" omitted to send to Tyre a tenth of the revenue "of the republic, which they were accustomed "annually to do, as an offering to Hercules, the

patron and protector of Tyre and Carthage; and, secondly, for having only sacrificed to Saturn the children of slaves and beggars, instead "of those of the best families in Carthage. In consequence of their supposed impiety, they "made an open and public confession of it; and,

66

to expiate their guilt, they sent to Tyre a great "number of shrines of their deities, made wholly "of gold, and a sacrifice of two hundred children "of the first rank was offered to appease the "wrath of their sanguinary god." I mention this to prove the sense the Pagans had, first, of the interference of their gods in human concerns; and, secondly, that they believed them to be avengers of impiety and injustice, and that such vengeance was inflicted by means of human agents. In whichever view therefore we consider the objection to God's providence, from tyrants being occasionally seated on thrones, whether placed there to punish the wickedness of mankind or not, their being so seated is no argument against that providence; for if they are raised up for the express purpose of accomplishing the will and designs of God, it is an irresistible, an invincible argument of his interference in the affairs of mankind. And if they succeed to the throne in lineal descent,

and wantonly and unnecessarily act as tyrants, their conduct being then contrary to the will of God, and to the directions given them by reason, conscience, and a moral sense, if Heathens; and by reason, conscience, a moral sense, and the express revelation of his will on this subject, if Christian princes; nothing can be more absurd than to ascribe the nefarious conduct of such monarchs as an objection to the providence of God, when that very providence has been peculiarly careful, in various intelligible ways, to prescribe to these monarchs, as free agents, a particular course of conduct perfectly in their power to adopt, and they wantonly and wilfully presume, in direct defiance and disobedience to that particular course, to act in a way in all respects diametrically opposite to it.

Upon the whole, though it is impossible that a finite being should be able to comprehend the ways and proceedings of an infinite Being; and though with respect to God's providence man can only, in general, be said to view it "as through "a glass darkly;" yet we are permitted to see clearly into it so far, with respect to his conduct to the human species, as to be absolutely certain, that it is his invariable will that virtue should ever be the parent of human happiness, and vice of misery: this conclusion being equally agreeable to the reason and conscience of man, and its truth

K

confirmed by the records both of sacred and profane history.

When the Jewish people, as a nation, served and feared God, as they did under the reign of Joshua and Solomon, it is particularly mentioned, that " every man sat peaceably under his vine and fig-tree," &c. And in profane history, Aristotle observes*, that " from the foundation of Carthage. "to his time," (upwards of 500 years,) "no con"siderable sedition had ever disturbed the peace "of the state." And Polybius, in his 6th book remarks, that " during the several ages that the "laws, of Lycurgus were observed in Sparta, no "commotions or seditions of the people alarmed "the city." And Plato equally observes, in his first book de Leg. that "the hard and sober manner in which these people were educated, in

spired them with a natural taste for temperance; 46 SO that drunkenness, debauchery, and all their "concomitant disorders, were banished from Spar

ta, and its dependent territory." Now Plato, Aristotle, and Polybius, all ascribe the periodical happiness of these nations to virtue, as implicated in the wisdom of their laws, and in the wise and virtuous manner of their administration. The same truth applies particularly to the earlier part of the Roman commonwealth, to the whole of the reign

* Lib. ii. c. 11. de Repub.

of Numa, and to the middle and latter part of the reign of Augustus. In lesser bodies and communities of men, as in the small Grecian republics, we see the same event, that is, their happiness was for the most part in proportion to their virtue: and every individual, by applying to his own breast, must be convinced that guilt is the source of sorrow, and not only so, but that the providence of God usually, at least very frequently, inflicts a punishment analogous to, or flowing immediately from, his crime; so that men generally, or very often, are able to see their crime in their punishment. How many characters, for example, who have violently transgressed the duties of husbands, fathers, and masters, have been retributively punished in a second conjugal union, in disobedient, worthless children, and treacherous and faithless servants! and how often does intemperance occasion diseases peculiarly appropriate to, and flowing directly from, that intemperance! Then, if we consider how often kings and states have been providentially preserved from dark and dangerous conspiracies; how very seldom it happens but that murders are discovered, though committed in the most occult and secret manner; how frequently it has happened to almost every man, who has lived to any age, to have himself experienced instances of providential escapes from accidents and

dangers: and when to all this we reflect how God in his goodness has provided every thing necessary for the food and raiment of the human species, for the sustenance of bird, beast, and fish, uninterruptedly, for a course of six thousand years, and so perfectly, that, as the pious Hooker asks, "How many sparrows have you met in your "walks that have perished for hunger?" surely when any candid, considerate man reads the express declarations in Scripture, that God by his providence does govern the world, that the very hairs of our head are numbered; considers the blessings which in real life attend a virtuous con

* There is a remarkable instance of this interference of Provi dence recorded in the third volume of Captain Cartwright's Voyage to Labrador. "The storm lasted three quarters of an 66 hour; and even afterwards blew so hard till ten at night, that 66 we could not shew one rag of sail. It is easier to imagine than "to describe the anxiety of our minds, when we discovered rag"ged rocks close under our lee, and expected every minute, "from ten o'clock on the Saturday morning till eight on Sunday "night, in a most violent gale of wind, to be driven on them. "We then most devoutly went to prayers; I officiated as chap"lain; and no sooner had we done, than, to the admiration and "astonishment of every man on board, the wind became per"fectly moderate, (it shifted four points in our favour,) the

sky cleared, and, miraculous to relate, the sea, which before "ran 'as high and as dangerous as it could well do, in an instant "became as smooth as if we had shot under the lee of Scilly, at "five or six leagues distance! We could attribute all these things 66 to nothing but the effect of the immediate interposition of the "Divinity, who had been graciously pleased to hear our prayers, "and grant our petitions; and I hope I shall never be of a con"trary way of thinking."