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 requested) by all the Freeholders, in every county throughout England and Wales, as well as 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.

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 a hundred pounds!

What a 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 known, wilful falsehoods!

15. 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 falsehood? 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 expressly give your consent to this heavy curse, by kissing the Book? How then dare any of you 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 hath 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 heads 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 use some huge, un+

wieldy 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 profaning 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, the holy of the Lord, honourable? Not doing our own ways, not finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words?" Do our 66 men-servants and maid-servants" 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 profane 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 another, and "wiping their mouth 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! And 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 profaning 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. A whole army of you join together, and with one consent, in the face of the sun, "run upon the thick bosses of his buckler."

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 rebellings 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, tur

bulent, 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 or 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 on 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 and strong drink till the morning. And what numbers are there of these throughout the land? Lost to reason and

*N. B. This was written in the year 1744.
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VOL. XII.