(1746) The Nature of National Offenses Truly Stated & the Peculiar Case of the Jewish People Rightly Explained

8/9/2019 (1746) The Nature of National Offenses Truly Stated & the Peculiar Case of the Jewish People Rightly Explained

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BX5133WI9i

WarburtonSennon preached on theGeneral Fast Day


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THE LIBRARYOFTHE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIALOS ANGELES

FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARDENDOWMENT FUND


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A

SERMONPreached on theGENERAL FAST DAY.By WILLIAM WARBURTON, M. A.

[Price Six-Pence.]


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By/lJT^ -,1 5 .

JOEL ii. & 10.remove far off from you the

Northern Army, and will drivehim into a Land barren and de-folate.

GO D, bythe Prophet Joel, having

denouncedagainft

hisPeople,

theInvafion of the Affyrians^ together

with the Fore-runners of that Judgment,his Army of Locufts, yet, at the fame time,declares, that, on their fincere Repentance,he would drive both of them back into thehorrid Regions from whence they came,with an Ignominy and Deftrudion as greatas were their Inlblence and Ravages. Nowthe Apoftle Paul tells us, that ivhatfoeverthings were written aforetime, were writtenfor our Learning j that we, thro Patience

and

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and Comfort of the Scriptures, might haveHope * : which is fufficient to allure us, thatwith the fume Difpofition of Humiliationbefore God, of hearty Repentance for ourSins, and fincere Refolution of Amendment,the fame merciful Providence will enable usto drive far from us the haughty Power ofFrance, with which we are now threaten-ed; together with their Fore-runners, thisNorthern Army of Locufts, allured hitherby the Scent of Prey, becaufe, as the Pro-phet exprefles it, ^e Land is as the Gardenof Eden before them, and Mind them, a dc-Jolate Wildernefs b . For as the Devil is faidto carry his Hell about with him, evenwhen in Paradife, fo the Difpofition of theHighlander makes every Place he treads up-on as bare as his own barren Mountains.

Thus farright Reafon,

the true Interpre-ter of Scripture, will authorize us to inferfrom the Nature of eternal JufHce and Mer-cy, the efferitial Attributes of God, whofeWill is unchangeable, and whofe Arm is

a Rom. xv. 4. u Joel ii. 3,not


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not (hortened. But further to conclude ofGod's Dealings with States and Societiesfrom his Difpenfations to the Jewiflj People,will be the Occalion of our turning thatScripture, which, the Apoftle here tells us,was writtenjor our Learning and Injlruttion>to our Dclufion ; and, at this Juncture, toour apparent Damage. Yet, from this Cha-racter given of the Holy Scriptures of theOld Teftament, in feveral Places of the A-poftolic Writings, Men have not only beenaccuftomed to regulate God's Proceedingwith Particulars, but alfo to judge of theFate of Kingdoms and Societies, upon theirIdeas of his Adminiftration of the JewifhCommonwealth. This hath been theSource of numberlefs Superftitions, hurtfulboth to Religion and Government; fomeeven derogatory to the Juftice of God, o-thers to the Rights of Mankind ; but all ofthem violating the rational Conclufions ofthat Learning and Inftruction we are bid tofeek for in Scripture, which is fo abundant-ly able to make us wife unto Salvation. Ofthis kind is that Doctrine which teaches

that


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[8 3that God, in the common Administration ofthe World, punifhes Children for the Crimesof their Parents 5 a Difpenfation peculiar tothe Jewifh People ; and there indeed ufedwith the higheft Juftice j but, in the pre-fent Difpofition of things, it would, accord-ing to all our Ideas of Right, intrenchgreatly on that divine Attribute : And thatother which accommodates to modern Kingsthe Title peculiar to the Jewijh, of theLord's anointed: which, as it is ufed andinforced, intrenches as deeply upon theRights of Mankind. For a Jewijh Mo-narch being really and truly the Lord's an-ointed, as he was God's own Deputy orLieutenant in the Kingdom, and confe-quently to refift him, on any Pretence what-foever, being Rebellion againft God, thefame Inference has been drawn, by CourtFlatterers, from the fame Title, for theSupport of modern Tyranny; and fo be-come one of the chief Props of that abfurdand deftructive Doctrine of divine indefeiza-ble hereditary Right : Whereas it can beapplied, to modern Princes, only in a figu-

rative


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[9]fative improper Senfe ; as it belonged to theyewr/Jj Kings in a literal and real one : Andwhen thus explained, and it ought to bethus explained by all who fo apply it, it isof excellent Ufe to inform the People ofthe iacred Character of every 1: Mr.*giftrate ; the refiiling of whole Oruiuunceais, indeed, the refilling the Ordinance ofGod. But I have neither Time nor Lei-fure at prefent to go thro' the many vari-ous Errors and Superititions, greatly .hurtful(as we fay) both to Religion and Society,which have arofe, in thefe latter -Ages, L-^ia Mifapplication of the P; Pro-vidences on which the Jci.v;jh State wasformed and conducted, to the Men. and theSocieties of the World at large. It /hallfuffice, that I have juil p9inted out theirNature and Confequences j and ihewn theground they {land upon, namely,, thole A-poftolic Declarations, that ail Scripture ofthe Old Teftament, was written for ourLearning and Inftruction ; which, takenthus in the grofs, prove extremely hurtful ;but when rightly diflinguiflied, produceB that


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[10]that Patience and Comfort^ St. Paul fpeaks>of, as the true Foundation of Chriftian Hope.Let us underftand it, therefore, that thedodtrinal Points found in the Old Teftamentwere written for our Belief, the moral Partsfor the Regulation of our Conduct, and thedevotional for our Exercife in Piety 5 andthen we fhall apprehend St. Paul's trueMeaning, where he fays, All Scripture iswritten by Infpiration of God, and is profita-blefor Doctrine, Jor Reproof, for Correction,for InftruBion in Righteoufnefs a . But thegreateft Part of the Old Teftament is hifto-rical, and chiefly written for our Informa-tion concerning the general Oeconomy ofGod's Difpenfation to Mankind. Hence itis, that fo large an Account is given of hisAdminiftration of the yewijh Common-wealth ; a religious Policy added, as theApoftle fays, or thruft in between the Pa-triarchal and Chriftian Difpenfations, becaufeef Tranfgrefjions, to preferve the Memoryof the true God in an idolatrous World,till the Seedfiould come to whom the Promtfe

* 2 Tim. iii. 16. um


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[ i*}]or .Nation, by his Adminiftratiqn of theJewifo People : Mankind being not nowunder an extraordinary, but a common Pio-vidence : I mean, it follows, we aie not toexpect it in the DEGREE; though indeed,from this Circumftance, nothing hinders butwe might expect it in the Kind.

But then, from the three others, it fol-lows, that we are not to expecl: it even inthe KIN D. For Religion, amongft theJews, was incorporated with their Society,and had a public Part : Hence Vice andImpiety, when abounding, became a publicCrime; and, as fuch, was, from time totime, feverely piinifhed on the State. But, theChrijlian Religion has no public Part ; hasnot the Stars, as fuch, but Individualsonly, for its Subject. Hence Vice andImpiety are not now public, but privateCrimes, for which Offenders fhall doubt-lels be moft feverely puniihed, but accord-

'

ing to the Gofpel Difpenfaiion. Again,the Je-wijh Sanctions were temporal only,which made it lit, and fome times neceflary,that the Crimes, even . of private Men,

ihould


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fhould be punimed by the Defolation of theState, as that derived condign Mifery on Par-ticulars. But the Sanctions of our Religionare future Rewards and Punifhments ; forthe latter of which, impious and wickedMen are fitly referved, and fo not the fameExpediency of punifhing them, through theState, i .*$$

This then, to which numberlefs otherConfiderations of Weight might be added,is fufficient to (hew, that we have no realWarrant from Holy Scripture, when in-terpreted on the Principles of right Reafon,to conclude that God's Dealings with theyewijh People are the Meafure of admi-niftering his Providence over other States :Or that, becaufe the PRIVATE Vices andImpieties of Men, under that Oeconomy,by the juft Judgment of God, frequentlybrought amazing Definition on their Na-tion, that it has now the felf-fame Ten-dency to provoke his Wrath againft ours.

This I prefume to be a fair Reprefen-tation of this important Subject : And fure,it will not be judged unfeafonable in a time

of


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['4]of general Danger; when, though the illState of our moral Condition mould not behid from us, yet methinks it ought not tobe aggravated by difcouraging Examplesdrawn from thofe dreadful Judgments onthe Jeivijh Nation ; a Cafe much infiftedon, and not with that Exadtnefs whichthe Dignity of the facred Writings deferve,or the Tendernefs of our prefent Cafefeems to require, when every good Manwill deferve the public Thanks, >uod deRepublica non dejperajjet.

But it will be a(ked, " Is not Vice and" Impiety the certain Destruction of aC State ? And are not States the Subject" of God's Mercies and Judgments ?" MyAnfwer to thefe Queftions, which is in theAffirmative, will ferve to fupport what hasbeen remarked before, concerning that crudeinconclusive Theology which makes God'sdealing with the yews the Pattern of hisProvidence in the World at large j and, atthe fame time, explain and clear up whatmay be obnoxious to Objection or Mifin-terpretation.

2 Ta


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C j]To the firft Queftion therefore I muft

obferve that, where, in defining the Na-ture of the Jewijh Commonwealth, I fpokeof God's National Judgments on his chofenPeople for their Vices and Impieties, I ufedthe exaft and philofophic Language of aDivine ; meaning thofe Confequences ofWrong which arife from the Will of God ;not thofe which follow from the Natureof Things. Rewards and Punimments, inthe firft Senfe, are thofe only which Re-vealed Religion acknowledges for the San-ction of its Precepts ; though moral De-claimers, and Platonic Preachers have beenaccuftomed, by a Latitude of Expreffion,to call the Mifchiefs arifing out of moralEvil from the Nature of Things, by theName of God's Judgments ; which perhapsmight not deferve Notice, were they notaccuftomed, too, to confound thefe withthe Judgments of God, properly fo called,to the great Injury, as I deem, of RevealedReligion, for Reafons too long and intricateto be here afTigned. Now, as to the na-tural Confequence of Vice and Impiety,

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nothing is more certain than that they arethe inevitable Ruin of a Commonwealth.IMPIETY, which confifts in a Contempt

of the Sanctions of Religion, removing; thern-ft and ftrongeft Prop of Society,' the Dreadof Divine Punimment for Fatmood andWrong. For from hence arifes a Disregardto the outward Tye of Oaths, the great Se-curity of the Magiftrate ; and a Diiiegard tothe inward Tye of Confcience, the great Se-curity of the People.As Impiety undermines Society, fo VICE

and Immorality more openly attacks it. Butboth with the fame fatal Succefs. The Epi-demic Evils of every powerful Community,in its Decline, are LUXURY and AVARICE >which, by an unnatural Corn-mixture, areincefTantly begetting one another even in thefame Breaft j whereby the national Wealth^one of our great Supports againft ForeignPower, becomes in Part exhaufted ; and,which is almoft as bad, in part, unequallydiftributed : And the perfonal Vigour of thePeople, the other great Support againfl Fo-

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I **1reign Invafions, is either enervated by mifern*ployed Opulence, or debafed by fordid Po-verty. But to reckon up the long Train ofEvils, ifTuing out of thefe two capital Vices,would be endlefs : Thefe being they whichfill private Families with unnatural Quarrels ;the Courts of Juftice with Chicane, and theCouncils of Government with Fadion. Fac-tion, which accumulates all the Evils ofDiilention in one, and pretends to all theVirtues of good Citizens, with,the Dilpofi-tions of the worft ! who, to fupport herfelf,and to draw the deluded People to their ownRuin, fpares no Name however facred, eitherin Religion, or Government, but occafion-ally employs them all to cover her private,and corrupt Purpofes.

But then, if the Evils of Impiety and Vietbe, in themfelves, feparately, fo deftrucliveto a Public j how great mud be their Ma-lignity, when they acl in concert, as theyalways do, when they exiil together j Pro-phanenefs giving an Edge and Keennefs toImmorality 3 and Immorality a leaden Biafs

C to


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to the Mind, in its acquired Averfion to Re-ligion. However diftant from the State,therefore, may be the Objed of God's Judg-ment for private Vices, yet, we fee, theybring upon it the moil inevitable Ruin fromthe Nature of Things. A Cafe, that, whenit comes to a certain Point, admits even lefsHope than the other. For God, whofeMercies are over all his Works, frequentlywithholds the Evils of his Judgments fromfinful Man j but never reverfes the Order ofNature to embolden him in his Impieties andWickednefs. However we have, at leaft,this Confolation, that, though fuch Deflruc-tion be fure, we yet have it in our ownPower to avoid it, by a fpeedy Courfe of So-briety, Juftice, and Piety j by which, asKingdoms become s great, fo by that only,can they thus continue. For, is it poffibleto conceive, in the natural Body, that anAthletic Habit, acquired by Abftinence andExercife, mould be preferved by Intempe-rance and Sloth ? If it be, then may a Bo-dy politic, made great by the modeft Parfi-

mony,


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[ '9 ]mony, the Virtue and Religion of its Mem-bers, become flill greater by their Luxury,Injuftice, and Impiety.We come now to our fecond Queftion >c< Whether States, as well as private Men," may not be the Subject of divine Difplea-" fure, fo as to bring down his fevereflc< Judgments upon them ?" To which wereply, that nothing is more certain. They,as well as private Men, having all thofe ef-fential Qualities, which conflitute a moral A-gent ; a Difcernment of Good and Evil, aWill to chufe, and a Power to put theirChoice in Execution. In one Word, arti-ficial Men. Hence the Rules of civil Juftice,in the Intercourfe between People and Peo-ple, are exactly the fame, as thofe in a Stateof Nature, between Man and Man. Andaccordingly we find, (for here Scripture comesin again for our Learning) that God dealtwith the Jewijh People under this Idea.And though his particular Contratf - withthem will not fuffer us to collecl:, from thatAdminiftration, a limilar Mode of ProvidenceC 2 over


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[zo]over others ; yet his entering at all into Con-traft, (hews that States are confidered, andwill be dealt with by him as moral A,gents.We muft needs therefore conclude, bothfrom Revelation and Reafon, that the Handof Heaven diftributes Good and Evil toSocieties, according to their moral Merit orDemerit. Not upon that Fancy, that asStates are only artificial Beings

with a pre-fent Exifience, and incapable of a future^that therefore God is obliged in Juftice topunim and reward them here. This is amere School Invention, and confuted bythe general Hiftory of the moral World;in which we find many fignal Examples ofthe divine Vengeance .amongft States andCommunities j yet, generally, at fuch aDiftance from the Crime, that a new Suc^cefflon feels the Pain of their PredeceiTorsTranfgreffion. Now, the Doctrine hereconfuted, goes upon the Idea of identicalPunifhment ; but, in the Qife given, theSamtttejs is not real or natural, but nominal

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merely, and artificial. Again, according tothis Doctrine, the Adminiftration (hould beconftant and exact, failing in no Inftance,nor defective in any Degree ; whereas wehave many Examples in States, as well asprivate Men, where Iniquity hath quiteefcaped the Divine Vengeance. From hencewe conclude, that, not for the fantafticReafon here confuted, but for one far morefolid and fubftantial, Societies are punifhedor rewarded according to their Behaviour ;a Reafon worthy the Dominion of the GreatLord of the Univerfe, that is to fay, forExample, and to keep alive the Senfe of aDivine Providence, in a carelefs impiousWorld.

It remains, therefore, only to confiderwhat thofe Aftions of

Society be, whichare the peculiar Object of divine Favouror Difpleafure : And thofe (in a Society,already eftablimed, like our own, on aSyftem of fundamental Laws fecuring Re-verence to the Deity, and difcouraging allVice and Immorality) can evidently be

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no other than what concern it's Conductin tranfacting with Neighbour States 3 or,in other Words, its Obfervance or Neg-lect of good Faith, Juftice, and Equity.By this Teft, then, let Great Britain betried. Let it be fairly examined whether,in its collective Capacity, it deferves, orhas juft Reafon to fear that impendingVengeance, from the Hand of Heaven,with which, in a time of fo apparentDanger, good Men may be but too aptto terrify themfelves.Now, to pafs over our National Tranf-

actions fmce the Revolution to thefeTimes, (which have been fo unfalhion-ably tenacious of the public Faith, andobjective to the good of Europe, that wehave gained abroad the Character of theworft Politicians in it) and come to ourprefent Doings; it is certain, a .commonObfervation will be fufficient to informus, that, though the corrupt Interefts ofprivate Men, of trading Bodies, and ofState Parties amongft us, might have all

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concurred to pufh us forward into a War,the Effects of which we at prefent la-bour under; yet that this War was be-gun firft againft SPAIN, for the Repara-tion of real Injuries, owned and acknow-ledged, with Promife too of Satisfaction,in public Convocation, by our very Ene-mies themfelves ; but encouraged by our un-happy Divifions, they violated this Con-vention, on which, Hoftilities commenced.In this Quarrel we were Principals. AnAuxiliary War followed, in fupport ofthe Houfe of AUSTRIA, unjuftly attacked,and againft all the Faith of Treaties ra-vaged, which very Faith ingaged us tocarry our Arms to her Afiiftance. Boththefe together foon produced a DefenfiveWar againft FRANCE ; whofe reftlefs Am-bition, (eflentiai to her Constitution) togive Law to Europe, feizing every favour-able Conjuncture of Advancing that darlingIdol of her Politics, encouraged Spain to per-lift in denying us Juftice, and fupportedthe Enemies of the Houfe of Aujlria in

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CM]their cruel Inroads upon her Dominions.And all this, with the moft apparent Pur-pofe of breaking that eftablifhed and equi-table Ballance of Power, fo neceflary forthe Peace and Felicity of Europe : which,when {he found us refolved to maintain,me publicly denounced War againft us in.all its Forms.

This is a true State of the public Quar-rel, and of our Share in it, and Conductwith Regard to our Neighbours. Andwhat is there in all this, that mall makeus afraid to appeal for Juftice to theThrone of Right ?

If Reparation, by the Sword, for Na-tional Injuries, after all the Ways of Peacehad been tried in vain ; if the Performanceof public Faith, when folemnly called upon,in behalf of a confederate Power, moftunjuftly and perfidioufly opprefled ; if Self-Defence againft thofe who openly fetthemfelves to traverfe and defeat the ho-neft Purppfes which God and Nature call-ed upon us to difcharge ; if laftly, the

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Support of the eftablifhed Ballance of Power,that is, the Liberties of Europe, againft themoft deteftable Perfidy, the mofl unjuftUfurpations, and the mofl lawlefs and de-ftructive Ambition that any Age hath dif-clofed ; if, I fay, all, or any thing of this,may intitle us to the Protection of Heaven,we feeni to have the moft rational andwell grounded Expe&ations of its Declara-tion in our Favour.

This public Act of Humiliation, beforeGod, is enjoined, therefore, with a Mo-defty, and holy Confidence, not common-ly obferved by Authority on thefe Occa-fions ; where the tremendous Majefty ofHeaven is, with an Impiety that makesfober Men aftonimed, too frequentlymocked and infulted by invoking its Blef-fings on the Arms of Fraud, Rapine, andInjuftice. But, bleffed be God ! GreatBritain has a Caufe which may not on-ly, with Modefty, fupplicate the Protec-tion, but, with Confidence, appeal to theJuftice of Heaven : being founded on theD folid


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folid Bafis of- -Self-Defence, Public Faith,and the Liberties of Mankind, in a juftand neceflary War.

There is only one impediment we have tpfear, in the happy IfTue of our Appeal ;and that is, the private Vices and Impie-ties of the Nation : And to remove this,was the Purpofe of this folemn Adi: ofDevotion j in which we are called uponby our Gracious Sovereign (ever intent up-on our Welfare) to humble ourfelves be-fore the avenging Hand of God, and de-precate his Judgments, by a free Confeilionof our Sins, and a determined Purpofe ofAmendment.

I have {hewn you how certain and in-evitable a Deflrudtion Vice and Impiety atLength bring upon a People. If this benot fufficient to induce you to a fpeedyReformation, think upon the Confequencepf perlifting in them at this Juncturewhen, by fuipending the Protection ofHeaven, which, as a Community, I haveihewn, we might have jufl Caufe to ex-

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I C v 3pect, we fcaften, by God's Difpleafure^that Ruin which Is more flowly advancingfrom the Nature of Things. So that inthis, betides the Reafon of infinite Impor-tance, our future Welfare, which we havein common with all Men, our prefent isvitally and immediately concerned. TheEnjoyment of all that is dear and valuableto Men, depending on the Prefervation ofpur happy Conftitution, now more fhakenby our private Vices, than by the Arms ofits degenerate and rebellious Subjects.

Let us then, in good Earneft, refolve up-pn a thorough Reformation j a return to thatSimplicity of Manners, that Modefty inDrefs and Diet, that Temperance in Plea-fures, that Juftice

in Bulinefs, which madeBritain fo diitinguifhed in the Annals ofourForefathers. Let us fpeedily return to thatfober Piety, and ferious Senfe of Religion,by which they were encouraged to form,and enabled to fupport, the Principles onwhich this happy Conftitution is creeled.But above all, as the firft Step into the old

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Paths of Honour, let us emancipate ourfelvesfrom that deteftable Spirit of Libertinifm,impudently afluming the Name of FR BE-THINKING j the Bane of civil Life, theOpprobrium of common Senfe, and a Dif-honour even to our common Humanity.Let us do this, and we fhall foon haveEarth and Heaven once more in Conjunc-tion, to make us happy and victorious overall the Enemies of our Peace.

FINIS.


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(1746) The Nature of National Offenses Truly Stated & the Peculiar Case of the Jewish People Rightly Explained