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daughter of God's people slightly, with the enticing words of man's eloquence," saying, Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace*;" but to probe the wounds to the bottom, by means of" the word of God, which is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heartt."

But although it falls to our lot, in preaching repentance, on this great occasion, more immediately to the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia, who were among the primary and chief sufferers, under the late awful visitation of the Almighty; and although great and manifold are the sins, for which, in his righteous judgments, He might have inflicted this calamity upon us: Yet it ought not to be considered that it was for our reproof and sins only, but those of United America, that the Lord chose us as among the first to speak to in his fierce angert. The application of our Saviour's doctrine, preaching repentance, upon the punishment of the Galileans and others||, may allowed here.

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Suppose ye, says he, that those Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered

† Heb. iv. 12.

Jer. vi. 14. Christian charity, as well as a grateful remembrance of the sympathetic feelings, and of the relief yielded us by our dear brethren and fellow citizens in general, throughout the United States, in the day of our distress, warrants us to believe that they did not consider us as sinners above all others, but they looked upon God's visitation of us as a warning to themselves, also; and that if they did not repent, they might well expect his severe chastisements, in their turn.

Luke xiii. 1-5.

such things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon ye whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.'

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Thus warranted by the Preaching and doctrine of the great author of our salvation, to consider particular Punishments as general Warnings; the remainder of my discourse will be addressed to the whole body of Citizens, Rulers as well as People, in these United States. And to this I consider myself, as more especially called; being honoured with an audience, so numerous and respectable, among whom I behold the FATHER of these United States, and many other characters of the first impression, whose exemplary virtue and piety must strike deep into the future prosperity and glory of our rising American empirean empire which, under the protection and favour of divine Providence, has laid the foundation of all that can adorn and dignify man in the present world, and guide him forward in preparations for the acquisition and enjoyment of glory, honour and immortality, in a world to come!

Keeping in view, therefore, the history of the people of Israel, and taking up the parallel between God's Providence and dealing with respect to them and ourselves; I may be allowed to recall to your mind, those times when our ancestors were but a small people in this land; how the Almighty smoothed their passage to it through the dangers of the stormy ocean; how he planted and supported them in a wilderness, and

made the savage beasts, and men more savage than they, who were able in a moment to destroy them, to become their friends; commanding the solitary places to be glad around them; and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose.

I might describe to you the progress of their civilization and happiness; and shew, that having brought the pure Word of God in their hand, the legacy of the Gospel of Christ as their chief riches, they were not ashamed of its doctrines; nor to acknowledge the goodness of the Almighty, by promoting the ordinances of his religion; by making and executing laws for its support, and for the orderly administration of justice; constantly striving, by the purity of their lives, the simplicity of their manners, their love of truth, and of one another, to give an example to their children, of their obedience to the divine laws, and their zeal for the prosperity of their country.

And when thus, for more than a hundred years, they had been proceeding from strength to strength, and flourishing under this simplicity of manners, and regard to true religion-I might lead your attention, to what the Lord did for us, their posterity, when we were called to struggle through blood, and to contend for our dearest and most sacred rights. How numerous were the instances of his divine favour and interposition, in the establishment of our civil liberties and independence; assuring to us and our posterity, every civil blessing, together with the free exercise of our holy religion, according to the rights of Conscience; under a government of laws, and a con

stitution of our own happy choice, there being none to make us afraid.

But what has been our sense or improvement of those numerous and invaluable blessings, which the Almighty, with so liberal a hand, hath even heaped upon us? Let us not be alarmed at the question; nor shrink from the answer.

May it not be asked, then, of what avail is it that we boast of our frames of government, and that we are blessed with civil Liberty, according to our highest conceptions of the name; if we know not how to respect the Laws, and to distinguish Liberty from Licentiousness? If there remain those among us, who from pride, self-interest, and the lust of power, cannot rest contented with a wise and efficacious system of joint government; but still pursuing something new, and adapted to their own phantasies, seek rather no government at all, or a government of such variant and discordant particles, as to produce a Babel of confusion, rather than a Jerusalem, or city of God, happy and united within itself!

What avails it that God hath given us peace with all foreign states and powers, if with difficulty we are to be restrained from rushing voluntarily into the horrid scenes of blood and devastation in the old world, from which God hath graciously set us at a distance; and where our feeble strength would scarcely weigh a grain in either balance, but might inevitably involve us in self-destruction?

What avails it that we are delivered from one late and great calamity, if we are not delivered from Sin, which is the greatest calamity of all?

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What avails it that God hath blessed us with a fruitful country, a happy climate and bountiful seasons; if instead of Industry, Moderation of mind, Thankfulness to Heaven, and a due improvement of His blessings, we are sapping the foundations of all our future happiness as a people, by Luxury, Pride, Idleness, Dissipation and the eager pursuit of false Pleasure; with its never-failing attendants-Infidelity and the scandalous neglect of Religion, and profanation of the Lord's day!

This was one of the crying sins of the Jews, for which the severest judgments were denounced against them—" I saw, in those days, in Judah," says Nehemiah, "some treading wine presses on the

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Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; "as also wine, grapes and figs, and all manner of bur"dens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the "Sabbath day-And there dwelt also men of Tyre

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therein, who brought fish, and all manner of ware, "and sold on the Sabbath, to the children of Judah, "and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the no❝bles of Judah, and said unto them-what evil thing "is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? "Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? "Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel, by profaning the Sabbath*.”

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But, notwithstanding all these judgments, this evil continued among that people until our Saviour's days, who testified his indignation against it, by entering

*Neh. xiii. 15, 16, 17, 18.'

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