the only way, in which persons in private life can) serve their country. For the rest, there will be always dead to bury the dead. The instruments whom the Lord employs in political matters are usually such as are incapable of better employment. All things and persons serve him; but there are services under the direction of his providence which are not good enough for his own children. They belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their scriptural character is, that they are the " quiet in the land."

The reasoning for a more equal representation in parliament is specious; but while infidelity and profii. gacy abound among rich and poor; while there is such a general want of principle and public spirit among all ranks; I apprehend, that, whatever changes might take place in this business, no real benefit will follow. The consequence would rather be the introduction of perjury, bribery, drunkenness, and riot, into towns, which have hitherto been more exempted from them than the boroughs. As the numbers of buyers increased, so would the number of those who are willing to be sold. And I know that many judicious people in Birmingham and Manchester are so sensible of this, that they would be sorry to have elections among them, though there are exceptions. I have so poor an opinion of the bulk both of the electors and the elected, that, I think, if the seats in the house of commons could be determined by a lottery, abundance of mischief and wickedness might be prevented, and perhaps the nation might be represented to as much advantage by this as by any other method; but these are not my concerns.

The position, that, if the body of a people are aggrieved, they have a right to redress themselves, must be much limited and modified before I can recon

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cile it to Scripture. I am not fond of despots; but I think, if ever there was one upon earth, Nebuchadnezzar was a despot. Whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down; Dan. v. 18, 19. Yet Jeremiah declares, that the Lord had given him this despotic power, and had commanded all the nations to serve him. Surely, if you and I had been there (knowing what we know now), we should not have disputed this command, nor have excited the people, however oppressed, to shake off the yoke which God himself had put upon them: and if, for our sins, the Lord should put us under the power of the Russians, I should rather look to him than to man for deliverance.

I think a heathen said, "The day which deprives a "man of his liberty, robs him of half his virtues." If I was a heathen I should say so too. But the Gospel teaches me otherwise. The apostle expected that believing servants, who at that time, I suppose, were chiefly bond-servants or slaves, would act from nobler principles, and aim at a more sublime end, than the conception of philosophers had ever reached to. That they would act from a regard to the glory of God our Saviour, and to the honour of his Gospel; Tit. ii. 10. 1 Tim. vi. 1.; and elsewhere he says, 1 Cor. vii. 21. "Art thou called, being a servant? care not for it: but " if thou mayst be made free, use it rather." If Divine Providence offers you a manumission, accept it with thankfulness; if not, it is but a trifle to you, who are already the Lord's freedman; and, in your most servile: employments, if submitted to for his sake, you are accepted of him no less than if you were placed in the most honourable and important stations. The Christian, however situated, must be free indeed, for the Son of God has made him so. On the other hand, you and I, dear sir, know how much they are to be pitied

who are frantic for what they call liberty, and consider not that they are in the most deplorable bondage, the slaves of sin and Satan, and subject to the curse of the law, and the wrath of God. Oh! for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know themselves, and seek deliverance from their dreadful thraldom. Satan has many contrivances to amuse them, and to turn their thoughts from their real danger; and none seem more ensnaring, in the present day, than to engage them in the cry, "Great is the Diana Liberty!" May you and I labour with success to direct them to the one thing which is absolutely needful, and abundantly sufficient. The Socinians are rather the most forward in this cry; which I fear will have a baneful influence upon the power of religion among the more evangelical dissenters. An agreement in political sentiments produces much cordiality and intercourse between those who, in point of doctrine, have stood at the greatest distance. And already, in some pulpits (proh dolor!) a description of the rights of man occupies much of the time which used to be employed in proclaiming the glory and grace of the Saviour, and the rights of Cod to the love and obedience of his creatures.

As to the revolution in France, I suppose no human person was sorry when the Bastile was destroyed, and the pillars of their oppressive government shaken.The French had then a great opportunity put into their hands. I pretend not to judge of the political merit of their constitution; but, if I approved it in other respects, I durst not praise it so strongly as you do, while I knew it was planted in atheism, and has been watered with deluges of human blood; while I knew it began in insult to Christianity, and aimed at its abolition.

However, their first admired constitution is now at an end, and has no more force than the repeated oaths by which they bound themselves to maintain it. And now, not content with pleasing themselves, they are aiming to force their schemes upon the surrounding nations. I should call this Quixotism in the extreme, if I did not consider them as saws and hammers in the hand of the Lord. So far as they are his instruments they will succeed, but not an inch farther. Their wrath shall praise him to the full extent of its acting, and be subservient to his designs; the remainder of it he will restrain. And, when he maketh inquisition for the blood they have wantonly shed, and for their defiance of his great name, neither their phantom liberty, nor their idol Voltaire, will screen them from his norice.

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I am sorry for your severe censures on the pre sent administration. For, when I compare the state of the nation in the year 1783, or at the time of the king's illness, with what it is now, I cannot but think that the providence of God raised up Mr. Pitt for the good of these kingdoms, and that no man could do what he has done unless a blessing from on high had been upon his counsels and measures, speak simply; having nothing to hope, or, as I think, to fear from men in power, I am not concerned to vindicate the conduct of ministry in the lump; but I believe, though it be easy to draw up theories and schemes in the closet, which may look very pretty and plausible upon paper, difficulties will occur in the administration of a great people, which can scarcely be conceived of by persons in private life. And, with respect to Britain at present, I believe, if the prophet Daniel was at the head of our affairs, or if all our ministers were angels, the corruption and venality of the times would labour hard to counteract their designs.

There is no new thing under the sun. When I

read Sallust's account of the Jugurthine war, I seem to read (mutatis mutandis) our own history. The wealth and luxury which followed the successes of Lucullus in Asia soon destroyed all appearance of public spirit in Rome. Our acquisitions in the East have had a similar effect. I know some persons who, after giving full proof of their incompetency to manage their own private affairs, after having ruined their families by dissipation, and stained their characters by fraud and bankruptcy, have presently set up for national reformers. I am very sorry they should seem to have the sanction of such a name as yours.

I know not even the names of the gentlemen who compose the society of "the friends of the people," and consequently have no prejudice against their characters. But you yourself are sorry, and seem surprised that they should adopt an eulogium upon Mr. Paine. I am sorry likewise, but I am not sur. prised. Ex pede Herculem! I rely more upon this feature, than on all their declarations. When you say that, allowing them to be men of penetration, nothing more is necessary to establish the purity of their intentions, it sounds very strange to me, when I consider it as the sentiment of the author of the two sermons which I have read with so much pleasure. Surely it cannot accord with your knowledge of human nature!

When our Lord was upon earth, he refused to be a judge or a divider. And he said afterwards, "My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, then " would my servants fight." I should think, as Peter thought, that if any thing could have justified resistance in a disciple, that was the time when Jesus was apprehended by wicked men, to be condemned and crucified; but his master rebuked his zeal. I think that, as Christians, we have nothing to expect