evil'," condemns and puts to flight the arrogant selfishness of the mock patriot, and teaches men to know that they "are not their own," but "are bought with a price," and should "therefore glorify God in their body and in their spirit, which are God's "," looking "not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others 3." And these things it commands us to do, not only when the sunshine of God's favour rests upon us, and

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the fair breath of heaven wafts us gently to our purposes,' but even when shame and tribulation are our portion. For so does the example of St. Paul teach us, who, when he suffered "great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart," for his countrymen the Jews, declared that he "could wish himself accursed from Christ, for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh." Yea, One greater than the great Apostle of the Gentiles, even Jesus Christ himself, has taught us the same by His example, for, though He was "despised and rejected of men 5," He still loved the land that bore them, still turned with the tenderest compassion towards the city whither He was about to be "brought as a sheep to the slaughter "," "and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in

1 Isaiah v. 20.

3 Phil. ii. 4.

Isaiah liii. 3.

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2 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.

4 Rom. ix. 2, 3.

Isaiah liii. 7.

now "

this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes 1." There indeed was the spirit of pure, unmixed love: there spake the voice of the Incarnate God, who, "having loved his own which were in the world, loved them unto the end";" and, though He hath gone up on high, and led captivity captive"," though the gates of heaven have lifted up their heads, and opened wide their "everlasting doors," that He, the "King of Glory, might come in ;" yet, even in that glory, He is still "touched with the feelings of our infirmities"," is still ready by His Word to guide, and by His Spirit to comfort us; to make us "holiness unto the Lord "."

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Oh, my brethren, turn not away from these great and precious privileges, nor from the obligations which they lay upon you. If He, who left us follow his steps","

"an example that we should hath thus sanctioned the feelings of men who love and cherish the welfare of their country; if the spectacle of Jerusalem's impending woe drew from His eyes the tear of mourning, and from His lips the language of sympathy and love; and if, from His exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty on high, we believe that He still speaketh in "righteousness,

mighty to save '," and still "knoweth them that are his 2," surely we must pray that we may know, at least in this our day, the things which belong unto our peace, and that they never may be hid from our eyes.

But the prayer of faith implies the work of faith. Although we feel and acknowledge that, "except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain 3," yet, nevertheless, the hand of the labourer must build, the watchman must keep his vigils. He, therefore, who would seek to be a Christian patriot must use every aid, and make every exertion for the attainment of those blessings, which he prays the God of mercy to vouchsafe unto his country. And where is he to look for human aid, but in the well-combined and well-directed efforts of the many members of which the body politic is composed? Individual strength, and wisdom, and perseverance, may do much; they may set in motion engines of gigantic power; they may open the way to scenes of successful enterprise; but they cannot, singly, accomplish any durable or extensive good. Hence arises the necessity of union, of a sustained and disciplined system of combination, in which the division of labour allotted to each subordinate part, shall work to

Isaiah Ixiii. 1. 2 2 Tim. ii. 19. 3 Psalm cxxvii. 1, 2.

gether for the peace and welfare of the whole. Such systems are obviously the result of time, of perseverance, of experience; and as well might we expect to rule the course of the winds which blow even as they list, as to find the existence of materials suited to our purpose, exactly at the moment we need them. They must be prepared beforehand, and it is the part of sound wisdom to apply them. Hence it comes to pass, that, in all ages and countries, public institutions have been established, and men appointed to conduct them, who have been 'associated by no other than public ties and public principles, and who, for their brethren's and companion's sakes," labour to do good to the land which gave them birth. The necessity of the case demands it; the instinctive feelings of humanity expeperience a satisfaction in obeying it; and the Word of God assures us, that, as in the natural, so in the spiritual body, the happiness of the whole depends upon this harmony of its component members, and, that, "whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it 2."

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To show how this combination of individual strength and wisdom has operated in our own country, and made her vast resources the instruments of peace and prosperity to her children, would only be

1 See Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, p. 286. 2 1 Cor. xii. 26.

to transcribe the annals of her eventful history, and retrace the steps, by which, under God's blessing, she has been raised to her present pre-eminence among the nations of the earth. But sure I am, that, among all the institutions which uphold the glory and power of the British empire, as there is none more ancient, so there is none more truly national in its character, more benevolent in its purposes, or more efficient in the general discharge of its high duties, than that whose Anniversary we are this day assembled to commemorate. It embraces, in fact, the most legitimate objects of interest which can animate the prayers and exertions of Englishmen and Christians. For our habitation is fixed among "the islands of the sea." Our empire is "founded upon the seas, and established upon the floods 2." What duty, therefore, is of prior or more permanent obligation than to use all the means and appliances' within our reach to preserve the lives and property of those "that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters 3?" We know that "these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." We know also, that, in the language of Jeremiah, they "get bread with the peril of their lives 1;" for, when at God's word "the stormy wind ariseth,

1 Isaiah xi. 11.

3 Psalm cvii. 23.

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2 Psalm xxiv. 2.

4 Lam. v. 9.