536 / 652
$26
A
REFORMATION
SERMON.
strained
:
If
the
flood
-gates
of
sin
are
opened,
confusion
will
rush into the government
like
a
deluge.
Men that
break
the bonds of
natural
religion-and
of
morality with-
out control,'
will
grow lawless
and ungovernable
:
When
the
yoke of
a
God
and
of
natural
conscience
is
shaken
off publicly,
the gentlest
yoke
of
man
will
not
be
long
endured
;
they
will
stand
at
defiance
with
the best
of
go-
vernments, they are
fit
tinder
to receive every spark
of
ambition
;
they are
ready
for insurrection
and public
tumult
:
It
is
not
religion,
but
wild
enthusiasm
or
immo-
rality,
that
sows
the
seeds
of
treason, and
turns
subjects
into
rebels.
If
I might address
any
of
the inferior
go-.
vernors
of
the
nation,
I
would
say,
are
you willing
that
your authority
should
be mocked,
and your
forms
of
power,
and
justice
be
made a laughing-stock
?
Are
you
willing
that your
seats
of judgment should
be
insulted
and
thrown
down
?
If
not,
see
that
you
maintain
them,
by pronouncing sentence
upon the
wicked,
and take care
that
it
be
executed
;
let it
be
done
with speed,
lest the
contagion
of
vice
spread amongst
numbers, and grow
too
mighty
to be subdued
:
Wickedness burns
as the
fire,
and
sometimes
it
flies
suddenly
through
a community, as
a
flame
through the trees of the
forest,
or
through
the
buildings of a
city,
if
timely
care
be
not taken
to
extin-
guish
it
;
it
spreads
like
a young gangrene,
if
the
limb
affected
be
not
cutoff, the
vital powers
will
quickly be
too
weak to resist the
growing mischief.
Let
justice
be ex-
ercised toward
bold
transgressors, for
justice
sometimes
"
preserves
the
king
as well as
mercy
and
truth
;
and
though
his
throne
is said
to
be
upholden
by
mercy, yet
a
wise
king
scattereth the
wicked,
and bringeth
the
wheel
over them;" Prov.
xx. 26, 28.
Private
families
and particular
persons
will
very
sensi-
bly suffer in
their
health, in
their
estates, and
in
other
comforts of life;
if
iniquity abound.
Whoredom,
wine
and
new
-wine
take
away the
heart
;"
Hos.
iv. 11.
that
is,
waste the
understanding of
men,
and
turn
them
into
fools
and
idolaters,
as the
next
words explain
it
which
in
our
language
signifies,
that
lust and drunkenness
weaken
the
minds
of
men,
blind
their
consciences,
and
make atheists
of
them.
I
need
not
mention the
"
wound and the dis-
honour
that
such sinners, shall
get,
and the reproach
which
shall
not
be
wiped
away
;"
Prov,
vi.
33.
for
the