Mr. Woodward's SERMON Preached before the LORD MAYOR At Guildhall Chappel, August 1, 1697.   

Clerk Mayor.  
Jovis xxiii die Septembris, 1697. Annoque Regni Regis WILLIELMI Tertii Angliae, etc. Nono.  
THIS Court doth desire Mr. Woodward to print his Sermon preached at the Guildhall-Chappel, on Sunday the First Day of August last, before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City.  
Goodfellow.   

Sodom 's Vices destructive to other Cities and States.  
A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor OF THE CITY of LONDON, At the Chapel of GVILDHALL, On Sunday August 1. 1697.  
By JOSIAH WOODWARD, Minister of Poplar.  
LONDON; Printed by J. D. for Ra. Simpson, at the Harp in St. Paul's Churchyard. M DC XC VII.   

To the Right Honourable Sir EDWARD CLARKE, Lord Mayor of the City of London.  
My Lord,  
SInce it has pleased your Lordship to introduce the following Sermon into further Light; I crave leave to prosecute the Subject of it so far as to intimate, that since the Idleness which the Text condemns is usually the Parent, or at least the Nurse of the other Vices therein mentioned; it seems very natural to conclude, that a general Engagement of the many idle Hands among us in suitable Employments, would be a most direct means to suppress our other pestilent Enormities. We could scarcely be imagined liable to be overrun with Sodom's Pride, Luxury, and Uncleanness, if we did not give way to Sodom's Idleness.  
The setting up of Public Work-Houses for the Encouragement of the Diligent, the Relief of the Poor, the Employment of the Idle, and the Correction of the Criminal, is a Noble and Excellent Design, which has been long in the Thoughts and Wishes of many Great Men and Brave Spirits amongst us. And it is hoped, that it may now be seasonably and successfully proposed to that August Assembly which superintends the grand Interests of this Nation.  
For, a greater National Good can hardly be imagined than this would soon appear to be; it being undoubtedly a much greater Chari●● to any poor Person that is able to labour, to supply ●im with constant Work to get his Living, than to afford him a constant Maintenance in Idleness: for as much as Idleness would naturally mourish many Diseases in his Body, and Vices in his Soul, which an habitual Employment would be apt to prevent.  
And in this Opinion, my Lord, (if I may not call it a Demonstration) I am supported by that Great Philosopher of ours, the Lord Verulam; who advised 
〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 to R. James I. Hern's Dom. C●rthus.  that all Houses of Charity should be Houses of convenient Employment and Industry: which would at once enlarge the extent of the Charity, and make it of greater Benefit to the Partakers of it; besides those great Advantages which would accrue to the Public by a general Employment of all Hands, in the increase of our Manufacture, Trade, and Navigation: which are none of the least Interests of this famous Island.  
And now, since the Advantages of a general Employment are so very great, and so evident to every considering Person; it is very strange that in such a trading, wealthy, and populous City as this, which is honoured by the Residence and Government of so many Wise and Industrious Persons, there is not yet any effectual Provision made to set and keep those Idle People to work, who now perplex the Business of the more Diligent, disturb their Quiet, pilfer their Goods, and who are in truth the Sin and Shame, the Burden and Annoyance of this Opulent and Magnificent City.  
And since the Sequel of my Discourse leads me to it, I crave your Lordship's leave to suggest further; that it is (I humbly conceive) a fundamental Error (which the Industry of a Neighbouring Country may teach us to correct) that we inure not our Youth to diligent and constant Labour, by which they would be brought to account Idleness a Torment in their adult Age. And by this Expedient our Commonalty would be brought to better Behaviour in time of Peace; and be rendered more obedient to Orders, and more able to endure Toils and Fatigues in time of War.  
For, the Nature of Men is in this respect very like that of Waters; the purest of them gather Filth by standing still: and therefore that coarse and drossy part of Mankind which never had any Refinement by Learning, Education, or Religion, will be apt to degenerate into the very Dregs of corrupt Manners, if their peccant Humours be not carried off by wholesome Labour and Exercise. These Hands, My Lord, must be kept close to commendable Employments, or they will tear and undermine the State that breeds them.  
And therefore, it is the Hope and Expectation of all good People, that since our Renowned Sovereign has (by the great Blessing of God) reduced our Foreign Enemies to Reason, He will now apply the Thoughtfulness of his Royal Mind to correct our Domestic Enormities and Impieties; which will otherwise most certainly destroy our Peace and Hope, our Prosperity and Renown, and will (in a word) be the Bane of all our Interests and Blessings.  
Now, since we have been often told, that the Calm of Peace is the only proper Scene of such a Reformation, the good God grant that we may make a due Improvement of the present Opportunity, and that we abuse it not after that ingrateful sort that we have many others.  
In these Noble and Divine Erterprises would the Great Soul of our Dread Sovereign be shown in its matchless Glory; when his Royal Breast shall appear to glow with a Zeal for the good Manners of his People, suitable to that Martial Prowess whereby he has asserted their Liberties and Rights. Then will He shine with a brightness of Majesty that will be conspicuous to all Mankind; beloved of the Good, dreaded by the Evil, admired and honoured of All.  
And finally, then shall we indeed render a meet Thank-Offering to the God of our Mercies, who has by an extraordinary Hand of Providence supported us these many Years; who has marvellously succoured and delivered us in the most extreme Dangers; and in fine, who has mercifully settled us (as we now hope) on the Basis of a good and honourable Peace; which, that God would vouchsafe to sanctify to us, that it may in Mercy be continued with us, is the earnest Prayer of,  
My Lord, Your Lordship's Very respectful Humble Servant, JOSIAH WOODWARD.   
EZEK. XVI. 49. Behold, This was the Iniquity of thy Sister Sodom; Pride, fullness of Bread, and abundance of Idleness was in her, and in her Daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the Poor and Needy. 
THE Mission of Ezekiel into the Prophetic Office 
Ezek. 1. per totum.  was very extraordinary, (as we find it described in the beginning of his Prophecy) and truly he 
Ezek. 2. 1.  was raised up in a very extraordinary Juncture; even when the Sins of the Jews were ripe, and their Destruction 
Ver. 6.  at the door.  
God had already poured out some Vials of his Wrath upon that degenerate Nation: for now they became a Prey to their Adversaries on every side, to whom they were formerly a Terror. They were insulted by the Bands of the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, as we read, 2 King. 24. 2. for 'tis there expressly said, that God sent these Armies against them, to destroy them. Besides this, the King of Egypt miserably harassed them, 
2 King. 23. 35.  and brought them under severe Tributes. And now at the last, the King of Babylon had invaded them, and besieged their Capital City; and entering it by Surrender, he had driven away their King Jehojachin, and great 
2 King. 24. 11.  numbers of the People Captive to Babylon: And having made Zedechiah his Viceroy, he committed the Government 
Ver. 17. Ver. 20.  of Judea to him, till he forfeited it by his Rebellion, which was nine years after. And then indeed the Forces of Babylon returned in fury, and laid both Jerusalem 
2 Chron. 36. 19  and the Temple in Ruins, and filled all places with Slaughter and Desolation.  
Now, it was in the time of this Respite, betwixt the first and second Invasion made upon them by the Chaldeans, 
Ezek. 1. 2.  that God was pleased to inspire the Prophet Ezekiel (one of the Jewish Captives at Babylon) to rebuke this 
Ver. 1.  backsliding People, who were not at all amended by their many Afflictions. And this was the last Prophet who pleaded with them in the Name of God, before their total Subversion in Church and State.  
How gracious and long-suffering is Almighty God who tries the greatest of Sinners in methods of Love and Mercy; and follows even those with Calls to Repentance, who are advanced to the Brink of Ruin. When he had here brought great Misery upon the whole Land of Judea; and suffered their Enemies to prevail in a great measure over them: He than stops the Torrent of his Wrath, and they must have a Reprieve for nine Years, before their final Overthrow, to consider the Things which belong to their Peace.  
Thus we often see a prudent and tender Parent, who having given some blows of Correction to a froward and undutiful Child, then stops his hand in which he holds the Rod; and expostulates and reasons the Case, to see whether there be any relenting disposition in the Child to prevent further Blows.  
But alas! Such a fatal hardness and fatness of Heart had seized this profligate People, that none of these things moved them. They reform not one of those Enormities which the Prophet assured them would be the Causes of their Ruin: tho' they could not but see that they were the very same which had been the Destruction of Sodom before, as the Prophet tells them to their Faces in the words but now recited in your Ears. Behold, this was the Iniquity of thy Sister Sodom; Pride, fullness of Bread, and abundance of Idleness was in her, and in her Daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  
In which Words, the Prophet endeavours to impress this Observation upon them, which I beseech God to fix deeply upon every Soul here present, namely,  
That a City or Nation is then in very great Danger, when it abounds with those Sins for which other Cities and Nations have been destroyed.  
The same Way leads directly to the same End: And the same Sins lead as surely to the same Miseries. God is a Righteous Judge, and will deal impartially with all People according to their Sins, for he is no Respecter of Persons. He has done Justice already to the Jews, and he will not do otherwise to the Gentiles.  
So that the Spirit of God here, takes one of the most awakening methods in the World to rouse up the Jews from their torpid Slumbers. He points at the very Causes of their growing Miseries, and presses them to apply themselves to the speediest methods of Redress.  
Behold (says he) the very Symptoms of Destruction, which appeared in the Cities of Sodom, are dreadfully apparent in thy Cities, even thine. Does it not fill thee with horror to behold the very same Plague-spots upon thee that were on those Places which God destroyed by fire from Heaven? Thou art the very Sister of Proud, Idle, , and unmerciful Sodom: a Sister to her in Vice and Impudence; and art drawing on to as certain and as sore a Destruction. O Jerusalem, I am sent from thy God to thee, to advise thee of this, and to charge thee to consider thy languishing State, and to prevent thy Ruin. But whether thou wilt hear, or whether thou wilt forbear, I will spread both thy Sin and thy Danger before thine Eyes. Behold, thou art become a second Sodom: and those very Sins which abound in thee, were those which destroyed her. They were haughty, and luxurious, and unmerciful, as ye are this day; and God took them away, as he saw good.  
The Overthrow of Sodom was a proverbial speech for a sudden and terrible Destruction, and is so used both in the Old and New Testament. We find, that God threatened to destroy Babylon, as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, 
Jer. 50. 40.  and the neighbouring Cities thereof: which another Prophet tells us were Admah and Zeboim. And the Apostle 
Hos. 11. 8.  Judas minds us, that the Desolation of those Cities is set forth by God's appointment, as a terrible Example to all after Ages: That all Cities and Nations may consider in what Danger they stand, when once they come into any affinity to their Sins. And therefore it will nearly concern us at this time (when all, but such as never think, are convinced, that both our Sins and Dangers are tremendous) to consider whether the Vices amongst us are not such as led both Sodom and Judea to their Ruin. For which purpose, I now come to lay them in order before you, as they are represented in the Text: And I recommend this important matter to your special Consideration, (particularly to such as are more peculiarly obliged to consult the Interests of this Great City) as in the Presence of Almighty God.  
I. The first Sin mentioned in the Text, as a Cause of the Destruction of Cities and Nations, is that of Pride. Which consists in an overweening Conceit of one's self, or of something belonging to us, to that degree, that our Heart is vainly lifted up thereby. And being so, the Man grows insolent in most things which he either thinks, speaks, or does. He has a scornful Eye, an imperious way of speaking, and a contemptuous Carriage towards all Men. Yea, the proud Man carries it stiffly towards God himself; and almost forgets his dependence upon him, and that he was form out of the Dust of the Earth. It is a Vice that is never barren, but is continually bringing forth other Enormities by shoals. It produces a contempt of Sacred things, and an insolent resentment of God's Providences, both of Bounty and Correction. In any Affliction he frets and is peevish: for his Pride will not allow him to think that he deserves any Rebuke or Correction; but he is rather persuaded, that the greatest Mercies of God are due to his Merit. And this makes him grudge at the Enjoyments and Promotions of others, as if the whole World were made for him alone, and every Gift of God to others were a Robbery committed upon him. And for the same Reason he is impatient of Reproof, and very apt to scoff, especially at such as even in despite of his Pride he must needs perceive to be better than himself. He carries it with a domineering Severity towards his Inferiors; so that (like his Brother Nabal) there's scarcely any one that dares to speak to him; and the least Affront (though undesigned) moves him to revenge it even with Blood. As for Superiors, he scarcely thinks he has any: but like a true Son of Belial, he is without Yoke, and is not to be brought under due Government; being ever apt to mutiny, and to breed disorder: Not only saying with Nabal, Who is David? but with Pharaoh, Who is the Lord, that I should serve him?  
It is one chief Study of proud People, to endeavour to bring others to admire them as much as they do themselves. And to this end (when better accomplishments fail) they affect to plume themselves with the richest Ornaments they can purchase or invent. And here, alas! Pride will so overdo the business, that it cannot but move Contempt in every sensible Person to behold with what ridiculous Forms and Modes they attempt to set forth themselves. They fancy a sort of Comeliness in Deformity, and that it adds a beauty to the Face to represent it under diseases and blemishes, though God has given them an unspotted soundness.  
God has not given to the Children of Men a particoloured Skin like the motley Brutes: nor has he marked them as he does many venomous Creatures and pestilential Diseases, with dark Spots: and yet how unseemly soever this appears to all impartial and virtuous Minds, (whom Custom and vain Notions have not blinded) it is hidden from their own eyes.  
Now this Vice of Pride manifestly tends to Destruction several ways.  
First, In that it produces a multitude of other Sins, as its natural Offspring and Effect: as you have already heard.  
And Secondly, As it hardens the Heart under all the Gild it brings upon it. For it always runs in the direct Diameter to Repentance. Proud Persons are great Admirers of what themselves do, and are hardly brought to acknowledge that they have done amiss. But, like Saul, they avow that they have done the Will of the Lord, though every Beast in his Herd had a Mouth to refute it.  
And Thirdly, Pride leads to Ruin, as it is a Sin which leavens the very Prayers of Men, and renders all their religious Performances unsavoury in the Nostrils of God. The Pharisee mentioned by our Saviour, was rather puffed 
Luk. 18. 11.  up than humbled in his very Prayer, and so was rather condemned by it than justified in the sight of God. For, Pride is a thing which God hates. Yea, which he will 
Prov. 6. 17.  glorify himself in debasing. And therefore he will surely 
Isa. 2. 11.  set himself to it, and go through with it. And upon all these accounts, the proud Person is so exposed to the Wrath of God; that the inspired Wiseman has recorded it as a certain Mark of Destruction, Pride goeth before Destruction, 
Prov. 16. 18.  and a haughty Spirit before a fall. And indeed it cannot be otherwise, since the proud Person renounces his Trust in God, to place it in himself; which is to remove his Building from a Rock, to found it on the Sand.  
And so I pass on to consider the second Vice, which is represented in the Text as of a like destructive Nature; which is,  
II. Fullness of Bread. This Expression denotes that Luxury and Excess which is usually produced by great Plenty when it falls into ill Hands. The Sodomites, it seems, made a very ill use of their plentiful Land, which is described, Gen. 13. 10. to be so beautifully situated, and so plentifully stored, that it was even as the Garden of the Lord. A second Eden, for plenty of pleasant Fruits, and other commodious Product. But these, alas! served their Bestial Lusts, and nursed them to a very monstrous Growth: till at last their Incontinence transgressed the very Laws of Nature, and became very crying in the Ears of God.  
Now, this brutal feeding of our Bodies, or as the Apostle calls it, feasting ourselves without Fear, is contrary to the very Nature of our Christian Warfare. For it administers indecent Flames to the sensitive Appetite, and at the same time dulls the accuracy of Reason, and lays the Conscience asleep. And we may easily guests what the End of that Person will be, who lies open to his Enemies, and binds the hands of his Friends. But the prudent Christian does otherwise: and says with St. Paul (though he was sufficiently macerated by his continual Labours and Afflictions) I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a Castaway, 1 Cor. 9 27.  
He that would be a solid and serious Christian, yea that would but be a grave and decent Moralist, must observe due Moderation in Meats and Drinks, and all corporal Pleasures: Yea, he must accustom his Appetite to submit to the selfdenying Rules of Abstinence and Mortification in their Season; and by these and other Divine Expedients he must maintain a regular Government over the Concupiscible Appetite. Which is a thing very agreeable to the Flesh-denying Nature of our Divine Religion, and is both an Ornament and Help to the serious Practice of many parts of it. And therefore it is no wonder if the contrary tends to Ruin.  
III. The next destructive Sin is that of Idleness: which, it seems, abounded greatly in Sodom before its Destruction. For it is said, Abundance of Idleness was in her, and in her Daughters; or especially amongst their Women.  
Idleness consists either in doing Nothing, or Nothing of use, that a Person might and ought to have done in his Place and Capacity. Now, to be of such a negligent, sluggish, and torpid temper, is to contradict the very End and Nature of Life. To live without activity and liveliness, is in a manner to live (if I may so speak) without Life, like People asleep or dead. And to all ingenious Minds, this is a most intolerable penance; it is contrary to the Nature of brave and generous Spirits, and therefore they ever treat the dronish Sluggard with just Disdain. And it is the Apostle's Rule, that the Sluggard should be starved out of his idle way of Life, and not be suffered to eat, till he applies himself to work. 
2 Thess. 3. 10.   
Idleness is a Sin not only against God, but against one's Generation, yea against one's own Health, Interests, and Posterity. There ought not to be any Person (Male or Female) idle in the World. For God never made any one for nothing, but to be of Use and Advantage to the Publick-Weal, according to his Station and Capacity.  
This great Machine of the Universe has not one Wheel or Pin in it, though never so small, but what is of use in its place, and tends to complete the whole. We behold all the works of Nature full of Action, and useful motion. The Heavens take their laborious Courses, and the Sun delighteth to run his rapid perpetual Race. And every Being upon Earth, from the Elephant to the Ant, drudges and toils in things suitable to its Nature. And some Active Minds of late can scarcely bear it that the Earth should be accounted a dead Weight; and have framed a probable Scheme of its motion amongst the rest.  
And shall Man, the most noble Creature, and the most capable of brave Productions of any under the Heavens, be the only useless and unactive part of the Creation? Has God given us a Divine Soul capable of such Angelic Thoughts and Designs, and shall we apply ourselves to nothing at all? or to nothing worthy of our Nature and Endowments?  
It is not fit indeed that all Men should be employed in manual Labour, or in the mechanic Occupations of human Life. Some Men appear in the World with such a noble Genius, such refined Wisdom, princely Courage, and vivacity of Spirit, accompanied with such a generous Concern for the Public Good, that they seem to be prepared and appointed of God to govern and defend the rest; and to make improvements in those Arts and Speculations which tend to the accommodation of human Life and the public Welfare; and above all, to dispose the conversations of Men in those Divine paths of Piety and Virtue which tend to their everlasting Bliss. These are Things which ennoble a Man, and render him Honourable and useful in his Generation, and make his Memory fragrant to future Ages.  
But there are some on the other hand who are by natural incapacity rendered unfit for public service, or any other Post of Honour, as Idiots and mere Naturals; who are as Ciphers and Expletives in the Volume of the Creation. And truly this reflects with sharpness upon such as rank themselves among these noteless parts of human Kind by an idle and useless Life. Of whom it can only be said, when they are gone; That such a one breathed so many years in the World, and so died. Alas! what a putid shame is it to those whom God has every way fitted to do great and worthy Things in the Church and State in which they live, and has many ways called and excited them to it; that they bury their rich Talents in the Dirt: and the Rust of Idleness, or the Poison of Vice devours all those Endowments whereby they might have done great things in their Generation.  
Nor are they more Honourable, who employ their Parts and Labours about some useless and vain thing, (like Domitian's industry in catching Flies) and spend their Life in a sort of laborious Idleness; I mean, in a busy pursuit of impertinent things; like Children, who seem very busy all the day long, and yet appear at night to have done nothing.  
On the contrary, it is remarked to the Glory of David's Memory, That his Life was a standing Service to his Generation. 
Act. 13. 36.  He was of a Noble public Spirit, and spent his Sweat and Blood in the Defence and Advancement of his Country both in Church and State. And this renders his Memory blessed to this Day, and will do so to the end of the World. A noble and active Genius exerting itself in contriving and doing Things for the Public Interest, is a Divine Blessing to the Nation and Age wherein it appears. Such a Worthy Person is like the Sun in the Firmament, which gives Life and Cheerfulness wherever it arises. Or rather, like the Lord Jesus Christ (the Sun of Righteousness, from whom all such Divine Spirits derive their Glory) whose Character it was, That he went about doing good.  
And whereas the Vice of Idleness in the Text is particularly charged upon the Daughters of Sodom and Israel; this, alas! brings to our remembrance our national and unspeakable Loss in the decease of that most industrious and pious Princess who lately held the Sceptre of these Kingdoms, and endeavoured to purge all the Daughters of her Land from the Sin and Reproach of Idleness, by giving them a most admirable Example of indefatigable Diligence. O! may such an Example ever obtain a general Imitation: that we may be exempted from the Sin imputed, and the Danger threatened in the Text to Jerusalem, and her idle Daughters.  
For indeed where Idleness prevails, it nurses Wantonness, Baseness, and Effeminacy, and almost every Vice. The Sluggard's Heart is like his Field (Prov. 24. 21.) overgrown with Brambles and Weeds, and is unfit to produce any good Fruit. Slothfulness ever dulls, enervates, and infatuates the Person that indulges it, till at last it brings him to Rags and Ruin. It brought Sodom and Jerusalem in the Text, to utter destruction; for abundance of Idleness was in them, and in their Daughters: and whether it be not so with us and ours will be of concernment to us to inquire; and indeed it will in a great measure appear from that which falls under our consideration in the next Particular, which is the last note of Destruction mentioned in the Text, namely,  
IU. An unmerciful Neglect of the Poor: which is expressed thus, Neither did she (i. e. Sodom) strengthen the hands of the Poor and Needy.  
In which Expression these three Things are laid to their Charge.  

1. They did not help the Poor to their Right in matters of Equity and Judgement.  
2. They neglected to provide Subsistence for their impotent Poor.  
3. They did not provide Employment for such as were able to labour. In all these senses, the hands of the Poor were weakened and enfeebled.   
First, They did not help the Poor to their Right in matters of Equity and Judgement. The Poor Man's Cause was neglected and despised, and could not have a fair Hearing and a just Determination. In this Respect, the Magistrate ought to strengthen the poor Man's hand, that he may be able to recover his just Wages where it is denied him, and may have Right done him in all Causes depending before the Bench of Justice.  
The Prophet Isaiah reproves this Partiality and Injustice in the Judges of Israel with great severity, and tells them plainly (as my Text does) that they were become like Sodom in this iniquity: Hear the word of the Lord, ye Rulers 
Isa. 1. 10.  of Sodom, seek ye Judgement, relieve the Oppressed, judge the Fatherless, plead for the Widow. And he lamenteth, That the faithful City was become an Harlot: it was full 
Ver. 23.  of Judgement, Righteousness lodged in it, but now Murderers: Every one loveth Gifts, and followeth after Rewards, etc.  
When the Streams of Justice are thus perverted, so that the loud Cries of the Oppressed ascend up to Heaven against any City or Nation, it is in great Danger. For it is said, if thou afflict the Widow and Fatherless in any wise; and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry: And my Wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the Sword; 
Exod. 22. 23, 24.  and your Wives shall be Widows, and your Children Fatherless.  
Secondly, A Neglect to provide for the impotent Poor; such as are by Sickness, Age, or calamitous Providences, rendered unable to get their living. These are the feeble parts of the Body, which (as the Apostle says) must be supported by the more strong, in love and pity to the whole, 
Rom. 15. 1.  or they will be guilty of a most unnatural Cruelty. It is hiding ourselves from our own Flesh (as the Prophet 
Isa. 58. 7.  terms it) when we turn away from a moving Object of Charity.  
And that which enforces this Duty yet more upon Christians, is, That our Blessed Saviour has espoused the Poor as his Relations and Representatives (where they are humble and pious) and resents all Neglect of such, as a personal Affront to himself, Mat. 25. 45. And therefore we must become Infidels to the Promises and Threaten of his Book, before we can harden our Hearts against proper Objects of Charity.  
And truly our State is inferior to few, if any, in ample Contributions towards the subsistence of our Poor. But with submission, there may perhaps be some improvements in the management of our public Charity: the consideration of which falls in with the last way of strengthening the hands of the Poor; which is,  
Thirdly, By providing suitable Employments for them, that we may shun two of the destructive Vices of Sodom at once, to wit, Idleness, and unmercifulness.  
It is most certain, that a full and constant Employment of our Poor would remove multitudes of Evils at once from us, and open an Ocean of public Benefits and Divine Blessings. For, alas! Idleness tends to strengthen the hands of our Poor in Wickedness, and in all manner of Vice: Many Hands in this Kingdom are at this day employed in pilfering and picking of Pockets, which by honest Labour would be tied up from this and other Enormities.  
It is extremely moving to any good Mind to consider, That many Thousands of young and able People among us (whose diligent Labours would be of great Use and Advantage to the Public Good, and might by that method of getting their Living be brought to live soberly, peaceably, and honestly) do now turn Vagrants, Rebels, and Vagabonds: yea, they steal, and lie, and commit Whoredom, and sell their Souls to get a temporal Subsistence. A dismal Thought! enough to move a Heart of Marble, if duly considered. And it is enough, methinks, to gain an universal Endeavour to redress this, if it be but observed, That in all probability, the Remedy of this grand Evil (especially in this City) will be with less Charge and Trouble than the toleration of the Distemper.  
For indeed, the more this grows upon us, the more we shall of necessity be impoverished, as well by the natural Consequence of it, as by the high Displeasure of God against it. And truly, it becomes those who find themselves disappointed and diminished in their Trade of late, to consider whether this has not been one provoking Cause of it.  
We behold Crowds of Beggars filling almost every Door, and disturbing all Business and Conversation by their importunate Clamours. Our Ears are almost deafened both in the Streets and in the Fields with the loud Cries of such as beg for Relief: and the common Excuse for this idle way of Life, is, their want of Work to set their Hands to. And from this stock of People bred up in Idleness, the Highways come to be infested with Robbers, and our Houses and Lives are endangered in the Night, when we should rest upon our Beds. And though the Prisons are filled with them, and Thousands of them are executed for their Outrages, (to the eternal Ruin of their Souls, as well as to their being cut off in the prime of their Days) yet the Distemper grows upon us, and is like so to do, till sufficient Work-Houses and stocks of Work be provided for their constant Employment; which all good People will most readily accept, and be thankful for it: And as for others, they must be driven to honest Labour by the compulsive Power of wholesome Laws.  
And without some such Provision, it is not very easy to answer their Complaint of severity against the Laws of our Land, which condemn so many Thousands to Death for pilfering a few Pence, and yet provide no Means for them to get a Penny by honest Employment, when it may be done with public Advantage.  
It is a gracious Promise of God, that there shall always 
Deut. 15. 11.  be poor People among us. And though the unthinking and stingy Churl will not give God thanks for this Promise, yet the prudent and serious Person will; not only (though chief) as it is a standing way of conveying his Treasures into the Bank of Heaven, but also as the use of the poor Man's Labours is the direct means of increasing his Wealth upon Earth.  
And truly, the laborious poor Man is one of the most infallible objects of Charity that we can choose, when his ability to labour fails him: Others may be Hypocrites in their Profession, but he can be none in his. But alas! as the Case now stands, any Person that is disposed to Charity scarce knows where to choose proper objects for it. How can he distinguish betwixt the real Indigents and the idle Vagrants, among the Crowds which solicit his Alms? When we pass thorough the Fields, or sit in our Houses, and are entreated for an Alms by all the Asseverations of Necessity and Want that a long and earnest Harangue can express: what divided sentiments will arise upon this in the Breast of a pious and prudent Person? It is difficult to believe, and yet as hard to disbelieve the piteous Narrative of the Petitioner. It is scarcely Christian to deny, and yet it is scarcely prudent to give.  
In such cases indeed our Charity will incline us to venture the Hazard of a small Alms, rather than run the Risque of denying a poor Member of Christ. And in many Cases it is almost necessary to give something merely to stop Clamour, and purchase Ease from intolerable noise and importunity: yea, sometimes, to prevent the wrath and ill language which attends a denial.  
Thus is the clear Current of Christian Charity obscured and diverted, and many are scarcely free Agents in what they give. And alas! all this while, there remain many poor Families who would be willing to work, though they are ashamed to beg: and some of these have concealed their Miseries within their private Walls; and have chosen rather to perish in silence, than to open their Poverty, where their public shame and reproach would be more certain than their constant Relief. O blessed God for thy Son's sake lay not these things to our charge.  
Thus have I laid before you the black Catalogue of Sodom's Sins, which when they grew up also to a ripeness in Jerusalem, proved as fatal to the latter as to the former. And I must leave it to every one's Conscience to judge, whether this City and Nation be not in great Danger at this day from the same Causes. And let me entreat you, that you would not dull the Edge of this Conviction by the conceit of a submitting Enemy, and a blooming Prosperity consequent to it: But remember the Eternal Righteousness of the Governor of the World, which will keep its course, though that of Men does not; and that he has thousands of ways to bring a profligate People to Misery and Desolation.  
And now, since we have perused the List of Sodom's Sins: if any one inquires after the Sin of Uncleanness, which certainly made a great Cry among the rest; we find it in the next verse, and they committed Abomination. And if we look for it in the Text, we shall find it in the loins of those two Parents of Uncleanness, Luxury and Idleness, which wherever they are conjoined, do usually produce the nasty issue of bestial Uncleanness: As, alas! they have done amongst us to a very dreadful (I had almost said, to a desperate) Degree. So that if the Sin of Uncleanness be but obscurely represented in the Text, it was notoriously visible in Sodom's Streets, and alas! in ours too; with this shameful difference on our part, that whereas the Sodomites deferred the prosecution of their Lusts till the Evening, hoping to veil their unseemly Sin by the black Curtains of the Night; with us, alas! it is prosecuted in the Noonday, and in the thickest Concourse. I pray God excite our Magistrates to take the punishment of these things into their Hands, for it is an Iniquity to be punished by the Judges, or else to 
Job 31. 11.  be sure God will: and then, woe, woe unto us.  
This leads me to apply what has been said. And here, in the first place;  
I. I humbly press the consideration of these things upon those Public and Honourable Persons, before whom I speak, and must in Conscience speak freely. Is it not a moving Consideration to behold the very Causes of Sodom's Destruction, and Jerusalem's Desolation, growing upon us; and come to a very dreadful Crisis? This may well alarm every Member of our Community, but it does more especially concern such as by their high station represent the Head of this Public Body; which is particularly empowered and capacitated to provide for the safety of the rest of the Members.  
It was a very passionate Expostulation of the Disciples with their sleeping Master, Carest thou not that we perish? 
Mar. 4. 38.  We must needs say, it was an unfit and indecent Question to be put to the vigilant and tender Saviour of Men. But, methinks, the Extremities of our present Case may apologise for such a rowzing Interrogatory to those Persons amongst us who seem rocked to sleep by carnal Lusts and private Interests, so as to manifest no just Concern for the Public Good.  
Magistrates have some peculiar Features of God's Image impressed upon them above others, even those of his Power and Authority: and upon this account they are called Gods in Scripture, as being ordained of God to punish evil doers in his stead, and to support such as do well. But the Rulers of Sodom had put off this Character, and so had the supine Rulers of Israel; which so grieved and moved the Prophet Isaiah, that the first Chapter of his Prophecy abounds with the sharpest Invectives against them. And indeed, it is very deplorable to consider, from what a Divine Seat of Honour and Dignity a corrupt Magistrate descends when he acts contrary to his Post, or does nothing worthy of it. It is somewhat like the Fall of the Apostate Angels, from being God's Ministers, to be his Enemies.  
And truly, every private Person will also fall under the same Condemnation who does not sincerely set himself (according to his Place and Capacity) against the violent Torrent of abounding Sin: Which leads me to a Second Inference.  
II. Let all such as pretend to Christianity, yea, or to Sobriety and good Morals, set themselves against the devouring Plagues of our Nation, the common Sins thereof. If ever we had need to give our public Vote for the Reformation of corrupt Manners, surely we have at this Day. And blessed be God who hath kindled any Desires of it in any Persons among us.  
It is a most admirable work of God, and what opens the fairest Prospect to us of any that I know, That any young Persons among us lament and escape the Pollutions of this degenerate Age, and look Heaven-wards. The good God increase their Number, and the Number of their Friends and Favourers. The Lambs are the hope of the Flock; if they rot, the Flock will soon come to nothing. And if the next Generation degenerates as dreadfully as this has done, we shall be as corrupt as Sodom itself, and as surely brought to desolation.  
Some may perhaps say, that all this is true, but how shall we help it? How shall we? Why the lively sense of Danger scarce ever wants means or seasons, or strength to avoid it. Any one acts above his usual strength, when it is to save his Life, and to prevent Destruction. If we would once set our selves hearty to suitable Remedies, the work were more than half done: As the Reformation of Ninive, and its Rescue from Destruction does abundantly testify.  
Truly, Sirs, the World only stands by Divine Providence in hope of its Reformation; for all Flesh seems to be corrupted before God, a small Remnant only excepted. And if the Sins of any People are indeed remediless, their Ruin will be so too: as in the Case of Judah before us, of which it is said, that they sinned till there was no remedy. And if the 
2 Chron. 36. 16.  case be come to this, I have only one Inference more to add.  
III. And Lastly. How happy is their Case, who in times of general Depravity, are exempted from the common Corruption! who (like the Family of Lot in Sodom) are so far from being partakers in the vulgar Sins, that they are grieved in their Spirits at the Abomination which they see and hear from day to day. Such Persons must expect to be the Scoff and Byword of the wicked People among whom they live, who ill repay their Pity and Concern for them. It was just so with Lot in Sodom: If he entreats them to refrain their pernicious Exorbitances, they bitterly revile and rail upon him. They call him a busy presuming Fellow, who would be meddling with what he had nothing to do, and would feign be as magisterial as a Judge amongst them, Gen. 19 9  
Thus Lot was Sodom's Laughter, whilst Sodom was Lot's Grief. But the End proves who acted the wisest part. For than Lot and his pious Family were miraculously preserved, when Sodom and its mocking Crew were miraculously destroyed. Lot had the glorious Angels of Heaven sent to him for his Safeguard, when Sodom had Fire and Brimstone (the Emblems of Hell) poured down upon them for their Destruction. Good and bad Men live by contrary Rules and Principles now, and in their Death they will be divided; The one will be taken, and the other left. They take different Courses, and must come to different Ends. Lazarus is for ever comforted, and Dives for ever tormented. Lot was saved both from the Flames of Sodom and those of Hell, thro' God's Marvellous Mercy: and Sodom perished by an Everlasting Destruction. For St. Judas tells us, That as they were destroyed by dreadful Flames upon Earth, so they now suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. 
Judas 7.   
O! what greater Argument can I produce to convert Sinners, or to confirm Converts? I request each of these to look to the End to which they are posting.  
Be of good courage, ye that serve the Living God, for your Work will speedily and infinitely be rewarded. Ye may perhaps be mocked and despised of Men, as your blessed Lord himself was: But ye will be commended and crowned of God at the last. And in truth, Sirs, the Favour of God is better than all the noisy Fame and fading Enjoyments of this present World. I know nothing that deserves the name of Riches, Honour or Happiness, so much as the raising and refining of our Faculties and Capacities by Divine Wisdom and Virtue. And truly this alone is all to us: For, all the Pleasures of the Flesh are Folly and Mockery, if compared with the noble Joy of a regenerate Soul delighting in God, its proper, adequate, and felicitating Object; by communion with whom, it anticipates the Powers of the World to come, and rejoiceth with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.  
But as for such, who will neither by the Mercies nor Judgements of God be reclaimed from Sensuality and sordid Lusts: They sink first into the vileness of Beasts, and then into the misery of Devils. Their temporary Vanity leads them most assuredly to eternal Vexation. They may perhaps have a little Sunshine in the Morning, as Sodom itself had; but there is a dreadful Shower of fiery Indignation coming down from God to consume his Adversaries. For however they delude themselves now, they will find at last, that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement than for them, except they repent.  
Consider what has been said; and the Lord give you Understanding in all things. Amen.  
FINIS.