"with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me-in "vain do they worship me, teaching for doc"trine the commandments of men."-Instead of endeavouring to soften their wrath, this was calculated to increase it ;-but as he had drawn their characters faithfully, he disregarded their anger and malice, and only added-"it must "needs be that offences cóme;-but woe to "that man, by whom the offence cometh."—

Suppose it had been the will of God, that the Messiah, as the Jews expected, should have established a temporal kingdom at his first co. ming, and reigned in righteousness in the land of Judea; -how would he have conducted himself towards the Scribes and Pharisees, the citizens of his state?-So long as they persisted in their religious errors, and entertained opinious contrary to, or rather destructive of the doctrine, he intended should spread from his kingdom throughout the world, would he have put them in a way to have obtained seats of honor on his right hand, and on his left?-His reproving addresses to them do not warrant any such conclusion;-nor can any one, point out an inconsistency, or an absurd act in the whole of his earthly ministry-Would any of his offi cial servants, or the admirers and supporters of his government, have ventured to propose, or press upon him the admission of those into his courts, who refused to conform to his religious ordinances, appointments, and opinions?—

Assuredly they would not:-for, the very spirit of their master's government would be, to overturn, and not to sanction, or "wink at" the false notions in religion, they either hypocritically, or absurdly entertained. In the best days of the kingdom of Israel, when "judgement and "justice graced the faithful city," what prophet proposed to the prince on the throne, that persons who refused to bow before the altar of Jehovah, should be admitted to the highest posts of honor in his government?-The sacred history records no such anomalous conduct in the servants of God:-they dare not be guilty of such an offence:-they knew that such a proposition would have been dangerous to themselves, and equally so to the safety and welfare of their sovereign's dominions and prosperity:— on the contrary, they recount more than one instance, of the advantage and benefit which some heathen nations enjoyed, when their princes had wisdom and discernment enough to commit the management of their affairs to men, "whose hearts were right towards God," and whose integrity, was not to be affected by "chains and dungeons, or fiery furnaces, and "dens of lions."

It is not a law of the divine government, that any kind of evil should be cherished, or suffered to exist, for the chance of some eventual good. Religious errors, and bad practices arising out of them, "sifted the house of Israel among all nations," after their city was

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destroyed, and their power, as a people, was annihilated:-the same cause still excludes them from the blessings, other nations enjoy:but, are their present errors, worse than those of apostate christians?-In their thirteen short creeds, the christian will find many things he will both admire and subscribe to.-May not a want of faith be less injurious to truth, than an excess of it?-The Jews, have made no proselytes since their dispersion:-the pretended successors of St. Peter, have made millions of converts since the establishment of the Papal hierarchy, and compelled them to sit in darkness, ignorance, and error :-therefore, the latter shall "go into perdition," and the former shall again be restored to favour and happi

ness.

The ground, on which the advocates of the emancipation of the Roman Catholics in Ireland build their arguments is that, on which, they assert, the safety of the British empire rests.-Doubtless, every member of this empire, let him fill whatever situation in it he may, is bound to promote that object, with all his powers, both of mind and body:-but still, men of authority and weight in the country, and particularly men in official situations, to whom the welfare of the state is more immediately entrusted, ought to consider, with deep attention, the measures they propose for this end, and be convinced they are founded in justice, and that there is every prospect of their answering the

end designed. This they always ought to do:for, they may be perfectly disinterested in what they recommend-they may honestly and conscientiously advocate a cause, and yet, after the greatest reflection and consideration, they may be mistaken; and that, which they intended for a benefit, may prove an injury. When questions, that have any thing to do with religion, happen to be discussed in parliament, from the nature of the arguments and reasoning made use of, it would appear, that a general, or superficial knowledge of the bible, is all that many of the members of it, possess.-A better acquaintance with this high authority, would enable men to reason more correctly upon these subjects, than they do at present; and it would remove a great deal of that obstinacy and prejudice, which always belong to ignorance;— and it would tend to reduce within the limits of a very little circle, those differences in religious opinions, which prevail too much, even amongst the protestants of this country.-The advocate who does not well understand the law, and will take no pains to make himself master of his client's case, is seldom in much repute; and though he may be able to speak with fluency and eloquence, will rarely have much practice. Now, if Egypt and the neighbouring countries, were preserved from the effects of a famine, because the government of Pharaoh was under the directing wisdom of a person, who knew the will of God and obeyed it;—if the

affairs of the kingdom of Darius prospered, because his chief adviser and counsellor was a man of inflexible integrity, and preferred the pure worship of God, to all the honors, and power, and emoluments of a splendid court;can any advisers of the crown, who consider all religions good, who think it a matter of no con. sequence that the worshippers of images, saints, and angels, should have a voice in the counsels of a nation, professing the religion of Christ ;can such men, I ask, by their measures, be the means of the affairs of this kingdom prospering, in the same manner that the affairs of the Egyptians and Medes and Persians prospered, whilst in the hands of the faithful servants of God, who made his will their only guide, and his written law the only rule of all their actions?-Will God equally bless and prosper the labours of men, who advocate his cause only, and the undertakings of people, who look upon his religion in no other light, than they look at the religion of the Catholics and Chinese?— This can never be-for, God is just.

In one of the visions of the king of Babylon, an image stood before him, "whose brightness " was excellent, and whose form was terrible.— "The legs of this image were of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay.”—Although

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this image" was principally made of the valuable metals, gold, silver, brass, and iron, yet the feet on which it stood, had in their composition some clay, which would sooner or later prove