us to die in battle than to behold the

calamities of our people, and our sanctuary.

Nevertheless, as the will of God in Heaven is, so let him do.

*IT is not I believe, in strictness, the practice of our church to seek for texts in the Apocryphal writings, I have, however,

* This Sermon was preached before a large body of volunteers in the Metropolis, in the Summer of 1804, when the danger of invasion was considered to be immi

nent.

ventured to do so in this particular instance, to recall to your notice the books of the Maccabees;-a piece of history glowing with eloquence, and piety, pregnant with good example, and applicable, in the happiest manner, to the perils of the present times. These books relate to one of those positions of human affairs which awakens every good feeling in the minds of those who contemplate it, which, by the hidden energies it calls forth, and by the secret power which it has to make men better, and braver than themselves, communicates to history the vivacity, and interest of romance. This, however, is the least important consequence of such history as relates successful resistance to tyranny; it is a luminous beacon to, the world, a perpetual warning to mankind never to be oppressed; it teaches us in times like these, to measure force not by the numbers of men, but by the passions with which they are actuated, and the rights for which they contend. It shews us that all can be gained by courage when all seems lost; and that those who, like Judas, can feel that it is better to die, than

to suffer, may enjoy, like Judas, victory and

renown.

Nor is it a slight thing, that by en-' forcing our belief in the moral order of the universe, such history teaches us to depend on Almighty God. When we see the immense armies of Antiochus defeated by a few of these bold Hebrews, and hosts that might have swallowed up the whole earth, broken to pieces one after the other, by the valour of this extraordinary man, we begin then to see that the world is safe; that there is a reaction of human passions, a mighty order, awfully planned, mercifully conceived, carefully preserved, by which the sum of human happiness is imperishable. From such consolatory examples as these, (in which, I thank Heaven, no history is deficient,) when we have heard long of the reign of tyrants, we have the firmest confidence that God is preparing for us relief: No man can tell the hour, and the day, but there is a secret, and encouraging conviction that the time of liberation will at last come. God has said to the waves, thus far shalt thou go, and no farther: we have the

1

evidence of our senses that he is obeyed: I believe the same God has said to human passions, thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; and that the feelings of men obey him like the waters of the sea. I believe it to be his eternal decree, that such tyrants as Antiochus shall at last raise up such heroes as Judas: and when I see the men of my own land coming out ready for war, as you are doing this day, I see the same marks of eternal order, and wisdom, that has reared up the rocks to save us from the deep ;-you are the barriers, and you are the rocks that limit unjust aggression, and ambitious violence; a nation of free men, sacramented together, a joining of all hands, a knitting of all hearts, the cry of the valiant Judas, that it is better to die! these make the boundaries of rapine and of desolation; at these awful signs the robbers of the earth are appalled, and dread lest they should have provoked mankind enough.

Such are the feelings with which we are naturally inspired by the perusal of this spirited history, in which the parallel to our present situation is so exact that it should

be the manual of the times. But from this general eulogium on the history of the Maccabees, I must proceed to an examination of the particular text which I have extracted from it.

This sentiment of Judas was pronounced at the eve of one of the greatest battles which he fought; on the morrow he was about to commit to the chance of war the fate of the holy city, and of the chosen people; his address to his little army contains a morality which is simple, just, and sublime. "Arm yourselves, (he says) and "be valiant men, and see that ye be in rea"diness against the morning, that ye may, "fight with these nations that are assembled "together against us, and our sanctuary, "to destroy us. For it is better for us to "die in battle than to behold the calamities "of our people and our sanctuary: Nevertheless as the will of God in heaven is, "so let him do.”

In conformity then with the sentiment of Judas, I shall endeavour to state what those outward advantages are, which con