THE TRUE PATRIOT.

A

SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE THE

MILITARY ASSOCIATION

OF THE UNITED PARISHES OF

ST. ANDREW, HOLBORN, AND ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR, MIDDLESEX,

AT

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW.

SUNDAY, JULY 15, 1798.

Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.

2 Sam. x. 12.

TO THE

MEMBERS

OF THE

MILITARY ASSOCIATION OF ST. ANDREW AND ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR.

GENTLEMEN:

YOUR attention to the following Discourse when it was delivered, and your unanimous request to have it printed, induce me, for the first time, to publish a Sermon.

I should have felt less difficulty in complying with your request had my discourse been a written one; as, in that case, I could have presented you with it in the exact state in which it met your approbation. But having delivered it, according to my usual method, from notes, I can now only hope to present it in substance: though it has been my endeavour to retain the expression also; even to the admitting of repetitions, which would otherwise need an apology:

iv

Some sentiments, however, will doubtless occur to your memories which have escaped mine: and such deficiency I hope to repair, by the addition of others contained in my notes, which a fear of detaining you too long on the Sunday obliged me then to omit.

That a divine blessing may attend your exertions, and that they may soon be rendered unnecessary by a lasting peace, and that happy period be hastened when the nations shall learn war no

more,―is, and shall be, the fervent prayer of,

GENTLEMEN,

Your most Faithful

And Obedient

Humble Servant,

RICHARD CECIL

THE TRUE PATRIOT.

1 SAM. xvii. 29.

And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

0

INVITED as I am to address my fellow citizens, associated at this important crisis; and much as I must approve their zeal for the public safety, and still more that which leads them to present themselves this morning before God in his House of Prayer; yet I cannot but lament the Occasion. To meet every where peaceable citizens in arms!-to hear fields and gardens daily echo with the din of martial exercises!— Surely this bespeaks a time critical-alarmingnew! a time, which a minister cannot but feel, and ought not to neglect. Far from my heart be that frigid indifference, which refuses to take an interest in what affects so many: For who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

But since, in times like these, it is of high inportance first to settle our principles of action, and then to pursue them with firmness and vigour,