man? Can I confiftently with the purity and re&itude of my nature; can I confiftently with my character as the moral governor of the world pafs by with impunity thefe wanton, these repeated, thefe grofs violations of my law? Shall not my foul be avenged on fuch a nation as this?

You will readily notice that the expreffion, shall not my foul be avenged, is rather uncommon; it is ufed after the manner of men and reprefents the great God as earnestly and unalterably bent on his purpofe; it is defigned to exprefs both the certainty and the feverity of the judgments to be executed on infatuated Ifrael.

THIS day was fet a part for the folemn exercises of fafting, humiliation and prayer on account of the alarming afpect of providence to our country. We are not called merely to deprecate that wrath which apparently hangs over our nation; they are greatly mistaken who imagine that this fhould be our only, or even our principal exercife: we ought to be deeply impreffed that our national offences are the cause of our national calamities; we ought impartially to examine what tranfgreffion on our part has kindled this hot difpleafure; to acknowledge the righteoufnefs of Jehovah in all the judgments with which we are threatened; to improve by faith the atonement of his Eternal Son as the only mean of our reconciliation; to return to him in the exercife of unfeigned repentance, and then earnestly to plead with an offended God that in the midst of wrath he would remember mercy.

In order to affift you in thefe important exercifes it may be proper,

1. To confider those crimes with which as a nation we are obviously chargeable-and

II. THOSE evidences of divine vengeance which we have occafionally felt and under which we now fuffer.

1. As a nation, we are chargeable with fhame-. ful ingratitude for privileges enjoyed. It must be fresh in your own recollection when the fpot where we now worship was ravaged by the incurfions of a formidable, unpitying foe; when the murderous favage with his tomahawk and fcalping knife prowled around your dwellings, often piercing your fouls with his terrific yells; when the doors of your fan&uary were shut when your habitations* were left defolate; when the fon, torn from the arms of his mother, and the hufband from the embraces of his wife, were expofed to the toils and dangers of the

up;

The British army under the command of General Bur guayne, in their descent from Canada, marched along the Hudson river,about sixteen miles to the west of Salem; but small detachments of the enemy penetrated that and the neighboring towns, plundering the inhabitants: Parties of Indians also sallied out through these settlements, and murdered a whole family in the vicinity of Salem; and the town was almost entirely evacuated in August of 1777, when the inhabitants, through apprehension of the enemy, fled for shelter into the interior of the country.

field; and you were driven to firangers for a miferable shelter from the inclemency of the feafon. In that hour of peril and panic, the avenger of wrongs interpofed in your behalf; difconcerted the adverfa ry; crowned with victory equally unexpected and fignal* your feeble exertions, and restored you to the peaceful poffeffion of your own habitations. Since the revolutionary war, which terminated in the inde pendence of our country, we have enjoyed a degree of profperity without a parallel in the hiftory of any nation; We are favored with a conftitution probably the moft mild, the moft equitable, and, while fupported by public virtue, the moft diffu five of general happiness that was ever framed by man. While our ears have often heard the thunder of diftant war; while almoft every arrival upon our coafts has brought the intelligence of the murderous battle fought; of other wives made widows, and other children fatherlefs; of old kingdoms convulsed, and new empires erected on their ruins, our peace has been uninterrupted: We have eat every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drank every one of the waters of his ciftern, without any to annoy or alarm: While famine has waved her fcourge over other countries and driven thoufands of the inhabitants to the neceffity of begging their bread, we have literally rolled in worldly afflu

* The memorable defeat and capture of General Burguoyne took place about the 17th of October, when the inha bitants returned to their own possessions.

ence; our foil, under the hufbandman's cultivation, has yielded a rich profufion of fruits, and our commerce has wafted upon our fhores the productions of every foreign clime. Thefe outward privileges have been crowned with the infinitely more precious means of falvation. We have enjoyed the oracles of the living God in our own language, and the various ordinances of his worship in their native fimplicity and purity. When privileges fo pre-eminent are bestowed on a person or a people, returns of thanksgiving, and obedience are expected in proportion; but the bleffings heaped upon us as a nation have been equalled only by our ingratitude and impiety. Have we as individuals, been walking in the fear of the Lord, regulating ourselves by his word as the rule, and confulting his glory as the highest end of our lives? As families have we been offering up the tribute of praise to the common Author of our mercies; has each been encouraging the other to the performance of every civil, and focial, and religious duty; have we been thus teaching and admonishing one another in pfalms, and hymns, and fpiritual fongs? Have we as a nation exceeded all others in gratitude, as we have been elevated above them in privilege? As citizens, as minifters, as magiftrates have we advanced hand in hand, each aiming at the good of the whole; and all promoting the glory of Him who raised usto a rank fo exalted among the nations of the earth? How reverse have been our character, and condu&t? More ungrateful, more infatuated than Jeshurun we have

waxed fat; we have forgotten the God that made us, who redeemed us in the hour of jeopardy, and lightly ef teemed the rock of our falvation. The diftinguifhing goodness of God inftead of leading us to repentance, to reformation of life has produced pride, prefumptuoufnefs, licentioufnefs of principle, and profligacy of manners. Our affluence, which ought to have flowed in fupplying the wants of the indigent; in fupporting the ordinances of religion; in propagating the gospel through the frontier fettlements; and in conveying to the perishing heathen the means of falvation, has been proftituted to luxury of living; to extravagance of drefs; to the aggrandizement of our families; or in adding houfe to houfe and farm to farm. Our language has correfponded with that of the prefumptuous monarch of Egypt, Who is the Lord that we should obey him?" Our gold, our filver, our poffeffions are our own, and for the gratification of our own appetites they fhall be employed." Our ingratitude is thus a fin of high aggravation, and is one caufe why the Lord God is pleading his controverfy with our land. Hear O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken; I have. nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. They have forjaken the Lord; they have provoked the holy one of Ifrael to anger, they have gone away backward. Might he not in righte ous indignation have added, Ah, I will cafe me of mine aduerfaries; I will avenge me of mine enemies?

2. OUR daring impiety manifefted by a contempt