O Bleffed State of the Church Militant here on Earth! the glorious Antepaft of that Peace and Piety which God has prepar'd for his Church Triumphant in Heaven! Who would not wish to fee thofe days, when a general Reformation, and a true Zeat, and a perfect Charity, paffing through the World, we fhould All be united in the fame Faith, the fame Worship, the fame Communion and Fellowship one with another? When all Pride and Prejudice, all Interests and Designs being fubmitted to the Honour of God, and the difcharge of our Duty, the Holy Scriptures fhall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men; and Religion no longer take its denomination from little Sects and Factions, but we fhall all be content with the fame common primitive Names of Chriftians and Bre thren, and live together as becomes our Character, in Brotherly Love and Chriftian Charity with one another?

And who can tell but fuch a Change as this, and which we have otherwife fome reafon to believe is nigh at hand, may even now break forth from the midst of us, would we but all seriously labour to perfect the Great Work which the Providence of God has fo gloriously begun among us, and establish that Love and Unity among our felves, which may afterwards diffuse it felf from us into all the other Parts of the Chriftian World befides?

But however, whether we shall ever fee, I do not fay, fuch a Blessed Effect as this, but even any good Effect at all of our Endeavours here on Earth, or no; yet this we are fure, we fhall not lofe our Reward in Heaven. When to have contributed, tho' in the least degree, to the healing of thofe divifions we fo unhappily labour under, fhall be

efteemed

efteemed a greater Honour, than to have filenced all the Cavils of our Enemies; and even to have pray'd, and wifh'd for it, and, where we could not any otherwife have contributed our felves, but to have exhorted others to it, fhall be rewarded with Bleffings, more than all the Stars in the Firmament for number.

Now the God of patience and confolation, grant you to be like-minded one towards another, according to Chrift Jefus: That ye may with one mind, and one mouth, glorifie God, even the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift:

To Him be Honour and Praife, for ever and ever. Amen.

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SERMON IX.

Of the Nature and Benefit of a Publick Humiliation.

Preached before the Honourable House of Commons, at St. Margaret's Westminster; being the Faft-Day appointed, To implore the Bleffing of Almighty God in the War against the French King, June 5th. 1689.

JOEL II. 12, 13.

Therefore also now faith the LORD, Turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with Fafting, and with Weeping, and with Mourning. And rent your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God, for He is Gracious and Merciful, flow to Anger, and of great efs, and repenteth Him of the Evil.

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Hough the time of this Prophecy be uncertain, fo that neither the Jewish Rabbins, nor Chriftian Antiquaries are able to give us any tolerable Account of it, yet is the Defign plain, and the Words of my Text a moft proper and pathetick enforcement of the great duty of this day, to turn

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unto the Lord our God with all our Heart, and with fafting, and with weeping, and with mourning, -for he is Gracious and Merciful, flow to Anger, and of great Kindness, and repenteth him of the Evil.

If we look into the foregoing Chapter, we shall there find an aftonishing Account of the great Evils that were just ready to befall the Jews for their Sins. But that which is yet more furprizing, is, That though all this was about to come upon them, yet were they nevertheless infenfible of their danger, nor took any the least care to prevent their utter defolation.

To awaken a ftupid and inconfiderate People, a Nation dead in Sin and Security, in the beginning of this Chapter he prepares a lofty and magnificent Scene. He fets before them a Prophecy of yet greater dangers than any they had hitherto experimented, and that in a manner fo unufual, with fuch a Pomp of Words, and in fuch Triumphant Expreffions, as carry a terror even in the Repetition of them:

Joel ii. 1.

2,

Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion, found an Alarm in my holy Mountain; Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh; for it is nigh at hand: A day of darkness and of gloominess; a day of Clouds and of thick darkness; as the Morning Spread upon the Mountains; a great People and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither fhall be any more after it. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burneth: The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a defolate Wilderness. The Earth fhall quake before them; the Heavens fhall tremble; the Sun and the Moon fhall be dark; and the Stars fhall withdraw their fhining. Whatever

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