Church or Party. But can Men of Confci ence fatisfy themselves with complaining of the Iniquities of the Age, and wishing for Reformation, with giving only fome good Words to thefe Proceedings, or even praying for God's Blessing upon them, without doing, as they have Opportunity, what is neceffary to promote them, when, as it hath been faid, we have the Laws of GO D, of the Nation, and, as we have reason to hope, the Government on our fide; and moreover, fo many Examples, and fo great Succefs, to incourage us, and have now, generally speaking, not much more to fear than Calumnies and hard Words, and moft of those, 'tis to be hoped, from the Enemies of God and Goodness, which the best of Men, and the best Designs in all Ages, have ever met with, and which, in fuch a Cafe, it is our true Glory to fuffer? No, furely this is a Time, as I fhall endeavour to make appear, for all good Men to join their Hearts and Hands, their Intereft and Authority, in this fo Neceffary, fo Great, and fo Glorious a Work.

Having now laid before the Reader a fhort Scheme of this Undertaking, which was begun with great Oppofition, in a Time that was very difcouraging to fuch an Enterprize, and with fuch other circumstances of Difadvantage as new things, be they never so wife and good, especially Attempts of this kind,

gene

generally meet with, and yet hath been advanced to fuch a confiderable degree, from so contemptible a Beginning, as it muft appear to have had to the Wife and the Wary among us, who do not duly confider that there is a GOD that rules in the Kingdoms of Men, and who, as the Prophet expreffes it, giveth Ifa. 40.29. Power to the faint; and to them that have no Might, encreafeth Strength. My next Business is to enquire, whether there are any Orders of Men among us, who are under more particular Obligations to be Zealous, and diligent in Promoting a publick Reformation of

Manners.

And, in the first place, I humbly ask leave to lay this Matter before the most Reverend Order of the Clergy, befeeching them, with all that due Refpect which all good Men ought to have to Their High and Holy Function, to confider, if what is endeavoured to be proved to be the Common Duty of all Men, and the Special Obligation of Kings, Governours, and Magiftrates, be indeed fo, it is not the particular Province of those, who have entred A&t.20.28. into the Places of Overfeers and Watchmen, Ezek.3.17, and of whom the Blood of thofe that die in 18, 20. their Sins, if they knowingly Suffer them to Sleep in them, will be required, to teach and inculcate these Duties, as well as others. And if any of their Body, after this matter is plainly laid before them, and they are con

vinced 'tis their Duty to be diligent in the furthering it, wilfully neglect to excite all forts of People, especially thofe belonging to their Charge, of what Rank or Quality foever, to do their Duty likewise in promoting, in their refpective Stations, the Execution of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery, they can give a good Account of their Conduct to thofe of their particular Charge, who have no concern to discharge their Duty herein, only for want of their being admonished of it, and are not Partakers, in fome degree, in the Common Guilt of the Nation, which, as our Neglect of our Duty in this particular Inftance, of not Promoting a Reformation, will encrease, so it may be a means notwithstanding our prefent respite from Destruction, to draw down God's Judgments upon the Kingdom, if we continue to make no better use of the Peace we have with our Neighbours, than to fight with our crying Enormities against our God; which as I think few Nations, if any, have had in these last Ages greater Reason to dread, fo, I suppose, all will grant, that none seem to have greater reafon to use all proper means to prevent, than thofe who expect to give Account, not only for their own Sins, but for the Sins of fo many others befides, if they wilfully fuffer them to perish in them by their re fufing to use the necessary means of preventing their living and dying in them.

I fhall not, after I have humbly reprefented this Affair to this Sacred Order, think fit to enquire, whether there hath been any Neglect on the part of their Body, or any one Member of it, in a matter wherein Religion is fo highly concerned: I ask leave rather to say, That I am affured, upon unquestionable Information, that most of the Right Reverend the Bishops have expreffed their Approbation of the Societies of Refor mation I have given an Account of; that I have never heard of the Name of any one of these Reverend Perfons that hath not done it upon an humble Application made to them for their Countenance and Encouragement of them; and that divers of them, to my own certain Knowledge, have promoted them, and continue to do it, as a confiderable Number of the Clergy in and about this City, as well as in other parts of the Kingdom, have done likewife; fome of them by Preaching, and frequently meeting to confult one another upon this Occafion; and others of them by giving Informations themselves to the MagiStrates against Prophane Perfons; among whom the generous and remarkable Affiftance that was given in this Affair by the two late Eminent Divines, Dr. Horneck and Dr. Jekell, whofe Deaths are so much lamented, under the various Obstructions and Difcouragements they encountred in the Profecution of it, which those pious Men made

fuch

such dismal Reflections upon, as I fhall under our present Circumftances forbear to repeat, does demand a particular Acknowledgement in this place, and deferves to be transmitted to after-Ages, when the Names of fuch as difcourage Endeavours of Reformation may either be forgot, or be remembred with Ignominy. And I not only fubmit what I have faid on this Head of the Clergy, and this whole Difcourfe, to This Reverend Body, which, I think, I fhall never obtain of my felf to Publifh without the Approbation of fome of the pious Members of it; but out of a sense of my own Defects, and the tendereft Regard I would always have to mat ters of Religion, I heartily defire, if I am ever prevailed on to Publish it, a publick Correction from them of any thing I have said in these Papers through Weakness or Inadvertency; (which, I hope, all the Advantages of the World would not have prevailed on me, if they could have been offered me, to have faid knowingly) that may not be warranted from the Holy Scriptures, or that does give Offence to any but those whom the Reprefentation of their Sin, or their Duty to them, and Religion it felf offends, whofe Sentiments of this Difcourfe as I have no reason to ask, their Cenfures of it I may know how to value.

And