The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

SERMONS.13 Vtiements in the defart—or, in an unjufllfiable andhighly criminal dcfperation, they, likethe citizens ofSaguntum, burn their own houfes over their heads.And fometimes alfo it happens, that, by a vigorous,a defperate and fuccefsful courage, they are able tofchafe out of the country that very army which for along time was Uke to conquer them. Thus in warthe weaker fide are miferable, and the flronger are foalfo. The prince, the leaders, may by luxury be hardenedagainll the fenfe of pain ; but the people, thebulk of the people, are v/retched. They are overburdenedwith taxes—the country is depopulatedthe tillers of the land, and the ufeful artificers, arecomprehended, are prefied, are dragged from theirnecelTary and innocent occupations, and forced tocarry on the war v/hether they think it righteous orfmful. The wife, the little child, runs ofcea to thedoor and looks for the hufband, the parent, whom,alas ! they fliall never fee again. Kere too the foldiersare juft as miferable as thofe of the weaker party;—their toil is as fevere— their beds are as hard—their fleep aa. precarious—and their food as coarfeand as fcanty.- If they retain any fenfe of humanity,they mull be fliocked at thofe aQs of cruelty .whichthey are hounded out to commit, and if they havebeen the inilruments of committing them, they muftbe flung with remorfe. The kingdom, in flriving tobe viclorious at an enormous expence, v/hich it ca.nill bear, reduces itfeif to poverty and ruin ; and if atlength it fueceeds, thofe in the uppe^' rank may for awhile enjoy a brutal and inglorious eafe, whiill thtywallow in luxury and debauchery, devouring thatwhich by the fortune of the war hath fallen into theirfangs; but when that is devoured, they connrionly,like hungry dogs, fall to work again, and worry, andbite, and devour one another. In fhort, if a (latehath been viclorious, and hath conquered an extenfiveterritory, it is but haflening the failer toits owii.