the doctrine of redemption. Accordingly, we are not left merely to reason or to infer, but are in express terms told by God himself, that godliness shall be profitable unto all things; that God the Lord is a sun and a shield, giving grace and glory, and withholding no good thing from them that walk uprightly; that no evil shall happen to the just; for the Lord is their keeper, who never slumbers nor sleeps; that his eyes are ever on the righteous; that when they pass through the waters, he will be with them, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow them; and in fine, that all his paths are mercy and truth to such as fear him and keep his covenant. (1 Tim. iv. 8. Psal. lxxxiv. 11; cxxi. 3, 4, &c.) These promises, and many more to the same effect, with which the Scripture abounds, plainly express a particular care of Heaven exercised about every single good man; they signify as real an interposition of Providence, as if the laws of nature had been suspended on his

account.

The opinion entertained by some, that the providence of God extends no farther than to a general superintendence of the laws of nature, with out interposing in the particular concerns of individuals, is contrary both to reason and to Scripture. It renders the government of the Almighty altogether loose and contingent, and would leave no ground for reposing any trust under its protection. For the majority of human affairs would then be allowed to fluctuate in a fortuitous course, without moving in any regular direction, and without tending to any one scope. The uniform doctrine of the sacred writings is, that throughout the universe nothing happens without God; that his hand is ever active, and his decree or permission intervenes in all; that nothing is too great or unwieldy for his management, and nothing so minute

and inconsiderable as to be below his inspection and care. While he is guiding the sun and the moon in their course through the heavens; while in this inferior world he is ruling among empires, stilling the ragings of the waters, and the tumults of the people, he is at the same time watching over the humble good man, who, in the obscurity of his cottage, is serving and worshipping him. In order to express this vigilance of Providence in the strongest terms, our Saviour himself has said that the very hairs of our head are all numbered by God; and that while two sparrows are sold for a farthing, not one of them falls to the ground without his pleasure. The consolation which this affords he applies to his disciples, in what follows: Fear ye not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Matt. x. 31.) It is on this doctrine of a special and particular providence he grounds that exhortation against worldly solicitude and anxiety, which accords so fully with the argument we have been pursuing; your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of; take therefore no thought for the morrow; but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. vi. 32, 33.)

Thus it has been shewn on what grounds our assured belief rests of the declaration in the text, that all things are made to work for the good of the righteous. It is not a promise which admits of ambiguity, and which we might be afraid to interpret to its full extent. It is on every side confirmed by the most sober reasonings we can form from the Divine perfections; by the whole tenor of the dispensation of redemption; by many repeated assurances given us in the sacred writings.

The great objection, I am aware, that will be started by many against the whole of what has been advanced

in this discourse, is founded on the seeming prevalence of evil and disorder in the world. This, it will be said, is so conspicuous as to be inconsistent with the representation that has been given of a Supreme Being, who attends, in every instance, to the welfare of every good man. The present state of the world may be suspected to carry more the appearance of a conflict between two opposite principles of good and evil, which divide the empire of the world, and of course create a mixture of some good things with more that are evil. How often, it will be said, are the best men insensible of any such gradual improvement, or any such tendency in the general course of things, as has been represented to promote their interest; but, on the contrary, left comfortless and forlorn, in the midst of surrounding prosperous vice, to mourn over disappointed hopes and bitter sorrows, without receiving the least mark of favourable intentions from Heaven? Hence the exclamations they have often uttered; "Where is the Lord, and where the sceptre of righteousness and truth? Doth God indeed see, and is there knowledge in the Most High? Or hath he forgotten to be gracious, and in anger shut up his tender mercies?"

Now, in answer to such objections, let us consider how much reason there is for ascribing those dark and dreadful appearances to the narrow and confined views which our state allow us to take. The designs of the Almighty are enlarged and vast. They comprehend not only the whole of our present existence, but they include worlds unknown, and stretch forwards into eternity. Hence, much darkness and mystery must of course rest at present on the administration of God; and we, who see only so small a portion of a great and complicated system, must be very inade

quate judges, both of the tendency of each part, and of the issue of the whole. We behold no more than the outside of things. Our views glide over the surface; and even along that surface they extend but a short way, but under the surface there lie hidden springs, that are set in motion by a superior hand, and are bringing forward revolutions unforeseen by us. There are wheels moving within wheels, as the prophet Ezekiel beheld in mysterious vision. (Ezek. x. 10.) We, measuring all things by the shortness of our own duration, are constantly accelerating our designs to their period. We are eager in advancing rapidly towards the completion of our wishes. But it is not so with God. In his sight a thousand years are as one day: and while his infinitely wise plans are continually advancing with sure progress, that progress to our impatience appears slow. Let us have patience for awhile, and these plans shall in due time be developed, and will explain themselves. His language to us is, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. (John xiii. 7.)

Let us attend to the analogy of Nature. We shall find it to hold very generally, both in the moral and natural world, that nothing arises suddenly to the perfection of its state; that all improvement is carried on by leisurely gradations; and that most frequently it is through harsh and unpromising beginnings, things are brought to a favourable conclusion. This might be illustrated by many examples:-Take, for one instance, the progress of the seasons. Who that for the first time beheld the earth, in the midst of winter, bound up with frost, or drenched by floods of rain, or covered with snow, would have imagined that Nature, in this dreary and torpid state, was working towards its own renovation

that there should have sprung up among us an unaccountable, spirit of discontent and disaffection, feeding itself with ideal grievances and visionary projects of reformation, till it has gone nigh to light up the torch of sedition?-When government has now, for wise and proper reasons, called us together in a religious assembly, our thoughts cannot be more suitably employed than in reviewing the grounds on which, as good Christians and faithful citizens, we have reason to entertain the warmest affection for our native country, and to put a just value on that constitution of government, civil and sacred, under which it is placed.-In the words of the text you see with what zeal the heart of the pious Psalmist glowed for the prosperity of his country. By the accumulation of expressions which he employs, and the variety of topics he suggests, you see the fervour with which this subject animated his heart. -It will be proper to consider, first, the grounds on which love for our country rests; and next, the duties to which this affection naturally gives rise.

But, before entering on any of those topics, it may be proper to take notice of the speculations of some pretended philosophers, who represent the love of our country as hardly entitled to any place among the virtues. They affect to consider it as a mere prejudice of education; a narrow attachment, which tends to operate against more enlarged interests. We ought, say they, to view ourselves as citizens of the world, and extend our benevolence equally to all nations and all mankind -Nothing can be more empty and futile than such reasonings. The wisdom of our Creator hath linked us by the ties of natural affection; first, to our families and children; next to our brothers, relations, and friends; then to our acquaintance, and to the several socie

ties and communities to which we belong. By instincts implanted in our nature, He has formed our hearts to enter readily into their interests; and has thus directed our benevolence to act primarily within that sphere, where its exertions can be most powerful and most useful. It is evident, that by acting on this plan, the general welfare is promoted in a much higher degree, than if our social affections had no particular direction given them, but were to float, as it were, in empty space, without any more determined object on which to act than the whole human race, where they never could act with any effect. He who contends that he is not bound to have any more concerns for the interests of Great Britain, than for those of France, or any other country, ought to hold, on the same grounds, that he is under no obligation to consult the welfare of his children and family, his brothers and friends, more than that of the most distant stranger; being equally connected, as he holds, with all, by the common brotherhood of the human

race.

It is much to be suspected, that this wonderful extensive philanthropy is only the language of those who have no affections at all; or perhaps, that it is the language assumed by some, who, bearing in their hearts a secret preference to the interests of another country above their own, but a preference which they choose not to avow, affect to cover it under this disguise, of a liberal, enlarged spirit.

Let us, my friends, disclaiming all such refinements of false philosophy, and following the dictates of plain good sense and natural affection, resolve to love our native country, and in every proper way to shew our attachment to it. This was the spirit which so honourably distinguished patriots, heroes, and legislators of old, and has transmitted their names

with veneration to posterity; while they who felt no affection for the country to which they belonged, or who were treacherous to its interests, have been stigmatized with infamy among all civilized nations. I admit that there have been occasions, on which attachment to a particular country has been pursued to a very unjustifiable length. Wherever it has led the natives of one country to state themselves as enemies to the rest of mankind, and to endeavour at aggrandizing themselves by ruining all around them, the pretended love of their country is then become no other than a conspiracy against all other nations, and instead of being a virtue, is the offspring of ambition, pride, and vanity.

I proceed now to shew the just grounds on which it becomes us to be zealous for the welfare of that happy island to which we have the honour and the blessing to belong. Let us consider our native country in three lights; as the seat of private enjoyment and happiness; as the seat of true religion; as the seat of laws, liberty, and good government.

I. As the seat of all our best enjoyments in private life. There, my brethren, after we first drew breath, was our tender infancy reared with care; there, our innocent childhood sported; there, our careless youth grew up amidst companions and friends; there, our dearest connexions were formed; there, after having passed the happiest years of our life, we look forward for our old age to rest in peace.-These are circumstances which endear and ought to endear a home, a native land, to every human heart. If there be any names known among men that awaken tender sentiments in the breast, the names of father, mother, spouse, child, brother, sister, or friend, these all recall our thoughts to our native land, and cannot, even in idea, be

separated from it. When we name our own country, we name the spot of the earth within which all that is most dear to us lies. To be long absent from it, is a circumstance of distress; but to be excluded from the hope of ever returning to it, sinks the spirits of the worthy and the brave into extreme depression. Its very dust appears to them to be precious. Its well-known fields, and mountains, and rivers, become in their eyes, a sort of consecrated ground; the remembrance of which often touches the heart with sensations of more tender joy, than can be raised by scenes more rich, and objects more splendid, in any foreign land.

These are feelings, which nature, or rather the God of nature, has implanted in the mind of man; and base and vile is he who studies to erase them, intimately connected as they are with our very best affections.-Can we think, my friends, how long we have sat under our vine and our figtree, in peace and joy, encircled by our families and friends, in that happy land we possess; and, with this pleasing remembrance dwelling on our minds, can we think with indifference of any danger which threatens the welfare of that country which has been the mother, the nurse, the guardian, of us all? Can we think, without horror, of foreign invasion laying waste our fruitful and smiling fields, or of lawless anarchy and tumultuary mobs attacking our peaceful habitations? No! Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces, will ever be the earnest prayer of every virtuous man; for my brethren and companions' sake, I will ever say, Peace

be within thee!

II. We love our country as the seat of true religion. Freed from the dominion of Popish superstition and darkness, which so long overspread the earth, here the light of the blessed reformation continues to shine in its