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probable he would enrage a debauched City against himself, and make himself obnoxious to the fury of the People; that the righteous Man fpake nothing but Reason, and fought nothing but their Good; that God's Patience would certainly be tired e'er long, and his Long-fuffering turn into Vengeance; that the Fire of their Luft would fhortly pull down other Fire, and the heat of their unclean defires break into more confuming Flames: That Sins against Nature made Men worse than Beafts; and for God not to revenge fuch Crimes, would certainly give the World occafion to believe there was no Governor that took care of Sublunary Objects, or be a means to destroy Human Society: That God would not always put up Affronts, nor fuffer his Methods to reclaim them, to be baffled everlastingly: That they could not hope to efcape God's Indignation, no more than the Men of the first World, and when their Sins were equal, God's Judgments would overtake them,as well as they did their Brethren: That God could intend them no harm, by calling them to repentance, and being the great preferver of Men, could not but defign their Well-being and Felicity: Had they fuffered their Thoughts to dwell on fuchTruths as thefe,made fuchConfiderations familiar to their Souls, they would have melted and humbled themselves, and kept back that Fire and Brimstone, which afterwards confumed them. Want of Confideration made them secure in Sin, and that Security prepared them for their Devastation.

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Indeed, there is no Sin almoft but is committed for want of Confideration. Men confider not what Sinis, nor how loathfome it is to that God, who carries them on his wings as the Eagle doth her young, nor what Injury they do to their own Souls, nor what the dreadful effects and confequences of it are, and that makes them fupine and negligent of their Duty.

To give a few inftances: Did the Atheist but look up to Heaven; did his swinish and brutish Appetite but give him leave to contemplate that glorious Fabrick, the orderly position of the Stars, the regular motion of thofe Celeftial Lamps, and the Mathematical contrivance of that curious Globe; how is it poffible he could dream of a cafual concurrence of Atoms, or forbear to acknowledge a most wife, most perfect, and most powerful Architect,even that God who commanded them into Being, and still preferves them from Decay and Ruin?

Would he but confider, how things that have a beginning could not make themselves,unless they were before theywere (which implies a contradiAtion) and therefore must certainly be made, and produced at first by fome fupreme Cause that is Eternal and Omnipotent. Would he but reflect on the univerfal confent of Mankind, how not only the civilized but the most barbarous Nations in all Ages have had a sense of a Deity; and how this fenfe never changes, altho' Kingdoms and Republicks, their Government, Laws, Conftitutions, Inhabitants, and Customs change; and how improbable it is that all Mankind fhould confpire into fuch a Cheat, if there were

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no Supream Power; how rational it is, that when Men of different Conftitutions, Complexions, Principles, Defires, Interests, Opinions, do all or most of them agree in one thing, there must neceffarily be fomething more than ordinary in it, and the Notion must be fuppofed either imprinted by God on the Hearts of all Men, or carefully delivered to Pofterity by the first Planters of the World, which in all probability they would not have done, except they had very good ground and reason for it; and tho' here and there fome few have been found, who either out of ambition of being thought wits, or in a humour, or through fome strange corruption of their minds, have denied the Being of a Deity, or have believed none, yet that those few are inconfiderable, compared with the greatest part of Mankind, and guided rather by their lufts and vices, whofe intereft it is there fhould be no God to take notice of them, and not by the true light of Reason: Would the Fool, Ifay, but think seriously on these familiar Arguments, how could he fay in his heart There is no God?

How could the Wretch deny a Providence, if he did but take notice, how all things are preserved in those stations, spheres, and tendencies, they were at firft created in. How things contrary to one another, are kept from destroying one another. How every thing profecutes the end for which it was produced. How the Sea, that's higher than the Earth, is kept from overrunning and drowning it. How Kingdoms, Empires, and Common-wealths, are continued

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and conferved in the World. How one Country is made a Scourge to the other for their Sin; and how the fober Nation many times conquers the more debauched and vicious, till the former fobriety dying proves a prefage of the funeral of their happinefs. How Men are fuffered to tyrannize, and to rage, that their fall afterward may be more grievous and terrible. How Sin is punished with Sin; and with what measure we meet, with the fame other Men meet to us again. How ftrangely Murder is found out, and fecret Villanies difcovered, arraigned, and condemned. How Caligula, that bids defiance to Heaven, and threatens Jupiter to chastise him, if he sent Rain that day his Players were to act; how the poor mi ferable Creature hides his Head in a Featherbed when it Thunders; and how the ftoutest Sinners tremble, even then when no Man purfues them. How Tiberius is tortured in his Confcience with a fenfe of his Monstrous Practices; and he that had defpifed all Heavenly Powers, before his Death, dreads what before he laughed at. How Light is frequently produced out of Darkness; the greatest Felicity from the greatest Misery; and even Sin it self fo ordered, that it proves an occafion of the greatest Good. How miraculously Men are preserved, and how prodigiously rescued from Dangers that hang over their Heads, and threaten their destruction. How one Man is punished by Profperity, another preserved by the want of it. How one Man's Bleffings are turned into Curfes, and another Man's

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Cuurfes into Bleffings. How Men perish, that they may not perish; and are fuffered to grow poor, that they may be rich; and are deprived of all, that they may arrive to far greater Plenty. How ftrangely many times are Men preferv'd from Sin, and fomething comes in and croffes their finful Attempts and Intentions, that they are not able to put their Purposes in Execution. How Men are fitted for feveral Employments; and no Office, or Business fo mean and fordid, but fome Men have a Genius or Inclination to it. How Beafts, which are stronger than Men, are yet kept from hurting Men; and Men themselves that intend milchief to their Neighbours, are prevented in their defigns, and in the Net they ipread for others their foot is taken. How by very inconfiderable means, very great things are effected; and fometimes without means, very fignal changes and alterations are produced. How the greatest Preparations are blown upon, and diffolved, and a handful of Men chase vast and potent Armies. How Tyrants, when they are just bringing their Triumphs to perfection, are blasted on a fudden; and when they fancy nothing can refift or hinder their mighty Défigns, the Wind turns, and all their bravery dies into contempt, and fhame, and diffatisfaction. How the greatest Enemy. fometimes becomes the greatest Friend; and he that hateth another unto Death, is on a fudden convinced of his Folly, and loves him as his own Soul. How kindly the Heavens difpenfe their former and latter Rain; and how upon folemn Prayers and Supplications, fome great

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