that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, He hath also forsaken you;" they could not bear this severe rebuke of the prophet. "They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones to death (at the commandment of their wicked King Joash), in the court of the house of the Lord." And thus, this wicked king Joash, added ingratitude to murder; for although he had been indebted to Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, for the stability of his throne from his infancy, by doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to the advice of Jehoiada, the priest, all the days of his life; yet, after his death, he remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada the father had done to him, but slew his son Zechariah; and when he died, he said the Lord look upon it, and require it; and so the Lord did, and avenged the innocent blood! For it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against Joash to Judah and Jerusalem; and although the Syrians were but a small company, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand; and thus executed judgment against Joash and his people, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers, and had slain his prophet Zechariah, even in the holy place, dedicated to his worship and honour! "And when the Syrians departed from Joash, they left him in great diseases the hand of God was upon him-his own. servants conspired against him for the blood of Zcchariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest; and they slew him on his bed, and he died-but they buried him not in the sepulchres of their kings."

What history ancient or modern, can exhibit a narration, so concise and dignified, so marked with authentic testimony of the special interposition of God, in his wise Providence, to punish whole nations, Rulers as well as People, even in this world, for the chastisement of their sins, and for their reformation and amendment?

More from sacred history is here unnecessary. What has been already stated gives the fullest sanction to this day's solemnity, and leads us directly to our main business and duty upon the great occasion; namely, the most serious consideration, and meditation upon our own ways and works; and the improvement which, as a Christian people, it becomes us to make, of our deliverance from the late awful calamity, with which it pleased Almighty God, in his sovereign wisdom, to afflict this city, and its vicinity.

The means of improvement pointed out and recommended by public authority*, and sanctioned by the voice and word of God, are-" The acknowledgment of his divine power and goodness, in the deepest humiliation and abasement of soul: the sincerest confession of our manifold sins and transgressions of our duty; contrition and sorrow for the neglect and forgetfulness of God's former mercies; earnest repentance and supplications for forgiveness, joined to sincere purposes and stedfast resolutions of future amendment and obedience to his holy will and laws."

* See an abstract of the Proclamation, p. 77.

Thus humbled, prepared and melted into love and gratitude, by a due sense of "God's mercies and long sufferings to us ward; (He not being willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance*;") our Prayers, Praises and Thanksgivings this day, we trust, will ascend as a sweet incense and sacrifice, holy and acceptable before the throne of his Grace! But, without this preparation of the heart, if we could Pray and Praise and give Thanks, with the tongue and voice of angels, it would all be vain and empty-nothing more than as sounding brass, or the tinkling cymbalt."

In this preparatory part of our work, therefore, let us in good earnest enter into our own hearts, examine their plagues, as in the presence of the Almighty, and not deceive ourselves, or think we can deceive him (like the people in our text) by tering him with our mouth, and lying unto him with our tongues, while our hearts are not right with him, and we are not stedfast in his covenant," made with our fathers; nor in our purpose of future obedience to his holy laws and commandments.

But, more especially, this becomes the duty of those who appear as the preachers of righteousnessthe ministers and messengers of God, (of every degree and denomination), to stand forth; awfully impressed with the weight of their subject, and not to be afraid of the faces of men, but to speak boldly, even to authorities, and dignities and powers; not to deal treacherously, or seek" to heal the hurt of the

II. Pet. iii. 9.

† I. Cor. xiii. 1.

daughter of God's people slightly, with the enticing words of man's eloquence," saying, Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace*;" but to probe the wounds 'to the bottom, by means of" the word of God, which is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

But although it falls to our lot, in preaching repentance, on this great occasion, more immediately to the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia, who were among the primary and chief sufferers, under the late awful visitation of the Almighty; and although great and manifold are the sins, for which, in his righteous judgments, He might have inflicted this calamity upon us: Yet it ought not to be considered that it was for our reproof and sins only, but those of United America, that the Lord chose us as among the first to speak to in his fierce angert. The application of our Saviour's doctrine, preaching repentance, upon the punishment of the Galileans and others, may be allowed here.

Suppose ye, says he, that those Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered

* Jer. vi. 14.

† Heb. iv. 12.

Christian charity, as well as a grateful remembrance of the sympathetic feelings, and of the relief yielded us by our dear brethren and fellow citizens in general, throughout the United States, in the day of our distress, warrants us to believe that they did not consider us as sinners above all others, but they looked upon God's visitation of us as a warning to themselves, also; and that if they did not repent, they might well expect his severe chastisements, in their turn.

Luke xiii. 1---5.

such things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Thus warranted by the Preaching and doctrine of the great author of our salvation, to consider particular Punishments as general Warnings; the remainder of my discourse will be addressed to the whole body of Citizens, Rulers as well as People, in these United States. And to this I consider myself, as more especially called; being honoured with an audience, so numerous and respectable, among whom I behold the FATHER of these United States, and many other characters of the first impression, whose exemplary virtue and piety must strike deep into the future prosperity and glory of our rising American empirean empire which, under the protection and favour of divine Providence, has laid the foundation of all that can adorn and dignify man in the present world, and guide him forward in preparations for the acquisition and enjoyment of glory, honour and immortality, in a world to come!

Keeping in view, therefore, the history of the people of Israel, and taking up the parallel between God's Providence and dealing with respect to them and ourselves; I may be allowed to recall to your mind, those times when our ancestors were but a small people in this land; how the Almighty smoothed their passage to it through the dangers of the stormy ocean; how he planted and supported them in a wilderness, and

1.