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been observed upon already in the third Essay. Children are all in advance of their parents, and claim to be their instructors. Considering themselves before them in knowledge, they can ill brook their control; and the least they can assume is an equality of right with them in dictating and governing. The rebellion against past generations, and contempt of the wisdom of our forefathers, is a still more prominent feature in our habits and opinions. It shows itself again in the disobedience to governments, and the people's assumption of the right to govern, and dictate their own laws and punishments; and that it is the people's property, and the people's government, and the people's king. This impious pretension was well parodied by a Frenchman, who is said to have entered into the church of St. Paul, at Paris, during divine service, and to have begun singing profane songs. When the officers tried to remove him, he said, "This church is a monument; the monuments belong to the state; the state is the people; I am a part of the people, and consequently this church belongs partly to me; and as every one does as he pleases in his own house, and as it is my fancy to sing, therefore I sing."* So the House of God too is the people's house. And so it must be :-for if people have become habitually disobedient to their parents and the government, they must soon be rebels also against God.

Unthankful (axagoro).—This age is marked and characterized by ingratitude and unkindness. We nei

* Quoted from the Droit newspaper.-Times, Feb. 13. 1841.

ther repay obligations, nor incur obligations; nor lay people under obligations by kindness and liberality. No debt but a money debt is acknowledged; and no link or attachment of life is thought effectual which is not based on money, and may be estimated and made good by the payment of it. Respect is not due to parents, beyond the money they have to leave; their wishes and feelings, and their memories are nothing, for they are subject to no money admeasurement. Executors habitually sell their parents' and friends' collections and furniture and valuables,- those things upon which their labour and skill and judgment and affections were bestowed,--with which themselves were identified; and so their memories, and all respect and favour towards them, are at once obliterated. Money engagements are cheap: they may be made the subject of strict economy; therefore no other engagement with our labourers, than that exact one of wages, is recognized or admitted. No further link of kindness, or protection, or familiarity, or gratuity of time or money, may by any means be confessed; the connection begins with the bargain for, and ends with the payment of, wages. Vales and gifts to servants are discontinuedin most places entirely-because there is not an exact balance of services and payment; and everything beyond that is considered to be thrown away. We do not perceive, that more zeal and goodwill may be purchased by a small gift, than by a great payment. But we are not purchasers of good will: which is most useful on great occasions; but of services: which are of everyday use, and may be exactly measured and estimated. In consequence we will not incur an obligation:-we would

avoid letting another person be kind to us, lest we should have to repay his kindness. We would not suffer our child to become the foster child of a peasant,-lest that peasant's family should conceive too great an attachment, and have a permanent claim upon us. In the last result, we would not bestow favours ourselves, or be over kind and liberal to our equals and inferiors, lest we should cause too great an expectation from us in future, and be embarrassed by their attachment; and find ourselves drawn in by the meshes of kindness and love, which is disinterested and liberal, instead of the bond of money-payment,-which is selfish and economical.

Unholy. We cannot illustrate this without showing what holiness is; and we cannot exhibit holiness without a pattern, or such a lengthened description as would not find room in this place. But we cannot find a pattern, where holiness is extinct. This matter however must stand admitted. No appearance of real holiness could be introduced among our present habits of life, or even tolerated. The very term "saint," only exists for opprobrium. Religious ceremony, or habitual devotion, in all places at stated times, like the Mussulman's, must be condemned as profaned by the prevailing manners and usages. According to the words of a dignitary of the Church,--when comparing the progress of Christianity and its causes, in the first ages and in modern times," we have this disadvantage" (in our endeavours at conversion),-"an ungodly professing church: so that when we tell the heathens to be converted and become Christians, they tell us, 'You are no better than we are;

you are drunkards and swearers, and so on;' or, as they say in India, 'the Christians have no God.""*

Without natural affection.—This is not only marked by the separation of classes, which was instanced in their unthankfulness and unkindness towards one another; but the ties of natural relationship and friendship are loosened, and the feelings blunted, as was at the same time also partially hinted at.

Among the poor, the disposition in families to hold together, and to assist and comfort one another in want and misfortune, has been broken down by the system of poor-laws, and the lowness of wages, which makes it almost impossible for any man to maintain himself. This fact is proved by the endeavours of the legislature to enforce by law those natural duties, which the ills and artifices of society have abrogated. Among the rich, relations become mere acquaintances, through the ambition of all to illustrate themselves in a large circle of visitors, of a rank above their own; the expensiveness of this plan requiring an economy inconsistent with frequent intercourse of families, and friendly hospitality.

Trucebreakers (σπovdo, implacabiles).- Nothing is so much gone down as the honour and credit of the British merchant. There is no certainty that men will meet their engagements, unless a writing may be shown. for it. A bale of goods of the East India Company would be paid for, and sent up to Pekin without examination, having only their seal upon it; and a chest

* Speech of the Chancellor of Chester, at the meeting of the Church Missionary Society, April, 1839.

of tea returned from England as inferior, would be received back again upon the faith of their word, without a question. And merchants might have dealt together upon the same footing. Now, few things can be trusted to meet the sample. It is an acknowledged practice in manufacture, to obtain a custom by selling an article at a loss, and afterwards to make a profit upon it by depreciating the quality. But neither individuals nor nations will meet their engagements. Once it was an insult to be called a rogue;-but now it is scarcely a discredit, for a board of directors or a nation to entice men to their ruin, if the stake be but large and noble enough. This subject is too extensive to be touched upon except by these two or three illustrations.

If the expression signify "implacable,”—no reference except to the rancour of parties, the hatred and bitterness among sects, and the estrangement of classes from one another, and from the state, can be necessary to illustrate it.

False-accusers (diaBoλos).-We are a nation of slanderers and calumniators. Slander is the staple commodity of life, and business, and trade,-in newspapers, in novels, in politics, and conversation. There cannot be any doubt, that truth must be lost sight of, in the spirit, and dispositions, and confusion, which such a practice must arise from and give rise to.

Incontinent (axpaтeis).-Even the court of a virgin sovereign has been distinguished by the notorious incontinence of those who have been most influential in

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