directed their utmost force. The bravest of their legions, and the most expert of their generals, must be employed in removing that obstacle, and by the removal of it, in paving the way for the ruin and the subjugation of all Europe. Well is our adversary aware, that the skill and the courage of his army are to be called forth, not against a band of cowardly slaves, or reluctant hirelings; but against hosts of men, valiant from the very constitution of their minds, robust and vigorous from the frame of their bodies, and proud of sacred and ancient rights, which have often been endangered by the attacks of tyrants, but as often preserved by the magnanimity of patriots-of men, who can recount with exultation the victories of their forefathers and their own, over the best disciplined armies of France, and who, therefore, would blush to sully, by treachery, or by timidity, the well-earned reputation of their country—of men, who by their activity or their ingenuity, have acquired that personal opulence, and those personal enjoyments, which are utterly unknown to any other nation-of men, who, in every article of their commerce, in every produce of their soil, in every fleece of wool, and in every blade of grass, behold the fruits of their own industry, the materials of their own happiness, and signals, too, for their own prowess in the day of battle.

To the collective might, then, of our adversaries, let us oppose our own, without hesitation and without dismay. We have much to defend, we have the means of defending it, and if our resolution be equal to our means, the splendor of our success will not be disproportionate to the justice of our cause.

On the other hand, it well behoves us to consider what we must suffer, should we, by any disgraceful and disastrous infatuation, be unfaithful to ourselves. If, indeed, the arms of our enemy were directed against some countries on the continent, he might cherish the hope of retaining them, and therefore, in the midst of violence, he might sometimes remember mercy, and even for his own sake, he might try to conciliate a defeated and humbled foe. But, with all the giddiness of his pride, and all the fierceness of his rage, he has not yet arrived at that extravagant pitch of phrensy, which can inspire him with the faintest hope of keeping England, for any long time, as a conquered country. He may expect sometimes to put to flight our armies, and sometimes, to gain possession of our towns. But of complete and permanent conquest he cannot think, even in his dreams. What, then, must be the real object of these tremendous preparations for war? My brethren! The answer lies in one word. DESOLATION. This undoubtedly is, and this alone can be, the aim of our invaders.

To the immortal honour of this country be it spoken, no affront has, upon the present occasion, been offered to the good-sense of it, by those gaudy eulogies upon liberty, and those vehement invectives against despotism, which had been employed to beguile and to enslave other nations, less fortunate than our own. No attempt has been made to call into action, the causes to which other invaders often have recourse for the accomplishment of their purposes; impatience, I mean of subordi

nation,

nation, fondness for change, discontent under grievances real or imaginary, and the preference of experiments for attaining that perfection which has been ostentatiously described in theory, to the enjoyment of that partial but progressive good, which is practically and visibly placed within our reach. No lure from the participation of power has been spread before the seditious; no incitement has been holden out to the profligate, from a share in the spoil; no promise of exclusive favour has been hinted even to the submissive; persuasion seems to have been cast aside for once, as an incumbrance to action, and hypocrisy itself stands mute before the footstool of usurpation.

your

Thus, the sagacity which puts you on your guard against artifice, the magnanimity which fortifies you against danger; the fidelity with which you adhere to the cause of your country, and the determination which you have made, not to exchange English freedom for any wily, or I should rather say, impudent offers of French equality, have been recognised by your very enemies, in the face of the whole christian world. They may, in some instances, have wronged, but they do not insult you-They may hate, but they do not despise you-They may have alarmed, but they do not even try to deceive you Their proceedings, in every stage of the contest, have been consistent and intelligible. Invasion was threatened, from the first moment; and the threat remains, as it began, without disguise and without mitigation. Your forces, in the opinion of the enemy, may be encountered, but good-will, he is aware, cannot be conciliated. Men of sense and moderation have not forgotten the hardships rigorously imposed upon other countries: and men of spirit can ill brook the challenge arrogantly given to our own. Loyalists stand aghast at the ravages of a military chieftain, and republicans are incensed at the pageantries of a perpetual dictator. Hence no confederate bands of traitors lie in ambuscade, to hail the invader with their shouts, and to second his unparalleled attempts for our destruction. The dark forest, the deep morass, the craggy rock, the steep and untrodden mountain, here afford no shelter to his flying legions. The elements will be deaf to his call, and the raging sea will lift up it's opposing waves, when baffled efforts compel him to look for safety in retreat. If he lands, he must advance; if he advances, he must fight; if he fights, he may perish; and even if he prevails to-day, he must negociate to-morrow. Conscious of these difficulties, he will let loose havoc upon the land; and shall we then be tame spectators of the scene? Shall we sit before him with folded arms, or crouch beneath him with bended knees, while all the fair works of art and nature are defaced by the destroyer? Shall we wait in stupid indifference, or with base timidity, 'till the evil reaches our own doors? 'till the cries of the orphan and the widow assail our ears? 'till the humble cottage shares the same fate with the stately palace, and dissolves in flames before our affrighted eyes? Doubtless, confusion and distress will be felt through many parts of the kingdom. Our fields, in some places will be laid waste; our arsenals may be assailed; our metropolis itself may be exposed to pillage; and who among

us can be so sottish, or so headstrong, as to say, that national evils of such magnitude, when known to him only by report, will not alarm and afflict his soul?

But that which you hear of others, must also be seen and suffered by yourselves, unless ye are true to your duty. Your own harvests will be plundered-your own houses will be destroyed-your wives and your children will be inhumanly torn from the tender embraces of husbands and fathers, and brutally violated in the sight of you, their legal and natural protectors-your sons, to whom ye look forward for comfort and succour to your grey hairs, will perish in the bloom of their youthmasters, servants, friends, and neighbours, may alike fall a prey to the devouring sword and does not the very mention, I would ask you, of such evils, awaken within you, an instantaneous, ardent, invincible determination to avert them, "with "all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul, and all your strength?"

Were your governors, indeed, employed in romantic and adventurous schemes of conquest, you might pause a little before you added approbation to obedience, and spontaneously tendered your aid to annoy those who had not offended you, to plunder those who had not injured you, and to crush those who cannot resist you. But when your country is invaded, there is no room for hesitation in your judgement, as there can be no plea for slackness in your actions. Every ear must be open to the general and awful summons; every heart must be inaccessible to fear; and every hand must be uplifted for resistance. You are called upon to defend your liberties, your laws, and your religion. You are sharing a common danger, and promoting a common interest, with your governors, with your equals, and with your inferiors. You go forth to the combat, not as savage destroyers, not as ambitious conquerors, not as insatiable plunderers, but as self-preservers, as Englishmen, and as christians. You are encouraged, in the support of a just cause, by the example of the brave, the arguments of the wise, and the exhortations of the good. You are preparing to bequeath to your posterity those blessings, which the foresight, or the heroism, or the virtues of your great progenitors procured for them, and for yourselves. You are contending, not for unsubstantial renown, but for solid security; not alone for national honour, which indeed may be often precarious, or merely ideal, but for national independence, which always is intelligible, and always must be inestimable. You are avenging the blood of the innocent, the honest, and the valiant. You are protecting your neighbours from oppression, your families from poverty, your sovereign from injury and insult, and your country from disgrace and perdition.

In the pursuit of ends so justifiable, by means so meritorious, you may without impiety, look up for succour to Almighty God! and whether ye perish in the struggle, or whether ye survive it, the approbation of that GOD will be the sure and most ample reward of your loyalty, your patriotism, and fortitude co-operating with your benevolence.

your

END OF THE SERMON.

FAR the greater part of the foregoing Discourse was delivered from the pulpit, and the whole of it would long ago have been sent to the press, if I had been able to procure the aid of a transcriber. My intention was to subjoin such Notes as appeared to me pertinent and useful. But the delay which my diligent and very fenfible Printer unexpectedly found in getting necessary types, determined me to abandon my design. So important, however, seems to me the matter which some of those Notes contain, and especially one in which I have endeavoured to vindicate the character of Moses, as a lover of his country, from the most formidable objection which has ever been urged against it, that I shall rejoice to avail myself of a proper opportunity for submitting my thoughts to the consideration, both of serious christians, and of candid unbelievers.

peace

For obvious but weighty reafons of decorum, 1 am anxious to guard some expreffions which occur in p. 20 of the Sermon, from mifconception. Though I could wish that two or three paffages in the late Faft Service had been omitted, or softened; yet I shall not be content with saying that, according to my judgement, it is, upon the whole, far preferable to many others which have within my memory preceded it. In truth, I think the general spirit and the general matter of that service highly honourable to the good senfe, the tafte, and the piety of the perfons who composed it. My heart, I must confefs, is always refreshed by the perufal of thofe supplications to Heaven, which are calculated, at once to satisfy the enlightened and confcientious members of the established church, and to conciliate Chriftians, who diffent from it ably and fincerely. Such fupplications are, I am sure, conformable to the benevolent genius of our holy religion; and for the beft ends, they exhibit the best principles of that church, which, among other excellent leffons conveyed to us, in its public forms of devotion, has infructed us to pray that "God, the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift," who is our only "Saviour and the Prince of Peace, would take from us all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; and that as there is but "one body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling; one LORD, one Faith, one Bap tifm, ONE GOD AND FATHER OF US ALL; so we may henceforth be all of one "heart and one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity.”

age

66

Be it obferved, to the credit of the church of England, that the prayer, in which the foregoing words are contained, is annually read upon a ftate occafion; and to the honour of the present be it remembered, that the heavenly Spirit of that Prayer is infufed into the fervice for the late Faft, in that part where we are directed to befeech Almighty God, to give us "all grace, to put away from us all rancour of religious diffention, that they who agree in "the effentials of our most holy faith, and look for pardon through the merits and interceffion of the Saviour, may, notwithstanding their differences upon points of doubtful opinion, and "in the forms of external worship, ftill be united in the bonds of chriftian charity, and "fulfil his bleffed Son's commandment, of loving one another, AS GOD HAS LOVED US."

The authors to whom I allude in p. 2 of the Sermon, are Lord Shaftesbury, in part the second of an Effay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour, and Mr. Soame Jenyns, in his View of the Internal Evidence of the Chriftian Religion.

way.

Upon particular passages in the works of those writers, I had now and then made fome obfervations, which it has not been my fortune to See in any book that has fallen in my But as their general reafoning has been fully examined, by Dr. John Leland, Dr. Maclaine, Dr. Brown, and other writers, I have been content with pursuing the fame track, and shall offer my apology nearly in the words of Torquatus-" Dicam de graviffimis "rebus; nihil scilicet novi, ea tamen, quæ lectores probaturos effe confidam." finib. lib. 1.

Cic. de

REFERENCES.

Page 4, line 16, "humility." See Dr. Maclaine's Letter to Soame Jenyns, p. 183.

P. 5, 1. 18, "violences." Ibid, l. 19, "engine." Ibid, 1. 22, “offspring." See pages 53 and 57 of Jenyns's View of the internal Evidence of the Christian Religion.

P. 5, 1. 5 from the bottom, "zeal for the happiness." Series of Letters addressed to Soame Jenyns, by Dr. Maclaine, p. 183..

P. 8, L. 16, "Under the virtue of patriotism." See Lord Shaftesbury at the conclusion of part the second of his Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour.

P. 8, 1. 23, "Import of that word." See Lord Shaftesbury's Note, in which he hath produced the words of Saint Paul, in chap. v. verse 7, of the Epistle to the Romans. I differ from Lord Shaftesbury in his representation of the word Peradventure, and in the sense affixed by him to the greek term, which is translated a good man. At some future time I hope to publish my refutation of his Lordship's criticism.

P. 9, 1. 6 from the bottom," elsewhere." In my Spital Sermon and the Notes to it.

P. 11, last line, "a great philosopher." See Mr. Hume's Dissertation on the Passions.

P: 12, 1. 4 from the bottom, "maxim." See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History of the Seventeenth Century, Section ii, Part 2.

P. 16, 1. 7, "fashion," See Shakespeare's Henry V. Act 1, Scene 2. Ibid, 1, 37, "tears of the widow." See the same Play, Act 2, Scene 5.

P. 26, 1. 38," single arm." See Paradise Lost, Book 6, line 239.