SERM.

X.

4

But notwithstanding all this, every Age ftill fends us to the former for better Times, and that again to the foregoing; fo that if the former Times were better, it is because they are paft, and confequently that the prefent Times are worse for no other Reason than because they are prefent. And here lies the Miftake: The former Times we only hear of, or if we do happen to remember them, yet the Days of our Youth have little or nothing to do with the Troubles of any Age; that Part of Life is generally taken up with the Pleasures of the World, and therefore can't furnish a Man with Experience enough to draw the Comparison between Times of fuch a Distance. Whereas, when Age comes upon us, and our Views are enlarged, we have then a greater Knowledge of the World, and a more fenfible Perception of the Nature of Human Life; for we come at that Time to fhare the Troubles likewife, as well as Pleafures of it. Things at a Distance always appear lefs than they really are, and we only fee

the

the beft fide of them; but when they are SERM. X. brought home to our Eyes, we fee them, with all their Defects and Inconveniencies. So that to infinuate that the former Days were better than thefe, most commonly proceeds from a want of enquiring wifely concerning this: For by the fame Rule that we fo much admire the former Times, will the present, when they are old enough, be the Envy and Admiration of the Age to

come.

af

Indeed we need go no farther back than the laft Century, and view the Troubles which this Day's Anniversary always puts us in Remembrance of, to prove what I have been faying under this Head; and to fhew the Mistake of thofe, who copy ter the Murmurers in the Text. And as all the Outrages of these distracted Times were owing to this reftlefs, complaining, turbulent Spirit; fo this Day may be a Warning to the Murmurers of our Times, how they indulge themselves in fuch a troublesome mischievous Temper; fince no one knows to what extravagant Lengths it may carry a Man, and what Evils it may E e

осса

SERM. Occafion. Tho' the first fetting out of thefe X. Troubles was a Struggle for Liberty, which

in a free Country is acknowledg'd to be lawful, and what a free People have a Right to; and whatever occafion there was given for it by the Rashness and Inadvertency of fome People about the King, whose Business it was to know the Conftitution of the Kingdom better; yet it is well known, that it ran foon into another Channel; for thefe Grievances were fettled in a Parliamentary Manner before the War began; yet by means of a murmuring Spirit, that then appear'd among fome Malecontents, new Grievances were trump'd up, and what at firft was only a Stand for Liberty, became afterwards a Struggle for Licentioufnefs: A Defire of redreffing Grievances was fucceeded with a Defire of making them; and what was once thought a Crime in the King's Party, was thought very juft and reasonable in theirs. This carried them thro' so many different Scenes of Strife, that they hardly knew at laft what they fell out for: They feem'd to have forgot the firft Quarrel,

and

and turned the Remainder of their Refent- SERM.

They were

ment against one another.
feveral times fo non-plufs'd that, like Tra-
vellers who have loft their way, they did
not know which Road to take. The
wifer Part began to look upon one ano-
ther as afham'd of having gone fuch ex-
travagant Lengths beyond their first Inten-
tion, and were willing to bring Matters to
a Pacification; and whatever Grievances
they thought the King had been guilty of
making before, yet they began now to
look upon him as the greatest Sufferer, and
thew'd a strong Inclination to restore him,
And indeed the greatest Part had fo poor
an Opinion of a Change, fearing it might
have been for the worse, that they would
have return'd to their Allegiance again
could they have known how to do it with
Safety; while others, thinking they had
finn'd beyond a Poffibility of Forgiveness,
became desperate in their Designs, and re-
folv'd, at all Adventures, to push Matters
to the utmost Extremity.

No doubt one great Addition to these
Troubles was this; A great Multitude of
E e 2
vile

X.

!

SERM. vile mercenary Wretches promoted the Animofities as much as they could, and kept up the Flame for their own Advantage; no matter where it burn'd and devour'd fo long as they were fure to warm themselves by it. Such Fellows as these are common in Cafes of this Nature, who make a Trade of building their own Fortunes upon the Ruins of their Neighbours. This, together with a multitude of concurring Circumftances, heighten'd with the Addition of á Multitude of Vices, hurried them on from one Pitch of Enthusiasm to another, till they inverted the very Nature of Things, call'd Evil Good, and Good Evil, made God the Author of all Wickedness, the Scripture a Cover for all manner of Knavery, and Grace a Plea for Sin; and fo at length, after a long and tedious Rebellion, and the Calamity of a Civil War, to fill up the Measure of their Iniquity, they clofed the horrid Scene in the Murder of the King, and the Deftruction of the Church and State.

But Secondly, I come now to fhew the Sin and Folly of murmuring against the prefent