said of us, according to the ancient proverb mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, as is the mother so is the daughter. Remember, gentlemen, the words of the Lord to good old Eli, who, when he heard of the wickedness of his sons, did something equivalent to the issuing out of a proclamation to put laws in execution, without an actual reducing the proclamation into practice. He called them to an account, and said unto them, Why do ye these things? For I hear of your evil doings by all this people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. But was this enough in the eyes of God? No. Hear what God says: I will judge the house of Eli for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth: because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. (1 Sam. ii. 23, 24. iii. 13.) And, gentlemen, is not all the power in the colony virtually in your hands? Have you not as much power to restrain immoralities in any of us, as Eli had to restrain his sons? Have not we chosen you to be our fathers, and called ourselves your children, and children, and put ourselves voluntarily ourselves voluntarily under your authority? And if you should take your sword in hand, and go thoroughly to work to suppress drunkenness, idleness, and all kinds of debauchery, heaven and earth will be on your side. None but the vilest of the people will raise a clamour. And shall their clamour intimidate you? God forbid ! Wherefore, as the people said to Joshua when about to extirpate the wicked Canaanites, Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shull be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage. So I say unto you, in the behalf of all sober well-minded people in Connecticut, "Gentlemen, the Lord be with you in your attempts to suppress vice and immorality. And let that man be severely punished that shall dare to resist you. Only be strong and of a good courage." And pray, gentlemen, as you have leisure at this interview, take opportunity to strengthen one another in this good work. Agree and combine together to carry his majesty's proclamation into execution. The sword is put into your hands for this very purpose. God commands you to be faithful. Your king calls upon you. Your oath obliges you.

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God will be with you, and all good men will stand by you. And if you are indeed faithful in the sight of God in this, and in all your other duties, you will have the approbation of your. own minds, living and dying, and the eternal rewards of hea ven in the world to come. Which may God of his infinite mercy grant, through Christ!

Secondly. To the ministers of the gospel here present. Reverend fathers and brethren, when our rulers are making efforts to bring about a general reformation, how ought we to be affected? And what ought to be our conduct? Should not we be ready to look up to heaven and devoutly say, "Blessed be the almighty, who hath raised us up such a king, and hath put this thing into the hearts of our rulers: and now may the Lord confirm the heart of our king and of our rulers in this good work?" And in the mean time our whole conduct should declare to our rulers and to the world, that we are with them in this thing. His honour, our governor, in his proclamation, has "recommended it to us, to inculcate upon our hearers the importance of this great and good work, and to assist, by our public ministry and private counsel and advice, in promoting the same." And now what shall we say to our great Master at the day of judgment, if we should be cold and indifferent upon such an occasion as this, and when thus called upon ? Our Saviour was zealous against all manner of wickedness at the risk of his life. His apostles and first mi→ nisters were of the same spirit; and in the midst of mighty opposition, went every where, preaching, that men should repent and turn to God. And shall we be lukewarm with these examples before us? And that when we have so many things to animate us from heaven and earth? God forbid. Wherefore let us upon this occasion afresh devote ourselves wholly to the work of the ministry, and be agreed and united to do our utmost to bring about a universal reformation.

And behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! And if we should all cordially unite in preaching up the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and in bearing testimony against error and wickedness of every kind; and if we should all be thoroughly engaged to maintain the discipline of Christ in his house, and to prevent the unquali

fied from entering into the work of the ministry, and to strengthen the hands of our civil authority in suppressing vice: if rulers and teachers throughout the colony, should be united as one man to bring about a universal reformation, might we not hope for the divine blessing, and expect to see true religion yet prevail in our land; a land originally settled for religious purposes; a land under many singular obligations to be holy to the Lord? May God almighty give us such an heart, of his infinite mercy through Jesus Christ.

To conclude, with one word to the congregation in general. From all that has been said, the true source of all our woes in this colony may easily be discerned, and the only way for a cure-Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.

And if we look back to the beginning of the world, the experience of all past ages serves to confirm us in these sentiments. How happy was man at first, when sin was a thing unknown; and had mankind remained in their primitive state of innocence and rectitude, in love to God and one another, misery had been for ever unknown, and this had been a happy world, near a-kin to heaven. Sin is the source of all that misery and ruin which has spread through this apostate race. It turned our first parents out of paradise, and subjected them and all their race to death. It brought down a flood on the old world, and fire and brimstone on Sodom, and all the plagues on Egypt. It caused the carcasses of six hundred thousand Israelites to fall in the wilderness, and was the source of all the judgments which came on God's peculiar people in the days of their judges and of their kings. It laid a foundation for their Babylonish captivity, and afterwards for their destruction by the Romans. Meanwhile, it has spread misery and ruin among all other nations upon the face of the whole earth, from age to age. And this dreadful monster, this firstborn of satan, this universal destroyer, which we call sin, has entered into this colony! nay, has entered into our hearts, and is the source of all our calamities, civil, ecclesiastical, and domestic. And shall we hug the viper in our bosoms, and caress the source of all our woes! God forbid. Rather, having found out the hateful monster, let us with a holy indigna

tion bring it out before the Lord, and treat it as Samuel did. Agag. This is the Achan, this is the troubler of our Israel; wherefore by a universal agreement let it be doomed to death. And while our rulers and our teachers arm themselves against it, let every man in the colony join to stone it with stones, till it is dead. So let sin be slain. Pride, luxuriousness, contentiousness, malice, envy, idleness, dishonesty, or by whatever other name it is called, it is sin, and let it die; and let rightcousness come and reign in its stead. And then shall we become a glorious and happy people, and our shame shall be wiped away. O who shall deliver us from this odious, dreadful monster! Behold the great Messiah is appointed to bruise the serpent's head, and is now exalted at his Father's right hand to give repentance and remission of sins. Therefore in his name let us look up to God, and cry mightily for deliverance. And may heaven hear our cry, and send us help, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen.