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TÌiE
RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT
for a little
time,
and then
vanishes
away
;
we
ought there
fore
to
say,
if the Lord
will, we
shall
live,
and do
this
or
that," according
to
our
purpose
;
James
iv.
14, 15.
3.
Let
us
remember
that
this
great event
carries
in
it
the appearance of
a huge affliction to
Great
Britain;
for
it
is
the
death of a
king
whose
happy
accession
was
a
glorious deliverance of our nation from
slavery, and
a
defence
of our
religion
from popish
superstition, tyran-
ny, and blood
:
We
have
lost
a
great and
glorious bene-
factor,:under
whose
government
we-had enjoyed the bles-
sings
of
peace and
plenty for
so
many years together.
At
his
accession
to the
crown
he
scattered our
fears
and
filled every soul
with
gladness
:
He
crushed
a
dangerous
rebellion
in
our
lard
in
the beginning
of
his reign.;
and
by the
wisdom
of
his
counsels
at
borne,
and
the
terror
of
bis
arms abroad,
he
maintained peace among
The
na-
tions. This
is
he
concerning
whom
we
were
ready
to
say,
that
we
.
shall sit many years under
his
shadow
in
our
native land,
enjoying the
comforts
of
life,
and the
privileges
of
the house
of Gód.
But
he
is
smitten,
his
life
is
vanished,
and
he
is
gone from the
earth
:
Our
deliverer
and
our guardian
is
removed from
themidst
of
us, he
will
deliver and
defend
us no
mòre.
The
lesson
of
instruction
which
we
derive hence
is
this,
"
The great God doth not
stand
in
need
of
the
greatest of
men
to
carry
on his own
work."
O
!
the
divine magnificence
of
the
government
of
God,
who
can
prepare
and qualify instruments for
his
own
service, and
employ them
for
a
season for
blessed
purposes, and
lay
them aside
again
at
pleasure, without the least
interrup-
tion
to
his
important
designs
!
If
the
blessed
God
had
stood
in
need
of
a man,
for
the
support
of
his
interest
in
the
world,
and for the guard of our nation, one
would
be
ready,
to say,
surely
our gracious departed
sovereign
'would
have been continued
in
the midst
of
us,
and
would
have
been
preserved yet many years
on the British
throne.
"
But
the
Lo
;d
seeth
not
as
man
sees
;"
I
Sam. xvi.
7.
s
His thoughts are
above
our
thoughts, and
his ways
are
above
ours,
as
the heavens are above the
earth;"
Is.
Iv.
9.
He
bath seen
fit to
cut short the
life
of our
king,
the guardian of our
liberties, and the
defender of
our
faith,
and
yet
we
trust
he
intends
to save
Great
Britain, and
lo
preserve
his
churches
in
the midst
of
her.;
He
can
do