That men should praise God, for national, as well as for individual blessings, is the injunction of reason and the dictate of revelation. Ingratitude is of all vices, the most vile and degrading. It robs man of all those humane and generous feelings, of all those high an ennobling sentiments, which impart value to his nature and dignity to his character. So great is our attachment to the present world; so busily are we occupied in visionary scenes of happiness, or hurried on in the delusive pursuits of ambition and of wealth, that we are perpetually liable to incur the reproach of ingratitude to God, unless reminded of our duty by some stated occasion, or by some unusual dispensation of divine providence. Hence, God, in order to secure the fidelity of his ancient people, and to keep alive a sense of their obligations, enjoined upon them a solemn festival to be kept in commemoration of their deliverance from bondage. Yet notwithstanding this, and innumerable displays of power and goodness; this highly favored people were frequently guilty of forgetting God, their great benefactor. How often does he remind them of their rebellion! How often does he impress upon their minds their wonderful emancipation, as an event which ought forever to secure their grateful obedience, which ought for ever to be celebrated with enthusiastic devotion? let us apply these things to ourselves. An inspired Apostle says, they were written for us, for examples. Has not God wrought for us a wonderful deliverance? Has he not crushed our oppressor? Has he not smitten the Dragon who lies in the great waters, whose limbs stretch through every ocean, whose voice shakes the ends of the world? God has indeed been our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of trouble. He has not only delivered us from servitude; but crowned us with innumerable blessings. His almighty hand planted the seed of liberty, as an handful of corn in the top of the mountains, whose fruit shakes like Lebanon. Calling to mind the events of our past history, and comparing them with those of other nations, we are obliged to adopt the language of our text, and say, “He hath not dealt so with any nation." As we are assembled to commemorate the nativity of American freedom, and as this auspicious anniversary has fallen on a day peculiarly consecrated

to God, we may with propriety call to mind some of the great scenes through which he has conducted us, and recount some of the distinguished blessings he has conferred upon us, as a nation. It becomes us as men and as christians, to bow before his holy altars; to adore his divine majesty, and to present our grateful offerings. It becomes us to venerate that great Being whose beneficent providence has watched over and guided the destinies of our beloved country; it becomes us to recognize our great obligations for his goodness, to humble ourselves before him for our manifold sins, and to confide in that unchanging mercy, which embraces and blesses the universe. It becomes us, in all things to notice and acknowledge, the providence, and the power of God. He is indeed the governor among the nations. In the pages of inspiration, he is every where described as the great and universal agent in the affairs of men. So perfect is his providence, that the hairs of our heads are all numbered; even a sparrow does not fall to the gronnd without his notice. Well then may we believe, that the great concerns of the world, the foundation of nations, the rise and fall of states and kingdoms; all their political concerns, and their various fortunes in peace and in war; are all under his immediate control and direction. Strictly and truly speaking, he is the sole agent in the universe. The smallest deviation from this principle will land us in atheism. Hence the scriptures represent God, as exalting and depressing nations at his pleasure. To one he gives great and good men ; wise and just rulers, prudent counsellors; upright judges, heroic warriors and eloquent orators; to another he raises up an haughty and relentless tyrant, and entails on it all the evils of slavery and oppression; of injustice and cruelty. What a contrast to this do we find in the writings of uninspired men! Here, all things are referred, to mere secondary causes, to subordinate agencies, and God is overlooked and forgotten.

Fortunately for this country, many of its first occupants were religious men. They acknowledged God in all things. Confiding in his providence, they left their native shores; flying from oppression; braving the dangers of the ocean; and heroically urging their course, towards this vast and howling wilderness.

Here they arrived; here they bowed the knee to the God of the ocean and the land. To him they piously committed their future destinies. As soon as they had obtained a settlement, they established schools of learning and places of public worship. I mention these things, because, it is principally to these that we are indebted for all our prosperity. An ignorant people would have submitted to any encroachment from the parent state; an irreligious and wicked people, never could have formed an union to resist oppression. The American people could with confidence appeal to God in the hour of danger. They did appeal. Their cries ascended and came before the Almighty. He graciously interposed for his oppressed and suffering people. He raised up among them a band of great, wise and virtuous patriots, to preside and direct in council; a band of skilful, virtuous and heroic captains, to command in the field and direct the storm of battle. The interposition of divine providence, was eminently conspicuous, in the first general congress; what men, what patriots, what independent, heroic spirits! chosen by the unbiassed voice of the people; chosen as all public servants ought to be, without favour and without fear; what an august assembly of sages! Rome in the height of her glory, fades before it. There never was in any age, or nation, a body of men who for general information, for the judicious use of the results of civil and political history, for eloquence and virtue; for truc dignity, elevation and grandeur of soul, that could stand a comparison with the first American Congress! See what the people will do when left to themselves; to their unbiassed good sense, and to their true interests! The ferocious Gaul, would have dropped his sword at the hall-door, and have fled thunderstruck as from an assembly of Gods! Whom do I behold! an Hancock, a Jefferson, an Adams, a Henry, a Lee, a Rutledge! -Glory to these illustrious spirits! On you depend the destinies of your country; the fate of three millions of men; and of the countless millions of their posterity! Shall these be slaves, or will you make a noble stand for liberty, against a power whose triumphs are already co-extensive with the earth; whose legions trample on thrones and sceptres; whose thunders bellow on every ocean? How tremendous the occasion! How

vast the responsibility! The President and all the this august assembly take their seats. Every countenance tens the mighty struggle within. Every tongue is silent. It is a pause in Nature, that solemn, awful stillness, which precedes the earthquake and the tornado! At length Demosthenes arises; he only is adequate to the great occasion, the Virginian Demosthenes, the mighty Henry ! What dignity! What majesty ! Every eye fastens upon him. Firm, erect, undaunted, he rolls on the mighty torrent of his eloquence. What a picture does he draw of the horrors of servitude and the charms of freedom? At once he gives the full rein to all his gigantic powers, and pours his own heroic spirit into the minds of his auditors; they become as one man; actuated by one soul-and the universal shout is "Liberty or Death!" This single speech of this illustrious man gave an impulse, which probably decided the fate of America. His eloquence seized and moved the assembled sages; as the descending hail storm, bursting in thunder, rending the forests, and shaking the mountains. God bestows on nations no greater gift, than great and good men, endowed with the high and commanding powers of eloquence. Such a man as Patrick Henry, may on some great occasion, when the happiness or misery of millions depends on a single decision, render more important services to a nation, than all the generations of a century.

When we look back to the state of the Colonies at the time of the revolution, we are struck with the unanimity, the wisdom and firmness which pervaded their councils and decisions. This may in part be accounted for from their previous habits, and the privileges they had enjoyed under their several charters. As to rights, a perfect equality reigned among the people. No established clergy, no privileged and haughty nobility, trod on their necks and robbed them of the fruits of their labors. The people were all enlightened, they knew their rights; they had from their first settlement exercised the power of granting their own contributions to the parent state. This power was secured to them by royal charter; and they well knew that the moment they were deprived of it, they must be slaves. This was evidently the only alternative.-Besides this the colonies had not

only been just; but generous, liberal, far beyond their resources, to the parent state. In reading their history we are astonished at the large sums of monies, and the numbers of troops, raised to aid the military and naval enterprises of Britain. These were all forgotten by a proud and haughty ministry. No man can read the history of the colonies for ten years previous to the revolution, without indignation and astonishment. The British government seemed to be bound in a spell of infatuation. They turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances of the colonies; they spurned their petitions. The colonies merely demanded their accustomed rights; they dreaded the approaching unequal contest; they ardently desired a reconciliation with the parent state. This was undoubtedly the general sentiment. During the session of the assembly of Virginia; news suddenly arrived that the stamp act was repealed. So great was their enthusiasm, that they voted a statue to the King! Nothing was easier than a perfect reconciliation with the colonies. When intreaties, remonstrances, and humiliations had been exhausted on one side; and injuries, oppressions and insults on the other, no resource was left but an appeal to the God of armies. The Americans relying on the justice of their cause, with confidence committed it to that God, who rules among the nations.

We now approach a most tremendous crisis. The colonies were then but thinly peopled; they had made but little progress in national wealth and improvement; they were destitute of military skill, and of almost all the munitions of war; they had no general government over them; no supreme controlling power, to develope the resources of the country; to organize and direct their armies. Never did a people engage in a contest apparently more unequal and desperate. But we must remember, that all they held dear, all that they deemed life worth contending for was at stake! They loved liberty and hated slavery; they loved their country; and worshipped their God; they loved life; but feared not death! They well knew "that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." The disparity in the contest was, to human view, as great as that between the shepherd of Israel and the gigantic Goliah. Our fathers trusted in God, and were not confounded. He in