didst drink the pure blood of the grape. But Jeshurim waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook GoD which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation.

Can we be such unequal judges in our own case, as not to see, in their trial and condemnation, the fatal sentence of a Christian people? Change only for a moment the figurative language, and mark how similar the reasoning is against us, how aggravated our provocation. Suppose, then, the GoD of the universe, the LORD, who hath redeemed us with his blood, summoning us, as he did them, to answer the charge-Behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest I have not sinned; or suppose him only to say, Son of man, wilt thou judge them, and cause them to know their abominations. How are we prepared to answer accusations like these?

If God has placed every blessing within our reach, consistent with our earthly state; if He has given us a country, temperate in its climate, exuberant in its soil, exulting in its liberty, and flourishing in its commerce; if, having written his law and his commandments within

our hearts, He has guarded by his protection, and sanctified by his presence, our holy temples, the place where his honour dwelleth; if, having removed from us the scourge of the oppressor, He has fixed the pillars of our government on the foundation of religious truth; if, after grafting us on the parent stock, He has caused our branches to flourish, that they might spread around the fruits of righteousness; if He has made of us a wise, a great, and enlightened people, that his name through us might be exalted, and that in our dominion He might be glorified in the sight of all nations; Why have we forgotten the Hand from which we have received all these blessings; why have we defiled the land of our inheritance; and why do the insulted laws of our God rise up before him, to upbraid us with apostacy and ingratitude?

Of those pollutions, which must banish from the heart every religious hope; of those licentious principles, which set Almighty Power at defiance, and consequently separate from human actions the care of an all-seeing Providence; of the dissipation, gaming, riot, and debauchery, which abound among us, and which so fully confirm

the charge; of their consequent attendants, sin, rebuke, and blasphemy, which with impudent defiance have set up their banners for tokens; we can only say, by their fruits ye may know them. And had we no other witnesses of the truth to shame and confound such false brethren, what a fearful looking-for of judgment would remain to us! But amidst the irregularities of life, which force us to shut our eyes, or to hush our consciences, whilst we hear the stream of infidelity roaring in its widened channel, and behold so many thoughtless beings feeding the currents and swelling the rivulets of folly and guilt, to augment the rapidity of the destructive torrent, though we may not be able to oppose a mound, it is our duty to bid you mark its progress, and to dread its approach; it is our duty to turn your eyes towards the ravages of the storm, and to exhort you to examine well the ground of your security, whether, should the rain descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow, they will beat in vain upon your house, because it is founded on a rock.

Shall we then be taught to comprehend our signs, as the danger approaches nearer? And

from the distinct word of revelation, from the full and final completion of prophetic warning, and from the destruction of nations now erased from the face of the earth, shall we turn with more profitable admonition to the calamitous scenes around us? Shall we, at the close of a century, terminating with horror, yet fraught with mercy, learn to estimate the value of our blessings in the presence of our GOD? Shall we, in taking the catalogue of wretchedness from other nations, be taught to raise up our voice in thanksgiving to the throne of grace, that our country has not been delivered over a prey to the spoiler, nor made a field of blood?

By the interposition of Providence we have been placed on a noble eminence; and I know and feel, that when the pulse beats high to national honour in signal atchievements of genius and courage, when this little island is made, as it were, the ark and the resting-place of social morality and legitimate freedom, the lesson of humility is difficult. But with the groaning of nations humbled to the dust, who but lately prided themselves, like our own, on the order of their government and the greatness of their

resources, the very song of deliverance must be a song of apprehension; it must expose the slender thread of, what is called, national prosperity; and through the vapour of glory will be distinctly seen the significant token, that nothing can long hold together a happy people, but the strong bonds of Christian faith, of Christian hope, and of Christian obligations,

Protected, therefore, as this kingdom has been, by the gracious Hand of Heaven, does it not become us to be humble as well as grateful? Should we not ask ourselves upon whom the vial of indignation has been poured, and who have been made to drink so deeply of the cup of affliction? Oh GoD of mercy, let us not dare to suppose, that, upon a moral and religious comparison our foundation of trust is stronger than that of many who have fallen; let us not venture to pronounce I am holier than thou, or that we ourselves might not have as justly shared a portion of their sad inheritance! In tracing the boundaries of their once fraternized dominions, as they were termed by the insulting foe, shall we find nothing within them that ought to have checked the hand of spoliation? Were