Select passages from the diary and letters of the late John Blackader, Esq.

mr newton's preface.
fall, they die indeed upon the bed of ho-
nour, and are jultly lamented by us, who
are indebted, under God, for our peace
and fafety to their exertions and to their
blood. But the chief concern ot a ferious
mind arifes from a fear that many of them
are cut off in a moment, and 'hurried into
an eternal ftate without any due consider-
ation of their latter end.
But thanks be to God, we have had,
and {till have both officers and privates,
in the navy and in the army, whofe cou-
rage is animated by Chriftian principles.
They are not only defenders of their
king and country, but are the fervants of
the Lord of hofts. They truft in him to
cover their heads in the day of battle,
and if he is pleafed to give them the vic-
tory, they gladly afcribe to him all the
praife. Thefe are true patriots ; the de-
fence and glory of the land. They de-
light not in war, but when it is juft and
necelTary they feel themfelves in their
proper and lawful ftate. They fight not
for fame, or from a fpirit of animoiity-
and revenge, but to anfwer the truft re-
pofed in them by God and their country.
They give proofs of their courage in the