These sublime passages taken from the inspired writings, and descriptive of the wisdom, majesty, grandeur, and indignation of GOD, are written, that we might form a due estimate of the littleness and impotence of that reptile man, when contending with Omnipotence? and learn from the desolations of the earth, to tremble at his presence. But where are the people that have learned this lesson? If a veneration for the institutions of Heaven, a delight in the ways of God, a reverent mention of his sacred name, a conscientious observation of the Sabbath, and a hatred of sin, be characteristics of God’s peculiar people, I fear the number will be found very small, when compared with the bulk of the profane. And here I cannot paint in stronger colors the prevalence of immorality in the present day, than by adopting the words of good Bishop Sherlock, in his description of the predominant wickedness of his own times. In a sermon delivered at Salisbury, the good bishop says, “Surely the Gospel of Jesus Christ was never treated with greater malice and contempt by _Jews_ or _Heathens_, than it has been in this Christian country.—Is not Sunday become a day of diversion to great ones, and a day of idleness to little ones? And has not this been followed by a great increase of great wickedness among the lower sort of people?” And, when speaking of the licentiousness of that period, which succeeded the Restoration, and opened flood-gates of iniquity, which have continued through similar channels ever since; he says, “The sense of religion decayed, and the very appearances of it were suspected as a remnant of hypocrisy. And, if we may judge by the _performances of the stage_, which are formed to the _taste_ of the people, there never was a time when _lewdness_, _irreligion_, and _profaneness_, were heard with more patience.” No wonder that, from a contempt of the gospel, and a love of dissipation, should spring what the good Bishop asserts in his Pastoral Letter, p. 7, “Blasphemy and horrid imprecations domineer in our streets; and poor wretches are every hour wantonly and wickedly calling for damnation on themselves and others, which may be, it is to be feared, too near them already. Add to this, the lewdness and debauchery that prevail among the lowest people; which keep them idle, poor, and miserable, and the number of _lewd houses_ which trade in their vices, and must be paid for making sin convenient to them; and it will account for villanies of other kinds. For where is the wonder, that persons so abandoned should be ready to commit all sorts of outrage and violence. A CITY WITHOUT RELIGION CAN NEVER BE A SAFE PLACE TO DWELL IN.” {234}