my feeble powers, as long as he shall vouchsafe me the exercise of them; nor will I cease to speak the honours of his majesty, while the breath continues to actuate this mortal frame. And, "When even at last the solemn hour shall come, Come then, expressive silence! muse His praise." Ff t APPENDICES. I. THE reformation contended for in these papers is a peaceable reform, begun and carried on by the constitution, and by the bishops, and clergy of every denomination. The absolute necessity of such a reformation is founded on the prophetic declarations of Daniel. The nature of the reformation necessary to our lasting preservation as a kingdom, is, that whatever militates against the genuine spirit of Christ's religion in the establishment should be removed; and that all orders of clerical characters should set themselves, with the utmost zeal and determination, first to reform themselves, and then to stop the torrent of iniquity, which threatens to involve the country in the most complete destruction. If the 18,000 clergymen in the establishment would exert themselves for the good of souls with equal zeal and fervour, the established church would not only be safer, but the divine protection would be more effectually engaged on our behalf. Righteous nations never fall. (1) Unfortu (1) Among other unfavourable signs of the times, the vast number of bankruptcies is none of the least. We average six or seven hundred every year, beside all the composition-business, which are still more numerous. But what I chiefly refer to, is, that, of all the instances of defraud, intentional or otherwise, practised upon the public, an instance of after payment is rarely recorded; and whenever such an instance occurs, it is always spoken of with astonishment, as a thing that could not be expected. If a man go upon the high road, or break into your house, and rob you of a few pounds, he is infamous; and if he can be caught, and arraigned, and the thing is proved, he atones for his offence at the expence of his life. But a man, in a way of trade, shall cheat you of hundreds and thousands, shall pay ten, five, or even only two shillings in the pound, and he is a good fellow, a man of hon nately, abundance of our order of men are the greatest enemies to the country and vital religion. We promote the interest of Satan more effectually by our indolence, worldly-mindedness, lukewarmness, and misconduct, than all the wicked and immoral characters in the kingdom put together.-Eighteen thousand men, led on by six and twenty bishops, all filled with faith and the Holy Ghost, with an ardent love to Jesus Christ, and with a judicious, but warm and affectionate zeal for the salvation of souls, paid by the state, and sent out into every corner of the land to preach the everlasting gospel! What a glorious consideration! How should we make the ungodly and profane skulk into corners, and hide their impious heads! But, alas! how is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Dissenters are increasing, Methodists are multiplying, wickedness is spreading, our churches are emptying, infidelity is pervading all orders of society, and the daughter of Zion is like to be left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucum. bers, as a besieged city. We may look at the neighbouring nations, and learn, at their expense, what our own fate will assuredly ere long be. Who is blind? who is so ignorant? who is so selfish and secure? who is so unread in history? who is so unacquainted with the prophecies? as not to see, that the salvation of Europe is suspended on its wisdom, in our. He begins again, keeps it up, cuts a dash; cracks again, and all is well. He never dreams, that, upon every principle of Justice, honour, and conscience, he is as much a debtor for all his deficiencies as though the law had never acquitted him. What an accumulation of guilt is upon this land on these accounts! Of the many thousands in this country, who fall short in their pay. ments, how few, how extremely few do we meet with, or hear of, who afterwards, like Reyner, call their creditors together, and pay them, what, indeed, is justly due, but what they never could demand! correcting what is amiss in its morals, and unevangelical in its ecclesiastical constitutions! It should seem, however, notwithstanding the growing immorality of the age, and the other alarming symptoms of our nation, that the Governor among the armies of heaven, and the inhabitants upon earth, hath still a favour to England. He is loath to give us up; hitherto assuredly the Lord hath helped us : he hath poured out a spirit of wrestling prayer upon large numbers of religious people. These are symptoms of the most propitious kind. But, with all these advantages, since God usually works by means; if we should share the fate of other nations, there will be no just reason to complain. The war was inevitable. It was ordained of God for the subversion of the seat of the beast. (2) Remember, that we live in a period when one of God's great and afflictive providential dispensations is coming upon the world; a dispensation predicted for some thousands of years; and every remaining popish, secular, and superstitious circumstance, which is calculated to offend the Majesty of Heaven, and to oppose the interests of Christ's kingdom,(3) should be removed, and nothing should (2) The Pope and Mohammed rose in or about the same year. The former is driven from his seat exactly at the end of 1260 years. And is it not a circumstance extremely remarkable, that the very same man, in the very same year, should invade the em. pire of the latter during a state of profound peace, seemingly without any reason? We know the Turk is to fall, and we have some cause to suppose the period of that catastrophe will be at no great distance from the subversion of the Pope's secular dominion. We shall be on the wrong side of the question, if we attempt to support either him or the remaining popish states, and shall suffer for our intermeddling. (3.) What can be more inimical to the interests of the gospel of Christ in the world, than the damnable monopoly of church livings, so extremely common among all the higher orders of the clergy in this country? A certain clerical character is at this time in possession of 700 pounds a year private fortune. He is a tippling immoral person, with little or no family besides his wife. One Ff |