Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/334

XLIX.

But, with all his employments of mind and heart early in 1758, William Smith's thoughts drifted again to public affairs ; and out of his keen anxieties for the safety of the Province in the approaching campaign which General Forbes was now undertak- ing against Fort Duquesne, came his " Earnest address to the Colonies, particularly those of the Southern district ; on the opening of the Campaign, 1758," to which the concluding para- graph gives an eloquent closing : Rise, then, my countrymen, as you value the blessings you enjoy, and dread the evils that hang over you, rise and show yourselves worthy of the name of Britons ! rise to secure to your posterity, peace, freedom, and a pure religion ! rise to chastize a perfidious nation for their breach of treaties, their detestable cruelties, and their horrid murders ! remember the cries of your captivated brethren, your orphan children, your helpless widows, and thousands of beggar' d families ! think of Monongahela, Fort William Henry, and those scenes of savage death, where the mangled limbs of your fellow citizens lie strewed upon the plain ; calling upon you to retrieve the honor of the British name ! Thus animated and roused, and thus putting your confidence, where alone it can be put, let us go forth in humble boldness ; and the Lord do what seemeth him good. The hopeful anticipations of the colonists for this campaign were realised ; and we find Mr. Smith preaching in Trinity Church, New York, on 17 September, 1758, his sermon on " the Duty of praising God for signal Mercies and Deliverances, on occasion of the remarkable success of His Majesty's Arms in America, during that Campaign ; " which he repeated at Oxford, Pennsylvania, on I October : After the days of mourning which.we have seen, the short period of one year has produced such a turn in favour of the Protestant cause, as astonishes ourselves, and among posterity will scarce be believed. The wonderful successes of the Prussian Hero, towards the close of the last campaign in Germany ; and the successes which, in the present campaign, God has already been pleased to bestow on the British arms in America, by the reduction of Louisburg, l and other important places, furnish a series of 1 Pennsylvania Gazette of 24 August, 1758, announces the " New York post riding ninety miles last Monday to bring news of the fall of Louisburg, our bells were set a Ringing, the Guns were fired, Bonfires were lighted, and the city was beautifully illuminated."