14 AN QCMBLE ATTEMPT, &c of this superiority ; and some degree of shame will belong to the best of us, if we are found inferior to them either in virtue to- wards men, or piety towards God, because of our superior ad- vantages and obligations. Having laid down this caution, I come to declare that, the persons whom I would atthis time compare together, are the common professors of religion in the church of England, and the common professors among the dissenters, the bulk of the people both on the one side and on the other; and I would fain excite you who hear me this day, who are professors of religion, and call yourselves protestant dissenters, to bethink yourselves a little concerning the sensible decay of real goodness that is found amongst you, in order to awaken you to the warmest zeal and utmost endeavours to revive languishing and dying religion. Give me leave, while 1 have the honour tobe a preacher amongst you in this congregation, to address you in the words of our blessed Saviour, who was in his day a divine teacher to a con, gregation meeting upon a mountain, and in the pathetic lan- guage of admonition and love I would say to my-hearers as he did to his disciples, What do yon more than others ? What is there of duty to God or man, wherein you separatists from the public establishment, exceed the rest of the nation ? And to en- force this exhortation, I shall here consider : I. What real advantages for religion you enjoy above your brethren of the church of England, according to your own com- mon sense of things. II: What superior obligations lie upon :you, by your particular profession of religion in a separate way. And under each of these two general heads, I shall run through various particulars. SECT. III.The Advantages of Protestant Dissenters in mat- ters of Religion. The first question that offers itself to our consideration is this, What are the real and special advantages for improvement -in religion whichyou protestant dissenters enjoy, or suppose you enjoy, above your brethren of the church of England? And here I desire my readers to observe, that I neither design to be- gin nor maintain any controversy with my brethren of the estab- lished church in these papers, which are written purely to revive practical godliness amongst us ; nor would I willingly give them any uffnce. I confess indeed, that it may not be improper in some parts of our ministrations, to enter into the merits of the cause, and modestly togive our people an account of the reasons why we separate from the public worship of the parish ; and yet this we have almost universally declined for many years out of respect to the church, nor is this mypresent business or intent in this place ; nor shall I stand to enumerate all our differences,
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