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    to state , explain , and enforce a Christian ' s Wishes and Prayers forhis Count try . "—P p * 2 , 3 . ' After an exposition of the Psalm from which the text ( Ps . cxxii . 6—9 ) is taken , the preacher combats the paradox of Soame Jenyns and others , that Patriotism is not a Christian duty . The absence of direct precept on

    this subject is well explained : "It should be remembered , that in the times of our Lord and the apostles , the Jewish nation , with the greater part of the world , was under the Roman yoke . The masters of the globe , too , were extremely jealous of their power in the subject provinces . Some of the degraded natives of these tributary lands were forward to court the conquerors by denouncing such of their countrymen as spoke the language , or cherished the desire , of independence . We see that the Jewish leaders , with all their irritable impatience

    of Heathen bondage , were ever ready to gratify their malice by accusing Jesus and bis disciples of enmity to Caesar , and of a design to wrest the kingdom out of Roman hands . They even laid snares to betray our Lord into some expression or admission which should bring down upon him the vengeance of the ruling powers . Prudence , therefore , with regard to themselves and their followers , as well as a regard to their common cause , required them to be cautious , lest in their moral precepts they should seem to encourage a political resistance , which would only provoke instant destruc * tioiu Patriotism would have been a fruitless , but at the same time a

    dangerous lesson , for hopeless slaves—disarmed , dispersed , and broken-spirited captives—and dismantled , bridled , and divided kingdoms . The great Teacher bad many things to say * which the times would not bear - , and he magnanimously cast his hopes upon the broad principles of truth , justice , and charity , which he gave to mankind , knowing that in their slow and silent , but sure and powerful operation , they would work changes in favour of the humblest and most oppressed portion of mankind , compared with which all revolutions brought about by the sword are of little moment and in their results of no value .

    " Did these principles include patriotism ? If patriotism be built upon false views of human nature , and the common rights of man ; if it be at war with social justice ; if it be destructive of humanity , they did not : but if patriotism be provided for in the constitution of man and of society ; if it be one branch of the sovereign law of justice ; if it be a particular application of the universal duty of love to man , —they did include it , and it is as much a duty as any of the specific requirements of the Christian code of morals / ' —Pp . 10—12 .

    The following passage is alike just , devout , eloquent , and animating . We make but one exception to it . We demur to the position that the future destiny of nations , or at least of mankind at large , is not to be divined from their past history . It is from the records of the past that we should have deduced the prospect of that brighter future which we join with the preacher in anticipating . History seems to us to demonstrate a law of progress in humanity , which has always operated , though its ratio may , and

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    739 Coronation Sermon * .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 730, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/6/