48 
and, to their friends, generous, hospitable, and faith¬ 
ful. With no other guides than the light, and conse¬ 
quently the religion of nature, experience has taught 
them the necessity of fixed principles, to regulate their 
conduct and dealings with each other. But in the 
construction of these principles, no provision was 
made against the effects of a revengeful spirit; nor 
were their foundations sufficiently liberal and extended 
to meet the exigencies of the situation into which they 
have been thrown, by the attempts of foreigners to 
subjugate them. Something more was wanting to 
enable them to withstand the vicious examples and 
unprovoked aggressions of the invaders, without imi¬ 
tating the one, and revenging the other, by acts of 
treachery and barbarity. What has not the Christian 
religion done for mankind!—there is not a va¬ 
luable principle in morals that it has not rendered 
more stable, nor in social life that it has not refined 
and softened. It is the oil that allays the stormy 
passions of the mind—the balm that soothes and 
attenuates the anxieties of life-—the spring that regu¬ 
lates and perpetuates the benevolent feelings of the 
heart—the power which dispels the illusions of 
superstition and ignorance—-and the barrier that 
prevents the accesses of vice and depravity. While 
it does not prohibit us from using the means of self- 
preservation, it enjoins on us mercy and forgiveness 
towards our enemies, an humane use of the means of 
self-defence, and a compassionate forbearance in the 
hour of victory. 
