AS a merciful God, the Creator, and supreme Governor of the Universe, ever regards the Inhabitants of this earthly Globe, with an Eye of Pity and Compassion; so doth he, for the most Part, give timely Notice of those Judgments he intends to inflict on guilty Mortals; to the End, that by Repentance his Ire may be appeased, or his Chastisements be the more just and equitable.—Would I recall former Ages, and set before you the State of Man's Innocence, in the happy Eden: Know ye not God gave our first Parents to understand what would be the dreadful Consequences of their Transgression: What Ruin, what Destruction, what Misery it would enhance upon themselves and their Progeny? Do ye not think God sent his holy Angels, those celestial Ministers, of which there are Thou­sands of Thousands before his Throne, to forewarn the human Pair of their Dan­ger, on Account of the Fall of Satan, with his apostate Crew? Or if this be Matter of Doubt to you, give me Leave to speak of Enoch, the Seventh from Adam, who prophesied; Behold the Lord cometh with Ten Thousands of his Saints, to execute Judg­ment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly Deeds▪ which they have ungodly committed; and of all their hard Speeches, which un­godly Sinners have spoken against him. Didst thou not, O Enoch, before the Gates of Heaven were expanded unto thee, before exulting Spirits escorted thee above yonder sparkling Orbs, exhort thy Cotemporaries? Ye Men of Renown, ye bulky Giants, think not Heaven is regardless of you, or your Thoughts, Words and Deeds: As ye hunt after Men, your own Flesh and Blood, so shall God Almighty pursue and overtake you. I see! O I see, his Judgments already a coming! Heaven begins to lour; [Page 2] look how the celestial Luminaries begin to contract a sad and gloomy Aspect, lurid and dim; frowning a Tempest of Vengeance: Repent therefore, or you are lost, ye huge Mortals!—Happy, had they harkened unto him! But whilst they fall upon him, God takes him away: Blessed Messengers, snatch him to milder Climes, to happier and more hospitable Regions!—And what shall I say of thee, O Noah, thou Preacher of Righteousness; what Scoffs, what Sneers, what Revilings hast thou suffered of thy Fellow-Labourers? Did not Men reproach both thee and thy Ark, Madman, what meanest then by this Wre [...]k; though afterwards, in vain, they stretched out their Arms to Heaven, to be in it? Elijah the Prophet, was he not zealous for his God; and did he not protest against the Worshippers of Baal? And thou Jonah, Son of Amittai, wast thou not constrained to preach and to cry against Nineveh, that great City, because her Wickedness was come up before God in Heaven, though unto thee a hard Task; unto them, of blessed Consequence, and salutary Effect?

In this Manner, is also Jeremiah, a Prophet, who saw the Visions of the Almighty, sent to Israel, an untoward and stiff necked People, to reclaim them from their Back­slidings and Prevarications, to the Service of Jehovah, the eternal and most High. Hereunto he was formed in the Womb; hereunto he was sanctified from his Infancy: The Charge seemed to him too great; the Burthen appeared to him too weighty for his juvinile Shoulders. Ah! Lord, said he, behold I cannot speak, for I am a Youth. Who is sufficient for these Things? It is a Work that, without the corroborating Influences of thy Holy Spirit, without Aid and Succour from above, would [...]nk be­neath its Weight, one of the mighty Cherubim. But God, with whom is the Resi­due of the Spirit, inspires him with Life and Courage, and Magnanimity of Soul: And having in the preceding Chapter, commanded him to prophesy, concerning Judah's Captivity, shews him in this, the absolute Power with which God is invested in disposing of Nations, under the Type of a Potter, from thence to exhort Israel to return unto the Lord, from whom they were apostatized most ungratefully.

So that the Words of my Text contains this important Truth; That as sincere Penitence is a Means of averting an imminent and denounced Evil, from a Nation or People; so Impiety and Irreligion is the Way to forego all the good Bles­sings, which otherwise might have been expected: And that to declare this, is the Province of God's faithful Servants, in order to reclaim vicious Mortals from sinning against God, to a Course of real Religion and Piety.

The Fitness and Propriety of this Matter to be now treated upon, in our present Situation of Affairs, I hope you will observe, my sensible and intelligent Hearers; whereas the present Time is a critical Juncture, in which we are to withstand, re­sist, and oppose our ambitious rivalling Neighbours, in their Encroachments upon our Borders.

O Lord, do thou cleanse us from our Dross; do thou send a Spirit of genuine Repen­tance among us:—Shouldst thou search us as Jerusalem, with Candles, our Backslidings would appear too glaringly.—Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved.—

In order to treat upon this Matter, I shall, as to the Explication, take Notice of these three Things.

First, That when God threatens a Nation by an imminent Evil to its Destruction, true Repentance is a Means to avert the Evil, and to escape and avoid the impen­ding and denounced Ruin.

Secondly, That when God promises Blessings to a Nation; Irreligion, Impiety and Ungodliness is a Means to ma [...]r and forego all those Blessings.

Thirdly, That it is the indispensible Duty of God's faithful Servants, to declare this, in order to reclaim vicious Mortals from their wicked Way, unto the Fear and Service of the Lord.

As to the first: At what Instant, saith the Lord, I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom; to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: I con­ceive, [Page 3] a Nation, a Kingdom, a People upon this Terraqueous Globe, blessed by the beneign Deity, with the Enjoyment of those Comforts which the State of Man's Pil­grimage in this miserable World affords; as Health, Peace and Plenty, Honour, Glory, Empire, and Puissance: But which Nation, forgetful of the bounteous Benefactor from whom they derive these Blessings, violates and contemns his Laws, despises his Ordinances, and lives in Impiety and Irreligion,—which draws over this Nation a gloomy Cloud, fraught with Heaven's Artillery, big with Indignation from on High; a portentous Interval, an awful Moment, and a dreadful Instant, wherein God denounces his Punishments against a sinful People, threatning to destroy them in a Storm of Vengeance.

And I take thee, O Israel, to be this Nation in particular: Thy God and thy Father's God led thee forth, by a mighty Hand and a strong Arm, out of Egypt, the Place of thy Servitude, of thy ignominious Slavery; and placed thee in the Land of Canaan, flowing with Milk and Honey.—Ye Canaanites, ye [...]bu [...]ites, ye Pharisites, Amorites, Hevites, and Amalekites, ye were an Abomination unto the Lord, because you worshipped accursed Idols, the Workmanship of the Hands of Men, if not Devils; wherefore the God of Heaven and Earth, who is to be wor­shipped in Spirit and in Truth, cast you out. Thou Sun stood'st still in Gibea, and thou Moon in the Valley of Adjalon, in the Day when God gave Israel Victory over their Enemies. How were for Israel, the Waters of the River Jordan divi­ded asunder: How did the Walls of Jericho fall of their own accord! Ye [...]led for Fear, O ye Nations of Palestine, to the Isles beyond the Sea, even to the British Isles, leaving behind you Monuments of your Terror, Pillars with this Inscription,—"We fly from the Face of Joshua." Had'st thou, O Israel, not forsaken the Lord how would he have established thee, even as Mount Sion, for ever?—But, alas! you soon wallowed in all the Abominations of these Heathens; worshipping their Gods, the Balims, the Astaroths, the Melechets of the Heavens; the Succoth Ben [...] ­thes; and even offered up your Offspring to Moloch, that horrid Idol, that execrable Abomination:—Wherefore the Lord had spoken against thee, in an awful Instant, in a dreadful portentous Interval, to pluck thee up as a Tree that is torn up by a Whirlwind, Root and Branch; to pull thee down as a Building demolished and laid in total Ruin, so that not one Stone be left upon the other; and to destroy thee as those who perish from the Face of the Earth: And had it not been that the Shi­loh, unto whom the gathering of the Nations should be, was to come forth from thee; and for the Sake of the Remnant that is to be saved, you had been made as Sodom and Gomorrha, as Admah and S [...]oim: Nay, the Remembrance of you had been blotted out from among the Children of Men.

The Lord hath not left himself without a Witness towards thee: He hath fore­warned thee Times and Ways past Enumeration:—He hath commanded, he hath charged you to return unto him, in order to escape Subversion, Destruction and Desolation on Earth in this, and the Damnation of Hell in the other World.

Concerning a Nation and Kingdom, doth the Lord speak by his holy Angels, his swift Messengers, sending them to forewarn and rebuke a sinful People. Re­member the Angel at Bochim, who upbraided you with your Disobedience, O Israel, in such a tender Manner, that you wept for Grief, and lifted up your Voices for Compunction of Heart. Judg. II. 1, 5. Can Israel ever forget the Angel, who, in David's Reign stood with an outstretched Sword, as a Flame of Fire, over Jeru­ [...]alem, threatning to destroy her by Pestilence? The Assyrians, how was their Pride mortified, when an Angel of the Lord in one Night, smote an Hundred and Eighty five Thousand of them? Methinks I hear the Cry, the doleful Cry of the Egyptians, when in the Morning they found all their Firstborn slain by Angels.

The Lord doth speak concerning a Nation, a Kingdom and People, by Signs and Tokens in the Heavens; by Comets and terrifying Stars, foreboding dreadful Calamities, doleful Afflictions and sore Chastisements. There are Signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars; and upon the Earth, Distress of Nations, with [Page 4] Perplexity; the Sea and the Waves roaring; Men's Hearts failing them for [...] and for looking after those Things which are coming on the Earth; for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken.

What else were those Armies seen in the Sky? What else that Comet which so long h [...]ng over Jerusalem, before her total Subversion, by Titus Vespasian? The Comet which appeared in the Beginning of the late War, has that been seen in vain? I saw this Comet while I prosecuted my Studies in the University of Utrecht, where it afforded Matter of much Disputation to the Learned in that famous Aca­demy: some asserting it to be only the superstitious Opinion of the ignorant Vulgar, to believe Comets foreboding any Thing; others pleading they did forebode: And, truly, when we reflect on what has happened in Europe, and in America, soon af­ter the Appearance of this Comet, I think it may let us into the Truth of the Matter.

By afflictive Dispensations of Providence doth the Lord speak unto the Nations, threatning them Destruction, if they repent not.—What Famines, what Earth­quakes, what Deluges and Inundations; what Pestilences and malignant Diseases hath not a sinful World been chastised with? And what is worse than all these, what Bloodshed, what Slaughter and Massacre, by War and Persecution, has often ren­dered this terraqueous Globe an A [...]ldama, reeking with tipid Gore, and gluttoned with human Carnage! King David, wisely and piously, chose to fall into the im­mediate Hand of God, rather than into those of Men; and yet all these are God's Warning Voice to the Nations, that when his Judgments are upon the Earth, its Inhabitants may learn Righteousness.

Unto you, O Nations, doth the Lord speak by his Faithful Servants; his Pro­phets, his Priests, his Evangelists; his Apostles, his Pastors and Teachers. Won­ders and Miracles have they done for your Conversion unto God: Heaven and Earth, God and all his Saints, have they called to Witness over you, that they warned you of your Danger.—Whether ye now hear, or whether ye forbear, you shall know there have been Prophets among you.

If now this Nation turn from their Evil, saith the Lord, I will repent of the Evil I thought to do unto them. What is it then, O sinful Nation, the Lord requireth of thee? Is it not Repentance? Is it not to turn from your Evil?

Turning from Evil or Repentance, may be taken in Relation to a Nation in ge­neral, and to an individual Person in particular. The Repentance of a Nation in general, is, when a Nation believing God's Threatnings, and humbling them­selves before him by Confession of Sin, by Fasting and Prayer, and by other Ac­tions of Humiliation, endeavour a Reformation from the Vices they were guilty of, and to live in a Course of opposite Virtues.—Which general Repentance, it is to be hoped, in some may be sincere, and of a genuine Sort; but is to be seared, that in many, and the greatest Part, it is only surperficial, and meerly external, not proceeding from a good internal Principle of Renovation and Regeneration:—Not­withstanding it is often so pleasing in the Sight of God, that he thereon averts a de­nounced Evil, and for the present, spares a People he had threatned with Destruc­tion.—I doubt not, O Ninevites, but your Repentance was, by some of you, genuine, and of a salutary Nature; though at the same Time, I fear that, with the greatest Part, it was but like the Morning Cloud, and like the early Dew which passeth away.

This Turning from Evil, implies in it two Things; A forsaking of an evil Way, and a coming to a good One.

From an evil Way the Children of Men cannot turn, unless they see that evil Way: For Example, a Person who has mistaken his Way, must he not be made [Page 5] sensible of his Error, before he will endeavour to rectify his Mistake? Yonder I see a Stranger in this our City, who thinks he is going to Church; but behold, the Court-House or the Prison brings him up: He begins first to doubt, whether he be right or not; then he believes he was wrong, so he turns back to the Road which leads to the Church. He who sails down a River, in order to come to a City that is situated from him up the River, unless he sees himself steering the wrong Course, and rectifies his Mistake, will never arrive at the intended Place. So a Person who becomes really penitent, and is bent on forsaking his Evil; his Eyes are opened to see his miserable Situation in an unrenewed State; his Sins are set before him in all their aggravating Circumstances and most heinous Nature, for which he loathes and abhors himself.

His Conscience is then awakned, and lash'd with the Curses of God's Holy Law▪ so that thou, O Sinner, dost complain within thyself,

Now do I hear thee plead Guilty, confessing with Shame and Confusion of Face, and Contrition of Heart: Against thee, against thee only have I sinned, O Lord, and done Evil in thy Sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Nevertheless, are earnest, humble, and fervent Prayers sent up to Heaven; Be merciful, O God, to me a Sinner! what shall I do to be saved? All the Ordinances and Means of Salvation are now attended unto; in public Wor­ship dost thou wait at the Pool of Beth [...]sda; in thy Closet thou bendest thy Knees to the Eternal.

Tell me, convinced Sinner, can now thy own Righteousness satisfy thee? Are not your best Performances an unclean Thing, and all your Righteousness as filthy Rags? Do they not all fade as a Leaf, and your Iniquities, like the Wind, take you away? Are not your Prayers and Devotions polluted with Sin, and yourselves struck with loathsom Leprosy, from the Crown of the Head unto the Sole of the Feet? Can you any more change yourselves, than the AEthiopian can change his Skin, or a Leopard his Spots?

Submit then, penitent Souls, submit yourselves to the Righteousness, Justice and Sovereignty of God, acknowledging that even Tears from such Eyes might be of­fensive, and Prayers from such Lips abominable, composing yourselves to lay the Hand upon the Mouth and be silent, should God inflict the most dreadful Doom that can be executed; not as the accursed of God, uttering Blasphemies against Heaven, but as relenting Lovers of the Deity resolve—

Lord Jesus, saith the humbled Soul, here is a miserable Sinner, who has deser­ved Hell and Destruction, throws himself at thy Feet: Nothing have I to plead, save Mercy; and if Mercy do not save me I am lost; and should I perish, thou art just; of this my Heart and Conscience are incontestible Witnesses; But if I die, let me die imploring thy Grace and Mercy, thy Pardon and Favour.

O now is the Way of Salvation laid open to a God-seeing Soul! Jesus is both able and willing to save to the uttermost. The atoning Blood of the immaculate Lamb of God, has Merits commensurate with the Glories of the Divinity. O! a Discovery this, surpassing the Powers of Utterance! Never was a condemned Male­factor more affected by a Proclamation of Pardon, than the humbled Soul by the Tender of Salvation, through Jesus Christ.—Then do they receive him by Faith, [Page 6] as the Lord their Righteousness — Blessed Jesus, (wrapt up in an Extasy of Devotion, the Soul exclaims,) dost thou call me unto thee! Wilt thou have Mercy on me! I come, I accept thy gracious Offer, and surrender myself to be thy eternal Slave; thou hast redeemed me from Death and Destruction; thou hast raised me to Life everlasting, full of Glory: And therefore, my Life, and my all, my Soul and Body is thine for ever; I say it with my Mouth; I attest it with my Heart; I sign it with my Hand, and am willing to seal it with my Blood.

And as a sincere Penitent, thus is delivered out of his sinful State, so is he also brought over to a Way of Sanctity and Holiness.—The Understanding becomes enlightned; the Will sanctified; the Conscience rectified:—And is it not abso­lutely necessary, that a good Tree produce good Fruit? Must not a Fountain of living Water send forth its Silver Streams? Or is it possible that a good Tree planted in the Garden of God, should bring forth Apples of Sodom, or a Vine of S [...]on, the Clusters of Gomorrah!

Fit and just, yea, necessary is it therefore, that sincere Converts, as the King's Daughter, become all glorious within; their Cloathing is of wrought Gold:—As they now are Worshippers of the Deity, in Spirit and in Truth; so are they Parta­kers of the Blessedness of the Man, who walketh not in the Council of the Ungodly, nor [...]andeth in the Way of Sinners, nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful▪ Whose Delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his Law doth he meditate Day and Night: Who shall be like a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water, that bringeth forth his Fruit in his Season; his Leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doth shall prosper.

When a Nation thus turns from their Evil, the Lord will repent of the Evil he thought to do unto them.—As forsaking God is the Cause of Destruction, so would returning unto him, be a Means to avoid the Evil that was denounced; in which Respect God is said to repent:—Not as if he altered his eternal high Decree; no, he is an immutable God, and his Council shall stand firm for ever; and he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him:—So that this Repentance in God, is to be understood in a Manner, becoming the Supreme Being; that is, with Relation to the external Dispensations of his Providences, wherein he acts thus, That, when a Nation or People is become exceeding sinful, he denounces his Judgments against it, threat­ning it with Destruction; but upon Condition, they continue in their Disobedience and Impiety: Which Condition is sometimes more openly expressed, and sometimes more secretly understood.—Ye Inhabitants of Nineveh, that great City, you exhibit us an Example of God's Dealings with the Children of Men.— Jonah the Prophet, was commissioned from Heaven to declare your Destruction: He cried, and said, Yet Forty Days, and Nineveh shall be over­thrown. But behold, upon your Repentance, though your Wickedness was come up before God in Heaven, the Lord spared you.—When you believed God, and proclaimed a Fast, putting on Sackcloth, from the greatest, even unto the least of you: When your King, on hearing the Word of the Lord, rose from his Throne, laid his royal Robe from him, and covered himself with Sackcloth, and sat in Ashes; saying, Let Man and Beast fast, let them be covered with Sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil Way, and from the Vio­lence that is in their Hands: Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce Anger, that we perish not? Then God saw your Works, that you turned from your evil Way; and God repented of the Evil that he had said he would do unto you, and did it not.—O amazing Condescention of the Great God; be astonished at it, O Heavens! that on Repentance of his miserable sinful Creatures, such are the Bowels of his tender Compassion, he is said himself to repent!

And as true as this is, no less evident is the second Thing, which is to be considered in the Text: That when God promises Blessings to a Nation, Kingdom or People. Irreligion, Impiety and Ungodliness, is a Means to marr and forego all those Blessings, and to change them into a Curse: For at what Instant, saith the Lord, I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to build and to plant it: If it do [Page 7] Evil in my Sight, that it obey not my Voice, then I will repent of the Good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Blessed is the Instant, happy the Conjuncture when auspicious Heaven deigns to smile on a favourite Nation, its peculiar Darling: Then are holy Angels a tutelar Safeguard in the Midst of it, and all around its Borders; evil Spirits, who wan­der to and fro, up and down the Earth, seeking whom they may destroy, are restrained. The planetary Regions shed forth benign Influences, to foster and fructify those Quarters of the Earth which are allotted to its Heritage: It multiplies and branches out into Ten Thousands Millions and Myriads; Health, Wealth, Honour and Gran­deur, dwell every where within its far and wide extended Limits; Peace and Plenty find a palladian Habitation within its Boundaries.—The Rulers are noble, great, wise and good Men, sincere Worshippers of the Deity; the People are loyal, ho­nest, frugal, benevolent, pious, fearing God, and eschewing Evil: They become honourable to their Neighbours, worthy to their Allies, formidable to their Ene­mies, lovely to their God.—

And if this were not enough, God speaks, to build and to plant; to establish, to prosper, and to bless them yet more and more, by increasing their Happiness, and by rendering it lasting and durable. Nor would the Portion of an Esau, who said, I have much, be their chief Good or sole Comfort; but the Blessing of Jacob, who could say, I have all, should crown their Felicity.—Godliness with Contentment, is great Gain; it is profitable unto all Things, having Promise of the Life that now is, and of that which is to come.—And that I may sum up the Whole; every Thing would conspire to render them, (if our Pilgrim State on Earth, while we wade through a tempestuous Gulf, a Chaos of Vanity of Vanities, for all below is Vanity, saith the Preacher; will allow this Epithet,) A HAPPY PEOPLE, whose very Adversities and Afflictions would tend to their Good.—

O now for that warning Voice, Wo to the Inhabitants on Earth! For if they do Evil in his Sight, who made them what they are; if they obey not the Voice of him who spoke the Universe into Being and Existence for ever, over-ruling all, ac­cording to his eternal Decree and high Behest; then is the Scene most sadly chan­ged: A dreadful Gloom overshadows them, foreboding that Heaven's Providence shall pursue other Measures with an exceeding sinful Nation, than it did with a Peo­ple that had the Fear of God before their Eyes, and his Greatness upon their Hearts.—His Angels are now armed with flaming Swords against them: Evil and impure Spirits are let loose upon them.—The Firmament is as Brass, and the Earth as Iron.—Famines, Plagues, Deaths, Wars, Confusions, Corruptions, together with all the other horrid Train of Sin and dire Retinue of Vice, render the Con­trast of their prior State, a bitter Remembrance of Happiness lo [...]t, and Misery got. As a Nation, People or Kingdom, is exalted, and made to prosper, by Virtue, Piety and real Religion; so doth always, in its retrograde State, Sin, Vice, Ungod­liness, Impiety, Irreligion and Corruption, lead the Van before its Perdition; for,

This Nation, this Kingdom and People, artthou again, O Israel:—Remember what blessed Promises the Lord made unto Abraham thy Father; how he took him by the Hand leading him abroad, under the open Canopy of Heaven, and said, [Page 8] Look upwards, and behold th [...]s;e glittering Stars▪ [...] numerous shall thy S [...]e [...] be [...] they are to you innumerable: What I tell thee is more certain than the Ordinance which keeps the celestial [...] their Orbits, that they burst not forth from their At­mospheres: And which is still more than all this, many of thy Offspring shall, after the Renovation and Restoration of all Things, be taken up above yonder Stars.—According to this Pro [...]se, (for not one of the good Words the Lord hath spoken, fal [...]s unaccomplish'd upon the Ground,) ye were multiplied:—The Lord brought you out of Egypt, doing Wonders and Miracles; the Waters fled before you, toge­ther with the Nations: Bread from Heaven did you eat; Water out of the Rock did you drink: He planted you in Canaan, under the happy Hierarchy, Theo­cracy, and Monarchy of Heaven: He built you a sacred Temple; He gave you just, holy and good Laws; He commanded you to be holy as he is holy: He forbid you, he charged you not to walk in the Way of the Heathen, not to serve their Gods, their accursed Idols; not to bow down and worship their Pagods; not to pollute yourselves with their Abominations;—but to demolish them.—Oh! that ye had harkened unto his Voice! But, alas! you did Evil in his Sight; you wal­lowed in all the Abominations of the Heathens: And therefore it repented the Lord of the Good wherewith he said he would benefit you. He let the Heathen annoy you from Time to Time: The Nations of the North he sent upon you, to destroy, to lay waste, and to lead Captive: And at last, the People of the West compleated your Destruction:—Which shall last, until ye, together with the Nations, rejoice in the Faith and Salvation of the Messiah, when the Lord will be merciful unto his Land, and to his People.

Under the Parable of the Vineyard, the Lord sheweth the Justice of those his Judgments, in the Vth Chapter of Isaiah's Prophesies. Now will I sing to my well beloved, a Song of my Beloved, touching his Vineyard. My well beloved hath a Vine­yard in a very fruitful Hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the Stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest Vine, and built a Tower in the Midst of it, and also made a Wine-Press therein: And he looked that it should bring forth Grapes, and it brought forth wild Grapes. And now, O Inhabitants of Jerusalem, and Men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my Vineyard. What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth Grapes, brought it forth wild Grapes? And now go to▪ I will tell you what I will do to my Vineyard; I will take away the Hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: And break down the Wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it was [...]e: I [...] shall not be pruned, nor digged, but there shall come up Briars and Thorns: I will also command the Clouds, that they rain no Rain upon it: For the Vine­yard of the Lord of He [...]ts is the House of Israel, and the Men of Judah his pleas [...]nt Plant: And he looked for Judgment, but behold Oppression; for Righteousness, but be­hold a Cry.—

The Lord Christ also by the same Parable of a Vineyard, which by the Owner was let out to Husbandmen, who killed his Servants, and his only Son, when he sent for his Hire; and by the Simile of a Fig- [...], unto which the Planter had done all he could, which, notwithstanding, brought forth no Fruit, and was there [...]o [...] after much Forbearance and Long-suffering, hewn out and cast into the Fire; re­bukes the Jews of his Times.—

So doth then the third Part of the Text appear; That it is the indispensable Du­ty of God's faithful Servants, to declare these Dealings of the Lord, in order to reclaim Sinners from their wicked Way, to the Fear and Service of the Lord.— Now, therefore, go to, speak to the Men of Judah, and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus saith the Lord, Behold I frame Evil against you, and devise a De­vice against you: Return ye now every one from his evil Way, and make your Ways and your Doings good.—Dreadful is the Charge, grievous the Task to be b [...] perfor­med; it is no less than to declare the Great God of Heaven is framing Evil and devising a Device against sinful Man, an insignificant Lump of Clay, which at one [Page 9] fatal Stroke of his omnipotent Hand, he can reduce to its primitive Nothing. The Evil with which the Lord threatens Israel, is, doubtless, in a most literal Sense, the Babylonian Captivity; that Evil which was to come from the North, out of the Land of Chald [...] and Babel: Nor would I exclude that Abomination of Desolation, which was to come upon them from the West by the Romans. But all these were only the Beginnings of Tribulations, the Condemnation of H [...]ll, eternal Damna­tion, had a near Connexion with the Evils aforesaid, in so much, as many unregene­rate Sinners thereby should go to their own Place, being sent to doleful Shades.—Behold, notwithstanding God's tender Compassion, how his Mercy speaketh against his Judgments! He desireth not the Death of the Sinner, but that he repent and live! Return ye now every one from his evil Way, and make your Ways and your Doings good.—

The Lord will have Jeremiah to go immediately, and not to loiter and tarry; because this Message would admit of no Delay: Besides that, the Mind of the Pro­phet was now big with this Vision and Charge, his Breast labouring to give it Ut­terance; and he would therefore, at least speak with more Spirit and Resolu­tion, than when he tarried longer; and [...]he lively Impressions were worn out of his Mind. It is not an easy Matter, to carry such Messages to haughty and perverse Mortals: Such is the Complexion of human Nature, that, with the greatest Reluc­tance, we speak of God's severe Judgments to our Fellow Creatures.— Moses it constrained to excuse himself on account of his heavy Speech; Lord, said he, send him whom thou shouldest send, but send me not, I am very unfit, thou knowest my Stam­mering Mouth and my heavy Tongue.—We is me, for I am undone, exclaimeth Isaiah, because I am a Man of unclean Lips, and I dwell in the Midst of a People of unclean Lips; for mine Eyes have [...] the King, the Lord of Hosts.—A Youth cannot pro­phesy, was the Plea of Jeremiah.—Fit and just is it therefore, they should take Hold on such Occasions, when their Souls are [...]red, and their Hearts glowing with Zeal and Ardour; and they, in some Measure, attain to a Frame of Mind, beyond the common Tether of Humanity.—And especially, it is a Time for God's faith­ful Servants to speak, when there are approaching Evils: And when black and gloomy Clouds, portending Judgments from on high, hang over a Nation:—Nor can they forbear doing it, without leading Guilt upon their own Souls, according to the awful Charge God gave E [...]i [...], in the xxxiii. Chapter of his Prophesies: So thou, O Son of Man, I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel; there­fore thou shalt hear the Word at my Mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the Wicked, O wicked Man, thou shalt surely die: If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked Man from his Way, that wicked Man shall die in his [...]iquity, but his Blood will I require at thine Hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the Wicked of his Way, to turn from it [...] If he do not turn from his Way, he shall die in his [...]iquity, but thou hast delivered thy Soul.—

Thus have I, My dear Hearers, laid open to you this important Matter. I pro­ceed now to make some Application: For the Basis of which I shall observe, That, in several Respects, it is with us, as it was with the Children of Israel.—

Were the Children of Israel led out of Egypt, God Almighty, giving them the Land of the Heathen? So are our Ancestors brought over from Europe to this Land; some flying from Persecution and Slavery, others out of Want and Necessity; some out of Curiosity, and others for the Sake of Conscience, and on a religious Account.—As the Children of Israel are they multiplied in Number; they are in­creased in Wealth and in Honour; in Riches, and Affluence of Fortune. The Land of the Heathen is become our Inheritance and Possession:—So that we are the Vine spoken of in the lxxx. Psalm; Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out, the Heathen, and planted it. Thou prepared [...] Room before it, and didst [...] take deep Root, and it filled the Land. The Hills were covered with the Shadow of it, and the Boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars. She sent out her [...] unto the Sea, and her Branches unto the River.—

[Page 10] The Heathen were not entirely cast out; but some of them left to be as Briars and Thorns in Israel's Sides, to chastise them when they forsook the Lord, and did Evil in his Sight.—Are not the Heathen Natives of this Land, such Briars and Thorns in our Sides, to scourge us back to our God, from whom we have apostati­zed most ungratefully?

And as the Lord at length, gave Israel over into Captivity, by the King of Babel, because of their Wickedness and Impenitence; and finally let Jerusalem be destroy­ed, and the holy Land conquered by Titus V [...]spas [...]an; is it not to be feared, if we do not repent of our Sins, turn from our Evil, reform from our Vices, and make our Ways and our Doings good, that we shall at last be conquered and destroyed, by the French and their Indians?

Doth not the Lord speak to us, as he did against Israel, by warning Dispen­sations of his Providence? Whilst the French, conscious of their Success in the late War, and of the Influence they have obtained over the Indians, are now endeavou­ring to encroach upon our Borders, by seizing, peopling and fortifying the Lands along the Ohio; thereby to make themselves Masters, if possible, of the Northern Parts of America? Nor does any Thing less, seem sufficient to satiate their unboun­ded Ambition, or prescribe Limits to their enterprizing Genius.—Their natural Situation is such, that, being in Possession of Canada, in the North, and of Mis­sisippi, in the South; if they once take Root along the Ohio, they may, by De­grees, people all that vast Tract of Land to the Westward, between us and the South-Sea, to California, East and West; from Canada to Missisippi, North and South, which, by Lakes and Rivers, is very conveniently situated to serve their Purpose: Not to mention its fruitful Soil, and milder Climate, every way vastly preferable before inclement Canada.—As to People, they may be easily transported thither from France, overstocked, and much incumber'd by its Inhabitants. And then, may they not drive us into the Atlantic Ocean, or scatter us to and fro, upon the Hills and Mountains; or in the vast Desart, as Sheep pursued by Evening Wolves?

I see a seething Pot in the North, that may boil over upon us, and scorch us in a most dismal Manner.—Out of the North an Evil may break forth upon all the Inhabitants of the Land: The Families of the Kingdoms of the North, may execute God's Judgments against us, touching all our Wickedness, in forsaking God, and worshipping the Works of our own Hands.

High Time is it therefore that we repent, and turn from our evil Way, and make our Ways and our Doings good.—Our Sins and Abominations are very great; the Cry thereof cometh up before God in Heaven; which appears but too glaringly.—

Is not the Land infected by Persons tainted with wicked and ungodly Principles? Are there not many Fools, who say in their Heart, there is no God? Are there not many who disbelieve, who mock and redicule his Revelation? Do Men not rob God of his Glory, and throw it away upon the Creature? Is not Atheism, Deism, and Infidelity, spread among us far and near? Is not a Latitudinarian Way of Free­thinking, become the fashionable Religion of the highest Mode, in this our evil Day? And such as keep up as yet, the external Form of sound Words; alas! how is the Spirit and Power of internal Religion, of real Piety and Godliness, lo [...]t by many of them?

As there is such Corruption in Principle, can it be possible, in the Nature of Things, there should be no Abominations in Practice?—Must not a bitter Foun­tain send forth such Streams? Whence else that horrid execrable Vice of taking God's sacred Name in vain, of cursing and swearing impiously? Is it by many not reckoned as a Flourish of Speech, to set off their Words, with a by God, and a God Dam, though the Lord hath said, he will not hold Guiltless those who take his Name in vain: And it is to be believed, unless they repent, God will make their Damme, and God dam my Soul, the truest Words they ever spoke.

[Page 11] I shall not speak of the Perjury and false Oaths, under which our Land groans: Nor shall I aver that there are Persons who have taken sacred Oaths to execute their Offices faithfully; but have, by the Execution of them, rendered themselves for­sworn more than once.

Do we reflect upon that daring and God-provoking Prophanation of the Sabbath-Day; it is shocking, to see how all Manner of Work is done on the same; and even the greatest Enterprizes in the World, begun on that Day which we are com­manded to celebrate by holy Rest.—How are the Means of Grace, the Ordinances of Salvation, slighted and despised; the publick Worship of God, not to speak of private Devotion, neglected?

I shall not now dwell upon all the Debaucheries; I pass by in Silence, the Fraud and Deceit, the Theft and Injustice, the Violence and Oppression so often commit­ted among us. Nor shall I mention the Back-bitings, the Lying and Slander, the Hatred, Spite and Malice, with which we are infected: Nor shall I declaim against the Envy, the Animosities and Heart burnings wherewith many Minds are inflamed.

But that drinking to Excess, which is now become fashionable, and of the highest Mode, I cannot, I may not, pass by in Silence. It cries aloud to God in Heaven! How do rational Creatures thereby become half Brute and half Devil? It is an Abo­mination unto the Lord, and a Root of all Evil.—This Vice, above all others, promotes the Ruin and Destruction of a Nation, and destroys wretched besotted Souls, who are enslaved to it, to all Intents and Purposes.

Do we consider the Pride and Haughtiness of Spirit which now prevails; I fear it will be, Toll [...]bantur in altum ut lapsu gravi [...]ri ruarent, They were lifted up on high, that their Downfall may be the greater.—The Luxury and Intemperance of the Age is such, that we may say, Savior armis incub [...]it Luxuria;

And why should I mention more Particulars? Sins are committed against all the Commandments of God's holy Law.—And were we but sensible of it; did we but humble ourselves before God, we might find Mercy with him.—But, alas! what aggravates our Evil, is the Abhorrence many have of genuine Repentance, and the Detestation of real, internal and experimental Piety.—It is not enough with many, that they themselves will not press into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they also endeavour to hinder, with Might and Main, such as perhaps would.—O ye Enemies to real and experimental Religion, what do ye mean? If you are to be saved (for such is your Hope, which I would to God was better grounded) in your Latitudinarian Way, do you not think the Professors of experimental Religion, shall be happy too? Is it not to be believed, a just and holy God, will crown sincere Endeavours after Holiness, with a Reward in the other World, suitable to the Pro­gresses made in this State of Probation. Nay, if it should unluckily so happen, that you fall short of eternal Happiness, do ye not conceive others who had more Reli­gion than you, may arrive safe on the happy Shore of eternal Felicity, in Heaven's ever blessed Harbour? Why, in the Name of Wonder! do ye then seem to bless your Lot above that of the sincere Worshippers of the Deity? Unenvied by me be for ever your better Portion of Vanity in this tragical World!

O that the Lord of his infinite Mercy, graciously would be pleased to send his holy Spirit into the Hearts of many, to work in them genuine Repentance! Should I launch out into Futurity, and open to you the different Scenes of the other World: Should I set before your Eyes the Horrors and Ignominies of the dismal Abyss, in which the accursed Crew suffer everlasting Condemnation: Should I speak of the Glories of the New Jerusalem: Should I dwell on the Beatitudes of the celestial ever-blessed Paradise, and say so much of unutterable Things, as on this Side of immortality I can: Yea, should one, either Angel or Man, come from the other World, and prophesy to you, unless God darted Light and Life into thy Soul: O irregenerate Sinner, it would perhaps not bring thee as far as Bileam, who wished [Page 12] to die the Death of the Righteous; or as Felix, who trembled; or as Agrippa, who was almost persuaded. It is not with me, but unto God, who calleth the Things that are not as if they were, doth it appertain, to bring into the World a new Creature of his own; of which old Things are passed away, behold all Things are become new.—I shall therefore at present, only urge the Necessity of a genuine and speedy Repentance from the Drift of my Text: That, upon Repentance, God will spare a sinful People, against whom he has denounced his Judgments; and upon Apostacy, he will destroy a People, he has vouchsafed to bless and prosper.—

Oh, consider! if we do not repent from our evil Way, turn unto the Lord, and make our Ways and Doings good; he may at last, give us over to be a Prey to our incroaching, ambitious, haughty and cruel Neighbours, the French and their Indians. I have already shewn you, God acted so with Israel: And that he has threatened and warned us by bitter Dispensations of his Providence, during the late War, both by the Sword of the Enemy, and by his own immediate afflicting Hand, (witness the Depredations the French and their Indians, by their Incursions, have made upon our Northern Frontiers: witness the Small-Pox and Measels; witness that particu­lar, virulent and malignant Fever, whereby so many went to their long Homes,) and doth now, in an especial Manner, warn us; I am sorry to say, were a less diffi­cult than grievous Task to shew.—I believe the Idea yourselves have of our present Situation at this critical Juncture, at this dubious Instant, in this portentous Interval, is such, that I need not particularize, in order to make you sensible of the Cloud which hangs over our Heads, in-so-far as to confess:—

Lord by the Encroachments of our Neighbours upon us, our Situation is become gloomy and dark.—Now is the Time to bestir ourselves, and to be valiant, for the Land and the Cities our God has been pleased to give us.—But, O Lord! how shall a sinful People stand before thee? Will thy Justice not require Vengeance on our Sins and Abominations? Our Warriours who should withstand the Enemy, have they Reason to think God will send his holy Angels to protect them, and to put their Adversaries to Flight? Can they hope God will hold up their Faces, and cover their Heads, in the Day of Battle? Are not ungodly Sinners the worst of Warriours? The Men of Sodom and Gomorrha, of Admah and Seboim and Bela, proved as wretched Warriours, as they were great Sinner [...] ▪ They lost the Battle against Cheda [...] ­l [...]omer, and the Kings that were with him; they fled ignominiously: But, behold! Abram the Hebrew, with his Three Hundred and Eighteen Worshippers of the Deity, overcomes the Conqueror, and rescues the conqured Fugitives and Captives.—

And no Wonder; the Terror of the Lord seizes impious Men: When Death is before their Eyes, the World of Spirits then open to their View, overshadows their Souls with gloomy Apprehensions, foreboding the Blackness of Darkness for ever: Infernal Vultures of Prey hover over their Heads, to snatch away their guilty Souls to doleful Shades.—But there stands the Man, who firmly believes God's eternal Predestination; who doth holy acquiesce in his irresistible high Decree, who has made his Peace with God; Angel Guards attend him, to conduct his parting Spirit into the celestial Paradise: See how intrepid he stands! composed as the Saint whose Errors are forgiven, glowing with heroic Enthusiasm: See how he [...]ches up against the blazing Steel; Fire, Smoke and Thunder terrify him not: [...] fatal Lead whistles around his Head, without darting Panic into his Heart; his Breast being defended by a Shield of triple Adamant, is [...]ar more impregnable to the Ter­ror, than to the Death of the hallow Engine:—Or is it that we look for Council of War, and high Exploit? Here will we find the Saint to excel the Sinner; for the Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom, as well as of Courage: Besides, the Saint is honest and loyal, and inspired with Patriot Zeal; whereas the best that can be said of the unregenerate Sinner, is, where Mammon leads the Van, Belial will never fail to bring up the Rear.—

If then we do not turn unto the Lord, can any Thing else be expected from the Jus­tice of God, and from the Nature of Things, but that we shall be plucked up, be [Page 13] pulled down, and be destroyed? For the Lord God of Hosts, saith, he [...] that to an [...] Nation, against which he denounces Evil.—True it is, our Adversaries are as far from God, and farther, if possible, then we; they worship Idols in a literal Sense, and adore the Works of their own Hands: But so did the Nations also, who led Israel Captive. God will judge Antichrist no doubt, and his Fall is yet to come, when the Nations shall shout: She is fallen, she is fallen, Baby­lon, that great City! But, notwithstanding, it is likely, that she will first be li [...]ted up on high.—Our Enemies shall not escape the Punishment of their abominable Sins, no more than the Nations did who destroyed Israel: And, nevertheless, they may get the Victory over [...]s; and, glorying in their own Strength, triumphing and exul­ting in their Success, boast in their mighty Feats of War;—'We are the Men, who have done great Things! Once we were but a Handful, in a cold and frozen Cli­mate, barren, inclement and despicable: But behold, what wise Measures, happy Schemes and blest Inventions can bring about.—Valour, unconquerable Valou [...], has subdued under our Feet, a numerous, a strong and mighty People, and given us the sole Possession of a Land, wherein there is no good Thing wanting, that is upon the Earth.—Now are we Masters, sole Masters, of one Half of the greatest Con­tinent on this terraqueous Globe: And so it is likely we may effect in the new- [...]ound World, what in the Old we could not, we should never have accomplished; that is, hatch a universal Empire. Great Things now to our holy Catholic Church! Great Things to our grand Monarchy! Glory to the Gallic Nation!'

And what will then b [...] our woful Condition? Must we then either die, or submit to Servitude and Tyranny, to Idolatry, Superstition and Thraldom, far worse than the most cruel Death? Or must we transport ourselves, naked and forlorn [...] ▪ beyond the Ocean? Or in what inhospitable Part of this Globe shall we pitch our fugitive Tents? And complain, with bitter Remembrance, of our former State;—'O woe unto us! that we have sinned so heinously against thee, O Lord! Thou hast given us a good Land, and better Things might yet have been expected: But by our Sins and Abominations, we have made the Land to spew us out.—O how shall we lift up our Fac [...]s? All they who pass by shall hiss us! because an insignificant Peo­ple, nay, an idolatrous People has overcome us.—Farewell now those fertile Lands; farewell those fruitful Fields; farewell ye fat Meadows, and fructiferous Vallies! Vales, Hills, Mountains, Woods, farewell; farewell ye pleasant Rivers, ye popu­lous Towns farewell; farewell ye joyous Cities, adieu all!—And which is worse still, and altogether intolerable, how foolishly, how sinfully, how shamefully lost! Is this the sickle Chance of human Affairs, good Lord! why were we so filly as ever to set our Hearts upon this World?'

Will not the very Savages, the Natives, the Aborigines of this Land, reproach us?—'Why did we not drive you away; nay, why did we not kill you, when ye came first in the great Canoe, over the Great Lake? 'Tis true, we had no Guns, Powder and Bullets; but we wanted not Bows and Arrows:—We had no Iron Hat­chets, nor Steel Knives; but we were not destitute of Stone Ones: We had no Woollen Blankets, but we were covered with Deer-Skins and Furs.—'Tis so, we lived not as you did, nor as we do now; but we lived as well. This Part of the World suited us as well as over the Water did you. O had we never tasted your Rum! It has spoiled, it has killed, it has destroyed us long ago; and now your Woman-heartedness leaves us a Prey to the French. O why did we rely upon those for Help and Succour, who cannot help themselves! Nay, Fools that we were! Why did we receive a People into this Land, which the great Spirit had separated from us, by the Great Lake, as a Sign they had no Business here? But we thought you were wise and good, because you were White.—You told us you worshipped the Great Spirit, who has made, and preserves, and blesses all Things; but have you been at any Pains, in earnest, to learn us to worship him? The French worship Images, as well as we did; they fall upon-their Knees, and adore a Piece of Wood or Stone, in the Shape of a Man, of a Woman, and of a Cross; and yet they have, like [Page 14] the Devil, never been at Rest to bring us to their Religion.—We made your great Canoe fast, first with a Rope to a Tree, next to a Rock, then we got an Iron Chain, at length we fastened it to a Silver Chain, quite in Onondago, and we kept it al­ways white without Rust: But what Good does it do us now? You are gone, and we are Slaves! We are worse than Negroes, for their Masters take Care of them: But we are neither our own Masters, nor does any Body take Care of us.—We are worse off than the very Brutes, than the wild Beasts, who, without a Soul, run in the Woods.'—

Seeing such, and far beyond my Description, would be our deplorable Situation, in Case we were subdued by our Neighbours; O then! for the Love of God, and of our native Land! while Repentance and Reformation is the only Way to screen and secure us from so fatal an Evil, let us turn unto the Lord, let us make our Ways and our Doings good.

One Thing much to our Encouragement, my Breast labours to bring forth; and it is, that glorious Prophesy: For from the rising of the Sun, even unto the going down of the same, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every Place Incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure Offering: For my Name shall be great among the Heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts.—Were it permitted to me, to pry into prophetic Gloom, and to scan the Depths of Destiny, methinks I might here find:—'As thou Sun givest Light from East to West, so shall Man, whom I have created in the East, people the Earth still Westward on; and with him shall go polish'd Life, Arts and Science, and real Religion, by which Glory redounds to my Name, Salvation to my Creatures.—Two Thousand Years may expire before I give my Law in Form; Two Thousand more before Mes­siah come, unto whom is to be the Gathering of the Nations: when through ma­nifold and divers Viciffitudes, my Gospel reach remote America; all the While as the Light advances to the West, leaving the more Eastern Parts of the Earth darker and darker, until a Time of Apostacy, together with its deserved Punishment from Heaven, close the Eve of Two Thousand Years more; which, as I created the World in Six Days, and resting on the Seventh, instituted a Sabbath of Rest, may close the World Six Thousand Years; whereon there may be a Sabbath of Rest of a Thousand Years, when the Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of me, both Jews and Gentiles, all Nations and Languages throughout the whole Earth, as one People, rejoycing in my Salvation every where; Satan, the apostate Angel, being bound that he deceive not: And then ensue the last gloomy Night of universal De­fection and Apostacy, in which I come to judge the Quick and the Dead, and give Renovation and Restoration to all Things.'—

This Thought, I say, is exceedingly in our Favour, in-so-much as it gives us to understand, that as we have been last inlightened by the Sun of Grace, so the bles­sed Light may continue longest on our Hemisphere; and that the Day of our Life may be spun out, even after our Mother Country is expired.

Gracious God! can there be any Thing more tender? Can any Thing be more adapted to turn us unto thee! to fire our Bosoms, our very Souls, with the Glow of thy Love, surpassing all Understanding, than that indulgent Heaven will smile yet on us, when it frowns on our Kindred Mortals?

O then! That the Magistracy would exert themselves, in our present Situation, as becometh them! Rulers of the Earth, on you I fix my Eyes: By God Almighty you are placed in that high and exalted Station of Life, in order to be a Terror to Evil-Doers, and to encourage such as do well.—You ought to take Care no Abo­minations be committed among us without Correction—That taking of God's sacred Name in vain, that Blasphemy, that Sabbath-breaking, that Contempt and Neglect of Divine Worship, requires your Attention, your Redress, and ought to be discouraged by your Precepts and Example.—It is scarcely to be believed, what Influence the great Ones of the Earth have on their pliant Inferiors: Every Thing that comes from them, goes down with the tractable Part of the Vulgar, as Water runs down the Channel:—And what, though vicious and perverse Mortals, though incorrigible Sinners hate you, Your Virtue, your Piety, your Zeal and Love for the Glory of God, and the Good of Mankind, will triumph at Length, and be in blessed Memory, when the Names of the Wicked shall rot.—Let there­fore nothing deter you from promoting the Fear of God.—

Ye Sons of Levi, ye Priests, ye Prophets of the Lord! Unto you doth it apper­tain, in an especial Manner, to endeavour to reclaim sinful Mortals.— Go to then, and speak to the Inhabitants of the Land, thus saith the Lord, Return ye n [...]w every one from his evil Way, and make your Ways and your Doings good.—This is your indispensable Duty; to this End you are set as Watchmen on the Walls of Jeru­salem. You are God's Ambassadors to the Nations.—Arise therefore, g [...]d up your Loins, and speak unto them all that the Lord hath commanded.—Be not dismayed at their Faces, left the Lord confound you before them.—At least, My Brethren, let us behave in such a Manner in the Discharge of our Duty, that we may be clear of the Blood of such as perish in their Sins. Let us consider, that they [Page 17] who be wise, shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament; and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars for ever and ever: and that all Jesus's faithful Servants, shall enter into the Rest and Peace of their Lord.—Although your La­bour be hard, your Charge difficult, and your Pains often, but ill requited, by an ungrateful World; nay, although for all your Love, ungodly Sinners hate and re­vile you, for your Blessing, curse [...]; yet shall not all the Bombast and Sarcasm with which witling Scriblers, for Righteousness Sake, persecute you, or any other Thing, if you are faithful, be able in the least to harm you.—

And now to conclude; I pray God of his infinite Mercy, may be pleas'd, to save this Land from perishing by Vice, Irreligion, Impiety, and Ungodliness; and I prophesy it will stand long enough.—And may God bless the Endeavours that are now made for the public Good.—May the Endeavours of His HONOUR our LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, at this TREATY, be blessed, to engage the Indian Nations in our Interest.—May the COMMISSIONERS from the several Governments, be directed by the Giver of all Wisdom and Understanding, to concert such Schemes, to take such Measures, and to join in such Leagues and Confederacies, at this present CONGRESS, as may, by the Blessing of Heaven, prove effectual to with­stand, oppose, resist and repel [...] unjustly incroaching Neighbours.—And may we all, as one Man, as one [...] and one Soul, each and every one in that Office, in the Sphere and Station of Life into which the Lord hath placed him, endeavour to promote the Glory of God, our own Salvation, and the Good and Happiness of the whole Community.—Let us, Men and Brethren, be of good Courage, and behave ourselves valiantly for our People, and for the Cities of our God:—And let the Lord do that which is good in his Sight:— To whom be Honour and Glory, Power, Might, Majesty and Dominion, World without End. AMEN.