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unfortunate exiles, who have taken refuge in this country; many of whom have experienced, in the utmost extent, the very calamities I have been here defcribing; and wha, but a few years ago, had as little reason to expect fuch a dreadful reverfe of fortune as any one who now hears me.

It is true, indeed, that hitherto we have been moft wonderfully preferved by a kind Providence from those miferies that have defolated the rest of Europe, and have maintained a noble, though a bitter conflict, during many years, for our religion, our liberty, our independance, our unrivalled conftitution, and every thing that is dear and valuable to man. But it must at the fame time be admitted, that we are ftill in a most critical and doubtful fituation, and that our final fuccefs muft principally depend on that to which we have a thoufand times owed our preservation, the favor and protection of heaven.

The rapid the aftonifhing, the unexampled viciffitudes, which have repeatedly taken place during the whole of this arduous conteft, moft clearly fhew, that there is fomething in it more than common, fomething out of the ordinary course of human affairs, fomething which baffles all conjecture and all calculation, and which all the wif dom of man cannot comprehend or control. What then is this fomething, what is this fecret and invisible agent which fo evidently over-rules every important event in the prefent convulfed ftate of the world, and fo frequently confounds the beft conferted projects and defigns? Is it fate, is it neceffity, is it chance, is it fortune? Thefe, alas! we all know, are mere names, are mere unmeaning words, by which we exprefs our total ignorance of the true caufe. That cause can be nothing else than the hand of that omnipotent Being, who firft created and ftill preferves the univerfe; who is "the governor among the nations, and ruleth unto the ends of the earth." To make him then our friend is of the very last importance; and it highly behoves us to confider, whether we have hitherto taken the right way to make him fo. The anfwer to this question is, I fear, to be found in the unfavorable aspect of affairs abroad, and the fevere distresses arifing from unpropitious feasons at home, which too plainly

Thew that the hand of the Almighty is upon us, that we are a finful people, and He an offended God*.

Let it not however be imagined, that I am here holding the language of defpondency and despair; no, nothing can be farther from my thoughts. But in the prefent calamitous fituation of this courtry, this glorious and still unrivalled country, to which all our hearts are bound by a thousand indiffoluble ties, it would have been unpardonable in me to have paffed over with unfeeling apathy and cold indifference those awakening and unexampled events, which are forcing themselves every moment on our observation, and which call aloud on all the fons of men to reflect and to repent. I felt it to be my indispensable duty, in this my last folemn address to you, to prefs upon you every motive to a holy life that could influence the heart of man, and with this view to draw your attention to all thofe aftonishing scenes that are daily paffing before your eyes, and which add irresistible force to every thing that has been advanced in the course of thefe Lectures. You now fee displayed, in vifible characters, in the actual viciffitudes of almost evey hour, thofe great truths which I have been for four years paft inculcating in words; the uncertainty of every earthly bleffing, the vanity of all human pursuits, the inftability of all worldly happiness, and the abfolute neceflity of looking out for fome more folid ground to stand upon, fome more durable treasures on which to fix our affections and our hearts. For many years past God has been speaking to us by the various difpenfations of his providence, by acts of mercy and of justice, by his interpofitions to fave us, by his judgments to correct us. He has been fpeaking a language which cannot be misunderstood, a language which is heard in every quarter of the globe, which makes all nature tremble, and shakes the very foundations of the earth.

Yet ftill, though there is juft caufe for apprehenfion, there is no occafion for defpair. If from thefe judgments of the Lord, we learn that lesson they were meant to teach us; if we turn, without delay, from the evil of our

• This Lecture was given in the Spring of the year 1801.

ways; if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and acknowledge our tranfgreffions with the trueft. penitence and contrition of foul; if we fet ourselves in earneft to relinquish every vicious habit, every fecret fault, as well as every prefumptuous fin; if we deny ourselves, and take up our cross to follow Chrift; if we lay our follies, our vanities, our gaieties, our criminal indulgencies, at the feet of our Redeemer, and purify ourselves even as he is pure; if in these times of unexampled scarcity of all the neceffaries of life, we open our hearts and our hands wide to the neceffities of our fuffering brethren; if, in fhort, by the purity of our hearts, the fanctity of our lives, the fervor of our devotions, the fincerity of our faith and confidence in Chrift, we recommend ourselves to the favor of heaven, I fcruple not to fay, that we have nothing to fear. By the mighty hand of God we shall be protected here; by the merits of him who died for us we fhall be faved and rewarded hereafter. And we may, I trust, in this cafe, humbly apply to ourselves that confolatory declaration of the Almighty to another people, with which I fhall finally close these Lectures; and which may God in his infinite mercy confirm to us all in this world, and in the next!

"How can I give thee up, Ephraim? My foul is turned within me. I will not execute the fiercenefs of my anger, for I am God, and not man. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment: but with everlasting kindness * will I have mercy upon theet.”

This kindness has in fact (as far as the public welfare is concerned) been in feveral important inftances moft graciously and confpicuously extended to this highly favoured land fince thefe Lectures were finifhed; and it evidently calls for every return on our part of affection and obedience to our heavenly Banefactor, that the deepest fense of gratitude can poffibly dictate to devout and feeling hearts.— March, 1802.

Hofea, xi. 8, 9. Ifaiah, liv. 8.

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