Wesley Corpus

The counsel therefore to separate cannot be from God. It has no foundation in the nature and fitness of things beneficial, either to them or us, and must in the end prove like the counsel of Ahithophel. Yefriends of America, turn your eyes therefore, for amoment, from those you suspect to be the only authors of the present evil, and think seriously of a more secret but certain cause, namely, the universality and enormity of every species of wick edness that is found in our land; and then marvel not that the £reat Governor of the world hath withheld that restraint which he is ever wont to hold amongst the Governors of a wise and good people. For we may be assured of this, that, were those in authority under the temptation of despotism and oppression, (and would to God, it never was the case!) if we as a people, by our transgressions, had not to a great and certain degree provoked the eyes of his glory, “I,” saith the Lord, “would put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips.” Ye friends of Government also, draw near, and turn your eyes from those you suspect to be the only authors of the present evil; look in this glass, and see the ugly monster, universal sin, that subtle, unsuspected serpent that has inflamed our blood, and brought on the malignant fever of contention on our body. Here gaze, till its loathsome and hideous deformity makes you loathe her. Then you will not marvel, that when the divine restraint is withheld, we are capable of anything; even that which is the most likely to end in our present and eternal ruin! And should not ye, O ye Americans, ye unhappy sufferers by this dreadful fire, look into the same glass, and not marvel at a divine permission of your afflictions; but in a becoming spirit and disposition ask, “Wherefore dost thou contend with me? Why hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee?” Surely them will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people ! But is our universal impiety the first and principal cause of our misery and wretchedness in general, and of the present distress in particular?