos 3. 2. You only have I known of all the Families upon Earth, therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities.  
And indeed when I consider what a Favourite People the Jews once were, and by what a dreadful destruction they were cut off at the last. I am sure Favourite England has reason to look about her. The rather alas! in that by the Death of our late most Excellent Queen (of whom the World was not worthy) God seems to have made a way to his anger: by removing that extraordinary Princess out of the Nation, he has taken up one chief Barrier of his wrath. I cannot but look on this as the most angry Blow that ever I knew given to these Three Nations, and perhaps to many more. Let us then turn immediately and unfeignedly to him that hath smitten us, whilst our wounds are capable of being healed. A little longer continuance in sin may make our ruin inevitable. As Judah sinned till there was no remedy, 2 Chron 36. 16.  
Thus having considered the parts of my Text in a practical manner all along: I shall now only lay a few Inferences before you suitable to the whole, and so conclude.  
I. Inf. As we expect a stable and settled Prosperity and Peace, we must be hearty and steadily religious. If we were in truth God's People, we should be his Inheritance, which he would defend against all Invaders. But if we are but superficial Christians, we can have but an imaginary happiness. For, if Vice raves as it has done: If Blasphemy and Villainy triumph: If every day produces new Oaths, and new Methods of Lust: And if the Ways of God are exploded, and Truth, and Integrity fails from among the Children of Men, alas! what woe, what misery awaits us?  
Let us therefore look that our Reformed Religion may have reform Votaries: and that our Lives become the visible Transcript of our Sacred and undefiled Faith. Then shall we prosper and flourish indeed, and be truly and steadily great, and not till then.  
TWO Inf See we, who are Enemies to a Nations Peace and Prosperity, and who are worthy to feel the sharpness of the Magistrates Sword, viz. Such as offend the God of all Victory and Blessedness. Achan's Sins did more mischief to Israel in the Camp, than all their Army could do good. And if we grant, that there is the same all-governing God in Heaven, we must needs perceive ourselves in danger of being blasted from the same Cause? or rather, are we not blasted already? yet who lays it to heart? Did the most Aged of us ever before know Earthquakes so frequent, Sea-storms so fatal, and Wars so universal, and of so long continuance? Yet who amongst us turns to him that smiteth us? But on the contrary, is not the Name of the Great and Terrible God more profaned than ever? Are not the Prayers of a few Devourt Persons in this Land countermined by the volleys of Oaths and Curses of innumerable Blasphemers? Are not our ears filled with the hideous imprecations of Damnation, as we pass the streets? This is surely the most monstrous sin that ever the Earth bore. God has been dishonoured in all Ages, but he was never so dared and challenged as he is in this.  
For shame, cease your blaspheming Insults, ye Monsters of Iniquity! Know assuredly that your Damnation lingers not, ye need not hasten it The streams of flaming Brimstone will fill your mouths soon enough, ye need not call to your Judge to make speed with his work. But it behoves you rather to fall on your knees, and unsay what you have said; for your Curses will otherwise be poured like burning Oil into your Bones, Psal. 109. 18.  
We have all of us reason to oppose you in this; for, by reason of your Swearing the Land mourns, Jer. 23. 10.  
But in this our mournful Case, 'tis not a little comfortable to us; That the Supreme Authority has testified its dislike of Profane Swearing and Cursing by a new Law to punish it. And may we all in our stations acquit our Consciences in furthering the just execution of it. For, as this is the most common and most defenseless sin, it deserves to fall in the first place, as a Presage (we hope) of the Fall of all other Enormities after it.  
This minds us of zealous Moses again; the Example I have proposed all along. We must now consider him as a Chief Magistrate, and we see with what impartiality he executed Justice on such as offended in matter of the Golden-Calf, to which the Text relates. For he regarded neither Relation nor Friend, but (by his Officers) slew all that were convicted of it, to the number of three thousand Persons, Exod. 32. 28. and then God was entreated for the rest.  
I therefore turn me with due respect to the Worshipful Magistrates of this Great City. Gentlemen, I speak in the Name of the Great God to you, of a thing, in which his honour and the common good is greatly concerned. As God has put his Sword into your hands for the punishment of Wickedness and Vice, and the protection of Virtue and Innocence, even so draw it forth effectually for the Lord's sake. Oh! what a Field of Honour lies before you! you may do more for the glory of God, by one exemplary Punishmment of Profaneness than we can by a Volume of Sermons against it. Many Persons have sinned themselves to an utter obduracy in Spiritual things, they are insensible of reproof, their Faith is dead, and their Conscience seared: But their Senses are alive, and 'tis you only that can touch them in their most sensible Parts, their Bodies and their Purses: Oh! make these Rampant Sinners know, that you hold not the Sword of Magistracy in vain. Can it be any longer endured, that Women (to whom it would be shame enough to be solicited) should solicit Men to Uncleanness in the open Streets, even before the Noonday Sun? Can we longer bear the Wounds which Blasphemy and Obscenity make in our Ears as we pass along? Is it not time that those vain People be undeceived, who think themselves advanced in Greatness and Gentility by the height of their Vices?  
Oh! what can be more Divinely Honourable, and more absolutely necessary, than to fix resolvedly on the Reformation of these crying Enormities, which would at once advance the Honour of God, retrieve the Reputation of Religion, dispel the Causes of our Ruin in Church and State, settle the peace of our Consciences, and tend to our everlasting happiness?  
Reformation is a Work so Divine, so Glorious, so Blessed, that were it the work of the Saints above (as it is of those below) we might well think that Moses would gladly come down from the Heavenly Mount Zion, as he did from the Mount in the Context, to bring Men to a better acquaintance with the ways of God. But we are told from Heaven that a Man arising from the Dead is no proper Instrument to reclaim Sinners. The Answer is, they have Moses and the Prophets already, Luke 16. 29. We have indeed their Writings, Oh! that we had their Spirit too, or rather a double Portion of it, to check the inveterate Profaneness of the Aged World. For, I take it to be an unquestionable Truth, and I pray God fix it deeply in our Minds and Hearts: That there is no more hope of our solid Prosperity, than there is of our real Reformation. It was never yet known, that such mercies as we enjoy, and such sins as we commit, continued long together.  
III Inf. Lastly, we may hence discover one Reason of the slowness of our success against the common Enemy, viz. Our unfitness for such a Mercy. Were our Enemies entirely subdued, we might probably grow worse; For, our Mercies have hitherto ripened our Sins, and therefore (till we are better disposed for Deliverance and Victory,) mercy itself cannot but keep it from us; or dispense it (as a Physician does flesh-meat to a crazy Constitution) very rarely, and in small Portions. So that the Divine Goodness may be supposed to sigh over us, as once over Israel, and say: Oh that my People had harkened unto me! that Israel had walked in my ways, I should soon have subdued their Enemies, and turned my hand against their Adversaries. Psal. 81. 13. So that we here see, the readiest way to make a speedy end of our long War.  
We see then, my beloved Brethren, wherein lies our direct and only Path to the Temporal Prosperity of our Nation, as well as the Eternal happiness of our Souls: Namely, in a general and unfeigned return to God, in true Repentance for past Sins, and in casting away from us that Profaneness, Bitterness, Division, and Hypocrisy, whereby God has been so long offended and dishonoured, serving the Lord with fervency of Spirit in newness of Life for the time to come. For it is impossible that we should be happy here or hereafter without the Favour and Blessing of God: And it is also impossible to attain the Favour of God whilst we continue in our Impieties. Why should we then any longer delay to keep God's Commandments?  
But you'll say perhaps, This is that we are doing this Day. The whole Nation is required to be at their Prayers this Day, and to humble themselves before our offended God, and seek his Favour. In a General Fast, every one is (in some sense) to gird himself with Sackcloth, and lie in the Dust; and repent and reform, in order to purge away the National Gild.  
To this I Answer; Oh! that it were so indeed; I wish with all the Concern I am able, that there were such a General Repentance this Day amongst us, as we extremely need, even to the last necessity. But ah! may it not here be replied, as Samuel once did, to convince a pretended Piety of real Iniquity, (1 Sam. 15. 14.) What meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep in mine Ears; and the lowing of Oxen which I hear?  
Thus as to our Case, What meaneth the rattling of idle Coaches in our Ears, and the tramplings of the Horses of such as ride abroad to divert themselves? What means the noise of Business, and Vanity, yea of Lewdness in the Streets? Do the open preparations in the Butcher's and Cook's Shops, denote the self denial of a Fast, or the Entertainment of a Festival? Do the Modern garish Dresses bear any resemblance to the Scriptural Sackcloth? Yea, do not some amongst us mock our Fasts, and defame the Observers of them? And alas! may it not hence be feared (or rather concluded) with too great reason, that a sort of Perverse Spirit is fallen upon us, like that of the Jews, a little before their Captivity, which is described (Isa. 22. 12, 13.) In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with Sackcloth, (i. e. to the most solemn and severe humiliation and self-abasement:) And behold Joy and Gladness, slaying of Oxen, and killing of Sheep; eating of Flesh and drinking of Wine: Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die. Here was a perfect Scheme of Epicurism, in times when God called both by his Prophets and Providences to bitter mourning, and sorrow of Heart. And therefore, what Ear can without tingling, hear that which follows in that Prophecy? Or what Heart can without trembling and terror consider it? (vers. 14.) And it was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hosts, (the God whom they mocked, and whose Calls they despised,) Surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, i. e. this Daring, Mocking Obstinacy of yours, will and shall be your Destruction.  
Oh! may not share of this Gild, no spark of this Wrath, befall us or our Nation. May we all be numbered amongst those that mourn now in hope of the promised Consolation, (Luk. 6. 21.) rather than after a little empty and unseasonable merriment, go down to the place of Everlasting Weeping and Wailing, (vers. 25.) Be we assured that God observes the Frame of every one of our Souls this day; and will perhaps signalise the secret Mourner for public Sins, by a peculiar exemption in the Day of Calamity, as it was in a like Case, (Ezek. 9 4.) And the Lord said unto him, go thorough the midst of the City, thorough the midst of Jerusalem, and set a Mark upon the Foreheads of the Men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And this Mark was to be to them a note of Divine Protection from the Besom of Destruction whereby others were swept away: Just as the Blood of the Pascal Lamb on the Door-posts of the Israelites, was their security from that Plague whereby the Firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed.  
But as for such who never yet kept a Fast in that contrite, humble and affecting manner which is required by God: But deal by this, as by all other parts of Religion. If a little formal and lifeless observance of it will serve the turn, they will be for it as loudly as any: But more than this is overdoing with them. These, I say, do rather cumber the Work of this day than forward it. They deny God their Heart, and therefore give him nothing. And as Religion has no Hold of them, so they can have no Benefit from it. They are for a Religion that will cost them nothing, but this will appear a Religion which they can get nothing by.  
May we then from this day forward turn to the Lord our God with all our Heart, and serve Him with all our might. That it may be said of this Fast of ours, as it was of that Effectual Fast of Nineve (Jon. 3. 10.) And God saw their Works, that they turned from their Evil ways: And he repent of the Evil that he said he would do unto them, and did it not.  
I therefore humbly beseech the God of all Grace, to kindle a most Ardent Zeal for his Ways in every one of us, and make us indeed an Holy People; that the Holy God may (with Honour) save and defend us, as his People, and his Inheritance; and continue to deliver us (as he lately did) with a Mighty Hand.  
And in order to the Repose and Renown of these Kingdoms: May it please Almighty Goodness to prosper His Majesty's Forces by Sea and Land, in the Just-defence of all that's dear to us. May his Great Affairs every where be favoured with the Divine Blessing.  
And above all, may it please God to preserve his Royal Person, the Breath of our Nostrils: That under his shade we may continue to breathe our Free Native-air. Free, I say, from all the Fogs and Plagues of the Spiritual Egypt. That being blest with the Cherishing Beams of the Holy Gospel, we may rejoice in the Experience of God's Mercy here, and in the Hope of a perfect Enjoyment of it for ever.  
Now to him that is able to Save and Defend us, and to do more for us than we can ask or think: To Him be Worship and Praise, Dominion and Obedience ascribed for ever and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.