and extensive influence, of great use in the present age, and the effects of which may be transmitted to succeeding generations.

How happy would it be for these nations, if, in conformity to an example so justly admired, the great and noble would look upon the care of their children and families to be one of the worthiest objects of their attention and concern! This could scarcely fail to have a good effect upon those of the lower rank. Then might we hope to see religion and virtue flourish, and a new and hopeful generation springing up among us, the surest earnest of national glory and happiness. For it is a maxim of undoubted truth, as well as of great importance, That a careful education of children will lay the best foundation for well-ordered families, as these will contribute the most of any thing to the peace and good order of the community.

I shall conclude this address with the admirable words of St. Paul: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

I have now finished the design I undertook, and which hath been carried on to a much greater length than I at first designed. God grant that what hath been offered in this volume, may answer the end for which it was sincerely intended, the serving the cause of important truth, piety, and virtue in the world, and especially in these nations, in which such open insults have been offered to religion, and particularly to the holy Gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For myself, what I desire above all things, is, that I may feel the power and influence of that excellent religion upon my own soul, animating and regulating my conduct in life, supporting and comforting me in death, and preparing me for that better state which we are raised to the hope of by the gospel.

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APPENDIX.

CONTAINING REFLECTIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THINGS IN THESE NATIONS.

There is a great and growing Corruption in these Lands, notwithstanding the signal Advantages we enjoy.-This Corruption not justly chargeable on our Religion as Christians and Protestants, but on the Neglect or Contempt of it.—The unaccountable Eagerness that hath been shown in spreading the principles of Infidelity, of very ill Consequence to the Public.-The Tendency of Irreligion and Vice to bring Misery and Ruin upon a People, both in the natural Course of Things, and by the just Judgments of God.-Many things in the late and present Course of God's Dispensations have an alarming Appearance.-Repentance and Reformation, and a strict Adherence to the Faith and Practice of Christianity, the properest Way of averting the Tokens of the divine Displeasure, and promoting the national Prosperity. The happy State of Things which this would introduce.

THOUGH the following considerations do not directly and immediately relate to the View of the Deistical Writers, yet they may perhaps come in not improperly as an appendix to it; and will, I hope, not be thought altogether unsuitable to the general nature and design of the preceding work.

It was with great satisfaction that I read the order for a General and Public Fast, to be religiously observed by all his Majesty's subjects in these kingdoms, and which is drawn up with great seriousness and solemnity. It is there acknowledged, that "the manifold sins and wickedness of these kingdoms have most justly deserved heavy and severe punishments from the hand of heaven." We are called upon to humble ourselves before almighty God, and in a most devout and solemn manner to send up our prayers and supplications to the divine Majesty, to avert all those judgments which we most justly have deserved, to continue his mercies, and perpetuate the enjoyment of the Protestant religion among us, and safety and prosperity to his Majesty's kingdoms and dominions.

Having so great an authority to bear me out, I shall add some reflections, which have made a deep impression upon my mind, with reference to the present state of things among us.

We have been eminently distinguished above most other nations by happy privileges and advantages. Providence hath blessed us with an abundance of those things which are usually thought to contribute to the public prosperity and happiness. Never had any people a fuller enjoyment of liberty; a profusion of wealth has flowed in upon us by our widely extended commerce. We have had great advantages for improvement in the arts and sciences, and every branch of useful knowledge: especially that which is the

most valuable and important of all others, the knowledge of religion in its truth and purity. The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, freed from the absurdities, the superstitions, and idolatries with which it hath been incumbered in many other countries professing the Christian Faith, hath long shone among us. The holy Scriptures are not locked up in an unknown tongue, nor confined to the studies of the learned, but are put into the hands of the people: so that all men may have access to that sacred rule of faith and practice, the original standard of the Christian religion. The treasures of knowledge are opened, and the public instructions so frequently and freely dispensed, that it may be said, that "wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets."

It might be expected, that a people so distinguished by advantages for religious and moral improvement, should also be remarkably distinguished by the knowledge and practice of piety, wisdom, and virtue, and by a zeal for our holy religion. But though it is to be hoped there are many among us, who are unfeignedly thankful for our inestimable privileges, and careful to make a right improvement of them, yet it cannot be denied, that a great corruption hath spread itself, and seems to be growing among all orders and degrees of men. This is a very disagreeable subject; but the first step to a proper remedy is to be duly sensible of the true state of our own case. Our wealth and plenty hath been abused to an amazing luxury, and our liberty to a boundless licentiousness. Many act as if they had no other way of showing that they are free but by casting off all restraints, and setting themselves loose from all the ties of religion and virtue. Atheism hath appeared almost without disguise; or, which in effect comes to the same thing, the disbelief of a Providence, of God's moral attributes and government, and of a future state. The most virulent reproach and contempt hath been cast upon the adorable Jesus, and the methods of our redemption and salvation by him. All that part of our duty which more immediately relateth to the supreme Being, seemeth to be regarded by many as a matter of indifference. And the slightest observation may convince us, that there is a growing neglect of public worship, as if the properest way of showing our gratitude to God for the glorious privilege we have of worshipping him according to the dictates of our own consciences, were not to render him any public homage or religious worship at all. That holy day, which is by divine appointment, and by that of our own laws, set apart from worldly businesses and cares, for the purposes of religion, for receiving public instructions, and for attending on divine worship, hath been treated with great contempt. And in this too many of those who, by their authority and influence, should set a good example to others, have unhappily led the way. Can there be a greater contempt cast upon it than to hold gaming assemblies on that day? And when this is done by persons of rank, can it be wondered at, that by the lower kind of people it is often the worst employed of any day in the week, and devoted to idleness and vice? And it cannot but give concern to every good mind, that an

institution, so admirably calculated for the advancement of religious knowledge, piety, and virtue, and for promoting good order in the community, should be so strangely perverted and abused.

Having mentioned the practice of gaming, I cannot help observing, that among other unfavourable symptoms of the growing corruption among us, this is not the least, that that practice is of late years become more general, and carried to a greater excess, than has been known before in these kingdoms. The wisest men of all nations have been so sensible both of the pernicious effects of this vice to particular persons and families, and its ill influence on the community, that it would fill a large volume barely to recite the laws that have been made against it, both in former and latter ages. Our own laws have fixed a brand upon it, and in effect declared the gain made by it to be dishonourable and infamous; yet is the being instructed in the mysteries of it become a necessary part of education, whilst the seasoning the tender minds of young persons with principles of religion and just sentiments of things, and forming them to the worthiest practices, is, it is to be feared, in a great measure neglected.

But what affordeth the most melancholy apprehensions is, the great corruption and depravity of manners which is so generally and justly complained of. The most blasphemous abuse of the name of God, by shocking oaths and imprecations, and the most corrupt and wilful perjuries, drunkennesses, and excesses of riot, but especially by the excessive drinking of distilled spirituous liquors, the health, morals, and religion of the laborious and useful parts of these kingdoms are well-nigh destroyed. Fired with this infernal poison, they are spirited to perpetrate and execute the most bold, daring, and mischievous enterprizes, and, shaking off all fear and shame, become audaciously impudent in all manner of vice, lewdness, immorality, and profaneness, in defiance of all laws human and divine. But it doth not stop here: its malignant influence reaches to the children yet unborn, who come half-burnt up and shrivelled into the world, and who, as soon as born, suck in this deadly poison with their mother's or nurse's milk: so that, if this worse than all plagues be suffered to go on, it will make a general havoc, especially amongst the soldiers, sailors, and laborious part of the nation, who are manifestly degenerated from the more manly constitutions of preceding generations. Besides an amazing

See "Distilled Spirituous Liquors the Bane of the Nation," Svo. 2nd Edit. 1756, London. Dr. Stephen Hales's "Friendly Admonition to the Drinkers of Gin, Brandy, and other Spirituous Liquors, which are so destructive of the Industry, Morals, Health, and Lives of the People;" a new edition with additions, and an appendix; and is in the catalogue of the books distributed by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, London.-This worthy divine and excellent philosopher (whose whole life has been usefully employed in promoting the honour of God and the welfare of mankind), in a treatise upon the distilling of sea-water, and the use of ventilators, &c., just published, speaking of distilled spirituous liquors, says-" How much therefore does it behove all, who have any concern for the honour and dignity of their own kindred species, any indignation at its being thus debased and disgraced, any bowels of pity for the vast multitudes, not less perhaps than a million, that are yearly destroyed all over the world, by the moral as well as natural, and therefore

dissoluteness, and impurities of all kinds, even those that are most unnatural, and which are not fit to be named amongst Christians. To which may be added, the horrid crime of self-murder, not only frequently practised, but pleaded for: a practice deservedly rendered infamous by our laws, as being a murder committed by a man upon his own person, in opposition not only to the most sacred obligations of religion, and the rights of the community, but to the strongest instincts of the human nature, wisely implanted in us by the great Author of our beings, as a bar to such monstrous practices. To all which may be added, that barbarous practice of men's murdering one another, upon a pretended point of honour, as it is called, for the most slight and trivial offences, below the cognizance of our laws. A crime inexcusable in a civilized country, and which yet generally passes unpunished, and thus leaves the guilt of blood upon the land, crying aloud for vengeance.-It is impossible for a thinking man, that has a true zeal for the honour of God and the interests of religion and virtue, and who hath the welfare and happiness of his country really at heart, not to be deeply affected with such a view of things, and solicitous what the consequence

may prove.

And now it is a natural inquiry, what can this be owing to? Whence can it be, that nations so happily privileged, and favoured with so many advantages for the knowledge and practice of religion, should have sunk into such an amazing corruption and degeneracy? Can this be consistently charged on religion itself, either the Christian religion or the Protestant, which is the religion of Jesus, as taught in the holy scriptures, and freed from the abuses and corruptions that have been brought into it? The deists have pretended the first, the enemies to the reformation the last. The answer to both is in effect the same. Can that be the cause of corruptions. among Christians, which, if steadily adhered to, is the best remedy against those corruptions? Can that occasion an abounding in vice and wickedness, which, if really believed and seriously considered, exhibiteth the most powerful dissuasives from it that can enter into the human mind? Can the furnishing the people with the means of knowledge, and bringing them to an acquaintance with the holy scriptures, which are able to make us "wise unto salvation," and are "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," can this have any tendency to encourage them in vice and dissoluteness? Such a supposition is

worst of all evils, that ever befell unhappy man; to use their utmost endeavours to deliver mankind from the pest! But notwithstanding this astonishing ravage and destruction of the human species, yet the unhappy unrelenting nations of the world seem as unconcerned about it as if only so many thousands, nay millions, of caterpillars or locusts were destroyed thereby. Was there ever a more important occasion to rouse the indignation of mankind? Can we be calm and undisturbed, when this mighty destroyer rears up its envenomed head? The most zealous advocates for drams, even the unhappy besotted dramists themselves, the prolonging of whose lives, and whose real welfare, both here and hereafter, is hereby sincerely intended, cannot find fault with this well-meant remonstrance, in defence of them and of all mankind, against this universal destroyer, from one who has long been labouring, and that not without success, in finding means to preserve multitudes of lives by various means."