natural consequences of aggravated guilt, and are alarmed by the prospect that the calamity is probably at no great distance from our hitherto more favoured country. "The meat of our brethren is already cut off before our eyes," and, "unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish.” In what I have said, then, let it not be supposed that I would seek to appropriate to others that "ungodliness," which God has been pleased to visit with the "plague" of famine; and thus by a specious delusion to arrogate to ourselves the merit of comparative innocence. Having hinted at what may perhaps lie at the foundation of God's displeasure; it will more particularly become us, on this day of holy Solemnity, to consider our own ways; to reflect upon the judgments with which the sins that prevail among ourselves may speedily be visited; and to determine upon the course which it will be necessary to pursue, in order to avert the threatened vengeance of the Almighty. Though the uncharitable doctrine of private judgments is expressly denounced in Scripture, yet it is certain that the vices of individuals constitute, in the aggregate, the source of national suffering; and the "great plagues," which are thus brought upon the ungodly, will be in proportion to the multiplied iniquities which cry aloud for vengeance. One of the great uses, therefore, of that fearful calamity which rages in the sister kingdom, wherein it will be impossible to deny that the fences of a national and sober Christianity, of moral justice, and of social safety, have long been broken down by the resistless torrent of infatuated crime, would be to check the career of profligacy which may otherwise bring down the impending ruin upon ourselves. To speak only generally for the present, a profane disregard of the Sabbath and the Sacraments, an intemperate use of intoxicating liquors, oaths and imprecations. uttered blasphemously in our streets, and the most fearful violation of the seventh Commandment, are the characteristic marks of the lower orders; and we have only to read the accounts of the reckless extravagance, the propensity to gaming, and the Sunday amusements of the higher classes, to be convinced of the incompatibility of such proceedings with a proper attention to the duties of religion. Now when once we begin to neglect the calls of piety and virtue, we are soon led on to despise them; and thus the barriers of grace being broken down, faith at length gives way, and the only remaining refuge is in the arms of Infidelity. To such therefore as are accustomed to follow no rule but the impulse of the moment, a moment of terror must be taken to hold up before their eyes the mirror of conscience in a strong and striking light. The public character of a nation is for the most part affected by the same causes as that of the individuals of which it consists; and thus it appears that sensuality, and pride, and covetousness, and injustice which "neither fears God nor regards man," are far more frequently the result of prosperous than of adverse fortune. It is in times of difficulty, and danger, and distress, that the minds of men are more open to impressions of humility, and piety, and integrity, and brotherly love; and to listen with fear and trembling to the denunciations, which the 1. Luke xviii. 2. 4. 66 ministers of God are bound to deliver in the words of a prophecy, which, as certainly as it has been once fulfilled, will, unless we repent, be fulfilled again :-"Hear, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, and sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me." Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down saith the Lord.” "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it." "Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." Brethren, thus would I now call upon you: for "there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun." Let me "stand between the dead and the living, that the plague be stayed." Times like the present afford no pretext for delay; and it were worse than madness to indulge in delusive hopes, when the hand is uplifted, and the sword ready to fall. "Turn ye then, turn ye to the Lord with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning; and rend your hearts, and not your garments:"3 so that the Lord, "who doth not afflict willingly,"4 66 but, even as a father, pitieth his rebellious children," may yet "deliver our souls from death, and feed us in the time of dearth."6 Listen, I implore you to his warning voice, and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”7 "His hand 1. Isai. xlvii. 8. Obad. 4. Ezek. xxii. 14. Jerem. xviii. 11. is not shortened that it cannot save," neither "hath he forgotten to be gracious." If with hearty repentance and true faith we turn unto him, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life, and resolving each in his respective station to exert his utmost energies in resisting the torrent of iniquity with which the land is inundated, his anger will yet be appeased, and his mercy will embrace us on every side. Let us then consider our several duties in the alarming crisis, which has this day brought us on our knees before the throne of grace and glory. And to begin with ourselves, the overseers and ministers of the flock of Christ, who are to watch for the salvation of souls, as those who must give an account. Ours is indeed a task of awful responsibility; and he who feels the responsibility in its full weight, will neither be deterred by the ridicule of the scorner, nor the enmity of the vicious, from warning his hearers of the dangers by which they are beset. With that plainness of speech which well becomes his office, he will be "instant in season and out of season, through evil report and good report"3 firmly and faithfully to discharge the duty which he owes to his master and his Church: and he will more especially direct his exhortation to the correction of those vices, of which his experience may detect the prevalence in his own immediate cure. He will endeavour to turn the eyes of each into his own breast, and to speak as it were to every individual in the congregation in the words of Nathan to David, "Thou art the man.” Let me then, brethren beloved, entreat your prayers, that this work of 1. Isai. lix. 1. 2. Ps. lxxvii. 9. 3. 2 Tim. iv. 2. 2 Cor. vi. 8. the Lord may prosper in our hands. Be not offended because we tell you the truth; but rather repent, and amend, and "so iniquity shall not be your ruin."" To those then who are high in station, and, in the first place, to our young and amiable Queen, and to her royal consort, could my voice reach their ears, I would recommend, with all the ardour of loyalty for their persons and anxiety for their immortal souls, not only a continued exercise of those public and private virtues in which they are universally allowed to excel, but to extend the influence of their example over as wide a sphere as possible, and to confer their favours only on the worthy and the good. "As a city set on a hill," their conduct " can not be hid:" and the national character will be necessarily improved by the encouragement thus held out to worth and goodness. To those in authority under them, I would suggest a faithful and vigilant administration of the laws, in order to the suppression of wickedness and vice, and the maintenance of true religion and virtue. Upon the rich and the great I would urge an ardent desire to become patrons of virtue and religion to all within the sphere of their connexion of influence; to eschew the vices of the gaming-table, of the Sunday feast, and the midnight revel; and to exhibit before their families and dependents a life of practical holiness. I would have them remember that it is not merely an external propriety that is required of them; but to "buy gold tried in the fire, that they may be rich" indeed. It is not only of open sinners that our Lord will be ashamed in the day of Judgment. There are many 1. Ezek. xviii. 30. 2. Matt. v. 14. 3. Rev. iii. 18. |