Intirely have prevented all Future Occafions and Poffibility of Addition to it, if Righteous Noah had not found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Therefore a Remnant of Men been fpared, for a Further Tryal of Obedience to their Maker. And might it not have been Reasonably expected, that fuch a fignificant Memorial as this, would Remain, as an Effe&tual Guard upon the Duty of Mankind, and Superfede the Neceffity of any other Corrections or Admonitions for ever? But the Event fell vastly short of all Reasonable Expectation: Otherwise, the Holy Scriptures had not abounded, as they do, with Reproofs, and Threatnings, and Teftimonies of Divine vengeance Decreed against Rebellious Nations, and particularly the Jews: All which are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the World are come. And fo Complete and Satisfactory is this Inftruction, that the Special Reasons of National Calamity cannot Eafily Now escape our Knowledge, nor become the Matter of Pure Conjecture, nor the Ground of Doubtful Difputation; but a Suffering State State may, under the Light of this Inftruction, ufually read the Reasons of it's own Fate, in the Reasons and Measures of its own Conduct; And the fame Light, which lays open the Secret Springs of Past ⚫or Prefent Sufferings, in every Kingdom, does Therefore manifeftly display the Neceffary and Effectual Means of Future Prefervation. The Particular Caufes of Publick Judgments are fo Diftinctly Exemplified in the Sufferings of the Jews, or of Other People, recorded in the Sacred Hiftory, and fo Accurately defcribed by the Prophets, that They stand as so many visible, Eminent Seamarks, kindly Warning every Kingdom, to keep at a Distance from those feveral Rocks, which must, otherwise, unavoidably Dash them in pieces. Such Inftances therefore transmitted to us in the History, and fuch Descriptions given by the Prophets, are, at once, an Abundant Proof of the Propofition which is now under our Thoughts, and of God's Compaffionate provifion for the safety of Generations to come. The Ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah are are fuch Horrid Monuments of God's Indignation against Popular Impurity, that, furely, the most Intrepid, or the moft Lethargick Man alive, cannot turn his Eyes towards them, without Shivering and Shrinking under the very First appearance of them. And, left the Peculiar, Aggravating, Monftrous Circumftance of that Sin, in those wretched People, fhould be groundlessly esteemed the Only Cause of the Dangers and Destruction proceeding from it; the Holy Spirit hath given us Plain and Ample Teftimonies, that when the Sin, though not attended with That Circumftance, prevails Epidemically, 'tis Fatal and Destructive to the Publick; A remarkable Inftance whereof I shall have occafion of mentioning Below. Indeed 'tis not to be doubted, but that, after all the Bulwarks, which are, or can be raised in the Defence of Virtue, there may be, under any Government, a great many vicious Persons, who can find means of creeping through the most Compacted Bounds and Restraints put upon them, and of managing some Heinous Heinous Offences, fo Dextrously and Successfully, as to steal on, Uninterrupted and Undiscover'd, to the Accomplishment of their own Perdition; And yet, in the Judgment of God, They may not perhaps be found of Weight enough, to Sink the Community, together with Themfelves. For it feems Evident, from the Holy Scripture, that National Guilt, and the Confequent Obnoxiousness to National Punishment, can only Then be juftly affign'd and Imputed to a People, Either, when there are fuch Varieties and Complications of Wickedness in it, that the Omnifcient God, who at once Distinctly knows the Qualities and Conditions of every Individual Perfon, does look upon the Kingdom as Immerfed in a State of Univerfal Depravity, fuch as the Holy Spirit represents in the First Chapter of Ifaiah: Where 'tis faid of the Jews, Ah finful Nation, a People laden with iniquithe whole head is fick, and the ty; whole heart faint : from the fole of the foot even unto the head, there is no foundness in it; but wounds and bruifes and putrifying fores; Or, when Particular Ꮓ Sins, : Sins, found in it, may be properly efteemed National Sins. And Then may Particular Sins be accounted National, and therefore the Caufes of National Mifery, Either, when they have the Direct Sanction of Publick Authority; Or, when They are Unanimously espoused and embraced by the Society, though they have no Formal Sanction from Publick Authority; Or, when the Contagion and Prevalence of Them amongst the People is become General, though not ftrictly Univerfal; Or, when the Occafions and Circumstances of them are so Confpicuous and Flagrant, that their Rise, or Progrefs, or Continuance may be properly imputed to the Concurrence, or Approbation, or Connivence of the State. Under the First of these Obfervations may be ranged the Description and the Decifion of Jeremiah's Cafe, in the xxvith Chapter of his Prophecy. This Holy Man, fixed by the Spirit of God in an Elevation of Soul, far above the Reach or Influence of all Worldly Hopes and Fears, being Faithful to God, and Faithful to his Country, in the Discharge of his Du ty, |