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    In the general division of his subject , the preacher Is not , we think , happy : his arrangement is neither luminous nor elegant . He first " specifies some of the great things which God has done for our country ; then points out the religious improvement which such mercies demand ; and thirdly , shews the necessity of considering these mercies , that such an

    improvement may be excited and perfected . " The two last heads do not admit of analysis . The following is the catalogue of < c great things' * specified under the first : our insular situation * our climate ^ our commerce , science and literature ^ civil and religious freedom , the privileges of the Gospel , and the feats of British valour . All the readers of the discourse may not probably think with the author , that the sun of freedom has shone

    with rays of additional lustre u under the reign of his present Majesty , ' or that the battles of Cressy , Poictiers , and Agincourt , *« feats doubtless of valour / ' but feats also of profligate ambition and shameless injustice ^ are suitable topics of Christian exultation , and just grounds of extolling c < the loving kindness of the L , ord / ' They may perhaps prefer recurring to his own salutary monition " against the most distant approach towards

    delight in war / ' and defend themselves with his own beautiful observation * that " the sword is not ^ he less keen , because its handle is adorned with laurels ; nor is war the less destructive , because shouts of victory drown the cries of the wounded and

    *\ 7 * 6 * Mr . W . adverts thus eloquently to the fall of Nelson c 4 C The Eternal Disposer of events and of nations ., has on this occasion toost awfully proclaimed the truth , " that he is alike able to save and to destroy . " Interesting lesson ! In the very moment of victory he has withdrawn the instrument by which he wrought it , unnerved the arm which had just been directing the British thunder , and for ever closed

    the eye which day and night used to watch over our safety and happiness , Oh Heavenl y Father we bow to thy will ! Admiral Collingwood's " appointing a day of thanksgiving through the whole British fleet under his command /* raises the

    preacher ' s admiration of naval piety higher than it does our's , who recollect that in the late crusades against regicide and ^ theism , religious forms have been invariably used as instruments of warfare . Of Collingwood he remarks with more vivacity than propriety , that * ' he seems , in his letters written on account of this recent and splendid victory , not only to have

    dipped his pen in the ink of a Nelson but fco have had his mind imbued and steeped in his principles /' The conclusion of the sermon is devoted to the Patriotic Fund , for wljiph the preacher pleaded so earnestly and successfully

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    44 Thanksgiving Sermons .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1806, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1720/page/44/