than by honeft Labour and Industry ; so that it was high Time for the Legiflature to confult the Good of the Community, by denouncing Vengeance against thofe who would not be awed by the most facred Tyes. Such Men as will not conform to the Rules and Maxims of Society and good Government, are Objects of national Resentment ; and this Sort of Men having long committed Outrages of this Kind with Succefs and Impunity, have at Length fo corrupted the Manners of their Neighbours, that Men who should know better began to view these Acts of Fraud and Violence in a favourable Light, through an evil Eye of Covetousness, and thought it no Harm to be Partakers with them in their Sin, by being Partakers with them in their Spoils.

It therefore became the Wisdom of the State to stop the Progress of so prevailing a Cuf

a Cuftom, by the timely Severity of a penal Law, which may reach the Hearts, and stop the Hands of bold and desperate Villains, whom no Tyes of Confcience, no Laws of Juftice, no Fear of Things unfeen could reftrain, and give a seasonable Check to thoie who were in Danger of being corrupted by them. Halters and Gibbets are calculated for the daring and the thoughtless, but they work powerfully on all Complexions, and make Men begin to number their Days and look to their End, that they may no more do amifs, but apply their Hearts unto Wifsdom. If therefore any of you, my Brethren, have been formerly led away by Example, and unwarily engaged in this enormous Practife, which would be a Reproach to any Nation, much more to one fo well governed as well as reformed, let it no more be faid that you are a Scandal to your Country, left it fpue you out as

un

unworthy its Society. To this End, be advised in Time to fhun both the Danger and the Infamy of this Practise. Be very cautious of your Behaviour, and be not tempted by the Appearance of Profit to forego your Credit, and rifque your Lives and Fortunes.

Be not easily tempted to pafs much beyond the Boundaries of your own Parish on fuch an Occafion; and then, if any Shipwreck fhould happen within your District, you may expect, upon behaving honeftly, and being true to your Truft, to be generally the Perfons employed by the Agents to secure them. There is scarce

a Parish upon the Coast but what has Hands enough in it to fave all that can be faved out of any Wreck; and for Men of diftant Parishes to fly Miles toward one, as fo many Vultures to a Carcafs, is mean and fordid, fhews a hungry covetous Tem

per, and no good Difpofition to be

honeft.

rors

Let the idle Wretch, that is bufy and earneft to defcry from every Eminence a Ship in Danger, and whose impious Heart exults whenever he beholds one strike, and opposes his own moft wicked Defire to the Prayers of the poor unhappy Mariners, expecting with all its Hordreadful Death, a which he, amazing Barbarity! wishes may be their Fate: Let fuch a one be foremost on the Beach to share the inglorious Spoil, and let him in the End meet with his juft Demerit ; for God himself hath declared, that "all such as are glad at Calamities shall "not be unpunished :" (Prov. xvii. 5.) But let all that hope for Mercy at the Hand of God, meet their fuffering Brethren with open Arms, and fave them and whatever belongs to them from the Sea; and

what

whatsoever the Sea throws up, fave it with as faithful an Heart for the Ufe and Benefit of the Owners, as if it were your own: And this you may well do, confidering that the Merchants feldom grudge an ample Reward for Salvage, if it be done fairly, and without Marks of Spoil and Rapine; and they will make it well worth your while to be both careful and honeft. But if you fteal one Half, and fave the Rest, you injure both the Revenue and the Merchant's Trade, by vending it without Duty, and at a low Price, and deserve to be treated as the worst of Cheats, and Pirates on the Shore. And while fome are prompted by their Idlenefs and their Wants, or inftigated by the Devil, to accompany him in his Rounds, when he walks to and fro upon the Earth, feeking whom he may devour, let the honeft and industrious Labourer keep at Home with his Master in his conftant Employ, and