in the great assembly of the nation; The enormous expenses bestowed, and horrible perjury committed, in carrying elections; with the numerous controverted election. which are from time to time the subject of examination before the house; and the variety of regulations found necessary to be made for restraining bribery and corruption (though the most effectual regulation, I mean, of voting in all cases by ballot, which the wise states of antiquity found necessary, has not been tried) all this shows too flagrantly, to what a fatal extent this ruinous and destructive mischief reaches. Nor is there any hope of an effectual cure for the evil, while such a pernicious maxim in politics as the following is heid, I had almost said, established: That it is lawful to bribe for the good of the nation, (as they very improperly speak) in order to be on even terms with the enemies of the nation. The Jacobite, or Tory party (say our politicians) will get themselves elected into parliament by bribery; Why must not the gentlemen of revolution-principles endeavour to defeat them by the same means? To expose this fatal doctrine, which is sometimes defended by very well-meaning men, let it be considered, first, that Jacobitism, or Tory ism, in the southern part of the nation, is in fact little more than another word for the party who are out, and would be in. There are few men of the least sense, and know i dge of the world, on this side the Highlands of Scotland, who do in sober earnest wish to see a papist on the British throne. Slavery, civil and religious, will not go down with hose who have long enjoyed the sweets of liberty. And if Jacobitism and Toryism be little more than a bugbear; and the virtue of a people, the only sure foundation of government and national happiness, is to be corrupted and ruined by a contention between two sets of men, either of which might be as likely to pursue the interest of the nation as the other, It is plain that both sides are guilty; the pretended Whigs, who are in, and the pretended Tories, who are out; it being equally contrary to virtue, and to the laws of the land, to bribe for one side as for another. But supposing the case to be exactly as first put, and that all, who pretend to be disaffected, were really so in their hearts; and that their inclination, and their power, to subvert the constitution, were much greater than they are; it is evident,

that to do a positive evil, that an uncertain good may come, is directly contrary both to reason and religion. For the real friends of liberty to oppose the enemies of our country, by bribery and corruption, is directly iniquitous and impious. For, to proceed in that manner is to confound the immutable nature of right and wrong, to throw down the sacred barriers, established by Divine authority for guarding the awful laws of virtue from violation, which are to be held in the utmost reverence, and on no account to be broke through, if not only a kingdom should suffer a revolution; but if the solar system, or whole visible universe, were to go to wreck. For one act of perjury, or other gross deviation from virtue, is more opposite to the Divine Nature, and economy of the world, than the extinction of a thousand suns, with the destruction of all their planets. But besides all this, what can be more absurd, than to talk of supporting a state by vice, the very means which have proved the ruin of all the states that ever have sunk; and without which no state could be brought to ruin? Alas, does it become such poor short-sighted creatures as we are, to project schemes for ourselves, to violate the eternal laws of virtue, in order, forsooth to put it in the pow er of Divine Providence to do what it could not without our assistance? Can any politician think that promoting bribery or perjury are likely to gain us the Divine Protec tion? or that the kingdom can stand independent of the Divine Protection? or that it can stand without virtue? These are deplorable expedients. Like opiates in an acute distemper they lull things into peace for a short time, while they slowly, but surely, wear out the strength and vitals of the constitution.O virtue! O my country!

Is it not also notorious, that the bulk of our laws, through the criminal negligence, or timidity, of those, in whose hands the executive power is lodged, and through the licentiousness of the people, who seems to think it the privilege of free-born Englishmen to break their own laws, are, instead of a necessary restraint, become a mere bugbear? Above all things, the law-makers are sometimes law-breakers, is a shocking accusation to be laid against persons in eminent stations. That the same persons in their legislative capacity should concur to the making of regulations for the suppression of the destruc

tive practices of smuggling, gaming, unduly influencing elections and the like, and in their private capacity should be the promoters of those ruinous vices; is doing what they can to turn government into a farce, and reduce a nation to a state of anarchy.

Is it not monstrous, that by means of the madness and insolence of party, such a degree of arrogant and seditious virulence is worked up in the spirits of the people, that the lowest of the mob thinks himself wise enough to take to task the governors of the state, and assumes the liberty, over his cups, to rail at the legislators of his country; by which means, the best constitutioned kingdom upon earth seems hastening to a state of confusion; while the people's reverence for lawful authority, whereby obedience subsists, is destroyed, the measures of government are embarrassed; and our governors discouraged from attempting to alter, or new-model any thing, that may be amiss; since nothing can be done without clamour and disturbance, and laws, when enacted, are, through the perverseness of the people, of very little efficacy.

These are not the effects of the love of our country. Nor the infamous practice of smuggling, and other mean arts, by which the laws for raising a revenue for defraying the necessary expenses of government, are evaded. Yet it is notorious, that the avowed principle of numbers of persons in trade, is, That all is well got, that is got by cheating the king, as they absurdly talk. For defrauding the public revenue, is in effect defrauding the people, who pay it, and making it necessary for the government to lay additional taxes, and to clog and incumber trade and industry, to make up the deficiencies occasioned by the depredations of a set of lawless people, the plague and ruin of fair traders. It is amazing, that rational creatures can contrive so effectually to blind their reason, and stupify their conscience, as to bring themselves to argue, that though it is confessedly unjustifiable and wicked in a son to disobey his parent, yet there is no harm in disobeying that authority, which is higher than the parental, I mean, that of the law of the land: that, though it is wrong to cheat or lie, there is no harm in taking a false oath at the custom-house, by which the guilt of prejury is incurred; the revenue,

or more properly the nation, robbed; and the fair trader injured.

People may deceive themselves as they please: But there is hardly any worse species of vice, than disobedi ence and insolence to supreme lawful authority. Nor will any person be fit for a future state of peace, regularity, and perfect obedience to the universal Governor (without which there can be no happiness) who has in this state habituated himself to lawless opposition and contempt of government.

To raise an opposition or rebellion in a country against the supreme authority, except upon most powerful causes and motives, is a crime of as horrid and complicated a kind, as any to which human wickedness is capable of proceed ing. For the consequences of a general disturbance in a state, are the perpetration of all kinds of iniquity. And where so dreadful a consequence is foreseen, it is evident, nothing less than the prevention of a total subversion of rights and privileges, civil and religious, of which the last is much the most important, is a sufficient plea for disturb. ing the general peace.

This was confessedly the case at the revolution in 1688. But those men, who delight in misrepresenting a government, and making it odious and vile in the eyes of the people, and do all they can to thwart and embarrass its measures, merely because themselves have no share in the emoluments of place and power, are the pests of society.

One of the greatest curses of a nation, and of liberty in general, is that of our unhappy divisions and parties in religion and politics. As for the first, it is a subject of too serious and important a nature to be made a mere badge of faction, or a bone of contention. The design of religion is to improve and dignify our natures, to correct our errors in judgment and to regulate our lives. And whoever applies it as a tool of state, as an artifice for aggran dizing himself or his friends, and a cloak to conceal his secular views, is guilty of prostituting the most sacred thing in the world to the vilest uses. As for political parties, it is notorious, that those who assume to themselves the most splendid titles of being on the patriot side, or coun try-interest, and against the court, as their cant is, gener

ally make a clamour for pretended liberty, and the good of their country, only to have their mouths stopped with a place or a pension; and that, on the other hand, those who' stand up in defence of all the measures of those in power, without distinction, only do so with a view to get, or to keep some emolument. As it is inconceivable that either one or the other party should be constantly in the right, or invariably in the wrong, you may conclude, that who ever inclines universally for or against either side, without ever altering his opinion, is either a man of very mean abilities, or has some indirect scheme in view. The trimmer, who gives his vote sometimes with one side, sometimes with the other, according to the view he has of the consequences, is the only man of integrity. And I cannot help advising my readers to look upon all parties, and all who make either religion or politicks a party-affair, in the same light, and to keep clear of all sides alike; making it their business to consult the real good of their country, and the real welfare of their souls, without any eye to the sordid gains of corruption, or any desire to fight the battles of either party.

To conclude, our duty to our country comprehends all the relative duties; and we are to sacrifice private interest, family, and life itself to it, when called upon: and are to obey its laws in all cases, where they do not clash with the only superior authority in the universe, I mean the Divine.

Next under the authority of national government is the parental. The propriety and necessity of submission to parents appears from considering, that it is evidently necessary, that some person, or persons, should undertake the care of children in the helpless time of life; and that none are so proper as the parents. In consequence of this, it is necessary that children, before they come to the use of reason, be governed by authority, and there is none so natural as that of parents; it is therefore their part to return the reciprocal duties of love, gratitude, reverence, and obedience to those who have taken care of them, when no one else would undertake that office. And it being once made the appointed course and order of things, the law of filial duty is not to be broke through by the children on account of a failure in the parents in discharging their