-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 Peter, ii. 17.

Rom. xiii. 1, 2.

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;.

and such measures, not having religion for their warrant, can never be justifiable in the sight of God. You are commanded by divine authority to *" honour the King,"+" to obey the Magistrates," and the Laws, and, ‡ as much as lieth in you, to live peaceably with all men." §" Obey God rather than Man." Obey God for his own sake; obey Man for the sake of God.

In false patriotism the heart contracts and closes. Its worst passions are excited, and excited too against those whom it should regard most. The love of man is forgotten in the gloomy suggestions of the imagination; and the object is sought, not with a view to the comfort and happiness of mankind, but with the vain desire of self-aggrandisement; not with the intention to secure the praise of God, but with the hope of gaining the applauses of a crowd.

In true patriotism the heart opens and expands. It loves its country and its

+ Titus, iii. 1.

* 1 Peter, ii. 17.

Romans, xii. 18.

§ Acts, v. 29.

countrymen, and feels a pure and exalted delight in its affections. All the generous sensations are alive. Love and Charity accompany every wish and every action; and the whole man, divested of every angry feeling, except against the wicked and the unchristian disturbers of public tranquillity, is wrought up to the noblest enthusiasm in the cause of his King, his Country, and his God.

The opinions which I have now delivered upon this subject, are not (and, I trust you will not think them such) the opinions of political prejudice, nor of mere private judgment; but they are, as I have endeavoured to show you, the sentiments of truth deduced from Scripture, and sanctioned by the highest possible authority, that of the Lord God himself.

What I have to say further upon the subject of your Duty towards your Neighbour, I shall reserve for my next Discourse. I shall now conclude with the words of the Apostle.

*"Let every soul be subject unto the * Romans, xiii. 1-5.