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of Divine Displeasure ftamp'd upon it; *The Lord faid unto Samuel, (and Samuel told all the Words of the Lord unto the People) They have not rejected Thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

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But neither this ftrong Admonition, nor yet the fubfequent Representation, which God commanded the Prophet to lay before them, of the many Inconveniences which would follow fuch a Change, as they were bent upon making in their Conftitution, was fufficient to give them a Sense of their Duty, or Divert them from their Impious Resolution: † They faid, Nay, but we will have a King a

ver us.

Thus did they Arrogantly engage in, Impetuously carry on, and, to Extremity, maintain a flagrant Oppofition to God; which they fo Far fucceeded in, that a King was fet over them. And foon after he had taken the Government upon him, Samuel, their Old, Faithful, and Affectionate Prophet and Judge took occafi

* Ver. 7, 19,

† Ver. 19.

on,

on, before a general Affembly, to vindicate his own Unfpotted Integrity under his Publick Administration; and to give them a Juft Sense of their Past Enormities and Provocations againft God; and fully to apprize them of the True and Fundamental Caufes and Reasons of their Future Hopes and Fears, in a most Excellent and Moving Oration, which he closeth with the Words of the Text, If ye shall still do wickedly, ye fhall be confumed, both ye and your King, Which Words may justly challenge moft Attentive and Serious Regard from every People and Nation, which hath any Concern for the Profperity, or Safety of its Prince, or, of it Self; For these two Propofitions are Implied in them;

I. First, That National Wickedness, is the Juft Cause of Expecting and Dreading National Mifery: And,

II. Secondly, That the Wickedness of a People is a juft Caufe of the Sufferings of

their Prince.

These Propofitions are fo nearly allied to the Rueful Occafion of this Day's Solemnity, that a fhort Application of them

them will, in the Third and laft Place, naturally and easily flow from them. And I fhall entirely confine my Illuftration and Application of these Propofitions to a Religious View of them; not allowing my felf the Liberty of entring into any Political Difquifitions or Remarks, confider'd purely as Such, but leaving these, as they ought to be left, to the Thoughts and Refolutions of thofe Perfons, whose Superiour Faculties Enable them, and whose peculiar Province Requires them, to Weigh and Determine all fuch Points with Propriety and Advantage.-The

I. Propofition to be confider'd, is, That National Wickedness is the Juft Caufe of Expecting and Dreading National Mifery.

Indeed fuch a Propofition as This, or however the Principal Reasons of it, might, in the Days of Old, have been grating in the Ears of one Particular, Fanciful Sect of Men, and those rank'd under the Honourable Title of Philofophers too, who employ'd their Roving Heads in finding out a Way, to account for the Formation of a World, without a God,

a God, and for the Government of it without A Superintending Providence. And, though they fail'd of Demonstrating what they Defign'd; yet they have Undefignedly and Cafually left Another Demonstration behind them, A clear Demonftration, that their Want of True Senfe, and Solid Judgment, did Faithfully keep pace with their Want of True Piety. For all Men who have Thought Properly and Regularly, as Men ought to Think; who have affigned, not the Starts of Imagination, but the Dictates of found Reason, for the Foundations of Serious and Close Argument, have, with one Confent, Determin'd and Established the Truth and the Confequences of Opinions, directly opposed to the Strains of this wild Philofophy.

And if we fhould Refolve the Propofi tion before us, into the Principles, upon which it is Grounded; every Man's own Mind will be found fufficient to draw out a clear Conviction for it felf, from the Reasons and Relations of Things, That there must be a Neceffary, Self-exiftent Being, a God, the Creatour and Gover

nour

nour of the World, and 'tis utterly Impoffible to be otherwife; That his own Honour is the Ultimate End of Creation and Government; That A Dutiful Regard to his Authority and Honour is the only Juft Title which a Nation can have to his Favour; That his Favour is the fole Tenure, under which Protection and Happinefs are Granted or Continued to a People; That the Contempt of him, or Oppofition to him, is a Direct Forfeiture of that Favour; and Therefore, That à Kingdom, which fixeth it self in a Pofture of Rebellion against him, becomes Juftly Liable to be Diftrefs'd, or Deftroyed by him.

And when the Proof of this Propofition, fo manifeftly rifing from the Suggeftions and Reasonings of our own Minds, does not Introduce a fuitable Influence and Efficacy upon the Behaviour of Humane Societies, God is wont to give them a Further Cogent Proof of it, The Demonftration of his Severe Judgments falling upon them. And the First Instance, given in Scripture of fuch Direful Proof, would have been the Finishing one, and Intirely

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