stances, or that any horrible circumstances, are abso lutely necessary to make the crime of bribery detestable and worthy of punishment even equal to that of Judas and the Jews. The very act of giving, or of taking, a bribe, implies an intention in the party to do evil; and, though, when the bribe be the price of human blood, our very nature calls on us for an uncommon portion of horror to be felt at the conduct of the criminals; though, when one man deliberately gives, and another as deliberately receives, money, or promises, the exchange against which is to be the death, or ruin, of some one, the love or confidence of whom the bribed wretch is known to possess; though, in such a case, our loudest and bitterest execrations justly fall on the hands of the cool blood-seeking offenders, we must not, for a moment, suppose. that there are cases, where bribery does not demand our detestation and abhorrence, any more than we must suppose, that, because murder is worthy of death, maiming is worthy of no punishment at all.

The Scripture takes care to warn us against this error; for, it holds up to our detestation bribery of every description, and bribery of no kind more distinctly and earnestly than that kind which works its way to our neighbour through a circuitous and general channel; and which destroys the peace and happiness of the community by corrupting the sources of law

of justice. When SAMUEL became old, he set his sons to judge, that is to say, to be rulers or guides, or chief magistrates to the Israelites. But (I. Sam. C 8, V. 3.) his sons "took bribes, and perverted "judgment." That is to say, made partial laws and regulations. Whereupon the Israelites demanded a

ng, in imitation of the neighbouring nations. They were remonstrated with upon this demand; Samuel told them of the sufferings and degradation that this would bring upon them. The answer to that eloquent, beautiful and affecting appeal which he made to them after SAUL was made king, clearly shows how much they revered him. "Behold," says he, “here I am : "witness against me before the LORD and before his "anointed whose ox have I taken? or whose ass "have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom "have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received

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any brile to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will "restore it to you.-And, they said, Thou hast not “defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou ta · "ken ought of any man's hand." I SAM. Ch. 12 V. 3 and 4.

Nevertheless, though they thought as highly of his wisdom as they did of that rare integrity, which had made him give up his own corrupt sons, they persisted in demanding a king, even after he had placed before their eyes the divers acts of despotism which a king would assuredly commit. They knew what was to befall them; but, even despotism, with all its burdens, all its arrogance and all its insolence, they welcomed as a means of freeing them from that tantalizing curse; the oppression of partial laws and a partial administration of public affairs: a mockery of freedom and of justice, carried on through the corrupt influence of bribes, taken by hypocrites clothed in authority.

Bribery is every where, in Holy Writ, marked down amongst the most hateful of public offences. AMOS (Ch. 5. v. 10, 11, 12 and 13) well describes the state of things where bribery prevails 66 They hat

"him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him "that speaketh uprightly. Forasmuch, therefore, as 66 your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him "burdens of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn"stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have "planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink "wine of them. For I know your manifold trans"gressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, "they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in "the gate from their right. Therefore, the prudent "shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.”

Thus it ever is a state of things in which bribery prevails, necessarily consists, in part, of cruel oppression, and especially on the weak, or defenceless, or, as here denominated, the poor. A necessary consequence, danger in complaining of such oppression; and, hence the prophet observes, that, in such a state of things, the prudent will be silent: which may well be called the last stage of human endurance and degradation; for, to suffer, however acutely, is a trifle, compared with the necessity of smothering one's groans; a species of torture which has never been put in practice, except in a state of things where bribery was the pivot of power.

"Gather not" says DAVID (Psalm, 26, V. 8 and 9) my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men, "in whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes." Thus it ever is: the man who can be guilty of bribery, is capable of any act of wickedness. Blood may, in some cases, not be necessary to effect his designs; but the man, who will either give or take a bribe is capable of shedding innocent blood rather than not effect his purposes. His heart must be

corrupt in the first, and it must have become perfectly callous, before he can, to the face of another man, give or take, a bribe. ISAIAH adds his authority to that of DAVID. He describes the good man thus: "He that

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speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of op "pressions, that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, and that stoppeth his ears from hearing of 'blood; he shall dwell on high; his place of defence "shall be the munitions of rocks."

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In this beautiful passage, too, we find oppression and bloody-mindedness associated with bribery; and, it really does seem, that they are inseparable, and that, while oppression and cruelty cannot be carried to any great extent without bribery, this last can never be practised extensively without producing the two former.

Hateful, therefere, as the thing is in itself, it becomes still more hateful when we take its consequences into view. When we reflect on the state of depravity, at which men must have arrived, befere they can open to each other a transaction, the very name of which acknowledges infamy in the actors, how are we to refrain from abhorring the wretch guilty of the offence? In other crimes, accomplices fall gradually into each other's views; they undertake, and only undertake; and are involved in the sin frequently without perceiving the extent. But, in the case of bribery, the two parties meet; they negociate, looking each other in the face by the light of God's sun; and they coolly make and ratify a bargain, which stamps villain on the front of both. Bribery, nine times out of ten, includes a breach of trust, or confidence: it is an act of perfidy, bought on the one side and sold on the other; and that, too with the clear foreknowledge of its roducing,

first or last, wrong to some part or other of the rest of mankind But, still, we have but an imperfect idea of its wickedness till we come to contemplate its consequences; till we consider the evils it brings in its train the oppressions, the acts of cruelty, the ruin, the misery, the destruction of individuals, the disgrace and overthrow of nations, the rivers of human blood, which, through its means, are poured out on the sacri legious altar of ambition and avarice. Luxury and effeminacy bring their evils; superstition has also its scourge in its hand; pride, folly, indolence, ignorance and insolence, have their chastisements for the nation that indulges in them; but, let bribery once take root: let its corrupting fibres once get fast hold; let its branches spread abroad, and all becomes poison and rottenness: the nation is doomed to suffer long and much; and even half-destruction becomes a blessing, if it rid a people of the degrading and intolerable

curse.

Let us not, however, be content with this rather general view of the matter, and seem to consider it as a thing, with regard to which we ourselves have nothing to do. Let us rather, every man look well into his own conduct; and, judging impartially, settle the important point; whether we are in anywise blameable as to this matter. For, nations are composed of individuals if no individual were corrupt, all would be sound. Bribery requires two parties to give it its consummation; and, if there were none to take, there could be none to give, bribes; and, hence it has been eld by some, that where corruption of this kind prevails, the greater part of the fault lies with those who take bribes. In truth, however, there is no difference

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