altar in the whole baptized world, from which the prayer of the pious does not silently arise for the success of our arms.

It is a cause, in a greater view, in which the unchangeable laws of the Almighty are with us. The world has seen other conquerors and other despots. It has wept before the march of tempo-. rary ambition, and bled beneath the sword of transitory conquest. But nature has reassumed her rights; and while conquerors have sunk into an execrated grave, and tyrants have perished in the zenith of their power, the race of men have raised again their dejected heads, and peace, and order, and freedom have spread themselves throughout the world. Such, my brethren, will also be the termination of the tragedy of our day, and such is the confidence which they ought ever to maintain, upon whom "the Almighty hath lifted up the light "of his countenance." We are witnessing, indeed, the most tremendous spectacle which the theatre of nature has ever exhibited, of the pride and ambition of man. For years, our attention has been fixed upon that great and guilty country, which has been fertile in nothing but revolution, and from which, amid the clouds that cover it, we have seen at last that dark and shapeless form arise, which, like the vision that appalled the King of Babylon, "hath its legs of iron, and its arms of brass." We have seen it extend its terrifick shadow over every surrounding people, and the sinews of man

to wither at its approach. We see it now collecting all its might, and thinking to change times, and laws, and speaking great words against the MoST HIGH. Yet, while our eye strains to measure its dimensions, and our ear shrinks at the threatening of its voice, let us survey it with the searching eye of the prophet, and we shall see, that its feet are of base and perishable clay. Amid all the terrours of its brightness, it has no foundation in the moral stability of justice. It is irradiated by no beam from Heaven,-it is blessed by no prayer of man, -it is worshipped with no gratitude of the patriot heart. It may remain for the time, or the times that are appointed it. But the awful hour is on the wing, when the universe will resound with its fall; and that sun which measures out, as with reluctance, the length of its impious reign, will one day pour his undecaying beams amid its ruins, and bring forth, from the earth which it has overshadowed, the promises of a greater spring.

There are limits in the moral as well as in the material system to the dominion of evil; there are limits to the guilt and injustice of nations, as well as of individuals. There is a time when cunning ceases to delude, and hypocrisy to deceive ;-when power ceases to overawe, and oppression will no longer be borne. Even now that period seems to be approaching. It is impossible that man can become retrograde in his progress ;-it is impossible that the hands of the oppressed can longer

beckon the approach of a power which comes to load them only with heavier chains ;—it is impossible that the nations of Europe, cradled in civilization, and baptized into the liberty of the children of God, can long continue to bend their free-born heads before the feet of foreign domination, or that they can suffer the stream of knowledge which so long has animated their soil, to terminate at last in the deep stagnation of military despotism. Even the country itself which has given it birth, cannot long submit to its rule ;-it bleeds in the hour that it triumphs; it is goaded to exertions which it loaths;-its laurels are wet with the tears of those who are bereaved of their children. The virtuous man shudders when he beholds the crimes and the guilt of his country; and the heart of the pious man faileth him, when he looks forward to the "things that are coming" upon those banners which are raised against the rights of man, and which are unblessed by the voice of Heaven.

It was the high sentiment of ancient patriotism, "never to despair of the commonwealth." It is the nobler sentiment of Christian piety, never to despair of the fortunes of the human race. Privileged to enter into the Temple of the God of Hosts, to the Christian eye it is given to behold the "light "of His countenance ;" and dark and dangerous as may be the wilderness through which it is doomed to pass, before it are still steadily displayed the glories of the "promised land.”

If these be the high sentiments, my brethren, with which we have met this day;-if the same Providence which has united us in devotion, has united also our hearts and our resolutions,-if one feeling of duty has animated every soul, and one prayer for assistance has breathed from every bosom, then "let not our hearts be troubled."-Our faith, our freedom, our country, "will yet be "whole." "The might of God will arise" in our hearts, and by our arms "will his enemies be scat❝tered." "The earth will again bring forth her "increase, and God, even our own God, will give "us his blessing. God will bless us and all the "ends of the world will fear Him."

SERMON XIV.

ON FREEDOM OF THOUGHT.

1 ST. PETER ii. 16,

"As free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God."

IT has often been observed in the history of learning, that one of the most fertile sources of errour consists in the ambiguity of words. The observation is unfortunately equally applicable to the history of morality; and they who have attended to the causes by which the understanding is misled from the imperfections of language, will not be surprised at the deeper errours into which similar causes may mislead the heart. For the general principles of human conduct, we have general appellations. But for the excess or the defect of these principles, we have no distinct or specifick names; and we are all willing to shelter ourselves under the ambiguity of a word, when conscience tells us that we are guilty with regard to what it really means. It is thus that avarice ealls itself prudence, and profusion, generosity;