the blessing and protection of God, and is the object of the love, reverence, and devoted attachment of mankind. Mean, debased, contemptible must be that soul which can prefer the gratification of low ambition, of sordid interest, or of the lust of tyrannical power, to the consciousness of diffusing benefits and happiness among a whole people, to their unbought and widely sounding applause, to the immortality of glory which history bestows, and to that eternal crown which is reserved in heaven for all those who, in the exercise of power, imitate the wisdom and goodness of him from whom all power originally proceeds! How degenerate, how callous must be that heart which is insensible to the exulting declaration of Job!" When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

I brake the jaws of

the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." "A wise king scattereth the wicked,

a Job xxix. 11–17.

and bringeth the wheel over them. Mercy and truth preserve the king; and his throne is upholden by mercy." A more infamous perversion of words, or a more blasphemous insult to the majesty of heaven, cannot be conceived, than that of asserting a divine right to employ power for oppressive and tyrannical purposes. Let those who pretend to derive their authority exclusively from God, imitate his wisdom and beneficence, and apply their power to the ends to which his is always directed. Let their doctrine be proved by its blessed effects. If these cannot be produced, let them acknowledge that their power is derived from an opposite quarter, and dread that, "haply being found to fight against God," they share the final and complete overthrow of all his enemies. For," as a roaring lion, and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people." "If a ruler hearken unto lies, all his servants are wicked." "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. For he beareth not the sword in vain; but is sent for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." It is, therefore, the incumbent duty of rulers and magistrates to conform their commands and laws to the immutable law of God, and to the particular constitution of the state under which they have received,

a Prov. xx. 26, 28. b Prov. xxviii. 15; xxix. 12. Rom. xiii. 3,4. 1 Pet. ii. 14.

and exercise their power. Christianity has created a new relation of superintendence and direction on the one hand, and of obedience and docility on the other, proceeding from her character of the purest and most comprehensive benevolence. I mean that of pastors and their flocks. Such an institution was, and must have been, utterly unknown to paganism; and although the Jews had their interpreters of the law, and their religious instructors of the people, yet their office was, in many respects, different from that of the ministers of Jesus Christ. Jewish doctors not only explained and interpreted the laws and institutions of Moses, as they regarded religion; but, as their religious and civil code was the same, they also officiated as lawyers and judges. The law of Christ, being intended for all nations, is not otherwise connected with civil government and jurisprudence, than as it establishes those general principles of moral obligation on which all salutary and equitable law must be founded, and, separated from which, it becomes unjust, partial, and pernicious.

The

a How expressive of the benevolent heart of a good king, was the saying of Henry IV. of France! "Qu'il esperoit voir le jour quand chaque François auroit, tous les dimanches, une poule au pot.""He hoped to see the day when every Frenchman would, on Sundays, always have a fowl in his pot." Better still was the saying of our own now deeply distressed king::-"That he hoped to see the time when every one of his subjects would be able to read the Bible."-This was written before the decease of George III.

With the proper change of circumstances, and with due regard to the peculiar objects to which religion is directed, the same principles are applicable to ecclesiastical authority and obedience, which regulate and define every other species of government and submission. Both are designed for the benefit of the governed, not for the private interest of those who rule; and the religious as well as the civil community must be benefited by the order established, and by the authority exercised. No Christian community could receive the smallest advantage, unless its members were disposed to listen to the in ́structions tendered them, to admit their truth, as founded on the word of God, to acknowledge the capacity, the integrity, the fidelity, the prudence, and the affection of their teachers, and to acquiesce in their decisions, as far as they find them conformable to the oracles of infallible wisdom and boundless goodness. These same considerations, however, clearly dictate the duties of ecclesiastical instructors and rulers. the people are in conscience bound to listen to them with deference and docility, they are equally bound to teach them nothing but what is authorized by the sacred scriptures. If the former are obliged, by their Christian profession, to entertain towards their pastors, respect, deference, and docility of disposition, these last are under the most sacred obligations to qualify them

If

a

selves for their sacred functions, by diligent and successful study, both of the sources whence all sound religious knowledge must be derived, and of those branches of human learning, which are more immediately connected with their profession, or tend so to store and enlarge the mind, as to qualify it for any public station. They are bound "not to handle the word of God deceitfully, but, by manifestation of the truth, commending themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." They are bound to set before their flocks, a virtuous, pious, and, in all respects, a Christian example; and to sacrifice every temporal consideration to the faithful discharge of their duty, and to the spiritual improvement and everlasting salvation of those committed to their pastoral care. They are bound "not to seek the praise of men more than the praise of God;" to flatter and court neither the great nor the mean; to keep constantly in view the service of their divine master, and to expect from his hands the reward of their prudent, diligent, and faithful labours. On the duties both of people and pastors, we have the following express dic tates of scripture. "We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their work's