215 SERMON XI The Happiness of ENGLAND. DEUT. xxxiii. 29. Happy art thou, O Ifrael: who is like unto thee, O People fav'd by the Lord, the Shield of thy Help, and who is the Sword of thy Excellency! and thine Enemies shall be found Liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high Places, T HE proper Work of this Day Vol. II. Happiness, as flowing from it, I could P4 these Vol. II. these Words, which the Office has applied ~ to our Nation. Blessed be God, who by repeated Successes does justify our doing fo. I shall therefore need to give you no Explication of the Words, but only fubstitute England in the place of Ifrael, and the Text will then run, Happy art thou, O England, who is like unto thee, &c. Hence I shall infift on Two Things. I. Our Happiness. II. The Cause of it, viz. the Divine I. Of the Happiness of our Nation. I shall confider this, 1. Abfolutely, and without regard to our neighbouring Nations; Happy art thou, &c. 2. Comparatively; Who is like unto thee? 1. To form a true View of our Happiness, without carrying our Thoughts any further than our felves, we may divide the Mercies of God into two forts. First, The fix'd, and almost conftant Bleffings: Secondly, The extraordinary and occafional ones, which he has conferr'ď upon this Nation. First First, His fix'd and stated Blessings Serm. may be reduc'd, for Distinction fake, un- XI. der Three Heads, Natural, Civil, and Spiritual. For we enjoy a good Country, a wife and well-temper'd Government,a Primitive and Apoftolical Church. Each of these Heads involve so many and fo great Mercies in 'em, that I cannot pass them over without entring, at least a little way, into the Detail of them. 1st, As to our Country; we have a fruitful Soil, a healthy and temperate Climate; if it be not our own Fault, our Inhabitants live long, and in Plenty, and Eafe too; we abound in Commodities of general Ufe not elfewhere to be found; the Sea that is about us is not only a Fence and Security to us, but an Abyss of Treasure, ministring not only to our Safety, but to our Grandure too, and I wish I could not add to our Pride and Luxury; but this is our Abuse of Mercy, 'tis our Sin and our Shame. Here too I may mention the Capacity and Courage of the Inhabitants of this Ifle, both which are illustrious in the Tenderness and the Jealousy we have at all times expressed for our Rights and Laws, and the Struggles by which we have maintain'd 'em against all Incroachments either at Home or from Abroad. I will not Vol. II. not infift longer on this Head, the Trea~ sure we have spent in the last Twenty Years, and the Safety we have enjoy'd when almost the whole World has been in a continual Storm and Tumult, is a plain Demonstration of God's Goodnefs towards us, and shews how well we are fitted naturally to be a happy People. 2dly, The next Head under which we may reduce the Mercies of God, is the Civil Government. This amongst us is gracious and mild. Power is bounded by wife and equal Laws; Dominion and Subjection are so temper'd, that 'tis almost impossible, unless we betray our selves, that Sovereignty should swell into Tyranny, or Obedience degenerate into Slavery: The Prerogatives of the Crown are great enough to make the Prince not only easy, but glorious; and the Rights and Liberties of the People are large enough to make 'em happy; and each are as exactly bounded, and as strongly guarded as Human Prudence, under the common Affistance of God, can contrive. 3dly, We have a Primitive and Apoftolical CHURCH. The Doctrine of it breathes Holiness, Charity, and Obedience; the Sacraments are administred with great Plainness and Simplicity, neither incumber'd by Superftition, nor per plex'd 1 plex'd by controverted Opinions, or Phi- Serm. lofophical Speculations; our Liturgy is XI. devout and grave, folid and weighty; and the Rule and Standard both of our Faith and Manners is the Word of God, expounded according to the Catholick Sense of the pureft Ages. There is nothing in the Constitution of our Church that minifters either to Fierceness and Bigotry on the one hand, or to Fancy and Enthufiafm on the other. And our Discipline, were it put in Execution, is such as would effectually tend to reftrain Immorality and encourage Virtue. And thus I have gone thro' very briefly the fix'd and stated Mercies of this Nation; I'll now pass on, Secondly, To that fort of Mercies, which for Distinction fake, I call extraordinary and occafional, thơ' the Truth is, God has repeated them to us so often, that as transcendent as they are in their own nature, we may in a manner call them common and ordinary. I need here but follow the Thread of my Text, which has describ'd these very eloquently and emphatically, O People saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy Help, and who is the Sword of thy Excellency. These Words call to our Mind the many Deliverances we have had, and the many Victories we |