projects respecting the church
and nation; so that every Protestant has reason to be thankful for the
success, which attended the efforts of William III., and to observe the
_Fifth of November_ as a day of thanksgiving to God for his gracious
interposition.

Never was a people less disposed to rise against their sovereign than
were the English against James II. Yet, as he was trampling upon their
liberties, and preparing a yoke of spiritual bondage, what could they
do? Their rights as men and as Christians were at stake; nor could the
danger by which they were threatened, be averted, but by the expulsion
of that sovereign, who had broken his solemn promise, and proved himself
unworthy of being trusted again by his subjects. Our ancestors at the
period of the revolution, acted on the principle of self-defence. It was
necessary to deprive him of his royal power, when that power would have
been employed in depriving the people of their civil and religious
liberties.

It was admitted by an illustrious statesman in France, in the
seventeenth century, that it was the true interest of England to
maintain and defend her Protestant church against popery. As his
observations are so striking, and also so applicable to our present
circumstances, I shall not hesitate to quote them. The book bears this
title, _The Interest of the Princes and States of Christendom_, and
consists of several chapters, in each of which he treats of _The
Interest_ of a particular country. There is a chapter on _The Interest
of England_, from which I quote the following passages: "Queen Elizabeth
(who by her prudent government hath equalled the greatest kings of
Christendom), knowing well the disposition of her state, believed that
the true interest thereof consisted, _first_ in holding a firm union in
itself, deeming (as it is most true) that _England is a mighty animal,
which can never die except it kill itself_. She grounded this
fundamental maxim, _to banish thence the exercise of the Roman
religion_, as the only means to break all the plots of the _Spaniards_,
who under this pretext, did there foment rebellion." Alluding to some
other particulars of that reign he adds:--"By all these maxims, this
wise princess has made known to her successors that besides the interest
which the king of England has with all princes, he has yet one
_particular_, which is that, _he ought_ thoroughly to acquire the
advancement of the Protestant religion, even with as m