from scorching heat, and intolerable cold? What advantages do we possess as an island! In consequence of this we have been preserved from invasion, and our country has not been made a field of slaughter.-What do we know of war? We have only witnessed its remote preparations and effects. We have not heard the confused noise of warriors, nor seen garments rolled in blood. Nor have our nurses, terrified at the sound of battle, fled with our infants, and lamed our Mephibosheths for life. Commerce has filled our rivers with ships, and poured the produce of the four quarters of the globe upon our tables. We have a constitution which displays the sober, improved, tried wisdom of ages. We have laws, distinguished by their justice, their mildness, their impartiality. The poor are equally protected with the rich; and character and talents can rise to eminence from the cottage, as well as from the mansion. Humanity and benevolence have distinguished the national character; and around us rise institutions of charity to embrace the sons and daughters of every kind of wretchedness.

Capernaum, though a little, mean fishing town, was said to be exalted unto heaven-and the reason was, because our Lord and Saviour had honoured it with his presence, and had preached in it "the kingdom of God." From the moment the gospel enters a country, the importance of it commences in the eye of angels; and then-then it is said, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." And, when it is withdrawn from a place, Ichabod may be written upon the walls-the glory is departed. At a very early period, this inestimable blessing reached our highly favoured isle. And, while it

has been withdrawn from countries once blessed with the same privilege, it has been continued to us, notwithstanding all our unworthiness and provocation. Popery had indeed obscured the glory of the gospel, locked up the scriptures in an unknown language, and sacrificed thousands of victims to superstitious rage. But the blessed re

formation gave us the Bible, and said, Read and live. And the glorious revolution, fixing liberty on a firm and legal basis, said, Assemble together, preach and hear, worship God according to the dictates of your own consciences, and "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." Thus, ever since, we have "sat under our own vine and fig tree, and none has made us afraid." We have filled our sanctuaries; we have enjoyed our Sabbaths; and though he has given us "the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet has he not removed our teachers into a corner; but our eyes behold our teachers, and our ears hear a voice behind us, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when we turn aside to the right hand, or to the left.”

Ah! think of the want of all this!-"But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." And, to secure all these civil and religious advantages, how often has he made our cause his own?" How seasonably and signally has he interposed to save us from the designs of our enemies? When brought low, he has helped us: "At even tide it has been light."

Can we be insensible to all this? If there

were any ingenuousness in us, this motive alone would be sufficient.

But fear has its use-and it is necessary to tell you, not only that you are bound by gratitudebut interest. "If ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be destroyed, both ye and your king." This is dreadful.-Think of a king you love as well as honour, and "whose life's a lesson to the land he sways-" driven from his throne. Think of liberty exchanged for slavery. Think of property rapaciously plundered, or devoured by tyrannical exaction. Think of your private dwellings affording those who are dearer to you than yourselves, no security from brutal passions. Think of the temples of God burnt up, or converted to other purposes. Think-but let us not pursue this lamentable train of reflection-but consider a few remarks, tending both to illustrate and confirm the danger of a wicked kingdom, and then to inquire after the state of our own.

And, 1., If there be a moral Governor of the universe, sin must provoke him. A righteous God must love righteousness; a holy God, holiness; a God of order, order; and a God of benevolence, benevolence: and, accordingly, he must abhor all that is opposite to these. And hence it is said, that "God is angry with the wicked every day; the wicked shall not stand in his sight; he hateth all workers of iniquity." And this is essential to every lovely and reverential view we can take of God. For who could adore a being who professed to govern the world, and suffered the wicked to go on with impunity?

2. If sin provoke God, he is able to punish it. He is "the Lord of hosts, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." All the elements are his. Every creature obeys his word,

from an archangel to a worm.

How idle is it, in a case like this, to talk of armies and navies, and alliances-how absurd is it to compare force with force; and to say, after flattering calculations"O the enemy cannot come. He cannot come,

unless God send him; but he can come, easily enough, if he do. Is any thing too hard for the Lord, when he would either show mercy or execute wrath?

3. Bodies of men are punishable in this world only: in eternity there are no families, churches, nations. If, therefore, a country is to be destroyed, it is tried, and condemned, and executed here. When we see an individual sinner prospering in the world, and not immediately punished, our faith is not staggered; for we know that his day is coming. But if a wicked people were allowed to escape-we should be confounded-we should ask, Where is the God of judgment? For in this case, they are not punished now; and they cannot be punished hereafter.

4. There is a tendency in the very nature of sin, to injure and ruin a country. It violates all the duties of relative life. It destroys subordination. It relaxes the ties which bind mankind together, and makes them selfish and mean. It renders men enemies to each other.-Social welfare cannot survive the death of morals and virtue.

5. God's dealings with guilty nations are confirmed by his word, and indeed by all history. He has invariably punished them in due time. Witness the state of Nineveh, Babylon, and others. Thus, the nation Samuel addressed put his declaration to the trial-and found it true. A succession of severe judgments befell themtill at last wrath came upon them to the utter

most: "The Romans came and took away both their place and nation."

Finally. To enable us to draw the conclusion, he often-he always gives previous intimation of his displeasure-so that were not men blind and deaf, they must see and hear him coming. When you see the body wasting away by diseases, and every complaint growing more inveterate, you suspect that death will be the consequence-it is already begun. When the fig tree, and all the trees, put forth leaves, we know that summer is nigh. Our Saviour said unto the people, "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?" And how is it that we do not perceive that God is angry with us-that he is contending with us?-Have none of his forerunners arrived? -Has he not more than spoken? Has he not smitten us? and more than once?—And, if lighter judgments will not reform, will not heavier ones destroy? The consequence is infallible." If ye still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

But you ask, Have we any cause to fear this?— I answer, just in proportion to the degree of our sin. Now, there are two ways by which we may judge of our national guilt. The first is to enumerate the sins which reign predominantly among us. To do this would not only be shocking, but endless. For what vice can be named that is not constantly committed through the land? The other method is to lay down criterions, by which we