The other petition contained in the text, "build thou the walls of Jerusalm," hath a reference to the civil state of the Jews as a commonwealth or kingdom, and is a prayer for their national safety and prosperity.

This request, like the former, comprehends a great variety of particulars.

It will be readily admitted, that a form of government, by which the natural rights of men are most effectually secured, and in which the impartial administration of established laws guards the life, the liberty, and the property of the meanest individual, may, without straining the metaphor, be included in the idea of walls and bulwarks, which contribute at once to the defence and ornament of a city. With regard to the " walls or bulwarks" of our civil constitution, it gives me pleasure to acknowledge, that they are not only entire, but in several respects more fair and durable than those of any other nation upon earth. In other lands, the walls of government are built on the surrender of some of the most precious rights of human nature: But in this happy country, we have not bought the protection of government at so dear a rate; nor is the hard hand of the oppressor either felt or feared by the meanest member of the community. And must not the heart of that man then be hard and unfeeling, who doth not wish and pray that such an invaluable consti

tution may be built up and preserved entire to latest generations?

But the expression used in the text, calls upon us to look with weeping eyes and sorrowful hearts, upon that awful rent in the British empire, which is the immediate occasion of onr meeting together at this time. We have seen a cloud rise out of the west, at first no bigger than a man's hand; but, like that which the Prophet's servant saw, it hath overspread the face of heaven, and carried tempest and desolation in its progress. When I mention this great calamity, I do not mean to fix your attention on it as an object which presents nothing to our view but complicated distress and danger. Much as I disapprove of that levity which "despiseth the chastening of the Lord," I am yet no friend to that despondency which would make us" faint when we are rebuked of him." The same expression in my text, which reminds us of the alarming breach which we deplore, doth at the same time lead us to look beyond and above it, to him who is able to repair it; to that God who "hath the hearts of all men in his hands, and turneth them as the rivers of water." him it is a small matter, not only to fill gap which hath separated Great Britain from her American colonies; but if it seem good in his sight, he can, with infinite ease, make this temporary separation the occasion and the means of establishing a firm and permanent union; an uni-·

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on which neither political artifice, nor selfish ambition, nor the pride of independance, will be able to dissolve. This is the desirable issue to which our wishes may lawfully direct us, when we pray, in the language of the Royal Psalmist," Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Having made these remarks on the import of David's requests, let us attend, in the

Second place, To the order in which they are placed. He begins with praying for the good of Zion, and then offers his supplication in behalf of Jerusalem. Nor is this an accidental or arbitrary arrangement. The same subordination of temporal to spiritual blessings, is uniformly observed through the whole of the sacred record, both in the promises of God, and in the accepted prayers of his people and it deserves our notice, that, in this order, we are called upon by his Majesty's proclamation to conduct the devotional exercises of this day. For, previous to any particular request respecting the political state of the British empire, we are admonished by our gracious Sovereign, "To humble ourselves before Almighty God on account of our sins; to implore his pardon, and to send up, in the most devout and solemn manner, our prayers and supplications to the divine Majesty, for averting those heavy judgments which our manifold sins and provocations have most justly deserved."

It may be remembered by some now present, that in the year 1759, when Great Britain sat as Queen among the nations, we were called together by a proclamation from the Throne, to return public thanks to Almighty God, for the great and public blessings which enriched and distinguished that memorable year.

It was then my object, to warn my fellow citizens against the criminal abuse of our national felicity, by perverting, into weapons of rebellion against God, the fruits of that success with which he had been pleased to favour us.

Since that time, we have enjoyed a period of very uncommon prosperity as a kingdom. While riches have been flowing to us from all quarters, luxury and dissipation advancing with an equal pace, have proved at once the propriety and the neglect of that warning. Enormous fortunes, suddenly acquired in our foreign settlements, have accelerated that corruption of manners, which is the usual concomitant of prosperity. Successful adventurers, coming home with sums almost beyond the calculation of a moderate mind, produce a disdain of the slow and sober paths of industry and " men hastening to be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown them in destruction and perdition." Our table hath indeed become our snare; and the uncommon blessings conferred on us, instead of heightening our graVOL. III.

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titude, have only caused us to forget the hand that bestowed them, and proved the means of alienating our hearts from God.

For this abuse of prosperity, the land doth mourn this day. They must be blind indeed, who do not see the uplifted hand of God, and even read, on the rod with which he hath smitten us, our national guilt engraved in such deep and legible characters, that it may be truly said, "Our own wickedness hath corrected us, and our backslidings have reproved us."

Do we complain of the ingratitude of our American colonies, which flourished so long, and prospered so much in a state of union with the mother-country, and as the free subjects of a free state? In what words can we utter our complaints more expressive than those which are preoccupied, if I may so speak, by the great Lord of heaven and earth, in that solemn appeal which is recorded (Isaiah i. 2.), "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." So that the very expressions with which we would naturally reproach our rebellious colonists, may justly remind us of that more aggravated rebellion, wherewith we ourselves are chargeable against that God, who hath not only planted, but cherished and protected us in a good land unto this day.

Now, whatsoever things were written afore