Head of a great Nation: Nay, it would rather be a very good Reafon to keep all public Authority out of his Hands: For, if the Magiftrate tranfgreffes the Limits of his Authority, whenever he uses his Authority for the Preservation of Religion, to raise a Man to be the Head of a Nation because you foresee he will fo ufe his Authority, is to raise him to be a Magistrate because you foresee he will tranfgrefs the Limits of his Commiffion. Since then God has declared that he raised Abraham to be a great Nation, because he forefaw that he would command those under his Authority to keep the Way of the Lord, he has at the fame Time declared it to be the Duty of every Magistrate fo to command and govern the Nation, the great Family committed to his Care, that the Ways of the Lord, that Justice and Judgment may be observed.

It has been Matter of great Dispute, whether Government is derived from the Paternal Authority, and is only the Extension of it, or from the Confent and Choice of the People: A Point of greater Curiofity than Ufe; fince the Rights of Nations will be determined by their refpective Laws and Ufages, and not by the Speculations of Philofophers,

lofophers. But, as to the Cafe of Virtue and Religion, it is evident, that every Magiftrate's Duty, with refpect to his People, is the fame with that which every Father naturally has with respect to his Children and Houfhold. Abraham was therefore to be made a great and mighty Nation because he would command his Children and Household to keep the Way of the Lord: A manifeft Proof that the Care and Command which he exercised as Father of the Family was proper to be extended to whole Nations; otherwise this Care over his Family could be no Reason for extending his Authority over a great and mighty Nation. And indeed the Magistrate's Care with respect to the Religion of his People, and the Father's with respect to the Religion of his Family, are fo much the fame, that they must neceffarily ftand or fall together; for both have the fame Reasons to fupport them, and both are equally liable to the fame Objections. If the Father of a Family has his Authority from God, and rules over not only his own Children, but the Servants and Creatures of the Almighty, and ought therefore to have a Concern for God and Religion, is the Cafe of the Magiftrate different? Are not his Subjects

Subjects alfo the Creatures and Servants of God? and is he not the Minifter and Vicegerent of God, and therefore bound, in the firft Place, to have Regard to his Honour, who is the common Master of him and of his Servants! If the Happiness of a Family, and of every Member of it, confifts in a due Conformity to the Principles of Virtue and Reason, and it be therefore the Father's Duty, even out of natural Affection to his Children, to guard them against Vice and Immorality, is the Happiness of a Kingdom, and the Members of it, lefs concerned in the Virtue of the People? or ought a Prince less to regard the Welfare and Profperity of his People? Turn it which Way you will, the Arguments are still the fame, and equally applicable to both Cases.

If you object to the Magiftrate's Authority in Religion, that temporal Rewards and Punishments are improper to be employed in the Caufe of Religion; are they not equally improper in the Hands of a Father, as of a Prince? If the Subjects have Reafon to direct them, and ought therefore to be left to themselves in all Matters of Confcience; are not your Sons and your Daughters reafonable Creatures too? and have they not

the

the fame Plea to make to exempt them from the Authority of a Father? If Religion be fomething internal, and of which the Magiftrate cannot judge, because he knows not the Heart of Man; is a Father better qualified to judge the Heart of his Son or Daughter than the Magiftrate is to judge the Hearts of his Subjects? In every View the Objections are equally frivolous, or equally ftrong in both Cafes.

From the Text, thus opened and explained, I shall take an Occasion to inquire, Wherein the Care of Religion, as well public as private, doth confift; and to justify the Means which are neceffary to the Support of it.

If we confider the Nature and Difpofition of Mankind, we fhall eafily perceive that two Things are especially neceffary to guard the Practice of Virtue and Religion, Inftruction and Correction: One, a proper Remedy for the Weakness of the Underftanding; the other, for the Perverseness of the Will. Where these two are joined together, where the fame Perfon has a Right to instruct and correct, the Instruction is properly authoritative; and this is the Cafe both of Parents and Magistrates: And

therefore

therefore Abraham's Care for his Family, which without Doubt included Inftruction, is expreffed by the Word Command; He will command his Children and his Houshold, that they fhall keep the Way of the Lord. And the fame Precept, given by God to the Children of Ifrael for the Inftruction of their Pofterity, and which is called teaching their Children in Deut. xi. 19, is, in ch. xxxii. ver. 46. called commanding their Children: And he faid unto them, Set your Hearts unto all the Words which I teflify among you this Day; which ye fhall command your Children to obferve, to do all the Words of this Law.

This Duty Princes cannot perform perfonally to all their People; and therefore there has been an Order of Men fet apart to this Work in every civilized Nation in the World: And, upon the Foot of Natural Religion, there is no Queftion to be made but that the fupreme Power in every Nation has a full Right to appoint and constitute these public Teachers and Ministers of Religion. The People of Rome had as good a Title to chufe Priefts as to chufe Confuls; and had their Religion been right, no Fault could have been found in the Constitution of their Priesthood. But this Right was under

the