THE Mission of Ezekiel into the Prophetick Office Ezek. 1. per totum. was very extraordinary, (as we find it described in the beginning of his Prophecy) and truly he Ezek. 2. 1. was raised up in a very extraordinary Juncture; even when the Sins of the Jews were ripe, and their De­struction Ver. 6. at the door.

God had already pour'd out some Vials of his Wrath upon that degenerate Nation: for now they became a Prey to their Adversaries on every side, to whom they were formerly a Terror. They were insulted by the Bands of the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, as we read, 2 King. 24. 2. for 'tis there expresly said, that God sent these Armies against them, to destroy them. Be­sides this, the King of Egypt miserably harass'd them, 2 King. 23. 35. and brought them under severe Tributes. And now at the last, the King of Babylon had invaded them, and be­sieged their Capital City; and entering it by Surrender, he had driven away their King Jehojachin, and great 2 King. 24. 11. numbers of the People Captive to Babylon: And having made Zedechiah his Vice-Roy, he committed the Govern­ment Ver. 17. Ver. 20. of Judea to him, till he forfeited it by his Rebelli­on, which was nine years after. And then indeed the Forces of Babylon returned in fury, and laid both Jerusa­lem 2 Chron. 36. 19. [Page 2] and the Temple in Ruins, and fill'd all places with Slaughter and Desolation.

Now, it was in the time of this Respite, betwixt the first and second Invasion made upon them by the Chalde­ans, Ezek. 1. 2. that God was pleased to inspire the Prophet Ezekiel (one of the Jewish Captives at Babylon) to rebuke this Ver. 1. backsliding People, who were not at all amended by their many Afflictions. And this was the last Prophet who pleaded with them in the Name of God, before their total Subversion in Church and State.

How gracious and long-suffering is Almighty God! who tries the greatest of Sinners in methods of Love and Mercy; and follows even those with Calls to Repent­ance, who are advanced to the Brink of Ruin. When he had here brought great Misery upon the whole Land of Judea; and suffered their Enemies to prevail in a great measure over them: He then stops the Torrent of his Wrath, and they must have a Reprieve for nine Years, before their final Overthrow, to consider the Things which belong to their Peace.

Thus we often see a prudent and tender Parent, who having given some blows of Correction to a froward and undutiful Child, then stops his hand in which he holds the Rod; and expostulates and reasons the Case, to see whether there be any relenting disposition in the Child to prevent further Blows.

But alas! Such a fatal hardness and fatness of Heart had seized this profligate People, that none of these things moved them. They reformed not one of those Enormi­ties which the Prophet assured them would be the Caus­es of their Ruin: tho' they could not but see that they were the very same which had been the Destruction of Sodom before, as the Prophet tells them to their Faces in the words but now recited in your Ears. Behold, this was the Iniquity of thy Sister Sodom; Pride, fulness of [Page 3] Bread, and abundance of Idleness was in her, and in her Daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

In which Words, the Prophet endeavours to impress this Observation upon them, which I beseech God to fix deeply upon every Soul here present, namely,

That a City or Nation is then in very great Danger, when it abounds with those Sins for which other Cities and Nations have been destroyed.

The same Way leads directly to the same End: And the same Sins lead as surely to the same Miseries. God is a Righteous Judg, and will deal impartially with all Peo­ple according to their Sins, for he is no Respecter of Per­sons. He has done Justice already to the Jews, and he will not do otherwise to the Gentiles.

So that the Spirit of God here, takes one of the most awakening methods in the World to rouze up the Jews from their torpid Slumbers. He points at the very Caus­es of their growing Miseries, and presses them to apply themselves to the speediest methods of Redress.

‘Behold (says he) the very Symptoms of Destruction, which appear'd in the Cities of Sodom, are dreadfully apparent in thy Cities, even thine. Does it not fill thee with horrour to behold the very same Plague-spots up­on thee that were on those Places which God destroyed by fire from Heaven? Thou art the very Sister of Proud, Idle, Ʋnclean, and Ʋnmerciful Sodom: a Sister to her in Vice and Impudence; and art drawing on to as certain and as sore a Destruction. O Jerusalem, I am sent from thy God to thee, to advise thee of this, and to charge thee to consider thy languishing State, and to prevent thy Ruin. But whether thou wilt hear, or whether thou wilt forbear, I will spread both thy Sin and thy Danger before thine Eyes. Behold, thou art become a second Sodom: and those very Sins which [Page 4] abound in thee, were those which destroyed her. They were haughty, and luxurious, and unmerciful, as ye are this day; and God took them away, as he saw good.’

The Overthrow of Sodom was a proverbial speech for a sudden and terrible Destruction, and is so used both in the Old and New Testament. We find, that God threatned to destroy Babylon, as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, Jer. 50. 40. and the neighbouring Cities thereof: which another Pro­phet tells us were Admah and Zeboim. And the Apostle Hos. 11. 8. Jude minds us, that the Desolation of those Cities is set forth by God's appointment, as a terrible Example to all after Ages: That all Cities and Nations may consider in what Danger they stand, when once they come into any affinity to their Sins. And therefore it will nearly con­cern us at this time (when all, but such as never think, are convinc'd, that both our Sins and Dangers are tre­mendous) to consider whether the Vices amongst us are not such as led both Sodom and Judea to their Ruin. For which purpose, I now come to lay them in order before you, as they are represented in the Text: And I recom­mend this important matter to your special Considera­tion, (particularly to such as are more peculiarly obliged to consult the Interests of this Great City) as in the Pre­sence of Almighty God.

I. The first Sin mentioned in the Text, as a Cause of the Destruction of Cities and Nations, is that of Pride. Which consists in an overweaning Conceit of one's self, or of something belonging to us, to that degree, that our Heart is vainly lifted up thereby. And being so, the Man grows insolent in most things which he either thinks, speaks, or does. He has a scornful Eye, an impe­rious way of speaking, and a contemptuous Carriage towards all Men. Yea, the proud Man carries it stifly [Page 5] towards God himself; and almost forgets his dependence upon him, and that he was formed out of the Dust of the Earth. It is a Vice that is never barren, but is con­tinually bringing forth other Enormities by sholes. It produces a contempt of Sacred things, and an insolent resentment of God's Providences, both of Bounty and Cor­rection. In any Affliction he frets and is peevish: for his Pride will not allow him to think that he deserves any Rebuke or Correction; but he is rather perswaded, that the greatest Mercies of God are due to his Merit. And this makes him grudg at the Enjoyments and Promotions of others, as if the whole World were made for him a­lone, and every Gift of God to others were a Robbery committed upon him. And for the same Reason he is impatient of Reproof, and very apt to scoff, especially at such as even in despight of his Pride he must needs per­ceive to be better than himself. He carries it with a do­mineering Severity towards his Inferiours; so that (like his Brother Nabal) there's scarcely any one that dares to speak to him; and the least Affront (tho undesign'd) moves him to revenge it even with Blood. As for Superiours, he scarcely thinks he has any: but like a true Son of Belial, he is without Yoke, and is not to be brought under due Government; being ever apt to mutiny, and to breed dis­order: Not only saying with Nabal, Who is David? but with Pharaoh, Who is the Lord, that I should serve him?

It is one chief Study of proud People, to endeavour to bring others to admire them as much as they do them­selves. And to this end (when better accomplishments fail) they affect to plume themselves with the richest Orna­ments they can purchase or invent. And here, alas! Pride will so overdo the business, that it cannot but move Con­tempt in every sensible Person to behold with what ridi­culous Forms and Modes they attempt to set forth them­selves. They fancy a sort of Comeliness in Deformity, [Page 6] and that it adds a beauty to the Face to represent it under diseases and blemishes, tho God has given them an un­spotted soundness.

God has not given to the Children of Men a party-colour'd Skin like the motly Brutes: nor has he markt them as he does many venomous Creatures and pestilen­tial Diseases, with dark Spots: and yet how unseemly soever this appears to all impartial and vertuous Minds, (whom Custom and vain Notions have not blinded) it is hidden from their own eyes.

Now this Vice of Pride manifestly tends to Destructi­on several ways.

First, In that it produces a multitude of other Sins, as its natural Off-spring and Effect: as you have already heard.

And Secondly, As it hardens the Heart under all the Guilt it brings upon it. For it always runs in the direct Diameter to Repentance. Proud Persons are great Ad­mirers of what themselves do, and are hardly brought to acknowledg that they have done amiss. But, like Saul, they avow that they have done the Will of the Lord, tho every Beast in his Herd had a Mouth to refute it.

And Thirdly, Pride leads to Ruin, as it is a Sin which leavens the very Prayers of Men, and renders all their religious Performances unsavoury in the Nostrils of God. The Pharisee mentioned by our Saviour, was rather pufft Luk. 18. 11. up than humbled in his very Prayer, and so was rather condemned by it than justified in the sight of God. For, Pride is a thing which God hates. Yea, which he will Prov. 6. 17. glorify himself in debasing. And therefore he will surely Isa. 2. 11. set himself to it, and go through with it. And upon all these accounts, the proud Person is so exposed to the Wrath of God; that the inspired Wiseman has recorded it as a certain Mark of Destruction, Pride goeth before Destruc­tion, Prov. 16. 18. and a haughty Spirit before a fall. And indeed it can­not [Page 7] be otherwise, since the proud Person renounces his Trust in God, to place it in himself; which is to remove his Building from a Rock, to found it on the Sand.

And so I pass on to consider the second Vice, which is represented in the Text as of a like destructive Nature; which is,

II. Fulness of Bread. This Expression denotes that Luxury and Excess which is usually produced by great Plenty when it falls into ill Hands. The Sodomites, it seems, made a very ill use of their plentiful Land, which is described, Gen. 13. 10. to be so beautifully situated, and so plentifully stored, that it was even as the Garden of the Lord. A second Eden, for plenty of pleasant Fruits, and other commodious Product. But these, alas! served their Bestial Lusts, and nursed them to a very monstrous Growth: till at last their Incontinence transgress'd the very Laws of Nature, and became very crying in the Ears of God.

Now, this brutal feeding of our Bodies, or as the A­postle calls it, feasting our selves without Fear, is contrary to the very Nature of our Christian Warfare. For it ad­ministers indecent Flames to the sensitive Appetite, and at the same time dulls the accuracy of Reason, and lays the Conscience asleep. And we may easily guess what the End of that Person will be, who lies open to his E­nemies, and binds the hands of his Friends. But the prudent Christian does otherwise: and says with St. Paul (tho he was sufficiently macerated by his continual La­bours and Afflictions) I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preacht to others, I my self should be a Cast-away, 1 Cor. 9. 27.

He that would be a solid and serious Christian, yea that would but be a grave and decent Moralist, must ob­serve due Moderation in Meats and Drinks, and all cor­poral [Page 8] Pleasures: Yea, he must accustom his Appetite to submit to the self-denying Rules of Abstinence and Morti­fication in their Season; and by these and other Divine Ex­pedients he must maintain a regular Government over the Concupiscible Appetite. Which is a thing very a­greeable to the Flesh-denying Nature of our Divine Re­ligion, and is both an Ornament and Help to the serious Practice of many parts of it. And therefore it is no wonder if the contrary tends to Ruin.

III. The next destructive Sin is that of Idleness: which, it seems, abounded greatly in Sodom before its Destruction. For it is said, Abundance of Idleness was in her, and in her Daughters; or especially amongst their Women.

Idleness consists either in doing Nothing, or Nothing of use, that a Person might and ought to have done in his Place and Capacity. Now, to be of such a negligent, sluggish, and torpid temper, is to contradict the very End and Nature of Life. To live without activity and liveliness, is in a manner to live (if I may so speak) without Life, like People asleep or dead. And to all in­genious Minds, this is a most intolerable penance; it is contrary to the Nature of brave and generous Spirits, and therefore they ever treat the dronish Sluggard with just Disdain. And it is the Apostle's Rule, that the Slug­gard should be starved out of his idle way of Life, and not be suffered to eat, till he applies himself to work. 2 Thess. 3. 10.

Idleness is a Sin not only against God, but against one's Generation, yea against one's own Health, Interests, and Posterity. There ought not to be any Person (Male or Female) idle in the World. For God never made any one for nothing, but to be of Use and Advantage to the Publick-Weal, according to his Station and Capacity.

This great Machine of the Ʋniverse has not one Wheel or Pin in it, tho never so small, but what is of use in its place, and tends to compleat the whole. We behold all the works of Nature full of Action, and useful motion. The Heavens take their laborious Courses, and the Sun delighteth to run his rapid perpetual Race. And every Be­ing upon Earth, from the Elephant to the Ant, drudges and toils in things sutable to its Nature. And some Active Minds of late can scarcely bear it that the Earth should be accounted a dead Weight; and have framed a probable Scheme of its motion amongst the rest.

And shall Man, the most noble Creature, and the most capable of brave Productions of any under the Heavens, be the only useless and unactive part of the Creation? Has God given us a Divine Soul capable of such Angelick Thoughts and Designs, and shall we apply our selves to nothing at all? or to nothing worthy of our Nature and Endowments?

It is not fit indeed that all Men should be employ'd in manual Labour, or in the mechanick Occupations of hu­man Life. Some Men appear in the World with such a noble Genius, such refined Wisdom, princely Courage, and vivacity of Spirit, accompained with such a generous Concern for the Publick Good, that they seem to be pre­pared and appointed of God to govern and defend the rest; and to make improvements in those Arts and Specu­lations which tend to the accommodation of human Life and the publick Welfare; and above all, to dispose the con­versations of Men in those Divine paths of Piety and Ver­tue which tend to their everlasting Bliss. These are Things which ennoble a Man, and render him Honour­able and useful in his Generation, and make his Memory fragrant to future Ages.

But there are some on the other hand who are by natu­ral incapacity rendered unfit for publick service, or any o­ther Post of Honour, as Idiots and meer Naturals; who are as Cyphers and Expletives in the Volume of the Cre­ation. And truly this reflects with sharpness upon such as rank themselves among these noteless parts of hu­man Kind by an idle and useless Life. Of whom it can only be said, when they are gone; That such a one breath­ed so many years in the World, and so died. Alas! what a putid shame is it to those whom God has every way fitted to do great and worthy Things in the Church and State in which they live, and has many ways called and excited them to it; that they bury their rich Talents in the Dirt: and the Rust of Idleness, or the Poison of Vice devours all those Endowments whereby they might have done great things in their Generation.

Nor are they more Honourable, who employ their Parts and Labours about some useless and vain thing, (like Domitian's industry in catching Flies) and spend their Life in a sort of laborious Idleness; I mean, in a busy pursuit of impertinent things; like Children, who seem very busy all the day long, and yet appear at night to have done nothing.

On the contrary, it is remark'd to the Glory of David's Memory, That his Life was a standing Service to his Ge­neration. Act. 13. 36. He was of a Noble publick Spirit, and spent his Sweat and Blood in the Defence and Advancement of his Country both in Church and State. And this renders his Memory blessed to this Day, and will do so to the end of the World. A noble and active Genius exerting it self in contriving and doing Things for the Publick Interest, is a Divine Blessing to the Nation and Age wherein it ap­pears. Such a Worthy Person is like the Sun in the Firmament, which gives Life and Chearfulness where­ever [Page 11] it arises. Or rather, like the Lord Jesus Christ (the Sun of Righteousness, from whom all such Divine Spirits derive their Glory) whose Character it was, That he went about doing good.

And whereas the Vice of Idleness in the Text is parti­cularly charged upon the Daughters of Sodom and Israel; this, alas! brings to our remembrance our national and unspeakable Loss in the decease of that most industrious and pious Princess who lately held the Scepter of these Kingdoms, and endeavoured to purge all the Daughters of her Land from the Sin and Reproach of Idleness, by giving them a most admirable Example of indefatigable Diligence. O! may such an Example ever obtain a gene­ral Imitation: that we may be exempted from the Sin im­puted, and the Danger threatned in the Text to Jerusalem, and her idle Daughters.

For indeed where Idleness prevails, it nurses Wanton­ness, Baseness, and Effeminacy, and almost every Vice. The Sluggard's Heart is like his Field (Prov. 24. 21.) o­vergrown with Brambles and Weeds, and is unfit to pro­duce any good Fruit. Slothfulness ever dulls, enervates, and infatuates the Person that indulges it, till at last it brings him to Rags and Ruin. It brought Sodom and Je­rusalem in the Text, to utter destruction; for abundance of Idleness was in them, and in their Daughters: and whether it be not so with us and ours will be of concernment to us to inquire; and indeed it will in a great measure ap­pear from that which falls under our consideration in the next Particular, which is the last note of Destruction mentioned in the Text, namely,

IV. An unmerciful Neglect of the Poor: which is ex­prest thus, Neither did she (i. e. Sodom) strengthen the hands of the Poor and Needy.

In which Expression these three Things are laid to their Charge.

• 1. They did not help the Poor to their Right in mat­ters of Equity and Judgment.
• 2. They neglected to provide Subsistence for their im­potent Poor.
• 3. They did not provide Employment for such as were able to labour. In all these senses, the hands of the Poor were weaken'd and enfeebled.

First, They did not help the Poor to their Right in matters of Equity and Judgment. The Poor Man's Cause was neglected and despised, and could not have a fair Hearing and a just Determination. In this Respect, the Magistrate ought to strengthen the poor Man's hand, that he may be able to recover his just Wages where it is denied him, and may have Right done him in all Causes depend­ing before the Bench of Justice.

The Prophet Isaiah reproves this Partiality and Injustice in the Judges of Israel with great severity, and tells them plainly (as my Text does) that they were become like Sodom in this iniquity: Hear the word of the Lord, ye Ru­lers Isa. 1. 10. of Sodom, seek ye Judgment, relieve the Oppressed, judg the Fatherless, plead for the Widow. And he lamenteth, That the faithful City was become an Harlot: it was full Ver. 23. of Judgment, Righteousness lodged in it, but now Murder­ers: Every one loveth Gifts, and followeth after Rewards, &c.

When the Streams of Justice are thus perverted, so that the loud Cries of the Oppressed ascend up to Heaven a­gainst any City or Nation, it is in great Danger. For it is said, if thou afflict the Widow and Fatherless in any wise; and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry: And [Page 13] my Wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the Sword; Exod. 22. 23, 24. and your Wives shall be Widows, and your Children Fatherless.

Secondly, A Neglect to provide for the impotent Poor; such as are by Sickness, Age, or calamitous Providences, rendered unable to get their living. These are the feeble parts of the Body, which (as the Apostle says) must be supported by the more strong, in love and pity to the whole, Rom. 15. 1. or they will be guilty of a most unnatural Cruelty. It is hiding our selves from our own Flesh (as the Prophet Isa. 58. 7. terms it) when we turn away from a moving Object of Charity.

And that which enforces this Duty yet more upon Christians, is, That our Blessed Saviour has espoused the Poor as his Relations and Representatives (where they are humble and pious) and resents all Neglect of such, as a personal Affront to himself, Mat. 25. 45. And there­fore we must become Infidels to the Promises and Threat­nings of his Book, before we can harden our Hearts a­gainst proper Objects of Charity.

And truly our State is inferiour to few, if any, in am­ple Contributions towards the subsistence of our Poor. But with submission, there may perhaps be some im­provements in the management of our publick Charity: the consideration of which falls in with the last way of strengthning the hands of the Poor; which is,

Thirdly, By providing sutable Employments for them, that we may shun two of the destructive Vices of Sodom at once, to wit, Idleness, and Ʋnmercifulness.

It is most certain, that a full and constant Employ­ment of our Poor would remove multitudes of Evils at once from us, and open an Ocean of publick Benefits and [Page 14] Divine Blessings. For, alas! Idleness tends to strengthen the hands of our Poor in Wickedness, and in all manner of Vice: Many Hands in this Kingdom are at this day employ'd in pilfering and picking of Pockets, which by honest Labour would be ty'd up from this and other Enormities.

It is extremely moving to any good Mind to consider, That many Thousands of young and able People among us (whose diligent Labours would be of great Use and Advantage to the Publick Good, and might by that me­thod of getting their Living be brought to live soberly, peaceably, and honestly) do now turn Vagrants, Re­bels, and Vagabonds: yea, they steal, and lie, and com­mit Whoredom, and sell their Souls to get a temporal Subsistence. A dismal Thought! enough to move a Heart of Marble, if duly considered. And it is enough, methinks, to gain an universal Endeavour to redress this, if it be but observed, That in all probability, the Remedy of this grand Evil (especially in this City) will be with less Charge and Trouble than the toleration of the Dis­temper.

For indeed, the more this grows upon us, the more we shall of necessity be impoverish'd, as well by the na­tural Consequence of it, as by the high Displeasure of God against it. And truly, it becomes those who find themselves disappointed and diminish'd in their Trade of late, to consider whether this has not been one provoking Cause of it.

We behold Crowds of Beggars filling almost every Door, and disturbing all Business and Conversation by their importunate Clamours. Our Ears are almost deafen'd both in the Streets and in the Fields with the loud Cries of such as beg for Relief: and the common Excuse for this idle way of Life, is, their want of [Page 15] Work to set their Hands to. And from this stock of People bred up in Idleness, the High-ways come to be infested with Robbers, and our Houses and Lives are endanger'd in the Night, when we should rest upon our Beds. And tho the Prisons are fill'd with them, and Thousands of them are executed for their Outrages, (to the eternal Ruin of their Souls, as well as to their being cut off in the prime of their Days) yet the Dis­temper grows upon us, and is like so to do, till suf­ficient Work-Houses and stocks of Work be provided for their constant Employment; which all good People will most readily accept, and be thankful for it: And as for others, they must be driven to honest Labour by the com­pulsive Power of wholesome Laws.

And without some such Provision, it is not very easy to answer their Complaint of severity against the Laws of our Land, which condemn so many Thousands to Death for pilfering a few Pence, and yet provide no Means for them to get a Peny by honest Employment, when it may be done with publick Advantage.

It is a gracious Promise of God, that there shall always Deut. 15. 11. be poor People among us. And tho the unthinking and stingy Churl will not give God thanks for this Promise, yet the prudent and serious Person will; not only (tho chiefly) as it is a standing way of conveying his Trea­sures into the Bank of Heaven, but also as the use of the poor Man's Labours is the direct means of increasing his Wealth upon Earth.

And truly, the laborious poor Man is one of the most infallible objects of Charity that we can choose, when his ability to labour fails him: Others may be Hypo­crites in their Profession, but he can be none in his. But alas! as the Case now stands, any Person that is disposed to Charity scarce knows where to choose proper objects for [Page 16] it. How can he distinguish betwixt the real Indigents and the idle Vagrants, among the Crowds which solicit his Alms? When we pass thorow the Fields, or sit in our Houses, and are entreated for an Alms by all the As­severations of Necessity and Want that a long and earnest Harangue can express: what divided sentiments will a­rise upon this in the Breast of a pious and prudent Person? It is difficult to believe, and yet as hard to disbelieve the piteous Narrative of the Petitioner. It is scarcely Chris­tian to deny, and yet it is scarcely prudent to give.

In such cases indeed our Charity will incline us to ven­ture the Hazard of a small Alms, rather than run the Risque of denying a poor Member of Christ. And in ma­ny Cases it is almost necessary to give something meerly to stop Clamour, and purchase Ease from intolerable noise and importunity: yea, sometimes, to prevent the wrath and ill language which attends a denial.

Thus is the clear Current of Christian Charity obscured and diverted, and many are scarcely free Agents in what they give. And alas! all this while, there remain ma­ny poor Families who would be willing to work, tho they are ashamed to beg: and some of these have conceal­ed their Miseries within their private Walls; and have chosen rather to perish in silence, than to open their Poverty, where their publick shame and reproach would be more certain than their constant Relief. O bles­sed God! for thy Son's sake lay not these things to our charge.

Thus have I laid before you the black Catalogue of Sodom's Sins, which when they grew up also to a ripe­ness in Jerusalem, proved as fatal to the latter as to the former. And I must leave it to every one's Conscience to judg, whether this City and Nation be not in great [Page 17] Danger at this day from the same Causes. And let me entreat you, that you would not dull the Edg of this Conviction by the conceit of a submitting Enemy, and a blooming Prosperity consequent to it: But remember the Eternal Righteousness of the Governour of the World, which will keep its course, tho that of Men does not; and that he has thousands of ways to bring a profligate People to Misery and Desolation.

And now, since we have perused the List of Sodom's Sins: if any one inquires after the Sin of Ʋncleanness, which certainly made a great Cry among the rest; we find it in the next verse, and they committed Abomina­tion. And if we look for it in the Text, we shall find it in the loins of those two Parents of Uncleanness, Lux­ury and Idleness, which where-ever they are conjoin'd, do usually produce the nasty issue of bestial Ʋncleanness: As, alas! they have done amongst us to a very dreadful (I had almost said, to a desperate) Degree. So that if the Sin of Ʋncleanness be but obscurely represented in the Text, it was notoriously visible in Sodom's Streets, and alas! in ours too; with this shameful difference on our part, that whereas the Sodomites deferr'd the prose­cution of their Lusts till the Evening, hoping to vail their unseemly Sin by the black Curtains of the Night; with us, alas! it is prosecuted in the Noon-day, and in the thickest Concourse. I pray God excite our Magistrates to take the punishment of these things into their Hands, for it is an Iniquity to be punish'd by the Judges, or else to Job 31. 11. be sure God will: and then, wo, wo unto us.

This leads me to apply what has been said. And here, in the first place;

[Page 18] I. I humbly press the consideration of these things upon those Publick and Honourable Persons, before whom I speak, and must in Conscience speak freely. Is it not a moving Consideration to behold the very Causes of Sodom's Destruction, and Jerusalem's Desolation, grow­ing upon us; and come to a very dreadful Crisis? This may well alarm every Member of our Community, but it does more especially concern such as by their high sta­tion represent the Head of this Publick Body; which is particularly empower'd and capacitated to provide for the safety of the rest of the Members.

It was a very passionate Expostulation of the Disciples with their sleeping Master, Carest thou not that we perish? Mar. 4. 38. We must needs say, it was an unfit and indecent Ques­tion to be put to the vigilant and tender Saviour of Men. But, methinks, the Extremities of our present Case may apologize for such a rowzing Interrogatory to those Persons amongst us who seem rock'd to sleep by carnal Lusts and private Interests, so as to manifest no just Concern for the Publick Good.

Magistrates have some peculiar Features of God's Image imprest upon them above others, even those of his Power and Authority: and upon this account they are called Gods in Scripture, as being ordained of God to punish evil doers in his stead, and to support such as do well. But the Rulers of Sodom had put off this Character, and so had the supine Rulers of Israel; which so grieved and mov'd the Prophet Isaiah, that the first Chapter of his Prophecy abounds with the sharpest Invectives against them. And indeed, it is very deplorable to consider, from what a Divine Seat of Honour and Dignity a corrupt Magistrate descends when he acts contrary to his Post, or does nothing [Page 19] worthy of it. It is somewhat like the Fall of the Apostate Angels, from being God's Ministers, to be his Enemies.

And truly, every private Person will also fall under the same Condemnation who does not sincerely set him­self (according to his Place and Capacity) against the violent Torrent of abounding Sin: Which leads me to a Second Inference.

II. Let all such as pretend to Christianity, yea, or to Sobriety and good Morals, set themselves against the devouring Plagues of our Nation, the common Sins thereof. If ever we had need to give our pub­lick Vote for the Reformation of corrupt Manners, surely we have at this Day. And blessed be God who hath kindled any Desires of it in any Persons among us.

It is a most admirable work of God, and what opens the fairest Prospect to us of any that I know, That any young Persons among us lament and escape the Pollutions of this degenerate Age, and look Heaven-wards. The good God increase their Num­ber, and the Number of their Friends and Favour­ers. The Lambs are the hope of the Flock; if they rot, the Flock will soon come to nothing. And if the next Generation degenerates as dreadfully as this has done, we shall be as corrupt as Sodom it self, and as surely brought to desolation.

Some may perhaps say, that all this is true, but how shall we help it? How shall we? Why the lively sense of Danger scarce ever wants means or seasons, or strength to avoid it. Any one acts above his usual strength, when it is to save his Life, and to prevent Destruction. If we would once set our [Page 20] selves heartily to sutable Remedies, the work were more than half done: As the Reformation of Ninive, and its Rescue from Destruction does abundantly tes­tify.

Truly, Sirs, the World only stands by Divine Providence in hope of its Reformation; for all Flesh seems to be corrupted before God, a small Remnant only excepted. And if the Sins of any People are indeed remediless, their Ruin will be so too: as in the Case of Judah before us, of which it is said, that they sinn'd till there was no remedy. And if the 2 Chron. 36. 16. case be come to this, I have only one Inference more to add.

III. And Lastly. How happy is their Case, who in times of general Depravity, are exempted from the common Corruption! who (like the Family of Lot in Sodom) are so far from being partakers in the vulgar Sins, that they are grieved in their Spirits at the Abomination which they see and hear from day to day. Such Persons must expect to be the Scoff and By-word of the wicked People among whom they live, who ill repay their Pity and Concern for them. It was just so with Lot in Sodom: If he entreats them to refrain their pernicious Exorbitan­ces, they bitterly revile and rail upon him. They call him a busy presuming Fellow, who would be med­ling with what he had nothing to do, and would feign be as magisterial as a Judg amongst them, Gen. 19. 9.

Thus Lot was Sodom's Laughter, whilst Sodom was Lot's Grief. But the End proves who acted the wis­est part. For then Lot and his pious Family were miraculously preserved, when Sodom and its mocking [Page 21] Crew were miraculously destroyed. Lot had the glo­rious Angels of Heaven sent to him for his Safeguard, when Sodom had Fire and Brimstone (the Emblems of Hell) pour'd down upon them for their Destruction. Good and bad Men live by contrary Rules and Prin­ciples now, and in their Death they will be divided; The one will be taken, and the other left. They take different Courses, and must come to different Ends. Lazarus is for ever comforted, and Dives for ever tor­mented. Lot was saved both from the Flames of So­dom and those of Hell, thro God's Marvelous Mer­cy: and Sodom perished by an Everlasting Destruc­tion. For St. Jude tells us, That as they were de­stroyed by dreadful Flames upon Earth, so they now suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. Jude 7.

O! what greater Argument can I produce to con­vert Sinners, or to confirm Converts? I request each of these to look to the End to which they are post­ing.

Be of good courage, ye that serve the Living God, for your Work will speedily and infinitly be reward­ed. Ye may perhaps be mockt and despised of Men, as your blessed Lord himself was: But ye will be commended and crowned of God at the last. And in truth, Sirs, the Favour of God is better than all the noisy Fame and fading Enjoyments of this present World. I know nothing that deserves the name of Riches, Honour or Happiness, so much as the raising and refining of our Faculties and Capacities by Divine Wisdom and Vertue. And truly this alone is all to us: For, all the Pleasures of the Flesh are Folly and Mockery, if compared with the noble Joy of a regenerate Soul delighting in God, its proper, adequate, and felicitating Object; by communion with [Page 22] whom, it anticipates the Powers of the World to come, and rejoiceth with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.

But as for such, who will neither by the Mercies nor Judgments of God be reclaimed from Sensuality and sordid Lusts: They sink first into the vileness of Beasts, and then into the misery of Devils. Their temporary Vanity leads them most assuredly to eter­nal Vexation. They may perhaps have a little Sun­shine in the Morning, as Sodom it self had; but there is a dreadful Shower of firy Indignation coming down from God to consume his Adversaries. For however they delude themselves now, they will find at last, that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for them, ex­cept they repent.

Consider what has been said; and the Lord give you Ʋnderstanding in all things. Amen.