the primitive innocence of our nature. Rulers and Laws there must be among every people. The most savage inhabitants of the earth, and even the wandering robbers of the East, find it impossible to do without them.

If, then, there must be Supreme Authorities, there must be obedience to them as a necessary consequence. When a system of Government is established in any country, it becomes the duty of every individual in it to live in subordination to what has been confirmed and ratified by general compact and consent.

In the Law of Moses, in the Laws of the wisest Heathen, and in the Law of Christ, obedience to the Deity, to Parents, to Rulers, and to all legitimate Powers, is strongly and positively enforced. * One Heathen Lawgiver pronounced, that, "contempt of the Gods, voluntary abuse of Parents, disrespect to Rulers and Laws, and voluntary dishonour of justice, should be reckoned

J

* Charondas, of Catana, the lawgiver of the people of Thurium,

among the greatest of crimes." * Another, that "next after the Gods, Dæmons, and Heroes, Parents, and the Laws and Rulers, should be equally had in honour." + And one of the wisest of Heathen Philosophers thought, that "they who would not be subject to these, were insufferable, because they had the spirit of the Old Titans, who would have pulled the Gods out of their thrones." These are the opinions of men who were guided only by the light of Natural Religion. But what says the voice of Revelation? ‡ "Thou shalt not," said the Almighty, " revile the Gods, (that is, the Judges,)nor curse the Ruler of thy people." §" Render unto Cæsar," said our Saviour, " the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's." And the Apostles exhort us, || "not to despise government, nor speak evil of dignities," but to * "honour the King," to "be subject unto the higher powers," and "not to resist the powers that are ordained of God." Here we have both natural and revealed religion, the voice of the wisest Heathen, the voice of God, the voice of our Saviour Christ, and the voice of his Holy Apostles: all conspiring to enforce the observance of the same precept, all enjoining in the most forcible manner Obedience to Rulers and the Laws.

Let me, then, under the sanction and warrant of divine Revelation, exhort you to cherish in your breasts a spirit of submission to the Constituted Authorities of your Country. Do not encourage rebellion either by word or deed, either directly or indirectly; nor permit any private opinion, which may be founded in error, to supersede the Word of God, which is perfect truth. If you are gifted with talents, beware you do not pervert them to wicked and dangerous purposes, bý disseminating in your writings the poison of sedition, and thereby misleading the

1

ignorant, inflaming the discontented, and feeding the mischievous hopes of those, who have every thing to gain but character and respect. For you will one day have to account for the use of those gifts of Providence, which were bestowed upon you, that you might render service to your fellow-creatures, and plead the cause of Virtue and Religion in the world. If you know of any existing evil, endeavour to apply a remedy; but let this be done with firmness united with gentleness. Never let the passions of the Man urge you to forget the character of the Christian. Violence is, at all times, and on all occasions, even in a just cause, a deviation from duty. It takes its rise in anger, pursues its end by unjustifiable means, and never fails to create more evils than it pretends to remedy. The violent man can never be a good Christian; for he lacks that spirit of meekness on which all the Christian Charities are grafted. Besides, the world will never give him credit even for honesty of intention.

Do not want courage in a right cause;

but let it not be accompanied with intemperance either of language or action. Let it not seek success by the violation of a Duty, nor by the least infringement upon the established laws; for what satisfaction will the attainment of your object bring you, if the mode, in which you have pursued it, has impaired your character as Christian believers? The surest way to cure an evil, or to forward the ends of justice, is, to let the world see, that you are not actuated by prejudice or passion, or any spirit which your Religion disallows, but by a desire to uphold the truth, and promote the general welfare.

Follow not those leaders, who are selfwilled, ungovernable, and who wish you to redress what may, or may not, be grievances, by the summary method of riot and rebellion; nor join in those measures, which from their very nature must endanger the peace, the property, and the lives of your fellow-creatures; for such leaders can neither understand the will of God, nor have any Christian charity towards their neighbour in their hearts;