Could there ever be stronger cause for God to cry out, _Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth_! For hath he not _nourished and brought_ us _up_ as his _children? And_ yet, how _have_ we _rebelled against_ him! If _Israel_ of old _did not know God_; if his antient people _did not consider_; was this peculiar to them? Are not we also under the very same condemnation? Do we, as a people, _know_ God? Do we _consider_ him as God? Do we tremble at the presence of his power? Do we revere his excellent Majesty? Do we remember at all times, God is here! He is now reading my heart: he spieth out all my ways: there is not a word in my tongue but he knoweth it altogether: is this the character of us _English Christians_? The mark whereby we are known from the _Heathen_? Do we thus _know_ God? Thus _consider_ his power, his love, his all-seeing eye? Rather, are we not likewise a _sinful nation_, who _have forgotten him days without number_! A people _laden with iniquity_, continually _forsaking the Lord, and provoking the Holy One of Israel_.
2. There is indeed a wide difference, in this respect, between the _Jews_ and us; they _happened_ (if I may so speak) to forget God, because other things came in their way: but we _design_ to forget him; we do it of set purpose, because we do not like to remember him. From the accounts given by _Jeremiah_, we have reason to believe, that when that people were most deeply corrupted, yet the greatest men in the nation, the ministers of state; the nobles and princes of _Judah_, talked of God sometimes, perhaps, as frequently as upon any other subject. But is it so among us? Rather, is it not a point of good-breeding to put God far away, out of our sight? Is he talked of at all among the great? The nobles or ministers of state in _England_? Among any persons of rank or figure in the world? Do they allow God any place in their conversation? From day to day, from year to year, do _you_ discourse one hour of the wonders he doth for the children of men? If one at a gentleman or a nobleman’s table was to begin a discourse, of the wisdom, greatness, or power of God, would it not occasion (at least) as much astonishment, as if he had begun to talk blasphemy? And if the _unbred_ man persisted therein, would it not put all the company in confusion? And what do you sincerely believe the more favourable part would say of him when he was gone? But that――“He is a little touched in his head!” or, “Poor man! he has not seen the world.”
You know, this is the naked truth. But how terrible is the thought to every serious mind! Into what a state is this _Christian_ nation fallen! Nay the men of eminence, of fortune, of education! Would not a thinking foreigner, who should be present at such an interview, be apt to conclude, that the men of quality in _England_ were atheists? That they did not believe there was any God at all; or, at best but an _Epicurean_ God, who sat at ease upon the circle of the heavens, and did not concern himself about us worms of the earth? Nay, but he understands every thought now rising in your heart. And how long can you put him out of your sight? Only till this veil of flesh is rent in sunder. For your _pomp_ will not then _follow you_. Will not your body be mingled with common dust? And your soul stand naked before God? O that you would now _acquaint yourself with_ God, that you may then be cloathed with glory and immortality!
3. Did God complain of the _Jews, Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them_? And how justly may he make the same complaint of us? For how exceeding small a proportion do we find of those in any place who call themselves Christians, that make a conscience of attending them? Does one third of the inhabitants in any one parish throughout this great city, constantly attend _public prayer_ and the _ministry of his word_, as of conscience towards God? Does one tenth of those who acknowledge it is an institution of Christ, duly attend the _Lord’s supper_? Does a fiftieth part of the _nominal_ members of the church of _England_ observe _the fasts_ of the church, or so much as the forty days in _Lent_, and all _Fridays_ in the year? Who of these then can cast the first stone at the _Jews_, for neglecting the ordinances of God?
Nay, how many thousands are found among us, who have never partook of the supper of the Lord? How many thousands are there, that live and die in this unrepented disobedience? What multitudes, even in this _Christian_ city, do not attend any _public_ worship at all? No, nor spend a single hour from one year to another in _privately_ pouring out their hearts before God? Whether God _meeteth him that remembereth_ him _in his ways_ or not, is no concern of theirs: so the man eats and drinks, and _dies as a beast dieth_,
“Drops into the dark and disappears.”