and forming correct habits, exalts the morals of individuals and nations. Society is transformed from immorality to morality; from rudeness to refinement. Duty in all its details is understood and practised. All the efforts of human science and philosophy cannot afford this knowledge, or produce this effect. They cannot reach the heart or reform the life. Nor can they discover the true standard of righteousness. Thus deficient in the meaning of what is right or wrong, and in the power of coercing to that which is right, and restraining from that which is wrong, they are evidently inefficient for human happiness. The mere evolution of faculties, if their exercise be not directed to proper objects, will not form the habits. These result from a deep impression of duty upon the heart, and contemplate the acquisition of real good as their ultimate design. Hence righteousness, by affording to the mind such objects as are worthy of attention, so elicits its various powers as to form the habits, which, having truth for their foundation, are a well-spring of enjoyment to men. Without righteousness, our mental acquirements must and will

prove useless, if not injurious; because they do not relate to that knowledge which God has revealed, and the cultivation of which is ever accompanied with the practice of strict and universal morality: for such knowledge reaches the heart and corrects its depravity. Without righteousness, therefore, it is as impossible for a nation to be moral as to be well informed.

3. Righteousness exalteth the political state of a nation.

Man is a creature evidently formed for social intercourse. For this his bodily powers and mental faculties are admirably fitted: to this his affection for the species irresistibly constrains him. Hence you find, from time immemorial, man every where associating with his fellow man. He never existed in a state of individuality, a solitary, brute-like wretch. But, on the contrary, from the time of the first pair, has been connected with his species in a family, a tribe, or a nation. In all these forms, social intercourse demands laws of one kind or another, more or less simple: and these again must be administered by some and obeyed by others. Government

therefore does not arise from the weakness but from the nature of man'. It is not the offspring of chance or contingency, but the appointment of God, to meet the social nature of man. It is not therefore in the abstract a curse, or an imposition, but a blessing. The magistrate is the minister of God for good.

The distinction between governors and governed, is a natural one: we find it in families, in tribes, and in nations. It is coeval with the first society, and absolutely necessary for carrying into effect the design of laws.

On this distinction righte

Dundee ed. In

t Horsley's Sermons, vol. 3. Ser. 43. this Sermon, some of the best and most satisfactory views of civil government will be found. In the Appendix, the Bishop has undertaken to vindicate the Genevan Reformer from the charge of being a leveller. He has, however, with others, exhibited him as naturally harsh in his temper. The chief evidence of such a temper, is the agency of Calvin in the death of Servetus. Granting his agency to the full extent of the charge, it by no means makes him more harsh or unfeeling than Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who prevailed upon King Edward to sign the death-warrant of an Anabaptist, (Burnet's Hist. 2d part, b. 1. p. 111, 112.); or than Socinus, who, for a difference of opinion from Davides, had him cast into prison, where he died. (Fuller's Socin. and Calvin. Schemes Compared, Lett. 8. Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. 4.) Why then do not the Episcopalians and Socinians look at home?

ousness as explained sheds its most benign effects, making governors and governed a mutual blessing to each other. It unfolds the essence of all government, as consisting in reasonableness, firmness, and unchangeableness. Magistrates ought never to require any thing but that which is reasonable; if it be reasonable, nothing ought to divert them from enforcing it. They ought to persist in exacting obedience without changing.

Besides this, righteousness adds its awful sanctions to the authority of government. It teaches and enforces subordination, that fundamental principle necessary in all societies. It establishes parental authority and family discipline, without which civil communities cannot flourish. By thus qualifying men in private, it prepares them for public duties. It teaches magistrates to be just, ruling in the fear of God. It reminds them of their responsibility to the King of kings. It affords them the soundest, purest maxims for government. Its precepts are as binding on subjects as on them. They are exhorted to lead peaceable and quiet lives; to obey them; to speak well of them; to pray for them. Magistrates,

influenced by righteousness, view their subjects as children; and religious subjects view their magistrates as nursing-fathers and mothers. They study to promote each other's prosperity and happiness.

Where righteousness prevails, there civil freedom is enjoyed. I mean not that licentiousness for which irreligious theorists have pled, and which, under the imposing name of freedom, is the most galling and destructive despotism; but the freedom of law; a freedom which originates in efficient faith and sound literature; a faith and literature, the seed of which is only to be found in righteousness. From this source all good, wholesome, mild, humane, and just laws, derive not only their being and spirit, but also their sanctions. By unfolding to view the certainty of future judgment, righteousness operates on the hopes and fears of men. By imparting justice and wisdom to the ruler, by exciting the ruled to cheerful obedience, by stamping on laws its own equity and sanctity, it removes the fruitful source of discord, rebellion, and wars in society, and produces harmony and peace. It connects together the different relations in civil society by the strongest ties; gives sta