them as must be highly ferviceable to us with regard to our own conduct: we fee every thing was ordered and directed by the will of the fupreme Creator, and therefore every thing was done right; the priest exhorts, the people repent; the priest gives advice, the people at

tend to it.

It is worth our while to remark in the enfuing part of this chapter the confequences of this behaviour: we fhall there find, that the moment the Ifraelites began to repent and amend, the Lord was gracious to them; as foon as they left their falfe gods, they found favour with the true; when they returned to virtue, their affairs immediately put on a more chearful afpect; the Philistines, thofe proud and triumphant foes, who had been the inftruments of God's wrath, and therefore had fo eafily discomfited them, when the Moft High went forth with their armies, were no longer able to contend with the favourites of the Almighty. After Samuel's facrifice and intercef fion, another battle was fought between them, when a peal of thunder ftruck the Philiftines with confternation, threw their forces into confufion, and they in their turn were fmitten before Ifrael.

In the remainder of this difcourfe I fhall endeavour to point out to you the moft ftriking fimilitude of features between the children of Ifrael and the inhabitants of this land, with regard to our fituation and circumstances at this important period: from whence I fhall draw

fuch

fuch useful inferences as may best tend to guide and direct our future conduct.

And firft, then, give me leave to observe, that the most striking resemblance between the Ifraelites and ourfelves, is in our lives. We have been, like them, a thoughtless, wicked, and ungrateful people; like them, we had been for ages, as it were, the elect of God, the favourites of the Almighty, bleft with peace, liberty and plenty, in a land flowing with milk and honey; and yet, in the midst of all, improperly forgetting the Author of thefe ineftimable benefits. As the Ifraelites turned into Baalim, and Afhtaroth, and strange gods, even fo have we been flaves to our own corrupt affections, neglectful of our own interefts, and deftroyers of our own happiness.

As we have resembled them thus nearly in our lives and manners, it was naturally to be expected that the fame caufe would produce the fame effect, and that we fhould refemble them in our miseries and afflictions alfo. God, though a God of mercy and longfuffering, would not thus be provoked every day, but rose at laft to vindicate his own injured honour; he kindled up, therefore, against us an enemy, of whom but a few years fince we had not the leaft fear or apprehenfion; he hardened the hearts and turned aside the affections of those who were before united to us in the ftricteft bonds of love and amity.

War is indifputably amongst the most dreadful evils that can afflict a nation; it is one of thofe fcourges with which God chaftifes his finful and rebellious creatures; an instrument of

vengeance

vengeance in the hands of the Almighty, wherewith he punishes the grievous fins and offences from time to time committed against him

If there be a circumftance that can render this deftructive tyrant ftill more formidable, that can enhance his feverity and double his terrors, it is doubtless that calamity in which we are ourselves at this period fo unhappily involved; it is the melancholy confideration that we are oppofing thofe with whom we have been fo long and fo intimately united; carrying our arms against thofe whom we have fo long loved, cherished, and protected; that those who were once the objects of our esteem, tenderness, and affection, are now become the mark to which are bent all our hoftile prepa

rations.

But enough hath been already faid and written on this unhappy conteft: that we can now do, and all that fuits this folemn occafion, is to lament thofe evils which we could not forefee, and to weep over those misfortunes which we can no longer prevent; to be forry for those fins which brought upon us fo heavy a calamity, and to endeavour, by our fincere repentance of them, to turn afide the dreadful confequences of them.

How happy might we ftill be, if these wounds, wide and painful as they are, could yet be healed; if yet we and they might be brought to know the things that are for our peace: but, the evil fpirit hath taken poffeffion of them, as it did of Saul; but they will not, like him, be foothed by the power of harmony; they will not liften to the harp of peace, nor hear the

voice of the charmer, charm fhe never fo wifely.

Encouraged by the obftinacy of these men, and animated by their fuccefs against us, our ancient and determined foe, ever ready to take advantage of our weakness, at length threw off the mask of friendship, which she had been long forced to wear, and stood forth as our avowed enemy. But a fhort time elapfed, before another power, equally falfe and perfidious with the first, infatuated by evil counfels, contracted alfo an unnatural alliance with our rebellious colonies, and combined against us.

With this accumulated weight to prefs upon her, it is no wonder that the British empire feemed for a while to fink beneath the burthen. Oppreffed on every fide, we knew not which way to turn our face. This uncertainty, and this oppreffion, brought on a feries of unfortunate events, which had well nigh funk us in ignominy and ruin; from a powerful and refpected, we feemed degenerated into a friendlefs and defpifed people, a laughing-stock and derifion to those who had no knowledge of our laws.

But even this dangerous and deftructive evil hath, by the gracious providence of God, been productive of benefit and advantage to us: that fatal union which took place against us abroad, hath brought on what we much ftood in need of, a more domeftic union at home public danger hath begotten public fpirit; we feem at laft to be roufed from our lethargy, to have fhaken off the fetters of party, prejudice and faction, and to have taken up the com

mon

mon cause with fome degree of true British fpirit and alacrity.

In confequence of this happy change, our plans have lately been attended with fome fuccefs; the juftice of our cause seems, in fpite of our many fins and iniquities, to have engaged the God of battles on our fide: the fea, which for a while feemed to have forgotten her ancient mafter, begins once more to acknowledge her rightful fovereign, and Britain re-affumes her dominion over it.

Let us not, however, relapse into our former indolence, and return again to our fins, but put away our idols of pleasure and diffipation, and ferve the Lord only. If his paft judgments have already awakened us to a confcioufnefs of our fins, let his prefent mercies melt us into a fincere and perfect repentance of them; let the task which was begun before, owe its perfection to a nobler motive, and be finished by gratitude. If the Lord hath been fo gracious to us, how can we rebel against him? Shall we offend a God of fuch goodness? fhall we defy a God of fuch power?

I repeat it, my brethren; let not any partial fuccefs bring on fecurity, or indulgence be the mother of forgetfulness; the face of war is terrible, even when he fmiles upon us; his best and moft gorgeous robe is stained with blood; and even when he wears a crown it is a crown of thorns. Whilft victory waves her banners before us, we are too much delighted with the profpect, to confider how dearly they were purchased, the news of conqueft reaches to every car and