The excess of impiety which has broken down the banks of common civility and modesty, at first led my thoughts to these ensuing subjects. The spirits of men are leavened with atheism-and their lives are stained with debauchery. I do not know what to call them but baptized heathens. I am sure the floods of sin are risen, even to a deluge. There is a generation among us of whom I may say, that they militate against religion. They are so exceedingly profane that they esteem the Bible to be a fable-and would jeer all holiness out of the world! The "prince of the power of the air" now works in the children of disobedienceThomas Watson was an English preacher and author who obtained great fame preaching until the Restoration when he was ejected as the vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook for noncomformity. Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately and upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license to preach at the great hall in Crosby House.