with our engagements; and had high hopes of powerful assistance from them; but we have been disappointed; and as to the latter, we fear they will not even observe a neutrality, but may be seduced to the French interest.

Last year has also heard the declaration of war between GreatBritain and France: but what year will see the end of it, or what the issue will be, is utterly unknown. The commencement of war must always appear a very solemn period to a thoughtful mind. It is the commencement of scenes of blood and desolation as to thousands. Many will lose their lives in it, many their relations, many their estates, and many their liberty; and whether we may not be of the number, is all uncertain. Now the sword is drawn, and begins to maim and mangle our fellow-men. Now cannons begin to roar, and tear hundreds to pieces; now multitudes sink in the ocean, and multitudes welter in their blood on the field of battle. Now cities blaze, and are turned into ruinous heaps. Now the fate of empire, the cause of religion and liberty, is disputed; and who knows what will be the decision? Now death devours thousands at a meal; and multitudes of thoughtless immortals are hurried into the eternal world unprepared, without thought in the destroyed, whither they are going; or in the destroyers, whither they are sending them. These are the dire effects of war; and are not these very tragical and affecting and must they not render the commencement of a war very solemn and terrible ?

Last year has been remarkable for very grand alliances. The empress queen, who is indebted to Great Britain for the preservation of her dominions, and for the advancement of her husband to be emperor of Germany, and for whom our king bravely fought in person, has perfidiously and ungratefully deserted us, and entered into a confederacy with France. The empress of Russia has acted the same perfidious part, and acceeded to that alliance, though bound by treaty to furnish us with no fewer than fiftyfive thousand men, upon demand. The Dutch, intimidated by the French, have refused to fulfil their obligations to us. The brave king of Prussia has entered into an alliance with Britain; and is, indeed, the only important and active ally we have in the world. He has distinguished the last year with one illustrious victory over the Austrians. And may the same success still attend him in every good cause !

To sum up this review, the last year has been a very important period in the history of our country. Terror and devastation have stalked through the earth; and streams of human blood have been running by sea and land.*

To all which I may add, that God has visited a part of this congregation with a deadly, contagious flux, which has thinned the neighbourhood, and swept off some families almost entirely. Blessed be God; it is now stopped but, certainly, it becomes us always to remember that gloomy time, and reap instruction from the graves of our friends and neighbours, which are now so thick among us.

And now, may we not learn from this recapitulation, that we and our nation are a guilty people, and that a provoked God has, by this succession of calamitous events, loudly proclaimed his displeasure against us? Have our undertakings prospered, like those of a people in favour with Heaven? Far from it. And hence, we may also learn, that we are now loudly called to repentance, humiliation, and prayer. Let us repent of those sins, that have brought these calamities upon us; let us" humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time ;" and let us cry mightily to God, that he would "turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not."‡

Let us now look forward to the year before us. Blessed be God, we are blind to future events; and therefore incapable of anticipating the pain they might afford us, if known. But we may, at least, venture to form conjectures, from the present appearances of things. Who knows but still darker times are before us? Who knows but the measure of our iniquities is at length full, and God is about to call a guilty people to account? There may be a winnowing time at hand, to try and purge the protestant churches. Popery may die hard; and its last struggles may throw the christian world into confusion, in which thousands may be overwhelmed, and we among others.

* Though no decisive battle has been fought, yet frequent skirmishes have happened between scattered parties that have accidentally met in the woods, in which many lives have been lost; and, which renders the loss more affecting, they have been thrown away to little purpose : because these accidental skirmishes contribute, but in a small degree, to the decision of the grand controversy, and so to bring about a peace.

The continent of Europe is likely to be the seat of war; and whether our brave ally, the king of Prussia, will be able to stand his ground against the formidable confederacy formed against him, is dismally uncertain. The preservation of the protestant religion, and turning the scale of war in our favour, depends upon his success; and therefore, though at this vast distance, we should earnestly pray, that a gracious Providence would still guard and prosper him.

Great Britain is in anxious expectation of an invasion from France; and what may be the consequence, is all unknown; though thus much may be very probably expected, that should it be so much as attempted, it will cost much blood and the lives of thousands.

Many captures will probably be made at sea this year, by which great numbers will be reduced to poverty; and, it is not unlikely, many naval engagements will happen, in which multitudes of human limbs and lives will be lost. We may also expect that this year, like the last, will produce frequent skirmishes between our men, and the French and Indian savages; and that these will continue their desolating and bloody inroads upon our frontiers, and probably penetrate farther into the country than they have hitherto done.

It is also likely, the expedition against Crown-Point, and other French forts and settlements, will be again set on foot; but the issue is dreadfully uncertain.

It is likewise probable, that some grand decisive blow may be struck, in a general engagement, which may determine our fate ; but what the determination will be, is not likely to be known, till it happen.

Who knows but the Indian savages may generally desert us, and, in conjunction with the French, pour down upon us like a torrent? And if they should meet with assistance from some of our own slaves, how inconceivably terrible would be the consequence? What unexampled scenes of blood and slaughter, of desolation and torture would fill our land! This, alas! is not so unlikely as we could wish.

In short, this year, like the last, is likely to be a turbulent, bloody season. The potsherds of the earth are dashing together, and thousands are broke in pieces in the conflict. what a world do we live in! What a restless, troubled ocean!

Alas!

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What an aceldama, a field of blood! What savages are the sons of men, biting and devouring one another!

Now, in the present state of things, the question in my text is very proper; "Whence come wars and fightings among us?" What infernal cause is it, that sets the world in arms? that sets reasonable creatures of the same race, upon disturbing and destroying one another? Whence is it that the art of war, that is, the art of killing one another with the greatest skill, is a necessary science? Whence is it that a great warrior, that is, a great destroyer of mankind, should be an honourable and celebrated character? Whence is it that swords and guns, and other instruments of death, are become necessary utensils in life, and a piece of furniture for kingdoms? To such questions my text gives the true answer : "Wars and fightings among you, come from hence, even from your lusts, which war in your members." This holds true with regard to lesser societies, and particular churches contentions, quarrels, schisms, envying and strife, proceed from this turbulent source. Families, neighbourhoods, and particular churchers, would be circles of peace and tranquillity, were it not for the ungovernable lusts of some of their members. It was probably to these lesser societies that the apostle immediately referred; but his assertion will also hold true in a more extensive sense; for wars and fightings among nations proceed from the same source, even from their lusts. The lust of dominion, the lust of riches, the lust of vain glory and applause, have set the world in arms from age to age; and the quarrel still continues, and is never likely to be ended, while those restless lusts, from whence it springs, remain predominant in the hearts of men. One man has no right to superiority over others, except it was originally derived from their consent. What then, but the lawless lust of power, could prompt a man to risk his own life, to embroil nations, to lay countries waste, and to destroy the lives of thousands of his fellow-men, that he may exercise dominion over the survivors? The wants of nature are few, and easily satisfied; and every country produces the necessaries for the support of its inhabitants. What then but the lawless lust of riches, or an insatiable avarice for the possessions of others, can cause nations to burst through their bounds, and make inroads upon the property of their neighbours? How peaceably did we live, till France began to fancy that she needed more plantations-that she needed

a tobacco colony-that she needed the whole of the fur-trade, and so forth? But now this unbounded covetousness has set her in arms; has brought upon us and upon herself all the calamities of war; and who knows what will be the consequence? Man is not really a being of such mighty importance, as that he should set the present and future generations a talking about him, and admiring his exploits. Nor is the breath of popular applause such a substantial good, as to deserve the eager pursuit of a reasonable being. And yet, the lust of praise can carry a man through a life of fatigues and dangers, to drench countries in blood, and throw away the lives of their inhabitants, merely to get a name the name of a great destroyer, a public robber, and a murderer of his species; for that is generally the import of the name of heroes and great warriors of the Alexanders and Cæsars of the world. What a blind, infatuated, and yet powerful lust is this! Matters of justice and property between nations, are not so intricate in themselves, but that they might be amicably decided, were it not for the strength of lust. But that they should immediately fly to arms, and shed each other's bloodthat matters of property should not be determined, but by taking away the lives of the proprietors; how astonishing is this! how shocking an evidence of the horrid power of lust over them! These lusts, says the apostle, which produce wars in the world without, war in your members. There the war begins, and thence it circulates through the world. These mutinous and rebellious lusts raise an intestine war in the man's own breast. There they commit ravages upon his own soul, and throw all into a ferment. There they produce confusion, and every evil work. They set the man at variance with himself, and all about him. He and his conscience are often engaged in conflict; nay, he dares to resist even the Holy Spirit himself; the Spirit of all grace and benignity. His selfish, proud and avaricious lusts set him at variance also with others. Hence proceed broils, animosities and quarrels in neighbourhoods and families, which turn them into a little hell. Were the fire of lust within, but quenched, these flames would immediately go out. But a depraved heart, like an unruly tongue, sets on fire the course of nature, and is itself set on fire of hell.*" When these lusts enflame the hearts of public persons, of kings and their ministers, they set the world in a blaze around

* Jam. iii. 6.