Page:The Relation of the Sunday-school System to our Christian Patriotism.pdf/16

16 who come now are humble petitioners for bread and peace. The best interests of our race are concerned with the result of our experiment. If it go on successfully, Europe will be as free as we are, or depopulated by emigration to us. Brethren, if we have any faith in the value of civil and religious liberty, any mercy for the oppressed, to break whose bonds our Lord and Master came, any love of that political morality which bids us look on our neighbour as ourselves, let us put forth all the energies of prayer and zeal, that the revived hope of a golden age be not proved a dream, by the failure of our people to live worthily of their vocation; but let us also trust in God, that, through his blessing upon our fidelity as Christian citizens of this favoured land, every yoke may soon be broken, and there be neither a slave nor a tyrant on the face of the whole earth.

There is danger in this state of things. Among the hundreds of thousands who come and mingle with us as a nation, there are many who bring with them habits and prejudices unfitting them to use aright their novel plenty and freedom. It cannot be otherwise than that disaster must result from such a heterogeneous influx among us, unless means, the most efficient, are taken to counteract the threatened evil. The covenant and providence of God have put those means within the reach of our faith and zeal; for we cannot doubt the sufficiency of the gospel, which we have the most unlimited permission to employ in the salvation of our country. If the gospel fail in these circumstances to overcome error and sin, how can we hope for its triumph over the world?