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A
REF6RfiCATI:Q3T SERA2ON.
.535
ye
stood for
the " praise
of
them
that
do
well,
and been
a terror
to
evil
-
doers,
or
have you bore
.the.:sword
in
vain
?
Wherein
have
ye
appeared
the
ministers
of God,
if
ve
have
never
executed.
wrath upon
him
that doeth
evil
7"
Rom.
xiii,
3,
4.
Then
shall the sentence
of
the
Lord
go
forth against
those
that
have justified the wicked
for cowardice
or
for covetousness.
For
to
"
justify
the
wicked
is
an equal
aboínination
in
the sight
of
God
as to
condemn the
righteous;"
Prov.
xvii.
l5.
III.
The
loss
of
time and the
expence
of
money
in
the prosecution of
vice
through
the
courts
of
justice,
is
more than
your
private circumstances
will'
bear.
This
I
confess
is
a
discouragement
to some;
but
we
may
find
some
relief
for it.
It
is
true
you
are not to neglect the
necessary duties that you
owe
to
your
families,
and let
your own household starve,
while you
are endeavouring
to ruin the
household
of
Satan..
But there are
many
leisure hours
of
life
that
may be
employed
in
this
holy
warra:re, and
the time
spent
in
this
service
will
turn
to
good
account
in
the
days
of
eternity.
As
for the
expence
of money
which
is
necessary
to
carry
on
this war,
there
are
some
hundreds
of
gentlemen
and
ladies in the
pre-
'sent assembly,
that
care
answer this objection much
bet-
ter
than
IL
My best method
of
answering
it, is
but to
persuade
you, my honoured' friends, to
attempt and
try
what
you
can do'tow
ards.i.t.
One
line
under your hand
§,
or a single
item
in
your
will, is
an
answer
more to the
purpose than
whole
sheets
of my
writing, or
than
if
I
should,
continue
my
discourse
till
the
ü
go down.
The
charge
of
the prosecution'
of
lewd
'Mouses
is(veey
great,
as
I
am
informed, and had
the
societies more assistance
of
this kind the
reformation
would.
be
carried'on more
sen-
sibly.
Let
me
address the
richer part of
this
audience
:
Will
it
not
be
a
joyful prospect
on
your
dying
bed to
think
that
the battle
grows
strong against
sin when
your heads
lie
low io
the dust, and
that by
means
of
the
sinews
you have
added-
to the war
in
your
last
testament?
Will it not be
a
hopeful evidence
of
your hatred
of
sin,
that
you
contend against
it,
even
in
the
grave, and main-
tain an
everlasting fight?
IV.
The danger
and risk
oflife
i
this
cause is
another
discouragement
:
But
was
there ever
any war
without
danger,
or victory without
ourafre
!
&ides,
the
peg