subsisted between his own habits and those of the ruling power. His views and inclinations coincided at all points with those of the Government and therefore every measure of administration was a source of gratification to him because it was in fact an expression of his own will. He was thus in a state of political happiness; and had there been no higher government than the Commonwealth, through the universe or through eternity, he must have been perfectly and permanently happy. Now, let us carry forward this same individual to the days of Charles the Second, and place him in the near neighbourhood of that gay and dissolute Court. We can in this situation suppose him moving about with a double measure of gloom in his countenance, and with a heart embittered by the general mirth and irritated by the continual encounter of character and opinions and habits directly opposed to his own. He retires to a distance from the seat of Government, and endeavours to hide himself from these painful conflicts in the bosom of his family. There the arrangements are all conducted according to his own principles and his own taste; and he enjoys a tolerable state of happiness, though liable to occasional interruptions from public news, from whispers that he is to be apprehended on suspicion of treason, from the intrusion of Government officers, and from a want of thorough sympathy on political subjects even perhaps in the members of his own domestic circle. All at once, his quiet is disturbed by an order from Court to leave his se

clusion, and reside in the metropolis, that he may be more immediately under the eye of Government. Here again he is brought face to face with all he hates and despises. His aversion is increased by a sense of his inability to resist; and he learns even to cherish the feeling and habit of misery as the only testimony that his soul is unsubdued. He is politically miserable. I have given this sketch as an illustration of those natural laws which make our happiness dependant on our sympathy with a power which overrules us; and also as an example of the form and the precariousness of that process by which we can in some circumstances contract our horizon, as it were, and shut out from our view those things which give us pain, and withdraw ourselves from the encounter of those principles which are in opposition to our own. In the field of

this world, there are many divisions and subdivisions, separated by strong barriers from each other, and acknowledging different authorities, or the same authority perhaps in different degrees. These are so many shelters to which men may betake themselves, when pursued by the justice or injustice of their fellow creatures. But whilst we continue within the scope of one authority, although we may find a temporary asylum against its enmity in a narrow circle or more private society, we are continually liable to be confronted by it and dragged from our hiding-place; and must therefore, from the nature of things, be in some measure dependant on it for our happiness.

Whenever the material world and its concerns are made use of to illustrate the concerns of the mind and of the invisible world, it is of importance to preserve in lively recollection the essential difference which separates the two subjects. The one embraces outward actions exclusively; whilst the prominent feature in the other is the principle from which the actions spring. Thus, in the example which has just been given, we can easily suppose that Cromwell's followers were actuated by a great variety of motives, and that the solemnity of the Commonwealth might captivate different minds on very different principles. Some pious people might have liked it, from having associated it in their minds with true religion; some, from the fanatical idea, that this outward form would atone for more secret sins; some, from its mixture with republican sturdiness; and some, from a hatred of Popery or the Stewart family. Now, these principles are all very different in their nature, although their external results might in some particulars resemble each other; and therefore the happiness of the citizens did not proceed from an actually sympathy of principle with the Government, but from a coincidence in the effects of their principles: And if the Government had had cognizance and control of the mind as well as the body, then those alone could have been happy, or could have been considered as good citizens, who liked that solemn system of things precisely on the same principles with the Government; and the collision of opposite princi

ple would in this case have been as violent as the collision of external conduct actually was. In morals, an action does not mean an effect simply, but a principle carried into exercise; and therefore, in a government of minds, any effect produced by pride, for instance, however beneficial to the public, would get the name of a proud action, and would be condemned by a judge who disapproved of pride. Man cannot see into the heart; and therefore he is obliged to conjecture or guess at principles by their effects; but yet his judgment is always determined by the nature of the principle to which he ascribes the effects. Supposing, then, that we were under such a supernaturally gifted government, and that this government was so strong that the idea of resisting or escaping it involved an absurdity,-it would evidently become a matter of the very highest importance, to make ourselves accurately acquainted with its principles, and to accommodate our own to them; because, till this were accomplished, we could never enjoy tranquillity, but must continually suffer the uneasiness of being reluctantly borne down by the current of a will more powerful than our own. This object, however, would be attended by considerable difficulty. In the first place, it could not be very easy to discover the precise principles of the administration Almost any single act might proceed from a great variety of principles; and it would therefore require a long observation and induction of facts, in order to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. And, in the second place, after

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we had discovered those principles, we might chance to find that they were in direct opposition to our own.

In these circumstances, it would be most desirable that the Government should, for the information of the people, embody in one interesting train of action the whole of the principles of its Administration; so that an unequivocal and distinct idea of these principles might be conveyed, by the narrative, to any one who would carefully consider its purport. After Government had done this, it would evidently be the interest and the duty of all the subjects to dwell much upon the history thus communicated to them, in order that they might in this way familiarize their minds to the principles developed in it, and teach their own thoughts to run in the same channel, and interest, their affections and feelings in it as much as possible. The people would engage in this with greater or less earnestness, according to the strength or weakness of the conviction which each one had as to the reality of the connexion which subsisted between happiness and the accomplishment of this object, and also in proportion to their persuasion that this history was a true representation of the character of the Government. Approbation and affection could alone constitute the necessary adjustment Fear might urge to the prosecution of the object, but the complete harmony of the will is the result of a more generous principle. If we suppose, farther, that this complete harmony of sentiment is one of the great objects