tunity to throw it off. Yet it is equally evident that it must also be founded on religion; and without this, no government is entirely exempt from the danger of revolution and anarchy. In a long succession of years, there may be a vast accretion of property, in the hands of individuals or incorporations; or the spirit of faction may be excited to such a degree, as to becloud reason and set at défiance the considerations of interest; or an aspiring despot, at the head of an army, may overthrow the best government. How important then, that religion should be the foundation and key stone of our civil edifice that religion, which strikes at the life of those passions which human power cannot restrain nor control. It is the foundation and strength of every good institution. "Christianity," says a great man, “bas ever been the cement of every government, that has tolerated it. The more extensively, the more purely, christianity prevails in any nation, the less is that nation in danger of civil war and revolution. That religion which enjoins obedience to civil law, not merely from the fear of punishment, but from a conscientious regard to the authority of God. That religion, whose elemental principles are love, justice, gentleness, goodness, charity; that religion which teaches the forgiveness of injuries, and patient resignation to the evils and inconveniences of the human condi tion."*

Righteousness tends directly to the stability of government, as it will prevent both the desire and neces

sity of a revolution. The desire, without the neces sity, is equal proof of a depraved state of society. A moral and enlightened people will not be factious nor will a government of this character, be oppres sive. It is a mortifying truth, that all human insti tutions tend to degeneracy. To check this tenden cy, is the duty of all. And this must be done, by inculcating, universal righteousness. Should it be thought by any, that the moral habits of the people are alone a sufficient foundation for the stability of government, they must be answered, that morality, unless it rest on religious sentiment, is not sufficient for this purpose. The conduct of man, proceeding from the heart, must necessarily partake of its nature; and however refined the mind may be by education, or influenced by habit, or awed by popular sentiment, yet common observation and experience prove, they are not sufficient to counteract our depraved inclina, tions. It will therefore, require the spirit and the highest sanctions of religion, to give morality its proper tone, and to enforce the observance of the duties and restraints it enjoius.

Righteousness tends no less to the stability of gov ernment, by opposing despotism, than by avoiding anarchy.

When the minds of a nation are enlightened, upright and free, an arbitrary government can never be established. While the spirit of a people is unsubdued, by which I mean, when it is under no confinement but that which arises from reason and religion, obstacles numerous and powerful will be planted in

the road of an aspiring despot. The ancient Greeks were so fully persuaded of this, that the inhabitants of Mitylene, having subjected some of their allies, who had revolted, forbade them to give any in struction to their children. There is no communion, there is no congeniality between that intellectual and moral elevation, implied in the character of a righteous and intelligent people, and that ignorance, corruption and debasement involved in quietly surrendering to human caprice, those rights which our Cre ator designed, as the unalienable accompaniments of a rational nature,

12. Righteousness exalteth a nation, by its tendency to increase the population.

The nation, inhabiting a healthy region of the globe, which cultivates the arts and sciences, and is industrious and temperate, cannot but increase its population. The experience of the world goes to prove, that an immoral and dissolute people do not populate, like those of a contrary character. They avoid early and virtuous connections, and by excesses and intemperance, grow effeminate and enfeebled, in their constitutions; and, without living out half their days, leave the ranks of society-and their names perish in oblivion.

The truth of this proposition is seen, in the promises made to that father of the faithful, the Patriarch Abraham, and in the accomplishment of those promises, while his decendants dwelt in Egypt; and more especially afterwards, when they came to dwell in Palestine. And it is further illustrated, by refering to the history of our own country. The first British

settlement was commenced in Virginia, in 1607; and in New-England, in 1620.

This might indeed be called a "little speck, a small seminal principal," rather than a formed body; but behold how it has unfolded itself! The census of 1820 gave a population of nearly 10,000,000 in the United States and their Territories! Nor have we cause of less gratitude and admiration, if we look at New-England alone. "At the commencement of the last century, the aggregate of the whole population of New-England, did not exceed one hundred and sixty thousand. Its present amount is probably, one million seven hundred thousand."

By the late report of the Secretary of the treasury of the United States, it appears, that our population increases 34 per cent. in ten years. On this ratio of increase, in fifty years, there will be not far from 45,000,000. And if the increase of population is not checked, in one hundred years, there will be 177,000,000! "The world has seen nothing like this. The imagination hardly keeps up with the progress of population, improvement and civilization."

3. Righteousness exalteth a nation, by opening the way to greater and still greater improvement in society.

While the condition of the natural world remains the same, in all ages, the state of virtuous society is constantly rising; and it would he impossible for us to fix the farthest point of improvement. Every interest of society will be found advancing. Industry will promote commerce, and commerce will reward indus try. That intelligence, and those habits of industry

which are implied in righteousness, will be found exerting themselves, in every direction; the benefits of which will be found, in the growing interest of agriculture, manufactures and commerce. Every natural advantage will be used for the best purpose. Such a people will be connected with every climate and with every country, by means of intervening seas and oceans; and will use, to the best advantage, the riv ers with which the country is intersected; nor will they stop, till neighboring streams unite their waters.

Even that fearful train of diseases, which has produced such a destruction of life, is found capable of being arrested or enfeebled in its progress, by the use of those mineral and vegetable substances, which the God of nature has so plentifully provided; but of which, it is the labour of science to find out the use and the application. But it is in vain that remedies are provided for human sufferings, or sustenance for human life, while the vegetables and minerals, which contain them, are permitted to remain undistinguished in the forest or buried in the earth. How greatly might the sum of human misery have been lessened, had the science of medicine, among all the nations of antiquity, been advanced to its present state! What an enormous waste of life has been annually made, for many centuries, by a disease, the easy prevention of which, is matter of recent discovery! The sciences of chemistry and mineralogy, lately cultivated in our country, with so much ardor and success, cannot fail, by their influence on medicine, agriculture and the arts, to produce consequences of great na