ance to this. Yet so great is the perversity of man, that a wise legislator, and a skilful warrior, has ever attracted more of the world's applause than a pious king. As a Christian king cannot preserve peace and suppress evil, without the aid of judges and other instruments of justice; and as he cannot protect his territory without armies and fleets, so neither can he promote the increase of the Church of Christ, without a body of persons thereunto especially appointed. For as it would be very absurd to suppose that each man could protect his property by his own craft and care; or that the state could be defended by the desultory bravery of the inhabitants, without the need of persons put apart especially for those purposes; so is it equally absurd to suppose that the Christian religion could exist, be protected, or be extended, by the uncombined exertions of individuals, without any authority or facilities being afforded them by the sovereign. For a state to exist without a religion of some sort being united to it, is a solecism in the world; the

new revolutionary democracy of America being the first that ever attempted it: so that the experience of four thousand years in every corner of the globe, might have taught some diffidence to those who fondly dream that the Christian religion would thrive equally well if the king were an atheist, and if it had no more protection or encouragement from him than Mahometanism, Judaism, or Deism. Woe be to that king and to that nation in which such maxims shall ever prevail.

The remarks of Mr. Anderson, respecting the father of a family, are equally applicable to the father of a people. "When God places any man at the head of a family, does He not say by such a step, I constitute you as the trustee, the guide, the guardian of this part of mankind: all under the roof are your charge, and to you entrusted?' Now, for what end? to be ruled, or not? to be instructed, or not? to be by your example and your precepts led to heaven, or not? the negative in such cases is not merely monstrous-it is profane.” In

unison with the same sentiments does the

曲

we

Church of England pray for the king," that He, knowing Whose minister he is;" and " duly considering Whose authority he hath," may fulfil his and our several duties; and in a subsequent prayer, speaks of the people "committed to his charge," whom he is to study to preserve in godliness."

It is not to be denied that the Christian principle, upon which the observance of moral duties is enjoined in Holy Scripture, is as much lost sight of by the religious, as by the irreligious, part of the community; and that there is as systematic a violation of them by Evangelicals as by Papists. If children are abandoned by their parents it matters nothing, as far as their welfare and God's ordinance are concerned, whether the parents profess one creed or another, or whether they pass their time in a ball, or in a committee-room. If parishes are neglected by their pastors, it is immaterial as far as the poor are concerned, and as far as the studies of the minister are concerned, whether he is at a fox-chase, or travelling for a society:

whether he spends his time at Bath and Cheltenham, or at Geneva and Rome. If the king's vicegerency for Christ, over his kingdom and over his church, is to be gain. said, it does not signify, as far as the constitution of a Christian state is concerned, whether it is by infidel republicanism, or by unsanctified liberalism. This condition of things has been brought about very much by a system of religion of human invention, a compliance with which has been substituted for respect to the ordinances of God. Such was Pharisaism of old, and such was the system which received its consummation in the Popish apostacy, and such is the system which has caused men professing Evangelical religion to become amalgamated with the Infidel apostacy of these days. At no period since the promulgation of a free salvation to Eve, Noah, and Abraham, could men deny that salvation was to flow through faith in some sense or other. The Pharisees only begged that it might be seen to be influential in broad phylacteries and clean hands; the Papists only insist that it should be mani

fested by good works; and Evangelicals only urge, in addition, the fruits of the Spirit. The Pharisaic and Popish system had at least this advantage, that it was visible; and no one could make a pretence to religion, while living in open contradiction to his own maxims, without being detected to be a hypocrite. But the chief evil of the Evangelical system, is, that it is invisible; that it consists in a set of inward frames and feelings, upon the perception of which the devotee concludes himself religious or otherwise; so that his mind is continually set upon their cultivation, while the ordinances of God's institution are lightly esteemed; and thousands live in utter ignorance and despite of them, who nevertheless are believed to be, and believe themselves to be, most eminent saints of God. Thus they congregate into a sect, which they call the religious world; making a rend and faction in the body of Christ's baptized people, in defiance of every sound principle, and even of the secret misgivings of those who are really spiritual among them. To the wheels of this system.