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A 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 IN THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, 
 
 IiORD'S BAY MORJWjYG, OCTOBER 2, 1814. 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, the Officers and Soldiers 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY, 3D B. M. M, 
 \ND PUBLISHED AT THEIR REqUEST. 
 
 By JAMES INGLIfi. D. D. 
 
 BALTI! 
 
 
 PR1N [ ED J 
 
E 
 
 
 
 REGIMENTAL ORDERS. 
 
 1sf Regiment Artillery. 
 
 THI Reverend Dr. Ivglis having 1 , in compliance with the request 
 of the officers, politely offered the use of his Church, and consent- 
 ed to deliver a Sermon to the 1st Regiment of Artillery on Sunday; 
 and, as it is the duty of all men, but more particularly of the Ci- 
 tizen Soldiers of Baltimore, to offer, whenever opportunities present 
 themselves, their humble adoration and thanks to that beneficent Being-, 
 who on a late occas:on hath in so signal a manner protected them,— 
 Therefore ordered, that the 1st Regiment of Artillery parade on 
 Washington Square, in full uniform, on Sunday next, at 10 o'clock, 
 A. M. precisely, in order to march to the 1st Presbyterian Church. 
 It is further ordered, that the Commissioned Officers of the 1st Re- 
 giment of Artillery, wear crape on the left aim for ten days, in 
 testimony of respect for the memories of the gallant Officers and 
 Men of the Regiment, who lately fell in defence of their Country. 
 
 By order of the Lieut. Colonel, 
 
 U. S. HEATH, Adj't. 
 
 September 23d, 1814. 
 
 REGIMENTAL ORDER. 
 
 THE Lieut. Colonel commanding the 1st Regiment of Artillery, 
 returns bus thanks to the Field and other Officers, who politely 
 jr. ned h.s Regiment on Sunday last. To the Rev. Dr. Inglis he pre- 
 sets, on behalf of hmself and Regiment, his grateful acknowledg- 
 
 Church upon that occasion. He finds dif- 
 jn le derived from his appropriate, 
 
 nd el 
 
 By ordt of the Lieut. Colonel, 
 
 U. S. HEATH, Adj't. 
 
BALTIMORE: 
 
 Printed by J.Robinson, 
 For Neal, Wills and Cole. 
 1814. 
 
DAKIEL V. 23. LAST CLAUSE. 
 
 « f The God in -whose hand thy breath is, and -whose are all thy ioay^ 
 hast thou not glorified." 
 
 THAT the race of men were created for some 
 particular end, none of them will deny who believe 
 that God does nothing in vain. This end, whatever 
 it be, the voice of reason affirms, must be commen- 
 surate in dignity with the noble powers imparted to 
 them. And from the inspired records of truth we 
 learn that the end for which we were brought into 
 existence is not to indulge our own ease, pursue 
 our own pleasures, gratify our own propensities, 
 or seek our own temporal elevation ; but to advance 
 the glory of the eternal God. How much is it to be 
 regretted that we fall so far short of this honourable 
 end of our being ? that we are all more or less 
 chargeable with the delinquency imputed to the con- 
 spicuous and powerful individual to whom the text 
 alludes? This was Belshazzar, king of Babylon; 
 a prince vain, luxurious, and impious ; who, for- 
 getting, or not regarding, the awful dispensation of 
 calamity and rebuke with which just heaven had vi- 
 sited his father Nebuchadnezzar, " humbled not his 
 heart, but lifted himself up against the Lord of hea- 
 ven." The holy vessels which had been taken from 
 the temple of Jerusalem, and carried to Babylon, at 
 the commencement of the captivity, were brought 
 ©n a certain occasion into his banqueting-house to 
 
serve the purposes of his debauchery and idolatry. 
 For this, and for his general impiety and vice, he re- 
 ceived the bold, but merited, reprehension of the 
 prophet : " The God in whose hand," &c. 
 
 Passing by the original and individual application 
 of the words, however, it is my intention, if it 
 please God, to present to you the instruction and 
 counsel deducible from them for men of all times, 
 circumstances, and descriptions. 
 
 The doctrine embraced by the text, turns upon 
 two points, which shall be considered in the order 
 in which they occur. 
 
 " Our breath is in the hand of God, and all our 
 ways are his." This is the first point. — It is our 
 duty to glorify God. This is the second point. — 
 May the spirit of God enlighten our minds to know 
 the truth, and incline our hearts and wills to do that 
 which is right in all things, to the honour of his holy 
 name. 
 
 In the first place — " Our breath is in the hand of 
 God, and all our wavs are his." 
 
 " The spirit of God hath made us, and the breath 
 of the Almighty hath given us life." (Job 33.) " Je- 
 hovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and 
 man became a living soul." (Gen. 2.) " He that 
 created the heavens, and stretched them out; he 
 that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh 
 out of it ; giveth breath unto the people upon it, and 
 spirit to them that walk therein." (Is. 42.) " He 
 giveth to all life and breath and all things." (Acts 
 17.) " Thou," O Jehovah ! " hast possessed my 
 
veins ; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.. 
 I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully 
 made : marvellous are thy works ; and that my soul 
 knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from 
 thee when I was made in secret, and curiously 
 wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine 
 eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; 
 and in thy book all my members were written, which 
 in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there 
 was none of them." (Ps. 139.) Such is the account 
 which revelation gives of the origin of man. The 
 first two individuals of our species derived their for- 
 mation more immediatelv from the hand of God : 
 
 M 
 
 but as the laws by which the species is continued in 
 a succession and multiplication of individuals are of 
 his appointment, and as the operation of these laws 
 depends upon his will and is subjected to his unin- 
 termitted controul, he was not more the author of 
 existence to Adam and to Eve, than he is to their 
 descendants one and all. And, indeed, to what 
 other source than infinite wisdom, power, and bene- 
 volence, can the formation of our material frame be 
 traced ? But, especially, from what original can we 
 suppose the thinking and reasoning power within us 
 to emanate inferior to the uncreated mind — the Fa- 
 ther of Spirits ? We are, then, creatures of God. 
 His hands have formed us. The vital spark is kin- 
 dled bv his breath. " Our breath is in the hand of 
 God, and all our ways are his." 
 
 Further. The living principle is not essentially 
 indestructible. What has a beginning may have an 
 end. We are perpetually exposed to casualties, as 
 
the language of the world denominates them ; i. c. 
 to calamitous events, to dispensations of perilous and 
 mortal aspect ; for which no human providence can 
 prepare ; from which no skill or alertness can work 
 an escape ; against which no unassisted powers of 
 body or of mind can oppose themselves in conflict 
 with any hope of success. Our conservation is of 
 God. His sure defence prolongs that life which his 
 breath at first inspired. " He holdeth our soul in 
 lift." (Ps. 66.) He furnishes the aliment which 
 feeds existence. He " gives us day by day our dai- 
 ly bread." All creatures " wait upon him, that he 
 may give them their meat in due season. What he 
 gives them they gather : he opens his hand, they 
 are filled with good. He hides his face, and they 
 are troubled ; he takes away their breath, they die, 
 and return to their dust. He sends forth his spirit, 
 they are created ; and he renews the face of the 
 earth." (Ps. 104.) Since his gracious promise to 
 Noah, when that eminent believer came with his fa- 
 mily out of the ark, " seed-time and harvest, and 
 cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
 night, have not ceased" to revolve in regular and 
 useful alternation. (Gen. 8.) " The earth is satisfi- 
 ed with the fruit of" God's " works. He causeth 
 the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the ser- 
 vice of man, that he may bring forth food out of the 
 earth : and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, 
 and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which 
 strengtheneth man's heart." (Ps. 104.) He pre- 
 serves us in the capacity of receiving nutriment from 
 our food, and health from our needful medicines, 
 
and warmth from our covering, and pleasure from 
 our industry, our activity, and our labour. " All 
 the hairs of our head are numbered'' by him against 
 whose will, or independently of whose counsel, " not 
 a sparrow falleth to the ground." Our conserv a, 
 then, is of God. "He holdeth our soui in life.'? 
 " Our breath is in the hand of God and all oar wrays 
 are his." 
 
 " When king Jeroboam heard the saying of the 
 man of God who had cried against the" idolatrous 
 " altar in Bethel, he put forth his hand from the al- 
 tar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which 
 he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could 
 not pull it in again to him. And the king said to the 
 man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy 
 God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restor- 
 ed me again. And the man of God besought the 
 Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, 
 and it became as it was before." This piece of his- 
 tory presents us with another consideration illustra- 
 tive of our doctrine. We are indebted to God for 
 the continued possession, enjoyment, and use, of 
 our faculties. A word from him can instantaneously 
 suspend their ordinary operations. A word from him 
 can instantaneously reduce the bloom and pride of 
 health ; mutilate the body ; arrest the process of ra- 
 tiocination ; darken the lights of the mind ; disqualify 
 us for customary exertion ; weaken our strength in 
 the midst of our pilgrimage, and make the light and 
 gentle grasshopper a burden. It is in his power, at 
 whatever moment he may be so pleased, to cut off 
 that intercourse which we are habituated to maintain 
 
8 
 
 with surrounding- objects, by locking up some one^ 
 or more, of the avenues of the senses. And it is only 
 his blessing that imparts efficacy to the means em- 
 ployed whether by the skill of the scientifick, or by 
 the affectionate vigilance of friends, to call back de- 
 parted health, intelligence, and energy. Stiil more 
 evident is it that, in the religious life — in those con- 
 cerns which belong to us as expectants of an eternal 
 destiny — " without" God " we can do nothing." 
 (John 15, 5.) Such, doubtless, was the impression 
 on an Apostle's mind, when he affirmed that the 
 Creator " is not far from any of us ; for in him we 
 live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17.) 
 " Our breath," then, " is in the hand of God and all 
 our ways are his." 
 
 Another consideration illustrative of our doctrine 
 is, that the successful result of all our enterprises and 
 resolutions depends on the will of God. It is only 
 this that " establishes the work of our hands upon 
 us." " A man's heart deviseth his way : but the 
 Lord directeth his steps." (Prov. 16. 9.) " Except 
 the Lord build the house, thev labour in vain that 
 build it : except the Lord keep the city, the watch- 
 man waketh but in vain :" except the Lord add his 
 enriching benediction," it is vain for you to rise up 
 early, to sit up late," and " to eat the bread of" an- 
 xiety. (Ps. 127.) Dark clouds of doubt hang upon 
 futurity, and conceal from us the issues of our best 
 concerted schemes. We " know not what a day 
 may bring forth." (Prov. 27.) We can not tell what 
 shall be ; and what shall be after us, who can tell us ? 
 (Eccles. 10. 14.) Here the wisdom of the wisest 
 
fails them, and the foresight of the most accomplish- 
 ed politician is baffled. In the affairs of this world 
 there is usually a sufficiency of correspondence be- 
 tween the means and the end to nvite industry and 
 exertion ; but not to justify us in calculating with 
 certainty upon the invariable attainment of a particu- 
 lar end in consequence of the means previously used, 
 independently of the occurrence of counsel and pur- 
 pose from above. " The race is to the swift ; the 
 battle to the strong ; bread to the wise ; riches to 
 men of understanding ; favour to men of skill ;" if 
 heaven be so pleased, but not otherwise. (Eccl. 9. 
 11.) " Our breath is in the hand of God, and all our 
 ways are his." 
 
 Affain. " The earth is the Lord's ; and the ful- 
 ness thereof; the world ; and they that dwell there- 
 in." (Ps. 24.) He portions it out among the chil- 
 dren of men. He appoints our temporal lot ; gives 
 us our heritage ; marks the lines of our habitation ; 
 assigns us our several stations and offices ;' and orders 
 all our concerns. If the light of prosperity shine up- 
 on your tabernacle ; if peace, plenty, health, reputa- 
 tion, accompany your progress through life ; if the 
 lines have fallen to you in pleasant places, and thorn- 
 less roses lie scattered over the path in which you 
 travel to eternity ; know that it is by his wise and 
 gracious order whose " kingdom ruleth over all." 
 (Ps. 103.) If you " enjoy the good of all your la- 
 bour," know that " it is the gift of God." (Eccl. 3.) 
 Vicissitude characterizes all temporal things. The 
 world is mutable, and the fashion of it passeth away. 
 Often is the brightness of a morning sun crossed in 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 its glorious march by mists and vapours, and suc- 
 ceeded by a night in which neither moon nor star is 
 visible. The days of rejoicing retire into the grave 
 of departed time ; and the days of sorrow take their 
 place. But all this is not fortuitous. Although man 
 may seem to himself to be devoted u to trouble as 
 the sparks fly upward," yet let him remember that 
 " affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth 
 trouble spring out of the ground." It is the allot- 
 ment of him whose understanding is infinite ; whose 
 benevolence is inexhaustible ; whose throne is estab- 
 lished in justice and in judgment, while mercy 
 and truth go b( fore his face. All conditions, and 
 every circumstance and appendage, of life, whether 
 they be prosperous or adverse are ordained by him. 
 " Our breath is in the hand of God, and all our ways 
 are his." 
 
 Once more. When " we die and return to the 
 dust" from which we sprang, it is because God " tak- 
 eth away our breath." With him are the issues of 
 life and of death. He " bringeth down to the grave, 
 and bringeth up again." He who preserves some 
 even to hoary hairs, removes others in the full pro- 
 mise of reputation and usefulness, and often recalls 
 the spirit which has scarce warmed the infant clay. 
 It is not for man to take man's life, in unprescribed 
 cases, though both should be consenting to the deed : 
 neither can any defence exculpate the self-murderer : 
 Duelling, therefore, and suicide would be unjustifi- 
 able, if for no other reason, yet for this, that we are 
 not the authors of our own existence. But, in " tak- 
 ing away our breath," God takes but what he gave* 
 
11 
 
 And may he not do what he wills with his own ? 
 Since death is unavoidable ; since it is the tendency 
 of nature, and the ordinance of God, that our spirits 
 must return to him who gave them, and our bodies 
 be dissolved in the corruption of the grave ; who so 
 wise as he to discern ; who so powerful and so mer- 
 ciful to order ; the period when we shall have lived 
 long enough ? Thus, then, 
 
 Our breath is in the hand of God ; and all our 
 wavs are his. He is the Author and First Cause of 
 our being : His preservation holdeth our soul in life : 
 To him we owe the continued possession, enjoy- 
 ment, and use, of all our faculties, bodily and men- 
 tal : On his will depends the successful result of all 
 our enterprizes and resolutions : By him is ordain- 
 ed our condition in life, with all its circumstances and 
 appendages, whether prosperous, or adverse : At 
 his command, our spirits take their departure, and 
 our bodies fall into dust and ashes. 
 
 The first point of doctrine embraced by the text 
 has been considered. 
 
 In the 2nd place : Tt is our duty to glorify that 
 God " in whose hand our breath is, and whose are 
 ali our ways." Our obligation to do this is plain 
 to the perception of every mind that possesses cor- 
 rect views of the nature of the dutv. What, then, is 
 meant by glorifying God, as this duty stands con- 
 nected with the doctrine expressed in the former 
 number of the text ? 
 
 To glorify God, in this connection, is to recog- 
 nize his superintendence of human life and its con- 
 cerns : to maintain a grateful sense of his ^ood guar- 
 
12 
 
 dianship and protection exercised over us : to con- 
 fide in him with unqualified submission : habitually 
 to conduct ourselves under the lively impression of 
 this most important truth, that our breath is in his 
 hand, and all our ways are his. 
 
 A brief illustration of these particulars will leave 
 us without excuse, if we do not learn and perform 
 our duty. 
 
 1. To glorify God in this connection, is to recog- 
 nize his superintendence of human life, and its con- 
 cerns. Among the inhabitants of earth, as in the ar- 
 mies of heaven, God's will is absolute — his plea- 
 sure irresistible — his dominion without bounds. 
 " Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. 
 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations ; thou hast 
 established the earth, and it abideth. They continue 
 this day according to thine ordinances : for all are 
 thy servants." (Ps. 119. 89, 91.) The everlasting 
 God — who created the ends of the earth — is never 
 wearied by sustaining what he has made, or by pro- 
 tecting and providing for his creatures. Nothing is 
 without the sphere of his control : No being inde- 
 pendent on his government : None beneath his at- 
 tention and his care. This universal and particular 
 providence constitutes the chief honour of his name ; 
 and we glorify him when we do him homage as that 
 sovereign who is Almighty, Most Holy, Infinitely 
 wise, just, and good ; and whose kingdom ruleth 
 over all. Some men have presumed to talk of him 
 with a plausible veneration as the Creator, while they 
 refuse to acknowledge him as the Governor, of the 
 Universe ; or, if they do not deny him this title in a 
 
13 
 
 certain general, vague, and indefinite application of it, 
 they, at least, do all they can to render it a title des- 
 titute of any considerable force or meaning by cir- 
 cumscribing within very contracted limits the opera- 
 tions which they would have it to imply. If these 
 men be wiser than the Spirit which searcheth the 
 deep things of God ; then, my brethen, admit the 
 correctness of their sentiments : but if the scriptural 
 representation of the name and character of God have 
 a claim on your confidence which no other authority 
 can rival, then believe that his Providential guidance 
 and control is co-extensive with his works, and parti- 
 cular to the smallest conceivable point of minuteness : 
 then, glorify God by recognizing his superintendence 
 of human life with all its indescribably diversified 
 concerns. 
 
 2. To glorify him, in the view of the text, is to 
 maintain a grateful sense of his good guardianship 
 and protection exercised over us. No man, in look- 
 ing back upon the departed periods of his life, can 
 fail to remember many deliverances wrought for him ; 
 many perplexities unravelled ; and many instances 
 of unexpected help in difficulty and distress. And 
 no man, who is apprized of his own feebleness or of 
 the inadequacy and vanity of the help of man, can 
 fail to discover, in his experience of past escapes, in 
 his ascent from the lowest point of depression to 
 which reversed fortunes had reduced him, or in his 
 restoration from irreligious and immoral habits or 
 practices, the arm of an interposing God. My bre- 
 thren, when you revolve the past with seriousness ; 
 when you trace the vestiges of Divine goodness in its 
 
M 
 
 dispensations towards yourselves and those who are 
 dear to you as self can bt ; I persuade myself you 
 will call upon every thing that hath breath to praise 
 the Lord : You will esteem it a duty not more im- 
 perious than pleasurable to adore the Author and 
 Preserver of your being in the glowing language of 
 his prophet, " Bless the Lord," &c. (Ps. 103. v. 
 1, 2, 3, 4.) 
 
 3. To glorify God is to confide in him with un- 
 qualified submission as to all the events and contin- 
 gencies of the time which is to come. Reflection 
 upon the past must necessarily encourage such a 
 state of mind with reference to the future. Should 
 you not be resigned to the determinations of that 
 Benignant Power who has hitherto watched over 
 your ways ? who has unto this very moment guided, 
 assisted, defended, and established you ? who has 
 kept you alive from going' down into the pit, and 
 given his own Son to be a ransom for you ? Heaven 
 has a right to exact your unmixed acquiescence in 
 its will. Withhold this acquiescence, and you dis- 
 honour him in whom you live and move and have 
 your being. Withhold this acquiescence, and you 
 virtually proclaim that his will is not under the go- 
 vernment of infinite wisdom, justice and benevo- 
 lence. Acquiesence in the Divine will is the prin- 
 cipal duty of the Christian life ; as it was the prin- 
 cipal ornament of the spotless life of Christ himself. 
 
 4. To glorify God is habitually to conduct our- 
 selves under the lively impression of this most im- 
 portant truth, that our breath is in his hand, and all 
 our ways are his. Consider him as the Author, 
 
15 
 
 Lord, and Proprietor, of your existence. Consider 
 that the end for which he gave you existence is, that 
 you should serve him in thk world, and be happy 
 in his presence in the world which is to come. " If 
 he be a Father, where is his honour? If he be a 
 Master, where is his fear ?" If there be a truth so 
 evident that, to attempt its demonstration would be 
 to obscure it, this is that truth ; that it is incumbent 
 on man to consecrate to Almighty God himself and 
 his possessions, his mind, his body, his estate, and 
 his life : that it is incumbent on the Christian to have 
 no will but God's; to be " fervent in spirit, serving 
 the Lord ;" to deny himself; to die unto sin ; to live 
 unto holiness ; to crucify the world ; to have his 
 conversation in heaven ; and to place upon the altar 
 of his Maker, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer, 
 the free-will offering of his heart, his life, his talents, 
 his influence, and his property. 
 
 If the illustration, which has now been given of 
 the nature of the duty of glorifying God, as it is im- 
 plied by the text, be founded in truth, there is no 
 need of farther words to convince you of your ob- 
 ligation to perform it. Surely, if you draw your 
 very being from God ; if you hold life and breath, 
 and all things at his Sovereign pleasure ; if his good- 
 ness have followed you from the first beating pulse 
 to the present moment ; if he has sent his Son to 
 redeem you from guilt and misery ; if his mercies 
 be new every morning and repeated every evening ; 
 you can have no admissible plea ; you cannot even 
 urge any plausible extenuation ; for the folly, the 
 ingratitude, the impiety, of neglecting to glorify 
 God. 
 
16 
 
 I will conclude by endeavouring practically to ap- 
 ply what has been said. 
 
 The Lord and Giver of life may resume it at his 
 pleasure, and the period of his pleasure is known 
 only to himself. No art, no skill, no entreaties, can 
 arrest the spirit in her flight, or resist the sword of 
 the grim destroyer when it is commissioned to 
 strike. The worker of iniquity ; the man of plea- 
 sure ; the worldly-minded woman, cannot cling so 
 closely to lite that the angel shall not sever their 
 grasp. " There is no man that hath power over the 
 spirit to retain the spirit : neither hath he power in 
 the day of death : there is no discharge in that war : 
 neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given 
 to it." (Eccles. viii. 8.) If this be so, " see that 
 ye walk circumspectly, redeeming the time." Pre- 
 pare to meet your God. So live as if every day on 
 which you are permitted to enter were to be your 
 closing day. The termination of a well- spent life 
 cannot be premature. The last enemy cannot come 
 too soon if he find you armed for the conflict. Ma- 
 ny of those who hear me have passed middle age. 
 Some are approaching the verge of the grave. Yet 
 even these, bending as they do under the weight of 
 years, may follow the reliques of their last progeny 
 to nature's resting place, and see youth, valour, and 
 manly beauty, fall into mouldering ruins before their 
 eyes. In the midst of life, we are in death. O 
 brethren ! learn wisdom from the tomb ; and you 
 shall live again when death shall die. 
 
 Again. Let the consideration that all your ways 
 are in the same divine hand in which your breath is, 
 
17 
 
 induce you to commit yourselves and your concerns 
 to God. Neither presume venturously upon to- 
 morrow, nor be too anxious respecting its events. 
 " Who knoweth what is good for man all the days 
 of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow ?" 
 This is a knowledge which no wisdom on earth can 
 communicate. But the Omniscient God — he knows, 
 and he can impart, the highest good : he knows, also, 
 and he can avert, what we ought most to deprecate. 
 " Trust" then " in the Lord, and do good ; for his 
 eyes are open upon the righteous, and his ears attend 
 to their cry." March forward in the path of duty, 
 with form erect, and steady step, fearless of conse- 
 quences. Leave events to God ; and welcome, with 
 eyes fixed on heaven, every occurrence that meets 
 you, as an appointment of God. 
 
 Finally. That I may give to what has been said 
 a more special direction, I will close by addressing 
 a few words to the military part of my audience. 
 
 My brethren, as you have done us the honour to 
 unite with us this day in the solemnities of our wor- 
 ship, you will indulge me with the opportunity of 
 reminding you that to none do the truths which hive 
 been delivered offer themselves with a more serious 
 claim to consideration than to you. From day to 
 day your lives are professionally exposed to what the 
 language of the world is content with denominating 
 •a state of perpetual hazard. It is not so ; if, by ha- 
 zard, be meant chance. Listen to the doctrine of 
 our text. It will instruct you better. Your " breath 
 is in the hand of God." As you derive existence 
 from him, so to him you owe its continuance. He 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 lias an unequivocal right to resume it at his plea- 
 sure ; but, until the predestined moment when that 
 good pleasure of his takes effect, no violence, no 
 surprize, no peril, can prove mortal. Recent events 
 have displayed, in your favour and that of your brave 
 brethren in arms, the richness of his tender mercy, 
 and the power and glory of his arm. It was he 
 who covered your head in the day of battle, and 
 planted your feet in proud security on the heights 
 of honour. 
 
 The schemes of military enterprize, like all other 
 human devisings, owe their success to a controuling 
 Providence. Not only is your breath in the hand 
 of God, but " all vour wavs are his." Your best 
 concerted plans would prove abortive were it not for 
 his blessing and countenance. The skill and disci- 
 pline of scientific officers, of long-practised engi- 
 neers and veteran legions, avail not an enemy, whom 
 heaven's succours fail. Hence your spirits were 
 steeled to breast the shock of battle : your nerves 
 were strung for the charge : the mingled and well- 
 attempered valour and discretion of your comman- 
 ders gave to your energies a firm, an impressive, and 
 a successful direction. Hence the field remains 
 your own ; and long may it remain so ! Hence so 
 little mortality from the showers of hostile explosion. 
 Hence so many a gallant spirit survives to be the 
 pride and future defence of his country. Hence the 
 safety of our city ; no flames enwrapping its edifices; 
 no pillage desolating its fair and once prosperous 
 avenues. Hence, after a night of awful darkness, in- 
 terrupted by the yet more awful fires of bombard- 
 
19 
 
 ment, while the thunder of hostile squadrons poured 
 its long and terrific echo from hill to hill around our 
 altars and our homes, our wives and our children, 
 the flag of the Republic waves on our ramparts ; 
 scattering from every undulation, through an atmos- 
 phere of glory, the defiance of the free, and the gra- 
 titude of the delivered / 
 
 Yes, Soldiers — yes, Countrymen — these were 
 well-fought fields. R.fuse not to give God the glory. 
 The Republic will be just to you and your brethren 
 as the brave instruments of her safety. 
 
 Here let grateful remembrance pause in tender- 
 ness on the grassy sod that covers the remains of 
 our heroes. Thanks be to God, not many have 
 fallen. But the few — how estimable in life — how 
 memorable in death — how dear to the heart of pat- 
 riotism and of friendship ! Their country never will 
 forget them. An impesishable monument stands 
 for them in the bosoms of their fellow-citizens, who 
 will not fail to teach their children, that bv the blood 
 of these valiant men the public safety was provi- 
 dentially secured. At that home, and in those 
 walks, where the welcoming smile was met, and 
 the generous grasp of friendship felt, and the em- 
 brace of domestic tenderness given and returned, the 
 heroes will be sought in vain. This, at least, is our 
 consolation : let it be the consolation of those who 
 loved them best : they died, as the patriot soldier 
 would desire to die, in the defence of all that is dear 
 to freemen: a death sanctioned by Him in whose 
 " hands our breath is, and whose are ail our ways." 
 May they rest in peace, each in his narrow bed, co* 
 
20 
 
 vered by verdure ever- fresh, and wild-flowers ever 
 blooming ! And may the kindliest dew of heaven 
 distil upon their graves, an emblem of our tears ! 
 
 But shall we forget our brethren whom the fate of 
 battle has placed in captivity ? Far from their natal 
 soil, and the land of their adoption ; far from the com- 
 forts and the blandishments of family, of friendship, 
 and of that social intercourse on which early and long 
 perpetuated habits stamp the most interesting value ; 
 fur from the soft accents and sweet smile of home ; 
 they are cast among strangers. Their feet are doom- 
 ed to press other and less friendly shores. The Son 
 of Liberty feels that his will is no longer his own. 
 May that God whose presence is limited to no pecu- 
 liar spot, be their companion and their stay ! May 
 he soften the distresses of captivity by the consola- 
 tions of his benignant Spirit ! And, in his own time, 
 may he restore them all to us, and to their Country, 
 confirmed in the loftiest sentiments of duty, and built 
 up in the deepest and strongest convictions of piety I 
 
 From the dead and the imprisoned I turn once 
 more to the living and the free. Brave Country- 
 men ! indulge me with a word or two in addition to 
 what has been said, and vour attention shall be re- 
 lieved. The God " in whose hand your breath is, 
 and whose arc all your ways," fail not, in every par- 
 ticular of a soldier's duty to " glorify." 
 
 The most appropriate duty of the soldier you have 
 evinced, that you well know how to discharge. And, 
 I doubt not, you are prepared with honourable reso- 
 lution to offer yourselves to the toils and the perils of 
 future fields whenever the safety of your Country 
 
21 
 
 shall be menaced by the invader. True patriotism 
 is a Christian virtue. Our religion is the nurse of 
 loyalty and publick spirit. It authorizes us to con- 
 tend — it teaches us to die — for the sanctity of our 
 altars, and the security of our dwellings — for the le- 
 gitimate rights of our compatriots, and the tranquil* 
 litv of those who shall come after us. When, there- 
 fore, with such objects in view, you take the sword, 
 you embrace an honourable calling. You obey the 
 high and holy behest of religion. You glorify that 
 God at whose will you hold existence ; and if you 
 fall, you fall by his command, and with his approba- 
 tion. 
 
 If, however, you would secure the Divine appro- 
 bation, not of life's last solemn act alone, but of all 
 its previous stages, allow me to remind you that 
 there are vices peculiar to the military profession 
 which you are bound to avoid, and virtues which you 
 are bound to cultivate. Shall it be said that the Sol- 
 diers of Freedom — Citizens who fight not for a court 
 or a conqueror, but for their Country — Patriots who 
 present their breasts to the steel that flashes destruc- 
 tion upon the vitals of the Republick — Shall it be 
 said that they resign themselves to the impulses of 
 the same impious, libidinous, debauched, cruel, ra- 
 pacious, and profligate spirit, which too commonly 
 reigns in the camps of European and Asiatick hire- 
 lings ? Of men who fight in any cause, and make a 
 trade of carnage ? I trust, beloved brethren, the 
 solemnities, to partake of which you, this day, ap- 
 proach the altars of the Lord of Hosts, in concurrence 
 with your deportment hitherto, afford a pledge that 
 
22 
 
 you will not disgrace the American name by tread- 
 ing in the interdicted and abhorred steps of such men. 
 I will hope that you aspire not more to be Soldiers 
 of vour Country, than Soldiers of Jesus Christ ; and 
 that, as you have renounced many comforts and en- 
 countered many privations in the service of the state, 
 so you are ready to take up the cross, to endure 
 hardness, to march in the arduous path of self-denial, 
 to abjure every species of excess, and to relinquish 
 all loose and irreligious habits, that you may serve 
 with repute, success, and triumph, under the Son of 
 God, the immortal Captain of Salvation. 
 
 Thus doing, you will glorify that Almighty Being 
 u in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all 
 your ways." Thus living, you will be rewarded 
 with his approval. Thus faithful, alike, to Heaven 
 and to your Country, your death, whenever it shall 
 occur, will be glorious to the Soldier, and eternally 
 blessed to the Man. 
 
 finis. 
 
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