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folute, and prophane; and by mifemploying the ad vantages, which God had thrown into their lap, provoked him (as far as in them lay) forthwith to withdraw them. "Jefhurun waxed far, and kick"ed: Then he forfook God which made him, and 66 lightly esteemed the Rock of his falvation," Deut. xxxii. 15. And therefore Mofes, who had obferved the backfl dings of this wanton people for forty years together in the wilderness, when they were come to the borders of the promised land, and were now going to poffefs it, warns them, with the greatest earneftnefs, of those dangerous temptations to which profperity (he knew) would expose them. "Beware" (fays he) "left when "thou haft eaten, and art full and haft built "goodly houses and dwelt therein; and when "thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy "filver and thy gold is multiplied, and all thou "haft is multiplied: Then thine heart be lifted 66 up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, that "brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, "from the house of bondage; and thou fay in "thine heart, My power, and the might of my "hand, hath gotten me this wealth," Deut. viii. 12, 13, 14, 17. This was one perverfe effect of their fitting fafe and at ease under their vines and their fig-trees; that they began to forget from whence that eafe and fafety came, and to transfer all the honour of it upon themselves, by "facri66 ficing unto their own nets, and burning incense "unto their drags ;" Hab.i.16. a fort of idolatry, as hateful to God as any other whatsoever.

Or, if they vouchsafed to give God the praise of his goodness, yet they did it only in order to

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boaft the intereft they had in him; They were the peculiar care of heaven, the nation which above all nations he delighted to honour; their "mountain was ftrong, and fhould not be re "moved," no "harm fhould come nigh their "dwellings."

What fecret imaginations of this kind we have fondly entertained, upon our fucceffes, is beft known to God and our own hearts: Only this is apparent that we have not fince fo behaved ourfelves towards God, as if we preserved upon our minds a grateful remembrance of his mercies that we have fcarce manifefted our fenfe of them any otherwife than by the formalities of a thankf→ giving; that, whatever ground we may have gotten upon our enemies, we have gotten none upon our vices, the worse enemies of the two; but are even fubdued and led captive by the one, while we triumph fo glorioufly over the others. The life and power of religion decays apace here at home, while we are fpreading the honour of our arms far and wide through foreign nations: To fecond caufes we feem to truft, without depending (at least without expreffing fo devoutly as we ought to do our dependance) on the firft. It is fufficient that "this great nation is a wife "and understanding people;" Deut. iv. 6. that "we have counsel and ftrength for the war;" Ifa. xxxvi. 5. and where counsel and ftrength is, how can they choose but prevail? In a word, we fo live, and fo act, as if we thought our prefent profperity founded on fuch a rock, as could no ways be fhaken; as if we were perfectly fecure of the final iffue and event of things, however

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we may behave ourselves; and had no longer any occafion for the fpecial providence of God "to watch over us for good," to direct all our steps, and bless our endeavours. How vain and finful fuch imaginations are, is what I proposed, in the

II. Place to fhew. Two things there are, that lie at the bottom of this falfe confidence: We think that our fucceffes are a plain indication of the divine favour towards us; and that, becaufe we have fucceeded hitherto, we fhall fucceed always, even until our eye hath feen its defire upon our enemies.

May the event every way anfwer our expectation! However, we fhall not be ere the lefs likely to meet with fuccefs, if we do not expect it too confidently; and therefore it may be of fome use to us to confider, whether, and how far we may, from the prefent profperous ftate of our affairs, conclude that God is with us of a truth, and will go on ftill to heap greater bleflings upon us, how little care foever we have taken, or thall take, to deferve them.

Military fucceffes do, above all others, elevate the minds of a people that are bleffed with them; because the providence of God is thought to be more immediately concerned in producing them Indeed, there are no events which do either confefs a divine interpofition fo evidently, or deserve it fo well, as thofe of battle which, as they are of the utmoft confequence, and have fometimes decided not only the fate of particular provinces or kingdoms, but the empire of the whole world; fo do they depend often on fuch remote and VOL. II. feemingly

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feemingly difproportioned caufes, turn on fuch little unheeded accidents, as it is not in the power of the moft fagacious and experienced among the fons of men to prevent or forefee. War is a direct appeal to God for the decifion of fome difpute, which can by no other means be poffibly determined: and therefore there is no reason to believe, that the iffues of it may in a peculiar manner be directed and over-ruled by providence: upon which account God is ftyled fo often in fcripture, the Lord of hofts, the God of the armies of Ifrael, the God mighty in battle; and he is faid there to have fent his angels, on fome extraordinary occafions, to fight for his people; and the discomfiture and flaughter of great hofts is exprefly attributed to their unfeen affiftance.

However, tho' warlike fucceffes carry in them often the evidences of a divine interpofition, yet are they no fure marks of the divine favour. If they were, the Goths, and Saracens, and other favage nations, which over-ran Europe and fia, would have entitled themfelves to the favour of God by their bloody and barbarous conquests: and even that most Chrift an enemy with whom we contend, moft on the account of thofe inhuman ravages, which he fo long committed with equal injuftice and fuccefs, have been accounted the darling of providence. No, fuch conquerors as thefe are not the favourites, but fcourges of God, as one of them ftyled himfelf; the inftruments of that vengeance which Heaven hath determined to pour out on fuch nations, as have filled up the meafure of their iniquities, and are grown ripe for excifion and as foon therefore as that fen

tence.

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tence is executed, thefe rods, thefe inftruments of divine displeasure, are themfelves thrown into the fire. From mere fuccefs therefore nothing can be concluded in favour of any nation, upon whom it is bestowed. That point can only be determined by confidering, whether the caufe for which they are engaged be juft, and the means alfo juft which they employ towards fupporting it; but above all, whether the moral deferts of a people be fuch, that their fucceffes may be looked upon as the juft reward of their virtues Το the two first of thefe advantages we may, I think, fairly lay claim; I with we had as good a title to the latter, and then our confidence would not be ill grounded.

Our fucceffes have indeed been the confequences of a juft and honourable, nay neceffary war; in which we engaged, not out of ambition, revenge, or any other unjuftifiable motive, but for the defence of all that was dear to us, in refpect either to this world or another. The haughty monarch, whose heart God at laft by our means hath humbled, was grafping at univerfal empire, preparing chains for the neck of free states and princes, and laying schemes for fuppreffing the ancient liberties, and removing the ancient boundaries, of kingdoms. Nor was he fatisfied in fubduing men's bodies, unlefs he enflaved their fouls alfo, and made the pure profeffion of the gofpel give way to fuperftition and idolatry, wherever he had power enough to expel the one, and establish the other. Nay, he pretended to give laws even to our fucceffion here at home, and to impofe a prince upon us, who fhould exeL 2

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