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6
'HOLY
FORTITUDE,
rS&RM. XX%i,
ture,
in
opposition
to all
the inventions and traditions
of
men
?
Would
your
heart
be
strong
to
persist
in
your
peculiar practices of
religion, in
the most scriptural
forms
of
it, in an
hour
of
persecution and
danger'?
Bless-
ed
be
God
for
a
.protestant king on the throne,
and
a
glorious.race
of protestant
princes
to succeed
him.
May
the
blessings
of
heaven
from
above descend on
them
all,
and
render
them
in their
successions
an everlasting
bless-
ing
to
Great
Britain and
all
the protestant churches
!.
But
a
christian indeed
should be
so
formed, and
so
fur-
nished, as
to be
ready to profess
and
practise
his
religion}
in
every
nation, and
in every age,
in the
midst
of
storms.
as
well as
under
the shining sun.
III.
When
we
are called
to
practise an unfashionable
virtue,
or
to refuse
compliance
with
any fashionable
vice,
This
is
another
occasion
that
demands the exercise
of
Christian
fortitude.
.
Let
us
survey a
few
instances
of
this kind.
It
is
an unfashionable
thing
now
-a
-days
to
introduce
a
vvord
of
practical
godliness
into
company:.
The
polite
world
will
tell
us,
it
spoils
conversation: Mark, what
a
silence
is
spread over the
room, when any
person dares
to
begin
so
disagreeable
a subject;
there
is
none
to
se-
cond
him,
he
may preach
alone,
and
it
is
well
if
he
escapes a
profane
scoff.
This
is
a very true,
but
a
very
shameful account of
things,
according to
the present
mode.
Any
thing
but
religion
is
thought
fit to
entertain
a
friend.
Even
where persons
of
piety meet
together
in
their
.visits,
this
sort
of
language
is
banished
from com-
pany
and the parlour,
and it
is
confined
only
to
God
and
the
closet. Alas
!
we
are ashamed
to,
appear truly
reli-
gieus
;
but if
we
had
holy
courage enough, one person
would' not
be
afraid
to begin,
nor another to carry
on
such divine
discourse.
There are
surely some
happy
moments wherein an
useful word may be
introduced
with
prudence
and
decency,
to
warm each other's hearts, and
to
rekindle the holy
fire
of love and devotion
that
is ala
'most
expiring.
Again,
perhaps
we
may be
much engaged
in
the
world
among persons
that
make no conscience
of
speaking
truth:
But if
we
would
be Christians
indeed,
we must
have
courage enough
always to
spew
a hatred of
false-
hood,
and..
keep up
a
tenderness
of
spirit, lest
we
be