of God's moral law, than the same sin embodied in external acts, that man is prohibited from interference with such offences; but because of the impossibility of one man judging of the thoughts and intents of another man's mind, except when these are manifested in visible acts. The rule that is applicable to evil purposes is also applicable to good purposes. If a man cannot, and dare not if he would, punish another for his thoughts; neither may he arrogate to himself the right of rewarding another for his thoughts.

The very nature of man's spirit places it not only beyond the scrutinizing glance of another man, but also out of the reach of any means of punishment, which it is within the compass of the human imagination to devise. Those human governments that have unwisely usurped God's prerogative, and enacted laws imposing penalties upon their subjects because of their opinions, and who, in their blind and ignorant zeal for what they termed truth, justice, morality, and order, have deprived of civil privileges and civil liberty-have cast into prison-have tortured-yea, killed those who would not conform to their ways of thinking—must be told, that they are themselves the enemies of truth and justice, morality and order; they must be reminded, that their power was given them for the protection and defence of the civil privileges and liberty-the life and property-of every citizen of their nation; and if, even in one case, they have visited a man's opinions with deprivation of any one, or all of these, they have exceeded the limits of their power, by demanding what God alone is entitled to, the submission of the spirit; and because of their impotency to enforce their impious demand, they prostitute the power lodged in them for man's protection, and

exercise it for his destruction. In doing so they are guilty of impiety towards God, and treason to the commonwealth. It matters not whether this power be exercised for or against the truth-upon the persons and properties of believers or unbelievers-the sin is the same in kind; yea, if there be any difference in the degree of the offence in God's sight, they must be most guilty who dishonour Jehovah, by pretending to vindicate and support His cause and His truth, by means of cruelty, oppression, and injustice. Where God's people have suffered by reason of this pernicious principle, too long recognised and acted upon by human governments, the complete failure of the purpose has been invariably manifested. The design was to punish what is designated a disobedient, rebellious, and heretical spirit; but their only mode of access to that spirit was through the body, which it was their solemn duty to protect from injury and suffering, unmerited by any act of its own. Human rulers have not scrupled to violate the most solemn obligations of every civil government, by handing over to undeserved pains and penalties the material part of man's nature; designing, through its torture, to reach the immaterial spirit, the alleged obstinacy of which, it was their unrighteous determination to attempt to punish. But as often as they have attempted, they have been defeated; for amid the scorchings of burning faggots, while the body was in the agonies of a death so cruel, the spirit was in the heaven of joy, praising and glorifying its God and only king; to whose rightful and only sovereignty, so many have, in such circumstances, borne the most unequivocal testimony; God Himself, also, thus rebuking the bold impiety of men, who, in their pretended zeal for truth and justice, violate the

most sacred principles of that holy and beneficent government which ruleth over all.

All civil governments are ordained of God, and must be regulated by the laws and the will of God. It is the duty, the imperative obligation of every commonwealth, in every part of its national procedure, to seek first the glory of God, and with that the greatest good of the largest possible number of its subjects. It dare not, without incurring guilt in God's sight, do wilful injustice even to one. Were such a case possible, that the good of a whole nation might depend upon the wilful infliction of wrong upon one individual in it, the wrong must not, cannot be inflicted by a just government; the suffering of all must be perilled, rather than the doing of wilful injustice to one. One principle should pervade every mind in the nation; each should do unto others as he would be done by himself. Each should seek the national welfare more than his own individual welfare; and this for the best of all reasons, that being a member of the body politic, his own welfare mainly depends upon the general prosperity of the nation. Who would not rather be a free humble citizen of Great Britain, even with all its national imperfections, than a Mandarin in the Celestial Empire of China, under the absolute and despotic sway of the so-called brother of the sun? What industrious and godly mechanic in this highly favoured island would exchange the comforts and blessings of his domestic hearth and social circle for the regal dignity and attendant equipage of the poor persecuted Queen Pomare of Tahiti? And what makes Great Britain, its virtuous Queen, and government, and people, notwithstanding their many sins and grievous blemishes, the wonder and admiration of the

world? Hear it, ye ministers of state, who by means of worldly diplomacy, not over-scrupulous in your choice of expedients, would strive to maintain her in her high position among the nations. It is not your time-serving policy, nor your statecraft, that has made Great Britain what she is; and if only guided by such principles and protected by such defenders, her glory would soon depart. Hear it, ye place hunters, whose patriotism is proportioned to the price you can procure for it; had all her sons been like thee, she never would have had a name or a place among the nations. It is not the pittance which the resources of so great a nation can easily afford you that is grudged. It is the dishonour of our nation and our name. It is the destruction of British spirit, which every lover of his country deprecates in you. Oh! if left to such as you, what would become of our nation? Hear it, ye senators, who have unwisely yielded up your independence to a party in the state, thereby placing yourselves under the sway of a political despotism, that has converted you into submissive tools in the hands of a few great and leading spirits of your day. Left to you, Great Britain would have been under a system of tyranny, not less oppressive than that, under which many of the nations of Europe are now groaning. If ye are unfit or unwilling to take the trouble of judging upon great questions of national policy for yourselves, then abuse not the confidence of a free and generous people, by giving up their independence as well as your own to the will of another. But if you are both able and willing, in the name of justice and humanity, how can you trammel yourselves by the chains of party, which have too frequently drawn its votaries into circumstances grievously inconsistent? Hear it, ye pos

sessors of the land and wealth of the nation. If left to those among you, whose selfish gratification and enjoyment have been their only care and thought; the style of whose mansions, the grandeur of whose equipages, the comfort of whose horses and hounds, and the preservation of whose game, has given them more concern, than the social and domestic happiness of their fellow beings dwelling upon their estates, of whom they are, because of their exalted station among them, the heavenly appointed friends, protectors, and guardians. Left to you, Great Britain would have been a nation of serfs, and upon your brows would have been written the curse of tyrants. It is not your mansions nor your equipages that are sinful in themselves; the possession of these, and their full enjoyment, are compatible with a godly, a humane, and a patriotic spirit. It is your neglect of highest duty that is your crime; yea, a crime which, if unrepented of, may be visited with relentless fury upon your own heads, while God spares and blesses those, in caring for whom you would have found, if attended to, your chief delight and greatest source of blessing. Hear it, ye princely merchants and wealthy manufacturers, who, in your haste to be rich, supposing gain to be godliness, have, in your unseemly race of rivalry and competition with one another, forgotten the claims of your hewers of wood and drawers of water. Consider how you have stinted the remuneration of your poor workers, until at length the majority of the manufacturing and commercial population of the nation can scarcely earn, by a long and laborious day's toil, as much as will provide for themselves and dependants, what is essential to maintain life. If left to you, Great Britain would have been, and will yet soon be, a nation of help