First from the Necessity and usefulness of the Laws of God, I infer, that we ought not to murmur at those Restraints, which we may perceive are laid only upon our Dispositions to hurt. Laws oblige us indeed to serve, but then it is to serve our proper Master; and are Preservatives from a worse slavery, Namely that to Satan, and our own Lusts: If they are chains, they are such as are marks of Honour not of servitude, according to that of [Prov.1-9.] Solomon, They shall be as an Ornament of Grace unto they Head, and Chains about thy neck. This therefore should dispose us rather to adore the Goodness of God, which is so visible in the Goodness of his Laws, Commandments which he hath commanded us for our Good: and since they are in their nature and design thus Good, we should strive to render them in the best manner so to us, by the most regular use, that is, by a chearful Obedience unto them.

Secondly, are Human Laws necessary and useful to enforce the Laws of Good, to determine and secure every man's Property, and to encourage, or discourage, what may be advantagious, or disadvantagious to the particular circumstances of any People; Are the Laws of Men capable of being serviceable to these good purposes? Therefore Lawgivers should endeavour always to make them thus serviceable, this should be their design and their aim this. And as God has ordained Magistracy for these ends, therefore I infer with the Apostle that we ought to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. [1Pet.2.13.]

There are many things in the Government of every Society which Almighty God has left to the Determination of each particular Society, and where such determinations are not contrary to the Laws of God (which ought to be their general Rule) we must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake. [Rom.13.5.]

Thirdly, fromm the Excellency of our own Laws and the Happiness of our National Establishment and Constitution, surely every one that hears me this day will infer with me, that it is our great Duty to prize and value it, and to think nothing too much to do, or suffer in the defence thereof against all Invaders whatsoever.

Our Laws are the establish'd fence of our Religiion, Liberties and Properties, the Gratest blessings on the side Heaven, and our Blood and Tresure can never be better expended than in Guarding these Laws, which are in so many respects a Guard to us.

Almighty God, who is a God of Order and not of confusion, without all doubt requires that there should be Government in the world: But he has not prescrib'd one particular form to every Nation, (whatsoever some may at this time suggest who would rob us of our own) but the Laws of each Nation properly determine the Form of its Government, and from them Governours receive particular Rules concerning the Exercise of their Power, and the Govern'd particular Rules concerning the Exercise of their Subjection; and consequently we may from hence truly judge who are the best Princes, the best Patriots and the best Subjects, Namely they that rule, and they that advise and counsel, and they that obey according to Law: Provided always that the Law be Good; for otherwise, according to the answer of St Peter and the other Apostles to the High Priest, We ought to obey God rather than Men.

To conclude therefore, To the Preservation of our excellent Laws, which are the Grand Security of the Publick Good, let all Parties at all times resolve to Sacrifice their private Piques and Resentments; and not by any unreasonable suspicions of one another weaken the endeavours of each other for the prefervation of the whole: More especially, since there is a Pretender that is always ready to improve our differences to our Destruction, Who has an Instructor that is too well vers'd in all the Arts of doing mischief, Who by his * Letter on the occasion of the late Invasion has given sufficient intimation to the world of his desire and design of subjecting these Nations again to the See of Rome; and we may reasonably believe that he has some secret hopes of finding his own account also in our subjection.
*The French King's letter to the Pope.

But since it has pleas'd God in Mercy to deliver us from the late horrid attempt of this Pretender, supported by a French power and animated with French designs; let us for the future avoid all those Distinctions, as divide, weaken and expose us; and cherish such an hearty union among our selves, and make such an Industrious improvement of all the advantages that may be reap'd from the late Union with a Wise and Valiant People, as may discourage all future attempts, or render them as Abortive, as (blessed be God) the last was.

Methinks the sense of commojn Danger should always awaken us all into a joynt regard for our publick safety, and that upon the same Principle the common Good of that Happy Government whereof we are Members.

Nay forasmuch as it has pleas'd God happily to furnish us at this time with another sort of Argument, and by the late Glorious Victory has again shewn towards us gracious designs of Good and not of Evil, Let us follow the conduct of our Merciful God, and make such a good use at home of our successes abroad, as may produce in the issue that only good and desirable fruit of all War, and Honourable and Lasting Peace.

And Lastly, since all abuse in the Execution of the Law is so grievous, let every one according to his Power, in his publick and in his private capacity, endeavour to prevent it, that our Good Laws may not by any means become Instruments of Evil; but that, tho' a regular and lawful use of them, all of us, from the Highest to the Lowest, may be able from our own sense and experience to say with assurance in the words of our Apostle, We know that the Law is Good.