If then, in the first place, the war we pursue, be one which is neither founded in justice, nor necessity; if it be a war undertaken to overturn the independence, or abridge the prosperity of any other people; if it be to add to our wealth by the spoils of the world, or to seek our glory by the tears of innocent, or the blood of unoffending nations; if these be our secret objects in the war, let us not think, nor hope, nor pray for success. Victory may follow victory; achievement may succeed achievement; the pulse of national vanity may beat high; but "the counsel of the Al"mighty" is against our devices. The secret vice which silently pursues its end, is undermining the fabrick of all our prosperity, and the destroying angel, who comes from the throne of God to "jus"tify his ways to man," rejoices in the triumphs which his hand is so soon to wither; and in that attitude of presumptuous elevation, which must so soon be humbled in the dust.

But, my brethren, on the other hand, if it be a war of a different description that our hearts tell us we are pursuing; if it be a war, necessary in its nature, and just in its end; if it be to maintain the rights, the freedom, and the independence of our country; if it be to protect that constitution, which is the fountain of all our best enjoyments here, and that religion which is the source of all our hopes hereafter; if it be to continue to our children that freedom to which they were born,

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and that faith in which they were baptized; if these be our sole objects in the war in which we are engaged, then, in the name of the living God, let us fear not. Defeat may for a time succeed defeat ; misfortune may follow misfortune, and the hearts of the weak and the timid may turn cold;—but the counsels of God are with us. Every known, and every unknown power of nature are leagued in our favour. Even under circumstances of deeper alarm than we have yet experienced, hope is never to be lost. It is not easy to conquer an united people;-it is not easy to wrest from a free land the liberty to which it was born ;-it is not easy to tear from a great nation the honours which they have worn in the sight of mankind, for so many hundred years, and the glories, which, in every age, their fathers have transmitted to them.

For a long season, my brethren, this country has enjoyed a prosperity unexampled in the history of time. The annals of the world, however, tell us, from the history of many nations, that such prosperity has often been the forerunner of their fall; and, trusting to such analogies, the enemy endeavours to persuade the rest of mankind, that such also is soon to be our fate. The time, therefore, is come, when we are to know whether prosperity has also corrupted us,-whether wealth has brought with it its usual avengers,-and whether the selfishness of commerce, and the fee

bleness of luxury, have also made our hands weak, and our hearts cold. If it be so,-if we are be come careless or indifferent of the honours of our country;-if we can place interest in opposition to duty;-if we can think of our own private profits, when the existence of our country is at stake ;—if we can coolly calculate the price which is to pay us for freedom, for honour, and for independence ;-let us not deceive ourselves.-Whatever our fathers may have been, we are no longer a nation," we are weighed in the balance" of God, "and are found wanting." "The kingdom is "taken from us," and will be given to a nobler people.

I hope, however, my brethren, for better things. I hope that, amid all our wealth and all our lux. ury, the spirit of our country is yet undecayed. I trust, that, conducting ourselves "by the coun. "sels of God," we may laugh to scorn "the de, "vices of man." And I do trust so, from those animating scenes which every where meet our eyes. I trust in it, from that ardour with which the great and the opulent, in every part of our country, have sprung from the lap of affluence into arms, when its liberty and its independence are threatened. I trust in it, from that unexampled charity which has covered years of national suffering with glory,-which has grown with every distress as it arose, and which seems to have no limit but that of the miseries it can relieve. I

trust in it, from the profusion with which the British heart poured forth the treasures of its wealth, whenever the standard of liberty was unfurled, or the blessings which itself enjoyed seemed to be opening upon other men. I trust in it, still more, from that silent but heroick magnanimity with which the great body of our people, conscious of their blessings, have, in late years, borne the visitations of God; and which, while it tells us the affection with which they cling to their country, affords us the deepest and sublimest earnest, that they will not bear the visitations of Man.

The war, however, with all its hopes, and all its fears, will cease. When the ends of the Almighty are accomplished, nature will reassume her reign of peace; "the devices of Man will

"fail," and "the counsel of God alone will "stand." Yet a few years, and all that trouble, and all that bless humanity, will rest in their graves. The great designs of the Almighty will proceed, and victor and vanquished will alike appear before the Eternal Throne.

In that awful and searching hour, it will be of little consequence to us, in what scenes of suffering or enjoyment life has been passed. All that will be of consequence is,-whether its duties have been discharged,-whether we have acted the part of brave, and pious, and virtuous citizens, -or that of weak, and timid, and selfish men!

1 pray God, my brethren, that, with this mighty prospect before us, and the counsel of the Almighty on our side, we may all so meet the dangers which advance upon us, that, in our last hour, we may have the consolation of thinking, that we have done our duty to our children, to our country, and to our God;—that we may leave the land which gave us birth free, as in the hour when we were born;-and that the future historian of our country may say, That in our hearts the "spirit "of God had arisen," and that by our arms "his "enemies were scattered."