same with that on which the prosperity of individuals is founded, that they must stand upon their exertion and their virtue, and that when they sink into degradation and corruption, their ultimate overthrow will mark the impartial justice of the Divine administration.

From these general reflections, I am led, by the particular occasion which has assembled us this day, to observe that there is not, in the whole history of mankind, an instance so conspicuous of the hand of Heaven guiding and protecting a nation, as that of our own country exhibits. When we compare the slight beginnings from which we arose, when we were a barbarous tribe, scarcely known to adventurous voyagers, with that national dignity and dominion which now renders us feared and honoured, even in the most distant climes ;-when we look back upon the intermediate period, and trace the

slow but steady and progressive steps by which our civil and religious institutions have attained the highest perfection hitherto known among men, surely, my brethren, we cannot but feel the power and the goodness of Him under the shelter of whose wing we have been fostered ; and whatever dangers may now assail us, we shall not, I trust, readily forego our confidence in him, nor too easily fear that that arm which has so often saved, will not continue to cover us with its shield.

Yet, while such are our hopes and our confidence, let us not forget our duties. Let us remember that while Heaven protects and guides them, nations must exert their own wisdom and their own virtue, and that the rewards of the brave and of the good will not be lavished on the slothful or on the licentious. While the power of God is manifest in the progress

of our nation, and in the glory which it has attained, we must not yet forget that the virtues of our Fathers merited the blessings which they won. Our civil constitution was the bright reward bestowed upon their patriotic exertions; nor are we to think that it will be preserved entire if their sons should be feeble and degenerate. The fabric of our church was built by holy hands; its stones were cemented with the blood of martyrs; and we must not dream that it will continue to shelter us from the storms of time, and to train us in the discipline of eternity, unless we, too, like the Fathers from whom we sprung, gather around it with pious affection. These are the lofty considerations, my brethren, to which our thoughts ought, in these hours of trial, to be turned, the great considerations of public and private virtue.

It is not that we want courage to de

fend the blessings which we possess! It is not external violence that need appal us! No: on this day, at least, it would be weakness to suppose it: this * day, which, in its yearly return, brings the memory of that proud triumph when, on a distant shore, perhaps at the very hour in which we are now imploring the aid of the God of battles, the hardy sons of our mountains broke the invincible legions of the foe, and the veteran Hero who led them on fell amidst the shouts of vic tory! It is not courage that we want. The same ennobling scenes have since been repeated upon the decks of our ships, and in many a foreign field; and there is not, perhaps, in the whole history of our country a period that has been marked by greater instances of heroic, and

* An allusion to the battle of Alexandria, fought op. 21st March 1801,

devoted valour.-Neither need we appre hend the want of counsel in our rulers. Alas! if we have causes of alarm, (and, when we are humbling ourselves beneath the hand of God, it would be presumptuQus to say that there are none,) we must go deeper to look for them. We must seek them in that public corruption which prefers selfish interest to the general good. We must seek them in that licentiousness of manners which, beginning with the great, spreads its contagion among the low. We must seek for them in the ef fects of long prosperity, which, notwithstanding the most impressive warnings, continues, I fear, to blind us, and to hide from our eyes the very hand from which it flows.

If these are the enemies whom we have most occasion to dread, then, in the name of Heaven, let us go to our own breasts and manfully expel them thence!—