f
Repentance, by which their spiritual Condition might be gradually
mended, greedily swallow the high Cordial of Absolution, which like
other Cordials gives some present Ease, but works no Cure. And with
respect to People of a serious and religious Turn of Mind, the manifest
and almost general Contempt, or at least Neglect, of the Duties of
Religion gives a great Advantage to the Emissaries of _Rome_ to impose
on their Weakness, and to persuade them that they can have no Hopes in
the Religion of a Church, where Religion itself is hardly to be found.

Lay these Things together; and what more your own Observation and
Reflexion may furnish, and much more they may furnish; and then ask
your Heart, whether you have not Reason to fear, that God will visit
for these Things. If your Heart misgives you, and forebodes the Time of
taking Vengeance for these Iniquities to be drawing near, consider
further, how graciously you have been dealt with by having had Warning
of your Danger; and remember that the long _Sufferance of God is a Call
to Repentance_.

It is purely for the Sake of this Reflexion, that I now address myself
to you: I have no Pleasure in laying open the Shame of my Country, or
in exposing its Nakedness either to Friends or to Foes; and when I
consider my own Situation, 'tis a Prospect void of all Comfort to me to
see the Condition of the People, over whom I have a Charge; and, God
knows my Heart, these Considerations are a Pain and Grief to my Mind.

But, let us not despair; there is still one Remedy left, and whatever
Reason we have to condemn ourselves, yet of this we may be sure, that
God has not _forgotten to be gracious_. To him then let us turn, with
hearty Repentance for our Sins; and with a Resolution to do, each of us
in his proper Station, what lies in our Power to stem the Torrent of
Iniquity which threatens our Ruin.

As to You my Brethren of the Clergy, who share with me the Care of the
Souls in these populous Cities, let me exhort You, (though I trust you
want not to be exhorted) to awaken the People, to call them from the
Lethargy in which they have too long lived, and make them see their own
Danger. Speak to them, _perswade them as knowing the Terrors of the
Lord_.--Speak to their Hearts and Consciences with such Plainness as
becomes the Ministers of the Gospel; tell them in _Season and out of
Season, that unless they repent, they must perish_. If the Warnings we
have had are a Call on the People