DISC. luge them with the blood of the inhabiVI. tants? The inftruments of deftruction are prepared; fleets and armies move when the word is given. In fhort, does either appetite or paffion at any time excite him to do that which he ought not to do? The means are at hand, and there are always those who will flatter and encourage him in following his inclinations, But fuppofe him manfully to refift these temptations; and now let us view that sea of troubles, which threatens to overwhelm him in the discharge of his office. He must feel, day and night, the weight of that office, the various duties to be performed, and the difficulty, nay, almost impoffibility, of performing them all, in any tolerable manner. Deceived by others in matters concerning which he cannot inform himself, or see them with his own eyes, he finds he has done wrong, when his whole intention was to do right; and perhaps bestowed his favours on worthleffness and profligacy, when he defigned to reward virtue and merit. Exposed continually VI. continually to the shock of parties contend- DISC. ing, oftenfibly, for the public good, but, in reality, for places of honour and emolument, he knows not, at length, whom to trust or employ; nor must he truft and employ those whom he would wish to trust and employ; but is often under the neceffity of discarding men whom he loves, and taking to his bofom men whom he cannot love. In the mean time, a set of libertine, unprincipled writers in profe and verse are ready to exhibit him to his people as a monster, to misrepresent and traduce his best actions, to aggravate his errors, and treat him in a manner in which he himself would difdain to treat the beggar at his gate.—Is a person thus circumstanced an object of envy? No; -if there be any bowels of love and mercy, pity and pray for him, that God would grant him patience in fuffering evil, and perfeverance in doing good, to the end of his days. This all of us may do; and this is all that most of us can do. By interceffion DISC. with heaven there is a communion opened VI. of the greatest with the leaft; and to the prayers of the meanest and remoteft fubject of the empire, who knows him only by name when he prays for him, may the fovereign ftand indebted for fome part of the favour and prosperity vouchsafed him, who needs the prayers of his people, because the cares and the toils of business will often scarcely allow him time and compofure of mind to pray for himself, ་ III. But it is not only a regard to our rulers which fuggefts reasons why we should pray for them. A regard to ourselves should operate no less. Our own interest is deeply "I exhort that fupplications, interceffions, and giving of thanks, "be made for kings, and for all that are "in authority"Why?" That we may concerned. prayers, lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honefty;" a " quiet and "peaceable life,” as citizens; " in all god linefs and honefty," as Chriftians. "A quiet VI. "A quiet and peaceable life!"-What DISC, a bleffing! involving in it all other bleffings. Without quiet and peace, what can we purfue with pleasure, or enjoy with comfort? The Scriptures paint it under the lovely and affecting image of "every "man fitting under his own vine, and un"der his own fig-tree"-"Sitting"-a pofture of perfect eafe and fecurity-" under " his own vine”—something that he can call his own, guarded and infured to him by the laws and government of his country. Without laws, and government to carry thofe laws into execution, there would be nothing that he could call his own. His next neighbour, who had a mind for it, and was ftronger than he, must have it, and with it the life of the proprietor offering to defend it. The weak must be a prey to the strong, and the honeft man be ruined by the villain, without redress or remedy. We of this nation (bleffed be our God for it) know not what it is to fee government overturned by war from abroad, or infurrection at home. For years toge ther 1 DISC. ther have we been enabled to fit compofedly VI. in our habitations, and read accounts of what other countries have fuffered in this way. Warm and comfortable within, we have heard the storm rage and howl around us without, waiting only for the return of a clear sky and the fun, to open our doors, and go forth again. This has rendered us infenfible of the felicity we enjoy, because we have never been deprived of it and men are ready, in the wantonness of their folly, upon every trifling occafion, while ferving the interests of themselves and their friends, to shake the foundations of the government under which they live, never reflecting on the calamities which must light upon all, were the fabric to fall, in the conteft. But the States of America can tell what they have fuffered: the States of Holland can tell what they expected to fuffer the inhabitants in fame parts of a neighbouring kingdom can inform us (in the midst of a civilized and enlightened age) what it is to have the flesh torn from their bones, or be buried alive in the earth, : Of |