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 to Repentance, remember they are still stronger Calls on us, to _preach_ Repentance, and to discharge the Duty we owe to God and his Church, and to the Flock of Christ, over whom we are placed. May this Work of God prosper in our Hands! I should be wanting to the Duty I owe to the highest as well as the lowest, should I omit on this Occasion to remind those who are entrusted by their Country, with the Government of these populous Cities, how much the Welfare of the People depends upon the faithful Execution of the Law. I pretend not to accuse _them particularly_ of Neglect, a _general Neglect_ of this Kind is one of the worst Symptoms of the Time; every Man is left to do what is right in his own Eyes, one would think _there was no King in Israel_. Could the vile abominable Pictures of Lewdness have been offered to Sale in the most frequented Parts of the City; could Books for the Instruction of the Unexperienced in all the Mysteries of Iniquity have been publickly cried in our Streets; had not the Laws, and the Guardians of the Laws, been asleep?--But surely it is high Time to awake; and to let People once more know, (what seems to be almost forgotten) that Laws are made for the _Punishment of Wickedness and Vice, and for the Maintenance of true Religion_. Government is a great Trust, and the Powers of it are not intended merely to do Honour to those who have them, but must be used for the Good of the Community. This is a Truth sufficiently known, it has been founded in the Ears of the Nation, without Ceasing; but the Misfortune is, that this Doctrine has been applied so constantly to the _Supreme_ Magistrate only, that those who have _subordinate_ Powers derived from his Authority, forget, or are not accustomed, to make the Application to themselves. And yet surely, there is not a Constable but has, in Proportion to the Power the Law gives him, a Trust reposed in him in Behalf of his King and his Country: Those who are in higher Offices, have still greater Reason, as more depends upon the due Exercise of their Authority, to be watchful for the Community. The Good of Society must be influenced by their Conduct and Example, one Way or other. Great Officers of Justice cannot be _useless_, without being _pernicious_.