" or give to God a ransom for him." To withhold prayer from your Saviour is impious perverseness; to withhold praise and thanksgiving, is impious ingratitude. Heaven resounds with salvation to the Lamb triumphant; and shall earth be sullenly silent? Christ rejoiced in his afflictions, and esteemed them glory, for your sake. No temptation could prevail upon the Lord, in the hour of suffering and sorrow, to relinquish his gracious purpose, and desert the cause of his disciples; let no temptation prevail upon them to desert and disown the cause of their Lord. Would any man persuade you to refuse divine worship to your Redeemer ? reject the attempt (whoever makes it) with a noble scorn; and whatever others may think, or however they may act, upon the occasion, do you call to mind the generous confession uttered by the martyr Polycarp when the Roman proconsul had urged him to deny Christ.-" Four"score and six years (said the venerable old bishop) "have I served him, and never yet received any thing but good at his hands: how, then, shall I "now blaspheme my King and my Saviour * ?”

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Martyrium Polycarpi apud Cotelor. Patr. Apostol. t. ii.

p.198.

DISCOURSE LXVII.

A FAST SERMON.

DEUT. Xxiii. 9.

When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

As a minister of that Gospel which was first published by the Prince of Peace, who came to reconcile all things in heaven and earth, and bequeathed peace, as his last and best legacy to his disciples, I could rather have wished it might have been my province to congratulate you this day on the approach of its re-establishment in the world; on the delightful prospect of times, when the whole earth shall once more sit quiet, and be at leisure to attend to better things than ingenious and well concerted plans of mutual destruction; when "nation should not lift up sword against nation, "neither should they learn war any more." These ought to be the effects of religion; these would be its effects were it universally understood and practised; these will be its effects at a more auspicious æra of the Christian church, and in a happier clime, as all the prophets have foretold which have been since the world began.

Let none, meanwhile, be offended and stumble at that stumbling-stone laid in their way by the frequency of wars among nations professing Christianity. They owe not their origin to religion, but to the want of it. The fault is in the ground, not in the seed, which is good, but is either stolen away, or withered, or choked by the passions growing up with it, and sometimes, even making it the cause, the very innocent cause, of those dissensions and animosities, which it was designed for ever to extirpate. "Whence come "wars and fightings among you? Come they not " hence, even of your desires," which your religion should mortify and subdue? Doubtless, the sight of Christian, Catholic, Faithful, and Apostolic princes, sending their numerous regiments to slaughter one another in the field of battle, forms a shocking contrast to the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus-so shocking, that some have been thereby induced to maintain the utter unlawfulness of all war. But what, then, is to be done? Who can prevent a restless and ambitious state from attacking its neighbour? In these circumstances, such men must either defend themselves, or be defended by others, or God must interpose miraculously in their defence, or all must quietly submit to conquest and captivity by an unjust invader. Had this last been intended, that rigid moralist, the Baptist, would not have regulated, but prohibited the military profession; nor would Christians have served, as we know they did, with fidelity and diligence, in the armies of the Pagan

emperors.

2

The lawfulness of a war must, therefore, be rested now under the Gospel, upon the same foot on which it hath ever stood from the beginning, namely, the justice of it; and, upon a supposition that our cause is good-as we humbly trust it is -we may undoubtedly accept the permission, or rather commission, implied in the first words of the text; "When the host goeth forth against "thine enemies"-The people of God may still be brought under a necessity of engaging in war, defensive or offensive, to maintain their rights, or to avenge their wrongs; and that, whether against foreign enemies or rebellious subjects; much more, if the latter, after having erected the standard of independency, should unite with the former, and exclaim concerning those who nourished and brought them up, like the children of Lot, when Asur had acceded to the league-" Come, and let "us root also them out, that they may be no more

a people; and that the name of Israel may be "no more in remembrance !" In circumstances like these, I say, when all is at stake, the people of God may carry on a war, as the only means left them to obtain an honourable and permanent peace, which, in many cases, can only be the fruit of victory; and heroes might again be celebrated by an apostle (should such heroes arise, with an apostle to celebrate them), who, through faith, have " subdued kingdoms," as well as "wrought " righteousness."

Between these two achievements, seemingly so very different (and often, alas! really so) the latter part of the text points out a nearer connexion,

than might, perhaps, have been imagined ever to subsist. "When the host goeth forth against "thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing." If, even with right on thy side, thou wouldest conquer and triumph, remember to prepare the way by repentance and reformation. If thou desirest to become great, let ambition first excite thee to be good. The qualities are associated in the style imperial of heaven-" the Lord "of HOSTS-the HOLY One of Israel." The cha

racters therefore of the Warrior and the Christian are not incompatible. The first convert of the Gospel from among the nations was a military man ; Cornelius the centurion. That profession may unite with the clerical in the common cause; and the general may still go forth, as of old, with the prophet by his side. While the hands of Joshua are extended in the field, those of Moses may be elevated in prayer; and the ministers of religion may animate the people to overcome the adversary without them, by opposing and vanquishing, as a preliminary step, the enemy within them, the most dangerous enemy both to individuals and communities.

What God has thus joined together it is the error of the times to put asunder; to think only of our fleets and armies, and to forget our faith and practice. There are few to whom it occurs, that the latter can have any influence on the success of the former. Fleets and armies must undoubtedly go forth; they must have pay; they must have provision; they must have arms; they must have skilful leaders: but when all the arrangements are