May he, of his mercy, keep them safe against the innumerable dangers of this bad world, through which they are to pass, and preserve them unto his heavenly kingdom.
SERMON V.
PREACHED BEFORE THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN THE ABBEY CHURCH OF WESTMINSTER,
On Thursday, June 11, 1747:
Being the Anniversary of his Majesty's happy Accession to the Throne.
It is impossible to describe the general end which Providence has appointed us to aim at, in our passage through the present world, in more expressive words than these very plain ones of the apostle, "to lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty." "A quiet and peaceable life," by way of distinction, surely, from eager tumultuary pursuits in our private capacity, as well as in opposition both to our making insurrections in the state, and to our suffering oppression from it. "To lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty," is the whole that we have any reason to be concerned for. To this the constitution of our nature carries us: and our external condition is adapted to it.
Now, in aid to this general appointment of Providence, civil government has been instituted over the world, both
