perfect consistency with the word of God, unite himself in marriage to an individual who differs from him on a variety of questions connected with religion.

... In subordinate matters, there exists a very great diversity of sentiment and feeling among sincere and upright Christians; and although entire unanimity is desirable between a husband and a wife, yet, if they cultivate a truly Christian spirit, I see no reason why a shade of difference in their religious belief, should in the least divide their affections or hinder their prayers. They must not, however, in this case, be tenacious and self-willed, lest the particulars in which they differ should be more frequently thought of than the still more important ones in which they agree. It were highly desirable, also, that they could so far yield the one to the other as to attend the same place of worship. It is painful to see a Christian couple going hand in hand every where else but to the house of God; and if Providence should bless them with a family, the ill-advised step would, in all probability, be most injurious in its influence on their rising offspring.

One of the most distinguished advantages attending the union of individuals decidedly religious, is the guarantee it affords, that true piety shall be perpetuated in the world. The harmonious instructions and the united supplications of a couple who have married "in the Lord," are most fitly adapted means to raise up a generation for God. When Joshua was about to resign that charge, the duties of which he had so honour. ably and so usefully fulfilled, before entering on his rest, he solemnly warns the Israelites against the sinful and injurious practice of uniting themselves in marriage to the people of the nations around them. "Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else, if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they unto you;-know, for a certainty, that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God hath given you." And does not the experience of every age prove that these threatenings, in the substance of them, are accomplished, in every instance, where the salutary law of Heaven is violated?

When Ezra saw his devoted countrymen, privileged as they were with the knowledge of the true God, taking of the daughters of the nations" for themselves and for. their sons, so that the holy seed had mingled themselves with the people of the lands;" he rent. his garment and his mantle, and plucked off the hair of his head, and of his beard, and "sat down astonished."

If individuals knowing and fearing the Lord, will so far forget their obligations to their Divine Master, as to unite their destinies with those whose religious principles and character, to say the least, are doubtful; they need not be surprised should the mournful events which took place in the days of Nehemiah be again transacted in their domestic circle. In those days," said he, " also, saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and their children spake half in the

speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jew's language, but ac cording to the language of each people." It will be well, indeed, if the offspring of mixed marriages do not speak more than half the language of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. It is much to be feared, however, that the bad example will be followed, while the good one is neglected.

There is only one case that can justify the union of parties, the contrast of whose character is measured by the terms conversion and unconversion, and that is, when, after a solemn pledge of marriage has been given, one of the individuals concerned, is brought to the knowledge of the truth, while the other remains in a state of listless apathy and perfect indifference. Here, unless a mutual consent is obtained for dissolving the connexion, the Christian party must consent to take up his cross, as no religious reason can be assigned for the breach of a moral obligation, which the promise of marriage andoubtedly is, when made by persons competent to dispose of themselves in the conjugal relation. pp. 40-45.

The Lecture on the obligations of servants, in which the more peculiar and especial obligations of religious servants are very properly insisted upon, we consider as pre-eminently adapted to be serviceable; and we could wish to see it in a detached form, that it might obtain a still wider circulation. Under the head of the Duties of a People to their Minister, occur some remarks which we cannot resist the temptation to transcribe, because they strike at the root of the prevailing lax and inade quate notions on the subject of pastoral authority, without countenancing any of those priestly claims, a resistance to which has driven many persons to reject the pastoral call altogether.

Christians are here exhorted to obey their pastors in the characte of spiritual rulers or guides. And it is a matter of great practical moment for every member of every church to understand the nature of the duty which is thus so plainly enjoined on him, and enjoined, not by human, but Divine authority. Rejoice then, my Christian friends, “in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free," and rank it among one of your most illustrious privileges, that, as Protestant Dissenters, the obedience which is exacted from you to your pastors is of a nature strictly voluntary. Mistake me not, as if I insinuated that you are at liberty to dispense with, or to reject, this obedience as you may think proper; this is by no means the case: you are, in this respect, "under law to Christ," and to him you are accountable for the manner in which you treat any of his institutions. When I say that your obedience is voluntary, I simply remind you of the fact, that your ministers are not imposed upon you by any influence or authority independent of the franchise of the people; and while I would remind you of this fact, I think it important to add, that having elected your spiritual instructors, you are bound by that significant act vigorously and conscientiously to co-operate with them,to hold up their heads, and not to forsake their instructions so long as they retain those ministerial qualifications which originally influenced and decided your choice. Since your teachers

have had the happiness to receive your generous and unconstrained invitation to labour among you and to be over you in the Lord; since "yourselves, brethren, know their entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain;" since ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably, they have behaved themselves among you that believe;" since you have fairly examined and properly estimated their ministerial gifts and graces surely it will be your constant study to give full effect to your past acts by a submissive conduct and teachable disposition. Never let it be said with truth of you, that, in having claimed for yourselves the right of electing your own pastors, you have only erected an engine of op pression, the movements of which are directed not against the many, but against an unoffending and conscientious individual, who finds that the same power that professes to choose in wisdom, can dismiss with caprice.

Your obedience being voluntary, let it partake also of an enlightened character. A correct knowledge of the pastoral claims will contribute greatly to a due fulfilment of them: and where ignorance of the mind of Christ prevails on this head, it is no wonder that confusion and every evil work should ensue. It is greatly to the honour of members of churches to aspire to a full acquaintance with their principles, to inform themselves correctly as to the usages of their forefathers, but especially, to investigate with diligence the great statute-book of the kingdom of Christ. Upon this will mainly depend the stability of churches, and the comfort as well as success of pastors. It greatly becomes the members of all churches to endeavour to form a correct estimate of the value of the pastoral character; to aspire to scriptural views as to the mutual obligations of the pulpit and the pew, and, in short, to have fixed sentiments on every thing relating to doctrine and discipline: that thus Christian professors may become ensamples to surrounding churches, and prove a source of unmingled gratitude and joy to those who sustain the responsible office of spiritual instructors. An enlightened minister envies not, I am sure, a blind attachment either to his person or his ministry; he is too well aware of the fluctuations of ignorance to have formed any such preference. On the contrary, he invites you, according to your several abilities and circumstances, to make yourselves thoroughly acquainted with the nature of his office, and with the arduous character of his duties, being fully satisfied that to know your obligations will be one important step towards their fulfilment. The attainment of a sound judgement, on these matters, will guard you against a thousand snares into which otherwise you will unquestionably fall. pp. 238—24k.·

The Discourse on the Duties of Kings and Subjects, is, like all the rest, of a decidedly practical nature. It is written with peculiar care, and discovers both discrimination and firmness. It will please no partisan on either side. In fact, Mr. Morison remarks,

—if a man wishes that religion should prosper in his soul, he will be very careful, indeed, of coming into contact with any subject calculated to rouse the worst passions of our fallen nature; and I scruple not to say, VOL. XVII. N. S.

2 S

that the political partisan, on the one side and on the other, does expose himself to this risk.'

The following is the Preacher's exposition of the much perverted text, Rom. xiii. 1.

1. It instructs us in the origin of government.

It is distinctly traced to the will and appointment of the Infinite Mind." There is no power but of God"-in other words, there is no government in any quarter of the globe, or of any particular form, which does not exist by the good providence of Him by whom "Kings reign and princes decree justice." And lest the Christian converts at Rome had been disposed to consider the imperial despotism of Nero as forming a fit exception to this general proposition, the Apostle immediately adds," the powers that be, are of God."

ment.

This inspired representation of the higher powers," by no means supposes, that the Most High, by any direct interference, sets up an individual monarch, or institutes any given form of govern This he never did, but in the instance of the Jewish people; and there were special reasons, in their marvellous history, explana tory of the Divine conduct. It appears quite obvious, that while the Moral Governor of the world, who is not the author of confusion, but of peace," has willed the existence of government in general; he has left the different nations of the earth to model and consolidate : their respective constitutions, according to their particular circum stances and characters; and it is equally obvious, from the doctrine of the text, and from the slightest reflection on the state of human nature, that government, in any of its existing forms, whether monarchical, aristocratical, republican, or mixed, is more in unison with the Divine will, than a condition of savage barbarism and uncontrolled anarchy and licentiousness. "A country without a government would speedily, for want of those means of subsistence and com. fort, to the existence of which it is indispensable, become an Arabian desert; and that, however fruitful its soil, or salubrious its climate. Mankind have never yet been able to exist for any length of time in a state of anarchy. What reason so completely evinces, the Scriptures decide in the most peremptory manner. The powers that be, are ordained of God: in other words; Government is an ordinance of God."

But while it is an ordinance of God, and one of a most benign and merciful character, it by no means follows as a consequence, that any particular monarch can plead a jus divinum, or divine right, to his throne, independently of the providential circumstances and agents by which he has been raised to the possession of regal dignity. The Roman Emperors, who are represented in the text as " ordained of God," were, at the same time, elected by military franchise, or chosen and confirmed by the voice of the senate. In order to illustrate this statement, it may be observed, that although the mutual contract of two individuals of opposite sexes, regularly ratified by law, constitutes marriage; yet the Scriptures teach us to believe, that marriage is, notwithstanding, the ordinance of God. To bring the

illustration more closely home to your convictions:-the mixed govern ment of this country is, beyond doubt," the ordinance of God;", and yet who will deny, that the illustrious sovereigns of the House of Brunswick owe their elevation to the British throne, mediately, to the glorious Revolution of 1688? This train of thought, I am aware, carries with it a tacit recognition of what has been styled by writers on the theory of government, the original compact; and whether we are able to trace that compact to its origin or not, it appears palpable to human reason, that the relation of sovereign and people implies a state of mutual obligation: at all events, this can never be denied by any one who imbibes the doctrine of moral responsibility, as stated in the Scriptures. I will even go farther, and say,it can never be denied by any enlightened Briton. "It is," observes the celebrated Judge Blackstone, "a maxim of the law, that protection and subjection are reciprocal; and the reciprocal duties are what is meant by the Convention in 1688, when they declared, that King James had broken the contract between the prince and the people. But, however, as the terms of the original compact were in a great measure disputed, being alleged to exist merely in theory, and to be only deducible by reason and natural law, in which deduction different understandings might very considerably differ, it was, after the Revolution, judged proper to declare these duties expressly, and to reduce that contract to a plain certainty; so that whatever doubts might be formerly raised by weak and scrupulous minds about the existence of such a contract, they must now entirely cease, especially with regard to every prince who hath reigned since the year 1688."

The coronation of a British monarch is a standing memorial of the compact existing between the sovereign and the people. The solemn oath then taken, includes in it an avowed obligation to rule, "according to law,"-to maintain "justice and mercy in these realms," and to watch over the interests of " the Protestant religion."

After what has been said, you will not suspect me of holding the odious doctrine, that the crimes which have disgraced the annals of human governments, are, in any way, chargeable on infinite wisdom and goodness, because "the powers that be, are ordained of God." As well might all the perversions of the human intellect be charged on the Deity, because there is no power or faculty of man for which he is not indebted to the great Author of his being. The power is from God; the abuse of it, from the erring and sinful creature.

• This conducts me to another observation, viz. 2. That the text instructs us sufficiently as to the end of government.

In deciding this question, nothing more is necessary than simply to refer to the source whence government flows. If there is no power but of God," every government answers his benevolent design just în proportion as it provides for the happiness of his rational creatures; for whose welfare the institution of government has been erected.

I frankly admit, that Rulers are no where expressly addressed in the New Testament; but we are not to conclude, on this account,