r commerce be ever so flourishing, your arts ever so perfect, your
literature ever so exalted--none of these things would save the
nation--none of these things would be an effectual shield against
calamity; and upon the wreck of this grand old realm--wrecked by its
ungodliness, made rotten at its base by sin--upon the wreck of this
nation which, had it been godly, would have borne the shock of all the
earth, and dashed it back like foam--on the wreck of Britain shall be
written, "The nation, the kingdom, that will not serve thee shall
perish." That inscription has been often written upon empires as
magnificent, as powerful, and as illustrious as this.

What, then, is our duty? What have we to do with this? We who are
gathered together in this chapel may say, can we arrest the course of the
nation? Can we turn back the floods of ungodliness? Can we go out and
produce an influence that may avert these calamities? I do not say that
you alone can do this; but I do say, that you are bound to contribute
your utmost to the check of these evils, with as perfect a heart, and
with as earnest a purpose, and as free a will, as though your hand could
dash back the evil and rescue the nation from its danger.

Our immediate duty is repentance. That is the duty of the nation. But
the word nation is a comprehensive one; we lose ourselves in it. We may
do as we are in danger of doing with the word Church, lose sight of our
own individual responsibility in confused ideas of what the Church
collectively is to do. God cannot yield in this conflict; his
righteousness forbids this. The nation must yield and become obedient,
or the result indicated must follow. If then the nation is to repent,
where is that repentance to begin? Why in this place to-day, so far as
we are concerned. In whose hearts must this repentance commence? Why in
the hearts of every one of you unconverted persons, that are rather
contributing to the ungodliness of the country than to the increase of
its spiritual power. You may not be drunkards, you may not be
profligate; but if you are living without the recognition of God's love
and the enjoyment of his favour, you are ungodly; and your first duty is
to repent. There is no salvation without this repentance, let some
modern preachers say what they will. The Master of all preachers sent
the Apostles forth, and they preached everywhere that men should repent.
There is a fashionable preaching, I am told, th