\ 6c.s ^1019 /^ ^ ^f l^m^M i"^ ' ^ riiK WORKS OF THL Rev. WILLIAM- Th|m LJTE MimS'TEM OF G^^V.AN KACi.S, OLASCOW tRXKTED ?C>i8, JAMES pYMOCK, BOq|iSELi£R, BlClf|rt.JTSrfrT. 1799' '^5- . A e O N T E N T S. PART L SERMONS. Page T, JN^IRY into the Caiifes of the Decline of Re- ligion, - - - - - - I • 2. Soher and Religious Conference conftdered and \: recommended, - - - - - 23 ♦ 3. The Revolt of the Ten Tribes, - - 54 4. Achan^s Trefpafs in the Accurfed Thing conft- dered, - - , - . - - 87 ,5; From ivhence come Wars? - • - 1 26 6. The TaJk'MaflerSy - - -. « 159 PART IL • LETTERS, TRACTS, &c. Page 1. Tk/TOTIVESfor the Univerfity ofGlafgow leav- ing the Blackfriar^s Church, - - 231 2. DefeEls of an Univerfity Education, - 263 3. Remarks on the fame, - - - - 302 4. Scheme for Ere Sling an Academy fet forth in its own proper Colours, - - - 324 5. Defence of the College of Glafgow, againfi an in- ftdious Attempt to depreciate the Ability and Tafe of its Profejfors, . - - 357 6. Donaldfoniad, -«--«. 360 7. Trial of a Student in the College of Clutha, in the Kingdom of Oceana, - - - 374 8. Letter of Advice to the Farmers and Land-La- bourers in ScQ/knd^ • - - - 429 0^. ^« ^"^ PART I. SERMONS. SERMON I. AN INQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF RELIGION. "Preached at the Opening of the Synod of Glafgow and Air, 1 761. Demas hath forfahn tne, having loved this prefeni JVorU. 2 Tim. iv. 10. ^HAT religion is decayed, hath, for a long time, been the general complaint. "We cannot fee into the hearts of men, fo as to make a juft eflimate of the re- gard they have to God : we can only judge from their outward behaviour 1, and in this refpe£l the complaint feems to be but too well founded. Men grow kfs and lefs ftricl in the profeffion of religion, and the number of thofe who profefs it feems to be gradually diminiihing. It is riot maintained, thiit a man can have no devotion and rectitude of Iieart, if he neglects the forms of religion that are fettled or generally e- - iieemed in the country where he lives j hut if one lias real religion, he will very readily have fome profef- fion : and it is alfo commonly believed, that he v/ho decently profefles religion v/iil have more virtue, and be a better member of fociety, than one who has no fuch profeffion. Since, then, an outward profeffion- .is prefumed to flow from an inward fenfe of reHgion: A 2 SERMONS. and fince religion is fuppofed to contribute to the vir- tue and good order of the world at prefent, and is confeflediy neceflary to the happinefs of men in the world to come ; is it really true that it grows to be lefs and lefs in requefl ? and if fo, what are the caufes of this its decline ? Demas, fays the apoftle in the text, " Demas hath forfaken me, having loved this prefent world." He is bafe and infamous, who forfakcs his friend from worldly views ; he is impious, and in a ftate of per- dition, who forfakes his God and his religion from any views whatever : but, in our times, it is not one only, there are many, who, it is to be feared, have loft the reality, at leaft they have forfaken the profeflion, of religion, and have forfaken it, as Demas did, from love and attachment to this prefent world. From the text, I might take occafion to obferve, that in thefe corrupted times many have forfaken the pro- feflion of religion ; and then ihow, that it is from love to this world that they have done fo. But I almoft take it for granted, that men are much lefs regular in their iproieffion of religion than they were fifty, or even thirty years ago. Is the Sabbath as religioufly obferved now as it was then ? are the churches as much reforted to by people of all ranks, and of every condition ?. is family-religion as much in fafliion ? pious aged people behold and lament that there is a very wide and remarkable difference. Could men formerly have undertaken journeys of bufmefs upon the Sabbath, or have rode abroad for amufe- ment, or vifits of ceremony ? could they have tran- faO:ed their bufmefs at home, or met in one another's houfes, and fpent the hours of public worfhip in feaft- ing, drinking, and diverfion ? could they have done thefe things half a century ago, without being won- dered at, and without (hocking the world much more than it is at prefent, when fo many are guilty of fuch rude, unmannerly, and offcnfive pra^ices ? have not SERMONS. 3 even many of the people who attend our churches^ loft the ferious and religious air ? and do they not too much wear the looks of careiefTnsfs, mdiffercnce^ or levity ? Thefe, and many other things that might he men- tioned, are ftrong indications that a change has hap- pened to the worfe -, and I prefume, that even the pro- fane are convinced that religion has declined. Let us then proceed to what we chiefly intend, — to in- quire into the caufes of this affecting appearance. I think there is a propriety in the inquiry ; if there were no profeffion of religion, there needed be, and there would be, no public teachers of it. And as this is a topic which, for ought I knov/, has not been commonly treated, I truft to the candour of you, my reverend and much efteemed fathers and brethren. If I Ihall appear to have, miftaken views, as it is exceedingly pofllble I may have j or if I fliall ad- vance any thing that is not juft, I am under your cor- rection, and my miftakcs, whatever they are, iliall not, I am fure, be pertinaciouily defended or adhered to. I begin my fubjecSt ; and I might account for the prefent irreiigion — from the depravity of human na- ture — from in_^deiity, or diftelief of religious princi- ples — from a general fcepticifm, or indifference about religion — or from God's having withdrawn his grace, to punifh the world for their profanity and wicked- nefs. But ftill thefe very things are appearances that need to be accounted for. From what caufes has the world become more wicked of late than it was before, fo as to provoke God to withdraw hi;j grace ? whence is it, that infidelity, fcepticifm, and in- difference about religion, has grown fo faft in the pre- fent age ? and if it be true, whence is it, that human nature is more depraved in this, than it was in the lafl: generation? Thefe general allegations, v/hatever truth. there may be in them, feem not fuilicient to account for the prefent profanenefs and irreiigion of men*. I ■Aa SERMONS. ^hink it becomes us to inquire more minutely into the fubjciH:, and to ^flign, if poflible, fomc more particu- lar and determinate caufes of the evil complained of. Every alteration in the moral world is procjuced by the agency of God. By his powerful working, men improve in virtue and religion, and by his adorable permifiion, they become vicious and profane. But, as I take it, every general change of this fort is brought about by the means, or with the concomitancy, of fe- cond or external caufes. Religion gets footing in a country, when outward circumltances are favourable to its reception j when thefe outward circumftances are unfavourable, it declines and lofes ground. The outward ftate of things in this kingdom, at pre- fent, bears no friendly afpecl to religion: and hence, it is apprehended, the growth of profanenefs may, at leaft in a great meafure, be accounted for. The particulars I am going to mention will be too evident fymptoms of man's corruption, and his being fwayed by the fame, motive that Demas was — love to a prefent world. I ft, A long national peace and profperity have con- tributed to our throwing religion afide. It may be thought that fuch bleillngs fliould excite thankfulnefs, and keep religion alive. But thankfulnefs for the greatell good is but of little force in religion, in comx- parifon of the feeling or fear of great evil. This may be underftoocl, by obferving the oppolite efFe£ls which profperity and adverfity, peace and dillurbance, have upon particular perfons. When is it that an indivi- dual has moil religion and moil the appearance of it ? is it not when he is in outward diftrefs, or when fome dreaded calamity hangs ever his head ? When is it that he is moft cool and carclcfs about God ? is it not when he is in a ilate of affluence and eafe ? When he was affli(tled, or when he was terrified at the profpe^l of worldly trouble, he was ferious, and appeared to be fo ; wlicn the cloud blows over without doing him harm, he lurns back to the worlds and lofes the feri- ous temper and the ferlous appearance. Apply this to a whole nation that has long enjoyed profperity and peace, and it will be evident, how that which affec^:i an individual operates widely, extends its influence, and becomes almoft univerfal. Befides, when there has been for a long time peace and quiet about reli- gion itfelf, men grow remifs about the profelTion of it. If a convuifion has been raifed in a country, if a peo- ple have been threatened with having their religion changed, or violently torn from them, if a toleration of it has been refuted, or, if fome difputes that are univerfally interefling have been raifed ?.n(k agitated about it, men will likely, for a long time, be tenaci- ous of their religion, and zealous in profeffing it. But we have not, for many years, been much in danger of a change of our religion ; no force has been ufed againft it, nor have the people interefted. themfeivea deeply in any controverly about it, either agrnnfl the adverfaries of revelation from without, or againll any^ particular tenets or opinions, among themfeives. I fuppofe that wdiat is here faid may be lupportcd by matter of fa(Sl, and verified by lurveying the flate or the world fuice the. commencement of Chrifllanity . A time of peace was ever a time of indolence about: religion. "When it was not tolerated, or y/heii me-i were in danger of lofing it, they grew the fonder of it, V/hen warm contefts were maintained by Chrifiians themfeives about it, however thefe might imbitter their fpivits, and weaken the power of religion upon their hearts, yet they (luck the fafler to ili^ outward profelTion of it. Not that what is fuggefled by an eminent French writer is juit or true, namely, that religion is fo thin a thing, " that it had vaniflied and melted through our fingers, had it not more upKeid itfelf amongft us, as an inltrument of difpute and fic- tion, than by itfelf." Real religion is not a iiimfyv but a firm and folid thing, and every pious man finds it to be h, Thoughtlefs people have not this reality^ b SERMONS. and their profeffion of religion may be more or Icfs regular from what is ngw mentioned, and from other external caufes. 2d, This is an age wherein commerce ftouriflies, and riches have greatly increafed, and both thefe, it fhould feem, are unfriendly even to the profeflion of religion. A rich man, our Saviour fays, fliall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. At firft, they were the poor that came and heard the gofpel preach- ed, and not many mighty or noble were obedient to the call of it. Review ihe hiftory of the planting of religion 3 they \ycre the poor who received it, they were generally the rich who oppofed it. In the poorer cities and nations, it is believed, a greater proportion of the people embraced it. In the richer ones, the great- eHr^numbers were more backward and flow to believe it; and if our own country had been as rich, or as intent on riches, when the gofpel was nrft preached to it^ as it is at prefent, it may be qucftioned whether or not it would have embraced it. When one is rich, or makes hade to be fo, he cares not to give himfelf any trou- ble about religion at all •, if he is in the keen puruiit of riches, no fpiritual thought employs his mind ; the God of this world has full poileffion of his heart ; he has littie or no fenfe of religion, and, except it be for fome low Vv'orldly end, he has no appearance of it. If his fortune is already made, his time and attention are aimofl as much fv/allowed up in managing or fpcnding, as they w^re in acquiring it : he fares fump- tuoiifly every day, his mind is enfeebled, his thoughts are diffipated, he wants to make a figure in life, and he is infenfibie and forgetful of God. Feeling no wants, he afks no bleffings ; proud of his knowledge, Jie thinks he need not be told his duty. If, on a rare occafion, he countenances public worfhip, he declares by his looks that he thinks he is defcending from his dignity, and is doing a very humble thing. In fhort, if he has firll profefled religion, and then becomes opu- SERMONS* 7 lent, he lofes the fenfe, and Ihakes ofF the profeflion of it. This certainly is oftentimes the cafe : nay, as irre- ligion is an ordinary appendage of riches, there may be fome poor enough, and yet fo vain as to throw ofl the air of religion, merely that they may be reputed rich. I do not afFirm that the country in general is in an eafy and opulent ftate : no. The inequality among- men is increafed, and mifery is increafed and mul- tiplied in proportion. A few are enriched and live in fplendour ; many are in ftraits, llriving to live a- bove their circumftances *, many are benumbed with conftant drudgery and fevere toil ; their heavy labour and anxiety operate upon them, not like a temporary affliction, but render their minds grofs, ftupid, and material. Sometimes borne down by the rich, and always by the wretchednefsof their condition, they are as the *' Afs that coucheth down between two burdens." Their fpirits are deprefTed, and nailed and fixed, as it v/ere, to the earth : many of them have no fenfe of religion, and as little appearance of it. And as the rich and great forfake religion, the mid- dle and -lower clafTes of mankind follow them, and are gradually Aiding into the fame profanenefs. They are the nobles, they are the great and opulent, who lead the fiifhions of the world j they keep religion in repute when they appear to have it ; they leave it to be thought a mean and vulgar thing when they for- fake it. To a great many of the ordinary people, their very blemilhes appear amiable, their vices refpe^lable, and their impiety excufable, or worthy of imitation : fo that, in various ways, riches are the caufe or occa- fion of irreligion. We have hiftories of the courfe of trade and commerce, and many diredlions how to get rich ; but had we a moral hiitory of riches, that is, of the effe£ls that they invariably produce upon 'jtthe benevolente and devotion of mankind, I am per- fuaded wc would have fet before our eyes a rnore dark 5 SERMONS. and unplcafing theory than perliaps we imagine. The friends of religion might be amazed at it. 3d, Men forfake religion, becaufe their honour and worldly intereft are fo little connecSted with the pro- feflion of it. If the thing were efleemed honourable^ if a man's reputation were firmly eftabliflied by it, if it were a fure mean by which he could rife in the ar- my or in the ftate, he might be a hypocrite, but ha would doubtlefs be a very decent profeflbr : but no fuch profelhon is neceflary to be a general, or a ftatef- man, or a judge, or a member of the: legiflative body of the kingdom. And as men gain little or nothing, by a rcligiouG profeflion, neither are they in danger^ of lofing any thing by the want of it. One's profane- nefs brings little difrefpecl- upon him j he is hardly.: the worfe received in any company, and it puts hinv in no danger of lofing any part of his- fortune. Li- the time of Charles I. many of our great people, we. are told, crowded to church, with a demure counte- nance, and a mighty ferious air : not chiefly, I fup- pofe, becaufe that prince was attempting an alteratioii- of the eftabjilhed religion ; that, indeed, alarmed the lower fort; but the great were alarmed, becaufe the-, king was revoking the grants to the tithes and church lands which they were in polTefllon of. Hence their zealous prcfefTicn, that they might he fuppcrted by the clergy and the people, and Co enabled to crufh the king's m.eafures, and preferve and fecure what they; had got. While the danger lafted, their profeiTioa feemed edifying ; when the dorm was over, it relax- ed, prodigioufly. I am not contending that religious profefTion ought- always to be rewarded with lucrative offices, or places of honour and trufl : but if religion is efteemed to be. of any importance, I fhould think, that when compe- titors for an office are nearly alike in virtue and abi- lity, the decent religious man ought to be preferred. This might gently bend tl\e world to think more fa~- vourably of religion. SERXIONS; p Still lefs am I urging that religion ought to be in- forced by civil laws. It is of a Spiritual nature, and is beft promoted by fpiritual motives. When, in a late reign, there were laws compelling men to go to church under fevere penalties, timorous people would then profefs religion, and the aflemblies might be thronged with the poor, and even with the rich. A remedy defperate and ineffectual ! and which could never have been thought of but by thofe who were either ignorant of the fpirit of religion, and the facred rights of confcience, or who wanted to trample upon the liberties of mankind, and enthral them in a dread- ful yoke of llavery. By the way, one cannot but won- der, that fome ingenious men, in the prefent age, who difcover no liking to religious profeffion, feem to ap- plaud thefe or the like meafures as wholefome feve- rities : meafures ! which, were they now to be pur- fued, themfelves would be the firll to feel and lament the rigour of them. When the ableft meh take upon them to defend or palliate fuch abfurdities in govern- ment, they undertake a talk which no man is equal to. But as fuch laws are altogether wrong, fo in the prefent age they would be more abfurd and ineffec- tual than ever. They would be directly oppofite to the genius of the times, to the manners and fafhions of the country : every body would diflike them, and the general bias is fo ftrong towards iicentioufncfs and irreligion, that fuch laws would deftroy themfelves. The execution of them would be utterly impracticable. 4th, The knowledge men have, or think they have, attained in religion, may be mentioned as a caufe of their irreligion. I do not maintain it as a certain point, that there is more real learning, or a greater number of thorough inquirers, in this age than there were in the laft. But a kind of eafy and fuperficial knowledge feems to have becom.e more general *, and men foon co^me to think they have got enough of re- Ugious knowledge. But there is a great miltake that ro SERMONS. ■■■r cannot be got driven but of the minds of moft of our people : They fancy the great or only end of going- to church is to hear fermon, and get inftrud^ion; and yet is it not evident, that the chief end of it is to wor- ihip God in a public and a focial manner! There fcems, in this refpeft, to be more propriety in the ftylc faid to be ufed in a neighbouring church, than that which is in fafliion among ourfeives. They alk, vj^here are you going to prayers ? and we, where are you to hear fermon ? 5 th, The plain and fcriptural way in which religion is taught in this church, does, I believe, diminifli the number of its profeffors. It is a great imperfection of mankind, that many of them care little to hear things which they are capable of knowing, and which,, when known, are likely to be of mofh advantage to them. They like well to hear of feme dark points, and abftrufe fpeculations. Thefe were, perhaps, ra- ther too m^uch infifted on in the lafl age j but towards that extreme, I am of opinion, the prefent age, in ge- neral, have not erred. They have, I apprehend, ra- ther loft their influence with the people, by preaching in a rational and pra<5\ical manner. Strange ! that it fliould fo happen. Shall I be thought to derogate from the common fenfe of mankind, by alleging it ? I fear, however, it is the cafe. Is it not to be lament- ed, that the pure religion of the new teftament, una- dorned with pomp, and unmixed with fuperftition, does not take a deeper hold of the groveling minds of corrupted men — is not m.ore likely to be popular, and to contii\]ue to be fo ? One thing I am forry to ad- vance •, that it happened in fome places, that the ge- nuine religion of jefus could not be received, till fome- thing human was blended with it, or adjed:ed to it, to adapt it to the notions of ignorant and worldly men. It was this, alas ! that firft gave rife to the abfurdities of popery, and to all the inventions of men, in the worjhip of God. The church hiftorians tell us, that. SlSRMONS. 11 feme of the ancient fathers were fo weak, as to infti- tute rites, and fports, and feftivals, very like thofe which had been long in ufe, to prevail on the idola- trous and ftupid people, to renounce heathenifm, and embrace the gofpel. The religion, eftablifhed and taught in this church, has, r believe, lefs of human invention, and lefs mix- ture of fuperftition, than perhaps any other eftablifh- ment ; and yet fomething, fnnilar to what I have juft mentioned, has, I fear, been formerly pra£lifed ; I mean, a ftudying not always to deliver the ideas of fcripture, pure and unmixed, but to accommodate them to the wiflies and expedlation of the hearers. What pity that there fhpuld be any occafion to do this ! or that any teacher fhould ftrive thus " to pleafe men !" What pity is it, that preaching the gofpel of Chrift, in its native fimplicity, fhpuld make men diilike it, and forfake it ! and yet this is fometimes the fact. The doctrines of the gofpel are fublime, interefting, and comfortable ; the pureft morality is founded upon them, and recommended by them. If this morality is explained ; if the vices, fo often condemned in the new teftament, are infilled on and expofed ; if you defcend to particulars, and fhow, that fwearing, per- jury, covetoufnefs, lying, fraud, injuftice, oppreilion, pride, intemperance, and debauchery, are inconfii^ent with the Chriftian character ; if you enjoin, as our great Mailer has commanded, the necelfity of devo- tion, of juftice, of reftitution, of truth, of meeknefs, of temperance, of felf-denial, of brotherly-love and charity, the people yawn and hear you with difgull ; they go away, and like not to return to hear fuch doc- trine. The theatre is thronged to, by the power of an art- ful, a bewitching, and dangerous adulation. It is faid to be a picture of the paflions, and vices, and follies of men : but to get a crowded houfe, the painters are forced to condemn the. vices which the audience have $^ SERMONS. noti and to flatter and foment thofe tliey have. If they panited to the life the temper and the vices of thofe vi^ho refort to them, they w^ould foon be offend- ed, and withdraw, unwilHng to be mortified with the view of their real felves. How dreadful, if ever the pulpit fliould be debafed in this manner ! or Ihould ever verge towards any art of that kind ! One had better never preach at all, or ery in a defart, than be guilty of any fuch grofs and criminal proftitution. 6th, The want of pomp and fhow in our manner of worfhip, tends perhaps to diminifh the number of piofeflbrs. From the firft eftablifhment of our con- llitution, the public fervices of religion have been done with much fimplicity, and without any thing of glares nothing to ftrike the fenfes or entertain the imagina- tion of the worfhippers. Not that I imagine there is any value in that wcrihip which is altogether occa- fjoned by outward fhow : no. It is the fpirituality of worfhip which gives it value. " God is a fpirit, and they that worfhip him, muft worfliip him in fpirit and in tr^th." But where the right inward principle is weak or awanting, external things may have fome in- fluence on religious profefTion. And I believe our worflvip is lefs attractive, or at leafl is performed in iefs decent places, than might at firfl be intended. This proceeds from the felfifhnefs of the age, and their backwardnefs to be at any expence abou^ facred things. Churches have been ere^ed and endowed by the piety of our forefathers, in the times of poverty and fimplicity ; had thefe things been left to this age of riclies and commerce, it may be very queflionable whether or not they would ever have been done. We might have had none or fewer places of public wor-p fhip, arid inflead of the fcanty provisions for the teach- ers of rightecufnefa, there might have been no fuch provifions at all.. The attachment of a country to religion may, ia general, be cftimated from the Itate and condition of SERMONS. f3 Its religious buildings. When msii are under the power of devotion, well or ill direfted, they fcrupie not at any expence in this matter : when they are cool and irreligious, they can be at none. The mag- nificence of fuch buildings, as it flows from a refpe£t to religion, it tends alfo to preferve that refpect. Men were formerly affected with external objects juft as we now are. We look with a folemn and religious awe upon the grand and (lately edifice within which I now (land j with a like veneration we behold the vail and magnificent ruins of many fuch domes and {lru6lures throughout the country. , Our churches, in general, are diminutive obje6l3, and have nothing ftriking a- bout them. I believe there is no Chriftian country where thefe are in fo forry a ftate. They ought to bear fome proportion to the fplendour of the age, and to the public and private buildings in prefent ufe. But men live luxurioufly " in their ceiled houfes, while the houfe of God lies walle." This is both a proof of our irreligion, and it is alfo a caufe of it. Have men religion ? why, then, are the temples of the liv- ing God in ruin ? why are the woriliipping places in fuch a ftate of naftinefs and difrepair ? why in many places does it cod fuch a ftruggle to get them repair- ed in the cheap, the coarfe, and flovenly manner in which they are .'* though there arc laws, long fince made, and flill in force for fuch reparations. Do not the bulk of mankind conclude at once that reli- gion mud be of very fmali importance, when they fee the rich and great, who are reputed wife, fo averfe to be at any expence about it ? do they not from this caufe think llightly of relijgion, and turn indifferent about profefling it ? and do not the aged and deli- cate^ and the people of better fafhion, " forfake the •afTbmbling of themfelves ?" avowedly declaring, that our churches are fo fliattered and cold, that they en- danger their health; fo foul and ruinous, that they arc naufeous and ofFenfive to them ; and that they want B .14 SERMONS. a more neat and better Sheltered place to worfliip Cod in. 7th, I add, tliat religion is lefs profefled, becaufe of the low appointments of its teachers. I am not afliamed to fay it, becaufe I believe and know it to be true, that the poor provifions of clergymen are a caufe that the profeflion of religion declines. Thefe provifions, in the cheap and plain times they were modified, and for many years after, might be fufficient cr tolerable, efpecially when there werefuperadded to them the eifefts of the generofity which was then in fafhion •, but they are far from being fo in this rich, expenfive, and felfifh age. In every nation, that is what we call civilifed, the ideas of contempt and of ignorance are infeparable from poverty, and the idea of knowledge is connected with riches. " This wifdom (fays Solomon,) have I feen under the fun, and it feemed great unto me : there was a little city, and few men within it ; and there came a great king againft it, and befieged it, and built bulwarlvs againft it: and there was found in it a poor wife man, and he by his wifdom delivered the city ; yet no man remembered that fame poor man. Then faid I, wifdom is better than ftrength : never- thelefs the poor man's wifdom is defpifed, and his words are not heard." Agreeably to this ancient ob- fervation, the fentiments of all men, and efpecially of the rich, are, What fenfe can you expeft from one, v/ho has fo little to fpend, who entertains fo few, who fares fo fimply, and is fo coarfely drefled ? This has been long the common train of thinking ; but never more fo, perhaps never fo much fo as in the prefent times. It is wealth that procures re- fpedl: *, little matter whether it be derived from ancef- tors, or fuddenly acquired, or got by means right or wrong •, the man pofTeiTed of it is held -in honour; it gives him the reputation of wifdom and knowledge. The clergy are poor, and therefore fuppofed to be ig- SERM0N5; 15 nrorant j how can it, the world thinkf;, be worth the while to go to a pkce of worlhip, where a low and ignorant perfon leads in the fervice ! This, I believe, is the filent realbning of very great numbers. Hence it is in^part, as well as from the caufes mentioned a- bove, that thofe who are nearly upon a level with us, or not far above us, in their circumftances and way of living, have commonly a decent profeiTion, and re- fort to our churches : thofe who are wealthy and a- bound in riches, have, in many places, almoil totally deferfced us. They imagine that, as they liave mere riches,, they have iikewife got more knowledge than their teachers ; or they, are aihamed to join in wcr- fhip with, or fcem to have their duty told them .by thofe who are ib ver ■ far below them. Some time ago an attempt was made for a remedy, very inade- quate to the lafl mentioned caufe of irreligion : but though little was fought, nothing was obtained ; and it is likely no remedy may be thought of till it fhall be too late j and then, as in other cafes, the wonder may be, that a thing fo obvioufly neceffary was fo long- negle61:ed. Ah for the days of ancient fimplicity 1 when virtue was pra6lifed, and religion was in fa- fhion \ when men v/ere not yet civilifed into atheifm, covetoufnefs, and ferocity of temper ; when riches had not juftled out the fentiments of humanity and devotion ; and when men were more afraid of being cruel and profane than of being poor, or appearing to be fo. There is ftill another thing which may be it is ex- pedled I fliould mention. Some weak arid well-mean- ing people, joined and perhaps fet on by others of a diiFerent call, would be very willing to afcribe all the growing'profanenefs and ineligion to the clergy them.- felves J lamenting, that the miniflers of the lall age were much purer and better than we are. That the clergy may be in part blameable, may be owned. We never pretended to be nerfsft j..and no man o£ B 2 t6 sermons. juft difccrnment will expeft, that we alone fhall be totally exempted from the mfluence of thefe caufes which tend to flacking the profeiTion of religion : but I will be bold to afBrm, that the prefent clergy of Scotland, in general, are as unblemifhed in their lives, have as much purity and regularity of manners, and are poflefled of as wide an extent of knowledge of things human and divine, as any equal number of church-men of like fortunes iirthe known world: nay, I will farther fay, that there are many of them, who, in point of ability, are no ways inferior to thofe who are eminent in the other learned profeffions in the na- tion. Their regularity in preaching, and diligence in their other minifterial labours, arc well known ; and if it will give any eafe and quiet to the complainers, I believe I can aflure them, that, at the diftance of a century hereafter, the prefent generation of minifters will be juft as much eileemed and regretted as thefe now are who have lived a hundred years before them. "A prophet (it is faid) has not honour in his own coun- try," and he may alfo mifs of it in his own time. To all the above caufes, the operation of which is fo vifible and fo certain, we may fubjoin, that there are perhaps fome who are wickedly active to promote impiety ; who labour, by their loofe and worldly fpeeches, to pufn forward the irreiigion of the age. Are there really fome " prefumptuous and felf-willed, who drive to beguile unliable iouls, and feek to turn away men from the faith," fey queftioning the certain- ty, and vilifying the importance of divine revelation ? are there fome, wlio, having their hearts entirely fet on this world, call upon others to neglect religion, and to purfue riches and honours as the chief or the only portion of man ? are there fome voluptuous per- fons, who are bufy to exterminate all fenfe and pro- ielhon of religion, to leffen the horror of vice, to ir- ritate the paliions of men, and " to allure, through the iufls of the flcfn, through muich wantonnefs^ thofe .SERMONS. ' 17 ^jvlio were almofl escaped from them that live in er- ror ?" To any fuch perfon, might not one fpeak in the fpirited and aweful words of tlie great apoftle Paul to Elymas the forcerer, " O full of all fubtilty and of all mifchief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of right- eoufnefs, wilt thou not ceafe to pervert the right ways of the Lord ?" Behold the liand of God is lifted up above thy head j inflead of being ftruck at the figlit of thy fellow-creatures hurrying to the pit of deftrucStiion, wilt thou, as by a forcible arm, drive them into it ? Stop, reverence thy God, pity thy perifhing brethren, and prevent the dreadful ruin of thine own immortal foul.- I have done — I have mentioned what appear to me to be fome of the caufes or occalions of our irreligion-, caufes mollly arifmg from the prefent ftate and cir- cumftances of the world; Through a long profperi- ty, men are become indolent and thoughtlefs — Riches engrofs their afFeftions, and confume their time — the grave profeffor meets witli no honour or advantage above the profane — the public fei*vices of religion are performed with an unattracling (implicity — and the teachers of it are poorly fapported and defpifed. It is not eafy to find a remedy that fhali prove ef- feiStual againft. this growing evil. In other cafes, it is laid> that when the nature and caufes of the difeafe are once explored, it becomes eafy to prefcribe the cure. I wiih it were fb in the cafe before us. But I violently fufpecSb, that before religion can be pro- fefled with that decency and regularity which it me- rits, there muft firfl be a great alteration in the out- ward ftate of things (an alteration neither expected nor defired), and flill as great a one in the hearts of men. I fear that v/e can hardly expe£t, in our times, either that humanity or that regard to God which were the true charaCteriftics of the plain and unpo- lilhed ages long fince paft. But nothing is impoffibie 'with God. B 3 . l8 SERMONS. The moll certain and fpecific antidote againft pro- fanenefs, in oppofition to fo many caufes which acce- lerate its courl'e, would be, " to live by faith and not by fight :" I mean, to live in the habitual and over- powering belief of the reality, and of ail the terrors and glories of the invifible world : and we ought to have this faith ftrong, in proportion to the flriking objscls and caufes that laboui* to feduce us. By vi- gorous and repeated efforts, we ought to keep eterni- ty full in our view, that we may be proof againft the powerful contagion and fallacious charms of tlie pre* fent wodd. If we have the reality of religion, how can we mifs to have the appearance of it ! " If we have that faith which is the fubftance of things hop- ed for, and the evidence of tPiings not feen ;" this w^ill counter-work the caufes that operate towards ir- religion. " For this is tliat victory that overcometh the world, even our faith : and, who is he that over- cometh tlie world, but he tliat bciievcth that Jefus is the fon of God." But I do not know how ; we feem very much to want this faith. "While we complain that religion has decayed, we are but half in earneft. We are at the fame time, perhaps v.ith more kcennefs, wilhin^ and praying for a ftill greater infiux of wealth into oiTr country : wealth ! which has already rendered us covetous and rapacious, has debauched our morals, erafed religion out of our hearts, and left us but little of the outward femblance of it. How far we think and wifli confiftently, if \\ e have faith, and look upon eternity as our chief concern •, how far it is poflible to unite the keen commercial fnirit and die fpirit of devotion, I v/ill not determine. One thing I am fure of, that a conftant and lively exercife of faith is neceflary to refilt the temptations of the prefent world. The air we breathe in, the company we talk with, is infectious ', knowledge, vir- tue> religion, if detached from riches, are defpifed ^ SERMONS. 19 an avidity of riches appears in the air, the looks, the words of every one ; nothing, nothing is commended but that which tends to ftifle devotion, and wear off the appearance of it. Serious people ftand by, fee and lament the difregard that is fliown to religion ; and themfelves are catched hold of, and carried down- wards by the current of fa^iion, as if it were by the refiftlefs force of a fwelled and impetuous river. How often have I feen a man lament and abhor the danger of fuch or fuch a lucrative employment to the morals and religion of our youth ', and yet, dverborne by the llream of cuftom, and tempted by the love of the world, put his own fon to it ! We can never with- ftand fuch force, and be firm in our religion, but by the energy of faith. We will prize our integrity, be content to be lefs rich, lefs regarded, and even to fuf- fer affliction, if we have the unfliaken belief and hope of a happy immortality. This is the faith that fup- ported Mofes. " By faith, Mofes, when he was come to years, refufed to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter ; choofing rather to fuffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleafures of lin for a feafon ; efteeming the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treafures in Egypt — for he had refpedt to the recompence of the reward." My reverend fathers and brethren, I hardly choofe to make any addrefs to you, founded on the things I have advanced. In a profane and corrupted age, you know the nature and importance of your paftoral of- fice ; you do i'aore ; with firmnefs, and fidelity, and great labour, you difcharge it. If the things deliver- ed were juft, you can well make thefe conclufions which may aflift you to perfevere in your integrity, your ftedfaflnefs, and your ufeful endeavours to Item the torrent of irreHgion. If your fpirit is ftirred in you at the coolnefs and indifference of the world ; if you are grieved that many " forfake the aflembling of themfelves j" if you are affli6ted at the growth of 20 SERMONS. profanenefs and irrellgion ; if yourfelves are unjuflly loaded with the blame of that profanenefs ; if you have but poor appointments in proportion to your ufefulnejfs, your great labour, and what ought to be your rank in fociety — you have the peace of your own mind, the teftimony of a good confcience, and the aiTured hopes of being one day with that Jefus whom you ferve, and by whofe faith you live. *« In all things approve yourfelves as the minifters of God. In much patience, in afflicStions, in neceffities, in diftreifes, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fallings, by purenefs, by knowledge, by long-fuffering, by kind- nefs, by the Holy Ghoft, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by tlie armour of righteoufnefs on the right hand and on the left, by honour and difhonour, by evil report and good re- port ; as deceivers, and yet true -, as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, and behold ye live; as chaftened, and not killed ; as forrowful, and yet "al- ways rejoicing ; as poor, and yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet poflefling all things." — <* After all, it is but a little while, and ye fhall have fulfilled the miniftry which y€ have received of the Lord. The end of all tilings is at hand, and the fa- fhiion of this world paffeth away." In this interval, let the words of your compallionate and heavenly Mafter give you courage and confolation. " Thefe things have I fpoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace ; in the world ye fhall have tribulation^ . but be of good cheer, Lliave overcome the world." I very fhortly addrefs myfelf to you, the people that are prefent. My brethren, many, like Demas, have from worldy caufts forfaken the profeffion of re- ligion. Will you follow their example .'' will you fuf- fer yourfelves to be carried headlong by the fafliions * of a profane and backfliding generation ? where the faith of Jefus is preached in purity, will you be of- fended at the fimpJicity of the worihip, or the feve^ . J SERMONS. 21 rlty of the diities the gofpel enjoins, or the low con- dition of its teachers, or becaufe no worldly honour or gain is annexed to a religious profeflion ? As Jefus faid to his difciples, after many had gone back, and walked no more with him, " will ye alfo go away ?" I am perfuaded, that, notv/ithftanding the low ebb of religion, there are many of you who can anfwer with fincerity, and v/ith a zeal like that of Simon Peter, *' L©rd, to whom fhall we go but unto thee 5 thour haft the words of eternal life, and we know, and are fure, that thou art that Chrift, the Son of the living God." Let me befeech you, who profefs religion, to live fuitably to it. If you are as unjuft and hard-hearted, as covetous and clofe-handed, as cruel and oppreffive, as thofe who have no profeflion, you might as well throw afide the mantle too. You profefs religion, and you pra6life wickednefs j your temper and your actions are not hid from the difcerning world ; and I do not know but your wickednefs is one of the great caufes of irreligion. Profane men fee, that, whatever you profefs, your condu6l, and the motives of it, are as bafe as their own j and you become the wretched means of hardening them in their profanenefs. Let there be no ground for any fuch charge againit you : " Let your light fo fhine before men, that they may fee your good works," may honour and profefs reli- gion, " and glorify your Father who is in heaven." To conclude : let us all addrefs our prayers to the throne of grace, that God may pour down his Spirit to check the progrefs of irreligion, and revive his work, in thefe years, " when the love of many has wiixed cold j" that the exalted redeemer m^y " ride forth glorioufly, conquering and to conquer ;" that his arrows may fharply pierce the hearts of men, and bring them in fubjection unto himfelf -, that the Al- mighty Spirit of grace may take hold of the hearts of nien, and that this may appear by their upright prac- 2Z SERMONS. tice and ferious profeiTion ; particularly, that God may enable us to be fo influenced by faith, that we may never forfake religion through the love of this prefent world. " Now unto him that is able to keep us from fall- ing, and to prefent us faultlefs before the prefence of his glory with exceeding joy \ to the only wife God cur Saviour, be glory and majefty, dominion and power, now and ever* Amen,'* SERMON 11. SOBER AND RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE CONSIDERED AND RECOMMENDED. Preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. John Burns, 1774. WITH THE CHARGE. 1'hen t^ey that feared the Lordy fpahe often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it : and a book of re" memhrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they Jhall be mine, faith the Lord of hofls, in that day when I make up my jewels ; and I will f pare them as a man fpareth his own fan that fernieth him. Thenfloallye return, and difcern between the righteous and . the wicked, between him that ferveth God, and him that fervethhim not. Mal. iii. 16, 17, 18. T\ EASON-and fpeech are the two principal faculries by which mankind are diftinguifhed from the ani- mal creation ; by the ufe of reafon we find out truth^ and by fpeech we communicate it to others. And our nature feems to be fo formed, that juft reafoning enableth us to fpeak diftin£lly, and focial converfation brightens and improves the faculty of reafoning. As this is the cafe, an inquifitive perfon may, from the bare efteem of knowledge, delire te converfe with others ; the ferious and well-difpofed will, moreover, defire that exercife, becaufe conference, if properly conduO;ed, is an excellent mean of regulating our af- ie human and divine knowledge ? Shall they alone re- main in a drowfy and torpid ftate ? Shall they reft fatisfied, as if they had already attained perfedlion ei- ther in knowledge or in pradliee ? Next to our pronenefs to fm, I cannot help think- ing that what we have moft to regret, is, that we have not been early fet upon the right road to purfue know- ledge. The misfortune, I believe, is pretty general : I am fure there are many who think and feel that they have great reafon to lament and complain of it. What an unbounded profpeft, what an extenfive field of knowledge lies before us; a Seld rich with every thing that is ufeful, and plcafing, and ornamental to- the mdnd of man; a field, of which great parts are, it is likely, never to be trodden by us ; fome of which, at lead, we might with pleafure have furveyed, had- we been timeoully fet upon the right track. Is there no remedy," is there no way to retrieve this misfor- tune, at ieaft in fome degree ? Mufh we check our natural, our ftrong defire of knowledge ? Muft we be- content to remain for ever fixed in the fame igno-- rance ? If there is a remxcdy at all, it mull be fetched, in a great meafure, from a friendly and fpirited inter- courfe with one another. Travellers to the fame, or uifFerent parts of the world, ufe to compare the ob- iervations they make. Why Ihould not men, who travel in the intelie61:ual world, if I may fo fpeak ;- who are in purfuit of the fame^ or different parts of knowledge, do the fame? Why ihould they not, in this fenfe, be willing to communicate and willing al- . fo to leani ? And may not he who juftly values his great and improved talents, learn fomething even from- thofe \^ho differ from him, and who, in rnany refpe^ls, are confefledly inferior to him ? Men choofe com- monly to affociate with thofe who are believed to be of the fame opinions with theiftfelves j but to con- SERiVlONS. 35 verle with thofe who are known to differ from us is a better method, both to find out truth and to increafe in knowledge : As by the collifion of hard bodies fire is generated, fo, by the oppofition of fentiments-in de- bate, reafon 13 fharpened, and truth invefligated. De- cency in contradi(iing is to be obferT-ed; but amongft thofe who know one another, and converfe together for mutual improvement, there is no great occafion for much ceremony. Much ceremony mars the pur- pofe, and is indeed naufeous. One would rather choofe to frequent the company of thofe who oppofe and ruffle him, than of thofe who are fcrupuloufly afraid" to contradidl him. It is a dull and hurtful pleafure to have to do with that fort of literary people, who, inftead of correcting our notions, iniipidly fmile in our face, fee m to admire us, and to approve of every riling we fay. I proceed to mention, 3d, Another advantage derived from conference> Gr " fpeaking often to one another •," which is. That it confirms or reftores good agreement, harmony, and peace. The caufe of drynefs and difcord amongft us is commonly either a fufpicion of wrong principles, or of fome great blemifh in moral charadber : thefe fufpicions, when happily they are little more than fuf- picions, will be either completely removed, or at lead gradually w-eakened by converfation and acquaintance. We fufpedt one another either of wild and enthu- fiaftic, or of lax and unfound principles. Moft cer- tainly we ought to be at the utmolt pains to have found principles in religion and morality, forming all thefe principles by the fcriptures of truth ; but tliough we drive ever fo honeftly to do fo, it is im-poffible that the thoughts of thinking men, on fome abftrufe points, can be quite alike, and run exactly in the fame chan- nel. It is great weaknefs to expert this ; it is great folly and unreafonable feverity to urge it;: and when civil or ecclefiaftical rulers llridlly prefs an uniformi- ty of belief, they counterwork .their own defignj by 32 SERMONS. exa£^ing too much, they gain nothing at all ; nay, they drive men into hypocrify or fccpticifm. There is, perhaps, no religious fociety where the do£trine eftablifhed is lefs fincerely believed, than in that very fociety which impofeth ^n abfolute neceflity of receive ing implicitly, and believing blindly, whatfoever it hath affumed the authority to declare found and or- thodox. A thinking perfon can never refign his un- derftanding fo entirely as to allow himfelf to be guid- ed like a beaft, wherefoever thofe in authority fhall pleafe to lead him. Rulers may by commands dire£l: our external actions •, but they play the fool, the bi- got, the tyrant, when they command us to believe. If a few hundreds of ftudious perfons were poflefTed of a precife famenefs of belief in every point of doc- trine, this would be a wonderful thing indeed ; if it did exift, it would be in the judgment of a fuperior Being, a greater miracle than ever was exhibited. Confult the hillory of the Chrlftian Church, the hif- tory of Popilh countries, and you will find that the rigorous impofing and exa£ling a ftric^ famenefs of belief hath commonly produced fcepticifm, infidelity, loatliing at religion, and fometimes, I fear, atheifm itfelf. In this refpedl:, therefore, very confiderable latitude hath been allowed in well regulated focieties, Jewifh and Chriflian : but perhaps we of this reform- ed Church differ lefs in our manner of thinking than in our turn of exprefilon ; or, if fome do really differ, the difference is overlooked, and paffeth for nothing, whilft they keep up a manly familiarity and friendly acquaintance. Did it ever happen, that a man was fevere againil the heterodoxy of one with whom he kept up a good underftanding ? Was it ever known, that a friend was extremely difguftcd with the prin- ciples of his friend, whilft the friendfiiip lafted ? The misfortune is, we firft fufpe£l: a man^s principles, and then we avoid him ; we avoid him ft ill, and the fuf- picion grows , we pore upon, and it fticks faft with SERMONS. 23 US. Had men of feemingly different opinions always met and explained themfelves, their differences^ at leafl in material points, would very often have appeared to be much about words, and many idle wranglings and difputes which have made fo much noife in the world, and fwelled the heavy volumes of ancient and modern times, would, to the unfpeakable advantage and ho- nour of Chriflianity, never have been heard of. To " fpeak often one to another" doth alfo procure mutual peace, as it removes fecret grudges, and the fufpicions we are apt to entertain about the moral cha- ra6ler of one another. A man's fmcerity, or the pu- rity of his morals, are often fufpe£led when there is little or no ground for any fuch fufpicion ; we have been misinformed, and have taken up an ill report a- gainft him •, our not having acquaintance with him is the caufe why we think ill of him ; when we come to know a little above the fprings of his a£lions, and the tenour of his conduft, we often difcover our mif- take, and begin to think better of him. We are fear- ed at a man's fuppofed temper and vices ; we con- verfe with him, and our fear abates. Oftentim.es the vices and defeats which thofe we are ftrangers to are charged with, are like thofe objecSls which appear de- formed and terrible at a dillance, but, when we have approached them, their deformity and terriblenefs dif- appear. How common a thing is it to entertain a bad opinion of men, which, upon a little acquaint- ance, we fee was groundlefs ! This happens every day, and it fliould make us cautious and How to think ill of any perfon with whom we are but little ac- quainted ; and if we have ill thoughts of him, we ihould try if they may not be removed, by ftriking up an acquaintance, and converfmg with him. I proceed, 4th, Another great advantage which the fearers of I God derive from conference, is, growth and improve- :ment in the fpiritual life. To this end it muft indeed !bc wifely conducted : The words we hear in conyer* 34 SERMONS. fatlon, have a furprifing influence upon the turn of the mind, the feelings of the heart, and our behaviour in life. How often hath an impure hint, perhaps unmeaningly thrown out, polluted the mind of the hearer, given rife or growth to diforderly appetites or paflions, which have foon after been exerted into ac- tion, and iffued in his remorfe and fhame. When this happens to be the cafe, hath not the unwary fpcaker reafon of deep mourning and regret, and hatJr not the unfortunate hearer reafon to repent that ever he v/as in fuch company, though it may have been that of his near relations or intimate friends ? Might it not be an effectual check to all fuch dangerous con- verfation, did the fpeaker paufe a little, and confider, "What mifchief may this word, this ftory cccafion ? "What fm may be committed in the confequence of it ? V/hat ihame, what punifhment may fome unliable perfon be brought to fufPer by it ? — How often alfo,,, and I fpeak it with pleafure, how often hath a fimple hint raifed and cherifted the devout and friendly af- fections, — caught hold of a man who was tottering, and jufl upon the verge of falling into fome foul tranf- grellion, been the means of eftabiifning him in virtue, and fixing him in a laudable and Chriilian courfe of a6lIon ? Hath not many a man felt the emotions of gratitude flirring in his breaft, by being put in mind of God's loving kindnefs toward him ? Even an ac:i- f dental expreflion concerning the excellency of reli- gion, and the furpafTmg love of Jefus, . or concerning the dignity, the reality, and beauty of virtue, amidft all the prefent corruption and difTipation of the world, is often not without efFecl. It awakens in the foui admiration and love to God j it kindles a v/arm de- fire of virtue in the heart of the hearer, and cherifhes that fame defire in the heart of the fpeaker. He «v often hath foft perfuafion pacified wrath, and ftei ri- med the impetuous tide of paOion ! How often hn.h it excited pity and commiferation, ?nd allayed tii-; SERMONS. 35 l^oifterous intention of revenge and cruelty \ How of- ten have the words and countenance of a friend cool- ed the boilings of paffion, made a perfon to controul his criminal defires, to alter his purpofe, and preferve his innocence ! How beautiful, how forcible and fa- lutary are fuch right words, how ftudioufly to be fpo- ken, how faithfully to be remembered ! " A whole- fome tongue is a tree of life ; — a word fitly fpoken is like apples of gold in pictures of fdver ; — the words of the wife are as goads, and as nails faflened in fure places by the mafters of the aflemblies ; let therefore no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the ufe of edifying ; be ye filled with the Spirit, fpeaking among yourfelves mu- tually ', let the word of Chrift dwell in you richly, in all wifdom teaching and admonifliing one another." Were we difpofed to fo falutary an exercife, we could be at no lofs for materials to converfe upon, which have a direO: tendency to our mutual improve- ment in the fpiritual life, — to warm our hearts with the love of God, and with the love of one another, to give us the command of our paffions, and to bend us to the practice of righteoufnefs. Might we not dif- courfe on the nature and beauty of every Chriftian vir- tue, the obligations to the practice of it, derived from the light of nature, and the farther obligations to it, from the Gofpel of Chrift? By this means, would we not learn to have clear and precife notions of every virtue, and would we not be the better able to re- commend virtue, in all its particular branches, to the choice and purfuit of one another ? Would not fcrious converfation on fuch fubje^ts, cherifh the devout affec- tions, infpire us with the love of God, and teach us refignation to his will ? Did we in the fear of God, " fpeak often one to another," concerning the com- paffion and love of Chrift to a perifhing world, would not our hearts burn within us, whilft we meditated and fpoke of him ? Would net our faith in him 36 SERMONS. be ftrengthened, our love increafed, and our hearts in- flamed with a (Irong dcfire to rcfemble and obey him ? By converfing about the glories of the other world, would we not learn to bear with contentment the ills of this life, and to become more indifferent with refpe£t to its tranfient joys? Would we not by divine ^race, behave in the whole of our condudl, as '< fee- ing him who is invlfible ?" Would we not believe and feel the eternal world to be as real as if we al- ready beheld it with our eyes ? and would we not gra- dually be more and more influenced by that " faith which is the fubflance of things not feen, and the evidence of things hoped for ?" And v/ould we not have to fay, from comfortable experience, " This is the vi61:ory that overcometh the world, even our faith?" In fhort, by ferious and religious conference, what great improvements in goodnefs might we make ? Would we not become better men and better Chriflians, advancmg to the meafure of the ftature of the fulnefs of Chrilt ? — Edified by different friends, we would have it to fay, in imitation of the virtuous and thoughtful Roman emperor, ** From this man I firfl learned to think reverendly of God, and of his righteous adminiftration; from that man I learned fub- milTion to the will of providence, and the art of con- tentment in every condition of life : By one, I was taught to have a rehfh for the beauty of manners, to perceive the dignity and reality of virtue, and the beauty of holinefs ; by another, I was taught, through divine grace, to bridle my paflTions, to be eafdy recon- ciled to thofe who had offended me, to fet a due value upon the virtues of others, to make allowance for their imperfections, and fmcerely to love them: By the great pains which one friend took upon me, my mind was gradually opened, and at length I had a ravifhing view of the Gofpel fcheme of falvation; by another I learn- ed to fee the vanity of worldly pleafures, to fludy the art of felf-rccollcclion; to be Intent upon mine own im- SERMONS. 37 prove'ment, and to aim at Chriftian perfection." AnJ we might have it to add, with the fame devout and iUuflrious writer, I ewe it to the providence ot God^ that ever I was acquainted with fuch perfons. And here one cannot but lament the falfe delicacy and corruption of Chriftians in the prefent age, which in fome refpe£ts is funk into degeneracy, even below the flate of the heathen world : Heathens, when they met top-ether, ufed to difcourfe concerning the nature of virtue, the chief happinefs of man, the being and providence of their fuppofed gods ; they talked of their fupreme divinity •, with him they began, with him they ended, of him too were their fongs. How" different from this is the temper and piaOiice of Chriftians, v/ith refpecl to the true God, in whom they pretend to believe ! I fpeak not of nominal Chrif- tians ; of them it is to be feared, that God is not in all their thoughts, for he is not in their mouths, un- ieis when they blafpheme him ; I fpeak of thofe who make fome profeflion of being Chriftians : When a company of fuch convene, how are tlicy employed ? Why, thofe who have ridiculoufiy ufurped to them- felves the ftile of good company, call for the gaming table, and from diftipation or avarice wafte the precious hours in a dull round of inlipid play. — Hence the un- becoming, the lamentable and growing ignorance of that clafs of people ; an abufe of company ! a mur- dering of time, which I truft will ever be difcounte- nanced by the clergy of Scotland. — And on a cheer- ful or a grave occafion, where gaming is improper, what do our fafliionable people talk about ? If one of the company happens to fpeak of God, or religion, or providence, or a future ftate, he is airnoft thought to have fallen into an impropriety of behaviour, and to have tranfgrefled the rules of good-bfeeding ; nay, fwayed, it feems, by the fafliion of the age, even the teachers of wifdom and righteoufnefs, if they happen \.o be in company with their hearers or fcholars after D 38 SERMONS. the folcinn le£lure or difcourfe is delivered, feldom fpeak a word about what they have been publicly en- gaged in •, juft as if they were afhamed to appear wile and good, or fufpeiS. prove the mliiJ, enlarge the underflanding, and in- creafe the virtue and the faith of one another, they are mutually comforted, and will hardly be fenfible of the ills they fufFer j as an illuflrious band of kinfmen or brothers, they are knit together in love, and bear one another's burdens- And what will alleviate dif- trefs, if it is not the fympathy, the counfel, and the affiftance of wife and tender hearted friends, mutually given and received ? Coniidering themfelves as ftran- gers, — as exiles in a foreign land, — as the citizens of another country, they jointly travel homewards to the city they belong to, they intereft themfelves in the af- fairs of one another, and like pilgrims croffing an impetuous river, they pafs through life braced, as it were, in the arms of one another. Mutually ftrength- ened, and comforted, and miited unto Jefus, they know they fhall never perifh j they ftand unbended under the prefTures of life, waiting, and encouraging cne another to v/ait for the " end of their faith, the falvaticn of their fouls." ^I might alfo have added, That there are fubjec^s v/hich are proper to be difcuffed only in private cir- cles. Religious knowledge hath been dillinguiihcd into thofe points which may at all times, and before all men, be fully and clearly explained j and thofe, which are to be very warily touched upon. The plain duties and faith of the gofpel are the firft ; knotty points and controveriies, which take up fo much room in moll theological fyftems, are the laft r And what title hath a«common audience to hear difcourfes on controverted points? What purpofe can this ferve? "Why are fuch things offered in public ? Is it that 2x0 part of the counfel of God may he fupprelfed, nor the people defrauded ? But you impart to them no real knowledge, you only amufc them with hard words, for they cannot judge' of controverfy -, many of them have no opinion about thofe points concern- ing which they raife the grestefl clamour j they take SERMONS. 4t their notions by rebound from others. You do a thing perilous and inconvenient j you confound the diftin6tion which the Apoftle makes between milk and ftrong meat ; you counter- aft his precept, to avoid queftions and contentions, which he fays are vain and unprofitable, and do gender ftrifes ; you do the people great harm ; you diftraft their minds, and . divert their attention from things that are intelligible, neceflary, and ufeful to them : And if fome be fo dif- putatious, fo polemically difpofed, that one way or other they mull dip in ccntroverfy, it were furely more proper for them to difpute in private with thole who are capable to perceive and w^eigh the force of me- taphyfical arguments, and who will either fubrnit to their evidence, or elfe return anfwers to them. I pafs over other great advantages to be acquired by unreferved and friendly converfation. It teach- eth us to be eafy, and to keep temper when we are contradifted, — it leads us into tlie knowledge of men and manners, — it enables us to fpeak of human duties with judgment and precifion, — it mitigates the ills of life, and heightens its joys ; — in fome meafure, it fupplies the place of friendfhip, a thing fo rare, that we may pafs through the fdent, and the bufy fcenes of life, without ever meeting with an undifputed inftance of it. — The advantages already mentioned. — accu- racy in thinking, — progrefs in the moll profitable knowledge, — mutual harmony and good agreement, — growth in the fpiritual life, — confolation and inward^ peace, are m.cmentous and defirable. The defire of them may wxU incline thofe v/ho fear God to " fpeak often one to another ;" and if, with a (incere defire to grow in grace and knowledge, we converfe with one another •, if we drive for improvement, v/e ilrive not alone, nor in vain •, God hlmfelf v/iii aihft us by his Spirit. "When the two aftonilhed and dejedled difci- ples, going to Emaus, comm.uned together by the v/ay, and reafoned concerning their Mailer, who three days ^1 42 SERMONS^. before had been torn from them, condemned to death, and crucified ; Jefus himfelf drew near, and went with them •, he expounded unto them tlie fcriptures concerning liimfclf, removed their fadnefs, and warair ed their hearts with joy ; and they faid one to anot ther, " Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked to us by the way, and opened to us the fcrip- tures ?" If our endeavours toward fpiritual p€rfe(£):ion jvre hncere, will not God's Spirit, in like manner, en- lighten and affift us ? — Our endeavours to be wife and good, are taken notice of and recorded, for " when they who feared the Lord, fpake often one to another, the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of re- membrance was written for thofe who feared th^ Lord, and thought upon his name." The fearers of God are precious in his light, they are his fpecial treafure, and fure of immortal glory ; " and they fhall be mine, faith the Lord, in tlie day when I make up my jewels." — Having the knowledge and the comfort » iible fenfe of fpiritual things, the troubles of life will fall the lighter on their heads, and God may, in his love, fave them even from the chaftifemenis which they deferve ; " and I will fpare them, (faith he) even ag a man fpareth his ojvvn fon that ferveth him." — ^ But in this life, there is, with refpedl to profperity and adverfity, and all external things, very little differ- ence to be obferved betwixt the (late of the righteous and that of the wicked. Tlie great day of retribution approacheth, when God will fever between the flieep and the goats, between the precious and the vile ; '* Then ftiall ye return and difcern between the right- eous and the wickedj between him that ferveth God, .ind him that ferveth him not." uilay the Spirit of the Lord reji upon itSy the Spirit of 'Lvifdom and underfiand'ing^ the Spirit of counfel and mighty the Spirit of knoivledge^ and of the fear of tha JLord : Alay he grant us to groiv in grace^ and that our lips may keep and difperfe knoivledge^ and to his nama he imtnortal praife^ Armn,. SERMONS. 43 THE CHARGJE. Dear Slr^ It is ufual to adminiiler fome advices to young miw nifters in your prefent fituation : I am perfecStly fure, ftliat in view of entering on that difficult office which you have now accepted of, you have, in the fear of the Lord, by communing with your own heart in fohtude, and by fpeaking oftea to your bell friends, carefully formed a plan of your future conduct in private life, and how you are to difcharge die feveral parts, of your minifterial fun6lion : and, indeed, it mud be confeiTed, that if you had not done this be- fore-hand, you could but little avail yourfelfof a few tranfient dire^atch then in all things, do the work of an Evangclift, make full proof of tiiy mi- niilry. Take heed unto thyfelf, and to thy doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this, thou fhalt both fave thyfelf, and them that hear thee." And when you are on the verge of life, you will have to fay, with that faithful fervant of Chrift, " The time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good nght, I have finiflied my courfe, I have kept the faith j henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- coufnefs; which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will sermon'^. 49 'give me at that day. — Confider what I fay, ana the Lord give thee underftanding in all things.'* The form requires, that I iliould alfo fpeak a few words to you of this Congregation. — You have har- monioufly called Mr. Burns to be your Minifter : You have promifed him all encouragement, and fub- miflion in the Lord *, you have done well ; continue in this laudable fpirit, continue to " receive him in the Lord, with all gladnefs, and hold him in repu- tation, becaufe he labours in the work of ChrilL E- fleem him very highly in love for his works fake.^' Nothing will fo efie£lually encourage him, as the fee- ing you give evidence of your growth in grace, and in the knowledge of Chriil ; when he obferves you living foberly, righteouily, and godly, and having, in all things, your converfation, fuch as becometh tlic Gofpel, this will encourage his heart ; you will be his " glory and his joy ; for what is his hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the pre- fence of our Lord Jefus Chrift at his coming ?'' And you will give evidence of your grov/th in ^' grace, by the pratSlice of fobriety, temperance, juftice. and charity ; and, in fhort, by the performance of relative duties. Let parents and children, mafters and fervants, rich and poor, confcientiouily difcharge the duties refpeclfully incumbent upon them, hi particular, the rich are called upon, in this hard time^ to open their hands wide to relieve the poor, who are ev-ery where greatly multiplied in number^ and many, by not being employed, are in deep diilrefs. "No fight will pleafe you fo much, as the faces of men who have been made lefs miferable, and more happy, by your charity. To reileve them, is an evi^ dence that you love God, and eileem the grace of the Lord Jefus •, " but whofo hath this world's good, and feeth his brother have need, and fhutteth up his bowels of compaffion from him, hov/ dwelleth the love of God in him ?" E S E R i>I O K 5, And vou "v'ili be guided to this ChrifLhin converfa- tlcn, if ycu live by faith, if you are devout, if you read and hear the v/ord of God, and fan. ^d their vile flatterers, are his enemies. Not fatis- SERMONS, 5^ fied with difpbcing him, they are bufy to blafl: his chara£l:er with their venomous breath : The cry a- gainft him comes from above ; all the fubaltern tools of corruption join in the cry ; and though he be as virtuous as Cato, they will ftrive, in vain, to render his name as odious as that of Nero : And if a ftatef- man, of the moft diftinguiflied merit, above corrup- tion, and not chargeable with any of thcfe vices which in the iflue appeared in Jeroboam, hath in our times been treated in fo (hocking a manner, need we won- der that the Jewifh courtiers fiiould folicit Solomon to put Jeroboam to death ? It is faid, that " Jeroboam lift up his hand againft the king." I do not recolIe6l that he made any open infurre<£lion ; the meaning probably is, that he artfully endeavoured to fteal away the hearts of the men of Ifrael, behaving like Abfa- lom, who, " when any man came ne&r him, to do him obeifance, put forth his hand, and took him, and faiuted him." And as in Solomon's declining years a weaknefs had crept into his government, that king knew well that Jeroboam had fagacity to obferve fuch wea'knefs, and that he had alfo both ambition and po- pularity to avail himfelf of it, if a proper opportunity fhould offer. But I muft not fcrget, that, beiides Jeroboam's ta- lents and popularity, there was another thing that made him to be fufpe-.i, that he would not de- flroy him altogetlier. And alfo in Judah things went well." I have explained this hiflorical paflage of fcripture in the beft way I could. I conclude the difcourfe with a few more remarks. I ft, The fir ft. remark I make, is, That it is an eafy thing to govern mankind. The bulk of men are, a^ I may fay, haltered ; they are born to fcrve ; they ax'c willing, ever defirous to be led -, they fabmit and live in quietnefs under any go^'crnment that is but half tolerable. If there be infurre6tions or revolts in any ftate or empire; princes or their minifters have con> G 3 7B SERMONS. monly themfelves to blame. If princes will pay 2 becoming regard to the eftabllflied religion, — if they will govern by the known and equitable laws of the land, — if they will execute juftice impartially, — if they will abllain from atrocious and bloody a6ls of oppreflion, — if they will preferve inviolated the rights, the privileges, and ancient charters granted to the people ; in all ordinary cafes, there will be no infur- re6lion, no revolt at all. Even though rights be en- croached upon, or taxes augmented, if it is Ilowly and gradually done, the people will flill be quiet. Indeed, Avhen, like the Ifraelites, a people have been long o- verburdened with a grievous yoke, and fee coming . upon them all at oiice an additional burden, which M'ould crufh them to the ground, and render life itfclf infupportable, they may fometimes be exafperated and provoked to a6t as that people did ; and if there be unanimity among many tribes or provinces, who have icpamte interells, and were many of them formerly jealous of one another, this feems to be a decifive proof, that the provocation given them hath been ex- tremely great. But how quiet and peaceable fubje(fts are, even under defpotic rule, we may be fully fatis- iied, by furveying the ftate of the known world as it is at prefent. Confider how wretched men are in eaft- crn kingdoms and empires ; confider the deplorable flavery of the fubje£ts in Turkey, in Ruflia, and in feme other kingdomis and ftates in Europe, where the common people are, they fiiy, driven to market, and fold along with the land on which they pine away their lives in mifery. Yet in all thefe ftates the peo- ple live quietly, and feldom make any infurredlion ; they couch down under the mighty burden ; they *♦ bow the flioulder, and become fervants unto tri- bute." Well would it become any fuccefibr to a throne, where the fubje0 SERMONS. hinted above, are particularly mentioned. For diey have even " taken of the accurled thing, and have alfo ftolen, and dilTembled alfo, and they have put it even amongft their own fluff," It is faid, " That the anger of the Lord was kindled againfl liVael ;" and " therefore they could not ftand before their enemies, becaufe they were accurfcd." But it was only one man who was guilty ; why are fix hundred thoufand charged as being guilty of one man's fin ? Let it be obferved, that whofoever was privy to Achan's fin, and concealed it, was in fome fort guilty. Thefe -ought to have publifhed the trefpafs, tliat the guilty j)erfon might be punifhed, or removed from the camp, and from among the people. But the reafon that all are charged with being guilty of one man's fin, is, perhaps, that none of them might dare to be guilty of the like in time coming. A people of a grofs and cloudy underitanding were to learn to obey the com- mands of their general, and to with-hold their hands from money devoted to public and religious ufes. Without thefe lefTons, as I have obferved already, they could not expeft to conquer Canaan, nor to have a treafury, gold and filver, the finews of war, for that conqueft ; and, till they inflicted condign punifhment upon the tranfgreflbrs, God tells them that he would withdraw from them : " Neither will I be with you any more, except ye deftroy the accurfed from amongfl you." Then God dirccls Jofhua how the people were to be prepared, and how the guilty perfon was to be de- tedted. " Up, fan6tify the people, and fay, Sandtify yourfelves againft to-morrow; for thus faith the Lord God of Ifrael, There is an accurfed thing in the midft of thee, O Ifrael. Thou canil: not ftand before thine enemies until ye take av/ay the accurfed thing from among you." This fan6t:i^cation ccnfifted in external luftrations, in wafhing their bodies, wafhing of their clothes, abftincncc from foul alliens, and SERMONS. 97 being pure in heart, becaufe God was in a folenin manner to converfe witli them. In this manner the people were fan£lined before God fpoke the ten com- mands to them ; and thus they were to be fandlified, when it was to be difcovered who had taken of the ac- curfed thing. This v/as to be done next morning. " In the morning therefore ye Ihall be brought, according, to your tribes : and it fliall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh, {hall come according to the families thereof ; and the family which the Lord fliall take, fhall come by houfeholds j and the houfehoid whicli the Lord fliall take, fhall come man by man.'' The feverity of the puniihment to be inflicted is alfo in- timated to Jofhua ; " And it fhall be, that he that is taken with the accurfed thing, fhall be burnt with lire, he and all that he hath, becaufe he hath tranf- grefled the covenant of the Lord, and becaufe he hath wrought folly in Ifrael." I cannot tell whether Jo- fhua kept fecret the initruftions God had gii'en him, or if he allowed the method of dete£l:ing the perfon guilty of the accurfed thing, and the dreadful punifli- ment he was to fufter, to be divulged in the camp* If this laft was the cafe, it is a wonder that Achan did not attempt to make his efcape. A Britifli of- fender, in that fort, would have taken a trip beyond fea, pretending, perhaps, that he was going abroad for his health. However this be, *' Jolhua rofe up early in the morning." I cannot help taking notice, that the early rifmg of this brave mg^n is often taken no- tice of in his hiflory. In this particular, he is fet before us as a pattern, whom every man of any fpi- rit fhould imitate. The tradefman or artificer, who aims to make a fortune, or to be independent, fliould rife early, and tranfacSl his bufmefs ; the fludent fliould flart from the bed of lloth, to fee the fun rife in his glory, to acquaint himfelf with the nature, the hiflory, the duty, and highefl happinefs of men •, the prince, the general, the minifter of ffcate, fhould, like I .98 SERIVIONS. Jofhua, rife up early, to promote the good and hap» pinefs of that focicty, be it great or fmail, which hath committed itfelf to his care, to diitribute juftice to individuals and to the public. By the care of Jofhua, Achan, the fon of Carmi, M^as taken. Tlic feveral tribes, and families, and houfehoids, and individuals of the houfchold taken, had pad in review before the Lord, and the lot fell upon the tribe of Judah, and upon Achan in par- ticular. Here it is to be obferved, that the perfon dete£l:ed to have taken of the accurfed thing, is no mean man ; he is one of the princes of the moft ho- nourable of all the tribes ; his great-grandfather was brother to Phares, an anceftor of our Saviour, accord- ing to the flefli. The manner in which Jofhua ex- amined this unhappy criminal doth alfo merit our at- tention. In modern times, a prince would have com- initted the like bufinefs to a fecretary, and the fe- cretary to fom.e fubaltern or inferior perfon : Jofhua, however, examines into the matter himfelf •, and, in this examination, though he be general of the army, and in great forrow for the fin that had been done, and the afftont to the army, of which it was the caufe; he proceeds, however, with all that mildnefs that could have been expelled from a parent or a brother. " My fon," he fays, " give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Ifrael, and make confefhon unto him, and tell me now what thou hafl done*, hide it not from me." Nothing is more unfeemly than to infult a prifoner, or to upbraid an unhappy offender with the criminality of what he hath done. Jofhua requefls Achan to make an immediate and open confefTion : This is giving glory to God*, it is to acknowledge that he knows the raofl fecret iniquity ; and Achan very readily makes a full confeflion, with all that forrow which feems to indicate a real repentance, " And Achan anfwercd Jofhua, and faid. Indeed I have finned againfl the Lord God of Ifrael, and thus SERMONS. 99* and thus have I done. When I faw among the fy^nh a goodly Babyjonifii garment, and two hundred (ht- kels of filver, and a wedge of gi)ld of fifty iliekeis v/eight, then I coveted them, and took them^ and be- hold they are hid in the earth, in tlie midiL of my tent, and the f^ivcr und^r it.*' Tlie eonfeilion ij pe- nitent ; it is full j and it is frankly made : And had the- offence been of a private nature, and committed againft Jofliua^ in his perfonal capacity, I make no d-o^ubt but JoHiua. would have generouily and imme- diately granted Achan a full pardon. When a per- fon of any tolerable condition or character commits an offence againft us, and afterwards comes and ex- prefTes his forrow for having done fo, we are in pain, and forry to fee him make fuch a confeffion to us-, and we forgive him at once. But the offence of Achan v/as of a public nature 5 it affecled-the church and the commonweal. Achan had confeffed ; but further fteps were to be taken to imprefs all the congregationwith horror and with abhorrence of the fm that had been committed. For^his purpofe, " Jofhua fent meffengers, and they ran unto the tent, and behold it was hid in his tent, and the fiiver under it. And they toolc thera," took tlie Babylonlih garment, the wedge of gold and the filver, " and brought them unto Jofhua, and unto all the children of Ifrael, and laid them out before the Lord ;" that is, before the ark, the fymbol of God's prefence in the camp ; ' they laid them upon" fome high and confpicuous place, and every one in that great congregation faw them, or v/ent up to fee them, to look upon them. This, they were told, this is the accurfed thing, this gold, this lilver, this garment^, ftolen by Achan, is the caufe that the anger of the Lord is kindled againft Ifiael, that Ifraei cannot ftand . before their enemies, that they have been chafed and fraitten by the men of Ai. When the monuments of Achan's guilt had been fufficiently infpedted, his I 2 I-OO SERMONS. dreadful puniiliment followed. But firfl Jofliua, and all Ifrael with him, fe«^m to have fat as a grand aflize TO condemn him. " Jofluia, and all Ifrael with him, took Achan, the fon of Zerah, and the filver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his fons, and his daughters," (who it feems had been privy to his theft, and had concealed it) ** and his oxen, and his afles, and his fheep, and his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Jolhua faid. Why haft thou troubled Ifrael?" The affront which the army had fuftained, in confe- quence of the fm of Achan, had troubled and vexed the congregation of Ifrael. " The Lord," Joiliua added, " fhall trouble thee this day." And moft cer- tainly Achan m.ufl have been vexed to a degree that can fcarce be conceived, to fee his tent, his cattle, the monuments of his covetoufnefs, and even his fons and his daughters, all carried along to the valley of Achor, to be burned with him in the fame fire : " For all Ifrael floned him with ftones, and burned them with fire, after they had ftoned them with ftones." I have faid before, that Achan's repentance feems to have been fmcere j fo tliat, though he had been fuf- fered to live, it was not likely he would ever have b^en guilty of facrilege agam. But it fometimes hap- pens, that, for the intereil of the public, a guilty per- ibn is to be puniflied in a more fevere, confpicuous, and itriking manner, than the guilt feems to deferve; and this feems to have been the unhappy cafe of Achan. Tlie army, the rude and unformied people, were im- p.;effed v/ith fear ; tliey learned to obey their general ; a id I do not remember, that after this time any of them embezzled the things devoted to the fervice of God during all die days of Joiliua. They took ftiiJ another ftep to make the fm and punifhment of Achan iubfervient to the public good of Ifrael : " They raii^ axI over him a great heap of ftones unto this day." This great heap was like au iiifcription upon his SERMONS. lOI gvave-ftone ; this would perpetuate the memory of his covetoufnefs, of his facrilege, and his being ftoned to death and burned for it, better than any hiftorical narrative could have done. Why or whence is this heap of ftones ? It is the grave of Achan, who took of the accurfed thing. This would, by terror and ihame, operate upon the minds of that people, hither- to perhaps incapable of being v/orked upon by finer motives. Achan being now puniHied, the Lord turn- ed from the fiercenefs of his anger, and the Ifraelites foon began to-be again victorious. Ey means of greater numbers led out to battle, and an artful am- bufcade, they foon exterminated the menof Ai, with the v/omen and' children, juft as they had done at Jericho before. I finifli the explication with this firf- gle reflection, That if Achan's purloining of tlie pub- lic treafure occauoHed fuch difijrace ta the Ifraciitifli army, what mull be the cafe of a nation, where many of its counfeilors are chargeable with Achan's crime ? If it fhall ever happen hereafter, that. not one perfon only, but many, twelve or (ixteen, for inilance, or forty-five, or two, or even five hundred, or at lealt a great majority of the number, are carelefs about tlie public interell,. grafping at tlie national revenue, and- each of them coveting to enrich hlmfeif by feizing on the flickels of nlvev and the wetige of gold^, muft net fftch a nation fuifer difappointment anddifgrace? Its revenues are embezzled, its ilrength is decayed, its armies are maricd or ch»fed by contemptible enemies j it is fick, it is in a difeafe v/hich is like to proceed from evil to worfe. Can any remedy be found to fave it from political death? If, wliilil the legiilative body is corrupted, the morals of the peafantry are yet tolerably pure, fomething may be done -, for even in the moll defpotic government the laft appeal is to the people ; the people may, by their cries and endea- vours, find means to remove the patrons and tools of corruption from about the throne -, by inquiries into 1 3. i:02 SERMONS. mlfcondu£l, they may terrify tlie generals to acl with fpirit, and even oblige the llatefman to flvake his hand from hokling of bribes. But if the people be alf3 corrupted, (ilent, unafFed^cd, unalarmed, when, by the vilefl meafures, the nation hath been loaded with dif- »;race, there feems to be nothing that can fave it from iHllblution *, the fatal, the deilined period of its exif- tcnce as a (late hath approached; the cup of its-ini^ quity is full ; it will fuil be a taunt and a proverb by its neighbours, and then thefe fame neighbours will probably invade and conquer it. Thus all the aur k ient empires of the world came to an end j Babylon, Athens, Sparta, Rome herfelf, after all her conquefts and worldly gloiy. V/e now keep a fad-day, that this may not for a long time be the cafe of Great. Britain ; which may God of his infinite mercy grant, Haying explained. the chapter, I proceed to make' fome remarks upon the alarming hiltory it contains.. x\nd, in the lirit place, I remark, i. That a people who have formerly been fuccefsful in war, are apt to be elated with a high opinion of their own wndom and ftrength, and to defpife the ftrength of thofe a- gainft whom they are next to carry on a war. The Ifraeiites had fucceeded iigainfl two kings on the eaft- lide Jordan ; they had got Jericho without any other, labour but that of going ftralght forward, and killing the inhabitants, after the city-wall had fallen. They therefore fay, " Let not all the people go up and -itnite Ai -, for they are but few." By the exercife of war, foldiers acquire {kill in war -, and, truftipg to that Ikill, they fometimea-difregard the God of battles; and, from a vain audacioufnefs, they precipitately luih abroad into dangerous war, when equity and prudence miglit call upon them to flay at home, and live in peace. Thus Rabihakeh defies the living God, and fpeaks of Sennacherib his mailer, as if he had been invincible. « Beware," he fays to the Jewi:-, SERMONS. 103 <^ left Hezekiah perfuade you, faying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations de- livered his land out of the hand of the king of Afly- ria ? Where are the gods of Hamath aiid Arphad ? v/hcre are the gods of Sepharvaim ? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand ?" Such too was the pride and the vain afiurance of Pharaoh, that he would deflroy the people of God when they were e- .fcaping out of Egypt. " The enemy faid, I will purfue, I will overtake, I will divide the fpoil ; my luft fhall be fatisiied upon them, I will draw my fword, my hand fhall deftroy them." And, in a fpecial manner, this haughty expectation of fuccefs operates ilrongly, when thofe whom a proud nation hath van- quifhed already, are reputed to have been braver than thofe whqm it afterwards intends to attack. The proud ftyle of language, then, is, " Is not Calno as Carchemifh ? Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria, fo do to Jerufalem ?" And I may here obferve, that Cuch too wa3 the pride of many people, when the nar tion unfortunately entered into this lafting American war. The forces of Great Britain were thought in- vincible ; the ftrength of the colonies was reputed js nothing ; and their fouls were reprefented as being altogether timid and daftardly : And this was not on- ly the opinion and ftyle among many of us at home, who, being uninftrucled, have not had accefs to be informed what a wonderful fkill and courage in war quiet and peaceable people may attain after they have been roufed and united by repeated provocations ; and have, from dread of flavery, applied long, and with ardour, to get themfelves difciplined and trained in all the exercifes of war : Not only thefe among ourfelves fiefpifed the Coionifts, but even fome con- ftituent members of the high council of the kingdom are faid to have publicly reprefented them as being altogether weak and defpicable. Such language, fuch boafling, muft proceed from pride, mixed, I fear, with 104 CSRMONS^ a confiderablc degree of ignorance. It is at leaft un- becoming ; it may forebode foniiething very grievous. " Pride goeth before deftru£lioa, and a haughty fpi- rit before a fall. Let not him that putteth on his armour boaft, as he that puttetli it off." Boailing fKould be excluded, at leaft in the beginning of a war. Alas ! we have heard of boafting, to which no fuc- cefs that the Britiih arms have hitherto met with, doth, in, any tolerable degree, ccrrefpond. I remark^. 2. That to have a high conceit of our own wifdom and flrength, particularly in the affair of war, hath oftentimes been the caiife of fhameful difappointment and ruin. The inhabitants of Ai " were but few, fo there v/ent up thither of the people about three thou- fand, and they fied before the men of Ai." It is, I think, .probable, that, befides the fupernatural efle^V of the accurfed thing, the people from pride went up to Ai, without a due regard to the order and difci- pline of war. Hence they fuddenly flee ; they are chafed, they are fmitten by the men of Ai j juft-as if, in modern times, a well difciplined army fhould, v/ith . two or three rounds of ammunition, venture to attack a number of incenfed country people, and foon find themfelves obliged to flee, and be difgracefully chaf- ed by an undifciplined rabble whom they had defpif- cd. Great is the difappointm.ent, and miferabie is the difgrace, that often fprings from pride and felf-con- C€it. The inland, or the diflant provinces of an em- pire, judging them.felves aggrieved, m^ay petition for a redrefs of the grievances v/hich they think they. fufFer : Prudence will grant, that fuch petitions, if decent, fliould obtain a fair hearing, whether they be well-founded or not; becaule, by a few lenient ex- prclFions, the complaints m.ay be removed ; Tjut, from a contemptuous defiance of the petitioners, and a high opinion of our wifdom and military forcej fuch peti- tions may be reje6ted ; and, from afperily of lan- guage^ ajid hard ufage, the kingdo^i may be unne- SERMO^fS. 105 celTarily, ?t leaft prematurely, thrown into the flame ^ and expence of a dangerous war. It was from a high opinion of his military ftrength, that the fon of Solo- mon loft no fev/er than ten provinces of his domi- nions ; and from fimilar caufes fnnilar effects will ever be produced. It is from pride, that a ftatefman, perhaps no ways renowned for fkill in tlie theory or the practice of war, may venture to fend to an offi- cer in a diftant quarter fuch orders as cannot be ex- ecuted. If the officer attempts to execute thei^n? he and his army will be in danger of being, like the If- raelites at Ai, chafed back again, or fmitten in the day of battle, or obliged to furrender their arms, and fubmit to the difgrace of being prifoners of war. The foldier who is proud is not cautiou^. " Pride w^as not made for man." To truft to our wifdom and power, is to throw off our dependence on God. " God hates the proud and arrogant. I am againfl thee, O moft proud." In his holy providence, it of- ten happens, that the " lofty looks of man are hum- bled, and the haughtinefs of men is brought low." The boafls of Sennacherib againfl God's people were vain, and without effect. " Behold, faith the Lord, I will fend a* blaft upon him, and he ffiall hear a ru- mour, and return to his own land." I niiorht here fhow, that a high opinion cf our ov/n wifdom pro- duceth as dreadful effecls in economy, and in moral conducl:, as it doth in politics and in war. A vain perfon, from a proud opinion of his (kill and his good fortune, ventures to go deep in games of hazard, lof- eth his eftate, and plungeth himfelf into beggary and difgrace. A young man, trufling in his ability to re- fifl; temptations, goeth out of his way, feekmg oppor- tunities to go into the way of vice, when he fhould liften to the wife man's ccunfel : '' Avoid it, pafs not by it, turn from it, and pafs away." — " The prudent man forefeeth the evil, and hideth himfelf, but the fimple pafs on, and are puniflied." But I proceed to remark further. I06 SERMONS. 3. That to purloin or embezzle any p^rt of the national revenue, is, in proportion, a natural caufe of> national weaknefs, difappointment, and difgrace. The difgrace of the Ifraeiites before Ai happened, becaufe God had " made the camp of Ifrael a curfe 5" and he did fo, becaufe they had " com,mitted a trefpafs in the accurfed thing." But, in ordinary times, that is,, when Heaven doth not miraculoufly intcrpofe, to purloin, to embezzle, or mifapply the public money, muil operate in the w^ay of caufe and efFecSl j and fometimes part of the public money may be literally purloined or ftolen, juil as Achan ftole the fliekels of filver and the golden v/edge. It is, for aught I can fee, mifapplicd, when it is fpcnt in foreign or unne- cefTary wars, or in providing places, or penfions, or bribes, for any of the legiilative body ; and it can never he fuppofed that a wife people could giYe away their money, but for the defence of the kingdom, and .the maintenance of civil government ; it cannot be fuppofed, that a fenfible people could put their mo- ney into the hands of the firft magiftrate, to be em- ployed in a manner which tends dire£lly to fubvert the public liberty, and to beggar and enilave the body of the people ; for, when the revenue 4s milapplied, new and heavier taxes muil be impofed to fupply the exigencies of the ftate ; by thefe taxes, it is evident, the kingdom muft be weakened, becaufe it is impo- vcriflied. There is, indeed, a new and ilrange pofi- tion obtruded upon the world, namely, that the hea- vier the taxes arc, the nation is the more, rich and profperous j becaufe, fay they, by means of thefe taxes, there is a quick circulation of money. How- evei*, this new-fangled dodirine is like to go ill down ; it is, indeed, fo palpably abfurd, that I muft fuppofe the underiVanding of thofe who efpoufe it to be blind- folded, either by the expectation of receiving fome part of thefe taxes, or by having already actually re- <;^eived of them j for a bribe or gift " blindeth the SERMONS. 107 eyes" even " of the wife." To mifapply the revenue impoveriilies the nation j it alfo difappoints the peo- ple of their juft expectations, and brings difgrace up- on the kingdom. In the firil Dutch vi^ar, equally un- righteous and impolitical, Charles II. demanded and obtained very great fublidies from parliament, pro- mifing that he vt^ould equip a ftrong fleet, and per- form fome adiion of wonderful prowefs againft the Dutch 5 but he diffipated all he had got ; I need not fay how •, it was in the manner that that thoughtlefs and fauntering monarch was in ufe to fpend his trea- fure ; his fhips of war were laid up ; he made fome diftant propofals of peace to the enemy ; meantime de Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, came up the river Medway, and, by the help of a ftrong eaft wind, broke the boom, the crofs chain, which, inftead of a powerful fleet, was all the defence provided for Bri- tain and the (liips in the harbour ; he proceeded to Chatham, burnt three or four fhips, and carried others' ofl^ with him. Thus, by the embezzlement and mif- application of the public money, the Britifh fhore was, in a time of war, left defencelefs, the capital of the empire was alarmed, and, in the judgment of na- tives and of foreigners, the kingdom was expofed to contempt and difgrace. That to purloin or embezzle, the public money impoverifhes and difgraces a nation, might be fliown at large from hiftory and fadl. In proof of this point, I have mentioned but one inftance, and that at the diftance of a hundred years backward. I will mention no more, left I ftiould feem to come too near to what may have been done in our own days. I remark, 4. That when any part of the public revenue hath been purloined or mifapplied, or when unexpected difgraces in v/ar have happened, it becomes the un- corrupted part of the legillative body to ftrive that the guilty may be deteCted. If the morals of a nation are yet tolerably pure, an lo8 SERMONS. attempt of this fort will probably be fuccefsful; wiiejc the people are already corrupted, to detect the guilty will always be difficult, and oftentimes impoffible. It is evident from the text, that all the army, the congregation of Ifrael, are called, are held to be guilty itt the trefpafs of the accurfed thing, till it fliall be found out who is in faft the guilty perfon. To make this difcovery, Jofhua himfelf ib deeply concerned, and all the people concur with him. Even after Achan had made his confeffion, the meflengers ran to his tent, they fearched, they found, and came running back with the Babylonifh garment, the fhekels of fii- ver, and the wedge of gold. That the detection might appear complete, and the proof of Achan's guilt clear and decifive, the accurfed thing is laid on fome confpicuous place, in full view of the people, juft as we bring ftolen goods into court where the thief is to be condemned. It was, indeed, eafy to find out the guilty, when, by a divine and unerring- lot, firll the tribe was taken, then the family, then the houfehold, and then the individual of thaj: houfe- hold. In this cafe, w^hen the perfon taken by lot did alfo confefs, the proof was as certain and decifive as if it had been fiipported by the greateft number of unexceptionable witnefies. But to difcover the guilty perfon now is commonly a matter of infinite diffi- culty. Will he who iS" fufpectcd and accufed of pur- loining confeils that he hath done fo ? In this cor- rupted age it is not likely j and if he be an old of- fender in that trade, it is ahuoft certain he will deny iloutly, and even offer plaufible reafons to Ihow that he is innocent. The difficulty will feem to increafe, if ever it fliall happen hereafter, that four-fifths of thofe who alone can legally examine inta the guilt, have themfeives, in one way or other, fingered fome part of the accurfed thing. In a corrupted age, this matter is furely difficult, and it is ticklifh. I leave it off. — And I prefume, that any inquiry, whether a SERMONS. -^C^ ftatefman who gave the orders, or a general who tri- ed to execute thefe orders, is the moft to bhune tliat nothing was done to purpofe, may be equally diffi- cuh in a time of general corruption. He that hath the moft powerful friends will obtain that the docu- ments which might militate againft him may be lup- prefled. In one lenfe, any fuch inquiry may be ftifled in the beginning, becaufe it. will turn out to nothing in the ilTue ; and yet, even in the worft times, fuch inquiriec are not altogether ufelefs, becaufe, from the dread of punifliment, or a fenfe of fhame, they may- be the means of reftraining from the depths of vice thofe who are not yet thoroughly corrupted. I re- mark farther, 5. That if a perfon hath purloined from the -pub- lic, it is an evidence of ingenuous repentance, when he confelTes his crime, and points out where all that he ftole is hid, and may be recovered to the public. Achan's confeflion hath every mark of being peni- tential and (incere^ "Indeed I have finned agalnfl: the Lord God of Ifrael, and thus and thus have I done." I faw, I coveted, I took, — they are hid in my tent. Here is confeffion, repentance, and refti- tution. I feel all the movements of compaflion for this Ifraelitifh offender, who, though his repentance was genuine, yet it behoved, that, for the public in- tereft of the church and ftate of Ifrael, he ihould be put to death. I am led to think that his guiit was fmall, compared with that of many great offenders in modern times, fome of whom I might name. The fincerity and franknefs of his confeffion make me to think fo y and I imagine, that, if an enlightened fo- vereign, or an uncorrupted patriot, fhould, in the mild language of the Hebrew general, addrefs him- felf to any half-detefted offender in a civil or a mili- tary, department : <* My fon, give, I pray thee, glory to the God of Ifrael, and make confeffion to him ; and tell me now what thoii haft done, hide it not K ■110 SERMONS. from me :" I imagine, I fay, that fev/ •vwould make a clean bread, or anfwer with a candour fimilar to that of Achan. Woiikl a treafurer, deeply guilty, an un- dcr-treafurer, or teller in exchequer, fay, I beheld the gold as it lay fparkling uj3on the table ; I was ftruck with its beauty ; I coveted it ; I took ir; it is hid in my hcufe j I have bought land with it ; or it is fe- cured for me in a foreign bank. — Or would a gene- ral make anfwer, J might have got myfelf informed .about the motions of the enemy before they fell up- on my army in the night-time •, but I liked to fave for myfelf as miich of the gold as I couldj and had not fpies enougli to britig me proper intelligence. Or, indeed I have finnted ; I was in force to attack the enemy in their trenches, and difperfe their army; but, liking the honour and emoluments of my office, I was afraid the war m.ight end too fv>on, whereby I would fink to the rank I had held before I got the command of the army. — Or another j it is true, I be- lieve the revolted provinces, where I was flationed, might have fubmitted to the clemency of my royal mailer ; but I kept faft hold of the gold wherev/ithai I fhould have clothed and fed my men : I faw my foldiers hungry and naked, and, inftead of leading them to fupport m.y brother general, who about that time was made prifoner, I let them loofe to pillage the houfss, and drive av/av the cattle of the innocent peafants *, if any of thefe peafants pretended to de- fend or hide their efFe6ls, or to convey their cattle out of my way, I nrfl called them thieves, next fell upon them w^ith the fword, and then fet fire to their villages, and burnt them to the ground. — Or if, by the rueful efFecl: of his violent and foolifh meafures, a flatefman is forced to acknowledge part of his guilt, will he, like Achan, make a thorough confeflion ? will he make that confeffion frankly, whilft it may be available to remove the public curfe .'' You may, perhaps, hear him fay, I made rapidly feveral X'iolent -#♦ '* SERMONS. II : laws ; I defended them for many years^ I fee tiicy ought to be repealed ; I was v/rong in urging the taxation ; I kindled the ilames of a war, blc^Ddy, ru- inous, and difgracefiil ; I am now to offer a concef- fion, which I think better than to continue ihe war for three or four years longer. — ^To fiiy all this, is no doubt humiliating •, and yet I prefume it is conferr- ing by far too littie> to make the world beheve that his repentance is as fincere as was that of Achan. Few flatefmen, in thefe dregs of time, make any fuch Gonfeflion ; though it is t<5 be feared there is a varie- ty of ftriking materials, from which very ample con- feffions of that fort might be formed. In m.odern times, few great offenders are dctefted, fewer incline to make any confeffion, and fewer flill to make refti- tution. But if the wife or the daughter of a new- made man appears at a birth-day, or a court-ball, drefled in a goodly Babylonifli garment, worth many fliekels of filver and wedges of gold, adorned with jewels equal in value to half the revenue of a little kingdom j this, this hath fometimes given ground to conjediure, that the hufband or father had feen, had coveted, had put forth his hand, and committed a <^ trefpafs in the accurf^d thing." I remark farther, 6. That neither high rank nor opulence ought to fcreen egregious criminals from condign punifhment. Achan was a perfon of very high rank j he was the fon of Zerah, who vx^as at lead the fecond prince of the tribe of Judah, the mofl honourable of all the twelve. Nor is his coveting the gold and fdver any proof that he was poor j it is rather a prefumption that he was rich. In all ages, they were the rich who were the mofl covetous as well as the mofl op- prefTive. '* Do not rich men opprefs you .?" was a quellion put above feventcen himdrcd years ago by a man infpired ; and the fame queflion would be an- fwered in the fame manner it was then, were it put ixx the age we live in. But neither Achan's rank nor K 2 11^ SERMONS. ]iis opulence aiibrded him any fcreen againfl a public trial, and as public a puniiliment. There is not fo* ir^uch as»cne perfon who opens his mouth to plead for him. Matters go quite differently now. If a Britiih Achan is half-detected, (which indeed will rarely happen) his friends, as guilty perhaps as him- felf, v/ill |)lead ftrongly in his behalf. He is of no- ble extraftion, will they fay ; his family was always loyal ', himfelf hath long been a faithful fervant to the crown. If it is forefeen, that, if a fair inquiry is allowed to proceed, a great proportion of the accurf-. ed thing, that is, of the public monies, will be found in his hand, they will obtain a mandate from the fo- vereign, to ftop all further inquiry till the royal plea- fure is known, which perhaps m^ay never happen ; and fo the great defaulter keeps, and is allowed to keep, all that he had purloined. Thus it commonly fares with our Achans of rank and opulence : But i£ a poor cottager, groaning under heavy taxes, and dreadfully opprelTed by a fcrewed rent.; or if a work- 'inianj living under the dreadful expectation of new I'orn-bilis^ fleals a beggarly fheep to keep in the lives of his flarving family ; then, then the fpirit of our judges and -lawyers, like the fpirit of a pack of dogs when a timid hare is ilartcd, is all up at once ; the Jaw is armed with rigour againft this poor thief j th<* edge of it is fliarpened, is levelled againfl the nqf k of this friendlefs, this contemptible offender. But I like not to fay more about the different manner in which great and poor offenders are treated ; it. is certainly ihameful, and deeply to be lamented. I further re~. mark, from the text before me, 7. That when a warlike nation is lefs fuccefsful in war, and appears to be weaker than it was formerly, there is caufe to fear that the neighbouring nations may combine to invade and conquer it. Jolhua is in great fear upon this head ; " Lord God, what Ihall 1 fay, when Ifrael turneth their back before tjiclr eacr SERMOKS. 113 rnies ; for the Canaanites, and ail the iiiiiabitants of the land, fhall hear of it, and fliall enviroii us round, and cut oiF cur name from the earth.'* It was from fear that the neighbouring tiations fhould combine to ruin him, that Jofhua rent his clothes, and expoftu- lated with God : '* Wherefore haft thou at all brought this people over Jordan ? v/ould to God we had been content to dwell on the other fide Jordan." Jordan, it excited as much fear, at that time, to crofs the ri- ver Jordan, as it doth now to ci;ofs the Atlantic o- cean. Would to God, fays Joiliua, we had been con- tent to dwell on the other fide of this river, this fea, this bed of water, rather than be affronted by our be- ing defeated and chafed by the few inhabitants of fo contemptible a town ; . and, by lofmg our chara^ler of being a military people, expofe ourfelves to the danger of being cut off by a combination of the neighbouring kings- It mull, indeed, feem fomewhat ftrange, that kingdoms fhould combine to conquer a kingdom that is become weak already, either by the operation of natural caufes, or by its ov/n fooiifh pro- je6f s •, fliould they not rather aihft it to emerge again from its weaknefs ?- But if that kingdom hath for- merly been dreadful to thofe combined powers, they may be led to the conqueft of it, from a fenfe of na- tional honour and of national revenge. I know it is maintained by ibme, that both the individuals and the focieties of men are mifchievous to their uiis'-hbours, juft in proportion as they have pov/er to be mifchiev- ous. I would fain hope that this is net the cafe ; and, happily for the honour of human nature, I re- coile.otives to virtue j and, in the time of profperity, we are off our guard* Happy had it been for many a perfon, had he by adverfity been early roufed to Iblemn thought, checked in the career of his folly, and reftrained from going to an excefs in riot. So evident is it, that to meet with checks, in the midll: of fuccefs, may be ufeful to individuals and to focieties. I now remark, in the laft place, 9. That when a people, accuftomed to be victori- ous, are difappointed of fuccefs againft a weak ene- my, they ought to be fenfible of their ov/n weaknefs, and humble them.feives before God. Succefs in v/ar is from God; but the proper means are to be ufed. And it need be the lefs v;ondered at, that in one war a nation hath been fuccefsful, and in another, though- lefs formidable, and its ftrength nearly as before, it is miferably baffled and affronted : In the firil, the plans may have been laid, and the fprings of a Let me therefore by the way hint at an important ad- vice, and I nncejely wifh that there may be few or none of y'ou who fhali ever have any need of it. Thou haft been injured— thy friends are fenfible that the injury is glaring and deep — thou art provoked—thy fpirits are high — thy hopes are fanguine — thou think- eft it a fure point that thou will eafily obtain legal redrefs — fallacious hope ! Alas ! thou art too poor to be^r. the expence of a procefs at law 5 thou art too XZ9 SERM-ONS. little known ; thou haft no member of the court to pufli forward thy caufe. If thou contendeft with fome great perfon, tliou mayft lay thy account before- hand that refpe6i: will be fhown to the m.an with the gold- ring and the gay clothing, the man who hath riches, who hath liberality of foul to furnifh out a copious and fplendid entertainment to the judges : Believe me, and for once follow my advice ; adven- ture not on a procefs which will certainly be expen- (ive, which in air probability will be tedious, and however clear thou mayft think it, its iflue is extreme- ly doubtful : Thcu will be borne down and difap- pointed ; or, fuppofe that by fome odd and favoura- ble chance thou fliouldft fucceed, yet it is fifty to one that, upon the whole, thou will be a iofer. Check that lull which ftimulates thee to take the field in this fort of v/ar ; leave off. the contention before it be meddled with , agree with thine adverfary by the way, rather than embark in a contention that will be ex- penfive and tedious, and the ifiiie of it precarious ; fccthe thine adverfary, accept c^ his terms, or fubmit the difference to the firft ftranger thou meeteft with; if he be a m.an of fenfe and common hontfty, the lefs knovv'ledge he hath of cur law, his decifion will pro-*- bably be the more confiftent with material juftice. A procefs at law, iii moft of our courts, is like trying, one's fortune at a ftate-lottery ; a v/ife man who hath m.ade one trial will hardly ever venture to make a fe- - cond. I prefume tlie text would juftify me, though, in^. this difcourfe, I fhould confine myfelf to that inte- rior war, that torture which an unrenewed man feels, which, even when his lufts are kept from burfting out in flagrant a6ls of intemperance, injuftice, or vio- lence, y t they burn within him as red coals covered up with afhes •<, or, fhouid I fpeak only of that other war, going to law, which I^have juft now mentioned^ But there is another dre*dful contention, which is SERMONSj 129 "inbre properly, and alfo more commonly called war, namely, public folemn war, that is, either when two independent ftates arm themfelves for mutual deftruc- tion ; or dvil war, that is, when two different parts of the fame empire are unfortunately at variance, and go to war with each other. It is in reference to one or other, or both of thefe laft mentioned wars, that I defign this difcourie j and this, I think, is to a£l with propriety on a day wiien. we aire aiTembled, by lawful authority, to confefs our fins, to implore the pardon of them, and to pray that God would give fuecefs in that war wherein we have already been long engag-- ed, and preferve us againfl the violent hoftilities of France, and the unprovoks-d attacks of that^ftrong and perfidious power. From the text, it is manifefh- that there were wars among thofe to whom St. James addrefi'es this epiftle j and of thefe wars their lulls were indifputably the Gaufe. That- there are wars among Chriftians now^ is a mournful faft, of which v/e need not take long time to inveftigate the caufc : Lufts produced Vars formerly, and the fame, or finiilar efFecIs, do now alfo fprnig from the fame or from fimilar caufes. " From whence come Vv^ars and fightings among you ? come they not hence, even from your lulls that war in your members ^" In this difcourfe I intend to do tbe following things i 'I.I will mention fome of thefe lulls from which wars and fightings take their rtfe. 2. I will next fhow a little more particularly, why it is that lull, or the gratification of \n&, is the origin and caufcof war. 3. I will take fome notice of the mifery of thofe nations that are engaged in war. 4. I will next (how, which feems to be intimated in the text, that it is flrange that Chriftians, who have fo much reafon to live in peace, fhould wage war a-»- gainft each other.. 130 SERMOKS. 5. I will then mention fome rules and limitatioifs,. which have been agreed upon to mitigate the ills of war. — And, in the laft place, 6. I will mention, and moftly from the text, a few reafonsj why a people who have fome religion, or at leaft appear to be ferious, may continue long involv- ed in diilrefs, and even in the calamities of war itfelf. I intend to fpeak plainly, and to he fliort on each of thefe particulars, which, as I apprehend, are all founded in the text^ I. I will mention fome of thefe lufts from which wars and fightings take their rife. — And the firil I mention is the luft of carnal pleafure. This, if I mif- take not, is ftridlly and properly called luft in the ftyle of fcripture, and in common converfation. This particular luft is as dangerous as it is impetuous, if it be not reftrained and directed by reafon, and by laws human and divine* And it appears evidently from fcripture, from the mod ancient hiftory, and even from fable, that this lull hath been the unhappy eaufe of bloodflied, of mafiacres, and of tedious wars» —Another Tuft I mention, which hath been the caufe of wars, is the violent defire of being rich. This luft, as it occafipns broils and contentions in private life, fo, in like manner, it kindles up the flames of war a- mong the princes of this world. Many of them think, and fome of them have been heard to fay, <' Why fhould fuch a prince enjoy a greater revenue than I have ? The territories from which he draws the moft of it lies contiguous to my dominions 5 ^ part of it belonged to one of my predecciTors : The foreign commerce which he appropriates to his fubjefts, and which enables them to pay him fuch imnienfe cuf- toms and tax^, ought, in natural juftice, to be laid open to my fubje£ls alfo. Let us arm, and do our- selves juftice by a juft and neceftiiry war." Nay, it Jiiath happened in our own times, that three 4)rinces in. Europe did, from avai'ice^ agree to feize upon a. SERM0N5. 131 great part of a neighbouring kingdom, which, by the efforts or the terror of their armies, they divided a-^ mong themfelvcs. — A third lull, from which wars arife, is ambition or pride. This luft is, I believe, in the eftimation of the world, accounted lefs mean and contemptible than the bafe purfuit of riches, or the wild defire of fcnfual pleafure, but it is certainly as pernicious. If we attentively examine the hiftory of paft times, we will fee that princes have often raifed war from the luft of worldly glory, from an unbri- dled defire to enlarge their dominions, and to fee the neighbouring kings brought into fubje£tion, and bow- ing down before them j or, from a luft of glory as criminal, namely, to enflave their own fubjedls, fo that they ftiall not dare to think of refifting tiieir ar- bitrary will, or even to mutter or complain of the grievous oppreflion which they fuffer. Thefe lufts, which I have fo briefly mentioned, are the fame which St. John enumerates, after advifing us not to love the world. *' Love not," he fays, " the world, neither the things that are in the world ; for all that is in the world, the luft of the flefh, and the luft of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world." Luft, in general, is the caufe of war. To fome one or other of the difor- derly appetites I have named, ihe rife of every war may be traced. I will however mention, as a parti- cular caufe of war, the paflion of revenge, u^ich is, you know, the child of pride. This luft, I doubt not, hath fometimes been the caufe of wars and fightings. A nation, from its ill fuccefs in war, or from dread of being fwallowed up or overwhelmed by fome for- midable neighbour, hath been perhaps forced to fub- mit to terms which it thinks uffreafonable and unjuft. It keeps itfelf quiet for perhaps a long time : Like a bull in the foreft, it colle<£ls all its ftrength, and from this thirft of revenge, renews the war, with a view to wipe off the aftront it had received, and regain the 132 SXRMCNS. advantage it had loft. — I may add^ that fometlmes wicked minifters of ftate engage their mafter in a war merely to fcreen themfeives from condign punifh- ment j to divert or ftifle the clamour of an injured people againft their covetous and bungling adminif- tration, they wilfully involve the nation in all the mi- feries of war : This, this, alas ! hath often been done. I might perhaps mention many other particular caufes from which wars and fightings come ; fome of them too fliameful to be named : But every war is derived, as I have faid, from fome of the general fources al- ready fpoken of. " From whence come wars and fightings among you ^ come they not hence, even from your lufts that war in your members ?" — Come they not from your criminal luft after fenfual plea- fure, or from a greedy defire of riches, of pplTeffing yourfelves of that which is the property of your neigh- bour .'* or from an ambitious defire to appear in fplen- dour, to be admired for the extent and value of your polTdfions, to have great power, and to fee thofe who are now your equals reduced to the neceflity of bow- ing and cringing before you ?— Or do not wars and fightings among you arife from a reftlefs implacable temper, from a fpirit of revenge, from an abiding re- fentment of fome perhaps real, perhaps very flight or imaginary affront or injury which you fancy you have fuftained .? — or from the artifices of fome mean-fpi- rited and covetous minifter, who, when the cry of an impoverifhed and abufed people grows loud againft him for his blundering and inglorious adminiftration, adds to all his other crimes that of involving the na- tion in lafting mifery, that he may keep his lucrative place, and ftave off for a while tliat difgrace and pu- iiilhment which he richly deferves. I will next fliow a little more particularly, 2. How and why it is, that lufts, or the gratifica- tion of lufts, is the origin and cauf? of war. — ^\nd this is the cafe, becaufe it commonly happens, that. SERMONS. I_53 ^}y the illicit gratification of luftsj feme of the facred r^hts of mankind are violated ; then tLc injured per- fon acquh'es a right to compel the injm-ious to make him reparation. Y/hen the injurer rcfufes to do this, and by force maintains and defends the injuflice he hath done, and the injured alio flrives, v/ith all hi*j might, ^that juftice may be done liim, then it is ma- nifeft that wars and fightings muft arife. This is the cafe between the individuals of mankind in a Hate of natural liberty, and between kingdoms afrev political fociety hath been conftituted. There are indeed certain claims, called imperfecl .rights, which, though they be violated, yet the injur- ed party cannot by any law compel the fulfilment of them by force. If I, from Compaffion, affiit a poor man, even by confiderable fums of money, to emerge •out of hi-s dirtreiTed condition into opulence and cafe, I have no right to force him to reilore to me v/hat I had freely and voluntarily beA;owed to relieve him ; let him afterwards becom.e fifty times richer than ever I was, and let me be reduced to ever fo poor circum- ilances, I have no title tb make any fuch demand up- on him, no title to commen^je any acl:ion at law ut)on that head. It is indeed highly fit and equitable that fuch reilitution fhouid be made ; and it is manifefl;, that in aflifting and relieving the miferabk ccnfifts the nobleft exercife of virtue ; arfd 'in making cheer- ful and proper returns for fuch beneficence confifts the virtue of gratitude. The man who violates thefe imperfe6l rights is himfelf a very bad man ; he is re- lieved by the gcnerofity of others, but hC; hath not the heart to make any return j his example tends to , karden the heart of the opulent, and caufe them fhut their eaK againll the cries of the niiferable. God and conlcience require that fuitable returns fliould be made for good ofiices that have been done ; but thefe returns cannot be forced ; and if they ihouid be for- ced, they would ceafe to be virtue. M 134 SERMONS. But it is quit^ otherwife with refpe£l to the rights v.'hich are c*»ied perfect:; the right wh^cK a man hath to his pioperty, to his hfe, to defend the. life of a pa- rent, to pfote£t his innocent family, to defend the ho- ncAir of a fifter, of a daughter, or a wife. Whenfo- ever any one oilers to injure him in any of thefe par- ticulars, he hath right to repel the injury by force ; and if the injury be already done, he hath right to compel the injurious party to make complete repara- tion, or to make him fuffer a condign punifhment for his crime. Ail that I have faid concernincj the behaviour of individuals to one another, is equally true when ap- plied to kingdoms. If a kingdom, or the fovereign of a kingdom., fees a neighbouring kingdom, or an infant-ftate, in danger of being unjuftly crushed and overwhelmed by a formidable power, and generoufiy, and even at great expence, interpofeth to defend and protect that weak or infant-flate ; and by his noble efforts not only defends it, but, in fadl, exalts it to opulence and grandeur, ,he doth not, however, ac- quire any right to demand or exa6f by force any re- turn, any pay or tax for this voluntary kindnefs. But when any king or flate feizes on the property of another ftate, the injured, as I have faid, have an undifputed right to demand reparation, and to effec- tuate it by open force. Without this right, and the proper cxercife of it, human fociety could not fubfifl:; And it is from the violation of feme facred and per- fect right that every juft and lawful war doth arife. One would therefore be inclined to think, that only one of the parties at war can be juftly charged with being the author of the war, namely, he who com- mitted the firii injury : He is the aggreffor ; he gra- tified his criminal defires, he violated the facred rights of others ; from whence then con:e the fubfequent •wars and fightings but from him ? He hath firft done wrong, and next he maintains and defends by force SERMONS. 13^ what he hath done. But quarrels would not kft long if the "CvTong were only on one fide •, and in fa£t it often happens, that foon after the war hsgiris, it be- comes diilicult to fay which of the belligerent parties is the moil injurious, and deferves the greateO; biaiTie j but it for ever happens, that in the courfe and pro- grefs of the war both the parties are wretched and miferable. I will therefore in the next place, 3. Take fonie notice of the mifery of thofe nations which are engaged in war. — In war, rnifery is the. lot of the weaked party, and the ftrongeft is com- monly miferable alfo. The weaker party, or the people whofe country hath become the theatre of the war, are furely miferable : In their niofb fertile terri- tories the armies of the enemy are encamped , the oiHcers are lodged in their bed towns ; the iick, the* aged, are dragged from their beds ; the rich are dri- ven from their houfes to make way for the eafe of the rapacious hoftile foldiers ; the corn which the. harmlefs induflrious peafant had laid up to feed his children, the clothes he had got to cover them, are greedily feized upan ; his llicep and cattle are driven from the paftures, the keepers who attempted to con- vey them quietly to a hiding-place, are called thieves, and maiTicred, and left dead upon the fpot •, one pro- vince is over-run, one city is conquei'ed after another — the inhabitants are cooped up in narrow bounds — - famine purfues them — the furious enemy overtakes them — a fiege is formed — a battle is il ruck — nothing is to be feen but fights of v/oe. — " If I go forth into the field, then behold the llain with the fword •, if I enter into the city, then behold them that are fick with famine." Many thoufands are killed on each fide — " ^y'i'^g groans are heard — limbs are feen fly- ing in tjie air — there is fmokc, noife, confuuon; — trampling to death under the horfes feet — flight, pur- fuit, victory — fields flrewed with carcafes, left for food to dogs, and wolves, and birds of prey — plun« M Z r3<^ SERMONS., dcring, ftrlpping, ravifliing, burning, and dcflroylng."^ — Methinks I fee the widow running, flaggering on tiic ilippery, bloody field, amidft the nrai\gled corpfes of the dead and dying, and, fcruck with the fight of her expiring huiband, fhe flops, fl^e grafps him in her annr>; a fight, a hold, which renders her more wretch- ed than if the pangs of death itfelf had taken hold of her : She is bereaved, flie is left defolate, fiie fees that by the lofs cf the parent the children are help- lefs. — This is mifery — and yet, perhaps, cruelty pro-- ceeds fo far, that a war, cf diflrefs and dcfolation is purfued ; — houfes, villages, cities, are burnt to the ground — corn, large granaries of corn, if it cannqt be taken away, is dtHroyed by fire — to the men no quarter is given, and even women and children are flarved, or barbaroully put to death. — Thus it is that, in war the weaker fide is miferable -, and it com.-, mordy happens, that in the courfe of the war, or at- ieaft in the ifllie of it, the ftronger is miferable alfo j ;hey are miferable and in pain. by every difappoint-, i-ncnt, if the vigour of the other party is at times vi-* iibly renev/ed ; or if there be circumftances which fecm to make it probable that the half-vanquiihed Iliail cr^iively elude tlie vengeance of thofe who pre- maturely boafted cf victory. And fometimes cou- rage and a manly fury returns into the fouls of thofc wlio were dampedj who were near to defpair, and ?lmoft overcome •, — they are emboldened, becaufc they fight in the caufe of their country, they fight in- tlefenee of liberty — they determine that they fhall o-r biigc the conqueror to purchafe vidlory at a coftly rate — or, perhaps, like the Dutch, when unjuflJy in-r vaded by the combined fleets and armies of France nud England, they, refolve to emigrate to a dllfant land — or, like thofe on an extenfive continent, who, having failed of fuccefs, elude the rage of the con- querors, and difappoint their aim, by leaving theiy poffeihons, and going, far backwards to form new fet- SERMONS. 13 V tiements in the defart — or, in an unjufllfiable and highly criminal dcfperation, they, like the citizens of Saguntum, burn their own houfes over their heads. And fometimes alfo it happens, that, by a vigorous, a defperate and fuccefsful courage, they are able to fchafe out of the country that very army which for a long time was Uke to conquer them. Thus in war the weaker fide are miferable, and the flronger are fo alfo. The prince, the leaders, may by luxury be har- dened againll the fenfe of pain ; but the people, the bulk of the people, are v/retched. They are over- burdened with taxes — the country is depopulated — the tillers of the land, and the ufeful artificers, are comprehended, are prefied, are dragged from their necelTary and innocent occupations, and forced to carry on the war v/hether they think it righteous or fmful. The wife, the little child, runs ofcea to the door and looks for the hufband, the parent, whom, alas ! they fliall never fee again. Kere too the fol- diers are juft as miferable as thofe of the weaker par- ty ; — their toil is as fevere — their beds are as hard— their fleep aa. precarious — and their food as coarfe and as fcanty.- If they retain any fenfe of humanity, they mull be fliocked at thofe aQs of cruelty .which they are hounded out to commit, and if they have been the inilruments of committing them, they muft be flung with remorfe. The kingdom, in flriving to be viclorious at an enormous expence, v/hich it ca.n ill bear, reduces itfeif to poverty and ruin ; and if at length it fueceeds, thofe in the uppe^' rank may for a while enjoy a brutal and inglorious eafe, whiill thty wallow in luxury and debauchery, devouring that which by the fortune of the war hath fallen into their fangs; but when that is devoured, they connrionly, like hungry dogs, fall to work again, and worry, and bite, and devour one another. In fhort, if a (late hath been viclorious, and hath conquered an exten- five territory, it is but haflening the failer toits owii. l^^ SERMON 5. downfal : Either the fubjefts, great and fmall, wiii become abfoUite flp.ves iinder a defporic mafter, or clfe the empire, being too extenfive^ confiding of too many provinces, mud crumble again into parts ; parts, am.ongll: which all the horrible injudice, and all the horrible ills of war, are like to be a^Sled ovei again, and fuffered anew. I will next fliow, 4. What feems to be intimated in the text, that it is Ih'angc that Chridians, who have fo much reafon to live in peace, fliould wage war againd each ether. ** From whence come wars and fightings among you?" Among you who are the difciples of Chrid, the dif- ciples of the Prince of peace. And mod certainly, if people in.evcry condition of life would im.bibe the fpirit of the gofpel, there would be few or no broils and contentions in private life, few or no a6lions at law, becaufe there would be no occafion given for any fuch contention. And if great men, tlie princes of this world, and their miniders, learned and praclifed the do6lrIne of Chrid, tliere w^ould be no wars betw^e^n nation and nation. The fird leflbn which Chrid preicribes to be learn- ed in his fchool, and learned by every one of his fol- lowers, is this, " If any man will come after me, let him deny himfelf." If this great kflbn is learned, and put in practice — if the luds, the criminal defires, , and impetuous appetites, which I have mentioned, are mortified, no injury m ill be done, and of courfe tlicre w^iJ,l not be any caufe of war : Then men would *< beat tlieir fwords into plough-fliares, and their fpcars into pruning hooks: — nation would sot lift up tiie fword againd nation, neither would they leara "war any more— God's people would dwell in a peace- able habitation, and in fure dwellings, and in quiet reding-places :" Then the prophecy concerning the peacelul date of things, in the days of the Mefliah, would be literally fulfilled ;^ the fierce and the mild, " the v.'olf and the lamb would feed together; tlie SERMONS.. 139 >copard would lie down with the kid ;, the lion would eat ftraw like tiie bullock ; none of them would hurt nor deftroy." In the holy fcriptures, many flrong. reafons are fug- gefle-d to prevail on men to reprcfs every angry paf- fion, to perfuade them to do juftly, to cultivate the kind afFecliions, and cherifli the fpirit of benevolence and friendfhip. All men are formed and upheld by the fame God ; he is their common father ; " he hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dvv^ell on all the face of the earth j" they are brethren -T-whenfoever any one is tempted, by whatever luft or paffion, to injure another, he fhould think he hears the man cf God crying in his ears, " Why fmiteft thou thy fellow ? Sirs, ye are brethren, why do re harm one to another ?" If princes, before they commit any atrocious and {Iriking aft of public injuftice ; if lawgivers, before they rafhly enadl: any law which feems to eftablifli dreadful flavcry and unlimited oppreflion, would take time to confider wliat alarm, what difcontent, what rage and fury may be excited by fuch hafty and vio- lent meafures ; what wars and fightings may happen m confequence of them, what battles may be fought, what blood may be (lied \ cities razed, and flourifli- in? kinp-doms laid defolate ; would not a fenfe of iuC- tice operate on their minds ? would not compallion for the many thoufands or millions whom they are going to throw into unmerited diltrefs, check them in their furious career, and ll?op them from the exe- cution of their criminal purpcfes ? "Would not fear of kindling the flames of war in their own country, and of feeing their own innocent fubjefts in diftrefs and mifcry, produce the fame falutary t^tGt ? But, alas ! princes and great men, who in their pa- laces live in luxury and at eafe, are but little fenfibie of the mifery which accompanies war ; nay, even thofe in common life are not half enough apprized 14 Ihould meet and finifli their fenfelefs differences by friendly con-» ference, or compromife tliem by arbitration, or by cafling lots, or even, as I hintcfd before, finifh them by fingle combat ; which laft, however wrong it is in . private quarrels, is furely-a far lefs evil than to thin the human fpecies by a defolatmg war, which the rulers have, from arrogance and a fpirit of domina- tion, haftened to commence. Indeed, if the fubje6lsi have foolifhly approved of the rafh fleps of their rul- ers, and have even loudly encouraged them by fo- menting their arrogance, and publicly calling upon them to enter into and to continue in coercive, vio- lent, and fanguinary meafures, offering to fpend their lives and fortunes in the war, it feems but juft in pro- vidence that they ihould be made to fufFer for a long time the calamities of the war. Alas ! it is com- monly the grandees of a country, who, for felfifh . ends, do thus flavifhly beat time with the rafh mea- 'fures of their rulers, and the bulk of the people are made to fuffer. A war may be in fome fort juft, and yet it may, be very imprudent and inexpedient to en- ter into it. 2. A people who have religion, who fall and pray for fuccefs, may continue long to bear the calamities of war, t>ecaufe they employ unjuft meafures in the profecution of it. A perfon who is affaulted by an- other on the ftreet, hath a jufl claim againft that other in a court of law -, but if he hath furioufly turned up- on the man who affaulted him^- and beaten him with t*n times more feverity than he was beaten himfelf, his claim for redrefs be<;omes- weaker at leaft than it would otherv/Ife have been. To obtain fuccefs, to be delivered from the calamities of war, it becomes a people to examine whether the meafures they purfue in condu6ling the warbe agreeable to the will of God or not. ^f Ye luft, and have not : ye kill, and defira: to have, and cannot obtain ; ye fight and war, yet ye have not." It is ftrange that any people fhould expect or dare to pray for fuccefs, whilft the end they aim at is wrong, and* the condu£i: they purfue obvioully crimi- nal. Can a thief, can a robber, who is eager to en- rich himfelf by the fpoils of the induftrious, can he expe<£\:, that, Vv^hile he perpetrates his crimes, God will hide him behind a thick cloud, fo that he fhall not be detc£t:ed ? Can the murderer pray in earneil: that God may afTifl him to perpetrate an ailaffination? Or, in this debauched age, can the adulterer or the- adulterefs look up to God, and pray, and expe6l lox fucceed in their vile affignations and amorous in- trigues ? Whilft we faft and pray for fuccefs in this tedious and lam^en.table war, let us, let our rulers and com- manderf, examine whether there be not fome unjuf-. tifiabk ^eps which we have taken already. Hath no unnecefiary theft, or pillage, or plunder, or robbery, , been committed ? Hath no a£l: of fhocking and baf^ barous cruelty been done ? Hath no nrmyj-or part of. an army> been killed after they had f«rrendered, had. thrown dov/n their arms ? Have none of the wound-, ed been flaughtered on the field of battle ? or have none of them been left to perifli in their wounds, without. being carried to hofpitals, or any wtay taken) care of ? Hath no furious officer, hardened by blood- {hed, been hounded out, at the head of a group of favages, to burn the houfes and ruin the crops of the »quiet and innocent planters ? Or hath fuch an officer, been applauded and rewarded for having begun a. horrid war of diftrefs ? Have no villages, no towus^v SttRMONs. r:_5:3 ro cities, been wantonly burned, when they might have been preferved ? If none of thefe things have been done, we have no doubt the better reafon to hope for more fuccefs than we have yet met with ; but if any of fuch enormoufly criminal m.eafures have been purfued, need we wonder, that though wc faft the war i« prolonged, and that God hath not yet given us the fuccefs which we pray for^? " Ye kill, ^nd defire to have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have not." I next obferve from the text, 3. That a people may be long held in diflrefs, though they fad and afk for relief, becaufe they afk amifs. " Ye aik and receive not, becaufe ye aik a-- mifs, that ye may confume it upon your lufVs." This h the characler whicli the Spirit of God gives of thofe to whom this letter is addreffed y and I wifh it may not alfo be the character of many who are called- by lavv'ful authority to humble th^mfelves as on thia; fall day. ^ We have failed feveral times before. We have prayed for fuccefs, and that this inglorious war might foon come to an end; but hitherto things continue juft as they were. It is well if our condition be not worfe than when we commenced the war : " We looked for judgment, but behold oppreflion ; for righteoufaefs, but behold a cry." Still " we look for righteoufnefs, but there is none ; for falvation, but it is far off." One year of this tireforne v/ar, a fecond, a third, a fourth, hath gone over our heads, and another year of it is begun. " The harveil is pad, the fummer is ended, and we are not faved." May not this be a prefumption that Heaven is dif- pleafed with our aim, and, by repeatedly counter- working our efforts, intimates to us that abundance of blood is flied already ? I (incerely wiili, that the fomenters of thi^ war, on both fides of the Atlantic, may be of this mind. I remember, that when Otho^ in hig conteft againft Vitellius for the Roman empire^ 154 SERMONS. had loft a battle, but had ftill great refources, and, hi- the opinion of his friends, great caufe to hope for fuccefs, he choofed at once to take tlie defperate flcp of a Roman death, rather than to be the occafion of any more bloodfned of the Romans his fellow-citi- zens ! Or, at lead, is not the great length of this war,, which at firft was expected to be eafily finiihed in one fliort campaign^ a prefumption, that, in their profef- fions to faft and to repent, the inhabitants of the land have not been fincere ? " Will ye fteal, and murder^- and commit adultery, and fwear falfcly by the name of God r" and, even by your laws, give encourage- ment to a falfe» a blafphemous, and idolatrous reli- gion ? ^< Will ye plead for Baal ? Will ye burn in- cenfe to Baal ?" and yet come to this place, and, hanging down the head like a bulrufh, pray for fuc- cefs in this v/oeful war, in which the nation hath been fo long engaged, and by which it is fo miferatly exhaufted ? Firft repent of yo^r fins, and then you will be better prepared to afk, and may the rather hope to obtain. It is poffibls there may be in high life fome per- fons who are ftrangely corrupted •, but I hope there is not one »f you who wifhes for fuccefs, that you may lay hold on the revenue and the fpoil of a foreign land, to be confumed upon your lufts. And if in this land there be really fome perfons fo far debafed as to wifti for fuccefs in the war, that fo they may get more gold and filver to confume in luxury, high living, drunkennefs, and gluttony, or in gaming, lewdnefs, and expenfive debauchery, grown up to a fcandalous height, unheard of till this prefent age ; if there be others who covet greater riches, that they may with a heavier hand bear down and opprcfs their depend- ents abroad and at home ; if there be a ftill higher, a minifterial party, who, by a revenue fqueezed from America, mean to create new offices, nev/ pofts, new penfion?, greater bribes, in order (and by the means SERMONS. 15.5 *oF popery too) to eilablifli and afcertain a fyflem of defpotic power, which fliall be firm and lading, like that in France, in Spain, and in other popiih king- - high. Our people, like tlie Ifraelites, are forced to make brick without itraw. ' The method vv'hich Pharaoh took to afflict the'If- raelites was this : " He cornmanded the t'afk-mafters cf the people, ::ind their ofncers, faving, Ye fliall no mere give the people flraw to make bricks as hereto- -fcfe, let them go ?nd gather draw for themfclvcs j •and the tale of the bricks -vi'hich they did make here- tofore, you (hall lay upon them, yc ihall not diminifii ought thereof, for they be idle ; let there more work be laid upon the men that they may labour therein ; and let them not I vain words." The tafic- mafters, that is, th^ c.-niiiTionerSj the fte wards, or fac't-ors, of that agCi'^ebeyed thefehard and peremp- tory orders. ^^ They fpyke to the people, faying, Thus faith Pharaoh, I will not give you ftraw ; go, get you llra\y where you can find it, yet not ought of vour work fhallbe dimimfhed." So the people were fcattered abroad tlnoughout all -the land cf Egypt to gather ftubble inflead of ftraw ; they were \viiiing, but not able, to do -what they were commanded: But " the' tuik-mafters hafted them, faying, Fulfil your works, your daily talk, as when there was Itraw." The ofiicers, the overfeers, or conftables, which were of the children of Ifrael, were beaten and quellioned, ^< Wherefore have ye not fulfilled vour tajfk, t>oth yefterday and this day, as hereto- fore r" '©nefe officers were forced to remonfhrate to the king," that- the people could not furnifh the talc of the bricks except ftraw were given them. But the anlwer tliey received was : " Ye are idle, ye are idle ; get you to yeur burdens 5 go therefore now and work^ for th^i^* Ihall no ftraw be»given you, yet fhall ye deliver -the- tale of the bricks." Is -not t^at which was tranfa^led in Egypt a ftrik- ing picture of what is now fo generally done in this country ? The peremptory order of the proprietor, or ffERMONS. X'6^ his taik-mafler, to the tenant is, Yqu fhall pay, double or triple for the farm yoii now poflefs ; or, Y.ou fhali pay the fame fum for the half or third part of it ; ths farm is diminifhed, but you fliall not diminifh the tale of the bricks, the tale of the bolls, or pounds Sterling. The queftion to the Ifraelites was, " Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your tafk, both yefterday and this day?" 'J'hc queftion to our farmers is, Wherefore have ye not paid your Martinmas and your Whitfunday terms rent ? When the Ifraelites could not furnifli the tale of the bricks, they were beaten : Our farmers, when they cannot pay, if they be not beaten in a literal fcnfe, are imprifoned, and beaten with hunger ; any thing they have is barbaroully taken from them, and they are turned out and left to the mercy of the wide world. j.-^^.,. . It is certainly but juft, that the farrier fhould pay rent in proportion to the extent and quality of the land he poflefieth ; nay, fome twenty or thirty years ago, many tenants lived in fuch indolence .and le- thargy, that it was expedient to raife their rents con- fiderably, in order. to ftir them up to more induilry and labour : But tliere is a meafure in every thing ; and as rents may be too ' low, tliey may alio be too i>ut it is perhaps difficult to fay what is a reafore- able rent, or what proportion of the increafe of land the farmer ought to pay. I remember,, ^that, after- the feven years famine in Egypt, when the whol^ land had become the property of Pharaoh/ Co juft and good a man as Jofeph made it a flanding-.lawf, that the king fliould have the fifth part: <* And it (hall come to pafs, in the increafe, that thou fliall give the fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts ihatl be your own, for the feed of the field, and foi- yout food, and for them of your houfehold. and for yout: little- ones." A very moderate- rent,; if we-Gcwifideir, the fertility of Egypt, that the foil -needed no mc-yiurfe 104" ffERMOKSi and little cultivation, " where the people fowed tiie feed, and watered it with their foot, as a garden cf herbs." The rent juft mentioned may therefore be looked upon as that which was demanded for rich land in a Hate of cultivation. But our landliolders let out their farms, not with refpe<5t to what the land is able to produce, uncultivated as it is, when the te- nant enters to it, but by what it is expelled to pro- duce after the tenant, by great labour, and expence, fhall have got it put into good heart : An unfair way of dealing, and by which the credulous tenant is of- ten impofed upon. A diftin£lion indeed iliould be made between tlie value of land as it now is, and that which may be the value of it when it fhall be well cultivated : And one would think, tliat the fourth part of the produce of uncultivated land, and ^ a little more, but not amounting to the third of its produce, when, improved by the labour and expence of the tenant, is a fufficient rent;./ and that land which may, one year in ten, yield eight bolls, but at an average during that fpace yield net more than five, is too dear at 40 s» or 30 s. or even 20 s.^ per acre. But, in computations of this fort, it is pofiible one may err j for there are various circumftances which -may render the fame rent, for land of the. fame qua- lity, tolerable in one place, and too high in another. There is, however, a pretty certain mark or rule, by which we may be able to judge whether the rent of a. farm is too high or not. When the farmer, by his llcill, and toil, and induftry, is able to provide the neceflaries, and ordinary accommodations of life, fuitable to his humble ftation, and alfo to make fome provifion for the infirmities of his old age, or for the fettlement of his children, he may then be thought to pay no more but a reafonable rent ; but when he is fkilful in his bufinefs, when he labours and toils early and late, and live« in an unexpenfive and frug4 •SERMONS. 16^ manner, and upon the cheapeit food, and is not- withftanding unable to lay up any thing for himfelf or his children, and cannot even, as the expreflion is, make the two ends of* it to meet, cannot furnifli the tale of the brick, or pay his rent in due time, then he is unqueftionably overcharged ; his rent is too high. If we may judge by this rule, which ap- pears to be. equitable, it is undeniable, that, in many parts of Scotland, too high a rent is exacted, and that many induftrious farmers are opprefled : By their utmoil labour and induftry they cannot live *, though their induftry entities them not only to an infured livelihood, but to a certain profit over and above. This oppreilion was begun long ago", it hath been growing for a courfe of years ; and is at this day rifen to a very great height : " Behold the day, be- hold, it is come, the morning is gone forth, the rod hath bloflbmed, pride hath budded, violence is rifea up into a rod of wickednefs." I do not mean, or fay, that this oppreihon is yet become univerfal. There are, in feverai places of the country, men of prudence and humanit)^, who futFer their tenants to live in tolerable eafe ; and, blefTed be God, they are the men who, of -ail .-other landlords, are in the mofl eafy and flourifliihgirh*- cumftances ; but the number of them is yearly-46- 'creafing. They are incited by the workings of ava- rice ; they are tempted by the example of their neighbours-, they are exhorted and advifed by bad counfellors, to adopt the common pra£lice : For there are fuch counfellors here juft as there were in Jeru- falem of old : " The fpirit," fays the prophet^ " took me by a lock of mine head, and lift me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me into the inner court of the Lord's houfe ; and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, Were about fiv^'^nd twenty men, with their backs toward the* tqmple oT the Lord 5 thcfe are the men that devife mifchicf. 1^6 SERMONS. and give wicked counfel in this city." Thefe court;* fellers and advifers, if they offer not themfelves, are fent for to fet the higheft value on an eftate that is to be fold, or a farm that is to be let ; and, by the extravagant value they rate them at, commonly mar the fale of the one, and either mar the letting of the other, or lefTen the clear rent of it j and yet fo ftrong and epidemical is the fpirit of fcrewing up land, that, while thefe advifers are doing real mifchief, there are intelligent people who publicly applaud them for their good management ; applaud them for what they ought to be alhamed of, as it is feverity to the poor, impoverifheth the landholder, and tends to the ruin and defolation of the country. By means of thefe advifers, the evil I fpeak of becomes daily more univerfal ; but though men may applaud them, God is angry with them, *« becaufe," fays he, " with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous fad, and ftrengthened the hands of the wicked. I will deli- ver my people out of your hand, and they fliall no inore be in your hand to be hunted, and ye fliall know that I am the Lord." Though the point to be eflablifhed under this head of^difcourfe may feem clear enough already, and is pretty univcrfally believed, I will here mentioa a few particulars, which will make it evident, that the rent exa<£ted for land in this country is by much, too high. And, I. It is commonly much higher than what is de- manded for the fertile lands in England : There, the land is rich ; here, it is, for the moft part, poor ; and yet here, making allowance for the dilferent meafure, double, or more, is paid for it. The common people of Scotland, from time immemorial, have, by mean-s . and caufes which I need not mention, been crufaed.. down and held in miferable bondage. The free-fpi- rijted Englifli farmer would difdain to drudge, and, at the fame time, live fo poorly as our people would SERMONS. 1^7 "be content to do : They breathe the air of liberty ; and would fooner choofe to go to the fartheft parts of the world than ftarve themfelves, or juft keep in their lives by a fcrimp and poor fubfiftence, whilft all the profit of their labour accrued to greedy land- lords, who feed richly, and live at eafe ; they would not fubmit to make brick without ftraw. In fa£t, by the beft computations that have yet been made, the rent of the corn-fields, over all England, is not more than two-ninthis of their produce. In Norfolk, the rich fields, under a modern let, are rented at I OS. or a little more ; and even fo high a rent is not common, for moft of the land is much lower ; and, furely, if los. is the rent of good land in England, 40s. 30s. or even 20s. an acre, is too high a rent for ordinary land here. - - 2. That the rent of land is too high, appears, be- caufe a great number of families have been forced to leave the bufinefs of farming. They had been edu- cated in that bufinefs, and accuftom.ed to it from their youth ; they had a flrong defire to continue in it, and had, or knew no other way to earn their bread j and yet, by the high rent exacted from them, they have been obliged to leave it. Some of them, perhaps, are able to maintain themfelves for a little time \ but moft of them are firft ftripped of any little thing they had, and then unmercifully driven away to ihift for themfelves. One cannot walk in the ftreets of a city without feeing them, and bemoan-, ing their lamentable condition. Many of them are unable to work, or are not employed ; and, having been all their lives unaccuftomed to it, they are a- ihamed, and had rather ftarve than beg. They are, in fa£t, more miferable than thofe who, from their childhood, have begged from door to door : " Their vifage is blacker than a coal 5 they are not known in the ftreets ; their fkin cleaveth to their bones ; it wi- thereth, it is become like a ftick ; they are flain with j6S ser:,ions. liunger, and pine aivay, (Iricken through for want of the fruits of the field." /..3V Rent is too high; becaufe it is certain, that nlany induftrious tenants, now in the poiTeflion of farms, are ruined, and muil fpeedily depart from them. They got leafes, fome fix or feven years ago, when oat-meal v/as at I5d. a-peck : The landholders perfuaded them, and they foolifhiy believed, that it would continue at that high rate : They have la- boured, and (larved themfelves, and ftruggled for fo many years to keep thefe farms, and now they can do no more. At harveft, the greedy landlord mufl have every farthing they are worth ; and all. they have, -when he hath got it, wiU not make up the extravagant rent they had engaged to pay. Some of you whom I have now in my eye are of this num- ber ; and When, in the courfe of my vifiting, I ftep into one of your difmal cottages, I afliire you, I pity your condition. I fee before me an aflemblage of all the ills of human life j poverty, nakednefs, hunger ; the image of mifery and death ftrike all fenfes ! I am overwhelmed with forrow ; my voice is flopped ! O ye oppreflbrs, of what hard materials are your hearts made ! Will you not confider, that there is; a juft God, and a time coming, when thofe whom vou opprefs *' fhall be comforted, and you tor- mented !" There is another clafs, who, if they could, would immediately leave their farms : Thefe were very fub- flantial people a few years ago ; but having taken farms at an extravagant rent, have thereby lofb a half, or two-thirds of their flock already, and are de- firous to leave the farms, to prevent their utter ruin. In one corner, there are induflrious men, coming one by one to the mafters, and befeeching them in vain to break their leafes, and take back the farms, with all the expenfive improvements they have made upon them. In other places, they are humbly, and SERMONS. l6^). it^peatedly attending the ri^ld factor, by fifties or hundit'ds, earneftly befeeching the fame thing, but to no purpofe. Can any perfon bslieve, that thete farmers, fond of their occupation, would be willing to part with their leafcs, and throw up their farms, which, for five or fix years^ they have improved, with great labour and expence, if they could hopj to live by them, or recover the lofs they have already fuftained ? Would a hundred men, hitherto efteemed ^ prudent, would a whole country-fide become all at once fo infatuated ? But except one, who had paid no rent for three or four years, the reft have foiicited in vain to have t'heir leafes taken off their hands ; nor do I meet with any man who experts that fuch of them as have remaining ftocks will get quit of their farms, till all their ftocks are drained into the landlord's pocket, and they reduced to beggary. We talk of the flavery of the peafants in Denmark and Poland j if this that is tranfiicled among ourfelves be not opprelFion, and flavery into the bargain, it is at leaft very like it? 4. In many corners of the country, tliere are con- fiderable tracks of land, formerly inliabited, which ■ are lying altogether wafte : This is a vifible proof that rent 15 too high. If any one confiders, what I hint- ed at before, the uncommon eagerneft. 'vith which our country people pufh to have each of them a farm, their fondnefs to purfue that '^bufinefs, and their inability to fupport themfelves -by any other, he will eafily be convinced, that fo many tracks* of arable land (I do not fpeak of paftures) are lying defqlate for no other caufe but that too high a rend^' is demanded for them. If one travels through tlie ' country, and afks the reafon why fo many fields are lying uncultivated, the anfwer he receives is, ^' My Lord fuch-a-thing, or his Honour fuch-a-thing, hath accurately meafured all his lands, even the begs, the r(X"ks, and the barren mountains, and is demanding i^O - SCRMONS. -20 s. for every acre of it •, but he can find nobody to offer it ; and every man is convinced, that, though it fliould be offered, nobody vail be able to pay it ; becaufe it is three or four times u^hat the land is worth." X will only m.ention another proof that rent is too high; and it is tliis, that, for feveral years paft, con- fiderable numbers of farmers have been leaving this country and going to foreign lands. It is not an ordinary degree of oppreffion which is able to over- come that ftrong, and, in many cafes, foolifh attach- ment which all men, but efpecially the common people, have to their native country. What grief did feveral of you feel, what pitiable lamentations did you make, when you were driven from thefe lands and houfes, where you, your fathers, and grandfa- thers, had fpent their days ! How did you, when' going away, return ftill back again, to look at the humble cottages where you and your children were born ! How did you caO: back your eyes, to take the iaft and parting view of the poor but innocent a- bodes of your anccftcrs ! But when one is made to toil and ftarve in the fpot where he was born, his attachment to that fpot is abfurd and fooliffi. You are fenfible it is foolifli ; oppreffion taught you by degrees to overcome it. Your brethren now abroad have comipletely overcome it : They have overcome, not only the defire of the fpot where they had long dv/elt, but their attachment to the country in gene- ral : They faw there was fomething cffentially wrong in its police ; becaufe, though they were induftrious, they could not maintain themfelves by the product of their induPtry : They defired to abide in it, but could not get fubfiilence ; they laboured in an ufeful occupation, but others run away with the profit of their labour. And moft certain it is, that when any man in health continues attached to a country where, by his utm.ofl toil and induftry, he is not able to fup- SERMONS. I"! port himfcif and family in a decent and comfortable manner, he difco\rers a cliildifh weaknefs, and fins againfl his own foui.^ — From the feveral I'cafons I have mentioned, it is evident, even to a demonilfa- tion, that tlie rent exa£led in this country is by far too high. I proceed to the next head of difcoiirfe, namely, to mention, 2. Some of the caufes and means by v/hich rent hath been fcrev^'-ed up to fuch a hight. And, I. The original caufe of this is the blind avarice of the landholders and taik-maflers : From their ava'^ rice, they have racked the. rent of land fo prodigi- oufly, and, from the fame principle, they are wifliing and hoping it may rife fliil higher. You may fee -one of them, with a newfpaper in. his hand, loolcing at nothing but the prices of grain, what it colls at diftant markets, and computing how dear the car- riage muft render it if broudit here. Another will tell you, tliat the crop has failed in the Lothians ; that grain is riling fail, and that land muft rife of courfe ; that it is dear in England, and he is fure and expe6ls it will every year rife higher, and higher here : An inhuman and fenfelefs expectation ; for it is much more probable that it will fall. Since 1680,. the price of grain^ wheat for inftance, fell gradually in England to the year 1760 ; during the lail half of •that period it fell 25 per cent. ; and if our country is now in fuch a Hate tov/ards improvement as Eng- land was in 1680, may we not expect that it will fall here juft as it did there ? The rife of grain (hould not be afcribed to wrong caufes, nor meafured by the unfavou'rable feafons we have had of late, but bv an average of 30 or 40 years : And may we not trull in God's providence that favourable feafons will return .'' Thefe landholders feem, many of them, to be as blind as they are avaricious ; for it is not their in- tereft that the price of grain fnould rife : If, unhap- pily, that fliould be the cafe, our manufactures mull: p 2 1/2 SERMONS. dwindle to ruin. Formerly, in a dear year, they were kept alive by the cheapnefs of fuel j but by the monopoly of coal that hath been lately formed, the price of tliat commodity is nc.irly doubled, and the poor difheffed: And if the price of grain fhall alfo rile, and continue high, the manufadlurers will wdth- drr:w, and go where grain is cheap •, and then thci-e may. be bread enough, but fcv/ to buy or eat it. Ma- nufactures have greatly contributed to raife the va- lue of land ; and the landholders, ignorantly to be fure, feem to aim at the ruin of manufa6lures *, like the viper, which, they fay, is no fooner hatched and fees the light, but it turns ai)Out and devours its mo- ther. 2. The fliort leafes which landlords grant are ano- ther means of raifing the rent of land. Thefe leafes are ' a mighty difcouragement to the indullrious farmer, ami the almoft. never failing m.eans of injur- ing and opprefiing him. When he hath, with fore labour and expence, brought his ground into good heart, and the leafe is near expiring, the tafk-mafter demands a highcx^ rent from him, which he mufi: either give or be gone. No- allowance will- be made him ; if he comes not up to what is demanded, fome of his neighbours will ; the highefl offer will be wel- come to the inhuman talk-malter, and the laborious fivilful farmer muft lofe the expelled fruits of his la^ hour. 3. It oftentimes happens, that, when a tenant is r'lriving in his farm, the" mafter looks upon him with an evil eye, and falls upon forae pretence to very good crops, they were very far from being gain- ers by the trade. Would they have tried to bring tenants from fome other country ? But who would have fubmitted to fuch toil and mifery as you have-<, undergone? What then muft they have done with their land ? Why, if you had been wife, they wDuld have been obliged to let it to you at a reafonable rate ; but you were and ai*e foolifh, and they avail themfelves of your folly." Some of them let their lands openly by way of auftion or public roup ; and then the taik-mafter, , with all his eloquence, difplays the wonderful fertility and advantages of his farms ; and with the ftrong fpiritous bottle in his hand, he reaches out full bumpers to every rafh bidder, and intoxicates and cajoles them to ruin themfelves and one another. Other landlords choofe a method per- haps as infnaring ; I am fure it is more debafmg : They publicly advertife, that every one who wants fuch or fuch a farm fliall fend to them his higheft of- fer inclofed.. By this means they have opportunity to inquire into the circumftances of the feveral offerers, and to pitch on that one who hath the largeft ftock. Of this they are extremely defirous. You may hear one of them who has a pitiful farm to let, boafling of its goodnefs, and wifhing he had a fenfible tenant to it who has 500 1. or 600 1. flock. Thefe men never confider, that if a man is fenfible, and has 500 1. he will difdain to concern him.felf with fuch beggarly farms, while he hath the chance of fifty to one of em- ploying it to better purpofe in fome branch of mer- chandife or manufaifture, and knows, that to thefe farms many " come full and go away empty." But though a man of fenfe is on his guard at their roups and in making offers to them, the weak are catched. The landholder affures them, that the foil of his land is fo rich, that every acre of it will yield ten or twelve bolls ', and, by a fatal credulity, the farmers believe that he is fpeaking truth. Their vanity to be farmers I7<5 SERMONS. helps alfo to Infnare them. In this country, a farmer is more reputable than a tradefman ; which, I fup- pofe, hath happened by the integrity of ancient farm- ers, and the ufefulnefs of their bufinefs ; jufl as I know a conftable in a certain parifli, who, by his honeft and confcientious walk, hath rendered his humble office far more refpeftable than that of his landlord, v/ho is a judge. It is from this vanity that the fons of farmers think fhame to go to fervice, and thofe who have been long in fervice defire much to have farms. This vanity is as a halter about your neck, of which the tafk-mafter takes fail hold, and thereby leads you to ruin. This vanity ycu fhould have controuled, and continued in fervice, or at your trades, and then you might have paiTed through life with tolerable comfort. But by an excefs of credu- lity you believed the deceitful words of the landhold- ers. Your vanity made you offer high for every farm, even for fuch as had been long poflefled by the tenants then living upon them ; a thing againll which there is always an outcry j and it is rarely or never done in England ; and which, if not directly unjuft, doth at leall border upon injuftice, and encourages oppreffion. You got the old tenants remxoved ; your high offers v/ere accepted ; you were unable to pay ; and it was even impoffible you fhould. Hence there are fo many of you, in this very affembly, who have had your crops feized upon, your cattle poinded and driven away, your houfes plundered, and your perfons imprifoned j your children who were able, fent to fervice or to beg, and the reft ftarving in your mi- ferable huts. Thus the rent of land is high, from the avarice and artifices of the landholder, and from. the credulity and vanity of the farmer. Before Idifmifs this head, I cannot but take notice, that the pretence for afflicl:ing the Ifraelites was an averfion to idlenefs : " Ye are idle, ye are idle," faid the tafk-mafters. And it is remarkable, that our SERMONS. 177 noble lords and comnioners difcover alio a mighty ab- horrence of that fame fni of idlenefs ; they would make U3 believe that they are in fear left the very fouls of their tenants fhould be ruined by it ; they dread the eifects of it at leaft on their inferiors. You may hear one of them boafting with much felf-ap- plaufe : " Such a tenant of mine was idle ; I doubled his rents ; he works hard foon and late ; he attends to his buiinefs even on the Sundays -, fo that I believe he will pay me better now than he did before." Tliere have been ignorant and perverfe ftatefmen who gave out, tha< the heavier the taxes were which they im- pofed on the nation, the fubjects becam.e the more happy ; and there are landholders of a like under- ftanding and temper, who believe, that the higher the rents are which they exa6l from their tenants, they are in the better condition to pay them. The next head of difccurfe is to fhow, 3 . What are already the effects of the high rate of land, and what muft be the further confequences of it. Its etieclis are grievous to individuals, and in time muft hurt or ruin the nation j it is the caufe of mifery, and debauches the morals of the people. For, I. It is oppreffion ; and oppreffion, as hath been feen in part already, \s mifery : It is indeed but ano- ther name for it. Perpetual and fore bodily labour, without any profpect of enjoying the fruits of it, or of fome eafe, is certainly mifery. Indeed the feverity of labour is mitigated by the lx)pe of eafe or profit j but heref it often happens, that no fuch hope can be entertained. By the hardeft labour, in very many cafes, no more can be done but the tale of the bricks made up ; as much gained as will pay the greedy mafter. Nay, in many inftances this cannot be done; and then the diftrefs and mifery of the poor farmer is complete. He hath the vexation to fee his children ftarved and naked, his houfe fpoiled, hi&, 17& SERMONS. corn and cattle feized upon, to fatisfy the demands of his tafk-mafler ; demands which are highly unrea- fonabk, but v/hich by his credulity he had obliged himfelf to fulfil. 2. The high rate of land occafions a fort of Iiofti- lity between the rich and the poor. They are really like the plebeians and patricians in ancient Rome, in a ftate of war againft one another. The landholders have no compailion on the poor laborious farmers *, they relent not at the fight of their indigence and mi- fery. Let the tenant's wants be ever fo deplorable ; let his wretchednefs be ever fo unmerited j though his corn-fields have been deflroyed by winds or rains, all this is no matter to almoft any mafter. He niuft have, without abatement, all that in rigour of law he can demand, vrhatever may become of the tenant and his family. On the other hand, the farmers have a real hatred of their landlords, vvdiom they find to be fo rigid talk -mailers j they imprecate the curfe and vengeance of God upon them and their families. Living miferably under them, and unable, by all their toil, to pay them, they are every moment in fear left they come upon them, and ftrip them of all they have, and turn them out of doors. Hence it is, that if any man in rich equipage and drefs is {ten near their houfes, they think it mufl be their landlord, and are at once thrown into a dreadful alarm. Y/ere the great beneficent in proportion to their, power, or were they but looked upon as harmlefs, the poor would re- joice to fee them, and think themfelves honoured to meet and converfe with them. But, at the very fight of them, the haplefs farmer and his family expe£l im- mxdiate beggary and ruin ; the children run and hide their heads ; the wife trembles •, and the farmer him- felf, when called upon, goes to meet his mafter with all the expreffive fymptoms of averfion, hatred, and fear. Having felt the rigour of their mafters fo often, they dread to feel it again : Like thofc ancient flaves, SERMONS. 179 \vho had weapons In their hands, and were able to defend themfelves, but when they fa^v the fcourgcs Hfte and ill founded : I am fure It is unnatural and inhu- mane ;■ an error proceeding upon a fuppofition that the children of fuch marriages could not be ufeful ill the church, the navy, or the army, or would thereby be degraded •, an error that fprings from not attend- ing to an effe£l:, a growing effect of commerce, v/hich is, to deftroy or level all diftin^lion of ranks, to fet the induftrious fon of a farmer or mechanic above the idle fon of a peer, and makes it no way fhameful for the fon of a peer to plead at the bar, or be bufy in the counting-houfe. Nay, it is fifty to one if the children produced by fuch marriages have not more merit than thofe of the wealthy : In youth, they v/ill imbibe in{lru6tion, and learn uleful arts^ becaufe they know they muft do it ; whereas mofl of thofe v/ho know they are born to a great fortune reject and de- fpife education, and, be they ever fo rich, continue all their lives good for nothing. And I hope no - flatefman in Britain fnall ever be invefled with the dangerous power of hindering a marriage, becaufe he imagines the fortune of the parties to be lefs than their rank would require. But tlicugh to" fome people^ and in fome cafes, this point m^y appear fomewhat dubious, yet every perfon muft fee that what I aim- at is evident even to a demonftration j that when la- borious people, by the hardlhlps tliey Me under, are terrilied from marriage, that tends directly to ttie de- population and ruin of a country, becaulfe fhe n\i\n-- b:r of working hands is the riches and ilrength of a nation. Iii (hort, depopulation mull be the efFe6t of the high rate of land, becaufe a people oppreired in one country will naturally refort to fome other. If the price of grain is high, the manufacturers will go eifewhere *, if it falls low v/hile rent is high, the farm- ers muft withdraw to fome place where they can live. On either fuppofition, high rents mufi: be the caufe of depopulation. " This, it is true, will weaken the country thefe people depart from j but they will con-' Q.3 1^6 SERMONS. fider, and if they be wife they ought to confider, that a country is their country no longer than by reafon- able labour and induftry they are able to provide a tolerable fubfiftence in it. I fliall have occafion to enlarge farther on this point under a follovi^ing head of dilcourfe ; at prefent I break off, and conclude this forenoon's fernion. But as I apprehend there are feme hearing me who have either exai£led extrava- gant rents, or encouraged, and advifed that rigour and opprefTion, I will take the liberty of making a fliort addrefs to them in the language of holy v/rit. " Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the houfe of Jacobs and princes of the houfe of Ifrael, that abhor judgment^ and pervert all equity ; is it not for you to know judgment, who hate the good and love the evil ? By reafon of the multitude of your oppreflions, you make the opprelled to cry •, men groan from out of the city, and the foul of the wounded crieth out , they cry out by reafon of the arm of the mighty. Tcu pluck ofF their ikin from ofF them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flefh within the caldron. You turn judgment into wormv/ood, and leave off righteoufnefs in the iparth. You pluck the fatherlefs from the breaft, and take a pledge of the poor. You caufe them to go naked without clothing, and take away the fheaf from the hungry," If a tenant thrives in your land, you grudge at his profperity ; you either ra:ck his rent that he may thrive no m^ore, or you fend him adrift, and bereave him of the fruit of his labour. If your tenants go to v/reck, as many of them m.uft do, you fee their mifcrable (late, and you have no pity ; you i'natch the lean morfel from the ftarving miOuth, and embitter the mifery of the miferable. Are your hearts Heeled againft all the imprefhons of humanity ^ Are your ears fhut againft the piercing and doleful cries of the poor ? Do not ycu hear them often faying ta you, " We have underftanding as well as you, where- SERMONS. I&7 fare are we counted to you as beafts, and reputed vile in youf fight ? How long will it be ere you make an end of rigour towards us ? Did not he that formed us in the womb form you ? Are not our natural want& the fame with yours ? Is our llrength the ftrength of ftones, or is our fiefh of brafs ? You compel us to make brick without ftraw ; you lay burdens upon u& which crufh us to the grouad. We defire to live and die in the land where we were born j we are content to labour, and to labour hard, to do juflice to you, and make you live at eafe j but while we ftrive to an- fwer your fevere dem.ands, we wear out our ftrength with toil *, our children are naked and flarving, and we have neither clothes nor bread to give them. We wifhed to work for you, and to look upon you as our nurfmg-fathers ; but you have no pity on us. Even the fea-monflers draw out the breaft, and give fuck to their little ones ; but you are becom.e cruel, like tlie oftriches in the wildernefs ; we muft leave this- land, we muft feek out another abode, and bid yoa farewell."' That I may ftill fpeak to you in the language of fcripture, " Hear this word, ye kine of Bafhan, which are in the mountain of Samaria, which opprefs the poor, which crufti the needy, which fay, 13ring and let us drink ; who drive away the afs of the father- lefs, and take the widow's ox for a pledge, and turn the needy out of the way, fo that the poor of the earth hide themfelves." By your exa6lions, you have already be^gun to fcatter the people and to drive them av/ay. If you be not as blind as you are avaricious, do you not fee that you are ruining yourfelves ? What do you think will be your condition, if one or tv/o hundred thoufand people ftiall leave you, and take up their dwelling in foreign lands ? In that cafe, muft not your rent fink very low ? You perhaps imagine there is not room for them abroad j but you miftake the matter , there is a good land, and a large, open l88 SERMONS. to receive them ; and that God, who with a flr6ftg hand delivered the Ifraelites from Egyptian bondage, can deliver the people of this land from the hardfhips under which you make them groan. You fuppofe, perhaps, that, from a fond attachment to their native country, they will flill continue to toil and ftarve, as moft of them have hitherto done. But the weight of oppreffion muft overbalance that attachment ; ava- rice often defeats its own aim, and in this particular cafe it muft, in the iflue, unavoidably have that ef- fe£l. The farmers are in fome fort your property ; for from them your land derives its value ; and when- ever you drive away one of them, you thereby dimi- nifh your incomes ; and befides, every laborious man is worth a great fum of money to his country. How poor and defencelefs will this country be, if. by your covetoufnefs and rigour, it is fpoiled of its inhabi- tants ! The proportion of brave men v/hich this na- tion furnifhed to the navy and the army in the late war was high, and is almoft incredible. Will fuch a fupply be pofhble in time of need, if the land fhall- be depopulated ? You are often complaining that our minifters of ftate a£l foolifhly, when, at the end of a war, they difmifs fo great a number of brave feamen ; ail of whom, you fay, might be retained in tl^e^fer- vice, if two or three overgrown penfions were wifely applied to maintain them. Will you ruin ycur coun- try, by beating time with the aukward and impoliti- cal meafures of a covetous and bungling miniftry,- which you defpife and condemn ^ It is time, it is high time for you to alter your meafures, to ceafe from oppreffion, and, if pofTible, prevent the defok-- tion of the land. Exa£l: not the whole ; hay, abate a great deal of that which your tenants have of late ■ obliged themfeives to pay. When you granted them leafes, oat-meal was at 15 d. a-peck.- It hath fin cc been a third cheaper. Can you in confcience exa£lr all that which they have fooliihly obliged ■thenjfelve?' SERMONS. 189 to pay ? Think on juilice and equity, and you will be moved by the fear of a righteous God, and by a regard to your own intereft, to abate a great part of what you can in rigour demand. Rellore to their poflelfions thofe whom you have ejected, and rcftore them on equitable terms. Let me addrefs you in the words of Nehemiah, which were immediately com- plied with *, ^^ Reftore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vine-yards, their olive-yards, and their l)oufes, alfo the hundredth part of tlie mo- ney, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that you exa6t of them. And they faid. We will rellore, and require nothing of them." Make fome pj?oviiion for the many diftrefled families, whofe vitals you have fucked and left them to flarve. Reftore the pledge, and give again that ye had robbed. Parcel out your wafte grounds to fober and induflrious families, and encourage them to abide with you : " And the defo- late land (hall be tilled, whereas it lay defolate in the fight of all that paiTed by." Inftead of enriching yourfelves by grinding the faces of the poor, pity them, relieve them ; for " He that by ufury and un- juft gain increafeth his fubflance, he fhall gather it for him v/ho will pity the poor." Can any of you have greater pleafure in life, than to behold a imm- ber of poor families brought from diftrefs into com- foi table circumftances by your means ? Is there any character more noble, than that of fuch a compaffion*! ate and humane man ? Is there any more refpe^lable in youth, or in old age ? " Behold," fays Samuel, " I am old and grey-headed, and I have walked be- fore you from my childhood to this day. Behold, here I ani, witnefs againft me before the Lord. Whofe ox have I taken ? or whofe afs have I taken ^ whom have I defrauded ^ whom have I opprefTed .'' or of whofe hand have I received any bribe ?" I hope, that .though inhumanity and extortion have become fo fai- iiiiouable, there are ftill many of you who efteem 190 SERMONS. fuch a charad^er, and fome of you who drive to de- ferve it : Thefe laft will be beloved and efteemed while they are alive, and their memory will be precious and revered. In the mean time, they will have peace from within, and fecurity from without : For " He that walketh righteoufly — he that defpifeth the gain of opprefTion, and fhakcth his hand from holding of bribes — he fhall dwell on high, his place of defence fhali be the munition of rocks — bread iliall be given him, his w^ater fhall be fure.'* Allow me alfo to addrefs m.yfelf to you who make the bulk of this aflembly. Many of you arc in \vorld- ly diilrefs ; ftrive to make your peace with God, and no niifery fhall purfue you beyond the grave. No talk-mafler can dillurb that peaceful manfion 5 for <« there the wicked ceafe from troubling ; there the weary are at reft j there the prifoners refl together ; they hear not the voice of the oppreiJbr." You are blamed for being lazy and idle j and I fear fome of you arc blame-worthy. You know that it is the lot of man to eat his bread with the fweat of his brows, and that idlenefs leads to almoft every fin. Pray, read the word of God, and fanclify the Sabbath j and remem.ber, that to work and provide for your families is an eflcntial part of religion. God manifefts him- felf to thofc who are diligent about their lawful bufi- nefs. It was when Mofes kept the flock of Jethro -his father-in-law at Horeb, that God appeared to lum in the burning bufli, and promifed to deliver the If- raehtes, in the words of the text. It was when Gi- deon was threiliing wheat by the wine-prefs, that aa angel appeared to him, and promifed a like deliver- ance. And an angel, with the glad tidings of great joy, came upon the flfephcrds at Bethlehem, whilft they v.^ere keeping watch over their flocks by night. You who have yet farms to cultivate, work with your hands, and ftrive to attain flcill in your bufinefs \ and " your God will inftrud you to difcretion, and teach SERMONS. Ipl you.*' There are' many of you who have no farms ; and there are abundance of farms publicly offered to be let ; and the proprietors of them are no doubt ex- pelling to enfnare you as before. Paufe and confi- der how to a£l:. If you could mortify your vanity, and apply to fome other bufinefs for a few years, you would certainly bring the moft avaricious taflc-mafters to reafon, and get farms at an equitable rate. Take care that you a9: not foolifhly, as many of you have formerly done. Do not give fport to your oppreffors, by making high offers againft one another. Take not farms at a rent which you will never be able to pay, left you bring yourfelves into circumftances ftill more calamitous than thofe you are in at prefent. But whe- ther you have farms, or have been driven out of them, I befeech you, that from the fear of God and regard to your immortal fouls, you violate not the eternal laws of truth and juftice. Sore oppreffion may feem to make fome apology for falfchood and injuftice iii the fight of men, but nothing can excufe it in the fight of God. Though you fliould be unmercifully ftripped of any fmall pittance you have, and forced to beg from door to door, leading your infants in your hands, or carrying them in your arms, yet hold faft your integrity, and refufe to let it go. A man op- preffed and impoverifhed, and yet jull and honeft, is a refpe£lable character. A61 with fuch uprightnefs, that you may be able to appeal to God in the words of his anciejit church : " All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falfely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our fteps declined from thy way j though thou haft fore broken us in the place of dragons, and cbvered us with the fhadow of death." I do not ad- vife you to abide content, or to abide at all in a ftate of oppreffion ; I think you ought to look about for the means of being delivered from it ; you fhould cry to God for deliverance. When the Ifraelites cried to Ixjl SERMONS. Goc> by reafon of their tafk-mailers, God faw tlieir affli6lion, and heard their cry. I proceed to the next head of difcourfe, which is to fhow, 4. That it is the duty and confolation of an afflidl- ed people to cry unto God* Prayer is the duty of men at all times, efpecially in a time of diftrefs : Affliction fhould bring men to God ; it ever had, and ever will have, this effect upon the faithful .; and when they cry to God, they are comforted. This is manifeft from the hiftory of faints in holy fcripture ; it is manifeft alfo from the expe- rience of every devout man. When the righteous cry to God in faith, he either makes affliction to fit light upon them, or elfe comes to deliver them from it. When the Ifraeiites " fighed and cried by reafon of their bondage, God heard their groaning, and remem- bered his covenant." And I may here take notice, that the Ifraeiites in Egypt cried to God, becaufe he had given them particular ground to expecl deliver- ance. Good old Jacob had, in his laft moments, af- fured them of it : " Behold," fays ^e/ ^' I die ; but God fliall be with you, and bring you again unto th6 land of your fathers." Alfo the patriarch Jofeph had faid unto them, " I die ; and God will furely vifit you, and bring you out of this land." It was faith, founded on thefe aflurances, that difpofed the Ifraei- ites to cry to God in hope of deliverance. You, my friends, v/ho complain of being in grievous diftrefs, you have no particular prediction from heaven ; nor can you hope, like tlie Ifraeiites, to be delivered in a miraculous manner *, but you have numberlefs pro- mifes of the faithful God, that he " will deliver the needy v^hen he crieth *, the poor alfo, and him that hath no helper. He will regard the prayer of the in catching it, without any danger of being robbed of your fowl- ing-pieces, or profecuted as poachers. Here, when one employs large fields in pailure, he depopulates the country, becaufe a few people only are needed to UkQ care of the^ cattle 5 but there, if any of you have 2C2 SERMONS. a defire to fee large flocks of hisowiT feeding on rich and extenfive paftures, he may, with profit to him- ftlf, and without detriment to the pubhc, gratify that natural defire. As the Ilraehtes did, " you \tili find fat pafture and good, and the land wide, and quiet, and peaceable." You may behold your flocks and herdc grazing at their eafe on green padures, and may be innocently entertained with << the bleating of the iheep and the lowing of the. oxen." There are two things which render the high rent of land in this country more intolerable than it would be otherwife. One of them is, the high taxes which every perfon is obliged to pay to defray the expence of government, and to make good that enormous debt with which the miniftry from time to time have loaded the nation. You can hardly conceive how great a proportion of the fruit of your labour every one of you pays yearly by the impofitions that are laid on houfes, windows, foap, fait, drink, candles, fnoes, and every thing you need. The other thing is, the maintenance of the numerous poor, many of whom have been reduced to beggary by the rapacity of the landholders ; and the burden of fupporting them falls, as I have fliown, upon the farmers and tradefmen. On account of thefe two things, the lefs rent fhould have been exadled y but thefe things have never been confidcred. The tenants have heavy taxes to pay to the public, and the landholders leave it to them to maintain the poor. But from both thefe grievances the inhabitants of America are almoft to- tally exempted. The public taxes are a very trifle j and in the Britifh fettlements which have been already made there, there is fcarce a fingle beggar to be feen, or indeed any who need to beg. The land is good, and it is cheap. 5. But farther : North. America is a land of civil and religious liberty : Without this, though recomj- mended by all the real advantages I have mentioned,. SERMONS. ^03 It would not be a defirable habitation for even an op- prefTed people. If defpotic power prevailed in Ame- rica, poor would be the encouragement derived from its mild climate, its rich paftures, and its fruitful plains : But in North America, liberty in the largeft fenfe is eftabliilied according to the generous princi- ples of the law of England : The lives and property of even the pooreft men are there fecure. Here in- deed you have little property, and what you have would be more feclire, if, as in England, and accord- ing to the ancient law of Scotland, juries were ufed in all civil caufes : And as you liave felt the avarice of your great taik-mafters, the time fliall ever come^ when in criminal trials, efpecially when any of you is profecuted by the rich or noble, you fliail alfo feel their weight and influence to get jurymen appointed to try you, who are known to be prejudifed againft you, or to overawe thefe jurymen after they have been appointed : Then, if there be not room elfewhere, it will be high time for you to fly for your lives to England, though that glorious land of liberty fhcuH be ever fo much crowded with inhabitants* But, by the providence of God, there is room for you where thefe fame Englifii laws, efteemed to be the perfec- tion of human reafon, are the very laws by which your lives and properties are to be judged, civil caufes fpeedily and fairly determined by the help of a jury, and criminal trials by the unanimous verdift of an unbiafled jury, and the fentence of an enlightened, candid, and merciful judge. Liberty, the natural right of mankind, and the glo- ry of England, was reftored and eftablifhed by the great King William of imm.ortal memory ; it was farther "ecured by the happy acceflion of the iliuftri- ous George I. to the imperial crown of thefe king- doms *, and from the mother-country it is derived to its feveral colonies. The rights, the privileges, the laws of the niothcr-countrv and the colonies are the 204 SERMONS. fame : Hence it is, that ilierc as well as here ho man's property, or perfonal freedom, or life, is at the arbitrary difpofal of any fingle pcrfon or governor ; lie iiy fubjeft only to tjie laws ; he is to be judged by the laws alone : Hence it is, that by charters granted to the colonies by th& crown, and fome of them feveral times renewed, no man is to be taxed but with his own confent, or the confent of his re- prefentative in a lawful aflembly. It is by tliis liber" ty that the Britifh colonics have fo wonderfully flou- rifhed ; and cur parliament is too wife not to fee that the fame liberty is neceffary to encoura'ge thofe fettle- ments which are yet to be made on fuch an extenfive vacant territory. Without this, the prefent colonies would dwindle to ruin, and any new fettiement would be crufhed in its infancy. We have indeed, for fome time paft, been hearing a voice or cry from North America, that its liberties, folemnly fecured by char- ters, are like to be infringed •, that fome wrong-head- ed ftatefmen have been purfuing meafures detrimen- tal to the mother-country, and deftrudlive to the co- lonies ; and that it could not have been forcfeen, that ever the Britilli miniftry would be fo ignorant or def- potic as to think of fuch ruinous laws with refpedl to America as in faIO SERMONJ. te£^ioft, and there you will beliold his wonders, and be fafe in the midft of winds and^ftorms : For " they that go down to the fea in fliips, that do bufmefs in great waters, thefc fee the works of the Lcrd, and his v/onders in the deep ; for he commandcth and raifeth the ftcrmy winds j their foul is melted becaufe of trouble; they reel to and fro, and are at their v.its end. Then they cry uixto the Lord in their trouble, and he biingeth them cut of their di{lr>efs. He maketh the ftorm a calm, fo that the wave?- there- of are ftill. Then are they glad, becaufe they lie « t]ukt •, fo he bringeth them to their defired haven." You have endeavoured to live by faith, and to ferve God v/ith fnicerity of heart. You have his promife, ih'.xt he v;ili be with, you, and prcferve you in every <4'thy Sa^^ur. I will bring thy feed from ■-; eaft, and tiivihcr thee from the wefb." And as it requires but a few davs to fail from our fiKire tx3'thati<>£.ii^!Qith Ameiica, fo there is nothing that hindeVs y^ to embark for that country. Near a century and a half ago, when a headilirong and ili- advjfed monarch v.as violating the property and in- fringiiiig, the chil and religious liberties of the king- dcmj and fom^ had gone, and great numbers of the bed people were defncus to tranfport,therafelves to the then v/ilds of America, where they might enjoy liberty, they were prohibited by the tyrannical edicts of that obifinate and unhappy monarch. Many op- preixd people in difterent dominions and principa- litieb of Germany, have been for feme years pafl tranfporting themfeives in great {hoals>"to'take refiige SERMONS. 2tf in the ^'^cant territories of America belonging to Bri- tain : But thefe emigrations are now ftridtly counter- manded by thefe pitiful tyrants, and defpotic Ger- man fovereigns ; but there is not the leaft reafon to apprehend that fuch unnatural edicts will ever be if- fued out by our gracious fovereign, or by tjie wifdom. of the Britifh parliament. I will not fay but that thofe of your talk-mafters who lately attempted to^ have the ports fliut,. when the people were ftarv- ing, may attempt fo inhuman a thing: When they fee great numbers of you leaving the country (which^ I fuppofe, will and muft be the cafe), they may at laft come to underfland, that in proportion as the country is depopulated, their incomes mull be dimi- niilied ; and may drive to get you imprifoncd in this laud, to tug like galley-ilaves, not for your own, but their private advantage. But there is not the moft diftant ground to fufpeite and devour you 5 no Og king of Ba- 212- SERMONS. fhan, 01" Sihon king of Hefbon, to fight againft you ; no giants, or Horims, or Emims, or Zamzummims,. to obfl:ru£l your journey : Only, if a great number of you go over to the good land at once, it may be pro- per beforehand to apprife the Britifli miniftry of your defign, that fo fome prudent man may be appointed and rer.dy to lay off the townfhips, and allot to every emigrant his particular poiTeffion. They have been propofmg to accommodate the poor of England in America, and they will be equally difpofed to accom- modate the induftrious emigrants from this country. I for my part fee nothing which can retard your efcape from wretchednefs, except, on the one hand, your caufelefs fears, your indolence, or a bafenefs of mind, ftill willing to endure the fcourge of oppref- fion j or, on the other hand, the artifices that will be ufed by your tafk-mafters. If, when God puts a price in your hand to get wifdoin, ycu have no heart to ufe it j if when, in his providence, he hath prepared an am.ple relief for you, and you will not take hold of it;. there is no help for you ; there appears- even aiiecef- fi-ty that you muft continue niiferablc. I afk you, Do ye difcern any other effeftual method of relief but that which I have mentioned ? You anfwer. No,, by your difmal looks. If then you have been aiming to go far honk the fcene of your opprellion j if, by childiili fear; by floth, by bafe-mindednefs, you are withheld from executing your purpofe •, if ycu return again, and put yourfelves in the pov/er of your talk- mafters, you may depend upon it they will take ad- vantage of your weaknefs, and inflead of whips chaf- tife you with fcorpions ; fo that, like the nr.m into whom the unclean fpirit returned, your laft itate will be worfe than the firfl. But in that cafe, whatever be your fufFerings, you ought to be filent, and utter no complaint : Let them intoxicate and hoodwink you when they, give you leafes j let them feize on your crops without apprcciatien ; let them drive your cat^ SERMONS, 213' tie without form of law, pillage your houfes, roup'' your clothes, beat and imprifou your perfons, and turn your children out of door^ naked,and ftarving — you fhould never once be heard to complain. God hath ftretched out his hand for your relief, and you did not regard him j he fiiowed you a wide and plain path to fly from mifery, and you would not enter in- to it. But perhaps there are not very many of you who by faint-he arte dnef 3 v/ill hinder your own deli- verance, your efcape from the unprofitable toil of making brick without ftraw. I rather fufpe<5l that the hindrance will fpring from thofe who will at lafl have their eyes opened to fee that jguy departure muft leilen therr unconfcionable revenues. Your taik-maflers will, by themfelves and others, employ every artifice to detain you j they will, I forefee, fub- born a number of the cunningeft of their tenants, promifing them fome abatement of their rent, (which promife hov/ever they will never fulfil) to difcourage and alarm you. Thefe mean and oihcious fubflitutes will fawningly come up to you at church, or market^ and vi^ith deep delign, but teeming concern for you, tell you of the dangers in croffing the fea, the -acci- dents , that may happen, the labour and difficulty of clearing the ground, the favagenefs of tlr^ Indians, and I know not what. They will tell you, that th^, landlord is forry upon your account, that he will gix^e you an eafier leafe, and not exa£t intereft again, if you pay not punilually at the term. I think I fee the air of thefe lov/ perfons, the buftle they m.ake to keep you in mifery, and hear the falfehoods they.ut» ter, to frighten and delude you; but you have un- derflandlng as well as they. Can you believe that thofe who have hitherto ufed you with fo much bar- barity are all of a fudden become concerned for your welfare ? Do you not fee, that it is not you they pity, but themfelves, when bereft of the produce of your toil? There may indeed be danger at (ea ; but -i« that 214 SERMONS. danger greater to you than to other people ? There ^ay be accidents at lea, but fo may there be at land. You are to be in the way of your calling, and God hath promifed, tliat " he will give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." The ground, no doubt, is to be cleared ; — and the Indians, if you do not provoke them, will do you no harm. You will eafdy difcern, that thefe undcr-agents of oppref- f]on are either fuch as arc in arrears with the mailer, or he hath got them fome ether way in his clutches, or they expert fome favour from him. Whatever they fay or promife, a6l a prudent and a fleady part.. Be not afraid of vam terrors, nor depend on fallaci- ous promifes. They fee now what they did not fee before,, and they are greedy to devour the fruits of your labour. Their cafe and yours is tolerably welh reprefented in the fable of the crocodiles and dogs in Egypt : " The dogs, afraid of being fwallowed up by the crocodiles, ufed to drink running : A crocodile in the river efpying one of them in this timorous plight,, faid to him, Come lap at your leifure, be not afraid *, come nearer, to a better place. So I would, replied; the dog, if I did not know beforehand that you are fond of my flefh." You have pitied and bemoaned the diflrefs of one another ; continue to be knit to- gether in the bands of love -, encourage one another to refolution in purfuing the befl fchcme of being de- livered from mifery. Say with the Jew-s retutning- to their country, *' Flee out of the midll of Babyion, and deliver every man his foul ; be not cut off in her iniquity. We would have healed Babylon,, but ihe is not healed : Forfake -her, and let us go every one into our own country. Remove out of the midft of Babyion, and go forth out of the land of the Chal- deans." And you. that have fkill to lead and direft the reft, " be as the goats before the flocks." — " Go- ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans; with. a voice of fmging declare ye, tell this, utter it evea SERMONS. 215 to -the end of the earth : fay ye, The Lord hath re- deemed his fervant Jacob." The advantages of Hving In North America arc great and many. The people there are under the au- fpicious government of George III. The land is good in its quality — large in its extent — cheap and gratui- toufly beflowed — civil and religious liberty flourifli there — and the pafjage to it is uncxpenhv-e, -dvA made in a few weeks. Such advantages might tempt al- moft any people to go and fettle there, though they be under no oppreflion ; but when a people are groah- ing under oppreffion, and fee that fuch a land is in providence prepared for them, it becomes their duty to repair to it. And this I fliall clearly fhow in what was propofed to be the laft head of this difcourfe ; -which is, 6. That it is the duty of an afHi^led people to pur- fue the means which providence offers for their deli- verance. It is their duty, becaufe it is juft obeying the dire6lion of Chrift.; " When they perfecute you in this city, flee ye into another." When the afPxicl- ed Ifraelites cried for relief, and had feen the won- ders God did in Egypt, it v/as their duty to truft in God, and yield themfelves to be conducted by him, though they faw but darkly by what particular me- thod they were to be delivered ; and thofe of them, who, upon the appearance of difficulties, murm^ured and faid, ^ Let us make us a captain to return again into Egypt," fmned agiiinft God, and were punilhed accordingly. God wills our everlafting happincfs, ■ and alfo our prcfent welfare : It is the duty of men to promote their own interefl. I will not abfolutely fay, that it is the duty of thofe who are fo much op- preffed in this country to remove to the fertile and fpacious helus of North America ; but I do affirm, that it is their duty to examine carefully by what means they may be refcued from mifery j and if, af- ter all the inquiry they can niake. they are,: convinced Sl5 SEUM0N3. that what I fpeak of is the mod fafe, and fpeedy, and cffe6tual means of being dehvered from opprefllon, then, for aught I can fee to the contrary, it becomes their duty to lay hold of it ; it is the means which their beft reafon fuggells ; it is that which God him- felf points out to them : For his providence hath a language, a language which is oftentimes as intelligi- ble as even a voice from heaven. I will briefly mention a few plain reafons, whicli fhow it to be the duty of a people, in diftrefs, or dif- ficulties, to comply with the means which divine pro- vidence points out for their relief. And, 1, This is the duty of fuch a people, as they would wifh to preferve their own lives. God gives them the blefllng of life, and will they be at no pains to preferve it ? Will a wife man (lay in, a houfe when he fees it on fire ? Will not a failor, when the veffel is fliipwrecked, try to efcape on a plank ? Will one continue a Barbary flave, when he can fafely make his efcape ? Or will one abide in the way of robbers, who are ten times flronger than he, when he hath a fair opportunity of running away ? If any one a6LS in that fort, he fins againft his own foul ; he fins a- gainft God, and breaks the fixth commandment. 2. An oppreflx^d people fhould purfue the means whicli providence offers for their relief, upon account of their children. It is the duty of parents to pro- vide for their children : But how can they provide for them in a land where thfy are kept in fuch diffi- culties that they cannot provide for themfelves ? There are feveral of you now fitting before me, and your children (landing at your knees with rags on their backs, and the difmal marks of hunger on their face : Let me afk you, what will become of thefe poor children when you die ? By reafon of your tafk- mafters, you have been able to provide nothing for them ; and they, alas ! cannot yet fupport themfelves. It is eafy to fee they muft beg their bread j but that SJ^.RM0N5. 21,7 would be nothing, were it not the vicious habits of idkn^fs, lying, curling, fwearing, and pilfering, which they will contract by drolling through the country. It is impoffible for you not to be concerned about the dangers they run with refpeet to their character^ their virtue, their happinefs in this life, and the fiate of their immortal fouls in the life to come. It is no wonder you wifli to prevent all that danger ; and if God puts it in your power, a concern for thefe chil- dren fhould roufe you to activity, that you may leave them in a hopeful way. 3. I think it is the duty of a number of you at leaft, to repair to the gbod and large land which is ready to receive you, from compaffion to thofe whoiii vou leave behind you. This is juft doing v/hat good Abraham did with refpe^t to Lot. When there was a ftrife between the herdfmen of Abram*s cattle and the herdfmen of Lot's cattle, " Abram faid to Lot, Let there be no ftrife, I pray thee, between me and thee, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land be- fore thee ? Separate thyfelf, I pray thee, from me : If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." There hath been too much flrife among you about who fhould poffefs this or that fpot of ground. I do not expect, that compaffion or re- gard to the welfare of your neighbours is to operate very high in this felfifh age : But if many of you are diftrefled •, if through the avarice of your taik-mafters and your own v/eaknefs there is reafon to believe that your diftrefs muft continue and increafe whiiit you ftay here ; if you plainly difcern, that whatever num- ber fliall incline to go may be very happy elfewhere, I think you need not grudge, I hope you will rather rejoice, that thofe of your occupation, whom you leave behind you, fliall be happier than they are at prefent,- and rendered happier by your means ; and I cannot help thinking but that this is your duty. T aiS &ERMOKS. 4. It appears to me, tliat it is your duty to wliL- driiw' yourfelvCvS, out of pity to thofe who have lb cruelly cpprcfi'ed you. Grievous and multiplied is the raifery which, by their rapacity, they have occa- fjoned ; and dreadful is the account which they have 10 make. The aged men whom tliey have barbaroufly ejeclcd — the widow-s whofe poor Jioufes they have pillaged — the children whom by cold and hunger they have llarved to a premature death — and even the proflitute inftruments of their oppreiTion — will ap- pear as witnefl'es againft them in the great day of God. You, at leaft fome of you, have by your folly been in fome degree partners Mith them in their guilt, and you have had fufficient caufe to repent of that Cw and folly : But can you, even with the eyes r>{ charity, difcern any marks of repentance in them, ^any relenting or remiOrfCj any inclination to make re- f^ituticn to thofe whom they have ruined .'* Do they rctj without being difturbed^ behold the difmal fight of naked orphans, whofe parents they have imprifon- cd, and made to die in want ? Do thev not hear tlie rueful cries of dtfolated families, and yet continue inexorable, and altogether impenitent ? Some of you, •cxafperated by opprtfhon, may be thinking it but juft, that they who by rapacity have caufed fo much mifery to ethers, fliould be rendered m.iferable in their turn. But you ought to do every thing in your power to bring them., if poflible, to repentance, and prevent their eternal damnation , jmd to this purpofe, I can fee nothing fo effectual as your removing out of the country. Mofl of them are juft as rapacious as they can find opportunity to be fo ; but then they will want the opportunity. By your withdrawing, you will take aw^ay occasion from thofe that defire occa- fxon : The cruel and avaricious temper, a part of their natural corruption, ftrengthened by long habit, may continue flrong for a long time ; but wanting fuel to cherifh it, or not being exerted as before, it may Ian- sER^roNS. 219'- ^iih, and change at lail to fometliiiig better. That God, who works wonders, may in time bring them Xo feme degree of repentance, and to promote fo won- derful and fo good an end. Tiiere are jnany people in fo deplorable circumilances, that they h:\v6 not even wherewirhal to pay their paiTage : Thefe bein:^' left in this land, the fight of them may at lail fmite the Gonfciences of tlioie who fird Uripped them oF s^l their fubltanee, and make them to be alarmed at the dreadful and eternal torments which await op^ preflbrs in the life to come. 5. You ought to purfue the befb means which pro- vidence puts in your power to be delivered out of oppreffion, from a regard to your own immortal fouls : This is your great concern ; and I appeal to yourfelves, diat hitherto many of you have been very little con- cerned about it : And the caufe you affign for this • indolence, is, your diflreHing circumftances. When Talk you, why you come not to church ? you tell me, that you are fo fatigued through the week, that you muft have reft on the Sunday : When in private I advife you not to fleep in the church, you tell me a- gain of your labour and toil : When I have meetings for catechifing, fome of you who attend difcover an amazing ignorance of plain things concerning tlie faith and duties of Chriitians ; and I have reafon to fufpecl, that thofe of you who do not attend are ftill more ignorant. Still the excufe you make is, that you are fo occupied, not in providing or laying up fomething for your families, but to anfwer the de- mands of your rigid talk-mafters, that you have nei- ther ability nor time to think of religion. If it be fo (and with refpecl to many of you 1 know it is fo), furely it is your duty to llrive to be in circumftances more favourable for advancing the happinefs of your, immortal fouls : " What is a man protited," fays our iSaviour, " if he fhould gain tlie whole v/orld, and lofe his own foul ?" And what a comfortlefs (late is T 2 2 20 SERMONS. a man in here, yho is gaining nothing at all, and irf; the grcateft danger of lofing his fou! ! Surely God Almighty never intended that any of his rational off- fpK-ig fliculd be all their lives in m.iferable toil and drudgery, and gain nothing to themfelves, nor have any time to think of eternity. You fnould therefore be alarmed, and ftirred up to adlivity : You fnould examine and inquire what is the befl means that pro- vidence offers for your deliverance : You fhould drive to efcape your prefent oppreflion, that you may " e- fcape the wrath that is to come." Thus it appears to be the duty of an opprefled people to improve the means which providence offers for their deliverance. They fliould aft fo, in obe- dience to the exprefs command of God,, and the eter- nal law of felf-prefervation ; from a regard to their children ; from compalTion to their fellow fufferers ; and to thofe who opprefs them ; and a regard to their precious and immortal fouls. I have now finiflied what I propofed. I have fhown, that the rate of land in this country is by far too high — have mentioned the caufes and means by which it Iiath been fcrewed up to fuch a height — have fliown what eiFecls this high rate of lands doth and muft produce — that it is the duty of an afflifted people to cry unto God — that as the Ifraelites were delivered out of Egypt by the arm of God, fo the people "who are opprelfed in this land have, by divine providence, an effectual means of being delivered from tJie oppreflion they groan under- — and that it is the duty of an opprelTed people to purfue the means which providence points out for their deliver^ ancc. I am either deceived, or you have liftcned to me with rather mere attention than you did to fome of the difcourfes which I formerly delivered to you. I ihall be forry if this difcourfe have no greater effeft than niofl other fermons. I will rejcuce if it {hall ia SERMONS. 221 any degree be a means to check the pvogrefs of op- preiTion, to cherifh the principles of humanity and juftice, to contribute to your prefent comfort and re- lief, and the falvation of your fouls. I think I fee fome tafk-mafters at this unufual fer- mon befides thofe who were here in the forenoon. If the dovStrine you have heard appears ilrange, or if you think it worth your while, I fliall be content thrtt you repeat it to your friends who are engaged i;i the fame meafures with yourfelves ; and though I have little hopes to prevail, I cannot reftrain myfeif from faying a few things more to you : " Your treading is upon the poor, and you lay yourfelves down on clothes laid to pledge *, for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteoufnefs into hemlock. Ye have fold the righteous for (ilvcr, and the poor for a* pair of fhoes j ye punt after the duft of the earth on the head of the poor. There is a fatal cou- fpiracy among you to ufe oppreffion, to exercife rob- bery, to vex the poor and the needy, like wolves ra- vening the prey, to deftroy fouls, and get difno- neft gain." It is thus the fpirit (^i God fpeaks to you, and fuch as you. In whatever view you confix der what you are doing, you have no caufe to applaud yourfelves for your wifdom. or your virtue. If you confider it as it mud afFecl: your temporal intervjft, and in a political view, why, you have, by your.e^f- tortion, driven away a great number of ufeful hands, and it is almoft certain, that incomparably gre-rtter numbers muft foon follow them. If you confider your meafures in a moral view, you have over-reach- f.d the poor, you have taken advantage of their raili- nefsand folly, and you rigorouily exa£l what you muft know they are unable to pay. Without emo- tion, you fee their deplorable circumftances ; without pity, you hear their lamentable cries, cries which might pierce a ilone : But God is angry with yon ; and the time comes, when " the ftone Ihoii, cry out ^'3 ^22 SE'RMONS. of the wall, and the beam out of the timber fliall art- fwer it," condemning yom* avarice and cruelty. If you confider your practice as it affects your charac- ter while you are alive, and after your death ; it blackens, it blafts your reputation -, it draws upon you the public odium, and the curfe of tbe poor ; ar.d your memory will llink, and be dsteflable when you are gone. If you confider your extortion as it will (without repentance) affeft you in another world — ah ! I mull flop fhort — I tremble to fpeak what I cannot but think. There feems to be a curfe on your diflionefh gain. I do not hear that many of you are grown richer by your high exactions ; there aie now as m.any of your ellates at market as perhaps at any time pail : " Ye have fold the poor, and not enriched vourfehnes by their price. Vi^hat fruit then had yoa in thofe things whereof you fliould be alhamecl,'' and feel remorfe ? and " the end of them is death." If you would adl juflly by your poor, tenants, and your own poor fouls, and prevent in fome degree the de- folation of the country, there muft be a fpeedy and total alteration of your temper and pra6lices -, reject the counfel of your rapacious advifers ; exa(£t no more of your tenants but what is reafonable ; abate at leaft the third of all the leafes you have let within thefe feven years pail ; cherifh your tenants ; inilrucl them 5 make immediate reparation to thofe whom you have moft grievoufly oppreffed ; reduce your ex- pcnce in idle horfes, equipage, furniture, drefs, and collly entertainments j in moil of which articles, e- fpecially in the lafl, you confult no principle but your vanity. Your Saviour hath commanded, that when you make a feafl, you iliould call the poor, becaufe they cannot recompenfe you ; but you reverfe his rule, and like chiefly to entertain thofe who in return will ent^tain you as well as you have done them. It is certainly a more manly pieafure to fee your te- nants living iu tolerable eafe, than to fee a number SERTMONS. 2125 of peifons Intoxicated at your tables, who, the moft of them at leaft, even whilft they are fober, cannot fay a fmgle word either to inftriitt your mind or im- prove your heart. Acquaint yourfelves with the na- ture and value of your eflates, and the induftry and circumftances of your tenants : " Be thou diligent," fays Solomon, " to Jinov/ the ftate of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds." It is a pity that many great landholders know nothing of their affairs but by the report of their factors or ftewards. Thefe are the chief nuifance of this opprefied country ; thefe are the men who commit fuch a^ls of cruelty as, from what I know of the humanity of at leait fome of you, you would never allow, did you fee them or know of them •, thefe are a generation of men, who in every age have been talk-maflers to the tenants, have defrauded the mailers, and oftentimes wormed them out, and perfidioufly obtained the ellates to themfelves •, and I doubt not but there are many of diem who now appear fierce for your intereft, who are cunningly undermining you, and will, in a courfe of years, be the abfolute proprietors of thofe very e- llates where now they ferve as faO:ors. " Woe to thee, O land," it is faid, " when thy king is a child I" and woe alfo to that eftate, woe to thofe poor tenants, whofe mailer knows nothing of their condition, but by the report of a bafe- minded, cunning, and rapa- cious fa6lor ! That eitate will change its mafler, and the tenants be ruined or forced to remove. I l:^ave faid more than perhaps you will thank me for 5, but I have faid it from a ^fincere regard to your prefent intereft' and your future happinefs. I will alfo offer a few further dire£lions to you whom. I behold in fuch dejedlion and mifery before me. — And let me ftill urge you to awake from that ftupor which is occafioned by opprefTion, to mind re- ligion and the intereft of your immortal fouls. How- ever heavy, and continued your affli«^ion is, it ought 224 SERMONS. to feem to you light, and for a ijioment, if it work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight oi glory. Aniidll your prefent deliberations, apply to God, and he will diredl you what itcps you ought to take. You are in great hardfhips at prefent ; you fee relief -, confider how wife men fhould a61:. I know feve- ral of you, who, notwithftanding all that you have yet fufFcred, are not deflitute of knowledge, and who have your minds furprifingly enlarged, in comparifon of your Abetters, who waile their time in an infipid round of eating, and drinking, and gaming, and ileeping, and poring on fchemes of opprefTion. You can lay together and weigh the importance of thofe motives which ought to influence and determine reafonable men ; and, in truth, the wifdom and fplrit of a man are never fo confpicuous as when it appears that he hath fenfe and refohition to extricate himfeif out of difficulties into which he hath been brought by his own folly or the wickednefs of others. Will you fuf-- fer yourfelves to be terrified, and hoodwinked, and impofed upon by thofe who in fact have lefs undcr- flanding than yourfelves ? What is there to alarm )W)u in a fea-voyage ? or what fliould fcare you to live in a diftant part of the world ? At fea, and on any part of the earth, you are ftill in the paternsl arms of that God who hath preferved you in foundnefs of body and mind under that mercilefs treatment you have met with. God offers eafe an they have takcu SERMONS. 22.7 the treafure and the precious things, and have made many widows in the midfl of thee j like w^olves raven- ing the prey, they have devoured fouls. The people of the land have ufed oppreflion, they have exercifed robbery, and have vexed the poor and die needy." It is indeed very likely that fome of you will blame me, becaufe I have told you the truth. You will cry out, that I have departed from the ufual track of fermons ; that I fhould have preached on faith and repentance ; that I have not a thorough underftand- ing of my fubje6l ; that I meddle with things that are above me ; and that I am not a friend to my country. And was I to publifh this fermon, thofe who feel themfelves pinched by its do6lrine may hire fome abjeft and proftitute fcribbler to varnifli over their oppreffion with fpecious colours ; that it is to baxiifh floth and promote induftry that they rack their rents j that there are yet many tenants in a thriving condition j that the diftrefs complained of is but tem- porary, and will, in this trading country, foon \^-ork itfelf off; and that thofe who have left the country, or are intending to leave it, are the lazieft, the mofl Yicious and fooiifli of the people. I think every mi- nifler of Chrift hath a right to preach againft the fins of the poor and of the rich, " and to make his face ftrong againft their faces, wit'hout being afraid or difmayed at their looks ;" and that he only who con- fcientiouily " warns the wicked,'' without fear of man's judgment, or feeking " to pleafe men," dif- chargcs his duty. Sloth is certainly a bad thing 5 but oppreffion, inftead of removing, tends direftly to ftrengthen the difeafe. There is no appearance that the diftrefs of farmers is coming to an end , and if it was, who is obliged to fuffer it for an hour, when he can get away from it ? I am glad that fome tenants thrive ; and it is well if thofe who talk about their thriving are not forry that it is fo well with them. He, I think, is a friend to his country who preaches 2^S SCRMOXi:.. agaiiift thofe vices wdiich tend directly to its ruiil. I have not the Icail: doubt, but that thofe opprefied farmers to whom God hath given wifdom and fpirit to fly from oppreflion, will be chriftened with the vileft names which the malice and difappointcd ava- rice of their cruel tafk-mafters can invent. In a word, this fermon is actually on faith and repentance. I have, with all the earneflnefs I could, called upon the poor to be honeft, and on opprellbrs to repent of their rapacity, and to make reftitution to thofe v;^hom they' have ruined. Whatever opinion thefe laft may form of me, I would do every thing in my power to reclaim them, even though I Ihould give them fome prefent pain. I wifh fome man of fenfe and candour would give us the particular hiftory of a few of them, drawn ■up to the life, and without any exaggeration : The pi£l:ure would have fliades, but it might be ufeful. If fuch a glafs were held up to them, it might liave a better effect than many fermons, efpecially as (hav- ing turned their backs to the temple of God) few of tliem are at pains to hear fermions. If, in point of fafts, I have committed any material miflakes, I fliali be content to be fet right. If I have ufed any ex- preffion that appears indecent, or too ftron'g, I am not fenfible of it : But I think it did not become me : I found it was impoflibie for me to fpeak about ex- tortion, mifery, nakednefs, hunger, ftarving, and the defolation of my country, with that coolnefs which might become a fpcculative politician. Your good fenfe, and the diligence of my brethren, will, I hope, fuperfede the neceffity of my preaching again wholly in this manner. I conclude, as ufual, with leading back your thoughts to fpiritual things and the eternal world. I befeech you to live by faith, and to work out your own falvation. Apply to GckI through Chrift, and he will aid you with his grace. He is not, blefled be his glorious name, he is not like the tafk-m.afters of this world : He fends no man a war- SERMONS. 229 ^are at his own charges ; he bids no man make brick without ftraw. If he requires duty, he, by his holy fpirit, aflifts and enables men to perform the work. I recommend you to the grace and Qire£tio.n of that God who " comes down to deliver his people ;" who brings " the blind by a way they know not ; who leads them in paths that they have not known ; who makes