"Their castles were the seats of riot and debauchery; the nurseries of rebellion, and the retreat of plunderers. Every peasant was then a soldier, every village a fortification, every field was tinged with blood; and every wood, and every valley, exhibited scenes of murder and rapine. The people, oppressed and attached to the soil, were disposed of like cattle."

A more disgusting representation can scarcely be given, or one at which human nature more indignantly revolts. Let us turn from it, to contemplate the happy change which hath been gradually produced. The provisions of Magna Charta gave encouragement to commerce, by the protection of foreign merchants; prohibited all delay in the administration of justice, established annual circuits of judges, and confirmed the liberties of all cities and districts. It was the root from which salutary laws gradually sprung up, as the spirit of Christianity had its influence upon the temper of governors and people. To this may be attributed that sense of duty to God, to man, and to their country; that sacred regard to justice and rectitude, which is so conspicuous in the impartiality and incorruptible integrity of our magistrates and judges.

The constitution of England includes the essence of the three different forms of government

which prevail in the world, without the disadvantages which are obvious in many of them. It comprises democracy without confusion, aristocracy without rigour, and monarchy without despotism. These principles are so compounded and mixed, as to form a political system, which is capable of producing more freedom, and true independence, than the celebrated Commonwealths of Athens and Rome could boast; or perhaps than was ever enjoyed in any state at its highest prosperity. May Britons sufficiently appreciate the privileges of their condition, under the shelter and protection of a system so excellent.

In the important article of government, the operation of Christianity has been highly salutary and useful; not by enjoining or prescribing any peculiar form of legislation, but by regulating the respective duties, both of governors, and of those who were governed. It reminded the latter, that their Christian profession did by no means dissolve or weaken their political obligations, but, on the contrary, confirmed and strengthened them; that under whatever form of government they lived, and whatever allegiance they owed before their conversion, the same was not less due from them after it; that their religion made no other alteration in the

case, than that of rendering them still better citizens, and better subjects; and of enforcing every civil tie by the sanction of divine, as well as human authority.

They were not therefore to use their spiritual freedom, "as a cloak of maliciousness," as a cover for faction and mischief, for dissention and tumult; as a pretence for disturbing the peace and order of society; but they were to submit themselves to "6 every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake." They were to be subject to those rulers, under whom Providence placed them, and Christianity found them; "not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake." Rom. xiii. 5.

“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work; to speak evil of no man ; to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men." Tit. iii. 1, 2.

Tytler justly observes: "The history of all nations, evinces that there is an inseparable connection between the morals of a people and their political prosperity. No system of government, however excellent in its fabric, can possess any great measure of duration without that powerful cement-Virtue in the principles and manners of the people. The love of our country, I i

VOL. II.

and the desire for its rational liberty, are noble and virtuous feelings; but there is not any term which has been more prostituted than the word liberty.

“Among a corrupted people, the cry for liberty is heard the loudest from the most profligate of the community. With these its meaning has no relation to patriotism; it imports no more than aversion to restraint; and the personal character of the Demagogue, and the private morals of his disciples, are always sufficient to unmask the counterfeit."

From considerations of the rise and fall of nations, some writers have inculcated the doctrine, that the constitution of empires, like that of the human body, is naturally subject to decay and extinction. Such a position is not merely unfounded and fallacious, but it is pernicious in its consequences. It has a tendency to relax the spring of virtuous exertions for the improvement of political establishments. The human frame is composed of materials from which dissolution is inseparable. But the body politic is not under the influence of any principle of corruption, which may not be checked, and even eradicated by wholesome laws. And will any one assert, that systems of government would not acquire an increase of permanence and stability, in pro

portion to their imbibing the temper and genius of the Gospel; founded, as it is, on principles perfectly adapted to the state of man, wisely intended to correct the depravity of his nature, and thereby to improve the condition of the world?

"The gospel required of rulers, that however unlimited their power might be by the laws and constitution of their country, their conduct, both in public and in private, should be limited and restrained, by the dictates of justice, equity, moderation, mercy, humanity, and universal good will, which the gospel prescribed to them, as well as to every other disciple of Christ. They were told that the authority they were invested with, was given them to be "a terror, not to good works," but to "the evil;" that they were ministers of God, for the good of their people; that of course, if they turned this power to cruel or wicked purposes, they must be accountable for such an abuse to the great Governor of the universe; must stand before his tribunal with the meanest of their subjects to be recompensed for the blessings they had bestowed, or punished for the miseries they had inflicted on mankind.

The equality of the British laws extending their unbounded control, their restraints and privileges from the throne to the cottage, en