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Second. Our motives and means of defence, together with our actual strength. "Behold he shall come up like a lion"-against whom? against the habitation of the strong.

Our country is our home. Our sovereign is our parent. Our fellow subjects are our brethren. We are one family. We have one habitation!a habitation that has hitherto stood unassaulted by the robber! a habitation, that has weathered the storm which hath laid waste cities and nations!—a habitation, in which we have enjoyed and do still enjoy peace and protection, safety and security. "We have each one sat under his vine and under his fig tree, drank every one of his own cistern and have had none to make us afraid."

What strong motives of vigorous defence, does this view of our situation supply! shall we suffer our dwelling to be plundered-our country desolated our cities raised-our sovereign dethroned—our laws abrogated-our religious, our civil, our domestic privileges, all swept away at a stroke! shall we suffer these things, without the most active and energetic resistance! forbid it, heaven! British valour, forbid it!

rather

rather let us perish under the ruins of all that is valuable and dear to us! the chords of affection, the bonds of affinity, the obligations of religion, and the ties of humanity-all, call aloud for union of sentiment, and union of exertion. And in our union, brethren, under God, is our strength.

Under God! I say. For it must be carefully recollected, that "though hand join in hand" however united their principles, their interests or their efforts, "the proud in heart shall not go unpunished." 16th Proverbs 5.

The real strength, therefore, of our habitation, arises from its being the habitation of the mighty God of Jacob. He that is strong, hath honoured it, as his seat.

And happy do I feel, in saying, this solemn occasion of our assembling, implies that we trust not in an arm of flesh, that we place no unlawful dependance upon our arms, our valour, our power, our policy, or our magazines. But that we are reposing confidence in God, and making him "our refuge and our strength."

Suffer

Suffer me, however to remark, that confidence in God, is not religion, but presumption, when it is unaccompanied with humility and contrition, and unattended with faith in Jesus Christ, These are the proper duties of the day. To promote these, is the intention of a fast. To these, therefore, my brethren, in the name of Jesus who is exalted, to give repentance, and by virtue of whose all-sufficient sacrifice alone your repentance can find acceptance at the throne of God, to these I invite your serious regard. Let not the sanctuary alone bear witness to your con fessions. But let your families, your fire-sides, your closets, your consciences, testify your unaffected sorrow for your own and your country's sins.

The God of Heaven whose sole prerogative it is to search the heart, is in the midst of us, witnessing the nature of our confessions, whether they be insincere, hypocritical or pharisaical, or whether they be genuine, upright, and unaffected. O!may God the holy spirit, whose covenant office it is to convince of sin, shew us our trangressions and humble our hearts on account of them: so that the united language of our spirits may be like that of Daniel! and may the Lord hear, answer, forgive and relieve! "O Lord, the great and

dreadf ul

dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments: we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day: to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off. O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us, by his servants the prophets,. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.-Oh Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee let thine anger and thy fury be turned

away

away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain. Now therefore O! our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. Omy God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city, which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee, for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O! Lord hear, O! Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O! my God: for thy city, and thy people are called by thy name."

Permit me again to remind you, that real, evangelical repentance is founded upon faith in the perfect work of the Redeemer. And the sincerity of our repentance, as individuals, must - be manifested, not only by a transitory feeling of compunction now, but by a fixed determination, in the strength of God, to depart from all evil, and to embrace all good. "It is such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? is not this the fast

that

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