tivated wilderness; and shall we suffer them to fall a prey to the most faithless of enemies? We have unfurled the Messiah's banner in the remotest parts of the earth; and shall we suffer the bloody flag of persecution to usurp its place? We have planted the blessed Gospel here; and shall we suffer heathen error to return where the glad tidings of salvation have once been preached?

No, countrymen! I know your souls disdain the very thought of such a conduct; and you would rather suffer ten thousand deaths (were so many possible) than be guilty of that which would entail infamy on yourselves, and ruin on your latest posterity.

Your readiness to join in the measures concerted for your safety, and to strike a decisive blow against the enemy, may much determine your future happiness and safety as a people; and I may well trust, when so much is at stake, you will not be backward in offering your service for a few months, under a General of humanity, experience, and every amiable accomplishment. I hope even to hear that our women will become advocates in such a cause, and entitle themselves to all the applauses so long ago paid to their Spartan predecessors!

I would not now wound you, with a disagreeable recapitulation of our past misconduct and fatal indolence, especially in these southern colonies. Many a time has it been in our power to crush out this dangerous war with a single tread of our foot, before it blazed up to its present height-But this we sadly neglected; and, perhaps, the all-wise disposer of

events meant to shew us that, when our affairs were at the worst, he was mighty to save.

Never was the protestant cause in a more desperate situation, than towards the close of last campaign. The great and heroic king of Prussia stood ready to be swallowed up of the multitude of his enemies. The British nation was torn to pieces by intestine divisions; its helm continually shifting hands; too many bent on sordid views of self-interest; too few regarding the public good; Minorca lost; Hanover over-run; our secret expeditions ending in disgrace; our forts in America destroyed; our people captivated or inhumanly murdered, and our fleets dispersed and shattered before the winds.

Yet even then, when no human eye could look for safety, the Lord interposed for the Protestant Religi011. In the short space of two months, the king of Prussia extricated himself from his difficulties, in a manner that astonished all Europe, and will continue to be the admiration of ages to come! And had we only done our part in America at that time, the pride of France would have been effectually humbled, and we should probably now have been rejoicing in an honourable peace.

But as that was not the case, the nation, in concert with the king of Prussia and other protestant powers, has been obliged to make one grand push more for the general cause in the present campaign; and if that is unsuccessful, God knows what will become of our liberties and properties. This we may lay down as a certain truth, that the expense of the present war is far too great to be borne long by the

powers concerned in it. The British nation is labouring under a heavy load of taxes. These colonies are likewise drained to the utmost, and sinking under the burden, as we all feel. Peace, then, of some kind or other, must be a desirable event; and upon our success this campaign it may depend, whether we shall dictate a peace to the French, or they to us. Should the latter be the case, (which God forbid!) it would be a fatal peace to us.

Rise then, my countrymen! as you value the blessings you enjoy, and dread the evils that hang over you, rise and shew yourselves worthy of the name of Britons! rise to secure to your posterity, peace, freedom, and a pure religion! rise to chastize a perfidious nation for their breach of treaties, their detestable cruelties, and their horrid murders! remember the cries of your captivated brethren, your orphan children, your helpless widows, and thousands of beggared families! Think of Monongahela, Fort William Henry, and those scenes of savage death, where the mangled limbs of your fellow citizens lie strewed upon the plain; calling upon you to retrieve the honour of the British name!

Thus animated and roused, and thus putting your confidence, where alone it can be put, let us go forth in humble boldness; and the Lord do what seemeth him good!

A FEW passages in the former editions of

the following Sermon, that related merely to those at whose desire it was delivered, are now entirely left out, as having no immediate connection with the main subject, or the design of the present publication.

.

ON

PUBLIC OCCASIONS.

SERMON I.

AN EARNEST EXHORTATION TO RELIGION, BROTHERLY LOVE, AND PUBLIC SPIRIT, IN THE PRESENT DANGEROUS STATE OF AFFAIRS: PREACHED IN CHRIST-CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA; ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, JUNE 24, 1755.

1. PETER, ii. 17.

LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD; FEAR GOD; HONOUR THE KING.

To contain rules of conduct levelled to every capacity, and fitted to the circumstances of men, in all their various relations and exigencies, is an excellence peculiar only to God's holy word. In the text, and verses preceding, the apostle has the following noble exhortation

"Wherefore, says he, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings; be ye as lively stones, built up a spiritual house; free and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. Love the brotherhood; fear God; bonour the king*."

Ver. 1, 5, 16, 17.