Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Such is the enemy who threatens to set his deadly foot upon our shores, to renew scenes which humanity shudders to record. This is a contest, therefore, in which all our earthly good, all our dearest interests are in danger. You are not, my countrymen, going to barter your blood for lucre,-you are not going to hazard your safety to aggrandize your territories-you are not going to ensanguine the plains, to acquire glory and renown;—in such a cause your enemy is engaged, not you. You fight for peace. You contend for order, for virtue, for humanity. You bleed for your liberties, your laws, your religion, your property, your persons, your Sovereign. You are opposing the robber that would plunder you the ruffian that would assassinate you. The blood of man is lawfully, is nobly, is religiously shed to redeem the blood of man. It is a consecrated libation, when it is poured forth, for our family, for our friends, for our God, for our king, for our country, for our kind. "The rest is vanity, the rest is crime.'

With such a foe-so resolute, so implacable, so determined-one too of whom God has made a scourge to many nations, not to be alarmed, would

would argue strange insensibility, presumption, and infatuation. Especially when we have such grounds of apprehension, not so much on account of the power, malice, and threats of the adversary, as on account of our national vices. Here lies the mournful cause of the divine conduct in afflictive dispensations. Here the calamities of individuals, of families, of nations originate.

It becomes us, therefore, at all times, but especially upon this day appointed by the authority of the legislature for public and private humiliation, to consider our troubles and calamities, as the voice of God, complaining, crying against us, "Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward!

1st Isaiah 4.

Pardon me, my country, if I dishonor thy sons, when I say this charge alledged by the prophet against the Jewish people, justly and deservedly attaches itself to us. Do not our crimes, as a people, extend to the very heavens?

profanity

profanity and ungodliness meet us every whereimmorality and blasphemy utter their voice in our streets. The oaths of the profane-the songs of the drunkard-and the cries of the prostitute disturb our walks. In every corner impiety rears her standard, and infidelity follows. in her train. Men will not credit what condemns their sinful delights, as eternally ruinous to themselves. Religion is deemed priestcraft, Penitence and humiliation bear the stigma of fanaticism. Prayer is branded, as folly. The Sabbaths of the Lord are unhallowed. The sanctuary of the Lord is deserted. The ordinances of the Lord are despised. The ministers of the Lord are a reproach!

"Who," says a good man," who that believes his bible can wonder at God's controversy with the nations; especially with Ghristendom! what provocation can he receive like that of rejecting, and sleighting the inestimable gift of his Son! the sentiment,

this man shall not reign over us,' is the master-sin of Europe, It is propogated by system. It is adopted by fashion. It is even countenanced by moralists. And it is expressed in an infinite variety of ways. But whether it appears openly or disguised, it involves such

ingrati

ingratitude and malignity, that if it could exist alone, it would sufficiently account for any measure of a righteous indignation."

Our iniquities as a people, appear magnified and aggravated, when reviewed in connection. with our mercies. How many privileges we enjoy! what means of religious information! how many warnings have we received! how hath God spared us! he hath visited many nations with severity. The plains of the continent have been desolated. Their hills covered with the slain. Their vallies fattened with blood. Their cities pillaged. Their inhabitants put to the sword. How different our portion! our shores have been untrodden by the enemy, and unstained with human gore. Peace hath reigned in all our borders. We have but faintly heard the "confused noise of the warrior." We have never witnessed "the garments rolled in blood."

Notwithstanding the magnitude and multitude of our sins, God has not made us an example to the nations, but he has made them an example to us. He warns his people before he scourges, he threatens before he destroys. So far from having heard "the rod and who hath appointed it," it is to be feared, from the renewal

of

of our calamities, that our national wickedness hath advanced, and that with this repeated visitation comes an alarming expostulatory complaint, "why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." 1st Isaiah 5 and 6.

As

Our present state therefore, of alarm and difficulty should be seriously regarded as the natural consequence of our transgressions. such, it should be productive of the deepest humility. "sackcloth and ashes" should be the garment of our spirits. We should lay our hand upon our mouth, and our mouth in the dust. Weshould acknowledge the righteous hand that smites us. But while we humbly deplore the sorrowful cause of our calamities, it is our indispensable duty, as Citizens and Christians, to mect existing circumstances with firmness, with vigour, and with wisdom. However deserving of chastisement, and however encompassed with danger, still there is no room for despondency. For let us, as we proposed in the second place, turn our eye to what is encouraging in our situation.

Second

« AnteriorContinuar »