declaim for ever to no purpose, on the beauty of virtue, and the harmony of a well governed mind; they hear you not; they are deaf to the voice of the mor al charmer: nothing less than "Thus faith the "Lord," will influence their conduct. The unjust judge in the parable represents and characterizes the great body of mankind; if they fear not God, neither will they regard men.

Thus, if the public inftitutions of religion were laid afide, private virtue would not long remain behind. Men in general have no principle of moral conduct but religion, and if that were taken away, they would work all impurity with greediness, whenever they could withdraw from the public eye. Human laws would often be of little avail, without a fenfe of divine legislation; and the fanctions of men have little force, unlefs they were enforced by the authority of God. There would then be no fecurity for the public peace; the mutual confidence between man and man would be destroyed; the bond which keeps fociety together would be broken; oaths would become mere words of course, and an appeal to the Great God of Heaven, no more regarded, than if he were an image of ftone. Human life would be thrown into confufion, the safety of mankind would be endangered, and the moral world totter to its ruin, if fuch a pillar were to fall. And what is it that maintains and spreads religious principles in the world? What is it that keeps alive on the minds of the people, the fear of God and the belief of his providence? It is the public inftitutions of religion; it is the obfervance of the Lord's day; it is our affembling together in this place, for the celebration of divine wor

D

ship. The people, in general, have no religious principles, and no rule of life, but what they learn here; and if these churches were once shut up, the hand of the civil magistrate would foon force them open, in order to reclaim the criminals that would thus be let loose upon the world.

In the third place, let us view the effect of religious inftitutions upon men, with regard to their political ftate.

The political systems that take place in the world, the facility with which the many are governed by the few, is one of the most wonderful things in the history of man. That mankind in all ages, and in all countries, fhould allow a few of their number to divide this globe among them; to appropriate to themselves the poffeffions, diftinctions and honors, and leave nothing to the majority but burdens to bear, if we had not beheld it from the first, would have appeared one of the most astonishing of all events. Would it be at all furprising to hear a man ftruck with a sense of this state of things, complain thus: "Is nature unequal in the care of her chil"dren? A mother to fome, and a stepmother to oth"ers? Has the appointed me to labour in the sweat "of my brow, and another to riot in the fruit of my "labours? No. The fault is not in nature. She "has no favourites. She gives to all her fons an "equal right to inherit the earth. The fault is in "them who tamely bend their necks to the yoke, "who kneel and kifs the rod which the haughty It never furely was

"lord waves over their heads. "the will of Heaven, that the worthy fhould be "fcorned by the vile, and the brave be trampled up

"on by the coward. Cannot I then find a band of "men as valiant and as determined as myself, to rec"tify these caprices of fortune, to vindicate the rights ❝of nature, and restore mankind to their original in"heritance? By doing violence at firft, this ufurpa❝tion on nature was made; and by a fimilar vio"lence, nature requires that her reign be restored." What is it that prevents such a spirit as I have been now describing, from frequently breaking out? What prevents bloodshed and devastation, and all the evils of war? What prevents the world from being turned upfide down? Nothing fo much as the influence of religious principles upon the minds of men. Chrif tianity gives honor to civil government, as being the ordinance of God, and enjoins fubjection to the laws, under its own awful fanctions.

And not only by particular precepts, but by its secret and lefs visible influence, it prepares the minds of men for submission to lawful authority. When we meet together in this place, under the fanction of law, and under the protection of the civil magiftrate, we are put in mind of our relation to the state, and of our duty to the higher powers. Fear God and honor the King, have more than a local connection in Scripture". Obedience to fpiritual authority paves the way for subjection to the civil power. Hence wife legiflators have, even on this account, favoured the progress of religion: hence those who have attempted innovations in government, applied, in the first place, to the ministers of religion, and endeavoured to gain the pulpit on their fide. Julian, known by the name of the apoftate, the most formidable enemy the Chrif

See 1 Pet. ii. 17.

tians ever had, was fo fenfible of the influence and of the effects of preaching to the people, that he appointed a fimilar inftitution among the heathens.

My fon, fear thou the Lord and the king," (faid the wifeft of mankind), " and meddle not with them "that are given to change." In confirmation, we may obferve, that men, characterized as given to change, have either, from infidelity, not attended up. on ordinances, or, from enthufiafm, been above them: for, who have been innovators and disturb ers? who have been the authors of feditions and re bellions? who have been the enemies of order and civil government, in many an age? a mixture of atheists and fanatics; two claffes of men, who though feemingly oppofite, have been found in clofe bonds of union.

In the fourth and last place, we have to confider the influence of religious inftitutions upon men, with refpect to domestic life.

It is chiefly on account of their domeftic fituation, that we can pronounce men happy or miserable. Here the pleasures are enjoyed which fweeten life; here the pains are felt which imbitter our days. No uneafiness abroad will fit heavy on a man, when the pleasing reflection rifes in his mind, that he has hap❤ piness at home: no enjoyment from without will give real and lafting fatisfaction, when he knows that he has a curfe in his own houfe.

-It is no fmall advantage attending the inftitutions of divine worship, that they minister to the happiness of domestic life. A new bond will be added to the conjugal union, when those whom it connects walk to the House of God in company, take sweet coun

fel with one another, and fet out jointly in the way that leads to life. Watered by the dews of Heaven, which fall here, the olive plants will flourish round your table. What facred fenfations will fill the bof. om of a parent, when, viewing his family fitting at the feet of Jefus, he fays, in the fulness of a grateful heart, "Lord! behold me, and the children whom "thou hast given me!"

There is a beauty, alfo, when the rich and the poor, when the high and the low, who feldom meet together on other occafions, affemble here in one place, one great family, in the prefence of their common Lord, when they are stripped of every adventitious circumstance, and where virtue makes the only distinction among them. It is the image of thofe golden times when fociety began; it is the image of the state which is to come, when God fhall be all in all.

Such are the effects of religious inftitutions upon men, with respect to their religious capacity, their moral character, their political state, and their domeftic life.

Whoever, therefore, habitually absents himself from attending on public ordinances, has to anfwer for it to his God, to his neighbours, to his country, and to his family. He partakes with other men in their fins; he affociates with the enemies of mankind; and does what in him lies, to undermine the basis on which the order and happiness of civil fociety is built. He teaches the falfe fwearer to take the name of God in vain; he directs the midnight robber to his neigh bour's house; and he delivers into the hand of the affaffin a dagger, to fhed innocent blood.

But, bleffed be God! that, corrupted as the world