Chapter III: Part II (2)

11. The oath which all _officers_ of his Majesty’s _customs_, take at their admission into the office, runs thus:

“I do swear to be true and faithful in the execution, to the best of my knowledge and power, of the trust committed to my charge and inspection, in the service of his Majesty’s customs: and that I will not take or receive, any reward or gratuity, directly or indirectly, other than my salary, or what is or shall be allowed me from the crown, or the regular fees established by law, for any service done or to be done in the execution of my employment in the customs, on any account whatsoever. So help me God.”

On this it may be observed, 1. That there are regular fees, _established by law_, for some of these officers; 2. That the rest do hereby engage not to take or receive _any reward or gratuity, directly or indirectly_, other than their salary or allowance from the crown, _on any account whatsoever_.

How do the former keep this solemn engagement? They whose fees _are established by law_? Do they take those established fees and no more? Do they not _receive any farther gratuity_? Not _on any account whatsoever_? If they do, they are undeniably guilty of _wilful perjury_.

And do the latter take _no fees at all_? Do they receive _no reward or gratuity, for any service done, or to be done, in the execution of their employment_? Do they not take any money, _directly or indirectly, on any account whatsoever_? Every time they do receive either more or less, they also are flatly _forsworn._

Yet who scruples either the one or the other? Either the taking _a larger fee_ than the law appoints? Or the taking _any fee_, large or small, which is offered, even where the law appoints none at all?

What innumerable _perjuries_ then are here committed, over and over, day by day! And without any remorse; without any shame! without any fear either of God or man!

12. I will produce but one instance more. The oath of one who _votes_ for a member of parliament is this:

“I do swear, I have not received or had, by myself, or of any person whatsoever in trust for me, or for my use and benefit directly or indirectly, any sum or sums of money, office, place or employment, gift or reward, or any promise or security for any money, office, employment or gift, in order to give my vote at this election, and that I have not before been polled at this election. So help me God.”

We may observe here, 1. That this oath is taken, once in seven years (if ♦required) by all the freeholders, in every county throughout _England_ and _Wales_, as well as by all the freemen in every city and borough-town: and 2. That hereby every voter swears, in words liable to no evasion, that he has not received, _directly or indirectly, any gift or reward_, or _promise_ of any.

♦ “requested” replaced with “required” per Errata

But (to pass over those godless and shameless wretches, who frequently vote twice at one election) how few are there, who can take this oath with a conscience void of offence? Who have not received, _directly_ or _indirectly_, _any gift_ or promise of any? No! have not _you_? If you have received nothing else, have not you received meat or drink? And did you pay for the meat or drink you received? If not, that was _a gift_; and consequently, you are as really _perjured_, as the man that has received an hundred pounds.

What melancholy prospect is then before us! Here are almost _all the common people_ of any substance throughout the land, both in the city and country, calling God to record to a _known, wilful falshood_!

13. I shall conclude this head in the weighty words of the author before cited.

“Most of these, I am afraid, look upon their oaths as _things of course_, and little to be regarded. But can there be any thing in the world more sacred than an _oath_? Is it not a solemn appeal to God for your sincerity? And is not that very appeal an acknowledgment, that he will surely punish falshood? Nay farther, Is it not _a calling down_ the vengeance of God upon yourselves if you are false? Do you not, by laying your hand upon the gospel, declare, that _you hope for no salvation by Christ_, if you perform not what you then promise, or, if what you then affirm, is not true? And do not the words, _So help me God_, sufficiently prove, that the intention of your oath is so? And that if you swear false, you are to expect no mercy from God, either in this world, or the next? And do you not _personally_ and expresly give your consent to this heavy curse, by _kissing the book_? How then dare any of you to venture to play with so awful an engagement? Is it that you think the oath of a _grand jury-man_, or _parish-officer_,” (of a _captain_, an _officer of the customs_, or a _voter_ in elections) “is not as sacred and binding as that of an _evidence at the bar_? What is it can make the difference? Both of them are equally appeals to God, and imprecations of his vengeance upon _wilful perjury_.”

14. If there be then a God that is not mocked, what a weight of sin lies on this nation? And sin of no common dye; for perjury has always been accounted one of the deepest stain. And how will any one attempt to excuse this? By adding blasphemy thereto? So indeed some have done; saying, like those of old, _Tush, thou_ God _carest not for it. The Lord seeth_ (i. e. regardeth) _us not. The Lord hath forsaken the earth._ He has left _second causes_ to take their course, and man _in the hand of his own counsel_.

* How many are they who now speak thus? According to whose _minute_ philosophy, the _particular_ providence of God is utterly exploded, _the hairs of our head are_ no longer _numbered_: And _not_ only _a sparrow_, but a city, an empire may _fall to the ground, without the will_ or care _of our heavenly Father_. You allow then only a _general_ Providence. I do not understand the term. Be so kind as to let me know, what you mean by a “_general_ providence, contradistinguished from a _particular_ one?” I doubt you are at a loss for an answer; unless you mean some huge, unweildy thing, (I suppose, resembling the _primum mobile_ in the _ptolemaic_ system) which continually whirls the whole universe round, without affecting one thing more than another. I doubt this hypothesis will demand more proof, than you are at present able to produce; beside that it is attended with a thousand difficulties, such as you cannot readily solve. It may be therefore your wisest way for once to think with the vulgar, to acquiesce in the plain, scriptural account. This informs us, that although God dwelleth in heaven, yet he still _ruleth over all_: that his providence extends to every individual in the whole system of beings which he hath made: that all _natural causes_ of every kind, depend wholly upon his will; and he increases, lessens, suspends or destroys their efficacy, according to his own good pleasure: that he uses _preternatural causes_ at his will, the ministry of good or of evil angels: and that he hath never yet precluded himself from exerting his own immediate power, from _speaking_ life or death into any of his creatures; from _looking_ a world into being, or into nothing.

_Thinkest thou_ then, _O man, that thou shalt escape the judgment of_ this great God? O no longer _treasure up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath_! Thou canst not recall what is past; but now _keep thyself pure_, even were it at the price of all that thou hast; and acknowledge the goodness of God, in that he did not long since cut thee off, and send thee to thy own place.

15. The _Jews_ of old were charged by God, with _prophaning his sabbaths_ also. And do we _Christians_ come behind them herein? (I speak of those who acknowledge the obligation.) Do we _call the sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, honourable? Not doing our own ways, not finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words?_ Do our _man-servant and maid-servant_ rest thereon? And the _stranger that is within our gates_? Is no business, but what is really necessary, done within our house? You know in your own conscience, and God knoweth, that the very reverse of this is true.

But setting aside these things which are done as it were by stealth, whether by mean or honourable men; how many are they, in every city, as well as in this, who prophane the sabbath with a high hand? How many in this, that openly defy both God and the king, that break the laws both divine and human, by working at their trade, delivering their goods, receiving their pay, or following their ordinary business, in one branch or other, and _wiping their mouths and saying_, “_I do no evil_?” How many buy and sell on the day of the Lord, even in the open streets of this city? How many open or (with some modesty) _half open_ their shops? ♦Even when they have not the pretence of perishable goods; without any pretence at all, money is their god, and gain their godliness.――――But what are all these droves in the skirts of the town, that well nigh cover the face of the earth? Till they drop one after another into the numerous receptacles prepared for them in every corner. What are these to gain by prophaning the day of the Lord? Nothing at all. They _drink in iniquity like water_. Nay many of them _pay_ for their sin; perhaps great part of what should sustain their family the ensuing week. I know not what is _finding our own pleasure, or doing our own ways_, if this is not. What then shall we plead in _your_ excuse? That “many others do it as well as you?” Nay, number is so far from extenuating your fault, that it aggravates it above measure. For this is open war against God. And a whole army of you joins together, and with one consent, in the face of the sun, _runs upon the thick bosses of his buckler_.

♦ “And” replaced with “Even” per Errata

16. It is once mentioned in the prophets, _In thee_ (Jerusalem) _they have set light by father and mother_. But frequent mention is made of their setting light by their civil parents, of their murmurings and rebellions against their governors. Yet surely _our_ boasting against them is excluded, even in this respect. For do not all our histories witness such a series of mutinies, seditions, factions and rebellions, as are scarce to be paralleled in any other kingdom, since the world began? And has not the wild, turbulent, ungovernable spirit of our countrymen, been continually acknowledged and lamented, (as abundance of their writings testify to this day) by the cool, rational part of the nation? Terrible effects whereof have been seen and felt, more or less, in every generation.

But did this spirit exist only in times past? Blessed be God, it is now restrained, it does not break out; but the traces thereof are still easy to be found. For whence springs this continual _speaking evil of dignities_? Of all who are at the helm of public affairs? Whence this _speaking evil of the ruler of our people_, so common among all orders of men. I do not include those whose province it is to inspect all the public administrations. But is not almost every private gentleman in the land, every clergyman, every tradesman; yea every man and woman that has a tongue, a politician, a settler of the state? Is not every carman and porter abundantly more knowing than the king, lords and commons together? Able to tell you all their foibles, to point out their faults and mistakes, and how they ought to proceed, if they will save the nation? Now all this has a natural, undeniable tendency to mutiny and rebellion. O what need have we above any nation upon earth, of his continual care and protection, who alone is able to _rule the raging of the sea, and still the madness of the people_!

17. But to proceed. Were there _drunkards_ in _Ephraim, mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong drink_? And are there not in _England_? Are they not the growth of every county, city and town therein? ♦These do not indeed, or not often _rise up early, that they may follow strong drink_; and so _continue till night, till wine inflame them_. They have found a readier way! namely, to begin at night, and continue following their wine or strong drink till the morning. And what numbers are there of these throughout the land? Lost to reason and humanity, as well as to religion: so that no wonder _they regard not the works of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands_.

♦ “Those” replaced with “These” per Errata

* Nor indeed have _our_ drunkards need to continue from morning _to night, until_ wine _inflame them_: seeing _they_ have found a far more compendious method of casting aside all sense and reason, and disincumbering themselves of all remains, either of conscience or understanding. So that whatever work of darkness is speedily to be done, and that without any danger of being interrupted, either by fear, compassion or remorse, they may be in a few moments, by one draught as effectually qualified for it, as if they could swallow a legion of devils. Or, (if that be all their concern) they may, at a moderate expence, destroy their own body as well as soul, and plunge through this _liquid fire_, into that _prepared for the devil and his angels_.

* Friend! Stop! You have the form of a man still. And perhaps some remains of understanding. O may the merciful God lay hold of that! Unto him all things are possible. Think a little for once. What is it you are doing? Why should you destroy yourself? I could not use the _worst enemy_ I have in the world, as you use _yourself_. Why should you murder yourself inch by inch? Why should you burn yourself alive? O spare your own body at least, if you have no pity for your soul! But have you a soul then? Do you really believe it? What, a soul that must live forever! O spare thy soul! Do not destroy _thy own_ soul with an ♦everlasting destruction! It was made for God. Do not give it into the hands of that old murderer of men! Thou canst not stupify it long. When it leaves the body it will awake and sleep no more. Yet a little while, and it launches out into the great deep, to live, and think, and feel for ever. And what will chear thy spirit there, if thou hast not _a drop of water to cool thy tongue_? But the die is not yet cast. Now cry to God, and _iniquity shall not be thy ruin_.

♦ “eversting” replaced with “everlasting” per Errata

18. Of old time there were also those that _were at ease in Zion, that lay upon beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon their couches, that ♦ate the lambs out of the flock, and calves out of the stall_. But how inelegant were these ancient _epicures! Lambs out of the flock, and calves out of the stall!_ Were these the best dainties they could procure? How have we improved, since _Jeroboam_’s time? Who can number the varieties of our tables; or the arts we have “To enlarge the pleasure of tasting?” And what are their couches, or beds of ivory, to the furniture of our apartments? Or their _chains and bracelets, and mantles and changeable suits of apparel_, to the ornaments of our persons? What comparison is there between their diversions and ours? Look at _Solomon_ in all his glory; and yet may we not question, whether he was not an utter stranger to _the pleasures of the chase_? And notwithstanding his 40,000 horses, did he ever see a _race_ in his life? He _made gardens and orchards, and pools of water; he planted vineyards and built houses_. But had he one _theatre_ among them all? No. * This is the glory of later times. Or had he any conception of a _ball_, an _assembly_, a _masquerade_, or a _ridotto_? And who imagines that all his instruments of musick put together, were any more to be compared to ours, than his or his father’s rumbling _Hebrew_ verses,

“To the soft sing song of _Italian_ lays.”

In all these points our pre-eminence over the _Jews_, is much every way.

♦ “eat” replaced with “ate” per Errata

* Yea, and over our own ancestors, as well as theirs. But is this our glory, or our shame? Were _Edward_ the third, or _Henry_ the fifth to come among us now, what would they think of the change in their people? Would they applaud the elegant variety at the _old Baron_’s table? Or the costly delicacy of his furniture and apparel? Would they listen to these instruments of musick? Or find pleasure in those diversions? Would they rejoice to see the nobles and gentry of the land, lying _at ease, stretching themselves on beds_ of down? Too delicate to use their own limbs, even in the streets of the city; to bear the touch of the people, the blowing of the wind, or the shining of the sun! O how would their hearts burn within them! What indignation, sorrow, shame must they feel, to see the ancient hardiness lost, the _British_ temperance, patience and scorn of superfluities, the rough, indefatigable industry, exchanged for softness, _idleness and fulness of bread_! Well for them, that they were gathered unto their fathers, before this exchange was made!

19. To prove at large, that the luxury and sensuality, the sloth and indolence, the softness and idleness, the effeminacy and false delicacy of our nation are without a parallel, would be but lost labour. I fear, we may say, the _lewdness_ too; for if the _Jews_, as the prophet speaks, _assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses_, so do the _English_, and much more abundantly. Indeed, where is _male chastity_ to be found? Among the nobility? Among the gentry? Among the tradesmen? Or among the common people of _England_? How few lay any claim to it at all? How few desire so much as the reputation of it? Would you yourself account it an honour or a reproach, to be ranked among those of whom it is said, _These are they which are not defiled with women: for they are virgins_? And how numerous are they now, even among such as are accounted men of honour and probity, _who are fed as horses, every one neighing after his neighbour’s wife_?

But as if this were not enough, is not the sin of _Sodom_ too, more common among us than ever it was in _Jerusalem_? Are not our streets beset with those monsters of uncleanness, who _burn in their lust one toward another_, whom God hath _given up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient_? O Lord, thy compassions fail not: therefore we are not consumed.

20. Neither do we yield to them in _injustice_ any more than _uncleanness_. How frequent are open robberies among us? Is not _the act of violence_ even _in our streets_? And what laws are sufficient to prevent it? Does not _theft_ of various kinds abound in all parts of the land, even tho’ death be the punishment of it? And are there not among us, who _take usury and increase_, who _greedily gain of their neighbour by_ extortion? Yea, whole trades which subsist by such extortion, as was not named either among the _Jews_ or _Heathens? Is there not_ yet _the scant measure, the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights?_ Beside the thousand nameless ways of over-reaching and defrauding, the _craft_ and _mystery_ of every trade and profession. It were an endless task to descend to particulars, to point out in every circumstance, how not only _sharpers_ and _gamesters_, (those public nusances, those scandals to the _English_ nation) but high and low, rich and poor, men of character and men of none, in every station of public or private life, _have corrupted themselves_, and generally applaud themselves and count it _policy_ and wisdom so to do: so that if _gain_ be at hand, they care not, though _justice stand afar off_: so that _he which departeth from evil_, which cometh not into their secret, still _maketh himself a prey_; and _the wicked_ still _devoureth the man that is more righteous than he_.

And what redress? Suppose a great man to oppress the needy? Suppose the rich grinds the face of the poor: what remedy against such _oppression_ can he find in this _Christian_ country? If the one is rich and the other poor, doth not justice stand afar off? And is not the poor under the utmost improbability, (if not impossibility) of obtaining it? Perhaps the hazard is greater among us, than either among _Jews_, _Turks_, or _Heathens_.

For example. Suppose a great man, with or without form of law, does wrong to his poor neighbour. What will he do? Sue his lordship at common law? Have the cause tried at the next sessions or assizes? Alas! Your own neighbours, those who know the whole case, will tell you, “You are out of your senses.” “But twelve good men and true will do me justice.” Very well: but where will you find them: men unbiassed, incapable of corruption, superior both to fear and favour, to every view whether of gain or loss? But this is not all; they must not only be good and true, but wise and understanding men. Else how easy is it for a skilful pleader to throw a mist before their eyes? Even supposing too the judge to be quite impartial, and proof against all corruption. And should all these circumstances concur, (of which I fear there are not many precedents) supposing a verdict is given in your favour, still you have gained nothing. The suit is removed into a higher court, and you have all your work to begin again. Here you have to struggle with all the same difficulties as before, and perhaps, many new ones too. However, if you have money enough, you may succeed: but if that fails, your cause is gone. Without money, you can have no more _law_; _poverty_ alone utterly shuts out _justice_.

But, “cannot an honest _attorney_ procure me justice?” An _honest_ attorney! Where will you find one? Of those who are called _exceeding honest_ attornies, who is there that makes any scruple.

1. To promote and encourage _needless_ suits, if not _unjust_ ones too?

2. To _defend a bad cause_, knowing it so to be:

By making a _demur_, and then withdrawing it:

By pleading some _false plea_, to the plaintiff’s declaration:

By putting in an _evasive answer_ to his bill:

By _protracting_ the suit, if possible, till the plaintiff is ruined:

3. To _carry a cause_ not amounting to ten shillings into _Westminster-hall_, by laying it in his declaration as above forty:

4. To _delay_ his own client’s suit knowingly and wilfully, in order to gain more thereby:

5. To _draw himself_ the pleadings or conveyances of his client, instead of giving them to be drawn by able council:

6. To _charge_ his client with the fees which should have been given to such council, although they were not given:

7. To _charge_ for drawing fair copies, where none were drawn:

8. To charge _fees for expedition_ given to clerks, when not one farthing has been given them;

9. To send his clerk a journey (longer or shorter) to do business with or for different persons; and to charge the horse-hire and expence of that journey to every person severally:

10. To send his clerk to _Westminster_, on the business of ten (it may be) or twenty persons, and to charge each of these twenty for his attendance, as if he had been sent on account of _one_ only:

11. To charge _his own attendance_ in like manner: and

12. To fill up his bill with _attendances_, _fees_, and _term-fees_, though his client is no whit ♦forwarder in his cause.

♦ “forward” replaced with “forwarder” per Errata

This is he that is called an _honest attorney_! How much honester is a pick-pocket?

But there is a magistrate whose peculiar office it is, to redress the injured and oppressed. Go then and make trial of this remedy; Go, and tell your case to the _Lord Chancellor_. Hold; you must go on regularly: you must tell him your case, _in form of law_, or not ♦at all. You must therefore _file a bill_ in chancery, and _retain_ a lawyer belonging to that court. “But ♠you have already spent all you have; you have _no money_.” Then I fear you will have _no justice_. You stumble at the threshold. If you have either lost or spent all, your cause is naught: it will not even come to a hearing. So, if the oppressor has secured all that you had, he is as safe as if you was under the earth.

♦ “at” inserted per Errata

♠ “ye” replaced with “you” per Errata

* 21. Now what an amazing thing is this! The very _greatness_ of the villainy makes it beyond _redress_!――――But suppose he that is opprest, has some substance left, and can go through all the courts of justice, what parallel can we find among _Jews_, _Turks_, or _Heathens_, for either the delays or the expence attending it? With regard to the former, how monstrous is it, that in a suit relating to that inheritance, which is to furnish you and your family with food and raiment, you must wait month after month, perhaps year after year, before it is determined, whether it be yours or not? And what are you to _eat_, or to _wear_ in the mean time? Of that the court takes no cognizance! Is not this very _delay_, (suppose there were no other grievance attending the _English_ course of law) wrong beyond all expression? Contrary to all sense, reason, justice and equity? A _capital_ cause is tried in one day, and finally decided at once. And, _is the life_ less than _meat_? _Or the body_ of less concern _than raiment_? What a shameless mockery of justice then, is this putting off _pecuniary_ causes from term to term, yea, from year to year.

* With regard to the latter. A man has wronged me of a hundred pounds. I appeal to a judge for the recovery of it. How astonishing is it, that this judge himself cannot give me what is my right, and what evidently appears so to be, unless I first give, perhaps one half of the sum, to men I never saw before in my life!

22. I have hitherto supposed, that all causes when they are decided, are decided according to justice and equity. But is it so? Ye learned in the law, is no _unjust sentence_ given in your courts? Have not the same causes been decided quite opposite ways? One way, this term, just the contrary, the next? Perhaps one way in the morning (this I remember an instance of) and another way in the afternoon. How is this? Is there no _justice_ left on earth? No regard for right or wrong? Or have causes been puzzled so long, that you know not now, what is either wrong or right? What is agreeable to law, or contrary to it? I have heard some of you frankly declare, that it is in many cases next impossible to know, what is law, and what is not. So are your _folio_’s of law multiplied upon you, that no human brain is able to contain them: no; nor any consistent scheme, or abstract of them all.

But is it really owing to _ignorance_ of the law, (this is the most _favourable_ supposition) that so few of you scruple _taking fees_ on either side, of almost any cause that can be conceived? And that you generally plead in the manner you do on any side of any cause? Rambling to and fro, in a way so abhorrent from common sense, and so utterly foreign to the question? I have been amazed at hearing the pleadings of some eminent council: and when it has fallen out that the pleader on the other side understood only the common rules of logic, he has made those eminent men appear, either such egregious knaves, if they could help it, or such egregious blockheads, if they could not, that one would have believed they would shew their face there no more.――――Mean time, if there be a God that judgeth righteously, what horrid insults upon him are these! _Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged of such a nation as this!_

23. There is one instance more of (I know not what to term it) injustice, oppression, sacrilege, which hath long cried aloud in the ears of God. For among men, who doth hear? I mean the management of many of those who are intrusted with our public charities. By the pious munificence of our fore-fathers, we have abundance of these, of various kinds. But is it not glaringly true, (to touch only on a few generals) that the managers of many of them, either 1. Do not apply the benefaction to _that use_ for which it was designed by the benefactor, or 2. Do not apply it with such _care and frugality_, as in such a case are indispensably required: or 3. Do not apply the whole of the benefaction to any _charitable use_ at all; but ♦_secrete_ part thereof, from time to time, for the use of themselves and their families. Or, lastly, by plain, bare-faced oppression, _exclude_ those from having any part in such benefaction, who dare (though with all possible tenderness and respect) set before them the things that they have done:

“Yet _Brutus_ is an honourable man:
So are they all: all honourable men!”

And some of them, had in esteem for religion; accounted patterns both of honesty and piety! But God _seeth not as man seeth_. He _shall repay them to their face_. Perhaps, even in the present world. For that scripture is often still fulfilled, _This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief_, (such he is and no better, in the eyes of God, no whit honester than a highwayman) _and it shall remain in the midst of the house, and shalt consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof_.

♦ “secret” replaced with “secrete” per Errata

24. And is not _truth_, as well as _justice_, _fallen in our streets_? For who _speaketh the truth from his heart_? Who is there, that makes a conscience of speaking the thing as it is, whenever he speaks at all? Who scruples the telling of _officious lies_? The varying from truth, in order to do good? How strange does that saying of the ancient fathers, found in modern ears, “I would not tell a lie, no, not to save the souls of the whole world.” Yet is this strictly agreeable to the word of God; to that of St. _Paul_ in particular, if any say, _let us do evil that good may come_, their _damnation is just_.

But how many of us do this evil, without ever considering, whether good will come or no? Speaking what we do not mean, merely out of _custom_, because it is _fashionable_ so to do? What an immense quantity of falshood does this ungodly _fashion_ occasion day by day? For hath it not over run every part of the nation? How is all our language swoln with _compliment_? So that a well-bred person is not _expected_ to speak as he thinks: we do not _look for it_ at his hands. Nay, who would thank him for it? How few would suffer it? It was said of old, even by a warrior and a king, _He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight_: But are we not of another mind? Do not we rather say, _He that telleth not lies, shall not tarry in my sight_? Indeed the trial seldom comes; for both speakers and hearers are agreed, that form and ceremony, flattery and compliment should take place, and _truth_ be banished from all that _know the world_.

And if the rich and great have so small regard to _truth_, as to _lie_ even for _lying-sake_, what wonder can it be that men of lower rank will do the same thing _for gain_? What wonder that it should obtain, as by common consent in all kinds of _buying and selling_? Is it not an adjudged case, that it is no harm to tell lies _in the way of trade_? To say, that is the _lowest price_ which is not the lowest; or that you _will not take_ what you _do take_ immediately? Insomuch that it is a proverb even among the _Turks_, when asked to abate of their price, “What! do you take me to be a Christian?” So that never was that caution more seasonable than it is at this day, _Take ye heed every one of his ♦neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and they will deceive every one his neighbour_.

♦ “neigbour” replaced with “neighbour”

25. And as for those few who abstain from outward sins, is their heart right with God? May he not say of us also (as of the _Jews_) _This people is uncircumcised in heart_? Are not _you_? Do you then _love the_ Lord _your_ God, _with all your heart, and with all your strength_? Is he _your_ God and your all? The desire of your eyes? The joy of your very heart? Rather, do you not _set up your idols in your heart_? Is not your _belly your God_? Or your diversion? Or your fair reputation? Or your friend? Or wife? Or child? That is plainly, do not you delight in some of these earthly goods, more than in the God of heaven? Nay, perhaps you are one of those grovelling souls that _pant after the dust of the earth_! Indeed who does not? Who does not get as much as he can? Who of those who are not _accounted_ covetous, yet does not gather all the money he can _fairly_, and perhaps much more? For are they those only whom _the world rank_ among misers, that use every art to increase their fortune? Toiling early and late, spending all their strength in _loading themselves with thick clay? How long?_ Until the very hour when God calleth them; when he saith unto each of them, _Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?_

26. And yet doth not our _pride_, even the pride of those whose soul _cleaves to the dust, testify against us_? Are _they_ not _wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit_? Have not writers of our own remarked, that there is not upon earth a more _self-conceited_ nation than the _English_; more ♦opinionated both of their own _national_ and _personal_ wisdom, and courage, and strength? And indeed, if we may judge by the inhabitants of _London_, this is evident to a demonstration: for, are not the very meanest of them able to instruct both the king and all his counsellors? What cobler in _London_ is not wiser than the principal Secretary of State? What coffee-house disputer is not an abler divine than his Grace of _Canterbury_? And how deep a contempt of others is joined with this high opinion of ourselves? I know not whether the people of all nations are greater masters of dissimulation; but there does not _appear_ in any nation whatever, such a proneness to despise their neighbour: to despise not foreigners only (near two thousand years ago they remarked _Britannos hospitibus feros_) but their own countrymen; and that very often for such surprising reasons, as nothing but undeniable fact could make credible. How often does the gentleman in his coach despise those _dirty fellows that go a foot_? And these, on the other hand, despise full as much those _lazy fellows that loll in their coaches_? No wonder then that those who have the _form of godliness_ should despise them that have not: that the saint of the world so frequently says to the ♠gross sinner, in effect, if not in terms, _Stand by thyself; come not near unto me; for I am holier than thou_!

♦ “opiniated” replaced with “opinionated”

♠ “goss” replaced with “gross”

27. Yet what kind of holiness is this? May not God justly declare of us also, _This people draw near me with their mouth, but they have removed their hearts far from me. They do but flatter me with their mouth, and dissemble with me in their tongue._ Is it not so with _you_? When you speak to God, do your lips and your heart go together? Do you not often utter words by which you mean just nothing? Do not you say and unsay? Or, say one thing to God, and another to man? For instance, you say to God, _Vouchsafe O Lord, to keep me this day without sin_. But you say to man, this cannot be done; it is all folly and madness to expect it. You ask of God, that you _may perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name_: but you tell man, there is no _perfect love_ upon earth; it is only a madman’s dream. You pray God, to _cleanse the thoughts of your heart, by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit_. But you assure your neighbour, there is no such thing as _inspiration_ now, and that none pretend to it but _enthusiasts_. What gross _hypocrisy_ is this! Surely you think, there is no _knowledge in the Most High. O be not deceived_, God _is not mocked. But whatsoever ye sow, that also shall ye reap!_

28. Such at present is the religion of this _Christian_ nation! So do we honour him by whose name we are called. And yet was there ever a nation more careless and secure? More unapprehensive of the wrath of God! How can a man more effectually expose himself to the ridicule of those who are esteemed men of understanding, than by shewing any concern, _as if_ the judgments of God were hanging over our heads? Surely then _a deceived heart hath turned_ us _aside, that_ we _cannot say, Is there not a lie in my right hand_? Surely this our confidence is not of God: it is rather a judicial infatuation; a stupid insensibility; a deep sleep, the fore-runner of heavy vengeance.

“Ruin behind it stalks, and empty desolation.”

Surely never was any people more fitted for destruction! _Impudent children are they, and stiff hearted. Are they ashamed when they have committed abomination?_ When they have openly prophaned the day of the Lord? When they have committed lewdness? Or when they have uttered such curses and blasphemies, as are not heard of among the Heathens? Nay, _They are not at all ashamed, neither can they blush_. And though God send unto them all his servants, rising up early and sending them, yet _will they not hear; they ♦harden their neck: they do worse than their fathers_.

♦ “hearden” replaced with “harden”

What _then_ can God _do more for his vineyard which he hath not done_? He hath long tried us with mercies, _giving rain and fruitful seasons, filing us with the flour of wheat_. But still _this revolting and rebellious people say not, Let us now fear the_ Lord _our_ God. Nay, they gave him no thanks for all his mercies; they did not even acknowledge them to be his gift. They did not see the hand of God in any of these things; they could _account for them_ another way. O ye unwise, when will ye understand? Know ye not yet, there is a God that ruleth the world? What did ye see with your eyes? Was the _race to the swift_, or _the battle to the strong_? Have ye forgotten _Dettingen_ already? Does not _England_ know that God was there?――Or suppose your continuance in peace, or success in war, be the mere result of your own wisdom and strength; do ye command the sun and the clouds also? Can ye pour out or _stay the bottles of heaven_? But let it all be nature, chance, any thing――so God may have no hand in governing the earth!

* 29. Will his judgments bring us to a better mind? Do we _hear the rod, and him that has appointed it_? Let us observe: What fruit do we find in those who are _even consumed by means of his heavy hand_? Let any one that desires to be clearly satisfied herein, visit the _hospitals_ of this city. Let him judge for himself, how the patients there receive God’s fatherly visitation; especially _there_, because mercy also is mixed with judgment; so that it is evident _the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth_. Go then into any _ward_, either of men or women, look narrowly from one end to the other: are they humbling themselves under the hand of God? Are they trembling under a sense of his anger? Are they praising him for his love? Are they exhorting one another, not to faint when they are rebuked of him? How do nine in ten of them spend the time, that important time from morning to evening? Why in such a manner, that you would not easily learn, from thence, whether they were Christians, Pagans or Mahometans.

* Is there any deeper distress than this to be found? Is there a greater affliction than the loss of health? Perhaps there is, the loss of liberty, especially as it is sometimes circumstanced. You may easily be convinced of this, by going into either _Ludgate_ or _Newgate_. What a scene appears, as soon as you enter! The very place strikes horror into your soul. How dark and dreary! How unhealthy and unclean! How void of all that might minister comfort! But this is little, compared to the circumstances that attend the being confined in this shadow of death. See that poor wretch, who was formerly in want of nothing, and encompassed with friends and acquaintance, now cut off, perhaps by an unexpected stroke, from all the chearful ways of men; ruined, forsaken of all, and delivered into the hands of such masters, and such companions! I know not, if to one of a thinking, sensible turn of mind, there could be any thing like it on this side hell.

What effect then has this heavy visitation of God, on those who lie under it for any time? There is perhaps, an exception here and there; but in general, they are abandoned to all wickedness, utterly divested of all fear of God, and all reverence to man; insomuch, that they commonly go out of that school compleatly fitted for any kind or degree of villany, perfectly brutal and devilish, thoroughly furnished for every evil word and work.

30. Are our countrymen more effectually reclaimed, when danger and distress are joined? If so, the _army_, especially in time of war, must be the most religious part of the nation. But is it so indeed? Do the _soldiery_ walk as those who see themselves on the brink of eternity? _Redeeming_ every _opportunity_ of glorifying God, and doing good to men, because they know not the hour in which their Lord will require their souls of them? So far from it, that a _soldier’s religion_ is a by-word, even with those who have no religion at all; that vice and prophaneness in every shape reign among them without controul; and that the whole tenor of their behaviour speaks, _Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die_.

Have those who are exposed to still more danger, the _English sea-forces_, more religion than those at land? It is said they were once remarkable for this: and it is certain Sir _Francis Drake_ feared God, as did most of his commanders; and we have reason to believe, his marines and sailors too. But what shall we say of the _navy_ that now is, more particularly of the ships of war? Is religion there? Either the power or the form? Is not almost every single _man of war_ a mere floating hell? Where is there to be found more consummate wickedness, a more full, daring contempt of God, and all his laws, except in the bottomless pit? But here description fails: and the goodness of God endureth yet daily! But _shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?_ O that the _prospect_ of national judgments may suffice! That we may remember ourselves, and turn unto the Lord our God, before his long-suffering mercy is at an end, and he pours out the vials of his wrath upon us!

But how small ground have we as yet to hope for this? For who will now _suffer the word of exhortation_? How few will _endure sound doctrine_, and the honest, close application of it? Do they not _say unto the seers, see not; and unto the prophets, prophesy smooth things_? And if a man will do thus, if he will _sew pillows to all arm-holes_, and _cause the Holy One of_ Israel _to cease from before them; if he will prophesy of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people_.

31. I am sensible, how nice a subject this is, and how extremely difficult it is so to speak, as neither to say too little nor too much, neither more nor less than the cause of God requires. I know also, that it is absolutely impossible, so to speak as not to give offence. But whosoever is offended, I dare not to be silent; neither may I refrain from plainness of speech: only I will endeavour to use all the tenderness I can consistently with that plainness.

In tender love then I ask, are there none among us (I speak to you, my brethren, who are priests and prophets of the Lord, set apart to _minister in holy things_, and to _declare the word of the Lord_) Are there none among us who commit _lewdness_, as did those by whom _Israel was defiled_? Hath not the Lord seen an horrible thing, in some of the prophets of this land also, even, that _they commit adultery, and_ (to conceal it) _walk in lies_? God forbid that I should affirm this. I only propose (not maintain) the question. If there be such a wretch, I pray God to strike him to the heart, and to say, _Thou art the man_!

Are there none of you, like them, _mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong drink_? Yea, are there none, that _err through strong drink, that are swallowed up of wine_? Are there not found those who say, _I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink: and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant_?

* Alas, my brother! Is this the voice of a _minister of_ Christ? _A steward of the mysteries of_ God? Suppose you find at any time trouble and heaviness, _is there no help for you in your_ God? Is not the God whom you serve able to deliver you from any plague or trouble? Is the being _drunk with wine_ a better relief, than the being _filled with his Spirit_? Do you not understand this? Do you _not know the_ Lord? Take heed you do not destroy both your own soul and them that hear you! O beware! If you know not his love, fear his power! Make haste to flee from the wrath to come, lest he smite you with a curse great as your sin, and sweep you away from the face of the earth.

32. Can such as you be said, to _honour_ or _fear_ God, any more than those spoken of by _Malachi_? May not God complain, _These priests have violated my law and prophaned my holy things_? Yea, whensoever you presume with those unhallowed hands, to touch the mysteries of God: whensoever you utter his name or his word with those unhallowed lips! But is it on this account only that God may say, _Both prophet and priest are prophane_? May he not add, _they have put no difference between the holy and prophane; therefore I am prophaned among them_. For is it not so? Do _you_ put a difference between the holy and prophane, him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not? Do you put an effectual difference between them, even in the most solemn office of our religion? At the table of the Lord, do you take care to _separate the precious from the vile_? To receive all those who (as you may reasonably believe) _draw near with penitent hearts and lively faith_, and utterly to reject those who testify against themselves, that they are without hope and without God in the world?

Nay, who dares repel one of the greatest men in his parish from the Lord’s table? Even tho’ he be a drunkard or a common swearer? Yea tho’ he openly deny the Lord that bought him? Mr. _Stonhouse did_ this once. But what was the event? The gentleman brought an action against him, for the terror of all such insolent fellows, in succeeding times.

33. O my brethren, is it not for want of your making this difference, as well as for many other abominations that with regard to some among us, (how many God knoweth) that scripture is now also fulfilled. _His watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, they are shepherds that cannot understand.――The Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes; the prophets and the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed._

If you ask what those other abominations are? I will speak, in love and in the spirit of meekness. There are found among us _covetous_ men, men _who mind earthly things_, who _seek themselves_ and not Christ crucified, who _love the world, and the things of the world_: men in whom these words are still fulfilled, _Who is there among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on my altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord of hosts_. Yea, are there not those at this day, (O that I might be found to fear where no fear is!) who _make themselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel_? Are there not those, who now _enlarge their desire as hell, who are as death and cannot be satisfied_? Who, though they want neither food to eat nor raiment to put on, yet seek more and more _preferment_? Who are continually studying to _join house to house, and to lay field to field_? To grow rich in the service of that Master, who himself _had not where to lay his head_? Is it not to these that those dreadful words belong, enough to cause the ears of him that heareth to tingle, _They are greedy dogs which never can have enough; they all look to their own way_, (not the way of their Lord) _every one for his gain, from his quarter_.

Is it strange, if among these there should be some, who are cruel, _oppressive_ men? Inasmuch as covetousness knows no mercy, nor can a lover of money be a lover of his neighbour. Have not some been known even to _grind the face of the poor_? To strip, rather than cloath the naked? Some, who while they cried out, _as the horse-leech, Give, give_, would take, if it was not given; like those of old who said, _Thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force_: or those spoken of by _Micah_, _The prophets bite with their teeth, and cry peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him_. Very great is the sin of these men before the Lord. If there be ten such now in the land, may God smite them this day with terror and astonishment, that they may have no rest in their bones till their sin is done away!