Such are some of the evils common to all wars; but war among brethren has peculiar miseries. Experience, that faithful monitor, had shown that the wounds inflicted by civil war are far deeper, and of more difficult cure, than any that can be received from the hand of foreign violence. The murderous tempers which, in other wars are indulged, in this, are wrought up to the height of fury. Resentments are more keen, revenge more implacable, and hatred more lasting. The aggressor is more injurious, and the injured more unforgiving. Amidst mutual reproaches and accusations of violating the most sacred ties, they appear to each other wretches unworthy of esteem, and incapable of faith. Reconciliation is hard to be effected; and, when effected, is scarcely ever sincere. The body politic may, indeed, reassume its healthful complexion; but the poison, rankling within, is ready to burst out with renewed violence: for we find, in fact, that when men have once broken the cords of amity, they are easily impelled to repeat the sacrilege. It is, moreover, a melancholy reflection, that it makes little difference to the community at large, how the quarrels of its contending parties are decided. Whoever is victorious, or whoever is vanquished, all suffer. While they struggle against each other, they rend the vital system by which all are nourished; and the triumph of any

over the rest, is but the success of a mad conspiracy against themselves. Nor does the mischief end here. In silent ambush the common foe marks the origin of disunion, its progress, and its consequences. He patiently waits for the moment of opportunity; and when the combatants, exhausted and fainting, are incapable of resistance, he springs from his concealment, and seizes them for his prey. We cannot be sufficiently thankful, that the mercy of God, in keeping the great body of our citizens united, has kept us from self-procured ruin.

4. The divine goodness, which to-day we celebrate, is rendered still more affecting, by contrasting it with our own stubborn and rebellious conduct.

In the course of his providence, God has given us line upon line, and precept upon precept; but line upon line, and precept upon precept, were in vain. Alternate judgment and love, neither awed into submission, nor allured to penitence. Hardened in transgression, we persisted to provoke him, to defy his threatenings, and trample on his bounties. Nor have we any reason to believe that his former dispensations, whether of terror or of joy, have been really sanctified. Guilty, but not abashed; afflicted, but not reformed; neither humbled by chastisement, nor softened by kindness, we were entitled to no favor at the

was near.

hand of God. Pregnant with great futurities, the phenomena of his providence bid us to prepare for their development; and each succeeding day, bringing with it new discouragements, led us to contemplate an issue as mournful as it But while at a distance the thunders rolled: while our heavens blackened, and the wo-fraught clouds stretched over our heads; while our citizens, some in trembling, and others in sullen suspense, were expecting their fate, God-for surely it was the work of no created wisdom or power-God sent help from his holy hill. The arm of vengeance, raised to hurl its wrathful bolt, he suddenly arrested. Through the opening gloom, the light of his deliverance beamed; and so brilliant was the interposition, that nothing but atheistic impiety could forbear exclaiming, This salvation is from the Lord! Towards other nations he hath exercised less patience. Their sin, in itself, was no greater than our own; their means of knowledge were inferior; nor were they so often admonished with solemn and pointed rebuke; yet they have perished by the frown of the Eternal, and their memorial is blotted from under heaven. But we are spared, are protected, are prospered! Americans, the lenity is divine! Because the Lord delighteth to do us good, is he thus indulgent. He prevents us with his mercies. He surrounds us with his compassions: he loads VOL. I.

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us with his benefits. Nay," said his reprieving sentence, "slay them not. Let grace be magnified in their preservation. Though they have richly merited the punishment which hangs over them, and merited a thousandfold more, though they have hitherto set at nought my instruction, let the dispensation of love heap coals of fire upon their heads." My brethren, that heart which is not, in any degree, melted by such goodness, must lie under the curse of triple hardness; and if it have no influence in leading to repentance, every possible excuse will be taken from us; and when God arises to judgment, we will stand, without an extenuating plea, before the bar of his right

eousness.

Finally, by the continuance of peace, numbers have access to the privileges of the gospel, who, otherwise, would not only have been deprived of them, but would have fallen a sacrifice to the sword of war and this is a display of the mercy of God, which, on the present occasion, we may not overlook.

A sinner receives a boon for which he cannot be sufficiently thankful, when he is permited to have a nail in God's holy place, and to attend on the ministrations of life: when his days are lengthened out in the enjoyment of those precious means by which pardon is communicated to the guilty, and purity infused into the vile: by

which the slaves of Satan are made Christ's free men; and felons of the pit, constituted citizens of heaven, and heirs of God. Had the removal of providential restraint left us as ready to wage war, as the intemperance of some and the wickedness of others were to urge it, many who now worship in the house of prayer would have been numbered with the dead. Many, to whom the redemption of the blessed Jesus and all the glories of his covenant are freely offered, would have been this day writhing in the place of torment. Unprepared to die, multitudes would have gone to death, and in one hour been swept, by hundreds, into the world of spirits; all their hopes of mercy blasted, and their immortal souls undone forever.

And now, my brethren, since the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad, how shall we express our gratitude? What shall we render to him for all his benefits? Taking that cup of salvation, which his own hand hath tendered to us, let us call upon his name. This, beyond controversy, is an immediate and essential part of our duty, to pay him explicit and public homage to recognize, by devout and marked acknowledgment, our dependence on his favor, and the blessings we have reaped from his provection.

There is a religion of society, as such; a tribute of reverence which it owes to the living