the punishments or obtaining the rewards of the Christian covenant, but faith in Christ, reliance on his merits, and an earnest endeavour to practise every virtue and fulfil every duty prescribed in his Gospel; taking it for granted that you believe all these things to be true, let me then ask you, what is the course of life which every wise man, which every man of common sense, must feel himself irresistibly called upon to pursue? Is it possible that with such awful, such divine truths as these deeply impressed upon your souls, you can allow yourselves to be so entirely occupied with the various pursuits of this life as to exclude, I will not say all thought (for that is impossible) but all serious solicitude concerning your future and eternal destiny? Are there any delights that this world has to offer that can compensate for the loss of heaven? Some of you have perhaps run your career of power, of pleasure, of gaiety, of luxury, of glory, and of fame, and can tell the true amount, the real value of these enjoyVOL. II.

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ments. Say then, honestly, whether any one of them has answered your expectations; whether they have left your minds perfectly content and satisfied; whether they have proved so solid, so durable, so perfect, as to be worth purchasing at the expense of eternal happiness? I will venture to abide by your answer. Trust then to your own experience, and be no longer the dupes of illusions which have so long misled you. And if you have any feeling, any pity for the young, the thoughtless, and the inexperienced, let them profit by the instructions, the salutary lessons you are so well qualified to give them; let your warning voice restrain them from rushing headlong into those errors, into which you have perhaps been unfor tunately betrayed. Tell them (for you know it to be true) that whatever flattering prospects the world may present to their ardent imaginations at their first entrance into life, there is no solid ground for permanent comfort and content of mind, but a conscientious discharge of

their duty to God and man, an anxious endeavour to recommend themselves to the favour of the Almighty, and a hope of pardon and acceptance through the merits of their Redeemer. These alone

can smooth the path of life and the bed of death; these alone can bring a man peace at the last.

Reflections such as these must, in all times, and under all circumstances, operate most powerfully on every considerate mind; but they receive tenfold weight from the peculiar complexion of the present period, and the awful situation into which, by the dispensations of Providence, we are now cast. Never since the world began, were such tremendous proof sheld up to the observation of mankind, of the slender and precarious tenure on which we hold every thing that we deem most valuable in the present life, as have been of late presented to our view. Look around you for a moment; consider what has been passing on the continent of Europe

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Europe for the last ten years, and then say what is there left for you in this world worthy of your attention, on the possession of which, for any length of time, you can with any degree of security rely? You must have been very inattentive observers indeed, not to have perceived that all the great objects of human wishes, rank, power, honour, dignity, fame, riches, pleasures, gaieties, all the pomp, and pride, and splendour, and luxury of life, may, when you least think of it, contrary to all expectation and all probability, be swept away from you in one moment, and you yourselves thrown as it were a miserable wreck on some desert shore, not only without the elegancies and the comforts, but even without the common necessaries of life. That this is no imaginary representation, you all know too well; you see too many melancholy proofs of it in those unfortunate exiles who have taken refuge in this country; many of whom have experienced, in the utmost extent, the very calamities I have been

here

here describing; and who, but a few years ago, had as little reason to expect such a dreadful reverse of fortune as any one who now hears me.

It is true, indeed, that hitherto we have been most wonderfully preserved by a kind Providence from those miseries that have desolated the rest of Europe, and have maintained a noble, though a bitter conflict, during many years, for our religion, our liberty, our independence, our unrivalled constitution, and every thing that is dear and valuable to man. But it must at the same time be admitted, that we are still in a most critical and doubtful situation, and that our final success must principally depend on that to which we have a thousand times owed our preservation, the favour and protection of Heaven.

The rapid, the astonishing, the unexampled vicissitudes, which have repeatedly taken place during the whole of this arduous contest, most clearly show that there is something in it more than common, something

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