The leading heads of the duty of believers, as members of society, under circumstances like the present, have already been thus generally stated: let them publicly bear testimony at once to the justice and mercy of God’s dispensations; and strive earnestly to rouse the nation to a sense of its guiltiness, which has exposed it to the divine displeasure: let them, in dependence on the blessing of Heaven, labour to eradicate all infidel and heretical opinions; to advance a reformation of public morals, and to promote a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. Upon these several heads it is proposed now to offer some brief observations: And may HE, who blesses the feeblest efforts made in dependence on His gracious aid, and for the honour of His great name, bless this humble endeavour to rouse some to a more active and faithful discharge of the duties of their stations; and to excite in others a spirit of enquiry, and draw forth from them a declaration of opinion, as to the course which this Christian people should adopt under the present Divine visitation. England has been long highly favoured and greatly blessed; she has been placed as an ensign amongst the nations, and as a city set on a hill; she has been a depositary of genuine Christianity, and has been instrumental, in the hands of Providence, in conveying the light of the Gospel to nations “lying in darkness and the shadow of death.” To her may our blessed Lord’s pathetic lamentation over Jerusalem never apply: “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying; if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes:” {91a} rather, in this our day, may “the Father of Lights,” {91b} from whom “every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh,” impart to all that are in authority, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” {91c} Rather, may He enable all persons to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil;—to be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is;—giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting themselves one to another in the fear of God.” {91d} Then may the storm now gathering, prove at once a punishment and a blessing from the hand of God. Seasons of danger and suffering to churches and nations have often resembled the storms of the natural world, which, however alarming and destructive at the time, are productive of subsequent good, by freeing the atmosphere from the impurities accumulated during a long season of calm and sunshine.