righteous may not be afflicted by their punishment. Thus it was that after the destruction of an irreclaimable race of men, the family of Noah was chosen to renovate the world; and to them was the opportunity conferred of disseminating those principles of righteousness, upon which its existence and welfare was to depend; for "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Thus would the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have been spared from total destruction, out of respect to the character, and the compassionate feelings of Lot, had not their degeneracy been so universal. The exemplary piety of Abraham, amidst an idolatrous people, his ready obedience to the Divine commands, and submission to the severest trial to which an affectionate parent could be exposed, were pe culiarly acceptable to God; and were remunerated by the peculiar privileges promised to his posterity. He had assurances that they should become a great nation; that they should finally possess the land of Canaan; and that "in him shall all the families of the earth be blessed." They were accordingly selected from a wicked and ignorant race of men, to be initiated in the principles of religion and virtue; to be a deposit of sacred truths, which were hidden from the rest

of the world; and to be the channel of commuication of spiritual blessings to mankind.While other nations continued in palpable darkess, the light of Divine truths shone around them: They had the first offer to become pious, moral, and happy, to a degree not to be obtained by natural means: They were promised the peculiar patronage and protection of heaven, upon the condition of their obedience to the commands of heaven, which they were enabled by a peculiar revelation to accomplish. Nor was there a single act of piety unrewarded, or mark of sincere contrition rejected.

Similar to these privileges, which were common to the whole nation of the Hebrews, we are presented with some other evidences, of the effects of Divine complacency being extended beyond the person of the agent. The distinguished virtue and piety of Joseph, procured to him the gratifying assurance, that his two sons, although born of an Egyptian woman, should participate in the honour of forming tribes in Israel. When Solomon encouraged idolatrous worship, although "the Lord was angry because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel;" and it was the determination of heaven to rend the kingdom;

"In thy

yet the suspension of so great an evil was ascrib, ed to the piety of his father David. days I will not do it for David thy father's sake, neither will I send away all thy kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Israel's sake whom I have chosen."

Thus far did distinguished and honourable advantages extend, by the influence of compla cency, from those who possessed singular merit, to those who had no personal claim; but no further. The Jewish people were warned, from the earliest period, and through every stage of their political existence, that permanent prosperity, and permanent happiness, were alone to be the result of their personal qualifications. These were alone to be procured by the purity of their worship, and the strictness of their morals.Accordingly, the whole of their history informs us, that they were rewarded or punished, enjoyed national honours, and suffered national disgrace, in a manner correspondent to the state of their religious and moral characters.

Favours thus conferred upon the descendants of those who were eminently pious and good, insulted no one; were an injury to no one. There was not a privation to any one of a single privi lege or right, to which he was naturally entitled. The chief object of envy in their state, was the power of communicating blessings; and there

still remained, to the envious, the power of participation in these blessings. But a dreadful responsibility was attached to such distinctions. The disgrace of their impieties was in exact proportion to their superior advantages. A determination to shut the eyes, and not to walk in the light of heaven, implies much greater culpability, than to wander in the ignorance and darkness to which the surrounding nations were involuntarily subjected.

It was remarked, upon a former occasion, that the principle of displacency sometimes operates in a similar manner; that the human mind is prone to transfer, and, as it were, impute guilt, to the innocent, who are intimately allied to the supposed offender. But this principle is confined within very narrow bounds, and ought to be of a short duration in its influence. It is founded upon the assumption, that the dependants or relatives of aggressors, are virtually partakers in the offence: That they are the culpable parts of a culpable whole. It is inferred, that persons in these intimate connexions, possess the same spirit, approve of the same conduct, and are disposed to act in a similar manner. Nor are such apprehensions unfounded, as long as the only laws of society which are avowed, consist in an

inviolate attachment to a particular clan or party. The progress of civilization; greater freedom of intercourse; the diffusion of better principles; and the discovery that individuals are not always obstinate partizans in an unjust cause, gradually moderate the severity of these early maxims, and open a path for the exercise of clemency, and for the more accurate discriminations of justice.

When the intentional punishment of one man, or bodies of men, for the offences of others, shall no longer exist, there will still remain that kind of punishment for the offences of parents and ancestry, which proceeds from the natural influence of cause and effect. Advantages lost, or calamities induced by the folly of predecessors, will sometimes acquire a permanency, which it may not be in the power of subsequent wisdom speedily to remove. Degeneracy also propagates degeneracy; and, according to the usual process of things, will be productive of all those miseries which are the natural result of-degeneracy.

Whoever admits the validity of the above ob servations, must admit that the numerous expressions of affectionate concern, uttered by the mouths of the prophets, in the name of their God; the frequent and earnest expostulations with this stubborn people, so far from being indicaticas of personal complacency, are the strongest tokens