༢.༣

to pray to him; to believe in Jefus Chrift his Son; to honour and obey the King, and all who are in authority under him; to fubmit to our Mafters, and all lawful Governors. To refpect God's Ministers, his Sabbath, and his Church. To pay all their dues, whether Tithes, Taxes, Customs, or other things. To obey the Laws of the Country in which we live. To do to others as we would have them do to us. To love our Neighbours, and affift them as often as it is in our power. To be honest, sober, modeft, and decent. To work diligently, in order to get our Living. To bear patiently fuch Misfortunes as befal us. To be thankful for fuch good Things as we enjoy; for our Health, and Strength, and daily Bread, and many other Bleffings, which we are too apt not to confider as we ought. They are all the Gifts of God, and ought to be received as fuch.

Now I would ask any fair Man, if there is any thing hard or unreasonable in all this? Or whether he is not convinced, that, if we would obey thefe Laws, we should be much happier than we are? For, forry I am to fay it, we do not obey

them

pray

them as we ought. Inftead of loving and fearing God, we feldom think of him. Inftead of ing to hira every night and morning; fome, I fear, never pray at all. Inftead of obeying the King, his Magiftrates, and his Officers, how many lately have been guilty of infulting him and them! How many have joined in riotous Mobs, and Seditious Clubs, and Meetings! how many have held up their hands for rude, unmanly, and disloyal Addreffes! in fhort, how many have been the dupes of a set of Wretches, who have left no means untried to ruin our Church, our King, and our Country, and make us Slaves to the French!

Instead of respecting God's Ministers and Ordinances, how many abufe the Clergy, feldom go to Church, and fpend God's Day in doing their own bufinefs, or in jaunting about, or getting drunk; though it is exprefly ordered, that neither we, nor our Servants, nor our Cattle, fhall work on that Day; and that we shall keep it holy! Inftead of paying to all their Dues; how many try to cheat the Clergy of their Tithes, and the King of his Taxes; and buy fmuggled goods whenever they can meet with them! By

thefe

thefe and many fuch things, they fin at once against the Laws of God, and the Laws of this Land. Who is there that always does as he would be done by?-that never fpeaks ill of his Neighbour? that never tries to deceive, or de-. fraud, or over-reach another? How common are Drinking, Lewdnefs, Gambling; and above all, profane Curfing and Swearing, which give no pleasure to any Man, and are fo offenfive to God? How many, who are able to earn a comfortable living, will not work, but live in dirt and rags, wandering about the Country, begging and ftealing? How many never thank God for any thing, are never contented, but grumble and complain, even when nothing ails them, and they are not in want? And what makes all this the more unpardonable, is, that we are not funk in ignorance, as many Nations have been. We have the Bible in our hands, or at least in our houses; and might read it if we would; and if we would read it, we could not fail to know our Duty. But the truth is, most of us know, our Duty, but wont do it.

Is it any wonder then, that God, who is juft, fhould punifh us for this? He has

given us fuch good things as no other Nation ever kad: For I defy any Man tó name any People, in any Part of the World, in any Period of Time; that ever enjoyed fuch great Bleffing's and Advantages, as we now do, or very lately did We have the free exercife of our Religion; our Perfons and Property are alfo free.

where we will, and do what we will.

We can go

And so long

as we do not injure others, nobody can injure us without being punishable for it. We live in a Land of Plenty; and the poorest perfon in it, that is fober and frugal, eats better bread, and lives in a better habitation, than those of higher rank in most other Countries. Shew me the land befides this, where the Labourers ever eat white Bread, or live in fuch comfortable Cottages. Shew me any person in this Ifland, who does not live better than his Father did; unless he is idle and profligate. We complain that Bread, Meat, and other things are dear; and fo they are: but what is the cause of it ?-Why that every body eats more of them than they used to do. If the Poor lived on Potatoes, on Oats, on Rye, on Barley, or on Rice, and eat no Meat (which is

the

the cafe in the reft of the World); both Bread and Meat would foon be cheap. Not that I want them to live fo: by no means: I wish they lived ftill better than they do: but what I want is this; that they should not grumble and complain, when they are better off than any other Nation under Heaven. They would deferve all the Wages they have, and more too, if they worked as hard by the day, as they do by the great; and if they carried all their money to their Wives: but while they carry it to the Alehouse, more wages would be a curfe and no blessing.

The Conclufion of the whole is this:God has bleffed this Country beyond all others: We have the best Religion, the best form of Government, and the most plentiful Land, of any People upon Earth: But we have made fuch a bad ufe of these bleffings, that we are in great danger of losing them. We neglect God, his Service, and his Day. We call ourselves Chriftians, but we hardly know what the word means. Few confider, that every Man, who fays he is a Chriftian, fays as follows: I am the Soldier and Servant of Jefus Chrift. I have renounced

all