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teach us that, as he setteth a righteous prince over a people that fear and serve him, so he often sendeth an unrighteous one to punish a wicked nation. In Job it is said, that "God maketh a "wicked man to reign, for the sins of the people;" and in Hosea, that "he giveth a prince," meaning an evil one," in his anger; and taketh away a prince," that is, a good one, "in his displea"sure." When, therefore, we have a good prince, let us by our obedience move God to continue him; when we have one of another character, let us repent of those sins which provoked him to set such an one over us, and he will deliver us as he sees fit, either by taking him away or changing his heart; for "the king's heart is in the hand of "the Lord as the rivers of water; he turneth it "whithersoever he will."-In one word, let us either deserve good governors, or bear with such as we deserve.

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Happy are we of this nation (did we but know our own happiness!) in possessing a constitution so framed by the wisdom of ages, as almost to preclude the necessity of nice questions and disputes upon this topic. In an empire extended like ours, government cannot be conducted by an assembly of the people at large, but they are free to choose the persons by whom they will be represented in the great council of the nation; and if these do not give satisfaction, they are free, at certain constantly returning periods, to change them for others. In this council of representatives most laws originate; without their consent none can be enacted; nor can any be enacted till

they have been re-considered and discussed in another assembly of the nobility, men of the first families and fortunes in the country, men liberally educated, men of reading and experience. To acts thus framed by one set of men, matured, revised, and, if need be, corrected by another, every kind of information being first called in by both, is requisite the consent of the prince. And even, after all, if when promulgated and carried into execution, a law has been found productive of unforeseen inconveniences and hardships to any particular class of subjects, upon petitions being duly preferred to the legislature, it has been taken afresh into consideration, altered, and amended. It seems impossible for imagination itself to conceive a form of government better calculated to answer every good purpose. The subject has all the liberty he can have, consistently with the very being of society; while, to the ease and comfort of the prince, as well as the security of his people, his power is so defined and settled, that he can do no wrong, but "by and "with the consent and advice of both houses of "parliament." This constitution has long been the glory of Britain, and the envy of most nations around us; nay, the people nearest in situation to us, with whom the solicitude of an Englishman, for it was a constant subject of ridicule, have undergone such an astonishing inversion of national character, that they are fainting and languishing for something like it, and have thrown their country into convulsions to obtain it. From an eminence, the firm and solid shore, we behold

the storm raging below, with the satisfaction of reflecting, that we neither raised it, nor wish to take any advantage of it.

At the head of our constitution, we may say without flattery, appears a king, whose first principle it is to fear God, and his first wish that all his subjects might do the same, and experience that support from above, under all their trials and afflictions which he has experienced under all his own; and, in time, that deliverance from them.

A cloud suddenly appeared in the horizon, soon overspread the face of the sky, and obscured the source of light and motion in our political system. Directed whither to have recourse for assistance, the intercessory prayer of a whole people ascended to the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, the sure refuge of all who call upon him in the time of trouble.—The prayer was heard-the cloud passed; the day returned; the King was seen rejoicing in thy strength, O Lord; and a nation revived from the dead, again walking in the light of thy countenance; joy and gladness were heard in our land, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Thousands and ten thousands hailed the restoration of their sovereign to them with tears of gratitude, confessing they never knew before how dear he was to them.

May this great blessing never fall from our remembrance; and may no future offences and transgressions of ours prevent it from being permanent; may gladness in our hearts produce righteousness in our lives, and mercy melt those whom judgment could not soften; may the goodness of

God answer the end which it is always intended to answer, that of leading us to repentance, through faith unfeigned, and love unbounded, to those blissful regions, where shall be no more death, neither crying nor pain, but earthly sorrow shall end in heavenly joy, and a temporal cross be succeeded by an eternal crown,

DISCOURSE LX.

THE CHRISTIAN KING.

1 PETER ii. 21.

Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.

WHEN the angels beheld the dark and disordered state of created nature upon its first production, they were, doubtless, thrown into some perplexity to conceive how it should ever be made a means of manifesting forth the glory of the Creator. But when they saw the light spring up at the divine command, from that blackness of darkness, and fix its residence in its tabernacle the sun, illuminating and adorning the firmament of heaven with its glorious show, and the earth, with its beautiful furniture, all formed out of rudeness and confusion; then they confessed that the difficulty of the work served only to display the skill of the Workmaster, which is proportionably estimated by the unpromising nature of the materials.

In like manner, whoever views the chaos to which the infinite wisdom of a presiding Providence sometimes permits the moral world to be