to bring them Informations of the Breaches of the Laws against Prophaneness and Immorality and tell them 't is their Duty to do it and promise to give them Encouragement And now lastly His Majesty by His Proclamation does command all Judges Mayors Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and all other Officers and Ministers both Ecclesiastical and Civil and all his Subjects whom it may concern to be very Vigilant and Strict in the Discovery and the effectual Prosecution and Punishment of all Persons who shall be guilty of Excessive Drinking Blasphemy Prophane Swearing and Cursing Lewdness Prophanation of the Lord's-Day c. as they will answer it to Almighty God and upon pain of his highest Displeasure So that those who oppose the giving of Informations in these Cases not only seem directly to strike at the Foundation of our Constitution but do oppose Reformation and confront the Government which are Enormities that demand a due Resentment from all that are concerned for the honour of our Government our Laws or our Religion And if any Magistrates should discourage those that bring them Informations on this occasion by giving them hard words making their work as difficult to them as they can by wilfully forcing them to long and unnecessary Attendance on them in this Business or not sheltring them from the insults of obstinate Offenders if any should be so insolent and daring as to offer them 't is I think evident that they not only act therein contrary to their Duty as Christians but to their Oaths and Trust as Magistrates and to their Pretensions of Loyalty and Obedience to the Government as Subjects And now is it possible to conceive that any Magistrates can desire the execution of those Laws nay that any that are not the greatest Enemies to it and are lost to all sense of true Honour as well as Conscience should in defiance of all their Obligations and in full Contradiction to their printed Orders with their Names to them publickly set up by their direction on Churches and other publick Places not treat with respect and give the greatest Encouragement to those excellent Persons particularly by making this business as easie to them as they can by protecting them from any kind of Affronts and Assaults from wicked Men and giving them all possible dispatch who in such a profligate Age do for the preventing the Indignities that are offered to the great God and the ruin of their Country bring them generally with trouble and sometimes with great difficulty Informations of such Offences And on the other hand I do not see generally speaking how those that are convinced that the giving of Informations to Magistrates of these Offences is a Christian Office a likely and proper if not a necessary means of Reformation of Manners and yet wholly neglect the doing it at a time when they see their Fellow-Christians engaging successfully in it can in ordinary cases easily satisfie themselves that they have a due Zeal for God's Honour or Charity to their Neighbours 'T is allowed that this will be sometimes done with some Danger and Inconvenience * Dulce est periculum sequi Deum but so much the more laudable is the doing of it A brave Man who refuses to live under the slavish Dominion of Custom and Example who frequently works against Wind and Tide and steers in the Teeth of Danger must expect to be sometimes tost and batter'd but Dangers and Difficulties do often invite rather than discourage such a one from doing that which becomes him Virtue could I think be hardly distinguished from a kind of Sensuality if it were gained without any Labour Every mean Soul can do such things as require no Resolution or Courage that are not attended with any trouble or inconvenience but though there has never been so general a corruption in any Age or Nation as that there have not been some conspicuous for their Piety yet the number of those wise and happy persons have in most Ages of the World been too few who have preferr'd their Duty to all other Considerations If 't is not generally thought fashionable shionable to inform let it be consider'd whether 't is fashionable to be Religious Don't Men usually meet with the reproachfull Names of Hypocrites Fools Enthusiasts Phanaticks or formal and precise Persons who lead Christian or but modest and regular Lives But those Men that understand what Religion is do not surely think this a sufficient Dispensation for them to be Libertines They know that Elisha and St. Paul were called Mad-men that Holy David was derided by the People that Christ his Apostles and the Christians in the firâ—â— Ages were treated accordingly Wise Men and Christians are not so much afraid of ill Names as of wicked Actions And our Judgment of Actions must not be taken from the opinions of Men but from the Nature of them otherwise the Notions of Good and Evil will be soon confounded Those Actions are dishonourable that carry in their Nature a Repugnancy to Reason and Religion but if those Actions that directly tend to preserve and strengthen Government to promote Religion and the good of Mankind be honourable then the giving of Informations upon these occasions that are so much countenanced and encouraged by the Government and the Laws are I conceive truly honourable though corrupt Men judge otherwise * Apud quos virtus insania furor esse dicitur such for instance who think it more honourable to resent an Affront with the loss of their own or their Fellow-Christians Lives and reckon in short Temperance and Chastity Meekness and Humility Zeal for God and Heavenly-mindedness contemptible Qualities and fit for mean and base Souls Let it be remembred that Christians are to walk by Faith and not by Sight * Non Exemplis sed Legibus judicandum 1 Cor. 3. 19. by Precepts and not by Examples that 't is to the most high GOD Who judgeth righteously and with whom the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness and not to a sinfull Generation that in divers Instances that might be mentioned calls Evil Good and Good Evil that we are to approve our selves So that putting this Case at that Disadvantage as the cowardly and formal Christian who will not fail to raise Objections and start difficulties on such an occasion would have it and will be sure himself to do supposing that the giving of Informations of these Offences should sometimes expose Men to reproachfull Words or rude Treatment from an ill Magistrate or a prosligate Offender which it will not be for the honour of any Government to countenance 't is the business I think of Christians to consider whether they ought not to suffer Shame and undergo some Trouble and Loss for the Exercising an Act of Charity to their Neighbours Souls for the suppressing of National Sins the preventing of God's Dishonour and the ruin of their Country now especially that their Endeavours of this kind will be so very likely
are not obliged for the removing the load of Guilt that is upon them the obtaining Forgiveness from God a well-grounded Peace in their own Minds and Esteem from Men sincerely to endeavour to repair the Injuries they have done Religion their Neighbours or their Country by their future Care and Diligence And till they do give the World some proof of this they will not take it amiss if we do not think that their late Representatives in Parliament have put them under too heavy a Charge and if we say that this is so very Great that tho' we are sure that the Christian Religion is the best Religion in the World yet it so much condemns such Practices that such as are guilty of them are a dishonour to their Profession that we reckon honest Heathens are not the worst sort of Men or rather that there are few if any worse than corrupt and unfaithful Magistrates And therefore methinks tho' such Magistrates were deaf to all Counsel were so given over to a Spirit of Slumber that no Motives that have been offered them from Religion will make any such Impression upon them as to awaken them to a sense of their Sin and Danger if they have yet any thing of the Modesty of Men remaining Shame might oblige them to a better Behaviour that they should not be able to look a Man in the Face that hath a Love to God and his Country but more especially that they should be in the greatest Confusion to hear in our Churches if they should come there the King's Proclamation Four times in the Year charging them with being the great Cause of the Increase of Prophaneness and Vice in the Nation It hath been generally thought an Indication of a good and generous Mind to desire an honest Reputation among Men and on the contrary a sign of a base Soul wholly to despise it on which Consideration Solon might well presume in the Laws he gave the Athenians That he that hath no Value for his Reputation will have little or no Regard to the publick Interest For how can it be reasonably imagined that he should have a tender sense of the Honour or Interest of his Country who hath no sense of his own Honour and greatest Interest but that he will sacrifice them upon Occasion Indeed he that hath neither regard to Conscience nor sense of Shame seems not only in great danger of not being reduced to Virtue by any common Methods but to be lost to almost all good Purposes to be unfit for common Intercourses with Men but much more unfit to be honoured and entrusted with the Care of the Execution and Maintenance of the Laws wherein the Religion * Inter omnia quae Rempublicam ejusque felicitatem conservant quid utilius quid praestantius quam viros ad Magistratus gerendcs eligere summa prudentia virtute praeditos quique ad honores obtinendos non ambitione non largitionibus sed virtute modestia sibi parent aditum the Honour and Prosperity of the Nation is so highly concerned And therefore I submit it to the Judgment of those who are more especially concerned to consider of these important Matters whether it is not highly to be wished that effectual Care may be taken for the preventing the fatal Consequences of such Mens obtaining in any future Reign Commissions of this kind particularly by disabling any to hold them after they are convicted a certain number of times of the Violations of the Laws which they are entrusted to execute For if we enquire into the Reasons of the Happiness of most if not all of those Nations who have arrived at the greatest pitch of Glory and Prosperity we shall I believe have a general Consent That the Diligence and Faithfulness of Magistrates have been one of the greatest Causes of it unquestionably far more instrumental therein than good †Verè dici potest Magistratum legem esse loquentem legem autem mutum esse Magistratum Magistratibus igitur opus est sine quorum prudentia diligentia civitas non potest stare Cic. de Leg. p. 232. Laws which we know are but dead Letters without the Magistrates Execution of them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato de Legibus Lib. 12. fol 951. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lb. f 959. And therefore Plato in his Common-Wealth appointed that the Conservators of the Laws whose chief Care was to promote Virtue should be such Men as were Eminent for Virtue and †Cum leges omnes vel optimae absque probatissimis Magistratibus mortuae sint Magistratus autem optimi vel absque legibus scriptis ipsi sunt divae leges merito Plato non in condendis Legibus sed formandis Magistratibus omni diligentia elaboravit more apply'd himself to the Forming of Magistrates than Laws And accordingly 't was wisely observed by Cicero That if Magistrates keep the Laws themselves they had little more to wish for And by the Famous Athenian Law-giver That Magistrates ought to Obey the Laws as well as the People the Magistrates that a Government may be lasting Indeed we cannot easily conceive how any Nation can be long happy without good Magistrates So that 't is with great Reason that our Church directs us to pray That all that are put in Authority may truly and indifferently minister Justice to the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the Maintenance of God's true Religion and Virtue and that we esteem those that thus discharge their Duty as great Blessings to their Country and may praise God for them and on the contrary that we think that those unhappy Men who under the Obligations of Oaths and Trusts have neglected or opposed the Execution of the Laws for the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice and Maintenance of Religion do deservedly lie under the dreadful Imputation of having been a great Cause of the Prophaneness and Debauchery of the Nation and the fatal Enemies of it since we may look on that Nation whether it be our own or any other to be in a very languishing Condition and in manifest danger of Ruine where the Magistrates and the Generality of Men of greater Ranks who have by their being placed in higher Stations as Stars in higher Orbs so many Advantages to conduct the lower Ranks of Men by the shining Examples of virtuous Lives to support the Reputation and Interest of Virtue do by the Abuse of their Authority or by their vicious Behaviour scatter a pestilential Infection where-ever they come basely make use of the Advantages they have above others to the Dishonour of God by whose Permission they enjoy them * Nam licet videre si velis replicare memoriam temporum qualescunque summi Civitatis fuerint talem Civitatem fuisse Idque haud paulò est verius quam quod Platoni nostro placet qui Musicorum cantibus ait mutatis mutari Civitatum status ego autem Nobilium vita victuque mutato mores mutari
An Account of the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners IN LONDON and WESTMINSTER And other Parts of the Kingdom WITH A PERSUASIVE TO Persons of all RANKS TO BE Zealous and Diligent in Promoting the Execution of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery For the Effecting A National Reformation Published with the Approbation of a Considerable Number of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Who is on the Lord's side let him come unto me Exod. 32. 20. Who will rise up for me against the Evil-doers Who will stand up for me against the workers of Iniquity Psal 94. 16. LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster M DC XC IX GULIELMUS D Gratiae Angliae Scotiae Franciae et Hiberniae REX Fidei Defensor etc. By the King A PROCLAMATION For Preventing and Punishing Immorality and Prophaneness WILLIAM R. WHereas We cannot but be deeply Sensible of the great Goodness and Mercy of Almighty God in putting an End to a Long Bloody and Expensive War by the Conclusion of an Honourable Peace so We are not less touched with a Resentment that notwithstanding this and many other great Blessings and Deliverances Impiety Prophaneness and Immorality do still abound in this Our Kingdom And whereas nothing can prove a greater Dishonour to a well ordered Government where the Christian Faith is Professed nor is likelier to provoke God to withdraw His Mercy and Blessings from Vs and instead thereof to inflict heavy and severe Iudgments upon this Kingdom than the open and avowed Practice of Vice Immorality and Prophaneness which amongst many Men has too much prevailed in this Our Kingdom of late Years to the high Displeasure of Almighty God the great Scandal of Christianity and the ill and fatal Example of the rest of Our Loving Subjects who have been Soberly Educated and whose Inclinations would lead them to the Exercise of Piety and Virtue did they not daily find such frequent and repeated Instances of Dissolute Living Prophaneness and Impiety which has in a great Measure been occasioned by the Neglect of the Magistrates not putting in Execution those good Laws which have been made for Suppressing and Punishing thereof and by the ill Example of many in Authority to the great Dishonour of God and Reproach of our Religion Wherefore and for that We cannot expect Increase or Continuance of the Blessings We and Our Subjects Enjoy without Providing Remedies to prevent the like evils for the future We think Our Selves bound by the Duty We owe to God and the Care We have of the People committed to Our Charge to proceed in taking effectual Course that Religion Piety and Good Manners may according to Our hearty Desire Flourish and Increase under Our Administration and Government and being thereunto moved by the Pious Address of the Commons in Parliament Assembled We have thought fit by the Advice of Our Privy Council to Issue this Our Royal Proclamation and do Declare Our Royal Purpose and Resolution to Discountenance and Punish all manner of Vice Immorality and Prophaneness in all Persons from the highest to the lowest Degree within this Our Realm and particularly in such who are Imployed near Our Royal Person and that for the greater Incouragement of Religion and Morality We will upon all Occasions Distinguish Men of Piety and Virtue by Marks of Our Royal Favour And We do expect that all Persons of Honour or in Place of Authority will to their utmost contribute to the Discountenancing Men of Dissolute and Debauched Lives that they being reduced to Shame and Contempt may be enforced the sooner to Reform their ill Habits and Practices that the Displeasure of Good Men towards them may supply what the Laws it may be cannot wholly Prevent And for the more Effectual Reforming these Men who are a Discredit to Our Kingdom Our further Pleasure is and We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Our Iudges Mayors Sheriffs Iustices of the Peace and all other Our Officers and Ministers both Ecclesiastical and Civil and other Our Subjects whom it may Concern to be very Vigilant and Strict in the Discovery and the Effectual Prosecution and Punishment of all Persons who shall be Guilty of Excessive Drinking Blasphemy Prophane Swearing and Cursing Lewdness Prophanation of the Lords Day or other Dissolute Immoral or Disorderly Practices as they will answer it to Almighty God and upon Pain of Our Highest Displeasure And for the more Effectual Proceedings herein We do hereby Direct and Command Our Iudges of Assizes and Iustices of Peace to give strict Charges at the respective Assizes and Sessions for the due Prosecution and Punishment of all Persons that shall presumē to Offend in any the Kinds aforesaid and also of all Persons that contrary to their Duty shall be Remiss or Negligent in Putting the said Laws in Execution and that they do at their respective Assizes and Quarter Sessions of the Peace cause this Our Proclamation to be publickly Read in Open Court immediately before the Charge is given And We do hereby further Charge and Command every Minister in his respective Parish or Chapel to Read or cause to be Read this Our Proclamation at least Four times in every Year immediately after Divine Service and to incite and stir up their respective Auditories to the Practice of Piety and Virtue and the Avoiding of all Immorality and Prophaneness And to the end that all Vice and Debauchery may be Prevented and Religion and Virtue Practised by all Officers Private Soldiers Mariners or others who are Imployed in our Service either by Sea or Land We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Our Commanders and Officers whatsoever That they do take Care to Avoid all Prophaneness Debauchery and other Immoralities and that by the Piety and Virtue of their own Lives and Conversations they do set good Examples to all such as are under their Authority and likewise to take Care and Inspect the Behaviour and Manners of all such as are under them and to Punish all those who shall be Guilty of any the Offences aforesaid And whereas several Wicked and Prophane Persons have presumed to Print and Publish several Pernicious Books and Pamphlets which contain in them Impious Doctrines against the Holy Trinity and other Fundamental Articles of Our Faith tending to the Subversion of the Christian Religion therefore for the Punishing the Authors and Publishers thereof and for the Preventing such Impious Books and Pamphlets being Published or Printed for the future We do hereby strictly Charge and Prohibit all Persons that they do not presume to Write Print or Publish any such Pernicious Books or Pamphlets under the Pain of Incurring Our High Displeasure and of being Punished according to the utmost Severity of the Law And We do hereby strictly Charge and Require all Our Loving Subjects to Discover and Apprehend such Person and Persons whom they shall know to be the Authors or Publishers of any such Books
or Pamphlets and to bring them before some Iustice of Peace or Chief Magistrate in order that they may be Proceeded against according to Law Given at Our Court at Kensington the Four and twentieth Day of February 1697. In the Tenth Year of Our Reign God save the KING HER LATE MAJESTIES GRACIOUS LETTER In the Absence of the KING To the Justices of the Peace in the County of Middlesex July 9. 1691. For the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Debauchery MARIE R. TRusty and Well-Beloved We Greet you well Considering the great and indispensable Duty incumbent upon Vs to promote and encourage a Reformation of the Manners of all our Subjects that so the Service of God may be Advanced and those Blessings be procured to these Nations which always attend a Conscientious discharge of our respective Duties according to our several Relations We think it necessary in order to the obtaining of this Publick Good to recommend to you the putting in Execution with all fidelity and impartiality those Laws which have been made and are still in foâ—â—â— against the Prophanation of the Lord's-day Drunkenness Prophane Swearing and Cursing and all other Lewd Enormous and Disorderly Practices which by a long continued neglect and connivance of the Magistrates and Officers concerned have universally spread themselves to the dishonour of God and scandal of our Holy Religion whereby it is now become the more necessary for all Persons in Authority to apply themselves with all possible care and diligence to the suppressing of the same We do therefore hereby charge and require You to take the most effectual Methods for putting the Laws in Execution against the Crimes above-mentioned and all other Sins and Vices particularly those which are most prevailing in this Realm and that especially in such cases where any Officer of Justice shall be guilty of any of those Offences or refuse or neglect to discharge the Duty of his Place for the suppressing them that so such Officer by his Punishment may serve for an Example to others And to this end We would have you careful and diligent in encouraging all Constables Church-Wardens Headboroughs and all other Officers and Persons whatsoever to do their part in their several Stations by timely and impartial Informations and Prosecutions against all such Offenders for preventing of such Judgments which are solemnly denounced against the Sins above-mentioned We cannot doubt of your Performance hereof since it is a Duty to which you are obliged by Oath and are likewise engaged to the discharge of it as you tender the Honour of Almighty God the flourishing condition of his Church in this Kingdom the continuance of His Holy Religion among Us and the Prosperity of Your Country And so We bid you Farewell Given at Our Court at White-Hall the Ninth Day of July One Thousand Six Hundred Ninety One in the Third Year of Our Reign By Her Majesties Command Nottingham To Our Trusty and Well-Beloved the Justices of the Peace for Our County of Middlesex at Hicks's Hall THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE House of Commons TO THE KING For the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Vice May it Please Your MAJESTY WE Your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled Do with great Joy and Comfort remember the many Testimonies which Your Majesty hath given us of Your Sincerity and Zeal for the True Reformed Religion as Establish'd in this Kingdom And in particular we beg leave to present to Your Majesty our most Humble and Thankful Acknowledgments for the late Gracious Declaration Your Majesty has made to us from the Throne That You would effectually discourage Prophaneness and Immorality which chiefly by the Neglect and ill Example of too many Magistrates are like a general Contagion diffused and spread throughout the Kingdom to the great Scandal and Reproach of our Religion and to the Dishonour and Prejudice of Your Majesties Government Therefore in Concurrence with Your Majesties Pious Intentions we do most humbly Desire That Your Majesty would Issue out Your Royal Proclamation Commanding all Your Majesties Judges Justices of the Peace and other Magistrates to put in speedy Execution those good Laws that are now in Force against Prophaneness and Immorality giving due Incouragement to all such as do their Duty therein And that Your Majesty would be Pleased to Require from Your Judges and Justices of Assize from time to time an Account of such their Proceedings And since the Examples of Men in High and Publick Stations have a Powerful Influence upon the Lives of others we do most humbly beseech Your Majesty That all Vice Prophaneness and Irreligion may in a particular manner be Discouraged in all those who have the Honour to be Employed near Your Royal Person and in all others who are in Your Majesties Service by Sea and Land Appointing Strict Orders to be given to all Your Commanders That they not only shew a Good Example themselves but also Inspect the Manners of those under them And that Your Majesty would upon all Occasions distinguish Men of Piety and Virtue by Marks of Your Royal Favour We do further in all Humility beseech Your Majesty That Your Majesty would give such Effectual Orders as to Your Royal Wisdom shall seem fit for the Suppressing all Pernicious Books and Pamphlets which contain in them Impious Doctrines against the Holy Trinity and other Fundamental Articles of our Faith tending to the Subversion of the Christian Religion and that the Authors and Publishers thereof may be Discountenanced and Punished And we do also most humbly beseech Your Majesty That Your said Proclamation may be Ordered to be Read at least Four times in the Year in all Churches and Chapels immediately after Divine Service and at the Assizes and Quarter-Sessions of the Peace just before the Charge is given We present to Your Majesty this our most Humble ADDRESS proceeding from our Duty and Zeal for the Glory of God and to the end that all our Counsels may be bless'd by his Divine Assistance and may produce Honour Safety and Happiness with all the Blessings of a Lasting Peace to Your Majesty and Your People To the AUTHOR SIR WE have perused the Book you sent us Entituled An Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners the Design of which is so truly Great and Noble so much for the Honour of God the Advancement of Piety and Virtue and the publick Good both of Church and State that it cannot fail of being approved by all good Men. The Method likewise proposed in order to the Promoting and Accomplishing complishing the said Design is We conceive most proper and by the Blessing of God attending it most likely to prove effectual And that Pious Men of all Ranks and Qualities may be excited by this good Book to contribute in their respective Places and Stations their best Endeavours towards a National Reformation of Manners is the most Humble and Hearty Prayer of SIR Your very Loving Friends Lords Temporal Pembroke P
Lonsdale Leeds Bedford Lindsey Lords Spiritual T. Carliol H. Bangor N. Cestriens E. Gloucestr S. Eliens Lords Temporal Kent Bridgwater Thanet Radnor Abingdon Portland Falconberg Warington Rochford Say Sele Longvile Bergavenny Eure. Willoughby of Parham Brook Maynard Berkley of Stratton Lords Spiritual J. Bristol R. Bath Wells J. Cicestriens J. Oxon. Lords Temporal Dartmouth Guilford Haversham Barnard Digby Allington Cutts Judges Ed. Ward Ed. Nevill Nic. Lechmere Tho. Rokeby John Turton John Blencowe Hen. Hatsell An Account of the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners IN LONDON and WESTMINSTER And other Parts of the Kingdom c. IT may be hoped That this plain Discourse will meet no other Enemies than such as are likewise Enemies to Religion and Virtue and are lost to the Sense of Good and Evil since the only Design of it is evidently to promote the true Interest of Religion and it does not oppose any one Man's honest Advantage or encounter any common Opinion that I know of among us The Observation having been long since made That how many Disputes soever there have been rais'd among the too various Denominations of Christians concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion with respect either to Faith or Worship it hath never been a Dispute Whether the Magistrate hath Power to Punish Immoralities The Prosecution of Men for their Vices hath never been reckoned Persecution It being as plainly the Duty of the Magistrate from the Word of GOD which Rom. 13 4. obliges him to Execute Wrath upon those that do Evil as it is evident from the dismal Effects of Vice and Wickedness in all Ages that Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery are necessary for the Preservation of Communities as that Piety and Virtue are requisite to their Well-being and that unrestrained Vice and Prophaneness are as fatal to Publick Societies as they are destructive to Private Persons But though LAWS are necessary to the very Being of Communities and Good Laws to their Happiness yet they cannot be supposed by any Rational Man to be any more sufficient of themselves to procure the Welfare of the Body Politick without Execution than the best Medicines can procure the Health of the Natural Body without the Use and Application of them If therefore the Execution of Good Laws be necessary as is proved to the Welfare of Communities and those that concern Matters of Religion as do those for the Punishment of Prophaneness and Debauchery are allow'd in a Christian Country to deserve the greatest regard the Interest of Religion and the Welfare of the Community being so deeply concerned therein it cannot be a matter of Dispute whether it becomes Men that call themselves Christians to promote the Execution of such Laws Nay it cannot be well imagined how Men can have a Zeal for the Service of the Great GOD of Heaven and Earth or can have a due Love to Mankind who have no regard to the Honour of God or Welfare of their Country as shall hereafter more fully appear Now what becomes all Men in their several Capacities to do in the Promoting of the Execution of our Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery my Business in the first place is to shew is Practicable and that it may be done by us of this Nation * Admonetur omnis aetas id fieâ—i posse quod aliquando factum est and that not only from what was done some Years ago in the Times of Vsurpation but what hath been done within Eight Years past in and about this City and other Parts of the Kingdom It is very well known that in the late times Prophane Swearing and Cursing Drunkenness Open-Lewdness and Prophanation of the Lord's-Day were generally discouraged and suppressed And it is as well known to our Shame that those Sins have not only since revived among us by reason of the Impunity of Offenders the Countenance and Preserment they have met with and the Contagion of great and ill Examples but have been committed with great Impudence and without Controul without either Shame or the Fear of the Laws so that they were seen and heard at Noon-Day and in our Open Streets and as if we were resolved to out-do the Impieties of the very Heathens Prophaneness and even Blasphemy was too often the Wit and Entertainment of our Scandalous Play-Houses and Sincere Religion became the Jest and Scorn of our Courts in the late Reigns And thus Debauchery diffused it self throughout the whole Body of the Nation till at last our Morals were so corrupted that Virtue and Vice had with too many changed their Names it was reckoned Breeding to Swear Gallantry to be Lewd good Humour to be Drunk and Wit to despise Sacred things and it was enough to have rendred one suspected of Phanaticism or an abjectness of Spirit and a matter of Reproach not to suffer ones self to be carried away with this Torrent of Wickedness and not to glory in those fashionable Vices Nay it was thought an unpardonable Rudeness even for a Clergy-Man or Magistrate to reprove or punish one that was Guilty of them notwithstanding the Solemn Obligations of their Oaths and Vows to do it And even after the Accession of His present Majesty to the Crown tho' Popery immediately vanished Immorality and Prophaneness still kept their ground as if they expected an Establishment with our Liberties after so long and Peaceable a Possession Reformation was indeed talkt of by some Persons as an Excellent thing and as a proper way of Expressing our Thankfulness to Almighty God for his Mercies to this Nation and to procure a Continuance of them to us and to our Posterity But Vice was lookt upon as too formidable an Enemy to be provok'd and Publick Reformation was thought so difficult an Undertaking that those that gave it very good Words judged it not safe to set about it in the time of War whilst there were so many in Arms on the other side and therefore they seemed to decline the Thoughts of it till we should see the End of the uncertain War we were ingag'd in tho' they were I conceive otherwise instructed by God's express Command to the Jews When the Host Deut. 23. 9. goeth forth against thine Enemy then keep thy self from every evil thing When things were in this dismal and almost desperate State it came into the Hearts it seems of Five or Six private Gentlemen of the Church of England to engage in this difficult and hazardous Enterprize who considering that the higher the Tide of Wickedness was the more need there was of Opposing it that our crying Sins were our greatest Enemies and most threatned our Ruin that we have Laws in Force against them and that they should have the Laws of God with the Prayers of good Men on their side resolved whatever Difficulties they met with to make their Efforts for Promoting the Execution of our Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery and the Suppressing of them by advisable Methods This was such an
Undertaking as we might well believe would soon alarm the Enemy but which the Patrons of Vice would make no doubt to deseat before any Progress could be made and which the Prudent and Wise Men of the World who rely on second Causes with too little regard to the first the Almighty Creator and Governor of the World with whom as King Asa expresses it in his Prayer it is nothing to help whether â— Chron. 14. 10. with many or with those that have no power would look on with Pity if not with Derision and so it proved that the Champions and Advocates of Debauchery put themselves in Array to defend their wretched and infamous Liberties they set themselves to Ridicule to Defame and to Oppose this Design and to Overthrow the Hopes and Expectations of the Undertakers And some others whom in Charity we would not look on as Enemies of Religion and Virtue tho' we cannot easily esteem them our Friends whose Conduct has so greatly obstructed the Progress of this Design consulting Human Prudence or rather Worldly Policy too much and perhaps their own Obligations too little were very forward to censure these Attempts as the Effect of an imprudent and an unseasonable Zeal But notwithstanding a furious Opposition from Adversaries the ill Offices of those from whom better things might have been expected and the unkind Neutrality of Friends these Gentlemen who in a little time began to add some others to their Number not only kept their Ground but made farther Advances for our late Excellent QUEEN of Glorious Memory having this Affair laid before Her in the Absence of the King by a Prelate of great Learning and Fame the late Lord Bishop of Worcester She had just Sentiments of it and therefore thought it became Her to give it Countenance She Graciously condescended to Thank those who were concerned in it and readily promised them Her Assistance and afterwards upon this Application made to Her Majesty She was pleased to send Her Letter to the Justices of Middlesex commanding them to put the Laws against Prophaneness and Vice in Execution with all Fidelity and Impartiality and to this end that they should be careful and diligent in encouraging all Persons to do their part in giving Informations against Offenders as they were obliged by their Oath as Magistrates to do and when there was further Occasion She shew'd She was in earnest to promote this Design by taking other more effectual Methods for that purpose But as it may well be supposed That the Queen's patronizing of these Endeavours could not but give Credit and Strength to them so the Affair by Her Death it may as easily be imagined must lose a great Advantage But yet the Loss tho' it appeared exceedingly great did not discourage those that were ingaged in this Enterprize For as they first set about it with little or no Expectation of such a Patroness because they thought it would be an acceptable Service to the King of Kings and that it would promote the true Interests of Religion and the Welfare of their Country So the same Considerations obliged them to pursue their Design with equal Vigour and Zeal tho' they were deprived of so great a Friend and Protector And Divine Providence had by this time seemed to favour their Endeavours by the great and remarkable Success that had attended them for Multitudes of Offenders had been by their means brought to Punishment The Publick Opposition that was at first made to their Vndertaking was broke through which the Lord Bishop of Gloucester who hath been a great Encourager of this Undertaking gave an Account of in his Vindication of it which it may be wished there may never be any further Occasion to remember and the Honesty of it had recommended it to the Virtuous and Unprejudiced part of the Nation whom the Account of these Matters had reached the Enemy after a severe Examination having not been able to discover that any illegal Methods had been used or that any secular Interest was pursued by those who bestow'd their Time and their Pains in carrying on so ungrateful and hazardous a Work as that of Reformation will be always found since it is the Opposing of ill Men in their sinful Indulgencies which are often more desirable to them than their very Lives With these Encouragements they prosecuted their Business increasing their Number by the Addition of Persons of considerable Note and of the best Character some of whom tho' they were of different Opinions from those of the Establish'd Church as to some Points concerning Religion were willing to unite their Strength in the common Cause of Christianity and engage in so Noble a Design that had done so much Good By whose joint Endeavours great Advances have been made towards a Reformation of Manners which is every Day getting ground Persons of various Ranks of considerable Fortunes and of the clearest Character offering Assistance to it not only in and about the City of London but from several Parts of the Kingdom But since it hath been long desired that a more distinct and clear View may be given to the World of this Vndertaking and of the Advances of it which those that have been principally concerned in it so industriously consulting Privacy have not hitherto been prevailed on by any Temptations either of Vanity or Resentment to make publick being more desirous that it should be known by the good Effects it produces than by any History or Narrative I ask leave to present the World with a short Scheme of the Design and some Account of the Managers of it that the well-disposed part of the Nation that have hitherto been Strangers to it may by the Knowledge thereof be induced to join in so good a Work and now especially since this Conjuncture is so favourable to it beyond our Expectation There is a very large Body of Persons compos'd of the Original Society before-mentioned with the Additions that have been since made of Persons of Eminency in the Law Members of Parliament Justices of Peace and considerable Citizens of London of known Abilities and great Integrity who frequently meet to consult of the best Methods for carrying on the Business of Reformation and to be ready to advise and assist others that are already ingaged or any that are willing to join in the same Design This Society is at a considerable Yearly Charge for the effectual managing their Business but takes no Contributions of any but their own Members by whose Endeavours as was said before Thousands of Offenders in London and Westminster have been brought to Punishment for Swearing Drunkenness and Prophanation of the Lord's-Day and a great part of the Kingdom has been awakened in some measure to a sence of their Duty in this respect and thereby a very hopeful Progress is made towards a General Reformation A Second Society is of about Fifty Persons Tradesmen and others who have more especially applyed themselves to the Suppression of Lewdness by
bringing the Offenders to legal Punishment These may have actually suppressed and rooted out about Five Hundred Disorderly Houses and caused to be punished some Thousands of Lewd Persons besides Swearers Drunkards and Prophaners of the Lord's-Day as may appear by their Printed Lists of Offenders These Persons by their prudent and legal Management of their Business have received great Countenance and Encouragement in our Courts of Judicature and very particular Encouragement and Assistance for several Years past from the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen who are sensible of the great Service that is done by them which they express upon proper Occasions A Third Society is of Constables of which sort of Officers Care is taken to form Yearly a new Body in this City who meet to consider of the most Effectual way to discharge their Oaths to acquaint one another with the Difficulties they meet with to resolve on proper Remedies to divide themselves in the several Parts of the City so as to take in the whole to the best Advantage for the inspecting of Disorderly Houses taking up of Drunkards Lewd Persons Prophaners of the Lord's-Day and Swearers out of the Streets and Markets and carrying them before the Magistrates and I must observe that this is found a very successful Method for Constables to take for the Suppressing of the abominable Sin of Swearing when Private Persons are negligent in giving of Informations and the Magistrate is careless of his Duty A Fourth Rank of Men who have been so highly Instrumental in this Vndertaking that they may be reckoned a Corner-Stone of it is of such as have made it some part of their Business to give Informations to the Magistrate as they have had Opportunity of such Breaches of the Laws as were before mentioned Many of these Persons have given the World a great and almost unheard-of Example in this corrupt Age of Zeal and Christian Courage having underwent at the beginning more especially of these Proceedings many Abuses and great Reproaches not only from exasperated and hardned Offenders but often from their luke-warm Friends Irreligious Relations and sometimes from Vnfaithful Magistrates by whom they have been Reviled Brow-beaten and Discouraged from performing such important Service so necessary to the Welfare of their Country And herein these brave Men have acted with so great Prudence as well as Zeal that foreseeing it might one day be the Policy of the Enemy of all Goodness and the Business of wicked Men who are his Instruments and who could not generally be brought to Shame and Punishment for their infamous Practices but by their means to raise Prejudices in the Minds of bad and unthinking People against them and to disparage their Proceedings by whispering of Jealousies of their being influenced in what they did by Worldly Considerations That the World may be challenged to make appear That these Societies have been so much as treated with by any Person whatsoever to give Informations with any Promise of a Reward or that they have ever received the least Advantage by any Convictions upon these Statutes against Prophaneness and Debauchery the Money arising thereby being wholly appropriated to the Poor except the third part of the Penalty upon the Statute against Prophanation of the Lord's-Day which in some Cases the Magistrate hath a bare Power to dispose of but was never that we know of received by any one of these Persons which I thought fit to observe as a lasting Answer to any Objection of this kind in Justice to them who have gone through Frowns and Reproaches for the sake of doing so much Good and that all Men may see with how great Reason it is both from the Character of the Persons concerned in the Discharging of this Service to Religion and their Country as well as from the Nature and Necessity of it which I shall hereafter enquire into that the Name of an Informer is now become much more Glorious among wise and good Men than it was grown Contemptible by the ill Practices of some in our days And that it does therefore appear truly Honourable for Persons of the greatest Quality to give Informations in these Cases for the Service of the most High God as some among us of greater Ranks than the World does perhaps think of have of late done and which it hath been observed in divers Discourses lately Published that even Princes under the Jewish Dispensation were not ashamed to do Now when these things were Ezra 9. 1 2. done the Princes came to me saying The people of Israel and the Priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the Lands doing according to their Abominations c. There are Eight other regulated and mixt Bodies of House-keepers and Officers in the several Quarters of London Westminster and Southwark who differ in their Constitution from those before-mentioned but generally agree in the Methods of inspecting the Behaviour of Constables and other Officers and going along with them and assisting them in their Searching of Disorderly Houses in taking up of Offenders and carrying them before the Magistrate and also in giving Imformations themselves as there is Occasion Besides those before-mentioned there are about Nine and Thirty Religious Societies of another kind in and about London and Westminster which are propagated into other Parts of the Nation as Nottingham Gloucester c. and even into Ireland where they have been for some Months since spreading in divers Towns and Cities of that Kingdom as Kilkenny Drogheda Mannouth c. especially in Dublin where there are about Ten of these Societies which are promoted by the Bishops and inferior Clergy there These Persons meet often to Pray Sing Psalms and Read the Holy Scriptures together and to Reprove Exhort and Edifie one another by their Religious Conferences They moreover carry on at their Meetings Designs of Charity of different kinds such as Relieving the Wants of Poor House-keepers maintaining their Children at School setting of Prisoners at Liberty supporting of Lectures and daily Prayers in our Churches These are the SOCIETIES which our late Gracious Queen as the Learned Bishop that hath writ her LIFE tells us took so great Satisfaction in that She inquired often and much about them and was glad they went on and prevailed which thanks be to GOD they continue to do as the Reverend Mr. Woodward who hath obliged the World with a very particular Account of the Rise and Progress of them hath lately acquainted us And these likewise are SOCIETIES that have proved so exeeedingly Serviceable in the Work of REFORMATION that they may be reckoned a chief Support to it as our late Great Primate Arch-Bishop Tillotson declar'd upon several Occasions after he had examined their Orders and inquired into their Lives That he thought they were to the Church of England I might now give an Account of a Society of Ministers of the Church of England for carrying on of this Work and another Agreement of Justices of
false Friends suffering cruel Mockings unkind Censures and unjust Reproaches and yet not giving way We have seen them surmounting their greatest Difficulties so that the main brunt seems now near over and going on with that Resolution and Success that the Deluge of publick Wickedness is visibly abated We are told that many Thousands have been brought to Punishment for Swearing and Cursing by their means Seventy or Eighty Warrants a Week having been executed on these Offenders in and about this City only since the late Act of Parliament against Swearing and Cursing was made which hath given so great and remarkable a Check to those Scandalous Sins that our Constables sometimes of late have found it difficult to take up a Swearer in divers of our Streets and Markets where within a few years past horrid Oaths Curses and Imprecations were heard Day and Night that a multitude of Drunkards and Prophaners of the Lord's Day some of whom kept as it were open Markets within a few Years past have been made Examples by their means that Hundreds of Disorderly Houses which were little better than Stews and Nests for Thieves Clippers and Coiners c. have been rooted out and suppressed and that some Thousands of Lewd Persons have been Imprisoned Fined and Whipt so that the Tower-End of the Town and many of our Streets have been much purg'd of that pestilent Generation of Night-Walkers that used to infest them which were a Reproach to this Noble City and a Scandal to Christianity Forty or Fifty of them having been sent in a Week to Bridewell where they have of late received such Discipline that a considerable Number of them hath chose rather to be Transported to our Plantations to work there for an honest Subsistence than to expose themselves by their lewd way of Living to Shame and Punishment to Poverty and Disease to all sorts of wicked Practices and the Danger of the Gallows to which in the Conclusion they are often if not generally brought And I may justly add That far greater Things by the Application of the Original Society of Gentlemen have been accomplished than what have yet been mentioned and such as I am not permitted at this time to discover But thus much may be said That the Endeavours of those Gentlemen have not been consined to this City and Kingdom but have extended as far as Ireland where they have had an Influence very little I think to the Honour of that Kingdom from whence it had its first Rise of which since a more particular Account may be expected I may satisfy my self at present with saying in general of my own Knowledge That the Transactions of Reformation here having been near Two Years since laid before some few Persons in Ireland and most of those I must again observe private Persons and of the lower Rank of Men with proper Considerations to move 'em to unite in the same Design and Methods to pursue it with Advantage it determined them to engage heartily in it and they have prosecuted it with so much Vigour that there are now several Societies for Reformation in the City of Dublin which I am assured by divers Accounts that I have in my Hands from thence are spreading into several Parts of the Kingdom and are encouraged by his Excellency the Earl of Galloway one of the Lords Justices of Ireland the Right Reverend the Arch-Bishop of Dublin many of the Clergy and the best of the Magistrates and Gentlemen of that City In One of which Societies most of the Parish-Ministers of Dublin several of the pious Bishops particularly the celebrated Arch-Bishop and divers other Persons of Quality are Members some of whom have shewn a Zeal which if it prevailed the Three Kingdoms over might soon produce a Glorious Reverse of the State they are now in and which in less than Two Years space hath succeeded tho' not without such various Oppositions as might be expected from Combinations of bad Men to that degree in Dublin that the Prophanation of the Lord's Day by Tipling in publick Houses by Exercising of Trade and Exposing of Goods to Sale is almost supprest that Lewd Women are so strictly enquired after and severely punished that they have Transported themselves as in England to our Plantations and that Swearing is so run down that an Oath is rarely heard in their Streets so that publick Disorders are remarkably cured and in short Vice is afraid and ashamed to shew its head where within a few Years past it was daring and Triumphant We are likewise assured That Scotland hath concurred in these Matters where His Majesty's Proclamation against Prophaneness and Debauchery hath been issued out in very strict terms and His late Gracious Letter to the Parliament of that Kingdom takes notice of the Progress that they have made in the Forming of Methods for the Discouraging of Vice and Irreligion and assures them That 't is a WORK most acceptable to him But to return to our own Nation We are made acquainted That many Societies and Bodies of Men of different Ranks and Perswasions are ingaged in this Work to which Men of Virtue of Temper and unblemished Reputation may either join themselves according to their Quality Circumstances or Opportunities or may form themselves into new Bodies That the publick Opposition that was made to it which our Posterity may blush to read of is at an end which 't is to be hoped will be the last that we shall hear of in a Christian State and under a Protestant Government That the City of London espouses it where there are Two Sermons Quarterly Preached and divers of them Printed to make Men sensible of their Obligations in this respect And it 's true also That Swearing is much lessened as we have reason to believe by the Accounts we receive in most if not in all Parts of the Kingdom as other publick Disorders are in many and that Societies for Reformation have been in divers Places already actually form'd and are going on in many others as particularly in Gloucester Leicester Coventry Shrewsbury Hull Nottingham Tamworth Newcastle Leverpool Chester and several other Corporations so that in a few Months time by the Methods that are now taking there is reason to believe that we shall hear of a very considerable Progress in this Work from all Parts of the Nation And now is this a Time for Men that would be reckoned Christians to stand Neuters in an Affair wherein their Religion their Country and their Posterity are so deeply concerned Let the Men who can contentedly see the Laws of GOD trampled upon who can in their ordinary Conversation in the Streets and even at their own Tables hear horrid Oaths and Curses nay Men calling upon GOD for Damnation upon themselves and others in a word offering high Indignities to the Glorious Majesty of their Great Creator consider whether the very Heathens who would not suffer their Artificial Deities to be affronted or their Religion to be despis'd who in
Sieges and other Distresses from their Enemies were more concerned for their Images and Altars than for their own Houses or private Affairs do not condemn them Let our Learned Rabbies the great Disputers of the World and all that make a Profession of Religion but give little better account of it than by expressing a fierce and uncharitable Heat against those that differ from them in some things relating to Religion but not essential to it and wherein all Men equally wise and good have I doubt never yet been fully agreed think seriously with themselves whether they might not employ some share at least of their Parts and Zeal to much better purpose in furthering the Reformation of Mens Lives and of the Manners of the Nation by the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Vice than by raising or keeping up with an unchristian Temper to the manifest Injury of the Christian Religion which is an Institution of Love dangerous or unnecessary Controversies or Divisions and making of Proselytes to their New Opinions or Party all Religions being I think agreed that bad Men are a Scandal to the best Religion and that they cannot if they continue so be saved in any and consequently that the being instrumental in the bringing over of a few Souls to the sincere Practice of Piety and Virtue by any Christian Methods which those I am treating of will I hope be allowed to be is of greater Service to the Christian Religion and the World than the gaining of Hundreds that are vicious to any particular Church or Party But can Men of Conscience satisfy themselves with complaining of the Iniquities of the Age and wishing for Reformation with giving only some good Words to these Proceedings or even praying for God's Blessing upon them without doing as they have Opportunity what is necessary to promote them when as it hath been said we have the Laws of GOD of the Nation and as we have reason to hope the Government on our side and moreover so many Examples and so great Success to incourage us and have now generally speaking not much more to fear than Calumnies and hard Words and most of those 't is 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 such a Case it is our true Glory to suffer No surely this is a Time as I shall endeavour to make appear for all good Men to join their Hearts and Hands their Interest and Authority in this so Necessary so Great and so Glorious a Work Having now laid before the Reader a short Scheme of this Vndertaking which was begun with great Opposition in a Time that was very discouraging to such an Enterprize and with such other circumstances of Disadvantage as new things be they never so wise and good especially Attempts of this kind generally meet with and yet hath been advanced to such a considerable degree from so contemptible a Beginning as it must appear to have had to the Wise and the Wary among us who do not duly consider that there is a GOD that rules in the Kingdoms of Men and who as the Prophet expresses it giveth Isa 40. 29. Power to the faint and to them that have no Might encreaseth 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 beseeching them with all that due Respect which all good Men ought to have to Their High and Holy Function to consider if what is endeavoured to be proved to be the Common Duty of all Men and the Special Obligation of Kings Governours and Magistrates be indeed so it is not the particular Province of those who have entred into the Places of Overseers and Watchmen Act. 20. 28. Ezek. 3. 17. 18 20. and of whom the Blood of those that die in 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 convinced 't is their Duty to be diligent in the furthering it wilfully neglect to excite all sorts of People especially those belonging to their Charge of what Rank or Quality soever to do their Duty likewise in promoting in their respective Stations the Execution of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery they can give a good Account of their Conduct to those 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 some degree in the Common Guilt of the Nation which as our Neglect of our Duty in this particular Instance of not Promoting a Reformation will encrease so it may be a means notwithstanding our present 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 so I suppose all will grant that none seem to have greater reason to use all proper means to prevent than those who expect to give Account not only for their own Sins but for the Sins of so many others besides if they wilfully suffer them to perish in them by their refusing to use the necessary means of preventing their living and dying in them I shall not after I have humbly represented this Affair to this Sacred Order think sit 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 so highly concerned I ask leave rather to say That I am assured upon unquestionable Information that most of the Right Reverâ—â—d the Bishops have expressed their Approbation of the Societies of Reformation I have given an Account of that I have never heard of the Name of any one of these Reverend Persons 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 considerable Number of the Clergy in and about this City as well as in other parts of the Kingdom have done likewise some of them by Preaching and frequently meeting to consult one another upon this Occasion and others of them by giving Informations themselves to the Magistrates against Prophane Persons among whom the generous and remarkable Assistance that was given in this Affair by the two late Eminent Divines Dr. Horneck and Dr. Jekell whose Deaths are so much lamented under
thought to be the best Instruction answered Eupraxie or well-doing Example hath indeed such a power that Men are in a great degree too often such as those are with whom they converse as even the Proverbs of many Nations have observed So that he that gives a good Example though he be but a private Person does in truth a publick Service and lays an Obligation upon the Age he lives in But the good Examples of Governors and Magistrates I need not add of Ministers hath a far greater force of Persuasion their Virtues are generally derived by Imitation into the Manners of the People * Quales enim summi civitatis viri fuerint talis civitas erit Claudianus Ut enim vitiis sceleribus Magistratuum infici solet corrumpi tota Respublica ita corrigi emendari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocrates ad Nicoclem Nec ignores totius civitatis mores ad exemplum Magistratuum conformari How fatal an Influence more especially must then the vicious Examples which the corrupt Nature of Man does with so much Ease comply with of Superiors of Persons in Authority whose particular Province it is to look to the Execution of the Laws have upon those below them These Men carry not only those of their Neighbourhood but a great part of the Counties they live in after them many of whom 't is very obvious are apt to think it an Excuse if not a Warrant to transgress after their Example The Commission of a Justice of Peace does therefore with great reason tell him That he is to keep himself as well as cause to be kept all the Ordinances and Statutes c. As his giving a good Example is a likely way to procure a due regard to his Office to maintain his Authority and with the Exercise of it to reform Others so on the contrary his giving a bad Example is as effectual a course to teach others to break the Laws and to bring a Contempt upon his Office and the Government it self as can easily be thought of I needed not to have been thus long upon this Head of Example and particularly the malignant Influence of the bad Examples of Magistrates and great Men if most Ages did not abound with such unhappy Instances and if this Nation in particular had not felt so much the fatal Effects of them as may be some Excuse for my insisting on it But to go on Besides the Mischief that is done by the vicious Examples of Magistrates With what Reason can we expect that those that make no Conscience to break the Laws should diligently and conscientiously Execute the Laws upon others And supposing such Magistrates should sometimes either out of a fear of the Inspection of the Government into their Behaviour in the Reign of a Prince that is zealous in the Discouraging of Vice or out of a desire of keeping up their Reputation with better Men be sometimes inclined to punish such Offences in others as they are themselves guilty of consciousness of their own Faults will when they act upon no better and firmer Principles deprive them of Courage and be very apt upon many Occasions to draw them back from the Punishing of others especially when the Offenders are either their Superiors or Equals whereas the Law knows no respect of Persons and they whose Business it is to Execute it must do it without Distinction or Partiality Their Commission tells them that they are to chastise and punish all Persons in the said County offending And can any that consider this That we live under a Christian Government and that the Apostle acquaints us That the Magistrate is the Minister of God for Good That he beareth Rom. 13. 3. Ver. 4. not the Sword in vain Is a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that does Evil and that Christians shou'd have a far greater Concern for the Honour of God than for the Honour of their Prince their own Reputation or Estates but think that the Laws that relate to Piety and Virtue are to be chiefly regarded by the Magistrate that his principal Care should be applied to the restraining Men even those of the highest Rank from openly breaking those Laws by a strict and impartial Execution of them since the Reasonableness of the Punishing of Men for the Violations of Religion seems to have been evident by the Light of Nature It being I think a just Observation which I have somewhere met with of a Heathen Philosopher That tho' several Nations do appoint several Punishments for the Violation of Religion yet it does not in any Country go wholly unpunished No Mens Quality ought to shelter them from Punishment in this Case Even Privilege of Parliament does not give those who are allowed it for the Service of their Country the mischievous Liberty to trample upon the Laws of God and their Country nor will excuse Magistrates from acting according to their Oaths in these Matters Charity and good Manners would forbid us if such a Case had never been heard of or was like to happen to suppose that this Privilege should ever be pretended on such an Occasion by any one of those Bodies who as they * Receptumque omnium pene Gentium temporumque memoria ut ad legum latarum observantiam invitarentur inferioris sortis homines exemplo potentum qui primi eas custodire cogebantur praesertim illi ipsi qui eas tulissent Tit. Liv. 3. Decad. lib. 8. Magistratus Gubernatores Regesque obediunt quoque ipsi legibus id est rectae rationi Diodorus Siculus Si quid injungere inferiori velis prius in te ac tuos recipias necesse est si ipse jus statueris quo faciliùs omnes obedientes habeas Val. Max. lib. 8. cap 6. Tit. 3. Cum leges praescripsisti aliis praescripsisti tibi leges enim Imperator fert quas ipse custodiat Praeceptum salubre Pittaci sapientis apud Ausonium Pareto legi quisque legem sanxeris make Laws against Debauchery and Prophaneness ought likewise to endeavour by their own Exemplary Behaviour to promote Piety and good Manners to give Laws of Civility to the rest of the Nation and to add That if these things do happen good Magistrates 't is to be hoped will act as become them And there is I think no doubt but the bringing to legal Punishment a Man of Title or Authority that makes use of his Power or Interest to be more vicious and to do greater Mischief to the World than others is a greater Service to Religion and our Country and more highly honourable among Men than the Punishing of a private Person perhaps than many poor Creatures who as hath been long observed generally suffer the Extremity of the Law for such Offences as their Necessities are a Temptation to them tho' not a Reason for them to commit when great Men that cheat whole Provinces and bid defiance to Sacred things go unpunished if they are not rewarded * Si
quis convictus furti esset apud Locrenses effodiebantur ei oculi Contigit autem ut Zaleuci filius furti reus convitiaretur cui quum Locrenses poenam remitterent non tulit id pater sed sibi unum filio alterum voluit erui oculum Legem quandam Tenediis tulit Tennes quâ licebat Adulterum deprehensum securi necare Quum itaque silius ejus esset captus interrogante regem qui coeperat Quid ei faciendum Respondebat Lege utendum quapropter nummo ejus ab una parte securis excusa ab altera facies viri mulieris uno collo juncta If History can tell us of Heathens that could do and suffer so much for the Maintenance of the Laws of their Country shall it be supposed that the Fear of disobliging a Man of Interest that hath a swelling Title one that is I doubt improperly called a Man of Honour who affronts and contemns Religion should keep Christian Magistrates from Executing the Laws of their Country that are made for the Support of Religion and to which they are Sworn And yet as unworthy and unaccountable as such a Behaviour may appear to be even by the Light of Nature it were well if for the Honour of Christian Magistrates nay even of Humane Nature that it could be denied †Pudet haec opprobria nobis dici potuisse non potuisse refelli that many I am unwilling to say most of the Magistrates in the late Reigns lived and died with their Commissions without putting any one of the Laws that our more virtuous Ancestors had left us against Prophaneness and Debauchery in Execution which some of the worthy Magistrates of this Reign making a Conscience of Discharging the Oaths they have taken and the Trust that is reposed in them by their Personal Watchfulnss and Diligence as well as by their giving due Encouragement to those who without having Oaths to oblige them or Rewards to encourage them bring them Informations of the Breaches of those Laws which were grown almost obsolete and useless have to their great Honour so successfully done with such Opposition and Difficulty and not only with greater Clamour from hardned Offenders but with more Reflection from too many others than they might have met with if they had been breaking them in the most impudent manner had been making Attempts to destroy them To prevent therefore for the future the Mischief that this Nation may otherwise fall under as it hath done by the Vnfaithfulness of Magistrates it may deserve Consideration whether it would not be highly advisable that * Cogunt eos qui Magistratu abierint apud Censores edere exprimere quid in Magistratu gesserint Gothofredus de duodecim Tabularum Fragmentis p. 66 67. as we are told the Romans for this reason ordered their Magistrates to give an Account of their Diligence for the Maintenance of the Laws to their †Censorum Officium erat describere facultates cujusque Civis observare singulorum hominum mores vitam tollere quoque omnia quae probitati morum pestem perniciem illatura videbantur Rosinus de Antiquitatibus Romanis fol. 520 Censores mores populi regunto Haec detur cura Censoribus quandoquidem eos in Republica semper volumus esse Cicero de Legibus fol. 340. Censors a chief part of whose Office it was to look to a Reformation of Manners and as our Magistrates are by the late Act of Parliament against Swearing and Cursing required to keep Lists of those Persons that they have convicted of those Offences and to return them to the Sessions our Magistrates should be likewise further obliged to bring in to our Judges of Assize or to the Quarter-Sessions Lists of such as they have convicted upon all the Statutes against Prophaneness and Debauchery which Method will I humbly conceive not only be effectual for the quickening the Diligence of Magistrates but give a just Terror to Offenders and will afford the Government a means of knowing what Magistrates are Unfaithful in their Office and deserve Discountenance and Punishment and on the contrary who they are that most Honourably discharge their Trusts do the greatest Service to their Country and deserve the highest Regard from it * His autem duobus praemiis poena salus Reipublicae quamplurimum continetur And can any unless they are faithful and zealous Ministers of the Gospel be supposed to deserve more Respect than those Magistrates that conscientiously apply themselves to the Suppressing of Vice and Prophaneness and to the Promoting of Religion As the doing of this is I conceive the greatest Benefit of Magistracy and may be supposed as hath been shewn to be a great End for which it was appointed so it can't I think be doubted but God's Blessing may attend his Ordinance the Magistrates zealous and united Endeavours for this purpose so that they may succeed to the Spiritual good of particular Persons as well as to the good of the Publick that as Afflictions are often sent by Him to awaken Men out of their Lethargy in their vicious Courses and in the nature of them tend to that end the legal Corrections of Offenders which may be looked on as Afflictions may with God's Blessing work the same happy Effect upon them and the rather since they are the immediate and sensible Effects of their Sins and of this we are told there hath been so many happy Instances since the beginning of these Transactions as may be sufficient without other Considerations to encourage the Magistrates Diligence But when this fails of the desired Success upon particular Persons yet it is a vast Advantage to the Cause of Religion in general to keep the Multitude by the strict and exemplary Punishment of some Offenders from the publick Commission of such Scandalous Sins as wast the Conscience affront Religion and directly tend to bring it into Contempt that as the Scripture expresses it All Israel may hear and fear Deut. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do no more any such Wickedness For considering the Original Corruption of our Nature which is generally more depraved by our Education in a degenerate Age that being thus depraved and weakned we find it no very easie work to resist Temptations to Sins to which we have either habituated our selves or have a natural propensity when they are naked and alone and that 't is much more difficult to encounter those Sins when Temptations to them are made stronger by the bad and eminent Examples which are almost every-where to be seen in our Commerce with the World there being but few that we meet with that do not recommend one Vice or other by their Example to our Imitation and which is I think still worse most of those not such as profess themselves Enemies of Religion but that pretend themselves Christians entertain hopes of receiving the Benefits of Religion and attend its Ordinances with Allowance as often as they think it for
their Interest or Reputation to do so considering I say these things have we not great reason to fear that most Men will continue to go over to the major Party that triumph in Wickedness and that few will have the Courage and Bravery to join with the lesser and too much despised Party of Virtue to go against the Stream of a Debauched Age which for ought I can see there is greater likelihood that it should still grow more strong and furious than that it should abate till frequent and publick Examples of Vice are taken out of publick View by either the Execution of our Civil Laws or by the Revival of the ancient Discipline of the Church Seneca could it seems observe That it was enough to shake the Resolution of a Socrates or a Cato to bear up against and stem Vice when it becomes so general and fashionable that it presses upon us with a kind of publick Authority And tho' Christians have a clearer Revelation than those Heathens had of their Duty higher Obligations nobler Motives and greater Assistances to perform it yet I conceive our Religion does not teach us nor our own Experience of Humane Frailty does not encourage us to make the way to our Duty and Happiness as difficult as we can 'T is true as may be objected that Men are by no means to be supposed Religious who are restrained from their Vices only by sense of Shame or fear of Humane Punishment but yet they must be thought to be in a much fairer way of being so under those Restraints than they would be without them By their being kept by Humane Laws from an Indulgence of their vicious Inclinations they may in time find the Pleasure and the Advantage of the Restraint And bad Examples that abound in most places which I take to be the great Occasion of Sin being by this means taken away Vice will become Scandalous and Virtue will be in proportion esteemed fashionable and thus I think very great Points are gained For when Men that are vicious in their Inclinations and even those that are grown old in Sensuality see that Religion gives Men that Esteem and Advantage as Debauchery and Irreligion hath done within our Memory and they find that the Stream is turned and bears hard against them that they cannot commit their Disorders with Impunity nor without Shame and moreover Temptations to them are very much taken out of the way then they will take some pains to be Virtuous at least to appear in the Dress of Virtue then may we expect that such Men will begin to enquire into the Nature and Reasons of Religion and when they find by a sober Advertence to its Proposals which they will now make without Prejudice and by some Experience they will have of the happy Effects of it by their endeavouring to imitate it that it prohibits us those things that would be most highly injurious to us and allows a Satisfaction to our rational Appetites that it hath such Excellencies as out-bid and put out of countenance all the Advantages that the World can offer that it fortifies us against the cross Occurrences and Calamities the Changes and Storms of Life and the Fears of Death disarms it of its Stings and Terrours to say no more that it silences the bitter Remonstrances and stinging Reproaches of Conscience delivers us from Plagues and Fears Confusion and Sorrow from the tormenting Guilt and the cruel Usurpation and Outrages of our Lusts and Passions and gives us in Exchange the noble Pleasure of the Victory over our selves who are our worst Masters the Joys of Innocence the Triumphs of a good Conscience and the Extasies of Heavenly Hopes and directs us to the Regions of Bliss to Joys unspeakable and everlasting Then may it be that the good Dispositions which we may call the Seeds of Virtue which seemed before as it were choak'd in some with ill Habits may be awakened and revive and that others who had some weak Inclinations to Religion but had not strength enough to bear the Contempt that now too often if not generally attends the sincere Practice of it to go in an untrodden way against the Tyranny of Custom and Example will take courage Then may we hope to see Virtue that hath been so long slighted and oppressed drawn out of its Obscurity delivered from that Contempt which the Prevalency and Insolence of Sin hath flung upon it and imbittered it be admired embraced and enthroned So that the Magistrates taking away out of publick View Examples of Prophaneness and Debauchery by a strict Execution of the Laws seems as proper if not as necessary a means for the keeping of Vice from the further spreading its Contagion and the retrieving of Virtue as the preventing of those that have the Plague upon them from mixing with those that are not infected and shutting of them up is necessary to the stopping the Raging of that Distemper and as it is not to be doubted that where those that have the Plague visibly upon them are allowed to converse promiscuously with the Sound even to walk publickly in the Streets it must be a certain sign that the Distemper is Epidemical that there is little hopes of putting a stop to it or that those whose proper Business it is to shut up and take care of the Diseased are themselves infected with the Distemper so it must in like manner be thought to be when there is no care taken of the moral Diseases of a State when publick Prophaneness and Vice not only go unpunished by the Magistrate but are triumphant From hence therefore 't is evident that such Magistrates as diligently discharge their Office are not only instrumental in doing good to particular Persons but to the Publick and may be so of a General Reformation and do therein what we have ground to believe is highly acceptable to God for thus saith God by the Prophet Them that honour me 1 Sam. â— 30. I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed And accordingly we are told in the Holy Scriptures how acceptable to God the Zeal of Phinehas was in Executing of Judgment upon Zimri and Cosbi Behold I give unto him my Covenant Numb 25. 12 13. of Peace and he shall have it and his Seed after him even the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood because he was Zealous for his God c. And the Psalmist Psal 106. 31. tells us That it was accounted to him for Righteousness unto all Generations for evermore But now since His Majesty's late Proclamation and the Address of the House of Commons to His Majesty do not only give us too great reason to fear that all Magistrates will not duly consider this as they ought but plainly tell our Magistrates That their Negligence and Vnfaithfulness in their Office is the great Cause of the Debauchery and Prophaneness of the Kingdom It may not be indecent or improper in this place to shew in some Instances
how Magistrates may be liable to this Imputation And first such Magistrates as can take such Solemn Oaths and accept of such Trusts without any serious Intention to discharge them who tho' they are not vicious themselves can observe without any concern the Breaches of God's Laws nay in the course of many Years do not exercise their Authority by any one single act for the Punishing and Suppressing of the horrid Indignities that are daringly and almost in all Places offered to the Great GOD of Heaven and Earth at the same time that they are very sensible of and do highly resent any Affronts that are offered their Prince and even their own Persons Or those that are so wonderfully gentle and flexible so over run with Pity that they can discharge Impious and Debauched Wretches upon any common Pre-tences their Cries or Complaints or the scandalous Intercessions of their powerful Advocates tho' frequently brought before them and often with great difficulty by faithful Officers or zealous Informers As the inflicting of Punishment on such Offenders is what Magistrates are strictly obliged to and is moreover what a just Compassion to Criminals and the Community do loudly call for So on the contrary this Gentleness to them which I have described is a great Injustice and may I think be reckoned among those Mercies that Solomon tells us are cruel * Sicut est misericoâ—â—a puniens ita est crudclitaâ— parcens It must at first naming appear to thinking Men a foolish and criminal Pity a great Cruelty to the Offenders themselves and the Community To the Offenders themselves who by being suffered to pass unpunished in their wicked Courses generally go on frequently grow obstinate in them and often bring on themselves with the Permission or by the Judgment of God far greater Sufferings in this World than the legal Punishment of them would have amounted to the Ruine of their Estates Families Health a sudden or a scandalous Death by publick Justice and without Repentance Everlasting Destruction in the World to come all which the timely and wholesome Punishment of them by the Magistrate might have been a means of preventing * Clementiores Iege judices esse non oportet But this Gentleness is a Cruelty and great Injustice to the Community for hereby publick Justice is obstructed and triumph'd over Magistracy is despised the †Government it self is disparaged Legum ac Magistratuum contemptum sequuntur populi seditiosae voces adversus Principes ipsos conjurationes ac defectiones Bodin Rep. Lib. 3. c. 1. and weakned National Guilt which calls for National Punishment is contracted those that are either already actually vicious or that have vicious Inclinations are encouraged to continue or to engage in ill Courses which the Body of the People groan under the sad Effects of by the continual Sufferings of one kind or other that are by this means brought upon them And thus other Mens Sins seem to be made in some sense the Sins of Magistrates according to that known Saying That he that permits Offences to be committed which he hath Power and Opportunity to prevent doth in some sort command them to be done or in Scripture-phrase Magistrates hereby seem to be Partakers in others Sins Out of a sense whereof a former Prince of this Nation is reported to have said upon his hearing that a Person whom he had pardoned for one Murther against the express Word of God had committed another That he himself Murthered the second Gen. 9. 6. Person by Pardoning the Offender for his first Offence Such Magistrates then as these are plainly accessory to the Debauchery of the Nation as in the next place those must be thought to have been if there hath been any such who have been so far from applying themselves as their Oaths oblige them to the Execution of the Laws against Prophaneness and Vice that they have used their Skill and Diligence to discourage and hinder those of their own Body in doing their Duty who have had the Honesty and Zeal to discharge it by making it troublesome and difficult to them by mustering up upon Occasion fallacious Arguments even the common Excuses of Criminals against their Prosecution and Punishment As for Instance If they should have urged against the Punishing of Men for Swearing and Cursing that 't is too severe to make Men Examples for Words which tho' they should not be used may fall from them unawares without an ill Intention and without Injury no Man being supposed to be the worse for another Man 's Prophanely wishing him Damnation and if Men are accustomed to such Language or likewise to Drunkenness or Lewdness 't is difficult to break Habits especially of such Vices to which we have Temptations from our corrupt Nature and therefore to punish Gentlemen for these Offences seems to be ill Breeding as well as Severity and to tend moreover to the destroying of Conversation and to the making of Life an insipid thing and to execute the Laws against Vice and Prophaneness upon Men of an inserior Rank is to disable them to pay Taxes for the Support of the Government the Restraining more especially of some of them from frequenting of Ale-Houses and Taverns on the Lord's-Day and others of them from the Permitting of Tipling in those Houses is the direct way to lessen His Majesty's Revenue arising by Excise c. If such Arguments as these should have been made use of by Magistrates in this or in the former Reigns to obstruct the Suppression of these Enormities it will be readily confessed by Men of any virtuous Principles That such Men plainly fall under the Charge of being a great Cause of the Debauchery of the Nation But having been led besides my Intention to name these fallacious and scandalous Arguments and particularly the last and most specious of them that concerns the Excise I ask leave of my Reader lest we should have any such Men among us as should be so over-run with Concern for the Supplies of the Government as to have little or no Concern for their Duty to their God or Regard to his Providence over-ruling Kingdoms and should not therefore be sensible of either the Impiety or Absurdity of these Arguments to put such in mind That if the poorer sort of Men are allowed to spend all or a great part of their Money in Taverns and Ale-Houses they will not be in a very good Condition to maintain their Families or to pay Taxes which such Men are upon this Occasion I doubt chiefly concerned about or that if Men of a Superior Rank have Money enough to maintain their Families and discharge their other Obligations and to spare and they have no better Inclinations than to carry it to those Houses they have time enough to spend it in them on the other six days of the Week without doing it upon the Lord's-Day to the Neglect of their Duty to their Families and the manifest Danger of the Ruine of
their own Souls or that lastly if a considerable Number of such Houses many of which are Stews or Receptacles for High-way-Men Coiners and Pick-Pockets were suppressed as they ought to be by Law we should therein act agreeably to the common Reason of Mankind as well as to the Wisdom of our Ancestors who from a sense of the great Mischief that is done the Publick by suffering an unnecessary Number of Publick Houses the true and reasonable Design and Uses whereof are as is observed in the Preamble of one of our Statutes for the Entertainment 1 Jac. Reg. cap. 9. of Travellers and for the Convenience of Day-Labourers and poorer Persons and not for a Refuge for idle and vicious People thought it necessary to discourage the Encrease and to restrain the excessive Number of them by the Laws made for this purpose If this I say was 11 Hen. 7. cap. 2. 5 6 Ed. 6. cap. 25. now done there would be enough left as might be sufficient not only to answer the reasonable Uses of them but to ruine as 't is not I think to be doubted they actually do many more Families than are supported by them and the Persons that keep such disorderly Houses as they might be much more honestly employed so more usefully to the Publick in some other way of Living than in this Employment which seems above most others destructive to it From a Consideration whereof we may suppose it was that our late Gracious Queen in the Absence of the King did signifie by the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellour of England to the Justices of Middlesex whom his Lordship ordered to wait on him upon this Occasion as by their printed Order made in pursuance of it may appear That it was Her Majesty's Pleasure that they should use their utmost Diligence to prevent the Frequenting of Ale-Houses and Taverns on the Lord's-Day as well out of time of Divine Service as in by putting the Laws made against Tipling 1 Jac. c. 9. 1 Jac. c. 4. 21 Jac. c. 7. 1 Car. c. 4. 4 Jac. c. 5. in those Houses in strict Execution which they are since put in mind of by His Majesty's late Proclamation But such Objections as these have so little appearance of common sense and less of a good meaning in them that they do not deserve a more particular Confutation and as they serve as well for the not Punishing Perjury Bribery c. so they would be with much more Decency offered and one would hope sooner to hear of them urged under a Heathen Government than in a Protestant Country and especially under the Reign of a Prince that hath declared that he desires his Government should be supported by the Virtues and not the Vices of his People If therefore such Arguments as these should be used in this Reign especially by Magistrates What an Indignity would thereby be offered to the King and to the Nation His Majesty hath not surely gone through so many Years Fatigues and exposed Himself to so many Personal Dangers by Land and Sea and the Nation hath not lost so much Blood and spent so many Millions for the securing of our Liberties and the obtaining a Peace with our Neighbours that bad Men may have the Liberty to Blaspheme the God of Heaven and by their crying Sins to provoke Him to destroy us to fling Contempt upon Religion and insult over our Laws and to ruine us as well as themselves under the false and scandalous Pretences that we shall be by their Impunity the better enabled to pay off the Debt that is upon the Nation that His Majesty's Revenue will be encreased by the Encrease of Drunkenness Prophanation of the Lord's-Day c. If we should have any Magistrates who should thus wildly argue to hinder the Prosecution of such Offenders and if this Frenzy should thereby prevail What an infatuated Nation must we be thought to be But supposing that we are not in danger of Magistrates especially in this Reign that shall thus abuse their Authority to the vilest Purposes by making it a Covert for acting the basest things what shall we think in the next place of such Magistrates if we should have any of them who when their Commission tells them that they are to keep the Laws as well as cause them to be kept should frequently and openly break them by whose bad Examples Multitudes may be led into vicious Courses or confirmed in them and by it and their Unfaithfulness in their Office which I take to be generally a Consequence of the other a Nation may be drawn into Ruine instead of being reformed by them May not such Magistrates be justly charged with being a great Cruse of the Debauchery of the Nation And what a load of Guilt must thereby lie upon them Unhappy Men that when they have so many Sins of their own they will by this means contract so terrible an Addition to them History may I think tell them of more than one Vnfaithful Magistrate who have been flea'd and whose Skins have serv'd to cover the Bench or Place where they sate But what is this Punishment to that which an Vnfaithful Magistrate hath reason to fear in the next World tho' he meets with none in this Supposing then from His Majesty's Proclamation and the Address of the late House of Commons that there may have been within our Memory some such Magistrates as these does it not behove such Men speedily to lay to heart the dreadful Sin of their having been Promoters of the Devil's Kingdom and of publick Ruine And I need not surely tell them that 't is not enough for them to be sensible of their Guilt and Danger to be sorry for the great Mischief they have done their Country without heartily endeavouring as they have opportunity to retrieve it by their future Diligence and contrary Behaviour The Nature of distributive Justice which their Office acquaints them with requires a Man to repair the Injuries he has done to any This is so stated a Rule among Divines in the various kinds of known and wilful Injuries we may do to the Souls and Bodies Estates and Reputation of our Neighbours and is so generally acknowledged that I shall not labour to prove it If then 't is allow'd that all sorts of wilful Injuries that we do our Neighbours without Repentance for them expose us to the Justice of God and that our Repentance is not in ordinary Cases reckoned sound and compleat unless we endeavour when it is in our power to repair the Injuries we have done Can such Men be imagined so blindly partial to themselves as not to think when they have publickly dishonoured God have drawn by their wicked Examples Numbers of Men into Sin or confirmed 'em in it have made use of their Authority to patronize Vice and perhaps to discredit and oppose just Endeavours of Reformation in Contempt of their Oaths and Trusts and have thereby done so much Injury to a Kingdom that they
Civitatum guto Cic. de Leg. p. 336. instead of being Patrons of Religion help to debauch those about them and ruine their Country Inferior Officers are likewise obliged by their Oaths as well as by the Design of their Offices to be diligent in bringing Offenders to Punishment and therefore they are highly criminal if they are negligent therein The Constable's Oath tells him That he is to use his Endeavour that Night-walkers be apprehended To see that the Statutes made for punishing Vagabonds and such idle Persons coming within his Bounds and Limits be duly put in Execution To have a watchful Eye to such Persons as shall maintain or keep any Common House or Place where any unlawful Game is or shall be used as also to such as shall frequent or use such Places or shall use or exercise any unlawful Games there or elsewhere contrary to the Statutes To present at the Assizes Sessions of the Peace or Leet all and every the Offences done contrary to the Statutes made to restrain the inordinate haunting and tipling in Inns Ale-houses and other Victualling-houses and for Repressing of Drunkenness and that he is well and duly according to his Knâ—wledge Power and Ability to do and execute all other things belonging to a Constable's Office Whoever therefore they be that undertake this Office and wink at Offenders or do not endeavour to bring them to Punishment would do well to consider how they can be acquitted from Perjury but how much clearer is their Fault if they neglect or refuse to serve those Warrants which are brought to them against Swearers Drunkards Lewd Persons and Prophaners of the Lord's-Day or to levy the several Forfeitures for those Offences as too many Constables Headboroughs Overseers and Church Wardens have done which the Commission of a Justice of the Dalt p. 18. c. 5. Peace tells him he is to inquire after Their Guilt is of the same Nature with that of those Justices who discourage Informations and refuse to sign Warrants against such Offenders whereby besides all other Aggravations of their Sin before-mention'd they hinder the Poor of that Relief which the Law gives them out of the Penalties upon those Statutes which in some Cases may happen to be the depriving them of their Lives * Panis Pauperum est vita eorum qui fraudat eos est vir sanguinis and ought to be a dreadful Consideration to those that have the Guilt of it upon them the Poor having as good and undoubted a Right to these Forfeitures vested in them by Law as any Man hath to his own Estate I have said so much of the Constable's Duty that there is the less need of my adding much of the Church Warden's Sidesman's and other Inferior Officers Obligations in this respect which fall in with that of the Constable's The Church-Warden's and Sidesmen's Oath does not run in the same terms in all Diocesses though their Office is I suppose much the same in most if not all The Tenor of the Church-Warden's and Sidesmen's Oath in the Diocess of London is as follows You shall Swear truly and faithfully to execute the Office of a Church-Warden within your Parish and according to the best of your Skill and Knowledge present such Things and Persons as you know to be presentable by the Laws Ecclesiastical of the Realm And one of the Articles of Enquiry exhibited to the Ministers Church-Wardens and Sidesmen of every Parish runs thus Are any of your Parish known or suspected to be guilty of Incest Adultery Fornication or any other Enormous Crimes Do any Prophane the Lord's-Day or any other great Holy-day or the Name of GOD And if the Church-Wardens and Sidesmen neglect to Present the Ministers are told That they may and ought to present as they have the highest Obligations to suppress Iniquity From hence 't is plain That the Power of Inferior Officers as well as that of Magistrates is great and would have a very remarkable Effect for the Suppressing of publick Disorders if it was generally used and might with God's Blessing go very far towards a National Reformation with the Assistance of the Magistrate if private Persons would but do as I conceive becomes them in giving Informations against Swearers Drunkards Lewd Persons and Prophaners of the Lord's Day to the Magistrate which shall be my next Business to recommend to the Consideration of all that have a Love to God their Neighbour or their Country It hath been proved That the Execution of Good Laws is requisite in our present Circumstances for the Suppressing of Vice and the Effecting a Reformation of Manners but Magistrates cannot put the Laws in Execution against Offenders without they have the Knowledge of the Offences And they cannot be present at all Places to observe them tho' they have either such a Sense of their Duty or so pious a Concern to do all the good they can in their Office as frequently to take their Walks to observe Disorders as divers of the worthy Magistrates have here done in the several Quarters of the County in which they live and in embracing all Opportunities of using their Authority for the Suppressing them And those Offences that are deeds of Darkness it may be hoped for the Honour of our Magistrates are not now generally and knowingly committed before them One would think that the Presence of a Magistrate should have such an Awe upon ill Men that they should not dare to transgress before him That he should resent it as a high Affront to him if a Person of the highest Rank should discover so base an Opinion of him as to expect that he should be content to break his Oath to suffer him upon the Account of his Quality to go unpunished for any Offence of this kind committed before him It is certainly much so where Magistrates have a just Sense of Honour or are as Zealous and Faithful in the Discharge of their Office as they ought But the less this may reasonably be hoped from all Magistrates at this day there appears I am sure the more reason or rather necessity for private Persons applying themselves to this Business of giving Informations to them of our reigning Sins without which it is not reasonably to be expected that Offenders will be generally brought to Punishment especially in Cities and Corporations where it may be presumed without Uncharitableness that many are daily either publickly or privately breaking the Laws against Prophaneness and Immorality Thus then our giving of Informations of these Offences to the Magistrate seems absolutely necessary in our present Circumstances as we heartily desire or expect the Suppression of Prophaneness and Vice by Humane Laws And I desire those who would be informed whether there is any Direction or Example for this Practice from the Word of God to consider the following Texts of Scripture If there be found Deut. 17. 2. among you within any of thy Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee Man or
Woman that hath wrought Wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God in transgressing his Covenant And he hath gone and served other Ver. 3. Ver. 4. Gods and worshipped them And it be told thee and thou hast heard of it and enquired diligently and behold it be true and the thing certain that such Abomination is wrought in Israel Then shalt thou bring Ver. 5. forth that Man or that Woman which hath committed that Wicked thing unto thy Gates even that Man or that Woman and shalt stone them with Stones till they die And the Israelitish Woman's Son Blasphemed Lev. 24. 11. the Name of the Lord and Cursed and they brought him unto Moses And the Ver. 13. Lord spake unto Moses saying Bring forth Ver. 14. him that hath Cursed without the Camp and let all that heard him lay their Hands upon his Head and let all the Congregation stone him Now when these things were Ezra 9. 1. done the Princes came to me saying The People of Israel and the Priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the People of the Lands doing according to their Abominations c. And if he neglect Matt. 18. 17. to hear them tell it to the Church Nay they would do well to consider in how many Instances under the Jewish Dispensation those who saw or were acquainted with such Offences were positively commanded to be Witnesses or Informers against the Persons who committed them tho' they were their nearest Relations Thus If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother Deut. 13. 6. or thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul entice thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other Gods Thou Ver. 8. shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him neither shall thine Eye pity him neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him But thou shalt surely kill him Ver. 9. thine Hand shall be first upon him to put him to Death and afterwards the Hand of all the People And all Israel shall hear Ver. 11. and fear and shall do no more any such Wickedness as this is among you Now tho' this Method of giving Informations to the Magistrate against prophane and vicious Persons may appear to unthinking People to carry Severity in it I shall endeavour to shew that it may be lookt on as a comprehensive Branch of Charity and a Religious Office when 't is performed as other good Acts should be with pure Intentions upon proper Occasions and in a Christian Temper It is in the first place a great Kindness to the Poor the Money that is raised by Convictions upon these Statutes against Prophaneness and Vice being by Law given to them whereby they have in Fact had for several Years past in London and Westminster a considerable Supply in the times of their great Distress and the Burthen of the Provision for them that hath lain so heavy on Parishes hath been eased So that this Office if there was no other Reason for it one would think should be agreeable to Men of Charity to those especially whose Circumstances will not permit them to give such Assistance to the Poor as they could otherwise wish the Good of our poor Neighbour being hereby promoted by the same Act that prevents God's Dishonour But the giving of Informations against Offenders will I conceive be found upon an impartial Enquiry to be a real Act of Charity even towards the Persons offending and to the Publick as well as to those who are relieved by the Penalties levied upon them 'T is universally acknowledged that we are not only to apply our selves to the working out our own Salvation but that we are to be concern'd for the Salvation of one anothers Souls and to endeavour to further it according to our Advantages and Opportunities and that this Care is an Expression of great Charity to our Neighbour and highly acceptable to Almighty God For we are told That he Jam 5. 20. which converteth a Sinner from the Errour of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins and that they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Dan. 12. 3. Stars for ever and ever * Jam. 5. 16. 1 Tim 2. 1. Heb. 3. 13. Rom. 15. 14. 2 Thess 3. 15. Eph. 5. 11. Mat. 5. 16. Prayer Exhortation Admonition Reproof and good Example are all proper means for this end and are plainly inculcated in the Word of God but when there is but little or no hope of our Neighbour's Amendment by the use of such means as I conceive there often is where the Offender is so impudent and hardned that he despises Counsel and Reproof or they make no sort of good Impression upon him but he rather takes an Occasion to commit the more Sin by falling into Passion or other Unchristian Irregularities and he bids defiance to all other means as he too often does when he is so far from being ashamed of his Wickedness that he values himself upon it and makes a Mock at Sin as Solomon â—â—ov 14. 9. tells us Fools do that he calls upon his Maker to damn him or he otherwise glories in his Shame And our Saviour's Direction takes place of not casting of Pearls Matt. 7. 6. before Swine And we have lastly little or no reason to expect any help or redress in this case from the Ecclesiastical Power by telling his Offences to the Church Is it not an Act of Charity to try what the bringing the Offender to a legal Correction will do towards the recovering the poor Captive out of the Snare of the Devil and bringing him to a right mind And does not the neglect of doing this the suffering him to go on in his wicked Courses to the manifest danger of the ruin of his Temporal and Eternal Interest rather than the bringing him to wholsome Punishment seem rather an Argument of foolish Pity than of Love of a cruel and treacherous Fondness than real Kindness We do not think it an expression of Kindness to our dearest Relations that are lying under dangerous Distempers to chuse rather to see them quietly die than to use Medicines that will give them more Pain and Disturbance but are proper for the Recovering them And it is not the less Kindness to them because in their desperate and delirous Fits they have not a Sence of the Good we intend them by it but refuse the Remedy and perhaps fly in the Face of the Physician nay when Incisions are necessary when a Member is to be cut off to prevent a Gangreen we tie them down and their Cries and Reproaches of hardship and ill usage though they are in their Senses do not hinder the Operation And have we not so much Compassion for those miserable Creatures who have little or no true Compassion for themselves that lie under the Lethargy of Sin whereby their
Souls are in so great and evident danger of being for ever lost to endeavour by the Magistrates Punishment of them to scarifie and awaken them out of their deadly Sleep to a Sense of their dangerous Condition and the Consideration of it which may have its beginning in the Fear of the Law that they are driven to by the Shame and Punishment that is thereby brought upon them may be a means of working the happiest Effects may end in their heartily embracing wholsome Counsels And will not they then think that they that brought them to legal Correction did them a Kindness how grievous soever it was to them when it was upon them and that it was happy for them that they met with that Punishment that led them to Wisdom and when this Method for the good of our Neighbour's Soul fails we may as after the use of other proper means for the Cure of his Body though without Effect reasonably give our selves some satisfaction upon this Consideration alone But in the next place this Practice is however a high Service to the Community for Religion being every Man 's great Interest every one's Work or Duty * Religio contaminata ad omnium pertinet Injuriam the Community according to the Sense of the Civil Law is injured by the Contempt that is flung upon it by the open Affronts and Violations of it which every Man as in a common Cause is therefore concerned to prevent Now the Exemplary Punishment of open Offenders is the proper way as Reason and Experience may convince us to repress publick Vice and Prophaneness to keep the Generality from it and to prevent God's Dishonour It is I conceive one way moreover to keep us from being Partakers in other Men's Sins and to take away National Guilt for a Nation may then be supposed to contract publick Guilt when Wickedness is publick and insolent when the Supreme or Subordinate Magistrates and Ministers do by their own ill Examples and by their not Exercising their Power or Authority countenance and confirm Men in it and the Body of the People have no concern for the Suppressing of it But a Nation is not thought to draw upon it that publick Guilt which calls for National Punishment by the private Sins of particular Persons which could not be prevented by either the Magistrates Ministers or the Peoples Care and Endeavours much of which seem to be intimated to us as from other Texts of Scripture so particularly from these following The hands of the Witnesses shall Deut. 17. 7. be first upon him to put him to Death and afterward the hands of all the People So thou shalt put the Evil away from among you And all the People shall hear and fear and do Ver. 13. Deut. 21. 19. no more presumptuously Then shall his Father and his Mother lay hold on him and bring him unto the Elders of his City and unto the Gate of his Place And they shall say unto the Ver. 20. Elders of his City This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our Voice he is a Glutton and a Drunkard And all the Men of Ver. 21. his City shall stone him with Stones that he die So shalt thou put Evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear Where we may observe that for the suppressing of Sin and the preventing of publick Guilt even Parents were commanded to bring their own Children to be punished with Death if after they were corrected by them for Gluttony and Drunkenness c. they were not amended by it If then the Punishment of Offenders by the Execution of the Laws against Debauchery and Prophaneness is necessary to the Suppressing of Vice and those Laws will not be generally Executed unless Persons acquaint Magistrates with the Breaches of them if those that do so exercise Charity to the Souls of the Offenders take a proper course thereby to avoid a Participation in their Guilt to make a Provision for the Wants of the Poor to promote a general Reformation of Manners to remove National Guilt and prevent God's Judgments falling upon the Body of a People can any wise and good Men that duly consider these things conclude that they that zealously and upon proper occasions give informations to the Magistrates of the crying Enormities of this Kingdom do that which is not agreeable to their Profession as becomes Christians or as good Members of the Community nay that considering our present circumstances that there is so little probability that a general Reformation of Manners will be carried on without it whether they are not almost if not altogether as necessary for this purpose as our Statute-Book I was like to have said as even our Magistracy And then lastly can any wise and unprejudiced Men think that such serviceable Persons as these that often expose themselves to Inconveniencies in discharging this Office for Conscience-sake which may be perhaps the most difficult and invidious and therefore a highly honourable part in this arduous work of Reformation do not deserve great respect and good words at least from those who tho' they have just thoughts of the Reasonableness and Necessity of it have not Zeal enough themselves to discharge it and the good words that are given them and the respect that is paid them upon this account may in many cases be a means of furthering this work which are such cheap and safe things that 't is to be hoped they will not be thought too much to be afforded by the most faint-hearted Christian that is willing to contribute any Endeavours towards it which it may be expected those that deserve the Name of Christians will For though those brave Men are thus willing to expose themselves often to reproach and hardships from bad Men for such noble purposes it will I think notwithstanding considering the infirmities of Humane nature and the wickedness of this Nation be our Prudence and Religion to endeavour by all proper methods to prevent their being put too much upon the tryal of Sufferings from profligate Men which 't is self-evident our particular countenance of them and speaking well of their Actions upon all due occasions will effectually do Our Laws suppose such Men thus highly usefull as clear reason tells us they are for the promotion of Virtue and indeed for the preservation of any Government Her late Majesty of Glorious Memory in pursuance of Her great Design of Reforming the Nation did therefore in Her Gracious Letter to the Justices of Middlesex Command them to give Encouragement to those Persons that should bring them Informations of these Offences and the Justices of Middlesex the Magistrates of London and of divers other Cities of the Kingdom from a sense of the great Service that is done the Publick by such persons giving Informations or rather as may be supposed from the absolute necessity of it do in their Printed Orders invite those that are Well-wishers to their Country
after this Matter is plainly laid before us the giving of Informations is now more generally insisted on by our Clergy in their Sermons especially at those stated times that they are required to read the Act of Parliament against Swearing and Cursing with the other Statutes against Prophaneness and Vice by His Majesty's Letter and His late Gracious Proclamation for the enforcing the Execution of them and we have moreover such a change of Circumstances and such favourable Occurrences as that our Diligence in giving Informations will at this time so effectually promote a National Reformation as it is evident it will do from what is already done by it that it will be found notwithstanding the Objections and plausible Pretences that will be made on this Occasion by many for their being excused from it to proceed frequently if not generally from worse Causes that we are either afraid or ashamed of discharging it from a want of Faith or of Love to God and our Neighbour not duly considering the Admonition Fear ye not the Reproach of Men neither be afraid of his Revilings That the Fearful and Vnbelieving are joined together with Rev. 21. 8. those who shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone nor the Extent of our Saviour's Threatning Whosoever Mar. 8. 38. therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my Words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Nor lastly the great Encouragement given in the Word of God to those that suffer for discharging of their Duty Blessed are they Matt 5. 10. which are Persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Our light 2 Cor. 4. 17. Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory If any Man suffer as a Christian 1 Pet. 4. 16. let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalf Wherefore let them 1 Pet. 4. 19. that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithfull Creatour And now if notwithstanding what hath been said or that may be urged by our Clergy with more Advantage in their Discourses for our giving Informations against prophane and vicious Men and the Magistrate's Diligence and Faithfulness that was before insisted on this criminal Fear and Shame shall so generally prevail as to keep private Persons from giving Informations in these Cases and shall likewise keep Magistrates who have less Colour of Excuse for their Unfaithfulness they being under the Obligations of Oaths and Trusts super-added to those they have as Christians from using their Diligence in the Execution of the Laws and particularly from giving all Countenance and just Encouragement to those who bring them Informations at the same time that Prophaneness and Debauchery do appear so shameless and fearless among us what a weight of Guilt may be supposed to lie upon this Nation And in how great danger of Misery and Destruction may it be apprehended to be which I do not see with what Reason we can expect will so likely be pervented by any other Means as by the close Conjunction the zealous and united Endeavours of good Men for the Retrieving of Religion and the Morals of the Nation by all Christian and Prudent Methods For Religion in general and the Practice of every Moral Virtue in particular do in their own Nature tend not only to the Felicity of every Man 's private Life but do also conduce to the Peace Order and Welfare of all publick Societies and good Government over Men as it hath the greatest Influence for these Ends upon Magistrates and Subjects Religion teaches and obliges Governours to over-rule their Subjects in the Fear of God to his Glory and for the Safety and Prosperity of those that are in Subjection to them and therefore I think to endeavour to support and encourage them in the Exercise of Religion and Virtue and this as well by the Use of their Authority which may for instance be expressed by their Personally Countenancing and Promoting Men of Virtue and Discountenancing vicious Men by their taking Care that good Laws be made for the Security of Religion and that the Laws that are made for the Promotion of Christian Virtues and the Suppression of Vice be put in Execution as by their own Exemplary Behaviour * Non si inflectere sensus humanos edicta valent ut vita regentis Qui Macedoniae regem erudit omnes etiam subditos erudit Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi which hath a wonderfull force is as it were a living Law and Religion instills in Subjects such Principles and Dispositions as in their own nature tend to make themselves happy as well as a Government strong and prosperous It instructs and obliges them to obey Magistrates not only for Fear but out of Conscience And as Piety and Virtue do thus evidently conduce to the Stability and Happiness of any Kingdom and Government so Vice and Irreligion in the natural consequences of them tend to bring Decay and Ruine upon them as they unqualifie Magistrates for Government and make †Homo sine Religione sicut equus sine fraenc Subjects unfit for Commands averse to all good Order and destructive instead of helpfull Members of a Community from whence ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch might justly esteem it the Foundation or Cement of Humane Society * In Magistratuum institutione prima sit cura de Religione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato conclude That in the Institution of Magistracy the first and chief Care should be of Religion and the Famous †Sine maenibus Civitas potest stare sine virtute nullo mode potest Scipio observe That it was impossible any City should stand if their Manners were depraved tho' their Walls were never so firm Accordingly I conceive there have been but few if any amongst the ancient and celebrated Legislators and Statesmen whatever there have been among our Modern who have not had the greatest Regard to Religion in the Modelling and Governing of Civil Societies for how is it possible to conceive that any State should long stand and be prosperous without Honesty or Peace * Religio neglecta maximam pestem in Civitatem insert omnium scelerum fenestram aperit Or that it should either enjoy a lasting Peace or have a general Honesty without Religion And therefore it was no weak tho' a wicked Piece of Policy which they tell us of a King of Assyria who chose rather to endeavour to overcome the City of Babylon by sending in of Players Lewd Women c. to debauch it by which means he effectually did it and at last obtained his End than to invade it with a powerfull Army Upon the whole Matter We may dare to challenge
of Humane Society and if so surely it behoves good Men by all proper measures to assist Magistrates in their Endeavours effectually to suppress them If bad Men don't approve of these Methods 't is no wonder they are Enemies to good Order Law and Justice because these things are troublesome to them There is no doubt but the Gallows is a great Grievance to Murtherers the Discipline of Bridewell to Whores the Pillory to the Perjured and the Stocks to Drunkards But such Grievances as these are I conceive of near as long standing as Government and will not be thought proper to be laid aside whilst it lasts or at least till there is not so much Occasion for them since as hath been proved * Facile est imperium in bonos its Interest and chief Business is to cherish and support Religion and by consequence to take care that it be not treated with any disrespect particularly that it be not made the Scorn of any Order or Body of Men the common Subject of the Prophane Play-Houses or the Sport of Buffoons and that the open Violations of it by Prophane Swearing and Cursing Drunkenness Lewdness c. be suppressed as all wise Nations I conceive have ever done and ever will do Against these Enormities therefore that are the Plagues of Government the Enemies of our Peace the Dishonour of our Religion and the Reproach of our Nation have the Societies of Reformation applied themselves with so great Success as to give so very promising hopes as have been represented of a general Concurrence and Union of the Virtuous part of the Nation in the same Design and in consequence of a National Reformation and their Endeavours have been carried on as hath been observed for above Eight Years with as little or less occasion given to their Enemies of Objection either to the Methods of their Proceedings or to the Behaviour of the Persons concerned in them as perhaps have been often known in Matters of the greatest Consequence where such a number of Persons have been engaged though if the Prudence of some good Men who are either already engaged or that shall hereafter be concerned in this Undertaking is or should be less than their Zeal it will I hope be far from giving wise and well-meaning Men a just Prejudice to the Design it self or keeping them from Assisting in it But blessed be God a more glorious Prospect hath been lately given us by the Address of the late House of Commons to His Majesty for the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Debauchery and His Majesty's Proclamation in pursuance of it and His Princely Word in His Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament We have now then 't is evident His Majesty's positive Commands together with the concurrent Advice in this Matter of the late great Representative Body of the Commons of England for things I conceive not only unquestionably lawfull but highly important and necessary for the strict Execution of the known Laws of the Land against Prophaneness and Immorality agreeably to the Word of God that acquaints us That the Magistrate beareth not the Sword in Vain That Rulers are not a Rom. 13 4. Ver. 3. Terrour to good Works but to the evil c. Whoever therefore they are that in this Case oppose the King's Commands who either openly obstruct or secretly undermine the Endeavours of those who act in this Affair in Obedience to the Will of God the Command of the King and for the Good of their Country will I think find it somewhat difficult to acquit themselves from great Impiety And now can any that love their God their Religion or their Country hear of these transporting things without being affected with greater Joy than any Success in their own secular Concerns would give them and without thinking themselves under high Obligations after they have pretended to Fast and Pray and Mourn for our publick Sins for so many Years past as most if not all Orders of Men and Parties among us have done to do what they are able in their several Stations for the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immorality and for the perfecting of this great Work of REFORMATION which I conceive it had been our Duty to promote if we had not met with so much Encouragement and Assistance from our Governours But how much stronger Obligations do now lie upon us to do it And how shamefull and inexcusable will our Neglect of it be now we have such an Opportunity by His Majesty 's repeated Declarations for our Engaging in it by the Advances that are already made and the Methods that are laid as perhaps may never again be offered us if we neglect this in Prosecution whereof it would I think become us to adventure all our dearest Interests in this World nay a Thousand Lives if we had them to lose Behold then a glorious Opportunity for all that make a Profession of Religion or any pretence to Virtue of what Rank soever to signalize their Love and Faithfulness to their great Lord and Master their Neighbour and their Country To all Orders of Men therefore whose Service His Majesty hath required to promote this great this necessary Work and who would not share in the dreadful Guilt and lasting Infamy of neglecting to promote a Reformation of Manners which now seems to be put very much in our power with God's Blessing to see effected I ask leave upon these Glorious Encouragements with all due respect to address my self To the NOBILITY that they would be pleased to consider That true Greatness doth not consist in the having of swelling Titles high Places great Power or large Territories which tho' they may be sometimes the Reward of virtuous and brave Actions as they ought to be are often the Gifts of Nature and it may be too frequently the Acquests of such Crimes as deserve Punishment instead of Recompence That the Persons who in all Ages have been most beloved and reverenced when Alive and most honoured by wise and good Men when Dead have been those who have been most beneficent and serviceable to the World not those who have amassed the greatest Estates and acquired the loftiest Titles to themselves the blind Heathens erected not their Altars to those that they did not think were some way or other usefull or serviceable to Mankind That they would therefore be perswaded that nothing will render them so much Blessings to their Country so truly noble and esteemed as their being Patrons of Religion and Virtue That they are not in their high Stations too great for that Employment which is the greatest Glory of Princes to set up their Standards for Religion and declare War against Vice and Prophaneness * Haud difficilius est errare naturam quam principem fui dissimilem formare rempublicam Quaecunque mutatio in principibus extiterit â—eandem populo secutam Cic. after the Example and under the Conduct of such a Prince and Leader as hath graciously declared in his
Speech to both Houses of Parliament that He esteems it one of the greatest Advantages of Peace that he is now at Leisure to apply himself to the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immoralities and hath thereby given us some reason to hope that he may think it a far greater Glory of his Reign to be an Instrument in God's Hand of delivering us from the Slavery of our Vices of making us a virtuous and by consequence a happy People than in procuring us any other present and secular Felicities and Advantages and at last leaving us deluged in such Impieties as Infidels abhor and which may make God our Enemy and draw down his Vengeance upon us That they would for this purpose consider the Influence of their Authority their Interest their Fortunes and their Example and Employ which they cannot without high Ingratitude omit these and the other Advantages they have above Men of lower Ranks for the Glory of that God by whose Permission they have them for the Noble purposes of Opposing and Suppressing Debauchery and Prophaneness the retrieving the Reputation of Virtue the furthering the Interests of Religion and the saving of their Country which hath seemed to have declared in favour of Vice and Ruine and thereby approve themselves to the King as He hath now assured them they will to the Wise and Virtuous part of the Nation to their own Consciences to their Posterity and above all to the most High God To the Reverend the CLERGY That they who are looked upon as the Ambassadours of the Great God of Heaven and Earth and sent upon the most important Business of Reconciling Men to God and Watching for their 2 Cor. 5. 18 20. Heb. 13. 17. Souls and have as I conceive their Honour their Dignities and their Revenues given them without the common Incumbrances of other Men in regard to their Sacred Office and that they may attend without Worldly Cares and with the greatest Advantage to their Spiritual Employment would consider whether they have not a more favourable Opportunity for the Work of their Ministry and a National Reformation at this time than they have had for many years past They cannot I humbly presume but be sensible of the most deplorable Degeneracy of this Nation that the great Decay of Religion and the Leprosie of Vice and Prophaneness with which it is almost overspread does threaten its Ruine and that they have great reason to take to heart the no greater Success of their Endeavours for the Reforming of us that their Discipline which if it had been in force might have proved a Bank against the Flood of Wickedness that is broken in upon us is now so lost that it is of little use to them for this purpose that there appears too great ground to fear that the Tide of Wickedness will not be stopped whilst Religion is openly dishonoured Virtue despised and Vice and Prophaneness are so daring and triumphant that Men commit them not only with Impunity but Glory in them so as to esteem it an Act of Gallantry to ridicule their Sacred Office to contemn things Sacred and an Ornament of Style to imprecate Damnation upon themselves Is not this a Time for them that are Spiritual Watchmen and Overseers of the Flock of Christ Isa 52. 8. 56. 10. Acts 20. 28. as they have a Concern for God's Honour and would prevent his Judgments falling upon us as they would consult the Honour and Interest of their sacred Order and their own Reputation to concur with His Majesty's pious Declarations for this purpose and cheerfully to embrace the Assistance of the Civil Power for the Vindicating of the Honour of God's Laws the Stopping the Avenues to notorious Enormities the breaking the hellish Confederacies and the taking out of publick View the contagious Examples of bad Men and by these Methods to prepare Men the better for the Restoration of godly Discipline for the greater Influence of their Doctrine and good Examples upon their Minds Is not this a Time for them to favour the successfull Endeavours of the Societies of Reformation which are levell'd at the strong holds of Debauchery and the Religious Societies that are now spreading through the Kingdom that seem so directly to tend to the Promoting the Power of Religion so far as they carry on those great Ends wherein we may I think appeal to the whole Christian World whether they do not do it and readily to accept of the Assistance that is now or hereafter may be given them by Christians of any Denomination in the common Cause of Christianity And if they can think of any other or better Measures than those that are recommended in these Papers that may promote the Glory of God and the Good of Souls for whom Christ died and their own comfortable Account of themselves to Him that will judge the Quick and Dead to engage in them 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. without delay with united Counsels and Endeavours with double Diligence and Zeal and in Conjunction with all the various Works of their Ministry among which their going from House to House for the enquiring into the Acts 20. 20 21. Spiritual State of the Souls of those that are committed to their Charge and the applying proper Directions and Encouragements accordingly in the Judgment of the most pious Divines I have had the Honour to know is thought to be a very usefull Method is what one of the most * Dr. Stillingfleet the late Bishop of Worcester's Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess p. 25. Learned Prelates of this Age and Nation hath in his printed Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess put them in mind of and which †The Bishop of Salisbury's Pastoral Care p. 207. another of our Learned Bishops hath told this Sacred Order in his Pastoral Care published by the particular Approbation of the late Great Primate Arch-Bishop Tillotson is to be lookt on as the Foundation an Exemplary Life being supposed on which all the other parts of the Ministerial Office may be well managed and which he says will seem no hard matter to such as have a right sense of their Ordination Vows of the Dignity of their Function or the Value of Souls To the MAGISTRATES of all kinds That they would make just Reflections upon that terrible and lasting Imputation that they do now lie under by His Majesty ' s Proclamation which is to be read Four times a Year in all Churches through the Nation and the Address of the late Honourable House of Commons to the King of their being so great a Cause of the Debauchery and Prophaneness of the Kingdom by their ill Example and Negligence in their Office That they would consider as hath been observed how many Nations have been ruined and Cities brought to a heap of Rubbish for their Immoralities which the Magistrates Vigilance might have prevented That their Power comes from God the Fountain of all Power and that they are supposed to be
entrusted with it for his Honour and the Good of his People That by their faithfully Executing the Laws against Offenders particularly those that are made for the Honour of God the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immorality they are to be a Terrour to Evil doers and in order to this that they would therefore remember That as the poorest Wretch hath a Talent that he must render an Account of they must expect one day to appear at a Tribunal themselves and give an Account of the discharge of their Oaths and Trusts of the Employment of their Authority and their other Advantages and for the Deluge of Evils that either hath or may fall upon the Nation through their wilfull Neglect of their Duty for our Blessed Saviour hath told us That unto Luk. 12. 48. whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required And the Authour of the Book of Wisdom thus expresses himself to this purpose Hear therefore O ye Kings and understand Wisd 6. 1. learn ye that be Judges of the Ends of the Earth Give ear you that rule the People and glory in 2. the Multitude of Nations for Power is given you of the Lord and Sovereignty from the Highest 3. who shall try your Works and search out your Counsels because being Ministers of his Kingdom 4. you have not judged aright nor kept the Law nor walked after the Counsel of God Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you for 5. a sharp Judgment shall be to them that be in high Places For Mercy will soon pardon the Meanest 6. but mighty Men shall be mightily tormented To the GENTRY and COMMONALTY of the Nation that they consider That tho' they have not the particular Oaths and Vows the Trusts and Authority of any of the Orders I have mentioned they have notwithstanding their Baptismal Engagements upon 'em which they own when they come to the Holy Communion and that if they would acquit themselves as Christians they must endeavout to be such in all their Relations to behave themselves as good Magistrates and Subjects as good Citizens and Members of their Community as well as good Masters and Servants good Parents and Children but that they cannot be reasonably thought to be so without having a Love to God a Zeal for his Honour or a Concern for the Welfare of their Neighbours and of the Community of which they are a part and that it may be doubted whether they can have either if they can contentedly hear without any Concern Men openly affront their God bid Defiance to his Laws go on with a full Career to Destruction and bring Decay and Ruine upon their Country which 't is evident they may use proper and effectual means to prevent as particularly by their giving of Informations of enormous Offences to the Magistrate which I have in another place more largely insisted on and which they have at this time so fair an Opportunity to employ as is offer'd them by the Declarations of the Government and the Assistance of such Bodies of Christians that are not only in and about this City but that are spreading through the Cities and Corporations of the Kingdom And do you think it dishonourable for you to conceal any Offences that endanger the Government or any Injuries that are done your Neighbour when you can do him right by the bare discovering of it to the Magistrate Is it reckoned an Act of Bravery to adventure your Lives in the taking of a Thief or a Murtherer An Act of Charity to prevent any Injury to your Neighbour in his civil Concerns to hinder a Fool or a Lunatick from wounding of his Body or destroying his Life And is not a sincere endeavour to prevent the publick Dishonour of the Name the Day and the Laws of God by acquainting the Magistrate with these high Offences in order to the Suppressing of them as is done with general Approbation and Applause in other ordinary Cases when Men's private Rights the Security of the Government or the Welfare of the Nation is concerned an honourable Work and becoming Christians Does it become a Soldier of Christ Jesus to see Him publickly affronted to hear his Name and Wounds mentioned oftner in horrid Oaths and Execrations than in serious Discourses his Laws trampled on and their Fellow-Christians to live in the open Commission of such Sins as manifestly tend to bring great Calamities upon them in this World to destroy their Souls and draw down National Judgments without taking any kind of Notice of these things and only for fear of meeting with reproachfull Words or rude Treatment which yet the Magistrate if he hath a just sense of his Duty will not suffer from a hardned Offender or the Advocates of Vice from such whose Commendations a virtuous Man would be inclined to look on as a real Disparagement and their Company a Scandal and when in the Discharge of what they justly apprehend to be their Duty they may have for their Comfort and Support some of the great Rewards of Religion in this World the Approbation of their own Consciences and of good Men with the hopes of an Everlasting Reward on the other side of the Grave Can this be imagined to be a signification of a Zeal for God of our loving Him with all our Hearts c. or our Neighbour Matt. 22. 37 38. 39. as our selves Does this Behaviour adorn the Gospel Would the Christians of old have thought well of it Or is it sufficient for us to call our selves the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus who went about doing good without endeavouring Act. 10. 38. in any degree to follow his glorious Example Herein then our Gentry and Commonalty seem to have a great Opportunity of furthering the Work of Reformation But this is not all the Advantage they have if the Laws that relate to Religion are upon so many and such momentous Considerations thus Zealously to be put in Execution it is I think evident that not only those Persons that violate and contemn those Laws but those that are unconcerned for and discourage the Execution of them cannot with any Colour of Reason be esteemed Friends to their Country but rather as unworthy to live in it and enjoy the common Benefits of it * Omnes quidem Magistratus in bene constituenda republica convenit esse virtute praeditos sed maximè eos qui senatoriae dignitatis gradum obtinent nec est laudanda respublica in qua peraeque bonis malis prudentibus stultis honores tribuantur quare legibus hos oportet esse descriptos ut quorum virtus industriaque fit bonorum approbatione commendata his honos debeatur Unde in antiquorum rebuspub statuae arcus triumphales sepulchra publica laudationes alia id genus meritis tribuautur and if so they are unquestionably much more unfit for and unworthy of Posts of Honour and Trust and those that concern themselves for the Election
and the Noble are too generally diverted and carried away from the One thing necessary the working out of their own Salvation and consequently their being concerned for that of others by the violent Temptations that their Condition exposes and subjects them to which Persons of a lower Rank are much without wherefore our Saviour hath assur'd us how ‖ Matth. 19. 23 24. hard it is for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven out of a sense whereof a great number of Christians in most if not all Ages have refused Titles and Honours and have renounced Riches and Worldly Grandeur Nay Princes and Potentates Kings and Queens have forsaken their Crowns their Fortunes and Territories for a safe and happy Retirement And it accordingly appears by the Account that is given of the Endeavours that have been so successfull towards a National Reformation That as they were not begun so they have not been assisted by many of the Rich and Mighty but by Persons of a lower Rank who submitted to be reckoned Disturbers of the publick Peace Imprudent and Hypocritical Persons c. as the Christians of old were by the Heathens and as such will hardly fail to be who in a corrupt Age shall faithfully go about to convince some Men of their Lukewarmness and neglect of their Duty and to disturb the Generality in their Vices for the effecting a National Reformation who were willing I say to bear the Censures the cruel Mockings and the Frowns of the World and perhaps some of them to hazard their Lives for the Vindicating of the Honour of the Laws of God the Good of Souls and the Service of their Country and that though it may perhaps be expected from the Character of some few of the Great and Noble among us who seem to be much more honourably distinguish'd from those of their own Rank by their Virtue than they are from those below them by their Quality that they have it in their Inclinations as it seems to be in their Power with God's Blessing to be Instruments of Reforming us from publick Prophaneness and Immoralities yet that 't is still to be feared that great Men will not generally at least obtain of themselves to declare for oppressed Virtue and engage in its Cause till it hath regained its Reputation more generally in the World and it is accounted a Mark of greater Infamy to be vicious Prophaneness and Debauchery have in truth been ever Infamous in the Opinions of the wise and good Men in all Ages of the World and treated as such by the Religion and Laws of Heathen Nations as well as by the Christian Religion and the Laws of our own Country which Justice and Temperance Chastity and Truth never were that I know of by any nay there have never I conceive been many Men so lost to the Notions of Good and Evil as seriously to set a Mark of Infamy upon some Men for their Virtue or to make Panegyricks upon others for their Vices and neither the Number or the Quality of those that are guilty of Prophaneness and Debauchery can any more alter the Nature of them or can take off them that Infamy that the Law of God the Laws of Nations and the Law of Nature have fixt on them than they can the Nature of Murther Bribery or Theft and as they are infamous in their Nature they will every day more appear to be so if we continue to make our vigorous Efforts against them It will not ere long be thought creditable for Men of an inferior Rank to be carried through the Streets before the Magistrate or to be put in the Stocks to do there publick Penance for the Violation of Divine and Humane Laws Or will it be Honourable for Men of Title or Authority who have thought themselves unfit for gentile Conversation without a large share of Lewdness have reckoned it Wit to Blaspheme and have within our Memories 't is believed made their way to their Preferments by their Prophaneness and Debauchery to have the Penalties of those Laws levied upon them in the Sight of their Neighbours or their Country to be upon Record and to be disabled for those Offences for Places of Honour of Publick and Private Trusts to be told before the Congregation Four times a Year by the King in his Proclamation that he reckons them to be a Discredit to his Kingdom and strictly Commands their being brought to Punishment and by their Minister at the same time that they ought to be avoided by Men of Religion to be excluded from Christian Communion till they reform and that they will unless they do so be shut out of Heaven and be condemned to unspeakable and everlasting Confusion and Torment In short we may in a little time see a Drunkard a Lewd or a Prophane Person though a Man of the greatest Quality or Estate who now passes with too little Remark and Contempt and is kept in countenance by the Multitude of Offenders of the same kind make but a very scurvy Figure be ashamed to shew himself in any Company but of such as are like himself abandoned of a sense of true Honour as well as Religion and shunned by all but the unclean Herd of the Vicious and Prophane who may ere long be ashamed of one another in the Sight of the Sun and may be forced to converse or rather to have their gangs as High-way-Men Clippers and Coiners have in dark Corners and in continual fear of being discovered This is part of the Glorious Prospect that we have in view whilst we continue to make our vigorous Efforts against Vice and Prophaneness And is there any doubt whether they that acquit themselves in this Noble Enterprize as they ought will entitle themselves to great Acknowledgments from the present Age and from Posterity since the Influence of their good Example and the happy Effects of their pious Endeavours may last to succeeding Ages as long as the Nation and perhaps the World may last Let then the Men of the World whose Hopes terminate with this Life pursue Honours and Titles and what in their foolish Language they call their Worldly Advantages let them that think of no other Happiness court popular Air intrigue and fawn drudge and scramble for little parcels of Earth which if they meet with are their Portion attended with Fear and Envy Jealousie and Hatred Anxiety and Grief * O si pectora pateant divitum quantos intus sublimis agit fortuna metus Brutio coro pulsante fretum mitior unda est Quem mihi regem dabis non curis plenum non diadema aspicias sed vitam afflictione refertam non catervas satellitū sed curarū multitudinē Cur tu hos Evasisse putes quos diri conscia facti Mens habet attonitos surdo verbere caedet Occulto quatiente animo tortore flagellum Non enim gazae neque consularis summovet lictor miseros tumultus mentis curas laqueata
own Diligence and Conduct considering that the Zeal we have for God's Honour and the Success of it is from Him that our best Endeavours herein as well as our other Performances will have a great mixture of Humane Frailty and that after all we shall do we shall be but unprofitable Servants Luk. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they thus go on with Sincerity with Prudence with Courage with Humility and trust in God they may I think face all the World we may soon see what Courage Vice hath whether Prophaneness and Debauchery will be able to hold up their heads with their Supporters which they have too long had within our Memory as Religion hath often done without them and when the Powers of the World have been against it No Sin is of the Nature of the Devil its Author cowardly and sneaking and will with God's Blessing give way when thus opposed which those concerned in the Transactions I have given an Account of have experimented and who have had so great Success as makes it very evident that a general Concurrence of good Men may with God's Blessing effect a general Reformation but if the Concurrence of Men of Religion should not prove so universal as is hoped it will or if our Endeavours should not succeed to a National Reformation as is proposed we may however hope to do a great deal of good we shall bear our Testimony to Religion against the Corruptions of the Age and we cannot I think fail of giving a great Check to publick Wickedness and though we should not after all by our Prayers and Endeavours prevent the Deluge of Calamities that threaten us an Ark may mercifully be provided for us we may deliver our own Souls and it will then be known who they are that are to be thanked that a thorough Reformation was not effected and the Misery of the Nation prevented not only those who by desperately discouraging and opposing pious and proper Endeavours for Promoting a Reformation seem to be of the Number of those that may be said in some sense to fight against Acts ch 5. v. 39. God but those likewise that despised the Warnings we gave them of their Danger all the Persuasions with which we pressed them to set about it and would not be prevailed with to give any hearty Assistance to the Work Supposing then that we are to prepare in the Prosecution of this Enterprize for evil Surmisings and reproachfull Words for Storms of Malice and ill Will which the Enemy of all Goodness and the Passions of Men may be expected to raise this I conceive may now the Tide is turning be generally the greatest Opposition of the infatuated and senseless Slaves of Vice for in Reverence to our common Nature I must presume that there are few that will be declared Agents for the Devil that are so abandoned of all sense of Honour all Concern for their Reputation as to enter publickly the Lists and venture their Lives for his Service And as wicked Men have therein the worst Cause they have I think no settled and steady Principles to act upon but little true Courage and not much Faith among them they will often betray one another when Occasion offers and therefore we may conclude that they will never make a firm stand against the united Body of good Men if they acquit themselves as they ought in so glorious an Undertaking To the Men of Religion and Virtue of all Ranks Orders and Denominations without distinction I ask leave therefore in this common Cause of Religion humbly to apply my self Your Religion is avowedly attacqued by the desperate Rebels of Christianity and Enemies to Virtue your God is publickly dishonoured yea sometimes 't is still to be feared Blasphemed for the Entertainment of Persons of all Degrees all Ages and both Sexes His Laws are trampled on his Servants despis'd the Notions of Good and Evil are endeavoured to be confounded and your Country is in imminent danger of being lost if in the present Contest between Religion and Debauchery Religion does not prevail You are all confessedly by your Baptismal Engagement listed Soldiers for God's Service against the Devil's Kingdom And as God hath an undoubted Title to your Service the King by publickly declaring for a vigorous Execution of the Laws against publick Wickedness and the Cause of Religion hath given you an happy Opportunity of discharging your Fidelity and Zeal for your Great Lord and Master and your Fellow-Christians who are already successfully engaged in a publick Opposition to Vice and Prophaneness to these Rebels to Religion and Enemies to your Country seem to call on you to enter into their pious Confederacy as Moses heretofore did on the Israelites when he slood in the Gate of Exod. 32. 20. the Camp Who is on the Lord's side let him come unto me Or as Holy David of P◠94. 16. old Who will rise up for me against the Evil doers Who will stand up for me against the Workers of Iniquity Now then is the Time to make one general and brave Effort for the Interest of Religion and for the Welfare of the English Nation And will you any longer defer your Declaring and Engaging in this Glorious Work now it seems so apparent that this Cloud that appeared so little to you at first is like to overspread our whole Horizon that one of the most plausible and uncomfortable Objections which was made to this Undertaking of its being impracticable which we have too much reason to suspect to be upon other like Occasions a frequent Excuse for Fear Laziness or want of good Principles is taken off by the great Success that hath attended it that the Heat of the Day the fiercest Opposition to these Attempts seems much over and that you have so very great reason to conclude that the Virtuous part of the Nation of all Parties will fall in and give their Assistance in it when more particular Methods shall be laid before them that if we point our united Batteries against the strong holds of Debauchery and Prophaneness if we prosecute this Religious War with Conduct and Resolution which is so successfully begun with so unequal a humane force we have Victory in view we may with God's Blessing see a Reformation throughly essected and put upon such a firm Foundation as that it may not be easily in the Power of a viciuos Court or of a degenerate Nobility or Gentry in a succeeding Reign to overturn it again to debauch the Nation and bring it in such danger of Ruine But is it not enough that you that have had an early Knowledge of these Transactions have not sooner engaged in a Cause which you could not well be supposed without great Inconsideration or Prejudice but secretly to approve of under all its Disadvantages when it was in it self the same as it is now with its Success and meerly perhaps because you thought the Service might be too hot for you and therefore you left it